Epidemiological characteristics and phylogenic analysis of human respiratory syncytial virus in patients with respiratory infections during 2011-2016 in southern China.

BACKGROUND: Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the most important pathogens that cause acute respiratory infections in children and immunocompromised adults. This work was conducted to understand the epidemiological and phylogenetic features of RSV in southern China during 2011-2016. METHODS: A total of 16 024 nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from patients with respiratory infections in 14 hospitals, and screened for RSV and seven other respiratory viruses using real-time PCR. Six hundred and twenty-three RSV-positive samples from 13 hospitals were further analyzed for subtypes. G gene sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were performed based on 46 RSV-A and 15 RSV-B strains. RESULTS: RSV was detected in 9.5% of the 16 024 specimens, the highest among the eight respiratory viruses screened. Most of these specimens came from inpatients and children under 3 years of age. The incidence of RSV-A (9.4%) was higher than that of RSV-B (4.4%) in children (<15 years), but not in adults (0.64% vs. 0.58%). A 2-year RSV-A dominance followed by a 1-year RSV-B dominance pattern was found. The co-detection rate of RSV was 25.1%. The main prevalent genotypes were NA1, ON1, and BA9. The prevalent RSV-A genotype in 2011-2012 was NA1, close to Chongqing and Brazil, but a new Hong Kong ON1 genotype was introduced and became the prevalent genotype in Guangzhou in 2014-2015. Deduced amino acid sequence analysis confirmed the ongoing evolution and a high selection pressure of RSV-A and B strains, especially in RSV-A ON1 and NA1 genotypes. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated the molecular epidemiological characteristics of RSV in patients with respiratory infections in southern China.

Screening and identification of significant genes related to tumor metastasis and PSMA in prostate cancer using microarray analysis.

Tumor metastasis is one of the causes for the high mortality rate of prostate cancer (PCa) patients, yet the molecular mechanisms of PCa metastasis are not fully understood. In our previous studies, we found that PSMA suppresses the metastasis of PCa, yet the underlying mechanism remains unknown. To identify the genes related to tumor metastasis possibly regulated by PSMA, we performed tumor metastasis PCR array assay to analyze the differentially expressed tumor metastasis-related genes. Eighty-four tumor metastasis related genes were screened in si-PSMA LNCap cells (PSMA silenced by siRNA)/LNCap cells and in PC-3/LNcap cells, respectively. Expression levels of possible related genes were verified by real-time PCR in 4 prostate cancer cell lines (LNCap, 22RV1, PC-3 and DU145) and in 85 clinical samples (12 normal, 26 benign prostatic hypertrophy and 47 prostate cancer tissues). The results showed that 10 genes (including CDH6 and CXCL12) were upregulated and 4 genes (CCL7, ITGB3, MDM2 and MMP2) were downregulated in the si-PSMA LNCap cells. There were 41 genes significantly upregulated and 15 genes downregulated in PC-3 cells when compared with LNCap cells. Eight common genes were found in both the si-PSMA and PSMA(-) groups. CDH6, MMP3, MTSS1 were further identified as PSMA-related genes in the prostate cancer cell lines and clinical samples, and their expression showed a negative correlation with the stage of prostate cancer (P<0.0001) and PSMA level (P<0.05) in clinical samples, indicating their possible involvement in PSMA-related PCa metastasis regulation. These findings may provide insights into the mechanism involved in the suppression of PCa metastasis by PSMA and its possible interacting proteins, and may provide clues for further exploration of the molecular mechanism of PCa metastasis.