足趾移植长手指全形再造术的临床应用

目的探讨足趾移植长手指全形再造手术的临床疗效。方法自2015年6月至2019年6月,对16例因外伤致手指缺损患者采用足趾移植长手指全形再造术,术后评估供区及受区的感觉功能、运动功能及外观形态,分析指甲畸形及增生性瘢痕的发生情况,并记录术后发生感染、血肿、皮片坏死及供区愈合不良等情况;通过调查问卷的方式分析患者的满意度。结果所有患者术后获随访1~12个月,其中2例受区发生感染,1例受区皮片边缘发生坏死,经换药后予以缓解;其余患者的供、受区均未出现长时间的痛疼感觉,受区感觉功能恢复达87.50%,受区运动功能恢复均较满意,手指外形基本满意。供区感觉受影响者2例,运动功能受限者1例,外形一般者2例。所有患者无指甲畸形及增生性瘢痕发生;满意者1例,基本满意者14例,不满意者1例。结论采用足趾移植长手指全形再造手术,基本可以满足患者及医师对于缺损手指进行完美修复的目标。     

Orthogonally oriented scaffolds with aligned fibers for engineering intestinal smooth muscle

Controlling cellular alignment is critical in engineering intestines with desired structure and function. Although previous studies have examined the directional alignment of cells on the surface (x–y plane) of parallel fibers, quantitative analysis of the cellular alignment inside implanted scaffolds with oriented fibers has not been reported. This study examined the cellular alignment in the x–z and y–z planes of scaffolds made with two layers of orthogonally oriented fibers. The cellular orientation inside implanted scaffolds was evaluated with immunofluorescence. Quantitative analysis of coherency between cell orientation and fiber direction confirmed that cells aligned along the fibers not only on the surface (x–y plane) but also inside the scaffolds (x–z & y–z planes). Our study demonstrated that two layers of orthogonally aligned scaffolds can generate the histological organization of cells similar to that of intestinal circular and longitudinal smooth muscle.     

CD44基因多态性与宫颈癌及非小细胞肺癌的相关性

背景与目的：CD44分子是众多肿瘤细胞的标志分子，其表达水平与肿瘤细胞的恶性程度有关。该研究探讨CD44基因中的单核苷酸多态性（single nucleotide polymorphism，SNP）位点与云南汉族人群宫颈癌和非小细胞肺癌（nonsmall cell lung cancer，NSCLC）易感性的相关性。方法：选取了CD44基因中的两个SNP位点rs13347和rs8193，采用TagMan基因分型的方法，分析这两个多态性位点在497例宫颈癌患者和500例健康对照个体以及483例NSCLC患者和471例健康对照个体中的分布特征，并分析CD44基因中的多态性位点与云南汉族人群宫颈癌和NSCLC的相关性。结果：rs13347和rs8193位点等位基因和基因型在宫颈癌组和对照组中的分布频率的差异无统计学意义（P>0.05）。而在NSCLC组和对照组的比较中：rs13347和rs8193位点等位基因在NSCLC组和对照组中的分布频率的差异有统计学意义（P=0.020和P=0.004）；这两个位点基因型在NSCLC组和对照组中分布频率的差异有统计学意义（P=0.027和P=0.020）；其中rs13347位点等位基因C在NSCLC组中的分布频率显著高于对照组，可能是NSCLC发生的风险因素（OR=1.250，95% CI：1.035～1.509），rs8193位点等位基因C在对照组中的分布频率显著高于NSCLC组，可能是NSCLC发生的保护性因素（OR=0.768，95%CI：0.641～0.921）。单倍型分析结果显示，rs13347C-rs8193T和rs13347T-rs8193C在NSCLC组和对照组中的分布频率差异有统计学意义（P=0.003和0.022）；该结果说明单倍型rs13347C-rs8193T可能是云南汉族人群NSCLC发生的风险性因素（OR=1.316，95%CI：1.096～1.579）。结论：CD44基因中的两个SNP位点rs13347和rs8193可能与云南汉族人群宫颈癌发病风险无关，而可能与云南汉族人群NSCLC具有相关性。     

Efficacy and Feasibility of Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Transplantation in the Treatment of Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Background

Refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) includes AML includes failure of disease to respond to standard induction chemotherapy, relapse within 6 months after first CR, and 2 or more relapses. The outcome of these patients is usually very poor; only a small proportion can be rescued by allogenic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of allo-HSCT in patients with refractory AML.

