Escaping the trap of allergic rhinitis

Rhinitis is often the first symptom of allergy but is frequently ignored and classified as a nuisance condition. Ironically it has the greatest socioeconomic burden worldwide caused by its impact on work and on daily life.However, patients appear reticent to seek professional advice, visiting their doctor only when symptoms become ‘intolerable’ and often when their usual therapy proves ineffective.Clearly, it’s time for new and more effective allergic rhinitis treatments.MP29-02 (Dymista®; Meda, Solna, Sweden) is a new class of medication for moderate to severe seasonal and perennial allergic rhinitis if monotherapy with either intranasal antihistamine or intranasal corticosteroids is not considered sufficient.MP29-02 is a novel formulation of azelastine hydrochloride (AZE) and fluticasone propionate (FP). It benefits not only from the incorporation of two active agents, but also from a novel formulation; its lower viscosity, smaller droplet size, larger volume (137 μl) and wider spray angle ensure optimal coverage of, and retention on the nasal mucosa and contribute to its clinical efficacy.In clinical trials, patients treated with MP29-02 experienced twice the symptom relief as those treated with FP and AZE, who in turn exhibited significantly greater symptom relief than placebo-patients. Indeed, the advantage of MP29-02 over FP was approximately the same as that shown for FP over placebo. The advantage of MP29-02 was particularly evident in those patients for whom nasal congestion is predominant, with MP29-02 providing three times the nasal congestion relief of FP (p = 0.0018) and five times the relief of AZE (p = 0.0001). Moreover, patients treated with MP29-02 achieved each and every response up to a week faster than those treated with FP or AZE alone and in real life 1 in 2 patients reported the perception of well-controlled disease after only 3 days. MP29-02’s superiority over FP was also apparent long-term in patients with perennial allergic rhinitis or non-allergic rhinitis, with statistical significance noted from the first day of treatment, with treatment difference maintained for a full year.Taken together, these data suggest that MP29-02 may improve the lives of many of our patients, enabling them to finally escape the allergic rhinitis trap.     

益生菌对儿童变应性鼻炎的辅助治疗作用

探讨益生菌对儿童变应性鼻炎（AR）的辅助治疗作用,为该类患儿的治疗提供参考。

纳入我院耳鼻喉科2021年9月至2022年6月确诊为AR的62例患儿作为研究对象,随机选取37例作为AR组,另纳入40例健康儿童作为健康组,分别收集两组对象粪便进行高通量测序。将62例AR患儿进一步分为对照组和益生菌组,各31例。对照组患儿给予糠酸莫米松喷鼻治疗,益生菌组患儿在此基础上加用双歧杆菌四联活菌片。监测治疗期间两组患儿肠道主要菌群的变化并对治疗前后患儿临床症状进行评分。建立AR大鼠模型,验证益生菌对AR的治疗效果。

AR组患儿肠道菌群Faith’s PD指数、Shannon指数、Simpson指数、Pielou_e指数均显著低于健康组（U = 538.000、459.000、445.000、446.000,均P＜0.05）。AR患儿与健康儿童相比,肠道拟杆菌属、粪杆菌属均显著增多（U = 275.000、412.000,均P＜0.05）,而双歧杆菌显著减少（U = 304.000,P＜0.001）。与对照组相比,益生菌组患儿治疗后肠道双歧杆菌属、肠球菌属均显著增加（U = −241.500、−212.000,均P＜0.05）,拟杆菌属显著减少（U = −327.000,P＜0.05）且症状改善更加显著（t = 11.63,P＜0.05）。补充益生菌可以显著缓解大鼠鼻腔黏膜的炎症。

AR患儿与健康儿童相比肠道菌群发生显著变化。补充的双歧杆菌、肠球菌能有效地在AR患儿的肠道中定植,且对肠道中的拟杆菌可能有抑制作用。益生菌对儿童AR有较好的辅助治疗作用。

     

