The significance of changes in platelet concentration during the early phase after severe burn injury in a Chinese mass casualty.

BACKGROUND: Changes in platelet concentration are common in severe burn patients. Platelets play a key role in the course of disease. This study aims to explore the significance of platelet concentration during the course of the disease in victims of a mass burn casualty. METHODS: A total of 180 patients were involved in the "8.2" Kunshan explosion accident in China. The examined data included age, gender, total burn area (% TBSA), third-degree burn area (% TBSA), and platelet concentration within the first 5 days after the burn injury. The patients were divided into two groups according to four indicators (resuscitation, acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute kidney injury, septic shock). We collected several types of data for the patients and divided the patients into a complication group and non-complication group according to the diagnostic criteria. We analyzed the platelet concentration of the two groups using t tests to determine whether significant differences were present. P values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The group with successful resuscitation had higher platelet concentration than the failure group on day 3 and day 5. The patients who suffered from acute kidney injury (AKI) and septic shock had a lower platelet concentration than non-sufferers on day 3 and day 5. CONCLUSIONS: The platelet concentration of burn patients can dynamically reflect the pathophysiological changes of the body. It can be used as an early objective indicator of prognosis in mass burn casualty cases.

[Phenylhexyl isothiocyanate reducing U266 cell line methylation level of p16 gene].

This study was purposed to investigate whether phenylhexyl isothiocyanate (PHI) can reduce p16 gene methylation level or not. The myeloma U226 cell line was cultured with PHI of 0, 5, 10 micromol/L for 72 hours, then DNA was extracted. Hydrosulfite was used to treat the genome DNA of healthy adult, PCR amplification was carried out by using this DNA as template. The gene chip detecting methylation changes of 3 CpG in promoter region of p16 gene was constructed by designing a pair of probes which contain one methylated and one unmethylated probes. This pair of probes was used to detect 3 consecutive sites of CpG island in p16 gene. The standard curve was constructed by using gene chip after the methylated and unmethylated DNA were mixed at different ratio. Then treated samples of U266 cells were dotted on gene chip, obtained results were compared with standard curve to get the quantitative results. The results indicated that the probes on chip had excellent reproducible ability and precision, the methylation level of p16 gene in U266 cells treated with 0, 5 and 10 micromol/L of PHI was determined as 78.2%, 61.7% and 54.8%, respectively. It is concluded that the PHI can reduce the methylation level of p16 gene in U266 cells.

[Advance of study on demethylation in leukemia - review].

DNA methylation is a frequent change in epigenetics of leukemia. In the development of leukemia, methylation plays an important role in the genetic expression regulation and genetic structure stabilization. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and chemotherapy are the common methods to cure leukemia at present. Unfortunately, it is very hard to find suitable donor for transplantation, while the relapse and drug resistance are the unresolved problems in chemotherapy. Because of the reversibility of methylation, the drugs reducing the level of methylation become a new way to cure leukemia. Decitabine is the most common medicament used to reduce the level of methylation. In this article, the methylation and tumor, methylation and hematologic diseases, methylation detection methods, demethylation therapy in leukemia and so on are reviewed.