Retinoic Acid Promotes Interleukin-4 Plasmid-Dimethylsulfoxide Topical Transdermal Delivery for Treatment of Psoriasis

( Zhong Wen Chen ),( Yin Bing Zhang ),( Xaing Jun Chen ),( Xiao Liu ),( Zhen Wang ),( Xi Kun Zhou ),( Ji Qiu ),( Nan Nan Zhang ),( Xiu Teng ),( Yong Qiu Mao ),( Chang Yong Liu ),( Yu Quan Wei ),( Jion 대한피부과학회 2015 Annals of Dermatology Vol.27 No.2

Background: Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that is caused by a shift in the Th1/Th2 balance toward Th1- dominant immunity. It has been established as an effective treatment to counteract psoriasis by subcutaneous injection of recombinant interleukin (IL)-4, and IL-4 gene therapy by topical transdermal penetration has shown its antipsoriatic effect in mice. Retinoic acid (RA) and dimethylsulfoxide can increase the efficiency of gene transfection in the topical transdermal delivery system. Objective: We investigated whether RA could improve anti-psoriasis efficiency using IL-4 expression plasmid pORF-mIL-4 (pIL-4) via transdermal delivery system in K14-vascular endothelial growth (K14- VEGF) factor transgenic mice. Methods: After pretreatment with RA, plasmid pIL-4 in 10% dimethylsulfoxide was applied to the ear skin by topical transdermal penetration. Hematoxylin- eosin staining and immunohistochemistry were performed with ear samples to evaluate anti-psoriasis efficiency in mice. Results: The psoriasis pathological features were relieved and psoriasis-associated factors were significantly reduced. Conclusion: Our results reveal that topical application of pIL-4 in dimethylsulfoxide by transdermal delivery with RA pretreatment can improve psoriasis significantly.(Ann Dermatol 27(2) 121∼127, 2015)

Retinoic Acid Promotes Interleukin-4 Plasmid-Dimethylsulfoxide Topical Transdermal Delivery for Treatment of Psoriasis

( Zhong Wen Chen ),( Yin Bing Zhang ),( Xaing Jun Chen ),( Xiao Liu ),( Zhen Wang ),( Xi Kun Zhou ),( Ji Qiu ),( Nan Nan Zhang ),( Xiu Teng ),( Yong Qiu Mao ),( Chang Yong Liu ),( Yu Quan Wei ),( Jion 대한피부과학회 2015 Annals of Dermatology Vol.27 No.3

Background: Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that is caused by a shift in the Th1/Th2 balance toward Th1- dominant immunity. It has been established as an effective treatment to counteract psoriasis by subcutaneous injection of recombinant interleukin (IL)-4, and IL-4 gene therapy by topical transdermal penetration has shown its antipsoriatic effect in mice. Retinoic acid (RA) and dimethylsulfoxide can increase the efficiency of gene transfection in the topical transdermal delivery system. Objective: We investigated whether RA could improve anti-psoriasis efficiency using IL-4 expression plasmid pORF-mIL-4 (pIL-4) via transdermal delivery system in K14-vascular endothelial growth (K14- VEGF) factor transgenic mice. Methods: After pretreatment with RA, plasmid pIL-4 in 10% dimethylsulfoxide was applied to the ear skin by topical transdermal penetration. Hematoxylin- eosin staining and immunohistochemistry were performed with ear samples to evaluate anti-psoriasis efficiency in mice. Results: The psoriasis pathological features were relieved and psoriasis-associated factors were significantly reduced. Conclusion: Our results reveal that topical application of pIL-4 in dimethylsulfoxide by transdermal delivery with RA pretreatment can improve psoriasis significantly. (Ann Dermatol 27(2) 121∼127, 2015)

Serum Carcinoembryonic Antigen Levels before Initial Treatment are Associated with EGFR Mutations and EML4-ALK Fusion Gene in Lung Adenocarcinoma Patients

Wang, Wen-Tao,Li, Yin,Ma, Jie,Chen, Xiao-Bing,Qin, Jian-Jun Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.9

