Clinical Features of Coccidioidomycosis:Analysis of 33 Chinese Cases / 中国医学科学院学报

Objective To summarize the characteristics of Chinese coccidioidomycosis cases, improve the diagnosis and treatment of this disease and prevent misdiagnosis as well as therapeutic error.Methods Search in databases including Medline,Wanfang,and CNKI using "Coccidioidomycosis" and "China" as index words yielded 23 articles that reported a total of 32 Chinese coccidioidomycosis cases.In addition,one patient with disseminated coccidioidomycos was treated in our center in April 2016.The demographic data,site of infection,clinical manifestations,past medical history,exposure history,imaging and laboratory findings,and pathological features of these 33 patients were analyzed.Results Among these 33 patients,7(21.2%)had visited an epidemic area and 6(18.2%)were immunocompromised.The disease involved the respiratory system,skin,bone,central nervous system,cornea,and stomach in 24,6,3,2,1,and 1 patients,respectively.Eight patients (24.2%) had multiple system involvement,and three of them died.The imaging findings included pulmonary nodules(=14),mediastinal lymphadenopathy(=5),solid shadow(=4),cavity(=4),pleural effusion(=3),multiple plaques(=2)and masses(=2).Coccidiolys cysts were detected in the affected tissues(=28)or in pus,exudate or pleural smear(=3);in addition,coccidioides mycelium and spores were found in the sputum,pus,and tissue cultures in 4 cases,among whom only 2 cases were confirmed by serological examination.The treatments included triazoles(=20),systemic or local administration of amphotericin B(=13),surgical resection of the lesion(=8),and intravenous gamma globulin(=1).Five patients died,among whom three had underlying diseases that caused immunosuppression and one was an infant.The prognoses were relatively good in the remaining patients.Conclusions Early diagnosis and proper treatment can achieve good prognosis in coccidioidomycosis patients.Multi-system involvement and immunosuppression are risk factors for poor prognosis of coccidioidomycosis.For these patients,adequate and full-course medication may prevent rapid disease progression.

Preparation of folic acid-modified dextran-5-fluorouracil and its cytotoxicity / 中国药学杂志

OBJECTIVE: To synthesize folic acid-modified dextran-5-fluorouracil (FA-DEX-5-Fu) conjugates and investigate its cytotoxicity on cells with folate receptors. METHODS: Dextran (DEX) was selected as the macromolecular carrier and the anti-cancer drug 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) was selected as a model drug to synthesize 5-Fu-DEX, and then folic acid (FA) was linked into 5-Fu-DEX as the targeting ligand to obtain the conjugate, FA-DEX-5-Fu. UV spectra, IR and ESI-MS were used to identify the structure. UV spectrophotometry was used to determine the contents of FA and 5-Fu in the conjugate. MTT assay was applied to examine the cytotoxicity of free 5-Fu, 5-Fu-DEX and FA-DEX-5-Fu on the Human cervical carcinoma cell line Hela (overexpressing folate receptors) and human lung carcinoma cell line A549 (folate receptor deficient, as negative group). RESULTS: 5-Fu and FA were successfully linked with 5-Fu-DEX as confirmed by UV, IR and ESI-MS spectra.The molar ratio of 5-Fu and FA in the conjutate was 2.7:1 as determined by UV spectrophotometry. MTT assay results showed the inhibition rate of FA-DEX-5-Fu on Hela cells was much higher than that on A549 cells. And the inhibition rate of FA-DEX-5-Fu on Hela cells was much higher than those of 5-Fu-DEX and free 5-Fu at the same concentration. CONCLUSION: FA-DEX-5-Fu is successfully synthesized and the conjugate shows significant targeting effect against tumor cells overexpressing folate receptors.