Revealing the characteristics of ZIKV infection through tissue-specific transcriptome sequencing analysis.

Background: Recently, Zika virus (ZIKV) re-emerged in India and was potentially associated with microcephaly. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying ZIKV pathogenesis remain to be explored.

Results: Herein, we performed a comprehensive RNA-sequencing analysis on ZIKV-infected JEG-3, U-251 MG, and HK-2 cells versus corresponding uninfected controls.

Implications of the accumulation of CXCR5 NK cells in lymph nodes of HIV-1 infected patients.

Background: B cell follicles are immune-privileged sites where intensive HIV-1 replication and latency occur, preventing a permanent cure. Recent study showed that CXCR5 NK cells in B cell follicles can inhibit SIV replication in African green monkeys, but this has not been reported in HIV-1 infected patients.

Methods: Lymphocytes and tissue sections of lymph node were collected from 11 HIV-1 positive antiretroviral therapy (ART)-naive and 19 HIV-1 negative donors.

Association Between Intermittent Hypoxia and Left Ventricular Remodeling in Patients With Obstructive Sleep Apnea-Hypopnea Syndrome.

The present study was undertaken to examine the association between intermittent hypoxia and left ventricular (LV) remodeling and explore which parameter of intermittent hypoxia is most relevant to LV remodeling in patients with obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS). Two hundred eighty six patients underwent polysomnographic examination were enrolled. Based on apnea-hypoxia index (AHI), patients were divided into no, mild, moderate and severe OSAHS groups.

Microarray Expression Profile of Circular RNAs in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells from Active Tuberculosis Patients.

Background/aims: Dysregulated expression of circular RNAs (circRNAs) was demonstrated to be implicated in many diseases. Here, we aimed to determine circRNA profile in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from active tuberculosis (TB) patients to identify novel biomarkers for TB.

Methods: Expression profile of circRNAs in PBMCs from 3 active pulmonary TB patients and 3 healthy controls were analyzed by microarray assay.

Independent association between age and circadian systolic blood pressure patterns in adults with hypertension.

Previous studies indicate a preliminary association between age and circadian blood pressure (BP) variation. This association would be affected by confounding factors in real-world populations. The authors investigated whether this is a convincingly independent association in a real-world population of adults with hypertension.

Sendai Virus Mucosal Vaccination Establishes Lung-Resident Memory CD8 T Cell Immunity and Boosts BCG-Primed Protection against TB in Mice.

Accumulating evidence has shown the protective role of CD8 T cells in vaccine-induced immunity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) despite controversy over their role in natural immunity. However, the current vaccine BCG is unable to induce sufficient CD8 T cell responses, especially in the lung. Sendai virus, a respiratory RNA virus, is here engineered firstly as a novel recombinant anti-TB vaccine (SeV85AB) that encodes Mtb immuno-dominant antigens, Ag85A and Ag85B.

[Correlation between analgesia in the postanesthesia care unit and intraoperative remifentanil].

Objective: To analyze the correlation between analgesia in the postanesthesia care unit and intraoperative remifentanil.

Methods: The data of 5 594 patients in the postanesthesia care unit were retrospectively retrieved from the database of electronic medical record. The use of analgesic drugs in the postanesthesia care unit and intraoperative remifentanil was recorded, and case-control study was performed based on these enumeration data.

Single-layer continuous suture contributes to the reduction of surgical complications in digestive tract anastomosis involving special anatomical locations.

The key point of digestive cancer surgery is reconstruction and anastomosis of the digestive tract. Traditional anastomoses involve double-layer interrupted suturing, manually or using a surgical stapler. In special anatomical locations, however, suturing may become increasingly difficult and the complication rate increases accordingly.

[HIV-1 infection up-regulating expression of interferon-stimulated gene 15 in cell lines].

To investigate whether HIV-1 infection affects expression of interferon-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15) and determine the antiviral effect of ISG15 in vitro, ISG15 expression at transcription and protein level and supernatant p24 of HIV-1 was detected in various HIV-1 infected or transfected cell lines, respec tively. HIV-1 molecular clone pNL4-3 was used to transfect 293T, TZM-bl and HeLa cells while HIV-1 pseudo-typed virus was used to infect Jurkat, MT-1 and THP-1 cells. After twenty-four hours post infection or transfection, cells were harvested for extraction of total RNAs and subsequently used in real time PCR for quantification of ISG15 transcriptional expression.

[HIV-1 infection changes miRNA expression profile in the whole blood].

To describe the unique miRNA profiles for HIV seropositive individuals and identify significantly differently expressed miRNAs, we determined the expression level of 754 miRNAs of 10 HIV seropositive individuals and 10 HIV seronegative individuals by using the Taqman low density microRNA array. BRB-Array Tool was used to conduct the significance analysis, and the DIANA online tool was used to perform the miRNA target prediction and pathway analysis. A total of 56 significantly differentially expressed miRNAs were identified by microarray between HIV seropositive and seronegative individuals.

Responses to multiple injections with alum alone compared to injections with alum adsorbed to proteins in mice.

New effects and mechanisms of alum on innate immunity have emerged in recent years. A number of cellular and molecular mechanisms induced by aluminum adjuvant have been reported, while the role of NALP3 and inflammasome in the cellular pathway induced by alum is still controversial. The effect of injection of alum alone without vaccine antigen into human has not been reported so far.

Immunization with HBsAg-Fc fusion protein induces a predominant production of Th1 cytokines and reduces HBsAg level in transgenic mice.

Background: The Fc receptor associated pathway might improve the immune responses against hepatitis B virus (HBV) as previously described by us. In addition, the Flt3 ligand (FL) has been reported to potentiate antigen presenting cells in vivo and may act as a potential adjuvant to boost antigen-specific immune responses. In this study, the immune efficacies of a set of fusion proteins of HBsAg and Fc and/or FL were evaluated in HBsAg transgenic mice.

[Immunogenicities and comparison of DNA vaccines encoding pol genes derived from B`/C and A/E recombinant HIV-1 strains].

Objective: To construct and compare the immunogenicities of DNA vaccines expressing pol genes derived from B`/C and A/E recombinant subtypes of HIV-1 in China.

Methods: Two DNA vaccines were constructed by inserting the codon optimized pol genes derived from B'/C and A/E subtypes of HIV-1 into mammalian expression vector pSV1.0.

[Development and identification of polyclonal antibodies against HIV-1 Vpr-derived polypeptides].

To develop polyclonal antibodies against predicted B cell epitopes in HIV-1 accessory protein Vpr, the prepared consensus Vpr amino acid sequence was used to predict potential B cell epitopes by online softwares (ABCpred and Bcepred), the synthesized polypeptides of B-cell epitopes were subsequently conjugated with keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) and then used to immunize rabbits. The antibody titers were determined by ELISA, and antibody specifity was analyzed by Western-Blotting and immunoprecipitation, respectively. Amino acid residues 3-19 (N) and 82-95 (C) of Vpr were predicted as the potential B cell epitopes.

Establishing a Th17 based mouse model for preclinical assessment of the toxicity of candidate microbicides.

Background: To effectively block the invasion of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 on mucosal surface, vaginal anti-HIV-1 microbicides should avoid inflammatory responses and disruption of mucosa integrity because these will facilitate transepithelial viral penetration and replication. However, existing models fail to predict and evaluate vaginal mucosal toxicity induced by microbicides, and most importantly, they are unable to identify subtle or subclinical inflammatory reactions. This study was designed to develop a cost-effective in vivo model to evaluate microbicide safety in a preclinical study which can recapitulate the mucosal topical reaction.

Chloramphenicol improved expression of recombinant cholera toxin B subunit in Escherichia coli and its adjuvanticity.

Background: Cholera toxin B subunit (CTB) was shown to be a potent adjuvant for protein immunogen, especially when inoculated through mucosal route. We aimed to optimize the expression approach for CTB and thereafter to determine the adjuvant effect on DNA vaccine.

Methods: Wild type CTB coding gene was amplified and cloned into prokaryotic expression vector pET-30a, and the recombinant CTB was expressed in the presence of different concentration of chloramphenicol and isopropyl β-D-thiogalactoside.

HLA-DR expression on regulatory T cells is closely associated with the global immune activation in HIV-1 infected subjects naïve to antiretroviral therapy.

Background: The frequencies of regulatory T cells (Tregs) increased over the HIV infection but its counts actually decreased. We proposed that the decrease of Treg counts may cause the reduction of inhibitory effect and thereby account for the over-activation of Tregs during HIV infection. However, it remains unknown whether Tregs are also over-activated and thereafter the activation induced death may lead to the decrease of Tregs.

Rational design of peptides with anti-HCV/HIV activities and enhanced specificity.

Lack of vaccines for HCV and HIV makes the antiviral drug development urgently needed. The recently identified HCV NS5A-derived virucidal peptide (C5A) demonstrated a wide spectrum of activities against viruses. In this study, the C5A sequence SWLRDIWDWICEVLSDFK was utilized as the framework to study the effect of the modulation of peptide helicity and hydrophobicity on its anti-HCV and anti-HIV activities.

Uniaxial spin-transfer torque in an exchange-biased spin valve.

We study the effects of uniaxial spin-transfer torque (USTT) on the ferromagnetic (F) as well as antiferromagnetic (AF) layers in an exchange-biased (EB) spin valve. By analytically treating the free-energy functional of the F/AF bilayer and numerically solving the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation for magnetic moments, we can reproduce and explain two existing experimental facts relevant to USTT: one is that the EB field can be reversed by both positive and negative pulsed currents, and the other is that the critical current to excite the F moments is greatly increased in the presence of an AF layer and independent of external fields. We also derive the angular dependence of the critical currents to excite AF and F moments, which suggests a possible way to quantitatively determine USTT in experiments.

[Establishment of human colorectal tissue model in HIV-1 mucosal infection].

Objective: To establish human colorectal tissue model in HIV-1 mucosal infection and by using pseudotyped virus to simulate the biological process of HIV-1 mucosal infection from HIV-1 entering into mucosa to local infection establishment.

Methods: Tumor adjacent normal colorectal tissues were obtained with informed consent. After excised the muscularis externa, the mucosa and submucosa were dissected into the same blocks and cultured in 12-well cell culture plates.

A new approach for sequencing virion genome of Chinese HIV-1 strains subtype B and BC from plasma.

Background: Although it was widely accepted that full-length HIV genome sequences is important in studying virus genetic evolution and variation as well as developing vaccine candidate, to directly sequencing HIV-1 genome of virion RNA remains as a challenge worldwide. Up to date, no published genomic sequences from virion RNA are available for Chinese prevalent HIV-1 strains due to the absence of specialized protocol and appropriate lab equipments. In this study we developed a straightforward approach for amplifying and sequencing HIV virion RNA from plasma by modifying published protocols and further confirmed it is suitable to process Chinese samples.

Transcriptional analysis of immune-related genes in dendritic cells from hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive transgenic mice and regulation of Fc gamma receptor IIB by HBsAg-anti-HBs complex.

To study the gene expression profiles in dendritic cells (DCs) from a hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive host, transcriptional analysis of bone marrow -derived DCs from a lineage of HBsAg transgenic mice (#59) was compared to DCs from normal mice. Among the immune-related genes, 12 were up-regulated, and 14 were down-regulated in transgenic mice relative to those of normal mice. The up-regulated genes include genes encoding immunoglobulin, histocompatibility 2 (K region), and several complement component genes, while the down-regulated genes include the TAP1 (transporters associated with antigen processing gene-1), interferon induced gene (Ifi203), chemokine (C-X-C) ligands and leukocyte-immunoglobulin-like genes, Lck-interacting transmembrane adaptor genes and histocompatibility 2 (Q region and T region).