[Value of hsCRP and Alb in Evaluating the Prognosis of Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus].

OBJECTIVE: To study the value of hsCRP and Alb in evaluating the prognosis of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS: 126 SLE patients from January 2011 to January 2016 were enrolled in this study, and their clinical data were collected, including SLEDAI, hsCRP and Alb and complications. The correlation between hsCRP/Alb ratio and SLEDAI after treatment was analyzed. All patients were followed up after discharge, and the prognosis-related factors were analyzed. RESULTS: After treatment, hsCRP/Alb ratio of patients with SLEDAI 10-14 score was significantly higher than that of 5-9 and 0-4 score(P<0.05). hsCRP/Alb ratio was positively correlated with infection (r=0.574), renal damage (r=0.499) and cardiac injury (r=0.516) (P<0.05), while it demonstrated no correlation with blood system damage, CNS damage and lung injury(P>0.05). after treatment SLEDAI ≥10 score, hsCRP/Alb≥0.05 mg/g and complications significantly correlated with prognosis of patients(P<0.05). CONCLUSION: hsCRP/Alb correlates with the prognosis of patients with SLE at a certam level.

[Expression and significance of NKG2D ligands in 13 tumor cell lines].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: The interaction between NKG2D and its ligands plays a major role in immune surveillance against tumor. This study was to observe the expression and analyze the significance of NKG2D ligands in 13 tumor cell lines. METHODS: The mRNA expression of NKG2D ligands in K562, Raji, PG, Hep2, HepG2, HeLa, HT29, M21, MDA231, SGC7901, Caski, HL-60 and Jurkat cells was measured by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The cytotoxicity of natural killer (NK) cells to the tumor cells at different effector-to-target cell (E:T) ratios were detected by MTT assay. The expression of MICA protein was measured by SABC immunohistochemistry and Western blot. RESULTS: The 13 tumor cell lines expressed different levels of NKG2D ligands. MICA was highly expressed in Hep2 cells, but not expressed in Caski, PG, HL-60 and Raji cells. The expression of MICA and MICB were positively correlated to the cytotoxicity of NK cells (r=0.851, P<0.001; r=0.652, P<0.05). Except for ULBP3, the expression of ULBP1, 2, 4 had no correlations to the cytotoxicity of NK cells. CONCLUSION: Among the 6 human NKG2D ligands, the expression of MICA is most intimate to the cytotoxicity of NK cells to tumor cells, and its expression level may determine the degree of immune response of NK cells to tumor.

[Up-regulation of IFN-alpha on expression of MICA in the cervical carcinoma cell lines].

AIM: To investigate the effect of IFN-alpha on expression of MHC class I chain-related protein A (MICA) in the cervical carcinoma cell lines. METHODS: The cervical carcinoma cell lines (HeLa and Caski) were treated with IFN-alpha. The expression of MICA was measured by RT-PCR and by immunohistochemical staining. The cytotoxicity of human NK cells to the IFN-alpha treated cervical carcinoma cells was detected by MTT method. RESULTS: The mRNA and protein expression of MICA was up-regulated by IFN-alpha in HeLa and Caski cells in a time and dose-dependent manner. Compared to Caski cells which weakly expressed MICA, higher cytolytic activity of NK cells was found against HeLa cells, which expressed relatively higher level of MICA. After being treated with IFN-alpha for 3 d, the susceptibility of the two cervical carcinoma cells to NK cytolysis was increased significantly. CONCLUSION: IFN-alpha can up-regulate the MICA expression in the cervical carcinoma cell lines and thereby enhance the susceptibility to cytolysis of NK cells.