Two DNA fragments, designated as P190CRI (AA1-55) and P190CRV (AA1597-1667) respectively, which encoded amino acid residues of conserved region I and V on the P190 antigen, were amplified by polymerase chain reaction from genomic DNA in FCC1/HN strain of Plasmodium falcipamm isolated from Hainan Province, China. It was found that there were five bases substitution in the P190CRV, in comparison with the nucleotide sequences of MAD20 strain. These two sequenced fragments were inserted into pGEX-2T plasmid. E.coli JM109 (DE3) were transformed with the recombinant plasmids and the parental plasmid. The results show that the two fragments were expressed at high level as C-terminal fusions with glutathione s-transferase (GST). The fusion proteins were easily purified from bacterial lysates by affinity chromatography using glutathione sepharose 4B.

190-kilodalton glycoprotein (P190) of Plasmodium falciparum. precursor of the major surface protein of merozoites, is considered a promising candidate for blood stage malarial vaccine. We designed six primers according to the sequence of MAD20 strain, with a GC clamp and BamHI site at the 5'- end of each one, and a GC clamp and Xbal site at the 3'- end of each one. The primers were synthesized by phosphoramidite approach (User's Manual of ABI Company) and purified using HPLC. Three fragments in the second, third and fourth conserved regions of P190 gene of Plasmodium falciparum FCC1/HN strain isolated from the blood of patients in Hainan Province of China were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. The amplified fragments were subcloned into pUC18 vectors and sequenced using the dideoxy chain termination method. All three regions of P190 gene of FCCl/HN strain also were highly conservative as compared with P190 gene of MAD20 (Papua New Guinea isolate), K1 (Thailand isolate), Wellcome (West Africa isolate) and CAMP (Malaysia) strains of Plasmodium falciparum. The C at position 81 in the second conserved block of P190 gene of FCC1/HN isolate was substituted by T, which did not change the amino acid determined by the coden corresponding to the substitution.

[ ABSTRACT] AIM:To investigate the effect of oxidized low-density lipoprotein ( ox-LDL) on autophagy in mac-rophages and the underlying molecular mechanisms.METHODS:RAW264.7 macrophages were pretreated with 2 mg/L anti-CD36 monoclonal antibody (anti-CD36 mAb), 5 μmol/L diphenyleneiodonium (DPI), 3 mmol/L 3-methyladenine (3-MA) or 1μmol/L rapamycin for 1 h and then treated with ox-LDL (100 mg/L) for 12 h.The viability of the cells was measured by MTT assay.The activities of lactic dehydrogenase ( LDH) in the medium and nicotinamide adenine dinucleoti-de phosphate ( NADPH) oxidase, superoxide dismutase ( SOD) in the cells as well as the levels of intracellular reactive ox-ygen species ( ROS) and malondialdehyde ( MDA) were determined to characterize the membrane integrity and the oxida-tive stress, respectively.The protein levels of beclin-1 and microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3-II ( LC3-II) , 2 important molecular markers of autophagy, were examined by Western blotting.RESULTS:ox-LDL induced autophagy in
RAW264.7 macrophages as assessed by upregulation of beclin-1 and LC3-II.Similar to 3-MA, an autophagy inhibitor, an-ti-CD36 mAb significantly inhibited the ox-LDL-induced upregulation of beclin-1 and LC3-II.Anti-CD36 mAb suppressed the ox-LDL-induced oxidative stress as revealed by decreased NADPH oxidase activation, ROS and MDA generation as well as increased SOD activity.Similar results were observed in the cells pretreated with DPI, a NADPH oxidase inhibitor.Mo-reover, DPI significantly inhibited the ox-LDL-induced upregulation of beclin-1 and LC3-II.Inaddition, the decrease in the cell viability and increase in LDH release induced by ox-LDL were promoted by 3-MA and blocked by rapamycin ( an auto-phagy inducer).CONCLUSION: ox-LDL induces autophagy in RAW264.7 macrophages, which may be involved in CD36-mediated ox-LDL uptake and subsequent activation of oxidative stress, and moderate activation of autophagy may pro-tect macrophages from ox-LDL-induced injury.

