Kinetics of serological responses in influenza A(H7N9)-infected patients correlate with clinical outcome in China, 2013

The novel avian influenza A(H7N9) infection has recently emerged to cause severe respiratory illness in China. The objectives of this study were to define the kinetics of the antibody responses in patients with influenza A(H7N9) disease and to correlate these kinetics with clinical outcome. Serial serum samples were obtained at intervals of three to four days from 18 patients with virologically confirmed A(H7N9) disease in Shanghai. We determined the kinetics of the haemagglutination inhibition (HI) and A(H7H9) pseudotype neutralisation antibody (Nab) responses and correlated these with clinical outcomes. Most patients had robust serological responses by both HI and Nab tests. Taking into account censoring due to time of testing and death, the median time from onset of illness to Nab titre ≥1:40 was 14 days (95% confidence interval (CI): 11–18 days) in the fatal cases and 10.5 days (95% CI: 7–12) in the survivors (p=0.003). The two groups did not differ in initial Nab titres, but the rate of increase in Nab titres was significantly faster for survivors by approximately 10-fold per 15 days (p=0.007). Early and rapid induction of Nab was correlated significantly with better clinical outcome.

Loss of Yme1L perturbates mitochondrial dynamics

Yme1L is an AAA protease that is embedded in the mitochondrial inner membrane with its catalytic domain facing the mitochondrial inner-membrane space. However, how Yme1L regulates mammalian mitochondrial function is still obscure. We find that endogenous Yme1L locates at punctate structures of mitochondria, and that loss of Yme1L in mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) cells results in mitochondrial fragmentation and leads to significant increased ‘kiss-and-run' type of mitochondrial fusion; however, Yme1L knockdown (shYme1L (short hairpin-mediated RNA interference of Yme1L)) cells still remain normal mitochondrial fusion although shYme1L mitochondria have a little bit less fusion and fission rates, and the shYme1L-induced fragmentation is due to a little bit more mitochondrial fission than fusion in cells. Furthermore, shYme1L-induced mitochondrial fragmentation is independent on optic atrophy 1 (OPA1) S1 or S2 processing, and shYme1L results in the stabilization of OPA1 long form (L-OPA1); in addition, the exogenous expression of OPA1 or L-OPA1 facilitates the shYme1L-induced mitochondrial fragmentation, thus this fragmentation induced by shYme1L appears to be associated with L-OPA1's stability. ShYme1L also causes a slight increase of mitochondrial dynamics proteins of 49 kDa and mitochondrial fission factor (Mff), which recruit mitochondrial key fission factor dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1) into mitochondria in MEF cells, and loss of Drp1 or Mff inhibits the shYme1L-induced mitochondrial fragmentation. In addition, there is interaction between SLP-2 with Yme1L and shYme1L cells retain stress-induced mitochondrial hyperfusion. Taken together, our results clarify how Yme1L regulates mitochondrial morphology.

Prognostic value of the IASLC/ATS/ERS classification in stage I lung adenocarcinoma patients--based on a hospital study in China

AIMS

We investigated the relationship between predominant subtype, according to the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer/American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society International Multidisciplinary Lung Adenocarcinoma Classification, and prognosis in stage I lung adenocarcinoma in Zhejiang Cancer Hospital.

METHODS

Two hundred and sixty-one patients with stage I lung adenocarcinoma, operated in Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, were identified between 2000 and 2010. Survival curves were plotted using the Kaplan-Meier method. The Cox proportional hazard model was used for multivariate analysis.

RESULTS

None of the cases were adenocarcinoma in situ and six were minimally invasive adenocarcinomas. Two hundred and fifty-five cases were invasive adenocarcinoma. Of those, 80, 76, 42, 34, 19, and 4 were papillary predominant, acinar predominant, micropapillary predominant, solid predominant, lepidic predominant subtypes, and variants of invasive adenocarcinoma, respectively. Patients with micropapillary and solid predominant tumors had a significantly worse disease-free survival as compared to those with other subtypes predominant tumors (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that the new classification was an independent predictor of the disease-free and overall survival (p = 0.002 and 0.015).

CONCLUSION

The predominant subtype in the primary tumor was associated with prognosis in resected stage I lung adenocarcinoma.

Skin cancer treatment by albumin/5-Fu loaded magnetic nanocomposite spheres in a mouse model

Albumin/drug loaded magnetic nanocomposite spheres were fabricated using an oil-in-oil emulsion/solvent evaporation method, and tested on a mouse model (experimental squamous cell carcinoma) to determine the efficacy of the drug delivery system (DDS) on skin cancer. This novel DDS consists of human serum albumin, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu), magnetic nanoparticles (10 nm) and fluorescent labeling molecule (diphenylhexatriene). One of the major purposes of using albumin is that it likely provides internal binding to and retention by the inflammatory tissues to reduce the amount of magnetic nanoparticles needed in the drug loaded microspheres (750–1100 nm). This study is aimed at reducing many negative side effects of conventionally used chemotherapy drugs by localizing the chemotherapy drug, controlling the release of the therapeutic agent and encouraging uptake of the DDS into cancerous cells. A group of mice treated with (1) the magnetic targeted DDS were compared to the other three groups, including, (2) DDS without a magnet, (3) 5-Fu local injection, and (4) untreated groups. The fluorescent tracer was ubiquitously identified inside the tumor tissue, and the DDS/tumor tissue boundary presented a leaky interface. The test results clearly showed that the magnetic targeted DDS exhibited significantly superior therapeutic effects in treating the skin cancer, with the increased efficacy to halt the tumor growth.

