Efficacy of combination antiviral therapy following childbirth in pregnant HBV carriers receiving telbivudine for prevention of mother-to-child transmission / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the clinical efficacy of combination therapy with peg-IFNalpha and adefovir (CPIA) in women who were hepatfis B virus (HBV) carriers and had just given birth and received telbivudine (LdT) during pregnancy for prevention of mother-to-child transmission.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>One-hundred-and-fifty third trimester-pregnant women who were HBV carriers with highly-viremic were treated with LdT until time of birth. After delivery, those women with alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level exceeding two times the upper limit of normal and HBV DNA level that had decreased more than 31 gIU/mL or hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) titer that had decreased more than 50% were switched to CPIA for 96 weeks.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Following delivery, 45 of the women were switched to the CPIA treatment, of which 91.1% (41/45) achieved virological response, 55.6% (25/45) achieved HBeAg clearance or seroconversion, and 26.7% (12/45) achieved hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) clearance or seroconversion.The immediate post-delivery (and pre-CPIA) levels of HBeAg and HBV DNA were negatively associated with HBeAg clearance. Ninety-eight of the total study participants stopped the LdT treatment and there were no cases of significant deterioration of liver function.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Pregnant women who are HBV carriers and receive LdT for protection against mother-to-child transmission, and who show significant ALT elevation and decreased HBeAg titer and/or reduced HBV DNA after delivery, may be good candidates for the CPIA therapy following delivery.</p>

miR-216b suppresses cell proliferation and invasion by targeting PKCα in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To elucidate whether miR-216b suppresses cell proliferation and invasion by targeting PKCα, thus to reveal the molecular mechanism that miR-216b functions as a tumor suppressor in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>PKCα 3'UTR-luciferase vector was constructed and dual-luciferase reporter gene assay was employed to examine the effect of miR-216b on luciferase activity. Nasopharyngeal cancer CNE2 cells were transfected with miR-216b mimics, and then qRT-PCR and Western blotting were performed to detect the expressions of PKCa mRNA and protein. The effects of PKCα downregulation on cell proliferation and invasion were assessed after PKCα siRNA were transfected into CNE2 cells. CNE2 cells were cotransfected with miR-216b mimics and PKCα plasmid, and the proliferation of CNE2 cells was assayed using a MTS cell proliferation assay kit.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The results of dual-luciferase reporter gene assay demonstrated that miR-216b could bind to the 3'-untranslated region (UTR) of PKCα and inhibited the luciferase activity to 62.4% of that of the mimics control cells. The expressions of PKCα mRNA and protein were significantly down-regulated by 49.1% and 55.7%, respectively, in comparison with that of the control cells. siRNA-mediated downregulation of PKCα suppressed the proliferation and invasion ability of CNE2 cells, and could partially mimic the tumor-inhibiting effect of miR-216b. Moreover, the overexpressed PKCα may partially reverse the inhibitory effect of miR-216b on proliferation of CNE2 cells.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>miR-216b suppresses cell proliferation and invasion by targeting PKCα in NPC cells.</p>

Efficacy and safety of peginterferon alfa-2a (40 kd) plus adefovir for 96 weeks in HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B patients / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the efficacy and safety of an extended course (96-week) of combination treatment with peginterferon alfa-2a (Peg-IFNa-2a; 40 kd] plus adefovir (ADV) for treating chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in Chinese patients with negativity for hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 25 consecutive patients with HBeAg-negative CHB were administered Peg-IFNa-2a (135-180 mug/week) plus ADV (10 mg/day) for 96 weeks. All patients were followed-up for 24 weeks after treatment completion. Levels of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA and hepatitis B surface antigen (HbsAg) were measured by fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (FQ-PCR) and chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay, respectively, at 12-week intervals throughout the treatment course and at the end-of-follow-up (week 120). Patients underwent serological analysis at 3-6 month intervals during treatment and follow-up to evaluate occurrence of adverse events; serological parameters included blood count, markers of liver, kidney and thyroid function, and levels of autoantibodies and creatine kinase.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>For all patients, the 96-week course of Peg-IFNa-2a plus ADV reduced the level of HBV DNA below the detection threshold (less than 500 copies/ml by FQ-PCR). The overall rate of HBsAg seroconversion was 12% (3/25) at week 48, 28% (7/25) at week 96, and 32% (8/25) at week 120. The occurrences of adverse events were similar at week 48 and week 96.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The extended-course Peg-IFNa-2a plus ADV combination therapy achieved a 100% virological response and better rates of HBsAg seroconversion than 48 weeks of therapy, without a decrease in safety.</p>

