[Accuracy of EUS and ME-NBI for Evaluating the Invasion Depth of Early Esophageal Cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the accuracy of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) and magnifying endoscopy with narrow-band imaging (ME-NBI) in evaluating the invasion depth of early esophageal carcinoma. METHODS: Patients who underwent endoscopic resection for early esophageal cancer from March 2013 to October 2017 were enrolled. The EUS and ME-NBI results were compared with the pathology results. RESULTS: A total of 392 lesions from 333 patients were assessed, including 83 mild and moderate dysplasia, 72 severe dysplasia, 235 squamous cell carcinoma, and 2 adenosquamous carcinoma. About 308 lesions were given EUS only, 7 had ME-NBI only, 77 underwent both EUS and ME-NBI. EUS resulted in a 43.9% accuracy for the 385 lesions, with poor consistency (Kappa=0.1) with the pathology results. But higher accuracy (68.2%) was found for lesions infiltrating into the submucosa of the lesions, compared with 40.5% for lesions contained within the mucosa (P=0.001). ME-NBI resulted in a 72.6% accuracy for the 84 lesions, with a medium consistency (Kappa=0.4). The accuracy for lesions contained within the mucosa was 91.0%, compared with 16.7% for lesions infilrtrating into the submucosa (P=0.001). EUS and ME-NBI for the 77 lesions demonstrated an accuracy of 42.9% for the EUS and 84.3% for the ME-NBI (P=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: ME-NBI has higher accuracy than EUS in evaluating the invasion depth of early esophageal carcinoma.

Development and validation of a model to determine risk of refractory benign esophageal strictures.

BACKGROUND: Current research has identified several risk factors for refractory benign esophageal strictures (RBES), but research is scarce on the prediction of RBES in benign esophageal strictures patients. Meanwhile, the long-term outcomes of RBES remain unclear. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a model to determine the progression of RBES in patients with benign esophageal strictures. And we also explored the long-term outcomes and safety in patients with RBES. AIM: To develop and validate a model to determine the progression of RBES in patients with benign esophageal strictures, based on the demographic data and endoscopic findings. METHODS: A total of 507 benign esophageal stricture patients treated by dilation alone or in combination with stenting were retrospectively enrolled between January 2009 and February 2018. The primary outcome was to establish a risk-scoring model predicting RBES in benign esophageal strictures. The secondary outcome was to explore the clinical effectiveness and adverse events in patients with RBES. RESULTS: In the study, age, etiology, and number and length of strictures were the independent risk factors for the refractory performance of benign esophageal strictures. According to risk factors of benign esophageal strictures, a risk-scoring model for predicting RBES in benign esophageal strictures was established: The risk score ranged from 0 to 8 points, and the risk scores were divided into low risk (0-2 points), intermediate risk (3-5 points), and high risk (6-8 points). The proportions of RBES in the corresponding risk categories were 1.0%, 12.2%, and 76.0%, respectively. Among 507 patients, 57 had RBES (39 males; median age, 60 years). The success rate of dilation treatment (51.2%, 21/41) was higher than that of stent placement (37.5%, 6/16). CONCLUSION: In this study, 11.3% (57/507) patients had RBES at our hospital. The risk-scoring model predicting RBES in benign esophageal strictures could predict the long-term outcome of patients with strictures ahead.

Vaccine-induced antigen-specific regulatory T cells attenuate the antiviral immunity against acute influenza virus infection.

Peptide-based T cell vaccines targeting the conserved epitopes of influenza virus can provide cross-protection against distantly related strains, but they are generally not immunogenic. Foreign antigen-specific regulatory T (Treg) cells are induced under subimmunogenic conditions peripherally, although their development and role in vaccine-mediated antiviral immunity is unclear. Here, we demonstrated primary vaccination with peptides alone significantly induced antigen-specific Foxp3+ Treg cells, which were further expanded by repeated vaccination with unadjuvanted peptides. Certain adjuvants, including CpG, suppressed the induction and expansion of antigen-specific Treg cells by peptide vaccination. Interestingly, secondary influenza virus infection significantly increased the frequency of preexisting antigen-specific Treg cells, although primary infection barely induced them. Importantly, specific depletion of vaccine-induced antigen-specific Treg cells promoted influenza viral clearance, indicating their inhibitory role in vivo. Immunization with CpG-adjuvanted peptides by the subcutaneous prime-intranasal-boost strategy restricted the recruitment and accumulation of antigen-specific Treg cells in lung, and stimulated robust T cell immunity. Finally, subcutaneous prime-intranasal-boost immunization with CpG-adjuvanted peptides or whole-inactivated influenza vaccines protected mice from heterosubtypic influenza virus infection. In conclusion, antigen-specific Treg cells induced by peptide vaccines attenuate the antiviral immunity against influenza virus infection. CpG-adjuvanted peptide vaccines provide heterosubtypic influenza protection probably by inhibiting Treg development and enhancing T cell immunity.

Histone acetylation affects expression of cellular patterning genes in the Arabidopsis root epidermis.

