The accumulation, histopathology, and intestinal microorganism effects of waterborne cadmium on Carassius auratus gibelio.

Cadmium (Cd) is known to be a potentially toxic heavy metals to the fish health and growth. Carassius auratus gibelio (C. a. gibelio) specimens were exposed to waterborne Cd (0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, and 0.20 mg/L CdCl2) for 14 days. Cd accumulation, liver and intestine histopathology, and intestinal microorganism were investigated in the present study. The results indicated that Cd accumulation in the gill, liver, intestine, and muscle gradually decreased as Cd concentration increased. The gill accumulated higher amounts of Cd than other tissues. The histopathology of liver and intestine underwent changes with different Cd concentrations, including hepatocyte hypertrophy, aggregation of blood cells, sinusoids, lipidosis, necrosis of hepatic tissues, the erosion of villi, necrosis in the mucosal layer, the appearance of vacuoles in the lamina propria, hyperplasia, and swelling of goblet cells. Moreover, the core gut microbiota existed in the intestinal microorganism and did not change as Cd concentration increased. However, the diversity of intestinal microorganism was significantly reduced compared with that of the control sample. The present results indicated that C. a. gibelio exposed to Cd suffered toxicity, and Cd could affect the biodiversity of the intestinal microbiota of C. a. gibelio.

Infusion of HLA-mismatched peripheral blood stem cells improves the outcome of chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia in elderly patients.

Treatment outcome of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in elderly patients remains unsatisfactory. It has been shown that the infusion of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor-mobilized donor peripheral blood stem cells (G-PBSCs) can enhance graft-versus-leukemia effects and speed hematopoietic recovery. Fifty-eight AML patients aged 60-88 years were randomly assigned to receive induction chemotherapy with cytarabine and mitoxantrone (control group; n = 28) or it plus human leukocyte antigen-mismatched G-PBSCs (G-PBSC group; n = 30). Patients who achieved complete remission received another 2 cycles of postremission therapy with intermediate-dose cytarabine or it plus G-PBSCs. The complete remission rate was significantly higher in the G-PBSC group than in the control group (80.0% vs 42.8%; P = .006). The median recovery times of neutrophils and platelets were 11 days and 14.5 days, respectively, in the G-PBSC group and 16 days and 20 days, respectively, in the control group after chemotherapy. The 2-year probability of disease-free survival was significantly higher in the G-PBSC group than in the control group (38.9% vs 10.0%; P = .01). No graft-versus-host disease was observed in any patient. Persistent donor microchimerism was successfully detected in all of the 4 female patients. These results indicate that G-PBSCs in combination with conventional chemotherapy may provide a promising treatment method for AML in elderly patients.

Co-60 gamma irradiation induced ovalbumin-glucose glycation and allergenicity reduction revealed by high-resolution mass spectrometry and ELISA assay.

Ovalbumin (OVA)-glucose mixture was treated with Co-60 irradiation at 0-25 kGy, and effects of irradiation on the glycation and allergenicity of OVA were investigated. Irradiation induced glycation between OVA and glucose, reflected in the significant increase of glycation sites from 3 to 14. Interestingly, OVA irradiated at 25 kGy had three new glycated peptides (568.782+, 739.382+ and 509.752+). The degree of substitution per peptide molecule (DSP) of glycated peptides exhibited different trends with increasing irradiation dose. Particularly, glycated peptides 17-26, 55-60, 263-267 and 368-375 showed markedly decreased DSP values after irradiation at 20 and 25 kGy, which could be caused by the generation of Maillard reaction products (MRPs). MS/MS spectra suggested that neutral loss occurred in glycated arginine, whose structure was similar to MRPs. The IgG- and IgE-binding abilities of OVA significantly decreased with increasing irradiation dose, indicating that the protein allergenicity was reduced.

Investigation of the Mechanism of 60Co Gamma-Ray Irradiation-Stimulated Oxidation Enhancing the Antigenicity of Ovalbumin by High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry.

