Exploring the antioxidant effect of Lactobacillus plantarum SCS2 on mice with type 2 diabetes.

This study aimed to evaluate the antioxidant effect of Lactobacillus plantarum SCS2 (L. plantarum SCS2). After 1 week of acclimation, 120 male KM mice were divided into normal group (NG), model group (MG), solvent control group (KG), and different test groups (TG1, TG2, TG3) (n = 20/group) randomly. In the second week, except NG mice, other mice were given 0.2 ml 50 mg/kg (body weight) streptozocin (STZ) through intraperitoneal injection for 5 days. After successful modeling, NG and MG mice were fed normally, KG mice was given 0.5 ml 0.1 mol/L phosphate buffer saline (PBS) per day, TG1, TG2, and TG3 mice were given 0.5 ml suspension, intracellular content and heat-killed intracellular content of L. plantarum SCS2 per day for 9 weeks. Body weight and blood glucose were observed and recorded during intragastric administration. Glucose tolerance levels were measured at the twelfth week, then mice were sacrificed and the serum was collected to measure insulin (INS), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), malondialdehyde (MDA), reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant enzymes. The results showed that the reduction of weight loss in TG1 and TG2 mice was observed, which was consistent with the blood glucose. At the same time, the INS level of TG1, TG2, and TG3 mice were increased and the HbA1c levels were decreased. Otherwise, the MDA and ROS content in the serum of TG1, TG2, and TG3 mice were decreased and the level of antioxidant enzymes was increased. Interestingly, the activity and content of antioxidant enzymes in TG2 group was the highest in the three test groups. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: The results of this study showed that L. plantarum SCS2 could effectively reduce blood glucose, relieve weight loss, improve INS deficiency, and also improve oxidative stress by increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes. The findings suggest that L. plantarum SCS2 could improve diabetes-related symptoms by alleviating oxidative stress. In the future, people could promote the application of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) which is found in traditional foods with the ability of improving oxidative damage in food nutrition and related fields, so as to guide residents to form good dietary habits, and effectively prevent type 2 diabetes. Meanwhile, it also can enhance the edible value of traditional foods.

Epigenetically downregulated Semaphorin 3E contributes to gastric cancer.

Axon guidance protein Semaphorin 3E (Sema3E) promotes tumor metastasis and suppresses tumor cell death. Here, we demonstrated that Sema3E was decreased in gastric cancer. Its levels were inversely associated with tumor progression. Levels of Sema3E were associated with low p300 and high class I histone deacetylase (class I HDAC). Ectopic expression of Sema3E inhibited proliferation and colony formation of gastric cancer cell lines in vitro and xenografts in vivo. Sema3E overexpression inhibited migration and invasion of gastric cancer cells, which was associated with induction of E-cadherin and reduction of Akt and ERK1/2 phosphorylation. We suggest that silencing of Sema3E contributes to the pathogenesis of gastric cancer.

Clinical evaluation of oligonucleotide microarrays for the detection of HBV mutants associated with lamivudine resistance.

OBJECTIVES: Long-term lamivudine administration in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected patients induces the emergence of HBV mutants with lamivudine resistance. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the clinical application of an oligonucleotide microarray in detecting HBV mutants associated with lamivudine resistance. METHODS: 947 HBV DNA-positive sera from: 388 patients receiving lamivudine treatment, 559 chronic hepatitis B patients not receiving lamivudine treatment, and 359 from HBV DNA-negative controls, were assayed for HBV mutations using the oligonucleotide microarray. Furthermore, follow-up studies were performed using 255 clinical samples from 51 patients treated with lamivudine at various periods. The results were compared with sequencing and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). RESULTS: The HBV DNA polymerase Tyr-Met-Asp-Asp motif (YMDD) mutation was detected in all 388 samples containing lamivudine-resistant mutations identified by microarray. For the codons rt180, rt204 and rt207, the agreements between the microarray and sequencing data are 96.6, 98.5 and 100%, respectively. Two previously unreported mutants were also found in those samples. In the 947 samples collected from different patients, which were detected positive for HBV DNA by quantitative PCR, all but three weak-positive samples were positive by the microarray, demonstrating an agreement of 99.7%. In all the positive samples, mutations could be detected in the relevant loci of HBV DNA polymerase with lamivudine resistance. All of the 359 HBsAg-negative samples were shown to be negative for HBV DNA using the microarray method. Follow-up detection of the clinical samples from 51 patients treated with lamivudine demonstrated that the microarray method was able to detect mutations in mixed viruses that were infecting prior to sequencing. CONCLUSION: The oligonucleotide microarray can be conveniently utilized to detect mutant HBV in clinical serum samples.

[Capturing-ELISA for the detection of anti-HCMV-IgM antibody in serum].

BACKGROUND: To develop a capturing-ELISA for the detection of anti-HCMV-IgM antibody in serum. METHODS: The anti-HCMV-IgM antibody was detected in 68 patients with HCMV infection by the capturing-ELISA, and the results were compared with those of indirect ELISA. RESULTS: The specificity and sensitivity of the capturing-ELISA were shown to be significantly higher than those of indirect ELISA, and its results were not affected by RF factor. CONCLUSION: The capturing ELISA is specific, sensitive, convenient and reliable method which may be feasible for clinical use.