GUO Lulu1, DONG Xuyan1, MA Liang3, ZHENG Boping3, JIANG Wenlong3, WEI Fang1,2, JIANG Mulan1, YANG Mei1, NIU Yanxing1, HUANG Fenghong1, CHEN Hong1,2** 1, Institute of Oil Crops Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan 430062 China; 2, The Key Lab for Genetics and Improvement of Oil Crops, Ministry of Agriculture, Wuhan 430062 China; 3, Food Science and Technology Department, Xinan University, Chongqing 400715 China Wuhan, 430062 chenhongref@yahoo.com Wuhan, 430062 chenhongref@yahoo.com
Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of human lens epithelial cells (LECs) contributes to posterior capsule opacification (PCO). C-terminal binding protein 2 (CtBP2) has been reported to be essential in EMT and embryonic development. However, the function of CtBP2 in EMT of LECs is unknown. The goal of this study was to investigate the role of CtBP2 through Notch signaling in transforming growth factor β2 (TGFβ2)-induced EMT in LECs.The human LEC line SRA01/04 was cultured in the presence of TGFβ2 for different periods of time or with γ-Secretase Inhibitor IX (DAPT), a specific inhibitor of Notch receptor cleavage, for 24 h, utilizing plasmid-based method. The levels of protein expression of CtBP2, EMT markers, and Notch signaling molecules were measured by Western bolts.Treatment of SRA01/04 cells with TGFβ2 induced typical molecular changes of EMT and increased the expression of CtBP2 in a time-dependent manner. Similarly, the expressions of Jagged1 and Notch1 were increased after TGFβ2 treatment. Knockdown of CtBP2 by specific siRNA inhibited TGFβ2-induced changes of Connexin 43 (CX43), α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), Notch1, and Notch intracellular domain (NICD). In addition, treatment of LECs with ectopic expression of CtBP2 changed the expressions of CX43, α-SMA, Notch1, and NICD, but blockade of Notch pathway with DAPT inhibited CtBP2-induced changes of α-SMA and CX43.Our data suggest that CtBP2 plays a critical role in TGFβ2-induced EMT via the Jagged/Notch signaling pathway in human LECs and may contribute to the development of PCO.
Patients with pulmonary nodules are treated by minimally invasive surgery, and postoperative symptoms have become the main factors affecting patients' emotion and quality of life. This study aimed to analyze the changes of postoperative symptoms in lung cancer patients with pulmonary nodules.The clinical data of eighty-eight lung cancer patients admitted to the same medical group of Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University from June 2021 to September 2021 were prospectively collected and analyzed. The types and severity of clinical symptoms before operation, on discharge day, 30-day and 90-day after operation were analyzed.The incidence of postoperative symptoms in lung cancer patients was 79.5%, and most patients suffered from mild (54.3%) and moderate (32.9%) symptoms. The main postoperative symptoms of lung cancer patients were pain (55.7%) and cough (37.2%). The incidence of pain at discharge (55.7%) was significantly higher than that at 30-day (23.7%, P=0.01) and 90-day (12.0%, P=0.01) after discharge. The incidence of cough was significantly higher at 30-day (66.1%) and 90-day (66.0%) than that at discharge (37.2%) (P=0.01, P=0.04).The main postoperative symptoms of lung cancer patients with pulmonary nodules are pain and cough. The incidence and severity of pain decreases with time, and the incidence of cough increases but the severity decreased gradually.【中文题目：肺癌患者胸腔镜术后主要症状变化规律分析】 【中文摘要：背景与目的 肺结节患者通过微创手术进行治疗，术后相关症状成为影响患者情绪和生活质量的主要因素，本研究旨在分析肺结节肺癌患者术后症状变化的规律。方法 前瞻性分析四川大学华西医院胸外科2021年6月-2021年9月单个医疗组88例肺癌患者的临床资料。分析术前、出院当天、出院30天及90天的临床症状种类及其严重程度。结果 肺癌患者术后症状发生率79.5%，且以轻度（54.3%）、中度（32.9%）症状为主。肺癌患者术后主要症状有疼痛（55.7%）和咳嗽（37.2%）。疼痛发生率在出院时（55.7%）均显著高于出院30天（23.7%）和出院90天（12.0%）（P=0.01, P=0.01）。咳嗽发生率在出院30天（66.1%）和90天（66.0%）均显著高于出院时（37.2%）（P=0.01, P=0.04）。 结论 肺结节肺癌患者术后主要症状是疼痛和咳嗽，且疼痛发生率和程度均随时间而减少或减轻，而咳嗽发生率随时间增高但程度逐渐减轻。 】 【中文关键词：胸腔镜手术；疼痛；咳嗽；肺肿瘤】.
