Objective:To set up a real-time fluorescent RT-PCR and to quantitate the expression levels of hTERT mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with AML and to observe the correlation between the expression of hTERT mRNA and occurrence and relapse of AML and to probe into the correlation between the expression of hTERT mRNA and telomerase activity.Methods:Real time fluorescent RT-PCR and Lightcycler PCR system were used to quantitate expression levels of hTERT mRNA.PCR-ELISA was used to quantitate telomerase activity.Results:①N_(hTERT) from AML at initial presention,AML at relapse,AML at complete remission and health examinee was 299.2?292.8,550.1?441.3,14.0?9.2 and 12.3?6.7 respectively and the expression levels of hTERT mRNA from AML at initial presention and AML at relapse elevated signficantly comparing to that from AML at complete remission and health examinee,moreover the expression levels from AML at relapse was higher than that from AML at initial presention significantly.②The telomerase activity from AML at initial presention,AML at relapse,AML at complete remission and health examinee was 32.8%?24.3%,48.6%?31.4%,7.4%?5.1% and 7.6%?3.6% respectively and the telomerase activity from AML at initial presention and AML at relapse elevated signficantly comparing to that from AML at complete remission and health examinee,moreover telomerase activity from AML at relapse was higher than that from AML at initial presention significantly.③There was a strong correlation between telomerase activity and the expression of hTERT mRNA and the correlation coeffecients was 0.78.Conclusion:The up-regulation of the expression levels of hTERT mRNA and telomerase activity are one of important factors during occurrence and relapse of AML,moreover there is a strong correlation between telomerase activity and the expression of hTERT mRNA.

To investigate the effect of autoimmune regulator (AIRE) on phagocytic clearance of apoptotic cells, a recombinant expression vector containing full-length human AIRE cDNA was transfected into 16HBE cells. After incubation with transfected 16HBE cells, engulfment of apoptotic HL-60 cells induced by camptothecin was detected by myeloperoxidase (MPO) staining. The change in the expression of Rac 1 in transfected 16HBE cells was determined by RT-PCR and Western blotting. The results showed that the phagocytosis percentage of the experimental group, the mock transfection group and the negative control group (non-apoptotic cells) was (25.50+/-3.67)%, (6.25+/-1.58)% and (1.0+/-0.67)%, respectively. Moreover, the expressions of Rac 1 mRNA and protein were up-regulated in AIRE-transfected 16HBE cells, suggesting that AIRE may function as a regulator in the phagocytic clearance of apoptotic cells by promoting the expression of Rac 1.

Objective To study whether ORF3 coded by fap1-orf4 gene locus of Streptococcus pa-rasanguis is involved in the regulation of Fap1 glycosylation and maturation and to investigate whether ORF3 influences Streptococcus parasanguis adhesion. Methods A gene replacement strategy was adapted to con-struct orf3 alleic replace mutant of Streptococcus parasanguis. Complementation assay and Western blot were used to test Fap1 expression levels. Whole saliva-coated hydroxyapatite (SHA) adhesion assay was adapted to determine Streptococcus parasanguis adhension. Results (1) Non-polar was found in strain VT1774, the orf3 alleic replace mutant of Streptococcus parasanguis. (2) Western blot showed that mature Fapl (Mr about 220 × 103) disappeared and were substituted with high molecular weight Fapl (Mr about 470 × 103) in strain VT1774, furthermore, complementation assay showed VT1775, the complementation strain of VT1774, re-stored mature Fapl expression. (3) The binding ability reduced significantly in strain VT1774. Conclusion ORF3 coded byfapl-orf4 gone locus was required for Fap1 glycosylation and maturation in Streptococcus pa-rasanguis, orf3 alleic replacment resulted in Fap1 glycosylation and mature disorder and decreasing of adhen-sion ability of Streptococcus parasanguis.

AIM: To observe whether transfection of mammalian expression vector pEGFP containing the gene of B-cell specific moloney leukemia virus insertion site 1(BMI-1) could express in human cervix cancer cell line HeLa, and to detect its effect on HOX family expression and cell cycle.METHODS: pEGFP-BMI-1 was transfected into HeLa cells with Lipofectamine 2000. The expression of pEGFP-BMI-1 was determined by EGFP fluorescence and Western blotting. SYBR green I real-time RT-PCR was used to quantitate mRNA expression of P16~(INK4a), hTERT, HOXA9, HOXB4 and HOXC13. FACS analysis was used to detect the change of cell cycle.RESULTS: In HeLa cells transfected with pEGFP-BMI-1, the results of real-time RT-PCR showed that the mRNA expressions of P16~(INK4a), HOXA9 and HOXC13 were reduced to 9.2%, 10.9% and 69.7%, respectively, as compared to control HeLa cells (P<0.01). However, hTERT and HOXB4 mRNA expressions did not change significantly (P>0.05). FACS analysis showed a decrease from 65.68 % to 50.53% in G_1 population and a significant increase from 27.17% to 39.59 % in S population after transfection (P<0.01).CONCLUSION: BMI-1 over-expression in HeLa cells down-regulates mRNA expressions of P16~(INK4a), HOXA9 and HOXC13, decreases G_1 population and increases S population. Therefore, BMI-1 may be involved in carcinogenesis and cancer development.

