Clinical characteristics and related factors of rheumatoid arthritis complicated with tuberculosis infection / 北京大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the clinical characteristics and high risk factors of Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) complicated with tuberculosis infection.@*METHODS@#Patients with rheumatoid arthritis diagnosed in the hospital of Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital from January 2007 to January 2017 was retrospectively collected, who were enrolled in the study group. A control group was randomly selected from the RA patients hospitalized in the same period without co-infection at a ratio of 1 :2. The general data, clinical data, laboratory test data, treatment plan, etc. of the two groups were collected in detail for single factor statistical analysis. Then multivariate Logistic regression was used to analyze the independent risk factors of RA complicated with tuberculosis infection with statistical significance in univariate analysis.@*RESULTS@#The clinical manifestations of fever (83.3%) were most common, followed by cough (69%) and body mass loss (45.2%). In the infected group, pulmonary tuberculosis accounted for 73.3%. In the infected group the chest CT showed two or more cases, accounting for 59%. There were 9 cases (33.3%) occurring in the typical tuberculosis occurrence site. Compared with the control group, the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reaction protein (CRP) levels, and the daily average dose of glucocorticoid in 1 year in the infected group were higher than those in the control group. And those differences were statistically significant(P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in gender, age, disease duration, disease activity score, white blood cell (WBC), platelet (PLT), hemoglobin (Hb), immunoglobulin G (IgG), complement (C), Anti cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (anti-CCP), CD4+T cell count, and immunosuppressant use (P > 0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that CRP levels(OR=1.016, 95%CI:1.002-1.031) and the daily average dose of glucocorticoid in 1 year(OR=1.229, 95%CI:1.066-1.418)were the independent risk factors of RA complica-ted with tuberculosis infection.@*CONCLUSION@#RA patients with tuberculosis infection are mainly phthisis. The clinical manifestations of RA combined with tuberculosis infection are lack of specificity, and the chest imaging features of pulmonary tuberculosis are diverse, which are easy to be misdiagnosed. CRP levels and the daily average dose level of glucocorticoid in 1 year were risk factors for RA and tuberculosis infection.

Analysis of Tumorigenesis in Mice Transplanted with Different Multiple Myeloma Cell Lines / 中国实验血液学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the tumorigenicity of several multiple myeloma (MM) cell lines transplanted in mice without γ-ray irradiation and to construct the MM disease model to facilitate in vivo experiments.@*METHODS@#NOD/SCID or NSG mice were subcutaneously or caudally transplanted with MM cell lines (LP-1, OPM2, RPMI 8226 and MOLP8), or cell lines with luciferase (RPMI-Luc-Puro, RPMI-Luc-mCherry and MOLP8-Luc-Puro). Tumor growth was observed by measuring the tumor size with a caliper. CD138 tumor cells in peripheral blood were detected by flow cytometry. The free light chain in mouse serum was detected by immunofixation electrophoresis. Tumor type was identified by immunohistochemistry.@*RESULTS@#Twenty one NOD/SCID mice were subcutaneously transplanted with LP-1 cells or OPM2 cells respectively, and no tumors formed till 7 weeks after transplantation. Fifteen NOD/SCID mice subcutaneously transplanted with RPMI 8226 cells showed tumor formation one week later. As of 7 weeks, the rate of tumorigenesis was 80% (12/15). Serum λ light chain was detected and no CD138 tumor cells were detected in peripheral blood. Two NOD/SCID mice each were subcutaneously transplanted with RPMI-Luc-Puro, RPMI-Luc-mcherry and MOLP8-Luc-Puro cells respectively. No tumor signal was detected through IVIS in RPMI-Luc-mcherry cells-transplanted mice. There was tumor signal at 1 week in RPMI-Luc-Puro and MOLP8-Luc-Puro cells-transplanted mice, the former disappeared at 2 weeks and the latter persisted more than 3 weeks. NSG mice subcutaneously transplanted with both cells persistently displayed the tumor signal. Neither NOD/SCID nor NSG mice transplanted with RPMI 8226, RPMI-Luc-Puro, RPMI-Luc-mcherry or MOLP8-Luc-Puro cells through tail vein developed the tumor signal. Only one NSG mice transplanted with MOLP8-Luc-Puro cells appeared transient tumor signal.@*CONCLUSION@#Unirradiated mice transplanted with MM cell lines tended to develop local tumor, and failed to develop disseminated tumor. The tumorigenicity of different cell lines is quite different and the vector transfection can reduce the tumorigenic ability. NSG mice with more severe immunodeficiency are more suitable for tumor growth.