布拉酵母菌联合孟鲁斯特钠治疗变应性鼻炎的疗效观察

目的探讨布拉酵母菌联合孟鲁斯特钠治疗变应性鼻炎的临床疗效。方法将患儿随机分为治疗组与对照组,每组35例,两组患儿均用糠酸莫米松鼻喷剂早晨喷鼻1次,1喷/次。对照组用孟鲁司特钠咀嚼片2~5岁4 mg,6~12岁5 mg,12岁10 mg每晚睡前口服。治疗组在对照组基础上联合布拉酵母菌散剂1.0 g/次,2次/d,口服,4周1个疗程。结果两组患儿治疗后VAS评分均比治疗前降低,治疗组评分前后差异有统计学意义(P0.01),治疗后组间比较差异有统计学意义(P0.01),两组患儿随访6个月后与治疗结束时比较差异无统计学意义(P0.05)。治疗组与对照组患儿在总有效率和复发率的比较上差异均有统计学意义(P0.05)。结论布拉酵母菌联合孟鲁斯特钠治疗变应性鼻炎的临床疗效明显。     

Production of adenovirus vector for gene therapy

The field of gene therapy is rapidly expanding with a major focus on the treatment of cancer. Replication-defective adenoviruses are vectors of choice for delivering corrective genes into human cells. Major efforts are directed to design new generations of adenoviral vectors that feature reduced immunogenicity and improved targeting ability. However, the production of adenoviral vectors for gene therapy applications faces a number of challenges that limit the availability of high quality material at the early stages of research and development in the gene therapy field. Moreover, very few papers have been published on the subject and information on large-scale production methods are only available through specialized conference proceedings. This review outlines the problems associated with mass production of adenovirus vectors and describes research efforts by a number of groups who have contributed to optimize production methods. Better understanding of the adenovirus infection and replication kinetics as well as better understanding of complementing cell line physiology and metabolism greatly contributed to improving vector titers and volumetric productivity at higher cell densities. Also, the critical aspect of viral vector quantitation is discussed.     

Establishment of an allergic rhinitis model in mice for the evaluation of nasal symptoms

The purpose of our study was to establish a new model of allergic rhinitis in mice, eliciting symptoms such as sneezing, infiltration of eosinophils into the nasal mucosa, and antigen-specific IgE production. One of the major human T-cell epitopes in Cry j 1, an allergen of Japanese cedar pollen, is also a major murine T-cell epitope in B10.S mice. Thus we tried to establish an allergic rhinitis model in B10.S mice with Cry j 1 as the antigen. We sensitized B10.S mice subcutaneously with Cry j 1/alum three times at intervals of 1 week. Five weeks after the final sensitization, we challenged the mice by instilling Cry j 1 intranasally from the day after intranasal histamine pretreatment. Soon after, we counted the number of sneezes. We then evaluated the infiltration of eosinophils into the nasal tissues and also measured the serum levels of antigen-specific IgE antibody. In addition, we confirmed the effects of ketotifen fumarate and dexamethasone hydrochloride on these animals. In Cry j 1-sensitized B10.S mice, sneezes, eosinophil peroxidase (EPO) activity in nasal tissues, and Cry j 1-specific IgE clearly increased after intranasal histamine pretreatment and 5 days of continuous intranasal Cry j 1 challenge. Both ketotifen and dexamethasone inhibited the increase in sneezing, and dexamethasone also inhibited EPO activity and Cry j 1-specific IgE. Thus we succeeded in establishing a new model of allergic rhinitis in Cry j 1-sensitized B10.S mice, which exhibited sneezing, eosinophil infiltration into the nasal mucosa, and Cry j 1-specific IgE production.     

微生物群在变应性鼻炎发病机制中作用的研究进展

变应性鼻炎是耳鼻咽喉科常见的鼻腔变应性反应疾病,发病率高且严重影响患者的生活质量.因此,探讨该病的病因非常重要.近年来,微生物群在人类健康与疾病中作用的研究越来越受到重视,变应性鼻炎是研究的热点之一.微生物群是居住在于人体内外表面的所有微生物,包括病毒、真菌、原生动物、古生菌和细菌.越来越多的证据表明,微生物群在免疫介...     

The suggestive association of eotaxin-2 and eotaxin-3 gene polymorphisms in Korean population with allergic rhinitis

The eotaxin gene family (eotaxin, eotaxin-2 and eotaxin-3) has been implicated in the recruitment of eosinophils, basophiles and Th2 lymphocytes that are central aspects of allergic diseases. To determine whether single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the eotaxin-2 and eotaxin-3 genes are associated with susceptibility to allergic rhinitis, we scanned 178 allergic rhinitis patients and 281 controls without allergic rhinitis using the direct sequencing and single-base extension (SBE) methods. We also calculated the haplotype frequencies between +179T>C and +275C>T of eotaxin-2 and +2497T>G of eotaxin-3 in both controls and allergic rhinitis patients. The haplotype frequency between controls and allergic rhinitis patients was suggestively associated (P=0.0001). The genotype frequencies of eotaxin-3 +2497T>G in allergic rhinitis patients were suggestively different from those in non-allergic rhinitis controls (P=<0.0007). Our results strongly suggest that the SNP of eotaxin-3 might be associated with susceptibility to allergic rhinitis.     

