Objective To investigate the expression of transforming growth factor β1,transforming growth factor beta receptor(TBR)Ⅰ,TβR Ⅱ,Smad4 and C-Jun in rats with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD)and to find out the mechanisms of liver fibrosis in patients with NAFLD.Methods A total of 18 male SD rats were randomly divided into normal control group(n=9)and model group(n=9).The rats in control group were fed with normal diet,and those in model group were fed with fat-rich diet(consisted of 10%lard oil+2%cholesterol).An rats were sacrificed at the 20th week.The levels of TGFβ1,TβR Ⅰ and TβR Ⅱ mRNA were examined by RT-PCR.The expressions of TGFβ1 and Smad4 in liver tissue were detected by immunohistochemistry.The expression of C-Jun protein was detected by Western blotting.Results The NAFLD model was successfully established.The immunohistochemistry examination revealed that TGFβ1 and Smad4 were expressed weekly in control group,but strongly expressed in model group.RT-PCR showed that A values of TGFβ1,TβR Ⅰ and TβR Ⅱ mRNA were 0.46±0.12,5.z4±2.70 and 3.35±1.95,respectively,in model group,which were higher than those in control group(0.21±0.09,1.36±0.77 and 0.52±0.19,all P values＜0.01).The Western blotting results demonstrated that the expression of C-Jun protein in model group(0.93±0.41)was higher than that in control group (0.32±0.25,P=0.001).Conclusion TGFβ1/Smad4 signal pathway might be involved in the development of hepatic fibrosis in NAFLD.Blocking TGFβ1/Smad4 signal pathway will be helpful in treatment of NAFLD.

Objective To investigate the effects of dominant-negative truncation mutant?NTCF4, lacking the N-terminal form of TCF4 gene,on biological characteristics of renal cancer cell line GRC-I and explore the molecular mechanisms.Methods GRC-I cell was transfected with pCDNA3-?NTCF4 eukary- otie expression plasmid,pCDNA3 empty vector to construct the stable cell line GRC-I/?NTCF4 and GRC-I/ Mock respectively.The morphological changes of stable cells were observed and the cells growth curve was detected through light microscope.The cellular proliferation activities were determined using the MTT assay. The protein expression of Wnt pathway downstream target gene C-Myc and Cox-2 was evaluated by immuno- cytoehemieal method and Western Blot analysis.Results After the dominant-negative?NTCF4 gene was permanently expressed,the GRC-I/?NTCF4 stable cells morphologically showed that appearance changed from circular to long-spindle shape,growth rate decreased with less karyosehisis found,malignant pheno- types reversed to normal renal tubular cells.MTT assay revealed that the proliferation activities of GRC-1/?NTCF4 cells were inhibited by 11.2%-35.5% compared with GRC-I cells (P＜0.05),while the GRC- I/Mock cells have no difference with the control cells.Immunocytochemical analysis and Western Blot showed that the C-Myc and Cox-2 protein expression level of GRC-I/?ANTCF4 cells were significantly sup- pressed in comparison with that of GRC-I/Mock and GRC-I cells.Conclusions The dominant-negative truncation mutant?NTCF4 could partially inhibit the growth of renal cancer cells and down-regulate the pro- tein expression of Wnt pathway target gene C-Myc and Cox-2.These findings provide a experimental founda- tion for applying cell signal therapy to renal cell cancer by blocking the Wnt signaling pathway.

AIMTo detect the expression of VASA in human ejaculated spermatozoa, and to compare the expression of VASA between normozoospermic men and patients with oligozoospermia.

METHODSEjaculated spermatozoa were collected from normozoospermic men and patients with oligozoospermia by masturbation, and subsequently segregated through a discontinuous gradient of Percoll to obtain the spermatozoa. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), quantitative RT-PCR (QRT-PCR), immunoflurescence and Western blotting were used to detect the expression of VASA in mRNA and protein levels.

RESULTSVASA mRNA was expressed in the ejaculated spermatozoa. QRT-PCR analysis showed that VASA mRNA level was approximately 5-fold higher in normozoospermic men than that in oligozoospermic men. Immunofluorescence and Western blotting analysis showed that VASA protein was located on the cytoplasmic membrane of heads and tails of spermatozoa, and its expression was significantly decreased in oligozoospermic men, which is similar to the result of QRT-PCR.

CONCLUSIONThe expression of VASA mRNA and protein was significantly decreased in the sperm of oligozoospermic men, which suggested the lower expression of the VASA gene might be associated with pathogenesis in some subtypes of male infertility and VASA could be used as a molecular marker for the diagnosis of male infertility.

