Objective To investigate the immunogenicity and cross protective effects of two novel HCV DNA vaccines in a mice model.Methods Two self-replicating alphavirus vector-based HCV DNA vaccines, pSCK CE1E2Y and pSCK H155, were constructed based on the genes encoding the structural pro-teins (Core, E1 and E2) and structural and NS3 fusion proteins (Core, E1 , E2 and NS3) of a HCV strain isolated from a Chinese patient (genotype 1b, Hebei strain), respectively.Western blot analysis was per-formed to detect the expression of fusion antigens.The BALB/c mice were intradermally immunized with the recombinant DNA vaccines by using electroporation.The immune responses induced in mice and the cross protective effects of the recombinant DNA vaccines were evaluated.Results The DNA vaccines effectively expressed the target antigens in vitro.The antigen-specific antibody responses and specific T cell immune re-sponses were induced in mice by the immunization of replicative DNA vaccines.However, no effective cross protection was provided by either of the DNA vaccines in the surrogate challenge model based on a recombi-nant heterologous HCV (JFH1, 2a) vaccinia virus strain.Conclusion Although no effective cross protec-tion was observed, both of the two replicative DNA vaccines could induce strong humoral and cellular im-mune responses against multi-target antigens of HCV strains.This study has paved the way for further inves-tigation on the development of novel HCV vaccines.

Objective To study the regulation of microRNA 199a (miR-199a) on adhesion,migration and invasion ability of human eutopic endometrial stromal cells (ESC) from patients with endometriosis.Methods ESC were transfected with miR-199a mimics or negative control (NC) RNA by lipofectamine 2000.The adhesion,migration and invasion ability of ESC were detected by cell adhesion assay,scratch assay,cell migration assay and matrigel invasion assay,respectively.Luciferase reporter assay was used to evaluate whether IKKβ was the target gene of miR-199a.The expression of ikappa B kinase beta (IKKβ),inhibitory kappa B alpha (IκB-α),phospho-IκB-α (p-IκB-α) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF κB) protein were measured by western blot.Results ( 1 ) Adhesion potential:the adhesion inhibitory rates were ( 14 ± 4 )％ in miR-199a group and 0 in control group,which showed significant difference (P＜0.01 ).(2) Migration and invasion:in the scratch assay,ESC transfected with miR-199a exhibited a lower scratch closure rate than that of controls.In migration and invasion assays,the migration and invasion ability of miR-199a group were significantly decreased compared with those of NC group [ 130 ± 31 vs.247±36 (P＜0.01); 63 ± 15 vs.133 ± 17 (P＜0.01),respectively].(3) The luciferase activity of miR-199a group was significantly lowered than that of control group [ 0.160 ± 0.006 vs.0.383 ± 0.083 ( P ＜0.01 ) ].The protein levels of IKKβ,p-IκB-α,IκB-α and NF-κB of 0.350 ±0.195,0.443 ±0.076,1.970 ±0.486 and 0.454 ± 0.147 in miR-199a group were significantly different compared with the NC group in which the protein levels were set at 1.000 ( P ＜ 0.01 ).Conclusions miR-199a can inhibit the adhesion,migration and invasion of the ESC.IKKβ is the target gene of miR-199a in ESC.One of the mechanisms of the inhibition effect is probably that miR-199a inhibits the activation of NF-κB signaling pathway by targeting IKKβ gene.

