Clinical Study on Long-Term Treatment of Ankylosing Spondylitis with Integrative Medicine

Ａｎｋｙｌｏｓｉｎｇｓｐｏｎｄｙｌｉｔｉｓ（ＡＳ）ｉｓａｒｈｅｕｍａｔｉｃｄｉｓｅａｓｅｗｉｔｈｈｉｇｈｉｎｃｉｄｅｎｃｅ，ｉｎｄｕｃ ｉｎｇｄｉｓａｂｉｌｉｔｙａｎｄｉｎｖａｄｉｎｇｔｈｅｓｐｉｎａｌａｘｉａｌｊｏｉｎｔａｓｉｔｓｃｈｉｅｆｃｈａｒａｃｔ     

A comparative study of different interventional therapies for primary liver cancer

ＡｃｏｍｐａｒａｔｉｖｅｓｔｕｄｙｏｆｄｉｆｅｒｅｎｔｉｎｔｅｒｖｅｎｔｉｏｎａｌｔｈｅｒａｐｉｅｓｆｏｒｐｒｉｍａｒｙｌｉｖｅｒｃａｎｃｅｒＬＩＵＱｉ，ＪＩＡＹｕＣｈｅｎ，ＴＩＡＮＪｉａｎＭｉｎｇ，ＷＡＮＧＺｈｅｎＴａｎｇ，ＹＥＨｕａ，ＹＡ...     

反义DNA和RNA：治疗病毒感染的新策略（下）

2．2siRNA的化学修饰siRNA的基因沉默效率还依赖于它的稳定性。未修饰的双链RNA比单链RNA更稳定，使用化学修饰的碱基合成siENA可进一步提高其稳定性和延长其抑制效应。广泛使用的化学修饰通常为核糖的2’位置，包括2’-O-甲基核糖、2’-O-丙烯基核糖、2’-脱氧尿苷、2’-氟2’脱氧尿苷、2’-氟2’-脱氧胞苷酸等。同义和／或反义链2’核糖位置完全替代的的siRNA分子不能诱导RNAi，然而3’突出部分或碱基配对部位的2’核糖修饰增强其在血浆中的稳定性同时不丧失活性。另一个常被修饰的是主链部分。有几项研究提示具有磷硫酰主链的siRNAs活性增强，但随修饰程度的增加活性反而下降。主链修饰还可将磷酸二酯键中的非共价氧被等电子的甲硼烷替代，这种甲硼磷酸化修饰的siRNAs比天然siRNAs更有效，与硫代修饰siRNAs相比抵抗核酶降解能力更强而毒性更低。有研究表明恰当化学修饰的siRNAs稳定性好、能与靶位更有效结合，改善其药代动力学特性的同时却不影响其内在效能。[第一段]     

Genetic polymorphism of UL144 open reading frame of human cytomegalovirus DNA detected in colon samples from infants with Hirschsprung''''s disease

AIM:To explore the genetic diversities of UL144 open reading frame (ORF) of cytomegalovirus DNA detected in colon tissue from infants with Hirschsprung's disease (HD) by sequencing UL144 DNA in 23 aganglionic colon tissue and 4 urine samples from 25 HD infants. METHODS:Nest PCR was performed for amplification of the UL144 gene. The UL144 gene was analyzed with softwares,such as DNAclub,BioEdit,PROSITE database,and DNAstar. RESULTS:The strains from HD patients were distributed among three genotypes of UL144:group 1A (64%),group 2 (24%),and group 3 (12%). The UL144 genotypes between strains from HD and control group were compared by chi square test (χ2 = 1.870,P = 0.393). Strains from the colon were sporadically distributed in UL144 genotypes. CONCLUSION:There are genetic diversities of UL144 ORF in colon tissue of infants with HD. However,cytomegalovirus UL144 genotypes are not associated with clinical manifestations of HD.     

Role of apoptosis in basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma formation

Long-term ultraviolet-light (UV) exposure of human skin epidermis is associated with an increased risk for the development of skin cancers, such as melanoma, basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). UV radiation not only induces DNA damage in epidermal cells, it also interferes with skin homeostasis, which is maintained by a unique distribution pattern of apoptosis-inducing and -preventing molecules. If the DNA damage is not repaired or the damaged cells are not eliminated by apoptosis, the consequence can be cell transformation, uncontrolled proliferation and eventually skin tumor formation. An important "repair" gene is the p53 suppressor gene. Excessive UV exposure can mutate the p53 gene leading to the loss of its repair function and thus apoptosis resistance of the DNA-damaged cell. For BCC formation an additional pathway has been identified. Mutation of genes of the Hedgehog signaling pathway evokes the downregulation of apoptotic genes and upregulation of anti-apoptotic genes preventing the elimination of damaged cells. In addition, BCC and SCC strongly express the apoptosis-inducing Fas-ligand (FasL) which may help the tumor to escape the attack of immune effector cells. Silencing the genes involved in tumor formation by RNA interference might become a promising new approach to treat skin tumors.     

