Tumor-to-stroma cd8+ t cells ratio combined with cancer-associated fibroblasts: an innovative approach to predicting lymph node metastases of cervical cancer.

PURPOSE: Precise identification of lymph node metastases is vital for the management of cervical cancer. However, the existing diagnostic methods for lymph node metastases have certain drawbacks. In this study, we aim to explore the expression of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and tumor-to-stroma CD8+ T cells ratio (CD8+ T cells T:S ratio) and its association with lymph node metastases of cervical cancer. METHODS: Hundred and ten cervical cancer tissues and 39 biopsy tissues from patients were investigated immunocytochemically for the expression of CAFs and CD8+ T cells. The statistical correlation analysis was carried out using the SPSS system. RESULTS: A strong and statistically significant negative correlation (r= - 0.690; P < 0.001) was observed between CAF density and CD8+ T cells T:S ratio. Not only were CAFs density and CD8+ T cells T:S ratio correlated with lymph node metastases respectively (P < 0.001), but the combination of them also significantly correlated with lymph node metastases (P < 0.001). Then, we constructed the combined diagnosis model (Logit (P) = - 4.446 + 0.300 × CAFs + 0.752 × CD8+ T cells T:S Ratio) of cervical cancer lymph node metastases. ROC curves analysis showed that the ROC curves areas for CAFs, CD8+ T cells T:S ratio, and a combination of both are 0.879, 0.747, and 0.951. Then, the prediction model was verified by biopsy specimens and consistent results were obtained. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of CAF density and CD8+ T cells T:S ratio has a significant predictive value for lymph node metastases in patients with cervical cancer.

Purification and characterization of a glycoprotein from Sipunculus nudus and its immune-enhancing activity to RAW 264.7 macrophages.

Sipunculus nudus, an edible marine invertebrate, has long been used as traditional Chinese medicine in folk remedies. In order to assess the immunoregulatory activity of glycoproteins in Sipunculus nudus and conduct a structure-activity relationship, a glycoprotein (SGP1) with molecular mass of 9.26 kDa was purified from Sipunculus nudus, and its chemical structure as well as immune-enhancing activity was investigated in this study. Structure analysis revealed that SGP1, a protein-dominate glycoprotein with O-glycosidic bonds, contained 92.8 % protein and 3.1 % saccharide. GC-MS result indicated that the saccharide moieties of SGP1 basically consisted of lyxose (Lyx), xylose (Xyl) as well as glucose (Glu) at a molar proportion of 0.87:4.16:1.36. The fourier transform infrared specoscopy (FT-IR) result proved that SGP1 have a typical characteristic of glycoprotein. Besides, circular dichroism (CD) result showed that SGP1 contained 4.1 % α-helix, 42.5 % ß-sheet, 21.4 % ß-turn, and 32.0 % random coil, indicating it's mainly a ß-sheet glycoprotein. The amino acid sequence of SGP1 shared a similarity to the Myohemerythrin (sp|Q5K473|HEMTM) with protein sequence coverage of 28.3 %. Moreover, the activity evaluation results showed that SGP1 exhibited significant immune-enhancing activity to the RAW 264.7 macrophages by promoting macrophages proliferation, enhancing phagocytic capacity, and simultaneously stimulating the secretions of nitric oxide (NO), interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) via NF-κB pathways. In this study, SGP1 as a novel glycoprotein had an obvious immune-enhancing activity to macrophages, and thus could be applied in the functional foods as a potential immunopotentiator for the hypoimmune population.

Oat Milk Tea Model System: Exploring the Stability of Milk Tea and the Bioaccessibility of Green Tea Polyphenols.

Oat milk has become preferential because of its low calorie nature and high dietary fiber content, but its ability to "curdle" when mixed with tea can affect the consumer acceptability for oat milk tea. In this study, a model system for oat milk tea was made by combining oat milk and green tea extract to evaluate the impacts of the oat milk matrix and green tea extract concentration on the stability and polyphenol bioaccessibility. The stability analysis results showed that adding green tea extract to oat milk influenced the stability of the oat milk tea model systems. In contrast, the 3.0% fat oat milk tea model system exhibited a higher stability than the 1.5% fat oat milk tea model system. In simulated gastrointestinal digestive experiments, tea polyphenols in the oat milk tea model systems were relatively stable in oral and stomach digestive stages, while they clearly degraded in the small intestine digestive stage. Furthermore, the bioaccessibility of tea polyphenols was higher for the 3.0% fat oat milk tea model system than for the 1.5% fat oat milk tea model system, especially at low concentrations of green tea extracts (0.05%~0.25%). These results may provide a theoretical reference and data for the formulation of oat milk tea and the bioaccessibility of tea polyphenols in food matrices.

The anti-inflammatory activity of GABA-enriched Moringa oleifera leaves produced by fermentation with Lactobacillus plantarum LK-1.

