Objective To investigate the differences of type 2 innate lymphocytes (ILC2) and interlukin 9 (IL-9) between chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients and healthy controls, and to understand the effects of ILC2 on the function of regulatory T cells (Tregs), CD8⁺ T cells and CLL cells through IL-9. Methods Flow cytometry was used to detect the levels of ILC2 and Tregs in the peripheral blood of 45 newly diagnosed CLL patients and 24 healthy controls, and the expressions of granzyme B and perforin in CD8⁺ T cells in the peripheral blood of 28 patients and 15 healthy controls; ELISA was used to detect the level of IL-9 in the serum. ILC2 of patients and healthy controls was sorted by immunomagnetic beads and cultured separately, and the level of IL-9 in the culture supernatant was measured by ELISA. ILC2 sorted from CLL patients and healthy control-derived peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMCs) were co-cultured with the B cell leukemia MEC-1 cells, one group was supplemented with IL-9 antibody and the other group was not. After 72 hours of culture, the ratio of Tregs, programmed death 1 (PD-1), T cell immunoglobulin and immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motif domain (TIGIT), cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) on Tregs, granzyme B and perforin in CD8⁺ T cells were measured by flow cytometry, IL-9 level of the culture supernatant was measured by ELISA, the apoptosis of MEC-1 cells was measured by Annexin V-PI. Results Compared with the healthy control group, the levels of ILC2, Tregs and IL-9 in the CLL group increased significantly. The levels of granzyme B and perforin in CD8⁺ T cells were positively correlated in the peripheral blood of CLL patients. Compared with the healthy control group, IL-9 levels in the supernatant of sorted ILC2 from CLL patients increased. In the anti-IL9 antibody group, the level of PD-1 and TIGIT on Tregs decreased, and the level of granzyme B in CD8⁺ T cells increased significantly. The level of IL-9 in the anti-IL9 antibody group decreased statistically. And MEC-1 cells showed increased early apoptotic rate in the anti-IL9 antibody group statistically. Conclusion In CLL, ILC2 affects CD8⁺ T cells and Tregs through IL-9, which weakens the anti-tumor effect of CD8⁺ T cells, enhances the immunosuppressive effect of Tregs, and plays a role in the occurrence and development of CLL disease.
Humans ; Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell/immunology* ; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes/immunology* ; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory/immunology* ; Middle Aged ; Male ; Female ; Interleukin-9/blood* ; Aged ; Granzymes/metabolism* ; Perforin/metabolism* ; Immunity, Innate ; Adult ; Lymphocytes/immunology*

Objective To investigate the mechanism of DNA methyltransferase 1(DNMT1)inhibitor combined with extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1(ERK1),homeodomain-interacting protein kinase 2(HIPK2),and glycogen synthase kinase 3 β(GSK3 β)inhibitors in synergistically inducing apoptosis and protein arrest in relapsed and refractory acute myeloid leukemia(AML)cells.Methods Three therapeutic targets,including ERK1,HIPK2,and GSK3β,were screened based on the Gene Expression Omnibus(GEO),The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)database,and Ex-pression 2 Kinases database.Human AML cell line U937 cells were treated with DNMT1 inhibitor a-lone or combined with ERK1,HIPK2,or GSK3β inhibitors.Cell viability was detected using the CCK-8 method.Apoptosis rate was analyzed by flow cytometry,and cell cycle distribution was de-termined by propidium iodide(PI)staining.The mRNA expression levels of DNMT1,ERK1,HIPK2,and GSK3β were detected by real-time fluorescent quantitative reverse transcriptionpoly-merase chain reaction(RT-qPCR).Protein expressionlevels of DNMT1,ERK1,HIPK2,and GSK3β were detected by immunoblotting.Results DNMT1 inhibitor significantly inhibited the cell viability of U937 cells,and significantly induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in U937 cells(P＜0.05).When DNMT1 inhibitor was combined with ERK1,HIPK2,or GSK3β inhibitors,cell via-bility and apoptosis rate were significantly reduced(P＜0.05).DNMT1 inhibitor alone or its com-bination with ERK1,HIPK2,and GSK3β inhibitors induced U937 cell arrest in the G0/G,phase,with a significant increase in the proportion of cells in the G0/G1 phase in the combination group(P＜0.05).The combination of DNMT1 inhibitor with ERK1,HIPK2,and GSK3β inhibitors sig-nificantly reduced the mRNA expression levels in DNMT1,ERK1,HIPK2,and GSK3β in U937 cells(P＜0.05).Similarly,the combination therapy significantly reduced the protein expression levels of DNMT1,ERK1,HIPK2,and GSK3β in U937 cells(P＜0.05).Conclusion DNMT1 inhibitor combined with ERK1,HIPK2,and GSK3 β inhibitors can synergistically induce apoptosis and protein arrest in relapsed and refractory AML cells,providing a novel strategy for combined tar-geted therapy of AML.

