Increasing evidence suggests that aberrant activation of the androgen receptor (AR) plays a pivot... more Increasing evidence suggests that aberrant activation of the androgen receptor (AR) plays a pivotal role in the develop- ment and progression of androgen depletion-independent prostate cancer (PCa) after androgen deprivation therapy. Here,we show that loss of the PTEN tumor suppressor gene is associated with hyperactivation of the AR in human PCa cell lines. This effect is mediated primarily by its
Hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) appear to play an important role in chronic liver injury. In this... more Hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) appear to play an important role in chronic liver injury. In this study, cirrhosis was induced in F-344 rats (n = 32) via subcutaneous injection of 50% carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) twice a week for 8 weeks. Then, 30% CCl4 was administered in conjunction with intragastric 2-acetylaminofluorine (2-AAF) for 4 weeks to induce activation of HPCs. WB-F344 cells were used to provide direct evidence for differentiation of HPCs to myofibroblasts. The results showed that after administration of 2-AAF, the hydroxyproline content and the expressions of α-SMA, Col I, Col IV, TGF-β1, CD68, TNF-α, CK19 and OV6 were significantly increased. OV6 and α-SMA were largely co-expressed in fibrous septum and the expressions of Wnt5b, frizzled2, frizzled3 and frizzled6 were markedly increased, while β-catenin expression was not statistically different among the different groups. Consistent with the above results, WB-F344 cells, treated with TGF-β1 in vitro, differentiated int...
We aimed to determine upright heart rate and blood pressure (BP) changes to suggest diagnostic cr... more We aimed to determine upright heart rate and blood pressure (BP) changes to suggest diagnostic criteria for postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and orthostatic hypertension (OHT) in Chinese children. In this cross-sectional study, 1449 children and adolescents aged 6-18 years were randomly recruited from two cities in China, Kaifeng in Henan province and Anguo in Hebei province. They were divided into two groups: 844 children aged 6-12 years (group I) and 605 adolescents aged 13-18 years (group II). Heart rate and BP were recorded during an active standing test. 95th percentile (P95) of δ heart rate from supine to upright was 38 bpm, with a maximum upright heart rate of 130 and 124 bpm in group I and group II, respectively. P95 of δ systolic blood pressure (SBP) increase was 18 mm Hg and P95 of upright SBP was 132 mm Hg in group I and 138 mm Hg in group II. P95 of δ diastolic blood pressure (DBP) increase was 24 mm Hg in group I and 21 mm Hg in group II, and P95 of upri...
The differential expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) in plasma of gastric cancer (GC) patients may s... more The differential expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) in plasma of gastric cancer (GC) patients may serve as a diagnostic biomarker. A total of 33 miRNAs were identified through the initial screening phase (3 GC pools vs. 1 normal control (NC) pool) using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) based Exiqon panel (miRCURY-Ready-to-Use-PCR-Human-panel-I + II-V1.M). By qRT-PCR, these miRNAs were further assessed in training (30 GC VS. 30 NCs) and testing stages (71 GC VS. 61 NCs). We discovered a plasma miRNA signature including five up-regulated miRNAs (miR-185, miR-20a, miR-210, miR-25 and miR-92b), and this signature was evaluated to be a potential diagnostic marker of GC. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the signature were 0.86, 0.74 and 0.87 for the training, testing and the external validation stages (32 GC VS. 18 NCs), respectively. The five miRNAs were consistently dysregulated in GC tissues (n = 30). Moreover, miR-185 w...
International journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology, Jan 20, 2015
A pale-yellow, Gram-reaction-negative, non-motile, aerobic bacterium, designated MC 3726T, was is... more A pale-yellow, Gram-reaction-negative, non-motile, aerobic bacterium, designated MC 3726T, was isolated from a tundra soil near Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard Archipelago, Norway (78°N). Growth occurred at 4-37℃ (optimum 25-30℃) and at pH 5.0-9.0 (optimum pH 8.0). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain MC 3726T belonged to the genus Luteolibacter in the family Verrucomicrobiaceae. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of this strain showed 93.18, 92.54 and 92.44 % sequence similarity, respectively, with those of the type strains of Luteolibacter cuticulihirudinis E 100T, Luteolibacter pohnpeiensis A4T-83T and Luteolibacter yonseiensis EBTL01T. Cell walls of strain MC 3726T contained meso-diaminopimelic acid (meso-DAP) as the diagnostic amino acid. The strain MC 3726T contained iso-C14:0 (38.28%), C16:0 (15.89%), C16:1 ω9c (14.24%), iso-C16:0 (10.42%) and anteiso-C15:0 (5.75%) fatty acids as the predominant cellular fatty acids, MK-9 and MK-10 as the major respirator...
Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells have the ability to kill tumor cells in vitro and in vivo. Th... more Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells have the ability to kill tumor cells in vitro and in vivo. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical effect of adjuvant immunotherapy with CIK cells on the prognosis of lung cancer patients. In the present study, we investigated the clinical outcomes of autologous CIK cell immunotherapy for patients with lung cancer in a case-control study. Our study included 60 patients who received chemotherapy combined with autologous CIK cell adoptive immunotherapy in CIK treatment group and 60 patients who received chemotherapy alone in the control group. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of these two groups were evaluated. After 14 days of incubation in vitro, the percentages of CD3(+), CD3(+)CD8(+), CD3(+)CD56(+) and CD3(-)CD56(+) were significantly increased (P<0.05). The clinical symptoms of 60 patients were apparently improved. No severe toxicity and side effects were observed in the CIK treatment group. The 3-year, 5-year PFS ...
Does embryo culture medium influence the percentage of males at birth? The percentage of males de... more Does embryo culture medium influence the percentage of males at birth? The percentage of males delivered after ICSI cycles using G5™ medium was statistically significantly higher than after cycles where Global, G5™ PLUS, and Quinn's Advantage Media were used. Male and female embryos have different physiologies during preimplantation development. Manipulating the energy substrate and adding growth factors have a differential impact on the development of male and female embryos. This was a retrospective analysis of the percentage of males at birth, and included 4411 singletons born from fresh embryo transfer cycles between January 2011 and August 2013 at the Center for Reproductive Medicine of Third Hospital Peking University. Only singleton gestations were included. Participants were excluded if preimplantation genetic diagnosis, donor oocytes and donor sperm were used. The database between January 2011 and August 2013 was searched with unique medical record number, all patients ...
BACKGROUND & AIMS: New therapies are needed to treat patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HC... more BACKGROUND & AIMS: New therapies are needed to treat patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), a major worldwide cause of chronic liver disease. Nitazoxanide (NTZ), originally used to treat cryptosporidiosis infection, recently was shown to have unexpected antiviral activity in the HCV replicon system and in chronically infected patients. A pilot clinical study suggested that NTZ can augment the antiviral effect of interferon (IFN), although the molecular basis for its effect was unknown. METHODS: We analyzed the effects of NTZ on the regulation of eukaryotic initiation factor-2␣ (eIF2␣) and its IFN-induced kinase, protein kinase activated by double-stranded RNA (PKR), in cells that support HCV RNA replication and in vitro biochemical assays. RESULTS: NTZ increased eIF2␣ phosphorylation, a modification known to mediate host cell antiviral defenses. The addition of IFN to cell cultures increased NTZ-induced eIF2␣ phosphorylation. NTZ also increased PKR phosphorylation. In vitro, NTZ promoted PKR autophosphorylation, a key step in activating PKR's kinase activity for eIF2␣. Finally, NTZ-induced eIF2␣ phosphorylation was reduced in the presence of specific inhibitors of PKR autophosphorylation. CONCLUSIONS: An important mechanism of NTZ's action involves activation of PKR, a key kinase that regulates the cell's innate antiviral response. These observations could explain the clinical antiviral effect of NTZ. NTZ might represent a new class of small molecules capable of potentiating and recapitulating important antiviral effects of IFN.
Gametogenesis is a complex biological process of producing cells for sexual reproduction. Xlr sup... more Gametogenesis is a complex biological process of producing cells for sexual reproduction. Xlr super family members containing a conserved COR1 domain play essential roles in gametogenesis. In the present study, we identified that Slx2, a novel member of Xlr super family, is specifically expressed in the meiotic oocytes, which is demonstrated by western blotting and immunohistochemistry studies. In the first meiotic prophase, SLX2 is unevenly distributed in the nuclei of oocytes, during which phase SLX2 is partly co-localized with SYCP3 in synaptonemal complex and γH2AX in the nucleus of oocytes. Interestingly, the localization of SLX2 was found to be switched into the cytoplasm of oocytes after prometaphase I during oocyte maturation. Furthermore, yeast two-hybrid and coimmunoprecipitation studies demonstrated that SLX2 interacts with BLOS2, which is a novel centrosome-associated protein, and co-localized with γ-Tubulin, which is a protein marker of chromosome segregation in meiosis...