Effect of combined supplementation with vitamin E and alpha-lipoic acid on myocardial performance during in vivo ischaemia-reperfusion

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) contribute significantly to myocardial ischaemia-reperfusion (I-R) injury. Recently the combination of the antioxidants vitamin E (VE) and alpha-lipoic acid (alpha-LA) has been reported to improve cardiac performance and reduce myocardial lipid peroxidation during in vitro I-R. The purpose of these experiments was to investigate the effects of VE and alpha-LA supplementation on cardiac performance, incidence of dysrhythmias and biochemical alterations during an in vivo myocardial I-R insult. Female Sprague-Dawley rats (4-months old) were assigned to one of the two dietary treatments: (1) control diet (CON) or (2) VE and alpha-LA supplementation (ANTIOXID). The CON diet was prepared to meet AIN-93M standards, which contains 75 IU VE kg-1 diet. The ANTIOXID diet contained 10 000 IU VE kg(-1) diet and 1.65 g alpha-LA kg(-1) diet. After the 14-week feeding period, significant differences (P<0.05) existed in mean myocardial VE levels between dietary groups. Animals in each experimental group were subjected to an in vivo I-R protocol which included 25 min of left anterior coronary artery occlusion followed by 10 min of reperfusion. No group differences (P>0.05) existed in cardiac performance (e.g. peak arterial pressure or ventricular work) or the incidence of ventricular dysrhythmias during the I-R protocol. Following I-R, two markers of lipid peroxidation were lower (P<0.05) in the ANTIOXID animals compared with CON. These data indicate that dietary supplementation of the antioxidants, VE and alpha-LA do not influence cardiac performance or the incidence of dysrhythmias but do decrease lipid peroxidation during in vivo I-R in young adult rats.     

Purification and characterization of a 43-kilodalton extracellular serine proteinase from Cryptococcus neoformans

An extracellular proteinase was purified from culture filtrates of Cryptococcus neoformans NHPY24 by DEAE ion-exchange chromatography and gelatin affinity column chromatography with azoalbumin as the substrate. The molecular mass of the purified enzyme was 43 kDa by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, its pH optimum was 7.0 to 8.0, and maximal activity was obtained at pH 7.5 and 37 degrees C. By isoelectric focusing, the purified enzyme had a pI of 4.77. Enzyme activity was inhibited by serine proteinase inhibitors such as phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride and diisopropylfluorophosphate. The purified enzyme was thus a serine proteinase. It hydrolyzed natural substrates including hemoglobin, beta-casein, and gamma globulin.     

Ankylosing spondylitis susceptibility loci defined by genome-search meta-analysis

In genome scans of ankylosing spondylitis (AS), with the exception of the HLA loci, linkage has not been easy to replicate across studies. We applied the genome-search meta-analysis (GSMA) method to genome scans of AS and spondyloarthropathy (SpA) to assess evidence for linkage across studies. Three AS genome scans and one SpA scan including 430 families with 1,048 affected individuals were used. All four original genome scans mainly analyzed Caucasian families. Seven bins had both Psumrnk and Pord<0.05, suggesting these bins most likely contain AS-linked loci; bin 6.2, 6.1, 6.3, 16.3, 19.2, 17.1, and 16.4. The GSMA produced significant genome-wide evidence for linkage on chromosome 6p22.3–6p21.1 (Psumrnk=0.000003), including the HLA locus. In addition to the HLA-B27 locus, strong linkage evidence was found on chromosome 6p25.3–6p22.3 (Psumrnk=0.0013) and 6p21.1–6p15 (Psumrnk=0.043). In the GSMA of four genome scans including one SpA study, the bin 9.4 (9q21.32–9q33.1) was newly found for linkage (Psumrnk=0.043, Pord=0.013). This GSMA added the evidence of the HLA loci as the greatest susceptibility factor to AS and showed evidences of chromosome 6, 16q, 19, 17p, and 9q as non-HLA susceptibility loci.     

克隆技术：生命科学研究的机遇与挑战

自从英国科学家用成年绵羊的体细胞克隆出世界首例“多莉”绵羊的消息被海内外的媒体竞相报道后，近一段时间以来，已引起了世界各地生命科学家、政治家和法律学家们的广泛关注，特别是对这一技术是否会用于克隆“人”以及由此所可能产生的社会学和伦理学上的后果，表示出了期盼、忧虑或否定；我国的许多学者也以各种形式提出了面对中国国情的建议，希望政府职能部门能未雨绸级，对我国的克隆技术研究进行行为规范。本文拟对此作一评述，希望这一技术能在我国得到正常发展而不至于走入歧途。一、克隆动物与无性自孩就在人们议论克隆羊的同时…