TGF-β与转录因子在肝纤维化中的相互作用

肝纤维化的形成是由于肝脏持续性损伤以及细胞外基质合成和降解失衡所引起的。转化生长因子-β(Transforming growth factor-β,TGF-β)是肝纤维化形成中的关键细胞因子,在肝纤维化发生、发展过程中起着至关重要的作用。一些与TGF-β相关的转录因子如AP1、STAT3及Foxo3a等也参与肝纤维化的调控过程。现就在肝纤维化中TGF-β与转录因子AP1、STAT3和Foxo3a的相互作用作一综述。     

肝纤维化基因治疗的进展

肝硬化是慢性肝病晚期的组织学改变 ,以纤维组织大量增生和肝小叶结构无序化为特征 ,因此又称肝纤维化。近年来随着分子生物学的发展 ,肝纤维化的分子机制逐渐得以阐明 ,从而使肝纤维化的基因治疗成为可能。肝纤维化的基因治疗主要起到阻止纤维化发展、刺激肝细胞分裂和肝组织结构重建三方面的作用。目前 ,常用的方法一般是通过缺陷病毒 (如腺病毒 )转入特定的细胞因子和酶 (如肝细胞生长因子、转化生长因子β1受体、基质金属蛋白酶等 )的基因 ,通过靶细胞表达这些因子作用于受损的肝脏 ,达到延缓和治愈肝纤维化的目的     

肝纤维化发病机制的研究进展

肝纤维化(liver fibrosis,LF)是一种可由多种致病因素导致的疾病,由于尚无有效的治疗手段,其已经严重地威胁着全球人的健康。虽然LF可以逆转,但更多会发生恶化进而发展为肝硬化和肝癌。目前为止,其发病机制已经可以从多方面被阐述。肝星状细胞(hepatic stellate cells,HSCs)是LF发展的中心和关键,而其他细胞也成为影响纤维化必不可少的因素。它们以细胞因子为联系,并大量分泌首要的细胞因子-转化生长因子-β1-来刺激HSCs的激活和增殖。最终,它们共同导致胶原的沉积和细胞外基质(extracellular matrix,ECM)结构的紊乱。而这其中,长链非编码RNA也积极参与了对纤维化过程的影响。本综述将从细胞、细胞因子、ECM以及基因等方面对LF的发生和发展进行探讨,从而有助于我们明确LF的发病机制,并为研发LF有效的治疗方法提供方向。     

肝心宁对肝纤维化大鼠肝组织病理及PDGF-BB、TGF-β、MMP-1的影响

目的：从肝纤维化的病理学和血清标志物方面,探讨肝心宁对肝纤维化大鼠肝组织病理的影响。方法：将60只SD大鼠随机分成正常对照组,肝纤维化模型组和肝心宁干预纤维化组。采用改良式复合因素法复制大鼠肝纤维化模型。正常对照组与肝纤维化模型组给予生理盐水10mL/kg灌胃,肝心宁干预纤维化组给予10g/kg治疗。6周后,取各组大鼠肝脏组织,HE染色比较各组大鼠肝脏组织的病理学变化,检测比较不同组大鼠血清中肝纤维化指示物血小板生长因子-BB（PDGF-BB）、转化生长因子-β1（TGF-β）、基质蛋白酶-1（MMP-1）的含量。结果：肝组织病理学：与肝纤维化模型组相比,干预组炎症坏程度减轻,肝纤维化程度明显改善,血清PDGF-BB、TGF-β1含量显著下降,而MMP-1含量显著升高。结论：肝心宁能有效改善肝纤维化血清学指标和病理学指标。     

TGF-β诱导CTGF表达的信号转导途径及与纤维化形成

转化生长因子-β(transforming growth factor-β,TGF-β)是一种具有多重生物学效应的细胞因子,参与了多种组织器官纤维化的形成。结缔组织生长因子(connective tissue growth factor,CTGF)是一种富含半胱氨酸的多肽,是介导TGF-β致纤维化作用的重要下游因子之一。TGF-β可通过多种信号途径诱导CTGF表达,本文就这一领域的研究进展及与纤维化形成的关系做一简要综述。     

促肝纤维化的关键因子——结缔组织生长因子

结缔组织生长因子（CTGF）与转化生长因子β（TGF-β）高表达于多种纤维化的组织器官中,被认为是促纤维化发生的主要细胞因子。作为TGF-β生物学作用的下游效应介质,CTGF介导TGF-β促组织纤维化的效应,而与TGF—β抗炎、调节免疫等其他生物学效应无明显相关,因此可能成为抗肝纤维化的更好的靶点。     

