Detection of aberrant DNA methylation patterns in sperm of male recurrent spontaneous abortion patients.

Aberrant DNA methylation patterns in sperm are a cause of embryonic failure and infertility, and could be a critical factor contributing to male recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA). The purpose of this study was to reveal the potential effects of sperm DNA methylation levels in patients with male RSA. We compared sperm samples collected from fertile men and oligoasthenospermia patients. Differentially methylated sequences were identified by reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) methods. The DNA methylation levels of the two groups were compared and qRT-PCR was used to validate the expression of genes showing differential methylation. The results indicated that no difference in base distribution was observed between the normal group and the patient group. However, the chromosome methylation in these two groups was markedly different. One site was located on chromosome 8 and measured 150 bp, while the other sites were on chromosomes 9, 10, and X and measured 135 bp, 68 bp, and 136 bp, respectively. In particular, two genes were found to be hypermethylated in these patients, one gene was DYDC2 (placed in the differential methylation region of chromosome 10), and the other gene was NXF3 (located on chromosome X). Expression levels of DYDC2 and NXF3 in the RSA group were significantly lower than those in the normal group (P < 0.05). Collectively, these results demonstrated that changes in DNA methylation might be related to male RSA. Our findings provide important information regarding the potential role of sperm DNA methylation in human development.

[Association of abnormal length of Y chromosome with semen quality and outcome of assisted reproductive technology in humans].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association of the abnormal length of human Y chromosome with semen quality and the outcome of assisted reproductive technology (ART). METHODS: Based on the karyotype, we assigned the patients undergoing ART to a normal control, a long Y chromosome (Y>18), and a short Y chromosome group (Y<22). We compared the semen parameters and numbers of embryos and high-quality embryos among the three groups of patients and performed statistical analysis of the obtained data using Chi-square distribution and t-test. RESULTS: Compared with the control, the Y>18 group showed a significantly lower incidence rate of asthenozoospermia (31.03% vs 8.33%, P <0.05) and a larger number of high-quality embryos (5.46 ± 4.54 vs 7.40 ± 5.49, P<0.05). Both the incidence rate of azoospermia and number of total embryos were remarkably lower in the control than in the Y<22 group (1.87% vs 16.47%, P <0.05; 8.60 ± 7.03 vs 10.00 ± 6.58, P<0.05). No statistically significant differences were found in the pregnancy rate between the Y>18 and Y<22 groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Short Y chromosome may affect spermatogenesis, but the length of Y chromosome does not negatively influence the outcome of ART.

[Clinical Features of Infection within 100 days after Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in 313 patients with Hematologic Diseases].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical characteristics of infection within 100 days after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in patients with hematologic disease. METHODS: The culture results of 313 HSCT patients infected in the hematology department of our hospital from January 2013 to January 2019 were collected, and the infection incidence, pathogen distribution, drug susceptibility test results and infection risk factors out of them all were analyzed. RESULTS: Among 313 HSCT patients, infection occurred within 100 days in 262(83.7%) patients, 234 (89.3%) cases were in neutropenic period at infection onset. 156 pathogen distributions showed that the bloodstream infection (64.1%) ranked first. Among isolates, Gram-negative bacteria was 86 (55.1%), which were higher than Gram-positive bacteria (49, 31.4%), and fungi was 21(13.5%). The prevalence of ESBLs in E.coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae were 36.4% and 31.6%, respectively. The drug resistance rates of E.coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae to carbapenems were 18.20% and 5.3%, respectively, and to amikacin were 29.5% and 10.5%, respectively. The antimicrobial resistance of fermentation bacteria was significantly different. The drug resistence rates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii to carbapenems were high. Only one strain of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was found. The drug resistence rates of enterococcus faecalis to linezolid was 14.30%. The sensitivity of other Gram-positive bacteria to vancomycin, teicolanin and linezolid was 100%. The HSCT in our hospital was mainly allogeneic, and univariate analysis showed that the risk factors for infection were status before trasplantion, HLA matching type,length of stay for the first transplant, and length of neutropenia, while Mulvariate analysis showed that only HLA matching type showed statistical significance. CONCLUSION: The infection of patients after HSCT occurrs in period of neutropenia, Most of pathogens are G- bacteria, and the resistance to antibiotics is quite common, HLA mismatch is allo-HSCT independent risk factors for infection. It is very imprtant to monitor actively the distribution of pathogenic bacteria, drug-resistance and risk factors of infection for guiding more reasonable and standardized clinical treatment.

[Expression and Clinical Significance of EZH2 in Patients with Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Accompanied by HBV Infection].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the expression and clinical significance of EZH2 in DLBCL patients accompanied by HBV infection. METHODS: The clinicopathological data of 59 patients with DLBCL accompanied by HBV infection in our hospital from February 2015 to October 2017 were analyzed retrospectively. The patients were divided into HBV negative and HBV positive groups by serological testing before surgery. The expression of EZH2 was detected by immumohistochemical staining, and the clinicopathological characteristics and survival were analyzed and compared between these two groups. RESULTS: There were 30 patients (50.8%) in the HBV negative group and 29 patients (49.2%)in the HBV positive group. The differences of age, LDH level and IPI score between two groups were statistically significant (P＜0.05). The expression of EZH2 in HBV- positive group was significantly higher than that in the HBV- negative group (P＜0.05), where the expression of EZH2 correlated with the expression of the BCL-6 (r=0.282, P＜0.05), especially in the GCB-DLBCL (r=0.549, P＜0.05). PFS was not significantly different between two groups of HBV (P＞0.05), while the PFS in the R-CHOP regimen group was higher than that in the CHOP regimen group (P＜0.05). COX multivariate analysis showed that both the chemotherapy regimen without R and the increased level of LDH were the risk factors affecting the prognosis of DLBCL patients (P＜0.05). CONCLUSION: EZH2 highly expresses in HBV positive group, suggesting that the significance of EZH2 in DLBCL with HBV infection is worth further explore.