Adaptive immunity is a critical component of the human immune system, playing an essential role in identifying antigens and orchestrating a tailored immune response. This review delves into the significant strides made in the development of epitope prediction tools, their integration into vaccine design, and their pivotal role in enhancing immunotherapy strategies. The review emphasizes the transformative potential of these tools in refining our understanding and application of immune responses. Adaptive immunity distinguishes itself from innate immunity by its ability to recognize specific antigens and remember past infections, leading to quicker and more effective responses upon subsequent exposures. This facet of immunity involves complex interactions between various cell types, primarily B cells and T cells, which recognize distinct epitopes presented by antigens. Epitopes are small sequences or configurations on antigens that are recognized by the immune receptors on B cells and T cells, acting as the focal points of immune recognition and response. Epitopes can be broadly classified into two types: linear (or sequential) epitopes and conformational (or discontinuous) epitopes. Linear epitopes consist of a sequence of amino acids in a protein that are recognized by B cells and T cells in their primary structure form. Conformational epitopes, on the other hand, are formed by spatially distinct amino acids that come together in the tertiary structure of the protein, often recognized by the immune system only when the protein folds into its native conformation. The role of epitopes in the immune response is critical as they are the primary triggers for the activation of B cells and T cells. When an epitope is recognized, it can stimulate B cells to produce antibodies, mobilize helper T cells to secrete cytokines, or prompt cytotoxic T cells to kill infected cells. These actions form the basis of the adaptive immune response, tailored to eliminate specific pathogens or infected cells effectively. The prediction of B cell and T cell epitopes has evolved with advances in computational biology, leading to the development of several sophisticated tools that utilize a variety of algorithms to predict the likelihood of epitope regions on antigens. Tools employing machine learning methods, such as support vector machines (SVMs), XGBoost, random forest, analyze large datasets of known epitopes to classify new sequences as potential epitopes based on their similarity to known data. Moreover, deep learning has emerged as a powerful method in epitope prediction, leveraging neural networks capable of learning high-dimensional data from vast amounts of immunological inputs to identify patterns that may not be evident to other predictive models. Deep learning models, such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs), recurrent neural networks (RNNs) and ESM protein language model have demonstrated superior accuracy in mapping the nonlinear relationships inherent in protein structures and epitope interactions. The application of epitope prediction tools in vaccine design is transformative, enabling the development of epitope-based vaccines that can elicit targeted immune responses against specific parts of the pathogen. These vaccines, by focusing the immune response on highly specific regions of the pathogen, can offer high efficacy and reduced side effects. Similarly, in cancer immunotherapy, epitope prediction tools help identify tumor-specific antigens that can be targeted to develop personalized immunotherapeutic strategies, thereby enhancing the precision of cancer treatments. The future of epitope prediction technology appears promising, with ongoing advancements anticipated to enhance the precision and efficiency of these tools further. The integration of broader immunological data, such as patient-specific immune profiles and pathogen variability, along with advances in AI and machine learning, will likely drive the development of more adaptive, robust, and clinically relevant prediction models. This will not only improve the effectiveness of vaccines and immunotherapies but also contribute to our broader understanding of immune mechanisms, potentially leading to breakthroughs in the treatment and prevention of multiple diseases. In conclusion, the development and refinement of epitope prediction tools stand as a cornerstone in the advancement of immunological research and therapeutic design, highlighting a path toward more precise and personalized medicine. The ongoing integration of computational models with experimental immunology holds the promise of revolutionizing our approach to combating infectious diseases and cancer.

