Objective To investigate the molecular epidemiology of human immunodefieiency viruses (HIV)-1 infected individuals in Honghe district,Yunnan Province and provide the evidence of molecular biology features of HIV-1 infection.Methods HIV-1 pol gene was amplified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).Then sequencing and phylogenetic tree analysis were employed tO determine HIV-I subgenotype.The sequence alignment was performed in the database of international drug resistance tO identify resistance-associated mutations.Results The samples from 60 HIV-1 infected individuals were investigated:39 were male,21 were female,with average age 35.5 years old.Thirty-four cases were infected with HIV-I through intravenous drug abuse,12 by sexual contacts,2 were contaminated blood/blood products transfusion and 12 with unknown transmission routes.Phylogenetic analysis revealed that 53 cases (88.3%) were subtype 08-BC,6 (10.0%) were subtype 07-BC and 1 (1.7%) was subtype 01_AE.The total rate of drug resistance associated mutations was 33.3%.The major mutations in protease (PR) and reverse transcriptase (RT) regions accounted for 5.0% and 3 1.7%,respectively.The major mutations in PR region were I541M,V82VFIL,M46MI,which were found in 1 case,respectively.The mutations in RT region were as follows:4 cases were T69D,6 were A62V,1 was D67DE,1 was E44D,3 were V179D,1 was V179E.1 was K238KN,1 was L234T+P236S and 1 was V106E.Conclusions The major transmission route of HIV-I infection in Honghe district,Yunnan Province is through drug injection.The major HIV-1 subtype of HIV-infeeted individuals is 08_BC.PR inhibitor and RT inhibitor drug resistance associated mutations in HlV-1 gene have already existed.

OBJECTIVETo study the protective function and pathophysiology of cystathionine gamma-lyase (CSE)/hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) system in hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury (HIRI) in rats.

METHODSWistar rats were randomly distributed into sham group (n = 18), ischemia-reperfusion (IR) group (n = 18), IR + NaHS group (n = 18) and IR + DL-propargylglycine (PAG) group (n = 18). The hepatic IR model was established by Pringle's hepatic vascular occlusion. At each of the indicated time points (1, 3 and 6 hours after IR), the serum levels of H(2)S and the hepatic CSE activity were measured. The serum levels of inflammatory factors, including TNF-α, IL-10 were determined by ELISA methods. The expression of apoptotic protein, TNF-α, in liver tissue was tested by Western blot assay, cell apoptosis was examined by TUNEL and the histological changes were examined in each group.

RESULTSThe serum levels of H(2)S and CSE activity were significantly increased in group IR compared with group sham at all indicated time points (P < 0.05). The serum level of inflammatory factors (P < 0.01) and the hepatic expression of TNF-α protein (P < 0.05) were elevated obviously in group IR than that in group sham. Administration of NaHS could reduce the production of inflammatory factors in serum (P < 0.01), inhibit hepatic protein expression of TNF-α (P < 0.05) and attenuate the liver histological scores of IR injury (P < 0.05), whereas PAG aggravated them.

CONCLUSIONThe endogenous CSE/H(2)S system maybe involved in the pathogenesis of hepatic IR injury, which suggests that CSE/H(2)S system can protect liver from IR injury in rats by intervening in inflammatory reaction, attenuating the injury severity and inhibiting expression of apoptotic protein TNF-α.

Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cystathionine gamma-Lyase ; blood ; physiology ; Disease Models, Animal ; Hydrogen Sulfide ; blood ; Interleukin-10 ; blood ; Liver ; blood supply ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Reperfusion Injury ; metabolism ; pathology ; physiopathology ; prevention & control ; Sulfides ; pharmacology ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; metabolism

