BACKGROUND: Circulating cell-free nucleic acids are known to be a noninvasive diagnostic tool for cancer detection. Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) B1, a nuclear core complex, is overexpressed in early stage lung cancer. We intended to evaluate the usefulness of plasma hnRNP B1 mRNA in differentiating non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) from other benign lung diseases, especially pulmonary tuberculosis, which is highly prevalent in Korea and often difficult to distinguish from lung cancer. METHODS: Plasma RNA was extracted from 30 patients with NSCLC, 30 patients with benign lung diseases including pulmonary tuberculosis, and 10 healthy controls. Plasma hnRNP B1 mRNA was measured by TaqMan Gene Expression Assay (Applied Biosystems, USA), and pre-developed beta-actin (ACTB) mRNA was used for normalization. We analyzed the relative gene expression data using the delta-delta Ct method. RESULTS: Plasma hnRPN B1 mRNA was measurable in 93.3% (28/30) of NSCLC patients. Normalized 2-DeltaDeltaCt of plasma hnRPN B1 mRNA was 62.2 (95%Cl, 6.4-210.1) in NSCLC patients and 2.7 (95%Cl, 0.5-13.6) in benign lung disease patients (P<0.001, Mann-Whitney U test). CONCLUSIONS: Plasma hnRNP B1 mRNA was significantly increased in patients with lung cancer compared with that in patients with other benign lung diseases. Plasma hnRNP B1 mRNA may be useful as a potential marker for the detection of NSCLC.
Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/*genetics ; Female ; Heterogeneous-Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein Group A-B/*blood/genetics ; Humans ; Lung Diseases/blood/genetics ; Lung Neoplasms/*genetics ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA, Messenger/*blood/metabolism ; Tumor Markers, Biological

OBJECTIVETo observe dynamically the Fractalkine (FKN) expression in lung tissue of rats with lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI) and the effect of Shenqi Fuzheng Injection (SFI) on it.

METHODSRat model of ALI was established by intravenous injection of 4 mg/kg of LPS. Forty-two Wistar rats were randomly divided into 7 groups, the normal group, the model group and the SFI group, the latter two were separated respectively into three time phases (the 1 h, 2 h and 4 h after modeling ) groups, 6 rats in each group. Pathological changes and wet/dry weight ratio (W/D) of lung were observed, serum TNF-alpha and FKN mRNA expression in the lung tissue were examined by ELISA and RT-PCR respectively.

RESULTSSevere pathological changes of lung presented in the model groups of all three time phases with a higher W/D ratio, as well as increased serum TNF-alpha level and FKN mRNA expression in lung tissue. The peak of abnormality of serum TNF-alpha level and FKN mRNA expression was shown in the 2 h time phase group. All the above-mentioned abnormal changes were alleviated after treatment in the SFI group (P<0.05). In addition, the level of FKN mRNA expression was found to be positively correlated to the serum TNF-alpha concentration.

CONCLUSIONSFI treatment in early stage could relieve the pathological changes and edema in lung tissue, decrease serum TNF-alpha and down-regulate FKN mRNA expression, playing a protective role in LPS-induced ALI rats.

Animals ; Chemokine CX3CL1 ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Gene Expression ; drug effects ; Injections ; Lipopolysaccharides ; Lung ; drug effects ; metabolism ; pathology ; Lung Diseases ; blood ; chemically induced ; genetics ; Male ; RNA, Messenger ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; blood

A loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay allows rapid diagnosis of Toxoplasma gondii infection. In the present study, the LAMP assay was evaluated using blood from both naturally and experimentally infected pigs. The sensitivity of the LAMP assay was compared with that of Q-PCR. Both assays detected T. gondii in the blood of experimentally infected pigs, with 100% agreement. In infected blood samples, the parasite was detected as early as 2 days post-infection and reached a peak in 3-5 days. In 216 field serum samples, the detection rates of LAMP and Q-PCR assays were 6.9% and 7.8%, respectively. This result indicates that the sensitivity of the LAMP assay was slightly lower than that of the Q-PCR assay. However, the LAMP may be an attractive diagnostic method in conditions where sophisticated and expensive equipment is unavailable. This assay could be a powerful supplement to current diagnostic methods.
Animals ; Azure Stains ; Biological Assay ; Brain/parasitology ; DNA, Protozoan/*blood/genetics ; Lung/parasitology ; Mice ; Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques/*veterinary ; Parasitemia ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction/veterinary ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Swine ; Swine Diseases/*diagnosis/parasitology ; Toxoplasma/genetics/*isolation & purification ; Toxoplasmosis, Animal/*diagnosis/parasitology

OBJECTIVEIn order to find out the factors related to hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) infection, and to evaluate the probability of ecdemic hantaviruses (HV) infection in rodents in Beijing areas.

METHODSRodents were collected in a large-scale railway station and a produce market with 'trap nights' method from April to May, 2004. The IgG reacting sera to HV antigen were detected using ELISA. The partial M and S segment of HV from captured rodent lung samples were amplified with RT-PCR. The PCR products were purified and sequenced. BLAST program was then used to perform on nucleotide pairwise alignment with all available sequence in GenBank. The alignment of the multiply nucleotide and the deduced amino acid sequences, together with phylogenetic analysis were completed with DNASTAR software.

RESULTSThe average population density was 3.49% (24/690). The overall seroprevalence of HV infection was 8.3% (2/24). RT-PCR positive rates were 8.3% (2/24). The nucleotide sequences of 356 bp region (1958 - 2313) of M segment obtained from 2 samples were all identified to Seoul virus (SEOV), with 7.6% heterogeneity. The dc501 strain from railway station was closely related to SD227 and Hebei4 from Shandong and Hebei provinces respectively. BjFT01 strain from the farm product market had more special nucleotide transitional mutations than other known SEOV from Beijing in GenBank. This strain, together with known HN71 from Hainan province, K24-E7 from Zhejiang province, L99 from Jiangxi province and R22 from Henan province, represented a monophylogentic linkage.

CONCLUSIONThe higher HV prevalence of rodents in transportation center was the potential and important risk for HFRS epidemic in Beijing. The increasing prevalence of M. musculus should call for attention. It was possible that SEOV in Beijing was imported by infected rodents through vehicles from other provinces.

Animals ; Antigens, Viral ; immunology ; China ; epidemiology ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Hantavirus ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Hantavirus Infections ; epidemiology ; immunology ; Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome ; epidemiology ; Immunoglobulin G ; blood ; Lung ; virology ; Phylogeny ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Rodent Diseases ; epidemiology ; virology ; Rodentia ; Seroepidemiologic Studies