Frontiers in Laboratory Medicine最新文献

Objectives

At present, kidney transplant recipients are more likely to suffer from postoperative infection, rejection, or accidental death than general population. This study aims to discuss whether or not certain laboratory testings can predict the postoperative physical recovery in the perioperative period of renal transplant.

Methods

This paper is a retrospective cohort review of 127 patients who received kidney transplantation from January 2013 to November 2017 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, China. These patients were classified into three groups: postoperative infection, accidental death and event-free groups, and their Platelet (PLT), CD4⁺/CD8⁺, Cystatin C (CysC), pre- and post-operative serum creatinine (Scr) were determinated.

Results

Among the 127 patients (median age 38.7 ± 5.4 y, range 18–65 y), 61 patients (48%) suffered from hospital acquired infection during the first three months after kidney transplantation. Furthermore, the hypertension complications were found to be associated with the postoperative patient status (P < 0.01). The prognosis of patients was not related to Platelet (PLT) (P = 0.27), CD4⁺/CD8⁺ (P = 0.38) and Cystatin C (CysC) (P = 0.35). However, both preoperative Scr and postoperative Scr were significant higher in patients who suffered from postoperative infection than that in event free patients (P = 0.002 and P = 0.007, respectively).

Conclusions

It was found that the hypertension complications could aggravate patient status after renal transplant. Furthermore, because both preoperative Scr and postoperative Scr can be used to predict the hospital acquired infection of kidney transplant patients, the duration of taking prophylactic antibiotics for patients with higher levels of pre- and post-operative Scr should be properly extended.

Atherosclerosis remains one of the main causes of death in both developed and developing countries, leading to acute cardiovascular events and chronic injuries. Atherosclerosis is a multifactorial disease, and several studies have demonstrated that autophagy plays an important role in the occurrence and development of atherosclerosis. Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved cellular process by which misfolded proteins and excessive or dysfunctional organelles are degraded to maintain energy homeostasis. There is increasing evidence that autophagy can be activated in cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, especially macrophage autophagy. As the molecular mechanism of autophagy is complicated, the regulation of atherosclerosis is varied. Understanding the types of autophagy regulating factors may provide clues for the treatment of atherosclerosis. In this review, the role of autophagy in atherosclerosis and the current understanding of the association between autophagy and atherosclerosis were investigated. Moreover, the regulation of autophagy by mTOR inhibitors, as well as natural ingredients such as resveratrol and berberine was elucidated.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short-chain 20–24-nucleotide RNAs that are produced and processed from endogenous non-coding RNA (sncRNA). They act as a bridge between DNA, mRNAs, and proteins, induce epigenetic modifications, regulate transcription and translation, and effect gene-level regulation. Acute central nervous system (CNS) injuries include acute cerebrovascular disease and traumatic brain injury, which are high-risk conditions. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), the body fluid that is most closely associated with the CNS, is present in the ventricles and subarachnoid space, and has many functions such as protection, support, and supply of nutrition to the brain and spinal cord. Free miRNAs in the CSF change after CNS injury. Therefore, elucidating the miRNA expression pattern in CSF could prove useful in the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of such conditions. In this article, we review the progress of research on CSF miRNA expression profiles in acute CNS injury diseases, and discuss the potential value of CSF miRNAs as biomarkers for CNS injury and prognosis.

Nowadays chitosan nanoparticles (CS NPs) have been extensively considered for biomedical applications. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the results of larvicidal activities of extracted chitosan and synthesized CS NPs from shrimp shells against third-instar larvae of mosquitoe Aedes aegypti (A. aegypti). The CS NPs exhibited higher larvicidal activity in comparison to extracted and commercial chitosan. In the present study, the chitosan was extracted from shrimp shells (Penaues indicus) and the CS NPs were synthesized by a novel method of ionic gelation with sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) as a reducing agent. The chitosan was morphologically characterized by fourier transforms infrared (FTIR) spectra, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM), whereas the CS NPs were characterized using FTIR, XRD, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The synthesized CS NPs were spherical in shape. The HRTEM images presented that the CS NPs were composed of a segment of small particles (8 nm) and of a second segment of larger particles (80 nm), attributing to the rearrangement of particles after the addition of TPP. The larvicidal activity of CS NPs was confirmed against third instars larvae of A. aegypti. The LC₅₀ value observed was 66.42 mg/L and the corresponding LC₉₀ value was 92.58 mg/L. From this study, it is established that these shell waste materials could be potentially employed for biomedical applications.

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is a newly identified non-coding RNA with various regulatory functions. Recent evidence has shown how lncRNA affect the disease development at different degrees. Studies on lncRNA have made great progress in the fields of cancer diseases and generative disorders. However, the autoimmune diseases is a relatively new research area. An increasing number of studies have stated in recent years that IncRNA plays a role in the protein transport & trafficking, gene transcription and other biological processes. This review focused on the advances of lncRNA in autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriasis, autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD), Sjogren's syndrome (SS) and Crohn's disease (CD).