Background Primary pancreatic paragangliomas are extremely rare tumors. Limited by the diagnostic efficacy of histopathological examination, their malignant behavior is thought to be associated with local invasion or metastasis, with only four malignant cases reported in the literature to date. As pancreatic paragangliomas share similar imaging features with other types of pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms, they are difficult to diagnose accurately without the support of pathological evidence. As primary pancreatic paragangliomas are rare, especially those accompanied by lymph node metastasis, there is currently no consensus on treatment. Herein, we report a case of primary pancreatic paraganglioma with lymph node metastasis. Case summary A mass located in the pancreatic body was incidentally discovered on computed tomography in a 41-year-old Tibetan man. Distal pancreatectomy was subsequently performed and a 4.1 cm × 4.2 cm tumor was found embedded in the body of the pancreas during surgery. Histological examination confirmed the characteristics of paraganglioma in which the neoplastic chief cells were arranged in a classic Zellballen pattern under hematoxylin-eosin staining. Further, immunohistochemistry demonstrated that the sustentacular cells in the tumor tissue were positive for S-100 protein, and neoplastic cells and pancreatic draining lymph nodes were positive for chromogranin A and synaptophysin; thus, the presence of lymph node metastasis (two of the eight resected pancreatic draining lymph nodes) was also confirmed. A diagnosis of primary pancreatic paraganglioma with lymph node metastasis was finally established. The patient remained disease-free for 1 year after the surgery. Conclusion A definite diagnosis of pancreatic paraganglioma mainly depends on postoperative histopathological and immunohistochemical examinations. Surgical resection may be the first treatment of choice for patients with primary pancreatic paraganglioma that has metastasized to the lymph nodes.
Emerging evidence has indicated that apoptotic cells have a compensatory effect on the proliferation of neighboring cells. Recent studies have shown that apoptotic tumor cells stimulate the repopulation of tumors from a small number of surviving cells by cleaved caspase-3 regulation and elevated tumor cleaved (and thus activated) caspase-3 expression levels predict worse treatment outcomes in cancer patients. The prognostic significance of cleaved caspase-3 should be demonstrated in more human cancer types and larger subjects. Here, we examined the cleaved caspase-3 expression in 367 human tumor samples (gastric cancer: 97 cases, ovarian cancer: 65 cases, cervical cancer: 104 cases; colorectal cancer: 101 cases) with immunohistochemistry (IHC) and the relationship between the expression of cleaved caspase-3 and various clinicopathological factors were also detected. We found that, cleaved caspase-3 was significantly associated with pathological risk factors (P < 0.005) for the studied cancers, such as tumor stage, lymph-node metastasis, differentiation and so on. In univariate and multivariate analysis, patients with high expression of cleaved caspase-3 had a significant shorter overall survival time compared with those with low cleaved caspase-3 expression in gastric cancer (P < 0.001), ovarian cancer (P < 0.001), cervical cancer (P = 0.002), colorectal cancer (P < 0.001) individually and in the patients combined (P < 0.001). Cox regression results suggested cleaved caspase-3 as an independent prognosis predictor for the studied four cancer types. Our study showed cleaved caspase-3 was well correlated to progression, aggressive behaviors in the studied cancer, and implicated it as a potential predictive factor for the prognosis of the four cancer types. It also indicated cleaved caspase-3 as a potential therapeutic target for cancer patients.