Clinical features of antiviral therapy in 12 patients with hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis after splenectomy / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the therapeutic effects and influencing factors of common antiviral therapy (low-dose interferon plus ribavirin, IFN+RBV) in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-decompensated cirrhosis following splenectomy.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Twelve patients were treated post-surgery with low-dose IFN (300-500 MIU QOD) or pegylated (Peg)-IFN (50 mug/w) and RBV (0.6-0.9 g/d) for 72 weeks if carrying the lb genotype or 48 weeks if carrying the 2a genotype. All patients were followed-up for 24 weeks after treatment completion to determine the virological response (VR) rates, measured as rapid (R)VR, complete early (cE)VR, 24 hr (24)VR, and sustained (S)VR. Statistical comparisons were made using the t-test or rank sum test, and correlation analyses were made using the Chi-square test. Differences were considered significant at P less than 0.05.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>All 12 patients completed the treatment course and follow-up. Three patients could not tolerate the Peg-IFN and were switched to IFN, and six patients developed hemolysis that required RBV dose adjustment. The VR rates were: 25.0%, RVR; 50.0%, cEVR; 16.7%, 24VR; 86.0%, SVR. Only one patient was a non-responder, and only one relapsed. Of the patients who achieved SVR, 100% had shown RVR, 83.3% showed cEVR, and 50.0% showed 24VR, suggesting that RVR and cEVR may effectively predict SVR.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Some HCV-decompensated cirrhosis patients may benefit from antiviral therapy following surgical resolution of hypersplenism. The occurrence of RVR and cEVR in these patients is positively correlated with achieving SVR. Physician-patient communication during early antiviral treatment and close clinical monitoring accompanied by psychological counseling throughout promotes success of the treatment approach.</p>

Changes in lymphocyte surface expression of CD8 and CD38 molecules in peripheral blood of inactive HBsAg carriers following pegylated interferon a-2a therapy / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of pegylated interferon a-2a (Peg-INFa-2a) treatment on expression of CD8 and CD38 surface molecules on lymphocytes from peripheral blood of inactive hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carriers.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty-four patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) chronic infection (CHB) received a 48-week course of Peg-INFa-2a treatment, with 30 administered 135 mug/week and 14 administered 180 mug/week. Every 12 weeks of treatment, the subjects were assessed for HBsAg titer, presence of anti-hepatitis B e (HBe) antibody, serum alanine amino transaminase (ALT) levels, and lymphocyte surface expression of CD8 and CD38 molecules. Patients were classified as responders and non-responders according to standard parameters. Dynamic differences between the two groups over time were assessed by multivariate repeated measures ANOVA with Greenhouse-Geisser correction and differences at single time points were assessed by univariate ANOVA. Linear regression analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship of two variables.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The responders showed a significantly higher increase in ALT at week 12 (60.75+/-24.95 U/L vs. non-responders: 37.03+/-18.45 U/L; t = 2.905, P less than 0.01) and significantly higher proportion of CD8+CD38+ cells at week 24 (71.20+/-11.70% vs. non-responders: 56.79+/-7.72%; F = 23.941, P less than 0.01). The decline in level of HBsAg at week 24 was positively correlated with the increase in ALT level at week 12 (r = 0.386, P less than 0.01) and with expression levels of CD8 and CD38 molecules on lymphocytes at week 24 (r = 0.397, P less than 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Lower baseline levels of HBsAg correlated to better Peg-INFa-2a-related HBsAg clearance. Increased expression of CD8 and CD38 on lymphocytes is suggestive of intensive cellular immunity in CHB patients and may be related to HBV-induced hepatocyte damage and may promote the HBsAg clearance.</p>

