Circulating fetal cells have been proven to contain complete cellular structures and comprehensive fetal genome information, enabling non-invasive prenatal diagnosis of aneuploidy diseases, chromosomal microdeletions, and monogenic diseases. However, due to the low abundance of these rare fetal cells in maternal peripheral blood, their isolation and detection remains challenging. In recent years, novel isolation and enrichment techniques, such as microfluidic technologies and novel nanomaterials, for circulating fetal cells enrichment have been continuously advancing.This review provides a comprehensive summary of two novel methodologies for the isolation and enrichment of circulating fetal cells. Their separation principles, advantages, limitations, as well as the separation efficiencies will also be described.

Metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) is an inherited disease caused by a deficiency of the enzyme arylsulfatase A (ARSA). Lentivirus-modified autologous hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy (HSCGT) has recently been approved for clinical use in pre and early symptomatic children with MLD to increase ARSA activity. Unfortunately, this advanced therapy is not available for most patients with MLD who have progressed to more advanced symptomatic stages at diagnosis. Patients with late-onset juvenile MLD typically present with a slower neurological progression of symptoms and represent a significant burden to the economy and healthcare system, whereas those with early onset infantile MLD die within a few years of symptom onset. We conducted a pilot study to determine the safety and benefit of HSCGT in patients with postsymptomatic juvenile MLD and report preliminary results. The safety profile of HSCGT was favorable in this long-term follow-up over 9 years. The most common adverse events (AEs) within 2 months of HSCGT were related to busulfan conditioning, and all AEs resolved. No HSCGT-related AEs and no evidence of distorted hematopoietic differentiation during long-term follow-up for up to 9.6 years. Importantly, to date, patients have maintained remarkably improved ARSA activity with a stable disease state, including increased Functional Independence Measure (FIM) score and decreased magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) lesion score. This long-term follow-up pilot study suggests that HSCGT is safe and provides clinical benefit to patients with postsymptomatic juvenile MLD.
Humans ; Leukodystrophy, Metachromatic/genetics* ; Pilot Projects ; Genetic Therapy/methods* ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; Male ; Follow-Up Studies ; Female ; Lentivirus/genetics* ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells/metabolism* ; Cerebroside-Sulfatase/metabolism* ; Adolescent

ObjectiveTo investigate the accuracy of multiple discriminant analysis （MDA） versus fibrosis-4 （FIB-4） in assessing liver fibrosis degree in patients with HBV infection， as well as the possibility of MDA as an indicator for disease progression. MethodsA total of 263 patients with HBV infection who underwent liver biopsy in The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University from April 2010 to April 2024 were included， and their clinical data were collected. According to the results of pathological examination， they were divided into non-significant fibrosis group （F<2） with 126 patients and significant fibrosis group （F≥2） with 137 patients. The correlation of MDA and FIB-4 with liver fibrosis degree was analyzed， and MDA and FIB-4 were compared in terms of their accuracy in assessing significant liver fibrosis. A total of 62 patients completed follow-up， and according to the presence or absence of progression to liver cirrhosis at the last follow-up visit， they were divided into progressive group with 21 patients and non-progressive group with 41 patients； the efficacy of MDA and FIB-4 in diagnosing disease progression was analyzed and compared. The independent-samples t test was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between groups， and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between groups； the Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for comparison between multiple groups， and the Bonferroni method was used for further comparison between two groups. The chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data. The Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used for correlation analysis. The Wilcoxon signed rank sum test was used for the analysis of baseline data and data at the end of follow-up， and the binary Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the influencing factors for progression to liver cirrhosis. The receiver operating characteristic （ROC） curve was used to investigate the diagnostic efficacy of indicators， the Z-test was used for comparison of the area under the ROC curve （AUC）， and the paired chi-square test was used for comparison of the sensitivity， specificity， and accuracy of the two indicators. ResultsThe correlation coefficient between FIB-4 and liver fibrosis degree was 0.378， while the correlation coefficient between MDA and liver fibrosis degree was -0.325 （both P<0.001）. FIB-4 had an AUC of 0.688， a sensitivity of 64.96%， a specificity of 68.87%， a positive predictive value of 67.42%， a negative predictive value of 63.36%， an accuracy of 65.40%， and a cut-off value of 1.01， while MDA had an AUC of 0.653， a sensitivity of 52.55%， a specificity of 78.57%， a positive predictive value of 72.73%， a negative predictive value of 60.37%， an accuracy of 65.02%， and a cut-off value of 0.29， suggesting that compared with FIB-4， MDA had a lower sensitivity （P=0.004） and a higher specificity （P=0.001）. The progressive group had a significantly higher age than the non-progressive group at baseline （t=2.611， P=0.011）. For the progressive group， there was an increase in FIB-4 and a reduction in MDA from baseline to the end of follow-up （both P<0.001）， while the non-progressive group showed no significant changes （both P>0.05）. The multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that aspartate aminotransferase （odds ratio ［OR］=0.940， 95% confidence interval ［CI］： 0.885‍ ‍—‍ ‍0.998， P<0.05） and MDA （OR=0.445， 95%CI： 0.279‍ ‍—‍ ‍0.710， P<0.001） were independent influencing factors for disease progression. MDA had an AUC of 0.893 and an optimal cut-off value of -0.01 in diagnosing the disease progression of liver cirrhosis. ConclusionMDA has a comparable accuracy to FIB-4 in the diagnosis of significant liver fibrosis， and MDA<-0.01 has a high accuracy in diagnosing the progression of liver fibrosis to liver cirrhosis， which can help to reduce the need for liver biopsy in clinical practice.

