Immunisation with the BCG and DTPw vaccines induces different programs of trained immunity in mice

In addition to providing pathogen-specific immunity, vaccines can also confer nonspecific effects (NSEs) on mortality and morbidity unrelated to the targeted disease. Immunisation with live vaccines, such as the BCG vaccine, has generally been associated with significantly reduced all-cause infant mortality. In contrast, some inactivated vaccines, such as the diphtheria, tetanus, whole-cell pertussis (DTPw) vaccine, have been controversially associated with increased all-cause mortality especially in female infants in high-mortality settings. The NSEs associated with BCG have been attributed, in part, to the induction of trained immunity, an epigenetic and metabolic reprograming of innate immune cells, increasing their responsiveness to subsequent microbial encounters. Whether non-live vaccines such as DTPw induce trained immunity is currently poorly understood. Here, we report that immunisation of mice with DTPw induced a unique program of trained immunity in comparison to BCG immunised mice. Altered monocyte and DC cytokine responses were evident in DTPw immunised mice even months after vaccination. Furthermore, splenic cDCs from DTPw immunised mice had altered chromatin accessibility at loci involved in immunity and metabolism, suggesting that these changes were epigenetically mediated. Interestingly, changing the order in which the BCG and DTPw vaccines were co-administered to mice altered subsequent trained immune responses. Given these differences in trained immunity, we also assessed whether administration of these vaccines altered susceptibility to sepsis in two different mouse models. Immunisation with either BCG or a DTPw-containing vaccine prior to the induction of sepsis did not significantly alter survival. Further studies are now needed to more fully investigate the potential consequences of DTPw induced trained immunity in different contexts and to assess whether other non-live vaccines also induce similar changes.     

A DNA vaccine expressing an optimized secreted FAPα induces enhanced anti-tumor activity by altering the tumor microenvironment in a murine model of breast cancer

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), major components of the tumor microenvironment (TME), promote tumor growth and metastasis and inhibit the anti-tumor immune response. We previously constructed a DNA vaccine expressing human FAPα, which is highly expressed by CAFs, to target these cells in the TME, and observed limited anti-tumor effects in the 4T1 breast cancer model. When the treatment time was delayed until tumor nodes formed, the anti-tumor effect of the vaccine completely disappeared. In this study, to improve the safety and efficacy, we constructed a new FAPα-targeted vaccine containing only the extracellular domain of human FAPα with a tissue plasminogen activator signal sequence for enhanced antigen secretion and immunogenicity. The number of CAFs was more effectively reduced by CD8⁺ T cells induced by the new vaccine. This resulted in decreases in CCL2 and CXCL12 expression, leading to a significant decrease in the ratio of myeloid-derived suppressor cells in the TME. Moreover, when mice were treated after the establishment of tumors, the vaccine could still delay tumor growth. To facilitate the future application of the vaccine in clinical trials, we further optimized the gene codons and reduced the homology between the vaccine and the original sequence, which may be convenient for evaluating the vaccine distribution in the human body. These results indicated that the new FAPα-targeted vaccine expressing an optimized secreted human FAPα induced enhanced anti-tumor activity by reducing the number of FAPα⁺ CAFs and enhancing the recruitment of effector T cells in the 4T1 tumor model mice.     

胸大肌肌皮瓣在口腔颌面部缺损修复中的应用

报道２１９例口腔颌面部肿瘤，其中良性肿瘤１８例，恶性肿瘤２０１例，在肿瘤切除后，均采用胸大肌肌皮瓣修复缺损。采用单皮岛肌皮瓣２０１例，双皮岛肌皮瓣１６例，肌皮骨瓣２例。成功２０１例，失败１８例。讨论了胸大肌皮瓣的优点及适用范围。介绍了手术设计、操作方法。分析了成功与失败的影响因素，认为正确，精细的手术技巧是成功的关键因素。     

白藜芦醇甙对内毒素刺激小鼠腹腔巨噬细胞产生TNFα和NAG的影响

收集小鼠腹腔巨噬细胞，调整细胞浓度为５×１０￣５／ｍｌ，加入２４孔培养板每孔１ｍｌ，内毒素刺激前后不同时间加入白藜芦醇甙培养，检测上清中肿瘤坏死因子，溶酶体酶（Ｎ－乙酰－β－Ｄ氨基葡萄糖苷酶ＮＡＧ）的变化，结果说明：白藜芦醇甙可减少上清中ＴＮＦ＿α和ＮＡＧ的量，通过此可减少内毒素刺激产生的由ＴＮＦ＿α和ＮＡＧ介导的组织损伤。     

The value of pretreatment clinical and biochemical parameters in patients with newly diagnosed untreated prostate carcinoma and no indications for bone metastases on the bone scintigram

Between 10% and 25% of patients with newly diagnosed prostate cancer without bone metastases at the time of diagnosis will develop metastases during follow-up. To determine the value of clinical and biochemical parameters for assessment of prognosis at the time of diagnosis, a retrospective study was performed in 124 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed prostate cancer without bone metastases. The mean follow-up was 41 months, during which time 36 patients died and 15 patients developed metastases. Bone scans were classified from 0 (=normal) through 2 (=abnormal, but not typical for metastases) and were correlated with age, alkaline phosphatase (AP), prostate-specific antigen (PSA), tumour grade, T-stage and N-stage. In patients with a class 2 scan, additional roentgenograms and follow-up were used to exclude metastases at initial stage. All parameters, including therapy, were finally correlated with the development of metastases and survival. For survival 38 patients with proven metastases were used as controls. For all parameters tested, no statistically significant differences were found between the three bone scan classifications. The interval between diagnosis and the development of metastases ranged from 12 to 72 months. For the risk of development of metastases only PSA was found to be a significant correlate (P=0.0075). However, when tumour stages were clustered in limited disease (T0–2) and extensive disease (T3–4), the incidence of metastases was significantly higher in patients with extensive disease than in those with limited disease (P=0.0021). Finally, age, PSA and Anderson classification were found to be significant correlates of survival, but in stepwise analysis PSA was selected as the most prognostic variable (P<0.0001). In contrast with a typical pattern of metastases on bone scintigraphy, an abnormal scan (class 1 and 2) at the time of diagnosis is not a poor prognostic parameter of the risk of death. In conclusion, in patients with prostate cancer without bone metastases at the time of diagnosis, pretreatment PSA and tumour stage can be used for the assessment of risk of development of metastases during follow-up and survival. For this purpose, tumour stage should be clustered in limited and extensive disease. Received 14 April and in revised form 9 June 1997     

酵母硒对小鼠EAC瘤生长和抗氧化机能的影响

目的观察酵母硒对小鼠艾氏腹水瘤(EAC)生长及机体氧化机能的影响。方法将30只小鼠分为3组(对照组、低剂量酵母组和高剂量酵母组),酵母硒组小鼠通过灌胃的方法分别灌注酵母硒溶液,剂量分别为107μg/kg.BW.d和214μg/kg.BW.d,灌胃第13 d接种EAC,第23 d后测定小鼠肿瘤重和血清中丙二醛(M DA)含量、谷胱甘肽过氧化酶(G SH-Px)和超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)活力。结果酵母硒可抑制小鼠EAC的生长,同时显著提高血清G SH-Px活性(P<0.05),极显著提高血清SOD活力(P<0.01),高剂量酵母硒降低血清M DA水平(P<0.05)。结论酵母硒可抑制小鼠移植肿瘤的生长,显著提高机体抗氧化能力。     

Anomalous flexor digitorum superficialis muscle belly presenting as a mass within the palm

