Vaccines still are an important way to prevent and treat acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). 1 For developing an effective T cell-based AIDS vaccine, it is critical to define the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) type and epitope that elicit the most potent responses. This study involved 29 antiretroviral therapy-naive and chronic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 subtype B-infected individuals. A polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific primer was used to detect the HLA typing, and the enzyme-linked immunospot assay to quantify the T-cell immune function. The results showed that the HLA-DQB1*06-positive group had higher CD4 counts and lower viral load (VL) compared with the HLA-DQB1*06-negative group; A higher magnitude of HIV-1-specific T-cell response and breadth were observed in the HLA-DQB1*06-positive group; the T-cell response was proportional to VL (R2 = 0.488, P = 0.0368) in the HLA-DQB1*06-positive group. The total T-cell responses to HIV-1 Nef core region were quantified at the single-peptide level. Nine (90%) peptides were recognized in 18 (62.1%) individuals. The breath of Nef core region-specific T-cell response was correlated positively with CD4+ T cell count and inversely with VL, which improved disease outcomes. These data revealed that HLA-DQB1*06 had a protective effect on the course of HIV-1 and T-cell targeting of certain specific Nef epitopes, contributing to HIV-1 suppression. The results suggested the potential use of HLA-DQB1*06 and Nef core region in HIV-1 T-cell vaccine design.
Background: In a previous study, we found that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) alleviated the clinical symptoms and improved the quality of life (QoL) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Objectives: A cohort was continuously followed up to determine the impact of the TCM adjuvant therapies on the prognosis of HCC after conventional treatments. Methods: We did a retrospective monocentric cohort study including 175 eligible patients. The participants who received TCM adjuvant therapies were termed as TCM group. For the purpose of stratification analysis, the patients who received TCM adjuvant therapies over 3 months per year were further classified into the high frequency group, while the rest of the TCM users were classified into the low frequency group. Non-users were recorded as the control group. The primary outcome was overall survival (OS) and the secondary outcome was the mean progression-free survival (mPFS) primarily introduced in this study, referring to the time from initial diagnosis to the latest progression over the number of disease progressions. Analyses used Cox proportional hazards and Kaplan-Meier (K-M) methods, adjusted for stratification factors. Results: Until June 30, 2021, 56 patients survived, 21 patients were lost to follow-up, and 98 patients died from the disease. Each disease progression of every individual was recorded, and most of the PFS was within 1 year. The baseline data of the allocated groups were balanced, the result revealed that TCM adjuvant therapies might have little influence on OS ( P = .129). However, the 1, 3, and 5-year progression-free survival rates of the patients in TCM and control group were 68.75%, 37.50%; 25.00%, 8.33% and 8.33%, 2.08%, respectively, indicating TCM use significantly extended the mPFS, and decreased the risk of disease progression by a factor of 0.676 ( P = .006). In the patients with BCLC stage B HCC, compared with controls, a 37-month median OS advantage in the high frequency group was noted ( P = .045); and the high frequency of TCM use significantly suppressed disease progression ( P = .001). Conclusions: The present study revealed that TCM adjuvant therapies could postpone disease progression in HCC. Furthermore, using TCM over 3 months per year might extend OS in patients with intermediate HCC.
Exosomes are emerging as a new type of cancer biomarkers. Exosome is a bilayered nano-sized vesicle secreted by various living cells in all body fluids. Based on the expanding albeit incomplete knowledge of their biogenesis, secretion by cells and cancer cell-specific molecular and genetic contents, exosomes are viewed as promising, clinically-relevant surrogates of cancer progression and response to therapy. Preliminary proteomic, genetic and functional profiling of cancer cell-derived or cancer plasma-derived exosomes confirms their unique characteristics. Alterations in protein or nucleic acid profiles of exosomes in plasma correlate with pathological processes of many diseases including cancer. However, previous studies on exosome application in cancer diagnosis and treatment mainly focussed on miRNAs. With the development of rapid large-scale production, purification, extraction and screening of exosomal contents, exosomal protein application can be explored for early stage cancer diagnosis, monitoring and prognosis evaluation. Here, we summarized the recent developments in application of exosomal proteins for cancer diagnosis.