AIM:To investigate the effect of quercetin on the biological functions of rat bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and its potential mechanisms.METHODS:The bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells of Sprague-Dawley rats were isolated by density gradient centrifugation.The differentiated EPCs were cultured specially and stained with DiI-Ac-LDL and FITC-UEA-1.CD133+ and FLK-1+ were detected on the cell surfaces.After 14 d, the EPCs were incubated with a PI3K inhibitor BYL719 (3 μmol/L) and an ERK inhibitor FR180204 (15 μmol/L).After incubation of the inhibitors for 2 h, the cells were treated with quercetin at different concentrations (0, 10, 20, 40, 80 and 100 μmol/L).MTT assay and Transwell assay were used to detect cell viability and the number of migratory cells.The protein levels of AKT, eNOS, ERK and their phosphorylated status were determined by Western blot.RESULTS:Quercetin enhanced the viability and migration of the EPCs at a dose-dependent manner.However, the PI3K inhibitor BYL719 suppressed the QUE-induced cell viability and migration.Moreover, ERK inhibitor FR180204 exerted the similar inhibitory effect on the cell viability but had no effect on cell migration.Quercetin activated the phosphorylation of AKT, eNOS and ERK.On the other hand, BYL719 was observed to inhibit the phosphorylation of AKT and ERK.FR180204, however, was showed to inhibit the phosphorylation of ERK only.On the contrast, the stimulatory effects that quercetin exerted on the expression of eNOS and its phosphorylation were suppressed by BYL719 and FR180204.CONCLUSION:Quercetin stimulates the viability and migration of EPCs via PI3K/AKT/eNOS and ERK/eNOS signaling pathway, which would be beneficial for cardiovascular health.

[ABSTRACT]AIM:ToinvestigatetheeffectofD4F,anapolipoproteinA-Imimeticpeptide,onoxidizedlow-density lipoprotein ( ox-LDL)-induced macrophage apoptosis and activation of caspase-12, a key molecule in endoplasmic reticulum stress ( ERS )-associated apoptotic pathway, and to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms. METHODS:RAW264.7 macrophages were pretreated with D4F (12.5, 25 and 50 mg/L), 4-phenylbutyric acid (PBA, 5 mmol/L) or diphenyleneiodonium ( DPI, 5 μmol/L) for 1 h and then treated with ox-LDL (100 mg/L) or tunicamycin ( TM, 4 mg/L) for 24 h.The cell viability and apoptosis were determined by MTT assay and TUNEL detection, respective-ly.The levels of malondialdehyde ( MDA) and reactive oxygen species ( ROS) in the cells and the activities of superoxide dismutase ( SOD) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate ( NADPH) oxidase were determined.The protein level of caspase-12 was examined by Western blot analysis.RESULTS: Similar to the ERS inhibitor PBA, D4F protected RAW264.7 macrophages from ox-LDL or TM ( an ERS inducer)-induced decrease in the viability and increase in apoptotic rate in a dose-dependent manner.Like DPI (an oxidative stress inhibitor), D4F significantly inhibited ox-LDL-induced ox-idative stress, as expressed by the decreased generation of ROS and MDA ( P<0.01) , the increased activity of SOD and the decreased activity of NADPH oxidase (P<0.05).Moreover, similar to PBA and DPI, D4F significantly suppressed ox-LDL-induced activation of caspase-12 in a concentration-dependent manner ( P<0.05) .Furthermore, D4F also inhibi-ted the caspase-12 activation induced by TM (P<0.05).CONCLUSION: D4F inhibits macrophage apoptosis induced by ox-LDL, and the mechanism is at least partially by reducing oxidative stress and inhibiting the activation of caspase-12.

Objective To examine the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the metacognition assessment scale 2009 (MAS-R 2009).Methods Sixty college students from a medical university in Shenyang were enrolled in the study.All the subjects were required to fill in the basic information questionnaire,IRI-C,SPM,and the Chinese version of the MAS-R 2009 and had to be interviewed.Two to four weeks later,6 college students were randomly selected to be interviewed again.Results Cronbach'sα coefficient of the Chinese version of MAS-R 2009 was 0.934,test-retest reliability of the scale was 0.935 (r ＜ 0.01),and inter-rater reliability of the scale was 0.832 (P ＜ 0.01).The Chinese version of the MAS-R 2009 had good content validity.The correlation coefficient between the items and the subscales in MAS-R 2009 showed high correlation,and the correlation coefficient ranged from 0.456 to 0.905.Conclusion The results indicate that the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the revised metacognitive assessment scale 2009 has satisfied the psychometric requirements.It has a certain application value for domestic research and scientific research on the ability of mentalization.