Objective:To summarize and analyze the composition characteristics and problems of basic medical insurance policies for traditional Chinese medicine in various provinces of China,providing reference for optimizing and improving subsequent basic medical insurance policies for traditional Chinese medicine.Methods:Based on the perspective of policy instrument,combined with two dimensions of policy instrument types and policy development process,the content analysis method is used to quantitatively analyze the content of the basic medical insurance policies for traditional Chinese medicine released at the provincial level from 2011 to 2023.Results:The 93 included policy documents were coded and sorted,with a cumulative total of 487 codes.From the perspective of policy instrument dimensions,subcategories of policy instruments involve diverse themes,but there are differences in the level of attention paid to each policy tool.From the perspective of policy development process,each link also presents a discrete trend,indicating a dominant feature of policy planning and implementation.Conclusion:To improve the basic medical insurance policy system of traditional Chinese medicine in China,it is necessary to optimize the combination of policy instrument and construct a coordinated and balanced policy instrument framework;Overall planning of the development process of traditional Chinese medicine medical insurance policies,highlighting the unique advantages of traditional Chinese medicine;Emphasize policy synergy between dimensions and strengthen the implementation of traditional Chinese medicine medical insurance policies.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the factors related to renal impairment in patients with diabetic kidney disease (DKD) from the perspective of integrated Chinese and Western medicine. METHODS: Totally 492 patients with DKD in 8 Chinese hospitals from October 2017 to July 2019 were included. According to Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) staging guidelines, patients were divided into a chronic kidney disease (CKD) 1-3 group and a CKD 4-5 group. Clinical data were collected, and logistic regression was used to analyze the factors related to different CKD stages in DKD patients. RESULTS: Demographically, male was a factor related to increased CKD staging in patients with DKD (OR=3.100, P=0.002). In clinical characteristics, course of diabetes >60 months (OR=3.562, P=0.010), anemia (OR=4.176, P<0.001), hyperuricemia (OR=3.352, P<0.001), massive albuminuria (OR=4.058, P=0.002), atherosclerosis (OR=2.153, P=0.007) and blood deficiency syndrome (OR=1.945, P=0.020) were factors related to increased CKD staging in patients with DKD. CONCLUSIONS Male, course of diabetes >60 months, anemia, hyperuricemia, massive proteinuria, atherosclerosis, and blood deficiency syndrome might indicate more severe degree of renal function damage in patients with DKD. (Registration No. NCT03865914).
Humans ; Male ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Diabetic Nephropathies ; Hyperuricemia ; Kidney ; Proteinuria ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic/complications*

Objective: To establish a predictive model for survival benefit of patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) who received adjuvant chemotherapy after radical resection. Methods: The clinical and pathological data of 249 patients with ICC who underwent radical resection and adjuvant chemotherapy at 8 hospitals in China from January 2010 to December 2018 were retrospectively collected. There were 121 males and 128 females,with 88 cases>60 years old and 161 cases≤60 years old. Feature selection was performed by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis. Overall survival time and survival status were used as outcome indicators,then target clinical features were selected. Patients were stratified into high-risk group and low-risk group,survival differences between the two groups were analyzed. Using the selected clinical features, the traditional CoxPH model and deep learning DeepSurv survival prediction model were constructed, and the performance of the models were evaluated according to concordance index(C-index). Results: Portal vein invasion, carcinoembryonic antigen>5 μg/L,abnormal lymphocyte count, low grade tumor pathological differentiation and positive lymph nodes>0 were independent adverse prognostic factors for overall survival in 249 patients with adjuvant chemotherapy after radical resection (all P<0.05). The survival benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy in the high-risk group was significantly lower than that in the low-risk group (P<0.05). Using the above five features, the traditional CoxPH model and the deep learning DeepSurv survival prediction model were constructed. The C-index values of the training set were 0.687 and 0.770, and the C-index values of the test set were 0.606 and 0.763,respectively. Conclusion: Compared with the traditional Cox model, the DeepSurv model can more accurately predict the survival probability of patients with ICC undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy at a certain time point, and more accurately judge the survival benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy.

