SPOP expression is associated with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in pancreatic cancer.

BACKGROUND: Speckle Type POZ Protein (SPOP), despite its tumor type-dependent role in tumorigenesis, primarily as a tumor suppressor gene is associated with a variety of different cancers. However, its function in pancreatic cancer remains uncertain. METHODS: SPOP expression and the association between its expression and patient prognosis and immune function were evaluated using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx), The Tumor Immune Estimation Resource 2.0 (TIMER2.0) database, cBioportal, and various bioinformatic databases. Enrichment analysis of SPOP and the association between SPOP expression with clinical stage and grade were analyzed using the R software package. Then immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to estimate the correlation between SPOP and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in patients with pancreatic cancer. RESULTS: As part of our study, we assessed that SPOP was anomalously expressed in kinds of cancers, associated with clinical stage and outcomes. Meanwhile, SPOP also played a crucial role in the tumor microenvironment (TME). The expression level of SPOP was significantly correlated to tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TICs) in pancreatic cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Our study uncovered the potential corrections in SPOP with TICs, suggesting that SPOP may act as a biomarker for immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer.

Inflammatory markers of hemogram parameters as predictive factors for disease severity in anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the utility of inflammatory markers of hemogram parameters as objective indicators of disease severity in anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis. METHODS: A total of 98 patients were retrospectively reviewed. Inflammatory markers of hemogram parameters, including neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), monocyte-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), and platelet-lymphocyte ratio, were acquired within 24 h of admission. We then analyzed their utility as predictive factors for disease severity at different time points assessing with the modified Rankin Scale (mRS). RESULTS: There were 49 patients in the mild group (mRS ≤ 2) and 49 patients in the moderate-to-severe (mRS > 2) group at admission. The moderate-to-severe group presented more frequently with psychiatric symptoms and central hypoventilation, as well as a lower lymphocyte count, a higher neutrophil count, a higher NLR and a higher MLR (all p < 0.05) when compared with the mild group. NLR and MLR showed similar positive correlations with mRS scores (r = 0.40, r = 0.40, both p < 0.001). Further multivariate logistic regression analyses indicated that NLR > 4.232 was an independent risk factor for moderate-to-severe status at admission. Meanwhile, NLR and MLR were associated with disease severity at different stages of follow-up but showed no independent predictive value. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggested that NLR was an independent risk factor for moderate-to-severe status in the initial stage of anti-NMDAR encephalitis with a cut-off value of > 4.232.

Identification of Novel Molecular Therapeutic Targets and Their Potential Prognostic Biomarkers Among Kinesin Superfamily of Proteins in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Kinesin superfamily of proteins (KIFs) has been broadly reported to play an indispensable role in the biological process. Recently, emerging evidence reveals its oncogenic role in various cancers. However, the prognostic, oncological, and immunological values of KIFs have not been comprehensively explored in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients. We aimed to illustrate the relationship between KIFs and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma by using bioinformatical analysis. METHODS: We use GEPIA, Oncomine datasets, cBioPortal, LOGpc, TIMER, and STRING bioinformatics tools and web servers to investigate the aberrant expression, prognostic values, and oncogenic role of KIFs. The two-gene prognostic model and the correlation between KIFs and KRAS and TP53 mutation were performed using an R-based computational framework. RESULTS: Our results demonstrated that KIFC1/2C/4A/11/14/15/18A/18B/20B/23 (we name it prognosis-related KIFs) were upregulated and associated with unfavorable clinical outcome in pancreatic cancer patients. KIF21B overexpression is associated with better clinical outcome. The KIFC1/2C/4A/11/14/15/18A/18B/20B/23 profiles were significantly increased compared to grade 1 and grade 2/3. Besides, KIFC1/2C/4A/11/14/15/18A/18B/20B/23 was significantly associated with the mutation status of KRAS and TP53.Notably, most prognosis-related KIFs have strong correlations with tumor growth and myeloid-derived suppressor cells infiltration (MDSCs). A prognostic signature based on KIF20B and KIF21B showed a reliable predictive performance. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was employed to assess the predictive power of two-gene signature. Consequently, the gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) showed that KIF20B and KIF21B's overexpression was associated with the immunological and oncogenic pathway activation in pancreatic cancer. Finally, real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) was utilized to investigate the expression pattern of KIF20B and KIF21B in pancreatic cancer cell lines and normal pancreatic cell. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge of the expression level of the KIFs may provide novel therapeutic molecular targets and potential prognostic biomarkers to pancreatic cancer patients.