Trends in prevalence of allergic rhinitis and correlation with pollen counts in Switzerland

In recent decades, a large number of epidemiological studies investigating the change of prevalence of hay fever showed an increase in the occurrence of this disease. However, other studies carried out in the 1990s yielded contradictory results. Many environmental factors have been hypothesized to contribute to the increasing hay fever rate, including both indoor and ambient air pollution, reduced exposure to microbial stimulation and changes in diets. However, the observed increase has not convincingly been explained by any of these factors and there is limited evidence of changes in exposure to these risk factors over time. Additionally, recent studies show that no further increase in asthma, hay fever and atopic sensitisation in adolescents and adults has been observed during the 1990s and the beginning of the new century. As the pattern of pollen counts has changed over the years, partly due to the global warming but also as a consequence of a change in the use of land, the changing prevalence of hay fever might partly be driven by this different pollen exposure. Epidemiological data for hay fever in Switzerland are available from 1926 until 2000 (with large gaps between 1926 and 1958 and 1958 to 1986) whereas pollen data are available from 1969 until the present. This allows an investigation as to whether these data are correlated provided the same time spans are compared. It would also be feasible to correlate the pollen data with meteorological data which, however, is not the subject of our investigation. Our study focuses on analyzing time series of pollen counts and of pollen season lengths in order to identify their trends, and to ascertain whether there is a relationship between these trends and the changes in the hay fever prevalence. It is shown in this paper that the pollen exposure has been decreasing in Basel since the beginning of the 1990s whereas the rate of the hay fever prevalence in Switzerland remained approximately unchanged in this period but with a slight tendency to decrease. In Locarno, most of the pollen species also show a decreasing trend, while in Zurich, the development is somewhat different as the pollen counts of most of the pollen types have been increasing. It is interesting, however, that some of the pollen counts of this station (grass, stinging nettle, mugwort and ragweed) have been decreasing in the period 1982–2007.     

变应性鼻炎患者肠道微生态变化及其与T淋巴细胞亚群的关系

探讨变应性鼻炎患者肠道微生态变化及其与T淋巴细胞亚群的关系。

回顾性分析2019年4月至2020年4月医院收治的64例变应性鼻炎患者的资料, 记为A组; 另回顾性分析同期在该院体检的58例健康者的资料, 记为B组。对比A组和B组研究对象肠道菌群多样性和丰富度的变化, 对比A组和B组研究对象血清T淋巴细胞亚群水平, 分析变应性鼻炎患者肠道菌群相对丰度与血清T淋巴细胞亚群水平的相关性。

A组研究对象肠道菌群Chao1指数和Shannon指数均低于B组(P < 0.05), A组肠道菌群门水平拟杆菌门、变形菌门、厚壁菌门的相对丰度均高于B组(P < 0.05), 放线菌门的相对丰度低于B组(P < 0.05), 属水平毛螺菌属、链球菌属的相对丰度均高于B组(P < 0.05), 肠球菌属、双歧杆菌属、棒状杆菌属的相对丰度均低于B组(P < 0.05)。主成分分析显示2组菌群样品均能明显分开, 横纵坐标的贡献率分别为48.9%和16.7%, 两坐标轴总共解释了不同细菌群落差异的65.6%, 2组群落结构差异明显(P < 0.05)。A组CD3⁺比例、CD4⁺比例和CD4⁺/CD8⁺比值高于B组(P < 0.05), CD8⁺比例低于B组(P < 0.05);采用Pearson相关性检验, 变应性鼻炎患者肠道菌群门水平拟杆菌门、变形菌门和厚壁菌门的相对丰度分别与CD3⁺、CD4⁺比例和CD4⁺/CD8⁺比值呈正相关(P < 0.05), 分别与CD8⁺比例呈负相关(P < 0.05), 放线菌门的相对丰度分别与CD3⁺、CD4⁺比例和CD4⁺/CD8⁺比值呈负相关(P < 0.05), 与CD8⁺比例呈正相关(P < 0.05);属水平毛螺菌属和链球菌属的相对丰度分别与CD3⁺、CD4⁺比例和CD4⁺/CD8⁺比值呈正相关(P < 0.05), 分别与CD8⁺比例呈负相关(P < 0.05), 肠球菌属、双歧杆菌属和棒状杆菌属的相对丰度分别与CD3⁺、CD4⁺比例和CD4⁺/CD8⁺比值呈负相关(P < 0.05), 分别与CD8⁺比例呈正相关(P < 0.05)。

