Promoter Analysis of Bombyx mori Nucleopolyhedrovirus Ubiquitin Gene

Xu’ai Lin,Yin Chen,Yongzhu Yi,Jie Yan,Zhifang Zhang 한국미생물학회 2008 The journal of microbiology Vol.46 No.4

The aim of this study was to analyze the characteristics of Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) ubiquitin gene promoter and the effects of conserved motifs, such as TAAG, TATA, and CAAT, along with baculovirus enhancer homologous region 3 (hr3), on promoter activity. Ubiquitin gene of BmNPV was expressed during the late phase of virus infection. In the presence of viral factors, significant reduction of promoter activity was observed by deletion of -382 to -124 bp upstream of ATG. The fragment between -187 and -383 bp upstream of ATG, including distal TAAG, CAAT motif, and TATA box, could also drive expression of the reporter gene. The mutation of cis-elements TATA boxes and TAAG motifs significantly decreased the promoter’s activity, while CAAT mutations enhanced promoter activity by 2- or 3-fold, as compared with the native promoter. In the presence of BmNPV, hr3, both located downstream of the reporter gene of the same vector, and separate vector, could significantly enhance transcription activity of ubiquitin promoter as compared to the control. We concluded that BmNPV ubiquitin gene might be regulated by dual sets of promoter elements, where TAAG and TATA box may positively regulate the expression of ubiquitin, while CAAT motif functions as a negative regulator. Viral factor(s) play an important role in the co-activation of hr3 and promoter.

LPL gene Pvu II polymorphism and hypertriglycer-idemia: a meta-analysis involving 1,640 subjects

( Yan-yan Li ),( Yan-hong Zhou ),( Ge Gong ),( Hong-yu Geng ),( Xin-xing Yang ),( Xiang-ming Wang ),( Chuan-wei Zhou ),( Jian Xu ),( Yun Qian ) 대한내과학회 2017 The Korean Journal of Internal Medicine Vol.32 No.6

Background/Aims: Although lipoprotein lipase (LPL) gene Pvu II polymorphism has been associated with an increased risk of hypertriglyceridemia (HT), there is no clear consensus within the scientific community. Methods: A meta-analysis of 1,640 subjects from six individual studies was conducted to better elucidate the potential relationship between the LPL gene Pvu II polymorphism and HT within the Chinese population. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were evaluated by using fixed effect models. Results: Our analysis indicated a significant association between LPL gene Pvu II polymorphism and HT within the Chinese population under allelic (OR, 1.550; 95% CI, 1.320 to 1.830; p = 1.158 × 10^-7), recessive (OR, 0.540; 95% CI, 0.390 to 0.750; p = 0.0002), dominant (OR, 1.889; 95% CI, 1.501 to 2.377; p = 5.960 × 10^-8), homozygous (OR, 2.167; 95% CI, 1.531 to 3.067; p = 1.242 × 10^-5), heterozygous (OR, 1.810; 95% CI, 1.419 to 2.309; p = 1.842 × 10^-6), and additive genetic models (OR, 1.553; 95% CI, 1.320 to 1.828; p = 1.158 × 10^-7). Conclusions: Because LPL gene Pvu II restriction fragment length polymorphism polymorphism was associated with an elevated risk of HT, the P+ allele carriers of the LPL gene might be predisposed to HT.

Potential Predictors of Sensitivity to Pemetrexed as First-line Chemotherapy for Patients with Advanced Non-Squamous NSCLCs

Lu, Yan-Yan,Huang, Xin-En,Xu, Lin,Liu, De-Gan,Cao, Jie,Wu, Xue-Yan,Liu, Jin,Xiang, Jin Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.3