Fluorimetric determination of hydrogen peroxide in water using acetaminophen

A fluorimetric procedure for the determination of hydrogen peroxide, based on the oxidation of acetaminophen with hydrogen peroxide in acidic medium, is described. The calibration graph was linear in the range 5.0 x 10(-8) - 2.4 x 10(-5) M hydrogen peroxide at an emission wavelength of 333 nm with excitation at 298 nm. The method has been applied to the determination of hydrogen peroxide in rain water, and the recoveries in milk samples were good.

Biomarkers in the lung cancer diagnosis: a clinical perspective

The propensity for tumor biomarkers to be detected in serum at an early disease stage has become an area of interest for clinicians. This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of 7 tumor biomarkers, namely, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), cytokeratin 19 (CYFRA-21-1), alpha-fetoprotein, carbohydrate antigen-125 (CA-125), carbohydrate antigen-19.9 (CA-19.9), and ferritin, independently or in combination for the diagnosis of lung cancer. Electrochemiluminescence immunization was used to determine biomarker levels expressed in 530 patients with pulmonary disease and 229 healthy subjects. The observed levels of CEA, NSE, CYFRA-21-1, CA-125, and CA-19.9 in patients with pathologically confirmed lung cancer were significantly higher than those in patients with benign pulmonary disease or control subjects. Adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and small cell carcinoma of the lung were associated with the highest observed levels of CA-125, CYFRA-21-1, and NSE, respectively. Combining biomarkers successfully led to the diagnosis of lung cancer. CEA + NSE + CA-125 showed the highest sensitivity for small cell carcinoma, at 83.33%, whereas CEA + NSE + CYFRA-21-1 + CA-125 showed 94.11% sensitivity for squamous cell carcinoma. The combination of 6 biomarkers, namely, CEA + NSE + CYFRA-21-1 + CA-125 + ferritin + CA-19.9, showed 80.49% sensitivity for adenocarcinoma. Combining biomarkers significantly aided in the diagnosis of lung cancer. However, this increased sensitivity on combination was accompanied by a decreased specificity for lung cancer subtypes. Combining biomarkers appropriately increases their sensitivity and helps with the diagnosis of lung cancer.

Vascular smooth muscle cell apoptosis promotes transplant arteriosclerosis through inducing the production of SDF-1α

Transplant arteriosclerosis is a leading cause of late allograft loss. Medial smooth muscle cell (SMC) apoptosis is considered to be an important event in transplant arteriosclerosis. However, the precise contribution of medial SMC apoptosis to transplant arteriosclerosis and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We transferred wild-type p53 to induce apoptosis of cultured SMCs. We found that apoptosis induces the production of SDF-1α from apoptotic and neighboring viable cells, resulting in increased SDF-1α in the culture media. Conditioned media from Ltv-p53-transferred SMCs activated PI3K/Akt/mTOR and MAPK/Erk signaling in a SDF-1α-dependent manner and thereby promoted mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) migration and proliferation. In a rat aorta transplantation model, lentivirus-mediated BclxL transfer selectively inhibits medial SMC apoptosis in aortic allografts, resulting in a remarkable decrease of SDF-1α both in allograft media and in blood plasma, associated with diminished recruitment of CD90(+)CD105(+) double-positive cells and impaired neointimal formation. Systemic administration of rapamycin or PD98059 also attenuated MSC recruitment and neointimal formation in the aortic allografts. These results suggest that medial SMC apoptosis is critical for the development of transplant arteriosclerosis through inducing SDF-1α production and that MSC recruitment represents a major component of vascular remodeling, constituting a relevant target and mechanism for therapeutic interventions.

Genetic analysis of NR4A2 gene in a large population of Han Chinese patients with Parkinson's disease

BACKGROUND

NR4A2 gene is a transcription factor crucial for differentiation and survival of midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons, and several variants have been eported to be associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) in the Caucasian population.

METHODS

To determine whether there is any association of NR4A2 mutation or variation with PD in the Han Chinese population, we performed a genetic analysis of all the exons and exon-intron boundaries in 689 PD patients and 672 controls from mainland China using direct sequencing analysis.

RESULTS

We identified four novel variants and two previously reported variants. Two novel variants (exon 2 c.-20 C>G and exon 3 c.711 C>A) were only found in PD. The others (exon 2 c.-35 A>G; exon 8 c.1615 G>A; intron 4 IVS4-16 G>T; and intron 6 IVS6 + 18 insG) were found in both PD and controls at different frequencies.

CONCLUSIONS

Collectively, our results suggest that NR4A2 may be a susceptibility gene for PD in the Chinese population.

Diverse roles of G-protein coupled receptors in the regulation of neurohypophyseal hormone secretion

The magnocellular neurones in the supraoptic nucleus project to the neural lobe and release vasopressin and oxytocin into the peripheral circulation, where they act on the kidney to promote fluid retention or stimulate smooth muscles in the vasculature, uterus and mammary glands to support blood pressure, promote parturition or induce milk let-down, respectively. Hormone release is regulated by complex afferent pathways carrying information about plasma osmolality, blood pressure and volume, cervical stretch, and suckling. These afferent pathways utilise a broad array of neurotransmitters and peptides that activate both ligand-gated ion channels and G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). The ligand-gated ion channels induce rapid changes in membrane potential resulting in the generation of action potentials, initiation of exocytosis and the release of hormone into the periphery. By contrast, the GPCRs activate a host of diverse signalling cascades that modulate action potential firing and regulate other cellular functions required to support hormone release (e.g. hormone synthesis, processing, packaging and trafficking). The diversity of these actions is critical for integration of the distinct regulatory signals into a response appropriate for maintaining homeostasis. This review describes several diverse roles of GPCRs in magnocellular neurones, focusing primarily on adrenergic, purinergic and peptidergic (neurokinin and angiotensin) receptors.