细胞因子与酒精性肝病

酒精性肝病(alcoholic liver disease,ALD)的发生发展过程与体内多种细胞因子有关,尤其是肿瘤坏死因子-α(tumor necrosis factor-α,TNF-α)和转化生长因子-β(transforming growth factor-β,TGF-β)在调节肝细胞的凋亡过程中具有重要作用。TNF-α可引起肝细胞凋亡与炎症反应等,抗TNF-α治疗能明显减轻酒精引起的肝损害;TGF-β具有增加细胞外基质的合成和抑制细胞外基质降解的作用,TGF-β1升高与肝纤维化密切相关。细胞因子可能是防治酒精性肝病的有效分子靶点。     

肝片形吸虫对肝纤维化的影响及治疗

作为一种可同时感染家畜和人类的寄生虫,肝片形吸虫对人类和家畜的身体机能造成了不可修复的损伤,在世界范围内造成了巨大的经济损失,尤其是感染早期对肝脏造成的肝纤维化症状不明显,不易被发现。本文主要综述了肝片形吸虫、肝纤维化、三氯苯哒唑的相互关系,并从Th1、Th2类细胞因子、T细胞、血红素氧合酶-1(heme oxygenase 1, HO-1)、巨噬细胞等几个方面探讨了肝片形吸虫对大鼠肝纤维化的影响,包括细胞间的相互作用以及它们所诱导的细胞因子(如:IL-4、IL-10、IFN-γ、TNF-α等)对肝纤维化的促进或抑制作用。最后,还综述了当前唯一可以治疗人类和家畜寄生虫感染的药物三氯苯哒唑对肝片形吸虫所致肝纤维化的治疗作用。     

血吸虫病肝纤维化形成的作用机制

血吸虫病(schistosomiasis)是世界上严重危害人类健康的人兽共患寄生虫病之一。在中国主要流行的是日本血吸虫病,其致病机制是由于血吸虫卵沉积于宿主肝内,形成虫卵肉芽肿,导致肝纤维化。血吸虫病肝纤维化免疫过程中,肝星状细胞、T细胞、B细胞及多种细胞因子的调节起着重要作用。现就血吸虫病肝纤维化形成机制的相关研究进展进行了综述。     

SOCS-3在肝纤维化中的作用及中药干预的研究进展

慢性肝病是全世界发病率及死亡率最高的疾病之一。肝纤维化是各种慢性肝病进展为肝硬化的必经阶段。大量研究证实,肝纤维化的病理过程可以逆转,但目前尚未被攻克,因此,寻找有效治疗肝纤维化的方法十分必要。近些年来研究表明,SOCS-3在肝纤维化不同阶段扮演不同角色,其可通过影响细胞增殖、细胞周期、细胞因子及信号转导等干预肝纤维化,可能成为治疗肝纤维化的潜在靶标。同时,很多中药可通过影响SOCS-3来发挥改善肝纤维化的作用。本文就SOCS-3在肝纤维化中的作用及中药干预的研究进行分析综述,为进一步研究治疗肝纤维化的有效方法提供参考。     

A Unique Protease Cleavage Site Predicted in the Spike Protein of the Novel Pneumonia Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Potentially Related to Viral Transmissibility

正Dear Editor,In December 2019, a novel human coronavirus caused an epidemic of severe pneumonia(Coronavirus Disease 2019,COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei, China(Wu et al. 2020; Zhu et al. 2020). So far, this virus has spread to all areas of China and even to other countries. The epidemic has caused 67,102 confirmed infections with 1526 fatal cases     

Curcuminoids as inhibitors of thioredoxin reductase: A receptor based pharmacophore study with distance mapping of the active site

Curcumin is the yellow pigment of turmeric that interacts irreversibly forming an adduct with thioredoxin reductase (TrxR), an enzyme responsible for redox control of cell and defence against oxidative stress. Docking at both the active sites of TrxR was performed to compare the potency of three naturally occurring curcuminoids, namely curcumin, demethoxy curcumin and bis-demethoxy curcumin. Results show that active sites of TrxR occur at the junction of E and F chains. Volume and area of both cavities is predicted. It has been concluded by distance mapping of the most active conformations that Se atom of catalytic residue SeCYS498, is at a distance of 3.56 from C13 of demethoxy curcumin at the E chain active site, whereas C13 carbon atom forms adduct with Se atom of SeCys 498. We report that at least one methoxy group in curcuminoids is necessary for interation with catalytic residues of thioredoxin. Pharmacophore of both active sites of the TrxR receptor for curcumin and demethoxy curcumin molecules has been drawn and proposed for design and synthesis of most probable potent antiproliferative synthetic drugs.     

Comparative morphology of the carpel in the Liliaceae: Hewardieae, Petrosavieae, and Tricyrteae

The young pistils in the melanthioid tribes, Hewardieae, Petrosavieae and Tricyrteae, are uniformly tricarpellate and syncarpous. They lack raphide idioblasts. All are multiovulate, with bitegmic ovules. The Petrosavieae are marked by the presence of septal glands and incomplete syncarpy. Tepals and stamens adhere to the ovary in the Hewardieae and the Petrosavieae but not in the Tricyrteae. Two vascular bundles occur in the stamens of the Hewartlieae and Tricyrtis latifolia. Ventral bundles in the upper part of the ovary of the Hewardieae are continuous with compound septal bundles and placental bundles in the lower part. Putative ventral bundles occur in the alternate position in the Tricyrteae and putative placental bundles in the opposite. position in the Petrosavieae. The dichtomously branched stigma in each carpel of the Tricyrteae is supplied by a bifurcated dorsal bundle.     

Enterovirus 71 3C proteolytically processes the histone H3 N-terminal tail during infection

Highlights
1. The N-terminal tail of histone H3 is specifically cleaved during EV71 infection.
2. Viral protease 3C is identified as a protease responsible for proteolytically processing the N-terminal H3 tail.
3. Our finding reveals a new epigenetic regulatory mechanism for Enterovirus 71 in virus-host interactions.     

Detection of EBV and HHV6 in the Brain Tissue of Patients with Rasmussen’s Encephalitis

Rasmussen’s encephalitis (RE) is a rare pediatric neurological disorder, and the exact etiology is not clear. Viral infection may be involved in the pathogenesis of RE, but conflicting results have reported. In this study, we evaluated the expression of both Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human herpes virus (HHV) 6 antigens in brain sections from 30 patients with RE and 16 control individuals by immunohistochemistry. In the RE group, EBV and HHV6 antigens were detected in 56.7% (17/30) and 50% (15/30) of individuals, respectively. In contrast, no detectable EBV and HHV6 antigen expression was found in brain tissues of the control group. The co-expression of EBV and HHV6 was detected in 20.0% (6/30) of individuals. In particular, a 4-year-old boy had a typical clinical course, including a medical history of viral encephalitis, intractable epilepsy, and hemispheric atrophy. The co-expression of EBV and HHV6 was detected in neurons and astrocytes in the brain tissue, accompanied by a high frequency of CD8⁺ T cells. Our results suggest that EBV and HHV6 infection and the activation of CD8⁺ T cells are involved in the pathogenesis of RE.     

Perinatal Vertical Transmission of Chikungunya Virus in Ruili,a Town on the Border between China and Myanmar

正Dear Editor,Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), an arbovirus in the family of Togaviridae, genus Alphavirus, is transmitted by the A.aegyptii or A. albopictus mosquito, and causes disease in humans characterized by fever, rash, and arthralgia (Silva and Dermody 2017; Suhrbier 2019). It was first reported in 1953 in Tanzania, and caused only a few outbreaks and sporadic cases in Africa and Asia in last century. However, in the epidemic in 2004, CHIKV acquired mutations that conferred enhanced transmission by the A. albopictus mosquito(Schuffenecker et al. 2006). Since then, it has successively caused outbreaks in Africa, the Indian Ocean, South East Asia, the South America, and Europe (Zeller et al. 2016).     

Development of a Novel Reverse Transcription Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Method for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2

In conclusion, the novel visual RT-LAMP assay is a simple, rapid, and sensitive approach for detection of SARS-CoV-2, and it is ready for application in primary care and community hospitals or health care centers, and even patients' own houses in response to the current SARS-CoV-2 epidemic because the assay does not require sophisticated equipment and skilled personnel. Furthermore, it is also ready to be used in fields for screening samples from wild animals and environments to facilitate the identification of potential intermediate hosts that mediate the cross-species transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from bats to humans.