核因子-κB与炎症

NF-κB是近年来研究较多的一类重要的转录因子,它参与许多与免疫炎症有关的细胞因子、粘附分子的转录调控,在免疫反应、炎症的形成过程中起重要作用.抑制NF-κB的活性,可能有助于炎症的治疗.     

种植牧草在白浆土改良中的作用

研究了农田生态系统中引种紫花苜蓿对土壤生态环境的影响。结果表明,紫花苜蓿种植3年以后,白浆土的通气孔隙增加2.37—5.34％,渗透系数增加0.7—5.5倍,土壤有机碳增加0.349—0.600％,作物产量平均提高25％。种植苜蓿比单种作物的产投比高0.36—0.39。     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Glycomyces halotolerans</Emphasis> sp. nov., a novel actinomycete isolated from a hypersaline habitat in Xinjiang,China

A novel actinomycete strain, designated TRM 40137^T, was isolated from a hypersaline habitat in Xinjiang Province, north-west China, and subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. The strain was aerobic, Gram-positive and the optimum NaCl concentration for growth was 4–5% (w/v). Phylogenetic analysis showed that strain TRM 40137^T has a 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of 95.02% with the described species Glycomyces sambucus E71^T and can be distinguished from all previously described representatives of the genus Glycomyces. The whole-cell sugar pattern consisted of xylose and galactose. The predominant menaquinone was MK-10(H₂) and the major fatty acids were anteiso-C15:0 and anteiso-C17:0. The phospholipid pattern consists of phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, three unknown aminophospholipids and two unknown phospholipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 68.8 mol%. A novel species Glycomyces halotolerans sp. nov. is proposed, with strain TRM 40137^T (=CCTCC AA 2010013^T = KCTC 19988^T) as the type strain of G. halotolerans.     

Rational design of an EGF-IL18 fusion protein: implication for developing tumor therapeutics

Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a proinflammatory cytokine. This protein has a role in regulating immune responses and exhibits significant anti-tumor activities. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) is an important growth factor that plays a central role in the regulation of cell cycle and differentiation. It was proposed that a targeted delivery of IL-18 by generation of IL-18-EGF fusion protein might decrease adverse effects and result in enhancing cytotoxic and antitumor activities. In the present study, a fusion protein, consisting of EGFR binding domain fused to human IL-18 mature peptide via a linker peptide of (Gly(4)Ser) 3, was constructed and expressed in the insect cell line Sf9 using Bac-to-Bac baculovirus expression system. We showed that the purified recombinant fusion protein induced similar levels of IFN-gamma to that of native IL-18 protein in human PBMC in the presence of ConA. Furthermore, EGF receptor competitive test in human epithelial cancer A431 cell line showed that EGF-IL18 fusion protein can specifically bind with EGFR by competing with native EGF protein. These suggest that this rationally designed protein can be further developed as novel tumor therapeutics.     

Alterations in myocardial gene expression associated with experimental Trypanosoma cruzi infection

Chagas disease, characterized by acute myocarditis and chronic cardiomyopathy, is caused by infection with the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. We sought to identify genes altered during the development of parasite-induced cardiomyopathy. Microarrays containing 27,400 sequence-verified mouse cDNAs were used to analyze global gene expression changes in the myocardium of a murine model of chagasic cardiomyopathy. Changes in gene expression were determined as the acute stage of infection developed into the chronic stage. This analysis was performed on the hearts of male CD-1 mice infected with trypomastigotes of T. cruzi (Brazil strain). At each interval we compared infected and uninfected mice and confirmed the microarray data with dye reversal. We identified eight distinct categories of mRNAs that were differentially regulated during infection and identified dysregulation of several key genes. These data may provide insight into the pathogenesis of chagasic cardiomyopathy and provide new targets for intervention.