Objective:To investigate the role of the clearance of exogenous myelin antigen in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE).Methods:EAE was induced in C57BL/6J mice by subcutaneous immunization with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein 35-55 (MOG 35-55) or FITC-MOG 35-55. The concentration of exogenous myelin antigen was assessed by analyzing the proliferation of the transferred CFSE-labeled mT/mG-2D2 CD4 + T cells in spleen tissues. The release of exogenous myelin antigen from the inoculation sites was analyzed by immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. HE staining was used to investigate the mechanism underlying the rapid clearance of exogenous myelin antigen. The role of the clearance of exogenous myelin antigen in EAE was investigated by comparative analysis of EAE induced by subcutaneous immunization in the back and footpads, and analyzing the therapeutic effect of soluble MOG 35-55. Results:The proliferation of mT/mG-2D2 CD4 + T cells in mice was enhanced on day 2 than on day 7 after immunization [(52.6±6.8)% vs (18.5±4.9)%, P<0.01]. There was no significant difference in the proliferation of mT/mG-2D2 CD4 + T cells between EAE mice (day 13) and naive mice [(4.4±1.5)% vs (2.5±1.4)%, P=0.11]. Immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry showed that MOG 35-55 was released and engulfed by CD11b + cells at the inoculation sites, and no more MOG 35-55 was released at the onset of EAE. HE staining showed that granuloma that formed surrounding the antigen emulsion during EAE development prevented antigen release from the emulsion, completely isolating the antigen from the peripheral immune system. The incidence of EAE was relatively low in mice immunized via footpads, which was related to the sustained release of MOG 35-55, but had no direct relation to CD4 + regulatory T cells. Continuous intraperitoneal injection of soluble MOG 35-55 could prevent and treat EAE. Conclusions:Exogenous myelin antigen has been completely cleared in EAE mice, and the occurrence of EAE depends on the clearance of the myelin antigen.

Objective To investigate mechanisms underlying the prevention of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in mice by intraperitoneal infusion of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein 35-55 (MOG35-55) (MOG i.p.).Methods C57BL/6 mice were immunized with MOG35-55 to establish the model of EAE and then were intraperitoneally injected daily with MOG35-55 or ovalbumin (OVA, served as control) from day 6 to day 16.EAE was evaluated daily using a general clinical scoring system and histological analysis.Numbers of lymphocytes in peripheral blood and central nervous system (CNS) were detected at different time points.Effects of MOG i.p.on the migration of MOG-T cells in vivo were analyzed by an adoptive transfer experiment.Maturation of splenic antigen-presenting cells (APCs) and migration of MOG-T cells in vitro were examined by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) and a Transwell system, respectively.Results MOG i.p.protected the mice from development of EAE by blocking the lymphocyte recruitment to CNS.More effector T cells were trapped in the periphery of EAE and naive mice in adoptive transfer experiment after MOG i.p.treatment.MOG i.p.induced the maturation of splenic APCs and enhanced the expression of CD80, CD86 and major histocompatibility complex class Ⅱ (MHCⅡ) molecules.Mature APCs blocked the recruitment of effector T cells to CNS.Conclusion MOG i.p.protects mice from EAE by inducing the maturation of splenic APCs.

Objective:To investigate the role of alloreactive T cell in clonal deletion and regulatory T cells ( Treg) in transplant tolerance.Methods:F1 mice were bred by crossing female BALB/c mice and male C57BL/6 mice.Within 24 h,newborn C57BL/6 mice were inoculated with F1 spleen cells via the orbital branch of the anterior facial vein.Six weeks later,the mice were subjected to F1 skin grafting to evaluate their tolerance.Proliferation,flow cytometry and adoptive transfer assay were used to analyze clonal deletion of alloreactive T cells and the expression of CD4+Foxp3+T cells in neonatal treated mice.Results: Newborn C57BL/6 mice injected with F1 splenic cells could induce transplantation tolerance,the level of tolerance was associated with the dose of splenic cells.3×107 splenic cells from F1 mice could induce long-term skin graft acceptance in C57BL/6 mice ,1×107splenic cells significantly prolonged the survival of F1 skin grafts,but the grafts completely rejected within 50 days.The mixed lymphocyte reaction ( MLR) experiment in vivo showed that alloreactive T cell in long-term tolerant mice was deleted completely,but a certain amount of reactive T cells existed in the low-dose group mice.Flow cytometry ( FCM) analysis showed that the expression of CD4+Foxp3+T cell in the high-dose group and low-dose group mice had no obvious difference compared with the naive mice.When alloreactive T-cells were injected into tolerant mice,the skin graft rejection was observed,and Treg cells upregulated in graft-rejected mice.Conclusion:The degree of transplantation tolerance depended on the clonal deletion of alloreactive T cells,instead of on the expression of CD4+Foxp3+Treg cells.CD4+Foxp3+regulatory T cells upregulated in graft rejected mice,which may be served as a negative feedback mechanism to control the intensity of rejection.

