Gene Expression Profile of Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes from Renal Cell Carcinoma Patients Treated with IL-2, Interferon-�� and Dendritic Cell Vaccine

Lymphocytes are a key component of the immune system and their differentiation and function are directly influenced by cancer. We examined peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) gene expression as a biomarker of illness and treatment effect using the Affymetrix Human Gene ST1 platform in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) who received combined treatment with IL-2, interferon-?-2a and dendritic cell vaccine. We examined gene expression, cytokine levels in patient serum and lymphocyte subsets as determined by flow cytometry (FCM). Pre-treatment PBLs from patients with mRCC exhibit a gene expression profile and serum cytokine profile consistent with inflammation and proliferation not found in healthy donors (HD). PBL gene expression from patients with mRCC showed increased mRNA of genes involved with T-cell and T_REG-cell activation pathways, which was also reflected in lymphocyte subset distribution. Overall, PBL gene expression post-treatment (POST) was not significantly different than pre-treatment (PRE). Nevertheless, treatment related changes in gene expression (post-treatment minus pre-treatment) revealed an increased expression of T-cell and B-cell receptor signaling pathways in responding (R) patients compared to non-responding (NR) patients. In addition, we observed down-regulation of T_REG-cell pathways post-treatment in R vs. NR patients. While exploratory in nature, this study supports the hypothesis that enhanced inflammatory cytotoxic pathways coupled with blunting of the regulatory pathways is necessary for effective anti-cancer activity associated with immune therapy. This type of analysis can potentially identify additional immune therapeutic targets in patients with mRCC.     

结球甘蓝下胚轴原生质体培养再生植株体系的优化研究

以结球甘蓝‘新夏50’的无菌苗下胚轴为材料,对影响原生质体分离、纯化与培养的主要因素进行研究,建立适合结球甘蓝原生质体游离、纯化、收集、培养以至再生出完整植株的实用技术体系,为其非对称细胞融合及品种改良与创新等研究奠定基础。结果表明:2.5%纤维素酶R-10+0.05%果胶酶Y-23+9CPW+5mmol/L MES的混合酶液,从4d苗龄的下胚轴上分离出高产率的原生质体。在改良B5+0.5mg/L 2,4-D+0.2mg/L 6-BA+0.2mg/L NAA的液体培养基上,原生质体分裂旺盛。形成愈伤组织后经芽诱导和生根培养,获得了再生植株。倍性检测结果表明,不同原生质体所获得的24株再生植株中,19株为正常二倍体,4株为嵌合体,1株为四倍体。     

Isolation and neuroprotective activities of acylated iridoids from Valeriana jatamansi

Three new iridoids, jatairidoids A-C (1-3, resp.), have been isolated from the roots of Valeriana jatamansi (V. wallichii). Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods (IR, ESI-MS, HR-ESI-MS, 1D- and 2D-NMR). Compounds 1 and 2 are C(3)-epimers. The three compounds were evaluated for their neuroprotective effects against MPP(+)-induced neuronal cell death in human dopaminergic neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. All the isolates exhibited moderate neuroprotective effects.     

Synthetic miRNA-Mowers Targeting miR-183-96-182 Cluster or miR-210 Inhibit Growth and Migration and Induce Apoptosis in Bladder Cancer Cells

Background

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) function as endogenous regulators of biological behaviors of human cancers. Several natural non-coding RNAs are reported to inhibit miRNAs by base-pairing interactions. These phenomena raise questions about the ability of artificial device to regulate miRNAs. The purpose of this study is to create synthetic devices that target a single miRNA or a miRNA cluster and to ascertain their therapeutic effects on the phenotypes of bladder cancer cells.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Tandem bulged miRNA binding sites were inserted into the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of the SV-40 promoter-driven Renilla luciferase gene to construct two “miRNA-mowers” for suppression of miR-183-96-182 cluster or miR-210. A third device with tandem repeat sequences not complementary to any known miRNA was generated as an untargeted-control. In functional analyses, bladder cancer T24 and UM-UC-3 cells were transfected with each of the three devices, followed by assays for detection of their impacts. Luciferase assays indicated that the activities of the luciferase reporters in the miRNA-mowers were decreased to 30–50% of the untargeted-control. Using Real-Time qPCR, the expression levels of the target miRNAs were shown to be reduced 2-3-fold by the corresponding miRNA-mower. Cell growth, apoptosis, and migration were tested by MTT assay, flow cytometry assay, and in vitro scratch assay, respectively. Cell growth inhibition, increased apoptosis, and decreased motility were observed in miRNA-mowers-transfected bladder cancer cells.

Conclusions/Significance

Not only a single target miRNA but also the whole members of a target miRNA cluster can be blocked using this modular design strategy. Anti-cancer effects are induced by the synthetic miRNA-mowers in the bladder cancer cell lines. miR-183/96/182 cluster and miR-210 are shown to play oncogenic roles in bladder cancer. A potentially useful synthetic biology platform for miRNA loss-of-function study and cancer treatment has been established in this work.     

Bioinformatic identification of genes encoding C1q-domain containing proteins in zebrafish

C1q is the first subcomponent of classical pathway in the complement system and a major link between innate and acquired immunities. The globular (gC1q) domain similar with C1q was also found in many non-complement C1q-domain-containing (C1qDC) proteins which have similar crystal structure to that of the multifunctional tumor necrosis factor (TNF) ligand family, and also have diverse functions. In this study, we identified a total of 52 independent gene sequences encoding C1q-domain-containing proteins through comprehensive searches of zebrafish genome, cDNA and EST databases. In comparison to 31 orthologous genes in human and different numbers in other species, a significant selective pressure was suggested during vertebrate evolution. Domain organization of C1q-domain-containing (C1qDC) proteins mainly includes a leading signal peptide, a collagen-like region of variable length, and a C-terminal C1q domain. There are 11 highly conserved residues within the C1q domain, among which 2 are invariant within the zebrafish gene set. A more extensive database searches also revealed homologous C1qDC proteins in other vertebrates, invertebrates and even bacterium, but no homologous sequences for encoding C1qDC proteins were found in many species that have a more recent evolutionary history with zebrafish. Therefore, further studies on C1q-domain-containing genes among different species will help us understand evolutionary mechanism of innate and acquired immunities.     

Enantioselective lipase-catalyzed kinetic resolution of N-(2-ethyl-6-methylphenyl)alanine

The enzyme (BSL2), a highly active lipase expressed from newly constructed strain of Bacillus subtilis BSL2, is used in the kinetic resolution of N-(2-ethyl-6-methylphenyl)alanine from the corresponding racemic methyl ester. Reaction conditions are optimized to enhance the enantioselectivity. The effects of various racemic alkyl esters, substrate concentration, operating temperature, pH of the aqueous medium and organic solvents on activity and enantioselectivity of BSL2 for kinetic resolution are also studied. A high enantiomeric ratio (E = 60.7) is reached in diisopropyl ether/water (10%, v/v) and the enantioselectivity is about 22-fold higher than that in pure buffered aqueous solution. The results show that the reaction medium greatly influences BSL2 reaction and its enantioselectivity in the hydrolysis of racemic methyl ester.     

Amino acid residues in transmembrane domain 10 of organic anion transporting polypeptide 1B3 are critical for cholecystokinin octapeptide transport

Human organic anion transporting polypeptides (OATP) 1B1 and 1B3 are multispecific transporters that mediate uptake of amphipathic organic compounds into hepatocytes. The two OATPs contain 12 transmembrane domains (TMs) and share 80% amino acid sequence identity. Besides common substrates with OATP1B1, OATP1B3 specifically transports cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8). To determine which structural domains and/or residues are important for the substrate selectivity of OATP1B3, we constructed a series of chimeric proteins between OATP1B3 and 1B1, expressed them in HEK293 cells, and determined rates of uptake of CCK-8 along with surface expression of the proteins. Replacing TM10 in OATP1B3 with TM10 of OATP1B1 resulted in a dramatically reduced degree of CCK-8 transport, indicating that TM10 is crucial for recognition and/or translocation of CCK-8. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we identified three key residues within TM10, namely, Y537, S545, and T550. When we replaced these residues with the corresponding amino acid residues found in OATP1B1, the level of CCK-8 transport was similarly low as for the replacement of the whole TM10. Kinetic experiments showed that the K m values for CCK-8 transport in the TM10 replacement and triple mutant were only 1.3 and 1.1 microM, respectively, as compared to 16.3 microM for wild-type OATP1B3. Similarly, the V max values dropped from 495.5 pmol (normalized mg) (-1) min (-1) for wild-type OATP1B3 to 13.3 and 19.0 pmol (normalized mg) (-1) min (-1) for the TM10 replacement and triple mutant, respectively. Molecular modeling indicated that two of the three identified residues might form hydrogen bonds with CCK-8. In conclusion, we have identified three amino acid residues (Y537, S545, and T550) in TM10 of OATP1B3 that are important for CCK-8 transport.     

套式PCR检测体系扩增效率的分析及对假阳性的控制

用扩增效率等量化的指标来控制PCR检测过程中出现的假阳性,调查了受假阳性污染的试剂在特定的PCR检测系统和环境中产生假阳性的PCR循环数界限,采用模板量与扩增倍数的线性回归关系分析系统的扩增效率并以此测定计算了两个不同循环数系统（C27＋15）和C27＋20）的检测界限分别为0．78kg和0．065fg,提出以此检测界限的1／2量作为假阳性耐受量,两个不同循环数系统的假阳性耐受量分别为580个和48个拷贝。