Relationship between liver pathology and clinical characters in HBV carriers / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVES</b>To study the relationship between liver pathology and clinical characters of chronic HBV carriers.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Analyze the age, sex, grade of liver inflammation and stage of liver fibrosis among patients with chronic HBV carriers (n = 58) and non-active HBsAg carriers (n = 32), and compare the grade of liver inflammation and stage of liver fibrosis in different groups according to age, ALT levels and with/without HBeAg. The data was processed by using t test or Chi-square test for statistical analysis, respectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) No differences existed in gender composition ratio between chronic HBV carriers and non-active HBsAg carriers. However, the ages of non-active HBsAg carriers group (35.2+/-7.6) were much older than that of the HBV carriers group (24.7+/-4.8) (t = 2.576, P = 0.017). (2) The stage of liver fibrosis in non-active HBsAg carriers group was more aggravated than that of the chronic HBV carriers group (Chi-square = 23.231, P less than 0.01), whereas no significant differences existed between these 2 groups (Chi-square = 0.058, P = 0.972). (3) As to the grade of liver inflammation and the stage of liver fibrosis, significant differences existed between the groups with higher level of serum ALT (20-40 U/L) and lower level ( is less than or equal to 20 U/L) (Chi-square = 7.827, P = 0.008; Chi-square = 14.303, P = 0.001), and similar results also existed between elder group (more than 40) and younger group (is less than or equal to 40) (Chi-square = 10.949, P = 0.001; Chi-square = 21.271, P less than 0.01); (4) Among the chronic HBV carriers, significant differences existed in grade of liver inflammation between groups with HBeAg positive and negative patients (Chi-square = 10.275, P = 0.002), and the latter was more aggravated; however, there was no difference in stage of liver fibrosis between them (Chi-square test = 3.457, P = 0.178).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Liver histopathology can be recommended to guide the clinical diagnosis and treatment, especially for the chronic HBV carriers, with elder age, ALT close to normal and HBeAg negative.</p>

The effect of proliferation and differentiation of CD8+ T cells on the progression in patients co-infected with HIV and HCV / 中华实验和临床病毒学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of proliferation and differentiation of CD8 T cells on the progression in patients co-infected with HIV and HCV.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>To address this issue, the presences of CD57 and CD28 in the surface of CD8+ T-cell were monitored using flow cytometry in 20 patients co-infected with HIV and HCV and 20 patients infected with HCV alone. The proliferation and differentiations of CD8+ T cell were compared hetween patients co-infected with HIV and HCV and ones with HCV infection alone, to clarify the association hetween the function of CU and the progression of disease.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A high presence (28.84 +/- 4.49)% of CD57 in the surface of CD8+ T-cell in the patients with HIV/HCV co-infections was found, comparing with a low presence (8.24% +/- 5.05%) of CU57 in the patients with HCV infection alone, the difference hetween these two groups is significant (P < 0.001). Moreover, A clear linear regression hetween the percentage of CD57CD8t T and HCV viral load (log) was identified (P = 0.023, R2 = 0.21). In addition, the differentiations of CD8 T cells were compared between patients with HIV/HCV co-infection and mono-HCV infection: the dominant cells in patients with mono-HCV infection were ones in intermediate stage, while, a late differentiation process of CU8 T cells might he associated with HIV/HCV co-infection.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The differences of proliferation and differentiation of CTL. are significant, between HIV/HCV co- infection and mono-HCV infection. Lower proliferation and late stage of differentiations of CD8 T cell might affect the clearance of hepatitis C virus, weaken CU immunological response and induce chronic inflammation, finally will accelerate the progression of HCV infection.</p>

Effect of leukotriene receptor antagonist on cough variant asthma / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the curative effect of leukotriene receptor antagonist on cough variant asthma (CVA).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty-four CVA patients received treatment with bricany and montelukas and 68 control patients had bricany treatment for 4 weeks. The recurrence rate was observed in the two groups during the follow-up for 6 months.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The remission time of two groups were 2.5-/+3.6 and 5.3-/+3.8 days in acute phase, respectively, showing a significant difference between them (P<0.05). The recurrence rate of the two groups within 6 months were 20.09% and 40.87%, respectively, showing also significantly differences (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Leukotriene receptor antagonist and bricany can effectively control CVA and significantly lower the short-term recurrence rate of CVA.</p>