Background: Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations and echinoderm microtubule associated protein like 4-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (EML4-ALK) define specific molecular subsets of lung adenocarcinomas with distinct clinical features. Our purpose was to analyze clinical features and prognostic value of EGFR gene mutations and the EML4-ALK fusion gene in lung adenocarcinoma. Patients and Methods: EGFR gene mutations and the EML4-ALK fusion gene were detected in 92 lung adenocarcinoma patients in China. Tumor marker levels before first treatment were measured by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. Results: EGFR mutations were found in 40.2% (37/92) of lung adenocarcinoma patients, being identified at high frequencies in never-smokers (48.3% vs. 26.5% in smokers; P=0.040) and in patients with abnormal serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels before the initial treatment (58.3% vs. 28.6%, P=0.004). Multivariate analysis revealed that a higher serum CEA level before the initial treatment was independently associated with EGFR gene mutations (95%CI: 1.476~11.343, P=0.007). We also identified 8 patients who harbored the EML4-ALK fusion gene (8.7%, 8/92). In concordance with previous reports, younger age was a clinical feature for these (P=0.008). Seven of the positive cases were never smokers, and no coexistence with EGFR mutation was discovered. In addition, the frequency of the EML4-ALK fusion gene among patients with a serum CEA concentration below 5ng/ml seemed to be higher than patients with a concentration over 5ng/ml (P=0.021). No significant difference was observed for time to progression and overall survival between EML4-ALK-positive group and EML4-ALK-negative group or between patients with and without an EGFR mutation. Conclusions: The serum CEA level before the initial treatment may be helpful in screening population for EGFR mutations or EML4-ALK fusion gene presence in lung adenocarcinoma patients.

Clinical Observation of Three Dimensional Conformal Radiotherapy with Tamoxifen in Treatment of Postoperative Malignant Glioma

Zhou, Shao-Bing,Liu, Yang-Chen,Yin, Xiao-Xiang,Ding, Wen-Xiu,Guo, Xin-Wei,Gu, Liang,Huang, Xin-En Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.5

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and adverse effects of three dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) with tamoxifen in treating patients with postoperative malignant glioma. Patients and Methods: 60 patients of postoperative malignant glioma were randomly assigned into two groups, 30 patients were treated with 3D-CRT plus tamoxifen (treatment group), and the other 30 patients with 3D-CRT plus temozolomide (control group). All patients were radiated by 6MV X-ray, 2.0Gy per fraction, once daily, with a total dose (DT) of 56~60Gy. Tamoxifen was delivered at $60mg/m^2/d$, temozolomide was given at $75mg/m^2/d$. All patients were treated with concurrent radiotherapy. Results: One, 2, 3 year survival rates of treatment and control group were 63.3%, 30.0%, 23.0% and 70.0%, 33.3%, 26.7%, respectively (${\chi}^2=0.01$, 0.23, 0.09, P>0.05). The rate of thromboembolism in treatment group was 6.7%. Conclusion: Therapeutic efficacy of two groups was similar, but it was more cost-effective in treatment group, and toxicity did not increase.

Dryland agricultural environment and sustainable productivity

Gou-Xia Li,Bing-Cheng Xu,Li-Na Yin,Shi-Wen Wang,Sui-Qi Zhang,Lun Shan,곽상수,Qingbo Ke,Xi-Ping Deng 한국식물생명공학회 2020 Plant biotechnology reports Vol.14 No.2

Global climate change is expected to cause progressively increased frequency and severity of drought events, which further seriously limit plant growth and crop yields. Increasing water use effi ciency (WUE) and yield per unit rainfall are one of the most important challenges in dry land agriculture. Here, we reviewed the comprehensive technical strategies including conserving water to combine both increased agricultural productivity and resource conservation; enquiring into how crop plants respond to drought through morphological, physiological, and molecular modifi cations that occur in all plant organs; breeding for drought tolerance where there is a delineated stress environment and genotype × environment interactions are stable; eff ective conservation of rainfall and high effi ciency of use. In addition, we discussed the preponderance of biological water-saving measures, which embraces improvements in WUE and drought tolerance, by genetic improvement and physiological regulation. Sustainable agriculture would be benefi ted from modern engineering such as biological engineering, conservation tillage, and breeding technologies.

