Objective To investigate the correlation between serum levels of B cell activating factor (BAFF) and disease activity in the patients with dermatomyositis (DM).Methods Serum BAFF levels of 61 patients with DM and 25 matched healthy controls were measured by ELISA.The results of the two groups were compared using unpaired Mann-Whitney U test and the relevance was analyzed using Spearman correlation analysis.Results Serum levels of BAFF in DM patients were significantly higher compared to healthy controls [(274 7±264 6) pg/ml 与 (832±170) pg/ml,Z=-5.492,P＜0.01].A cross-sectional assessment revealed that serum BAFF levels were positively correlated with global disease activity (r=0.501,P＜0.001),muscle disease activity (r=0.303,P＜0.05),and cutaneous disease activity (r=0.467,P＜0.01).High serum BAFF levels were associated with increased incidence of interstitial lung disease (x2=17.238,P＜0.01).The longitudinal study showed modest correlations between serum BAFF levels and global disease activity (r=0.658,P＜0.01),muscle disease activity (r=0.307,P＜0.05),as well as cutaneous disease activity (r=0.565,P＜0.01).Conclusion Serum levels of BAFF correlate with disease activity in DM patients.The results of this study suggest that BAFF is a serological biomarker for DM disease activity.

Objective To investigate the serum levels of soluble human leukocyte antigen (sHLA)-G in patients with polymyositis (PM) or dermatomyositis (DM),and to analyze its association with clinical features and possible role in the pathogenesis of PM/DM.Methods Serum sHLA-G levels of 26 patients with PM,70 patients with DM and 35 matched healthy controls were measured by ELISA.The relationship between the sHLA-G levels and clinical features or seroimmunological data in the patients with PM/DM was analyzed.Results Serum levels of sHLA-G in PM/DM patients were significantly higher compared to healthy controls [(44±70) U/ml vs (4±5) U/ml,P＜0.01].There was statistically significant difference between DM patients and PM patients [(54±81) U/ml vs (27±41) U/ml,P=0.004].The incidence of dysphagia was significantly higher in sHLA-G elevated group than those in sHLA-G normal group (P=0.001).Additionally,Spearman rank correlation analysis showed that the serum sHLA-G levels were positively correlated with serum C3 (r=0.284,P=0.021),but negatively correlated with CD3+ T cells (r=-0.233,P=0.047) and CD4+ T cells (r=-0.287,P=0.015) in the peripheral blood in patients with PM/DM.Serum levels of sHLA-G in non-treated PM/DM patients were significantly higher compared to treated patients [(77±99) U/ml vs (34±52) U/ml,P=0.021].No relationship between serum sHLA-G levels and PM/DM disease activity,or different drug therapy was found.Conclusion Serum levels of sHLA-G are increased in PM/DM patients.The increased production of sHLA-G,paralleled with higher incidence of dysphagia and lower level of CD3+ T cells and CD4+ T cells,indicates that sHLA-G may play an important role in the pathogenesis of PM/DM.

AIM: To probe into the method of field processed products of Paeonia suffruticosa Andr. and inspect its quality. METHODS: Through field processed investigation alcohol-macerated extracts and paenol content compared among the smoked, de-epidermis, drying and direct drying in the sun. RESULTS: Paeonia suffruticosa Andr. with the epidermis is better than others. CONCLUSION: The method of integrating field cutting crude drugs into pieces with processing of Paeonia suffruticosa Andr. has feasible standardization and industrial benefits.

Objective To explore the correlations between elevated cfDNA with lupus nephritis and indentify the influencing factors of cfDNA in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).Methods Fifty four patients with SLE [37 patients with lupus nephritis (LN) and 43 age-and sex-matched healthy controls] were included in the study.In 37 LN patients,26 patients were at active stage,and 11 patients were in remission.cfDNA concentration was measured with Picogreen Kit and low-density granulocytes (LDGs) was tested by flowcytometer.Correlation and regression analysis were performed to discover whether cfDNA is related to LN and identify the influencing factor of cffDNA.Results The cfDNA in SLE group was (237±40) ng/ml,which was significantly higher than that in healthy control group (188±41 ng/ml,P＜0.01).cfDNA in LN group was significantly higher than that in patients without LN (NLN) (247±47 ng/ml vs 214±31 ng/ml,P=0.028).cfDNA in patients with active LN was significantly higher than that in patient with inactive LN (RLN) (254±50 ng/ml vs 216±29 ng/ml,P=0.035).In SLE group,cfDNA was positively correlated with quantitative 24-hour urinary protein (r=0.350,P=0.013) and reversely correlated with albumin (r=-0.500,P＜0.01) and endogenous creatinine clearance rate (Ccr) (r=-0.354,P=0.044).Percentage of LDGs in peripheral blood mononuclear ceils (PBMCs) of the SLE group was (8.3± 12.9)％,significantly was higher than that in healthy controls [(1.2±0.7)％,P=0.004].The cfDNA was positively correlated with LDGs (r=0.636,P=0.002) and neutrophils (r=0.599,P＜0.01).Conclusion NETs excessively released by neutrophils as well as LDGs may be one of the main reasons for elevated cfDNA level in SLE.cfDNA level is associated with LN activity,suggesting that there is a intrinsic link between NETs-related biomarkers and active LN and that more specific biomarkers of NETs may become a clinical biomarker for active LN.

