Loss of cerebellar Purkinje cells,neurons of brain stem and degeneration of spinal ciruits are major morphologic changes in most patients with ataxia.Studies on spinocerebellar ataxia have focused on pathogenesis in recent years. Different genotypes have been identified by genolineage analysis and gene study. This study reviews the literatare on the classification,clinical features and pathogenesis of spinocerebellar ataxia.

Objective To investigate the effects of Qi-Boosting Toxin-Resolving Formula (QBTRF) on CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells and Th17 cells of patients with middle to late staged nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods Flow cytometry was performed to detect the ratio of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells and Th17 cells in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PMBC) among 18 patients with middle to late stage of NPC treated by QBTRF added to conventional therapy (treatment group), Foxp3 mRNA and ROR-γt mRNA in PMBC was determined by RT-PCR technique. Furthermore, serum levels of IL-6 and TGF-β were assayed by ELISA. Meanwhile, 15 patients with NPC treated by conventional therapy were taken as the control group. Results The ratio of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells to the total CD4+ T cells and the transcriptional level of Foxp3 mRNA in PMBC were significantly lower in treatment group than that of control group (P<0.05), the ratio of Th17 cells to the total CD4+T cells and the transcriptional level of ROR-γt mRNA in PMBC were significantly higher in treatment group than that of control group (P<0.05). However, the serum level of IL-6 was obviously higher in treatment group than that of control group (P<0.05), and the serum leve of TGF-βwas obviously lower in treatment group than that of control group (P<0.05). Conclusion QBTRF can significantly affect the number ratio and functional activity of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells and enforce the differentiation of Th17 cells among patients with middle to late staged NPC, which it may be reversed the immune tolerance of NPC through regulating the level of IL-6 and TGF-β.

Objective To clone and express the hexon protein of three prevalent human adenovi -rus strains causing respiratory disease and analyze the antigenic characteristics of the recombinant proteins . Methods The full length genes encoding hexon protein of human adenovirus serotype 3(HAdV3), serotype 4(HAdV4) and serotype 7(HAdV7) were cloned by PCR and sequenced , respectively.The alignment anal-ysis was performed by using hexon gene sequences from GenBank .The major antigenic regions of hexon pro-tein of the three serotypes were expressed in E.coli and purified.The antigenicity, immunogenicity and cross reactivity of the recombinant proteins were determined by ELISA and Western blot assay .Results The full length gene sequence encoding hexon protein of human adenovirus serotype 4 was firstly reported in China , which showed more than 99%homology in both nucleotide and amino acid sequences with the human adeno-virus type 4 NHRC3 strain.The partial hexon protein sequence of HAdV 3, HAdV4 and HAdV7 containing all of the 7 hyperviriable regions ( HVRs) were expressed in E.coli, respectively .The purified recombinant proteins could be recognized by antiserum of the three serotypes of adenovirus .The antiserum samples against the three recombinant proteins could cross-react with particles of the three serotypes of adenovirus . The possible type-and species-specific epitopes were predicted .Conclusion The major antigenic regions of hexon protein of the three serotypes were successfully expressed .The purified recombinant proteins contai-ning both intertypes and type-specific epitopes showed a strong immunogenicity .

Objective:To study the clinical feasibility of transplanting human neural stem cells in treatment of cerebellar atrophy (CA).Methods:The cells from human fetal cerebellum(8-10 weeks gestation) were expanded in vitro and were allowed to differentiate into neurospheres,the latter were then implanted into CA dentate nuclei with stereotactic operation in 21 CA patients(8 male and 13 female with age ranging 19-71,mean 46) from Feb. 2000 to Aug. 2003. Results:The cells of fetal cerebellum were expanded by 10 7 folds in undifferentiated state. The effective rates were 61.9% 3 months after transplantation,85.7% 6 months after transplantation, and 90.4% during a follow-up of 12-28 months (mean 18 months).Conclusion:It is feasible and effective to implant the neural stem cells expanded in vitro for treatment of CA,but the long-term effectiveness should be futher observed.

Objective To investigate the implications of ratio of the CD4+ and CD25+ positive regulatory T cells (CD4+CD25+Tregs) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and its associated regulatory factors such as forkhead transcription factor 3 (Foxp3) mRNA transcriptional activity in PBMC,serum levels of transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGF-β1),and interleukin 10 (IL-10) in the immunopathology of patients with middle to late staged nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) based on a clinical trial.Methods In this study,18 NPC cases at middle to late stage as observing group and 10 healthy persons as control group were included to detect their ratio of the CD4+CD25+Tregs in the PBMC with flow cytometry (FCM) technique,transcriptional activity of Foxp3 with RT-PCR procedure,and serum levels of TGF-β1 and IL-10 with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method.A comparative analysis was used to explore their implications in the immunopathological correlation of NPC cases with their lesion.Results The ratio of the CD4+CD25+Tregs to total CD4+T cells in PBMC was significantly increased [(4.23 ±0.53)％ vs (2.65 ±0.31)％,t =8.60,P ＜0.01],accompanied with significantly elevated levels of Foxp3 transcription in PBMC (3.699 ± 0.309 vs 1.109 ± 0.146,t' =31.08,P ＜ 0.05],and serum contents of TGF-β1 [(645.56 ± 39.61) pg/ml vs (488.82 ± 36.91) pg/ml,t =10.27,P ＜ 0.01] and IL-10 [(1.27 ± 0.21) pg/ml vs (0.68 ± 0.08) pg/ml,t' =10.61,P ＜ 0.05] in these patients,when compared with that of healthy controls.Conclusions It may be true that CD4 + CD25 + Tregs,transcriptional regulatory factor Foxp3,and cytokines TGF-β1 as well as IL-10 altogether were composed of a regulating system in a positive feedback way to promote the developing process of immunotolerance phenomena in the tumor microenvironment and the initiation of immunoescape among patients with middle to late staged nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

A novel unsaturated polyphosphoester (UPPE) was devised in our previous research, which is a kind of promising scaffold for improving bone regeneration. However, the polymerization process of UPPE scaffolds was unfavorable, which may adversely affect the bioactivity of osteoinductive molecules added if necessary, such as recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP2). The purpose of this study was to build a kind of optimal scaffold named UPPE-PLGA-rhBMP2 (UPB) and to investigate the bioactivity of rhBMP2 in this scaffold. Furthermore, the cytotoxicity and biocompatibility of UPB scaffold was assessed in vitro. A W1/O/W2 method was used to fabricate PLGA-rhBMP2 microspheres, and then the microspheres were added to UPPE for synthesizing UPB scaffold. The morphological characters of PLGA-rhBMP2 microspheres and UPB scaffolds were observed under the scanning electron microscopy and laser scanning confocal microscopy. The cumulative release of UPB scaffolds was detected by using ELISA. The cytotoxicity and biocompatibility of UPB scaffolds were evaluated through examining the adsorption and apoptosis of bone marrow stromal cells (bMSCs) seeded on the surface of UPB scaffolds. The bioactivity of rhBMP2 in UPB scaffolds was assessed through measuring the alkaline phosphates (ALP) activity in bMSCs seeded. The results showed that UPB scaffolds sequentially exhibited burst and sustained release of rhBMP2. The cytotoxicity was greatly reduced when the scaffolds were immersed in buffer solution for 2 h. bMSCs attached and grew on the surface of soaked UPB scaffolds, exerting well biocompatibility. The ALP activity of bMSCs seeded was significantly enhanced, indicating that the bioactivity of rhBMP2 remained and still took effect after the unfavorable polymerization process of scaffolds. It was concluded that UPB scaffolds have low cytotoxicity, good biocompatibility and preserve bioactivity of rhBMP2. UPB scaffolds are promising in improving bone regeneration.

Objective To construct a hexon-chimeric human adenovirus type 3 ( HAd3 ) vector expressing two neutralizing epitopes of hepatitis B surface antigen preS 1 (HBsAg-preS1) and to analyze the antigenicity of the chimeric epitopes .Methods Two neutralizing epitopes of HBsAg-preS1 including KR359 and KR127 were inserted into hypervariable region 1 ( HVR1) and hypervariable region 2 ( HVR2) of HAd3 hexon .Chimeric hexon gene encoding the two epitopes was amplified by overlap PCR and then subcloned in -to shuttle plasmid pBR322-L/R containing the homologous recombination regions .The digested shuttle plas-mid containing chimeric hexon gene was co-transfected into Escherichia coli BJ5183 cells together with back-bone plasmid pBRAdΔE3GFP to construct pBRAdΔE3GFP-preS1 vector.Then pBRAdΔE3GFP-preS1 vector was digested with AsiSⅠand transfected into AD293 cells to construct recombinant virus (rAD3E-preS1). CsCl gradient centrifugation was used for purification .Glutathione S-transferase ( GST ) fusion protein KR359KR127 ( GST-KR359KR127 ) was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 by using expression vector pGEX-4T3.Female BALB/c mice at age 6-8 weeks were intraperitoneally injected with 1010 virus particles or 80 μg GST fusion protein .Serum samples were collected to analyze the antigenicity of two epitopes by ELISA and Western blot .Results ELISA showed that KR 359 and KR127 were successfully exposed on viral sur-faces by using hexon-chimeric HAd3 vector .The induced polyclonal antibodies in serum samples could rec-ognize GST fusion protein and native HBsAg from patients infected with hepatitis B virus .Conclusion The antigen capsid-incorporation strategy could be used to display epitopes on viral surface .Enhanced antigen-specific responses could be achieved through inserting multiple foreign epitopes into hexon HVRs .This study provided evidence for further application of hexon -chimeric human adenovirus type 3 vector in the developmentof vaccine, especially for the development of multivalent hepatitis B vaccine .

