Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody predicts the development of rheumatoid arthritis in patients with undifferentiated arthritis / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

BACKGROUND@#Clinical outcomes of undifferentiated arthritis (UA) are diverse, and only 40% of patients with UA develop rheumatoid arthritis (RA) after 3 years. Discovering predictive markers at disease onset for further intervention is critical. Therefore, our objective was to analyze the clinical outcomes of UA and ascertain the predictors for RA development.@*METHODS@#We performed a prospective, multi-center study from January 2013 to October 2016 among Chinese patients diagnosed with UA in 22 tertiary-care hospitals. Clinical and serological parameters were obtained at recruitment. Follow-up was undertaken in all patients every 12 weeks for 2 years. Predictive factors of disease progression were identified using multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression.@*RESULTS@#A total of 234 patients were recruited in this study, and 17 (7.3%) patients failed to follow up during the study. Among the 217 patients who completed the study, 83 (38.2%) patients went into remission. UA patients who developed RA had a higher rheumatoid factor (RF)-positivity (42.9% vs. 16.8%, χ = 8.228, P = 0.008), anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) antibody-positivity (66.7% vs. 10.7%, χ = 43.897, P < 0.001), and double-positivity rate of RF and anti-CCP antibody (38.1% vs. 4.1%, χ = 32.131, P < 0.001) than those who did not. Anti-CCP antibody but not RF was an independent predictor for RA development (hazard ratio 18.017, 95% confidence interval: 5.803-55.938; P < 0.001).@*CONCLUSION@#As an independent predictor of RA, anti-CCP antibody should be tested at disease onset in all patients with UA.

Logistic regression analysis of damp-heat and cold-damp impeding syndrome of rheumatoid arthritis: a perspective in Chinese medicine / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate a method for quantitative differential diagnosis of damp-heat and cold-damp impeding syndrome of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Chinese medicine (CM).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Laboratory parameters were collected from 306 patients with RA. The clinical symptoms and laboratory parameters were compared between patients with these two syndromes (158 with RA of damp-heat impeding syndrome, and 148 with RA of cold-damp impeding syndrome), and a regression equation was established to facilitate discrimination of the two RA syndromes.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were significant differences in disease activity score in 28 joints [DAS28 (4)], erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), white blood cell count (WBC), C-reactive protein (CRP), platelet count (PLT), albumin (ALB) and globulin (GLB) between the two syndrome of RA (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that the parameters ESR, WBC, CRP, joint pyrexia, joint cold, thirst, sweating, aversion to wind and cold, and cold extremities were statistically useful to discriminate damp-heat from cold-damp impeding syndrome. The regression equation was as follows: P=1/{1+exp[-(3.0-0.021X (1)-0.196X (2)-0.163X (3)-1.559X (4)+1.504X (5)-0.927X (6)-1.039X (7)+1.070X (8)+1.330X (9))]}. The independent variables X (1)-X (9) were ESR, WBC, CRP, hot joint, cold joint, thirst, sweating, aversion to wind and cold, and cold limbs. A P value > 0.5 signified cold-damp impeding syndrome, and a P value < 0.5 signified damp-heat impeding syndrome. The accuracy was 90.2%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The regression equation may be useful for discriminating damp-heat from cold-damp impeding syndrome of RA.</p>

Proteome analysis of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup strains C associated with outbreaks in China / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>During 2003-2005, an outbreak of meningitis due to Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C occurred in China. With the aim to find strain clues result in the final epidemics, the ancestral strain 053442, a clinical isolate, and a carrier strain 053426 with different gene type were analyzed.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Clinical strain 053442 and carrier strain 053426 were cultured on GC agar plates under the same condition. Two-dimensional electrophoresis was performed using the pH 3-10 nonlinear IPG strips of 24 cm length, and all the protein spots were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight spectrometry.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>502 and 380 protein spots were identified in 053426 and 053442 respectively, relating to 266 and 202 different genes covering a wide range of cellular functions. The express volume and number of proteins involved in energy metabolism, protein synthesis and amino acid biosynthesis in 053426 were higher than in 053442. Virulence factor Opa, Opc and a series of proteins involved in pilus assembly and retraction were identified in 053442, which appear to be of primary importance in colonization and invasion of human cells. Compared to 053442, virulence protein species were less in 053426, with lower express volumes too. No Opa and Opc were detected in 053426.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The different protein expression profiles of the clinical strain 053442 and carrier strain 053426 in the present study provide some clues of the different pathogenicity of the two strains, which may account for result in the final epidemics.</p>

