Noninvasive imaging of cardiac fibrosis is important for early diagnosis and intervention in chronic heart diseases. Here, we investigated whether noninvasive, contrast agent-free MRI T2-mapping can quantify myocardial fibrosis in preclinical models of aging and pressure overload. Myocardial fibrosis and remodeling were analyzed in two animal models: (i) aging (15-month-old male CF-1 mice vs. young 6- to 8-week-old mice), and (ii) pressure overload (PO; by transverse aortic constriction in 4- to 5-month-old male C57BL/6 mice vs. sham-operated for 14 days). In vivo T2-mapping was performed by acquiring data during the isovolumic and early diastolic phases, with a modified respiratory and ECG-triggered multiecho TurboRARE sequence on a 7-T MRI. Cine MRI provided cardiac morphology and function. A quantitative segmentation method was developed to analyze the in vivo T2-maps of hearts at midventricle, apex, and basal regions. The cardiac fibrosis area was analyzed ex vivo by picro sirius red (PSR) staining. Both aged and pressure-overloaded hearts developed significant myocardial contractile dysfunction, cardiac hypertrophy, and interstitial fibrosis. The aged mice had two phenotypes, fibrotic and mild-fibrotic. Notably, the aged fibrotic subgroup and the PO mice showed a marked decrease in T2 relaxation times (25.3 ± 0.6 in aged vs. 29.9 ± 0.7 ms in young mice, p = 0.002; and 24.3 ± 1.7 in PO vs. 28.7 ± 0.7 ms in shams, p = 0.05). However, no significant difference in T2 was detected between the aged mild-fibrotic subgroup and the young mice. Accordingly, an inverse correlation between myocardial fibrosis percentage (FP) and T2 relaxation time was derived (R2 = 0.98): T2 (ms) = 30.45 – 1.05 × FP. Thus, these results demonstrate a statistical agreement between T2-map–quantified fibrosis and PSR staining in two different clinically relevant animal models. In conclusion, T2-mapping MRI is a promising noninvasive contrast agent-free quantitative technique to characterize myocardial fibrosis. 相似文献
Background: Considering the poor prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the objective of this study was to examine the potential of plasma-derived vesicles as a source of lung cancer-specific proteins. Extracellular vesicle (EV) cargos are specific to the source cells, hence they have the potential of being a source of cancer-specific proteins. Methods: The proteins differently expressed in cancer were determined and derived from EVs isolated from the plasma of NSCLC patients at the National Lung Hospital. To this end, purification was done using gel filtration chromatography and ultracentrifugation. In addition, nano liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) was used for analyzing. Results: Fifty-seven EV-derived proteins related to NSCLC were highlighted in this research. Some of them have not been addressed before, such as EEF1A1 (elongation factor 1-α1), KPNB1 (Importin subunit beta 1), SRC (proto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase) and ACTC1 (actin, alpha cardiac muscle 1). This list was further confirmed through a comparison with ExoCarta and Vesiclepedia. Conclusion: This study is the first work to show the involvement of several novel proteins of small EV (EEF1A1, KPNB1, SRC, and ACTC1) in the progression of NSCLC. The results suggested that they could serve as novel biomarkers for non-small cell lung cancer in the future. 相似文献
Pseudorabies virus (PRV) primarily infects swine but can infect cattle, dogs, and cats. Several studies have reported that PRV can cross the specie barrier and induce human encephalitis, but a definitive diagnosis of human PRV encephalitis is debatable due to the lack of PRV DNA detection. Here, we report a case of human PRV encephalitis diagnosed by the next-generation sequencing (NGS) of PRV sequences in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of a patient. A male pork vendor developed fever and seizures for 6 days. NGS results showed PRV sequences in his CSF and blood. Sanger sequencing showed that PRV DNA in the CSF and PRV antibodies in both the CSF and blood were positive. MRI results revealed multiple inflammatory lesions in the bilateral hemisphere. Based on the clinical and laboratory data, we diagnosed the patient with PRV encephalitis. This case suggests that PRV can infect humans, causing severe viral encephalitis. People at risk of PRV infection should improve their self-protection awareness.