Co-administration of a DNA vaccine encoding the prostate specific membrane antigen and CpG oligodeoxynucleotides suppresses tumor growth

BACKGROUND: Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is a well characterized prostate-specific tumor associated antigen. Its expression is elevated in prostate carcinoma, particularly in metastatic and recurrent lesions. These observations suggest that PSMA can be used as immune target to induce tumor cell-specific recognition by the host and, consequently tumor rejection. We utilized a DNA-based vaccine to specifically enhance PSMA expression. An immune modulator, such as CpG oligodeoxynucleotides which promote Th1-type immune responses was combined to increase the efficacy of tumor recognition and elimination. METHODS: A eukaryotic expression plasmid pCDNA3.1-PSMA encoding full-length PSMA was constructed. C57BL/6 mice were immunized with endotoxin-free pCDNA3.1-PSMA alone or in combination with CpG oligodeoxynucleotides by intramuscular injection. After 4 immunizations, PSMA specific antibodies and cytotoxic T lymphocyte reactivity were measured. Immunized C57BL/6 mice were also challenged subcutaneously with B16 cells transfected with PSMA to evaluate suppression of tumor growth. RESULTS: Vaccine-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes reactive with B16 cells expressing PSMA could be induced with this treatment schedule. Immune protection was observed in vaccinated mice as indicated by increased tumor growth in the control group (100%) compared with the groups vaccinated with DNA alone (66.7%) or DNA plus CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (50%) respectively. Average tumor volume was smaller in vaccinated groups and tumor-free survival time was prolonged by the vaccination. CONCLUSION: The current findings suggest that specific anti-tumor immune response can be induced by DNA vaccines expressing PSMA. In addition, the suppression of in vivo growth of tumor cells expressing PSMA was augmented by CpG oligodeoxynucleotides. This strategy may provide a new venue for the treatment of carcinoma of prostate after failure of standard therapy.     

Expression of chemokine receptor CXCR4 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma: pattern of expression and correlation with clinical outcome

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a tumor derived from epithelial cells and Epstein-Barr virus infection has been reported to be a cause of this disease. Chemokine receptor CXCR4 was found to be involved in HIV infection and was highly expressed in human malignant breast tumors and the ligand for CXCR4, CXCL12 (SDF-1), exhibited high expression in organs in which breast cancer metastases are often found. The metastatic pattern of NPC is quite similar to that of malignant breast tumors. In this study, we investigated the expression of CXCR4 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) tissues by immunohistostaining. We found different staining patterns, which included localization in the nucleus, membrane, cytoplasm or a combination of them. The staining intensity was also variable among samples. The metastatic rates in patients with high compared to low or absent expression was 38.6% versus 19.8%, respectively (P = 0.004). High expression of CXCR4 was associated with poor overall survival (OS = 67.05% versus 82.08%, P = 0.0225). These results suggest that CXCR4 may be involved in the progression of NPC and that a high level of CXCR4 expression could be used as a prognostic factor.     

Probe selection algorithm for oligonucleotide array-based medium-resolution genotyping

Medium-resolution genotyping has the goal of distinguishing different subgroups instead of each element in a group. An oligonucleotide array provides an inexpensive, high-throughput method to identify differences in DNA sequence among individuals, which is fundamental for genotyping. As the cost and difficulty of designing and fabricating the oligonucleotide array dramatically increase with the number of probes used, it is therefore important to have a design with a minimum number of probes meeting the requirement of medium-resolution genotyping. The first algorithm for designing and selecting probes for oligonucleotide array-based medium-resolution typing is reported. The goal in deriving the algorithm was to select a minimum number of probes from a large probe set on the premise of minimum loss of resolution. The algorithm, which was based on entropy, conditional entropy and mutual information theory, was used to select the minimum number of probes from a large probe set. The algorithm was tested on a human leukocyte antigen (HLA) sequence data set. Thirty probes were selected from 390 probes for HLA-A, and 60 probes were selected from 767 probes for HLA-B. Although the number of probes was reduced by almost ten times, the distinguishability was reduced only a little, by 0.45% (from 99.90% to 99.45%) for HLA-A and 0.27% (from 99.84% to 99.57%) for HLA-B, respectively. This is a satisfactory and practical result.     

Effective induction of immune tolerance by portal venous infusion with IL-10 gene-modified immature dendritic cells leading to prolongation of allograft survival

Dendritic cells (DC) not only initiate T cell responses, but are also involved in the induction of tolerance. The functional properties of DC are strictly dependent on their state of maturation. It has been shown that immature DC can induce immune tolerance and prolong allograft survival. Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is an important immunosuppressive cytokine which inhibits maturation and function of DC. In order to improve the tolerogenicity of DC, we and others showed that adenovirus vectors can effectively mediate IL-10 genetic modification of DC, and IL-10 genetic modification can inhibit MHC II, B7.2, and CD40 expression, IL-12 secretion and the T cell stimulatory capacity of DC. The primary aim of this study is to examine the in vivo effects of this approach on allograft survival in a murine cardiac allograft transplantation model. To our surprise, we observed that infusion of immature DC genetically modified to express IL-10 (DC-IL-10) via the tail vein could not prolong allograft survival in the recipients, but shortened their survival. More interestingly, portal venous infusion of DC-IL-10 markedly prolonged allograft survival. The diverse effects of DC-IL-10 infusion through different routes may be due to the different immune responses to alloantigens in recipients that received DC-IL-10 via either the portal or the tail vein. Decreased cytotoxicity, polarization of Th2 response, poor T cell stimulating activity of liver DC and enhanced incidence of donor DC in the recipients may contribute to the more efficient prolongation of allograft survival observed after portal venous infusion of DC-IL-10. These results suggest that portal venous infusion may be an effective approach for immature DC to induce immune tolerance or hyporesponsiveness against donor antigens, and prolong allograft survival.Abbreviations APC Antigen-presenting cells - CTL Cytotoxic T lymphocytes - DC Dendritic cells - DC-IL-10 IL-10 gene-modified immature dendritic cells - iDC Immature dendritic cells - IL-10 Interleukin-10 - MLR Mixed leukocyte reaction - MOI Multiplicity of infection     

