Objective To study the expression characteristics of osteoprotegerin(OPG)/receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand(RANKL)/receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB(RANK)system and the relationship with fibrosis in myocardial tissues of rats with chronic heart failure.Methods SD rats were randomly divided into sham-operation group(12 rats)and model group.In sham-operation group,surgical thread was passed through the abdominal aorta without constricting it after laparotomy;in model group,establish the heart failure model by abdominal aorta coarctation.The successful model rats were randomly divided into model 1 week(12 rats),model 2 weeks(11 rats),model 4 weeks(11 rats),model 8 weeks(11 rats)and model 12 weeks groups(11 rats).The end point of the study is at week 12.The contents of hydroxyproline(HYP),total myocardial collagen and collagen volume fraction(CVF)were compaired in all proups.The expression levels of OPG,RANKL and RANK proteins in cardiomyocytes were determined by Western blot.Results The contents of HYP in sham-operation,model 1 week,model 2 weeks,model 4 weeks,model 8 weeks and model 12 weeks group were(0.25±0.04),(0.37±0.05),(0.45±0.04),(0.60±0.05),(0.82±0.10)and(1.03±0.07)μg·mg-1;the total myocardial collagen contents were(1.87±0.31),(2.73±0.38),(3.36±0.31),(4.47±0.37),(6.08±0.74)and(7.67±0.49)μg·mg-1;the CVF were(1.95±0.23)％,(2.40±0.25)％,(3.65±0.25)％,(5.43±0.29)％,(6.97±0.36)％and(9.38±0.49)％;the relative expression levels of OPG protein were 0.64±0.07,0.80±0.07,1.02±0.07,1.32±0.11,2.13±0.12 and 2.84±0.16;the relative expression levels of RANKL protein were 0.71±0.08,1.06±0.07,1.53±0.07,2.62±0.12,4.46±0.14 and 6.11±0.16;the relative expression levels of RANK protein were 0.30±0.05,0.45±0.05,0.63±0.06,0.98±0.07,1.43±0.10 and 1.63±0.10.With the extention of time,the above indexs of all model groups were significantly higher than those in the sham-operation group(all P＜0.05).There were positive linear correlation between the relative expression levels of OPG,RANKL,RANK protein and the levels of CVF and total contents in cardiomyocytes of rats with chronic heart failure(allP＜0.01).Conclusions In the process of chronic heart failure,the expression of OPG/RANKL/RANK axis is obviously enhanced,in which the up-regulation of RANKL level is most obvious.The expression level of OPG/RANKL/RANK is positively correlated with CVF and total myocardial collagen content.

Synthetic biology is a crucial tool for the development of the bio-industry and bio-economy, representing a significant aspect of new quality productive forces. As a core course for graduate students in bioengineering, Synthetic Biology plays a vital role in ensuring the supply of essential talents for the development of the bio-industry in the new era. To better serve regional economic development and provide high-level talents for China's progress in the bio-industry, we analyzed typical issues encountered in the past teaching activities, set up a multi-disciplinary teaching team, optimized the course contents, adjusted the teaching mode, and mobilized students' learning interest. With the application of scientific research project as the starting point, we guided students to think and discuss deeply through the simulation of application writing and project defense, which improved students' critical thinking and innovative thinking. With industrialization as a focus, we explored a new training model combining production, education, and research through the joint practice base of the university and enterprises introduced typical cases of biomanufacturing to encourage students to engage in scientific research. The teaching reform significantly enhances the comprehensive abilities and national sentiments of graduate students. This paper hopes to serve as a reference for colleagues engaged in teaching in this field.
Synthetic Biology/education* ; Teaching ; China ; Humans