Two new species of the lichen genus Placolecis are discovered in China, namely P. kunmingensis An. C. Yin & Li S. Wang and P. sublaevis An. C. Yin & Li S. Wang. The new combination P. loekoesiana (S.Y. Kondr., Farkas, J.J. Woo & Hur) An. C. Yin is proposed. Placolecis kunmingensis is characterized by having simple, spherical or ellipsoid, hyaline spores, and pear-shaped pycnidia; while P. sublaevis can be distinguished by its thallus forming larger aggregations with slightly flattened lobes at the thallus margin, and urn-shaped pycnidia. Descriptions, a phylogenetic tree and a key are provided for all the known Placolecis species in China.
// Junling Shen 1, * , Jiaxin Kang 2, * , Zhuang Yao 3, * , Youli Jian 4 , Yudong Jing 4 , Yuanzhao Hu 2 , Mei Yang 4 and Jianwei Sun 2 1 College of Horticulture, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266109, China 2 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Protein Function and Regulation in Agricultural Organisms, College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510642, China 3 Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, 52828, Korea 4 Key Laboratory of Molecular and Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Mei Yang, email: athensmei@gmail.com Jianwei Sun, email: jwsun@scau.edu.cn Keywords: nhr-14; DNA damage; apoptosis Received: September 28, 2017 Accepted: December 05, 2017 Published: January 03, 2018 ABSTRACT Nuclear hormone receptor is involved in transcription regulation and many important cellular processes including development and metabolism. However, the role of nuclear hormone receptor in DNA damage-induced apoptosis remains elusive. Here we reported that RNAi of nhr-14 , which was thought to be an estrogenic hormone receptor in Caenorhabditis elegans , inhibited DNA damage-induced apoptosis in prmt-5(gk357) , a C. elegans homolog of mammalian type II arginine methyltransferase PRMT5, after ionizing radiation. Deletion of nhr-14 led to decreased DNA damage-induced germline apoptosis, but not in the physiological programmed cell death. We also demonstrate that nhr-14 is not a checkpoint gene and functions downstream of the checkpoint pathway. Moreover, we show that nhr-14 regulates egl-1 and ced-13 transcription upon DNA damage. In addition, we provided evidence that NHR-14 forms a complex with CEP-1/p53 and may function as a cofactor of CEP-1/p53. These findings indicate that NHR-14 might cooperate with CEP-1/p53 to regulate DNA damage-induced apoptosis, which reveals a novel role for nuclear hormone receptor in apoptosis.
To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of antiviral combination therapy with pegylated-interferon alpha-2a plus ribavirin (RBV) in patients with autoantibody-positive chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and to investigate the impact of the presence of autoantibodies on the treatment outcome. Eighty-six consecutive CHC patients who underwent a 48-week treatment regimen composed of Peg-IFNa-2a (135 or 180 mug/wk) plus weight-based RBV ( less than or equal to 65 kg, 800 mg/d; 65 to 75 kg, 1000 mg/d; more than or equal to75 kg, 1200 mg/d ). Prior to treatment (baseline) and at end of treatment (EOT; week 48), levels of antinuclear antibody (ANA), anti-smooth muscle antibody (SMA), anti liver/kidney microsomal antibody type 1 (LKM1), anti-La (SSB), and anti liver cytosolic-1 (LC-1) were detected by indirect immunofluorescence. At baseline, during treatment (weeks 4, 12, 24, and 36), EOT, and 24 weeks after EOT, levels of HCV RNA were assessed by real-time quantitative PCR. Rapid virological response (RVR) was defined as HCV RNA less than 10(3) copy/ml at week 4. Sustained virologic response (SVR) was defined as HCV RNA load below the lower limit of detection at 24 weeks after EOT. Correlation between autoantibodies and treatment-induced reduced HCV RNA load was assessed by univariate analysis of variance or chi-squared tests. Autoantibodies were detected in 24 patients, which included 14 ANA-positive patients, five SMA-positive patients, three LKM1-positive patients, one patient with double-positivity for ANA and SSB, and one patient with double-positivity for ANA and LC-1. The autoantibody-positive patients and autoantibody-negative patients showed similar rates of RVR (70.8% vs. 72.5%, P more than 0.05) and SVR (81.4% vs. 82.2%, P more than 0.05). Antiviral therapy with Peg-IFNa-2a RBV can effectively reduce the HCV RNA load in autoantibody-positive CHC patients; however, the presence of autoantibodies may not be an independent predictor of therapy outcome.