AIM: To construct signal peptide-canstatin expression vector pEGFP-C1-SP-Can and express secretable mouse canstatin fusion protein in Eca-109 cells.METHODS: Site-directed mutagenesis was used in amplifying the signal peptide of murine plasminogen to construct the plasmid pEGFP-C1-SP.The cDNA of mouse canstatin,obtained from a cloning vector pMD18T-Can by PCR,was inserted into pEGFP-C1-SP to construct a secretable expression vector pEGFP-C1-SP-Can.Constructed plasmid pEGFP-C1-SP-Can was transiently transfected into Eca-109 cells via lipofectamine,and subsequently its secretable expression in the medium of cultured Eca-109 was observed by Western blotting.RESULTS: DNA sequencing and restriction enzyme analysis attested the validity of the constructed plasmids pEGFP-C1-SP and pEGFP-C1-SP-Can.EGFPcanstatin fusion protein was proved to be secretably expressed in Eca-109 by Western blotting.CONCLUSION: It is concluded that the constructed vector pEGFP-C1-SP-Can is valid and capable of expression in Eca-109,these findings provide a basis for testing the function of mouse canstatin and its application in gene therapy.

BACKGROUND:There are many complications of limb salvage surgery in patients with osteosarcoma of the middle tibia, and the limb salvage surgery is one of the current difficulties in clinical treatment. OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the clinical efficacy of reconstruction with massive al ograft bone for osteosarcoma of the middle tibia by retrospectively reviewing relevant cases. METHODS:Seven patients with osteosarcoma of the middle tibia were treated. And we analyzed their clinical data retrospectively. Al patients completed the formal preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy and we confirmed that there was no distant metastasis before surgery. Al patients received large al ogeneic bone transplantation and internal fixation, and the gastrocnemius muscle flap coveraged graft bone in surgery. The average length of al ogeneic bone was 12.5 cm. Five patients received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy completely, and two patients received partly. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The fol ow-up period was 18-36 months. One patient had local tumor recurrence at 1 year after transplantation, and died of lung metastases after amputation. One patient survived after resection of lung metastases that occurred at 1.5 years after transplantation. One patient died of lung metastases at 2 years after transplantation. The rest four patients were tumor-free. The mean Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS) score was 26.5, the mean International Society of Limb Salvage (ISOLS) graft score was 31. Among four underage patients, one had leg length deformities, with limb shortening 2 cm. There were no postoperative infections and pathological fractures. Using large al ogeneic bone for the repair of bone defects after tumor surgery of the middle tibia can have a good clinical efficacy under the premise of strict indications. Using gastrocnemius muscle flap to cover the bone graft during surgery is an effective measure to reduce postoperative complications.

Objective:To study the clinical effect of neural stem cell transplantation in the treatment of inherited cerebellar atrophy (CA). Methods: The cells from human fetal cerebellum (8-10 weeks of gestation) were grown and expanded in vitro. The cultured neurospheres were then implanted into the dentate nuclei of patients by stereo tactic operation. Totally, 12 patients (7 males and 5 females with age ranging 22-62 years, mean 43 years) were treated by this operation from August 2006 to August 2008. Results: The cells of fetal cerebellum were expanded by 107folds in undifferentiated state in the culture. After the operation, no rejection was detected. Follow up, the effective rates were 58. 3% after 3 months, 75.0% after 6 months, and 66.7% for 12-24 months (mean 18 months). Conclusion: the transplantation of in vitro cultured neural stem cell is a feasible and effective treatment for inherited CA, but the long term effectiveness need to be taken in consideration.