Publications by authors named "Xiuqin Zhong"

Article Synopsis
  • Influenza remains a significant public health threat, prompting the development of vaccines featuring stable trimeric hemagglutinin (HA) ectodomains that maintain the natural structure of the virus's stem region.
  • These modified HA proteins show improved thermal stability and robust binding to antibodies, which can target different epitope types, confirmed through microscopy analysis.
  • Immunizing mice with these trimeric vaccines resulted in stronger and broader immune responses against various influenza strains, suggesting that this design approach could be crucial for creating effective future vaccines against influenza A and B.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Dermatomyositis (DM) is prone to nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), but the mechanism is unclear. This study aimed to explore the potential pathogenesis of DM and NPC.

Methods: The datasets GSE46239, GSE142807, GSE12452, and GSE53819 were downloaded from the GEO dataset.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Neuraminidase is suggested as an important component for developing a universal influenza vaccine. Targeted induction of neuraminidase-specific broadly protective antibodies by vaccinations is challenging. To overcome this, we rationally select the highly conserved peptides from the consensus amino acid sequence of the globular head domains of neuraminidase.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) stem is currently regarded as an extremely promising immunogen for designing universal influenza vaccines. The appropriate antigen-presenting vaccine vector would be conducive to increasing the immunogenicity of the HA stem antigen. In this study, we generated chimeric virus-like particles (cVLPs) co-displaying the truncated C-terminal of DnaK from and H1 stem or full-length H1 antigen using the baculovirus expression system.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Differences in immune function between species could be a result of interspecific divergence in coding sequence and/or expression of immune genes. Here, we investigate how the degree of divergence in coding sequence and expression differs between functional categories of immune genes, and if differences between categories occur independently of other factors (expression level, pleiotropy). To this end, we compared spleen transcriptomes of wild-caught yellow-necked mice and bank voles.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Heterologous expression is the main approach for recombinant protein production ingenetic synthesis, for which codon optimization is necessary. The existing optimization methods are based on biological indexes. In this paper, we propose a novel codon optimization method based on deep learning.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Different host species show varying susceptibility to pathogens, with this study focusing on the tick-transmitted bacterium causing Lyme disease in small mammals like bank voles and yellow-necked mice.
  • Bank voles carry a tenfold higher bacterial load than yellow-necked mice when infected, indicating a difference in resistance.
  • The study found distinct immune responses in the two species, with specific pathways like IFNα up-regulated in yellow-necked mice and IL6 signaling down-regulated in bank voles, suggesting these immune differences contribute to their varying resistance levels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Pathogen-mediated balancing selection is commonly considered to play an important role in the maintenance of genetic diversity, in particular in immune genes. However, the factors that may influence which immune genes are the targets of such selection are largely unknown. To address this, here we focus on Pattern Recognition Receptor (PRR) signalling pathways, which play a key role in innate immunity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Studies of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in laboratory mice and humans have shown that spirochaetes disseminate from the site of infection (skin) to internal tissues, and cause various pathological effects. However, less is known about colonization and pathology of Lyme borreliosis spirochaetes in their natural hosts. In the present study, we assessed the colonization and manifestations during B.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Echinococcus granulosus is a harmful cestode parasite that causes cystic echinococcosis in humans as well as various livestock species and wild animals. Calmodulin (CaM), a Ca sensor protein, is widely expressed in eukaryotes and mediates a variety of cellular signaling activities.

Methods: In the present study, the cDNA encoding CaM in Echinococcus granulosus (rEgCaM) was successfully cloned and the molecular and biochemical characterizations carried out.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cystic echinococcosis, caused by Echinococcus granulosus, is a widespread parasitic zoonosis causing economic loss and public health problems. Annexins are important proteins usually present in the plasma membrane, but previous studies have shown that an annexin B33 protein of E. granulosus (Eg-ANX) could be detected in the excretory/secretory products and cyst fluid.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Prohibitin (PHB) is a widely distributed protein that functions as a molecular chaperone, is involved in the regulation of cell cycle, and maintains mitochondrial structure and functions of the anti-apoptosis, senescence, and proliferation. The aim of this study was to characterize PHB in Echinococcus granulosus (EgPHB), a harmful cestode parasite of humans, many livestock species, and wild animals. We found that EgPHB is a conserved SPFH (stomatin, prohibitin, flotillin, and HflK/C) domain-containing protein, consisting of 289 amino acids, which shares 42.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Cystic echinococcosis (hydatid disease), caused by the tapeworm Echinococcus granulosus (class Cestoda; family Taeniidae), is a neglected tropical disease that results in morbidity and mortality in millions of humans, as well as in huge economic losses in the livestock industry globally. Proteins from the tetraspanin family in parasites have recently become regarded as crucial molecules in interaction with hosts in parasitism and are therefore suitable for the development of vaccines and diagnostic agents. However, no information is available to date on E.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

As a cryptic species complex, the taxonomy of Echinococcus granulosus has long been controversial. The complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of the E. granulosus G3 genotype was sequenced and characterized.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Echinococcus granulosus is the causative agent of cystic echinococcosis with medical and veterinary importance in China. Our main objective was to discuss the genotypes and genetic diversity of E. granulosus present in domestic animals and humans in western China.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Dirofilaria immitis (heartworm) is the causative agent of an important zoonotic disease that is spread by mosquitoes. In this study, molecular and phylogenetic characterization of D. immitis were performed based on complete ND1 and 16S rDNA gene sequences, which provided the foundation for more advanced molecular diagnosis, prevention, and control of heartworm diseases.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We evaluated genetic diversity and structure of Echinococcus granulosus by analyzing the complete mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2) gene in 51 isolates of E. granulosus sensu stricto metacestodes collected at three locations in this region. We detected 19 haplotypes, which formed a distinct clade with the standard sheep strain (G1).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Echinococcus granulosus is the etiological agent of cystic echinococcosis, a major zoonotic disease of both humans and animals. In this study, we assessed genetic variability and genetic structure of E. granulosus in the Tibet plateau, using the complete mitochondrial 16 S ribosomal RNA gene for the first time.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF