Progress of solute carrier SLC family in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is closely related to obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus, and is one of the components of metabolic syndrome. Due to the complexity of its pathogenesis, there is no effective drug treatment to date. Solute carrier transporters are associated with a variety of metabolic diseases and are abundantly expressed in the liver. They participate in the transport of a variety of nutrients and metabolites, regulate nutrient supply, metabolic transformation, energy balance and oxidative stress, and modulate the physiological functions of liver. Particularly, it is important that some of these SLC transporters have become new targets for drug development. In this review, we summarize the role of SLC in the transport of nutrients and liver metabolites and its correlation with NAFLD, and reveal the potential of SLC as a target for the development of new drugs for NAFLD treatment so as to provide a new choice for the treatment of the disease.

A genome-wide scan of selective sweeps in two broiler chicken lines divergently selected for abdominal fat content.

BACKGROUND: Genomic regions controlling abdominal fatness (AF) were studied in the Northeast Agricultural University broiler line divergently selected for AF. In this study, the chicken 60KSNP chip and extended haplotype homozygosity (EHH) test were used to detect genome-wide signatures of AF. RESULTS: A total of 5357 and 5593 core regions were detected in the lean and fat lines, and 51 and 57 reached a significant level (P<0.01), respectively. A number of genes in the significant core regions, including RB1, BBS7, MAOA, MAOB, EHBP1, LRP2BP, LRP1B, MYO7A, MYO9A and PRPSAP1, were detected. These genes may be important for AF deposition in chickens. CONCLUSIONS: We provide a genome-wide map of selection signatures in the chicken genome, and make a contribution to the better understanding the mechanisms of selection for AF content in chickens. The selection for low AF in commercial breeding using this information will accelerate the breeding progress.

Correlation analysis between single-nucleotide polymorphism of malate dehydrogenase gene 5'-flanking region and growth and body composition traits in chicken.

Malate dehydrogenase (MD) is a key enzyme that plays an important role in energy metabolism. It catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation of L-malate to yield CO2 and pyruvate, while simultaneously generating NADPH from NADP+. The NADPH generated can be utilized in de novo synthesis of palmitate, which is the precursor molecule for the formation of other long-chain fatty acids. And high levels of MD will also activate muscle development. The current study was designed to investigate the effects of MD gene on growth and body-composition traits in chicken. The eighth generation population of Northeast Agricultural University broiler lines divergently selected for its abdominal fat and Northeast Agricultural University F2 resource population were used in the research. Polymorphisms were detected by DNA sequencing and PCR-RFLP method was then developed to screen the population. A single mutation at the position of the 235 bp (Accession No. U49693) of MD 5'-flanking region was found. The correlation analysis between the polymorphism of the MD gene and growth and body composition traits was carried out using the appropriate statistic model. Least-square analysis showed that the BB genotype birds had much higher pectoralis major weight and percentage of pectoralis major than AA genotype birds (P<0.05). The abdominal fat weight, percentage of abdominal fat, the liver weight and percentage of liver weight of the AA genotype birds were much higher than those of BB genotype birds (P<0.05). These results indicate that MD gene is the major gene or is linked to the major gene that affects the growth and body composition traits in chicken.

[Combination radiation and gene therapy for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in the murine model].

OBJECTIVE: To examine the antitumour efficacy and investigate immunological mechanism of combination therapy of IL-2 gene and IL-12 gene transfer with radiation in an immunocompetent murine model that parallel more closely the clinical therapy of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). METHODS: Tumors were established in the floor of mouth in C3H/HeJ mice with SCCVII cell line. Lipid-DNA complexed (lipoplexes) by using polycationic liposome-Mediated transduction for HNSCC was transduced in tumor-bearing mouse by direct intratumoral gene transfer. The local tumor was radiated with a dose of 2 Gy in the second day. Tumor sizes were measured before and after the treatment as compared to the different single treatment groups and the controls. After tumors were subculture, the supernatants were collected for IL-2 and IL-12 expression by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Natural killer (NK) cell activity and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) activity were also assayed by LDH method. CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocyte in tumor tissues were examined by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: HNSCC tumor growth was significantly inhibited following combined IL-2 and IL-12 gene therapy with radiation as compared to IL-2 or IL-12 gene therapy with radiation, single IL-2 or IL-12 gene therapy, radiation alone and the controls. Increased secreted levels of IL-2 and IL-12 protein expression were found in combined and single IL-2 gene or IL-12 gene treated groups. The combination and single gene treated groups produced greater activation of CTL and NK than the controls of all concerned test. The significant CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocyte infiltration was distributed and the numerous necrosis were seen in tumor tissues after combination therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Combined IL-2 gene and IL-12 gene therapy with radiation could significantly inhibited HNSCC tumor growth in the murine model and efficiently induced antitumor immunity of the host.

[Cloning and sequencing of the introns of UCP gene and construction of molecular phylogenetic tree in chicken].

The UCP genes were the newly discovered genes that can increase the energy expenditure and involve in the metabolism of fat and regulation of energy. Four pairs of primers in chicken UCP exon region were designed to amplify the introns of chicken UCP gene according to the splice ways of the mouse UCP2 gene (Accession No.AF096288). The sequence results showed that the chicken UCP gene also had five GT-AG type introns. The molecular phylogenetic tree was constructed based on the sequence of cds, intron 2 and intron 3 region, respectively. The phylogenetic tree based on the UCP cds region was consistent with the species phylogenetic tree. This result implicated that UCP gene can be regarded as the useful gene for the study of animal phylogenesis. On the contrast, the phylogenetic tree based on the intron 2 and intron 3 region was different from the species phylogenetic tree, which showed that the evolution of intron and cds region is different.

[SSSR fingerprinting in broiler selected for very low density lipoprotein (VLDL)].

SSR fingerprints were analyzed in three generations of fat line (FL) and lean line (LL) of broiler chickens. Changes in gene frequencies of every locus were evaluated. Thus the relationship between SSR markers and VLDL (a trait representing fat mass of broiler), which is the basis for early selection of LL broiler, was examined. Fourteen microsatellite locus were successfully amplified with 4 of 5 primers used. The results of chi2 test for the gene frequencies of every locus show that one locus was significantly different in generation 1(P<0.05), two in generation 2 and 4 in generation 3.