变应性鼻炎患者肠道菌群多样性降低, 门、属水平菌群比例均发生改变, 菌群结构差异明显, 血清CD3⁺、CD4⁺水平和CD4⁺/CD8⁺比值升高, CD8⁺水平降低, 变应性鼻炎患者肠道菌群相对丰度与血清T淋巴细胞亚群水平相关。

     

变应性鼻炎患者外周血中IL-27和Treg细胞的相关性分析

目的探讨外周血IL-27和CD4^＋CD25^＋调节性T细胞（Treg）在变应性鼻炎（AR）发病机制中的作用。方法2012年3月至7月,收集AR患者32例（AR组）和20例健康志愿者（对照组）外周血,采用流式细胞术（FCM）检测外周血中Treg细胞比例;ELISA检测血清中IL-27、IL-10和TGF-β1的水平。结果AR组Treg细胞百分率[（1．75±0．56）％]明显低于对照组[（4．76±1．75）％],两组比较的差异有统计学意义（P〈0．01）。AR组IL-27、IL-10和TGF-β1的水平分别为（24．43±16．36）pg／ml、（14．29±6．16）pg／ml、（0．34±0．04）pg／ml,均低于对照组（44．09±13．12）pg／ml、（31．32±21．20）pg／ml、（O．49±0．06）pg／ml,两组之间的差异有统计学意义（P〈0．01）。AR患者外周血中IL-27和Treg细胞百分率、IL-10、TGF-β1存在正相关（r分别为0．825,0．646,0．517,P〈0．01）,Treg细胞百分率和IL-10、TGF-β1存在正相关（r=0.622,0．738,P〈0．01）,IL-10和TGF-β1无相关性（r=0．304,P〉0．05）结论AR患者外周血中IL-27水平降低,Treg细匏百分率降低及其主要分泌因子IL-10、TGF-β1水平降低,且IL-27与Treg细胞百分率、IL-10、TGF-β1水平呈正相关,提示在AR发病中IL-27对Treg细胞可能具有免疫调节作用。     

Designing gene delivery vectors for cardiovascular gene therapy

Genetic therapy in the cardiovascular system has been proposed for a variety of diseases ranging from prevention of vein graft failure to hypertension. Such diversity in pathogenesis requires the delivery of therapeutic genes to diverse cell types in vivo for varying lengths of time if efficient clinical therapies are to be developed. Data from extensive preclinical studies have been compiled and a certain areas have seen translation into large-scale clinical trials, with some encouraging reports. It is clear that progress within a number of disease areas is limited by a lack of suitable gene delivery vector systems through which to deliver therapeutic genes to the target site in an efficient, non-toxic manner. In general, currently available systems, including non-viral systems and viral vectors such as adenovirus (Ad) or adeno-associated virus (AAV), have a propensity to transduce non-vascular tissue with greater ease than vascular cells thereby limiting their application in cardiovascular disease. This problem has led to the development and testing of improved vector systems for cardiovascular gene delivery. Traditional viral and non-viral systems are being engineered to increase their efficiency of vascular cell transduction and diminish their affinity for other cell types through manipulation of vector:cell binding and the use of cell-selective promoters. It is envisaged that future use of such technology will substantially increase the efficacy of cardiovascular gene therapy.     

A non-viral vector for potential DMD gene therapy study by targeting a minidystrophin-GFP fusion gene into the hrDNA locus

Gene therapy has emerged as a promising approach for the lethal disorder of Duchenne muscular dystrophy （DMD）. Using a novel non-viral delivery system, the human ribosomal DNA （hrDNA） targeting vector, we tar- geted a minidystrophin-GFP fusion gene into the hrDNA locus of HT1080 cells with a high site-specific integrated efficiency of 10-s, in which the transgene could express efficiently and continuously. The minidystrophin-GFP fusion protein was easily found to localize on the plasma membrane of HT1080 cells, indicating its possible physiologic performance. Our findings showed that the hrDNAtargeting vector might be highly useful for DMD gene therapy study.     