Objective To identify the prevalence of anti-transcriptional intermediary factor (TIF)1-γ antibody in Chinese patients with idiopathic inflammatory myositis and to define its role in the assessment of early diagnosis of cancer associated myositis (CAM) in a large cohort.Methods Sera from 96 Chinese patients with dermatomyositis(DM),50 patients with polymyositis (PM),33 patients with systemic lupus erythem-atosus (SLE),54 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA),8 patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc),and 40 healthy controls were examined by immunoprecipitation assays followed by Western blotting.The distribution of these antibodies in each group was assessed and the association between this autoantibody and CAM in a large cohort was further revealed.T test,Mann-Wittney U test,Chi-square test and Fisher exact test were used for statistical analysis.Results Sera from 17 of 96 DM patients (18％),including 1 with juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) (17％),2 with clinical amyopathic dermatomyositis (CADM) (25％),and 9 with CAM (64％) were found to have anti-TIF1-γ antibody by immunoprecipitation assays followed by Western blotting.Only 1 patient with PM (2％) was observed with anti-TIF1-γ autoantibody,and no patients with other connective tissue disease patients as well as healthy controls were positive for this autoantibody.The risk of -developing CAM in anti-TIF1γ-positive patients was significantly increased compared to the anti-TIF1-γnegative group,with an OR of 17.74 (95％CI,5.68-55.40).In DM,the negative and positive predictive value of anti-TIF1-γ autoantibody for the diagnosis of CAM was 90.8％ and 56.3％,respectively.Anti-TIF1γ-positive DM patients were significantly older than anti-TIF1-γ-negative DM patients (63±11 vs 48 ±14,P＜0.01).Notably,three of the anti-TIF1γ-positive patients had ILD,one patient was classified as having CAM and the other two were DM patients without cancer,but anti-TIF1γ-positive patients still had a significantly lower incidence of interstitial lung disease (19％ vs 54％,P＜0.05).In contrast to anti-TIF1-γγ-negative DM patients,anti-TIF1-γ antibody-positive patients were more frequently (81％ vs 50％,P＜0.01).There was no significant difference between these groups in terms of other clinical and laboratory parameters.Conclusion Anti-TIF1-γ antibodies may act as a useful diagnostic serological marker for early diagnosis of CAM in Chinese patients.For patients with DM,anti-TIF1-γ antibodies should be assessed at the time of disease diagnosis.This antibody may have impo-rtant significance in the early diagnosis of tumor and improving prognosis.

Purpose:We observed and compared the therapeutic effects of CO_2 and dehy- drated ethanol as sclerosing agent,in percutaneous interventional methods for treatment of hepatic and renal cysts,Materials and methods:Twenty-two simple cysts,14 in livers,8 in kidneys,af- ter percutaneous puncture and aspiration,we instilled CO_2 or dehydrated ethanol into the cysts once, twice or thrice with followed-up for 2 to 29 months,Results:All the 22 cysts in 22 patients were better after treatment especially of them,including 8 of 12 cases(66.7%)treated with dehydrated ethanol only once.The maximum diameters of 8 renal cysts(8/8,100%)after one treatment re- duced to less than 2cm in the follow-up,comparing with only 5 of 14 hepatic cysts(5/14,35. 7%).Conclusion:1)Pereutaneous interventional method by guidance of ultrasound is safe and ef- fective in simple hepatic or renal cyst treatment.2)CO_2 is similar to dehydrated ethanol as a scleros- ing agent.3)The therapeutic effect of simple renal cyst is better than that of hepetic cyst.

Objective To evaluate 99tcm-DTPA nuclear dynamic imaging in distinguishing the renal occupied disease.Methods A total of 164 in-patients with renal occupied disease who underwent surgery were included.According to the pathological diagnosis,119 patients had malignant tumors,and 45 patients had benign diseases.All patients’ imaging was retrospectively analyzed.Application of 99Tcm-DTPA nuclear dynamic imaging in renal occupied disease was compared with ultrasonography (US),computed tomography (CT),magnetic resonance imaging (MRI),intravenous pyelogram (IVP),and positron emission tomography (PET)-CT.Results The accuracy rates of different imaging methods in distinguishing between renal malignant and benign disease were 99Tcm-DTPA (84 ％,45 ％),US (72 ％,64 ％),CT ( 91％,92 ％),MRI (50 ％,67 ％),IVP (50 ％, 17 ％), respectively.The diagnostic accuracy rate of PET-CT for malignant tumors was 67 ％.The accuracy rates of 99Tcm-DTPA in distinguishing different phases of renal cell carcinoma were statistically significant (x 2 =83.4, P ＜ 0.01), while the accuracy rates in distinguishing renal cyst from renal angiomyolipoma were not statistically different.With the greater diameter, the diagnostic accordance rate is higher (x 2 =16.05,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion 99Tcm-DTPA could be used not only to evaluate the renal function quantificationally,but also be helpful to distinguish renal malignant tumor from benign disease.

