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Objective:To investigate the effects of Bcl3 gene knockout on the composition of spleen immune cells and antitumor ability of mice.Methods:Bcl3 gene knockout mice (Bcl3 -/-) were established by CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology. Blood routine test and flow cytometry were used to detect the immune cell composition in Bcl3 -/- mice. Lung metastasis models were established by injecting mice with B16F10 melanoma cells. The number of tumor nodules in lung and the survival time of mice were used to assess the antitumor ability of wild-type (WT) and Bcl3 -/- mice. Results:Bcl3 -/- mice were successfully bred to a strain with normal growth rate and normal breeding performance. Furthermore, no embryonic death occurred. Compared with WT mice, Bcl3 -/- mice showed splenomegaly and a significant increase in the number of spleen immune cells ( P<0.05). The counts and percentages of platelets and neutrophils in Bcl3 -/- mice were significantly lower than those in WT mice. The proportion of CD19 + B cells showed no significant change, while the proportions of CD3 + T cells and T cell subsets (CD4 + , CD8 + , Treg) increased significantly ( P<0.05). The proportions of NK cells (NK1.1 + ) and neutrophils (Gr1 + ) decreased ( P<0.05), while no significant change in the proportion of DC (CD11b + ) was observed. There were a large number of tumor nodules formed by melanoma cells in the lung of Bcl3 -/- tumor bearing mice, and their survival time was shortened dramatically. Conclusions:Knockout of Bcl3 gene affected the development, differentiation and function of immune cells, thereby reducing the antitumor ability of mice.
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OBJECTIVE@#To analyze clinical phenotype and genetic variants in a Chinese pedigree of hereditary leiomyomatosis and renal cell carcinoma (HLRCC) syndrome.@*METHODS@#Whole exome sequencing was carried out for the proband from the pedigree. Suspected FH gene variants were validated by Sanger sequencing. Clinical manifestation and histopathological examination were used to analyze the pedigree comprehensively.@*RESULTS@#The pedigree met the clinical diagnostic criteria for HLRCC syndrome. The whole exome sequencing showed that the FH gene of the proband had a heterozygous missense variant of c.1490T>C (p.F497S), which was consistent with the Sanger sequencing. The mother, daughter and son of the proband all had the heterozygous missense variant of c.1490T>C (p.F497S). According to the American Society of Medical Genetics and Genomics Classification Standards and Guidelines for Genetic Variations, c.1490T>C (p.F497S) (PM2+PP1-M+PP3+PP4) was a possible pathogenic variant. Based on our literature search, this variant was a new variant that had not been reported.@*CONCLUSION@#The FH gene missense variant of c.1490T>C (p.F497S) may be the cause of the HLRCC syndrome pedigree, which provides a basis for the genetic diagnosis and genetic counseling of the HLRCC syndrome.
Subject(s)
Humans , Carcinoma, Renal Cell/genetics , Kidney Neoplasms/genetics , Leiomyomatosis/pathology , Mutation , Neoplastic Syndromes, Hereditary , Pedigree , Phenotype , Skin Neoplasms , Uterine NeoplasmsABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effects of human adult T lymphoblastic leukemia virus typeⅠ (HTLV-1) infection on the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitochondrial damage in host cells. Methods A cell model of HTLV-1 infection was established by co-culturing HTLV-1-positive cell line MT2 with HeLa cells. ROS, mitochondrial membrane potential ( MMP) and total mitochondria were detected using specific fluorescence probe labeling method. Cell apoptosis was detected by Annexin V-FITC/PI method. Western blot was performed to detect viral proteins Tax and p19, as well as mitochondrial pro-teins TIM23 and TOM20. After the treatment of MT2 cells with different concentrations of reverse transcrip-tion inhibitors ( ZDV) , relative viral loads were detected by quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot, and the mass of mitochondria was analyzed by flow cytometry. Results After co-culturing HeLa cells with MT2 cells for 24 h, the ROS level in host cells increased without obvious cell apoptosis, while the mitochon-drial membrane potential, mitochondrial protein expression and total mitochondria decreased significantly. When the replication of HTLV-1 in MT2 cells was inhibited by ZDV, the ROS level and total mitochondria increased. Conclusions HTLV-1 infection can cause oxidative stress in host cells, resulting in mitochon-drial damage. Autophagy might be activated to degrade mitochondrial damage and maintain cell homeostasis during the infection.
