Characterization and immune effect of the hepatitis B-BCG combined vaccine for using a needle innoculation

Research progress on rodent models and its mechanisms of liver injury

The liver is the most important organ for biological transformation in the body and is crucial for maintaining the body's vital activities. Liver injury is a serious pathological condition that is commonly found in many liver diseases. It has a high incidence rate, is difficult to cure, and is prone to recurrence. Liver injury can cause serious harm to the body, ranging from mild to severe fatty liver disease. If the condition continues to worsen, it can lead to liver fibrosis and cirrhosis, ultimately resulting in liver failure or liver cancer, which can seriously endanger human life and health. Therefore, establishing an rodent model that mimics the pathogenesis and severity of clinical liver injury is of great significance for better understanding the pathogenesis of liver injury patients and developing more effective clinical treatment methods. The author of this article summarizes common chemical liver injury models, immune liver injury models, alcoholic liver injury models, drug-induced liver injury models, and systematically elaborates on the modeling methods, mechanisms of action, pathways of action, and advantages or disadvantages of each type of model. The aim of this study is to establish reliable rodent models for researchers to use in exploring anti-liver injury and hepatoprotective drugs. By creating more accurate theoretical frameworks, we hope to provide new insights into the treatment of clinical liver injury diseases.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis pellicles express unique proteins recognized by the host humoral response

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) causes both acute and chronic infections in humans characterized by tolerance to antibiotics and reactivation to cause secondary tuberculosis. These characteristics have led to renewed interest in the in vitro pellicle, or biofilm mode of growth, where bacteria grow to produce a thick aggregate at the air-liquid interface and exhibit increased phenotypic resistance to antibiotics. We infected guinea pigs with the virulent H37Rv strain of MTB for 60 days at which point we collected blood. To identify antigenic proteins, membrane protein extracts of MTB H37Ra pellicles and shaken cultures grown for 3, 5, or 7 weeks were probed with the infected animals' sera after the proteins were separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DGE). Antigenic proteins were then identified using MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry peptide mass fingerprinting. Antigenic pellicle proteins were compared across the three timepoints to identify those that were produced consistently during pellicle growth. They were also compared to those membrane proteins identified from harvested shaken cultures to determine pellicle-specific vs. universally expressed proteins. Using this technique, we identified 44 distinct antigenic proteins, nine of which were pellicle-specific. The sequence of antigenic pellicle-specific proteins was checked for sequence conservation across 15 sequenced MTB clinical isolates, three other members of the MTB complex, as well as M. avium and M. smegmatis. The antigenic pellicle-specific protein Rv0097 was found to have very high sequence conservation within the MTB complex but not with related mycobacteria, while FabG4 was highly conserved in all mycobacteria analyzed. These conserved pellicle-specific proteins represent targets for the development of future diagnostic tests and vaccines.

Construction and expression of a recombinant eukaryotic expression plasmid containing the preS1-preS2-S genes of hepatitis B virus and the granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor gene: A study of its immunomodulatory effects

A total of 10-20% of the population remains unresponsive or weakly responsive to hepatitis B vaccine, which is composed of hepatitis B surface antigen HBsAg (S protein). Therefore, it is necessary to develop a hepatitis B vaccine with a better penetrating and responsive rate. In the present study, a plasmid pVAX1-L-GM was constructed and its immunomodulatory effect of as hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA vaccine was analyzed through the immunization of BALB/c mice. Immune responses were measured after immunization by anti-HBsAg, proliferation of splenocytes, the number of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ molecules, CTL cytotoxicity, cytokines of IFN-γ and IL-2 secretion assays. Following the immunization, mice in the pVAX1-L-GM group produced antibody 2 weeks earlier compared to the control plasmid pVAX1 and pVAX1HBsAg groups and antibody levels showed significant differences. Enhanced HBsAg-specific splenocyte proliferation as well as specific cytotoxic activities of splenic CTLs were also detected. Furthermore, pVAX1-L-GM plasmid increased the number of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ molecules on the surface of the spleen T cell and the level of IFN-γ, IL-2 secretion. pVAX1-L-GM induced a specific immune response in mice and enhanced the immune effect. Thus, a foundation was laid for developing immunogenicity of a better prevention and treatment of HBV via a hepatitis B vaccine.