Clinical Features and Outcomes of Spinal Tuberculosis in Central China.

Purpose: The appropriate management of spinal tuberculosis (TB) is challenging for clinicians and the key to treat spinal TB. Surgery and long course anti-TB chemotherapy may not be necessary to all situations. This study aimed to characterize the clinical features and factors affecting treatment outcomes. Patients and Methods: A retrospective study of patients with spinal TB over a 5-year period at a teaching hospital in central China was conducted. Features of patients with spinal TB who received different treatment modalities and factors associated with patient outcomes at the end of chemotherapy were analyzed. Results: Forty-five patients (21 men and 24 women) with spinal TB were available for analysis. The mean age was 55.39 ± 14.94 years. The most common vertebral area involved was the lumbar (42.2%). The mean number of vertebrae involved was 2.20 ± 0.59. 27 patients (60.0%) received surgical treatment, of which 21 (77.8%) received radical surgical treatment. Thirty-five patients (77.8%) had achieved a favorable status. Statistically, there was no significant correlation between favorable status and surgery, but among 27 surgical patients with spinal tuberculosis, patients receiving radical surgery tended to achieve good prognosis (P = 0.010; odds ratio = 0.053; 95% confidence interval 0.006-0.493). Moreover, there was no significant difference between long course and short course of anti-TB chemotherapy in prognosis in different treatment modalities. Conclusion: Although the patients with spinal TB who needed surgical treatment often got a better prognosis when they had radical surgery, surgery was not actually a factor for the favorable outcomes of patients with spinal TB. In different treatment modalities, there was no additional benefit in longer anti-TB chemotherapy periods.

Knockdown of core 1 beta 1, 3-galactosyltransferase prolongs skin allograft survival with induction of galectin-1 secretion and suppression of CD8+ T cells: T synthase knockdown effects on galectin-1 and CD8+ T cells.

Core 1 beta 1,3-galactosyltransferase also known as T-antigen-synthase or T-synthase is a key enzyme for the synthesis of the common core 1 O-glycan structure (T-antigen). Although T-synthase is known to be important in human immune-related diseases, the effects of T-synthase and T-antigen on host immune responses remain poorly defined. In this study, a T-synthase-specific short hairpin RNA (shRNA) was transfected into murine colon carcinoma CT26 cells or mouse muscle tissues via intramuscular electroporation to assess the effects of T-synthase on T cells and cytokines. T-synthase knockdown significantly induced galectin-1 secretion both in vivo and in vitro and strongly enhanced Th2 cytokine (IL-10 and IL-4) production in vivo. Further, the increased production of galectin-1 induced by T-synthase knockdown promoted CD8(+) T-cell apoptosis, which, when combined with the increased production of CD4(+) T cell-derived Th2 cytokines prolonged the survival of skin allografts in mice. Our data suggest core 1 beta 1,3-galactosyltransferase-shRNA could serve not only as a useful tool in organ transplantation but also as a powerful tool for investigating O-glycans and glycoprotein synthesis and function.

Interleukin 24 as a novel potential cytokine immunotherapy for the treatment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.

Tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) remains a major global health problem. Interleukin 24 (IL-24) is a novel tumor suppressor and a unique member of the IL-10 family of cytokines. However, the in vivo immunological consequences of this cytokine's activity during Mtb infection are still unknown. We found that IL-24 concentration was significantly decreased in the sera of TB patients, and Mtb infection suppressed IL-24 expression of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in vitro. Furthermore, we used a mouse infection model utilizing the virulent Mtb H37Rv strain to demonstrate that the administration of exogenous IL-24 had a protective effect against the bacteria. We found that IL-24 could activate human CD8(+) T cells, driving CD8(+) T cells to produce interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and counteract TB. This activity was found to be dependent on early involvement of neutrophils in the mouse model. IL-24 strongly stimulated IFN-γ production mainly by signaling through the IL-24 receptors of human CD8(+) T cells. IL-12 secretion from neutrophils in response to IL-24 treatment might be a minor factor in activating human CD8(+) T cells to secrete IFN-γ. Suppression of IL-24 expression by Mtb infection might enhance susceptibility to infection and promote the development of chronic TB. This new information could potentially stimulate the development of a new cytokine-based immunotherapeutic approach using IL-24 to stimulate immunity against TB.

Overexpression of CIRP may reduce testicular damage induced by cryptorchidism.

PURPOSE: To investigate the protective effect of overexpression of cold-inducible RNA-binding protein (CIRP) on testicular damage induced by cryptorchidism. METHODS: Male BALB/c mice were made surgically cryptorchid and CIRP gene was transferred into the cryptorchid testis by in vivo electroporation. Seven or ten days after electroporation, the expression of CIRP, p53 and Fas mRNA and protein were analyzed by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunoblotting, respectively. Meanwhile, Histopathological changes were observed by light microscope, and flow cytometry was used to detect testicular cell apoptosis. RESULTS: Testicular weights after transfection with pVAX1-CIRP or pVAX1 were 0.083+/-0.005 g and 0.065+/-0.004 g, respectively, on day 7(P < 0.05) and 0.078+/-0.004 g and 0.052+/-0.007 g, on day 10 (P < 0.05). Testicular cell apoptosis after transfection with pVAX1-CIRP or pVAX1 were 9.8+/-1.1 % and 20.7+/-1.3 %, respectively, on day 7 (P < 0.01) and 10.4+/-0.9 % and 27.5+/-1.2 %, on day 10 (P < 0.01). In addition, the expression of CIRP mRNA and protein in the testes transfected with pVAX1-CIRP were both increased (P < 0.05) at each indicated time point. Meanwhile, the expression of p53 was decreased on day 7 (P < 0.05) and Fas was decreased on day 10(P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Overexpression of CIRP may reduce testicular damage induced by cryptorchidism by down-regulating the levels of p53 and Fas.