Objective To investigate whether two polymorphism sites of the the exon 2 Lys65Lys(G/A) and exon 9 Va1365Met(G/A) in T ceils immunoglobulin domain and mucin domain protein-4(TIM-4) are associated with asthma in Chinese Han population of Hubei province. Methods The polymorphisms were de-tected with polymerase ehain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism(PCR-RFLP) in 185 cases of al-lergic asthma and 162 healthy controls. The genotype and allele frequencies were calculated and analyzed. Re-sults(1)The genotype frequencies of G/G, G/A and A/A in Lys65Lys(G/A)polymorphism were 0.840, 0.160 and 0 respectively in the healthy population, and were 0.859, 0.141 and 0 respectively in the allergic asthma population. No significant difference in genotype and allele frequencies was found between asthma pa-tients and the control subjects (P=0.603, P=0.618). (2) The polymorphism of the Val365 Met(G/A) was not detected in our study. Conclusion There is polymorphism site of the exon 2 Lys65Lys(G/A)in TIM-4, but this polymorphism site is not associated with asthma in Han nationality in Hubei Chinese population. There is no SNP of the exon 9 Val365Met(G/A) in TIM-4 in Chinese Han population of Hubei province.

Objective To investigate whether glucosyltransfernse(GTF) and open reading frame 4 (ORF4) coded by fap1-orf4 gene locus of Streptococcus parasanguis was involved in the regulation of Fap1 glycosylation, and mature and to determine whether there was interaction between GTF and ORF4. Methods A gene replacement strategy was adapted to construct gtf and orf4 allele replace mutant of S. Parasanguis. Complementation assay and Western blot were used to test fap1 expression levels. Yeast two-hybrid analysis and GST pull down assays were adapted to determine the interaction between GTF and ORF4. Results (1) Compared with wild S. Parasanguis, mature Fapl (Mr about 220×103) disappeared and were substituted with high molecular weight Fapl (Mr about 360×103) in gtf or orf4 alleie replace mutants of S. Parasan-guis. Complementation assay showed that pVPT-GFP-gtf and pVPT-GFP-orf4 restored mature fap1 expression in gtf or orf4 alleie replace mutants, respectively. (2) With Yeast two-hybrid analysis, the eotransformants, AH109/pAD-Gtf+pBD-orf4 and AHlOg/pAD-orf4+pBD-gtf growed on SD-LTHA selective ngar plate after streaked, reversely, the eotransformants, AH109/pAD+pBD-orf4,AH109/pAD+pBD-gtf、AH109/pBD+ pAD-orf4、AH109/pBD+pAD-gtf did not grow on SD-LTHA selective agar plate, furthermore, the cotrans-formants, AH109/pAD+pBD-orf4 and AH109/pAD-orf4+pBD-gtfshowed blue during X-α-gal assay. (3) GST pull down assay confirmed the direct interaction between GTF and ORF4. Conclusion There is inter-action between GTF and ORF4 coded byfapl-orf4 gene locus of S. Parasangnis and the formation of the GTF and ORF4 complex was required for the glycosylation and mature of Fapl in S. Parasanguis.

Objective To investigates the gene expression of telomerase by real-time quantitative telomeric-repeat amplification protocol assay (RTQ-TRAP) in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of colorectal carcinoma patients and the relationship between the telomerase gene expression in PBMC and clinicopathological features. Methods Peripheral blood samptes were collected from 71 colorectal carcinoma patients, 20 benign colorectal disease patients and 25 normal controls. The telomerase gene expression in PBMC was measured by RTQ-TRAP, and serum CEA in colorectal carcinoma patients was measured by chemiluminescence immunoassay. Results The gene expression of telomerase in PBMC was positive in 50 out of 71 cancer patients (70. 4% ) , 1 out of benign patients (5. 0% ), respectively. The difference of the telomerase gene expression of PBMC in benign colorectal diseases and cancer patients was significant (χ2 = 24. 521, P < 0. 001 ). There was no significant association between the expression of telomerase and patient's gender, age, Dukes stage, and tumor site. The positive rate of CEA in colorectal carcinoma patients was not significantly higher than positive rate of telomerase gene expression(χ2 = 2. 286,P = 0. 125). Conclusions The RTQ-TRAP method is highly accurate and sensitive in measuring telomerase gene expression. The detection of telomerase gene expression in PBMC of colorectal carcinoma patients is a simple and useful molecular marker for the diagnosis of colorectal carcinoma.