Objective:To study the relationship between atrophy of the thymus and disease severity in EAE.Methods:MOG35-55 peptide induced EAE in C57BL/6 mice and analyzed the relationship between the severity of EAE and thymic atrophy,Flow cytometry analysis was used to evaluate thymic CD4+CD8+DP cells,CD4+CD8-,CD4-CD8+SP cells in relation to the severity of the disease.Results:The number of thymocytes in mice with decreased tail tone was (20.25 ±3.49) ×106 ,hindlimb weakness(4.93 ± 0.85)×106,complete hindlimb paralysis(1.8 ±0.19) ×106,and forelimb and hindlimb paralysis(0.52 ±0.07) ×106,there were statistically significant differences between groups ( P<0.05 ).As the disease progresses, CD4+CD8+DP cells ratio decreased, CD4+CD8-,CD4-CD8+SP cell ratio increased,different disease groups was statistically significant difference (P<0.05).Conclusion: The atrophy of thymus was closely related to the severity of EAE.Migration of activated T cells in EAE may cause atrophy of thymus.

Objective:To investigate the best preservation conditions of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide( NT-proBNP) and provide detection references with stable performance for detection kits.Methods: ELISA was used to quantitatively detect the changes in NT-proBNP contents in various preservation solutions.The effects of basic buffer system, preservative Proclin300 and antibiotics on the preservation of NT-proBNP were analyzed using univariate analysis.The combination of various factors was then optimized using orthogonal experiments, to identify the best preservation system for NT-proBNP.Results: The univariate analysis determined that the basic buffer system for NT-proBNP was 0.02 mol/L phosphate buffered saline(PBS) at pH7.2,the addition of pre-servative Proclin300 could extend the preservation time of NT-proBNP at 37℃ by one day, the combined addition of penicillin and streptomycin prolonged the preservation time of NT-proBNP by one day compared with individually adding penicillin or streptomycin.The orthogonal experiments identified a preservation solution for NT-proBNP as 20%calf serum,1/1 000 Proclin300,120 U/ml penicillin and 80 U/ml streptomycin in a basic buffer system of 0.02 mol/L PBS at pH7.2.This solution was used to preserve an NT-proBNP reference sample at 37℃.Seven days later,the calibrated fixed-value of the sample at 37℃was only 1.3%lower than that at 4℃.Conclusion:Optimized NT-proBNP serum preservation solution could preserve NT-proBNP standard sample at 37℃ for seven days.

Objective To investigate the role of oridonin in preventing skin graft rejection.Methods BALB/c mice were transplanted with skin grafts from C57BL/6 mice.Grafted mice were treated daily with oridonin,CsA and PBS,respectively.The survival of grafts was inspected daily and evaluated by histological analysis.On day 7 after transplantation,the percentage of CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3+ cells (Treg) in the spleen was determined by flow cytometry.The effect of oridonin on MLR and apoptosis was examined in vitro.Naive BALB/c mice were intraperitonealy injected with oridonin (15 mg/kg/day).At different time points,the number of T cells and macrophages in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) as well as the spleen was examined.Results The survival of skin grafts in the oridonin group (15.8 ± 1.5 days) was significantly longer than that in the control group (12.3 ± 1.2 days) and the CsA group (13.3 ± 1.1 days).Oridonin reduced inflammatory cell infiltration in grafts.The expression of Tregs was higher in the oridonin group (17.6 ± 3.6％) than in the control group (14.8 ± 2.3％).In vitro oridonin inhibited MLR and induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner.The number of T cells in PBMCs was rapidly decreased following oridonin treatment.With the depletion of T cells in PBMCs,high frequency of granulocytes was observed.On day 8,the number of T cells in the spleen was decreased,which was accompanied by increased phagocyte number.Conclusion Oridonin could suppress allograft rejection and prolong survival of skin grafts.The mechanism may be attributed to upregulation of Tregs and clearance of T cells.