Objectives: To construct a nomogram for prediction of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) lymph node metastasis based on inflammation-related markers,and to conduct its clinical verification. Methods: Clinical and pathological data of 858 ICC patients who underwent radical resection were retrospectively collected at 10 domestic tertiary hospitals in China from January 2010 to December 2018. Among the 508 patients who underwent lymph node dissection,207 cases had complete variable clinical data for constructing the nomogram,including 84 males,123 females,109 patients≥60 years old,98 patients<60 years old and 69 patients were pathologically diagnosed with positive lymph nodes after surgery. Receiver operating characteristic curve was drawn to calculate the accuracy of preoperative imaging examinations to determine lymph node status,and the difference in overall survival time was compared by Log-rank test. Partial regression squares and statistically significant preoperative variables were screened by backward stepwise regression analysis. R software was applied to construct a nomogram,clinical decision curve and clinical influence curve,and Bootstrap method was used for internal verification. Moreover,retrospectively collecting clinical information of 107 ICC patients with intraoperative lymph node dissection admitted to 9 tertiary hospitals in China from January 2019 to June 2021 was for external verification to verify the accuracy of the nomogram. 80 patients with complete clinical data but without lymph node dissection were divided into lymph node metastasis high-risk group and low-risk group according to the score of the nomogram among the 858 patients. Log-rank test was used to compare the overall survival of patients with or without lymph node metastasis diagnosed by pathology. Results: The area under the curve of preoperative imaging examinations for lymph node status assessment of 440 patients was 0.615,with a false negative rate of 62.8% (113/180) and a false positive rate of 14.2% (37/260). The median survival time of 207 patients used to construct a nomogram with positive or negative postoperative pathological lymph node metastases was 18.5 months and 27.1 months,respectively (P<0.05). Five variables related to lymph node metastasis were screened out by backward stepwise regression analysis,which were combined calculi,neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio,albumin,liver capsule invasion and systemic immune inflammation index,according to which a nomogram was constructed with concordance index(C-index) of 0.737 (95%CI: 0.667 to 0.806). The C-index of external verification was 0.674 (95%CI:0.569 to 0.779). The calibration prediction curve was in good agreement with the reference curve. The results of the clinical decision curve showed that when the risk threshold of high lymph node metastasis in the nomogram was set to about 0.32,the maximum net benefit could be obtained by 0.11,and the cost/benefit ratio was 1∶2. The results of clinical influence curve showed that when the risk threshold of high lymph node metastasis in the nomogram was set to about 0.6,the probability of correctly predicting lymph node metastasis could reach more than 90%. There was no significant difference in overall survival time between patients with high/low risk of lymph node metastasis assessed by the nomogram and those with pathologically confirmed lymph node metastasis or without lymph node metastasis (Log-rank test:P=0.082 and 0.510,respectively). Conclusion: The prediction accuracy of preoperative nomogram for ICC lymph node metastasis based on inflammation-related markers is satisfactory,which can be used as a supplementary method for preoperative diagnosis of lymph node metastasis and is helpful for clinicians to make personalized decision of lymph node dissection for patients with ICC.