Objective To explore the peptides that can mimic the blood type A antigen and evaluate the anti-A antibody detection value of these peptides.Methods The anti-A monoclonal antibodv (NaM87-1F6)was used to panning the phage clones from a phage display 12-mer peptide library.Positive clones were identified by phage ELISA,phage mieropanning methods.Phage DNA Was sequenced and the corresponding peptide sequences were deduced.Agglutination inhibition test WaS performed to assess the ability of phage clones to inhibit the binding between the type A red blood cell and the anti-A antibody. ABO-ELISA based on the selected peptides was compared with classical haemagglutination test jn the detection of senlm anti-A antibody.Results Seven positive clones were chosen after panning,phage ELISA and phage micropanning.Six clones displayed peptide EYWYCGMNRTGC(C5),the other one displayed peptide QIWYERTLPFTF(C17).The phages displaying the selected peptides could specifically inhibit agglutination of type A red blood cells(RBCs)by anti-A antibodies.In the ABO-ELISA based on C5 and C17,the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)Curve showed that area under curve(AUC)were 0.889 (P=0.000),0.75l(P=0.000)respectively.The Spearman correlation Coeffieient between the ABO-EliSA value and the antibody titer derived from haemagglutination assay were 0.743(P<0.01),0.664(P<0.01)respectively.As for C5,0.300 was the best cut-off for ABO-ELISA with 82.2% sensitivity and 83.3% specificity.As for C17,the sensitivity and specificity of ABO-ELISA was 68.9% and 63.3% respectively when the cut-off value was 0.250.Conclusions The peptides EYWYCGMNRTGC and QIWYERTLPFTF can mimic the blood type A antigenic epitope.ABO-ELISA based on these peptides has the potential for the detection of anti-A antibody.

Telomerase activity and the expression of telomerase subunits (for example, telomerase reverse transcriptase and telomerase associated protein 1 and telomerase RNA component) of peripheral white blood cells were detected in the patients with acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML) and the correlation between telomerase activity and the expression of telomerase subunits was observed. In 94 peripheral white blood cells from 18 healthy volunteers and 76 patients with AML, including 31 AML at initial presentation, 24 at relapse and 21 at complete remission, the telomerase activity and telomerase subunits mRNA or RNA were detected by PCR-ELISA and RT-PCR respectively. The results showed that the positive rate of telomerase from patients with AML at initial presentation, at relapse and at complete remission was 74.1%, 79.2% and 4.8% respectively. The positive rate of telomerase reverse transcriptase mRNA from healthy volunteers, AML at initial presentation, AML at relapse and AML at complete remission was 5.6%, 80.6%, 83.3% and 9.5% respectively. The positive rate of telomerase associated protein 1 mRNA and telomerase RNA component in all samples were 100%. It was suggested that the up-regulation of telomerase activity and the expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase is correlated closely with the occurrence and relapse of AML, so telomerase activity and the expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase may be used to estimate the curative effect and predict relapse of AML. Moreover, the up-regulation of telomerase activity is correlated with the expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase significantly.
Carrier Proteins/*metabolism ; DNA-Binding Proteins ; Leukemia, Myelocytic, Acute/*enzymology ; RNA/metabolism ; RNA, Messenger/metabolism ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Telomerase/*metabolism

To detect the expression of telomerase subunits (human telomerase reverse transcriptase, human telomerase associated protein 1 and human telomerase RNA) in gastric cancer and to examine the role that different telomerase subunits play in the gastric carcinogenesis, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect telomerase subunits messenger RNA in 24 samples of gastric cancer and corresponding non-cancerous tissue. The results showed that the positive rate of hTERT mRNA from gastric cancer and corresponding non-cancerous tissues was 100% and 25%, respectively. The former was significantly higher than the latter (chi2 = 26.4, P < 0.01). The positive rate of hTEP1 mRNA from gastric cancer and corresponding non-cancerous tissues was 100% and 91.7%, respectively and no significant difference was found between them (chi2 = 2.1, P > 0.05). The positive rates of hTR for gastric cancer and corresponding non-cancerous tissues were both 100% and no significant difference existed between them. It is concluded that in contrast to hTEP1 and hTR, the up-regulation of hTERT mRNA expression may play a more important role in the development of gastric cancer.
Carrier Proteins/biosynthesis ; Carrier Proteins/genetics ; RNA/biosynthesis ; RNA/genetics ; RNA, Messenger/biosynthesis ; RNA, Messenger/genetics ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Stomach Neoplasms/*metabolism ; Telomerase/*biosynthesis ; Telomerase/genetics