ONRAB® oral rabies vaccine is shed from,but does not persist in,captive mammals

ONRAB® is a human adenovirus rabies glycoprotein recombinant vaccine developed to control rabies in wildlife. To support licensing and widespread use of the vaccine, safety studies are needed to assess its potential residual impact on wildlife populations. We examined the persistence of the ONRAB® vaccine virus in captive rabies vector and non-target mammals. This research complements work on important rabies vector species (raccoon, striped skunk, and red fox) but also adds to previous findings with the addition of some non-target species (Virginia opossum, Norway rats, and cotton rats) and a prolonged period of post vaccination monitoring (41 days). Animals were directly inoculated orally with the vaccine and vaccine shedding was monitored using quantitative real-time PCR applied to oral and rectal swabs. ONRAB® DNA was detected in both oral and rectal swabs from 6 h to 3 days post-inoculation in most animals, followed by a resurgence of shedding between days 17 and 34 in some species. Overall, the duration over which ONRAB® DNA was detectable was shorter for non-target mammals, and by day 41, no animal had detectable DNA in either oral or rectal swabs. All target species, as well as cotton rats and laboratory-bred Norway rats, developed robust humoral immune responses as measured by competitive ELISA, with all individuals being seropositive at day 31. Similarly, opossums showed good response (89% seropositive; 8/9), whereas only one of nine wild caught Norway rats was seropositive at day 31. These results support findings of other safety studies suggesting that ONRAB® does not persist in vector and non-target mammals exposed to the vaccine. As such, we interpret these data to reflect a low risk of adverse effects to wild populations following distribution of ONRAB® to control sylvatic rabies.     

Multidimensional Ultrasound Doppler Signal Analysis for Fetal Activity Monitoring

Fetal activity parameters such as movements, heart rate and the related parameters are essential indicators of fetal wellbeing, and no device provides simultaneous access to and sufficient estimation of all of these parameters to evaluate fetal health. This work was aimed at collecting these parameters to automatically separate healthy from compromised fetuses. To achieve this goal, we first developed a multi-sensor–multi-gate Doppler system. Then we recorded multidimensional Doppler signals and estimated the fetal activity parameters via dedicated signal processing techniques. Finally, we combined these parameters into four sets of parameters (or four hyper-parameters) to determine the set of parameters that is able to separate healthy from other fetuses. To validate our system, a data set consisting of two groups of fetal signals (normal and compromised) was established and provided by physicians. From the estimated parameters, an instantaneous Manning-like score, referred to as the ultrasonic score, was calculated and was used together with movements, heart rate and the associated parameters in a classification process employing the support vector machine method. We investigated the influence of the sets of parameters and evaluated the performance of the support vector machine using the computation of sensibility, specificity, percentage of support vectors and total classification error. The sensitivity of the four sets ranged from 79% to 100%. Specificity was 100% for all sets. The total classification error ranged from 0% to 20%. The percentage of support vectors ranged from 33% to 49%. Overall, the best results were obtained with the set of parameters consisting of fetal movement, short-term variability, long-term variability, deceleration and ultrasound score. The sensitivity, specificity, percentage of support vectors and total classification error of this set were respectively 100%, 100%, 35% and 0%. This indicated our ability to separate the data into two sets (normal fetuses and pathologic fetuses), and the results highlight the excellent match with the clinical classification performed by the physicians. This work indicates the feasibility of detecting compromised fetuses and also represents an interesting method of close fetal monitoring during the entire pregnancy.     