Clinical Relevance of Cerebrospinal Fluid Antibody Titers in Anti-N-Methyl-d-Aspartate Receptor Encephalitis.

Anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis is the most common autoimmune encephalitis. To date, there has been no study on the relationship between antibody (Ab) titers and clinical phenotype. This study aims to clarify the relationship between cerebrospinal fluid Ab titers and clinical manifestations of anti-NMDAR encephalitis at onset. Seventy-six consecutive patients with a definite diagnosis were enrolled. The relationship between Ab titers and different onset symptoms including psychiatric symptoms, seizures, and memory deficits were analyzed. We further investigated the correlation between Ab titers and clinical severity as assessed by the modified Rankin scale (mRS) and the clinical assessment scale for autoimmune encephalitis (CASE), respectively. The Ab titers had a median value of 1:10 (range 1:1-1:100). There was no significant difference in titers among various clinical factors including gender and combination of tumor and other diseases (each p > 0.05). Patients presenting with psychiatric symptoms at onset had higher titers than those with seizures (p = 0.008) and memory deficits (p = 0.003). The mRS scores revealed a significant but weak correlation with Ab titers (r = 0.243, p = 0.034), while CASE scores did not correlate with the titers (p = 0.125). Our findings indicated that the Ab titers were associated with the type of onset symptoms, with a higher level of patients with psychiatric symptoms. Regarding the clinical severity, the titers showed a weak correlation with the mRS, but no correlation with the CASE.

Clinical features and mutation spectrum in Chinese patients with CADASIL: A multicenter retrospective study.

AIM: To characterize clinical features and mutation spectrum in Chinese patients with CADASIL. METHODS: We collected 261 clinically suspected Chinese CADASIL patients from three hospitals located in different regions of China. Sanger sequencing is performed to screen the exons 2 to 24 of NOTCH3 gene. Clinical and genetic data were retrospectively studied. Haplotype analyses were performed in patients carrying p.Arg544Cys and p.Arg607Cys, respectively. RESULTS: A total of 214 patients were finally genetically diagnosed as CADASIL, with 45 known NOTCH3 mutations and a novel c.1817G>T mutation. We found that patients carrying p.Arg607Cys or p.Arg544Cys mutation located in exon 11 occupied nearly 35% in our mutation spectrum. In retrospectively study of clinical data, we found a higher number of patients having cognitive impairment and a lower number of patients having migraine with aura. Furthermore, we identified that patients carrying mutations in exon 11 seemed to experience a later disease onset (p=6.8×10-5 ). Additionally, a common haplotype was found in patients from eastern China carrying p.Arg607Cys, and the patients from Fujian carrying p.Arg544Cys shared the same haplotype with patients from Taiwan carrying p.Arg544Cys. CONCLUSIONS: These findings broaden the mutational and clinical spectrum of CADASIL and provide additional evidences for the existence of founder effect in CADASIL patients.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition in pancreatic cancer: Is it a clinically significant factor?

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive solid malignancies. This aggressiveness is partly attributable to extensive local tumor invasion and early systemic dissemination as well as resistance to chemotherapy. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays fundamental roles in embryonic development and in the differentiation of normal tissues and organs. EMT also plays critical roles in tumor formation, dissemination and drug resistance in pancreatic cancer. Emerging data suggest that inhibiting EMT may reverse the EMT phenotype and enhance the efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents against pancreatic cancer cells. Thus, an understanding of the molecular biology of EMT in pancreatic cancer may provide insights into the mechanisms of tumor invasion and metastatic progression and facilitate the development of alternative therapeutic approaches to improve the treatment outcomes for patients suffering from pancreatic cancer.

Stathmin destabilizing microtubule dynamics promotes malignant potential in cancer cells by epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

BACKGROUND: Stathmin is a ubiquitous cytosolic regulatory phosphoprotein and is overexpressed in different human malignancies. The main physiological function of stathmin is to interfere with microtubule dynamics by promoting depolymerization of microtubules or by preventing polymerization of tubulin heterodimers. Stathmin plays important roles in regulating many cellular functions as a result of its microtubule-destabilizing activity. Currently, the critical roles of stathmin in cancer cells, as well as in lymphocytes have been valued. This review discusses stathmin and microtubule dynamics in cancer development, and hypothesizes their possible relationship with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). DATA SOURCES: A PubMed search using such terms as "stathmin", "microtubule dynamics", "epithelial-mesenchymal transition", "EMT", "malignant potential" and "cancer" was performed to identify relevant studies published in English. More than 100 related articles were reviewed. RESULTS: The literature clearly documented the relationship between stathmin and its microtubule-destabilizing activity of cancer development. However, the particular mechanism is poorly understood. Microtubule disruption is essential for EMT, which is a crucial process during cancer development. As a microtubule-destabilizing protein, stathmin may promote malignant potential in cancer cells by initiating EMT. CONCLUSIONS: We propose that there is a stathmin-microtubule dynamics-EMT (S-M-E) axis during cancer development. By this axis, stathmin together with its microtubule-destabilizing activity contributes to EMT, which stimulates the malignant potential in cancer cells.

Abnormal distribution of peripheral lymphocyte subsets induced by PDAC modulates overall survival.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The impairment of the immune system is prevalent in patients with malignancies, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). The present study aimed to evaluate alternations of peripheral lymphocyte subsets in patients with PDAC, and also to assess the prognostic value of observed changes. METHODS: We recruited 160 consecutive PDAC patients who had undergone radical surgical resection between 2010 and 2013. To investigate the prognostic factors, we detected the peripheral lymphocyte subsets in PDAC by flow cytometry, including T cells (CD3(+), CD3(+)CD4(+), CD3(+)CD8(+), CD8(+)CD28(+)), regulatory T cells (Tregs, CD4(+)CD25(+)CD127(-)), natural killer cells (NK cells, CD3(-)CD56(+)) and B cells (CD19(+)). We also evaluated the clinical and pathological features of these patients. Survival analysis was performed by univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: Our results indicated the profile of peripheral lymphocyte subsets undergone profound changes in PDAC patients. Univariate and multivariate analysis indicated the levels of peripheral lymphocyte subsets (CD19(+) B cells, Tregs and CD8(+)CD28(+) T cells) were independent predictors for overall survival. The results also suggested that the systemic impairment of immune system in patients with PDAC, was reversed when primary tumor was removed. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provided some evidences that the impairment of host immunity induced by PDAC may play a role in the survival of patients.

Intratumoral α-SMA enhances the prognostic potency of CD34 associated with maintenance of microvessel integrity in hepatocellular carcinoma and pancreatic cancer.

Microvessel density (MVD) as an angiogenesis predictor is inefficient per se in cancer prognosis. We evaluated prognostic values of combining intratumoral alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA)-positive stromal cell density and MVD after curative resection in hypervascular hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and hypovascular pancreatic cancer (PC). Tissue microarrays were constructed from tumors of 305 HCC and 57 PC patients who underwent curative resection and analyzed for α-SMA and CD34 expression by immunostaining. Prognostic values of these two proteins and other clinicopathological features were examined. Both low α-SMA density and high MVD-CD34 were associated in HCC with the presence of intrahepatic metastasis and microvascular invasion, and they were related to lymph node involvement and microvascular invasion in PC (p<0.05). Although CD34 alone, but not α-SMA, was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival and recurrence-free survival, the combination of low α-SMA and high CD34 was a predictor of worst prognosis for both types of tumors and had a better power to predict patient death and early recurrence (p<0.01). Furthermore, the results show that distribution of most of the α-SMA-positive cells and vascular endothelial cells overlap, showing major colocalization on vascular walls. Poor microvessel integrity, as indicated by high MVD, together with low perivascular α-SMA-positive cell coverage is associated with early recurrence, unfavorable metastasis, and short survival after tumor resection. This finding highlights the significance of vascular quality in tumor progression, which provides an optimized complement to vascular quantity in prognosis of postoperative patients.

B7-H3 is expressed in human hepatocellular carcinoma and is associated with tumor aggressiveness and postoperative recurrence.

B7-H3, a novel B7 family member, positively or negatively regulates T-cell responses. We investigated the clinical relevance and prognostic significance of B7-H3 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Western blotting showed B7-H3 upregulation in 17 of 24 (70.8 %) HCC tissues compared with nontumor liver tissues (p = 0.028). B7-H3 immunostaining on tissue microarrays containing 240 HCC patient samples indicated that 225 (93.8 %) tumors had aberrant B7-H3 expression, with strong intensity in 79 (32.9 %) cases, whereas B7-H3 expression in peritumor liver cells was weak in most cases (226; 94.2 %). Notably, patients with high/moderate tumor cell B7-H3 expression showed significantly poorer survival (p = 0.009) and increased recurrence (p = 0.002). After multivariable adjustment, high/moderate B7-H3 expression remained significant for an increased risk of recurrence (hazard ratio = 1.79; 95 % confidence interval = 1.19-2.70; p = 0.005). B7-H3 expression correlated with invasive phenotypes like vascular invasion and advanced tumor stage, and the metastatic potential of HCC cell lines. Flow cytometry showed that B7-H3 expression is inversely correlated with proliferation and interferon-γ production by infiltrating T cells. Interferon-γ stimulation significantly upregulated B7-H3 expression in HCC cells in vitro, implicating B7-H3 expression as a feedback mechanism to evade anti-tumor immunity. Importantly, the prognostic value of B7-H3 expression was validated in an independent cohort of 206 HCC patients. Collectively, our data suggest that B7-H3 was abundantly expressed in HCC and was associated with adverse clinicopathologic features and poor outcome. Thus, B7-H3 represents an attractive target for diagnostic and therapeutic manipulation in human HCC.

Intratumoral neutrophils: a poor prognostic factor for hepatocellular carcinoma following resection.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Neutrophil infiltration has been linked to clinical outcome of various cancer types. However, its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is unclear. In this study, we investigated prognostic values for intratumoral and peritumoral neutrophils in HCC patients undergoing curative resection. METHODS: The expression of CD66b, CD8, TGF-beta, and CD34 was assessed by immunohistochemistry in tissue microarrays containing paired intratumoral and peritumoral tissues from 197 patients receiving curative resection for HCC. Prognostic values for these and other clinicopathologic factors were evaluated. RESULTS: Intratumoral CD66b(+) neutrophils significantly correlated with CD8(+) T cells (r=0.240, p=0.004), TGF-beta expression (p=0.012), BCLC stage (p=0.016), and early recurrence (p=0.041). Increased intratumoral neutrophils were significantly associated with decreased RFS/OS (p=0.001 and p<0.001, respectively) in univariate analysis and were identified as an independent prognostic factor (HR=1.845, 95% CI=1.169-2.911, p=0.008 for RFS; HR=2.578, 95% CI=1.618-4.106, p<0.001 for OS) in multivariate analysis. Intratumoral neutrophil-to-CD8(+) T cell ratio (iNTR) better predicted the outcome in terms of minimum p values. Intratumoral neutrophils were also demonstrated to be statistically predictive for RFS/OS in the normal AFP subgroup, small HCC subgroup, and validation cohort. However, peritumoral neutrophils were not associated with the outcome of HCC. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of intratumoral neutrophils was a poor prognostic factor for HCC after resection. Intratumoral neutrophil-to-CD8(+) T cell ratio was a better predictor of outcome.

PEBP1 downregulation is associated to poor prognosis in HCC related to hepatitis B infection.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Phosphatidylethanolamine-binding protein 1 (PEBP1, also RKIP) plays a pivotal role in cancer by regulating multiple cellular signaling processes and suppressing metastasis in animal models. We examined whether PEBP1 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) correlated with the risk of recurrence and survival after resection. METHODS: A randomly selected cohort of 240 Chinese HCC patients, predominantly hepatitis B related, formed the basis of the study. PEBP1 expression levels were evaluated by immunohistochemistry and real-time reverse-transcriptase PCR. Survival analysis was performed by univariate and multivariate analyses. The results were further validated in an independent series of 403 patients. The relevance of PEBP1 to phospho-ERK was determined by Western blot analysis on clinical samples and hepatoma cell lines. RESULTS: PEBP1, prevalently down-regulated in HCC, was significantly associated with tumor invasive characteristics (such as vascular invasion, lack of encapsulation, poor differentiation and large size). Both PEBP1 protein and mRNA levels were independent predictors for tumor recurrence (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.877, p=0.001; HR = 2.633, p = 0.001; respectively), and patient survival (HR = 1.796, p = 0.004; HR = 1.730, p = 0.044; respectively). The prognostic value of PEBP1 was then confirmed in the validation cohort. In addition, Western blot suggested that loss of PEBP1 led to hyperactivity of MAPK signaling. CONCLUSIONS: Down-regulation of PEBP1 in HCC indicated aggressive tumor behaviors and predicted a worse clinical outcome, which may be a useful biomarker to identify the patients at high risk of post-operative recurrence.

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha, in association with inflammation, angiogenesis and MYC, is a critical prognostic factor in patients with HCC after surgery.

BACKGROUND: Despite well-studied tumor hypoxia in laboratory, little is known about the association with other pathophysiological events in the clinical view. We investigated the prognostic value of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1alpha) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and its correlations with inflammation, angiogenesis and MYC oncogene. METHODS: In a random series of 110 HCC patients, the mRNA of HIF-1alpha, inflammation related factors (COX-2, MMP7 and MMP9), angiogenesis related factors (VEGF and PDGFRA) and MYC in tumor tissue were detected by real-time RT-PCR and HIF-1alpha protein was assessed by immunohistochemistry. The correlations between HIF-1alpha mRNA and the factors mentioned previously, the relationship between HIF-1alpha and clinicopathologic features, and the prognostic value were analyzed. RESULTS: The expression of both HIF-1alpha mRNA and protein in HCC were independent prognostic factors for overall survival (OS) (P = 0.012 and P = 0.021, respectively) and disease-free survival (DFS) (P = 0.004 and P = 0.007, respectively) as well. Besides, the high expression of HIF-1alpha mRNA and protein proposed an advanced BCLC stage and more incidence of vascular invasion. The mRNA of HIF-1alpha had significantly positive correlations to that of COX-2, PDGFRA, MMP7, MMP9, MYC, except VEGF. In addition to HIF-1alpha, COX-2 and PDGFRA were also independent prognosticators for OS (P = 0.004 and P = 0.010, respectively) and DFS (P = 0.010 and P = 0.038, respectively). CONCLUSION: HIF-1alpha in HCC plays an important role in predicting patient outcome. It may influence HCC biological behaviors and affect the tumor inflammation, angiogenesis and act in concert with the oncogene MYC. Attaching importance to HIF-1alpha in HCC may improve the prognostic and therapeutic technique.

Human leukocyte antigen-G protein expression is an unfavorable prognostic predictor of hepatocellular carcinoma following curative resection.