Expression of Gli1 in Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Its Clinical Significance / 中国实验血液学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the expression and clinical significance of Hedgehog signaling transcription factor Gli1 in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The clinical specimens were obtained from 32 newly diagnosed and 6 relapsed ALL patients. Normal bone marrow cells from 15 healthy donors were used as controls. Real-time qPCR and Western blot were applied to detect Gli1 mRNA and protein expression in bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMNC) of these samples respectively. The relation of Gli1 mRNA levels with clinical parameter was also evaluated.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The expression level of Gli1 mRNA in de novo and relapsed ALL patients was significantly higher than that in the normal controls (P < 0.05). There was no stalistically significant difference of the Gli1 mRNA expression between de novo and relapsed ALL cases (P > 0.05). In 24 de novo ALL patients with complete remission (CR) after induction chemotherapy, the levels of Gli1 mRNA were significantly reduced as compared with levels before treatment (P < 0.05). However, in 4 ALL patients without remission, no obvious difference of Gli1 mRNA levels were observed as compared with levels of Gli1 before treatment (P > 0.05). A positive correlation between the Gli1 mRNA expression level and white blood cell count (WBC) was found in the BMMNC of ALL patients (R = 0.725, P < 0.05). Similarly, Gli1 protein expression was significantly higher in the de novo and relapsed ALL cases compared with normal controls. The Gli1 protein level was down-regulated when the ALL patients was in CR.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The expression of Gli1 mRNA and protein has been found to be high in de novo and relapsed ALL patients, and the change of Gli1 expression maybe relate to therapeutic efficacy and prognosis of ALL patients.</p>

Prophylactic irradiation at the level Ib for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: should that be a routine? / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To assess the necessity of routine prophylactic irradiation at the level Ib for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Newly diagnosed NPC patients between January, 2001 and June, 2005 were enrolled in this study. The nodal distribution in each region was calculated from the data of transversal contrast enhance CT or magnetic resonance scan of the head and neck.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Cervical node involvement was found in 75.1% of the 338 patients enrolled. The rates of involvement at levels Ib, IIa, IIb, III, IV, Va, Vb and in the supra-clavicular region were 0.9%, 49.1%, 60.7%, 26.0%, 5.9%, 9.5%, 3.8% and 0.9%, respectively. Skip metastasis occurred only in 2.4% of the cases. The high risk region (defined by a probable risk>5%) of nodal metastases was (1) the ipsilateral levels III, IV, Va, and Vb in case of level II involvement, (2) the ipsilateral levels II, IV, Va, and Vb in case of level III involvement, (3) the ipsilateral levels II, III, Va, Vb and the supra-clavicular region in case of level IV involvement, (4) the ipsilateral levels II, III, IV, Vb and the supra-clavicular region in case of level Va involvement, (5) the ipsilateral levels II, III, IV, Vb, and the supra-clavicular region in case of level Vb involvement, (6) the contralateral levels II, III, and Va in case of unilateral cervical node involvement.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Nodal involvement in NPC patients rarely occurs at the level Ib, which is not a high risk region whatever the regions may be to have lymph node metastasis and therefore does not need routine prophylactic irradiation.</p>

Antigen-loaded dendritic cells trigger killing effects of specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes on Jurkat cells in vitro / 中国实验血液学杂志

This study was aimed to investigate the effects of tumor antigen-loaded dendritic cells (DC) stimulating the specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) on Jurkat cells in vitro. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated by Ficoll density gradient centrifugation from normal human heparinized blood, the adherent monocytes were cultured with granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), interleukin-4 (IL-4), alpha tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha) and sCD40L, DCs were co-cultured with frozen-thawed antigen of Jurkat cells or WT1 peptides, and then T cells were triggered into specific CTL. The results showed that most suspended cells exhibited distinctive morphological features of DC which expressed CD40 (96%), CD86 (97%), CD80 (77%), CD1a (69%), and gained the powerful capacity to stimulate proliferation of allogeneic lymphocytes. Under the effector: target ratio of 20:1, CTLs derived from cultures with DC and frozen-thawed antigen of Jurkat cells showed 91.1% cytotoxicity against Jurkat cells, CTL derived from cultures with DC and WT1 peptides showed 87.5% cytotoxicity against Jurkat cells, cytotoxicity of CTL derived from cultures with unloaded DC against Jurkat cells was 42.1% and cytotoxicity of monocytes was 22.7%. Cytotoxicity of CTL derived from culture with frozen-thawed antigen or WT1 peptides loaded DC was stronger than that in control groups (P < 0.01). It is concluded that the tumor antigen-pulsed DC can induce efficient and specific anti-tumor immunity, may play a great role in clinical therapy for leukemia.

Anti-proliferation effect of oridonin on HL-60 cells and its mechanism / 中国医学科学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the anti-proliferation effect of oridonin on leukemic HL-60 cells and its mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>HL-60 cells in vitro in culture medium were given different concentrations of oridonin. The inhibitory rate of cells were measured by microculture tetrazolium (MTT) assay, cell apoptotic rate was detected by flow cytometry (FCM), morphology of cell apoptosis was observed by hoechst 33258 fluorescence staining, and the activity of telomerase was detected using telomere repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) PCR-ELISA before and after apoptosis occurred.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Oridonin could decrease telomerase activity, inhibit growth of HL-60 cells, and cause apoptosis significantly. The suppression was both in time- and dose-dependent manner. Marked morphological changes of cell apoptosis including condensation of chromatin and nuclear fragmentation were observed clearly by hoechst 33258 fluorescence staining especially after cells were treated 48-60 hours by oridonin.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Oridonin has apparent anti-proliferation and apoptotic effects on HL-60 cells in vitro, decreasing telomerase activity of HL-60 cells may be one of its most important mechanisms. These results will provide strong laboratory evidence of oridonin for clinical treatment of acute leukemia.</p>

Distribution of hepatitis B virus genotype in 5 cities of Fujian province and the clinical implications of HBV genotype / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype in 5 cities of Fujian province and the clinical implications of distinct genotypes in HBV-related liver diseases.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>HBV genotype was determined by the restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis in patients with chronic HBV infection in 5 cities of Fujian province. The relationship between HBV genotype and its clinical implications was studied by multinomal logistic regression and correspondence analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of the 431 HBV DNA positive patients detected by PCR, 275 (63.8%) belonged to HBV genotype B, 100 (23.2%) to genotype C, 51 (11.8%) to genotype D and D-mixed genotype. Genotype A, E and F were not found. Multinomal logistic regression showed that genotype B was more prevalent in Quanzhou and Sanming cities than in Fuzhou (P = 0.002, P = 0.006), and genotype B appeared significantly more common in asymptomatic carriers (ASC), chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and severe hepatitis (SH). Genotype C was most prevalent in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) (47.0%) than in those with ASC (14.5%) and SH (14.7%) (P = 0.009, P < 0.001). The positive rate of hepatitis B e antigen was higher in patients with genotype C than in those with genotype B and genotype D (56.0% vs. 52.4%, P = 0.008, and 56.0% vs. 30.8%, P = 0.051, respectively). By correspondence analysis, genotype D and D-mixed genotype seemed to be correlated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>(1) The major popular genotypes of HBV were B, C and D in Fujian. (2) Data of our study suggested that the geographic distribution of genotype B and C might be different in some cities of Fujian. (3) Genotype B might have a tendency to lead to SH in younger patients with chronic hepatitis B and the development of LC might be associated with genotype C among the elder patients. (4) Genotype D appeared to associate with development of HCC, which called for further study to confirm.</p>