Lymphoabdominal paracoccidioidomycosis simulating primary neoplasia of the biliary tract

The lymphoabdominal involvement in the sub-acute form of paracoccidioidomycosis shows a wide variety of clinical manifestations, ranging from fever and lymph node enlargement to infiltration of all abdominal organs, which can lead to a situation of abdominal surgical emergency. This case report presents paracoccidioidomycosis mimicking carcinoma of the biliary tract, The purpose of this paper is to call the general physician’s attention for this important differential diagnosis of abdominal masses. Although paracoccidioidomycosis is rarely encountered in the United States and Europe, it should be considered in patients who are suspected of having a fungal infection and have had previous exposure in an endemic area for this disease.*Fábio Luis Silva do Prado and Renata Prado contributed equally to this work.     

Transforming genes in human tumors

DNAs isolated from a variety of human tumor cell lines as well as from naturally occurring human carcinomas and sarcomas were shown to induce morphologic transformation upon transfection into NIH/3T3 cells. All tested transformants contained human DNA sequences, some of which specifically cosegregated with the malignant phenotype in additional cycles of transfection. Southern blot analysis of second cycle transformants derived from T24 human bladder carcinoma cells showed the presence of a single 15 kbp EcoRI fragment of human DNA. These sequences were molecularly cloned utilizing λ Charon 9A as the cloning vector. The resulting recombinant DNA molecule, designated λ T24-15A, was shown to contain an internal 6.6 kbp Bam HI fragment of human DNA that transformed NIH/3T3 fibroblasts with a specific activity of 5 × 10⁴ focus forming units per picomol. These results indicate that we have moleculary cloned an oncogene present in T24 bladder carcinoma cells. Comparison of molecular clones containing the T24 oncogene and its normal homologue did not reveal biochemical differences that helped to explain the malignant properties of this oncogene. Finally, we report preliminary results indicating that the T24 bladder carcimoma oncogene is highly related to the transforming gene of BALB-MSV, an acute transforming retrovirus.     

尿路上皮癌胚抗原1（UCA1）在人膀胱癌组织及膀胱癌细胞株中特异表达

UCA1（urothelial carcinoma antigen 1）为自主研发的1个尿路上皮癌基因.应用 实时荧光定量PCR检测UCA1 mRNA在2种膀胱癌细胞系、11种非膀胱癌细胞系、18对膀胱 癌组织和配对癌旁正常膀胱组织中的表达,对表达差异进行统计学分析.结果显示, UCA1在2种膀胱癌细胞系中显著高表达,而在其他11种非膀胱癌细胞系中表达水平很低 或者不表达,二者表达差异达14~24 812倍,差异有统计学意义（P<0.001）;在18例膀 胱癌组织中,UCA1的平均表达水平是癌旁正常膀胱组织的12.4倍,表达差异有统计学意 义（P<0.001）. 实时荧光定量PCR使UCA1在膀胱癌细胞系及组织中的特异性高表达得以 量化.实验结果明确了UCA1作为潜在的肿瘤标记物在膀胱癌临床诊断中的意义,为定量 检测尿液UCA1表达并确定诊断膀胱癌的参考值打下基础.     

Thomsen-Friedenreich antigen expression in gastric carcinomas is associated with MUC1 mucin VNTR polymorphism

Aberrant glycosylation of mucins is a common phenomenon associated with oncogenic transformation. We investigated the association between expression of the tumor-associated antigens T, Tn, and sialyl-Tn and polymorphism in the length of the MUC1 mucin tandem repeat in a series of gastric carcinomas. We further evaluated the relevance of MUC1 tandem repeat length on the expression of these tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens (TACAs) using a gastric carcinoma cell line model expressing recombinant MUC1 constructs carrying 0, 3, 9, and 42 repeats. Gastric carcinomas showed a high prevalence of Tn and sialyl-Tn antigens, whereas T antigen was less frequently expressed. The expression of T antigen was significantly higher in gastric carcinomas from patients homozygous for MUC1 large tandem repeat alleles. No significant associations were found for Tn and sialyl-Tn antigens. This novel association was reinforced by the gastric carcinoma cell line model experiments, where de novo expression of T antigen was detected in clones transfected with larger VNTR regions. Our results indicate that polymorphism in the MUC1 tandem repeat influences the expression of TACAs in gastric cancer cells and may therefore allow the identification of subgroups of patients that develop more aggressive tumors expressing T antigen.     

