Prevalence of Common Respiratory Viral Infections and Identification of Adenovirus in Hospitalized Adults in Harbin, China 2014 to 2017.

Background: Respiratory infections pose a great challenge in global health, and the prevalence of viral infection in adult patients has been poorly understood in northeast China. Harbin is one of the major cities in northeast China, and more than half of any given year in Harbin is occupied by winter. To reveal the viral etiology and seasonality in adult patients from Harbin, a 4-year consecutive survey was conducted in Harbin, China. Methods: From January 2014 to December 2017, specimens were obtained from adult patients admitted to the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University with lower respiratory tract infections. Sputum samples were examined by direct immunofluorescence assays to detect seven common respiratory viruses, including influenza virus (type A and B), parainfluenza virus (type 1 to 3), respiratory syncytial virus and adenovirus. Adenovirus positive samples were seeded onto A549 cells to isolate viral strains. Phylogenetic analysis was conducted on the highly variable region of adenoviral hexon gene. Results: A total of 1,300 hospitalized adult patients with lower respiratory tract infections were enrolled, in which 189 patients (14.5%) were detected as having at least one viral infection. The co-infection rate in this study was 25.9% (49/189). The dominant viral pathogen from 2014 to 2017 was parainfluenza virus, with a detection rate of 7.2%, followed by influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus and adenovirus. Based on the climate seasons determined by daily average temperature, the highest overall viral detection rate was detected in spring (22.0%, 52/236), followed by winter (13.4%, 109/813), autumn (11.4%, 13/114) and summer (10.9%, 15/137). Adenovirus type 3 strains with slight variations were isolated from positive cases, which were closely related to the GB strain from the United States, as well as the Harbin04B strain isolated locally. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that common respiratory viruses were partially responsible for hospitalized lower respiratory tract infections in adult patients from Harbin, China, with parainfluenza virus as the dominant viral pathogen. Climate seasons could be rational indicators for the seasonality analysis of airborne viral infections. Future surveillance on viral mutations would be necessary to reveal the evolutionary history of respiratory viruses.

Synthesis and in vitro antiproliferative evaluation of some B-norcholesteryl Benzimidazole and Benzothiazole derivatives.

Taking orostanal (a compound from a Japanese marine sponge, Stelletta hiwasaensis) as a lead compound, some novel B-norcholesteryl benzimidazole and benzothiazole derivatives were synthesized. The antiproliferative activity of the compounds against human cervical carcinoma (HeLa), human lung carcinoma (A549), human liver carcinoma cells (HEPG2) and normal kidney epithelial cells (HEK293T) was assayed. The results revealed that the benzimidazole group was a better substituent than benzothiazole group for increasing the antiproliferative activity of compounds. 2-(3ß'-Acetoxy-5ß'-hydroxy-6'-B-norcholesteryl)benzimidazole (9b) with the structure of 6-benzimidazole displays the best antiproliferative activity to the cancer cells in all compounds, but is almost inactive to normal kidney epithelial cells (HEK293T). The assay of compound 9b to cancer cell apoptosis by flow cytometry showed that the compound was able to effectively induce cancer cell apoptosis. The research provided a theoretical reference for the exploration of new anti-cancer agents and may be useful for the design of novel chemotherapeutic drugs.

Synthesis and antiproliferative evaluation of some novel B-nor-D-homosteroids.

Using 3ß-hydroxy-5-androsten-17-one as a starting material, a series of novel nitrogen-containing B-nor-D-homosteroids were designed and synthesized by the oximation, Beckman rearrangement, ozonation, cyclization and condensation reaction. The structures of all new compounds were determined by analysis of their NMR, MS and IR spectra. The antiproliferative activity of compounds was evaluated against HT-29 (colonic carcinoma), HeLa (human cervical carcinoma) and Bel 7404 (human liver carcinoma) cells.

Synthesis, characterization and antitumor activities of some steroidal derivatives with side chain of 17-hydrazone aromatic heterocycle.

Here a series of dehydroepiandrosterone-17-hydrazone and estrone-17-hydrazone derivatives possessing various aromatic heterocycle structures in 17-side chain of their steroidal nucleus were synthesized and their structures were evaluated. The antiproliferative activity of synthesized compounds against some cancer cells was investigated. The results have demonstrated that some dehydroepiandrosterone-17-hydrazone derivatives show distinct antiproliferative activity against some cancer cells through inducing cancer cell apoptosis, and compound 8 with a quinoline structure in 17-side chain displays excellent antiproliferative activity in vitro against SGC 7901 cancer cell (human gastric carcinoma) with an IC50 value of 1 µM. In addition, estrone-17-hydrazone derivatives having a key feature of indole group in the structure showed a special obvious cytotoxicity against HeLa cells, but almost inactive against other cells. The information obtained from the studies is valuable for the design of novel steroidal chemotherapeutic drugs.