60Co gamma-ray irradiation-induced antigenicity changes in ovalbumin (OVA) were investigated, and the molecular mechanism was analyzed. Irradiation treatment at 0-100 kGy could significantly enhance the IgG/IgE binding ability of OVA in a dose-dependent paradigm by concomitant oxidative modification, which exhibited color browning and an increase in carbonyl content caused by high-penetrable rays. More allergenic epitopes of OVA were exposed after irradiation treatment reflected by structural changes including the unfolding of tertiary structure, the conversion of α-helix structures to ß-sheet and random coil structures, and the cleavage of several peptide bonds. Meanwhile, three oxidation sites of K46, T49, and N260 located in key linear epitopes were observed, which might increase the allergenic ability of OVA via the disaggregation of noncovalent bonds and the unwinding of α-helix structures. Conclusively, irradiation may enhance the potential allergenicity of OVA by oxidative modification, which provides theoretical guidance for effectively controlling the oxidation of proteins in the irradiation process.

Insight into the mechanism of d-allose in reducing the allergenicity and digestibility of ultrasound-pretreated α-lactalbumin by high-resolution mass spectrometry.

The mechanism of d-allose in reducing the allergenicity and digestibility of ultrasound-pretreated α-lactalbumin (α-LA) was studied. The intensity reduction and peak red shift occurred in fluorescence spectra of glycated samples. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and basophil degranulation analysis showed that d-allose significantly reduced the allergenicity of α-LA, and ultrasound-pretreated α-LA showed the lowest allergenicity after glycation. Compared with α-LA, the degree of hydrolysis decreased in glycated samples. Size-exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography showed that the glycated α-LA was resistant to digestive enzymes. The glycated sites and average degree of substitution per peptide molecule were determined using LC Orbitrap MS/MS. These results suggested that the masking of linear allergenic epitopes by glycation could reduce the allergenicity. Therefore, the combination of ultrasound pretreatment and glycation is a potential method to reduce protein allergenicity in food processing and provides a useful approach for the application of rare sugars in food processing.

Isolation and allergenicity evaluation of glycated α-lactalbumin digestive products and identification of allergenic peptides.

This study aimed to isolate and evaluate the allergenicity of glycated α-lactalbumin (ALA) digestive products and identify its allergenic peptides. The digestive products of native-, alone glycated- and ultrasound-assisted glycated ALA (ALA-D, ALA-gal-D, 100ALA-gal-D) were isolated into three fractions (F1, F2 and F3). High-resolution mass spectrometry showed that the digestion-resistant peptides of F2 and F3 mainly distributed in amino acid sequence (AA) 25-31, AA32-53, AA40-53, AA54-60, AA80-90, AA94-104. The allergenicity of the three fractions of glycated ALA was lower than that in ALA-D, indicating glycation of ALA could indeed reduce its allergenicity after digestion. Furthermore, most fractions isolated from high glycation-degree ALA had the lowest allergenicity. The IgG/IgE binding abilities of synthesized peptides indicated that AA94-104 firstly identified by us embodied the strongest allergenicity and might be the potential allergenic peptide. This will provide a theory for preparing hypoallergenic products based on the identified allergenic peptides.

Mechanism on the Allergenicity Changes of α-Lactalbumin Treated by Sonication-Assisted Glycation during In Vitro Gastroduodenal Digestion.

Physical-assisted chemical modification is effective to reduce the allergenicity of α-lactalbumin (ALA). However, there are few in-depth studies on the allergenicity changes of physical-assisted chemical-modified ALA during digestion. The effect of gastroduodenal digestion on the allergenicity changes of ALA treated by sonication-assisted glycation was assessed. Digestion of both ALA and its glycated forms generated peptide fractions, and intact undigested glycated ALA in the hydrolysates still covalently bound to d-galactose. High-resolution mass spectrometry revealed that a higher glycation degree was discovered in sonication-preprocessed ALA compared to native ALA. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and basophil degranulation showed that sonication-assisted glycation could significantly reduce ALA allergenicity. The allergenicity of both gastric and gastroduodenal hydrolysates was further increased, and the hydrolysates of sonication-assisted glycated ALA showed the lowest allergenicity. The reason could be the shielding effect of the linear epitope found to be caused by a higher glycation degree; although linear epitopes were exposed, d-galactose covalently bound to intact undigested glycated ALA in the hydrolysates retained its masking role. These results indicated that sonication-assisted glycation could be a promising method to prepare immunotherapeutic agents for allergen immunotherapy to achieve the purpose of allergy desensitization.

[Effect of dynamic high pressure microfluidization treatment on the microstructure of ovalbumin].

The effect of dynamic high pressure microfluidization on the microstructure of ovalbumin was studied by CD spectra, XRD spectra, ANS fluorescence probe emission spectra and UV absorption spectra. The results indicated that the changes in the microstructure were dependent on the pressure. CD spectra were used to examine the changes in the secondary structure of the ovalbumin treated by different pressures. When the pressure increased, the mutual transformation between alpha-helix, beta-sheet, beta-turn and the random coil was observed. The orderliness of the secondary structure was increased with increasing the pressure. XRD spectra analysis showed that the crystal structure content of the ovalbumin treated increased with increasing the pressure and the largest data was observed at 160 MPa, indicating that the orderliness of the secondary structure was increased. The results were similar to CD spectra analysis. The ANS fluorescence probe emission spectra analysis demonstrated that the dynamic high pressure microfluidization induced an increase in surface hydrophobicity following high pressure treatment, while the largest data was observed at 120 MPa. In addition, UV absorption spectra analysis indicated that dynamic high pressure microfluidization treatment also resulted in a decrease in the UV-absorption maximum wavelength with increasing the pressure, indicating that the aromatic amino acid was buried in the molecular interior and the three dimensional structure of ovalbumin was changed.

A modified haploidentical nonmyeloablative transplantation without T cell depletion for high-risk acute leukemia: successful engraftment and mild GVHD.

Severe graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and graft rejection still remain major complications of haploidentical nonmyeloablative (NMA) stem cell transplantation. Recent studies have shown that bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) possess immunomodulatory capacity and may promote hematopoietic engraftment. The purpose of this study was to observe if the new strategy, which included a haploidentical peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) combined with MSCs, modified NMA conditioning, and GVHD prophylaxis would improve donor engraftment and prevent severe GVHD. The modified conditioning approach consisted of fludarabine (Flu), low-dose total body irradiation (TBI), cyclophosphamide (Cy), cytarabine, and anti-Tcell-lymphocyte globulin, whereas the GVHD prophylaxis consisted of cyclosporin A (CsA), mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), anti-CD25 antibody and intrabone marrow injection of MSCs. Thirty-three patients with high-risk acute leukemia underwent transplantation with PBSC from HLA-haploidentical donors without T cell depletion. All of the patients achieved full donor chimerisms, including 6 who switched to full donor chimerisms from mixed chimerisms in 1 to 2 months after the transplantations. Rapid hematological engraftment was observed with neutrophils >0.5 x 10(9)/L at day 11 and platelets >20 x 10(9)/L at day 14. Fifteen patients (45.5%) developed grade I-IV acute GVHD (aGVHD) and only 2 (6.1%) developed grade III to IV aGVHD. Nine (31%) of 29 evaluable patients experienced chronic GVHD (cGVHD). Upon follow-up for 1.5 to 60 months, 20 (60.6%) patients were alive and well and 6 (18.2%) had relapsed leukemia in the 33 patients. The probability of 3-year survival was 57.2%. The results indicate that this new strategy is effective in improving donor engraftment and preventing severe GVHD, which will provide a feasible option for the therapy of high-risk acute leukemia.