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OBJECTIVE@#To explore the prevalence and characteristics of chromosomal abnormalities in abortuses during early pregnancy with single nucleotide polymorphism microarray (SNP-array).@*METHODS@#For 520 abortuses, copy number variations (CNVs) in chorionic villi were analyzed with SNP-array.@*RESULTS@#In 510 (98.1%) of the samples, the analysis was successful. Among these, 57.6% (294/510) of the samples were found to harbor clinically significant chromosomal abnormalities. 38.8% of the samples (198/510) had a normal result. 2.4% (12/510) of the samples harbored benign CNVs, and 1.2% (6/510) harbored variants of uncertain significance (VOUS). Aneuploidies, polyploidies, pathogenic CNVs and uniparental disomies (UPD) had accounted for 75.2% (221/294), 13.9% (41/294), 8.2% (24/294), and 2.7% (8/294) of the samples, respectively. 45,XO was the most common finding, which was followed by trisomy 16 and trisomy 22. 69,XXY was the most common polyploidy.@*CONCLUSION@#Chromosomal abnormalities are the main cause for early miscarriage, among which aneuploidies are most common. The prevalence of aneuploidies is significantly increased among women over 35. SNP-array analysis has the advantage of high success rate, high resolution and great accuracy, but the clinical significance of microdeletions/microduplications found by SNP-array can be difficult for interpretation.
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Pregnancy , Chorionic Villi , Chromosome Aberrations , Chromosome Disorders , DNA Copy Number Variations , Genetic Testing , Karyotyping , Polymorphism, Single NucleotideABSTRACT
Objective@#To investigate the effects of human adult T lymphoblastic leukemia virus typeⅠ (HTLV-1) infection on the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitochondrial damage in host cells.@*Methods@#A cell model of HTLV-1 infection was established by co-culturing HTLV-1-positive cell line MT2 with HeLa cells. ROS, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and total mitochondria were detected using specific fluorescence probe labeling method. Cell apoptosis was detected by Annexin V-FITC/PI method. Western blot was performed to detect viral proteins Tax and p19, as well as mitochondrial proteins TIM23 and TOM20. After the treatment of MT2 cells with different concentrations of reverse transcription inhibitors (ZDV), relative viral loads were detected by quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot, and the mass of mitochondria was analyzed by flow cytometry.@*Results@#After co-culturing HeLa cells with MT2 cells for 24 h, the ROS level in host cells increased without obvious cell apoptosis, while the mitochondrial membrane potential, mitochondrial protein expression and total mitochondria decreased significantly. When the replication of HTLV-1 in MT2 cells was inhibited by ZDV, the ROS level and total mitochondria increased.@*Conclusions@#HTLV-1 infection can cause oxidative stress in host cells, resulting in mitochondrial damage. Autophagy might be activated to degrade mitochondrial damage and maintain cell homeostasis during the infection.
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Objective To investigate the value of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technique for genetic analysis of spontaneous abortion. Methods From January to June 2017, 154 patients who visited the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University for spontaneous abortion were enrolled. All abortion tissue samples were analyzed by both NGS combined with short tandem repeat (STR) and single nucleotide polymorphism array (SNP-array). Results of the two methods were compared by Chi-square or Fisher's exact test. Results (1) Chromosomal abnormalities were detected in 109 of the 154 cases (70.7%), including 52 (47.7%) of numerical chromosomal abnormalities, 49 (45.0%) of structural chromosomal abnormalities, six (5.5%) of mosaicism, and two (1.8%) of uniparental disomy (UPD). In those 52 cases of numerical chromosome abnormalities, there were 45 of chromosome aneuploidy and seven of polyploidy. The top three numerical chromosomal abnormalities were 45,X (27.0%, 14/52), trisomy 22 (9.6%, 5/52) and trisomy 16 (7.7%, 4/52). Forty-nine structural abnormality cases carried 67 copy number variations (CNV), including 13 pathogenic CNV (pCNV, 19.4%), 24 variants of unknown clinical significance (35.8%) and 30 benign CNV (44.8%). In those 13 pCNVs, two were responsible for microdeletion and microduplication syndromes. (2) SNP-array was successful in 152 cases, but failed in two (1.3%) due to genomic