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Background and Objective: Lung adenocarcinoma is the most common and aggressive subtype of lung cancer, with the poor overall prognosis. IL2 is one of the earliest cytokines discovered that stimulates lymphocyte proliferation. However, the role of IL2 in LUAD has not been clarified. Methods: UALCAN, The HPA and TIMER database were used to investigate IL2 expression in LUAD. HPA, PrognoScan Database Analysis and Kaplan-Meier plotter database were used to explore the survival curve evaluating the prognostic value of IL2 for LUAD. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis of IL2-interacting genes identified by GeneMANIA database. TIMER was used to analyze the correlation of IL2 and immune cell infiltration or immune checkpoint expression level in LUAD. Results: In present study, the results showed that the expression of IL-2 in lung adenocarcinoma was lower than that in the normal control group by means of bioinformatics analysis of the TIMER, UALCAN and HPA public databases. Moreover, LUAD patients with downregulated IL2 expression exhibited poor overall survival. Besides, IL2 was significantly positively correlated with various immune cells, including B cells, CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells in LUAD. And IL2 was also markedly positively associated with biomarkers of these infiltrated immune cells. IL2 expression was also positively correlated with PD-1, PD-L1 and CTLA-4 expression. Conclusion: In summary, our results indicate that down-regulation of interleukin-2 predicts poor prognosis and associated with immune escape in LUAD and IL2 could serve as a potential novel prognostic biomarker for LUAD.

Objectives This study aimed to identify the related risk factors and potential predictors of SARS-CoV-2 RNA negative conversion by describing the dynamics of viral shedding in infected children admitted to two hospitals from Shanghai during the Omicron variant outbreak. Methods This retrospective cohort included laboratory-confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection from Shanghai between March 28 and May 31, 2022. Clinical characteristics, personal vaccination, and household vaccination rates were collected through electronic health records and telephone interviews. Results A total of 603 paediatric patients confirmed to have COVID-19 were included in this study. Both univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to filter independent factors for the duration to viral RNA negative conversion. Data on the redetection of SARS-CoV-2 in the patients after they showed negative results on the RT‒PCR test (intermittent negative status) were also analysed. The median duration of virus shedding was 12 (interquartile range, IQR: 10–14) days. The severity of clinical outcome, personal vaccination-2doses, household vaccination rates, and abnormal defecation were factors indecently affecting negative conversion of SARS-CoV-2 RNA, suggesting that patients who had abnormal defecation or with more severe conditions would have delayed virological clearance, while patients who previously had 2 doses of vaccination or had higher household vaccination rates would have accelerated virological clearance. Loss of appetite (odds ratio (OR): 5.343; 95% CI: 3.307–8.632) and abnormal defecation (OR: 2.840; 95% CI: 1.736–4.645) were significantly associated with intermittent negative status. Conclusion These findings could provide clues for the early identification of paediatric patients with prolonged viral shedding and could enrich the evidence for the development of prevention and control strategies, especially vaccination policies for children and adolescents.

Carbon dots (CDs) have excellent fluorescence properties and can be used in many research fields. In this paper, carbon dots were prepared by microwave-assisted pyrolysis of citric acid and urea, characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), 13C-NMR spectrum, zeta potential, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption and fluorescence spectra, and detected the Hg2+ and ascorbic acid (AA) sequentially. It showed that carbon dots were hollow, spherical particles and less than 10 nm, photoluminescence quantum yield of carbon dots was about 15%. The CDs were selective and sensitive to Hg2+ and AA based on the “on-off-on” fluorescence behavior. The detection limits of CDs for Hg2+ and AA were 0.138 µM and 0.212 µM, respectively. Fluorescence response mechanism of CDs was also discussed.

Background: Signaling lymphocytic activation molecule (SLAM) and SLAM-associated protein (SAP) play important role in inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Our study aimed to detect the expression of SLAM and SAP in patients with Graves’ disease (GD) and analyze the effect of SLAM/SAP on circulating blood CD4+CXCR5+ Foxp3+ follicular regulatory T (Tfr) cells.Methods: The expression of SLAM and SAP was assessed by flow cytometry and real-time PCR. The percentages of IFN-γ+ cells, IL-4+ cells, IL-17+ cells and Foxp3+ cells in CD4+CXCR5+ T cells and circulating CD4+CXCR5+ Foxp3+ Tfr cells after treatment with anti-SLAM and anti-CD3 antibodies were also assessed by flow cytometry. The correlations between the percentages of Tfr cells and the levels of autoantibodies as well as SAP were analyzed.Results: The level of SAP in CD4+CXCR5+ T cells and the level of SLAM on CD19+ B cells were significantly increased in the patients with GD, but no significant difference in the level of SLAM on CD4+CXCR5+ T cells was observed between the patients with GD and the healthy controls. A decrease in the percentage of Foxp3+ cells in CD4+CXCR5+ T cells was observed following anti-SLAM treatment, but the percentages of IFN-γ+ cells, IL-4+ cells and IL-17+ cells showed no obvious differences. The proportion of circulating Tfr cells was decreased in the patients with GD, and the proportion of circulating Tfr cells had a negative correlation with the level of SAP in CD4+CXCR5+ T cells and the levels of autoantibodies in the serum of the patients with GD.Conclusions: Our results indicate that the SLAM/SAP signaling pathway regulates Tfr cells, which may be involved in the pathogenesis of Graves’ disease.

Background: Allergic rhinitis (AR) is characterized by type Ⅰ hypersensitivity that is mediated by IgE-induced humoral responses. It is known that follicular helper T cells (Tfh) comprise the key Th cell subset that promotes antibody production. Signaling lymphocytic activation molecule (SLAM) participates in the regulation of the differentiation and function of Tfh cells, but whether this regulation is involved in the pathogenesis of AR is unknown.Methods: CD4+CXCR5+ Tfh-like cells from peripheral blood were detected by flow cytometry. The levels of IL-21 and IgE in serum were tested by ELISA. Blood CD4+CXCR5+ Tfh-like cells were sorted and cultured with anti-SLAM mAb in vitro.Results: The frequencies of circulating CD4+CXCR5+ Tfh-like cells appeared virtually unchanged in AR patients, but the expression of SLAM and SLAM-associated protein (SAP) on circulating Tfh-like cells was significantly decreased. Meanwhile, the level of serum IL-21 was increased in AR patients, and there was a negative correlation between the levels of IL-21 and the expression of SLAM or SAP in CD4+CXCR5+ T cells. Treatment with anti-SLAM mAb resulted in the reduced production of IL-21 by Tfh-like cells in vitro. Additionally, the expression of SLAM on B cells significantly decreased, although the percentages of B cells were increased in AR patients.Conclusions: SLAM negatively regulates the production of IL-21 in CD4+CXCR5+ Tfh-like cells, which contributes to the pathogenesis of AR.