Efficacy of Qizi Yusi Pill on Pregnancy Outcomes in Women of Advanced Reproductive Age: A Multicenter, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial / 中国结合医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To evalvate efficacy of Qizi Yusi Pills (QYP), a Chinese medicine compound preparation, on in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) in women of advanced reproductive age.@*METHODS@#This multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted from June 2018 to October 2019. A total of 124 patients were randomly allocated to either the QYP group or the placebo group using a stratified block randomization design, with 62 patients in each group. All patients completed controlled ovarian stimulation using a standard gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRH-a) long protocol. As the QYP group, QYP was administered while the control group received placebo. QYP and placebo were administered for a total of 24 to 30 days from the day of GnRH-a pituitary downregulation to transvaginal oocyte retrieval. Both medications were taken orally at doses of 10 g three times each day. The primary outcome was cumulative pregnancy rate, and the secondary outcomes were periodic medication, follicular status, serum hormone and endometrial receptivity. Follow-up continued until 4 weeks after delivery. Maternal and neonatal complications, such as gestational diabetes, were also observed.@*RESULTS@#Overall, 119 patients completed the study, 60 in the QYP group and 59 in the placebo group. Per protocol (PP) analysis revealed that 6-month cumulative pregnancy rate in the QYP group was significantly higher than that in the placebo group [43.33% (26/60) vs. 25.42% (15/59), P=0.040). Additionally, more oocytes were retrieved from the QYP group than those from the placebo group (8.95 ± 3.12 vs. 7.85 ± 1.91, P=0.022). Moreover, the endometrial thickness of HCG day in the QYP group was significantly higher than that in the placebo group (11.78 ± 2.27 mm vs. 10.68 ± 2.07 mm, P=0.012). Maternal and neonatal complications between the two groups were not significantly different (P>0.05). Intention-to-treat analysis was in line with PP results.@*CONCLUSIONS@#QYP can enhance ovarian reserve capacity and ovarian response, and possibly promote endometrial receptivity. QYP effectively improves cumulative pregnancy rates in older patients (⩾35 years) undergoing IVF-ET. (Registration No. ChiCTR1800014427).

Expression and Immune Effect Study of Therapeutic Recombinant Protein Vaccine VP22?-mE6?/mE7 / 中国生物工程杂志

In order to investigate the biological effects of the VP22?-mE6?/mE7 built-in adjuvant fusion protein vaccine on the tumor associated with HPV-16 infection.HSV-1 VP22? and HPV-16 mE6?/mE7 genes were cloned,and the pET28a-VP22?-mE6?/mE7 recombinat prokaryotic expression vector was constructed.Vector was transformed into Rosetta(DE3)E.coli string and expressed under the induction of IPTG.The re-naturalized protein was then purified via Ni2+ affinity adsorbent column and identified by SDS-PAGE and Western blot.Purified protein was immunized BalB/C and C57BL/6 mice to evaluate the immunogenicity and anti-tumor activity.The expressed recombinant protein formed as inclusion body with a prediction MW about 34kDa and contained approximately 45% of total somatic protein.The VP22?-mE6?/mE7 immunization induced higher titer of specific IgG against HPV,higher level of lymphocyte proliferation and better effect on suppressing HPV16 positive TC-1 tumor growth than the mice immunized with mE6?/mE7 alone.The results showed that the recombined built-in adjuvant vaccine could induce specific cellular immune response in vitro and inhibit the TC-1 tumor proliferation in vivo,that would be a foundation for further studies and developments of inner adjuvant vaccines.