Objective To profile the differentially expressed genes in the muscle of polymyositis (PM) patients.Methods A mRNA microarray analysis was performed to profile mRNAs from 5 treatment-naive PM patients and 5 healthy controls.Gene Ontology and KEGG pathway analyses were applied to delineate the functional roles of the differentially expressed mRNAs.Quantitative real-time PCR analysis was conducted to validate the microarray data.The Student's t-test was used to analyze the statistical significance of the microarray results,and Benjamini-Hochberg FDR was used for multiple-test correction.Results Microarray analysis revealed that a total of 1 905 mRNAs (787 up-regulated and 1 118 down-regulated) were significantly differentially expressed in PM patients compared with the healthy controls (fold change＞2,P＜0.05).Six mRNAs were selected to analyze by quantitative RT-PCR to validate their expression levels and the results were consistent with that of the microarray analysis,and thus provide reliable validation for the microarray results.Gene ontology and KEGG pathway analysis for the differentially expressed mRNAs revealed that these genes were mainly involved in the biological process of infection and cytotoxic effect.In addition,there were some common signaling pathways that shared by PM and other autoimmune diseases.Conclusion There are differences in gene expressions between PM patients and healthy controls.The muscle damage in PM patients may be due to multi gene involvement and multi gene regulation.

To observe a PPAR-alpha agonist effect of N-oleoylethanolamine (OEA) on CB2 (cannabinoid receptor 2), an anti-inflammatory receptor in vascular endothelial cell, healthy HUVECs and TNF-alpha induced HUVECs were used to establish a human vascular endothelial cell inflammatory model. Different doses of OEA (10, 50 and 100 micromol x L(-1)) had been given to HUVECs, cultured at 37 degrees C for 7 h and then collected the total protein and total mRNA. CB2 protein expression was detected by Western blotting and CB2 mRNA expression was assayed by real-time PCR. As the results shown, OEA (10 and 50 micromol x L(-1)) could induce the CB2 protein and mRNA expression, but not 100 micromol x L(-1). To detect if anti-inflammation effect of OEA is partly through CB2, CB2 inhibitor AM630 was used to inhibit HUVEC CB2 expression, then the VCAM-1 expression induced by TNF-alpha was detected, or THP-1 adhere to TNF-alpha induced HUVECs was examined. OEA (50 micromol x L(-1)) could inhibit TNF-alpha induced VCAM-1 expression and THP-1 adhere to HUVECs, these effects could be partly inhibited by a CB2 inhibitor AM630. The anti-inflammation effect of OEA is induced by PPAR-alpha and CB2, suggesting that CB2 signaling could be a target for anti-atherosclerosis, OEA have wide effect in anti-inflammation, it may have better therapeutic potential in anti-inflammation in HUVECs, thus achieving anti-atherosclerosis effect.

Objective To determine the sera levels of anti-nuclear matrix protein (NXP)-2 autoantibodies and their clinical associations in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM).Methods Sera from 198 Chinese patients with IIM including 15 juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM),133 dermatomyositis (DM) and 50 polymyositis (PM),other connective tissue diseases (CTDs) including 70 systemic lupus erythematosus,60 rheumatoid arthritis,15 systemic sclerosis,46 primary Sj(o)gren syndrome,10 mixed connective tissue disease and 60 healthy controls were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.The anti-NXP-2 antibodies were detected.The positive sera were further examined by immunoprecipitation assays.Statistical analyses were performed using student's t test or Mann-Wittney U test and x2 test.Results The positive rate of sera anti-NXP-2 autoantibodies in patients with IIM was 5.1％ (10/198),20.0％ (3/15) in patients with JDM,3.7％ (5/133) in patients with dermatomyositis,and 4.0％(2/50) in patients with polym-yositis.There was statistical significant difference in anti-NXP-2-positive rates between JDM,DM and PM (P＜0.05).However,the autoantibody did not present in patients with other CTDs as well as healthy controls.The anti-NXP-2-positive patients had significantly younger age [(33±20) vs (45±17) years old (t=-2.09,P＜0.05)] and higher incidence of calcinosis [30.0％(3/10) vs 2.6％(15/188)] compared with the anti-NXP-2-negativepatients (x2=0.7,P＜0.01).There were no statistical difference between the two groups in gender,disease duration,arthritis,rash,dysphagia,myasthenia,conccurrence with interstitial lung disease and cancer.In follow-up assessment,among the three JDM patients with anti-NXP-2 autoantibodies,one of them who died 10 months later had increased serum level of anti-NXP-2 autoantibody,extensive subcutaneous calcinosis,severe myasthenia and rapid progress.Conclusion This is the first report of the serum levels of anti-NXP-2 antibodies in Chinese patients with IIM and other CTDs.We find that anti-NXP-2 antibodies only exist in patients with IIM and are associated with early and calcinosis.