PURPOSE: Human leukocyte antigen-G (HLA-G) is a tumor-associated immunosuppressive molecule involved in tumor escape mechanisms. The aim of this study is to elucidate its prognostic significance in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Immunohistochemical staining of HLA-G expression as well as tumor-infiltrating FoxP3+ regulatory (Tregs) and CD8+ cytotoxic T cells was carried out on tissue microarrays containing 173 HCC tissue specimens. Membrane-bound HLA-G1 protein expression in five human HCC cell lines was detected by Western blot. RESULTS: HLA-G expression was associated with HCC prognosis, especially in early-stage diseases, with high expression independently associated with shortened overall survival (P = 0.041) and increased tumor recurrence (P = 0.023). HLA-G level was positively related to Tregs/CD8+ ratio and their combination served as a better prognosticator, patients having concurrent high levels of both variables at more than three times of risk of death and tumor relapse than those with concurrent low levels (both P < 0.001). In addition, HLA-G1 expression increased in a concordant manner with the increase of metastatic potential in human HCC cell lines. CONCLUSIONS: Overexpression of HLA-G protein in HCC was an independent indicator for poor outcome especially in early-stage disease. The combination of HLA-G expression and Tregs/CD8+ ratio added the prognostic power to both variables, offering a possible strategy of tumor-stroma interaction-oriented cancer immunotherapy.

[Comparison of transduction efficiencies of various gene vectors in human bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the transduction efficiencies of adenoviral vector, adeno-associated viral vector, baculoviral vector, and plasmid vector in human bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs). METHODS: The hBMSCs were cultured in vitro and transducted with the adenoviral vector, adeno-associated viral vector, baculoviral vector, and plasmid vector. The expression of target protein was observed by inverted fluorescent microscopy and flow cytometry. RESULTS: Inverted fluorescent microscopy showed that some of the hBMSCs after transduction expressed the green fluorescent protein (GFP) and the hBMSCs transducted with baculoviral vector expressed more GFP than those of other three vectors. Flow cytometry showed that the transduction efficiencies and mean fluorescence intensities of the adenoviral vector, adeno-associated viral vector, and plasmid vector were 42%, 37%, and 22% and 158, 115, and 77, respectively, which were significantly lower than those of baculoviral vector (70%, P < 0.01; 212, P < 0.05; respectively). CONCLUSION: Compared with the adenoviral vector, adeno-associated viral vector, and plasmid vector, the baculoviral vector has higher transduction efficiency in hBMSCs and therefore may be a more suitable gene vector for research in human gene therapy.

[Construction of herpes simplex virus-1 virion protein 22-mediated microdystrophin gene recombinant adenovirus and study on the property of protein transduction].

OBJECTIVE: To construct the recombinant adenovirus containing herpes simplex virus-1 virion protein (VP) 22 and human microdystrophin gene, then the adenovirus was transfected into C2C12 myoblast and studied on the property of protein transduction with VP22-mediated microdystrophin in C2C12 myoblast. METHODS: The full-length VP22 cDNA was obtained from recombinant plasmid pSINrep5-VP22 with PCR, and the product was directionally inserted into pShuttle-CMV to acquire the plasmid pCMV-VP22. Microdystrophin cDNA was obtained from recombinant plasmid pBSK-micro digested with restrictive endonuclease NotI, and the product was directionally inserted into pCMV-VP22 to acquire the plasmid pCMV-VP22-MICDYS. The plasmid of pCMV-VP22-MICDYS was lined with Pme I, and the fragment containing VP22-microdystrophin was reclaimed and transfected into E1 coli BJ5183 with plasmid pAdeasy-1. After having been screened by selected media, the extracted plasmid of positive bacteria was transfected into HEK293 cells with liposome and was identified by observing the cytopathic effect of cells and by PCR method to acquire the recombinant adenovirus Ad-VP22-MICDYS. Finally, the C2C12 myoblast were transfected with the recombinant adenovirus Ad-VP22-MICDYS and Ad-MICDYS, and the expression of microdystrophin was detected by RT-PCR, Western blot and immunocytochemistry. RESULTS: The recombinant adenovirus including VP22 and microdystrophin gene was successfully constructed. VP22 transferred VP22-microdystrophin fused protein from infected C2C12 myoblast into uninfected cells and enhance the expression of microdystrophin in myoblast. CONCLUSIONS: Recombinant adenovirus containing VP22 and microdystrophin gene was constructed successfully. VP22 can enhance the expression with microdystrophin in myoblast. It lays the foundation for further studying on VP22-mediated recombinant including microdystrophin gene to cure Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

[Transduction of various mammalian bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells by baculovirus].