The respiratory syncytial virus fusion protein-specific B cell receptor repertoire reshaped by post-fusion subunit vaccination

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the major cause of acute lower respiratory illness in children of less than 5 years of age which usually results in hospitalization or even in death. Vaccine development is hampered in consequence of a failed vaccine trial with fatalities in the 1960s. Even though research has been more focused on the RSV fusion protein in its pre-fusion conformation, maternal vaccination with post-fusion protein (post F) was considered as a promising vaccine strategy for passive immunization of babies, because post F preserves very potent neutralizing epitopes. We extensively analyzed post F-binding B cell receptor (BCR) repertoires of three vaccinees who received a post F-subunit vaccine in the context of a first-in-human, Phase 1, randomized, observer-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02298179). In order to compare the vaccine-induced BCR repertoires with BCR repertoires induced by natural infection, we also analyzed pre F- and post F-binding BCRs isolated from a healthy blood donor with relatively high F-binding memory B cell (MBC) frequencies. Analysis of the vaccine-induced repertoires revealed that preferentially V_H4-encoded BCRs were expanded in response to vaccination. Estimation of antigen-driven selection further demonstrated that expanded BCRs accumulated positively selected replacement mutations which substantiated the hypothesis that post F-vaccination induces diversification of V_H4-encoded BCRs in germinal centers. Comparison of the vaccine-induced BCR repertoires with clonally related pre and post F-binding BCRs of the healthy blood donor suggested that the vaccine expanded pre/post F cross-reactive MBCs. Interestingly, several vaccine-induced BCRs shared stereotypic VDJ gene junctions with known neutralizing Abs. Once expressed for functional characterization, the selected monoclonal Abs demonstrated the predicted neutralization activities in plaque reduction neutralization assays indicating that the post F-vaccine induced expansion of neutralizing BCRs.     

Low-dose all-trans retinoic acid enhances cytotoxicity of cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil on CD44+ cancer stem cells

Cis-diamminedichloridoplatinum(II)(CDDP)-based combination chemotherapy is frequently used in gastrointestinal cancer. The synergistic mechanism of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), cisplatin (CDDP) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in combination remains unclear. Despite their potent antitumor properties, resistance to CDDP and 5-FU develops frequently in tumors. To clarify this mechanism, we determined the sensitivity to each drug and their combination in two gastrointestinal cancer stem cells (CSCs) subpopulation.Here, we report the identification and separation of CD44⁺ cells from human gastric carcinoma (AGS) and human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (KYSE-30) cancer cell lines by magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS). We allowed the CD44^± cells to grow 6 days at a subtoxic concentration of ATRA and then treated with different concentration of CDDP and 5-FU for 24 h. The cytotoxicity was examined by cell proliferation MTT assay. Additionally, AO/EB staining was used for detection of apoptotic cells. In order to determine whether the growth inhibition was also associated with changes in cell cycle distribution, cell cycle analysis was performed using flow cytometry.Low concentration of ATRA (1 μM, 6days) followed by 5-FU and CDDP was found to be more effective than either drugs alone, thus resulting in synergistic cytotoxicity in Kyse-30 and AGSCD44^± cells. Furthermore, there was an indication that the combination of ATRA with 5FU and CDDP caused an increase in cell cycle arrest in G2/M and G0/G1.We conclude that low concentration of ATRA enhances the cytotoxicity of CDDP and 5FU by facilitating apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in gastrointestinal CSCs and provide a rational basis for the design of novel, well-tolerated CDDP- and 5FU-based chemotherapy in human gastrointestinal carcinoma.