To establish and modify quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-based serotyping assays to distinguish 97 pneumococcal serotypes.
A database of capsular polysaccharide (cps) loci sequences was generated, covering 97 pneumococcal serotypes. Bioinformatics analyses were performed to identify the cps loci structure and target genes related to different pneumococcal serotypes with specific SNPs. A total of 27 novel qPCR serotyping assay primers and probes were established based on qPCR, while 27 recombinant plasmids containing serotype-specific DNA sequence fragments were constructed as reference target sequences to examine the specificity and sensitivity of the qPCR assay. A panel of pneumococcal reference strains was employed to evaluate the capability of pneumococcal serotyping.
A total of 97 pneumococcal serotyping assays based on qPCR were established and modified, which included 64 serotypes previously reported as well as an additional 33 serotypes. Twenty-seven novel qPCR serotyping target sequences were implemented in the pneumococcal qPCR serotyping system. A total of 97 pneumococcal serotypes, which included 52 individual serotypes and 45 serotypes belonging to 20 serogroups, could not be identified as individual serotypes. The sensitivity of qPCR assays based on 27 target sequences was 1–100 copies/μL. The specificity of the qPCR assays was 100%, which were tested by a panel of 90 serotypes of the pneumococcal reference strains.
A total of 27 novel qPCR assays were established and modified to analyze 97 pneumococcal serotypes.
To investigate the effects of the B7-H4 gene rs10754339 and miR-125a gene rs12976445 on cancer susceptibility through a case-control study and meta-analysis.
A total of 1,490 cancer patients (lung/gastric/liver/: 550/460/480) and 800 controls were recruited in this case-control study. The meta-analysis was performed by pooling the data from previous related studies and the present study.
The results of this study showed that in the Hubei Han Chinese population, the rs10754339 gene was significantly associated with the risk of lung and gastric cancer but not liver cancer, and the rs12976445 gene was significantly associated with the risk of lung cancer but not liver or gastric cancer. The meta-analysis results indicated that rs10754339 and rs12976445 contributed to cancer susceptibility in the Chinese population and also revealed a significant association between rs10754339 and breast cancer risk, as well as between rs12976445 and lung cancer risk.
The B7-H4 gene rs10754339 and miR-125a gene rs12976445 may be the potential genetic markers for cancer susceptibility in the Chinese population, which should be validated in future studies with larger sample sizes in other ethnic populations.