Targeting autophagy as a novel strategy for facilitating the therapeutic action of potentiators on ΔF508 cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator

Channel activators (potentiators) of cystic fibrosis (CF) transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), can be used for the treatment of the small subset of CF patients that carry plasma membrane-resident CFTR mutants. However, approximately 90% of CF patients carry the misfolded ΔF508-CFTR and are poorly responsive to potentiators, because ΔF508-CFTR is intrinsically unstable at the plasma membrane (PM) even if rescued by pharmacological correctors. We have demonstrated that human and mouse CF airways are autophagy deficient due to functional sequestration of BECN1 and that the tissue transglutaminase-2 inhibitor, cystamine, or antioxidants restore BECN1-dependent autophagy and reduce SQSTM1/p62 levels, thus favoring ΔF508-CFTR trafficking to the epithelial surface. Here, we investigated whether these treatments could facilitate the beneficial action of potentiators on ΔF508-CFTR homozygous airways. Cystamine or the superoxide dismutase (SOD)/catalase-mimetic EUK-134 stabilized ΔF508-CFTR at the plasma membrane of airway epithelial cells and sustained the expression of CFTR at the epithelial surface well beyond drug withdrawal, overexpressing BECN1 and depleting SQSTM1. This facilitates the beneficial action of potentiators in controlling inflammation in ex vivo ΔF508-CFTR homozygous human nasal biopsies and in vivo in mouse ΔF508-CFTR lungs. Direct depletion of Sqstm1 by shRNAs in vivo in ΔF508-CFTR mice synergized with potentiators in sustaining surface CFTR expression and suppressing inflammation. Cystamine pre-treatment restored ΔF508-CFTR response to the CFTR potentiators genistein, Vrx-532 or Vrx-770 in freshly isolated brushed nasal epithelial cells from ΔF508-CFTR homozygous patients. These findings delineate a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of CF patients with the ΔF508-CFTR mutation in which patients are first treated with cystamine and subsequently pulsed with CFTR potentiators.     

Synonymous codon usage in forty staphylococcal phages identifies the factors controlling codon usage variation and the phages suitable for phage therapy

The immergence and dissemination of multidrug-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus in recent years have expedited the research on the discovery of novel anti-staphylococcal agents promptly. Bacteriophages have long been showing tremendous potentialities in curing the infections caused by various pathogenic bacteria including S. aureus. Thus far, only a few virulent bacteriophages, which do not carry any toxin-encoding gene but are capable of eradicating staphylococcal infections, were reported. Based on the codon usage analysis of sixteen S. aureus phages, previously three phages were suggested to be useful as the anti-staphylococcal agents. To search for additional S. aureus phages suitable for phage therapy, relative synonymous codon usage bias has been investigated in the protein-coding genes of forty new staphylococcal phages. All phages appeared to carry A and T ending codons. Several factors such as mutational pressure, translational selection and gene length seemed to be responsible for the codon usage variation in the phages. Codon usage indeed varied phage to phage. Of the phages, phages G1, Twort, 66 and Sap-2 may be extremely lytic in nature as majority of their genes possess high translational efficiency, indicating that these phages may be employed in curing staphylococcal infections.     

细胞直接重编程:从一种终末分化细胞直接重编程为另一种终末分化细胞

细胞的直接重编程是指将一种终末分化细胞直接转变为另一种终末分化细胞,这一转变不经过诱导多能干细胞阶段和去分化、再分化等过程。最近的一系列研究结果已经证明了这一研究方法的可行性,这些研究进展不仅为重编程的分子机制研究提供了新视角,也为加速重编程细胞的临床应用带来了希望。本文综述了将成纤维细胞直接重编程为神经细胞、肝细胞、心肌细胞及造血细胞的研究进展,探讨了这一研究方法存在的问题以及将来在该领域的研究方向。     

基于腺相关病毒的多手段联合肿瘤治疗策略

腺相关病毒(adeno-associated virus,AAV)本身具有抗肿瘤活性,以其为基础构建的重组腺相关病毒(rAAV)作为肿瘤基因治疗载体已应用于临床试验研究。与其他的药物一样,单一的AAV基因药物,可能无法对肿瘤这一多基因、多步骤的复杂疾病发挥有效的治疗作用。国内外实验研究发现,多种化疗药物和放疗手段,不但可以提高rAAV载体的基因表达效率,也能促进AAV病毒本身的复制;反过来,AAV可以提高肿瘤细胞对放化疗的敏感性。联合AAV与其他的肿瘤治疗策略将有助于优化肿瘤治疗效果。     