To assess the pharmacokinetics (PK) of voriconazole and anidulafungin in patients with invasive a... more To assess the pharmacokinetics (PK) of voriconazole and anidulafungin in patients with invasive aspergillosis (IA) in comparison with other populations, sparse PK data were obtained for 305 adults from a prospective phase 3 study comparing voriconazole and anidulafungin in combination versus voriconazole monotherapy (voriconazole, 6 mg/kg intravenously [IV] every 12 h [q12h] for 24 h followed by 4 mg/kg IV q12h, switched to 300 mg orally q12h as appropriate; with placebo or anidulafungin IV, a 200-mg loading dose followed by 100 mg q24h). Voriconazole PK was described by a two-compartment model with first-order absorption and mixed linear and time-dependent nonlinear (Michaelis-Menten) elimination; anidulafungin PK was described by a two-compartment model with first-order elimination. For voriconazole, the normal inverse Wishart prior approach was implemented to stabilize the model. Compared to previous models, no new covariates were identified for voriconazole or anidulafungin. PK ...
Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 3'-untranslated regions of cancer-related genes mig... more Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 3'-untranslated regions of cancer-related genes might affect regulation by microRNAs and contribute to cancer patients' outcome. We used public databases to identify SNPs within miRNA-binding sites in deregulated genes in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A total of 13 SNPs in 10 genes were included and genotyped by SNaPshot assay in 576 NSCLC patients. Associations between SNPs, overall survival (OS) and chemotherapy response were evaluated by Cox regression and logistic regression. We then examined the functionality of the significant polymorphisms. Two SNPs (TYMS rs2790 and MICA rs9266825) were significantly associated with OS. In the combined analysis, an increasing number of unfavorable loci was associated with a poorer prognosis (P for trend<0.001) and patients having 2-3 unfavorable loci had a 1.61-fold elevated risk of death (95% confidence interval: 1.20-2.15), compared with those carrying 0-1 unfavorable loci. A signif...
Recently, more and more studies investigated the value of microRNA (miRNA) as a diagnostic or pro... more Recently, more and more studies investigated the value of microRNA (miRNA) as a diagnostic or prognostic biomarker in various cancers. MiR-21 was found dysregulated in almost all types of cancers. While the prognostic role of miR-21 in many cancers has been studied, the results were not consistent. We performed a meta-analysis to investigate the correlation between miR-21 and survival of general cancers by calculating pooled hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). The pooled results of 63 published studies showed that elevated miR-21 was a predictor for poor survival of general carcinomas, with pooled HR of 1.91 (95%CI: 1.66-2.19) for OS, 1.42 (95% CI: 1.16-1.74) for DFS and 2.2 (95% CI: 1.64-2.96) for RFS/CSS. MiR-21 was also a prognostic biomarker in the patients who received adjuvant therapy, with pooled HR of 2.4 (95%CI: 1.18-4.9) for OS. Our results showed that miR-21 could act as a significant biomarker in the prognosis of various cancers. Further studies are war...
Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells are ex vivo generated heterogeneous NK-like T-lymphocytes, wh... more Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells are ex vivo generated heterogeneous NK-like T-lymphocytes, which have anti-tumor effects in vitro and in vivo. This present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of autologous CIK cell immunotherapy on the prognosis of colorectal cancer patients. Progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and immune cells were assessed. We found that the percentages of CD8(+), CD3(+) CD56(+), CD3(-) CD56(+) cell subsets were significantly increased from 19.7±6.3%, 13.8±7.9%, 1.0±1.2% to 35.8±11.6% (P<0.001), 20.9±12.5 (P<0.001), 14.4±9.5% (P<0.001), respectively in the CIK group after 14 days of incubation. The median PFS and median OS in the CIK group were 25.8 months and 41.3 months respectively, while 12.0 months and 30.8 months in the control group. The PFS and OS curves of the CIK group and control group indicated that there were also statistically differences between two groups in PFS (log-rank, P=0.01) and OS (log-rank, P=0.037). ...
To study the effect of freezing techniques and to optimize a method for trace amounts of testicul... more To study the effect of freezing techniques and to optimize a method for trace amounts of testicular spermatozoa from biopsed seminiferous tubules. The level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the gene expression of heme oxygenase-1 was evaluated. Prospective experimental study. University-based laboratory. Eighteen adults with male fator infertility underwent testicular biopsy surgery. Seminiferous tubular fragments from each man were evenly allocated to three groups: fresh control, slow freezing, and vitrifiaction groups. The morphology and ROS levels before and after freezing were evaluated for seminiferous tubular fragments. The expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) at both the transcriptional and protein levels was determined. The morphology was analyzed by light microscopy. The ROS levels were measured with ELISA. The proliferation and differentiation were evaluated by immunohistochemistry, and the expression of HO-1 was evaluated using a real-time polymerase chain reaction (...
