Effects of Xuebijing Injection on serum CRP, TNF-α and IL-6 levels in patients with severe acute organophosphorus pesticide poisoning / 中成药

AIM To explore the effects of Xuebijing Injection (Carthami Flos,Salviae miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma,Paeoniae Radix Rubra,etc.) on serum CRP,TNF-α and IL-6 levels in patients with severe acute organophosphorus pesticide poisoning (AOPP).METHODS Seventy-two cases of patients with AOPP treated from Jan 2014 to Mar 2016 in the emergency department of our hospital were randomly divided into two groups,the control group treated with atropine,pralidoxime chloride and conventional treatment,and the observation group combined with Xuebijing Injection.The dynamic changes of serum CRP,TNF-α and IL-6 levels,and clinical curative effects were compared between the two groups.RESULTS The serum CRP,TNF-α and IL-6 levels in the two groups were decreased in turn before the treatment,at the 3rd,7th days after the treatment,and the serum CRP,TNF-α and IL-6 levels in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group;the dosage of atropine,time of cholinesterase activity recovered 60％ and hospital stay in the observation group were significantly less than those in the control group;the rebound rate of the observation group was lower than that of the control group.The acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) rate in the observation group was significantly lower than that in the control group.All the differences had statistical significances (P ＜ 0.05).CONCLUSION Xuebijing Injection can effectively inhibit the inflammatory response,reduce the incidence of complications,shorten the course,and improve the clinical efficacy in the treatment of patients with AOPP.

Effect of IGFBP7 overexpression on proliferation of human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells / 中国医师杂志

Objective To present study was to investigate the effects of insulin-like growth factor binding protein 7 (IGFBP7)on the proliferation of human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells.Methods Human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells was cultured,and plasmid pIRES2-ZsGreen1-IGFBP7 or empty plasmid was transfected into HepG2 cells and the cell transfection efficiency was examined by fluores-cence microscopy;MTT was performed to evaluate the effect of IGFBP7 on proliferation and apoptosis of HepG2 cells in 48 hours after transfection.Results IGFBP7 transfected group decreased cell proliferation noticeably.Conclusions Overexpression of IGFBP7 can down-regulte the proliferation of human hepatocel-lular carcinoma HepG2 cells.

The putative propeptide of MycP1 in mycobacterial type VII secretion system does not inhibit protease activity but improves protein stability

Mycosin-1 protease (MycP1) is a serine protease anchored to the inner membrane of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and is essential in virulence factor secretion through the ESX-1 type VII secretion system (T7SS). Bacterial physiology studies demonstrated that MycP1 plays a dual role in the regulation of ESX-1 secretion and virulence, primarily through cleavage of its secretion substrate EspB. MycP1 contains a putative N-terminal inhibitory propeptide and a catalytic triad of Asp-His-Ser, classic hallmarks of a subtilase family serine protease. The MycP1 propeptide was previously reported to be initially inactive and activated after prolonged incubation. In this study, we have determined crystal structures of MycP1 with (MycP1²⁴⁻⁴²²) and without (MycP1⁶³⁻⁴²²) the propeptide, and conducted EspB cleavage assays using the two proteins. Very high structural similarity was observed in the two crystal structures. Interestingly, protease assays demonstrated positive EspB cleavage for both proteins, indicating that the putative propeptide does not inhibit protease activity. Molecular dynamic simulations showed higher rigidity in regions guarding the entrance to the catalytic site in MycP1²⁴⁻⁴²² than in MycP1⁶³⁻⁴²², suggesting that the putative propeptide might contribute to the conformational stability of the active site cleft and surrounding regions.

GPCR-G? fusion protein and its applications on ligand screening of orphan G protein-coupled receptors / 中国药理学通报

GPCR-G alpha fusion protein has been used to investig ate receptors in recent years. The expression of GPCR-G alpha fusion protein en sured defined 1∶1 stoichiometry, the physical proximity of GPCR to G alpha subu nit, and was suitable for high-throughput ligand screening. The fusion protein technology provided a novel strategy to study orphan GPCRs. Obviously, it will p lay important roles in ligand screening of the orphan GPCRs and exert its signif icances in the R&D of novel drugs targeted at oGPCRs.