Recent advance in the development of tuberculosis vaccines in clinical trials and virus-like particle-based vaccine candidates.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a serious public health threat around the world. An effective vaccine is urgently required for cost-effective, long-term control of TB. However, the only licensed vaccine Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) is limited to prevent TB for its highly variable efficacy.

Prognostic value of CASC15 and LINC01600 as competitive endogenous RNAs in lung adenocarcinoma: An observational study.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) can directly or indirectly regulate gene expression through interacting with microRNAs (miRNAs). Competitive endogenous RNAs render the roles of lncRNAs more complicated in the process of tumor occurrence and progression. However, the prognostic value of lncRNAs as potential biomarkers and their functional roles as competitive endogenous RNAs have not been clearly described for lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD).

Nano-Sized Chimeric Human Papillomavirus-16 L1 Virus-like Particles Displaying Antigen Ag85B Enhance Ag85B-Specific Immune Responses in Female C57BL/c Mice.

Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), the only current vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) that is licensed in clinics, successfully protects infants and young children against several TB types, such as TB meningitis and miliary TB, but it is ineffective in protecting adolescents and adults against pulmonary TB. Thus, it is a matter of the utmost urgency to develop an improved and efficient TB vaccine. In this milieu, virus-like particles (VLPs) exhibit excellent characteristics in the field of vaccine development due to their numerous characteristics, including but not limited to their good safety without the risk of infection, their ability to mimic the size and structure of original viruses, and their ability to display foreign antigens on their surface to enhance the immune response.

Interfering with Dusp2 alleviates high glucose-induced vascular endothelial cell dysfunction by promoting p38 MAPK pathway activation.

Background: Hyperglycemia-induced vascular endothelial cell dysfunction is a major factor contributing to diabetic lower extremity ischemia. We intend to investigate the role of Dusp2 in hyperglycemia-induced vascular endothelial cell dysfunction and related mechanisms.

Methods: The human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were treated with high glucose (HG) as the cell model.

Robust Glycogene-Based Prognostic Signature for Proficient Mismatch Repair Colorectal Adenocarcinoma.

Background: Proficient mismatch repair (pMMR) colorectal adenocarcinoma (CRAC) metastasizes to a greater extent than MMR-deficient CRAC. Prognostic biomarkers are preferred in clinical practice. However, traditional biomarkers screened directly from sequencing are often not robust and thus cannot be confidently utilized.

Development and Evaluation of a Fusion Polyprotein Based on HspX and Other Antigen Sequences for the Serodiagnosis of Tuberculosis.

Background: The lack of suitable diagnostic tools contributes to the high prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) worldwide. Serological tests, based on multiple target antigens, represent an attractive option for diagnosis of this disease due to their rapidity, convenience, and low cost.

Methods: Measures to reduce non-specific reactions and thereby improve the specificity of serological tests were investigated, including blocking antibodies against common bacteria in serum samples and synthesizing polypeptides covering non-conserved dominant B-cell epitopes of antigens.

Identification of microRNAs and their Endonucleolytic Cleavaged target mRNAs in colorectal cancer.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) ranks the third among the most common malignancies globally. It is well known that microRNAs (miRNAs) play vital roles in destabilizing mRNAs and repressing their translations in this disease. However, the mechanism of miRNA-induced mRNA cleavage remains to be investigated.

Single-cell transcriptional profiling reveals the heterogenicity in colorectal cancer.

Background: Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is a highly heterogeneous disease. RNA profiles of bulk tumors have enabled transcriptional classification of CRC. However, such ways of sequencing can only target a cell colony and obscure the signatures of distinct cell populations.

Predicting the response to neoadjuvant therapy for early-stage breast cancer: tumor-, blood-, and imaging-related biomarkers.

Neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) has been used increasingly in patients with locally advanced or early-stage breast cancer. However, the accurate evaluation and prediction of response to NAT remain the great challenge. Biomarkers could prove useful to identify responders or nonresponders, or even to distinguish between early and delayed responses.

Optimized multiparametric flow cytometric analysis of circulating endothelial cells and their subpopulations in peripheral blood of patients with solid tumors: a technical analysis.

Background: Circulating endothelial cells (CECs) and their subpopulations could be potential novel biomarkers for various malignancies. However, reliable enumerable methods are warranted to further improve their clinical utility. This study aimed to optimize a flow cytometric method (FCM) assay for CECs and subpopulations in peripheral blood for patients with solid cancers.

ORFeome-based identification of biomarkers for serodiagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis latent infection.

Background: The challenges posed by Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection require the gradual removal of the pool of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). The current cell-immune-based diagnostic tests used to identify LTBI individuals have several irreversible drawbacks. In the present study, we attempted to identify novel diagnostic antigens for LTBI.

Circulating endothelial cells and their subsets: novel biomarkers for cancer.

Angiogenesis contributes to the growth of solid tumors. Antiangiogenic agents are widely used in various cancers and considerable efforts have been made in the development of novel biomarkers that can predict the outcome of an anticancer treatment. Of those, circulating endothelial cells (CECs) and their subsets constitute a surrogate tool for monitoring disease activity.

Influence of HLA-DRB1 Alleles on the Variations of Antibody Response to Tuberculosis Serodiagnostic Antigens in Active Tuberculosis Patients.

Serology-based tests for tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis, though rapid, efficient and easily implemented, have so far shown unsatisfactory levels of sensitivity and specificity, probably due to variations of the antibody response in TB patients. The number and types of seropositive antigens vary from individual to individual. The person-to-person variations of antigen recognition may be linked to genetic polymorphisms of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II alleles.

Protein array identification of protein markers for serodiagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.

The lack of effective and accurate diagnostic tools contributes to the high prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) worldwide. The current serodiagnostics for TB are inadequate mainly due to lack of TB-specific antigens with highly accurate diagnosis. In the current study, we aimed to identify novel diagnostic antigens using glutathione S-transferase (GST)-fusion protein technique.