Phosphoproteomics and its application in cancer research / 中南大学学报(医学版)

Phosphoproteome is the whole complement of phosphorylated proteins in a cell, tissue or organism, and has become an interesting study subject since the discovery of phosphorylation as a key regulatory mechanism of cell life. Phosphoproteomics is a method which studies the compact of the phosphorylated proteins, expression and modification, interaction and association, rule of the regulatory and so on. Recently, phosphoproteomics is widely used in cancer research. It will provide important information in cancer research, cancer diagnosis, and therapy.

Clinical characteristics and results of cervical spinal cord injury in the patients with ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament / 中华外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the clinical characteristics and results of cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) in the patients with ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Nineteen patients with cervical SCI associated with OPLL were retrospectively analyzed. Data collection included: pre- and postoperative neurological function, OPLL-type, MRI signal changes and surgical approaches.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Spinal cord associated with OPLL was injured severely by mild trauma. Methylprednisolone sodium succinate was used within 8 h after trauma in 12 cases. Two of them died of complications. The neurological functions were markedly improved in the other 10 cases. Seventeen cases had surgical treatment. The neurological functions (Frankel grade) were improved significantly in the operated patients except for one, who died 27 d after operation.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The patients with OPLL are prone to have severe SCI, which directly associates with the preexisting OPLL-type and hyper-intensity signal change in the spinal cord on MRI. Both of using methylprednisolone sodium succinate administration within 8 h after trauma and surgical decompression may improve the neurological outcomes.</p>

Mechanism of migration in CNE2 cells promoted by EBV-LMP1 / 中南大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the mechanism of migration phenotype change induced by EBV-LMP1 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cell line CNE2.@*METHODS@#Retroviruses RV-LNSX, RV-LMP1, and RV-LMP1(TRADD) prepared previously were used to infect CNE2 cells. After selection with G418, the morphology, the ability of motion and migration in extracellular matrix, expression of LMP1 and E-Cadherin in transgenic cells were observed or detected. Meanwhile, pEcad-luc was respectively co-transfected with pLNSX, pLNSX-LMP1, and pLNSX-LMP1(TRADD), to examine the effect of LMP1 on the transcriptional activity of E-Cadherin promoter in 293 cells.@*RESULTS@#Compared with CNE2 and CNE2-LNSX cells, CNE2-LMP1 cells morphologically changed from typical epithelial appearance to long-spindle fibroblastic morphology with the concomitant loss of cell-to-cell contact, and relative migration of CNE2-LMP1 cells obviously increased (n=3, P< 0.05), while the expression of E-Cadherin was negative in CNE2-LMP1 cells. The transcriptional activity of E-Cadherin promoter and the expression of E-Cadherin was suppressed by LMP1, and the level of suppression was correlated with the concentration of pLNSX-LMP1 (0.2,0.6 and 1.0 microg). LMP1(TRADD) didn't induce the changes of morphology and migration phenotype, nor suppress the transcriptional activity of E-Cadherin promoter and the expression of E-Cadherin in CNE2 cells.@*CONCLUSION@#EBV-LMP1 promotes the migration and down-regulates the expression of E-Cadherin in CNE2 cells. The mechanism is that EBV-LMP1 suppresses the transcriptional activity of E-Cadherin promoter. TRADD of carboxyl terminus of LMP1 may be the main active domain to promote the migration in NPC cells.

The effects of stilnox on quality of life in patients with hypertension and insomnia / 中国基层医药

Objective To explore the effects of Stilnox on the blood pressure and quality of life(QOL)in pa- tients with hypertension and insomnia.Methods 80 patients with hypertension and insomnia were received am- lodipine(5mg qd)as control group and amlodipine(5mg qd)plus stilnox(10mg qn)as treatment group in visit order for 8 weeks'follow up.Values of blood pressure were recorded and QOL data were assessed at the beginning and end of therapy with questionnaire.Results Blood pressure was significantly reduced in both groups(P