Humans ; Anodontia/genetics* ; Tooth Abnormalities/genetics* ; Mutation ; Malocclusion/genetics* ; Wnt Proteins/genetics*

Objective:To analyze the risk factors of bronchopulmonary dysplasia(BPD)in very preterm infants(VPI), and to provide scientific basis for the prevention and treatment of BPD in VPI.Methods:A prospective multicenter study was designed to collect the clinical data of VPI in department of neonatology of 28 hospitals in 7 regions from September 2019 to December 2020.According to the continuous oxygen dependence at 28 days after birth, VPI were divided into non BPD group and BPD group, and the risk factors of BPD in VPI were analyzed.Results:A total of 2 514 cases of VPI including 1 364 cases without BPD and 1 150 cases with BPD were enrolled.The incidence of BPD was 45.7%.The smaller the gestational age and weight, the higher the incidence of BPD( P<0.001). Compared with non BPD group, the average birth age, weight and cesarean section rate in BPD group were lower, and the incidence of male infants, small for gestational age and 5-minute apgar score≤7 were higher( P<0.01). In BPD group, the incidences of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome(NRDS), hemodynamically significant patent ductus arteriosus, retinopathy of prematurity, feeding intolerance, extrauterine growth restriction, grade Ⅲ~Ⅳ intracranial hemorrhage, anemia, early-onset and late-onset sepsis, nosocomial infection, parenteral nutrition-associated cholestasis were higher( P<0.05), the use of pulmonary surfactant(PS), postnatal hormone exposure, anemia and blood transfusion were also higher, and the time of invasive and non-invasive mechanical ventilation, oxygen use and total hospital stay were longer( P<0.001). The time of starting enteral nutrition, cumulative fasting days, days of reaching total enteral nutrition, days of continuous parenteral nutrition, days of reaching 110 kcal/(kg·d) total calorie, days of reaching 110 kcal/(kg·d) oral calorie were longer and the breastfeeding rate was lower in BPD group than those in non BPD group( P<0.001). The cumulative doses of amino acid and fat emulsion during the first week of hospitalization were higher in BPD group( P<0.001). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that NRDS, invasive mechanical ventilation, age of reaching total enteral nutrition, anemia and blood transfusion were the independent risk factors for BPD in VPI, and older gestational age was the protective factor for BPD. Conclusion:Strengthening perinatal management, avoiding premature delivery and severe NRDS, shortening the time of invasive mechanical ventilation, paying attention to enteral nutrition management, reaching whole intestinal feeding as soon as possible, and strictly mastering the indications of blood transfusion are very important to reduce the incidence of BPD in VPI.

Objective:To explore rational surgical treatment for childhood nail matrix nevi.Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on clinical data from 35 children with pathologically confirmed nail matrix nevi, who received surgical treatment in Children′s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from September 2015 to March 2019. Different surgical approaches were adopted according to the site and width of lesions. For lesions with a width of ≤ 3 mm, the nail bed and nail matrix lesions were directly excised with 1-to-2-mm margins and sutured in 11 cases. For lesions with a width of > 3 mm, one of the following 3 surgical procedures was selected by the children′s parents: (1) shaving of nail bed and nail matrix lesions under a microscope at ×8 magnification (8 cases) ; (2) excision of lesions followed by full-thickness skin grafting on the periosteum of the phalanx (8 cases) ; (3) excision of lesions of the second to fifth fingers followed by transfer of skin flaps from the thenar muscle area and full-thickness skin grafting (5 cases) , or excision of lesions of the thumb followed by abdominal-wall flap transfer (3 cases) . The patients were followed up for 12 months, and clinical efficacy was evaluated.Results:During the follow-up, no recurrence occurred in the 11 cases receiving direct excision and suture, with good appearances and longitudinal linear scars on the nail. Among the 8 cases receiving shaving therapy under a microscope, 4 experienced relapse during the follow-up of 6 - 12 months, and the nail/toenail plates were rough and poor in lustrousness in the other 4 without recurrence. No recurrence was observed in the 8 cases receiving excision of the lesions and full-thickness skin grafting, of whom 1 experienced skin graft necrosis, and skin grafts survived with obvious pigmentation in the other 7 cases. Among cases receiving excision of the lesions combined with transfer of skin flaps from the thenar muscle area or abdominal-wall flap transfer, no recurrence was observed, and all transferred flaps survived; good appearances, nearly normal color and gloss of nails were obtained in the cases after transfer of skin flaps from the thenar muscle area, while the color and gloss of postoperative nails were markedly different from those of normal nails in the cases receiving abdominal-wall flap transfer.Conclusion:For nail matrix nevi with a width of ≤ 3 mm, direct excision and suture with 1-to-2-mm margins are recommended; for those with a width of > 3 mm, excision of lesions combined with full-thickness skin grafting, transfer of skin flaps from the thenar muscle area or abdominal-wall flap transfer is recommended; the shaving procedure under a microscope should be used with caution.

