Comprehensive Analysis of Ferroptosis- and Immune-Related Signatures to Improve the Prognosis and Diagnosis of Kidney Renal Clear Cell Carcinoma.

Background: Almost 40% of patients with kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) with advanced cancers eventually develop to metastases, and their 5-year survival rates are approximately 10%. Aberrant DNA methylations are significantly associated with the development of KIRC. The aim of our present study was to identify suitable ferroptosis- and immune-related (FI) biomarkers correlated with aberrant methylations to improve the prognosis and diagnosis of KIRC. Methods: ChAMP and DESeq2 in R (3.6.2) were used to screen the differentially expressed methylation probes and differentially expressed genes, respectively. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression were used to identify the overall survival (OS)-related biomarkers. Results: We finally identified five FI biomarkers (CCR4, CMTM3, IFITM1, MX2, and NR3C2) that were independently correlated with the OS of KIRC. The area under the curve value of the receiver operating characteristic value of prognosis model was 0.74, 0.68, and 0.72 in the training, validation, and entire cohorts, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the diagnosis model were 0.8698 and 0.9722, respectively. In addition, the prognosis model was also significantly correlated with several immune cells and factors. Conclusion: Our present study suggested that these five FI-DEGs (CCR4, CMTM3, IFITM1, MX2, and NR3C2) could be used as prognosis and diagnosis biomarkers for patients with KIRC, but further cross-validation clinical studies are still needed to confirm them.

Clinical characteristics of 16 patients with fecal severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 nucleic acid-positive. / 16ä¾‹ç²ªä¾¿ä¸¥é‡æ€¥æ€§å‘¼å¸ç»¼åˆå¾å† çŠ¶ç— æ¯’2æ ¸é ¸é˜³æ€§æ‚£è€ çš„ä¸´åºŠç‰¹å¾.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the clinical characteristics of fecal severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) nucleic acid-positive in patients with coronavirus dasease 2019 (COVID-19) and to provide a scientific basis for the prevention and control of this disease. METHODS: The clinical data of 16 patients with fecal SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid positive, who hospitalized in the North Branch of the First Hospital of Changsha (Changsha Public Health Rescue Center) from January to February 2020, were retrospectively analyzed. Their clinical manifestations, laboratory data and imaging data were summarized. RESULTS: Among the 16 patients, there were 9 males (56.25%) and 7 females (43.75%), the ratio of males to females was 1∶1.29. The age of onset was (43.3±14.6) years. There were 15 patients with contact history of Wuhan, 1 patient with contact history of local patient.Twelve patients were common type (75%), and 4 patients were severe type (25%). Clinical symptoms included fever in 14 patients (87.5%), cough in 12 patients (75%), shortness of breath in 5 patients (31.25%), pharyngalgia in 10 patients (62.5%), fatigue in 7 patients (43.75%), and diarrhea in 4 patients (25%). There were 14 patients (87.5%) with normal or decreased white blood cell count, 11 patients (68.75%) with decreased lymphocyte count, 15 patients (93.75%) with increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate, 13 patients (81.25%) with increased hypersensitivity C-reactive protein, 5 patients (31.25%) with increased procalcitonin, and 8 patients (50%) with increased serum ferritin in peripheral blood, and stool routine was basically normal. Compared with the common type, there was significant difference in the white blood cell and lymphocyte counts in the severe type (P<0.01); the infection indicators, such as hypersensitivity C-reactive protein and serum ferritin, were significantly increased, with significant difference (all P<0.01); but the procalcitonin and erythrocyte sedimentation rate was not significantly different (both P>0.05). Chest CT mainly showed patchy shadows and interstitial changes. According to imaging examination, 4 patients (25%) showed unilateral pneumonia and 12 patients (75%) showed bilateral pneumonia. CONCLUSIONS: The patients have the clinical symptoms of COVID-19, but gastrointestinal symptoms (such as diarrhea) are more common, and the changes of white blood cell count, lymphocyte count, hypersensitivity C-reactive protein, ferritin are more obvious in severe patients.The positivity of fecal nucleic acid suggests the possibility of digestive tract transmission of SARS-CoV-2, and fecal nucleic acid testing can be used as a routine testing method in clinical practice.

Expression profiles of genes in wild-type DJ-1 and A39S DJ-1 mutant cells.

OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the role of A39S mutation of DJ-1 in the onset of Parkinson's disease (PD) and identify genes for which expressions are abnormally regulated by A39S DJ-1 mutation. METHODS: We established HEK293 cell lines which stably expressed empty vector, wild-type DJ-1 and A39S mutated DJ-1 respectively. DNA microarrays were used to identify genes for which expressions change in wild-type DJ-1 cells and A39S DJ-1 mutant cells. RESULTS: Compared with the cell line expression empty vector, we identified 42 differentially regulated genes (including 14 up-regulated genes and 28 down-regulated genes) in the wildtype DJ-1 cells and 8 differentially regulated genes (including 6 up-regulated genes and 2 downregulated genes) in the A39S DJ-1 mutant cells. Compared with the wild-type DJ-1 cells, only the expression of UGT2B7 gene was down-regulated in A39S DJ-1 mutant cells. These differentially regulated genes were mainly related to signal transduction, regulation of transcription, apoptosis and metabolism. CONCLUSION: A39S mutated DJ-1 may disturb the transcriptional activities of DJ-l and involve in the pathogenesis of PD.

[Mutation analysis of ATP13A2 gene in Chinese patients with familial autosomal recessive early-onset parkinsonism].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the mutation characteristics of ATP13A2 gene in Chinese patients with familial autosomal recessive early-onset parkinsonism (AREP). METHODS: Mutations of ATP13A2 gene were screened by polymerase chain reaction combined with DNA direct sequencing in patients with familial AREP. RESULTS: No pathogenic mutations in ATP13A2 gene were detected in this group. Six reported polymorphisms were identified. They were IVS6+70A>G, IVS12+66A>G, m.1849C>T, IVS20-56 G>A, m2671C>T and m2824G>A. CONCLUSION: ATP13A2 gene mutations may be rare in Chinese patients with familial autosomal recessive early-onset parkinsonism.

Six cases of SCA3/MJD patients that mimic hereditary spastic paraplegia in clinic.

BACKGROUND: Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3/Machado-Joseph disease (SCA3/MJD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease characterized by cerebellar ataxia associated with varying phenotypic variability. It was reported that a few of SCA3/MJD patients showed marked spastic paraplegia with or without cerebellar ataxia, which was partially first diagnosed as hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) and considered to be a new subtype (subtype V). But the data in China is still absent. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the mutation frequency and clinical features of subtype V of SCA3/MJD in Chinese patients with HSP. METHODS: Mutation detection of MJD1 gene was carried out in 46 AD-HSP families and 58 sporadic cases. RESULTS: Expanded CAG repeats that ranged from 64 to 81 of MJD1 gene were found in six probands from 46 AD-HSP families (13%, 6/46). No abnormal repeat expansion was found in sporadic cases (0/58). The initial symptoms of six SCA3 cases were all spasticity in the lower limbs, and nystagmus, dysphagia and dysarthria that occurred with disease progression seemed more frequent than HSP. CONCLUSION: Subtype V of SCA3/MJD is not rare in China, but it is hard to distinguish between HSP and SCA3/MJD only by clinical manifestation and MRI, and MJD1 gene should be detected routinely in the patients diagnosed as HSP in clinic.