Association between HBV infection and HLA-DPB1 gene in population of Guangzhou Chinese

AIM: To investigate the association between HBV infection and HLA-DPB1 gene in population of Guangzhou Chinese. METHODS: 58 unrelated patients (test positive of HbsAg, HBeAg, HbcAb) and 75 unrelated healthy control individuals were typed by sequencing based typing (SBT) method in their HLA-DPB1 gene. RESULTS: The phenotype frequencies of HLA-DPB1 alleles of patients and control have no significant difference. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that there is no association between HLA-DPB1 gene and HBV infection.     

Detection and clinical significance of myeloid-derived suppressor cells in peripheral blood of patients with Parkinson disease

AIM: To detect the myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in peripheral blood from the patients with Parkinson disease (PD) and its clinical significance. METHODS: The patients (n=80) diagnosed PD from January 2016 to March 2017 in our hospital and 20 healthy volunteers were selected as the subjects. According to the Hoehn-Yahr staging, 80 PD patients were staged, of whom 22 were I, 24 were Ⅱ, 20 were Ⅲ, 14 were IV, and 0 was V. Peripheral blood (5 mL) samples from the patients with PD and the healthy volunteers were collected and the mononuclear cells were isolated. The levels of CD14⁺CD11b⁺ cells and CD14^-CD11b⁺ cells in the peripheral blood were detected by flow cytometry. The two populations of the cells were sorted by magnetic beads. The mRNA levels of arginase 1 (ARG1), interleukin-10 (IL-10) and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) were detected by qPCR. The expression of surface membrane proteins CD14 and CD11b, and immunosuppressive factors ARG1, IL-10 and COX-2 was determined by Western blot and ELISA. RESULTS: No significant change of CD14⁺CD11b⁺ cells between the patients with PD and normal controls was observed, but the cells with CD14^-CD11b⁺ increased significantly in the patients with PD compared with the control people (P<0.05). The CD14^-CD11b⁺ cells in peripheral blood of the patients were related to the stage of Hoehn-Yahr. The CD14^-CD11b⁺ and CD14⁺CD11b⁺ cells showed high levels of IL-10 and COX-2, and the high level of ARG1 was only expressed in the CD14^-CD11b⁺ cells. The expression of ARG1 in the CD14^-CD11b⁺ population from PD patients was significantly different from that of CD14⁺CD11b⁺ population and normal subjects (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The CD14^-CD11b⁺ cells and ARG1 expression level in peripheral blood of the PD patients can be used to evaluate the pathogenesis and staging. Immunosuppression may play an important role in the pathogenesis and development of PD.     

Association analysis between ZNF804A rs1344706 polymorphism and therapeutic response to atypical antipsychotics in first-episode Chinese schizophrenia patients

AIM: To investigate the potential association between ZNF804A rs1344706 polymorphism and therapeutic response to atypical antipsychotics in first-episode Chinese schizophrenia patients.METHODS: Seventy-one first-episode schizophrenia inpatients receiving olanzapine, aripiprazole or quetiapine monotherapy were enrolled.Symptom responses to the treatment were assessed using the positive and negative symptom scale (PANSS) at the time of admission and re-assessed after 4 weeks of treatment.The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1344706 was genotyped by direct sequencing.RESULTS: There was substantial difference of treatment response among the patients with 3 different genotypes regarding total PANSS score and positive subscore (for total PANSS score, F=4.608, df=2, P<0.05; for positive subscore, F=4.183, df=2, P<0.05).Compared with G homozygotes, T carriers showed significantly less improvement in total PANSS score as well as positive subscore (for total PANSS score, F=8.724, df=1, P<0.01, for positive subscore, F=9.392, df=1, P<0.01).CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that significant correlation exists between ZNF804A rs1344706 polymorphism and therapeutic response to atypical antipsychotics among the first-episode of schizophrenia, although replication is required to confirm this finding.     

Effects of cordycepin on motor and cognition in Parkinson disease mice induced by MPTP

AIM:To investigate the effects of cordycepin on the motor and cognition in Parkinson disease mice induced by 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP). METHODS:C57BL/6 mice were intraperitoneally injected with MPTP at a dose of 30 mg/kg daily for consecutive 8 d to establish the model of Parkinson disease. HE staining was used to observe the cell number in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) from the mice. Western blot was used to detect the protein level of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in substantia nigra (SN). The effects of cordycepin on the motor, emotional change and cognitive behavior of the Parkinson disease mice were examined by open-field test (OFT), sponta-neous alternating behavior (SAB) and water maze test (WMT), respectively. RESULTS:Cordycepin significantly reduced the apoptosis of cells in SNpc and reversed the decrease in the expression of TH in SN induced by MPTP (P<0.05). Furthermore, cordycepin was able to improve the average speed in OFT (P<0.05), and increased the total number of arm entry and the accuracy in SAB (P<0.05), but had no obvious effect on the latency in WMT. CONCLUSION:Cordycepin is capable of attenuating the impairments of motor and explorative ability in the early stage of Parkinson disease mice, but does not alter the cognitive dysfunction.     

