Diagnosis of Crohn's disease: a wolf in sheep's clothing.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C Su.
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OBJECTIVE: To study the relationship between methylation state of CDKN2/p16 gene and lung cancers. METHODS: Genomic DNA was digested with methylation-sensitive enzymes and Southern blotting was used to analyses the methylation state of CDKN2/p16 gene in 89 cases of lung cancer. RESULTS: Twenty-one out of 89 lung cancers(23.6%) shown methylation of CDKN2/p16 gene, and 17 of them occurred in 42 P16 negative cases with a rate of 40.5%(17/42). CONCLUSION: Methylation of CDKN2/p16 gene 5' CpG island is probably an important mechanism of gene inactivation; it may take part in the onset and process of lung cancer.
OBJECTIVE: To study the relationship between the status of methylation of the CDKN2/p16 gene 5'-CpG island and lung cancer. METHODS: Genomic DNA was digested with methylation-sensitive enzyme SmaI and Southern blotting was applied to analyze the status of methylation of the CDKN2/p16 in 89 cases of lung cancer and 10 cases of normal lung tissue. RESULTS: Of the 89 cases of lung cancer studied, the CDKN2/p16 gene was shown to be methylated in 15 cases (16.9%). It occurred in 12 of 42 p16 protein negative cases (28.6%), and in 3 of 47 p16 protein positive cases. The CDKN2/p16 gene was not shown to be methylated in 10 cases of normal lung tissue. CONCLUSION: Methylation of the CDKN2/p16 gene 5'-CpG island may be an important mechanism for gene inactivation in lung cancer progression.
OBJECTIVES: To study the incidences and mechanisms of tumor suppressor gene p16 and Rb inactivation in lung cancers, and to investigate their relation to biological characters, clinical pathological diagnosis and gene classification diagnosis of lung cancers. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry, double in situ hybridization, PCR, PCR-SSCP and sequencing were applied to study the changes of p16 and Rb genes in 106 lung cancers and 23 lung tissues of benign diseases. RESULTS: Total expression rates of p16 and Rb proteins and mRNAs in lung cancers were lower than those in normal lung tissues and benign lung diseases, and they were specially related to histological type, metastasis and clinical stage of lung cancers. In stage I and II lung cancers, the obvious inactivation of tumor suppressor gene p16 or Rb was examined (32.6% or 28.3%); p16 inactivation was detected mainly in non-small cell lung cancers, and Rb inactivation mainly in small cell lung cancers. There were three mechanisms of homozygous deletions, methylations and mutations for p16 gene inactivation. The deletion rate of p16 exon1 and/or exon2 was 25.8%, mainly took place in p16 protein negative cases of non-small cell lung cancers. 15 cases (16.9%) took part in methylations on SmaI sites of CpG island of p16 gene. PCR-SSCP and sequencing showed that 9 cases had p16 gene mutations. CONCLUSIONS: p16 and Rb genes may play important roles in genesis and progression of lung cancers. Inactivation of p16 or Rb gene may be is an early link of lung canceration, that is very important for early diagnosis of lung cancers. A new gene classification model for lung cancer diagnosis would be set up based on the research of p16 and Rb genes.
OBJECTIVES: To clone CDKN2/p16(INK4a) gene, prepare its probe, and to study the change of CDKN2/p16(INK4a) gene in lung cancers. METHODS: Total RNA of normal lung tissue was extracted, CDKN2/p16(INK4a) gene cDNA synthesized, and CDKN2/p16(INK4a) gene recombinant vector, constructed. Southern blot was used to study CDKN2/p16(INK4a) gene in 46 cases of lung cancers, 3 cases of normal lung tissues, 6 cases of lung tissues near cancer, and 3 cases of lymph nodes with lung cancer metastasis. RESULTS: Cloned CDKN2/p16(INK4a) cDNA was proved by enzyme digestion and sequencing. Southern blot showed 4.3 kb band in normal lung tissues and lung tissues near cancers, and deletion of CDKN2/p16(INK4a) gene in cancer tissues and lymph nodes with lung cancer metastasis, with a deletion rate of 17.4% (8/46). CONCLUSION: CDKN2/p16(INK4a) gene may play a role to some extent in progression of lung cancers.
OBJECTIVES: To study the incidence and mechanism of the tumor suppressor gene p16 and RB inactivation in lung cancer, and to investigate their relations to biological characteristics, clinical pathological diagnosis and gene classification. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry, double in situ hybridization, PCR, PCR-SSCP, and sequencing were used to study the changes in the p16 and RB genes in 106 patients with lung cancer. The specimen of normal lung tissue from the patients with lung cancer and specimens of the 23 patients with benign lung diseases were studied in contrast to those of the same patients. RESULTS: The total expression rate of the p16 and RB genes in the lung cancer tissues of the 106 patients was lower than that in normal lung tissues and tissues of benign lung diseases and was specially related to histological type, metastasis, and clinical stage of lung cancer. In stage I and II lung cancer, the obvious inactivation rate of the tumor suppressor gene p16 or RB was 32.6% or 28.3%. The p16 inactivation appeared largely in non-small cell lung cancer (50.1%), and the RB inactivation largely in small cell lung cancer (88.2%). Homozygous deletion, methylation, and mutation were three mechanisms for the p16 gene inactivation. The deletion rate of the p16 exon 1 and/or exon 2 was 25.8% in the patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Fifteen patients (16.9%) showed methylation at the SmaI sites of CpG island of the p16 gene. PCR-SSCP and sequencing revealed p16 gene mutation in 9 of the 106 patients with lung cancer. CONCLUSIONS: The p16 and RB genes may play an important role in genesis and progression of lung cancer. The inactivation of the p16 or RB gene may be an early sign of lung canceration, that is important for the early diagnosis. A new gene classification model for lung cancer diagnosis would be set up based on the research of the p16 and RB genes.
OBJECTIVE: To observe the cellular immune responses in a population of an endemic area of schistosomiasis japonica and the influence of praziquantel treatment. METHODS: Blood was taken from 129 residents (64 cases were egg-positive, 65 cases were egg-negitive) of an endemic area of Poyang Lake before and 45 days after praziquantel treatment. Cytokines induced by the schistosome soluble egg antigen (SEA) and soluble worm antigen preparations (SWAP) in the peripheral blood cells including IL-5, IL-10 and IFN-gamma were measured. RESULTS: Among 129 cases, the cytokine levels were found much higher in egg negative individuals than in egg-positive individuals. The cytokine levels induced by both antigens were increased significantly after praziqantel treatment especially IL-5 and IFN-gamma. CONCLUSION: The cellular immune responses in the population in schistosomiasis japonica endemic area exhibited a general trend of down-regulation and were elevated significantly after praziquantel treatment.
OBJECTIVE: To subclone and characterize a cDNA clone coding for Schistosoma japonicum (S.j.) mitochondria-related protein. METHODS: The open reading frame of the fragment(Sj338/24) obtained from an adult worm cDNA library of S.j. was analysed, at the upstream and downstream of the open reading frame(ORF) the primers A and B were designed, respectively, and the cDNA fragment was used as PCR template. The Sj338 gene fragment obtained was amplified by PCR method and then subcloned into pGEM-T vector for sequencing. The gene sequence was analyzed and the target fragment was restrictedly digested and subcloned into expression vector pGEX-6P-1. The expressed recombinant protein was purified and characterized. RESULTS: The cloned Sj338 gene was demonstrated to be 487 bp long containing one 459 bp ORF, encoding a protein with a molecular weight of 17 kDa. The nucleotide sequence of the cloned gene Sj338 had higher homology with those genes coding for mitochondrial outer membrane protein of Homo sapiens and Rattus norvegicus. The recombinant construct of pGEX-6P-1/Sj338 could be expressed efficiently and the antigenicity of its product rSj338 has been demonstrated by Western blotting. CONCLUSION: Sj338 may be the gene coding for S.j. mitochondria-related protein and the recombinant protein may be used as a new vaccine candidate.
Linoleate diol synthase is a homotetrameric ferric hemeprotein, which catalyzes dioxygenation of linoleic acid to (8R)-hydroperoxylinoleate and isomerization of the hydroperoxide to (7S,8S)-dihydroxylinoleate. Ferryl intermediates and a tyrosyl radical are formed in the reaction. Linoleate diol synthase was digested with endoproteinase Lys-C, and internal peptides were sequenced. The sequence information was used for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis, and a cDNA probe was obtained. Northern blot analysis of linoleate diol synthase suggested a 3.7-kilobase pair (kb) mRNA. A full-length clone of the linoleate diol synthase gene was obtained by screening of a genomic lambda-ZAP II library of the fungus Gaeumannomyces graminis. The 5'-untranslated region contained CAAT- and TATA-like boxes. The gene contained three short introns and spanned over 3.2-kb. The deduced open reading frame consisted of 2.9-kb, which corresponded to 978 amino acids and a molecular subunit mass of 108,000. Data base analysis with the gapped BLAST algorithm showed that 391 residues of linoleate diol synthase was 23-24% identical and 36-37% positive with the catalytic domain of mammalian prostaglandin H (PGH) synthase-2. Based on homology with PGH synthases, the proximal heme ligand of linoleate diol synthase was tentatively identified as His-379 and the important tyrosine for catalysis as residue 376 (apparent consensus EFNXXXYXWH). The distal heme ligand was tentatively identified as His-203 (apparent consensus THXXFXT). We conclude from catalytic and structural similarities that linoleate diol synthase and PGH synthases likely share common ancestry and may belong to a gene family of fatty acid heme dioxygenases.
A method using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and solid-phase extraction (SPE) is described for the determination of ginsenoside Rg3 in human plasma. A 2.5-ml volume of plasma was mixed with 2.5 ml 60% methanol aqueous solution, and centrifuged at 1100 g for 10 min, the supernatant fluid was further purified by SPE with 200 mg/5 ml 40 microns octadecyl silica and separation was obtained using a reversed-phase column under isocratic conditions with ultraviolet absorbance detection. The intra- and inter-day precision, determined as relative standard deviations, were less than 5.0%, and method recovery was more than 97%. The lower limit of quantitation, based on standards with acceptable RSDs, was 2.5 ng/ml. No endogenous compounds were found to interfere with analyte. A good linear relationship with a regression coefficient of 0.9999 in the range of 2.5 to 200 ng/ml was observed. This method has been demonstrated to be suitable for pharmacokinetic studies in humans. Method development for determination of drug with low UV absorption by SPE and HPLC is also discussed.
The Ig heavy chain variable region (V(H)) genes encode the antigen-binding regions of antibodies. The rabbit genome contains more than 100 V(H) genes, but only one (V(H)1) is preferentially used in the VDJ gene rearrangement. Three highly divergent alleles occur at this V(H)1 locus in most rabbit populations. These three V(H) alleles are also present in snowshoe hare populations, indicating that the polymorphism of the V(H)1 alleles is trans-specific. Here we report the results of a phylogenetic analysis of rabbit Ig germ-line V(H) genes (alleles) together with V(H) genes from humans and mice. We have found that all rabbit V(H) genes belong to one mammalian V(H) group (group C), which also includes various human and mouse V(H) genes. Using the rate of nucleotide substitution obtained from human and mouse V(H) sequences, we have estimated that the V(H)1 polymorphism in the rabbit lineage has been maintained for about 50 million years. This extremely long persistence of V(H)1 polymorphism is apparently caused by overdominant selection, though the real mechanism is unclear.
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The receptor of a T lymphocyte (TCR) recognizes nonself antigens in the company of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules presented to it by the antigen-presenting cell. The variable region of TCR is encoded by either a concatenation of variable region (TCR-V), diversity region (TCR-D), and joining region (TCR-J) genes, or a concatenation of TCR-V and TCR-J genes. The TCR-V genes exist as a multigene family in vertebrate species. Here we study the evolutionary relationships of TCR-V genes from humans, sheep, cattle, rabbits, mice, and chicken. These six species can be classified into two groups according to the frequency of gamma(delta) T-cells in their peripheral T-cell populations. The "gamma(delta) low" group of species includes humans and mice, in which gamma(delta)T-cells constitute very limited portion of the T-cell population. The "gamma(delta) high" group includes sheep, cattle, rabbits, and chicken, in which gamma(delta) T-cells comprise up to 60% of the T-cell population. Here, we compiled TCR-V sequences from the six species and conducted a phylogenetic analysis. We identified various TCR-V gene subgroups based on the analysis. We found that humans and mice have representatives from nearly all of the subgroups identified, while other species have lost subgroups to different extent. Therefore, the gamma(delta) low species have a high degree of diversity of TCR-V genes, while gamma(delta) high species all have limited diversity of TCR-V genes. This pattern is similar to that found for immunoglobulin variable region (IGV) genes.
The objectives of this study were to investigate the coagulase gene polymorphism of Staphylococcus aureus isolates obtained from bovine mastitic milk and to determine the resistance of predominant and rare coagulase genotypes to bovine blood neutrophil bactericidal activities. A total of 453 isolates were collected from four countries: the Czech Republic, France, Korea and the United States. The isolates were subtyped into 40 types by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of the coagulase gene. Twenty-three strains from predominant and rare genotypes were evaluated for their ability to resist neutrophil bactericidal activities. There were significant (P < 0.01) differences in the average percent neutrophil killing of the predominant (16.7%) and rare (39.7%) genotypes when bacteria were opsonized with antiserum. The results indicate that the profiles of coagulase genotype differ among geographic locations, and only a few genotypes prevail in each location. In addition, the predominant genotypes were more resistant to neutrophil bactericidal activities than rare genotypes.
In testing product reliability, there is often a critical cutoff level that determines whether a specimen is classified as "failed." One consequence is that the number of degradation data collected varies from specimen to specimen. The information of random sample size should be included in the model, and our study shows that it can be influential in estimating model parameters. Two-stage least squares (LS) and maximum modified likelihood (MML) estimation, which both assume fixed sample sizes, are commonly used for estimating parameters in the repeated measurements models typically applied to degradation data. However, the LS estimate is not consistent in the case of random sample sizes. This article derives the likelihood for the random sample size model and suggests using maximum likelihood (ML) for parameter estimation. Our simulation studies show that ML estimates have smaller biases and variances compared to the LS and MML estimates. All estimation methods can be greatly improved if the number of specimens increases from 5 to 10. A data set from a semiconductor application is used to illustrate our methods.
Proinflammatory cytokines have been shown to influence the expression and function of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Specifically, several studies have found that cytokines induce a decrease in GR function, as evidenced by reduced sensitivity to glucocorticoid effects on functional end points. To investigate the potential mechanism(s) involved, we examined the impact of the proinflammatory cytokine, interleukin-1alpha (IL-1alpha), on 1) GR translocation from cytoplasm to nucleus using GR immunostaining, 2) cytosolic radioligand GR binding, and 3) GR-mediated gene transcription in L929 cells stably transfected with the mouse mammary tumor virus-cholamphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene. L929 cells were treated with IL-1alpha (100 and 1000 U/ml) for 24 h in the presence or absence of dexamethasone (Dex; 10 nM to 1 microM). IL-1alpha inhibited Dex-induced GR translocation and alone induced GR up-regulation. Pretreatment with IL-1alpha followed by Dex treatment for 1.5 h led to about 20% inhibition of Dex-induced GR-mediated gene transcription, whereas coincubation of IL-1alpha plus Dex for 24 h inhibited Dex-induced GR-mediated gene activity up to 42%. The latter effect was reversed by the IL-1 receptor antagonist. These results suggest that cytokines produced during an inflammatory response may induce GR resistance in relevant cell types by direct effects on the GR, thereby providing an additional pathway by which the immune system can influence the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
Development of multidrug resistance to anticancer agents is a major limitation for the success of cancer chemotherapy. The chemosensitizer verapamil increases intracellular accumulation of drugs such as adriamycin in certain multidrug-resistant cell lines. When combined with verapamil, hyperthermia should be able to alter membrane permeability to adriamycin and to enhance the cytotoxicity of the drug. Verapamil increased the cytotoxicity of adriamycin in multidrug-resistant Chinese hamster ovary cells (CH(R)C5) but not in drug-sensitive cells (AuxB1). Hyperthermia (42 degrees C) alone clearly increased the cytotoxicity of adriamycin in AuxB1 cells. There was also a small increase in CH(R)C5 cells at 42 and 43 degrees C. In drug-resistant cells, the cytotoxicity of adriamycin increased considerably when verapamil was combined with heat. This effect was dependent on temperature and increased with time of incubation. At 37 degrees C, verapamil increased the uptake of adriamycin in CH(R)C5 cells, while drug efflux decreased. When verapamil was combined with hyperthermia, drug efflux decreased even further. These results led to an overall increase in intracellular accumulation of the drug. In drug-sensitive cells, hyperthermia increased both the uptake and efflux of adriamycin, but verapamil had no effect. Verapamil plus heat increased the cytotoxicity of adriamycin in drug-resistant cells, and this was accompanied by altered permeability of the membrane to the drug. Hyperthermia combined with verapamil could be beneficial by increasing the effectiveness of adriamycin in the elimination of multidrug-resistant cells in a localized target region.
OBJECTIVE: To study the relationship between CDKN2/p16 gene homozygous deletion and lung cancer progression. METHODS: Improved multiplex PCR technique was applied to detect deletion of CDKN2/p16 gene exon1 and exon2 in 89 cases of lung cancers. RESULTS: Gene deletion rate was increased by the improved PCR technique. Exon 1 and exon 2 deletion rates were 19.1% (17/89) and 22.5% (20/89) respectively, with total rate of exon1 and/or exon2 deletion 25.8% (23/89). Deletion of CDKN2/p16 gene occurred in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) and was related to metastasis and progressive stage. CONCLUSION: Abnormality of CDKN2/p16 gene is a genetic factor for NSCLC susceptibility, and may play a role to some extent in NSCLC malignant progression.