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OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to uncover the regulatory effect of LINC00887 on the progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and the underlying mechanism. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Relative level of LINC00887 in NPC tissues and cells was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Thereafter, the regulatory effect of LINC00887 on proliferative ability in SUNE-1 and HK-1 cells was examined by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and 5-Ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU) assay. Through Dual-Luciferase reporter gene assay and RNA-Binding Protein Immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay, the interaction in the regulatory loop LINC00887/miRNA-203b-3p/NUP205 was ascertained. At last, rescue experiments were conducted to clarify the involvement of the regulatory loop LINC00887/miRNA- 203b-3p/NUP205 in the progression of NPC. RESULTS: Results showed that LINC00887 was upregulated in NPC tissues and cells, and its overexpression markedly stimulated the proliferative ability in NPC cells. In addition, a potential interaction in the regulatory loop LINC00887/ miRNA-203b-3p/NUP205 was discovered, which was responsible for promoting the proliferative ability in NPC. CONCLUSIONS: LINC00887 promotes the proliferative ability in NPC via absorbing miRNA- 203b-3p to upregulate NUP205. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To explore the correlation of the suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) gene polymorphism with childhood asthma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 204 asthma children (observation group) and 235 healthy children (control group) were enrolled. General clinical information of enrolled subjects was collected. Inflammatory factors and pulmonary function test indexes in each subject were examined. Moreover, the polymorphism of SOCS3 gene rs9914220 was detected with the TaqMan-MGB probe. RESULTS: Asthma children in the observation group exhibited higher levels of interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-17, and IL-33 than those of the control group (p<0.05). The forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), FEV1/forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio (%), peak expiratory flow (PEF), and FVC in the observation group were lower than those in the control group. However, the residual volume (RV), and RV/total lung capacity (TLC) ratio were higher in observation group than those in control group (p<0.05). Distribution frequency of the genotypes varied a lot between the two groups (p<0.05). However, we did not observe a significant difference in SOCS3 alleles between the two groups (p>0.05). According to the analysis of the genetic model, there were differences in dominant and cumulative models between the two groups (p<0.05), whereas the recessive model was not different between the two groups (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Levels of inflammatory factors and pulmonary functions help to effectively monitor the progression of childhood asthma, thus increasing the clinical diagnosis rate. The polymorphism of the SOCS3 gene rs9914220 site is correlated with the onset of childhood asthma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competing Interests: The authors of this article and the planning committee members and staff have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose.

The therapeutic value of the transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-b) in transplantation has been reported; However, cell-mediated gene therapy using TGF-b is not applied to the organ transplantation widely. This study was to evaluate whether TGF-b-modified donor spleen cell specific transfusion in rat heterotopic allo-limb transplantation could induce tolerance tolerogenicity and prolong allograft's survival time. The Splenic T-cell in Wistar rats responsing to donor spleen cells which received TGF-b-transduced were severely impaired.The Survival time of Sprague-Dawley Allograft-limb in Wistar rats given TGF-b-modified donor spleen cells (5¥106 cells/well, administration of donor TGF-b-transduced donor spleen cells 7 days before transplantation) was extended modestly but significantly.

In order to explore the possible occurrence of inducing resistance of Schistosoma japonicum to praziquantel (PZQ), a set of animal experiments were carried out. Outbred mice (NIH strain), Anhui isolates of S. japonicum and Oncomelania hupensis were used. In one protocol five weeks after being infected with 48-52 cercariae, mice were orally dosed with PZQ 300 mg/kg, and killed 82 days later to isolate eggs from the liver. Snails were exposed to miracidia released from egg-hatching. F1 progeny were thus obtained through cercarial inoculation. The same scheme was applied for the establishment of the F2 generation. In another protocol two weeks after infection, PZQ 50 mg/kg/day was given to mice for 5 days. Eggs were collected 26-27 days post treatment and the identical procedures were adopted for F1 and F2 generations successively. Analysis of total worm and female worm reduction rates indicated that there was no significant difference between the sensitivity to PZQ of F1 and F2 progenies of S. japonicum and the parent worms.

Rabbits were infected with 48-52, 198-202 and 498-502 cercariae of Schistosoma japonicum and treated ig with single doses of praziquantel (40 mg/kg) 4 and 8 wk post infection. The worm reduction rates of the 8 wk groups were 87.9, 92.2 and 97%, respectively. These values were significantly higher than 48.5, 52.3 and 58.6% for the corresponding 4 wk groups. The serum antibody titres of the 8 wk post infection rabbits were apparently higher than those of the 4 wk rabbits. Meanwhile, for the same duration of infection, the specific antibody levels in the heavy worm burden groups were also higher than those in the light worm burden groups. The results obtained in the mice infected with S. japonicum at different intensities and treated ig with single doses of praziquantel at 300 mg/kg at different durations were similar to the results in the rabbits. The correlation between efficacy and specific antibody level was confirmed by calculating the coefficient of correlation with r values of 0.454-0.983 (P less than 0.01). The results also indicated that heavy infections with S. japonicum were still more responsive to praziquantel treatment. In addition, the effect of praziquantel on worms was closely related to the specific antibody response in the host.