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Objective To establish a new murine model of experimental autoimmune myositis by immunizing with MYBPC2 protein. Methods The purified Myosin-binding protein C, fast type (MYBPC2) was emulsified with complete Freundˊs adjuvant, then C57BL/6 mice were immunized by multi-point subcutaneous injection (0, 7 days), and intraperitoneal injection of pertussis toxin 2 μg simultaneously. The pathological changes of mice with different immunizing dose at the preconceived time were ex-plored. Mean-while, mice were immunized with 600 μg each time, and the muscle endurance was tested on the 21th day. The expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class-Ⅰ and the surface biomarkers of the inflammatory cells in muscle tissues were observed. Mann-Whitney U test was used for statistical analysis. Results ① With the increase of immunizing dosage, muscle damage and inflammation tended to be more serious. On the 21th and 28th day, muscle lesions were most significant. Muscle fiber degeneration and necrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration could be seen in the experimental group. ② Compared with the control group, muscle endurance of mice in the experimental group decreased significantly [(6.1 ±1.3) min versus (9.2±1.6) min, U=2.00, P=0.017]. The MHC class-Ⅰ on the muscle fiber surface of the experimental group was positive, scattered infiltration of CD4 +, CD8+ T ly-mphocytes and CD68 + macrophages between muscle fibers and around the vascular areas could be observed, and CD20+B lymphocytes mainly distributed in the area around the blood vessels, nevertheless rarely seen between muscle fibers. Conclusion Exper-imental autoimmune myositis models of mice have been successfully induced by immunizing with MYBPC2 in China for the first time, and similar clinical and pathological features of human polymyositis could be observed. This new model can be used for studying the pathogenesis of autoimmune myositis.
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Objective To investigate the relationship between the serum ferritin levels and disease activity of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).Methods One hundred and forty-six patients with SLE and 65 healthy volunteers were involved.Serum ferritin,C-reactive protein (CRP),erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and anti-double-stranded DNA antibodies (dsDNA) were measured in two groups.The activity of SLE was evaluated by systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index (SLEDAI) score.The data were recorded and analyzed.SPSS 19.0.statistical software was used in statistical analysis.Analysis of variance was employed in comparison between groups using,t test was used in further pairwise comparisons,Pearson correlation test was adopted to evaluate the correlation between two groups.Results The level of serum ferritin in patients with SLE group was significantly higher than that of control group (505.4 ±408.9) ng/ml and (72.4 ±42.8) ng/ml,respectively,t =6.67,P ＜0.01.57.5％ (84/146) patients with SLE had elevated serum ferritin.Patients with high SLEDAI scores had significantly higher ferritin concentrations than other patients (807.6 ± 412.3) ng/ml and (96.0 ± 44.7) ng/ml,t =6.56,P ＜0.01.The levels of serum ferritin in SLE patients were positively correlated with SLEDAI score and serum CRP (r =0.396,P ＜ 0.01 ; r =0.351,P ＜ 0.01),and it was not related with ESR or dsDNA (r =0.111,P=0.09;r =0.078,P =0.23).Conclusion The level of serum ferritin could reflect the disease activity of patients with SLE,and it might be used as a new biomarker for disease activity of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.
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Objective To evaluate the serum concentrations of estradiol and testosterone in hyperuricemia patients and possible correlations of the two factors and uric acid (UA) in hyperuricemia (HUA) patients.Methods This was a case control study.We involved 90 hyperuricemia patients,103 healthy controls.Estradiol,testosterone,UA,serum glucose,lipid profile,creatinine and body mass index (BMI) were estimated in two groups.The statistical analysis of the data were performed using SPSS version 19.0 software.The estradiol,testosterone,UA,serum glucose,lipid profile,serum creatinine and BMI levels between the two groups were compared using the Student's t-test.Pearson correlation test was used to assess the correlation between serum UA levels and these indexes.Results Serum levels of estradiol in healthy subjects and hyperuricemia patients were 82.2 (55.6-108.8) pmol/L,65.8 (36.6-95.0) pmol/L respectively ;the serum levels of UA were 300.8(207.2-394.4) μmol/L,426.9(370.1-483.7) μmol/L,respectively.The levels of estradiol were higher in the healthy control group than those in the hyperuricemia group.There were significant differences of estradiol levels between these two groups (P ＜ 0.05).Estradiol was negatively correlated with UA (r =-0.319,P ＜ 0.01),so was testosterone (r =-0.312,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusion The findings of the present study suggest that in hyperuricemia patients,there are associations between estradiol and UA and the levels of serum estradiol might be used as biomarkers in hyperuricemia.