Airborne Transmission of a Novel Tembusu Virus in Ducks.

The routes of transmission of a newly emerged Tembusu virus (TMUV, Flavivirus) in ducks in China remain unclear. Our epidemiological data show that TMUV is spread in winter, when mosquitos are inactive, which suggests that nonvector transmission routes are involved in the spread of TMUV. Furthermore, in vivo studies indicate that TMUV can be transmitted efficiently among ducks by both direct contact and aerosol transmission. This finding has important implications for the control of infection with this novel TMUV in the field.

Complete genome sequence of a novel reassortant H11N2 avian influenza virus isolated from a live poultry market in eastern China.

A/chicken/Nanjing/908/2009(H11N2) (CK908) was isolated from a live poultry market in Nanjing, China. Using PCR and sequencing analysis, we obtained the complete genome sequences of the CK908 virus. The sequence analysis demonstrated that this H11N2 virus was a novel reassortant AIV whose PB1, PB2, PA, HA, NP, NA, M, and NS genes originated from H9N2, H7N7, H5N2, H11N8, H3N6, H6N2, H1N1, and H5N1, respectively. Knowledge regarding the complete genome sequences of the CK908 virus will be useful for epidemiological surveillance.

326K at E Protein Is Critical for Mammalian Adaption of TMUV.

Outbreaks of Tembusu virus (TMUV) infection have caused huge economic losses to the poultry industry in China since 2010. However, the potential threat of TMUV to mammals has not been well studied. In this study, a TMUV HB strain isolated from diseased ducks showed high virulence in BALB/c mice inoculated intranasally compared with the reference duck TMUV strain. Further studies revealed that the olfactory epithelium is one pathway for the TMUV HB strain to invade the central nervous system of mice. Genetic analysis revealed that the TMUV HB virus contains two unique residues in E and NS3 proteins (326K and 519T) compared with duck TMUV reference strains. K326E substitution weakens the neuroinvasiveness and neurovirulence of TMUV HB in mice. Remarkably, the TMUV HB strain induced significantly higher levels of IL-1ß, IL-6, IL-8, and interferon (IFN)-α/ß than mutant virus with K326E substitution in the brain tissue of the infected mice, which suggested that TMUV HB caused more severe inflammation in the mouse brains. Moreover, application of IFN-ß to infected mouse brain exacerbated the disease, indicating that overstimulated IFN response in the brain is harmful to mice upon TMUV infection. Further studies showed that TMUV HB upregulated RIG-I and IRF7 more significantly than mutant virus containing the K326E mutation in mouse brain, which suggested that HB stimulated the IFN response through the RIG-I-IRF7 pathway. Our findings provide insights into the pathogenesis and potential risk of TMUV to mammals.

Induction of detoxification enzymes by quercetin in the silkworm.

Quercetin is one of the most abundant flavonoids and the defense secondary metabolites in plants. In this study, the effect of quercetin on the growth of the silkworm larvae was investigated. Cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s), glutathione S-transferases (GSTs), and carboxylesterases (COE) were assayed after exposure to different concentrations of quercetin for 3 d (short-term) and 7 d (long-term), respectively. The results showed that the weight gain of the silkworm larvae significantly decreased after the larvae were treated by different concentrations of quercetin except for the treatment with 0.5% quercetin. Activities of P450, GST, and COE were induced by 0.5 or 1% concentration of quercetin. In the midgut, the induction activity of P450s was reached to the highest level (2.3-fold) by 1% quercetin for 7 d, the highest induction activities of GSTs toward CHP and CDNB were 4.1-fold and 2.6-fold of controls by 1% quercetin after 7 d exposure, respectively. For COEs, the highest activity (2.3-fold) was induced by 0.5% quercetin for 7 d. However, P450s in whole body were higher inducible activities in short-term treatment than those in long-term treatment. The responses of eight cytochrome P450 (CYP) genes belonged to CYP6 and CYP9 families and seven GST genes were detected with real-time polymerase chain reaction. In addition, the genes induced by quercetin significantly were confirmed by qRT-PCR. CYP6AB5, CYP6B29, and GSTe8 were identified as inducible genes, of which the highest induction levels were 10.9-fold (0.5% quercetin for 7 d), 6.2-fold (1% quercetin for 7 d), and 7.1-fold (1% quercetin for 7 d), respectively.

Development of a PCR-Based Reverse Genetics System for an Attenuated Duck Tembusu Virus Strain.

The infectious disease caused by the duck Tembusu virus (DTMUV) has resulted in massive economic losses to the Chinese duck industry in China since 2010. Research on the molecular basis of DTMUV pathogenicity has been hampered by the lack of a reliable reverse genetics system for this virus. Here we developed a PCR-based reverse genetics system with high fidelity for the attenuated DTMUV strain FX2010-180P. The rescued virus was characterized by using both indirect immunofluorescence assays (IFA) and whole genome sequencing. The rescued virus (rFX2010-180P) grew to similar titers as compared with the wild-type virus in DF-1 cells, and had similar replication and immunogenicity properties in ducks. To determine whether exogenous proteins could be expressed from DTMUV, both an internal ribosomal entry site (IRES) and the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) gene were introduced between the NS5 gene and the 3' non-coding sequence of FX2010-180P. A recombinant DTMUV expressing eGFP was rescued, but eGFP expression was unstable after 4 passages in DF-1 cells due to a deletion of 1,294 nucleotides. The establishment of a reliable reverse genetics system for FX2010-180P provides a foundation for future studies of DTMUV.

Existence and significance of hepatitis B virus DNA in kidneys of IgA nephropathy.

AIM: To investigate the existence and significance of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in the pathogenesis of IgA nephropathy (IgAN). METHODS: Fifty cases of IgAN with HBV antigenaemia and/or hepatitis B virus antigens (HBAg, or HBsAg, HBcAg) detected by immunohistochemistry in renal tissues were enrolled in our study. The distribution and localization of HBV DNA were observed using in situ hybridization. Southern blot analysis was performed to reveal the state of renal HBV DNA. RESULTS: Among the 50 patients with IgAN, HBs antigenemia was detected in 17 patients (34%). HBAg in renal tissues was detected in 48 patients (96%), the positive rate of HBAg, HBsAg, and HBcAg was 82% (41/50), 58% (29/50), and 42% (21/50) in glomeruli, respectively; and was 94% (47/50), 56% (28/50) and 78% (39/50) in tubular epithelia, respectively. Positive HBV DNA was detected in 72% (36/50) and 82% (41/50) cases in tubular epithelia and glomeruli respectively by in situ hybridization, and the positive signals were localized in the nuclei of tubular epithelial cells and glomerular mesangial cells as well as infiltrated interstitial lymphocytes. Moreover, 68% (34/50) cases were proved to be HBV DNA positive by Southern blot analysis, and all were the integrated form. CONCLUSION: HBV infection might play an important role in occurrence and progress of IgAN. In addition to humoral immune damages mediated by HBAg-HBAb immune complex, renal tissues of some IgAN are directly infected with HBV and express HBAg in situ, and the cellular mechanism mediated by HBV originating from renal cells in situ may also be involved in the pathogenesis of IgAN.

Role of hepatitis B virus infection in pathogenesis of IgA nephropathy.

AIM: To investigate the role of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in the pathogenesis of IgA nephropathy (IgAN). METHODS: HBV antigens (HBAg, or HBsAg, HBcAg, and HBeAg) in renal tissues with IgAN were detected by immunohistochemical technique. The distribution and localization of HBV DNA were observed by using in situ hybridization. Southern blot analysis was performed to reveal the state of renal HBV DNA. RESULTS: Among 100 patients with IgAN, HBs antigenemia was detected in 18 patients (18.00 %). HBAg in renal tissues was detected in 31 patients (31.00 %), the positive rate of HBAg, HBsAg and HBcAg was 64.52 % (20/31), 32.26 % (10/31), 32.26 % (10/31), respectively in glomeruli. HBcAg was also found in tubular epithelia and interstitia, which was 45.16 % (14/31) and 6.45 % (2/31), respectively. Five out of six cases with positive HBV DNA by in situ hybridization were proved to be HBV DNA positive by Southern blot analysis, and all were of the integrated form. Eight specimens were demonstrated to be HBV DNA positive by in situ hybridization, which was localized in the nuclei of tubular epithelial cells and glomerular mesangial cells as well as in infiltrated interstitial lymphocytes. CONCLUSION: There is a relationship between HBV infection and IgAN. In addition to the humoral immune damage mediated by HBAg-HBAb immune complex, the cellular mechanism mediated by HBV originating from renal cells in situ may be also involved in the pathogenesis of IgAN.

Pathological characteristics, PCNA labeling index and DNA index in prognostic evaluation of patients with moderately differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma.

AIM: To study the relationship between prognosis and pathological characteristics, proliferating cell nuclear antigen labeling index (PCNA-LI) and DNA index (DI) in patients with moderately differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC). METHODS: 51 cases of moderately differentiated HCC were analyzed with respect to the relation between their clinical follow-up data and pathological characteristics. Meanwhile, PCNA-LI of HCC cells was detected by immunohistochemistry assay and DI was measured by Feulgen staining and automatic image analysis technique. RESULTS: Patients with a single tumor nodule, less than 5 cm in diameter, no tumor emboli, no daughter nodules and necrosis had relatively better prognosis; patients with euploidy HCC had better prognosis than those with aneuploidy; among the aneuploidy patients those with DI<1.5 had better prognosis than the cases with DI>1.5; The higher the PCNA-LI, the worse would be the prognosis. The increase in DI was correlated with the increase in PCNA-LI, and both of them were correlated with the pathological changes of the tumor. CONCLUSION: A composite analysis of the pathological characteristics of tumor tissue, DI and PCNA-LI might be useful in predicting the prognosis of HCC patients.

[Role of hepatitis B virus infection in pathogenesis of IgA nephropathy].

OBJECTIVE: To clarify the relationship between hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and IgA nephropathy (IgAN). METHODS: HBV antigen (HBAg) in renal tissues of the patients with IgAN was detected by immunohistochemical technique, the carrier status and localization of HBV DNA in renal tissues were determined by Southern blot analysis and in situ hybridization. RESULTS: Serum HBsAg was detected in 18 of the 100 patients with IgAN (18%), HBAg was detected in 31 of 100 patients (31%) in their renal tissue and in 20 of 31 patients (65%) in their glomeruli, and both HBsAg and HBcAg were detected in 10 of 31 patients (32%), respectively. HBcAg was also found in tubular epithelia (45%, 14/31) and renal interstitium (6%, 2/31), respectively. Five of six cases were proved to be positive of integrated-form HBV DNA in their renal tissue by Southern blot analysis. In situ hybridization demonstrated that HBV DNA was 8/8 and 6/8 positive in their renal tubules and glomeruli of all eight specimens, localized in the nucleus of tubular epithelial cells, glomerular mesangial cells, as well as infiltrated interstitial lymphocytes. CONCLUSION: HBV infection closely related with IgAN and HBV infection might be involved in pathogenesis of IgAN.

[Effects of hypoxia and hyperoxia on the regulation of the expression and activity of matrix metalloproteinase-2 in hepatic stellate cell].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of hypoxia and hyperoxia on the expression and activity regulation of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) of the hepatic stellate cell (HSC). METHODS: The expression of MMP-2, tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2) and membrane type matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MT1-MMP) in cultured rat HSC under hypoxic or hyperoxic conditions were detected with immunocytochemistry (LSAB method), the contents of MMP-2, TIMP-2 in culture supernatant with ELISA and the activity of MMP-2 in supernatant with zymography. RESULTS: (1) In the situation of hypoxia for 12 h, the expression of MMP-2 increased (hypoxia group positive indexes: 5.7 +/- 2.0; control: 3.2 +/- 1.0; P < 0.01), while TIMP-2 decreased (hypoxia group positive indexes: 2.5 +/- 0.7; control: 3.6 +/- 1.0; P < 0.05) in HSC, and the activity of MMP-2 in supernatant declined obviously (hypoxia group: 7.334 +/- 1.922; control: 17.277 +/- 7.424; P < 0.01). At the different time courses of hypoxia, the change of expression and activity of MMP-2 was most notable at 6 h. (2) In the situation of hyperoxia for 12 h, the protein contents of MMP-2, TIMP-2 in supernatant were both higher than those of the control, especially the TIMP-2 (hyperoxia group A(450): 0.050 +/- 0.014; control: 0.022 +/- 0.010; P < 0.01), and so was the activity of MMP-2 (hyperoxia group total A: 5.252 +/- 0.771; control: 4.304 +/- 1.083; P < 0.05). The expression of MT1-MMP was also increased. CONCLUSIONS: The HSC is sensitive to the oxygen. Hypoxia accelerates the expression of MMP-2 and the effect is more marked at the early stage. Hyperoxia increases the activity of MMP-2.

Development of a live attenuated vaccine candidate against duck Tembusu viral disease.

Duck Tembusu virus (DTMUV) is a newly emerging pathogenic flavivirus that is causing massive economic loss in the Chinese duck industry. To obtain a live vaccine candidate against the disease, the DTMUV isolate FX2010 was passaged serially in chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEFs). Characterization of FX2010-180P revealed that it was unable to replicate efficiently in chicken embryonated eggs, nor intranasally infect mice or shelducks at high doses of 5.5log10 tissue culture infectious doses (TCID50). FX2010-180P did not induce clinical symptoms, or pathological lesions in ducks at a dose of 5.5log10TCID50. The attenuation of FX2010-180P was due to 19 amino acid changes and 15 synonymous mutations. Importantly, FX2010-180P elicited good immune responses in ducks inoculated at low doses (3.5log10TCID50) and provided complete protection against challenge with a virulent strain. These results indicate that FX2010-180P is a promising candidate live vaccine for prevention of duck Tembusu viral disease.

Effects of retinoic acid on proliferation, phenotype and expression of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors in TGF-beta1-stimulated rat hepatic stellate cells.

AIM:To study the molecular mechanisms of retinoic acid (RA)on prolix-feration and expression of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors (CKI), i.e.p16, p21 and p27 in cultured rat hepatic stellate cells (HSC) stimulated with transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-beta1).METHODS:HSC were isolated from healthy rat livers and cultured.After stimulated with 1mg/L TGF-beta1, subcultured HSC were treated with or without 1nmol/L RA. MTT assay, immunocytochemistry (ICC) for p16, p21, p27 and alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) protein, in situ hybridization (ISH) for retinoic acid receptor beta 2 (RAR-beta2) and p16, p21 and p27 mRNA and quantitative image analysis (partially) were performed.RESULTS:inhibited HSC proliferation (41.50%,P<0.05),decreased the protein level of alpha-SMA (55.09%, P<0.05), and induced HSC to express RAR-beta2 mRNA. In addition, RA increased the protein level of p16 (218.75%, P <0.05) and induced p21 protein expression; meanwhile, p27 was undetectable by ICC in both control and RA-treated HSC. However, RA had no influence on the mRNA levels of p16, p21 or p27 as determined by ISH.CONCLUSION:Up-regulation of p16 and p21 on post-transcriptional level may contribute, in part, to RA inhibition of TGF-beta 1-initiated rat HSC activation in vitro.

Dynamic changes of type I,III and IV collagen synthesis and distribution of collagen-producing cells in carbon tetrachloride-induced rat liver fibrosis.

AIM:To find out the relationship between the gene transcription of different types of procollagen and the deposition of the relevant collagens in the liver tissue and to confirm the types of collagen producing cells in liver fibrogenesis.METHODS:Dynamic changes of the expression of alpha1(I), alpha1(III) and alpha1(IV) procollagen mRNA and relevant collagens and the distribution of collagen producing cells during liver fibrogenesis of rat induced by CCl(4) (20 weeks) were investigated with Northern blot analysis, in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical techniques.RESULTS: The increased expression of alpha 1(III) procollagen mRNA by Northern blot analysis was the most predominant one among the three mRNAs during fibrogenesis. However, the enhanced expression of alpha1(IV) procollagen mRNA occurred very early while the expression of alpha1(I) mRNA was not enhanced much until the middle stage of the experiment. Desmin (Dm) positive hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and few myofibroblasts (MFs) in and around the necrotic areas expressed alpha1(I), alpha1(III) and alpha1(IV) procollagen mRNA signals detected by in situ hybridization at the early stage of the experiment. All the three procollagen mRNA signals thereafter mainly localized in fibroblasts (Fbs) and MFs in fibrotic septa during the middle and late stages of fibrosis, which distributed parallel to the corresponding collagens detected by immunohistochemical study. In addition, the endothelial cells of sinusoids and the small blood vessels within the septa also showed alpha1(IV) procollagen mRNA and type IV collagen expression.CONCLUSION:It is considered that "HSC-MF-Fb effect cell system is the major cellular source of collagen production in liver fibrosis, in which HSCs are collagen producing precursor cells in the early liver fibrogenesis, thereafter the synthesis of type I, III and IV collagens (Col I, Col III and Col IV) mainly derives from MFs and Fbs, which play a very important role in the progress of liver fibrosis. The endothelial cells along sinusoids, as another source of Col IV production, might participate in the capillization of liver sinusoids.

Study of heteroserum-induced rat liver fibrosis model and its mechanism.

AIM:To investigate the morphological changes in the process of heteroserum induced rat liver fibrosis and the mechanism of fibrogenesis of this model.METHODS:A model of heteroserum-induced rat liver fibrosis was established by intraperitoneal injection of porcine serum. In addition to the observation of the morphological changes of this model, the infiltration of eosinophils and mast cells were measured quantitatively and the deposition of IgG and complement C(3) was detected by immunofluorescence.RESULTS:The rat liver fibrosis was induced successfully at the end of the 8th week after the injection of heteroserum.Besides the increase of hepatic stellate cells (HSC) during the process of liver fibrosis,proliferation and activation of primary mesenchyma cells (PMCs) were also found.In the early stage, the infiltration of eosinophils and mast cells was significantly increased and the deposition of IgG and complement C(3) was positive in the portal tracts and septa, while gradually reduced after the injection was stopped.CONCLUSION:This model is suitable for the research on liver fibrogenesis; the pathogenesis of this model may be related with the allergen-induced late phase reaction (LPR) caused by the injection of heteroserum, and the HSCs and the PMCs are important sources of ECM-producing cells.

Changes of integrin expression in rat hepatocarcinogenesis induced by 3'-Me-DAB.

AIM:To investigate the expression of integrins in rats liver during 3'-Me -DAB induced hepatocarcinogenesis and to find out the relationship between integrins and liver cancer metastasis.METHODS:The expressions of integrins alpha(1), alpha(2), alpha(3) and alpha(5) and epidermal keratin (EK) were observed by immunohisto chemical PAP method.RESULTS:In the normal liver tissues, hepatocytes express integrins alpha(1) and alpha(5) and in the bile duct epithlium, EK. In liver cirrhosis, hepatocytes highly express integrins alpha(1), alpha(2), alpha(3) and alpha5and in hyperplastic bile duct epithelium, integrins alpha(1), alpha(5) and EK. Expression of integrins alpha(1), alpha(2), alpha(3) and alpha(5) were obviously decreased in the preneoplastic nodules and primary carcinoma but expressions of integrins alpha(1) and alpha(5) in metastasis in the lung and diaphragma were higher than those in primary carcinoma.CONCLUSION:Integrins alpha(1) and alpha(5) may play a major role in chemically induced hepatocarcinogenesis and metastasis in rats.