RNA-seq reveals role of cell-cycle regulating genes in the pathogenicity of a field very virulent infectious bursal disease virus

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) infection causes highly contagious and immunosuppressive disease in poultry. The thymus, serving as the primary organ for T cell maturation and differentiation, plays an important role in the pathogenicity of IBDV in the infected chickens. However, there are no reports on the molecular pathogenesis of IBDV in the thymus currently. The aim of the study was to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenicity of a field very virulent (vv) IBDV strain NN1172 in the thymus of SPF chickens using integrative transcriptomic and proteomic analyses. Our results showed that a total of 4,972 Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the thymus of NN1172-infected chickens by transcriptomic analysis, with 2,796 up-regulated and 2,176 down-regulated. Meanwhile, the proteomic analysis identified 726 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in the infected thymus, with 289 up-regulated and 437 down-regulated. Overall, a total of 359 genes exhibited differentially expression at both mRNA and protein levels, with 134 consistently up-regulated and 198 genes consistently down-regulated, as confirmed through a comparison of the RNA-seq and the proteomic datasets. The gene ontology (GO) analysis unveiled the involvement of both DEGs and DEPs in diverse categories encompassing cellular components, biological processes, and molecular functions in the pathological changes in IBDV-infected thymus. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis revealed that the host mainly displayed severely disruption of cell survival/repair, proliferation and metabolism pathway, meanwhile, the infection triggers antiviral immune activation with a potential emphasis on the MDA5 pathway. Network inference analysis identified seven core hub genes, which include CDK1, TYMS, MCM5, KIF11, CCNB2, MAD2L1, and MCM4. These genes are all associated with cell-cycle regulating pathway and are likely key mediators in the pathogenesis induced by NN1172 infection in the thymus. This study discovered dominant pathways and genes which enhanced our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying IBDV pathogenesis in the thymus.

KIR genotyping by reverse sequence-specific oligonucleotide methodology

Recent studies suggest that killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) genotyping may be relevant to bone marrow/stem cell transplantation. The objective of this research was to develop a bead-based reverse sequence-specific oligonucleotide DNA hybridization assay for KIR genotyping using the Luminex platform. The oligonucleotide probes were designed to recognize 14 currently known KIR genes and two pseudogenes, as well as null alleles. A unique probe design was used to allow detection of two cis-polymorphic regions for typing of KIR2DS4, because the functioning alleles cannot readily be assigned by conventional probe detection systems. Assay performance was validated using DNA samples previously typed by the 13th International Histocompatibility Working Group with 100% concordant results.

Color Doppler imaging in the study of retrobulbar hemodynamic changes of primary angle-closure glaucoma

PURPOSE

To investigate the hemodynamic changes of ophthalmic and central retinal artery (OA, CRA) in Primary Angle-closure Glaucoma (PACG) and the effects of intraocular pressure (IOP) on the retrobulbar hemodynamics.

METHODS

The hemodynamic changes of OA, CRA in PACG were explored with color Doppler imaging (CDI) technique. Peak systolic blood flow velocity (PSV), end-diastolic blood flow velocity (EDV), pulsatile and resistive indices (PI, RI) were recorded and compared with those of the normal subjects. There were 20 patients (40 eyes) with PACG who were divided into two groups according to their IOP levels: ocular hypertension (15 eyes) and normal tension (25 eyes).

RESULTS

Compared with the normal subjects, the hypertension group of PACG showed significant reduction in the EDV and increases in PI, RI of CRA; normal tension group of PACG also showed remarkable increase in RI of CRA. The ocular hypertension was significantly correlated with the RI and not with the EDV by the analysis of multiple linear regression (the partial correlation coefficient for IOP vs RI was 0.388, p = 0.0234, for IOP vs EDV was 0.053, p = 0.7688). Compared with the normal group, there might be a trend of reduction in the EDV of the OA in PACG group.

CONCLUSION

Intraocular pressure elevated is a major cause of the vascular resistance increased in PACG, which will make the end-diastolic blood flow of CRA decreased. There exists an abnormal vascular resistance in the normal tension eyes of PACG.