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Tuberculosis (TB) was the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent before the coronavirus pandemic. Therefore, it is important to search for severity biomarkers and devise appropriate therapies. A total of 139 pulmonary TB (PTB) patients and 80 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited for plasma soluble CD137 (sCD137) detection through ELISA. Moreover, pleural effusion sCD137 levels were measured in 85 TB patients and 36 untreated lung cancer patients. The plasma cytokine levels in 64 patients with PTB and blood immune cell subpopulations in 68 patients with PTB were analysed via flow cytometry. Blood sCD137 levels were higher in PTB patients (p = 0.012) and correlated with disease severity (p = 0.0056). The level of sCD137 in tuberculous pleurisy effusion (TPE) was markedly higher than that in malignant pleurisy effusion (p = 0.018). Several blood cytokines, such as IL‐6 (p = 0.0147), IL‐8 (p = 0.0477), IP‐10 (p ≤ 0.0001) and MCP‐1 (p = 0.0057), and some laboratory indices were significantly elevated in severe PTB (SE) patients, but the percentages of total lymphocytes (p = 0.002) and cytotoxic T cells (p = 0.036) were significantly lower in SE patients than in non‐SE patients. In addition, the sCD137 level was negatively correlated with the percentage of total lymphocytes (p = 0.0008) and cytotoxic T cells (p = 0.0021), and PTB patients with higher plasma sCD137 levels had significantly shorter survival times (p = 0.0041). An increase in sCD137 is a potential biomarker for severe TB and indicates a poor prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CD137 is a promising target for immunostimulation strategies against cancer. Previous studies showed that CD137+CD8+ T cells are enriched in antitumour effector T cells in both preclinical tumour models and cancer patients, but to date, such T cells in the blood of lung cancer patients have not been sufficiently investigated. In this study, circulating antigen‐activated CD8+ T cell subsets, identified as CD137+CD8+ or PD‐1+ (programmed cell death protein 1) CD8+, and regulatory T cells (Treg), identified as CD4+CD25+CD127low/−, in 40 untreated lung cancer patients and in 49 age‐ and sex‐matched healthy controls (HCs) were assessed by flow cytometry. Results were evaluated for associations with lung cancer patient clinical characteristics. Correlations between antigen‐activated CD8+ T cells and effector Treg (CTLA‐4+ [cytotoxic T‐lymphocyte antigen 4] CD4+CD25+CD127low/−) were also investigated. Higher percentages of PD‐1+, CD137+ and PD‐1+CD137+ amongst CD8+ T cells were observed in lung cancer patients compared with HCs. The percentages of CD137+CD8+ and PD‐1+CD137+CD8+ T cell subsets amongst CD8+ T cells were positively correlated with thoracic tumour burden and were strongly positively correlated with the percentage of effector Treg subset. Smoking patients harboured higher percentages of the PD‐1+CD8+ T cell subset compared with non‐smoking patients. This study demonstrated that circulating antigen‐activated CD8+ T cells accumulated in lung cancer patients along with increased effector Treg and thoracic tumour burden. These findings aid a better understanding of immune‐host interactions in lung cancer patients using peripheral blood, and further support immunotherapeutic intervention strategies using combination therapy for differential control of Treg and activation of tumour‐specific effector T cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the effects of berberine (BBR) as a treatment on intestinal microecological alterations and enteritis in mice produced by TNBS., Methods: There were seven mice per group: seven in the healthy group (Ctrl), seven in the TNBS-induced enteritis group (TNBS), and seven in the berberine treatment group (BBR). The mice were weighed, slaughtered after 7 days, and subjected to high-throughput intestinal microecological analysis by Illumina, as well as haematological detection and imaging evaluation of colon pathology., Results: The alterations in colon length, immune cell subpopulations, inflammatory factors, and intestinal microecology of mice induced by BBR were refined using a battery of experiments and observations. According to intestinal microecological studies, BBR can increase the number of bacteria, including Lactobacillus , Verrucomicrobia , Bacteroides , and Akkermansia muciniphila ., Conclusion: BBR has a therapeutic effect on TNBS-induced colitis in mice, which is associated with modifications in immune cell subpopulations and intestinal microecology. It also offers a viable approach as a prospective probiotic (like Akkermansia muciniphila ) to IBD therapy in clinical settings., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Li, Yin, Xie, Zeng, Song, Yang, Zhang, Chen, Wei, Wang, Gu, Li, An and Pan.)

Background and Objective: The p53 as a transcription factor in cell stress was activated to regulate cell cycle and programmed cell death to inhibit tumor growth. Usually, p53 is kept in non-activated state through various mechanisms, including the action of p53 C-terminal negative regulatory sequences. The purpose of the study is to prepare the two types p53 recombinant adenoviruses that carry full-length p53 as well as deletion of negative regulatory sequences at p53 C-terminus and to detect exogenous GFP expression in human lung cancer cell infected-virus by FCM scatter plot., Methods: Using pAdEasy-Track vector system the p53 recombinant plasmids was constructed and the homologous recombinants in E. coli was produced. The three kinds of recombinant adenovirus in L293 cells was generated, sequencing proved. Exogenous GFP expression in human lung cancer 801D cells infected-virus was detected by FCM scatter plot., Results: p53 recombinant adenoviruses named Ad-p53(wtp), Ad-p53(del) and Ad-(empty carrier) were produced. Results of sequences indicate that the Ad-p53(del) was deletion of 111 bases before stop codon TGA and of 3 untranslated region at p53, the Ad-p53(wtp) no loss of any p53 base, the Ad-(empty carrier) no p53 sequence. FCM scatter plot indicate the percentage of 801D cells expressed GFP with three kinds of viral infection was almost same and was increased with the virus density. 801D contains ratio of cells with different fluorescence intensity., Conclusion: The preparation of recombinant adenovirus, Ad-p53(del), pA-p53(wtp) and Ad-(empty carrier). The cells expressed-GFP can be quantitatively detected by FCM scatter plot. It was provide that the reliability of the virus system and accurate method for selecting viruses density to infecting cells.