Abstract Background China is a highly endemic area of chronic hepatitis B. The accuracy of common noninvasive biomarkers including TE, APRI and FIB-4 for staging fibrosis is not enough in Chinese cohort.Methods Using liver biopsy as a gold standard, a novel noninvasive indicator was developed using laboratory tests, ultrasound measurements and liver stiffness measurements with machine learning techniques to predict significant fibrosis and cirrhosis in patients infected with HBV in north and east part of China. We retrospectively evaluated the diagnostic performance of the novel indicator named FibroBox, Fibroscan, aspartate transaminase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI), and FIB-4 in HBV patients from Jilin and Huai’an (training sets) and also in Anhui and Beijing cohorts (validation sets).Results Of 1289 eligible HBV patients who had liver histological data, 63.2% had significant fibrosis and 22.5% had cirrhosis. In lasso regression and filter methods, fibroscan results, platelet count, alanine transaminase (ALT), prothrombin time (PT), type III procollagen aminoterminal peptide (PIIINP), type IV collagen, laminin, hyaluronic acid (HA) and diameter of spleen vein were finally selected as input variables in FibroBox. Consequently, FibroBox was developed of which the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was significantly higher than that of TE, APRI and FIB-4 to predicting significant fibrosis and cirrhosis. In the Anhui and Beijing cohort, the AUROC of FibroBox was higher than TE, APRI and FIB-4 for significant fibrosis (0.88, 95% CI 0.72 to 0.82; 0.87, 95% CI 0.83 to 0.91, respectively) and cirrhosis (0.87, 95% CI 0.82 to 0.92; 0.90, 95% CI 0.85 to 0.94, respectively).Conclusions FibroBox, compared with TE, APRI and FIB-4, has a better performance in predicting liver fibrosis in Chinese cohorts, which may serve as a feasible alternative to liver biopsy.
China is a highly endemic area of chronic hepatitis B (CHB). The accuracy of existed noninvasive biomarkers including TE, APRI and FIB-4 for staging fibrosis is not high enough in Chinese cohort.Using liver biopsy as a gold standard, a novel noninvasive indicator was developed using laboratory tests, ultrasound measurements and liver stiffness measurements with machine learning techniques to predict significant fibrosis and cirrhosis in CHB patients in north and east part of China. We retrospectively evaluated the diagnostic performance of the novel indicator named FibroBox, Fibroscan, aspartate transaminase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI), and fibrosis-4 index (FIB-4) in CHB patients from Jilin and Huai'an (training sets) and also in Anhui and Beijing cohorts (validation sets).Of 1289 eligible HBV patients who had liver histological data, 63.2% had significant fibrosis and 22.5% had cirrhosis. In LASSO logistic regression and filter methods, fibroscan results, platelet count, alanine transaminase (ALT), prothrombin time (PT), type III procollagen aminoterminal peptide (PIIINP), type IV collagen, laminin, hyaluronic acid (HA) and diameter of spleen vein were finally selected as input variables in FibroBox. Consequently, FibroBox was developed of which the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was significantly higher than that of TE, APRI and FIB-4 to predicting significant fibrosis and cirrhosis. In the Anhui and Beijing cohort, the AUROC of FibroBox was 0.88 (95% CI, 0.72-0.82) and 0.87 (95% CI, 0.83-0.91) for significant fibrosis and 0.87 (95% CI, 0.82-0.92) and 0.90 (95% CI, 0.85-0.94) for cirrhosis. In the validation cohorts, FibroBox accurately diagnosed 81% of significant fibrosis and 84% of cirrhosis.FibroBox has a better performance in predicting liver fibrosis in Chinese cohorts with CHB, which may serve as a feasible alternative to liver biopsy.
Objective:To study evaluation standard for Chinese herbal medicine in anti-liver fibrosis.Methods:A set of integral evaluation standard was established by integrating Bianzheng Lunzhi with modern medical examination means,and referring to the professional standard of chronic hepaitits.Results:There were three main parts in the standard,such as:the integral evaluation standard for TCM symptoms(good validity,validity,invalid),the integral evaluation standard for the serum and special check(good validity,validity,invalid).And the synthetical integral evaluation standard for TCM symptoms,serum and special check good validity,validity,invalid.Conclusion:The standard is comprehensive,objective,compact,scientific,practicable,and with good clinic and scientific research value.