Biomarkers ; metabolism ; Blotting, Western ; DEAD-box RNA Helicases ; genetics ; metabolism ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Male ; Oligospermia ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Spermatozoa ; cytology ; metabolism

Reproductive toxicity research takes an important place in traditional Chinese medicine pre-clinical safety evaluation. Modern reproductive toxicity experiment includes drug-related miscarriage, fetal death, teratism, and adverse effects on fertility, genital system, embryonic development and fetus, which is different from contraindicated in pregnancy in traditional Chinese medicine theory. Now the three-phases reproductive toxicity study is the method mainly applied in traditional Chinese medicine reproductive toxicity evaluation. Besides that, alternative methods of whole embryos culture and embryonic stem cell test are also used in traditional Chinese medicine embryo toxicity evaluation. This article reviews research progress and pre-clinical evaluation on reproductive toxicity of traditional Chinese medicine.
Animals ; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; toxicity ; Embryonic Development ; drug effects ; Embryonic Stem Cells ; drug effects ; Female ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Pregnancy ; Reproduction ; drug effects ; Toxicity Tests

Drug allergy and pseudoallergic reactions are main adverse drug reactions. Allergy is mainly induced by the immunogenicity of drug, drug metabolic products or drug additive. Pseudoallergic reactions may result from the irritation or activation of inflammatory material release. Pre-clinical evaluation of drug allergy and pseudoallergic reactions is included in immunotoxicity evaluation. Now there is no in vivo or in vitro method that could predict all kinds of allergy or pseudoallergic reactions due to the different mechanisms. In the past few years, FDA, SFDA OECD, ICH and WHO have published several guidelines on per-clinical immunotoxicity evaluation, however, no agreement has been reached on allergy and pseudoallergic reactions evaluation. This article reviews the requirements of allergy and pseudoallergic reactions in pre-clinical evaluation.
Drug Hypersensitivity ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Immune System ; drug effects ; Practice Guidelines as Topic

The systematic treatment based on gemcitabine plus cisplatin is recommended as the current standard chemotherapy for unresectable or metastatic biliary tract cancers.However,the exact benefits from the recognized regime are still dismal.We thus elicit this study in an attempt to analyze whether targeted therapy coupled with various chemotherapy could produce improvement of survival benefits.The clinical trials were searched electronically from databases till July 2016 published in English and Chinese.Nine hundred and sixty-four patients from 7 trials were identified in our analysis.The overall analysis achieved a significantly higher overall response rate (ORR) among the patients treated with targeted drugs plus chemotherapy than chemotherapy alone (OR=1.87;95％ CI:1.37-2.57;P=0.000),but failed in the overall progression-free survival (PFS) [mean difference (MD)=0.63;95％ CI:-0.45-1.72;P=0.26] and overall survival (OS) (MD=-0.67;95％ CI:-2.54-1.20;P=0.49).In the sub analysis,better ORR was obtained with the addition of EGFR (OR=1.75;95％ CI:1.20-2.56;P=0.004) and VEGFR (OR=2.5;95％ CI:1.28-4.87;P=0.007) targeted therapy.Furthermore,the sub analysis of EGFR target showed an significant improvement on PFS (MD=l.36;95％ CI:0.29-2.43;P=0.01).No significant differences were observed in the incidences ofneutropenia (OR=1.37;95％ CI:0.89-2.12),thrombocytopenia (OR=l.40;95％ CI:0.83-2.39),anemia (OR=l.21;95％ CI:0.62-2.38),peripheral neuropathy (OR=1.52;95％ CI:0.81-2.88),increased AST/ALT (OR=l.40;95％ CI:0.82-2.39) as well as fatigue (OR=1.65;95％ CI:0.96-2.84) in either of the treatment groups.In conclusion,better ORR associated with chemotherapy combined with targeted therapy (both targeting EGFR and VEGF) is found in the present mcta-analysis without the cost of increased unacceptable toxicities,but regretfully not for the OS.The sub-analysis of targeting EGFR instead of VEGF obtains a superior PFS.Otherwise,there is no statistically significant difference in the overall PFS between the combination regime and chemotherapy alone.Given the paucity of favorable data,we need further studies to characterize optimal targeted agents to confirm the potential value to biliary tract cancer.

OBJECTIVETo explore the risk factors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) recurrence in adult patients and establish a prognosis index (PI) calculation model in order to improve the prevention strategy of ALL in adults.

METHODS104 adult ALL patients from Blood Diseases Hospital & Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences between August 2008 and November 2011 were enrolled. COX proportional hazards regression stratified by Dummy variable was used to set up the prediction model; Kaplan-Meier method and Log-rank test were used to estimate and compare the survival. After calculated individual PI value, patients' expected survival should be estimated by groups.