我国商业化SPF级小鼠病原体污染分析

目的按现行国标《实验动物微生物学检测方法》和《实验动物寄生虫学检测方法》对我国商品化的无特殊病原体（specific pathogen free,SPF）小鼠进行微生物状况检测,为生产高质量的实验动物提供依据。方法对五家主要实验动物生产单位生产的ICR、KM、C57BL/6、BALB/c及BALB/c-nu品系的SPF级小鼠进行随机抽检。检测抽检小鼠所携带的微生物和寄生虫情况。结果在抽检的SPF级小鼠中,病毒污染主要包括呼肠孤病毒Ⅲ型（Reo-3）、小鼠肺炎病毒（PVM）和多瘤病毒（POLY）;主要细菌污染为肺炎克雷伯杆菌、金黄色葡萄球菌和绿脓杆菌。这些微生物病原体中,除条件性致病菌绿脓杆菌外,其他病原体对小鼠本身和实验研究均具有一定的影响。     

京尼平的微生物转化及其交联特性的测定分析

从土壤中富集筛选获得一株产β-葡萄糖苷酶的菌株,经菌落的形态和18S rDNA鉴定确定为黑曲霉。将筛选出的黑曲霉菌株接种于发酵培养基,利用含有京尼平苷的栀子粉作为底物发酵,通过对发酵条件优化,得到在装液量50/250 mL,栀子粉浓度为10%,转速为180 r/min,发酵时间为96 h时,京尼平的微生物转化率达到最大22%。这种微生物转化法简化了京尼平的生产工艺,大大降低了生产成本。利用微生物转化获得的京尼平交联胶原蛋白材料,研究表明其具有较好的交联特性,是一种在食品、医药等领域都具有应用前景的生物交联剂。     

肠道细菌移位的研究进展

肠道是机体最大的生物库,定植着以细菌为主的种类繁多的微生物,共同构成肠道菌群。正常情况下肠道菌群与机体处于动态平衡,当各种原因引起肠道屏障功能损坏,致使细菌的数量、比例发生改变或空间上发生转移将引起肠道细菌移位,最终导致机体各种功能障碍。本文对肠道细菌移位的研究进行综述,为其防治提供相应的理论依据。     

腹泻及其微生态防治的相关进展

益生菌可能对不同病因引起的不同类型的腹泻有预防的疗效.已经成功的通过调查各种各样的益生菌和确立益生菌性质来证明其对健康的益处和预防、治疗(或缓和)腹泻的作用.其它有益生作用的微生物、某些双歧杆菌、肠球菌以及益生菌酵母菌属的酵母菌作为单个株或复合益生菌在其药用方面的价值也得到肯定.本文主要综述了益生菌在腹泻方面的治疗作用和机制.     

靶向吲哚菁绿纳米探针介导的光声治疗

光声治疗是一种利用纳米材料的光声效应选择性破坏癌细胞的方法。本研究采用叶酸作为肿瘤靶向分子,以聚乙二醇包裹吲哚菁绿形成纳米粒子(ICG-PL-PEG-FA),利用此纳米粒子在近红外区的光吸收特性,开展光声治疗研究。实验结果表明,这种叶酸标记的纳米探针对高表达叶酸的EMT6细胞具有高靶向选择性和靶向光杀伤性。这种基于包含吲哚菁绿纳米探针的光声治疗将有潜力发展为一种安全,高效的癌症治疗技术。     

308nm准分子激光治疗白癜风皮肤病进展

临床研究表明波长308nm准分子激光治疗白癜风皮肤病效果明显。治疗效果与病人的性别、年龄、病程没有明显关联,但与皮肤类型、皮损部位、治疗频度和疗程等有明显关联。在一定剂量范围内随治疗剂量和治疗时间增加治疗效果越来越明显,呈线性变化。而皮损部位的影响,疗效从明显到不明显的顺序是：面部,颈部和头皮,生殖器,四肢,躯干,手脚或肢端关节。皮肤类型对治疗效果影响明显。另外,在一定的观察时间内发现308nm准分子激光疗效明显高于NB UVB。