基于微滴式数字PCR检测肠癌病人游离环状DNA KRAS突变的新方法

基于微滴式数字聚合酶链式反应(Droplet digital polymerase chain reaction,dd PCR)设计一种检测肠癌游离循环DNA(Circulating cell free DNA,cf DNA)中KRAS(V-Ki-ras2 Kirsten ratsarcoma viral oncogene homolog)基因突变的新方法并评估其灵敏度和准确性。根据肠癌病人KRAS基因的突变类型设计并合成,采用dd PCR扩增并评估其灵敏度和准确性;根据AMRS-PCR引物设计原理设计KRAS基因的实时定量PCR扩增引物并评估其准确性,进而比较dd PCR和q PCR二者之间的优缺点;最后针对52例肠癌病人的cf DNA采用dd PCR进行检测,研究dd PCR在cf DNA KRAS基因突变检测的应用。成功使用dd PCR和q PCR两种方法对KRAS野生型及7种突变型建立检测方法,使用质粒标准品及实际样品验证该两种方法可行并对其假阳性率、线性范围及检测下限等性能进行了评价,最后成功对52例临床患者和20例正常人的血浆cf DNA样本进行检测,临床灵敏度为97.64%,临床特异性为81.43%。dd PCR的检测性能优于q PCR,LOD达到个位数DNA拷贝,最低可确认突变浓度达到0.01%–0.04%。样本提取效率在方法学建立中也十分重要,直接影响到灵敏度和Cut Off值的判定。临床患者检测结果显示其KRAS突变率接近报道水平。     

Study of Double-Side Ultrasonic Embossing for Fabrication of Microstructures on Thermoplastic Polymer Substrates

Double-side replication of polymer substrates is beneficial to the design and the fabrication of 3-demensional devices. The ultrasonic embossing method is a promising, high efficiency and low cost replication method for thermoplastic substrates. It is convenient to apply silicon molds in ultrasonic embossing, because microstructures can be easily fabricated on silicon wafers with etching techniques. To reduce the risk of damaging to silicon molds and to improve the replication uniformity on both sides of the polymer substrates, thermal assisted ultrasonic embossing method was proposed and tested. The processing parameters for the replication of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), including ultrasonic amplitude, ultrasonic force, ultrasonic time, and thermal assisted temperature were studied using orthogonal array experiments. The influences of the substrate thickness, pattern style and density were also investigated. The experiment results show that the principal parameters for the upper and lower surface replication are ultrasonic amplitude and thermal assisted temperature, respectively. As to the replication uniformity on both sides, the ultrasonic force has the maximal influence. Using the optimized parameters, the replication rate reached 97.5% on both sides of the PMMA substrate, and the cycle time was less than 50 s.     

Aldolase A Enhances Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma Proliferation and Invasion through Promoting Glycolysis

Energy metabolism reprogramming has been implicated in tumorigenesis and development. Key metabolism enzyme Aldolase A (ALDOA) has been shown to be highly expressed and involved in various kinds of cancers including hepatocellular carcinoma. In this study, we found that ALDOA was highly expressed in clinical intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) tissues, and its high expression was negatively correlated with overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) in ICC patients. Knockdown of ALDOA expression significantly inhibited the proliferation and migration of ICC both in vitro and in vivo, while highly-expressed ALDOA in ICC cells promoted the proliferation and migration of ICC cells. By applying ALDOA inhibitor and metabolic mass spectrometry tests, we demonstrated that ALDOA modulated the biological characteristics and metabolic level of ICC cells depending on its enzymatic activity. In summary, ALDOA promotes ICC proliferation and migration by enhancing ICC cells glycolysis. Blocking enzymatic activity of ALDOA provides a strategy to inhibit ICC.     

Copy-Number Mutations on Chromosome 17q24.2-q24.3 in Congenital Generalized Hypertrichosis Terminalis with or without Gingival Hyperplasia

Congenital generalized hypertrichosis terminalis (CGHT) is a rare condition characterized by universal excessive growth of pigmented terminal hairs and often accompanied with gingival hyperplasia. In the present study, we describe three Han Chinese families with autosomal-dominant CGHT and a sporadic case with extreme CGHT and gingival hyperplasia. We first did a genome-wide linkage scan in a large four-generation family. Our parametric multipoint linkage analysis revealed a genetic locus for CGHT on chromosome 17q24.2-q24.3. Further two-point linkage and haplotyping with microsatellite markers from the same chromosome region confirmed the genetic mapping and showed in all the families a microdeletion within the critical region that was present in all affected individuals but not in unaffected family members. We then carried out copy-number analysis with the Affymetrix Genome-Wide Human SNP Array 6.0 and detected genomic microdeletions of different sizes and with different breakpoints in the three families. We validated these microdeletions by real-time quantitative PCR and confirmed their perfect cosegregation with the disease phenotype in the three families. In the sporadic case, however, we found a de novo microduplication. Two-color interphase FISH analysis demonstrated that the duplication was inverted. These copy-number variations (CNVs) shared a common genomic region in which CNV is not reported in the public database and was not detected in our 434 unrelated Han Chinese normal controls. Thus, pathogenic copy-number mutations on 17q24.2-q24.3 are responsible for CGHT with or without gingival hyperplasia. Our work identifies CGHT as a genomic disorder.     

Effects of exotic-native species relationship on naturalization and invasion of exotic plant species北大核心CSCD

Aims: Darwin's naturalization conundrum describes the paradox that the relationship of exotic species to native residents could either promote or hinder invasion success through opposing mechanisms: niche pre-adaptation or competitive interactions. Previous Darwin's naturalization studies have showed invasion success could vary at stages, sites, and spatial and phylogenetic scales. Our objective was to assess the effects of exotic-native species relationship on invasion process of exotic plant species in China, where related research is still lacking. Methods: Generalized linear mixed models were used to examine relationship between exotic-native species relationship and performance of exotic species at different spatial scale (provincial, municipal and community) and invasion stages (naturalization, dispersal and invasion). At community scale, we measured environmental factors of communities we investigated to control the effect of habitat heterogeneity among them. Important findings: At the provincial and municipal scales, exotic species closely related to native flora were more likely to be naturalized and distributed, which is more consistent with the expectation of the pre-adaptation hypothesis. On the community scale, the exotic-native species relationship was not related to establishment and abundance of exotic species in the community. The results suggested that exotic species did not strongly compete with their close native relatives in communities, but were better adapted to areas where their close relatives had lived. Considering their high potential of naturalization and invasion, special attention should be paid to those exotic species that closely related to the native flora in the management of invasive species. © Editorial Office of Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology. All rights reserved.     

Triptolide Induces Growth Inhibition and Apoptosis of Human Laryngocarcinoma Cells by Enhancing p53 Activities and Suppressing E6-Mediated p53 Degradation

Triptolide, an active compound extracted from Chinese herb Leigongteng (Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F.), shows a broad-spectrum of anticancer activity through its cytotoxicity. However, the efficacy of triptolide on laryngocarcinoma rarely been evaluated, and the mechanism by which triptolide-induced cellular apoptosis is still not well understood. In this study, we found that triptolide significantly inhibited the laryngocarcinoma HEp-2 cells proliferation, migration and survivability. Triptolide induces HEp-2 cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase and apoptosis through intrinsic and extrinsic pathways since both caspase-8 and -9 are activated. Moreover, triptolide enhances p53 expression by increasing its stability via down-regulation of E6 and E6AP. Increased p53 transactivates down-stream target genes to initiate apoptosis. In addition, we found that short time treatment with triptolide induced DNA damage, which was consistent with the increase in p53. Furthermore, the cytotoxicity of triptolide is decreased by p53 knockdown or use of caspases inhibitor. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that triptolide inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis in laryngocarcinoma cells by enhancing p53 expression and activating p53 functions through induction of DNA damage and suppression of E6 mediated p53 degradation. These studies indicate that triptolide is a potential anti-laryngocarcinoma drug.     

大斑啄木鸟取食行为的研究

大斑啄木鸟(Dendrocopos major)是左家地区的常见鸟类,对它的研究,国内有过一些报道。1990年4—5月,笔者对它的取食行为做了较为系统的观察,现整理报道如下。     

细菌耐药影响肠道菌群及其宿主免疫调控

抗生素在养殖业、医疗业及制药业的广泛应用导致环境中的细菌耐药性日益严重,环境中的抗生素及耐药细菌一旦进入人体肠道,将破坏肠道菌群稳态,对人体健康造成威胁,而残存于饮食中的环境污染物则加剧了细菌耐药造成的人体健康影响。文中在总结大量文献的基础上,阐述了细菌耐药对人体和动物肠道菌群的影响机制及其相关的机体免疫调控,以环境中影响人体肠道菌群获得耐药性的来源作为切入点,阐述抗生素和耐药细菌进入人体肠道后对人体肠道菌群结构和耐药基因组成的影响,以及与人体免疫和免疫调节相关疾病之间的相关机制,并对今后的研究方向进行了展望。     

中国鸭茅主栽品种DNA指纹图谱构建

利用SSR标记和SCoT标记构建了我国主栽的21个鸭茅品种的DNA指纹图谱。从180对SSR引物和80个SCoT引物中,筛选出多态性高、谱带清晰的SSR引物和SCoT引物各24个。24对SSR引物在供试材料中共检测到186个条带,其中多态性条带为175个,品种特异条带6个,平均多态性比率94.03%,多态性信息量均值0.845,Shannon指数变幅0.4479~0.6549,基因多样性指数变幅0.2946~0.4633,可鉴别的品种数2~21个;利用24个SCoT引物在供试材料中共检测到321个条带,其中多态性条带为249个,品种特异条带6个,平均多态性比率76.33%,多态性信息量均值0.907,Shannon指数变幅0.2588~0.6329,基因多样性指数变幅0.1695~0.4451,可鉴别的品种数1~21个;5对SSR引物和5个SCoT引物在10个品种上具有唯一特征谱带,最终综合各项指标筛选出5个引物(A01E14、A01K14、B03E14、D02K13和SCoT23)上的37个条带用于鸭茅品种DNA指纹图谱构建,数据库中每个品种均具有唯一DNA指纹编码,构建的DNA指纹数据可用于鸭茅品种真伪鉴定,为品种权保护提供了科学依据。     

ROS-Mediated Autophagy Induced by Dysregulation of Lipid Metabolism Plays a Protective Role in Colorectal Cancer Cells Treated with Gambogic Acid

Gambogic acid (GA), the main active component of gamboge resin, has potent antitumor activity both in vivo and in vitro. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we found that GA could initiate autophagy in colorectal cancer cells, and inhibition of the autophagy process accelerated the effect of proliferative inhibition and apoptotic cell death induced by GA, implying a protective role of autophagy. Two-dimensional electrophoresis-based proteomics showed that GA treatment altered the expression of multiple proteins involved in redox signaling and lipid metabolism. Functional studies revealed that GA-induced dysregulation of lipid metabolism could activate 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX), resulting in intracellular ROS accumulation, followed by inhibition of Akt-mTOR signaling and autophagy initiation. Finally, results using a xenograft model suggested ROS-induced autophagy protect against the antitumor effect of GA. Taken together, these data showed new biological activities of GA against colorectal cancer underlying the protective role of ROS-induced autophagy. This study will provide valuable insights for future studies regarding the anticancer mechanisms of GA.