Sequence analysis on sorbitol fermentation related genes in Vibrio cholerae / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To Investigate the differences of sorbitol fermentation related genes and optimize molecular analysis method for distinguishing an epidemic with nonepidemic strains of Vibrio cholerae.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sequence analysis on four genes of sugar fermentation stimulation protein, periplasmic maltose-binding protein, periplasmic phosphate-binding protein and periplasmic amino acid-binding protein.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In this study, the following data was noticed: for O1 serogroup El Tor biotype V. cholerae, twenty-four epidemic and eight nonepidemic strains were chosen; For O139 serogroup V. cholerae, five epidemic and four nonepidemic strains were chosen. With those genes of sugar fermentation stimulation protein, there were three point mutations. The 106th, 150th, 378th oligonucleotide in epidemic strains were A, A and T, comparing to the nonepidemic strains which were G, G and C. When comparing the protein sequences, epidemic strains had a Threonine at 36th amino acid, whereas nonepidemic strains had an Alanine. The results in O139 serogroup were consistent with those in O1 serogroup El Tor biotype strains. Another two point mutations were found in the genes of periplasmic maltose-binding protein. The 999th, 1003rd oligonucleotides in epidemic strains were A and C, while in nonepidemic which were G and T. For the gene of periplasmic amino acid-binding protein, two point mutations were noticed. The 504th and 690th oligonucleotides in epidemic strains were T and C, but were C and T in nonepidemic. However, no amino acid differences were found in periplasmic maltose-binding protein and periplasmic amino acid-binding protein. For periplasmic amino acid-binding protein gene, there was no difference on oligonucleotide between epidemic and nonepidemic strains.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Results suggested that SNPs in these genes might serve as a useful tool to distinguish the epidemic strains from nonepidemic strains. The 36th amino acid mutation of sugar fermentation stimulation protein in epidemic and nonepidemic strains might change the activity of the protein which might be associated with sorbitol fermentation.</p>

Preliminary analysis on the proteomic feature of Guillain-Barré syndrome-associated Campylobacter jejuni / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To search the marker proteins of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS)-associated Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) by comparing the protein maps of GBS-associated C. jejuni strains with that of non-GBS-associated C. jejuni strains.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The whole-cell proteins of eight GBS-associated and eight non-GBS-associated C. jejuni strains were separated using the two-dimensional gel electrophoresis respectively. The differentially expressed proteins between the two sets of strains were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) after in-gel tryptic digestion.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Twenty differentially expressed spots were found with seventeen identified ones using MSCOT database. These proteins were identified as wlaX protein and some other proteins involving in energy metabolism (malate dehydrogenase, triosephosphate isomerase, Ni/Fe-hydrogenase small chain, cysteine synthase, branched-chain amino acid aminotransferase), cell process (heat shock protein, iron-uptake ABC transport system periplasmic iron-binding protein, alkyl hydroperoxide reductase), cell envelope (flagellin, UDP-N-acetylenolpyruvoylglucosamine reductase) etc.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>WlaX proteins were probably associated with LPS biosynthesis or virulence of C. jejuni. WlaX protein and flagellin protein were the possible marker-proteins of GBS-associated C. jejuni strains.</p>

Primary analysis on protein maps of Helicobacter pylori strains associated with gastric carcinoma / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To identify specific proteins of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) that associated with gastric carcinoma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The whole-cell proteins of H. pylori were separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE). The protein maps of four H. pylori strains associated with gastric carcinoma and nine strains that isolated from patients with non-gastric carcinoma were then compared by ImageMaster 2D v3.1. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry was performed to identify the proteins of interest. The proteins were searched by software mascot and identified by peptide fingerprint map.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Three proteins seemed to be associated with gastric carcinoma including acylneuraminate cytidylyltransferase with Mowse score 79 with the sequence coverage of 32%. The other two had no unambiguous protein to match.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Acylneuraminate cytidylyltransferase seemed to be a specific H. pylori protein associated with the presence of gastric carcinoma. Other two were novel proteins that might be associated with gastric carcinoma. However, the mechanism needs to be explored.</p>