Recently, marine sponge drug fascaplysin has been found to have the potential to overcome cancer, particularly those of hepatocellular carcinoma. In this study, the decreased cell viability of HepG2 cells treated by fascaplysin was identified by MTT assay at very low IC₅₀ concentration (1 µmolL⁻¹). The morphological evidence of both acridine orange/ethidium bromide (AO/EB) and Hoechst 33342 staining assays confirmed the increased cell death of the treated HepG2 cells and the red nucleus of the cells noticed that the chromatin condensation of apoptosis also occurred at IC₅₀ concentration of fascaflycin. Consequently, the HepG2 cell apoptosis induced by fascaplysin was proved by the translocation of phosphatidylserine exhaustion of DNA fragmentation, the activation of caspase-3, caspase-8 and caspase-9, and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage. The results of western blot and quantitative PCR methods suggested that fascaplysin down-regulated the expression of BCL-2, up-regulated expression of p53, increased cleavage of caspase-3, caspase-8 and caspase-9 to activate caspase dependent apoptosis in HCC cells and cleared the induction of G0/G1 cell cycle arrest. Furthermore, fascaplysin inhibited migration and invasion of HepG2 cells by suppressing expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were clearly stated, the selected drug was potent anticancer activity against HepG2 cells. Hence, it is concluded in this study that marine sponge derived fascaplysin has the excellent inhibitory ability against HepG2 cancer cells.

Accurate detection of Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) fusion in lung cancer cells is essential to screen for patients suitable for targeted drug treatments such as crizotinib. ALK fusion involves multiple genes and different exon junctions. When an ALK fusion results in overexpression of the ALK protein, a malignant transformation can occur. The challenge is to develop a single test that will detect ALK overexpression from all fusion combinations including novel/unidentified fusion partner(s). In this study, we evaluated two strategies for detecting ALK fusion events using digital PCR: 5′/3′ imbalance and ALK overexpression relative to a reference gene. Our data shows that the determination of ALK RNA expression levels is a better option when a reference gene is included in the assay. We further determined the threshold to call for positive or negative samples and evaluated the analytical specifications of the assay in 28 FFPE samples from Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with know ALK fusion status. We validated this threshold with 36 clinical samples with ALK status determined by IHC. Digital PCR ALK assay we developed had a concordance of 97.2% (35/36). Testing the assay on clinical samples demonstrated consistency with reference assays, suggesting a great potential for the dPCR assay to service the clinical detection needs.

This study aimed to assess the overall diagnostic accuracy of magnetic beads-based matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MB-based MALDI-TOF MS) in identifying esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). The PubMed/Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Science Direct, Google Scholar, China National Knowledge Infrastructure database and Wanfang Med Online were searched for potential studies up to 30 January 2018. Articles were screened manually on the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratio or other indices reflecting the diagnostic accuracy of MB-based MALDI-TOF MS for ESCC were pooled and calculated. 16 studies involving 1 006 individuals were included. The values of pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR) and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were 0.95 (95% CI: 0.90–0.98), 0.94 (95% CI: 0.90–0.96), 15.45 (95% CI: 8.93–26.72), 0.05 (95% CI: 0.03–0.10), 295.04 (95% CI: 103.79–838.71), respectively. The area under the summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve was 0.98. In conclusion, MB-based MALDI-TOF MS could be an effective technique with high diagnostic accuracy for ESCC.

The hybrid peptide CA(1–7)-T(4–19) gene was designed according to the N-terminal 1–7 amino acid sequence of the antimicrobial peptide cecropinA (CA) and the N-terminal 4–19 amino acid sequence of thanatin (T), and synthesized by using Pichia pastoris preferred codons. Pichia pastoris hybrid expression vector was constructed, transformed into the prepared expression strain X-33 competent cells, and regulated by the alcohol oxidase (AOX). The biological activity studies after purification have shown that the hybrid antimicrobial peptides were equipped with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, and had a good antimicrobial effect on the majority of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria without hemolysis and good stability in vitro as well. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the hybrid peptide on common resistant pathogens in clinics was obtained. It provided a new field for researchers to find ideal antimicrobial agents. Therefore, the antimicrobial peptides have great potential for application.

Objective

To study the association between Zinc transporter genes ZIP11 rs11077654 polymorphism with bladder cancer risk in Chinese Han Population.

Methods

A total of 307 unrelated Chinese Han descent, including 139 bladder cancer patients as bladder cancer group and 168 healthy people as healthy control group were studied. The ZIP11 rs11077654 loci was analyzed by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and its relationship with bladder cancer was analyzed.

Results

There were three kinds of genotypes in ZIP11 gene rs11077654 loci (CC, CA and AA). Our analysis presented that the CA genotype was not associated with bladder cancer risk when the CC genotype may be served as reference (OR, 1.355; 95% CI, 0.750–2.451; p = 0.313). We combined CA and AA genotypes as a dominant genetic model. There was no significant association with bladder cancer risk as well in the combined group (OR, 1.333; 95% CI, 0.758–2.343; p = 0.317). There was no significant association observed between the CA/AA genotypes and low-grade (OR, 0.900; 95% CI, 0.411–1.973; p = 0.793) or high-grade bladder cancer (OR, 0.675; 95% CI, 0.349–1.308; p = 0.243), and nor between the CA/AA genotypes and NMIBC (OR, 0.636; 95% CI, 0.334–1.213; p = 0.167) or MIBC (OR, 1.100; 95% CI, 0.478–2.531; p = 0.823).

Conclusion

The rs11077654 of ZIP11 gene was not associated with bladder cancer in Chinese Han Population.