RESULTSThe overall median survival of adult ALL patients was 22.00 months (95% CI 17.00-27.00). COX regression analysis showed that chemotherapy group patients had a higher risk of recurrence than of ASCT group while setting treatment as the dummy variable (RR=2.052, 95%CI 0.877-4.799, P=0.007). Stratified Analysis showed that the risk factors of B-ALL recurrence in adult patients included HGB <100 g/L (RR=0.186, 95% CI 0.068-0.512, P=0.001), CNSL (RR=7.767,95% CI 2.951- 20.433, P=0.001), number of consolidation chemotherapy<3 (RR=0.445, 95% CI 0.211-0.940, P=0.034) and Ph chromosome positive (RR=2.771, 95% CI 1.353-5.674, P=0.005). Grouped by the PI value, the expected survival of each individual patient could be estimated as PI=0.58 base.

CONCLUSIONHGB, CNSL, number of consolidation chemotherapy and Ph chromosome were independent risk factors of B-ALL recurrence in adult patients. PI value could predict the survival of adult ALL patients and provide reference for individual therapy and prognostic evaluation.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; epidemiology ; pathology ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Risk Assessment ; Risk Factors ; Young Adult

This study was aimed to investigate a quality control method for ABO typing of neonatal umbilical cord blood(UCB). The routine serology method was used to identify the ABO type of UCB samples. These samples with questions were further detected by sequence specific primer PCR (PCR-SSP). The results showed that among total of 76120 UCB samples identified by positive ABO typing, there were 78 samples (1 per thousand) which could not be determined. Of these 78 samples, 30 (56.92%) samples with a weak agglutination reaction were excluded by reverse ABO typing. Out of 260 samples in reverse ABO typing, 148 samples were consistent with positive ABO typing, 112 samples (43.08%) were inconsistent with the positive ABO typing. 58 undetermined samples were detected by PCR-SSP. Out of them the genotyping results of 45 samples confirmed the serological typing, the phenotyping results in 3 cases were inconsistent to that of genotyping. 10 cases showed the unconformity between positive and reverse typing, but the genotyping results were fully consistent with the positive typing. In conclusion, positive typing for red cell antigens combined with PCR-SSP is efficient and sensitive for quality control of ABO typing for neonatal UCB.
ABO Blood-Group System ; genetics ; Blood Grouping and Crossmatching ; methods ; Fetal Blood ; Genotype ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Quality Control

OBJECTIVETo investigate the mechanism of Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS), an effective component extracted from Panax notoginseng, on atherosclerotic plaque angiogenesis in atherosclerosis-prone apolipoprotein E-knockout (ApoE-KO) mice fed with high-fat, high-cholesterol diet.

METHODSTwenty ApoE-KO mice were divided into two groups, the model group and the PNS group. Ten normal C57BL/6J mice were used as a control group. PNS (60 mg/kg) was orally administered daily for 12 weeks in the PNS group. The ratio of plaque area to vessel area was examined by histological staining. The tissue sample of aortic root was used to detect the CD34 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression areas by immunohistochemistry. The expression of VEGF and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase subunit 4 (NOX4) were measured by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting respectively.

RESULTSAfter treatment with PNS, the plaque areas were decreased (P<0.05). CD34 expressing areas and VEGF expression areas in plaques were significantly decreased (P<0.05). Meanwhile, VEGF and NOX4 mRNA expression were decreased after treatment with PNS. VEGF and NOX4 protein expression were also decreased by about 72% and 63%, respectively (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONPNS, which decreases VEGF and NOX4 expression, could alleviate plaque angiogenesis and attenuate atherosclerosis.

Animals ; Down-Regulation ; drug effects ; genetics ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Mice, Knockout ; NADPH Oxidase 4 ; NADPH Oxidases ; genetics ; metabolism ; Neovascularization, Pathologic ; pathology ; prevention & control ; Panax notoginseng ; chemistry ; Plaque, Atherosclerotic ; pathology ; prevention & control ; Saponins ; pharmacology ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; genetics ; metabolism

This study was purposed to investigate the frequencies of HLA-Cw* loci in China Northern Han population at gene level and to analyze the population genetic characteristics of HLA-Cw* alleles and distribution difference of gene frequency in regions. The high resolution genotyping for HLA-Cw* loci of 420 cases in China Northern Han population was performed by using PCR-SSP typing technique and their distribution regularity was analyzed statistically. The results showed that 30 HLA-Cw* alleles were detected, among which the frequency of Cw* 0102 (0.1776), 0702 (0.1217), 0602 (0.1150) were highest; other alleles with higher frequency were as follow in proper order: Cw* 0304, 0801, 0303, 0302, 0401, 1402. The rare observed HLA-Cw* 0506, 0810, 1510, 1601 and 1701 were detected firstly in this population. The statistical analysis indicated that the genotype distribution of HLA-Cw* loci coincides with the Hardy-Weinberg test. In conclusion, application of high resolution allele typing can accurately understand the distribution regularity and characteristics of HLA-Cw* alleles in China Northern Han population which provides the basis for research related with HLA-Cw* loci.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Alleles ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; HLA-A Antigens ; genetics ; HLA-B Antigens ; genetics ; HLA-C Antigens ; genetics ; Haplotypes ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Young Adult