Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D inversely associated with blood eosinophils in patients with persistent allergic rhinitis

OBJECTIVE: The relationship between vitamin D and allergic rhinitis (AR) remains unclear. The present study investigated their association by examining serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels, blood eosinophils, and the expression of vitamin D receptors (VDR) on nasal mucosa in patients with AR. METHODS: A total of 32 patients with persistent AR and 25 controls were enrolled in this study. Serum 25(OH)D levels were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and eosinophils in the peripheral blood were examined by an automated hematology system, while VDR expression on inferior turbinate mucosa was assessed by immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, the correlation of serum 25(OH)D levels with blood eosinophils in persistent AR was analyzed. RESULTS: No significant difference in serum 25(OH)D levels was detected between the AR and control groups (p = 0.371). Interestingly, the serum 25(OH)D levels of the AR group were negatively correlated with blood eosinophil count and its proportion (p = 0.019 and p = 0.010, respectively) even when adjusting confounding factors including age, sex, body mass index, and the season of blood sampling. On the other hand, no significant difference in the expression levels of VDR on nasal mucosa was found between the AR group and the control group (p = 0.231). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the serum 25(OH)D might be inversely associated with blood eosinophils in patients with persistent AR. However, the relationship between vitamin D and AR still requires further clarification

Effects of miR-143 on invasion and migration of B cell lymphoma cells through regulating expression of PAN3 protein / 中国免疫学杂志

Objective:To investigate the effect of miR-143 on the invasion and migration of B cell lymphoma cells .Methods:The expression of miR-143 in normal bone marrow and lymphoma was detected by qPCR .The expression levels of miR-143 in different cell lines were examined by qPCR .qPCR was used to detect the ability of miR-143 on PAN3.The relationship between miR-143 and PAN3 was detected by double luciferase assay .The effect of miR-143 expression on the migration ability of B cell lymphoma E 6-1 cells was examined by scratch test .The effect of miR-143 expression on the invasion ability of B cell lymphoma E 6-1 cells was exa mined by transwell test.Results:Compared with normal bone marrow ,miR-143 was down-regulated in B-cell lymphoma.Double luciferase assay showed that miR-143 could regulate the expression of PAN 3.Overexpression of miR-143 ,E6-1 cells significantly reduced the ability to attack and migrate.Conclusion:miR-143 can regulate the migration and invasion of B cell lymphoma cells by regulating the expression of PAN3.

Changes of mobility of kidney tubular epithelial cells in the course of epithelial-mesenchymal transition / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

Objective To evaluate the dynamic changes of cell mobility of renal tubular epithelial cells in the course of epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT) and their effect on cell cycle.Methods NRK-52E cells were cultured in vitro and treated with 5 μg/L transforming growth factor(TGF)-β1 to induce EMT.The cell mobility was assessed by using Transwell chamber assay and flow cytometry (FCW) after being treated with TGF-β1 for 4 h,8 h,12 h,24 h and 48 h.The proliferative cell cycle of NRK-52E cells were evaluated by using the FCW.Results 1.EMT was successfully induced by TGF-β1.After being treated by TGF-β1 (5 μg/L),the morphological changes of NRK-52E cells were found with loose cell arrangement and elongated fusiform change in cells body.Meanwhile,after getting treated by TGF-β1,the expressions of E-cadherin protein(epithelial marker) of NRK-52E cells were significantly decreased with time-dependent (P ＜ 0.05),while the expressions of α-smooth musle actin (α-SMA) (mesenchymal cell marker)were significantly increased with time-dependent (P ＜ 0.05).2.The Transwell chamber assay showed that compared with the control group,the cell mobility in the group treated with TGF-β1 was significantly enhanced from 12 h after getting treated with TGF-β1 (P ＜ 0.01).3.The proliferative cell cycle of NRK-52E cells showed no significant difference after being treated with TGF-β1 (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions The migration ability of the NRK-52E cells are increased incessantly in the course of EMT,which is induced by TGF-β1 without the influence of cell proliferation in vitro.

Diagnosis of Down's syndrome using short tandem repeat loci D21S11, D21S1440 and Penta D / 中华医学遗传学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the feasibility of genetic diagnosis of Down's syndrome (DS) using short tandem repeat (STR), and to develop a rapid and accurate method for diagnosing DS.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Quantitative fluorescence polymerase chain reaction (QF-PCR) was used to amplify STR loci D21S11, D21S1440 and Penta D of 719 samples. Three hundred and eighty-nine samples were peripheral blood, 282 were amniotic fluid, 48 were chorionic villous samples. The products were analyzed using eleterophoresis to detect DS.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among 652 samples with a normal karyotype, 635 showed 2 bands with a 1:1 ratio or a single band. The remaining 17 samples showed 3 bands, and were regarded as false positive results. For 67 DS samples, 53 showed 3 bands/peaks with a 1:1:1 ratio and 14 showed 2 bands/peaks with a 2:1 ratio. The sensitivity and specificity of STR loci D21S11, D21S1440 and Penta D were 76.12% and 98.62%, 71.64% and 98.93%, 89.55% and 99.85%, respectively. The overall sensitivity and specificity of 3 STR loci were 100% (67/67) and 97.39% (635/652), respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Compared with conventional method, author's method is simpler, more stable and rapid, and can be used for large-scale prenatal screening of DS.</p>