Insight into the immunomodulatory and chemotherapeutic mechanisms of paeonol (Review).

Paeonol a, pharmacologically active constituent obtained from the root bark of has been extensively utilized as a traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment, prevention and control of several diseases for years. Paeonol has been reported to possess key immunomodulatory properties; however, the underlying mechanisms involved in its immunomodulatory and anticancer effects have not been extensively researched due to limitations in terms of design, conduct and interpretation. The present review focuses on both the and immunosuppressive and anticancer effects of paeonol and the underlying mechanisms of action.

Low nucleotide diversity of the Plasmodium falciparum AP2-EXP2 gene among clinical samples from Ghana.

Background: PfAP2-EXP2 is located within chromosome 6 of Plasmodium falciparum recently identified to be undergoing an extensive selective sweep in West African isolates. The gene encoding this transcription factor, PfAP2-EXP2, is essential and thus likely subject to purifying selection that limits variants in the parasite population despite its genomic location.

Methods: 72 Plasmodium falciparum field samples and 801 clinical sequences from the Pf6 MalariaGEN dataset of Ghanaian origin, were integrated and analysed.

[Kinetic distribution of cyst-forming Chinese isolate of Toxoplasma gondii in mice].

Objective: To determine the kinetics of infection and cyst formation in CD1 mice following oral infection with cyst-forming Chinese isolate of Toxoplasma gondii TgCtwh1(genotype China 1, ToxoDB#9).

Methods: 50 CD1 female mice were obtained from specific pathogen-free (SPF) mouse colony in the Vital River Laboratories (VRL), Beijing. Mice were randomly divided into 10 groups each with 5 mice.

Evaluation of recombinant SjLAP and SjFBPA in detecting antibodies to Schistosoma japonicum.

Objective: To investigate the early response of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody responses to Schistosoma japonicum infection in mice by using the recombinant proteins, S. japonicum leucine aminopeptidase (rSjLAP) and S. japonicum fructose-1, 6-bisphosphate aldolase (rSjFBPA), and evaluate the potential of rSjLAP and rSjFBPA in diagnosis as well as in assessment of therapeutic efficacy in human schistosomiasis.