The Role of Pentraxin 3 in Aspergillosis: Reality and Prospects

Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is a soluble pattern recognition receptor (PRR), which is produced by severalkinds of cells, such as neutrophils, dendritic cells, macrophages, and epithelial cells.PTX3 is known to play an important protective effect against Aspergillus. Genetic linkage ingene-targeted mice and human PTX3 plays a non-redundant role in the immune protectionagainst specific pathogens, especially Aspergillus. Recent studies have shown that the polymorphismof PTX3 is associated with increased susceptibility to invasive aspergillosis (IA). Inthis review, we provide an overview of these studies that underline the potential of PTX3 indiagnosis and therapy of IA.

The Role of Pentraxin 3 in Aspergillosis: Reality and Prospects

Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is a soluble pattern recognition receptor (PRR), which is produced by severalkinds of cells, such as neutrophils, dendritic cells, macrophages, and epithelial cells.PTX3 is known to play an important protective effect against Aspergillus. Genetic linkage ingene-targeted mice and human PTX3 plays a non-redundant role in the immune protectionagainst specific pathogens, especially Aspergillus. Recent studies have shown that the polymorphismof PTX3 is associated with increased susceptibility to invasive aspergillosis (IA). Inthis review, we provide an overview of these studies that underline the potential of PTX3 indiagnosis and therapy of IA.

Accurate Understanding of Pathological Profile in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus With Liver Damage / 胃肠病学

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)is a prototypic autoimmune disease characterized by multisystemic organ involvement and production of multiple autoantibodies. The clinical manifestations of patients varied,ranging from mild joint pain and skin involvement to life-threatening internal organs involvement. In clinical practice,it is not common to have severe liver damage or even fulminant hepatic failure due to SLE disease itself. Liver is not the main organ to be involved in SLE,but abnormal elevation of liver enzyme is common in SLE. Liver biopsy is the gold standard for definite diagnosis. This article summarized the current reports of SLE with liver damage and analyzed the pathological changes of liver lesions due to SLE disease itself for improving the understanding of histopathology profile of SLE complicated with liver damage.

Clinical characteristics of patients with macrophage activation syndrome secondary to adult-onset Still's disease / 上海交通大学学报（医学版）

Objective· To investigate the clinical features of macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) associated with adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD),and provide the basis for clinical diagnosis and treatment of the disease.Methods· The clinical data of 42 patients with AOSD,including 14 patients with AOSD-induced MAS (the MAS group) and 28 AOSD patients paired by age and sex (the non-MAS group),diagnosed in Department of Rheumatology,Renji Hospital,Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from October 2013 to June 2016 were collected and then retrospectively analyzed.Results· There was no significant difference in age,sex and duration of AOSD between two groups.The mortality rate of patients in MAS group was significantly higher than that of patients in non-MAS group,as well as the rates of rash,splenomegaly and hemophagocytosis.The levels of ALT and serum ferritin in MAS group were higher than those in non-MAS group,while the level of FDP is lower.Glucocorticoids were used in all 42 patients,and the dosage of glucocorticoids was significantly higher in MAS group than non-MAS group.Only 1 patient with AOSD-induced MAS received MTX,the percentage of patients receiving MTX was significantly lower in MAS group than non-MAS group.Five patients with AOSD-induced MAS received IVIG,the percentage of patients receiving IVIG was significantly higher in MAS group than non-MAS group.Two patients with AOSD-induced MAS received VP-16.Conclusion · The mortality rate of patients in MAS group was significantly higher than that of patients in non-MAS group,as well as the rates of rash,splenomegaly and hemophagocytosis.The levels of ALT and serum ferritin in patients with AOSD-induced MAS were higher than patients without MAS,while the level of FDP was lower.Early diagnosis and active treatment is the key point to improve clinical outcome.

The relationship between disease-related risk factors and premature atherosclerosis in systemic lupus erythematosus / 中华风湿病学杂志