Anomalies of the flexor digitorum superficialis muscle are extremely uncommon and usually present as a painful mass or pseudotumour within the palm. Diagnosis may be difficult because many other soft tissue tumours (lipomas, ganglions, giant cell tumours and hamartomas) may present similarly. Magnetic resonance imaging helps to define the extent and characteristics of this anomalous muscle belly and to distinguish it from a soft tissue sarcoma, whereas plain radiographs are of little value. Three types of flexor digitorum superficialis muscle anomalies have been described, and treatment consists of subtotal or total surgical debulking of the mass if symptoms persist or if the diagnosis is in question. Most patients have complete resolution and full recovery. To date, 20 cases have been reported in the literature, usually involving the right small finger. In the present paper, the case of an anomalous flexor digitorum superficialis muscle in a 17-year-old male patient’s left index finger is reported. Symptoms were relieved following surgical debulking and hand-based occupational therapy.     

Variation of prostate-specific antigen expression in different tumour growth patterns present in prostatectomy specimens

Summary A series of 55 randomly chosen radical prostatectomy specimens was analyzed for expression of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) by immunohistochemical techniques. Tissue sections were selected in such a manner that in addition to glandular benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), one or more different prostatic tumour growth patterns were present. Four monoclonal antibodies, directed against three different PSA epitopes, and one polyclonal anti-PSA antiserum were used. Expression of PSA was compared with that of prostate-specific acid phosphatase (PAP), recognized by two different polyclonal antisera. A critical dilution aimed at a maximum of staining intensity on BPH tissue sections was chosen for all antibodies. Anti-PSA and anti-PAP antisera stained essentially all BPH samples (over 90%). Irrespective of the nature of the antibodies used, PSA expression was found to be decreased in prostatic carcinoma. A clear cut relationship was found between immunoreactivity for PSA and the degree of differentiation of the tumour area. Under the experimental conditions used the PSA monoclonal antibodies stained only 1 out of 10 undifferentiated carcinomas, whereas 50% to 70% of the well- and moderately-differentiated carcinomas showed immunoreactivity. This correlation was less pronounced with the PAP staining pattern. If the PSA antibody titer was raised the percentage of clearly staining undifferentiated carcinomas could be considerably increased (up to 60%–100%), indicating that PSA expression is not absent, but lowered in most (if not all) undifferentiated carcinomas.     

精神分裂症患者致炎性细胞因子和酪氨酸羟化酶mRNA表达水平的研究

目的探讨精神分裂症的外周神经免疫机制及其与临床症状的关系。方法检测精神分裂症患者致炎性细胞因子白介素-1β（IL-1β）、肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF—α）以及酪氨酸羟化酶（TH）的mRNA表达水平，采用逆转录-聚合酶链反应及半定量检测技术，分别检测39例精神分裂症患者（患者组）、25例同胞（同胞组）及30名正常对照（对照组）外周血单个核细胞（PBMC）IL-1β、TNF-α及TH基因表达水平，同时应用阳性和阴性症状量表（PANSS）评定精神分裂症患者临床症状。结果患者组、同胞组及对照组IL-1β的mRNA表达水平分别为1．52±1．01、1．52±1．09和0．74±0．38；TNF—α的mRNA表达水平分别为1．18±0．99、1．01±0．87和0．70±0．29；TH的mRNA表达水平分别为0．55±0．33、0．61±0．32和0．28±0．20。患者组和同胞组的IL-1β、TNF—α、TH的mRNA表达水平均明显高于对照组（P〈0．05或P〈0．01）。患者组IL-1β（r=0．420）、TNF—α（r=0．430）的mRNA表达水平与PANSS的-般病理症状分呈正相关（P〈0．01）。同胞组与对照组合并统计，IL-1β与TNF-α的mRNA表达水平呈正相关（r=0．847，P〈0．01）；IL-1β与TH的mRNA表达水平呈正相关（r=0．666，P〈0．01）。患者组仅IL-1β与TNF—α的mRNA表达水平呈正相关（r=0．942，P〈0．01）。结论精神分裂症患者PBMC细胞TH、IL-1β和TNF—α的mRNA表达水平高于正常，且与精神分裂症的-般病理症状显著相关。