Genetic diversity of HLA-DRB1 alleles in the Tujia population of Wufeng, Hubei Province, China.

We established a genetic database by investigating human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DRB1 allelic frequencies in a disease-association study in the Tujia population in Wufang, Hubei, China. The allele frequencies of the HLA-DRB1 locus in 262 healthy, unrelated Tujia individuals living in the Wufeng region of the Hubei Province were analyzed using the Luminex HLA sequence-specific oligonucleotide method with a WAKFlow HLA typing kit. A total of 13 alleles were detected at the HLA-DRB1 locus. HLA-DRB1*09 was the most common allele (22.52%), followed by DRB1*08 and DRB1*15 (11.07%), and DRB1*12 and DRB1*04 (10.69%). These data were compared with the results obtained for 10 other ethnic groups living in other regions as well as to Han groups using neighbor-joining dendrograms and principal component analysis. The results showed that the Tujia population has a close genetic relationship with the Middle Han population at the HLA-DRB1 locus. This information will be useful for HLA-DRB1-linked disease-association studies.

Treatment with peginterferon plus ribavirin vs. interferon plus ribavirin for 48 weeks in Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis C.

INTRODUCTION: Virological responses to interferon (IFN) treatment for chronic hepatitis C (CHC) have been found to be correlated with racial differences. Furthermore, higher sustained virological response (SVR) rates were obtained in many randomised clinical trials (RCT) in Caucasian patients with CHC after treating with peg-IFN than those with IFN. However, it is not clear whether this conclusion can be adapted to patients of Chinese descent. METHODS: A search of MEDLINE and China National Knowledge Infrastructure between 1966 and 2008 was performed. Trials comparing the use of peg-IFN plus ribavirin vs. IFN plus ribavirin in treating Chinese patients with CHC were assessed. RESULTS: Of the 94 studies screened, seven RCTs including 398 patients (peg-IFN therapy 232, IFN therapy 166) were analysed. The SVRs obtained in patients treated with peg-IFN plus ribavirin were significantly higher than in patients treated with IFN plus ribavirin [70% vs. 35%, relative risk, 1.76; 95% confidence interval: 1.21-2.56; p (0.01)]. Withdrawal rates were similar between patients treated with peg-IFN plus ribavirin and IFN plus ribavirin. CONCLUSION: Chinese patients with CHC also have a greater likelihood of achieving an SVR with peg-IFN plus ribavirin.

Association between expression of reproductive seasonality and alleles of melatonin receptor 1A in goats.

To determine whether a link exists between reproductive seasonality and the structure of the melatonin receptor 1A (MTNR1A) gene, the latter was studied in year-round estrous breeds (Jining Grey and Boer goats) and seasonal estrous breeds (Liaoning Cashmere, Inner Mongolia Cashmere, Wendeng milk and Beijing native goats). A large fragment of exon 2 of MTNR1A gene was amplified by PCR using sheep sense and antisense primers in 260 does of six breeds. The uniform 824 bp PCR product was digested with restriction endonucleases MnII and RsaI, and checked for the presence of restriction sites. No polymorphism at the MnII cleavage sites was detected in all six goat breeds and no relationship could be established between the MnII cleavage sites of MTNR1A gene and reproductive seasonality in goats. For polymorphic RsaI cleavage site at base position 53, only genotype RR (267 bp/267 bp) was detected in Jining Grey goats, both genotype RR and genotype Rr (267 bp/320 bp) were found in all other goat breeds, no genotype rr (320 bp/320 bp) was detected in all six goat breeds. Frequency of genotype RR was obviously higher, and frequency of genotype Rr was obviously lower in year-round estrous goat breeds than in seasonal estrous goat breeds. Sequencing revealed one mutation (G52A) in genotype Rr compared with genotype RR. For polymorphic RsaI cleavage site, the differences of genotype distributions were significant (P<0.05) between year-round estrous goat breeds and seasonal estrous goat breeds. These results preliminarily showed an association between genotype RR and year-round estrus in goats, and an association between genotype Rr and seasonal estrus in goats.

Study on catalytic fluorimetric determination of trace manganese.

A new kinetic fluorimetric method has been proposed for the determination of trace manganese. The method is based on the catalytic oxidation of rhodamine 6G with potassium periodate in the presence of nitrilo triacetic acid as activator, in near neutral media. The detection limit for manganese is 0.018 ng/ml. The linear range of the determination is 0.04-1.00 ng/ml. The proposed method suffers from few interferences in the presence of more than 30 foreign ions. The method has been used to determine trace manganese in hair, urine, fish and water samples. The results are satisfactory.

The polymorphism of HLA antigens in the Chinese.

Remarkable differences were observed in antigen frequencies (AF), gene frequencies (GF) and haplotype frequencies (HF) when 2441 healthy Chinese individuals representing nine different ethnic groups and living in 14 different geographic locations were examined for the genetic distribution of the various HLA Class I and II markers. A sizable number of individuals of each ethnic group within each of the three major categories of the Chinese population, namely, Hans, Mongols, and Southern minorities, have been studied here, providing useful population statistics for applications such as determination of probabilities of paternity, comparisons for HLA and disease associations, and anthropologic studies.