Objective To observe the effect of puromycin aminonucleoside(PAN) on the expressions of CD2associated protein (CD2AP) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3 K) p85 in induced podocytes,and to explore the significance of abnormal expression of CD2AP in apoptosis of podocytes in vitro.Methods Mouse podocytes were injected into the control group and the PAN treatment group (PAN group).The cells were cultured for 8 h,24 h and 48 h respectively.The podocyte morphology was observed by phase-contrast microscope.The apoptosis ratio of podocytes was determined with flow cytometry.The mRNA expression of CD2AP was detected by real time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction.The protein expressions of CD2AP and PI3K p85 were detected by Western blot,respectively.The distributions and the relationships between CD2AP and PI3K p85 in the podocytes were detected by confocal fluorescence microscopy.Results PAN treatment led to significant shrinkage of podocytes with decreasing distribution tendency,podocyte foot process retraction as well as effacement and loss of cell contact.Compared with the control group,the apoptosis rate was increased at 24 h and 48 h[(7.52 ± 1.35)％,(17.09 ±2.53)％ vs (4.32 ±0.81％,(6.81 ± 1.34)％] in PAN group and the differences were significant (t =4.98,8.79,all P ＜ 0.05) ;CD2AP mRNA expression tended to decrease at each time point,and the differences were significant (0.34 ± 0.12,0.46 ±0.21,0.47 ± 0.10 vs 0.62 ± 0.23,0.97 ± 0.14,0.96 ± 0.23),and there were statistical differences (t =2.64,4.95,4.79,all P ＜ 0.05) ;CD2AP and PI3K p85 protein expressions tended to decrease at 24 h (0.36 ± 0.12,0.61 ± 0.20 vs 0.64 ±0.23,0.97 ±0.31) and 48 h(0.27 ± 0.15,0.48 ± 0.20 vs 0.51 ± 0.20,0.84 ± 0.35),and the differences were significant(t =2.64,2.31,2.35,2.40,all P ＜ 0.05).In the control group,the distribution of CD2AP was uniformly filamentary structure in cytoplasm and nucleus of podocytes,after PAN treatment the distribution of CD2AP changed to discontinuous coarse granular concentrated in the perinuclear.Immunocyte fluorescence showed that the distribution and the relationships between CD2AP and PI3K p85 in the podocytes became abnormal.Conclusions When the apoptosis of podocytes was induced by PAN,the expression and distribution of CD2AP were abnormal.CD2AP may play an important role in the survival of podocytes though the PI3K signaling pathway.

As a new type of pesticides and because of their high performance and low toxicity, pyrethroid insecticides are widely used in place of organochlorine insecticides both in agriculture and in the home. In the recent years, more and more evidence indicates that pyrethroid insecticides can reduce sperm count and motility, cause deformity of the sperm head, increase the count of abnormal sperm, damage sperm DNA and induce its aneuploidy rate, as well as affect sex hormone levels and produce reproductive toxicity. The present article reviews the advances in the studies of male reproductive toxicity of pyrethroid pesticides by experiment in animals and human population, discusses the mechanism of male reproductive toxicity of pesticides and raises some problems concerning the evaluation of human reproductive hazards.
Animals ; Genitalia, Male ; drug effects ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Insecticides ; poisoning ; toxicity ; Male ; Mice ; Pyrethrins ; poisoning ; toxicity ; Rats ; Toxicity Tests

Objective To observe the formation of autophagosome,the expression and distribution of autophagy-related protein LC3-Ⅰ,LC3-Ⅱ and Beclin-1 in adriamycin nephropathy rats at different pathological periods,to explore the relationship between autophagy and renal tissue injury,the occurrence of proteinuria,the progression of renal disease.Methods Sixty normal male SD rats were randomly divided into control group (n=30) and model group (n=30),the rats in model group were injected with adriamycin(6.5 mg/kg) via tail-vein for one time,while the rats in control group were injected with saline.Urine protein quantitation of 24 hour,the levels of serum albumin and total cholesterol were measured serially at the 2,4,6,8,10 weeks.The changes of kidney tissue pathology were detected after HE,PAS and Masson staining by light microscope.The formation of autophagy were detected by transmission electron microscopy,the localization and distribution of LC3-Ⅰ,LC3-Ⅱ and Beclin-1 were detected by indirect immunofluorescence staining in kidney tissue,the autophagy-related proteins LC3-Ⅰ,LC3-Ⅱ and Beclin-1 expression was detected by Western blotting.Results In model group,urinary protein began to increase at the first two weeks,serum albumin decreased at the same time,and total cholesterol increased in the four weeks.There was a statistically significant difference compared with the control group (P ＜ 0.01).The Scr and BUN were increased slightly at the four weeks in model group,and showed the deterioration of renal function after the eight weeks.There was a statistically significant difference compared with the control group (P ＜ 0.01).Mesangial cell proliferation,mitochondrial swelling and foot process broadening and integration appeared early in the model group,while foot process disappearing and nuclear pyknosis were observed in the late by transmission electron microscope;Renal pathology gradually changed from mesangial proliferation to focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) by light microscope.A low expression of autophagy was detected in renal tissue of control group rats by transmission electron microscopy and immunofluorescence microscope;in model group,with the progression of disease,the autophagy was significantly enhanced and maintained at a high level.With the progression of disease,the autophagyrelated proteins LC3-Ⅰ,LC3-Ⅱ and Beclin-1 was significantly enhanced in the model group than the control group (P＜0.05).Conclusion Autophagy is involved in renal tissue injury and the occurrence of proteinuria,closely related to the progression of renal disease.

Objective To investigate the development strategy of novel T cell based vaccine against HCV infection.Methods BALB/c mice were primed with pSCK-based DNA vaccine and boosted with type 5 adenoviral vector-based vaccine, which expressed the structural proteins ( Core, E1 and E2) de-rived from a Chinese HCV patient (genotype 1b, Hebei strain).Enzyme linked immunospot assay (ELIS-POT) and intracellular cytokine staining ( ICS) were used to analyze the elicited antigen-specific immune re-sponses and the efficacy of cross-protection.Results Immunization of mice with the prime-boost vaccination strategy elicited stronger T cell immune responses against multiple HCV antigens than using the DNA vac-cines alone, especially the IFN-γ-secreting T cell responses against E1 protein as indicated by ELISPOT as-say.ICS data indicated that the prime-boost regimen elicited more TNF-α-producing CD4+and IFN-γ-produ-cing CD8+T cells against E1 protein and high levels of IFN-γ-producing CD4+and CD8+T cells against E2 protein in comparison with immunization with DNA vaccines.Moreover, the prime-boost vaccination was ca-pable of eliciting effective cross-protection in a surrogate challenge model based on a recombinant heterolo-gous HCV (JFH1, 2a) vaccinia virus.Conclusion The prime-boost vaccination using DNA and rAd5-based vaccine expressing HCV structural antigens induced significant cellular immune response and cross-protection in mice, suggesting the possibility of using it as a promising T cell based vaccine against HCV in-fection.

To develop a safe and broad-spectrum effective hepatitis C virus (HCV) T cell vaccine,we constructed the recombinant adenovirus-based vaccine that carried the hepatitis C virus truncated NS3 and core fusion proteins. The expression of the fusion antigen was confirmed by in vitro immunofluorescence and western blotting assays. Our results indicated that this vaccine not only stimulated antigen-specific antibody responses,but also activated strong NS3-specific T cell immune responses. NS3-specific IFN-γ+ and TNF-α+ CD4+ T cell subsets were also detected by a intracellular cytokine secretion assay. In a surrogate challenge assay based on a recombinant heterologous HCV (JFH1,2a) vaccinia virus,the recombinant adenovirus-based vaccine was capable of eliciting effective levels of cross-protection. These findings have im- portant implications for the study of HCV immune protection and the future development of a novel vaccine.
Adenoviridae ; genetics ; metabolism ; Animals ; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes ; immunology ; Cross Protection ; Female ; Genetic Vectors ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Hepacivirus ; genetics ; immunology ; Hepatitis C ; immunology ; prevention & control ; virology ; Humans ; Interferon-gamma ; immunology ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Recombinant Proteins ; administration & dosage ; genetics ; immunology ; Viral Core Proteins ; administration & dosage ; genetics ; immunology ; Viral Hepatitis Vaccines ; administration & dosage ; genetics ; immunology ; Viral Nonstructural Proteins ; administration & dosage ; genetics ; immunology

Aged ; Breast Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Mastectomy ; methods ; Metaplasia ; pathology ; Papilloma, Intraductal ; pathology ; surgery ; Sebaceous Glands ; pathology

Anastomosis, Surgical ; Colon, Sigmoid/surgery* ; Colorectal Neoplasms/surgery* ; Humans ; Robotics

OBJECTIVETo discuss the anti-tumor effect of Xihuang pill on tumor-bearing rats and its effect on the immune clearance function of tumor-bearing organisms.

METHODWalker256 tumor cells were adopted to establish the tumor-bearing rat model. The rats were randomly divided into five groups: the normal control group, the model control group, the lentinan group and Xihuang pill low dose, middle dose and high dose groups, with 10 rats in each group, and continuously treated and given drugs for 14 d after modeling. Blood and tumors were collected from abdominal aorta to calculate the tumor inhibition rate. The content of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ T cells and adhesion molecule B7-1 (CD80) in peripheral blood were detected by flow cytometry (FCM). The expressions of IL-2 and IFN-gamma in were determined by ELISA.

RESULTThe tumor inhibition rate of the Xihuang pill high dose group was 33. 1 percent. Compared with the model group, the Xihuang pill large dose group showed significantly low IL-2, IFN-gamma, CD3+, CD4+, B7-1 in peripheral blood, with statistical significance in their differences (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONXihuang pill could show its anti-tumor effect by enhancing the immune clearance function and increasing IL-2, IFN-gamma, CD3+ T, CD4+ T, B7-1 in peripheral blood.

Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents ; administration & dosage ; B7-1 Antigen ; genetics ; immunology ; Breast Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; genetics ; immunology ; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes ; drug effects ; immunology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Immune System ; drug effects ; Immunologic Factors ; administration & dosage ; Interferon-gamma ; genetics ; immunology ; Interleukin-2 ; genetics ; immunology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Tumor Burden ; drug effects