LC-Orbitrap MS analysis of the glycation modification effects of ovalbumin during freeze-drying with three reducing sugar additives.

In general, the reducing sugars were extensively utilized as additives to prevent denaturation and inactivation during the freeze-drying process. However, different additives have unequal protective effects on the protein conformation. To evaluate the mechanism of protection the protein structure using different additives in the freeze-drying process, the glycated sites and degree of substitution per peptide (DSP) of each site were investigated by LC-Orbitrap MS. We found that the ovalbumin that was supplemented with ribose and then lyophilized (R-oval) have the highest extent of glycation modification. K227 was the most reactive glycated site in R-Oval, with a DSP of 0.83. The ovalbumin that was supplemented with lactose and then lyophilized (L-Oval) have the lowest degree of glycation, and K227 did not undergo the glycation reaction. It was hypothesized that the order impact of different additives on protection of the protein conformation were lactose > galactose > ribose during the freeze-drying process.

Investigation into allergenicity reduction and glycation sites of glycated ß-lactoglobulin with ultrasound pretreatment by high-resolution mass spectrometry.

Ultrasound treatment could change the conformation of ß-lactoglobulin (ß-Lg) and improve the glycation reaction in aqueous solution under neutral condition. However, the effect of ultrasound pretreatment on glycation of ß-Lg with pentose at dry-state remains ambiguous, and the relationship between glycation and allergenicity of ß-Lg with ultrasound pretreatment is unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of ultrasound pretreatment on glycation and allergenicity of ß-Lg. Markedly decreased allergenicity of ß-Lg was observed after glycation with ribose before and after ultrasound pretreatment with the minimum found at 400 W. Orbitrap LC-MS/MS showed that the glycation degree of some peptides in glycated ß-Lg with and without ultrasound pretreatment were different although the content of free amino group and molecular mass were insignificantly different. Therefore, ultrasound pretreatment promoted the reduction in allergenicity by improving the glycation extent of some glycation sites although it hardly enhanced the whole glycation degree of ß-Lg.

Ultrasonic Pretreatment Combined with Dry-State Glycation Reduced the Immunoglobulin E/Immunoglobulin G-Binding Ability of α-Lactalbumin Revealed by High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry.

Bovine α-lactalbumin (α-LA) is one of major food allergens in cow's milk. The present work sought to research the effects of ultrasonic pretreatment combined with dry heating-induced glycation between α-LA and galactose on the immunoglobulin E (IgE)/immunoglobulin G (IgG)-binding ability and glycation extent of α-LA, determined by inhibition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and high-resolution mass spectrometry, respectively. The IgE/IgG-binding ability of glycated α-LA was significantly decreased as a result of ultrasonic pretreatment, while the average molecular weight, incorporation ratio (IR) value, location and number of glycation sites, and degree of substitution per peptide (DSP) value were elevated. When the mixtures of α-LA and galactose were pretreated by ultrasonication at 150 W/cm2, glycated α-LA possesses seven glycation sites, the highest IR and DSP values, and the lowest IgE/IgG-binding ability. Therefore, the decrease in the IgE/IgG-binding ability of α-LA depends upon not only the shielding effect of the linear epitope found to be caused by the glycation of K13, K16, K58, K93, and K98 sites but also the intensified glycation extent, which reflected in the increase of the IR value, the number of glycation sites, and the DSP value. Moreover, allergenic proteins and monosaccharides pretreated by ultrasonication and then followed by dry-state glycation were revealed as a promising way of achieving lower allergenicity of proteins in food processing.

Monitoring of the functional properties and unfolding change of Ovalbumin after DHPM treatment by HDX and FTICR MS: Functionality and unfolding of Oval after DHPM by HDX and FTICR MS.