Electroporation in combination with a plasmid vector containing SV40 enhancer elements results in increased and persistent gene expression in mouse muscle

Gene transfer into muscle upon injection of plasmid DNA is feasible but occurs with low frequency. However, by using electroporation after injection of plasmid DNA into mouse muscle it has been demonstrated that gene expression can be increased more than 150-fold. In this communication, we have used this technique in combination with plasmids containing a tandem repeat of three 72-bp DNA elements from the SV40 enhancer to study gene expression. Our results show that the combination of electroporation and a plasmid vector carrying these DNA elements results in increased and more persistent gene expression of the luciferase reporter gene in BALB/c mouse muscle. At 14 days after gene delivery, the gene expression was 16-fold higher in muscles injected and electroporated with the plasmid carrying the SV40 enhancers than with control plasmid. We have also studied the effects of the vehicle in which the plasmid was delivered, and the DNase inhibitor aurintricarboxylic acid (ATA), on gene expression. By combining ATA with 150 mM sodium phosphate buffer we were able to obtain a 2-fold increase in gene expression compared to delivery of the plasmid in physiological saline. These results are of importance for the development of efficient delivery techniques for naked DNA.     

人核糖核酸酶抑制因子基因重组腺病毒载体的构建及鉴定

目的构建含有人核糖核酸酶抑制因子（hRI）基因的重组腺病毒载体。方法以含有全长cDNA的pT7-RI为模板,PCR扩增hRI,经T载体克隆后,酶切亚克隆到穿梭质粒pAdTrack—CMV上,在BJ5183细菌内和pAdEasy-1同源重组。筛选阳性克隆,酶切、PCR及测序鉴定,线性化后脂质体法转染293细胞进行包装、扩增。通过观察绿色荧光蛋白（GFP）的表达及PCR扩增目的基因等方法鉴定重组的腺病毒。结果酶切鉴定及PCR结果证明hRI基因重组腺病毒载体构建成功,病毒滴度为1．5×10^10 pfu/ml。结论应用细菌内同源重组法成功构建了含hRI基因的重组腺病毒载体。     

Acid‐activated nonviral peptide vector for gene delivery

Nonviral vector–based gene therapy is a promising strategy for treating a myriad of diseases. Cell‐penetrating peptides are gaining increasing attention as vectors for nucleic acid delivery. However, most studies have focused more on the transfection efficiency of these vectors than on their specificity and toxicity. To obtain ideal vectors with high efficiency and safety, we constructed the vector stearyl‐TH by attaching a stearyl moiety to the N‐terminus of the acid‐activated cell penetrating peptide TH in this study. Under acidic conditions, stearyl‐TH could bind to and condense plasmids into nanoparticle complexes, which displayed significantly enhanced cellular uptake and transfection efficiencies. In contrast, stearyl‐TH lost the capacities of DNA binding and transfection at physiological pH. More importantly, stearyl‐TH and the complexes formed by stearyl‐TH and plasmids displayed no obvious toxicity at physiological pH. Consequently, the high transfection efficiency under acidic conditions and low toxicity make stearyl‐TH a potential nucleic acid delivery vector for gene therapy.     

Adenovirus-mediated delivery of human IFNgamma gene inhibits prostate cancer growth

Interferon gamma (IFNgamma) is regarded as a potent antitumor agent, but therapy with IFNgamma is hampered by its short half-life and significant side effects. We developed a replication defective adenovirus carrying the human IFNgamma gene and evaluated the effects of adenovirus-mediated IFNgamma (Ad-IFNgamma) gene transfer on human prostate cancer cell lines in vitro and on xenografts in vivo. Our results showed infection of prostate cancer cells with Ad-IFNgamma led to production of an active cytokine and resulted in an antiproliferative effect on the prostate cancer cells. Intratumoral injection of Ad-IFNgamma significantly inhibited the growth of DU-145 cell xenografts in vivo, while no significant toxicity effect was observed. RT-PCR analysis indicated transgene expression mainly enriched in tumors in vivo, and slightly distributed in livers. These findings suggest adenovirus-mediated IFNgamma gene transfer is a promising approach in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer.