[Relationship between serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor and clinical stage and dysmenorrhoea of enodmetriosis].

Objective: To explore the association between serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor and clinical stage and dysmenorrhoea of endometriosis. Methods: A total of 82 patients were studied with laparoscopically diagnosed endometriosis between June 2017 and June 2019, and 75 healthy women with reproductive age were selected as the control group during the same period. The endometriosis patients were scored by visual analogue scale(VAS)according to their preoperative dysmenorrhoea.And endometriosis was staged and scored according to the score of Revised American Fertility Society(r-AFS).Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine preoperative BDNF level in serum, and the correlation between BDNF level with clinical stage as well as dysmenorrhea of endometriosis were analysed. Results: The serum BDNF level in endometriosis patients was (1 082±43) ng/L, significantly higher than that in the normal control [(649±30) ng/L], there was statistical difference between the two groups(P<0.001). The BDNF expression in patients with r-AFS stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ was higher than that in patients with Ⅰ-Ⅱ stage [(1 164±389) ng/L vs (791±218)ng/L, P<0.001]. BDNF level in serum was closely correlated with the degree of dysmenorrhea (r=0.682), and the BDNF level in patients with moderate or severe dysmenorrhea was significantly higher than that in patients without dysmenorrhea and patients with mild dysmenorrhea [(1 292±43) ng/L vs(718±36) ng/L, P<0.001]. Conclusions: The serum BDNF level in endometriosis patients is positively correlated with clinical stage and dysmenorrhea.

Multiple variants in 5q31.1 are associated with systemic lupus erythematosus susceptibility and subphenotypes in the Han Chinese population.

BACKGROUND: A previous study provided evidence for a genetic association between PPP2CA on 5q31.1 and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) across multi-ancestral cohorts, but failed to find significant evidence for an association in the Han Chinese population. OBJECTIVES: To explore the association between this locus and SLE using data from our previously published genome-wide association study (GWAS). METHODS: Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs7726414 and rs244689 (near TCF7 and PPP2CA in 5q31.1) were selected as candidate independent associations from a large-scale study in a Han Chinese population consisting of 1047 cases and 1205 controls. Subsequently, 3509 cases and 8246 controls were genotyped in two further replication studies. We then investigated the SNPs' associations with SLE subphenotypes and gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. RESULTS: Highly significant associations with SLE in the Han Chinese population were detected for SNPs rs7726414 and rs244689 by combining the genotype data from our previous GWAS and two independent replication cohorts. Further conditional analyses indicated that these two SNPs contribute to disease susceptibility independently. A significant association with SLE, age at diagnosis < 20 years, was found for rs7726414 (P = 0·001). The expression levels of TCF7 and PPP2CA messenger RNA in patients with SLE were significantly decreased compared with those in healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS: This study found evidence for multiple associations with SLE in 5q31.1 at genome-wide levels of significance for the first time in a Han Chinese population, in a combined genotype dataset. These findings suggest that variants in the 5q31.1 locus not only provide novel insights into the genetic architecture of SLE, but also contribute to the complex subphenotypes of SLE.

Interleukin-1beta is increased in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with small infarcts.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) are involved in inflammatory responses during large vessel occlusion in animal models. The aim of this study was to investigate the intrathecal levels of cytokines in patients with acute small infarcts. METHODS: Forty patients with acute minor stroke and 32 non-stroke patients (including 29 age- and gender-matched subjects) who received operations with spinal anesthesia were studied prospectively and underwent measurements of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) IL-1beta and IL-6 levels. RESULTS: After an age- and gender-matched analysis of 58 patients (29 pairs), the mean intrathecal levels of IL-1beta were 0.80 pg/ml in patients with small infarcts and 0.59 pg/ml in non-stroke patients (P < 0.0001). In addition, the mean CSF levels of IL-6 were 21.54 pg/ml and 7.52 pg/ml in the stroke and control groups, respectively (P = 0.38). These results were consistent with the data without matching. The CSF levels of IL-1beta in the 40 stroke patients were significantly higher than in the 32 non-stroke controls (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The proinflammatory cytokine IL-1beta, but not IL-6, remained elevated in the CSF of patients in the acute stage of small infarcts.