Differential expression of binding sites for chemokine RANTES on human T lymphocytes

The C-C chemokine RANTES, a T lymphocyte chemoattractant, is considered an important mediator of inflammation, allergy, and host defense against HIV-1 infection. In this study, we investigated the modulation of binding of RANTES to T lymphocytes. Human peripheral blood CD3+ T cells, when freshly isolated from buffy-coat blood, expressed a considerable number of high-affinity binding sites for RANTES. These cells also showed significant chemotactic migration in response to RANTES in vitro. After 6–15 h incubation at 37°C, the binding of RANTES, but not of macrophage inflammatory protein-1α (MIP-1α) or of monocyte chemotactic protein-3 (MCP-3), consistently increased. Scatchard analyses indicated that the number of binding sites for RANTES increased about threefold by 15 h without any change in the affinity. The increase in RANTES binding was no longer detected by 24 h. This increase in the specific binding was mainly attributable to CD4⁺ T cells and was not associated with increased chemotactic activity of these cells in response to RANTES. Incubation with anti-CD3 antibody for 15 h markedly reduced the binding capability of T cells for RANTES and was associated with decreased chemotactic activity. On the other hand, when T cells were incubated with interleukin-2 (IL-2) for 1 week, the specific binding for all three C-C chemokines, RANTES, MIP-1α, and MCP-3 was markedly increased in comparison to cells cultured in the absence of IL-2. These results suggest that the expression of binding sites on T cells for RANTES is differentially modulated, indicating the existence of novel receptors for RANTES that do not bind MIP-1α.     

胎肝细胞质液对重症病毒性肝炎患者外周血TL－CFU及mIL－2R影响的实验观察

采用半固体一步单层琼脂培养法和单克隆荧光抗体技术分别观察重症肝炎外周血ＴＬ－ＣＦＵ和ｍＩＬ－２Ｒ，发现重症肝炎患者ＴＬ－ＣＦＵ（１０４．４±３２．６）及ｍＩＬ－２Ｒ（３５．６±８．６）较正常人明显降低。在培养体系中加胎肝细胞质液后，无论在重症肝炎组还是在正常组均不能明显地提高ＴＬ－ＣＦＵ，说明胎肝细胞质液不含具生物佐的促ＴＬ－ＣＦＵ因子。但对ｍＩＬ－２Ｒ表达的影响，在重症肝炎组病人，只有在ＰＨＡ存在条件下才能促进ｍＩＬ－２Ｒ的表达，说明胎肝细胞质波含有某种（些）物质能协同ＰＨＡ促进重症肝炎患者外周血淋巴细胞ｍＩＬ－２Ｒ表达。     

股骨上端形态曲线的测量、参数化与统计分析

通过对84根完好的中国人成人股骨标本进行正位和侧位两个方向的X线摄影，得到股骨正、侧两方位的X光片。对X光片上股骨上端髓腔内侧形态进行描绘，将描绘好的图像输入计算机，由计算机进行图像预处理后提取其曲线形态数据，并将形态数据参数化，从而得到可比较的、能准确表现股骨形态的量化数据，为股骨形态的分类分析和系列型人工髋关节的参数设计打下基础。     

Promotion of U937 cell adhesion on polypropylene surfaces bearing phosphorylcholine functionalities

Phosphorylcholine (PC) groups were grafted onto ammonia plasma-treated biaxially-oriented polypropylene (BOPP) surfaces, via (a) reductive amination of phosphorylcholine glyceraldehyde and (b) a two-step procedure involving the chemical amplification of surface amine groups with tris(2-aminoethyl amine) and subsequent reductive amination of phosphorylcholine glyceraldehyde. The occurrence of grafting was ascertained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FT-IR) spectroscopy. The wettability of PC-modified surfaces was assessed by dynamic contact-angle measurements using the Wilhelmy plate method. Human U937 macrophages adhered and proliferated to a significantly larger extent on PC-modified surfaces, compared to unmodified or ammonia plasma-modified BOPP.     

Defective Treg response in acute kidney injury was caused by a reduction in TIM-3+ Treg cells

Background: Despite years of research, the treatment of acute kidney injury (AKI) remains a significant challenge. Animal studies presented causal links between elevated regulatory T cell (Treg) response and better prognosis in AKI. Previous studies in mice and humans showed that TIM-3+ Treg cells were more potent than TIM-3- Treg cells. In this study, we investigated the role of TIM-3 in Treg in AKI patients.