Malignant pheochromocytomas are rare tumors that arise from chromaffin tissue, and the diagnostic criterion of malig-nancy is based on the development of metastases. In the case a patient suffers the tumor with liver, lung and bone metastases. However, the test results of tumor markers, gastroscopy, chest and abdominal CT, and PET-CT examination are hard to make a definite diagnosis. The patient was finally diagnosed with malignant pheochromocytoma with liver, lung and bone metastases following the needle biopsy of liver and underwent the excision of a right adrenal pheochromocytoma. Therapeutic standard for the malignant pheochromocytomas is not available so far. It is reported that chemotherapeutic CVD regimen (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and daecarbazine) and suni-tinib may be effectual in the alike cases. The patient received two cycles of CVD and one cycle of sunitinib, nevertheless, slow progres-sion of the disease remained after the treatment. The results of multi-disciplinary treatment have suggested that 131I-MIBG may just be a choice for this patient.

Primary testicular lymphoma comprises 1% to 9% of testicular neoplasms and represents 1% to 2% of all non-Hodg-kin lymphomas. Histologically, the majority of the tumor consists of diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas that are of intermedi-ate- or high-grade neoplasm. Clinically, the disease typically presents as a painless testicular swelling that develops over a span of weeks to months. B symptoms such as fever, weight loss, and anorexia are present in 25% to 41% of the patients. This tumor is an ag-gressive type, with frequent invasion of the epididymis, spermatic cord, and scrotum, as well as a marked tendency to relapse, especial-ly in the CNS. The treatment is mainly based on orchiectomy (mostly in stages ⅠE and ⅡE) regardless of its association with prophy-lactic irradiation of the scrotum and administration of intrathecal chemotherapy, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and pred-nisone regimen chemotherapy plus rituximab (R-CHOP) (stages ⅢE and ⅣE) and radiotherapy. The multi-modality treatment marked-ly improved progression-free and overall survival. We introduce as reference one case that received a multidisciplinary comprehensive discussion in the Department Lymphoma, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital.

ObjectiveTo investigate the mechanisms of neonatal transplantation tolerance,especially the role of immature immune system and chimerism in tolerance.MethodsF1 ( or GFP-F1 ) mice were bred by crossing male C57BL/6 (or GPF transgenic C57BL/6) and female BALB/c mice. Within 24 h,newborn C57BL/6 mice were inoculated with different doses of splenocytes from F1 or GFP-F1 mice,irradiated spleen cells were used as control.Six weeks later,the mice were subjected to F1 skin grafting,and mixed-lymphocyte reaction was performed to determine their tolerance.Flow analysis was used to detect chimerism.ResultsLiving F1 spleen cells could induce chimerism and neonatal transplantation tolerance,but irradiated cells not.The chimerism in long-term tolerant mice is higher than that in chronic rejected mice,with 6.48％ ±4.02％ vs 1.57％ ±0.89％,the difference is significant in statistical analysis.The degree of neonatal transplantation tolerance is determined by the dosage of donor cells,the mice induced with 3 × 107 F1 spleen cells have 80％ long-term tolerance,but the dose of0.7×107 F1 spleen cells could only prolong allografts survival.ConclusionNeonatal transplantation tolerance is dependent on chimerism,the chimerism of donor cells leads to clonal deletion of alloreactive T cells.

Objective To detect the expressive levels of hepatocyte growth factor and D2-40 and its correlation with clinicopathological factors and microlymphatic density in gastric carcinoma. Methods Immunohistochemistry method was used to detect the expression of HGF and D2-40 in gastric cancer tissue, with microlymphatic density(MLD) counted. Results The expression of HGF had the positive correlation with histologic types, infiltration depth, clinical stage and lymph node metastasis (P <0.05). No correlation was found in age, tumor diameter(P >0.05). In gastric cancer, the MLD in the HGF-positive group (22.8±10.9) was higher than that in the HGF-negative group(14.0±4.2, P <0.05). Conclusion The expressive levels of HGF have the positive correlation with histologic types, infiltration depth, clinical stage, lymph node metastasis and MLD in gastric carcinoma. HGF can be used to predict prognosis of gastric carcinoma.