Immunotoxins with selective cytotoxicity are frequently used as therapeutic immunosuppressive agents in solid-organ transplantation because of their efficiency and high specificity. In this study, we present a new recombinant immunotoxin termed anti-CTLA-4-scFv–melittin prepared from Escherichia coli aimed at clearing activated T cells at the same time avoiding all-round decline in systematic immunity. This fusion protein is composed of anti-CTLA-4-scFv unit and melittin analog unit with properties of low immunogenicity and selective cytotoxicity to CTLA-4-positive T cells. In preliminary biological activity assays, our results confirmed the feasibility of activated T cell clearance strategy and there were significant differences in cell survival rates between CTLA-4-positive group and control group at all experimental concentrations of the immunotoxin. The selective cytotoxicity, low immunogenicity, and low production cost make it an attractive alternate to traditional immunosuppressants. 相似文献
Pallister-Killian syndrome (PKS) is a rare sporadic genetic disorder usually caused by mosaicism of an extra isochromosome of 12p (i(12p)). This retrospective study analysed the prenatal ultrasound manifestations and molecular and cytogenetic results of five PKS foetuses. Samples of amniotic fluid and/or cord blood, skin biopsy and placenta were collected. Conventional karyotyping and single nucleotide polymorphism array (SNP array) were performed on all the amniotic fluid or cord blood samples. Copy number variants sequencing (CNV-seq) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) were also used for the validation for one foetus. All the five foetuses were from pregnancies with advanced parental age. Two foetuses involved structural abnormalities and one foetus had only soft markers, all of which included increased nuchal translucency. The rest two foetuses had normal ultrasounds in the second trimester, which has rarely been reported before. The karyotype revealed typical i(12p) in four cases and a small supernumerary marker chromosome consisting of 12p and 20p in the remaining one case. The proportion of cells with i(12p) ranged from 0 to 100% in cultural cells, while SNP array results suggested 2−4 copies of 12p. For one foetus, metaphase FISH showed normal results, but the interphase FISH suggested cell lines with two, three and four copies of 12p in the amniotic fluid. Advanced parental age may be an important risk factor for PKS, and there were no typical ultrasound manifestations related to PKS. A combination of karyotype analysis and molecular diagnosis is an effective method for the diagnosis of PKS. 相似文献
Gene(s) for the autosomal dominant endocrine cancer syndromes, multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A (MEN2A), multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2B (MEN2B), and familial medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC1) all map to the pericentromeric region of chromosome 10. Predictive testing for the inheritance of mutant alleles in individuals at risk for these disorders has been limited by the availability of highly informative and closely linked flanking markers. We describe the development of eight new markers, including two PCR-based dinucleotide repeat polymorphisms and six RFLPs that flank the disease loci. One of the dinucleotide repeat markers (sJRH-1) derives from the RBP3 locus on 10q11.2 and has a PIC of .88. The other dinucleotide repeat (sTCL-1) defines a new locus, D10S176, that maps by in situ hybridization to 10p11.2 and has a PIC of .68. We have constructed a new genetic linkage map of the pericentromeric region of chromosome 10, on the basis of 13 polymorphisms at six loci, which places the MEN2A locus between the dinucleotide repeat markers, with odds of 5,750:1 over the next most likely position. Using this set of markers, predictive genetic testing of 130 at-risk individuals from six families segregating MEN2A revealed that 95% were jointly informative with flanking markers, representing a significant improvement in genetic testing capabilities. 相似文献
Four species of icefishes were sampled in the Yellow River estuary of the Bohai Sea from April 1984 to April 1985 and from February 1988 to June 1989. Morphological analysis showed that they belonged to three subfamilies of Salangidae: one species from Protosalangicae, Protosalanx chinensis ; two species from Salanginae, Salanx ariakensis and Salanx prognathus ; and one species, Neosalanx andersoni , from Salangichthyinae, a new subfamily. External morphological characteristics, population composition, growth, maturity, food habits, longevity, fecundity, abundance and distribution of these icefishes are described. Based on these analyses, a clear outline of taxonomy, zoogeography aod biology of icefishes in the Yellow River estuary of the Bohai Sea was established. 相似文献
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) generally arises from a background of liver cirrhosis (LC). Patients with cirrhosis and suspected HCC are recommended to undergo serum biomarker tests and imaging diagnostic evaluation. However, the performance of routine diagnostic methods in detecting early HCC remains unpromising.
Methods
Here, we conducted a large-scale, multicenter study of 1675 participants including 490 healthy controls, 577 LC patients, and 608 HCC patients from nine clinical centers across nine provinces of China, profiled gene mutation signatures of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) using Circulating Single-Molecule Amplification and Resequencing Technology (cSMART) through detecting 931 mutation sites across 21 genes.
Results
An integrated diagnostic model called “Combined method” was developed by combining three mutation sites and three serum biomarkers. Combined method outperformed AFP in the diagnosis of HCC, especially early HCC, with sensitivities of 81.25% for all stages and 66.67% for early HCC, respectively. Importantly, the integrated model exhibited high accuracy in differentiating AFP-negative, AFP-L3-negative, and PIVKA-II-negative HCCs from LCs.