Background: Pemetrexed (PEM) is effective in first-line treatment for patients with non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However there are currently no definitive determinants to certify which patients could benefit from PEM. To improve the efficacy of PEM combined with platinum as first-line therapy for advanced non-squamous NSCLC, we conducted this retrospective study to detect potential determinants of this regimen. Methods: We recruited 109 patients with advanced non-squamous NSCLC who received PEM with a platinum as first-line therapy from June 2006 to February 2013 in Jiangsu Cancer Hospital. Multiple variables (age, sex, smoking, degree of cell differentiation, hemoglobin, platinum drugs combined, positions of metastasis) were selected. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyse relationships between these variables and tumor response. Result: In univariate analysis, we found that age and platinum significantly influenced the results of PEM therapy (P<0.05). In multivariable analysis, no factors were independently significant. Conclusion: Our analysis did not suggest that the age, sex, metastasis of liver or other organs, hemoglobin, smoking history and pathological differentiation are associated with the response of PEM. We should conduct further analyses with larger sample size to reconfirm this issue.

Slide Session : OS-GAS-03 ; Gastroenterology : Xanthine Oxidase Promotes Hyperuricemia and Nonal-coholic Fatty Liver Disease in Patients and Mice

( Chengfu Xu ),( Xingyong Wan ),( Chaohui Yu ),( Lei Xu ),( Ming Yan ),( Honglei Weng ),( Min Miao ),( Yan Sun ),( Genyun Xu ),( Steven Dooley ),( William Coleman ),( Youming Li ) 대한내과학회 2014 대한내과학회 추계학술대회 Vol.2014 No.1

Background: Hyperuricemia has been commonly found in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This study aimed to clarify the causal relationship between NAFLD and hyperuricemia and to explore their underlying mechanisms. Methods: First, we evaluated the impact of NAFLD on development of hyperuricemia in a cohort of 5541 hyperuricemia-free individuals. Second, we analyzed the involvement of xanthine oxidase (XO), a rate-limiting enzyme catalyzes uric acid production, in the relationship between NAFLD and hyperuricemia in cultured HepG2 cells and a murine model of NAFLD. Results: In the first study, 7-year prospective analysis found that NAFLD was strongly associated with subsequent development of hyperuricemia. Cox proportional hazards regression analyses showed that the age, gender, and body mass index adjusted hazard ratio (95% CI) for incident hyperuricemia was 1.609 (1.129 - 2.294) in individuals with NAFLD compared with those without NAFLD. In the second study, we observed that the expression and activity of XO were significantly increased in cellular and mouse models of NAFLD. Knocking down XO expression or inhibiting XO activity significantly inhibited uric acid production and attenuated free fatty acids (FFA)-induced fat accumulation in HepG2 cells. Inhibition of XO activity also significantly decreased serum uric acid levels and ameliorated high fat diet-induced hepatic steatosis in mice. Further experiments indicated that XO regulates the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome, which may be essential for the regulatory effect of XO on NAFLD. Conclusions: XO promotes hyperuricemia and the development of NAFLD, which may serve as a novel therapeutic target for NAFLD.

Phase II Study on Javanica Oil Emulsion Injection (Yadanzi^®) Combined with Chemotherapy in Treating Patients with Advanced Lung Adenocarcinoma

Lu, Yan-Yan,Huang, Xin-En,Cao, Jie,Xu, Xia,Wu, Xue-Yan,Liu, Jin,Xiang, Jin,Xu, Lin Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.8

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy and safety of Javanica oil emulsion injection (Yadanzi$^{(R)}$) combined with pemetrexed and platinum (PP) for treating patients with advanced lung cancer. Patients and Methods: From June 2011 to June 2013, we recruited 58 patients with advanced lung cancer, and divided them into two groups. Twenty eight patients received Yadanzi$^{(R)}$ (from ZheJiang Jiuxu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) together with PP chemotherapy (combined group), while the others were given only PP chemotherapy (control group). After two cycles of treatment, efficacy and safety of treatment were evaluated. Results: The overall respnse rate [(CR+PR+SD)/(CR+PR+SD+PD)] of the combined group was higher than that of control group (89.7% vs. 86.2%, p>0.05). Regarding rate of life improvement, it was 82.8% in combined group, and 51.7% in the control group (p<0.05). In terms of side effects, leukopenia in combined group was less frequent than that in control group (p<0.05). More patients in the control group were found to suffer liver toxicity. Conclusions: Javanica oil emulsion injection combined with chemotherapy could be considered as a safe and effective regimen in treating patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma. It can improve the quality of life and reduce the possibility of leukopenia. Further clinical trials with a large sample size should be conducted to confirm whether addition of Yadanzi$^{(R)}$ to chemotherapy could increase the response rate, reduce toxicity, enhance tolerability and improve quality of life for patients with advanced lung cancer.

