Identification and expression patterns of 20-hydroxyecdysoneresponsive genes from Procambarus clarkii

Bao‑Jian Zhu,Lin Tang,Ying‑Ying Yu,Dao‑Jun Wang,Chao‑Liang Liu 한국유전학회 2017 Genes & Genomics Vol.39 No.6

Ecdysteroids play an important role in the regulation of molting process in crustaceans. The suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) technique was employed to search for 20-hydroxyecdysone-responsive genes in the hepatopancreas of the crayfish Procambarus clarkii. Ninety-three putative expressed sequence tags were identified by SSH, including three immune response-related genes, two cell cycle and apoptosis genes, four respiration and energy metabolism genes, four transport-related genes, six metabolism-related genes, two stress response genes, and eight transcription and translation regulation genes. The expression levels of the examined genes were regulated by 20-hydroxyecdysone and varied in the hepatopancreas during the molting stages; data were confirmed by real-time PCR. RNAi of the ecdysteroid receptor had significant effects on the expression levels of 20-hydroxyecdysone- responsive genes. These differentially expressed genes identified by SSH will provide insight into the ecdysteroid signaling pathway in P. clarkii.

Identification and characterization of an Apolipophorin-III gene from Actias selene Hübner (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae)

Cen Qian, LeiWang,FangWang,Bao-Jian Zhu,Guo-Qing Wei,Sheng Li,Chao-Liang Liu,Lei Wang 한국응용곤충학회 2016 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.19 No.1

Apolipophorin-III (ApoLp-III) is involved in lipid transport and innate immunity in insects. In this study, we isolated ApoLp-III gene (As-ApoLp-III) cDNA fromActias selene Hübner (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). It contained 660 nucleotides with a putative open reading frame (ORF) of 561 bp encoding 186 amino acid residues. It showed similarities with ApoLp-III proteins from other insect species, especially Antheraea pernyi. The recombinant protein of As-ApoLp-III was expressed in Escherichia coli, and anti-As-ApoLp-III antibodies were prepared. The As-ApoLp-III gene was expressed at high levels in the fat body and integument, and at low levels in the hemolymph, testis, silk gland, malpighian tubule, ovary, and midgut. As-ApoLp-III gene can be upregulated by E. coli, Micrococcus luteus, Beauveria bassiana, and nuclear polyhedrosis virus (NPV) and showed a greater sensitivity for gram-negative bacteria and fungi than for gram-positive bacteria and virus. These data indicated that As-ApoLp-III may play an important role in innate immune responses of Actias selene.

Comparison of Pre-Operation Diagnosis of Thyroid Cancer with Fine Needle Aspiration and Core-needle Biopsy: a Meta-analysis

Li, Lei,Chen, Bao-Ding,Zhu, Hai-Feng,Wu, Shu,Wei, Da,Zhang, Jian-Quan,Yu, Li Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.17

Background: The aim of this meta-analysis was to compare sensitivities and specificities of fine needle aspiration (FNA) and core needle biopsy (CNB) in the diagnosis of thyroid cancer. Materials and Methods: Articles were screened in Medline, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE and Google Scholar, and subsequently included and excluded based on the patient/problem-intervention-comparison-outcome (PICO) principle. Primary outcome was defined in terms of diagnostic values (sensitivity and specificity) of FNA and CNB for thyroid cancer. Secondary outcome was defined as the accuracy of diagnosis. Compiled FNA and CNB results from the final studies selected as appropriate for meta-analysis were compared with cases for which final pathology diagnoses were available. Statistical analyses were performed for FNA and CNB for all of the selected studies together, and for individual studies using the leave-one-out approach. Results: Article selection and screening yielded five studies for meta-analysis, two of which were prospective and the other three retrospective, for a total of 1,264 patients. Pooled diagnostic sensitivities of FNA and CNB methods were 0.68 and 0.83, respectively, with specificities of 0.93 and 0.94. The areas under the summary ROC curves were 0.905 (${\pm}0.030$) for FNA and 0.745 (${\pm}0.095$) for CNB, with no significant difference between the two. No one study had greater influence than any other on the pooled estimates for diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. Conclusions: FNA and CNB do not differ significantly in sensitivity and specificity for diagnosis of thyroid cancer.