吗啡和纳洛酮对豚鼠离体胆囊肌条活动的作用

5种浓度的吗啡对胆囊肌条的自动节律性收缩,均有明显加强作用。阿片受体拮抗剂——纳洛酮可阻断和翻转吗啡对胆囊肌条的作用,说明豚鼠的胆囊壁有阿片受体。乙酰胆碱显著地加强胆囊肌条的收缩,此效应可被阿托品阻断,而且阿托品也使吗啡对胆囊肌条的作用明显减弱。异丙肾上腺素和去甲肾上腺素分别抑制和加强胆囊肌条的运动,前者的效应可被心得宁阻断,后者则被酚妥拉明阻断,但两者的效应均不受纳洛酮的影响。而心得宁和酚妥拉明不影响吗啡对胆囊肌条的作用。本实验似能表明,吗啡对胆囊肌条运动的调节是通过阿片受体而起作用的。但吗啡对胆囊肌条的作用与肾上腺素能α和β受体无关。     

Identification of new cytotoxic T-lymphocyte epitopes from cancer testis antigen HCA587

The cancer testis (CT) antigen HCA587 is highly expressed in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and induces specific T-cell responses in a significant proportion of HCC patients. To explore its potential in cancer immunotherapy, a reverse immunology approach was adopted to identify HCA587-derived HLA-A^∗0201-restricted epitopes. Multiple peptides with a top ranking in various prediction programs were thus synthesized and three of them—p248-256, p140-149 and p144-152—were found to bind to HLA-A^*0201 molecules with a high affinity and effectively induced a recall response of CD8⁺ T cells, which were either primed in vitro with the HCA587 antigen or directly isolated from HCC patients bearing HCA587⁺ tumors. Notably, these peptide-specific CD8⁺ T cells exhibited potent cytotoxic activity over HCA587⁺ tumor cells. Taken together, the present study has identified three new HLA-A^*0201-restricted cytotoxic T cell epitopes in the CT antigen HCA587, which may serve as targets for peptide-based immunotherapy for HCC patients.     

629例住院儿童临床七种常见呼吸道病毒分布特征

目的 了解本地区七种常见呼吸道病毒临床分布特征,旨在为呼吸道病毒的预防、治疗提供帮助。方法 随机选取2 001例呼吸科住院患者样本,采用直接免疫荧光法进行呼吸道病毒抗原检测。结果 2 001例患者样本中,共检测出629例阳性病毒,阳性率为31.43%,阳性率前三位的病毒依次为甲型流感病毒、呼吸道合胞病毒、乙型流感病毒,分别为12.14%、9.90%和3.80%,而副流感病毒II型检出率最低,为0.50%。冬、春季节为呼吸道病毒高发季节,其中一月和二月的检出率高达56.91%和43.15%;而夏、秋季检出率相对较低,六月的检出率仅为7.00%;＜1岁年龄组病毒阳性检出率最高,且随年龄增大,阳性检出率明显降低。结论 冬、春季节是呼吸道病毒的高发季节;FluA和RSV是呼吸道感染中最常见的病毒;＜1岁年龄组病毒阳性检出率最高。     

腹腔镜联合微创保胆取石术治疗胆囊结石的疗效和安全性分析

目的:观察腹腔镜联合微创保胆取石术治疗胆囊结石的临床疗效,并对其安全性进行分析.方法:按不同治疗方法将80例胆囊结石合患者分为两组,观察组46例,采用腹腔镜联合微创保胆取石术,对照组34例,采用传统切开胆囊胆总管取石术.结果:观察组的手术时间93.7±17.0 min明显小于对照组的118.7±10.6 min(P＜0.05);观察组的术中出血量91.7±27.3 mL明显小于对照组的142.7± 17.0 mL(P＜0.05);观察组的肛门排气时间及住院时间明显小于对照组的(P＜0.05);观察组的切口感染率4.3％明显小于对照组17.6％(＜0.05);观察组的结石复发率2.2％明显小于对照组的14.7％(P＜0.05).结论:腹腔镜联合微创保胆取石术治疗胆囊结石的疗效良好,能缩短手术时间,减少术中出血量,提高了安全可靠性,有利于患者术后康复.     

