Blood T-helper 17 cells and interleukin-17A correlate with the elevated risk of postpartum depression and anxiety.

BACKGROUND: T-helper (Th) cells regulate inflammation and immunity, which is implicated in psychological disorders. The current study aimed to explore the clinical role of blood Th1, Th2, and Th17 cells and their main secreted cytokines in postpartum depression (PPD) and postpartum anxiety (PPA). METHODS: A total of 226 postpartum women were included. At 6 weeks postpartum, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and State Trait Anxiety Inventory 6 item version (STAI6) scores were assessed; meanwhile, blood Th1, Th2, and Th17 cells were detected by flow cytometry, serum interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), interleukin-4 (IL-4), and IL-17A were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: The incidence of PPD and PPA were 24.3% and 27.9%, respectively. Th17 cells and IL-17A were positively correlated with EPDS score and STAI6 score (all p < 0.001). Besides, Th17 cells (p < 0.001) and IL-17A (p = 0.002) were increased in PPD cases vs. non-PPD cases, and they were also elevated in PPA cases vs. non-PPA cases (both p < 0.05). However, Th1 cells, Th2 cells, IFN-γ, and IL-4 were not linked with EPDS score or STAI6 score (all p > 0.05); besides, they did not vary in PPD cases vs. non-PPD cases or in PPA cases vs. non-PPA cases (all p > 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression model analysis showed that Th17 cells were independently associated with an elevated risk of PPD (odds ratio [OR] = 1.600, p = 0.001) and PPA (OR = 1.371, p = 0.022). CONCLUSION: Blood Th17 cells and IL-17A are positively linked with the risk of PPD and PPA, indicating which may be involved in the development of PPD and PPA.

Effect of Nano-Oleanolic Acid Combined With Lipid-Lowering Ketones on Insulin Resistance in Rats with Gestational Diabetes.

Diabetes is a widespread metabolic syndrome, an important complication during pregnancy. Most cases are type 2 diabetes, which has attracted the attention of the World Health Organization. The typical feature of T2DM is insulin resistance (IR). Its mechanism remains unclear, but it mainly manifests through parameters like insulin sensitivity, blood glucose level, and liver stability. Oxidative stress and insulin transduction play an important role in IR. This study simulates the disease situation, establishes a high-fat and high-fructose-induced model induced by tert-butyl hydroperoxide (tBHP), and adopts nano-sized oleanolic acid combined with lipid-lowering ketones to explore improvement in the IR mechanism. We found combining nano-sized oleanolic acid and lipid-lowering ketones can slow down the weight gain process in rats, reduce fasting blood glucose levels, increase the insulin sensitivity index, reduce the serum MDA, NO, and triglyceride content, and increase SOD, CAT activity. In summary, our results show that the combined use of nano-sized oleanolic acid and lipid-lowering ketone in pregnant rats with double height can reduce glucose metabolism, delay lipid production, and reduce oxidative stress, which is useful for further treatment and interpretation of T2DM The mechanism provides a theoretical basis.

MiR-590-3p and its targets VEGF, PIGF, and MMP9 in early, middle, and late pregnancy: their longitudinal changes and correlations with risk of fetal growth restriction.

AIMS: The term "fetal growth restriction (FGR)" is commonly used to describe fetuses with an estimated fetal weight that is less than 10th percentile for gestational age. This study aimed to investigate the longitudinal change of microRNA-590-3p (miR-590-3p), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), placental growth factor (PIGF), and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)9 expressions in early, middle, and late pregnancy, and their correlations with the fetal growth restriction (FGR) risk. METHODS: Totally, 970 pregnant women in early pregnancy were enrolled, and their plasma samples were, respectively, acquired in early pregnancy (at 10th or 11th week of gestational age), middle pregnancy (at 20th or 21st week of gestational age), and late pregnancy (at 33th or 34th week of gestational age) for miR-590-3p, VEGF, PIGF, and MMP9 determinations. RESULTS: MiR-590-3p underwent a growing trend, but VEGF, PIGF, and MMP9 experienced declined trend along with pregnancy (all P < 0.001). Furthermore, the negative association of miR-590-3p with VEGF, PIGF, and MMP9 became stronger along with the pregnancy. Besides, miR-590-3p expression in middle and late pregnancy was higher, but VEGF, PIGF, and MMP9 expressions in middle and late pregnancy were lower in women affected by FGR compared to normal pregnant women (all P < 0.001). In addition, miR-590-3p, VEGF, PIGF, and MMP9 expression in middle and late pregnancy were of good value in predicting FGR risk. CONCLUSIONS: miR-590-3p exhibits a growing trend during pregnancy, and its expression in middle and late pregnancy is associated with increased FGR risk via interaction with VEGF, PIGF, and MMP9.

