Hemagglutinin from multiple divergent influenza A and B viruses bind to a distinct branched,sialylated poly-LacNAc glycan by surface plasmon resonance

Influenza viruses initiate infection via specific interactions of hemagglutinin (HA) with host cell surface sialic acid-containing glycans. Antigenic drift has resulted in HA amino acid sequence changes that affect binding properties for sialic acids. Further, viral propagation in eggs and cell culture for vaccine production can yield variants with mutations that affect the conformation and affinity of HA for sialic acids. Therefore, influenza vaccine researchers and manufacturers need robust analytical methods to assess directly the ability of vaccine candidates to bind to their specific sialic acid ligand. We developed a surface plasmon resonance method that uses an extended, biantennary glycan terminating with α-2,6 linked sialic acids to bind influenza HA and assess this interaction. Recombinant HA (rHA) from both influenza A and B viruses isolated from 1999 to 2017 strongly and specifically bind this sialic acid ligand, suggesting the binding ability of divergent HA for this ligand is resistant to antigenic drift. Importantly, the method can differentiate between wild type and mutant rHA for which binding to this sialylated glycan and red blood cells in hemagglutination assays is compromised. We believe this method can be a powerful tool to screen influenza A and B vaccine candidates and final vaccine preparations for their functional ability to bind sialic acids, which allows manufacturers to identify preparations in which mutations that affect sialic acid binding have arisen during propagation. Evaluation of vaccine rHA antigen integrity by confirmation of the receptor binding site functionality is a prudent cautionary step to assure the antigenic quality of seasonal influenza vaccines.     

非酒精性脂肪性肝炎诊断研究进展

非酒精性脂肪性肝病是一种慢性非传染性疾病。近年来其患病率和发病率不断增高,发病年龄也出现低年龄化趋势,该疾病已取代慢性乙型肝炎成为第一大慢性肝脏疾病。重点综述非酒精性脂肪性肝病中的非酒精性脂肪性肝炎的诊断研究进展,介绍非酒精性脂肪性肝炎的临床病史、病理学诊断、非侵入方法诊断,为临床诊断提供参考。     

Heart-type fatty acid-binding protein: an overlooked cardiac biomarker

Abstract

Cardiac troponins (cTn) are currently the standard of care for the diagnosis of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with chest pain (CP). However, their plasma kinetics necessitate a prolonged ED stay or overnight hospital admission, especially in those presenting early after CP onset. Moreover, ruling out ACS in low-risk patients requires prolonged ED observation or overnight hospital admission to allow serial measurements of c-Tn, adding cost. Heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP) is a novel marker of myocardial injury with putative advantages over cTn. Being present in abundance in the myocellular cytoplasm, it is released rapidly (<1?h) after the onset of myocardial injury and could potentially play an important role in both earlier diagnosis of high-risk patients presenting early after CP onset, as well as in risk-stratifying low-risk patients rapidly. Like cTn, H-FABP also has a potential role as a prognostic marker in other conditions where the myocardial injury occurs, such as acute congestive heart failure (CHF) and acute pulmonary embolism (PE). This review provides an overview of the evidence examining the role of H-FABP in early diagnosis and risk stratification of patients with CP and in non-ACS conditions associated with myocardial injury.

• Key messages

• Heart-type fatty acid-binding protein is a biomarker that is elevated early in myocardial injury

• The routine use in the emergency department complements the use of troponins in ruling out acute coronary syndromes in patients presenting early with chest pain

• It also is useful in risk stratifying patients with other conditions such as heart failure and acute pulmonary embolism.

     

Inhibition of fatty acid synthase (FASN) affects the proliferation and apoptosis of HepG2 hepatoma carcinoma cells via the β-catenin/C-myc signaling pathway