RNAi suppression of nuclear receptor genes results in increased susceptibility to sulfoxaflor in brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens

Lu Xu,Chun-Qing Zhao,De-Jin Xu,Guang-Chun Xu,Xiao-Long Xu,Zhao-Jun Han,Ya-Nan Zhang,Zhong-Yan Gu 한국응용곤충학회 2017 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.20 No.2

Nuclear receptors (NRs), which belong to a superfamily of ligand-dependent transcription factors, play essential roles in gene regulation to affect numerous physiological pathways. Twenty NR genes were identified in Nilaparvata lugens by using genomic, transcriptomic and GenBank databases, and categorized into NR0-NR6 subfamilies according to standard nomenclature. Among them, three NR geneswere classed into NR0, four into NR1, eight into NR2, one into NR3, one into NR4, two into NR5, and one into NR6, respectively. A phylogenetic tree of NRs from N. lugens and other representative species was constructed, which provided evolutionary insight into genetic distance. In order to investigate the NRs,whichwere induced by sulfoxaflor, time- and tissue-specific expression profiles of NR genes in fourth-instar nymphs were determined following LD50 sulfoxaflor treatment (0.28 ng/insect) and compared with control samples. NlUSP, NlE78, NlTLL, NlHR51, NlHR83, NlPNR and NlFTZ-F1 were highly expressed following 12–48 h of sulfoxaflor treatment. NlHR39 and NlDSF transcripts were detected in the head and the thorax, respectively. High-level and constitutive expression of NlHR3, NlTLL, NlHR83, NlFTZF1 and NlHR4 were found in the abdomen. Feeding of dsRNAs reduced the expression of NlHR3, NlUSP, NlTLL, NlHR83, NlPNR, NlFTZ-F1 and NlHR4 (35.48–49.77%) and caused significant nymph mortality (69.21–81.45%). These NRs, considered as insecticide targets, may play important function in sulfoxaflor detoxification.

Comparison of Serum Tumor Associated Material (TAM) with Conventional Biomarkers in Cancer Patients

Shu, Jian,Li, Cheng-Guang,Liu, Yang-Chen,Yan, Xiao-Chun,Xu, Xu,Huang, Xin-En,Cao, Jie,Li, Ying,Lu, Yan-Yan,Wu, Xue-Yan,Liu, Jin,Xiang, Jin Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.5

Objective: To compare expression level of serum tumor associated materials (TAM) with several conventional serum tumor biomarkers, eg., carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen19-9 (CA19-9), carbohydrate antigen 15-3 (CA15-3), alpha-fetoprotein(AFP), in selected solid tumors. Methods: Patients diagnosed histologically or cytologically with liver, breast, esophageal, gastric, colorectal or pancreatic cancers were enrolled into this study. After diagnosis, the level of TAM was determined by chemical colorimetry, and levels of conventional tumor markers was measured by chemiluminescence methods. Results: A total of 560 patients were enrolled into this study. No statistically significant difference was detected in TAM and the above mentioned tumor biomarkers in terms of their positivity and negativity ( P>0. 05). Conclusions: Detection of TAM in liver, breast, esophageal, gastric, colorectal, and pancreatic cancer patients demonstrates a good accordance with CEA, CA199, CA153, and AFP, thus suggesting that further study is warranted to verify whether TAM could be a surrogate for these conventional biomarkers.