Purpose To investigate the clinical significance of Gasdermin B(GSDMB)in ovarian cancer and its relationship with immune infiltration,aiming to explore novel biomarkers for immunotherapy.Methods Gene expres-sion matrix,somatic mutations,somatic copy number alterations(SCNA),and clinical data were obtained from the The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)database.Copy number variation(CNV)analysis was performed using the GISTIC algorithm,and the CIBERSORT algorithm was applied to quantify the relative abundance of 22 immune cell types in the tumor microenvironment.Protein-protein interaction(PPI)network analysis was conducted to identify GSDMB-associ-ated interacting proteins.Additionally,multiplex immunofluorescence was used to verify the spatial distribution differ-ences of GSDMB protein in clinical ovarian cancer samples with different immune phenotypes and its interaction with immune cells.Results The expression level of the GSDMB gene was significantly higher in adjacent non-cancerous tissues than in tumor tissues(P＜0.001).Patients with high GSDMB expression exhibited elevated levels of immune chemokines(such as CXCL9 and CXCL10,P＜0.01)and tumor-killing lymphocytes(the proportion of CD8+T cell was significantly higher in the high-expression group than in the low-expression group,P＜0.001).CNV analysis re-vealed that GSDMB copy number alterations significantly influenced immune cell infiltration:patients with GSDMB cop-y number amplification had decreased infiltration levels of CD4+T cells and dendritic cells(P＜0.05),while those with deep deletion of GSDMB had significantly reduced infiltration levels of CD8+T cells and neutrophils(P＜0.01).PPI network analysis indicated that GSDMB might interact with key immune molecules,including IL-37,IL-18BP,IL-33,and IL-2(Pearson correlation coefficient r＞0.6,P＜0.001).Multiplex immunofluorescence analysis demonstra-ted that tumors with high GSDMB expression were more likely to exhibit an immune-inflamed phenotype(52.6％),while tumors in the low-expression group were predominantly immune-desert type(47.3％).Immunotherapy cohort a-nalysis suggested that GSDMB could serve as a potential predictive biomarker for immunotherapy responsiveness,with high predictive efficacy in multiple immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy cohorts targeting PD-1,PD-L1,and CTLA4(AUC＞0.8).Conclusion GSDMB plays a crucial role in reshaping the tumor microenvironment in ovarian cancer and may serve as a novel sensitizing target for immunotherapy.