Automatic Detection and Classification of Rib Fractures on Thoracic CT Using Convolutional Neural Network: Accuracy and Feasibility

Zhou Qing-Qing,Wang Jiashuo,Tang Wen,Hu Zhang-Chun,Xia Zi-Yi,Xue-Song Li,Zhang Rongguo,Yin Xindao,Zhang Bing,Zhang Hong 대한영상의학회 2020 Korean Journal of Radiology Vol.21 No.7

Objective: To evaluate the performance of a convolutional neural network (CNN) model that can automatically detect and classify rib fractures, and output structured reports from computed tomography (CT) images. Materials and Methods: This study included 1079 patients (median age, 55 years; men, 718) from three hospitals, between January 2011 and January 2019, who were divided into a monocentric training set (n = 876; median age, 55 years; men, 582), five multicenter/multiparameter validation sets (n = 173; median age, 59 years; men, 118) with different slice thicknesses and image pixels, and a normal control set (n = 30; median age, 53 years; men, 18). Three classifications (fresh, healing, and old fracture) combined with fracture location (corresponding CT layers) were detected automatically and delivered in a structured report. Precision, recall, and F1-score were selected as metrics to measure the optimum CNN model. Detection/diagnosis time, precision, and sensitivity were employed to compare the diagnostic efficiency of the structured report and that of experienced radiologists. Results: A total of 25054 annotations (fresh fracture, 10089; healing fracture, 10922; old fracture, 4043) were labelled for training (18584) and validation (6470). The detection efficiency was higher for fresh fractures and healing fractures than for old fractures (F1-scores, 0.849, 0.856, 0.770, respectively, p = 0.023 for each), and the robustness of the model was good in the five multicenter/multiparameter validation sets (all mean F1-scores > 0.8 except validation set 5 [512 x 512 pixels; F1-score = 0.757]). The precision of the five radiologists improved from 80.3% to 91.1%, and the sensitivity increased from 62.4% to 86.3% with artificial intelligence-assisted diagnosis. On average, the diagnosis time of the radiologists was reduced by 73.9 seconds. Conclusion: Our CNN model for automatic rib fracture detection could assist radiologists in improving diagnostic efficiency, reducing diagnosis time and radiologists’ workload.

A CRISPR/Cas9 Cleavage System for Capturing Fungal Secondary Metabolite Gene Clusters

( Xinran Xu ),( Jin Feng ),( Peng Zhang ),( Jie Fan ),( Wen-bing Yin ) 한국미생물생명공학회(구 한국산업미생물학회) 2021 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.31 No.1

More and more available fungal genome sequence data reveal a large amount of secondary metabolite (SM) biosynthetic ‘dark matter’ to be discovered. Heterogeneous expression is one of the most effective approaches to exploit these novel natural products, but it is limited by having to clone entire biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) without errors. So far, few effective technologies have been developed to manipulate the specific large DNA fragments in filamentous fungi. Here, we developed a fungal BGC-capturing system based on CRISPR/Cas9 cleavage in vitro. In our system, Cas9 protein was purified and CRISPR guide sequences in combination with in vivo yeast assembly were rationally designed. Using targeted cleavages of plasmid DNAs with linear (8.5 kb) or circular (8.5 kb and 28 kb) states, we were able to cleave the plasmids precisely, demonstrating the high efficiency of this system. Furthermore, we successfully captured the entire Nrc gene cluster from the genomic DNA of Neosartorya fischeri. Our results provide an easy and efficient approach to manipulate fungal genomic DNA based on the in vitro application of Cas9 endonuclease. Our methodology will lay a foundation for capturing entire groups of BGCs in filamentous fungi and accelerate fungal SMs mining.