A visible fluorescent nanovaccine based on functional genipin crosslinked ovalbumin protein nanoparticles

Accurate and efficient antigen delivery is crucial for inducing a strong and long-term immune response. A visible protein nanovaccine made from antigen could provide a novel and promising technology for secure and efficient delivery of the antigen with imaging visualization. In this study, a functional nanovaccine based on genipin crosslinked ovalbumin (OVA) fluorescent nanoparticles with chitosan (CS-OVA-NPs) was developed. The nanovaccine can carry abundant antigens by self-crosslinking without additional carriers. The fluorescence imaging technique was applied to monitor and reveal the process of antigen delivery in vivo based on the fluorescence of genipin with a non-invasive and real-time manner. This functional OVA nanovaccine can enhance the uptake of OVA in Dendritic Cells (DCs) and further promote DCs to maturate in vitro. In vivo study further indicated CS-OVA-NPs could trigger antigen-specific immune responses, which demonstrated that this fluorescent nanovaccine provided a novel design approach for accurate and efficient vaccine delivery.     

Pulmonary delivery of polyplexes for combined PAI-1 gene silencing and CXCR4 inhibition to treat lung fibrosis

This report describes the development of polyplexes based on CXCR4-inhibiting poly(ethylenimine) derivative (PEI-C) for pulmonary delivery of siRNA to silence plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (siPAI-1) as a new combination treatment of pulmonary fibrosis (PF). Safety and delivery efficacy of the PEI-C/siPAI-1 polyplexes was investigated in vitro in primary lung fibroblasts isolated from mice with bleomycin-induced PF. Biodistribution analysis following intratracheal administration of fluorescently labeled polyplexes showed prolonged retention in the lungs. Treatment of mice with bleomycin-induced PF using the PEI-C/siPAI-1 polyplexes resulted in a significant down-regulation of the PAI-1 expression and decreased collagen deposition in the lung. The results of this study provide first evidence of the potential benefits of combined inhibition of CXCR4 and PAI-1 in the pulmonary treatment of PF.     

The clinicopathological and prognostic value of PD-L1 in urothelial carcinoma: a meta-analysis

Clinical and Experimental Medicine - The prognostic value of programed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) in urothelial carcinoma (UC) has been assessed in previous studies, while the results remain...     

血管生成的调节在瘢痕形成过程中的作用

血管生成的调节主要发生在创面愈合过程中的后2个阶段,即增生期、重塑期。正常情况下,创面形成大量排列紊乱的毛细血管床,但随着创面逐渐愈合,大部分血管凋亡、退化,并重新排列,最终恢复正常皮肤毛细血管结构与密度。该过程受一系列复杂分子及信号通路的调控,主要包括促血管生成和抗血管生成2方面因子的刺激,但关于创面血管功能和毛细血管增生如何影响瘢痕形成的关键问题仍未得到解答。本综述总结国内外现有研究成果,全面阐述创面血管生成的调控机制,深入探讨血管生成和瘢痕形成之间的关系以及血管异常生长影响瘢痕形成的潜在机制,介绍针对血管形成的相关治疗方案,为减少创面瘢痕形成提供新的思路。     

Euxanthone Impairs the Metastatic Potential of Osteosarcoma by Reducing COX-2 Expression

Osteosarcoma (OS) is one of the most common malignancies of bone. This study was aimed to explore the anti-metastatic effect of euxanthone on OS. Adhesion assay and Transwell assay were used to examine the effect of euxanthone on adhesion, migration and invasion of OS cells. COX-2-over-expressing plasmid was applied to transfect OS cells to assess whether COX-2 affects the anti-metastatic function of euxanthone. PDCD4 knockdown and miR-21 mimic were applied to assess whether euxanthone suppresses the transactivation of c-jun via modulating miR-21-PDCD4 signaling. The effect of euxanthone in vivo was also examined by lung metastasis assay. Euxanthone, a xanthone derivative extracted from Polygala caudata, has been found to exhibit anti-neoplastic activities. In present study, our results showed that euxanthone suppressed cell adhesion, migration, and invasion in OS cells. Our experimental data also showed that repression of COX-2 by euxanthone mediated its anti-metastatic activities. Moreover, our findings revealed that euxanthone modulated the COX-2 expression through the miR-21/PDCD4/c-jun signaling pathway. The anti-metastatic activities of euxanthone were also validated in a pulmonary metastasis model. Taken together, our results highlighted the potential of euxanthone to be used in the treatment of OS. Anat Rec, 302:1399–1408, 2019. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

P300 and positive slow waves reveal the plausibility in inductive reasoning

Category‐based induction is an advanced cognitive function that is based on our category‐level knowledge. Previous findings have recognized the distance effect in category‐based induction: Inductive strength is affected by the hierarchical distance between the premises and conclusions. However, the neural mechanisms underlying this effect require elucidation. In the present study, we investigated the neural mechanisms of the distance effect by using EEG technology and a new experimental paradigm—category‐based induction. In this paradigm, we used three hierarchical levels of categories—the subordinate category, the basic category, the superordinate category—and an irrelevant category. We further used these categories to create four types of trial that varied in the hierarchical distance between the premise and the conclusion: the subordinate‐basic, the basic‐superordinate, the subordinate‐superordinate, and the irrelevant‐superordinate trials. In each trial, participants judged the probability that the conclusion category had the same property as the premise category. Our behavioral results revealed that people responded more slowly in the irrelevant‐superordinate trials than in the basic‐superordinate and the subordinate‐basic trials. Our ERP results showed that the irrelevant‐superordinate trials elicited smaller P300 (250–500 ms) amplitudes than did the subordinate‐basic and the basic‐superordinate trials. In addition, the subordinate‐superordinate trials elicited smaller P300 and PSW (700–998 ms) amplitudes than did the subordinate‐basic and the basic‐superordinate combinations. These findings indicate that the amplitudes of P300 and PSW may reflect the distance effect in inductive reasoning: The further the premise‐conclusion hierarchical distance, the lower the inductive strength, and thus the smaller the P300 and PSW amplitudes.     

The mediating and moderating effects of resilience on the relationship between perceived stress and depression in heroin addicts

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating and moderating roles of resilience on the relationship between perceived stress and depression among heroin addicts. A total of 138 heroin addicts completed the measures of perceived stress, resilience, and depression. Correlation analysis indicated that perceived stress was positively associated with depression. Resilience was negatively correlated with perceived stress and depression. Mediation analysis revealed that resilience partially mediated the relationship between perceived stress and depression. However, resilience did not moderate the influence of perceived stress on depression. These findings might provide a better understanding of the mental health among heroin addicts.     

Chloride channel 3 (CIC-3) predicts the tumor size in hepatocarcinoma

Chloride channel 3 (CIC-3) has been suggested to be implicated in the carcinogenesis though; it still remains ill understood in hepatocarcinoma, especially in terms of clinicopathological meaning of its expression. Given this, herein, to understand the clinicopathological significance of CIC-3 expression in hepatocarcinoma, Immunohistochemistry was performed to examine the level of CIC-3, followed by statistical analysis of the correlation between expression versus clinicopathological variables, including gender, age, TNM classifications, tumor size, lymph node metastasis and overall prognosis. It was shown that positive staining of CIC-3 can be present in both hepatocarcinoma and its paired normal controls; and that CIC-3 was significantly over-expressed in hepatcarcioma on the whole relative to paired normal controls. Moreover, up-regulation of CIC-3 markedly correlated with tumor size and overall prognosis, suggesting that CIC-3 expression could predict both tumor size and overall prognosis in hepatocarcinoma.