This paper summarized the clinical experience of CHEN Tongyun in the treatment of postinflammatory dyspigmentation with the method of unblocking and nourishing qi and blood. It is believed that the core pathogenesis of this disease is poor qi movement and skin blood stasis， for which the method of unblocking and nourishing qi and blood should be used. Postinflammatory pigmentation on the face is mainly caused by qi stagnation and blood stasis， and it is suggested to regulate liver and spleen， move qi and invigorate blood usually with modified Tonghua Decoction （通化汤）. Postinflammatory hypopigmentation is mainly due to qi and blood depletion， for which the treatment should be fortifying the spleen and strengthening kidney， replenishing qi and generating blood， and modified Yangfu Decoction （养复汤） is commonly used. Simultaneously， medicinals of ascending and descending functions， moving qi and blood， warming yang and nourishing yin should be combined， and the results from modern pharmacological research should be considered.

Nasal drug delivery efficiency is highly dependent on the position in which the drug is deposited in the nasal cavity. However, no reliable method is currently available to assess its impact on delivery performance. In this study, a biomimetic nasal model based on three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction and three-dimensional printing (3DP) technology was developed for visualizing the deposition of drug powders in the nasal cavity. The results showed significant differences in cavity area and volume and powder distribution in the anterior part of the biomimetic nasal model of Chinese males and females. The nasal cavity model was modified with dimethicone and validated to be suitable for the deposition test. The experimental device produced the most satisfactory results with five spray times. Furthermore, particle sizes and spray angles were found to significantly affect the experimental device's performance and alter drug distribution, respectively. Additionally, mometasone furoate (MF) nasal spray (NS) distribution patterns were investigated in a goat nasal cavity model and three male goat noses, confirming the in vitro and in vivo correlation. In conclusion, the developed human nasal structure biomimetic device has the potential to be a valuable tool for assessing nasal drug delivery system deposition and distribution.