Glu216Lys polymorphism of bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein gene has no association with inflammatory bowel disease in Chinese Han population

AIM：To investigate the association between Glu216Lys polymorphism of bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein (BPI) gene and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Chinese Han population and to elucidate the potential interactions between genotypes and clinical features. METHODS：The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of Glu216Lys was genotyped in 286 IBD patients, including 173 Crohn disease (CD) and 113 ulcerative colitis (UC) cases, and 332 age- and sex-matched healthy controls by primer-introduced restriction analysis PCR (PIRA-PCR). Univariate analysis and Logistic regression model were used to evaluate the influences of Glu216Lys polymorphism on IBD clinical features. RESULTS：No significant difference in the frequency of the genotypes and alleles between cases and controls (CD group vs control group, P>0.05; UC group vs control group, P>0.05) was observed. Glu216Lys polymorphism had no relationship with the clinical types of UC and CD (P>0.05). CONCLUSION：The SNP of Glu216Lys in BPI is not associated with IBD in Chinese Han population. The contribution of genetic determinants is significantly different among ethnicities．     

Association between single nucleotide polymorphism in exon 33 of thyroglobulin gene and Graves' disease relapse after antithyroid drug withdrawal

AIM: To explore the association between single nucleotide polymorphism in exon 33 (E33SNP) of thyroglobulin gene and Graves' disease (GD) relapse after antithyroid drug (ATD) withdrawal. METHODS: The healthy controls (232 cases) and GD patients with discontinued treatment (243 cases) were selected. According to the time of relapse, the GD patients were divided into A, B and C subgroups. The A group contained 77 cases of relapse within 1 year, B group contained 86 cases of relapse 1~2 years after treatment and C group contained 80 cases without recurrence within 2 years. The genotypes of E33SNP were identified by RT-PCR. The genotype ratio of thyroglobulin between control group and observation group was comparatively analyzed, and the levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4) and thyrotropin receptor antibody (TRAb), ophthalmopathy and goiter size in A, B and C subgroups in different genotype GD patients were investigated. Moreover, cumulative efficiency for patients with different genotypes in the observation group after ATD treatment within 2 years were analyzed. RESULTS: The genotype of E33SNP between observation group and control group had no significant difference, but a significant difference between A, B and C subgroups was observed (P<0.05). The levels of TSH, FT3 and FT4, and goiter size of the patients with different genotypes had no significant difference, while the TRAb levels and ophthalmopathy presented a significant difference (P<0.05). In addition, the cumulative efficiency within 2 years for GD patients with E33SNP T/T, E33SNP T/C and E33SNP C/C genotypes was 61.8%, 42.6% and 21.3%, respectively, all with significant differences (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The GD patients with E33SNP C/C genotype have significantly higher TRAb level and ophthalmopathy rate than those in the patients with E33SNP C/T and E33SNP C/C genotypes, and are more likely to relapse after ATD treatment. The GD patients with E33SNP T/T genotype show a lower recurrence rate. Therefore, combination treatment or other treatment modalities may be more reasonable for the GD patients with E33SNP C/C genotype.     

Detection and characterization of the phytoplasma associated with a phyllody disease of black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) in India

Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the phytoplasma was detected in black pepper (Piper nigrum) with phyllody symptoms in India. A 1.20 kb DNA fragment encoding the portion of phytoplasma 16S rDNA consistently amplified by nested PCR was cloned and sequenced. The sequenced region contained 1230 nucleotides. Sequence analyses showed that the gene was most closely related to members of aster yellows group (16Sr I) of phytoplasma. The sequence identity with members of aster yellows group (16Sr I) was >98% while that with members of other groups (16Sr II to 16Sr XV and other undesignated groups) ranged from 87 to 96%. On the basis of sequence identity and phylogenetic relationship studies, it is concluded that phytoplasma infecting black pepper in India belongs to aster yellows group. This is the first report of identification of phytoplasma in black pepper.