The effect of sodium metasilicate on the three-dimensional chondrogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells.

The benefits of different silicic concentrations on chondrogenesis of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) are unclear. Here an in vitro scaffoldless model was used to determine the impact of different silicic concentrations on the three-dimensional chondrogenesis of MSCs. Sodium metasilicate solutions were used as the source of silica, and were added in the chondrogenic medium and replenished every 3 days. The thickness and area of cartilage; the expression of collagen II, aggrecan, and the collagen type II/I ratio; the glycosaminoglycan and cell contents; and the tangent modulus of the constructs were all significantly higher in 100 and 200 ng/mL groups compared with those in 0 and 10 ng/mL groups. All the above parameters, as well as several mechanical parameters of cartilage constructs were highest in 200 ng/mL group. Thus, 200 ng/mL sodium metasilicate could promote the chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs and the mechanical and biochemical properties of the cartilage constructs.

Antibacterial and pro-osteogenic effects of ß-Defensin-2-loaded mesoporous bioglass.

The human antimicrobial peptide beta-defensin-2 (hBD2) shows broad antibacterial activity and infrequent bacterial resistance. Here mesoporous bioactive glass (MBG) was loaded with hBD2, forming hBD2-loaded MBG (BD-MBG). The antibacterial and osteogenic effects of BD-MBG were investigated in comparison with MBG and the blank control (BC). The result showed that BD-MBG yielded sustained hBD2 release for more than 7 weeks in vitro, and resulted in significantly lower amounts of viable bacteria and colony forming units, and significantly higher levels of bacterial protein release compared with those in the BC and MBG groups (all p<0.05). Compared with that in the BC group, significantly higher bone marrow stromal cell (BMSC) proliferation rates, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, calcium nodule formation, and expression levels of early and late osteogenic makers were observed after MBG and BD-MBG treatments (p<0.05). Thus, BD-MBG inhibited bacterial growth, damaged their membrane, and promoted early and late osteogenic BMSC differentiation.

Oral microbial community analysis of the patients in the progression of liver cancer.

Liver disease has been reported to associate with oral microbiota. This study aimed to identify the salivary microbial structure in liver disease patients and determine whether the disease progression influence the bacterial composition. 16S rDNA high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatic analysis were used to examine oral bacterial diversity in the different status of hepatitis patients including 6 patients with Hepatitis B (Y), 6 patients with Hepatitis B Cirrhosis (YY) and 6 patients with liver cancer (C), and 6 healthy controls (T). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the genera of Streptococcus, Prevotella, Actinomyces, Veillonella and Neisseria are predominant genus in the saliva of Y, YY, C patients and T group. Lautropia, Abiotrophia and Veillonella were enriched in Y patients, while Treponema, Selenomonas and Oribacterium were also existed in YY patients. Haemophilus, Porphyromonas and Filifactor had high abundance in C patients. The genera of Moryella, Leptotrichia, Lactobacillus, Dialister, Serratia, Enterococcus and Actinobacillus were decreased in all patient samples compared with healthy control samples which may be used for treatment of liver disease. Diversity analyses showed decreased diversity of salivary bacterial communities was discovered in the progress of the liver disease. These findings identified the oral microbiota dysbiosis in liver disease, which may providing available information and possible diagnostic biomarkers for liver patients.

Effect of IL2RA and IL2RB gene polymorphisms on lung cancer risk.

BACKGROUND: Inflammation is crucial for lung cancer development. Variants of multiple genes in inflammation pathways may lead to susceptibility to lung cancer. In the present study, we aimed to assess the influence of polymorphisms in inflammation-related genes (IL2RA and IL2RB) on lung cancer risk. METHODS: A total of 507 patients with lung cancer and 503 healthy controls were genotyped for seven polymorphisms of IL2RA and IL2RB using the Agena MassARRAY platform. We evaluated the relationship of the genotypes with lung cancer susceptibility using odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence interval (95% CI) and chi square test. RESULTS: We found that IL2RA rs12722498 was significantly associated with a decreased risk of lung cancer in dominant (p = 0.040, OR = 0.71, 95% CI = 0.51-0.98), additive (p = 0.016, OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.50-0.93) and allele (p = 0.019, OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.51-0.94) models. After stratification analysis, the results showed that IL2RA rs12569923 (non-smokers), IL2RA rs791588 (≤60 years old, non-drinkers, BMI < 24 kg/m2), IL2RA rs12722498 (≤60 years old, non-drinkers, BMI < 24 kg/m2, female) and IL2RB rs2281089 (female, stage) significantly decreased the risk of lung cancer. Additionally, the haplotypes of rs12569923 and rs791588 in IL2RA had strong relationships with lung cancer in the subgroups of BMI < 24 kg/m2, age ≤ 60 years old, non-smokers and non-drinkers. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that the IL2RA and IL2RB polymorphisms were associated with lung cancer risk in the Chinese Han population, which suggests roles for IL2RA and IL2RB polymorphisms in lung cancer.

Genetic susceptibility of common polymorphisms in NIN and SIGLEC5 to chronic periodontitis.

Chronic periodontitis (CP) is a common oral disease characterized by the slow progression of alveolar attachment loss and bone destruction. Genetic components have been reported to play an important role in the onset and development of CP. In the present study, we aimed to replicate the association signals of NIN and SIGLEC5 identified in previous genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of samples from Chinese Han individuals. Association signals between clinical severity indicators of CP and relevant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were also examined. A total of 3,160 study subjects, including 1,076 CP patients and 2,084 healthy controls, were recruited. A total of 32 SNPs, including 22 from NIN and 10 from SIGLEC5, were selected for genotyping. SNPs rs12883458 (OR = 1.45, P = 1.22 × 10-5, NIN) and rs4284742 (OR = 0.75, P = 1.69 × 10-5, SIGLEC5) were significantly associated with CP disease status. rs4284742 was significantly associated with all 3 clinical severity indicators, including bleeding on probing (BOP), probing depth (PD) and clinical attachment loss (CAL). According to evidence from bioinformatics analyses, both significant SNPs, rs12883458 and rs4284742, are likely surrogates of underlying variants with true effects. In summary, our findings provide direct evidence for the association of NIN and SIGLEC5 with CP susceptibility.