BACKGROUND: Radiation therapy is one of the most common treatments for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the insensitivity of some tumor cells to radiation is one of the major reasons for the poor efficacy of radiotherapy and the poor prognosis of patients, and exploring the underlying mechanisms behind radioresistance is the key to solving this clinical challenge. This study aimed to identify the molecules associated with radioresistance in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), identified thyroid hormone receptor interactor 13 (TRIP13) as the main target initially, and explored whether TRIP13 is related to radioresistance in LUAD and the specific mechanism, with the aim of providing theoretical basis and potential targets for the combination therapy of LUAD patients receiving radiotherapy in the clinic. METHODS: Three datasets, GSE18842, GSE19188 and GSE33532, were selected from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and screened for differentially expressed genes (|log FC|>1.5, P<0.05) in each of the three datasets using the R 4.1.3 software, and then Venn diagram was used to find out the differentially expressed genes common to the three datasets. The screened differential genes were then subjected to protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis and module analysis with the help of STRING online tool and Cytoscape software, and survival prognosis analysis was performed for each gene with the help of Kaplan-Meier Plotter database, and the TRIP13 gene was identified as the main molecule for subsequent studies. Subsequently, the human LUAD cell line H292 was irradiated with multiple X-rays using a sub-lethal dose irradiation method to construct a radioresistant cell line, H292DR. The radioresistance of H292DR cells was verified using cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and clone formation assay. The expression levels of TRIP13 in H292 and H292DR cells were measured by Western blot. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) was used to silence the expression of TRIP13 in H292DR cells and Western blot assay was performed. The clone formation ability and migration ability of H292DR cells were observed after TRIP13 silencing, followed by the detection of changes in the expression levels of proteins closely related to homologous recombination, such as ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) protein. RESULTS: Screening of multiple GEO datasets, validation of external datasets and survival analysis revealed that TRIP13 was highly expressed in LUAD and was associated with poor prognosis in LUAD patients who had received radiation therapy. And the results of gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) of TRIP13 suggested that TRIP13 might be closely associated with LUAD radioresistance by promoting homologous recombination repair after radiation therapy. Experimentally, TRIP13 expression was found to be upregulated in H292DR, and silencing of TRIP13 was able to increase the sensitivity of H292DR cells to radiation. CONCLUSIONS TRIP13 is associated with poor prognosis in LUAD patients treated with radiation, possibly by promoting a homologous recombination repair pathway to mediate resistance of LUAD cells to radiation.
Humans ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; Lung Neoplasms/radiotherapy* ; Adenocarcinoma of Lung/radiotherapy* ; Cell Count ; Combined Modality Therapy ; ATPases Associated with Diverse Cellular Activities ; Cell Cycle Proteins

BACKGROUND: Low-density computed tomography (LDCT) improved early lung cancer diagnosis but introduces an excess of false-positive pulmonary nodules data. Hence, accurate diagnosis of early-stage lung cancer remains challenging. The purpose of the study was to assess the feasibility of using circulating tumour cells (CTCs) to differentiate malignant from benign pulmonary nodules. METHODS: 122 patients with suspected malignant pulmonary nodules detected on chest CT in preparation for surgery were prospectively recruited. Peripheral blood samples were collected before surgery, and CTCs were identified upon isolation by size of epithelial tumour cells and morphological analysis. Laser capture microdissection, MALBAC amplification, and whole-exome sequencing were performed on 8 samples. The diagnostic efficacy of CTCs counting, and the genomic variation profile of benign and malignant CTCs samples were analysed. RESULTS: Using 2.5 cells/5 mL as the cut-off value, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was of 0.651 (95% confidence interval: 0.538-0.764), with a sensitivity and specificity of 0.526 and 0.800, respectively, and positive and negative predictive values of 91.1% and 30.3%, respectively. Distinct sequence variations differences in DNA damage repair-related and driver genes were observed in benign and malignant samples. TP53 mutations were identified in CTCs of four malignant cases; in particular, g.7578115T>C, g.7578645C>T, and g.7579472G>C were exclusively detected in all four malignant samples. CONCLUSIONS CTCs play an ancillary role in the diagnosis of pulmonary nodules. TP53 mutations in CTCs might be used to identify benign and malignant pulmonary nodules.
Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; Exome Sequencing ; Multiple Pulmonary Nodules ; Carcinoma ; DNA Repair