Objective To explore the effects of polymorphisms of Crohn's disease related NOD2 gene and human beta-defensin 2 (hBD-2) on transcription of hBD-2 gene and its mechanism. Methods HEK293T cells were transfected with hBD-2 gene and NOD2 eukaryotic expression plasmid, and were then stimulated with LPS, TNF-α, or BAY 11-7082 (antagonist of NF-κB), respectively. Transcriptional activity of hBD-2 was detected afterwards. Results LPS could suppress transcription of hBD-2 (P=0. 020), which was increased by TNF-α in a dose-dependent manner (P =0. 004). In the presence of LPS, there was sig-nificant difference in transcriptional activity of hBD-2 between wild-NOD2 transfected group and mutated NOD2 (P268S) transfected group (P=0. 008), but there was no significant difference between wild hBD-2 transfected group and mutated hBD-2 transfected group (P=0. 053). With the stimulation of TNF-α (5 ng/ml), there was a significant difference between mutated hBD-2 transfected group and wild hBD-2 transfected group (P=0. 006), but no significant difference between wild-NOD2 transfected and mutated NOD2 transfected group was defected (P = 0. 064). Pretreatment with BAY 11-7082 before TNF-α (5 ng/ml) significantly inhibited the transcriptional activity of hBD-2 (P < 0. 001). Conclusion The poly-morphism of NOD2 affects the innate expression of hBD-2, the polymorphism of site in hBD-2 promoter (-233) may lead to significant decline of the inducible expression of hBD-2, and NF-κB might be a key pathway that NOD2 protein mediates the expression of defensin.

Objective To investigate the association of two single nuclear peptides(SNPs)polymorphisms(rs11209026 and rs11805303)which lies in interleukin-23 receptor(IL23R)gene with susceptibility to inflammatory bowel disease(IBD).Methods The target SNPs were directly sequenced by polymerase chain reaction(PCR)and gene polymorphisms of 50 healthy and 81 patients with IBD (Crohn's disease in 41 patients and ulcerative colitis in 40 patients)were analyzed using chromassoftware.Results The geno-type frequency and allelic frequency of rs11209026 were 7.3%and 3.7%in patients with Crohn's disease respectively,15.0%and 7.5%in patients with ulcerative colitis respectively as well as 14.0%and 7.0%in normal population respectively(all P value＞0.05).The geno-type frequency and allelic frequency of rs11805303 were 22.0%and 52.4%in patients with Crohn's disease respectively,15.0% and 41.2% in patients with ulcerative colitis respectively as well as 34.0%and 59.0%in normal population respectively(all P value＞0.05).But in allelic frequency there was significant difference between ulcerative colitis patients and normal population(P=0.018).The polymorphisms of rs11805303 loci did not correlate with age,gender,disease duration.activity and site in patients with ulcerative colitis.Conclusions IL23R gene polymorphism is not associated with the susceptibility to Crohn's disease.rs11805303 allele may be related with susceptibility to ulcerative colitis.But no correlation was found between the SNP polymorphisms and the clinical characteristic of ulcerative colitis.

Objective To investigate the correlation between quantitative parameters of dynamic contrast?enhanced MRI (DCE?MRI) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and pathological grades in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Methods Fifty?six patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who were confirmed by esophagoscope and received neoadjuvant chemotherapy before operation between September 2015 and December 2017 in the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University were prospectively analyzed, and MRI examination was performed within one week before operation. All patients underwent routine chest MRI and DCE?MRI scanning, and quantitative parameters of DCE?MRI, including volume transfer constant (Ktrans),exchange rate constant (Kep) and extravascular extracellular volume fraction (Ve) were measured. Pathological grading was assessed as highly differentiated, moderately differentiated, poorly differentiated,and undifferentiated. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was calculated from the results of two radiologists. Kruskal?Wallis H test was used to compare the differences of quantitative parameters between different pathological grade groups of DCE?MRI,and Mann?Whitney U test was utilized to compare the intraclass differences among pathological grades. Spearman rank correlation analysis was performed for evaluating the correlation between DCE?MRI parameters and pathological grade of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the diagnosis accuracy of different DCE?MRI parameters in pathological grade of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Results The 56 patients were divided into four groups according to pathological findings: well differentiated group (n=8), moderately differentiated group (n=39), poorly differentiated group (n=9) and undifferentiated group (n=0). The differences of Ktransmean,Ktrans75%,Kepmax, Kepmean,Kep75% between different pathological grading groups were statistically significant (all P<0.05),and these parameters showed positive correlation significantly with pathological grading (r values were 0.778, 0.632, 0.594, 0.725, 0.489 respectively, all P<0.05). The ROC curve area of Ktransmean, Ktrans75% in the diagnosis of pathological grade for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma was 0.750,0.856,respectively. The diagnostic efficiency of Ktrans75% was the best with the diagnostic threshold of 0.693/min,sensitivity of 87.5%, specificity of 78.5%, respectively. Conclusion The quantitative parameters of DCE?MRI after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma have the potential value for predicting pathological grade.