Simulation study of the Hemopump as a cardiac assist device

A dynamic model was developed for a Hemopump that withdraws blood from the left ventricle and discharges it to the aorta through a miniature axial-flow pump. Incorporation of the Hemopump model in a previously established model for the canine circulatory system enabled the effects of the Hemopump on various haemodynamic variables of the circulatory system to be studied, and the benefit of the Hemopump to the failing heart was investigated. In addition, the influence of the physiological status of the right ventricle on the Hemopump performances was examined, and the synchronous and non-synchronous operations of the Hemopump were compared. Results verified that the Hemopump assists the failing heart by increasing the oxygen supply, while reducing the oxygen consumption of the heart through a reduction in the workload of the left ventricle. These beneficial effects were enhanced when the pump's rotation speed was increased. When pump speed was increased from 17000 to 23000 revolutions min⁻¹, the oxygen supply increased 101%, and the oxygen consumption decreased 60%. However, when the pump rotation speed was too high, the inflow to the pump could be impaired and the pump performance could be negatively affected. Predications from the model were in good agreement with the results previously obtained in animal experiments and in vitro measurements.     

人源腺病毒伴随病毒Ⅱ型单克隆抗体Fab段及其全抗体的研制

目的 运用噬菌体表面表达技术，获得基因工程抗腺病毒伴随病毒抗体Fab、IgG。方法 从酶联免疫吸附试验阳性的人外周血中分离淋巴细胞。提取总RNA，逆转录cDNA，聚合酶链反应扩增人IgG Fab轻、重链基因，利用pComb3载体构建噬菌体抗体库。用纯化的腺病毒伴随病毒为固相抗原筛选抗体Fab段，并在E.coli中进行分泌性表达。通过ELISA和间接免疫荧光试验、筛选和鉴定Fab抗体，并进行序列测定。然后将其重链和轻链基因克隆到全抗体表达载体pAC-L-Fc上。转染昆虫sf-9细胞，利用杆状病毒，昆虫细胞系统实现全抗体的分泌型表达，免疫沉淀试验鉴定它的抗蛋白。结果 分离到一株Fab克隆AAVs-31，腺病毒伴随病毒抗原和抗Fab抗体直接ELISA检测阳性，间接免疫荧光试验呈阳性，序列分析结果表明是一新的序列，所获得的基因为人源IgG Fab基因。由Gamma链和Kappa链组成。表达的全抗体ELISA反应、免疫荧光反应和间接免疫荧光试验均为阳性，免疫沉淀试验结果显示它结合病毒颗粒，不结合任一VP1、VP2、VP3单独衣鞘蛋白。结论 用噬菌体表面表达技术首次获得了抗腺病毒伴随病毒Ⅱ型单克隆抗体Fab段，并在真核系统中表达了其全抗体，它们识别的可能是衣鞘蛋白组装时形成的表位。     

Design and Simulation of Active Biochip System

To solve the problems existing in passive biochip systems, we designed a novel active biochip system. This system introduces negative pressure and controlling devices to adjust the antigen-antibody reaction on the nitrocellulose membrane. Computational simulation demonstrated that this system is a rapid, stable, robust and practical system that may enhance the efficiency of antigen-antibody reactions and improve the repeatability and accuracy of biochip analysis.     

Antigen MG7 in gastric cancer and gastric precancerous lesions

Earlydetectionandearlydiagnosisofgastriccancerareessentialtodecreasethemortalityandincreasesurvivalrateofgastriccancer.TheZhuangheregioninLiaoningProvinceisahighriskareaofgastriccancerandanimportantresearchbaseforgastriccancerpreventionandtreatmentinChina[1].AlargescalescreeningofgastriccancerinthisareawascarriedoutbytheCancerInstituteofChinaMedicalUniversitypreviously.Inthepresentstudy,thegastricmucosasamplesfromthescreeningwereusedtoinvestigatethedynamicexpressionofgastriccancer-associat…     

Clinical significance of P-glycoprotein expression in metastatic breast carcinoma

Multidrug resistance(MDR)is one of the importantfactors,limiting the chemotherapeutic efficacy[l].Thereare various resistance related-proteins overexpression inthe tissue of breast carcinoma[2].MDR phenotype isassociated with overexpression of mdr-1gene andP-glycoprotein,encoding product of mdr-1,which is oneof the major mechanisms of MDR in breast carcinoma[3].We have had partly understanding about the mechanismof breast carcinoma associated with P-gp expression bystudying the mdr-1gene,t…