Purpose To investigate the clinical significance of Gasdermin B(GSDMB)in ovarian cancer and its relationship with immune infiltration,aiming to explore novel biomarkers for immunotherapy.Methods Gene expres-sion matrix,somatic mutations,somatic copy number alterations(SCNA),and clinical data were obtained from the The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)database.Copy number variation(CNV)analysis was performed using the GISTIC algorithm,and the CIBERSORT algorithm was applied to quantify the relative abundance of 22 immune cell types in the tumor microenvironment.Protein-protein interaction(PPI)network analysis was conducted to identify GSDMB-associ-ated interacting proteins.Additionally,multiplex immunofluorescence was used to verify the spatial distribution differ-ences of GSDMB protein in clinical ovarian cancer samples with different immune phenotypes and its interaction with immune cells.Results The expression level of the GSDMB gene was significantly higher in adjacent non-cancerous tissues than in tumor tissues(P＜0.001).Patients with high GSDMB expression exhibited elevated levels of immune chemokines(such as CXCL9 and CXCL10,P＜0.01)and tumor-killing lymphocytes(the proportion of CD8+T cell was significantly higher in the high-expression group than in the low-expression group,P＜0.001).CNV analysis re-vealed that GSDMB copy number alterations significantly influenced immune cell infiltration:patients with GSDMB cop-y number amplification had decreased infiltration levels of CD4+T cells and dendritic cells(P＜0.05),while those with deep deletion of GSDMB had significantly reduced infiltration levels of CD8+T cells and neutrophils(P＜0.01).PPI network analysis indicated that GSDMB might interact with key immune molecules,including IL-37,IL-18BP,IL-33,and IL-2(Pearson correlation coefficient r＞0.6,P＜0.001).Multiplex immunofluorescence analysis demonstra-ted that tumors with high GSDMB expression were more likely to exhibit an immune-inflamed phenotype(52.6％),while tumors in the low-expression group were predominantly immune-desert type(47.3％).Immunotherapy cohort a-nalysis suggested that GSDMB could serve as a potential predictive biomarker for immunotherapy responsiveness,with high predictive efficacy in multiple immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy cohorts targeting PD-1,PD-L1,and CTLA4(AUC＞0.8).Conclusion GSDMB plays a crucial role in reshaping the tumor microenvironment in ovarian cancer and may serve as a novel sensitizing target for immunotherapy.

Circulating fetal cells have been proven to contain complete cellular structures and comprehensive fetal genome information, enabling non-invasive prenatal diagnosis of aneuploidy diseases, chromosomal microdeletions, and monogenic diseases. However, due to the low abundance of these rare fetal cells in maternal peripheral blood, their isolation and detection remains challenging. In recent years, novel isolation and enrichment techniques, such as microfluidic technologies and novel nanomaterials, for circulating fetal cells enrichment have been continuously advancing.This review provides a comprehensive summary of two novel methodologies for the isolation and enrichment of circulating fetal cells. Their separation principles, advantages, limitations, as well as the separation efficiencies will also be described.

OBJECTIVE To build a Tibetan-language medication service platform based on"internet+"and evaluate its effect on improving medication compliance and safety of Tibetan patients with chronic disease.METHODS Medication guidance contents of commonly used drugs in the outpatient department were summarized,translated and recorded in Tibetan-language or video to form a"text-audio-video"multi-dimensional"internet+"Tibetan-language medication service platform.A total of 387 Tibetan outpatients with chronic disease in our hospital after the implementation of"internet+"Tibetan-language medication service platform(from January 2024 to June 2024)in our hospital were selected as the intervention group,and 387 Tibetan outpatients before the implementation(from January 2023 to June 2023)were selected as the control group.Patients in the control group received conventional window-based Chinese-language medication services,while patients in the intervention group received both conventional window-based Chinese-language medication service and"internet+"Tibetan-language medication service.The medication compliance of patients was evaluated using the 12-item Medication Compliance Scale.A six-level causality assessment was conducted as the principles for analyzing adverse drug reactions(ADR)set by the National Center for ADR Monitoring.Additionally,statistics were compiled on the occurrence of ADR that were assessed as"definite""probable"or"possible"in the causality assessment.RESULTS The proportion(31.0%)of patients with good medication compliance and compliance scores[39.0(37.0,42.0)]of patients in the intervention group were significantly better than control group[7.0%,21.0(19.0,23.0)](P＜0.05).There were no statistically significant differences in the incidence of various types of ADR or the overall incidence between the two groups(P＞0.05).CONCLUSIONS The"internet+"Tibetan-language medication service platform is constructed successfully;the service can effectively improve the medication compliance of Tibetan-language patients,but its effect on improving the medication safety of patients is limited.