Beijing da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Peking University. Health sciences, Jan 18, 2014
To compare the roles of single nucleotide polymorphism array (SNP array) and karyotype analysis i... more To compare the roles of single nucleotide polymorphism array (SNP array) and karyotype analysis in high-risk pregnant women prenatal diagnosis. From July 2012 to December 2013, a total of 141 pregnant women with high-risk in prenatal diagnosis were selected as the object of study in Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking University Third Hospital, 78 cases of umbilical cord puncture and 63 of amnion cavity puncture , both taking SNP array detection and karyotype analysis. The abnormality karyotype rate was 6.4%, the abnormal rate of SNP array result was 11.3%, and the abnormal rate of the combined two methods for detecting was 12.1%. There were significant differences between the SNP array and karyotype analysis (P=0.039). There were obvious differences between the two techniques. It is an effective way to determine genetic disease by integrating SNP array and karyotype analysis in prenatal diagnosis.
Accumulating evidence indicates that Smad4 (DPC4) plays a fundamental role in the development and... more Accumulating evidence indicates that Smad4 (DPC4) plays a fundamental role in the development and prognosis of several types of cancer. The objective of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis to evaluate whether the loss of Smad4 staining could serve as a prognostic marker. A comprehensive meta-analysis was conducted using major useful databases to determine the relationship between the immunohistochemical detection of Smad4 and the survival of patients with various cancers. We used hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence interval (CIs) as the effect estimation to evaluate the association of Smad4 with overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS) or recurrence-free survival (RFS). The relationship between the clinical characteristics of patients and Smad4 was also evaluated using the odds ratio (OR). A total of 7570 patients from 26 studies were included in the analysis. The pooled results showed that loss of Smad4 staining was a negative predictor of OS with an HR of 1....
International journal of clinical and experimental pathology, 2014
To determine the diagnostic features of Robertsonian (Rob) translocation (11; 13) in mice and the... more To determine the diagnostic features of Robertsonian (Rob) translocation (11; 13) in mice and the mechanisms underlying the effect on spermatogenesis and reproductive decline. A Rob translocation (11; 13) mouse model was established by cross-breeding, and confirmed by chromosome analysis. Chromosome aberrations and translocation patterns were identified in mice with Rob translocation (11; 13) by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Spermatogenic disorders were investigated at different stages of spermatogenesis. Immunofluorescent analysis was performed on sections of testis and epididymis specimens during spermatogenic meiosis. The weight of the testes and reproductive decline were recorded. The crossed Rob translocation (11; 13) mouse has 39 chromosomes, including a fusion chromosome (included chromosomes 11 and 13) using dual color FISH. There was no difference in the distribution pattern of SYCP3 and γH2AX in spermatocytes between Rob translocation and wild-type mice; howev...
To determine whether luteal support of dydrogesterone may enhance the outcome of frozen-thawed em... more To determine whether luteal support of dydrogesterone may enhance the outcome of frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) in natural cycles by comparing the FET outcomes of different luteal support methods. A total of 2 248 natural FET cycles with an endometrial thickness of 8-12 mm and type A on ovulation day, from January 2011 to March 2013 were chosen. Oral dydrogesterone (n = 1 967) or intramuscular progesterone (n = 281) was used for luteal support. The rates of clinical pregnancy, implantation, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage and live birth were compared among these groups. The patients receiving oral dydrogesterone or intramuscular progesterone had similar profiles of age, type of infertility, endometrial thickness and average numbers of embryo transfer. The dydrogesterone group had higher rates of clinical pregnancy (43.26% vs 38.79%) and implantation (25.76% vs 21.13%). However a lower miscarriage rate (17.27% vs 22.02%) was insignificant. The rates of ectopic pregnancy, prematur...
It is still unclear whether the vitrification procedure itself is associated with the incidence o... more It is still unclear whether the vitrification procedure itself is associated with the incidence of abnormal DNA methylation during oocytes vitrification. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the epigenetic profile of mouse oocytes, which went through vitrification either at a mature stage or at an immature stage following in vitro maturation (IVM) by analyzing the global DNA methylation. Metaphase II (M II) stage and germinal vesicle (GV) stage oocytes were collected from adult female mice and were vitrified respectively. The M II oocytes were assessed for cryo-survival and global DNA methylation. The GV oocytes were assessed for cryo-survival and only the surviving GV oocytes were cultured in vitro for subsequent assessment of global DNA methylation in mature oocytes. In vivo matured fresh M II oocytes without undergoing vitrification were used as control. The level of global DNA methylation in the M II oocytes was then examined by immunofluorescence using an anti-5-methylcyto...