Dynamic high-pressure microfluidizaiton (DHPM) induced unfolding of proteins and enzymes could enhance the functional properties and hydrolytic ability of the molecules. In this study, the effect of DHPM on the surface activities of Ovalbumin (Oval), namely foaming and emulsifying properties, was investigated at 0, 40, 80, 120 and 160MPa. Improvement in the foaming and emulsifying properties was observed at 120 and 80MPa, respectively. Hydrogen/deuterium exchange (HDX) coupled with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy-mass spectrometry (FTICR MS) was performed to investigate the exact unfolded region of Oval and analyze the mechanism promoting the foaming and emulsifying properties after 120 and 80MPa, respectively, compared with those at 0MPa. Prevalent unfolding of Oval after 80 and 120MPa treatment was revealed by HDX-MS, indicating a more flexible conformation induced by DHPM. However, lower deuterium incorporation was observed for the large six-stranded ß-sheet. Therefore, the combined forces could enhance the flexibility and surface activities of Oval, which increased its foaming and emulsifying properties.

Improved Antioxidant Activity and Glycation of α-Lactalbumin after Ultrasonic Pretreatment Revealed by High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry.

High-resolution mass spectrometry was performed to investigate the relationship between bovine α-lactalbumin (α-LA) subjected to ultrasonication and glycation treatment with respect to antioxidant activity. After α-LA was pretreated by ultrasonication combined with glycation, the treated α-LA showed low intrinsic fluorescence emission and high antioxidant activity at increased ultrasonic power levels. Prior to ultrasonic pretreatment, three glycated sites were identified, whereas the number of glycation sites was increased to four, four, five, and six after ultrasonic power at 60, 90, 120, and 150 W/cm2, respectively, for 15 min. Thus, no obvious difference was found among the glycation sites at the ultrasonic power of 60 and 90 W/cm2. The average degree of substitution per peptide molecule of α-LA was used to evaluate the glycation level per glycation site. All the samples pretreated by ultrasonication exhibited a higher glycation level compared with the untreated samples. Ultrasonic power at 150 W/cm2 showed the most highly enhanced glycation extent and antioxidant activity. Therefore, the intensified glycation extent and the conformational changes of protein were responsible for the increase of antioxidant activity of α-LA. Moreover, high-resolution mass spectrometry is an efficient technique to understand the mechanism of the improved antioxidant activity.

Identification and quantification of the phosphorylated ovalbumin by high resolution mass spectrometry under dry-heating treatment.

The specific phosphorylation sites and degree of phosphorylation (DP) at each site are directly related to protein's structure and functional properties. Thus, characterizing the introduced phosphate groups is of great importance. This study was to monitor the phosphorylation sites, DP and the number of phosphorylation sites in P-Oval achieved by dry heating in the presence of pyrophosphate for 1, 2 and 5days by using Fourier transform ion cyclotron mass spectrometry (FTICR MS). Two phosphorylation sites were found in natural ovalbumin, but the number of phosphorylation sites increased to 8, 8 and 10 after dry-heating phosphorylation for 1, 2 and 5days, respectively. In addition, dual-phosphorylated peptides were detected for samples without extensive heating. The phosphorylation sites were found to be mainly on Ser residues, which could be the preferred phosphorylation site for dry heating in the presence of pyrophosphate.

Data on the peptide mapping and MS identification for phosphorylated peptide.

This article contains peptides mapping, mass spectrometry and processed data related to the research "Identification and quantification of the phosphorylated ovalbumin by high resolution mass spectrometry under dry-heating treatment" [1]. Fourier transform ion cyclotron mass spectrometry (FTICR MS) was used to investigate the specific phosphorylation sites and the degree of phosphorylation (DSP) at each site. Specifically, phosphorylated peptides were monitored through mass shift on the FTICR MS spectrum. DSP was evaluated through the relative abundance levels of the FTICR MS spectrometry. From these data, the calculation method of DSP was exemplified.

Comparison of glycation in conventionally and microwave-heated ovalbumin by high resolution mass spectrometry.