To investigate the regulatory effect of thioredoxin-interacting protein(TXNIP)on the proliferation and apoptosis of bovine mammary epithelial cells,a bovine TXNIP gene overexpres-sion vector was constructed using the homologous recombination method.The overexpressed re-combinant plasmid was verified through enzyme digestion and sequencing,and the obtained se-quenccs were subjected to BLAST analysis and phylogenetic construction.The TXNIP overcxpres-sion plasmid was then transfected into bovine mammary epithelial cells.Cell proliferation was as-sessed using CCK-8 and EdU assays,while apoptosis was evaluated using Annexin V-mCherry.Ad-ditionally,RT-qPCR was employed to measure changes in the mRNA expression of apoptosis-re-lated genes in bovine mammary epithelial cells.The results showed that the CDS region of bovine TXNIP gene was 1 176 bp,encoded 391 amino acids,which was closely related to sheep.Compared to the control group,overexpression of the TXNIP gene decreased the viability of mammary epi-thelial cells,reduced cell proliferation,and promoted apoptosis.Specifically,overexpression of the TXNIP gene led to a significant upregulation of apoptosis-related genes,including Caspasc-3,Caspase-9,and Bax,in bovine mammary epithelial cells(P＜0.05).In contrast,the expression of Caspase-8 had no significant changes(P＞0.05).Additionally,the expression of anti-apoptosis gene Bcl-2 was significantly decreased(P＜0.01),and the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 was significantly increased(P＜0.01).In conclusion,the TXNIP gene can inhibit the proliferation of bovine mam-mary epithelial cells,promote apoptosis,and regulate the expression of apoptosis-related genes,thereby influencing the development of the bovine mammary gland.

To investigate the regulatory effect of thioredoxin-interacting protein(TXNIP)on the proliferation and apoptosis of bovine mammary epithelial cells,a bovine TXNIP gene overexpres-sion vector was constructed using the homologous recombination method.The overexpressed re-combinant plasmid was verified through enzyme digestion and sequencing,and the obtained se-quenccs were subjected to BLAST analysis and phylogenetic construction.The TXNIP overcxpres-sion plasmid was then transfected into bovine mammary epithelial cells.Cell proliferation was as-sessed using CCK-8 and EdU assays,while apoptosis was evaluated using Annexin V-mCherry.Ad-ditionally,RT-qPCR was employed to measure changes in the mRNA expression of apoptosis-re-lated genes in bovine mammary epithelial cells.The results showed that the CDS region of bovine TXNIP gene was 1 176 bp,encoded 391 amino acids,which was closely related to sheep.Compared to the control group,overexpression of the TXNIP gene decreased the viability of mammary epi-thelial cells,reduced cell proliferation,and promoted apoptosis.Specifically,overexpression of the TXNIP gene led to a significant upregulation of apoptosis-related genes,including Caspasc-3,Caspase-9,and Bax,in bovine mammary epithelial cells(P＜0.05).In contrast,the expression of Caspase-8 had no significant changes(P＞0.05).Additionally,the expression of anti-apoptosis gene Bcl-2 was significantly decreased(P＜0.01),and the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 was significantly increased(P＜0.01).In conclusion,the TXNIP gene can inhibit the proliferation of bovine mam-mary epithelial cells,promote apoptosis,and regulate the expression of apoptosis-related genes,thereby influencing the development of the bovine mammary gland.

【Objective】 To investigate the sperm retrieval rate (SRR) of microdissection testicular sperm extraction (M-TESE) in patients with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) caused by different causes. 【Methods】 A retrospective analysis was performed on 225 NOA patients during Jan.2020 and Dec.2022. The relation between SRR and patients’ age,body mass index (BMI),testicular volume,endocrine hormones and different etiological classifications were analyzed. 【Results】 According to whether sperm was obtained by surgery,the patients were divided into two groups,including 107 cases in the sperm group and 118 cases in the non-sperm group. There were no significant differences in patients’ age,testicular volume and levels of endocrine hormones between the two groups (P>0.05). According to the different causes,NOA patients with mumps history,cryptorchidism history,AZFc deletion or Klinefelter syndrome (KS) had higher SRR,while idiopathic NOA patients had the lowest SRR (P<0.05). 【Conclusion】 M-TESE is an effective treatment of NOA. There is no correlation between SRR and patients’ age,MBI,testicular volume and levels of endocrine hormones. NOA caused by different etiological classifications may have different SRR.