Increasing evidence suggests that aberrant activation of the androgen receptor (AR) plays a pivot... more Increasing evidence suggests that aberrant activation of the androgen receptor (AR) plays a pivotal role in the develop- ment and progression of androgen depletion-independent prostate cancer (PCa) after androgen deprivation therapy. Here,we show that loss of the PTEN tumor suppressor gene is associated with hyperactivation of the AR in human PCa cell lines. This effect is mediated primarily by its
Hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) appear to play an important role in chronic liver injury. In this... more Hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) appear to play an important role in chronic liver injury. In this study, cirrhosis was induced in F-344 rats (n = 32) via subcutaneous injection of 50% carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) twice a week for 8 weeks. Then, 30% CCl4 was administered in conjunction with intragastric 2-acetylaminofluorine (2-AAF) for 4 weeks to induce activation of HPCs. WB-F344 cells were used to provide direct evidence for differentiation of HPCs to myofibroblasts. The results showed that after administration of 2-AAF, the hydroxyproline content and the expressions of α-SMA, Col I, Col IV, TGF-β1, CD68, TNF-α, CK19 and OV6 were significantly increased. OV6 and α-SMA were largely co-expressed in fibrous septum and the expressions of Wnt5b, frizzled2, frizzled3 and frizzled6 were markedly increased, while β-catenin expression was not statistically different among the different groups. Consistent with the above results, WB-F344 cells, treated with TGF-β1 in vitro, differentiated int...
We aimed to determine upright heart rate and blood pressure (BP) changes to suggest diagnostic cr... more We aimed to determine upright heart rate and blood pressure (BP) changes to suggest diagnostic criteria for postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and orthostatic hypertension (OHT) in Chinese children. In this cross-sectional study, 1449 children and adolescents aged 6-18 years were randomly recruited from two cities in China, Kaifeng in Henan province and Anguo in Hebei province. They were divided into two groups: 844 children aged 6-12 years (group I) and 605 adolescents aged 13-18 years (group II). Heart rate and BP were recorded during an active standing test. 95th percentile (P95) of δ heart rate from supine to upright was 38 bpm, with a maximum upright heart rate of 130 and 124 bpm in group I and group II, respectively. P95 of δ systolic blood pressure (SBP) increase was 18 mm Hg and P95 of upright SBP was 132 mm Hg in group I and 138 mm Hg in group II. P95 of δ diastolic blood pressure (DBP) increase was 24 mm Hg in group I and 21 mm Hg in group II, and P95 of upri...
The differential expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) in plasma of gastric cancer (GC) patients may s... more The differential expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) in plasma of gastric cancer (GC) patients may serve as a diagnostic biomarker. A total of 33 miRNAs were identified through the initial screening phase (3 GC pools vs. 1 normal control (NC) pool) using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) based Exiqon panel (miRCURY-Ready-to-Use-PCR-Human-panel-I + II-V1.M). By qRT-PCR, these miRNAs were further assessed in training (30 GC VS. 30 NCs) and testing stages (71 GC VS. 61 NCs). We discovered a plasma miRNA signature including five up-regulated miRNAs (miR-185, miR-20a, miR-210, miR-25 and miR-92b), and this signature was evaluated to be a potential diagnostic marker of GC. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the signature were 0.86, 0.74 and 0.87 for the training, testing and the external validation stages (32 GC VS. 18 NCs), respectively. The five miRNAs were consistently dysregulated in GC tissues (n = 30). Moreover, miR-185 w...
International journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology, Jan 20, 2015
A pale-yellow, Gram-reaction-negative, non-motile, aerobic bacterium, designated MC 3726T, was is... more A pale-yellow, Gram-reaction-negative, non-motile, aerobic bacterium, designated MC 3726T, was isolated from a tundra soil near Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard Archipelago, Norway (78°N). Growth occurred at 4-37℃ (optimum 25-30℃) and at pH 5.0-9.0 (optimum pH 8.0). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain MC 3726T belonged to the genus Luteolibacter in the family Verrucomicrobiaceae. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of this strain showed 93.18, 92.54 and 92.44 % sequence similarity, respectively, with those of the type strains of Luteolibacter cuticulihirudinis E 100T, Luteolibacter pohnpeiensis A4T-83T and Luteolibacter yonseiensis EBTL01T. Cell walls of strain MC 3726T contained meso-diaminopimelic acid (meso-DAP) as the diagnostic amino acid. The strain MC 3726T contained iso-C14:0 (38.28%), C16:0 (15.89%), C16:1 ω9c (14.24%), iso-C16:0 (10.42%) and anteiso-C15:0 (5.75%) fatty acids as the predominant cellular fatty acids, MK-9 and MK-10 as the major respirator...
Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells have the ability to kill tumor cells in vitro and in vivo. Th... more Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells have the ability to kill tumor cells in vitro and in vivo. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical effect of adjuvant immunotherapy with CIK cells on the prognosis of lung cancer patients. In the present study, we investigated the clinical outcomes of autologous CIK cell immunotherapy for patients with lung cancer in a case-control study. Our study included 60 patients who received chemotherapy combined with autologous CIK cell adoptive immunotherapy in CIK treatment group and 60 patients who received chemotherapy alone in the control group. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of these two groups were evaluated. After 14 days of incubation in vitro, the percentages of CD3(+), CD3(+)CD8(+), CD3(+)CD56(+) and CD3(-)CD56(+) were significantly increased (P<0.05). The clinical symptoms of 60 patients were apparently improved. No severe toxicity and side effects were observed in the CIK treatment group. The 3-year, 5-year PFS ...
Does embryo culture medium influence the percentage of males at birth? The percentage of males de... more Does embryo culture medium influence the percentage of males at birth? The percentage of males delivered after ICSI cycles using G5™ medium was statistically significantly higher than after cycles where Global, G5™ PLUS, and Quinn's Advantage Media were used. Male and female embryos have different physiologies during preimplantation development. Manipulating the energy substrate and adding growth factors have a differential impact on the development of male and female embryos. This was a retrospective analysis of the percentage of males at birth, and included 4411 singletons born from fresh embryo transfer cycles between January 2011 and August 2013 at the Center for Reproductive Medicine of Third Hospital Peking University. Only singleton gestations were included. Participants were excluded if preimplantation genetic diagnosis, donor oocytes and donor sperm were used. The database between January 2011 and August 2013 was searched with unique medical record number, all patients ...
BACKGROUND & AIMS: New therapies are needed to treat patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HC... more BACKGROUND & AIMS: New therapies are needed to treat patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), a major worldwide cause of chronic liver disease. Nitazoxanide (NTZ), originally used to treat cryptosporidiosis infection, recently was shown to have unexpected antiviral activity in the HCV replicon system and in chronically infected patients. A pilot clinical study suggested that NTZ can augment the antiviral effect of interferon (IFN), although the molecular basis for its effect was unknown. METHODS: We analyzed the effects of NTZ on the regulation of eukaryotic initiation factor-2␣ (eIF2␣) and its IFN-induced kinase, protein kinase activated by double-stranded RNA (PKR), in cells that support HCV RNA replication and in vitro biochemical assays. RESULTS: NTZ increased eIF2␣ phosphorylation, a modification known to mediate host cell antiviral defenses. The addition of IFN to cell cultures increased NTZ-induced eIF2␣ phosphorylation. NTZ also increased PKR phosphorylation. In vitro, NTZ promoted PKR autophosphorylation, a key step in activating PKR's kinase activity for eIF2␣. Finally, NTZ-induced eIF2␣ phosphorylation was reduced in the presence of specific inhibitors of PKR autophosphorylation. CONCLUSIONS: An important mechanism of NTZ's action involves activation of PKR, a key kinase that regulates the cell's innate antiviral response. These observations could explain the clinical antiviral effect of NTZ. NTZ might represent a new class of small molecules capable of potentiating and recapitulating important antiviral effects of IFN.
Gametogenesis is a complex biological process of producing cells for sexual reproduction. Xlr sup... more Gametogenesis is a complex biological process of producing cells for sexual reproduction. Xlr super family members containing a conserved COR1 domain play essential roles in gametogenesis. In the present study, we identified that Slx2, a novel member of Xlr super family, is specifically expressed in the meiotic oocytes, which is demonstrated by western blotting and immunohistochemistry studies. In the first meiotic prophase, SLX2 is unevenly distributed in the nuclei of oocytes, during which phase SLX2 is partly co-localized with SYCP3 in synaptonemal complex and γH2AX in the nucleus of oocytes. Interestingly, the localization of SLX2 was found to be switched into the cytoplasm of oocytes after prometaphase I during oocyte maturation. Furthermore, yeast two-hybrid and coimmunoprecipitation studies demonstrated that SLX2 interacts with BLOS2, which is a novel centrosome-associated protein, and co-localized with γ-Tubulin, which is a protein marker of chromosome segregation in meiosis...