Objective To study the expression characteristics of osteoprotegerin(OPG)/receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand(RANKL)/receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB(RANK)system and the relationship with fibrosis in myocardial tissues of rats with chronic heart failure.Methods SD rats were randomly divided into sham-operation group(12 rats)and model group.In sham-operation group,surgical thread was passed through the abdominal aorta without constricting it after laparotomy;in model group,establish the heart failure model by abdominal aorta coarctation.The successful model rats were randomly divided into model 1 week(12 rats),model 2 weeks(11 rats),model 4 weeks(11 rats),model 8 weeks(11 rats)and model 12 weeks groups(11 rats).The end point of the study is at week 12.The contents of hydroxyproline(HYP),total myocardial collagen and collagen volume fraction(CVF)were compaired in all proups.The expression levels of OPG,RANKL and RANK proteins in cardiomyocytes were determined by Western blot.Results The contents of HYP in sham-operation,model 1 week,model 2 weeks,model 4 weeks,model 8 weeks and model 12 weeks group were(0.25±0.04),(0.37±0.05),(0.45±0.04),(0.60±0.05),(0.82±0.10)and(1.03±0.07)μg·mg-1;the total myocardial collagen contents were(1.87±0.31),(2.73±0.38),(3.36±0.31),(4.47±0.37),(6.08±0.74)and(7.67±0.49)μg·mg-1;the CVF were(1.95±0.23)％,(2.40±0.25)％,(3.65±0.25)％,(5.43±0.29)％,(6.97±0.36)％and(9.38±0.49)％;the relative expression levels of OPG protein were 0.64±0.07,0.80±0.07,1.02±0.07,1.32±0.11,2.13±0.12 and 2.84±0.16;the relative expression levels of RANKL protein were 0.71±0.08,1.06±0.07,1.53±0.07,2.62±0.12,4.46±0.14 and 6.11±0.16;the relative expression levels of RANK protein were 0.30±0.05,0.45±0.05,0.63±0.06,0.98±0.07,1.43±0.10 and 1.63±0.10.With the extention of time,the above indexs of all model groups were significantly higher than those in the sham-operation group(all P＜0.05).There were positive linear correlation between the relative expression levels of OPG,RANKL,RANK protein and the levels of CVF and total contents in cardiomyocytes of rats with chronic heart failure(allP＜0.01).Conclusions In the process of chronic heart failure,the expression of OPG/RANKL/RANK axis is obviously enhanced,in which the up-regulation of RANKL level is most obvious.The expression level of OPG/RANKL/RANK is positively correlated with CVF and total myocardial collagen content.

Objective:To analyze the correlation between human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 reservoir and poor immune reconstitution of HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients, and to investigate the influence of HIV-1 reservoir on the immune reconstitution.Methods:Cross-sectional survey was conducted to measure HIV-1 RNA and T lymphocyte subsets from 219 patients with HIV/AIDS who had been treated with anti-retroviral therapy (ART) for more than two years with HIV RNA lower than the limit of detection. Among them, there are 195 patients from the Sixth People′s Hospital of Zhengzhou, 12 patients from Shangqiu Municipal Hospital and 12 patients from Zhoukou Infectious Diseases Hospital. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were collected and HIV-1 DNA was detected. The measurement data of normal distribution were analyzed by two independent sample t-test. The measurement data of skewness distribution were analyzed by rank sum test. Spearman′s rank correlation was used for correlation analysis. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was used to predict the predictive value of occurrence of poor immune reconstitution AIDS patients. Results:There were 121 patients with poor immune reconstitution and 98 patients with healthy immune reconstitution. HIV-1 DNA was (2.50±0.52) copies/1×10 6 PBMC in the group with poor immune reconstitution, which was significantly higher than the healthy immune reconstitution group ((2.11±0.66) copies/1×10 6 PBMC, t=4.78, P<0.001). The CD4 + T lymphocyte counts in the group with poor immune reconstitution was 192(139, 227)/μL, which was lower than that in the healthy immune reconstitution group (573(457, 730)/μL). The difference was statistically significant ( Z=12.68, P<0.001). HIV-1 DNA was reversely correlated with CD4 + T lymphocyte counts and CD4 + /CD8 + T lymphocyte ratio (after adjusting the influence of age and ART time, r=-0.277 and -0.316, respectively, both P<0.001). The area of ROC curve for HIV-1 DNA to predict poor immune reconstitution was 0.679(95% confidence interval ( CI) 0.604 to 0.750). The HIV-1 DNA threshold value was 100 copies/1×10 6 PBMC with the sensitivity of 90.13% and specificity of 42.91%. The area of ROC curve of CD4 + /CD8 + T lymphocyte ratio to predict poor immune reconstitution was 0.905 (95% CI 0.863 to 0.942). The threshold value of CD4 + /CD8 + T lymphocyte ratio was 0.536 with the sensitivity of 77.68% and specificity of 89.84%. Conclusions:There is correlation between HIV-1 DNA and poor immune reconstitution in HIV/AIDS patients. The value of HIV-1 DNA higher than 100 copies/1×10 6 PBMC and CD4 + /CD8 + T lymphocyte ratio lower than 0.536 could be used as predictor of poor immune reconstitution.