Objectives: To investigate the clinical value of adjuvant chemotherapy(ACT) in patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma(ICC) who underwent radical resection and to explore the optimal population that can benefit from ACT. Methods: A retrospective cohort study method was adopted. The clinical and pathological data of 685 patients with ICC who underwent curative intent resection in 10 Chinese hepatobiliary surgery centers from January 2010 to December 2018 were collected;There were 355 males and 330 females. The age(M(IQR)) was 58(14) years (range: 22 to 83 years). Propensity score matching(PSM) was applied to balance the differences between the adjuvant and non-adjuvant chemotherapy groups. Log-rank test was used to compare the prognosis of the two groups of patients. A Bayesian network recurrence-free survival(RFS) prediction model was constructed using the median RFS time (14 months) as the target variable, and the importance of the relevant prognostic factors was ranked according to the multistate Birnbaum importance calculation. A survival prognostic prediction table was established to analyze the population benefiting from adjuvant chemotherapy. Results: Among 685 patients,214 received ACT and 471 did not receive ACT. A total of 124 pairs of patients were included after PSM, and patients in the ACT group had better overall survival (OS) and RFS than those in the non-ACT group(OS: 32.2 months vs. 18.0 months,P=0.003;RFS:18.0 months vs. 10.0 months,P=0.001). The area under the curve of the Bayesian network RFS prediction model was 0.7124. The results of the prognostic factors in order of importance were microvascular invasion (0.158 2),perineural invasion (0.158 2),N stage (0.155 8),T stage (0.120 9), hepatic envelope invasion (0.090 3),adjuvant chemotherapy (0.072 1), tumor location (0.057 5), age (0.042 3), pathological differentiation (0.034 0), sex (0.029 3), alpha-fetoprotein (0.028 9) and preoperative jaundice (0.008 5). A survival prediction table based on the variables with importance greater than 0.1 (microvascular invasion,perineural invasion,N stage,T staging) and ACT showed that all patients benefited from ACT (increase in the probability of RFS≥14 months from 2.21% to 7.68%), with a more significant increase in the probability of RFS≥14 months after ACT in early-stage patients. Conclusion: ACT after radical resection in patients with ICC significantly prolongs the OS and RFS of patients, and the benefit of ACT is greater in early patients.
Bayes Theorem ; Bile Duct Neoplasms/surgery* ; Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic/pathology* ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Cholangiocarcinoma/surgery* ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the incidence of extrauterine growth retardation (EUGR) and its risk factors in very preterm infants (VPIs) during hospitalization in China. METHODS: A prospective multicenter study was performed on the medical data of 2 514 VPIs who were hospitalized in the department of neonatology in 28 hospitals from 7 areas of China between September 2019 and December 2020. According to the presence or absence of EUGR based on the evaluation of body weight at the corrected gestational age of 36 weeks or at discharge, the VPIs were classified to two groups: EUGR group (n=1 189) and non-EUGR (n=1 325). The clinical features were compared between the two groups, and the incidence of EUGR and risk factors for EUGR were examined. RESULTS: The incidence of EUGR was 47.30% (1 189/2 514) evaluated by weight. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that higher weight growth velocity after regaining birth weight and higher cumulative calorie intake during the first week of hospitalization were protective factors against EUGR (P<0.05), while small-for-gestational-age birth, prolonged time to the initiation of total enteral feeding, prolonged cumulative fasting time, lower breast milk intake before starting human milk fortifiers, prolonged time to the initiation of full fortified feeding, and moderate-to-severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia were risk factors for EUGR (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS It is crucial to reduce the incidence of EUGR by achieving total enteral feeding as early as possible, strengthening breastfeeding, increasing calorie intake in the first week after birth, improving the velocity of weight gain, and preventing moderate-severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia in VPIs.
Female ; Fetal Growth Retardation ; Gestational Age ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Infant, Very Low Birth Weight ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors