Publications by authors named "Mengru Zhan"

Genetically encoding proximal-reactive unnatural amino acids (PrUaas), such as fluorosulfate-l-tyrosine (FSY), into natural proteins of interest (POI) confer the POI with the ability to covalently bind to its interacting proteins (IPs). The PrUaa-incorporated POIs hold promise for blocking undesirable POI-IP interactions. Selecting appropriate PrUaa anchor sites is crucial, but it remains challenging with the current methodology, which heavily relies on crystallography to identify the proximal residues between the POIs and the IPs for the PrUaa anchorage.

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O-linked glycosylation (-glycosylation) and N-linked glycosylation (-glycosylation) are the two most important forms of protein glycosylation, which is an important post-translational modification. The regulation of protein function involves numerous mechanisms, among which protein glycosylation is one of the most important. Core 1 synthase glycoprotein-N-acetylgalactosamine 3-β-galactosyltransferase 1 () serves an important role in the regulation of -glycosylation and is an essential enzyme for synthesizing the core 1 structure of mucin-type O-glycans.

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Article Synopsis
  • Previous studies hint that the costimulatory molecule 4-1BB is important for immune regulation during chronic viral infections, but few investigations have focused on its role in chronic hepatitis B (CHB).
  • A study involving 64 CHB patients showed significantly higher levels of soluble 4-1BB (s4-1BB) in their plasma compared to healthy adults, with levels correlating positively with viral load and disease severity, but no difference was found between treatment-naïve and treated patients.
  • These findings indicate that s4-1BB could be a valuable biomarker for assessing the severity of CHB, though the exact mechanisms still require further exploration.
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Src homolog and collagen homolog (SHC) proteins are adaptor proteins bound to cell surface receptors that play an important role in signal transduction and related diseases. As an important member of the SHC protein family, SHC1 regulates cell proliferation and apoptosis, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and oxidative stress. Three isomeric proteins namely, p46shc, p52shc, and p66shc, are produced from the same SHC1 gene locus.

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Hepatitis C virus infection is a major cause of chronic hepatitis, leading to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Many studies agree that interferon (IFN)-based antiviral therapy can reduce the risk of HCC recurrence in patients with chronic hepatitis C who have achieved a sustained virological response (SVR). The recent introduction of direct-acting antivirals (DAA) has resulted in excitingly high SVR rates.

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Purpose: GALAD is a statistical model for estimating the likelihood of having hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on gender, age, AFP, AFP-L3, and PIVKA-II. We aimed to assess its performance and build new models in China, where hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the leading etiology of HCC.

Patients And Methods: We built the GALAD-C model with the same five variables in GALAD, and the GAAP model with gender, age, AFP, and PIVKA-II, using logistic regression based on 242 patients with HCC and 283 patients with chronic liver disease (CLD).

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Interleukin-33 has been demonstrated to be associated with liver damage. However, its potential value in hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains unknown. This study was designed to investigate the role of IL-33 in hydrodynamic HBV mouse model.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study evaluates a new oral anti-HCV test developed by Well as a noninvasive method for rapid screening of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.
  • The Well assay demonstrated a sensitivity of 91.88% and specificity of 98.00%, showing high consistency with established tests like InTec and OraQuick.
  • The results indicate the Well test is a reliable tool for universal HCV screening, performing effectively in both researcher-administered and self-testing scenarios.
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Background: Macro-aspartate aminotransferase (AST), a macroenzyme, is a high-molecular mass complex formed by self-polymerization or association with other serum components that are difficult for the kidney to clear, leading to the isolated elevation of serum AST activity. Cases of macro-AST formation are rare, with only 3 published in the English language literature up to September 2019 in China. In this paper, we present a case in which an asymptomatic woman with persistent isolated elevated AST was confirmed as having macro-AST by the polyethylene glycol precipitation method.

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BACKGROUND The impact of diabetes mellitus (DM) on the natural progression of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) has not yet been determined. The objective of this study was to determine whether DM is associated with increased liver damage in PBC. MATERIAL AND METHODS There were 168 treatment-naïve PBC patients, including 37 patients with DM, enrolled in this study between 2012 and 2018.

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