Helicobacter Pylori Infection and Lung Cancer: New Insights and Future Challenges / 中国肺癌杂志

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is the causative agent of chronic gastritis and peptic ulcer diseases and is an important risk factor for the development functional dyspepsia, peptic ulceration, gastric adenocarcinoma and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. H. pylori has very high rates of infection in human populations, and it is estimated that over 50% of the world population is infected. Recently, certain extra-gastric manifestations, linked to H. pylori infection, have been widely investigated. Noteworthy, a growing body of evidences supports an association between H. pylori infection with lung cancer. The present review intend to highlight not only the most recent evidences supporting this association, but also some missed points, which must be considered to validate this emerging association.

The research progress of interaction between inflammatory environment and MSCs autophagy / 中国药理学通报

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can participate in the repair of various tissue and organ damage, but inflammation often exists in local repair area,and autophagy is induced. As a kind of self-regulating mechanism of cells, autophagy can not only regulate the physiological process of MSCs under inflamma-tory environment, but also work on anti-inflammatory environ-ment. This research focuses on the relations between inflamma-tory environment and MSCs autophagy's interaction and feed-back regulation, providing a train of thought for research of MSCs in inflammatory environment.

Binding Specificity of Philyra pisum Lectin to Pathogen-Associated Molecular Patterns, and Its Secondary Structure

We recently reported a Philyra pisum lectin (PPL) that exerts mitogenic effects on human lymphocytes, and its molecular characterization. The present study provides a more detailed characterization of PPL based on the results from a monosaccharide analysis indicating that PPL is a glycoprotein, and circular dichroism spectra revealing its estimated alpha-helix, beta-sheet, beta-turn, and random coil contents to be 14.0%, 39.6%, 15.8%, and 30.6%, respectively. These contents are quite similar to those of deglycosylated PPL, indicating that glycans do not affect its intact structure. The binding properties to different pathogen-associated molecular patterns were investigated with hemagglutination inhibition assays using lipoteichoic acid from Gram-positive bacteria, lipopolysaccharide from Gram-negative bacteria, and both mannan and beta-1,3-glucan from fungi. PPL binds to lipoteichoic acids and mannan, but not to lipopolysaccharides or beta-1,3-glucan. PPL exerted no significant antiproliferative effects against human breast or bladder cancer cells. These results indicate that PPL is a glycoprotein with a lipoteichoic acid or mannan-binding specificity and which contains low and high proportions of alpha-helix and beta-structures, respectively. These properties are inherent to the innate immune system of P. pisum and indicate that PPL could be involved in signal transmission into Gram-positive bacteria or fungi.

Las B-glucanas: moléculas inmunomoduladoras contaminantes de productos farmacéuticos / B-glucans as immunomodulating moléculas polluting pharmaceuticals

Se realizó una búsqueda bibliográfica utilizando la base de datos Pubmed con énfasis en los artículos publicados en la última década. Como descriptores se utilizaron los siguientes: glucans, glucans recognition, glucans biological activitiy, glucans pharmaceuticals. Con la información disponible se realizó un análisis de los principales aspectos relacionados con el tema, que se exponen en el presente trabajo. Las b-(1®3)-glucanas son polímeros de glucosa que se encuentran mayoritariamente en la pared celular de hongos, levaduras y plantas. Se consideran patrones moleculares asociados a patógenos y son reconocidas por varios receptores, siendo la dectina-1 el principal receptor de reconocimiento de estas estructuras. Sus propiedades inmunomoduladoras han sido informadas por varios autores. Se ha demostrado que potencian y sinergizan la acción de ligandos de Toll like receptors sobre la liberación de citoquinas proinflamatorias, aunque también han mostrado un perfil antiinflamatorio, cuestión que depende en gran medida de sus características estructurales. Las b-(1®3)-glucanas son contaminantes importantes provenientes de los filtros de acetato de celulosa que se utilizan en la clarificación de parenterales hemoderivados, por tanto, es necesario estudiar las consecuencias de la presencia de estas moléculas inmunomoduladoras en inyectables. En esta revisión se resumen aspectos relacionados con el reconocimiento y actividad biológica de las b-(1®3)-glucanas y se profundiza en estudios relacionados con su presencia en hemoderivados como principal contaminante. Finalmente se destaca la utilidad de la Prueba de Activación de Monocitos en la detección de las b-(1®3)-glucanas en parenterales.

A literature review was made in Pubmed database, making emphasis on papers published in the last decade. The subject headings for this search were glucans, glucans recognition, glucans biological activitiy, glucans pharmaceuticals. On the basis of the available information, the main aspects related to this topic were analyzed and shown in this paper. b-(1®3)-glucans are glucose-derived polymers found mainly in the cellular wall of fungi, yeasts and plants. They are considered pathogens-associated molecular patterns that are ecognized by several receptors, being dectin-1 the key recognition receptor of these structures. Some authors have underlined their Immunomodulating properties. It has been demonstrated that they synergize and potentate the actions of Toll-like receptor ligands on the release of proinflammatory cytokines, though b-(1®3)-glucans have shown an antinflamatory profile which greatly depends on their structural characteristics. b-(1®3)-glucans are important pollutants stemming from cellulose depth filters used in clarification process of parenteral blood derivatives. For this reason, it is necessary to study the consequences of their presence in parenterals. This review summarized the main aspects related with the recognition and biological activities of b-(1®3)-glucans as well as it delved into studies on their presence in blood derivatives as main pollutant. Finally, the paper underlined the role of Monnocyte Activation Test to detect b-(1®3)-glucans in parenterals.