Correlative analysis of the expression of IL-10 and Ki-67 in human cervical cancer and cervical intraepithelial neoplasias and human papillomavirus infection.

This study investigated the expression of IL-10 and Ki-67 in human cervical cancer and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and the correlation with human papillomavirus infection. A total of 110 patients with cervical lesions undergoing surgical treatment in Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine from 2016 to 2017 were selected. Those patients included 36 cases of cervical cancer and 74 cases of CIN. At the same time, 30 cases of chronic cervicitis were selected as the control group. RT-qPCR was used to detect the expression of IL-10 and Ki-67 in cervical tissue. PCR was used to detect HPV infection in cervical tissue. The expression levels of IL-10 and Ki-67 in the cervical cancer and CIN groups were higher than those in the control group. Moreover, the expression levels of IL-10 and Ki-67 in the cervical cancer and CIN II-III groups were higher than those in the CIN I group (P<0.05). In addition, the expression levels of IL-10 and Ki-67 in the cervical cancer group were significantly higher than those in the CIN II-III group. Furthermore, the expression levels of IL-10 and Ki-67 were positively correlated with HPV infection (r=0.783 or 0.712, P<0.05). Finally, the expression levels of IL-10 and Ki-67, and HPV infection in the cervical lesions studied were significantly different. Therefore, combined detection of IL-10, Ki-67 and HPV infection can improve the diagnosis of CIN and early cervical cancer.

[Regulatory effect of ligustrazine and Radix astragalus on RANTES and receptor CCR5 expression in the genesis and development process of endometriosis].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the regulatory effect of ligustrazine and Radix Astragalus (Chinese drugs for supplementing qi and activating blood circulation) on uterine mucosa stromal cyto-chemotactic factor RANTES and receptor CCR5 expression. METHODS: The eutopic and ectopic endometrial stromal cells (EMSC) isolated and purified from 10 patients with ovarian endometrial cyst were selected as the experimental group, while those from 10 patients with benign lesion were selected as the control group. After they were intervened by different factors, including astragalus injection (AI), ligustrazine injection (LI), AI + LI, and Danazol, the expression levels of RANTES and CCR5 in the cells were detected by ELISA and RT-PCR. RESULTS: RANTES expressions in eutopic and ectopic EMSC were different insignificantly (P > 0.05). The ectopic EMSC RANTES expression was 13.602 +/- 3.358 ng/L and eutopic EMSC RANTES was 12.850 +/- 7.997 ng/L in the positive control group, which was significantly higher than that in the negative control group (both being 0.027 +/- 0.016 ng/L, P <0.05), and the ectopic EMSC expressions after intervened with Chinese drugs were significantly lower than that in the positive control group (P <0.05). CCR5 expression in ectopic EMSC was 0.759 +/- 0.039 ng/L, which was higher than that in eutopic EMSC (0.249 +/- 0.026 ng/L, P <0.05). Ectopic EMSC CCR5 expression was higher in the positive control group than that in the negative control group (0.759 +/- 0.039 ng/L vs 0.478 +/- 0.094 ng/L, P <0.05). Similar situation also was shown between the positive and negative control groups in terms of eutopic EMSC CCR5 expression (0.249 +/- 0.026 ng/L vs 0.131 +/- 0.021 ng/L, P < 0.01), and the expression was significantly lower in all the Chinese drugs treated EMSC groups as compared with that in the positive control group (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: CCR5 expression was higher in ectopic EMSC than that in eutopic EMSC. Ligustrazine and Radix Astragalus could down-regulate the auto-secretion of RANTES and CCR5 in patients with endometriosis.