The Arabidopsis root has a unique cellular pattern in its single-layered epidermis. Cells residing over the intercellular spaces between underlying cortical cells (H position) differentiate into hair cells, whereas those directly over cortical cells (N position) differentiate into non-hair cells. Recent studies have revealed that this cellular pattern is determined by interactions of six patterning genes CPC, ETC, GL2, GL3/EGL3, TTG, and WER, and that the position-dependent expression of the CPC, GL2, and WER genes is essential for their appropriate interactions. However, little is known about how the expressions of the pattern genes are determined. Here we show that trichostatin A (TSA) treatment of germinating Arabidopsis seedlings alters the cellular pattern of the root epidermis to induce hair cell development at nonhair positions. The effects of TSA treatment are rapid, reversible, concentration-dependent, and position-independent. TSA inhibition of histone deacetylase activity results in hyperacetylation of the core histones H3 and H4, and alters the expression levels and cell specific expression of the patterning genes CPC, GL2 and WER. Analysis of histone deacetylase mutant cellular patterning further verified the participation of histone acetylation in cellular patterning, and revealed that HDA18 is a key component in the regulatory machinery of the Arabidopsis root epidermis. We propose a working model to suggest that histone acetylation may function in mediating a positional cue to direct expression of the patterning genes in the root epidermal cells.

[A Experimental Study on Improvement of the Seeding Efficiencies of Infused Donor Hematopoietic Cells in Syngeniec Bone Marrow Transplantation by Aortic Infusion]

In order to explore the improvement of seeding efficiencies of infused donor hematopoietic cells to bone marrow in bone marrow transplantation, two recipient groups of syngeneic rat model which received transplanted cells labeled with PKH-26, a red fluorescent membrane dye, by aortic or intravenous administration (2 x 10(7) nucleate cells per recipient rat) respectively, were assayed; at selected times following BMT, partial recipient rat were euthanized and then measured the numbers of PKH-26 labeled cells in recipient rat marrow samples by means of flow cytometry. The results showed that the homing indices of donor hematopoietic cells in aortic group and intravenous group were (14.52 +/- 1.07)% and (10.49 +/- 0.72)% at 30 hours after BMT, respectively (P < 0.05). The results indicated that the number of donor hematopoietic cells localized to recipient bone marrow infused by aortic route is more than that infused by intravenous route.

[Donor Hematopoietic Cell Tracking In Vivo at the Homing Phase of Allo-Bone Marrow Transplantation in Mice]

It has been well-known that intravenously infused hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells can home to the bone marrow and reconstitute hematopoiesis. However, little is understood about the homing efficiency or percentage of infused stem and progenitor cells. In order to examine distribution pattern of infused hematopoietic cells in the organs and tissues, a direct assay system to trace transplanted cells in vivo by employing PKH-26, a red fluorescent membrane dye, to label hematopoietic cells in inbred strain of mice transplanted cells (stem cell antigen-1 positive subpopulation cell, Sca-1(+) cells) was introduced. The numbers of labeled cells was measured by means of flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy. The early fate of infused Sca-1(+) donor bone marrow cells after intravenous administration in a allogeneic mouse model was examined. The presence of infused donor cells with the fluorescent dye PKH-26 was evaluated within 60 hours in hematopoietic organ (bone marrow and spleen) and non-hematopoietic organ (lungs and liver) of recipients. The data showed that (1) Following intravenous infusion, Sca-1(+) donor bone marrow cells were detained in lungs shortly. (2) Sca-1(+) donor bone marrow cells localized to both hematopoietic organ (bone marrow and spleen) and non-hematopoietic organ (lungs and liver) for periods of up to 60 hours following infusion, however, the number of donor hematopoietic cells localized to bone marrow was more than that localized to non-hematopoietic organ (P < 0.05). These results indicated that there were also donor early hematopoietic cells in non-hematopoietic organ of recipients at the homing phase in allo-BMT mice.

[Study on non-programmed process using dimethyl sulfoxide and hydroxyethyl starch as cryoprotectants in cryopreservation of cord blood hematopoietic cells].

This study was aimed to search for effective cryoprotectants and freezing methods used in cord blood bank (CBB) for cryopreservation of cord blood hematopoietic stem cells. The non-programmed group using 8% final concentration of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and 5% final concentration hydroxyethyl starch (HES) (molecular weight 120,000) as protectants and group of conventional of programmed controller method using 10% DMSO only as cryoprotectant in cryopreservation of cord blood hematopoietic stem cells were compared. In each of the two groups, 15 cord blood units were used. In non-programmed group, cord blood units put in -80 degrees C refrigerator for 24 hours as a transitional step before deep-freezing in liquid nitrogen, when both of DMSO and HES had been added. The recoveries of the nuclear cells number, the yield of granulocyto-macrophage colony forming units (CFU-GM) and the cells viability in cord blood units before preservation and after thawing were tested for both methods. The results showed that no significant difference was found in above assays between two groups. The clinical application results also showed that hematopoietic engraftment rates after infusion were similar in both groups. It is concluded that the non-programmed method by -80 degrees C refrigerator as a transitional step and using the combined two protectants seems simple in operation and effective in clinical transplantation as well as the conventional programmed method.