Research Progress on the Molecular Mechanisms of Toxicology of Ethanol-Aconitine Induced Arrhythmia / 法医学杂志

Aconitum is one of the most widely used Chinese herbal medicines, and aconitine is the major toxic component in it. Aconitine can induce a variety of arrhythmias, resulting in death. Acute ethanol consumption causes arrhythmia as well. Poisoning cases caused by aconitum medicinal liquor are frequently encountered in the practice of forensic medicine. The molecular mechanisms of myocardial toxicity of these two drugs have much in common, and both of them affect the sodium channel, calcium channel and potassium channel of myocardial cell membrane and so on. This paper analyzes and discusses the possible co-effects of ethanol-aconitine on cardiomyocyte channel proteins, by reviewing researches on the mechanism of cardiotoxicity of ethanol and aconitine in recent years, in order to provide ideas and references for the research on the molecular mechanism of arrhythmia caused by combined poisoning.

Sijunzi Tang improves the efficacy of gefitinib through pre-metastatic niche / 药学学报

The Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) metastatic mouse model was used to investigate the effects of gefitinib and Sijunzi Tang (SJZ) on pre-metastatic niche. The experimental protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee which belongs to Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. To generate spontaneous lung metastatic models, 1×106 luciferase-labeled LLC cells were injected subcutaneously in the shaved right flank of mice. One day after LLC inoculation, the mice were randomly divided into model (saline), gefitinib (50 mg·kg-1) treatment, SJZ treatment (25.74 g·kg-1), and co-treatment gefitinib with SJZ groups, with intragastrical administration. After 14 days of continuous administration, tumor size was detected by IVIS® Spectrum system. The number of monocytes and neutrophils and the expression levels of chemokine receptors (CXCR1, CCR2) and carcinogenic gene (c-Kit), in peripheral blood, spleen and lung tissues of mice were determined by flow cytometry. The contents of interleukin-IL-1α (IL-1α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were detected by the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). After 21 days of treatment, tumors were surgically removed, weighed and the tumor volume was measured with vernier caliper and the antitumor effect of co-administration was evaluated. After 45 days of administration, the survival of mice was recorded. The results of flow cytometry showed that the percentage of neutrophils in gefitinib group, SJZ group, and co-treatment group was significantly decreased in the lung tissue compared to the model group (P<0.05 or P<0.01), but there was no significant difference between three treatment groups (P>0.05). In the mouse peripheral blood and lung tissue, compared with the model group, the expression levels of CXCR1, CCR2 and c-Kit on the surface of neutrophils and monocytes in SJZ group and co-treatment group decreased or decreased significantly (P<0.01 or P<0.05). However, there was a significant increase in the expression level of c-Kit on the surface of monocytes (P<0.05). In the mouse spleen tissue, the expression levels of CXCR1, CCR2 and c-Kit in the gefitinib group increased significantly (P<0.05), while decreased significantly in SJZ or co-treatment group (P<0.05). The results of ELISA showed that the content of IL-1α in SJZ group decreased significantly in the plasma of the mice compared with the model group (P<0.01) and the content of IL-6 in co-treatment group decreased significantly (P<0.05). Compared with the gefitinib group, the content of IL-1 in the co-treatment group decreased significantly (P<0.05). In the tumor tissues of mice, compared with the model group, the content of IL-1α in the co-treatment group decreased significantly (P<0.05). Furthermore, the content of IL-1α in co-administrated group and IL-6 in SJZ or co-treatment group decreased significantly compared with the gefitinib group (P<0.05). After 21 days of continuous administration, the tumor inhibition rates of gefitinib group, SJZ group and co-administrated group were 45.7%, 38.4%, and 84.8%, respectively. After 45 days of administration, the survival rate of the model group was 0%, whereas the gefitinib, SJZ or co-treatment group has a survival rate of 40%, 60%, or 60%, respectively. In summary, our study illustrated that Sijunzi Tang could improve the anti-tumor effect of gefitinib by regulating pre-metastatic niche.