Introduction and objectivesResearch in the last few years has proven that inhibition of fatty acid synthase (FASN) suppresses the migration and invasion of hepatoma carcinoma cells. This study aims to explore the effect of fatty acid synthase knockdown on the apoptosis and proliferation of HepG2 cells.Materials and methodsThe human liver cancer cell line HepG2 was cultured and then transfected with FASN-specific siRNA and negative control RNAi. After 48 h, cells and protein lysates were used for western blotting, CCK-8 (cell counting kit-8) assays, flow cytometry and other tests. To assess cell apoptosis, Bax, Bcl-2 and caspase-3 were detected; to assess proliferation, CDK4 (cyclin-dependent kinases 4) and P21 were detected; and to determine the signaling pathway involved, β-catenin and C-myc were also detected.ResultsInhibition of FASN in HepG2 cells can decrease proliferation and promote apoptosis. Flow cytometry and CCK-8 assays demonstrated that the apoptosis rate of FASN-specific siRNA-transfected cells was significantly increased compared to that of the control cells (p < 0.01). In addition, the cell cycle analysis revealed that FASN-specific siRNA-transfected cells induced G1 phase arrest (p < 0.05), but an increasing trend in G2 (p < 0.05).Compared with expression in negative RNAi-transfected cells, the expression of Bcl-2 and CDK-4 was reduced and the expression of Bax, caspase-3 and P21 was increased in FASN-specific siRNA-transfected cells (p < 0.05). Regarding the signaling pathway, the expression of β-catenin and C-myc was significantly reduced when compared to that in negative control cells (p < 0.05).ConclusionsInhibition of FASN suppressed the cell survival of HepG2 cells by inhibiting the β-catenin/C-myc pathway. This result suggests the potential treatment value of FASN for hepatoma carcinoma (HCC).     

Dysregulation in nucleic acid‐sensing pathway genes is associated with cancer patients’ prognosis

The innate immune system, the first line of defense against pathogens, is activated by nucleic acids from microbial invaders that are recognized by nucleic acid‐sensing receptors. Recent evidence affirms the ability of these receptors to respond to nucleic acids released by damaged cancer cells. The innate immune system is also involved in cancer immunosurveillance, and could be modulated for devising effective antitumor therapies by targeting nucleic acid‐sensing pathways. A systematic, comprehensive analysis of dysregulation in nucleic acid‐sensing pathways in cancer is required to fully understand its role. Based on multidimensional data of The Cancer Genome Atlas pan‐cancer cohort, we revealed that upregulation of cytosolic DNA‐sensing genes like AIM2 and CGAS was common in tumor tissues. We used 15 genes in the nucleic acid‐sensing pathway to cluster all tumor patients into 2 subgroups and found that the subgroup with higher expression of nucleic acid‐sensing pathway genes was associated with poorer prognosis across cancer types. However, in homologous recombination deficient patients, the nucleic acid recognition activated subgroup was associated with better prognosis, which confirms the therapeutic effect of nucleic acid recognition. This study contributes to a better understanding of the functions and mechanisms of nucleic acid recognition in cancer, lays the foundation for new therapeutic strategies, and enlarges the scope of development of new drugs.     

丝穗金粟兰化学成分研究

目的对丝穗金粟兰Chloranthus fortunei的化学成分进行研究。方法利用多种色谱分离方法和波谱学鉴定方法对丝穗金粟兰中的化学成分进行了分离鉴定,并借助MTT法对其中得到的部分化合物进行了抗肿瘤活性的初步筛选。结果从丝穗金粟兰95%乙醇提取物中分离得到16个化合物,分别鉴定为迷迭香酸(1)、2′-羟基-4,3′,4′,6′-四甲氧基查耳酮(2)、卡瓦胡椒素A(3)、cycloshizukaol A(4)、白术内酯III(5)、4β-hydroxy-8,12-epoxyeudesma-7,11-diene-1,6-dione(6)、(8α)-6,8-dihydroxycadina-7(11),10(15)-dien-12-oic acidγ-lactone(7)、curcolonol(8)、11-hydroxyldrim-8,12-en-14-oic acid(9)、木栓酮(10)、异香草酸(11)、6β-hydroxystigmast-4-en-3-one(12)、3,4-二羟基苯甲酸(13)、莽草酸(14)、东莨菪苷(15)以及N-acetyltyramine 1-O-β-D-glucoside(16)。化合物4和5表现出微弱的细胞毒作用,半数抑制浓度(IC50)值在46～85μmol/L。结论化合物2、10、11、13～15为首次从金粟兰属植物中获得,化合物1～3、6～16为首次从丝穗金粟兰中分离得到。丝穗金粟兰中部分倍半萜显示出弱的抗肿瘤活性。