BACKGROUND: Long non-coding RNA colon cancer-associated transcript 1 (CCAT1) is involved in transforming multiple cancers into malignant cancer types. Previous studies underlining the mechanisms of the functions of CCAT1 primarily focused on its decoy for miRNAs (micro RNAs). However, the regulatory mechanism of CCAT1-protein interaction associated with tumor metastasis is still largely unknown. The present study aimed to identify proteome-wide CCAT1 partners and explored the CCAT1-protein interaction mediated tumor metastasis. METHODS: CCAT1-proteins complexes were purified and identified using RNA antisense purification coupled with the mass spectrometry (RAP-MS) method. The database for annotation, visualization, and integrated discovery and database for eukaryotic RNA binding proteins (EuRBPDB) websites were used to bioinformatic analyzing CCAT1 binding proteins. RNA pull-down and RNA immunoprecipitation were used to validate CCAT1-Vimentin interaction. Transwell assay was used to evaluate the migration and invasion abilities of HeLa cells. RESULTS: RAP-MS method worked well by culturing cells with nucleoside analog 4-thiouridine, and cross-linking was performed using 365 nm wavelength ultraviolet. There were 631 proteins identified, out of which about 60% were RNA binding proteins recorded by the EuRBPDB database. Vimentin was one of the CCAT1 binding proteins and participated in the tumor metastasis pathway. Knocked down vimetin ( VIM ) and rescued the downregulation by overexpressing CCAT1 demonstrated that CCAT1 could enhance tumor migration and invasion abilities by stabilizing Vimentin protein. CONCLUSION CCAT1 may bind with and stabilize Vimentin protein, thus enhancing cancer cell migration and invasion abilities.
Humans ; HeLa Cells ; RNA, Long Noncoding/metabolism* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation/genetics* ; Vimentin/metabolism* ; MicroRNAs/metabolism* ; Colonic Neoplasms/genetics* ; RNA-Binding Proteins/metabolism* ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic/genetics* ; Cell Movement/genetics*

Objective To analyze the disease burden of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in China and regions with different income levels in the world from 1990 to 2019. Methods Using the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 (GBD2019) results, the changes of the disease burden of MDR-TB in China and regions with different income levels in the world were described and analyzed using the Joinpoint Regression Program 4.8.0.1 software. Results From 1990 to 2019, the age standardized incidence, mortality and DALY rates in China and other areas with different income levels in the world basically showed a trend of first rising and then decreasing at the turning point of the late 20th century and early 21st century, except for low-income areas where the age standardized incidence rate showed an overall upward trend. In 2019, the incidence rate, mortality and DALY rate of MDR-TB in China were 9 times, 6.67 times and 6.89 times higher than those in high-income areas, respectively. The incidence rate in China was 6 times lower than that in low and middle-income areas, while the mortality and DALY rate in China were 26 times and 32.53 times lower than those in low-income areas, respectively. The age standardized incidence, mortality rate and DALY rate of MDR-TB in men were higher than those in women. Risk factors for the burden of MDR-TB disease included alcohol consumption, smoking, and high fasting blood glucose. Conclusion From 1990 to 2019, there are significant regional and gender differences in the disease burden of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in China and regions with different income levels in the world. Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis is still a major challenge for tuberculosis control in the world. It is necessary to develop more effective control strategies and health care systems to deal with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

Objective:To explore the expression levels, clinical significances and prognostic evaluation value of T-cell immunoglobulin mucin-3 (Tim-3) and galectin-9 (Gal-9) in bone marrow cells of patients with newly diagnosed acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL).Methods:Bone marrow samples from 30 newly diagnosed ALL patients admitted to First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from September 2016 to September 2018 were selected, and peripheral blood samples from 20 healthy volunteers during the same period in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University were treated as the controls. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect mRNA relative expression levels of Tim-3 and Gal-9. Differences in mRNA expression of Tim-3 and Gal-9 among ALL patients with varied clinicopathological characteristics were compared. Overall survival (OS) analysis was performed by using the Kaplan-Meier method, Cox proportional hazards model was used to make univariate and multivariate survival analysis.Results:mRNA relative expression levels of Tim-3 and Gal-9 in 30 newly diagnosed ALL patients were higher than those in the healthy control group (2.86±0.47 vs. 0.45±0.05, t = 21.65, P<0.05; 9.79±0.58 vs. 0.96±0.23, t = 63.24, P<0.05). mRNA relative expression level of Tim-3 had statistically significant differences in patients with different ages, France-America-Britain (FAB) Cooperative Group classification, hazard grades and central nervous system invasion (all P<0.01). There were statistically significant differences in mRNA relative expression level of Gal-9 for patients with different ages, FAB Cooperative Group classification, white blood cell count (WBC), central nervous system invasion and NOTCH1 mutation (all P<0.01). All patients were grouped by mRNA relative expression levels of Tim-3 and Gal-9, and patients in high Tim-3 expression group (≥2.86) had worse overall survival (OS) compared with that for patients in low Tim-3 expression group (<2.86) ( P = 0.048). Patients in high Gal-9 expression group (≥9.79) had worse OS compared with that for patients in low Gal-9 expression group (<9.79) ( P = 0.031). Moreover, the OS in Tim-3 and Gal-9 both high expression group was worse than that in Tim-3 and Gal-9 both low expression group and in the low expression group of either of them (all P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in OS between the high Tim-3 expression with low Gal-9 expression group and the high Gal-9 expression with low Tim-3 expression group ( P > 0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that peripheral blood WBC≥11.4×10 9/L, BCR-ABL gene mutation, central nervous system invasion, and high expression of Tim-3 and Gal-9 were independent risk prognostic factors of OS for newly diagnosed ALL patients (all P<0.05) . There was a positive correlation between the expression levels of Tim-3 and Gal-9 ( r = 0.788, P<0.01). Conclusions:The high expression of Tim-3 and its ligand Gal-9 are independent effecting factors of poor prognosis in newly diagnosed ALL patients. The expression levels of Tim-3 and Gal-9 can be served as a potential prognostic indicator for ALL patients.

Objective:To investigate the diagnosis and treatment of hepatic artery thrombosis (HAT) after adult orthotopic liver transplantation.Methods:The retrospective and descriptive study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 411 patients who underwent adult orthotopic liver transplantation in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi ′an Jiaotong University from December 2011 to July 2018 were collected. There were 328 males and 83 females, aged from 21 to 66 years, with a median age of 46 years. Observation indicators: (1) incidence of HAT and its clinical characteristics; (2) diagnosis of HAT; (3) treatment of HAT; (4) follow-up. Follow-up using outpatient service, telephone interview or WeChat group communication was conducted to detect the incidence of biliary stricture and survival of patients up to August 2018. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean± SD, measurement data with skewed distribution were represented as M(range). Count data were described as absolute numbers or percentages. Survival rate was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results:(1) Incidence of HAT and its clinical characteristics: 11 of 411 patients had HAT after orthotopic liver transplantation with the incidence of 2.68%(11/411), including 10 males and 1 female, aged 44 years(range, 22-63 years). The time to occurrence of postoperative HAT was 4 days(range, 1-15 days). The etiologies of 11 patients included 6 cases of hepatitis B virus-related cirrhosis, 1 case of hapatitis related cirrhosis, 1 case of hepato-cellular carcinoma, 1 case of liver cirrhosis, 1 case of alcoholic hepatitis related cirrhosis, 1 case of wilson disease. All the 11 patients were ABO compatible. The cold ischemic time and warm ischemic time of donor liver were (316±89)minutes and (13±4)minutes, respectively. Type Ⅰ arterial anasto-mosis was conducted in 11 patients. The clinical manifestations included asymptomatic type in 10 patients and sepsis type in 1 patient. (2) Diagnosis of HAT: all the 11 patients were confirmed with HAT by endovascular angiography, including 7 cases showed no arterial flow under Color Doppler ultrasound, and contrast-enhanced ultrasound indicated HAT. Two patients showed increased hepatic artery resistance index under Color Doppler ultrasound, and contrast-enhanced ultrasound indicated 1 case of HAT and 1 case of anastomotic stenosis. One patient showed slow velocity of hepatic artery blood flow and low resistance index under color Doppler ultrasound, and contrast-enhanced ultrasound indicated HAT. One patient showed slight blood flow signals under Color Doppler ultrasound, and contrast-enhanced ultrasound indicated HAT. (3) Treatment of HAT: 11 patients received endovascular therapy. Six patients had HAT completely disappeared after thrombolytic therapy, 5 patients with residual thrombosis continued thrombolytic therapy with microcatheter urokinase. Six patients with complications were improved after symptomatic treatment. HAT completely disappeared after (6.7±2.6)days of treatment and the clinical success rate was 11/11. (4) Follow-up: 11 patients were followed up for 19-1 722 days, with a median follow-up time of 46 days. During the follow-up, 4 patients had biliary stricture and underwent stent implantation. Nine patients survived with 1-, 3-, 5-year overall survival rates of 75%, 75%, 75%, and 2 patients died.Conclusions:The incidence of HAT after adult orthotopic liver transplantation is low and clinical manifestations are atypical. Contrast enhanced ultrasound can improve diagnosis of suspected thrombosis. Endovascular therapy is safe and effective, which can significantly improve the blood flow of hepatic artery.