Seismic design strategy of cable stayed bridges subjected to strong ground motions

Xu, Yan,Duan, Xinzhi,Li, Jianzhong Techno-Press 2014 Structural Engineering and Mechanics, An Int'l Jou Vol.51 No.6

In this paper, we present an alternative seismic design strategy for cable stayed bridges with concrete pylons when subjected to strong ground motions. The comparison of conventional seismic design using supplemental dampers (strategy A) and the new strategy using nonlinear seismic design of pylon columns (strategy B) is exemplified by one typical medium span cable stayed bridge subjected to strong ground motions from 1999 Taiwan Chi-Chi earthquake and 2008 China Wenchuan earthquake. We first conducted the optimization of damper parameters according to strategy A in response to the distinct features that strong ground motions contain. And then we adopted strategy B to carry out seismic analysis by introducing the elastic-plastic elements that allowing plasticity development in the pylon columns. The numerical results show that via strategy A, the earthquake induced structural responses can be kept in the desired range provided with the proper damping parameters, however, the extra cost of unusual dampers will be inevitable. For strategy B, the pylon columns may not remain elastic and certain plasticity developed, but the seismic responses of the foundation will be greatly decreased, meanwhile, the displacement at the top of pylon seems to be not affected much by the yielding of pylon columns, which indicates the pylon nonlinear design can be an alternative design strategy when strong ground motions have to be considered for the bridge.

A Study on Sustainable Development Efficiency of Foreign Trade in Western China Based on DEA Model

Yan Xu,심재연 한국인터넷방송통신학회 2022 Journal of Advanced Smart Convergence Vol.11 No.2

The purpose of this paper is output oriented, in order to maximize the output level of sustainable development efficiency of foreign trade in western China with limited input. This paper adopts the relevant input-output indicators of sustainable foreign trade development of 11 provinces and cities in western China from 2016 to 2020, and uses DEA model to measure their technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency. Malmquist index was used to calculate the total factor productivity change index of each province in western China from 2016 to 2020. We found that, on the whole, the average values of technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency of provinces and cities in western China from 2016 to 2020 are greater than 0.8, indicating that the western region has high technical efficiency, relatively high management and institutional level and high existing scale level. Scale efficiency is lower than pure technical efficiency on the whole, indicating that the current sustainable development efficiency of foreign trade in western China is mainly limited by its scale level. The technological progress index is higher than the technological efficiency change index, indicating that the total factor productivity of the sustainable development of foreign trade in western China is mainly driven by technological progress and more influenced by external factors. We think the conclusion of this study can provide important reference information for the sustainable development of foreign trade of provinces and cities in western China.

Fusion Expression and Immunogenicity of EHEC EspA-Stx2A1 Protein: Implications for the Vaccine Development

Yan Cheng,Youjun Feng,Ping Luo,Jiang Gu,Shu Yu,Wei-jun Zhang,Yan-qing Liu,Qing-xu Wang,Quan-ming Zou,Xu-hu Mao 한국미생물학회 2009 The journal of microbiology Vol.47 No.4

Shiga toxin 2 (Stx2) is a major virulence factor for enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), which is encoded by λ lysogenic phage integrated into EHEC chromosome. Stx2A1, A1 subunit of Stx2 toxin has gathered extensive concerns due to its potential of being developed into a vaccine candidate. However, the substantial progress is hampered in part for the lack of a suitable in vitro expression system. Here we report use of the prokaryotic system pET-28a::espA-Stx2A1/BL21 to carry out the fusion expression of Stx2A1 which is linked to E. coli secreted protein A (EspA) at its N-terminus. Under the IPTG induction, EspA- Stx2A1 fusion protein in the form of inclusion body was obtained successfully, whose expression level can reach about 40% of total bacterial protein at 25°C, much higher than that at 37°C. Western blot test suggested the refolded fusion protein is of excellent immuno-reactivity with both monoclonal antibodies, which are specific to EspA and Stx2A1, respectively. Anti-sera from Balb/c mice immunized with the EspA-Stx2A1 fusion protein were found to exhibit strong neutralization activity and protection capability in vitro and in vivo. These data have provided a novel feasible method to produce Stx2A1 in large scale in vitro, which is implicated for the development of multivalent subunit vaccines candidate against EHEC O157:H7 infections.