Study of a fractional-order model of chronic wasting disease

This paper studies a fractional-order modelling chronic wasting disease (CWD). The basic results on existence, uniqueness, non-negativity, and boundedness of the solutions are investigated for the considered model. The criterion for local as well as global stability of the equilibrium points is derived. A numerical analysis for Hopf-type bifurcation is presented. Finally, numerical simulations are provided to justify the results obtained.     

基于静电自组装银膜的急性粒白血病氧合血红蛋白表面增强拉曼光谱研究

文中基于高效、生物兼容性纳米结构银膜,采用便携式拉曼光谱仪分别对10个健康人和10个急性粒白血病患者的氧合血红蛋白进行了表面增强拉曼散射(SERS)光谱的研究。实验发现,健康人与急性粒白血病患者的氧合血红蛋白SERS光谱存在显著差异:(1)健康人氧合血红蛋白SERS光谱中位于340cm-1附近很弱的拉曼峰在急性粒白血病患者的SERS光谱中变的很强;(2)健康人氧合血红蛋白SERS光谱中位于655 cm-1附近的拉曼峰在急性粒白血病患者SERS光谱中蓝移到670 cm-1附近,同时在727cm-1附近出现一个新的拉曼峰;(3)对健康人和急性粒白血病患者氧合血红蛋白SERS光谱中位于472、814、1335、1423和1588 cm-1处的拉曼峰相对强度比研究发现,相对强度比I814/I472,I1335/I472、I1423/I472和I1588/I472可以作为较好的区分健康人和急性粒白血病患者的SERS光谱诊断指标,这为基于SERS光谱技术进行急性粒白血病诊断提供了初步实验依据。     

慢性粒细胞白血病相关的癌基因、抑癌基因表达谱的研究

运用表达谱芯片技术对慢性粒细胞白血病相关的癌基因，抑癌基因表达谱进行研究，对慢性粒细胞白血病及正常对照细胞进行总RAN抽提，纯化后的mRNA进行逆转制备杂交探针，应用Biostar1024条人类全长基因cDNA芯片筛选与CML相关的基因，杂交信号用ScanArray5000扫描仪扫描，用ImaGene3.0软件分析，发现有9个癌基因、4个抑癌基因同时在慢性粒细胞白血病异常表达，分析这些异常基因表达谱，对进一步全面了解发病机制提供科学依据。     

Metabolic profiles of the Flos Abelmoschus manihot extract by intestinal bacteria from the normal and CKD model rats based on UPLC‐Q‐TOF/MS

Flos Abelmoschus manihot is a traditional herbal medicine widely used in clinical practice to tackle chronic kidney disease (CKD) for thousands of years. Nowadays, many studies indicate that gut bacteria are closely related to the progression of CKD and CKD‐related complications. In this study, a UPLC‐Q‐TOF/MS method coupled with the MetaboLynx™ software was established and successfully applied to investigate the metabolites and metabolic profile of Flos A. manihot extract by intestinal bacteria from normal and CKD rats. Eight parent components and eight metabolites were characterized by their protonated ions. Among these compounds, 15 were detected in the two group samples while M16 was only determined in the CKD model samples. Compared with the quercetin‐type glycosides, fewer myricetin‐type and gossypetin‐type metabolites were obtained in the two group samples. These metabolites suggested that deglycosylation and methylation are the major metabolic pathways of Flos A. manihot extract. Few differences of metabolite classes were observed in the two group samples. However, the concentrations of aglycones such as quercetin, myricetin and gossypetin in the normal samples were notably higher than those in the CKD model samples. The results are important in unravelling the pharmacological effects of A. manihot and clarifying its mechanism of action in vivo .     

Phytochemical and pharmacological properties of essential oils from Cedrus species

Natural products frequently exert pharmacological activities. The present review gives an overview of the ethnobotany, phytochemistry and pharmacology of the Cedrus genus, e.g. cytotoxic, spasmolytic immunomodulatory, antiallergic, anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities. Cancer patients frequently seek remedies from traditional medicinal plants that are believed to exert less side effects than conventional therapy with synthetic drugs. A long-lasting goal of anti-cancer and anti-microbial therapy research is to find compounds with reduced side effects compared to currently approved drugs. In this respect, Cedrus species might be of interest. The essential oil isolated from Cedrus libani leaves may bear potential for drug development due to its high concentrations of germacrene D and β-caryophyllene. The essential oils from Cedrus species also show bioactivity against bacteria and viruses. More preclinical analyses (e.g. in vivo experiments) as well as clinical trials are required to evaluate the potential of essential oils from Cedrus species for drug development.     

A Simple Electrochemical Aptamer Cytosensor for Direct Detection of Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia K562 Cells

A simple and rapid electrochemical aptamer cytosensor has been developed for direct detection of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) K562 cells based on a specific aptamer and a biotin conjugated concanavalin A (bio‐ConA) detection probe. The K562 cell could be specifically recognized by T2‐KK1B10 capture aptamer pre‐immobilized on gold modified electrode surface. Then, bio‐ConA was added in the reaction to identify K562 cell surface mannose, resulting in an aptamer‐K562 cell‐bio‐ConA sandwich complex. Finally, streptavidin conjugated alkaline phosphatase (ST‐ALP) combined with the bio‐ConA to catalyze α‐naphthyl (α‐NP) phosphate to form α‐naphthol which is highly electroactive at an operating voltage of 180 mV (vs. Ag/AgCl). Under optimum conditions, the DPV signals were proportional to the logarithm of K562 cell from 1×10² to 1×10⁷ cells mL⁻¹ with a detection limit of 79 cells mL⁻¹. The cytosensor also exhibited high selectivity, stability and reproducibility. When applied to detect K562 cells in human blood samples, recoveries between 79.6 %–93.3 % were obtained, indicating the developed biosensor would be a potential alternative tool for CML K562 cell detection in real biological samples.     

Use of MDLC-DIGE and LC-MS/MS to identify serum biomarkers for complete remission in patients with acute myeloid leukemia

The response criteria for complete remission (CR) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are currently based on morphology and blood cell counts. However, these criteria are insufficient to establish a diagnosis in cases with poor quality bone marrow (BM) samples demonstrating a loss of cellular morphology. We investigated whether the sera of patients contained biomarkers that indicate disease response status. First, we performed multidimensional liquid chromatography-differential gel electrophoresis (MDLC-DIGE) to generate protein profiles of two pooled, paired serum samples from patients who had achieved CR; one collected at diagnosis (PreCR) and the other collected after chemotherapy (CR). Then, with the biomarker candidates found, ELISA was carried out for individual PreCR and CR samples, and for other verification sets including nonremission (NR) patients and normal samples. We selected two proteins, complement factor H (CFH) and apolipoprotein H (ApoH), with dye (Cy) ratios showing greater than 2.0-fold differences between the pooled samples. ELISA showed that CFH and ApoH are useful for distinguishing between the recovered (CR and normal) and nonrecovered (PreCR, PreNR, and NR) states in AML (p <0.001). We successfully applied a protein profiling technology of MDLC-DIGE and LC-MS/MS to discover two biomarkers for CR which needs further validation for a clinical setting.     

Simvastatin inhibits induction of matrix metalloproteinase-9 in rat alveolar macrophages exposed to cigarette smoke extract

Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) may play an important role in emphysematous change in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. We previously reported that simvastatin, an inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase, attenuates emphysematous change and MMP-9 induction in the lungs of rats exposed to cigarette smoke. However, it remained uncertain how cigarette smoke induced MMP-9 and how simvastatin inhibited cigarette smoke-induced MMP-9 expression in alveolar macrophages (AMs), a major source of MMP-9 in the lungs of COPD patients. Presently, we examined the related signaling for MMP-9 induction and the inhibitory mechanism of simvastatin on MMP-9 induction in AMs exposed to cigarette smoke extract (CSE). In isolated rat AMs, CSE induced MMP-9 expression and phosphorylation of ERK and Akt. A chemical inhibitor of MEK1/2 or PI3K reduced phosphorylation of ERK or Akt, respectively, and also inhibited CSE-mediated MMP-9 induction. Simvastatin reduced CSE-mediated MMP-9 induction, and simvastatin-mediated inhibition was reversed by farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP) or geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate (GGPP). Similar to simvastatin, inhibition of FPP transferase or GGPP transferase suppressed CSE-mediated MMP-9 induction. Simvastatin attenuated CSE-mediated activation of RAS and phosphorylation of ERK, Akt, p65, IκB, and nuclear AP-1 or NF-κB activity. Taken together, these results suggest that simvastatin may inhibit CSE-mediated MMP-9 induction, primarily by blocking prenylation of RAS in the signaling pathways, in which Raf-MEK-ERK, PI3K/Akt, AP-1, and IκB-NF-κB are involved.     

Highly porous poly(lactide‐co‐glycolide) microparticles for sustained tiotropium release

In this study, porous poly(lactide‐co‐glycolide) (PLGA) microparticles with low mass density and large particle size were developed for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease treatment using anticholinergic drug (tiotropium). The porous PLGA microparticles were prepared by the water‐in‐oil‐in‐water (W₁/O/W₂) multi‐emulsion method using PLGA polymer and ammonium bicarbonate (as a porogen). Herein, soluble starch was incorporated in porous PLGA microparticles for long‐term tiotropium release. In vitro drug release studies determined that the rapid release of tiotropium from porous PLGA microparticles was reduced because of the high viscosity of the incorporated starch. Tiotropium release from porous PLGA microparticles continued up to 3 days. Furthermore, the inhaled microparticles showed longer drug residence in in vivo lung epithelium. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Light-assisted and remote delivery of carbon monoxide to malignant cells and tissues: Photochemotherapy in the spotlight

The recent discovery of the salutary effects of carbon monoxide (CO) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), ischemic perfusion damage, graft implantation, as well as its pro-apoptotic effects on hyper-proliferating cells has raised interest in delivering small doses of CO to biological targets under controlled conditions. In such attempts, photoactive metal carbonyl complexes (photoCORMs) have shown promise and several accounts of cancer cell eradication with light-triggered CO release from photoCORMs have been reported. CO releasing molecules (CORMs) and photoCORMs have been incorporated within biocompatible drug delivery vehicles such as carboxymethyl chitosan or mesoporous silica-based nanoparticles and the composite materials (photoCORs) have been successfully employed in controlled CO delivery to cancer cells to cause rapid CO-induced apoptosis. Fiber optic technology has also been utilized for remote delivery of CO to not easily accessible targets. Reports on all these therapeutic modalities for on-demand CO delivery to malignant targets in a highly localized fashion have opened up the possibility of phototherapy of cancer with the use of an unusual so-called “toxic” molecule. This review highlights the methodologies used in CO photochemotherapy reported so far along with analysis of their therapeutic outcomes, and possible improvements for better applicability.