Methods: Peripheral blood from AKI patients and healthy controls were gathered, and TIM-3+ Treg subset was examined.

Results: Compared to healthy controls, the AKI patients presented a significant upregulation in the frequency of circulating CD4+CD25+ T cells; however, the majority of this increase was from the CD4+CD25+TIM-3- subset, and the frequency of CD4+CD25+TIM-3+ T cells was downregulated in AKI patients. In both healthy controls and AKI patients, the CD4+CD25+TIM-3+ T cells expressed higher levels of Foxp3, and were more potent at expressing LFA-1, LAG-3, CTLA-4, IL-10 and TGF-β. In addition, the CD4+CD25+TIM-3+ T cells from both healthy controls and AKI patients presented higher capacity to suppress CD4+CD25- T cell proliferation than the CD4+CD25+TIM-3- T cells. Interestingly, the total CD4+CD25+ T cells from AKI patients presented significantly lower inhibitory capacity than those from healthy controls, indicating that the low frequency of CD4+CD25+TIM-3+ T cells was restricting the efficacy of the Treg responses in AKI patients.

Conclusions: We demonstrated that TIM-3 downregulation impaired the function of Treg cells in AKI. The therapeutic potential of CD4+CD25+TIM-3+ T cells in AKI should be investigated in future studies.     

Genetic typing and HIV-1 diagnosis by using 96 capillary array electrophoresis and ultraviolet absorption detection

Current high-throughput approaches to the analysis of PCR products are based primarily on electrophoretic separation and laser-excited fluorescence detection. We show that capillary array electrophoresis can be applied to HIV-1 diagnosis and D1S80 VNTR genetic typing based simply on UV absorption detection. The additive contribution of each base pair to the total absorption signal provides adequate detection sensitivity for analyzing most PCR products. Not only is the use of specialized and potentially toxic fluorescent labels eliminated, but also the complexity and cost of the instrumentation are greatly reduced.     

Interleukin 1 as a tumor cytostatic mediator released from tumor ascites-treated macrophages

Peritoneal macrophages from DBA/2 mice, elicited by injection of Corynebacterium parvum (C.p.), were in vitro activated to Eb tumor cytostasis by incubation with tumor-induced ascites that was harvested 7 days after intraperitoneal Eb injection. The active cytostasis-mediating compound was found to be interleukin 1 (IL 1). When tumor ascites was fractionated according to molecular weight size, the most active IL 1-inducing fraction was found to comprise molecules of greater than 100,000 daltons. The data show that tumor-bearing hosts are capable of producing compounds that induce a high IL 1 secretion which may enable macrophages to mount an antiproliferative effect against tumor cells.     

Improved oocyte quality is obtained with follicle stimulating hormone alone than with follicle stimulating hormone/human menopausal gonadotrophin combination

The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of pure follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) with that of FSH/human menopausal gonadotrophin (HMG) combination in downregulated cycles. A total of 357 patients was evaluated retrospectively. Sixty percent of patients in the FSH group and 55% in the FSH/HMG group were new; the others were repeat patients. Ovulation was suppressed with leuprolide acetate in all patients, followed by either FSH (n = 218) or FSH/HMG (n = 119). There was no difference in patients' age, infertility factors, number of ampoules used, length of stimulation, oestradiol levels on day of human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) administration, number of oocytes recovered or the number of embryos transferred. Also, nuclear maturity at aspiration and fertilization rates were not different between the two groups. FSH stimulation resulted in a significantly higher percentage of mature oocytes that showed the typical 'mature' morphological characteristics (P < 0.0001). The clinical pregnancy rates per transfer were 40 and 28% in patients stimulated with pure FSH and FSH/HMG respectively (P < 0.05). The significantly higher number of immature oocytes matured in vitro in the FSH/HMG group (P = 0.001) suggests a possible effect on in-vitro maturation, due to luteinizing hormone present in HMG. The difference in mature oocyte quality may be an important determinant in the higher pregnancy rates for the FSH- stimulated patients.