We used metabolomics to investigate the ability of a traditional Mongolian medicine called modified Tabusen-2 (MT-2) to improve kidney yang deficiency (KYD) in rats. All animal experiments were conducted under the guidance and standards of the Medical Ethics Committee of Inner Mongolia Medical University. SD rats were divided into 6 groups of six rats: a normal group, a model group, Jinkuishenqi pill administration group (1.26 g·kg^-1), and MT-2 administration in high-, medium- and low-dose groups (1.512, 0.756, and 0.378 g·kg^-1). KYD was established by intramuscular injection of hydrocortisone (HC) and biochemical indicators and clinical characterization was used to confirm that KYD was established. All groups received intragastrically administered drug (Jinkuishenqi pill or MT-2) or saline. Serum from each group was collected after 8 weeks and analyzed by UPLC-Q-exactive-MS to measure various biochemical indicators. The biomarkers affected by MT-2 were identified and the metabolic pathways of KYD regulated by MT-2 were analyzed by metabolomic analysis. The results show that MT-2 can decrease serum creatinine (Cr) in KYD rats and significantly increase (P<0.05) the content of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). In serum samples, 38 biomarkers such as corticosterone, L-phenylalanine, and DL-tryptophan were measured as possible indicators for disease development in KYD rats. MT-2 lowered 18 biomarkers of KYD, including corticosterone, deoxycorticosterone, and L-phenylalanine, and altered 13 related metabolic pathways including phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis, phenylalanine metabolism and steroid hormone biosynthesis, resulting in an overall improvement in KYD. MT-2 appears to be important in improving KYD in rats mainly by regulating metabolites such as amino acids, steroids and lipids.

OBJECTIVE: The present study was to evaluate the anti-tumor effects of acidic RNA protein complex (FA-2-b-β) extracted from the wild edible Qinba mushroom in inducing of apoptosis and immunoregulation of tumor cell. METHODS: Cell proliferation inducing rate of FA-2-b-β to K562 cell was measured using CCK-8. Apoptosis rate was detected by using flow cytometry. Chronic myeloid leukemia model was developed by tail vein injection/subcutaneous inoculation of K562 cells in NCG mice. The tumor burden of mice was observed. The general condition of the mice was monitored twice daily. The peripherivcal full blood counts of mice was tested daily. RT-qPCR and Western blot was FA-2-b-β performed to determine involvement of apoptotic-related gene and protenin, Immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry was used to detected the expression of CD3, CD4 and CD8. RESULTS: The proliferation and apoptosis of K562 cell could be inhibitied and induced by FA-2-b-β, there was 100% successful in the tumor formation in vivo, after treated by drug for 21 days there were significantly increased peripheral leucocytes, but decreased hemoglobin of mice treated by FA-2-b-β as compared with those in control group. The CD3, CD4 and CD8 showed positive in mice, and the propotation was imbalance, but it showed reserved after treated by FA-2-b-β. CONCLUSION FA-2-b-β is strong anti-leukemia effect in vitro and in vivo, suggesting the traditional Chinese medicine maybe contribute to the anti-cancer and immunoregulation research.
Agaricales ; Animals ; Apoptosis ; Cell Proliferation ; Humans ; K562 Cells ; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive ; Mice

Objective:To investigate the drug resistance of patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) who failed antiviral therapy.Methods:A total of 156 AIDS patients with antiviral therapy failure at the Sixth People′s Hospital of Zhengzhou from October 2017 to December 2018 were selected. The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 ViroSeq? genotyping method was used for the detection of HIV resistance, and Stanford University HIV drug resistance database (http: ∥hivdb.stanford.edu/) was used for testing results comparison.Results:Among the 156 AIDS patients with antiviral therapy failure, 122(78.21%) developed drug resistance. One hundred and six (67.95%) cases were multi-resistant to nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI), among which, 104 (66.67%) were resistant to lamivudine, emtricitabine and abacavir. One hundred and eighteen (75.64%) were resistant to non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), and 118 (75.64%) were multi-resistant to efavirenz and nevirapine. And seven (4.49%) were resistant to protease inhibitor (PI). There were 16 resistant sites for NRTI, with 87 (71.31%) most frequent M184V/I mutations. There were 13 resistant sites for NNRTI, with 49 (40.16%) K103N/R mutations. There were 11 resistant sites for PI, with 49 (40.16%) A71V/T mutations. The antiviral drugs lamivudine and emtricitabine were moderately and highly resistant in 102 (83.61%) cases, efavirenz and nevirapine were moderately and highly resistant in 117 (95.90%) cases. Once drug resistance developed, these drugs were likely to be moderate or high resistance. There were 29 (23.77%), 48 (39.34%), and five (4.10%) cases were resistant to zidovudine, tenofovir and lopinavir/ritonavir, respectively. The resistance barrier of these drugs was relatively high.Conclusion:The incidence of drug resistance in patients with AIDS treatment failure is high, and multi-drug resistance is serious with various sites of drug resistance.