靶向GPC3的第四代嵌合抗原受体T细胞 (分泌IL-7和CCL19) 的构建以及功能

基于嵌合抗原受体修饰的T细胞(CAR-T)的过继免疫疗法已被证明是治疗恶性肿瘤最有希望的策略之一,但是目前其在实体瘤中的应用依然有限。研究表明磷脂酰肌醇蛋白聚糖3 (GPC3)对肝细胞癌来说是一种有意义的诊断、治疗和预后生物标志物,且已有利用第二代/第三代GPC3靶向的CAR-T细胞治疗肝细胞癌的研究报道。为了进一步提高治疗效果,构建同时表达GPC3 CAR、人源IL-7和CCL19细胞因子的第四代慢病毒载体,转染293T细胞包装慢病毒并感染人T淋巴细胞制备靶向GPC3的第四代CAR-T细胞(GPC3-BBZ-7×19)。利用细胞计数、趋化小室、荧光素酶生物发光法以及流式细胞术等比较其与第二代GPC3 CAR-T细胞(GPC3-BBZ)在增殖、迁移、杀伤以及亚型分布方面的区别,评估GPC3-BBZ-7×19 CAR-T细胞对免疫缺陷小鼠体内GPC3阳性的肝细胞癌腹腔移植瘤生长的作用。结果表明与GPC3-BBZ CAR-T细胞相比,GPC3-BBZ-7×19 CAR-T细胞具备更强的增殖能力、趋化能力以及记忆干细胞(Stem memory T cell,Tscm)组成比(P值均<0...     

Autophagy in intra-hepatic cholangiocarcinoma

Intra-hepatic cholangiocarcinoma (IHCC) is a primary cancer of the liver that shares histological features with the hepatic bile ducts from which it is thought to arise. The incidence of this disease is increasing, possibly related to increased inflammatory liver diseases such as viral hepatitis and steatohepatitis (commonly called “fatty liver”), induced by obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic derangements. Its prognosis is generally poor with early metastasis and presently there are limited effective treatments. A basic understanding of the disease has long been hampered by limited tumor cell lines and good model systems. Similarly, such limitations have obstructed new therapeutic inroads.     

Autophagy in intra-hepatic cholangiocarcinoma

Intra-hepatic cholangiocarcinoma (IHCC) is a primary cancer of the liver that shares histological features with the hepatic bile ducts from which it is thought to arise. The incidence of this disease is increasing, possibly related to increased inflammatory liver diseases such as viral hepatitis and steatohepatitis (commonly called “fatty liver”), induced by obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic derangements. Its prognosis is generally poor with early metastasis and presently there are limited effective treatments. A basic understanding of the disease has long been hampered by limited tumor cell lines and good model systems. Similarly, such limitations have obstructed new therapeutic inroads.     

Infection of CV1 cells expressing the polyoma virus middle T antigen or the SV40 agnogene product with simian virus 40 host-range mutants

Summary SV40 viruses bearing mutations at the carboxy-terminus of large T antigen exhibit a host-range phenotype: such viruses are able to grow in BSC monkey kidney cells at 37° C, but give at least 10 000-fold lower yields than wild type virus in BSC cells at 32° C or in CV1 monkey kidney cells at either temperature. The block to infection in the nonpermissive cell type occurs after the onset of viral DNA replication. Infectious progeny virions are produced at very low efficiency. Although capsid proteins are synthesized at decreased levels, this does not account for the magnitude of the defect. Presumably some step of virion assembly or maturation is affected in these mutants. We have previously reported that the viral agnogene product, a protein throught to be involved in viral assembly or release, fails to accumulate in CV1 cells infected with host-range mutants. In polyoma virus the middle T antigen plays a role in virion maturation by influencing the phosphorylation of capsid proteins. In this communication we show that host-range mutants fail to undergo productive infection of CV1 cells expressing middle T antigen. These mutants do form plaques on an agnoprotein-expressing cell line. However, the agnoprotein does not seem to act by correcting the mutational block but rather increases the efficiency of plaque formation. This work was supported by grants CA40586 and BRSG 2S07RR07084-23 to J. M. P. and grant CA33079 to L. T., from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.     

微生物促进膀胱尿路上皮细胞癌发生和发展分子机制的研究进展

膀胱尿路上皮细胞癌(urothelial carcinoma of bladder, UCB)是泌尿系统常见的恶性肿瘤,是膀胱癌(bladder cancer, BC)最常见的病理类型。UCB具有高发病率、高死亡率和易复发等特点,对人类健康构成巨大威胁。引发UCB的原因可能与吸烟和接触有毒化学物质有关,但是随着研究的不断深入,人们发现膀胱内存在独特的微生物群,它与UCB的发生和发展密切相关。本文着重综述微生物通过尿路感染(urinary tract infection,UTI)、影响上皮-间充质转化(epithelial-mesenchymal transition, EMT)以及上调细胞程序性死亡-配体1 (programmed cell death 1ligand 1, PD-L1)的表达来参与UCB的发生和发展,同时也对健康人群与UCB患者微生物群特征以及UCB的预防和治疗等方面作了相应阐述。通过综述微生物与UCB之间的关系,为进一步明确微生物对UCB的促进作用以及研发治疗UCB的药物提供新思路。