Objective To evaluate the prevalence of atherosclerosis in Chinese premenopausal women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and study possible associations between non-traditional risk factors with premature atherosclerosis. Methods One hundred and eleven premenopausal women with SLE and 40 healthy controls without clinical cardiovascular disease were evaluated. B-mode ultrasonography was used to measure carotid plaque and intima-media wall thickness( IMT). The relationship between the patients' clinical characteristics and carotid plaque was examined. At the same time, B-mode ultrasound was used to measure flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and nitroglycerin-mediated dilation (NMD) in the brachial artery. Using this method, the difference in endothelial function between SLE patients and controls was assessed. T-test,χ2 test and logistic regression were used for statistical analysis. Results Carotid plaque was more frequently observed in patients with SLE (16 of 111 patients) than in control subjects (0 of 40 subjects) (P=0.007). The mean IMT (m-IMT) (0.62 mm vs 0.45 mm, P<0.01) and maximum IMT(M-IMT) (0.7 mm vs 0.6 mm, P<0.01) was significantly higher in patients than in controls. As compared with patients without plaque, patients with plaque were significantly older, had longer disease duration, higher body mass index (BMI), higher blood pressure, shorter prothrombin time, elevated C-reactive protein level, higher SLICC score, higher cumulative prednisone dose, less hydroxychloroquine accumulated dosage, higher m-IMT and M-IMT, lower FMD and NMD. In logistic regression analysis, older age (P=0.012, OR=1.137), higher BMI (P=0.051, OR=1.205) and higher SLICC score (P=0.000, OR=2.888) were independently related to the presence of plaque. Conclusion SLE patients have higher prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis plaque than healthy controls and the age at onset is younger than controls. In addition to traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease, SLE itself and disease related factors play important roles in premature atherosclerosis in SLE. SLE patients have significant endothelial dysfunction. Thus, endothelial dysfunction can be regarded as one manifestation of premature atherosclerosis in SLE.

A multicenter,double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, phase Ⅲ clinical study of etanercept in treatment of ankylosing spondylitis / 中华内科杂志

Objective To evaluate the short-term efficacy and safety of etanercept treatment in Chinese patients with active ankylosing spondylitis ( AS ). Methods This was a 12-week multicenter,double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized phase Ⅲ clinical study. The first part was a 6-week placebocontrolled period followed by a 6-week open-label period. The primary efficacy endpoint was the percentage of subjects achieving a 20% improvement in assessment in ankylosing spondylitis (ASAS) ( ASAS 20). The secondary efficacy endpoints were the percentage of patients achieving a 40% improvement in ASAS (ASAS 40), achieving a 50% improvement in ASAS( ASAS 50), achieving a 70% improvement in ASAS (ASAS 70), and ASAS 5/6 responses at all visits, and the improvement in subject global assessment,physician global assessment, nocturnal and total back pain, bath AS functional index ( BASFI ), bath AS disease activity index (BASDAI), spinal mobility, joint assessment and quality of life assessment. All subjects in the study were evaluated for safety. Results The primary endpoint, ASAS 20 at week 6, was achieved by 86. 5% (64/74) patients in the etanercept group compared to 29. 5% (23/78) patients in the placebo group(P ＜0. 001 ). As early as week 2, the percentages of patients achieving the ASAS 20 between the two groups were significantly different. Furthermore, the majority of secondary efficacy end points were also significantly improved. Most of adverse events (AE) were mild in nature, the commonest adverse events were elevated liver function levels, injection site reactions and nasopharyngitis. No death or serious AE were observed. Conclusion Etanercept can improve symptoms fastly,significantly and safely in Chinese patients with active AS.

Transfection, overexpression and clinical application of human 60 kDa Ro/SSA autoantigens in HEp-2 cells / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To develop an improved substrate for indirect immunofluorescence test (IIF) for detecting anti-Ro60/Sjogren's syndrome A (Ro/SSA) autoantibodies.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>60-kDa Ro/SSA autoantigens (Ro60) cDNAs were obtained from human placental cDNA library using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and were cloned into the mammalian expression vector-pEGFP-C1. Then, the recombinant plasmids were transfected into HEp-2 cells. We confirmed the overexpression, localization and antigenicity of fusion proteins in transfected cells by means of immunoblotting, confocal fluorescence microscopy and IIF. HEp-2 and HEp-Ro60 were analyzed by IIF using a panel of 10 precipitin-positive anti-Ro human sera simultaneously.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Stable expression of Ro60-green fluorescent protein (Ro60-GFP) fusion proteins were maintained ten more generations. Ro60-GFP kept the antigenicity of Ro while demonstrating its own characteristic immunofluorescent pattern in HEp-Ro60 cells. The transfectants dramatically increased the sensitivity of IIF testing (a mean increase of 6.7-fold in endpoint titer). Eight over ten (8/10) positive anti-Ro sera showed characteristic immunofluorescent patterns for HEp-Ro60, including two sera that were anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA) negative for untransfected HEp-2. IIF-ANA in all healthy sera was negative for HEp-Ro60.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>As a new substrate for IIF, the Ro60 transfectants can be used to detect anti-Ro antibodies. In addition, transfected HEp-2 cells keep the immunofluorescent properties of HEp-2 cells in IIF-ANA tests and can be employed as a substrate for routine IIF-ANA detection.</p>