Evaluation of the Geometric Accuracy of Anatomic Landmarks as Surrogates for Intrapulmonary Tumors in Image-guided Radiotherapy

Li, Hong-Sheng,Kong, Ling-Ling,Zhang, Jian,Li, Bao-Sheng,Chen, Jin-Hu,Zhu, Jian,Liu, Tong-Hai,Yin, Yong Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.5

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the geometric accuracy of thoracic anatomic landmarks as target surrogates of intrapulmonary tumors for manual rigid registration during image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT). Methods: Kilovolt cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images acquired during IGRT for 29 lung cancer patients with 33 tumors, including 16 central and 17 peripheral lesions, were analyzed. We selected the "vertebrae", "carina", and "large bronchi" as the candidate surrogates for central targets, and the "vertebrae", "carina", and "ribs" as the candidate surrogates for peripheral lesions. Three to six pairs of small identifiable markers were noted in the tumors for the planning CT and Day 1 CBCT. The accuracy of the candidate surrogates was evaluated by comparing the distances of the corresponding markers after manual rigid matching based on the "tumor" and a particular surrogate. Differences between the surrogates were assessed using 1-way analysis of variance and post hoc least-significant-difference tests. Results: For central targets, the residual errors increased in the following ascending order: "tumor", "bronchi", "carina", and "vertebrae"; there was a significant difference between "tumor" and "vertebrae" (p = 0.010). For peripheral diseases, the residual errors increased in the following ascending order: "tumor", "rib", "vertebrae", and "carina"; There was a significant difference between "tumor" and "carina" (p = 0.005). Conclusions: The "bronchi" and "carina" are the optimal surrogates for central lung targets, while "rib" and "vertebrae" are the optimal surrogates for peripheral lung targets for manual matching of online and planned tumors.

Morphological Factors and Cardiac Doses in Whole Breast Radiation for Left-sided Breast Cancer

Guan, Hui,Dong, Yuan-Li,Ding, Li-Jie,Zhang, Zi-Cheng,Huang, Wei,Liu, Cheng-Xin,Fu, Cheng-Rui,Zhu, Jian,Li, Hong-Sheng,Li, Miao-Miao,Li, Bao-Sheng Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.7

Background: To investigate the impact of the breast size, shape, maximum heart depth (MDH), and chest wall hypotenuse (the distance connecting middle point of the sternum and the length of lung draw on the selected transverse CT slice) on the volumetric dose to heart with whole breast irradiation (WBI) of left-sided breast cancer patients. Materials and Methods: Fifty-three patients with left-sided breast cancer undergoing adjuvant intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) were enrolled in the study. The primary breast size and shape, MHD and DCWH (chest wall hypotenuse) were contoured on radiotherapy (RT) planning CT slices. The dose data of hearts were obtained from the dose-volume histograms (DVHs). Data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Student's t-test and linear regression analysis. Results: Breast size was independent of heart dose, whereas breast shape, MHD and DCWH were correlated with heart dose. The shapes of breasts were divided into four types, as the flap type, hemisphere type, cone type and pendulous type with heart mean dose being $491.8{\pm}234.6cGy$, $752.7{\pm}219.0cGy$, $620.2{\pm}275.7cGy$, and $666.1{\pm}238.0cGy$, respectively. The flap type of breasts shows a strong statistically reduction in heart dose, compared to others (p=0.008 for V30 of heart). DCWH and MHD were found to be the most important parameters correlating with heart dose in WBI. Conclusions: More attention should be paid to the heart dose of non-flap type patients. The MHD was found to be the most important parameter to correlate with heart dose in tangential WBI, closely followed by the DCWH, which could help radiation oncologists and physicsts evaluate heart dose and design RT plan in advance.

Characterization and function of a short peptidoglycan recognition protein from the Chinese oak silkworm, Antheraea pernyi

Li-Shang Dai,Cen Qian, LeiWang,Guo-Qing Wei,Qiu-Ning Liu,Yu Sun,Cong-Fen Zhang,Jun Li,Dong-Ran Liu,Bao-Jian Zhu,Chao-Liang Liu 한국응용곤충학회 2015 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.18 No.4

Peptidoglycan recognition proteins (PGRPs) are conserved proteins in animals from insects to mammals and play an important role in immune response by recognizing peptidoglycan on microbial surfaces. In this study, a PGRP gene from Antheraea pernyi, named Ap-PGRP-A, was isolated and characterized. Sequence analysis revealed that the full-length cDNA of Ap-PGRP-A was 961 bp, containing a 40 bp 5′-untranslated sequence, a 339 bp 3′-untranslated region and an open reading frame of 582 bp. This gene encoded a putative protein of 193 amino acid residues. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that Ap-PGRP-A had the closest protein sequence similarity to Antheraea mylitta PGRP. The recombinant protein was successfully expressed in Escherichia coli cells and a rabbit anti-Ap-PGRP-A antibody was also prepared. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription-PCR analysis showed that Ap-PGRP-A was extensively expressed in the fat body, midgut, hemocyte,malpighian tubule and epidermis of A. pernyi, especially in the fat body and midgut. The expression levels of Ap-PGRP-A were significantly up-regulated by three types of microorganisms, and Ap-PGRP-A expression was more sensitive in response to the Gram-negative bacterium E. coli than the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis or the fungus Beauveria bassiana. These data indicate that Ap-PGRP-A may play a role in the innate immune responses of A. pernyi.