Objective To investigate the effects of an ar?turmerone derivative(ATD)on the proliferation and apoptosis of A375 human melanoma cells. Methods Both A375 cells and human skin fibroblasts (HSFs) were cultured with different concentrations(5, 10, 20, 40 and 80μmol/L)of ATD, vincristine and ar?turmerone, separately, for 48 hours in vitro. Subsequently, cell counting kit?8 (CCK?8) was used to evaluate cell proliferation, inverted microscopy to observe cell morphology after acridine orange/ethidium bromide (AO/EB) staining, and a colorimetric method to estimate caspase?3 activity. DNA fragmentation assay and flow cytometry were performed to assess cell apoptosis, and flow cytometry was conducted to analyze cell cycle. Results ATD, vincristine and Ar?turmerone all inhibited the proliferation of A375 cells in a dose?dependent manner(ATD:R2=0.99, F=340.96, P<0.05;vincristine:R2=0.99, F=349.19, P<0.05;ar?turmerone:R2=0.89, F=25.41, P<0.05). The fifty percent inhibitory concentra?tions(IC50s)of ATD, vincristine and ar?turmerone against A375 cells were 15.96 ± 0.02μmol/L, 77.00 ± 0.04μmol/L and 356.95 ± 0.01μmol/L respectively. When the drug concentrations were 5 and 10μmol/L, the proliferation of HSFs was inhibited by 8%± 0.06%and 25%± 0.02%respectively by ATD, by 49%± 0.09%and 34%± 0.07%respectively by ar?turmerone, and by 33%± 0.04%and 29%± 0.08%respectively by vincristine, and the proliferation of A375 cells was inhibited by 26%± 0.06%and 39%± 0.02%respectively by ATD, by 6%± 0.09%and 10%± 0.07%respectively by ar?turmerone, and by 8% ± 0.04% and 17% ± 0.08% respectively by vincristine, with the inhibitory effects of the three drugs being significantly different from that of dimethyl sulfoxide(all P<0.05). ATD showed stronger inhibitory effects on the proliferation of A375 cells, but weaker cytotoxic effects on HSFs compared with ar?turmerone and vincristine(all P<0.05). Meanwhile, ATD, vincristine and ar?turmerone all induced the apoptosis of A375 cells(P<0.05), and caspase?3 activity increased with the increase in drug concentrations(ATD:R2=0.98, F=162.30, P<0.05;vincristine:R2=0.96, F=94.39, P<0.05;ar?turmerone:R2=0.95, F=57.35, P<0.05). The effect of ATD on caspase?3 activity was strongest, followed by that of vincristine and ar?turmerone. As flow cytometry showed, all the three drugs induced cell apoptosis to different degrees, and ATD showed a relatively strong effect on cell apoptosis, especially late apoptosis, compared with the other two drugs. In the ATD group, the number of A375 cells in G1 phase gradually increased, while that in G2 phase and S phase significantly decreased with the increase in drug concentrations. Conclusions ATD exhibited proliferation?inhibiting and apoptosis?inducing effects on A375 cells, and the effects were stronger than those of vincristine and ar?turmerone. It is quite possible that ATD affects cell proliferation and differentiation by activating caspase?3 and arresting cell cycle in the G1 phase.

Current studies have demonstrated that SLC38A1 proteins play a causal role in neoplastic cell transformation.The twofold aim of this study was to provide insight into whether a variance in the expression of SLC38A1 exists between human colorectal cancer and healthy human tissues and to determine how silencing or overexpressing the SLC38A1 gene could affect the proliferation,viability and migration of colorectal cancer cells.Immunohistochemical staining was used to analyze the expression of SLC38A1 in colorectal cancer tissues and adjacent normal mucosa in 77 patients who underwent surgical resection.The expression of SLC38A1 in colorectal cancer tissues and cell lines was detected using RT-PCR and Western blotting.Two colorectal cancer cell lines SW480 and HCT116 were used to examine whether silencing SLC38A1 with siRNA and overexpressing SLC38A1 with shRNA could affect cell viability and migration.As a result,the SLC38A1 protein was very low or undetectable in the normal colon mucosa.In contrast,strong staining of SLC38A1 protein was found in the cytoplasm in 79.2％ colorectal cancer samples.More pronounced SLC38A1 expression in colorectal cancer tissues was significantly associated with tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage.Inhibition of SLC38A1 reduced tumour growth and suppressed proliferation and migration of SW480 cells.In contrast,overexpression of SLC38A1 had the opposite effects on HCT116 cells.S LC38A1 is overexpressed in colorectal cancer,which suggests that it is associated with tumour progression.These results encourage the exploration of SLC38A1 as a target for intervention in colorectal cancer.

