Diagnostic value of enzyme-linked immunospot assay using CFP10/ESAT6 fusion protein as antigen in spinal tuberculosis / 中国医学科学院学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To establish a method of detecting spinal tuberculosis (TB) infection by enzyme-linked immunospot (ELlSPOT) assay and evaluate the value of CFP10/ESAT6 fusion protein for diagnosis of spinal TB.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Suspected spinal TB patients were prospectively recruited in two hospitals (First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine; Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University) from May 2012 to December 2013. Data on clinical characteristics of the patients and conventional laboratory results were collected. Compare and analyze the positive detection rate in spinal TB diagnosis by different methods including ELISPOT detection and conventional detection methods.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>47 patients with spinal TB had available biopsy or surgical specimens for histopathological examination and 41 specimens had pathological features consistent with a diagnosis of TB infection. Among the spinal TB patients and non-TB disease patients,the overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the ELISPOT assay in spinal TB diagnosis were 82.7%,87.2%,89.6%, and 79.1%,respectively; the 4 indexes of the PPD skin test were 61.5%, 46.2%, 60.4%, and 47.4%, respectively;those of the antibody detection were 55.8%, 61.5%, 65.9%, and 51.1%. The positive rate of ELISPOT was significantly higher than those of PPD skin test and antibody detection test (82.7% vs. 61.5%, Χ² =5.786, P=0.016; 82.7% vs. 55.8%, Χ² =8.847, P=0.003), but not significantly different from the positive rate of pathological examination (82.7% vs. 87.2%, Χ² =0.396, P=0.529). Moderate agreement was found between pathological examination and the ELISPOT assay (87.2%, Κ=0.498, P=0.001).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>With high sensitivity and specificity, the ELISPOT assay using CFP10/ESAT6 fusion protein as antigen is an effective technique for auxiliary diagnosis of spinal TB.</p>

The associations of polymorphism of N-acetyltransferase 2 gene is associated with antituberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity in tuberculosis patients / 中华预防医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the possible relationship between polymorphic N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) acetylator status and antituberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity and to elucidate the molecular mechanism of antituberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Blood samples from 101 tuberculosis cases with antituberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity and from 107 tuberculosis without antituberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity were collected for a case-control study. DNA of the subjects was extracted and amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The single nucleotide polymorphisms of NAT2 were determined by direct PCR sequencing. The genotype frequencies were compared between cases and controls by χ(2) test, using SPSS 12.0 software, and the association between the disease and genotypes was analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among the 101 patients with antituberculosis drug-induced liver injury, 36 patients (35.6%) were found with 282 T/T, 12 (11.9%) with 590 A/A, and 48 (47.5%) with 857 G/A or A/A. However, among the 107 controls, 9 patients (8.4%) were found with 282 T/T, 3 (2.8%) with 590 A/A, and 33 (33.8%) with 857 G/A or A/A. The patients with 282 T/T, 590 A/A, or 857 G/A or A/A genotype had a higher risk of antituberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity than those with 282 C/C or C/T, 590 G/G or G/A, or 857 G/G, and the OR values were 6.03 (95%CI: 2.88 - 12.62; χ(2) = 22.73, P < 0.05), 4.67 (95%CI: 1.42 - 15.44; χ(2) = 6.40, P < 0.05) and 2.03 (95%CI: 1.16 - 3.57; χ(2) = 6.08, P < 0.05) respectively. There were 40 patients with slow acetylator (39.6%) in cases with hepatotoxicity and 13 with slow acetylator (12.2%) in controls without hepatotoxicity. Patients with slow acetylator genotype (OR = 4.74, 95% CI = 2.42 - 9.28; χ(2) = 20.62, P < 0.05) had a significantly higher risk of antituberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity than those with rapid or intermediate acetylator genotypes. Among the cases, 19.8% (20/101) were found with NAT2(*)6A/7B, and 11.9% (12/101) with NAT2(*)6A/6A, whereas among the controls, 2.8% (3/107) were found with NAT2(*)6A/7B, and 2.8% (3/107) with NAT2(*)6A/6A respectively, the patients with NAT2(*)6A/7B and NAT2(*)6A/6A had a much higher risk of antituberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity, and the OR values were 8.40 (95%CI: 2.85 - 24.73; χ(2) = 14.90, P < 0.05) and 4.67 (95%CI: 1.42 - 15.44; χ(2) = 6.40, P < 0.05) respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Perhaps, the slow acetylation genotypes of NAT2 were the main risk factors of developing antituberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity.</p>

Effect of sodium valproate on human myelodysplastic syndrome cell line SKM-1 and its mechanism / 中国实验血液学杂志

This study was aimed to investigate the effect of sodium valproate(VPA) on human myelodysplastic syndrome cell line SKM-1 and its mechanism. The cell proliferation was determined by MTT assay, cell apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry. The expressions of c-flipl, c-flips and dlk1 mRNA were detected by RT-PCR. The results showed that VPA could inhibited the growth of SKM-1 cells in dose- and time-dependent manners. The flow cytometric analysis indicated that VPA could induce cell apoptosis, apoptosis rate increased in dose-dependent manner. The expressions of c-flipl, c-flips and dlk1 mRNA in SKM-1 cell treated with VPA decreased using of VPA. It is concluded that VPA can induce apoptosis and inhibited proliferation of SKM-1 cells. In this process, the decreasing of c-flipl, c-flips and dlk1 mRNA expression may play important roles.