In this study, citrate synthase gene(CIT2), and malate synthase gene(MLS1) were successfully knocked out in β-amyrin-producing yeast cells by using CRISPR/CAS9. The promoter of phosphoglucose isomerase gene(PGI1) was replaced by that of cytochrome c oxidase subunit Ⅶa(Cox9)to weaken its expression, aiming to channel more carbon flux into the NADPH-producing pathway. The fermentation results showed that CIT2 deletion had no effect on the β-amyrin production. Compared with the control strain, the production of β-amyrin was increased by 1.85 times after deleting MLS1, reaching into 3.3 mg·L~(-1). By replacing the promoter of PGI1, the β-amyrin yield was 3.75 times higher than that of the control strain, reaching up to 6.7 mg·L~(-1). This study successfully knocked out the CITT2 and MLS1 genes and weakened the PGI1 gene by using CRISPR/CAS9, which directly influenced the production of β-amyrin and provided some reference for the the metabolic engineering of triterpernoid producing strain.
Ethanol ; Fermentation ; Metabolic Engineering ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; genetics

Objective::To observe the clinical efficacy of modified Buyang Huanwu Tang combined with Sanrentang in treating early diabetic nephropathy(DN)with deficiency of spleen and kidney, damp-heat and blood stasis syndrome and its effect on glucose and lipid metabolism, oxidative stress and inflammatory factors, in order to explore its mechanism. Method::A total of 72 early DN atients were randomly divided into control group and treatment group, with 36 cases in each group. The control group was orally treated with losartan potassium tablets(50 mg every time, once/day), while the treatment group was treated with modified Buyang Huanwu Tang combined with Sanrentang orally in addition to the therapy of the control group(1 dose/day). Both groups were treated for 3 months. The changes in clinical efficacy and safety indicators were observed for both groups. The 24 h urine albumin excretion rate(UAER), serum creatinine(SCr), serum cystatin C(Cys C), urea nitrogen (BUN), fasting blood glucose (FBG), 2 h postprandial blood glucose (2 hPG), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride(TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C), malondialdehyde(MDA), superoxide dismutase(SOD), glutathione Peroxidase(GSH-Px), interleukin-2(IL-2), interleukin-4(IL-4), interleukin-8(IL-8), interleukin-10(IL-10), tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)of patients in two groups were observed before and after treatment. Result::The total clinical effective rate was 88.9%in therapy group, which was higher than 61.1%in control group(P<0.05). After treatment, levels of UAER, SCr, Cys C and BUN were lower in both groups(P<0.05), and the levels in treatment group were all lower than those in control group(P<0.05). Levels of FBG, 2 hPG and HbA1c were lower in both groups(P<0.05). There was no significant difference in FBG, 2 hPG and HbA1c levels between two groups after treatment. The levels of HDL-C were higher in both groups(P<0.05), and the levels in treatment group were higher than that in control group(P<0.05). The levels of TC, TG and LDL-C were lower in both groups(P<0.05), and the levels in treatment group were all lower than those in control group(P<0.05). The level of MDA was lower in both groups(P<0.05), and the level in the treatment group was lower than that in control group(P<0.05). The levels of SOD and GSH-Px were higher in both groups(P<0.05), and the levels in the treatment group were all higher than those in the control group(P<0.05). Serum levels of IL-2, IL-8 and TNF-α were lower in both groups(P<0.05), and the levels in the treatment group were lower than those in control group(P<0.05). Serum levels of IL-4 and IL-10 were higher in both groups(P<0.05), and the levels in the treatment group was higher than those in control group(P<0.05). Conclusion::Modified Buyang Huanwu Tang combined with Sanrentang is effective and safe in the treatment of early DN with spleen and kidney deficiency, damp-heat and blood stasis syndrome. They can further improve renal function and lipid metabolism, inhibit oxidative stress reaction and regulate the secretion balance of inflammatory factors in early DN patients.