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ABSTRACT: Immunosuppressive drugs have been used to prevent graft rejection in most allo-liver recipients and the immune state of these patients differs greatly before and after transplant operation. This study aims at evaluating the immune state of liver transplant patients treated with tacrolimus by investigating the production of anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA).
A hundred and eighty-eight serum samples from 94 allo-liver recipients treated with tacrolimus and from 94 patients with matched liver diseases were tested for ANA by indirect immunofluorescence assay with HEp-2 cells as substrate.
ANA were detected as positive in 20.2% of the liver transplant patients treated with tacrolimus, and in 12.8% of disease-matched control patients, but this difference was not statistically significant (P=0.17). However, the frequency of nucleolar ANA pattern in ANA-positive cases was significantly higher in the liver transplant patients (63.2%) than in the control group (16.7%) (P=0.01).
Tacrolimus may contribute to producing nucleolar ANA in liver transplant patients. The autoimmune disease susceptibility of allo-liver recipients treated with tacrolimus requires further studying.
Journal of gastrointestinal and liver diseases: JGLD 09/2011; 20(3):267-70. · 1.81 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) may play important roles in SLE, but genetic polymorphisms of miRNAs and their relationships with various autoantibodies present in SLE patients remain unclear. Here, we report that 213 SLE patients and 209 healthy individuals of Chinese had been taken into this case-control studies, which had been performed by selecting two miRNAs (hsa-mir-146a rs2910164 G>C, and hsa-mir-499 rs3746444 T>C) to analyze the genetic polymorphisms. The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) variants had been analyzed by PCR-RFLP and serum anti-ribonucleoprotein (anti-RNP), anti-Sm nuclear antigen (anti-Sm) antibodies had been determined by an anti-ENA kit and serum anti-double-stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) antibodies had been assessed by indirect immunofluorescence. We found that hsa-mir-146a rs2910164 and hsa-mir-499 rs3746444 polymorphisms had no significant relationship with SLE susceptibility. The genotype frequencies of rs2910164 (GG, CC, and GC) were 16, 37, and 47% in SLE patients, but 11, 39, and 50% in healthy group (P = 0.397), respectively; The genotype frequencies of rs3746444 (CC, TT, and TC) were 3, 74, and 23% in SLE patients, but 3, 76, and 22% in healthy group (P = 0.892), respectively. The G and C allele frequencies of rs2910164 were 39 and 61% in SLE patients, but 36 and 64% in healthy group (P = 0.990), respectively. The C and T allele frequencies of rs3746444 were 15 and 85% in SLE patients, but 14 and 86% in healthy group (P = 0.702), respectively. In addition, we also showed no significant difference in the distribution of rs2910164 and rs3746444 genotypes in each of the three antibodies (anti-RNP, anti-Sm, and anti-dsDNA).
Molecular Biology Reports 03/2011; 38(3):1463-8. · 2.93 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Choline binding protein A (CbpA) is an important adhesin and a determinant of virulence for Streptococcus pneumoniae. Binding to epithelial cells of host mucosal surfaces by pneumococcal CbpA is essential for pneumococcus to initiate colonization and to trigger subsequent invasive pneumococcal infections. In this study, we examined the immunopathologic mechanisms for the activation of human bronchial epithelial cells by CbpA in pneumococcal infections. Adhesion molecules, cytokines, and chemokines were assessed by flow cytometry, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. Intracellular signaling molecules were investigated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay or transcription factor assay. CbpA could upregulate cell surface expression of adhesion molecule intercellular adhesion molecule-1 on human bronchial epithelial cells. CbpA could also induce the release of inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6, and chemokines CCL2, CXCL1, and CXCL8 from human bronchial epithelia cells. CbpA-mediated induction of these mediators was differentially regulated by extracellular signal-regulated kinase, c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase, p38-mitogen-activated protein kinase, and nuclear factor-κB pathways. CbpA was also found to participate in the induction of IL-6, CCL2, CXCL1, and CXCL8 in the airways of mice upon intranasal challenge with S. pneumoniae. Our study therefore suggests that pneumococcal CbpA plays an immunopathophysiologic role by activating human bronchial epithelial cells in pneumococcal infections.
Human immunology 10/2010; 72(1):37-46. · 2.55 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: In order to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of glucose-6-phosphate isomerase in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, retrieval was performed using the data bases of Medline, Embase, Cochrane library, Cmcc and Cbmdisc (1990 to 2007). We included the articles which reported the studies of GPI measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in the diagnosis of RA patients. Then we reviewed 15 article and used RevMan Software for analysis; the heterogeneity among the articles was determined to be high (chi2 = 191.65, P < 0.00001). When we analyzed the 5 articles wherein serum was used as the standard, we noticed homogeneity (chi2 = 6.97, P = 0.14). The summary sensitivity was 25%; the summary specificity was 80%; the area under the curve was 0.6279. Our study demonstrated that GPI exhibited high specificity and low sensitivity in diagnosing RA cases. We suggest that GPI be used in conjunction with some assay or other that is characterized by high sensitivity.
Sheng wu yi xue gong cheng xue za zhi = Journal of biomedical engineering = Shengwu yixue gongchengxue zazhi 02/2010; 27(1):157-64.
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ABSTRACT: To discover novel potential biomarkers and establish a diagnostic pattern for SLE by using proteomic technology.
Serum proteomic spectra were generated by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) combined with weak cationic exchange magnetic beads. A training set of spectra, derived from analysing sera from 32 patients with SLE, 43 patients with other autoimmune diseases and 43 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers, was used to train and develop a decision tree model with a machine learning algorithm called decision boosting. A blinded testing set, including 32 patients with SLE, 42 patients with other autoimmune diseases and 40 healthy people, was used to determine the accuracy of the model.
The diagnostic pattern with a panel of four potential protein biomarkers of mass-to-charge (m/z) ratio 4070.09, 7770.45, 28 045.1 and 3376.02 could accurately recognize 25 of 32 patients with SLE, 36 of 42 patients with other autoimmune diseases and 36 of 40 healthy people.
The preliminary data suggested a potential application of MALDI-TOF MS combined with magnetic beads as an effective technology to profile serum proteome, and with pattern analysis, a diagnostic model comprising four potential biomarkers was indicated to differentiate individuals with SLE from RA, SS, SSc and healthy controls rapidly and precisely.
Rheumatology (Oxford, England) 05/2009; 48(6):626-31. · 4.24 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Interleukin 16 (IL-16) is an immunomodulatory cytokine which plays an important role in many inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. We determined the association between SNPs of IL-16 gene (i.e. rs11556218 G/T, rs4778889 C/T, and rs4072111 C/T) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
One hundred thirty-eight SLE patients and 199 controls were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and DNA sequencing assay.
In the SLE group, the individuals carrying the G allele of rs11556218, the C allele of rs4778889 and the T allele of rs4072111 are at a significantly higher risk of SLE as compared with those carrying the T allele of rs11556218, the T allele of rs4778889, and the C allele of rs4072111 respectively (for rs11556218, OR=2.264, 95% CI, 1.64-3.127; for rs4778889, OR=1.927, 95%CI, 1.359-2.731; and for rs4072111, OR=2.417, 95% CI, 1.691-3.455).
The IL-16 gene polymorphisms may be associated with the risk of SLE.
Clinica chimica acta; international journal of clinical chemistry 04/2009; 403(1-2):223-5. · 2.54 Impact Factor
