OBJECTIVE: To screen anti-tumor drugs that improve antigen processing and presentation in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells. METHODS: A TCR-like or TCR mimic antibody that can specifically recognize HLA-A*0201:WT1_126-134 ( RMFPNAPYL) complex (hereafter referred to as HLA-A2:WT1) was synthesized to evaluate the function of antigen processing and presentation machinery (APM) in AML cells. AML cell line THP1 was incubated with increasing concentrations of IFN-γ, hypomethylating agents (HMA), immunomodulatory drugs (IMiD), proteasome inhibitors (PI) and γ-secretase inhibitors (GSI), followed by measuring of HLA-ABC, HLA-A2 and HLA-A2:WT1 levels by flow cytometry at consecutive time points. RESULTS: The TCR-like antibody we generated only binds to HLA-A*0201⁺WT1⁺ cells, indicating the specificity of the antibody. HLA-A2:WT1 level of THP-1 cells detected with the TCR-like antibody was increased significantly after co-incubation with IFN-γ, showing that the HLA-A2:WT1 TCR like antibody could evaluate the function of APM. Among the anti-tumor agents screened in this study, GSI (LY-411575) and HMA (decitabine and azacitidine) could significantly increase the HLA-A2:WT1 level. The IMiD lenalidomide and pomalidomide could aslo upregulate the expression of HLA-A2:WT1 complex under certain concentrations of the drugs and incubation time. As proteasome inhibitors, carfilzomib could significantly decreased the expression of HLA-A2:WT1, while bortezomib had no significant effect on HLA-A2:WT1 expression. CONCLUSION HLA-A2:WT1 TCR-like antibody can effectively reflect the APM function. Some of the anti-tumor drugs can affect the APM function and immunogenicity of tumor cells.
Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/immunology* ; Antineoplastic Agents/pharmacology* ; Antigen Presentation/drug effects* ; HLA-A2 Antigen/immunology* ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell/immunology* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Interferon-gamma

The 6-min walk test(6MWT)is an effective tool to assess the cardiopulmonary function and exercise tolerance,and is widely used in clinical practice to assess the exercise capacity in the patients with car-diopulmonary disease.Pulmonary hypertension(PH)is a serious cardiovascular disease manifested by a con-tinuous increase in pulmonary circulatory pressure,which limits the right heart function and eventually devel-ops into the right heart failure,moreover its clinical manifestations lack specificity,making diagnosis difficult.With the development of PH diagnosis and treatment technology,the medical staffs have paid more and more attention to the application of 6MWT in the diagnosis,treatment and prognosis of the patients with PH.This article reviews the characteristics of 6MWT,its application in PH,and its limitations and future prospects in order to help clinic to better understand the role of 6MWT in the whole disease course of the patients with PH,and encourage the medical care staffs to broadly apply and improve 6MWT to make it to be more reliable clinical evidence.

Aim To investigate the dynamic changes of neuronal cells at different time points following acute cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury by establishing a model of brain ischemia-reperfusion injury.Methods Thirty male Sprague-Dawley(SD)rats were ran-domly divided into six groups:sham group and cere-bral ischemia-reperfusion injury(IR)groups at differ-ent time points.Focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury model was established using the middle cerebral artery occlusion(MCAO)technique.The Longa sco-ring method was used to assess neurobehavioral scores in rats.After successful model preparation,routine paraffin sections were made,and TUNEL staining and immunohistochemistry staining with NeuN antibody were performed to observe cell apoptosis and neuronal cell survival,respectively.Immunohistochemistry stai-ning was also performed to investigate the changes in glial fibrillary acidic protein(GFAP)as a marker for astrocytes,ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1(IBA-1)as a marker for microglia,and CD31 as a marker for endothelial cells at different time points.Results No significant changes were observed in neu-ronal cells of the sham group at different time points.In the cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury groups,cell apoptosis was activated at IR3h and increased in quan-tity with morphological damage as time progressed.Ne-uN+neurons showed signs of ischemic injury after IR3h,with abnormal cell morphology.From 12 h,Ne-uN+neurons decreased in a time-dependent manner and reached their peak severity at 24 h.GFAP+astro-cytes decreased significantly after IR3h,while poorly labeled GFAP+astrocytes increased at IR 6 h and al-most disappeared in the infarcted area at 24 h and 48 h.The number of IBA-1+microglia-positive cells de-creased at IR3h,and their volume increased at IR6h.Microglial cell death was observed in the infarcted area at IR12h.CD31+endothelial cells around the infarc-ted cortex and striatum increased significantly after IR3h and persisted until 48 h.Conclusions After cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury,the number of ap-optotic cells increases with the prolongation of time,and NeuN+neurons exhibit the most severe damage at 24 h.GFAP+astrocytes and microglial cells gradually die over time.The number of CD31+endothelial cells increases significantly around the infarcted cortex and striatum after 3 h of reperfusion and persists until 48 h.

COVID-19 has been prevalent for three years. The virulence of SARS-CoV-2 is weaken as it mutates continuously. However, elderly patients, especially those with underlying diseases, are still at high risk of developing severe infections. With the continuous study of the molecular structure and pathogenic mechanism of SARS-CoV-2, antiviral drugs for COVID-19 have been successively marketed, and these anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs can effectively reduce the severe rate and mortality of elderly patients. This article reviews the mechanism, clinical medication regimens, drug interactions and adverse reactions of five small molecule antiviral drugs currently approved for marketing in China, so as to provide advice for the clinical rational use of anti-SARS-CoV-2 in the elderly.

This study used UPLC-TQ-MS technology to replicate a Henoch-Schonlein purpura(HSP) model in rats by administering warm drugs by gavage and injecting ovalbumin with Freund's complete adjuvant emulsion. The distribution differences and characteristics of eight major components(ferulic acid, caffeic acid, neochlorogenic acid, cryptochlorogenic acid, benzoyl oxypaeoniflorin, tracheloside, loganin, and paeoniflorin) in rat liver, lung, heart, spleen, and kidney tissues were determined after oral administration of the Liangxue Tuizi Mixture at a dose of 42 g·kg~(-1) in both normal physiological and HSP states at 0.5, 1, 2, 6, and 12 hours. The results showed that the distribution patterns of the eight components of Liangxue Tuizi Mixture in the tissues of normal and HSP model rats were different. The main component, paeoniflorin, in Moutan Cortex and Paeoniae Radix Alba had higher content in all tissues. The eight components were predominantly distributed in the liver, lung, and kidney tissues, followed by spleen and heart tissues.
Rats ; Animals ; IgA Vasculitis/drug therapy* ; Monoterpenes ; Administration, Oral ; Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical significance of translocator proteins (TSPO) gene in the treatment of FLT3-ITD/DNMT3A R882 double-mutated acute myeloid leukemia (AML). METHODS: Seventy-six patients with AML hospitalized in the Department of Hematology of the Affiliated People's Hospital of Ningbo University from June 2018 to June 2020 were selected, including 34 patients with FLT3-ITD mutation, 27 patients with DNMT3A R882 mutation, 15 patients with FLT3-ITD/DNMT3A R882 double mutation, as well as 19 patients with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) hospitalized during the same period as control group. RNA was routinely extracted from 3 ml bone marrow retained during bone puncture, and TSPO gene expression was detected by transcriptome sequencing (using 2-deltadeltaCt calculation). RESULTS: The expression of TSPO gene in FLT3-ITD group and DNMT3A R882 group at first diagnosis was 2.02±1.04 and 1.85±0.76, respectively, which were both higher than 1.00±0.06 in control group, but the differences were not statistically significant (P=0.671, P=0.821). The expression of TSPO gene in the FLT3-ITD/DNMT3A R882 group was 3.98±1.07, wich was significantly higher than that in the FLT3-ITD group and DNMT3A R882 group, the differences were statistically significant (P=0.032, P=0.021). The expression of TSPO gene in patients who achieved complete response after chemotherapy in the FLT3-ITD/DNMT3A R882 group was 1.19±0.87, which was significantly lower than that at first diagnosis, and the difference was statistically significant (P=0.011). CONCLUSION TSPO gene may be used as an indicator of efficacy in FLT3-ITD /DNMT3A R882 double-mutated AML.
Humans ; DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferases/genetics* ; DNA Methyltransferase 3A ; Mutation ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/drug therapy* ; Nucleophosmin ; Prognosis ; fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase 3/genetics* ; Receptors, GABA/therapeutic use*

Ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time of fight/mass spectrometry(UPLC-Q-TOF-MS) and UNIFI were employed to rapidly determine the content of the components in Liangxue Tuizi Mixture. The targets of the active components and Henoch-Schönlein purpura(HSP) were obtained from SwissTargetPrediction, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man(OMIM), and GeneCards. A "component-target-disease" network and a protein-protein interaction(PPI) network were constructed. Gene Ontology(GO) functional annotation and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis were performed for the targets by Omishare. The interactions between the potential active components and the core targets were verified by molecular docking. Furthermore, rats were randomly assigned into a normal group, a model group, and low-, medium-, and high-dose Liangxue Tuizi Mixture groups. Non-targeted metabolomics was employed to screen the differential metabolites in the serum, analyze possible metabolic pathways, and construct the "component-target-differential metabolite" network. A total of 45 components of Liangxue Tuizi Mixture were identified, and 145 potential targets for the treatment of HSP were predicted. The main signaling pathways enriched included resistance to epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B(PI3K-AKT), and T cell receptor. The results of molecular docking showed that the active components in Liangxue Tuizi Mixture had strong binding ability with the key target proteins. A total of 13 differential metabolites in the serum were screened out, which shared 27 common targets with active components. The progression of HSP was related to metabolic abnormalities of glycerophospholipid and sphingolipid. The results indicate that the components in Liangxue Tuizi Mixture mainly treats HSP by regulating inflammation and immunity, providing a scientific basis for rational drug use in clinical practice.
Animals ; Rats ; IgA Vasculitis/drug therapy* ; Network Pharmacology ; Molecular Docking Simulation ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases ; Metabolomics

OBJECTIVE: To compare the circular pathological changes of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients according to the tongue diagnosis. METHODS: Totally 41 CHB patients with typical white tongue coating (WTC) or yellow tongue coating (YTC) were enrolled and 14 healthy volunteers with normal tongue manifestation served as controls. The mRNA expression of peripheral leukocytes was detected by GeneChips, and 9 genes were randomly selected for expression validation. Circular metabolites were detected by gas chromatographymass spectrometry. Biological information was analyzed based on ingenuity pathways analysis or metabolomics database and the integrated networks were constructed by ClueGO. RESULTS: A total of 945 and 716 differentially expressed genes were found in patients with WTC and YTC relative to healthy volunteers respectively. The biological information analysis indicated that CHB patients had obviously increased functions in cell death, apoptosis and necrosis (Z-score ⩾2, P<0.05) and decreased activation in T lymphocytes (Z-score ⩽-2, P<0.05), regardless of the tongue manifestation. Compared to patients with WTC, the YTC patients were predicted to be more active in functions related to virus replication (Z-score ⩾2, P<0.05), and the content of circular fatty acids, such as oleic acid (P=0.098) and lauric acid (P=0.035), and citric acid cycle-related metabolites were higher in the YTC patients (P<0.1). The integrated analysis based on differential genes and metabolites indicated that the most difference in the biological function network between the WTC and YTC patients was tumor necrosis factor receptor associated factor 6 mediated-nuclear factor kappa-B activation process. CONCLUSIONS CHB patients with YTC had more severe inflammation and fatty acids metabolism aberrant than patients with WTC. The results facilitate the modern pathological annotation of Chinese medicine tongue diagnosis theory and provide a reference for the interpretation of pharmacological mechanisms of Chinese medicine treatment.
Fatty Acids ; Hepatitis B virus/genetics* ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; Humans ; Metabolomics ; T-Lymphocytes ; Tongue

Objectives: To study the effects of Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg) injected through tail vein on the molecular expression levels of biomarkers of neural stem cells (NSC) and neurons in the hippocampus of wild-type adult rats, and the effects on hippocampal neurogenesis. Methods: Eighteen male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into 3 groups based on the table of random numbers (n=6 in each group). In low-intensity group and high-intensity group, rats were injected intravenously through tail vein with 200 μl Pg ATCC33277 [1.0×10³ and 1.0×10⁸ colony forming unit (CFU), respectively] 3 times per week for 8 weeks. In the sham group, 200 μl of phosphate buffer saline (PBS) was given instead. Behavioral tests: the navigation and the exploration tests using Morris water maze (MWM) were applied to evaluate learning and memory ability of rats. Immunohistochemistry was performed to detect cells positively expressing nestin, doublecortin (DCX) and neuronal nuclei (NeuN) in the subgranular zone (SGZ) of rats in each group. Western blotting was used to evaluate the expression levels of nestin, DCX and NeuN in rat hippocampus. Results: Learning and memory abilities: on day 5 of navigation test, the lagency time was 22.83 (16.00, 38.34) s in the high-intensity group, significantly longer than the sham group [5.59 (5.41, 6.17) s] (t=-11.17, P<0.001). There were no significant differences between the low-intensity group [9.85 (8.75, 21.01) s] and the sham group (t=-6.83, P=0.080). Results in the exploration test showed that, in the high-intensity group, the number of fime crossing over the previous platform area within 60 s was 1.50 (1.00, 2.00), significantly less than the sham group [4.00 (2.75, 4.00)] (t=9.75, P=0.003); no significant differences between the low-intensity group [2.50 (2.00, 3.00)] and the sham one (t=4.50, P=0.382). Immunohistochemistry showed that the nestin⁺ cell density in the low-intensity group [(35.36±4.32) cell/mm²] and high-intensity group [(26.51±5.89) cell/mm²] were significantly lower than the sham group [(59.58±14.15) cell/mm²] (t=24.21, P=0.018; t=33.07, P=0.005); as for the mean absorbance of DCX⁺ cells, the low-intensity group (0.007±0.002) and the high-intensity group (0.006±0.002) were significantly lower than the sham group (0.011±0.001) (t=0.004, P=0.018; t=0.006, P=0.005); compared with the sham group [(1.13±0.14)×10³ cell/mm²], the density of NeuN⁺ neurons in the high-intensity group [(0.75±0.08)×10³ cell/mm²] was significantly reduced (t=0.38, P=0.017), and was not significantly changed in the low-intensity group [(0.88±0.19)×10³ cell/mm²] (t=0.25, P=0.075). Western blotting results showed that, compared with the sham group, the expression levels of nestin, DCX, and NeuN were significantly reduced in the high-intensity group (t=0.74, P<0.001; t=0.18, P=0.014; t=0.35, P=0.008), but were not statistically changed in the low-intensity group (t=0.18, P=0.108; t=0.08, P=0.172; t=0.19, P=0.077). Conclusions: Pg injected through tail vein may reduce learning and memory abilities of wild-type rats, and may reduce the number of nestin, DCX, and NeuN-positive cells, and the protein expression levels of the above molecules in the hippocampus.
Animals ; Biomarkers/metabolism* ; Hippocampus/metabolism* ; Male ; Nestin/metabolism* ; Neural Stem Cells/metabolism* ; Neurons/metabolism* ; Porphyromonas gingivalis/metabolism* ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Tail/metabolism*

AIM: To explore the expression and significance of forkhead box class O3(FOXO3)and interleukin-2(IL-2)in conjunctival epithelial cells and tears of patients with dry eye(DE).METHODS:A perspective study. A total of 106 DE patients who accepted from March 2019 to March 2021 were prospectively gathered, and 85 healthy subjects in the same period were selected as the control group. The level of FOXO3 in the conjunctival epithelial cells and tear fluid was measured by real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR(qRT-PCR)method; The level of IL-2 in the sample was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent(ELISA)method; The changes in clinical indicators of the ocular surface such as break-up time(BUT), Schirmer Ⅰtest(SⅠt), cornea fluorescein staining(CFS)in DE patients before and after treatment were analyzed; The correlation between the levels of FOXO3 and IL-2 in the conjunctival epithelial cells and tears of DE patients and the relationship between the two and clinical indicators were analyzed by Pearson correlation analysis.RESULTS:Compared with the control group, the level of FOXO3 in conjunctival epithelial cells and tear fluid in the DE group was obviously reduced, and the level of IL-2 was obviously increased(all P<0.01). Compared with before treatment, the level of FOXO3 in conjunctival epithelial cells and tear fluid of DE patients was obviously up-regulated, and the level of IL-2 was obviously down-regulated(all P<0.05). Pearson correlation analysis showed that the levels of FOXO3 and IL-2 in conjunctival epithelial cells and tear fluid were obviously inversely correlated(r=-0.531, -0.469, all P<0.01). After treatment, BUT and SⅠt indexes of DE patients increased compared with before treatment, while CFS decreased(all P<0.01). The level of FOXO3 in conjunctival epithelial cells of DE patients was obviously directly correlated with BUT and SⅠt(r=0.431, 0.457, all P<0.01), and it was obviously inversely correlated with CFS(r=-0.469, P<0.01), and the level of IL-2 was obviously inversely correlated with BUT and SⅠt(r=-0.416, -0.447, all P<0.01), and it was obviously directly correlated with CFS(r=0.424, P<0.01); tear FOXO3 was positively correlated with BUT and SⅠt(r=0.421, 0.443, all P<0.01), and it was negatively correlated with CFS(r=-0.474, P<0.01), and IL-2 was negatively correlated with BUT and SⅠt(r=-0.408, -0.429, all P<0.01), and it was positively correlated with CFS(r=0.419, P<0.01).CONCLUSION: the level of FOXO3 in conjunctival epithelial cells and tears of DE patients is decreased, and the level of IL-2 is increased. The two of which are closely related to the ocular surface indicators of patients. They are expected to become laboratory auxiliary indicators for clinical monitoring and prognostic evaluation of DE.