Tahyna virus and human infection, China.

In 2006, Tahyna virus was isolated from Culex spp. mosquitoes collected in Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. In 2007, to determine whether this virus was infecting humans, we tested serum from febrile patients. We found immunoglobulin (Ig) M and IgG against the virus, which suggests human infection in this region.

Down-regulation of MFG-E8 by RNA interference combined with doxorubicin triggers melanoma destruction.

The pathogenic mechanism of malignant melanoma involves the dynamic interplay of transformed cell and normal host cell, but cancer treatments always target each partition separately. In the tumor microenvironment, milk fat globule epidermal growth factor-8 (MFG-E8) is a secreted glycoprotein highly expressed in the vertical growth phase of melanoma, leading to tumor progression through coordinated αvß3 and αvß5 integrin signaling in tumor cells and host cells. Doxorubicin (Dox) is one of the most widely used antitumor drugs against a lot of solid tumors, including melanoma. In this work, Dox was used to combine with down-regulation of MFG-E8 by RNA interference (RNAi) in order to determine the synergistic effect of the antitumor activity in vivo. And the possible mechanisms were investigated. Results showed that combination group (MFG-E8 RNAi plus Dox) could inhibit the growth of melanoma more effectively than monotherapy or control groups. We found that the combination treatment induced more tumor cell apoptosis and inhibited more neovascularization than other groups. Moreover, this combination treatment attenuated CD4(+) CD25(+) Foxp3(+) Treg cells in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes compared with other groups. Our findings suggested that MFG-E8 down-regulation enhanced the antitumor function of chemotherapy through coordinated cell apoptosis and immune-mediated mechanisms, which might be a feasible way for cancer therapy.

Synergic antitumor effect of SKLB1002 and local hyperthermia in 4T1 and CT26.

A de novo VEGFR2-inhibited compound SKLB1002 which is independently developed in our laboratory has been described for antiangiogenesis and displays a potent antitumor activity in vivo and in vitro. In the present investigation, we aim to prove that combination therapy of SKLB1002 with hyperthermia plays a synergy as an antitumor agent in solid tumor. In this study, we analyzed their synergetic inhibitory action on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), murine mammary cancer 4T1, murine colon carcinoma CT26 in vitro. Multiply-table tournament was performed to detect cell proliferation in vitro. 4T1 implantation and CT26 implantation in BALB/c mice were used to examine the activity of combination therapy of SKLB1002 with hyperthermia in vivo. Vascular density was determined by CD31 immunohistochemistry. TUNEL was used to measure apoptosis in tumor tissue. Metastasis assay was investigated via measurement of pulmonary metastasis nodules under the microscope. Potential toxicity of combination therapy was observed by histologic analysis of main organs stained with H&E. In vitro, the combination therapy significantly inhibited cell proliferation of HUVEC, 4T1 and CT26. In vivo, 4T1 and CT26 model experiments showed that combination therapy remarkably inhibited tumor growth and prolonged life span. When compared with controls, combination therapy reached 61 % inhibition index of tumor growth against CT26 and 51 % against 4T1. Moreover, it reduced angiogenesis and increased tumor apoptosis and necrosis. It was further found that combination therapy could efficiently prevent tumor from metastasizing to lung. Importantly, it had no toxicity to main organs including heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney. Combination treatment has been proved to be a novel and strong strategy in clinical antitumor therapy. Our findings suggest that the combination therapy of SKLB1002 with hyperthermia has a synergistic antiangiogenesis, anticancer and promotion of apoptosis efficacy compared with controls. These findings could pave a new way in clinical tumor therapy.

Network-based identification of novel connections among apoptotic signaling pathways in cancer.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), highly conserved, non-coding endogenous RNA and nearly ~22 nucleotides (nt) in length, are well-known to regulate several apoptotic pathways in cancer. In this study, we computationally constructed the initial human apoptotic PPI network by several online databases, and further integrated these high-throughput datasets into a Naïve Bayesian model to predict protein functional connections. Based on the modified apoptotic network, we identified several apoptotic hub proteins such as TP53, SRC, M3K3/5/8, cyclin-dependent kinase2/6, TNFR16/19, and TGF-ß receptor 1/2. Subsequently, we identified some microRNAs that could target the aforementioned apoptotic hub proteins by using TargetScan, PicTar, and Diana-MicroH. In conclusion, these results demonstrate the PPI network-based identification of new connections amongst apoptotic pathways in cancer, which may shed new light on the intricate relationships between core apoptotic pathways and some targeted miRNAs in human cancers.

[Investigation of Tahyna virus infection among unknown fever cases in Xinjiang, China].

To investigate the infection status and the spatial distribution of Tahyna virus infection among unknown fever cases in Xinjiang, China. Sera samples of unknown fever cases from Kashi in southern Xin-jiang and Yili in northern Xinjiang were tested against Tahyna virus by IFA. Partial positive cases were tested against Tahyna virus/Snowshoe hare virus/Inkoo virus parrelled. Finally, 742 sera samples of unknown fever cases were collected from Kashi, Southern Xinjiang in 2007-2008, the positive rate of IgM antibody against Tahyna virus was 5.3%, the positive rate of IgG antibody against Tahyna virus was 18.3%. 222 sera samples of unknown fever cases were collected from Yili, Northern Xinjiang in 2008, no positive case of IgM antibody against Tahyna was found. 10 cases showed antibody neutralization against Tahyna virus by plaque reduction neutralization test. Our results demonstrate that there is current infection and past infection of Tahyna virus among Southern Xinjiang residents.

Circulation of diverse genotypes of Tahyna virus in Xinjiang, People's Republic of China.

Tahyna virus (TAHV) is widely distributed in Europe and Asia. A previous study reported a high level of conservation of the TAHV genome in isolates from Europe. During 2006 and 2007, three Tahyna virus isolates from mosquitoes were obtained from various locations in Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. We analyzed the complete coding sequence of full-length small, medium, and large segments of these isolates. Molecular and phylogenetic analyses of the three complete TAHV genomes showed that sequence identity between isolates from China and Europe was more divergent, and an unexpected level of medium segment diversity was found among isolates from China compared with high levels of sequence conservation for the small and large segments. This study indicated that effects of genotypic diversity on the ecology, transmission, and pathogenicity of TAHV in China should be studied.

[Sequencing and analysis of the full coding sequence of Batai virus isolated in China].

By RT-PCR and TAIL-PCR, the full coding region of Batai virus isolated in China (YN92-4 strain)was sequenced for the first time. According to the results, the genome of the virus contained three segments S, M and L of 947, 4,371 and 6,860 nucleotides, respectively. The S segment coded a nucleoprotein of 234 amino acids and a nonstructural protein of 102 amino acids, the M and L segments coded a precursor protein of 1 ,435 amino acids and RNA polymerase of 2,239 amino acids, respectively. Compared with the full coding sequence of Batai viruses isolated out of China, the S and M segments of YN92-4 and ON-7/B/01 showed the highest homology in nucleotide and amino acid sequenes with similarity of 97.7% (100%) and 95.7% (98%), respectively. Since there was no full coding sequence information on the L segment in GenBank for the reference, the L segment of YN92-4 was compared with that of Bunyamwera virus and the homology of nucleotide and amino acid was 73.5%and 81.6%, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis showed YN92-4 strain was clustered into one group with the prototype of Batai virus (MM2222). The results suggested that the YN92-4 strain had no occurrance of genetic reassortment (like Ngari virus) and was close to the Batai virus (ON-7/B/01 strain) isolated from cattle serum in Japan.