A New Equation to Estimate Glomerular Filtration Rate in Chinese Elderly Population

Background

We sought to develop a new equation to estimate glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in Chinese elderly population.

Methods

A total of 668 Chinese elderly participants, including the development cohort (n = 433), the validation cohort (n = 235) were enrolled. The new equation using the generalized additive model, and age, gender, serum creatinine as predictor variables was developed and the performances was compared with the CKD-EPI equation.

Results

In the validation data set, both bias and precision were improved with the new equation, as compared with the CKD-EPI equation (median difference, −1.5 ml/min/1.73 m² vs. 7.4 ml/min/1.73 m² for the new equation and the CKD-EPI equation, [P<0.001]; interquartile range [IQR] for the difference, 16.2 ml/min/1.73 m² vs. 19.0 ml/min/1.73 m² [P<0.001]), as were accuracies (15% accuracy, 40.4% vs. 30.6% [P = 0.02]; 30% accuracy, 71.1% vs. 47.2%, [P<0.001]; 50% accuracy, 90.2% vs. 75.7%, [P<0.001]), allowing improvement in GFR categorization (GFR category misclassification rate, 37.4% vs. 53.2% [P = <0.001]).

Conclusions

A new equation was developed in Chinese elderly population. In the validation data set, the new equation performed better than the original CKD-EPI equation. The new equation needs further external validations. Calibration of the GFR referent standard to a more accurate one should be an useful way to improve the performance of GFR estimating equations.     

The combination therapy of oncolytic HSV-1 armed with anti-PD-1 antibody and IL-12 enhances anti-tumor efficacy

Cancer immunotherapy is a new therapeutic strategy for cancer treatment that targets tumors by improving or restoring immune system function. Therapies targeting immune checkpoint molecules have exerted potent anti-tumor effects and prolonged the overall survival rate of patients. However, only a small number of patients benefit from the treatment. Oncolytic viruses exert anti-tumor effects by regulating the tumor microenvironment and affecting multiple steps of tumor immune circulation. In this study, we engineered two oncolytic viruses that express mouse anti-PD-1 antibody (VT1093M) or mouse IL-12 (VT1092M). We found that both oncolytic viruses showed significant anti-tumor effects in a murine CT26 colon adenocarcinoma model. Importantly, the intratumoral combined injection with VT1092M and VT1093M inhibited growth of the primary tumor, prevented growth of the contralateral untreated tumor, produced a vaccine-like response, activated antigen-specific T cell responses and prolonged the overall survival rate of mice. These results indicate that combination therapy with the engineered oncolytic virus may represent a potent immunotherapy strategy for cancer patients, especially those resistant to PD-1/PD-L1 blockade therapy.     

Bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7) mediates ischemic preconditioning-induced ischemic tolerance via attenuating apoptosis in rat brain

A mild cerebral ischemic insult, also known as ischemic preconditioning (IPC), confers transient tolerance to a subsequent ischemic challenge in the brain. This study was conducted to investigate whether bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7) is involved in neuroprotection elicited by IPC in a rat model of ischemia. Ischemic tolerance was induced in rats by IPC (15 min middle cerebral artery occlusion, MCAO) at 48 h before lethal ischemia (2 h MCAO). The present data showed that IPC increased BMP-7 mRNA and protein expression after 24 h reperfusion following ischemia in the brain. In rats of ischemia, IPC-induced reduction of cerebral infarct volume and improvement of neuronal morphology were attenuated when BMP-7 was inhibited either by antagonist noggin or short interfering RNA (siRNA) pre-treatment. Besides, cerebral IPC-induced up-regulation of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and down-regulation of cleaved caspase-3 at 24 h after ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury were reversed via inhibition of BMP-7. These findings indicate that BMP-7 mediates IPC-induced tolerance to cerebral I/R, probably through inhibition of apoptosis.     

谷氨酸及NMDA受体拮抗剂MK-801对大鼠伏核痛兴奋神经元电活动的影响

本文研究了谷氨酸(glutamic acid,Glu)及其NMDA受体拮抗剂5-甲基二氢丙环庚烯亚胺马来酸(MK-801)对人鼠伏核(nucleus accumbens,NAc)痛兴奋神经元(pain-excitation neurons,PEN)痛诱发反应的影响。电刺激坐骨神经作为伤害性刺激,用玻璃微电极记录NAc的PEN放电,观察脑室内注射Glu和NAc内注射MK-801对大鼠NAc中PEN伤害性诱发活动的影响。结果显示,伤害性刺激可使NAc的PEN电活动增强;脑室内注射Glu(10nmol／10μl)可使NAc的PEN伤害性诱发放电频率增加;NAc内注射MK-801(1．0nmol／0．5μl)可阻断这种作用;MK-801本身也可部分抑制PEN伤害性诱发反应。上述结果表明,Glu对PEN伤害性反应的易化作用是通过NMDA受体介导的：Glu和NMDA受体参与NAc伤害性信息传递的调制。     

Hypermethylation of tumor suppressor genes involved in critical regulatory pathways for developing a blood-based test in breast cancer

Background

Aberrant DNA methylation patterns might be used as a biomarker for diagnosis and management of cancer patients.

Methods and Findings

To achieve a gene panel for developing a breast cancer blood-based test we quantitatively assessed the DNA methylation proportion of 248 CpG sites per sample (total of 31,248 sites in all analyzed samples) on 10 candidate genes (APC, BIN1, BMP6, BRCA1, CST6, ESR-b, GSTP1, P16, P21 and TIMP3). The number of 126 samples consisting of two different cohorts was used (first cohort: plasma samples from breast cancer patients and normal controls; second cohort: triple matched samples including cancerous tissue, matched normal tissue and serum samples). In the first cohort, circulating cell free methylated DNA of the 8 tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) was significantly higher in patients with breast cancer compared to normal controls (P<0.01). In the second cohort containing triple matched samples, seven genes showed concordant hypermethylated profile in tumor tissue and serum samples compared to normal tissue (P<0.05). Using eight genes as a panel to develop a blood-based test for breast cancer, a sensitivity and specificity of more than 90% could be achieved in distinguishing between tumor and normal samples.

Conclusions

Our study suggests that the selected TSG panel combined with the high-throughput technology might be a useful tool to develop epigenetic based predictive and prognostic biomarker for breast cancer relying on pathologic methylation changes in tumor tissue, as well as in circulation.     

Activation of the Imprinted Dlk1-Dio3 Region Correlates with Pluripotency Levels of Mouse Stem Cells

Low reprogramming efficiency and reduced pluripotency have been the two major obstacles in induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell research. An effective and quick method to assess the pluripotency levels of iPS cells at early stages would significantly increase the success rate of iPS cell generation and promote its applications. We have identified a conserved imprinted region of the mouse genome, the Dlk1-Dio3 region, which was activated in fully pluripotent mouse stem cells but repressed in partially pluripotent cells. The degree of activation of this region was positively correlated with the pluripotency levels of stem cells. A mammalian conserved cluster of microRNAs encoded by this region exhibited significant expression differences between full and partial pluripotent stem cells. Several microRNAs from this cluster potentially target components of the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) and may form a feedback regulatory loop resulting in the expression of all genes and non-coding RNAs encoded by this region in full pluripotent stem cells. No other genomic regions were found to exhibit such clear expression changes between cell lines with different pluripotency levels; therefore, the Dlk1-Dio3 region may serve as a marker to identify fully pluripotent iPS or embryonic stem cells from partial pluripotent cells. These findings also provide a step forward toward understanding the operating mechanisms during reprogramming to produce iPS cells and can potentially promote the application of iPS cells in regenerative medicine and cancer therapy.