Objective To investigate the expressions of microRNA-21 in cholangiocarcinoma tissues and the relationship between epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the prognosis of patients.Methods Forty-one samples of cholangiocarcinoma and 10 samples of adjacent tissues from 10 patients who received radical resection of cholangiocarcinoma at the Provincial Hospital of Anhui Medical University from January 2005 to January 2010 were collected.The expressions of microRNA-21,E-cadherin and N-cadherin were detected by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry,and effect of their expressions on the prognosis was analyzed.Enumeration data were analyzed using chi-square test.The correlation between microRNA-21 and EMT markers was analyzed using the Spearman correlation coefficient.The survival curve was drawn by Kaplan-Meier method,and the survival rate was analyzed using the Log-rank test.Results The expression rate of microRNA-21 in the cholangiocarcinoma tissues was 63％,which was significantly higher than 30％ of that in the adjacent tissues (x2 =0.324,P ＜ 0.05).The expression of microRNA-21 was closely related with the tumor differentiation degree,lymph node metastasis,perineural invasion (x2 =6.365,0.552,11.896,P ＜ 0.05),but not with gender,age,tunor location and tumor type (x2 =0.322,0.588,0.510,0.256,P ＞ 0.05).The expressions of E-cadherin and N-cadherin were related with lymph node metastasis and perineural invasion (x2 =4.630,5.512;6.600,7.152,P ＜0.05),but not with gender,age,tumor location,tumor differentiation degree and tumor type (x2 =0.266,0.013,0.067,0.666,0.003; 1.036,0.997,1.808,2.997,0.812,P ＞0.05).A positive correlation between the expression of microRNA-21 and EMT related markers E-cadherin and N-cadherin was detected (r =0.373,0.614,P ＜0.05).The results of survival analysis showed that the overall survival rate and tumor-free survival rate of patients with low expression of microRNA-21 were significantly higher than those of high expression of microRNA-21 (x2 =3.999,4.376,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Over expression of microRNA-21 in cholangiocarcinoma and metastatic lymph nodes may accelerate the invasion and metastasis of cholangiocarcinoma through inducing EMT,microRNA-21 might predict the prognosis of patients.

The effects of targeted silencing of heparanase gene by small interfering RNA (siRNA) on invasiveness and metastasis of osteosarcoma cells (MG63 cells) were investigated in the present study. Two complementary oligonucleotide strands were synthesized and inserted into pGenesil-1 vector based on the mRNA sequence of heparanase gene. The expression vector containing short hairpin RNA (pGenesil-shRNA) was constructed successfully. MG63 cells were randomly allocated into 3 groups: blank group, empty vector (pGenesil) transfected group and expression vector (pGenesil-shRNA) transfected group. Under the induction of Lipofectamine 2000, the recombinants were transfected into MG63 cells. Heparanase gene expression level was detected by RT-PCR and Western blotting. Cell proliferation was measured by MTT assay. Cell invasiveness and metastasis were examined by cell adhesion and Transwell-ECM assays. HUVECs migration assay was applied for the detection of angiogenesis. As compared with negative controls, the mRNA and protein expression levels of heparanase were down-regulated by 76.1% (P<0.01) and 75.3% (P<0.01) respectively in the pGenesil-shRNA transfected group. Meanwhile, the proliferation, adhesiveness, invasiveness and angiogenesis properties of MG63 cells were all significantly inhibited. It was suggested that targeted silencing of heparanase gene by siRNA could dramatically inhibit the invasiveness and metastasis of osteosarcoma cells.

Objective To analyze the virologic and immunologic properties during SHIV-XJ02170passage in vivo and construct the clade C SHIV/Chinese origin Rhesus macaques AIDS model . Methods SHIV-XJ02170 cell-free virus tranfected in 293T was adapted by serial passage in nine Chinese-origin Rhesus macaques. CD4/CD8 ratio was detected by flow cytometry to analyze the changes in viral pathogenicity. Real-time RT-PCR and IFN-γsecreting ELISPOT methods were used to analyze changes in characteristics of virology and immunology. Results During in vivo passage, CD4/CD8 ratio did not deeply decline. However,the peak and setpoint viral load in the line 3 show a continuous upward trend. The strong humoral and cellular immune responses were induced after SHIV-XJ02170 infection. Meanwhile, there was significant positive correlation between the viral load and binding antibody titer. Conclusion There were no pathogenic viral strains, and upward trend in virulence of SHIV-XJ02170 was found during in vivo passaging. SHIVXJ02170/Chinese origin Rhesus macaques model will play an important role in effect evaluation of candidate AIDS vaccines in China.

Objective To identify the variation in the Env region of SHIV-XJ02170 during passaging in Chinese origin Rhesus Macaques.Methods Fragments of the SHIV-XJ02170 gp160 and gp120 gene were amplified by PCR and RT-PCR separately from the blood samples of SHIV-XJ02170 infected animals at the peak viral load time point.Purified RT-PCR product was ligated into T easy vector and transformed into JM109 competent cells,18 clones were selected by PCR method and sequenced by ABI 3730DNA sequencers.The gene distances(divergence,diversity)were calculated using DISTANCE.Results In all,the SHTV-XJ02170 gp120 gene evolved forward along the virus passaging.It could be found that viral divergence from the founder strain serially enhanced during in vivo passaging,but in the early phase of each passage,SHIV-XJ02170 gp120 gene evolved toward ancestral state upon transmission to a new host.All of the SHIV-XJ02170 strains had V3 loop central motif(GPGQ)and were predicted to be using CCR5 on the basis of the critical amino acids within V3 loop.Conclusion There was significant increase in the genetic distance during serial passaging,and SHIV-XJ02170 gp120 gene evolved forward along passaging.This could partly explain why the virus infectivity was enhanced during in vivo passaging.

Objective:To investigate the expression of TIP30 and its relationship with clinico-pathological characteristics in patients with extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ECC).Methods:The expression of TIP30 in 78 cases of ECC tissues and 78 cases of para-cancerous tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry.Results:The positive expression rate of TIP30 was 43.59％ and 75.64％ in ECC tissues and para-cancerous tissues,respectively.Differences were statistically significant (P＜ 0.05).The expression levels of TIP30 were not correlated with age,gender,degree of differentiation and tumor size(P＞0.05),but correlated with lymph node metastasis,distant metastasis and TNM staging(P＜ 0.05).The median overall survival of 78 ECC cases was 14.8 months,and it of TIP30 positive expression cases was 20.3 months,statistically higher than 11.5 months in TIP30 negative expression cases(P＜ 0.01).Conclusion:The downregulation of TIP30 is closely correlated with the development,metastasis and prognosis of ECC.TIP30 may be used as a molecular marker to identify and predict the progression,metastasis and prognosis of ECC.

ObjectiveTo investigate the protective effect of transfected microRNA-146a (miR-146a) on mice with sepsis-induced acute lung injury (ALI) in vivo.Methods Twenty-four healthy male BALB/C mice were randomly divided into sham group, sepsis group, transfection group and transfection control group, eachn = 6. Mice in transfection group were given miR-146a agomir loaded by in vivo-jetPEITM via airway before reproduction of model, and mice in transfection control group were given negative control loaded by in vivo-jetPEITM only via airway. The septic model was reproduced by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) 12 hours after transfection , and the mice in the sham group underwent laparotomy and closure only without ligation and puncture of the cecum. The mice of each group were sacrificed at 24 hours post-operation. The expression of miR-146a in lung tissue was determined by real time fluorescence quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), and the quantity of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in the bronchial alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was determined with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The wet/dry ratio of lung (W/D) was determined. The pathohistological changes in the lung were observed and scored. Results The expression of miR-146a showed a significant increase in sepsis group, transfection group and transfection control group, which were (3.56±0.43), (27.64±3.46) and (3.72±0.54) folds of that in sham group, respectively (P< 0.05 orP< 0.01). The miR-146a expression in transfection group was significantly increased compared with sepsis group and transfection control group (bothP< 0.01), but no statistical difference in the expression was found between sepsis group and transfection control group (P> 0.05). Compared with the sham group, higher level of TNF-αin the BALF was found in the sepsis group, transfection group and transfection control group (ng/L: 511.65±43.47, 305.74±34.76, 492.27±42.21 vs. 50.72±7.23, allP< 0.01). The level of TNF-α in transfection group was significantly lower than that in sepsis group and transfection control group (bothP< 0.01). Compared with the sham group, the W/D ratio of lung in sepsis group, transfection group and transfection control group showed a significant increase (6.11±0.32, 5.02±0.29, 6.05±0.43 vs. 4.18±0.10, allP< 0.01). The W/D ratio of lung in transfection group was significantly lower than that of sepsis group and transfection control group (bothP< 0.01). The lung injury score of transfection group was significantly lower than that of sepsis group and transfection control group (6.12±0.75 vs. 10.53±1.52, 9.73±1.08, bothP< 0.01).Conclusions miR-146a agomir loaded by in vivo-jetPEITM instillation into airway was able to increase the expression of miR-146a in the lung tissue of septic mice. Up-regulation of miR-146a inhibit the release of the inflammatory cytokine TNF-α stimulated by sepsis, and alleviate inflammatory reaction and lung tissue injury in mice with sepsis-induced ALI.