AIM:To investigate the inhibitory effect of allicin on apoptosis and caspase-12 activation of macro-phage-derived foam cells,and to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms. METHODS:RAW264.7 macrophages were pretreated with allicin (12.5,25 and 50 mg/L) or 4-phenylbutyric acid(PBA,4 mmol/L) for 1 h and then treated with oxidized low-density lipoprotein(ox-LDL,100 mg/L) or tunicamycin(TM,4 mg/L) for 24 h. The cell viability and apoptosis were examined by MTT assay and flow cytometry with Annexin V-FITC/PI staining,respectively. The activities of caspase-3 in the cells and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) in the medium were measured. The protein levels of caspase-12 were determined by Western blot. The intracellular lipid accumulation was measured with oil red O staining and the content of intracellular total cholesterol was determined by enzymatic colorimetry. RESULTS:Similar to the endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) inhibitor PBA, allicin inhibited ox-LDL-induced injury of RAW264.7 macrophages in a concentration-de-pendent manner,as determined by the increased cell viability and the decreased LDH leakage,apoptosis and caspase-3 ac-tivity. The decrease in cell viability and increases in LDH leakage and apoptosis induced by TM (an ERS inducer) were also suppressed by allicin. Moreover, similar to PBA, allicin remarkably inhibited ox-LDL- or TM-induced activation of caspase-12. Furthermore, allicin remarkably attenuated ox-LDL-induced lipid accumulation in the RAW264.7 cells and foam cells formation in a concentration-dependent manner. CONCLUSION:Allicin may inhibit macrophage-derived foam cell apoptosis induced by ox-LDL,and the mechanism is partially related to suppressing the activation of caspase-12.

Objective:To investigate the impact of the CD4+CD25nt/hiCD127lo regulatory T cell subset frequency on the immune status and disease progression of Chinese HIV-1 infected individuals.Methods:83 untreated HIV-infected individuals and 312 healthy control individuals of four distinct age groups were enrolled in the research. The CD4+ T cell absolute counts, phenotypes and frequency determination of CD4+CD25nt/hiCD127lo Regulatory T cell subsets was performed on freshly obtained whole blood samples by 3-color immune staining flow cytometry. The HIV-1 specific cellular immune function was test at single cell level by ELISpot. The corresponding plasma viral load was determined by NASBA.Results:The frequency of peripheral CD4+CD25nt/hiCD127lo regulatory T cells of HIV infected individuals in distinct disease progression status was dissimilar in China , and significantly increased in contrast to the healthy controls(P

The mutant population of Xanthomonas oryzae pv oryzae strain differential to rice bacterial blight resistance gene Xa23 has been constructed mediated by transposon in vivo . The results of PCR amplification with specific primers and analysis of flanking sequence of mutants indicated that the foreign DNA has been integrated into X. oryzae pv oryzae genome. Four mutants with changed avirulent activity to Xa23 gene have been identified by artificial inoculation. It is possible to clone genes that are required for AvrXa23 avirulence activity using this new strategy.
Bacterial Proteins ; genetics ; Base Sequence ; DNA Transposable Elements ; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ; Genes, Plant ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Mutation ; Oryza ; genetics ; microbiology ; Plant Diseases ; microbiology ; Plants, Genetically Modified ; genetics ; microbiology ; Virulence ; Xanthomonas ; genetics ; pathogenicity ; physiology