To assess the pharmacokinetics (PK) of voriconazole and anidulafungin in patients with invasive a... more To assess the pharmacokinetics (PK) of voriconazole and anidulafungin in patients with invasive aspergillosis (IA) in comparison with other populations, sparse PK data were obtained for 305 adults from a prospective phase 3 study comparing voriconazole and anidulafungin in combination versus voriconazole monotherapy (voriconazole, 6 mg/kg intravenously [IV] every 12 h [q12h] for 24 h followed by 4 mg/kg IV q12h, switched to 300 mg orally q12h as appropriate; with placebo or anidulafungin IV, a 200-mg loading dose followed by 100 mg q24h). Voriconazole PK was described by a two-compartment model with first-order absorption and mixed linear and time-dependent nonlinear (Michaelis-Menten) elimination; anidulafungin PK was described by a two-compartment model with first-order elimination. For voriconazole, the normal inverse Wishart prior approach was implemented to stabilize the model. Compared to previous models, no new covariates were identified for voriconazole or anidulafungin. PK ...
Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 3'-untranslated regions of cancer-related genes mig... more Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 3'-untranslated regions of cancer-related genes might affect regulation by microRNAs and contribute to cancer patients' outcome. We used public databases to identify SNPs within miRNA-binding sites in deregulated genes in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A total of 13 SNPs in 10 genes were included and genotyped by SNaPshot assay in 576 NSCLC patients. Associations between SNPs, overall survival (OS) and chemotherapy response were evaluated by Cox regression and logistic regression. We then examined the functionality of the significant polymorphisms. Two SNPs (TYMS rs2790 and MICA rs9266825) were significantly associated with OS. In the combined analysis, an increasing number of unfavorable loci was associated with a poorer prognosis (P for trend<0.001) and patients having 2-3 unfavorable loci had a 1.61-fold elevated risk of death (95% confidence interval: 1.20-2.15), compared with those carrying 0-1 unfavorable loci. A signif...
Recently, more and more studies investigated the value of microRNA (miRNA) as a diagnostic or pro... more Recently, more and more studies investigated the value of microRNA (miRNA) as a diagnostic or prognostic biomarker in various cancers. MiR-21 was found dysregulated in almost all types of cancers. While the prognostic role of miR-21 in many cancers has been studied, the results were not consistent. We performed a meta-analysis to investigate the correlation between miR-21 and survival of general cancers by calculating pooled hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). The pooled results of 63 published studies showed that elevated miR-21 was a predictor for poor survival of general carcinomas, with pooled HR of 1.91 (95%CI: 1.66-2.19) for OS, 1.42 (95% CI: 1.16-1.74) for DFS and 2.2 (95% CI: 1.64-2.96) for RFS/CSS. MiR-21 was also a prognostic biomarker in the patients who received adjuvant therapy, with pooled HR of 2.4 (95%CI: 1.18-4.9) for OS. Our results showed that miR-21 could act as a significant biomarker in the prognosis of various cancers. Further studies are war...
Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells are ex vivo generated heterogeneous NK-like T-lymphocytes, wh... more Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells are ex vivo generated heterogeneous NK-like T-lymphocytes, which have anti-tumor effects in vitro and in vivo. This present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of autologous CIK cell immunotherapy on the prognosis of colorectal cancer patients. Progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and immune cells were assessed. We found that the percentages of CD8(+), CD3(+) CD56(+), CD3(-) CD56(+) cell subsets were significantly increased from 19.7±6.3%, 13.8±7.9%, 1.0±1.2% to 35.8±11.6% (P<0.001), 20.9±12.5 (P<0.001), 14.4±9.5% (P<0.001), respectively in the CIK group after 14 days of incubation. The median PFS and median OS in the CIK group were 25.8 months and 41.3 months respectively, while 12.0 months and 30.8 months in the control group. The PFS and OS curves of the CIK group and control group indicated that there were also statistically differences between two groups in PFS (log-rank, P=0.01) and OS (log-rank, P=0.037). ...
To study the effect of freezing techniques and to optimize a method for trace amounts of testicul... more To study the effect of freezing techniques and to optimize a method for trace amounts of testicular spermatozoa from biopsed seminiferous tubules. The level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the gene expression of heme oxygenase-1 was evaluated. Prospective experimental study. University-based laboratory. Eighteen adults with male fator infertility underwent testicular biopsy surgery. Seminiferous tubular fragments from each man were evenly allocated to three groups: fresh control, slow freezing, and vitrifiaction groups. The morphology and ROS levels before and after freezing were evaluated for seminiferous tubular fragments. The expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) at both the transcriptional and protein levels was determined. The morphology was analyzed by light microscopy. The ROS levels were measured with ELISA. The proliferation and differentiation were evaluated by immunohistochemistry, and the expression of HO-1 was evaluated using a real-time polymerase chain reaction (...