The inhibitory effects of YZG-330/YZG-331 on central nervous system / 中国药理学通报

Aim To investigate the inhibitory effects of the novel compounds YZG-330 and YZG-331 in central nervous system. Methods The sedative effect was investigated by recording the spontaneous locomotor ac-tivity in mice. The hypnotic effect was evaluated by the latency and duration of the loss of righting reflex ( LORR) in the threshold dosage of sodium pentobarbi-tal treated mice. The two compounds induced the mice that had woken up after a threshold dosage pentobarbi-tal sodium to fall asleep again. The levels of GABA and Glu in brain were measured by HPLC-ECD. Re-sults The results showed that spontaneous locomotor activities decreased in YZG-330 (0.125, 0.5,2 mg·kg-1 ) treated mice and YZG-331 (1.25, 5, 20 mg· kg-1 ) treated mice. YZGs could extend the duration of the loss of righting reflex in threshold dosage of sodium pentobarbital treated mice, and significantly shorten sleep latency. YZGs were able to allow the mice that had woken up after a threshold dosage pentobarbital so-dium to fall asleep again. YZG-331 (40 mg·kg-1 ,i. g. ) could significantly increase GABA level in hypo-thalamus and cerebral cortex. The content of GABA had no significant change after YZG-330 ( 2 mg · kg-1 , ig. ) administration. Conclusions YZG-330 and YZG-331 have potent sedative and hypnotic effects. The efficacy of YZG-330 is stronger than that of YZG-331 , but the mechanism of two compounds sounds different.

To improve health care management of non-communicable disease in all phases in Shanghai, through system establishment and integration of treatment and prevention / 上海预防医学

Non-communicable disease ( NCD) is the major threat to citizens in public health.Under the leadership of local authorities and in accordance with rules and regulations, the Shanghai Municipal Government is undertaking the responsibility of establishing public health system, developing national model city of NCD prevention and control, integrating NCD treatment and prevention approaches, innovating new model of communication, motivating healthy lifestyle, and promoting “Internet +”practice, so as to improve health care management of NCD in all phases.

Progress in Stress Cardiomyopathy and Its Forensic Application / 法医学杂志

Stress cardiomyopathy is an atypical myocardial disease induced by emotional or physical stress, with the characteristic of left ventricular systolic dysfunction, transient imaging and electrocardiogram (ECG) changes. Sudden cardiac death can occur in severe cases. Clinical symptoms are likely to appear on acute myocardial infarction, but the exact pathological mechanism is unclear. In the present study, we perform a systematic review of the literature on the clinical manifestations, epidemiological characteristics, ECG, imaging and laboratory tests of stress cardiomyopathy, in order to provide the values for forensic pathology diagnosis.

Hepatitis B virus X protein regulates the mEZH2 promoter via the E2F1-binding site in AML12 cells / 癌症

Histone lysine methyltransferase EZH2 has been reported to be frequently overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues and associated with hepatocarcinogenesis. However, the exact mechanism of EZH2 up-regulation in HCC has not been determined. In this study, we used murine hepatocyte AML12 cells to investigate the role of hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) in regulating the expression of mEZH2. Western blot analysis demonstrated that the expression level of mEZH2 protein in AML12 cells was up-regulated by HBx in a dose-dependent manner. To further investigate the mechanism of mEZH2 overexpression, the 2500 bp regulatory sequence upstream from the first exon of the mEZH2 gene was amplified from AML12 genomic DNA and constructed into a luciferase reporter plasmid. The luciferase activity of the mEZH2 promoter significantly increased in AML12 cells co-transfected with HBx plasmid, and deleting the -486/-214 promoter region decreased HBx-induced mEZH2 promoter activation by nearly 50%. The -486/-214 region was then analyzed in the TRANSFAC 6.0 database and a typical E2F1-binding site was found. Mutation of this E2F1-binding site or knockdown of E2F1 expression by RNAi led to a dramatic decrease in HBx-induced activation of the mEZH2 promoter and mEZH2 overexpression in AML12 cells. These results provide evidence that HBx up-regulates mEZH2 expression by transactivating the mEZH2 promoter through E2F1 transcription factor, thereby providing new epigenetic evidence for the carcinogenic effect of HBx.