Abstract Background Plasmapheresis is widely used for severe hypertriglyceridemia-associated acute pancreatitis (HTG-AP) to remove excessive triglycerides from plasma. This study aimed to evaluate whether plasmapheresis could improve the duration of organ failure in HTG-AP patients. Methods We analyzed a cohort of patients from a multicenter, prospective, long-running registry (the PERFORM) collecting HTG-AP patients admitted to the study sites within 72 h from the onset of symptoms. This study was based on data collected from November 2020 to March 2023. Patients who had organ failure at enrollment were involved in the analyses. The primary outcome was time to organ failure resolution within 14 days. Multivariable Cox regression model was used to evaluate the association between plasmapheresis and time to organ failure resolution. Directed acyclic graph (DAG) was used to identify potential confounders. Results A total of 122 HTG-AP patients were included (median [IQR] sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score at enrollment, 3.00 [2.00–4.00]). Among the study patients, 46 underwent plasmapheresis, and 76 received medical treatment. The DAG revealed that baseline serum triglyceride, APACHE II score, respiratory failure, cardiovascular failure, and renal failure were potential confounders. After adjusting for the selected confounders, there was no significant difference in time to organ failure resolution between patients undergoing plasmapheresis and those receiving exclusive medical treatment (HR = 1.07; 95%CI 0.68–1.68; P = 0.777). Moreover, the use of plasmapheresis was associated with higher ICU requirements (97.8% [45/46] vs. 65.8% [50/76]; OR, 19.33; 95%CI 2.20 to 169.81; P = 0.008). Conclusions In HTG-AP patients with early organ failure, plasmapheresis was not associated with accelerated organ failure resolution compared to medical treatment but may be associated with more ICU admissions. Trial registration : The PERFORM study was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2000039541). Registered 30 October 2020.
Abstract People living with chronic disease, particularly seniors older than 60 years old, are lagging behind in the national COVID-19 vaccination campaign in China due to the uncertainty of vaccine safety and effectiveness. However, this special population made up of most severe symptom and death cases among SARS-CoV-2 infected patients and should be prioritized in vaccination program. Thus, safety and immunogenicity data of COVID-19 vaccines in people with underlying medical conditions are needed to address the vaccine hesitancy in this special population. Here, we report a retrospective cohort study evaluating the immunogenicity and safety of the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine, CoronaVac, in people with at least one of the six common diseases, focusing on seniors (N = 969). We found that CoronaVac is as safe in people with chronic diseases as that in healthy control, without serious adverse event reported in this study. By day 14-28 post vaccination, we observed no significant difference for the antibody responses between disease groups and healthy control, except for the coronary artery disease (p=0.03) and chronic respiratory disease group (p=0.04) showing moderate reduction. Such difference diminished by day 90 and 180, as neutralizing antibodies significantly reduced in all participants. Most people showed detectable SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell response at day 90 and day 180 without significant difference between disease groups and healthy control. Overall, our results highlight the comparable safety, immunogenicity and cellular immunity memory of CoronaVac in seniors and people living with chronic diseases, addressing vaccine hesitancy for this special population.
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