Protective Effect of Right Ventricular Mitochondrial Damage by Cyclosporine A in Monocrotaline-induced Pulmonary Hypertension

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Mitochondria play a key role in the pathophysiology of heart failure and mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP) play a critical role in cell death and a critical target for cardioprotection. The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective effects of cyclosporine A (CsA), one of MPTP blockers, and morphological changes of mitochondria and MPTP related proteins in monocrotaline (MCT) induced pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). METHODS: Eight weeks old Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized to control, MCT (60 mg/kg) and MCT plus CsA (10 mg/kg/day) treatment groups. Four weeks later, right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) and morphological changes of right ventricle (RV) were done. Western blot and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for MPTP related protein were performed. RESULTS: In electron microscopy, CsA treatment prevented MCT-induced mitochondrial disruption of RV. RVH was significantly increased in MCT group compared to that of the controls but RVH was more increased with CsA treatment. Thickened medial wall thickness of pulmonary arteriole in PAH was not changed after CsA treatment. In western blot, caspase-3 was significantly increased in MCT group, and was attenuated in CsA treatment. There were no significant differences in voltage-dependent anion channel, adenine nucleotide translocator 1 and cyclophilin D expression in western blot and RT-PCR between the 3 groups. CONCLUSIONS: CsA reduces MCT induced RV mitochondrial damage. Although, MPTP blocking does not reverse pulmonary pathology, it may reduce RV dysfunction in PAH. The results suggest that it could serve as an adjunctive therapy to PAH treatment.

Expression of genes psma6 and slc25a4 in patients with acute monocytic leukemia / 中国实验血液学杂志

The aim of this study was to investigate the expression levels of genes psma6 and slc25a4 in bone marrow of patients with acute monocytic leukemia and their correlation with clinical features and prognosis. The expression levels of genes psma6 and slc25a4 in AML-M5 leukemia cells, normal blood cells and non-leukemia cells were detected by real-time quantitative RT-PCR and compared each other. The expression levels of psma6-encoding protein P27K was assayed by using immunohistochemistry method. The results showed that the expression levels of psma6 mRNA in AML-M5 leukemia cells was lower than that in non AML-M5 leukemia cells, non-leukemia cells and normal blood cells. The results obtained by immunohistochemistry assay were consistent with above-mentioned results. The expression level of psma6 in AML-M5 patients with complete remission was higher than that in AML-M5 patients without remission. The expression level of P27K protein in AML-M5 and AL correlated to leukocyte count in peripheral blood and LDH content. The overexpression of slc25a4 mRNA was found in AML-M5, but there was no significant difference in slc25a4 mRNA expression between the patients with complete remission and those without remission. It is concluded that the expression level of psma6 is probably a new prognostic indicator of acute monocytic leukemia, slc25a4 may be a novel gene of antigen associated with acute monocytic leukemia.

A therapeutic anti-CD4 monoclonal antibody inhibits T cell receptor signal transduction in mouse autoimmune cardiomyopathy / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>T cell immune abnormalities in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) has been intensively studied over the past 10 years. Our previous study has suggested that immunization of mice with the peptides derived from human adenine nucleotide translocator (ANT) result in the production of autoantibodies against the ANT and histopathological changes similar to those in human DCM. The ANT peptides can induce autoimmune cardiomyopathy like DCM in Balb/c mice. In this study we aimed to focus on the molecular mechanism of T cells in the autoimmune cardiomyopathy mouse model by detecting the expression of the two T cell signaling molecules.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The ANT peptides were used to cause autoimmune cardiomyopathy in Balb/c mice. Anti-L3T4 or rat anti-mouse IgG was administered to the mice (n = 6 in each group) simultaneously immunized with ANT. ELISA analysis was used to detect autoantibodies against the ANT peptides and the percentages of interferon-gamma and interleukin-4 producing cells among splenic CD4(+) lymphocytes was determined by using flow cytometry analysis. The expression of CD45 in spleen T cells was determined by immunohistochemistry and the mRNAs of T cell signaling molecules were detected by real-time PCR.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Treatment of ANT immunized Balb/c mice with anti-CD4 mAb caused a reduction in the gene expression of P56lck and Zap-70 and a lower level of CD45 expression by spleen T cells. Also, a reverse of the Th1/Th2 ratio that results in the reduced production of antibodies against ANT was found in the anti-CD4 monoclonal antibodies (mAb) group. Whereas irrelevant antibody (rat anti-mouse IgG) did not suppress T cell signaling molecules nor inhibit CD45 expression, and control-antibody mice did not show any significant differences compared with the DCM group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The results show that anti-CD4 mAb is a powerful inhibitor of the early initiating events of T cell receptor (TCR) signal transduction in mouse autoimmune dilated cardiomyopathy.</p>