Beijing da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Peking University. Health sciences, Jan 18, 2014
To compare the roles of single nucleotide polymorphism array (SNP array) and karyotype analysis i... more To compare the roles of single nucleotide polymorphism array (SNP array) and karyotype analysis in high-risk pregnant women prenatal diagnosis. From July 2012 to December 2013, a total of 141 pregnant women with high-risk in prenatal diagnosis were selected as the object of study in Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking University Third Hospital, 78 cases of umbilical cord puncture and 63 of amnion cavity puncture , both taking SNP array detection and karyotype analysis. The abnormality karyotype rate was 6.4%, the abnormal rate of SNP array result was 11.3%, and the abnormal rate of the combined two methods for detecting was 12.1%. There were significant differences between the SNP array and karyotype analysis (P=0.039). There were obvious differences between the two techniques. It is an effective way to determine genetic disease by integrating SNP array and karyotype analysis in prenatal diagnosis.
Accumulating evidence indicates that Smad4 (DPC4) plays a fundamental role in the development and... more Accumulating evidence indicates that Smad4 (DPC4) plays a fundamental role in the development and prognosis of several types of cancer. The objective of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis to evaluate whether the loss of Smad4 staining could serve as a prognostic marker. A comprehensive meta-analysis was conducted using major useful databases to determine the relationship between the immunohistochemical detection of Smad4 and the survival of patients with various cancers. We used hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence interval (CIs) as the effect estimation to evaluate the association of Smad4 with overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS) or recurrence-free survival (RFS). The relationship between the clinical characteristics of patients and Smad4 was also evaluated using the odds ratio (OR). A total of 7570 patients from 26 studies were included in the analysis. The pooled results showed that loss of Smad4 staining was a negative predictor of OS with an HR of 1....
International journal of clinical and experimental pathology, 2014
To determine the diagnostic features of Robertsonian (Rob) translocation (11; 13) in mice and the... more To determine the diagnostic features of Robertsonian (Rob) translocation (11; 13) in mice and the mechanisms underlying the effect on spermatogenesis and reproductive decline. A Rob translocation (11; 13) mouse model was established by cross-breeding, and confirmed by chromosome analysis. Chromosome aberrations and translocation patterns were identified in mice with Rob translocation (11; 13) by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Spermatogenic disorders were investigated at different stages of spermatogenesis. Immunofluorescent analysis was performed on sections of testis and epididymis specimens during spermatogenic meiosis. The weight of the testes and reproductive decline were recorded. The crossed Rob translocation (11; 13) mouse has 39 chromosomes, including a fusion chromosome (included chromosomes 11 and 13) using dual color FISH. There was no difference in the distribution pattern of SYCP3 and γH2AX in spermatocytes between Rob translocation and wild-type mice; howev...
To determine whether luteal support of dydrogesterone may enhance the outcome of frozen-thawed em... more To determine whether luteal support of dydrogesterone may enhance the outcome of frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) in natural cycles by comparing the FET outcomes of different luteal support methods. A total of 2 248 natural FET cycles with an endometrial thickness of 8-12 mm and type A on ovulation day, from January 2011 to March 2013 were chosen. Oral dydrogesterone (n = 1 967) or intramuscular progesterone (n = 281) was used for luteal support. The rates of clinical pregnancy, implantation, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage and live birth were compared among these groups. The patients receiving oral dydrogesterone or intramuscular progesterone had similar profiles of age, type of infertility, endometrial thickness and average numbers of embryo transfer. The dydrogesterone group had higher rates of clinical pregnancy (43.26% vs 38.79%) and implantation (25.76% vs 21.13%). However a lower miscarriage rate (17.27% vs 22.02%) was insignificant. The rates of ectopic pregnancy, prematur...
It is still unclear whether the vitrification procedure itself is associated with the incidence o... more It is still unclear whether the vitrification procedure itself is associated with the incidence of abnormal DNA methylation during oocytes vitrification. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the epigenetic profile of mouse oocytes, which went through vitrification either at a mature stage or at an immature stage following in vitro maturation (IVM) by analyzing the global DNA methylation. Metaphase II (M II) stage and germinal vesicle (GV) stage oocytes were collected from adult female mice and were vitrified respectively. The M II oocytes were assessed for cryo-survival and global DNA methylation. The GV oocytes were assessed for cryo-survival and only the surviving GV oocytes were cultured in vitro for subsequent assessment of global DNA methylation in mature oocytes. In vivo matured fresh M II oocytes without undergoing vitrification were used as control. The level of global DNA methylation in the M II oocytes was then examined by immunofluorescence using an anti-5-methylcyto...
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