Introduction: Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), one of the main active components in Moringa oleifera leaves, can be widely used to treat multiple diseases including inflammation. Methods: In this study, the anti-inflammatory activity and the underlying anti-inflammatory mechanism of the GABA-enriched Moringa oleifera leaves fermentation broth (MLFB) were investigated on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW 264.7 cells model. The key active components changes like total flavonoids, total polyphenols and organic acid in the fermentation broth after fermentation was also analyzed. Results: ELISA, RT-qPCR and Western blot results indicated that MLFB could dose-dependently inhibit the secretions and intracellular expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines like 1ß (IL-1ß), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Furthermore, MLFB also suppressed the expressions of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). Moreover, the mRNA expressions of the key molecules like Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) and nuclear factor (NF)-κB in the NF-κB signaling pathway were also restrained by MLFB in a dose-dependent manner. Besides, the key active components analysis result showed that the GABA, total polyphenols, and most organic acids like pyruvic acid, lactic acid as well as acetic acid were increased obviously after fermentation. The total flavonoids content in MLFB was still remained to be 32 mg/L though a downtrend was presented after fermentation. Discussion: Our results indicated that the MLFB could effectively alleviate LPS-induced inflammatory response by inhibiting the secretions of pro-inflammatory cytokines and its underlying mechanism might be associated with the inhibition of TLR-4/NF-κB inflammatory signaling pathway activation. The anti-inflammatory activity of MLFB might related to the relative high contents of GABA as well as other active constituents such as flavonoids, phenolics and organic acids in MLFB. Our study provides the theoretical basis for applying GABA-enriched Moringa oleifera leaves as a functional food ingredient in the precaution and treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases.

Albumin concentration is a candidate indicator for predicting the risk of calf venous thromboembolism in patients undergoing gynecologic surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the ability of albumin concentration to predict calf venous thromboembolism (cVTE) in gynecologic diseases. METHODS: We analyzed data from 761 patients from the gynecology department. We screened the serum albumin concentration as an important indicator for predicting cVTE through logistic analysis. The data were divided into albumin below 35 and 35 g/L or more. Receiver operating characteristics analysis was used to compare the predictive ability of albumin, D-dimer, and a combination of these parameters as indicators for cVTE risk in different groups and subgroups. RESULTS: In gynecologic diseases, the albumin concentrations were lower in the surgery and malignancy group than in the chemotherapy and benign disease group. Albumin concentration had a predictive ability for cVTE risk. In ovarian cancer patients with albumin concentrations less than 35 g/L, albumin was better than D-dimer at predicting cVTE (area under the curve [AUC] 0.79, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.70-0.87, P < 0.001 versus AUC 0.65, 95% CI 0.54-0.77, P = 0.016). CONCLUSION: The albumin concentration was a candidate indicator for predicting cVTE in surgical patients in the gynecology department, especially in ovarian cancer patients with albumin concentrations less than 35 g/L. A combination of the albumin and D-dimer parameters may improve the predictive ability for cVTE.

Multilayer Structure Ammoniated Collagen Fibers for Fast Adsorption of Anionic Dyes.

Dye wastewater has become one of the difficult industrial wastewaters due to its significant characteristics such as high chroma and poor biodegradability. Here, we use collagen fibers (CFs) as the matrix, glutaraldehyde as the cross-linking agent, and polyethyleneimine (PEI) as the ammoniating modifier to prepare cationic-modified collagen fibers (CF-PEI). The CF-PEI still maintained the original fibrous structure with a larger adsorption area. The content of primary amino groups on CF-PEI was significantly increased, which not only improved the hydrophilic swelling performance of CFs but also improved the adsorption capacity. The adsorption capacity of CF-PEI for soap yellow and acid red could reach 538.2 and 369.7 mg g-1, respectively. The adsorption rate was fast, and the adsorption equilibrium could be reached in about 60 min. Desorption regeneration studies have shown that 0.1 mol L-1 HCl could achieve a better desorption effect, and the CF-PEI had a good recycling performance. The ammoniated modified CF-PEI was an excellent adsorption treatment material for anionic dye wastewater. It is expected to become an effective way for high-value resource utilization of waste dander in the leather industry.

Structural characterization of polysaccharides with potential antioxidant and immunomodulatory activities from Chinese water chestnut peels.

Chinese water chestnut peels are a kind of vegetable processing waste containing many active components such as polysaccharides, the structure of which remains unknown. To elucidate the structure of polysaccharides from Chinese water chestnut peels, two polysaccharides named WVP-1 and WVP-2 were isolated. WVP-1 (3.16 kDa) consisted of mannose (1.75 %), glucose (84.69 %), galactose (6.32 %), and arabinose (7.24 %), while WVP-2 (56.97 kDa) was composed of mannose (3.18 %), rhamnose (1.52 %), glucuronic acid (1.42 %), galacturonic acid (4.83 %), glucose (11.51 %), galactose (36.02 %), and arabinose (41.53 %). Linkage and NMR data indicated that WVP-1 was composed mainly of →4)-α-d-Glcp(1→ and a certain proportion of →3)-ß-d-Glcp-(1→, including linear and branched polysaccharides simultaneously. WVP-2 was a pectin-like polysaccharide with →4)-α-d-GalpA6Me-(1→ units and the branch points of →3,4)-α-l-Arap-(1→, →3,6)-ß-d-Galp-(1→. WVP-2 exhibited stronger potential antioxidant and immunomodulatory activities than WVP-1 in vitro. These results provide a foundation for the further study of polysaccharides from Chinese water chestnut peels.