Early Detection and Identification of Parasitoid Wasps Trichogramma Westwood (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) in Their Host Eggs Using Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism.

Parasitoid wasps are invaluable agents in pest biological control. Early detection and identification of parasitoid immatures are vital in characterizing parasitoid-host interactions and for evaluating parasitism rates accurately in the field. Trichogramma is the most widely used parasitoid wasp, and several studies have been performed for its molecular identification. However, those studies were mainly focused on Trichogramma adults and rarely on immatures. Here, we report a method to detect and identify Trichogramma larvae in their host eggs. We designed a pair of Trichogramma-specific primers that amplified Trichogramma mtCOI sequences from Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton) eggs parasitized by any of eight Trichogramma species tested but not from nonparasitized eggs of four lepidopteran hosts. This PCR method reliably detected Trichogramma immatures in parasitized eggs as early as 1 h after parasitism. We further developed an RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism) assay using restriction enzymes SspI and VspI to differentiate eight Trichogramma species at their immature stage. Overall, we developed a sensitive and reliable PCR-RFLP method to detect and identify immature-stage Trichogramma in their lepidopteran hosts. This method shows promise for conveniently identifying Trichogramma in insectaries and accurately evaluating parasitism rates in the field.

Efficacy of Acupuncture and Moxibustion as a Subsequent Treatment after Second-Line Chemotherapy in Advanced Gastric Cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To explore whether acupuncture and moxibustion can prevent disease progression of advanced gastric cancer patients completing second-line chemotherapy and, if so, the related mechanism. METHOD: Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were main outcome measures. The real-time quantitative PCR was used to detect the expression of genes including T-bet, IFN-γ, GATA3, and IL-4 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). IL-4, IL-6, Ca199, CRP, and IFN-γ in plasma levels were checked. RESULTS: 170 patients were randomly assigned in a 3 : 2 ratio to receive either acupuncture and moxibustion or sham acupuncture until progression. 135 patients were included in the primary analysis. Both PFS and OS in treatment group were proven to be better than control group. Acupuncture and moxibustion promoted typical Th1 cells drifting, as confirmed by increased T-bet/IFN-γ and decreased GATA3/IL-4 in mRNA levels from PBMCs, as well as upregulating IFN-γ and downregulating IL-4 in plasma levels. IL-6, Ca199, and CRP in plasma levels were also reduced by acupuncture and moxibustion. CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture and moxibustion can prolong PFS and OS of advanced gastric cancer patients completing second-line chemotherapy by reversing Th1/Th2 shift and attenuating inflammatory responses.

Treatment with olaparib monotherapy for BRCA2-mutated refractory intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: a case report.

Olaparib is an oral poly ADP-ribose polymerase inhibitor with activity in germline BRCA1 and BRCA2 (BRCA1/2)-associated breast and ovarian cancers. There is no report about treatment with olaparib in BRCA1/2-mutated intrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas. This study is to observe the efficacy and safety of olaparib monotherapy in the refractory BRCA1/2-mutant intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) patient. The clinical record of a patient with BRCA2-mutated refractory advanced ICC treated with olaparib was analyzed. The patient was administered with olaparib (400 mg orally twice daily) and followed up for 11 months. The clinical tumor response was evaluated after 4 weeks of olaparib treatment, and then every 8 weeks (two treatment cycles). The patient achieved partial response confirmed by the computed tomography and the tumor marker CA19.9, CA50, and CA125 levels decreased significantly as an outcome of the treatment. The quality of life improved significantly. Major adverse events were fatigue, thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, and anemia, which were manageable with medication. The patient is still receiving treatment. Olaparib in the treatment of BRCA2-mutation-associated refractory advanced ICC patent is effective, and the adverse effects are tolerated. Large-scale studies should be conducted to further the adoption of genomic profiling, which may help clinicians identify suitable biomarkers for therapy of ICCs. A possible line of therapy is often extrapolated from case reports or small case series.

Inter- and Intra-Specific Differentiation of Trichogramma (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) Species Using PCR-RFLP Targeting COI.