SHIV-CN97001 played an important role in assessing the immune effect and strategy of the AIDS vaccine which included genes of the predominant prevalent HIV-1 strain in China. In this study, SHIV-CN97001 was in vivo passaged serially to construct pathogenic SHIV-CN97001/rhesus macaques model. To identify variation in the gp120 region of SHIV-CN97001 during passage, the fragments of gp120 gene were amplified by RT-PCR from the plasma of SHIV-CN97001 infected animals at the peak viral load time point and the gene distances (divergence, diversity) were calculated using DISTANCE. The analysis revealed that the genetic distances of SHIV-CN97001 in the third passage animals were the highest during in vivo passage. It had a relationship between viral divergence from the founder strain and viral replication ability. The nucleic acid sequence of the V3 region was highly conservative. All of the SHIV-CN97001 strains had V3 loop central motif (GPGQ) and were predicted to be using CCR5 co-receptor on the basis of the critical amino acids within V3 loop. These results show that there was no significant increase in the genetic distance during serial passage, and SHIV-CN97001 gp120 gene evolved toward ancestral states upon transmission to a new host. This could partly explain why there was no pathogenic viral strain obtained during in vivo passage.

Objective To compare the mRNA level of macrophage inflammatory protein-3α(MIP-3α) in 3 different mucosal epithelial cell lines. Methods RNA standards were prepared by in vitro transcription. One-step real-time RT-PCR was established and optimized using TaqMan EZ RT-PCR Core Reagents with TaqMan probes and primers specific to human MIP-3α mRNA sequence. The specificity of one-step real-time RT-PCR method was confirmed by sequencing the PCR products. The sensitivity and reproducibility of the method was examined by repeating the test 8 times with the same sample. Results The one-step real-time RT-PCR with a wide detection range is sensitive, reproducible. It was found that MIP-3α mRNA level in Caco-2 and T-84 cells was much higher than that in the HeLa cells. Conclusion High level of MIP-3α mRNA could be found in mucosal epithelial cells and difference in transcription level of MIP-3α may exist in epithelial cells from different mucosa.

Objective To explore the mechanism and effect of miR-146a on alveolar macrophages and to observe the changes of miR-146a expression in the LPS-induced alveolar macrophages. Method NR8383 alveolar macrophages were divided into LPS-stimulated group and control group, and the cells of former group were treated with LPS ( 1 μg/mL) and then incubated for 3 h, 6 h and 12 h, respectively. The level of TNF-α in the supernatant of cells was assayed by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the expression of miR-146a of cells was detected by using Real-Time PCR (TaqMan probe).Statistical analysis carried out by using SPSS 13.0 software package in which One-way ANOVA and Student's t-test were used. Results Compared with control group, the levels of TNF-α in the supernatant of cells were significantly increased 3 h, 6 h and 12 h after LPS challenge (P ＜ 0.01 ). The expression of miR-146a increased 6 h and 12 h after LPS stimulation in NR8383 cells( P ＜0.01 ), and it had an upward tendency.Conclusions The expression of miR-146a in alveolar macrophages increases after LPS-stimulation. It hints miR-146a may be involved in the regulation of the inflammatory responses produced by alveolar macrophages.

Objective To establish a method for rapid preparation of antiserum against influenza virus (H7N9) hemagglutinin,and to study the possibility of using it in single radial immunodiffusion (SRID) assay for quantitative detection of antigen in H7N9 influenza vaccine.Methods Hemagglutinin proteins expressed in eukaryotic cells were used to immunize sheep.Serum samples were collected to detect antibody titers by ELISA and double immunodiffusion assay.Different concentrations of antiserum were used in SRID assay to get the optimized concentration.Results After 4 times of immunization,the antiserum titers achieved 1 ∶ 1 000 000 and 1 ∶ 32 as indicated by ELISA and double immunodiffusion assay,respectively.The antiserum could form a clear precipitation line in SRID assay.The detection of antigen in the range of 10 to 40 μg/ml showed good linearity in the standard curve.The antigen titers in six batches of H7N9 vaccine detected by this SRID assay were identical with those by SDS-PAGE assay.Conclusion The antiserum against H7N9 hemagglutinin for SRID assay was developed successfully,and could be used as a reagent for the quantitative detection of antigen in H7N9 influenza vaccine.