The glycation extent of ovalbumin under two heating conditions, conventional and microwave heating was monitored by high resolution mass spectrometry, following pepsin digestion. The sequence coverage of the unglycated and glycated ovalbumin was 100% and 95%, respectively. About 35.2% of the lysines after microwave heating and 40.8% of the lysines after conventional heating were modified by d-glucose. The glycation content increased quickly when ovalbumin-glucose mixture was incubated for 15min, under both processing conditions. These modifications were slowed down after 30min of heating and no obvious advanced stage products were observed. The glycated peptides exhibited varying degrees of glycation, under both conventional and microwave heating, suggesting that glycation is strongly relevant to the protein structure. The fact that some peptides showed a lower level of glycation when heated by microwave indicated that microwave radiation might be a non-thermal process. In addition, the lack of browning after microwave heating emphasised the difference between microwave and conventional heating.

[Changes of Th1/Th2/Th17 in patients received non-myeloablative haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation detected by flow cytometric bead array].

This study was purposed to investigate the changes of Th1/Th2/Th17 in patients received non-myeloblastic haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (NAHSCT). The levels of IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α and IFN-γ, as well as IL-17 level were determined by flow cytometric bead array (CBA) in samples from 18 patients underwent allo-peripheral NAHSCT at different time points before and after transplantation. The results showed that all cytokines changed obviously after transplantation, and their serum levels were higher than that before transplantation. The expression levels of IL-2, IL-4 and IL-17 changed early, and their obviously up-regulation was found after transplantation. The expression levels of IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α changed significantly, and were high as compared with that before transplantation. The change of INF-γ serum level was observed late, its rising occurred at week 4 after transplantation. The expression of all cytokines kept increasing during 4 weeks after transplantation and peaked at week 4. It is concluded that the serum levels of all cytokines from the patients after NAHSCT increased significantly, in which the levels of IL-2, IL-4 and IL-17 increased early, but the level of INF-γ changed late. The detection of cytokines is helpful for deep understanding the pathophysiologic mechanism of transplant-related complications.

HLA-mismatched stem-cell microtransplantation as postremission therapy for acute myeloid leukemia: long-term follow-up.

PURPOSE: Despite best current therapies, approximately half of patients with acute myeloid leukemia in first complete remission (AML-CR1) with no HLA-identical donors experience relapse. Whether HLA-mismatched stem-cell microtransplantation as a novel postremission therapy in these patients will improve survival and avoid graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is still unknown. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred one patients with AML-CR1 (9 to 65 years old) from four treatment centers received programmed infusions of G-CSF-mobilized HLA-mismatched donor peripheral-blood stem cells after each of three cycles of high-dose cytarabine conditioning without GVHD prophylaxis. Donor chimerism and microchimerism and WT1+CD8+ T cells were analyzed. RESULTS: The 6-year leukemia-free survival (LFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were 84.4% and 89.5%, respectively, in the low-risk group, which were similar to the rates in the intermediate-risk group (59.2% and 65.2%, respectively; P=.272 and P=.308). The 6-year LFS and OS were 76.4% and 82.1%, respectively, in patients who received a high dose of donor CD3+ T cells (≥1.1×10(8)/kg) in each infusion, which were significantly higher than the LFS and OS in patients who received a lower dose (<1.1×10(8)/kg) of donor CD3+ T cells (49.5% and 55.3%, respectively; P=.091 and P=.041). No GVHD was observed in any of the patients. Donor microchimerism (2 to 1,020 days) was detected in 20 of the 23 female patients who were available for Y chromosome analysis. A significant increase in WT1+CD8+ T cells (from 0.2% to 4.56%) was observed in 33 of 39 patients with positive HLA-A*02:01 antigen by a pentamer analysis. CONCLUSION: Microtransplantation as a postremission therapy may improve outcomes and avoid GVHD in patients with AML-CR1.