Objective To explore the changes and interrelationship of serum interleukin-12 (IL-12) and T lymphocyte subset in patients with primary hepatic carcinoma (PHC). Methods Serum IL-12 level was determined by ELISA in 36 patients with PHC. The peripheral blood T lymphocyte subset was assessed with flow cytometry. The distribution and changes of T lymphocyte subset in the tumor tissue were detected by immunohistochemistry analysis. Results The numbers of the CD＋4 T cell were reduced and of the CD＋8 T cell increased either in peripheral blood or tumor tissue, and showed the trend of the ratio (T4/T8) declined progressively with the aggravation of the state with PHC. IL-12 and T4/T8 had significant interrelationship.Conclusion IL-12 is an important antitumor factor of the patients with PHC. T lymphocyte subset plays a great role in the process of antitumor.
Interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-2(IL-2) and interleukin-6(IL-6) activities and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) contents in plasma from patients with different sites of cancers as well as controls using bioassay technique were studied. The results showed that the levels of IL-1,IL-2,IL-6 s from patients with different sites of cancer were decreased remarkably in comparision with controls and the contents of TNF from patients with different sites of cancers increased significantly. But the difference between different sites of cancer was not statistically significant. The data suggest that the variations in the contents of TNF and the levels of interleukins may be related to the development of these caner patients.
OBJECTIVE: To study the expression of interleukin-1 receptor in normal mice sciatic nerves and in transected sciatic nerves treated with or without extrinsic interleukin-1 locally at different periods. METHODS: Seventy-two KM mice were equally divided into two groups. All the left sciatic nerves were transected. The stumps in experimental group were soaked in liquid with interleukin-1, whereas those in control group without interleukin-1. Then all the stumps were repaired end to end. At the 3rd hour, 1st day, 3rd day, 7th day, 14th day, and 28th day after operation respectively, every proximal stump was dissected and the expression of interleukin-1 receptor was carried out by immunohistochemistry method (LSAB method). The expression level of interleukin-1 of ten normal sciatic nerves of mice was studied, too. RESULTS: Normal nerves showed interleukin-1 receptor expression on the membrane of Schwann cells. After nerve injury, the interleukin-1 receptor expression increased biphasically in both groups, but the intensity of increase was lower in the experimental group than in the control group. CONCLUSION: Schwann cell is the target cell of interleukin-1.
The aim of this article is to study how andrographolide-releasing collagen scaffolds influence rabbit articular chondrocytes in maintaining their specific phenotype under inflammatory environment. Physical blending combined with vacuum freeze-drying method was utilized to prepare the andrographolide-releasing collagen scaffold. The characteristics of scaffold including its surface morphology and porosity were detected with environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) and a density instrument. Then, the release of andrographolide from prepared scaffolds was measured by UV-visible spectroscopy. Rabbit chondrocytes were isolated and cultured in vitro and seeded on andrographolide-releasing collagen scaffolds. Following culture with normal medium for 3 d, seeded chondrocytes were cultured with medium containing interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) to stimulate inflammation in vitro for 7 d. The proliferation, morphology and gene transcription of tested chondrocytes were detected with Alamar Blue assay, fluorescein diacetate (FDA) staining and reverse-transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) test respectively. The results showed that the collagen scaffolds prepared by vacuum freeze-dry possess a high porosity close to 96%, and well-interconnected chambers around (120.7±17.8) μm. The andrographolide-releasing collagen scaffold continuously released andrographolide to the PBS solution within 15 d, and collagen scaffolds containing 2.22% andrographolide significantly inhibit the proliferation of chondrocytes. Compared with collagen scaffolds, 0.44% andrographolide-containing collagen scaffolds facilitate chondrocytes to keep specific normal morphologies following 7 d IL-1β induction. The results obtained by RT-qPCR confirmed this effect by enhancing the transcription of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1), collagen II (COL II), aggrecan (Aggrecan) and the ratio of COL II/ collagen I(COL I), meanwhile, reversing the promoted transcription of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) and matrix metalloproteinase-13 (MMP-13). In conclusion, our research reveals that andrographolide-releasing (0.44%) collagen scaffolds enhance the ability of chondrocytes to maintain their specific morphologies by up-regulating the transcription of genes like COL II, Aggrecan and TIMP-1, while down-regulating the transcription of genes like MMP-1 and MMP-13 which are bad for phenotypic maintenance under IL-1β simulated inflammatory environment. These results implied the potential use of andrographolide-releasing collagen scaffold in osteoarthritic cartilage repair.
Objective To investigate the clinical significance of insulin resistance ( IR) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( COPD) .Methods Patients with stable COPD were recruited while healthy volunteers were enrolled as control. The diagnosis and severity assessment were made according to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease diagnosis and treatment guideline ( revised edition 2007) . Fasting serum levels of glucose ( FBG) , insulin ( FIN) , blood lipids, fibrinogen, C-reactive protein ( CRP) , tumor necrosis factor ( TNF-α) , and interleukin-6 ( IL-6) were measured. The degree of IR was calculated by IAI( IAI =1/FBG ×FIN) . The relationship of IR with COPD severity and above parameters was analyzed. Results A total of 121 subjects with COPD were enrolled in which 22 cases of mild COPD, 28 cases of moderate COPD,34 cases of severe COPD, and 37 cases of extremely severe COPD. The levels of FBG and FIN were significantly higher in the COPD group than those in the normal control group ( P lt;0. 05) . ISI in the COPD patients was higher than that in the controls ( - 3. 88 ±0. 54 vs. - 3. 40 ±0. 28, P lt;0. 05) . The levels of CRP, fibrinogen, TNF-α, and IL-6 were significantly higher in the COPD group than those in the control group ( P lt;0. 05) . The levels of CRP, TNF-αand IL-6 increased progressively with the severity of COPD. There was a negative correlation between ISI and the severity of COPD ( r = - 0. 512, P lt; 0. 01) , positive correlations of CRP, fibrinogen, TNF-αand IL-6 levels with COPD severity, respectively( r=0. 710, 0. 600,0. 708,0. 707, all P lt;0. 01) , and negative correlations of ISI with the levels of CRP, fibrinogen, TNF-α and IL-6 ( r = - 0. 384, - 0. 240, - 0. 298, - 0. 396, all P lt; 0. 01) , respectively. Conclusion There is an increase in fasting serum insulin and insulin resistance in patients with COPD compared with healthy subjects, which deteriorates with severity of COPD.
Objective To examine the levels of interferon-gamma; (INF-gamma;), tumor necrosis factor-alpha; (TNF-alpha;) and interleukin-6(IL-6) in serum of patients with acute uveitis before and after treatment, and to explore the possible roles of those cytokines in the initiation and progression of the uveitis. Methods A series of 75 patients with acute uveitis,and 30 healthy persons from our hospital were investigated. The levels of INF-gamma;, TNF-alpha; and IL-6 in acute phase and convalescent phase were measured by the enzymelinked immunosorbent assay. Result The serum levels of INF-gamma;, TNF-alpha; and IL-6 in acute phase were significantly higher than that of the convalescent phase and the healthy controls (F=65.805/50.418/155.381, P=0.000). A significant negative correlation was found between the serum levels of INF-gamma;, TNF-alpha; and IL-6 in acute phase with their initial visual acuity(r=-0.656, -0.592 and -0.653, Plt;0.01). There was also a positive correlation among the serum levels of INF-gamma;, TNF-alpha; and IL-6(r=0.340, 0.467 and 0.338, Plt;0.05). Conclusions There are high serum levels of INF-gamma;, TNF-alpha; and IL-6 in patients with acute uveitis, and the cytokines levels were decreased after the treatment. The results suggested that the INF-gamma;, TNF-alpha; and IL-6 involved in initiation and progression of uveitis.
ObjectiveTo find out an effective method for amplification and purification of dendritic cells(DC) from peripheral blood of patients with pancreatic carcinoma. MethodsPeripheral blood mononuclear cells were purified from peripheral blood of health volunteers(control group,10 cases) and patients with pancreatic carcinoma (experimental group,12 cases) with incubation of granulocyte/macrophage colonystimulating factor(GMCSF) and interleukin4(IL4).The quality of DC were detected by immumofluorescence method and the expression levels of HLADR and B72 on DC were detected by flow cytometer after and before DC incubation with GMCSF and the IL4. ResultsThe expression level of HLADR and B72 of DC in experimental group were significantly less than those in control group(P＜0.01).DC in experimental group was significantly proliferated in the presence of GMCSF and IL4(P＜0.01).On day 7,the expression level of HLADR and B72 of DC in experimental group were significantly increased(P＜0.01) and there was no difference versus control group(Pgt;0.05).ConclusionIt is suggested that combination of GMCSF and IL4 can selectively and effectively enhance proliferation and immune function of DC from peripheral blood of patient with pancreatic carcinoma.
Objective To systematically evaluate the effectiveness and safety of mepolizumab in treating eosinophilic asthma. Methods Databases including PubMed, Embase, ISI Web of Science, Cochrane CENTRAL, MEDLINE, VIP and CNKI were searched to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about mepolizumab for eosinophilic asthma from inception to October 2016. The references of these articles and relevant conference information were also manually retrieved. Meta-analysis was performed by RevMan 5.1 software after two researchers independently selected the literatures, extracted data and evaluated the quality according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results A total of 9 RCTs involving 2273 patients were included. Compared with the control group, the acute exacerbation rate of asthma was decreased significantly in the mepolizumab treatment group [RR=0.67, 95%CI (0.53, 0.85), P=0.0009], eosinophil count in blood was significantly reduced [MD=–0.22, 95%CI (–0.29, –0.15), P<0.00001], eosinophil count in sputum was also significantly reduced [MD=–6.37, 95%CI (–9.68, –3.06), P<0.0002], and the proportion of patients with increased asthma-related quality of life (ACQ) score was higher significantly. The overall incidence of adverse reactions was similar between two groups [RR=0.90, 95%CI (0.71, 1.14), P=0.39]. The incidence of serious adverse reactions of mepolizumab treatment was superior to that of placebo [RR=0.45, 95%CI (0.23, 0.89), P=0.02]. The overall incidence of cardiovascular events was comparable between placebo and mepolizumab treatment [RR=0.95, 95%CI(0.40, 2.22), P=0.90]. Mepolizumab treatment may have a role in improving lung function, but the effect was not obvious. Conclusion Mepolizumab treatment can reduce the number of eosinophils in blood and sputum, reduce the exacerbation rate, and improve the quality of life of asthmatic patients with better safety.