Efficacy and safety of peginterferon-α2b for treatment of myeloproliterative neoplasms / 南方医科大学学报

OBJECTIVE@#To evaluate the clinical efficacy and adverse reactions of peginterferon-α2b for treatment of chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN).@*METHODS@#We retrospectively analyzed the data of 107 patients with MPN, including 95 with essential thrombocythemia (ET) and 12 with polycythemia vera (PV), who all received peginterferon-α2b treatment for at least 12 months. The clnical and follow-up data of the patients were analyzed to evaluate the efficacy and adverse reactions of the treatment.@*RESULTS@#After receiving peginterferon- α2b treatment, both ET and PV patients achieved high hematological remission rates, and the total remission rates did not differ significantly between the two groups (86% vs 78%, P>0.05). In the overall patients, the spleen index decreased by 13.5% (95%CI: 8.5%-18.5%) after the treatment. The patients with hematological remission showed a significantly greater reduction of the total symptom score than those without hematological remission (P < 0.01). The median percentage of JAK2V617F allele load of PV patients decreased from 67.23% (49.6%-84.86%) at baseline to 19.7% (0.57%-74.6%) after the treatment, and that of JAK2V617F-positive ET patients decreased from 48.97% (0.45%-74.24%) at baseline to 22.1% (0.33%-65.42%) after the treatment. Mild adverse reactions (grade 1-2) were observed in both ET and PV groups without significant differences between them. The overall incidence of thrombotic events during the treatment was 2.8% in these patients, and no serious adverse reactions were observed.@*CONCLUSION@#For patients with chronic myelodysplasia, peginterferon-α2b treatment can achieve a high peripheral blood cell remission rate and maintain a long-term stable state with good effect in relieving symptoms such as splenomegaly. Peginterferon- α2b treatment caused only mild adverse reactions, which can be tolerated by most of the patients.

Dual effects of immune responses during highly pathogenic coronavirus infections and implications for novel coronavirus vaccine research and development / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

The outbreaks caused by coronavirus (CoV) infections including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and COVID-19 have emerged in recent years, posing a continued threat to public health. Highly pathogenic CoV infections usually induce a series of immune responses, including innate immunity, humoral immunity, cellular immunity and mucosal immunity. These responses not only are critical to suppressing and eliminating the invasion of viruses, but also play an important role in immunopathological changes and disease progression. A deep understanding of the dual roles of immune responses will help to elucidate the pathogenic mechanism of CoV and maintain the balance between immune protection and immunopathology, which will be conducive to the research and development of safe and effective CoV vaccines. This review summarized the dual roles of immune responses in highly pathogenic CoV infections and discussed the implications for the research and development of novel CoV vaccines.