Objective: To analyze the efficacy of HLA-haploidentical peripheral hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (haplo-PBSCT) following reduced intensity conditioning (RIC) regimen to treat the patients with hematological malignancies who were older than 50 years old. Methods: Eighteen patients with hematological malignancies over 50 years were enrolled, including 8 male and 10 female patients. The median age of all patients was 52 (range: 50–66) years. Of them, 8 patients had acute myeloid leukemia (AML) , 2 chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML) , 5 myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) , 2 acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) , and 1 aggressive natural killer cell leukemia (ANKL) . All patients received fludarabine, cytarabine and melphalan with rabbit anti-human thymocyte globulin (FAB+rATG regimen) and transplanted with high dose non-T cell-depleted peripheral hematopoietic stem cells from donors. Enhanced graft versus host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis and infection prevention were administered. Results: Fifteen days after transplantation, 16 patients achieved complete donor chimerism. One of them rejected the donor graft completely at thirty days after transplantation, and the other 2 patients had mixed chimerism 15 days after transplantation and converted to complete recipient chimerism at 30 days after transplantation. The cumulative incidence of acute GVHD (aGVHD) was 61.1% (95%CI49.6%-72.6%) . The incidence of grade Ⅱ-Ⅳ aGVHD was 35.4% (95%CI 21.1%-49.7%) , whereas grade III-IV was 13.8% (95%CI 4.7%-22.9%) . The 2-year cumulative incidence of chronic GVHD (cGVHD) rate was estimated at 38.2% (95%CI 25.5%-50.9%) . Patients were followed-up for a median of 14.5 months (range, 3-44 months) . The Kaplan Meier estimates of 2-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) was 72.6% (95%CI 60.1%-85.1%) and 63.7% (95%CI 49.2%-78.2%) , respectively. The 2-year cumulative incidence of relapse and non-relapse-mortality (NRM) was 31.2% (95%CI 16.5%-45.9%) and 12.5% (95%CI 4.2%-20.8%) , respectively. Conclusion RIC-haplo-PBSCT protocol can achieve better results in patients with hematologic malignancies over 50 years old.

Objective To evaluate the use of endoscopic papillary balloon dilation in treatment of choledocholithiasis associated with peripapillary duodenal diverticulum.Methods From January 2017 to July 2018,a retrospective study was conducted on 124 patients with choledocholithiasis associated with peripapillary duodenal diverticula at the Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery,Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University.These patients were divided into the small endoscopic sphincterotomy combined with balloon dilation group (sEST+EPBD,n =60) and the simple papillary balloon dilation group (EPBD n =64).The operation time,one-time success rate of stone removal,complication and hospitalization stay were compared between the two groups of patients.Results The hospitalization expenses of the EPBD group was significantly less than the sEST+EPBD group (P＜0.05).The operation time of the EPBD group was significantly shorten than the sEST+EPBD group (P＜0.05).There were no significant differences in the one-time success rate of stone removal,complication rates and hospitalization stay between the two groups (P＞0.05).Conclusions Compared with sEST+EPBD,treatment of choledocholithiasis in patients with peripapillary duodenal diverticula using simple balloon dilation shortened the operation time,did not increase the complication rates and hospitalization stay.The procedure was safe and effective,and resulted in almost the same one-time success rate of stone removal.