The use of stem cells will lead to novel treatments for a wide range of diseases due to their properties of self-renewing, pluripotent, and undifferentiated state, and the stem cells are usually genetically modified for cell and gene therapy. If the baculovirus, as a new gene vector, can be effectively transduced into various mammalian bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) in vitro, it will be a better gene vector to genetically modify the stem cells. The aim of the present study is to investigate the transduction efficiency of recombinant baculovirus (BacV-CMV-EGFP), which expressed a reporter gene encoding enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) under a cytomegalovirus immediate early (CMV-IE) promoter, into various mammalian BMSCs. The BMSCs of mouse, rat, porcine, rhesus, and human were cultured primarily in vitro. After more than three passages, the mammalian BMSCs were seeded into dishes and cultured in a humidified incubator at 37 °C with 5% CO(2). When the cells reached about 80% confluence, the complete medium was removed by aspiration. The cells were transduced with recombinant baculovirus at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 200 vector genomes/cell with 500 µL PBS at 25 °C for 4 h. At the end of baculovirus transduction, cells were washed and incubated with 2 mL complete medium, and baculovirus-transduced mammalian BMSCs were cultured in a humidified incubator for 2 d. Then, the inverted fluorescent microscope was used to observe GFP expressions in different mammalian BMSCs, and flow cytometry was used to detect the transduction efficiency of baculovirus in various mammalian BMSCs. After more than three passages, the BMSCs of mouse, rat, porcine, rhesus, and human showed a homogeneous spindle-shaped morphology. Compared with the BMSCs of mouse, rat and porcine, the inverted fluorescent microscope observations showed that there were more BMSCs expressing GFP and greater mean fluorescence intensity in rhesus and human transduced with baculovirus. The baculovirus could efficiently transduce into the BMSCs of mouse, rat, porcine, rhesus and human, and the transduction efficiency was (20.21±3.02)%, (22.51±4.48)%, (39.13±5.79)%, (71.16±5.36)% and (70.67±3.74)%, respectively. In conclusion, baculovirus displays different transduction efficiency into various mammalian BMSCs. Due to the high transduction efficiency for primate and human BMSCs, baculovirus is possibly a more suitable gene vector to genetically modify BMSCs of human and primates.

Comparative study of mesenchymal stem cells from C57BL/10 and mdx mice.

BACKGROUND: Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been studied and applied extensively because of their ability to self-renew and differentiate into various cell types. Since most human diseases models are murine, mouse MSCs should have been studied in detail. The mdx mouse - a Duchenne muscular dystrophy model - was produced by introducing a point mutation in the dystrophin gene. To understand the role of dystrophin in MSCs, we compared MSCs from mdx and C57BL/10 mice, focusing particularly on the aspects of light and electron microscopic morphology, immunophenotyping, and differentiation potential. RESULTS: Our study showed that at passage 10, mdx-MSCs exhibited increased heterochromatin, larger vacuoles, and more lysosomes under electron microscopy compared to C57BL/10-MSCs. C57BL/10-MSCs formed a few myotubes, while mdx-MSCs did not at the same passages. By passage 21, mdx-MSCs but not C57BL/10-MSCs had gradually lost their proliferative ability. In addition, a significant difference in the expression of CD34, not Sca-1 and CD11b, was observed between the MSCs from the 2 mice. CONCLUSION: Our current study reveals that the MSCs from the 2 mice, namely, C57BL/10 and mdx, exhibit differences in proliferative and myogenic abilities. The results suggest that the changes in mouse MSC behavior may be influenced by lack of dystrophin protein in mdx mouse.