DNA <200 ng. However, NGS technology was successful in all 154 cases and identified chromosomal abnormalities in the two cases that SNP-array had failed. No statistically significant difference was shown in the detection rate of chromosomal abnormalities between SNP-array and NGS technology [70.4% (107/152) vs 67.5% (104/154), χ2=0.293, P=0.588]. (3) No significant difference in the detection of chromosome aneuploidy (six cases in each group, 3.9% vs 3.9%) and mosaicism (45 cases in each group, 29.2% vs 29.6%) was found between NGS technology and SNP-array. Three cases of polyploidy (69, XXX) and two of UPD were identified by SNP-array, but not by NGS. When combined with STR, NGS was able to detect all three cases of polyploidy (69, XXX). (4) Forty-seven structural abnormality cases detected by SNP-array carried 53 CNVs, and 49 detected by NGS carried 67 CNVs. (5) NGS detected ten, three and one more CNVs than SNP-array did when the genome lengths were 100-<500, 500-<1 000 and ≥1 000 kb, respectively. Conclusions NGS can be used to detect chromosomal aneuploidy and mosaicism that can be identified by SNP-array with fewer limitations on total amount of genome. Moreover, CNVs that fail to be identified by SNP-array can also be detected by NGS. When combined with STR, NGS can effectively detect chromosomal polyploidy. Therefore, NGS could be a potential genetic analysis method for spontaneous abortion and of importance for genetic counseling.
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Objective@#To investigate the value of single nucleotide polymorphism array (SNP-array) for fetuses with abnormal ultrasound findings.@*Method@#A total of 904 fetuses with abnormal ultrasound findings were enrolled in this study from May 2015 to November 2017, and 434 (48.0%) cases received conventional karyotyping analysis at the same time. According to different abnormal ultrasound category, 904 cases were divided into 5 groups: 280 cases (31.0%) in single system structural anomalies, 31 cases (3.4%) in multiple system structural anomalies, 331 cases (36.6%) in single ultrasound soft marker abnormalities without structural anomalies, 107 cases (11.8%) in multiple soft marker abnormalities and 155 cases (17.2%) in structural abnormalities combined with soft markers abnormalities. Abnormal detection rates by SNP-array among 5 groups of abnormal ultrasound category were calculated.@*Result@#(1) Total SNP-array results: 171 (19.0%) cases out of 904 cases analyzed by SNP-array, presented chromosomal abnormalities. Pathogenic copy number variants were detected in 27 cases (3.0%) and variants of unknown significance were detected in 81 cases (7.8%) . In addition, 7 cases (26.0%) were found with new mutation by parental validation. (2) SNP-array of 5 groups: among the 5 groups of abnormal ultrasound category, chromosomal abnormalities were identified by SNP-array in 19.3% (54/280) with single system structural abnormalities, 25.8% (8/31) with multiple system structural abnormalities, 13.9% (46/331) with single nonstructural anomalies, 19.6% (21/107) with multiple nonstructural anomalies and 27.1% (42/155) with structural abnormalities combined with nonstructural anomalies. The differences were significant (P=0.010) . No chromosome abnormalities was identified in single soft marker abnormalities, such as choroid plexus cysts, echogenic foci in the heart, single umbilical artery and pyelectasis. (3) Chromosomal abnormalities: the abnormal detection rate of aneuploidy chromosomal abnormalities by SNP-array increased with the maternal age, decreased with the gestational weeks (all P<0.05) . However, the pathogenic copy number variants and variants of unknown significance rates did not change with maternal age and gestational weeks (all P>0.05) . (4) SNP-array and karyotyping: 434 cases were analyzed by conventional karyotyping and SNP-array respectively, 10.3% (43/419) of which presented chromosomal abnormalities by conventional karyotyping and 18.7% (81/434) of which presented chromosomal abnormalities by SNP-array.@*Conclusions@#SNP-array could be a useful genetic analysis method in prenatal diagnosis for fetuses with abnormal ultrasound findings. For different abnormal ultrasound category, SNP-array has different detection rate. Compared with conventional karyotyping analysis, SNP-array can improve the detection rates for chromosomal abnormalities and find the chromosome abnormalities which can′t be detected by conventional karyotyping analysis. In clinical prenatal genetic counseling, SNP-array should be selected rationally in combination with the various abnormal ultrasound category.