Objective To explore the clinical significance of colonoscopy follow-up in Chinese Lynch syndrome mismatch repair (MMR) gene mutation carriers.Methods The results of colonoscopy follow-up was analyzed in 194 MMR gene mutation carriers of 50 Lynch syndrome families.The follow-up period was from April 2001 to November 2016.The detection rates of advanced adenomas and colorectal cancers,five-year survival rate and ten year survival rate were compared between 123 patients of regular follow-up group (colonoscopy interval less than two years) and 71 patients of irregular follow-up group (time colonoscopy interval more than two years).T test,chi-square test and Kaplan-Meier method were performed for statistically analysis.Results The incidence of colorectal cancer of irregular follow up group was significantly higher than that of regular follow-up group (57.7％,41/71 vs 22.8％,28/123);and the difference was statistically significant (x2 =24.00,P＜0.01).The average age at diagnosis for colorectal cancer in irregular follow up group was younger than that of regular follow up group ((45.3 ± 1.9) years vs (48.7±1.8) years);and the difference was statistically significant (t=4.10,P＜0.01).In regular follow-up group,28.6％ (8/28) advanced-stage colorectal cancer (TNM Ⅲ or Ⅳ) was found,while in irregular follow up group,73.2 ％ (30/41) advanced-stage colorectal cancer was found,and there was statistically significant difference in pathological stage between two groups (x2 =4.90,P =0.032).The five year and ten-year survival rates of regular follow-up group were 96.2 ％ and 85.1 ％,respectively,which were both higher than those of irregular follow-up group (46.3 ％ and 28.7 ％);and the differences were statistically significant (x2 =13.20 and 14.80,both P＜0.05).The incidence of advanced adenomas of irregular follow up group was significantly higher than that of regular follow-up group (49.3％,35/71 vs 18.7％,23/123);and the difference was statistically significant (x2 =20.10,P＜0.05).The detection rate of advanced adenomas of MMR gene mutation carriers was higher than those without MMR mutation gene (85.4％,35/41 vs 14.6％,6/41);and the difference was statistically significant (x2 =5.20,P＜ 0.05).Conclusion Regular colonoscopy surveillance may decrease the incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer in MMR mutation carriers of Lynch syndrome families,and increase five-year and tenyear survival rates.

The sialyl Lewis X (SLex) antigen encoded by the FUT7 gene is the ligand of endotheliam-selectin (E-selectin).The combination of SLex antigen and E-selectin represents an important way for malignant tumor metastasis.In the present study,the effect of the SLeX-binding DNA aptamer on the adhesion and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells in vitro was investigated.Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunofluorescence staining were conducted to detect the expression of FUT7 at both transcriptional and translational levels.The SLex expression in HepG2 cells treated with different concentrations of SLeX-binding DNA aptamer was detected by flow cytometry.Besides,the adhesion,migration,and invasion of HepG2 cells were measured by cell adhesion assay,and the Transwell migration and invasion assay.The results showed that the FUT7 expression was up-regulated at both mRNA and protein levels in HepG2 cells.SLeX-binding DNA aptamer could significantly decrease the expression of SLex in HepG2 cells.The cell adhesion assay revealed that the SLeX-binding DNA aptamer could effectively inhibit the interactions between E-selectin and SLex in the HepG2 cells.Additionally,SLeX-binding DNA aptamers at 20 nmol/L were found to have the similar effect to the monoclonal antibody CSLEX-1.The Transwell migration and invasion assay revealed that the number of penetrating cells on the down-side of Transwell membrane was significantly less in cells treated with 5,10,20 nmol/L SLeX-binding DNA aptamer than those in the negative control group (P＜0.01).Our study demonstrated that the SLeX-binding DNA aptamer could significantly inhibit the in vitro adhesion,migration,and invasion of HepG2 cells,suggesting that the SLeX-binding DNA aptamer may be used as a potential molecular targeted drug against metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma.

The Grainyhead-like 3 (GRHL3) is involved in epidermal barrier formation,neural tube closure and wound repair.Previous studies have suggested that GRHL3 has been linked to many different types of cancers.However,to date,its effects on human colorectal cancer (CRC) has not been clarified yet.Our microarray analysis has indicated predominant GRHL3 expression in CRC.The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression and significance of GRHL3 in CRC tumorigenesis using CRC tissues and paired paracancerous tissues,as well as using distinct CRC cell lines (HT29 and DLD1).We observed increased GRHL3 expression at both mRNA and protein levels in CRC tissues and CRC cell lines using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blotting.Moreover,silencing GRHL3 with siRNA could suppress CRC cell proliferation,viability and migration in vitro.We also found that knockdown of GRHL3 could promote cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase in HT29 cells and DLD1 cells,and induce cell apoptosis in HT29 cells.Together,our study revealed the down-regulation of GRHL3 in vitro could inhibit CRC cell activity and trigger cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase and apoptosis.