转hCTLA4Ig树突状细胞诱导T细胞免疫耐受的实验研究

目的　通过逆转录病毒载体将人CTLA4Ig转染DCs ,探讨转人CTLA4Ig(hCTLA4Ig)树突状细胞 (DCsRev)诱导T细胞免疫耐受的可能性。方法　通过重组逆转录病毒将目的基因hCTLA4Ig转染到大鼠骨髓来源的DCs中 ,通过流式细胞检测目的基因hCTLA4Ig表达及DCs表面分子的改变 ;通过混合淋巴细胞反应 (MLR)检测DCsRev抑制T细胞免疫反应的能力。 结果　重组逆转录病毒转染DCs的最大效率为 91 2 5 % ;在功能上 ,DCsRev不但丧失了刺激MLR的能力 ,并且能够强烈抑制MLR中反应T细胞的增殖 ,而且抑制率与加入DCsRev的数量和DCsRev预处理反应T细胞的时间长短有关。具体来说 ,DCsRev数量在 10 3 ～ 10 4之间时 ,抑制率与剂量呈正相关 ,最高为 71 96%。而当DCsRev数量达到 5× 10 4抑制率下降为 5 9 2 %。在 12～ 48h之间 ,随着预处理时间的延长 ,抑制率却不断下降 ,预处理 12h抑制率最高 ,为 99 6%。但不做预处理 ,在反应开始时同时加入DCsRev ,则抑制率明显降低 ,仅为 5 9 2 %。对腹腔注射DCsRev大鼠脾T淋巴细胞体外分析表明 ,DCsRev也能在动物体内诱导耐受 ,但这种免疫耐受状态不能维持终身。结论　通过逆转录病毒载体将人CTLA4Ig转染DCs,不但DCs表面CD86分子被CTLA4Ig有效的封闭 ,并且能够诱导抗原特异性T细胞的免疫耐受     

大鼠MMP-13重组腺病毒载体的构建

目的　构建大鼠MMP1 3重组腺病毒载体。方法　将MMP1 3cDNA目的片段插入腺病毒柯氏质粒中 ,再将此质粒与腺病毒DNA末端蛋白复合物共转染 2 93细胞 ,通过同源重组构建MMP1 3 重组腺病毒载体。结果　MMP1 3 重组腺病毒载体经PCR鉴定正确 ,包装纯化后 ,检测病毒滴度为 4× 1 0 9PFU/ml。结论　成功地构建了RatMMP1 3 重组腺病毒载体 ,为下一步行MMP 1 3转基因治疗低顺应性膀胱的研究提供了条件     

p21WAF1与p27KIP1真核双表达载体的构建鉴定及在胃癌细胞中的表达

目的 构建p21WAF1与p27KIP1真核双表达载体,体外转染胃癌7901细胞,观察其在胃癌细胞中的表达及相关特性.方法 提取人全血总RNA,利用逆转录-聚合酶链反应(RT-PCR)扩增p21WAF1和p27WAF1基因并将其分别克隆到真核双表达载体pIRES中构建重组质粒pIPES-p27KIP1-p21WAF1,经酶切和测序鉴定重组质粒.脂质体介导重组质粒plRES-p27KIP1.p21WAF1"转染胃癌7901细胞,收集并提取转染后12、24、48、72 h和5 d各细胞的总RNA,逆转录成cDNA,荧光定量聚合酶链反应(FQ-PCR)检测各细胞中p21WAF1和p27KIP1在RNA水平的表达.带有绿色荧光蛋白的pIRES-EGFP作为对照.结果 RT-PCR扩增分别获得约500和600 bp大小的产物,重组质粒pIRES-p27KIP1.p21WAF1经酶切和测序鉴定证实为p21WAF1和p27KIP1基因.转染胃癌7901细胞48 h时转染率为68%.与空质粒对照组比较,重组质粒转染胃癌7901细胞12、24、48、72 h和5 d后FQ-PCR证实p27KIP1的Ct值(cycle threshold,Ct)分别减少8.2、10、10、7.4和6.7,p21WAF1的Ct值分别减少7.4、8.2、8.2、6.3和5.70其中24 h和48 h的Ct值减少最大.结论 真核双表达载体pIRES-p27KIP1.p21WAF1构建成功并能在胃癌7901细胞内高效表达.     

凋亡素基因序列重组及其真核表达载体的构建

目的:提高凋亡素基因在肿瘤细胞中的表达效率,增强其诱导肿瘤细胞凋亡的生物学活性.方法:通过两次PCR,以pcDNA-VP3质粒为模板,扩增出带Kozak序列(真核核糖体结合位点)的凋亡素基因VP3.将其克隆到真核表达载体pRevTRE的多克隆位点,构建成凋亡素的真核表达载体pRevTRE-VP3,将该质粒分别以限制性内切酶BamHI和XhohI进行酶切鉴定,将初步鉴定显示可能克隆有目的基因的质粒进行测序鉴定.结果:测序结果表明,本研究合成的凋亡素基因与Noteborn报告的凋亡素基因序列一致,同源性为l 00%.在其起始密码子前添加了Ko zak序列的凋亡素基因已成功克隆到真核表达载体pRevTRE.结论:采用两次PCR法可提高表达效率的真核核糖体结合位点添加到凋亡素基因序列起始密码子前端,并构建成凋亡素真核表达载体.