Combined transfection with EBV-specific epitopes and HLA-A2 genes is more effective than separate transfection in promoting CTL lysis against nasopharyngeal carcinoma

To augment specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte(CTL)lysis is a promising strategy for cancer therapy,in this study,we examined the boosting effect of CTLs upon autologous lymphoblastoid B cell lines(LCLs)transfected withdiverse plasmids,to explore the possible CTL-based immunotherapy of nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC).FCM analysis displayed rather high ratio(>30%)of successfully transfected LCLs by utilizing the DMRIE-Ckit.CTL assays demonstrated that substantially higher ratio of CTL specific lysis was observed upon the LCLstransfected with both expression vectors encoding EBV-specific epitopes and their presentation moleculeHLA-A2,in contrast with those transfected separately.By transfecting the vector encoding HLA-A2 alone,onlythe LCLs of HLA-A2~+ donors elicited markedly higher CTL lysis.CTL assays also showed that there existed nomarked differences upon transfection by either different vectors(pcDNA3,pNGVL3 or pNGVL3-hFlex),ordifferent EBV-derived peptides(LMP_2Pepl or LMP_2Pep2),or with or without the doubled DNA sequenceencoding peptides.This study indicated a promising immunotherapy strategy on NPC through boosting andeliciting the EBV-specific CTL activation by transferring vectors encoding both EBV-specific epitopes and theirpresentation molecule HLA-A2 into autologous LCL,the presentation cells of MHC/peptide tetramericcomplex.Cellular & Molecular Immunology.2004;1(3):229-234.     

治疗艾滋病是否有特效药

艾滋病病毒是一种特殊的逆转录病毒。它能把自己和人体的淋巴细胞的核心部分整合在一起，改变细胞的外壳，使药物无法对它单独攻击：它还能潜入大脑，而一般药物无法通过血脑屏障去消灭它：HIV还不断发生变异，使药物无法识别它：HIV专门打击人体的关键免疫细胞，即“淋巴细胞”，使那些即使是能激活机体免疫功能的药物也难以发挥作用。所以科学家不得不从亚分子水平来研究对付它的药物，这不仅要花费巨资，需要高精尖设备，而且是极其费时费力的。现在看来，近期还难以研制出治疗艾滋病的特效药来。     

酗酒易致老年痴呆症

“流感是由流感病毒引起的，如果说一种药物是流感特效药，那它要么能够有效地杀死流感病毒，要么就能在极短的时间，比如24小时之内显著减轻病人症状。但到目前为止，这样的药物还没有研制出来。”郑州大学医学博士吕玉民说。     

对“民间灵药”要多些警惕

77岁的袁老先生6年前患了哮喘，一年中将近4个月都在咳喘，一位好心人推荐了一个偏方——特效药“喘治灵”，据说连续服用一段时间可以根治。     

硝酸甘油 先嚼碎再含服效果好

硝酸甘油是防治冠心病、心绞痛的特效药之一，它起效快、作用维持时间短，舌下含化后1～2分钟起效，迅速缓解心绞痛，作用可持续10～30分钟。因此，很多人将硝酸甘油视为“救命药”，经常放在身边。     

别被“特效”给迷惑了

“老头,今天我收获可大了!全靠李姨，是她叫我去广场玩才发现那有人卖治腰酸腿痛的特效药，我花200元买了几瓶。”老伴说完拎起药袋在我面前晃了晃，以示收获。     

克服五种疼痛的特效药

慢性疼痛是一种常见病、多发病.据调查资料显示,此病在全球范围内的发病率约为1/7.英国止痛药咨询顾问拉杰什·木格兰尼博士指出:"虽然罹患慢性疼痛的人很多, 但很多此病患者都未能进行妥善的治疗."那么,人们在出现不同部位的慢性疼痛时应如何选药治疗呢? 近日,英国<每日邮报>撰文介绍了可治疗五种疼痛的特效药.     

运用推拿治病养生二则

2005年初,我常觉腰脊下半部疼痛,有时较剧烈。去某医院看病,经医院检查及X光拍片后,证断为骨质增生。医生告诉我,骨质增生尚乏特效药,很难治,只有靠自己保养。我想有病总得医治、不能拖延。     

Prediction of HLA-A2-restricted CTL epitope specific to HCC by SYFPEITHI combined with polynomial method

AIM: To predict the HLA-A2-restricted CTL epitopes of tumor antigens associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: MAGE-1, MAGE-3, MAGE-8, P53 and AFP were selected as objective antigens in this study for the close association with HCC. The HLA-A*0201 restricted CTL epitopes of objective tumor antigens were predicted by SYFPEITHI prediction method combined with the polynomial quantitative motifs method. The threshold of polynomial scores was set to -24. RESULTS: The SYFPEITHI prediction values of all possible nonamers of a given protein sequence were added together and the ten high-scoring peptides of each protein were chosen for further analysis in primary prediction. Thirty-five candidates of CTL epitopes (nonamers) derived from the primary prediction results were selected by analyzing with the polynomial method and compared with reported CTL epitopes. CONCLUSION: The combination of SYFPEITHI prediction method and polynomial method can improve the prediction efficiency and accuracy. These nonamers may be useful in the design of therapeutic peptide vaccine for HCC and as immunotherapeutic strategies against HCC after identified by immunology experiment.     

以科学态度应对禽流感

严重急性呼吸综合征（SARS）的硝烟刚刚散去，人类又面临禽流感的挑战。当媒体为此喧嚣，大众为此忐忑不安，流感疫苗紧缺，流感特效药售罄之时，广大的感染病科医生又当如何面对呢？这是否将是一场比抗SARS更为惨烈的战斗呢？在这山雨欲来之时，广大临床医生还须以更科学的目光审视这场严峻的人类灾难。目前是否已经具备了流感大流行的科学证据？如果大流行发生的概率很高，又该如何准备？