[Morphological Characteristics of Bone Marrow Cells in Patients with EB Virus Infection].

OBJECTIVE: Review and analyze the characteristics of bone marrow cell morphology in patients with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection, and explore the diagnostic value of bone marrow cell morphology for the early identification of EBV infection. METHODS: A total of 33 patients with EBV-DNA positive detection in the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University from January 2018 to May 2021 were collected as the research objects. Bone marrow cell morphology and peripheral blood cell analysis were performed, and the significance in disease diagnosis was analyzed by statistical methods. RESULTS: The sampling satisfaction of 33 patients with EBV infection was 100%. In the clinical diagnosis of all cases, 7 cases were IM, 17 cases were EBV-HLH, 3 cases were lymphoma, 2 cases were EBV-associated lymphoid hyperplasia, and 4 cases were not diagnosed. Among them, 31 patients had active bone marrow hyperplasia or above, 26 patients had active granulocytic hyperplasia or above, 21 patients had active erythroid hyperplasia or above, and 17 cases of megakaryocyte production platelet function decreased. The abnormal components of bone marrow mainly indude atypical lymphocyte cells (33 cases), hemophagocytic cells (22 cases), abnormal histiocyte (10 cases). CONCLUSION: According to the proliferation of granulocytes, erythrocytes and megakaryocytes in the bone marrow, and the emergence of abnormal components such as atypical lymphocytes, hemophagocyte, abnormal histiocyte. Bone marrow cell morphological examination can indicate the possibility of EBV infection, which is certain diagnostic value for early identification of EBV infection.

Characteristic findings of malignant melanoma in the sinonasal cavity on magnetic resonance imaging.

BACKGROUND: Malignant sinonasal melanoma (MSM) is a rare tumor with a perplexing signal intensity due to variable histopathologic components. This study was undertaken to delineate its MR imaging features. METHODS: MR imaging findings of 10 patients (6 women and 4 men, mean age 61.3 years old) with pathologically confirmed MSM were retrospectively reviewed. The location, size, signal intensity, enhancement, and internal imaging characteristics of all tumors were evaluated. Signal intensity and degree of enhancement was graded in comparison with the gray matter and adjacent muscle uptake, respectively. RESULTS: There were 8 tumors that were pathologically confirmed to contain melanin. Compared to gray matter of the brain, 7 of them demonstrated hyperintensity on T1WI and 6 (6/7) showed hypointensity on T2WI. There was multiple linear, dark-signal intensity on T2WI within the mass in 9 of the 10 patients' tumors. Evaluated with gadolinium-enhanced imaging, all 10 patients showed moderate enhancement within the areas that were isointense in the lesion on pregadolinium T1WI. Moreover, some parts which displayed hyperintensity on T1WI within the tumors of 7 patients showed mild enhancement that was similar to muscle on a time-intensity curve (TIC). CONCLUSIONS: MSM shows characteristic MR signal intensity (hyperintensity on T1WI and the linear, low-signal intensity on T2WI), which may provide valuable information for clinical diagnosis. Together with conventional MRI, TIC may be useful for indicating pleomorphic patterns of MSM.

Role of helicity on the anticancer mechanism of action of cationic-helical peptides.

In the present study, the 26-residue amphipathic α-helical peptide A12L/A20L (Ac-KWKSFLKTFKSLKKTVLHTLLKAISS-amide) with strong anticancer activity and specificity was used as the framework to study the effects of helicity of α-helical anticancer peptides on biological activities. Helicity was systematically modulated by introducing d-amino acids to replace the original l-amino acids on the non-polar face or the polar face of the helix. Peptide helicity was measured by circular dichroism spectroscopy and was demonstrated to correlate with peptide hydrophobicity and the number of d-amino acid substitutions. Biological studies showed that strong hemolytic activity of peptides generally correlated with high hydrophobicity and helicity. Lower helicity caused the decrease of anti-HeLa activity of peptides. By introducing d-amino acids to replace the original l-amino acids on the non-polar face or the polar face of the helix, we improved the therapeutic index of A12L/A20L against HeLa cells by 9-fold and 22-fold, respectively. These results show that the helicity of anticancer peptides plays a crucial role for biological activities. This specific rational approach of peptide design could be a powerful method to improve the specificity of anticancer peptides as promising therapeutics in clinical practices.

Rational design of peptides with anti-HCV/HIV activities and enhanced specificity.

Lack of vaccines for HCV and HIV makes the antiviral drug development urgently needed. The recently identified HCV NS5A-derived virucidal peptide (C5A) demonstrated a wide spectrum of activities against viruses. In this study, the C5A sequence SWLRDIWDWICEVLSDFK was utilized as the framework to study the effect of the modulation of peptide helicity and hydrophobicity on its anti-HCV and anti-HIV activities. Peptide helicity and hydrophobicity were altered by substitutions of varying amino acids on the non-polar face of C5A. Peptide hydrophobicity has been proved to play a crucial role in peptide anti-HCV or anti-HIV activities. Peptide helicity was relatively independent with antiviral activity. However, peptide analogs with dimerized structure in an aqueous medium while maintaining the ability to be induced into a more helical structure in a hydrophobic environment may tend to show comparable or improved antiviral activity and specificity to C5A. By modulating peptide helicity and hydrophobicity, we improved the specificity of C5A against HCV and HIV by 23- and 69-fold, respectively, in terms of the ratio of hemolytic activity to antiviral activity. We demonstrated that obtained by de novo design approach, peptide I6L/I10L/V13L may be a promising candidate as a new anti-HCV and anti-HIV therapeutic.