Cloning NS1 gene of H5N1 avian influenza virus and apoptosis induced by it in human pulmonary carcinoma cell line A549 / 病毒学报

The NS1 gene of the H5N1 subtype avian influenza virus was amplified by RT-PCR, and the am-plified product was cloned into the eukaryotic expression vector pCMV-Myc, then it was transfected into A549 cells. After 48 h, the expression of NS1 was detected by Western blot. Fluorescence and electron microscopy and flow cytometry showed that the NS1 gene of H5N1 avian influenza virus could induce apop-tosis in human pulmonary carcinoma cell line A549.

Construction, expression and preliminary pharmacokinetic analysis of IL-1ra mutants / 生物工程学报

Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra), a member of IL-1 family, is a naturally occurring IL-1 inhibitor as "receptor antagonist", which blocks biological responses mediated by IL-1. Recombinant human IL-1ra (rhIL-1ra, Kineret) was introduced in clinical trials involving patients with RA. Between 2001 to approximately 2002, rhIL-1 ra was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicine Procedure. Unfortunately, 10,000 to 100,000-fold excess amounts of IL-1ra are needed to relieve disease because minimal IL-1 can induce complete biological responses, and the dosage of 100 to approximately 150mg/day in a RA patient is so big that it greatly influence patients' physical, psychological and economical situation. In this study, IL-1ra mutants were established by site-specific mutagenesis to improve its stability. The sites of mutagenesis included R6 K7-AA,R93 K94-AA and K97 R98-AA. IL-1ra and its mutants were expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3) using pTIG-Trx expressing system with the induction of IPTG. The recombinant proteins were purified by Ni2+ chelate chromatography and Sephadex G75 gel filtration chromatography. The activity of mutants is as high as IL-1ra. We characterized the pharmacokinetic profile of IL-1ra and its mutants. The third mutant's half life is 2.26 times than wt IL-1ra. The study has provided some approaches and experience for further research to improve the metabolism stability of IL-1ra.

Expression, purification and activity analysis of anti-human transferrin receptor scFv / 生物工程学报

Human transferrin receptor (TfR) was isolated from homogenates of placental tissues by affinity chromatography on transferrin-Sepharose, and then used to screen human scFv against it from a fully-synthesized phage scFv library. After verifying the specificity, gene fragment of one of the selected scFv was inserted into the plasmid pET22b(+) and transformed into E. coli BL21(DE3) . Expression of scFv in transformant was induced with 0.5mmol/L IPTG. ELISA assay on HeLa cells showed that scFv protein could recognize and bind to TfR on the surface of HeLa cells. The scFv was purified by one-step affinity chromatography with Ni+ -NTA agarose, and injected into Kunming mouse via tail veins. This scFv was detected in brain tissues 1h later by capillary depletion method, which indicates that scFv protein can permeate through the blood brain barrier by mediation of the TfR receptor. Our works lay the foundation for the treatment of tumors and central nervous system diseases.

Design and implementation of DB sequence optimization software / 生物工程学报

TIR (Translation Initiation Region) efficiency is very important in prokaryotic expression. The TIR's efficiency is highly dependent on SD (Shine-Dalgarno) sequence, distance between SD sequence and start codon, DB (Downstream Box) sequence, TIR's second structure, codon adaptation and so on. In this paper, we designed and implemented the software to optimize DB sequence and 5' rare codons. It generated some optimization sequences by analyzing the target sequence and comparing it with 16S RNA. And the optimization sequences is sorting by number of base pairing, location of base pairing and codon adaptation. We drew up the algorithm and the core of code in this paper.

Construction of eukaryotic expression vector using neomycin-resistance gene mutant as selectable marker / 生物工程学报

Neomycin-resistance gene is widely used as a selectable marker in eukaryotic expression vector. It codes neomycin phosphotransferase II (NPT II) which confers resistance to various aminoglycoside antibiotic such as G418 and kanamycine. In this work, by site-directed mutagenesis the neo gene mutant was obtained. The expression vector pmDNA using the neo gene mutant as selectable marker has been constructed. After inserting interest luciferase gene, the expression plasmid pmDNAluc + was stably transfected CHO-K1 cells. As a result, the expression positive ratio reaches to approximate 95% and the ratio of high expression colonies is apparently higher than the controls.