Role of protein phosphatase in regulating antiviral innate immune response / 第二军医大学学报

Protein phosphatases play critical roles in regulating cell division, cell apoptosis, and cell cycle in eukaryotic cells, participating in numerous signal transduction processes and exerting a large amount of significant biological functions. A variety of protein phosphatases are identified to maintian the phosphorylation level of key proteins with a moderate level in the antiviral innate immune response to virus infectioa In this paper, we reviewed the roles of serine/threonine protein phosphatases, tyrosine protein phosphatases, and lipid phosphatases in regulating antiviral innate immune responses.

Reduced IRF7 response to rhinovirus unrelated with DNA methylation in peripheral mononuclear cells of adult asthmatics

BACKGROUND: Human rhinoviruses are the major cause of asthma exacerbation in both children and adults. Recently, impaired antiviral interferon (IFN) response in asthmatics has been indicated as a primary reason of the susceptibility to respiratory virus, but the mechanism of defective IFN production is little understood to date. The expression of IFN regulatory factor 7 (IRF7), a transcriptional factor for virus-induced type I IFN production is known to be regulated epigenetically by DNA methylation. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the expression of IFN-α, IFN-β, and IRF7 in response to rhinovirus infection in the adult asthmatics and evaluate DNA methylation status of IRF7 gene promotor. METHODS: Twenty symptomatic adult asthmatics and 10 healthy subjects were enrolled and peripheral blood was collected from each subject. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated, cultured, and ex vivo stimulated with rhinovirus-16. The mRNA expressions of IFN-α, IFN-β, and IRF7 were analyzed using real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Genomic DNA was isolated from untreated PBMCs and the methylation status of IRF7 gene promotor was investigated using bisulfite pyrosequencing. RESULTS: The mean age of asthmatics was 45.4 ± 15.7 years and 40% was male, which were not different with those of control group. Asthmatics showed significantly decreased mRNA expressions (relative expression to beta-actin) of IFN-α and IFN-β compared with normal control. The mRNA expression of IRF7 in the asthmatics was also significantly lower than those in the normal control. No significant difference of DNA methylation was observed between asthmatics and controls in all analyzed positions of IRF7 promotor CpG loci. CONCLUSION: The mRNA expression of type I IFN in response to rhinovirus was impaired in the PBMCs of adult asthmatics. The mRNA expression of IRF7, transcriptional factor inducing type I IFN was also reduced, but not caused by altered DNA methylation in the IRF7 gene promotor.

Role of toll-like receptors in radioprotection / 第二军医大学学报

Toll-like-receptors (TLRs) have been found to play a critical role in immune response of hosts. They can trigger innate immune responses by detecting pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). This paper reviews the roles of several toll-like receptors(TLR4, TLR5, and TLR9) in radioprotection and the related mechanisms, so as to provide theoretical evidences for further studying their roles in radioprotection.

Detections of interleukin-2,-4,-10 and interferon-? secreting cells in myasthenic thymus and peripheral blood / 中华神经科杂志

Objective To study the immune function of the subpopulation of T helper lymphocyte(Th), including Th1 and Th2 cells in myasthenic thymus and peripheral blood (PB).Methods Enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) method is adopted to detect the acetylcholine receptor (AChR)-reactive interleukin-2(IL-2)-, interleukin-4 (IL-4)-, interleukin-10 (IL-10)-, interferon-gamma(IFN-?)-secreting cell numbers in thymus and peripheral blood (PB). Results The AChR-reactive IL-2-,IL-4-,IL-10-, IFN-?-secreting cell numbers were increased in thymus as well as the AChR-reactive IL-10-, IFN-?-secreting cell numbers in PB. There is a positive correlation between thymus and PB in MG for the AChR-reactive IL-4-, IL-10-secreting cell numbers. After treatment, the AChR-reactive IL-2-,IL-4-, IFN-?-secreting cell numbers were decreased in PB, while there were 1 case and 2 cases showing a decrease and an increase in AChR-reactive IL-10-secreting cell number, respectively.Conclusions The immune dysfunction of the Th1 and Th2 subpopulation existed in the thymus and PB of MG, and the AChR-reactive IL-4-, IL-10-secreting cell numbers might be served as parameters to evaluate the degree of the immune dysfunction in the MG thymus. The role of the IL-10 in pathogenesis of MG needs further study.