肠道菌群参与宿主免疫应答的作用及机制研究进展

肠道菌群作为动物体内重要的组成部分,能够直接参与机体的免疫调控作用,促进机体免疫系统发育,维持正常免疫功能。同时,免疫系统对肠道菌群又有调控和制约作用。本文主要综述了肠道菌群的组成以及影响肠道菌群变化的因素,系统阐述了肠道菌群与疾病相互作用的机制,总结了肠道菌群在宿主感染与免疫应答中的作用,为开展肠道菌群参与机体免疫应答的机制方面的研究提供新的思路。     

肠道菌群与结核病之间相关性的研究进展

随着新一代测序技术的发展,肠道菌群成为生物学研究领域的一大热点,特别是肠道菌群与人体各种疾病之间的关系受到广泛关注。目前已有研究发现结核分枝杆菌感染会引起肠道菌群改变,而肠道菌群失调也会增加机体对结核分枝杆菌的易感性,两者通过机体免疫反应、菌群代谢产物等因素相互影响。本文就肠道菌群与结核病的关系、肠道菌群与结核病相互影响的可能机制、抗结核治疗对肠道菌群的影响等方面的相关研究进行综述。     

肠道和呼吸道菌群与肺部疾病的研究新进展

宿主微生物群落对机体局部以及系统免疫的影响已逐渐引起人们的关注,目前发现局部的微生物群落能够对机体远端部位的免疫能力造成影响。肠道和呼吸道菌群稳态对机体免疫系统发育以及抗病原微生物感染至关重要,肠道和呼吸道菌群失衡与炎症性疾病、代谢性疾病以及过敏性疾病密切相关。肠道和呼吸道菌群失衡会通过"肠—肺轴"的相互作用,引起免疫系统改变与急性、慢性肺部疾病的发生。在这篇综述中,我们对肠道微生物和呼吸道微生物在肠-肺轴中发挥作用的研究进展作一总结,并对从微生物角度进行疾病治疗干预的可能性进行分析。     

模式生物秀丽隐杆线虫在肠道菌群研究中的应用

肠道菌群是人体的重要组成部分,在物质代谢、免疫应答等方面起着重要作用,目前对其组成和功能研究已成为热点。模式生物秀丽隐杆线虫因其结构简单、生活周期短、便于制备无菌个体等特性,在肠道菌群与机体共生关系及功能研究方面受到广泛应用。现就秀丽线虫在肠道菌群功能研究方面的应用进行综述。     

肠道菌群与帕金森病的相关性研究

人体内肠道菌群数量庞大,参与机体物质与能量代谢,对机体的生理活动具有重要调节作用。近年来,众多研究表明,肠道菌群稳态在维持大脑和神经系统的正常功能中发挥着重要作用,肠道菌群失调与帕金森病(Parkinson’s disease,PD)等神经疾病的发作密切相关。目前,针对PD发病机制与肠道菌群失调的研究成果丰富,表明肠道菌群在PD发病中起着重要的诱导作用。本文梳理了肠道菌群紊乱与PD发生的相关国内外文献,通过深入分析PD患者肠道菌群的变化特征,讨论了PD与肠道菌群变化间的关系;同时,探讨了粪便移植技术在PD治疗中的应用,旨在为有效预防与治疗PD提供可靠的理论依据。     

肠道菌群与高血压及其危险因素研究进展及问题探讨

高血压是目前最常见的心血管疾病之一，已成为全球范围内的公共卫生问题。众所周知，维持血压稳态是一个复杂的过程，高血压是一种受多种因素影响的疾病，主要受遗传和环境因素影响。核酸测序揭示肠道菌群所包含的基因是人类基因的100多倍，这些基因产生的激素、神经递质和炎症分子可以进入宿主循环而影响宿主生理变化。目前越来越多的研究表明肠道菌群及其代谢产物能影响机体的代谢、免疫和内环境稳态等，从而在高血压发病机制中起主要作用。因此，通过调节肠道菌群及其代谢产物可作为治疗高血压的新策略。     

树突状细胞与肠道免疫

肠道黏膜免疫系统是肠道防御细菌和病毒感染的第一道防线,在维持肠道黏膜自稳方面发挥着重要的作用。肠道黏膜免疫系统持续不断的与来自外界的食物抗原和病原微生物及自身长期共存的肠道菌群相互作用,刺激机体对有害抗原产生免疫应答反应,诱导机体对无害抗原产生免疫耐受。树突状细胞（Dendritic cells,DCs）是目前已知的最强有力的一种专职抗原递呈细胞（Professional antigen presenting cells,APC）,     

肠道菌群与糖尿病相关性研究进展

近年来,对于糖尿病与肠道菌群的相关性已经进行了一定探索。研究认为,糖尿病发生伴随某些肠道菌群种类及数量的改变,肠道菌群在糖尿病的发生发展中起到重要作用。本研究从糖代谢、脂代谢、免疫、稳态、并发症及相关感染六个方面对肠道菌群与糖尿病患者及动物模型的作用进行综述。     

益生菌在结直肠癌患者中的应用

结直肠癌(colorectal cancer,CRC)的发病率及病死率在多国多年居高不下,肠道微生态的失衡在CRC的发生发展中所起的作用被许多学者所证实。专家一致认为,积极纠正肠道微生态失衡是可取的。CRC患者术前肠道菌群已经出现改变,术后肠道菌群失衡加重,化疗会进一步加重这种失衡状态。肠道微生态的稳态对机体肠道功能和免疫功能等起着重要作用。益生菌作为一种可调节肠道菌群的微生态制剂,已显现出在CRC患者治疗中的应用价值,现对益生菌在CRC患者中的应用进展作一综述。     

运动与肠道菌群的相关性

肠道菌群与人体互相依存,与机体的感染、营养、免疫及代谢密不可分,在某些疾病的预防和治疗中有着非常重要的作用。肠道菌群具有易变性,它的种类和数量是由遗传和环境因素共同决定的,环境因素主要包括宿主健康状态和生活方式等。近来发现,生活方式与代谢性疾病的发生发展密切相关,而这些代谢性疾病的发生发展都与肠道菌群的改变有关。本研究就机体不同代谢状态下肠道菌群的变化以及运动这种生活方式直接对肠道菌群的影响进行综述。     

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.