Rare and common coding variants in lipid metabolism-related genes and their association with coronary artery disease.

Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a complex disease that is influenced by environmental and genetic factors. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between coding variants in lipid metabolism-related genes and CAD in a Chinese Han population.

Methods: A total of 252 individuals were recruited for this study, including 120 CAD patients and 132 healthy control individuals.

Association of lipid metabolism-related gene promoter methylation with risk of coronary artery disease.

Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a complex disease that is influenced by environmental and genetic factors. Lipid levels are regarded as a major risk factor for CAD, and epigenetic mechanisms might be involved in the regulation of CAD development. This study was designed to investigate the association between the DNA methylation status of 8 lipid metabolism-related genes and the risk of CAD in the Chinese Han population.

Recombinant Carrying Endostatin Protein Alleviates Dextran Sodium Sulfate-Induced Colitis and Colon Cancer in Rats.

has been widely administrated orally as probiotics to prevent pathogen colonization and modulate the gut microbiome balance. Endostatin is an endogenous inhibitor of angiogenesis and has been shown to inhibit tumor growth, invasion, and metastasis. At present, the combination of endostatin and chemotherapeutic drugs has been regarded as a promising antitumor treatment strategy.

Protective role of nano-selenium-enriched in delaying the onset of streptozotocin-induced diabetes.

could accumulate Selenium (Se) and nano-Se in the form of respectively In this study, the effect of in diabetic mice was evaluated. Physiological and metabolic parameters such as blood glucose, body weight, serum insulin level, intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test (IPGTT), food intake, water consumption and urine output were evaluated. The expression of insulin signalling pathway-related proteins was evaluated by western blotting.

Syphilis incidence among men who have sex with men in China: results from a meta-analysis.

The recent upsurge of syphilis infections among men who have sex with men (MSM) is one of the major challenges facing China. However, the overall burden is still not clear. This study aims to summarize the incidence of syphilis among MSM in China by using meta-analysis.

Preparation of selenium-enriched Bifidobacterium longum and its effect on tumor growth and immune function of tumor-bearing mice.

In this study, we demonstrated selenium (Se) accumulation in Bifidobacterium longum strain (B. longum) and evaluated the effect of Se-enriched B. longum (Se-B.

UGT1A1*6 polymorphisms are correlated with irinotecan-induced toxicity: a system review and meta-analysis in Asians.

Purpose: Previous studies confirmed that genotyping uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) 1A1*28 polymorphisms could predict the side effects in cancer patients using irinotecan (IRI) and then reduce IRI-induced toxicity by preventative treatment or decrease in dose. However, the association between UGT1A1*6 polymorphisms and IRI-induced severe toxicity in Asian patients is still unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between UGT1A1*6 polymorphisms and IRI-induced severe neutropenia as well as diarrhea in Asian patients.

Asymmetric siRNA targeting the bcl‑2 gene inhibits the proliferation of cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.

Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are valuable reagents for efficient gene silencing in a sequence‑specific manner via the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway. The current synthetic siRNA structure consists of symmetrical duplexes of 19‑21 base pairs (bp) with 2 nucleotide (nt) 3' overhangs. In this study, we report that an asymmetric siRNA (asiRNA) consisting of 17 bp duplex region (17 bp asiRNA) exhibited potent activity in inhibiting bcl-2 gene expression and cancer cell proliferation in vitro.

Therapeutic efficacy of Bifidobacterium longum-mediated human interleukin-2 with endostatin or TRAIL in transplanted tumors in mice.

Interleukin-2 (IL-2), as an important cytokine in immune response, has been demonstrated to have therapeutic activity in several cancer models. In our previous study, we showed that the pBV22210 vector containing a chloramphenicol resistance gene and the cryptic plasmid, pMB1, from the Bifidobacterium longum (B. longum) strain could stably replicate and did not significantly affect the biological characteristics of B.

Asymmetric siRNA: new strategy to improve specificity and reduce off-target gene expression.

Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) have been used extensively in reverse genetic research, and many have made their way into clinical trials. The most widely used siRNA structure consists of double-stranded RNA with 19 base pairs and 2-nucleotide overhangs at the 3'-end of both strands (19+2). Although widely used, this symmetric structure bears inherent disadvantages in both research and clinical applications.

[Effects of acupuncture-drug compound anesthesia on perioperative inflammatory factors in patients undergoing cardiac surgery].

Objective: To explore the effect of acupuncture-drug compound anesthesia on immune function in patients with extracorporeal circulation undergoing cardiac surgery.

Methods: Thirty cases undergoing cardiac surgery which included atrial septal defect neoplasty, ventricular septal defect neoplasty, mitral valve replacement and pulmonary valve coarctotomy were randomly divided into group A and group B, 15 cases in each group. Group A was given general anesthesia plus acupuncture at Neiguan (PC 6), Lieque (LU 7) and Yunmen (LU 2), and group B was given simple general anesthesia.

Selenium-Bifidobacterium longum as a delivery system of endostatin for inhibition of pathogenic bacteria and selective regression of solid tumor.

Bifidobacterium longum (B. longum) as a delivery system for endostatin was shown to have definite antitumor effects. Moreover, it was found that the enrichment of selenium was able to enhance the immunity of mice.

Therapeutic efficacy of Bifidobacterium longum-mediated human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and/or endostatin combined with cyclophosphamide in mouse-transplanted tumors.

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (GCSF) is frequently used as an adjunctive agent in tumor chemotherapy. Bifidobacterium longums (B. longum) attracted researchers' interests due to its enhancement of immunity and selective location in solid tumors.

Therapeutic efficacy of recombinant human endostatin combined with chemotherapeutics in mice-transplanted tumors.

Endostatin is an endogenous inhibitor of angiogenesis and has been shown to exhibit potent inhibitory activity in certain mice tumor models. In this study, a treatment strategy of combining recombinant human endostatin (rhEndostatin) and chemotherapeutics was implemented to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of rhEndostatin against solid tumors. The antitumor effect of rhEndostatin in combination with several chemotherapeutic drugs, e.

Bioactivity, pharmacokinetics, and immunogenicity assays in preclinical and clinical trials for recombinant human endostatin.

Aim: To determine the in vitro and in vivo bioactivity of recombinant human endostatin (rhEndostatin) and to analyze its pharmacokinetics and immunogenicity in rhesus monkeys and patients.

Methods: The physical chemical characteristics of rhEndostatin were detected according to Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China (2005 edition, part III). Its in vitro and in vivo bioactivities were assayed via proliferation-inhibition on human umbilical vein endothelial cells and their inhibitory effect on tumor-bearing mice models.

Optimization strategy for plasmid DNAs containing multiple-epitopes of foot-and-mouth disease virus by cis-expression with IL-2.

To optimize previous candidate DNA vaccine, a cis-expression plasmid DNA encoding two genes, human IL-2 and multiple-epitopes genes of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) was constructed with internal ribosome entry site (IRES) from encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) and intramuscularly inoculated into mice at 1-week interval. Specific antibodies in serum and cytokines (IL-2, IL-4 and IFN-gamma) from splenocytes were detected by indirect ELISA. Splenocytes proliferation rate was determined by a standard 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl) 2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) method.

A quantitative method for measuring the antitumor potency of recombinant human endostatin in vivo.

Recombinant human endostatin (rhEndostatin) has been shown to inhibit tumor growth, but the variable antitumor activity of different rhEndostatin preparations has necessitated the development of an accurate, reproducible in vivo bioassay for evaluating the rhEndostatin activity. To assess the in vivo antitumor efficacy of rhEndostatin, H22 tumor-bearing mice received three doses of rhEndostatin and the potency of rhEndostatin preparations in inhibiting tumor growth was determined by ED(50)-potency assay and validated by dose-response parallel-line assay. There was a consistent and highly reproducible linear regression relationship between rhEndostatin dosage and tumor growth inhibition rate.

RNA interference remarkably suppresses bcl-2 gene expression in cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.

Bcl-2 is an anti-apoptotic protein. If the level of Bcl-2 protein can be reduced sufficiently in tumors using RNA interference (RNAi) to target the gene message, the apoptosis of tumor cells may be promoted. In this study, we synthesized 19 nucleotides (nts) small interference RNA (siRNA) constructs suppressing bcl-2 gene expression in human tumor cells (HeLaB2 and BGC-823 cell lines) in vitro.

Tissue distribution of a plasmid DNA containing epitopes of foot-and-mouth disease virus in mice.

It is known that only the minority of plasmid DNAs effect a cure or prevention after intramuscular injection into host. But what is the fate of the majority? And indeed how many of the injected DNAs work? Till now, little is known about it. To answer these questions, two methods including PCR and autoradiography were used in distribution study in mice that had received a single muscular inoculation of plasmid DNA containing antigenic epitopes of foot-and-mouth disease virus.

The methods for determining the purity and in vitro or in vivo activity of recombinant human endostatin.

In order to establish the methods of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for determining the purity of recombinant human endostatin (rhEndostatin) and in vitro or in vivo activity of rhEndostatin, two columns were firstly used in HPLC analysis for determining the purity of rhEndostatin, including Waters Symmetry 300C4 (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) and the Superdex75 HR 10/30. Cell lines, bovine capillary endothelial cells (BCEs) or human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) expression human vascular endothelial growth factor (hVEGF) were used in method MTT or LDH as substrate, respectively.

Overexpression of soluble human thymosin alpha 1 in Escherichia coli.

Synthesized gene of human thymosin alpha 1 (Talpha1) was inserted into pET-28a, pET-9c, pThioHis B, pGEX-2T or pBV222 and then inductively expressed in strains of Escherichia coli. Among the five expression systems, the BL21/pET-28a system provides the highest expression level of fusion protein in a soluble form, which is up to 70% of total expressed bacterial proteins as visualized by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The resulting fusion protein purified through nickel affinity chromatography accounts for 2.

Bifidobacterium longum as an oral delivery system of endostatin for gene therapy on solid liver cancer.

To overcome difficulties that hampered widespread application of a specific delivery system in cancer gene therapy and to inhibit the growth of solid liver cancer, we utilized a strain of Bifidobacterium longum as a delivery system to transport an endostatin gene that can inhibit growth of tumor. The B. longum strain with the endostatin gene (B.

[Application of RNA interference technique in the research of mammalian cells and human disease].

RNA interference provides a new approach for elucidation of gene function. It holds the advantages of quickness, convenience, high effect and high specificity. In spite of these, the application of RNA interference technique in studying the mammalian cells and human disease is still in the beginning.

Anti-tumor effect of human endostatin mediated by retroviral gene transfer in nude mice.

Objective: To explore the inhibitory effect of human endostatin gene mediated by retroviral vector on the growth of human liver carcinoma.

Methods: A recombinant retroviral plasmid containing human endostatin gene and signal peptide was engineered and transferred into PA317 cells to produce retrovirus. Human liver carcinoma cells (SMMC7721) were infected with the above retrovirus to build a stable endostatin-transfected liver carcinoma cell line (SMMC-endo).

[Mechanism of intimal hyperplasia of venous grafts after coronary artery bypass grafting, an experimental study].

Objective: To study the mechanism of intimal hyperplasia after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and to find an effective way for preventing intimal hyperplasia.

Methods: Twenty-four male New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into two groups of 12 rabbits: operation group and sham-operation (control) group. The external jugular vein was harvested and anastomosed end-to-side to the ipsilateral carotid artery in operation group or grafted in situ in the control group.