The identification of Trichogramma (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) species is problematic due to their small size and lack of distinct morphological characters. In this study, we combined morphological characters of the male genitalia and molecular methods using the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene as a molecular marker to identify eight species from 16 geographic populations: T. evanescens Westwood, T. cacoeciae Marchal, T. ostriniae Pang et Chen, T. chilonis Ishii, T. japonicum Ashmead, T. brassicae Bezdenko, T. bilingensis He et Pang, and T. dendrolimi Matsumura. We developed a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method targeting the mitochondrial COI to distinguish the eight Trichogramma species using three restriction enzymes. We further analyzed 109 COI fragments from 18 Trichogramma species and found that the PCR-RFLP method could distinguish both intra- and inter-specific genetic variation among most of the species using four additional restriction enzymes.

Extensive gene rearrangements in the mitochondrial genomes of two egg parasitoids, Trichogramma japonicum and Trichogramma ostriniae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Trichogrammatidae).

Animal mitochondrial genomes usually exhibit conserved gene arrangement across major lineages, while those in the Hymenoptera are known to possess frequent rearrangements, as are those of several other orders of insects. Here, we sequenced two complete mitochondrial genomes of Trichogramma japonicum and Trichogramma ostriniae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Trichogrammatidae). In total, 37 mitochondrial genes were identified in both species. The same gene arrangement pattern was found in the two species, with extensive gene rearrangement compared with the ancestral insect mitochondrial genome. Most tRNA genes and all protein-coding genes were encoded on the minority strand. In total, 15 tRNA genes and seven protein-coding genes were rearranged. The rearrangements of cox1 and nad2 as well as most tRNA genes were novel. Phylogenetic analysis based on nucleotide sequences of protein-coding genes and on gene arrangement patterns produced identical topologies that support the relationship of (Agaonidae + Pteromalidae) + Trichogrammatidae in Chalcidoidea. CREx analysis revealed eight rearrangement operations occurred from presumed ancestral gene order of Chalcidoidea to form the derived gene order of Trichogramma. Our study shows that gene rearrangement information in Chalcidoidea can potentially contribute to the phylogeny of Chalcidoidea when more mitochondrial genome sequences are available.

[Contemporary study of strengthening body resistance and archaeus herbs on malignant tumor].

[Strengthening body resistance and archaeus herbs are those medicines used on asthenia syndrome of tumor, which can harmonize yin and yang, replenish deficiency of qi and blood, and improve entrails function, enhance physical capacity, and improve immunity function. They are intimate manifestation of strengthening body resistance and archaeus method on clinic. Study shows that strengthening body resistance and archaeus herbs have many effects, such as improving and adjusting immunity function, protecting bone marrow, improving haematogenesis function, raising digest and absorb function, improving substance metabolism, preventing gene mutation, inhibiting tumor cell proliferation, inducing tumor cell differentiation or apoptosis, resisting tumor invasion and metastasis, inhibiting formation of tumor vessel and activity of telomerase, etc. It's possibly the result of synergistic effect by multi-pathway and multi-target. Because strengthening body resistance and archaeus herbs are of variety and different herbs have different specificity, further research is needed to reveal the precise mechanism of them.

[Study on effect of arsenic trioxide on adhesion and invasion of human hepatocarcinoma cells in vitro].

OBJECTIVE: To explore that the arsenic trioxide injection (ATI) has the effect in antagonizing adhesion and invasion of human hepatocarcinoma cells (HCC), and its relevant mechanism. METHODS: Human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line SMMC-7721 and the high metastatic nude mice human HCC in situ transplantation model was taken as the objects of study, the effects of ATI on the SMMC-7721 cell movement and migration, its adhesion with fibronectin (FN) and endothelial cell (EC), as well as the CD44 and MMP-2 gene protein expression in transplanted tumor of the model mice were observed by means of cell movement and migration test, cell adhesion test and immunohistochemical method. RESULTS: ATI could significantly inhibit SMMC-7721 cell movement and migration on FN, adhesion with FN and EC, also could lower CD44 and MMP-2 in cancer cells. CONCLUSION: ATI has the effects of antagonizing hepatocarcinoma cell adhesion and invasion, the mechanism may be related with the action of ATI in lowering CD44 and MMP-2 expression in cancer cells.