<i>Objectives:</i> To investigate the epidemiological and clinical features of 308 hospitalized patients suffering from infection with novel H1N1 influenza virus in China from May to August 2009, and to examine the effects of oseltamivir treatment for mild cases. <i>Methods:</i> Information on H1N1 influenza patients confirmed by real-time RT-PCR assay was gathered and analyzed from an influenza surveillance system, including demographic features, clinical symptoms and signs, therapeutic regimen, and duration of fever and virus shedding. <i>Results:</i> The clinical course of infected individuals appeared mild. Mainly young adults were affected. Most cases had low or mid-level fever, cough, headache, rhinorrhoea, and sore throat. Few patients had vomiting (1.3%) and diarrhea (3.9%). Oseltamivir treatment did not shorten the duration of fever. Furthermore, early oseltamivir treatment as well as early conventional supportive treatment without antiviral drugs contributed to a reduction in the duration of virus shedding. <i>Conclusions:</i> In the first pandemic wave, novel H1N1 virus caused disease primarily in adults, causing mild febrile illness. Mildly ill patients cleared the virus rapidly even in the absence of oseltamivir treatment.
Hepatic fibrosis is an early stage of liver cirrhosis, and there are no better non-invasive and convenient methods for the detection and evaluation of the disease. Despite the good progress made with the liver stiffness map (LSM) based on magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), there are still some limitations that need to be overcome, including manual focus determination, manual selection of regions of interest (ROIs), and discontinuous LSM data without structural information, which makes it impossible to evaluate the liver as a whole. In this study, we propose a novel three-dimensional (3D) digital model for the early diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis based on MRE. MRE is a non-invasive imaging technique that employs magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure the liver stiffness at the scanning site through human-computer interaction. Studies have indicated a significant positive correlation between the LSM obtained through MRE and the degree of hepatic fibrosis. However, for clinical purposes, a comprehensive and precise quantification of the degree of hepatic fibrosis is necessary. To address this, the concept of Liver Stiffness Distribution (LSD) was proposed in this study, which refers to the 3D stiffness volume of each liver voxel obtained by the alignment of 3D liver tissue images and MRE indicators. This provides a more effective clinical tool for the diagnosis and treatment of hepatic fibrosis.
Abstract This study aimed to elucidate the role of microRNA miR-92a-3p in the pathogenesis of adenomyosis. We focused on understanding how miR-92a-3p in exosomes derived from ectopic lesions influences the behavior of endometrial cells, DRG neurons, and Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVECs), and its potential as a non-invasive diagnostic biomarker. Our findings revealed that MiR-92a-3p is significantly upregulated in exosomes derived from ectopic lesions of adenomyosis. This upregulation was associated with enhanced migration and invasion capabilities in eutopic endometrial cells, DRG neurons, and HUVECs. Furthermore, the study demonstrated a significant correlation between the levels of MiR-92a-3p in urinary exosomes and the clinical symptoms of adenomyosis, suggesting its potential as a non-invasive biomarker for the disease. This study elucidates an exosomal signaling process via miR-92a-3p that drives pathological infiltration and angiogenesis to promote adenomyosis progression. Upregulated miR-92a-3p in biofluid exosomes shows promising non-invasive biomarker potential for diagnosis and monitoring of this disease. Our findings unveil novel targets and tools for improved clinical management.Our research uncovers the significant role of miR-92a-3p in adenomyosis pathogenesis. We demonstrate that miR-92a-3p, upregulated in exosomes from ectopic lesions, enhances migration and invasion of endometrial cells, DRG neurons, and HUVECs. Crucially, miR-92a-3p levels in urinary exosomes correlate with adenomyosis symptoms, highlighting its potential as a non-invasive biomarker. This study offers new insights into adenomyosis progression and introduces novel diagnostic and therapeutic avenues.
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