Comparison of the expression of human equilibrative nucleotide transporter 1 (hENT1) and ribonucleotide reductase subunit M1 (RRM1) genes in seven non-Hodgkin lymphoma cell lines

We investigated the variability in the expression of human equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 (hENT1) and ribonucleotide reductase subunit M1 (RRM1) in non-Hodgkin lymphoma cell lines. hENT1 and RRM1 mRNA expression levels in natural killer (NK) cells and seven non-Hodgkin lymphoma cell lines (YTS, SNK-6, Jeko-1, ly-1, Raji, Karpas, and Jurket) were studied using reverse-transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and the results were compared using the Student t-test. mRNA expression of hENT1 was detectable in YTS, SNK-6, Jeko-1, ly-1, Raji, Karpas, Jurket, and NK cells, which revealed variability in gene expression. There were significant differences in the mRNA expression values of hENT1 (P = 0.021) and RRM1 (P = 0.002) compared to those in NK cells. mRNA expression of both hENT1 and RRM1 was closely associated with non-Hodgkin lymphoma cell proliferation. Differential expression analysis of hENT1 and RRM1 in non-Hodgkin lymphoma cell lines may provide novel drug leads for precision medicine.

Involved-field irradiation in definitive chemoradiotherapy for T4 squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus

OBJECTIVES

Definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy (ccrt) is currently a therapeutic option for locally advanced esophageal cancer. However, clinical practice differs with respect to the target volume for irradiation. The purpose of the present study was to analyze failure patterns and survival, and to determine the feasibility of using involved-field irradiation (ifi) with concurrent chemotherapy for T4 squamous cell carcinoma (scc) of the esophagus.

METHODS

Between January 2003 and January 2013, 56 patients with clinical T4M0 scc of the esophagus received ccrt using ifi. The radiation field included the primary tumour and clinically involved lymph nodes. Target volumes and sites of failure were analyzed, as were treatment-related toxicity and survival time.

RESULTS

In this 56-patient cohort, 13 patients (23.2%) achieved a complete response, and 21 (37.5%) achieved a partial response, for a total response rate of 60.7%. The major toxicities experienced were leucocytopenia and esophagitis, with 14 patients (25.0%) experiencing grade 3 toxicities. At a median follow-up of 34 months, 48 patients (85.7%) had experienced failure: 39 (69.6%) in-field, 7 (12.5%) elective nodal, and 19 (33.9%) distant. Only 1 patient (1.8%) experienced isolated elective nodal failure. The 1-, 2-, and 3-year survival rates were 39.3%, 21.4%, and 12.5% respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

For patients with T4M0 scc of the esophagus, definitive ccrt using ifi resulted in an acceptable rate of isolated elective nodal failure and an overall survival comparable to that achieved with elective nodal irradiation. A limited radiation therapy target volume, including only clinically involved lesions, would therefore be a feasible choice for this patient subgroup.

[Clinical significance of the preoperative neutrophil lymphocyte ratio in the evaluation of the prognosis of laryngeal carcinoma]

OBJECTIVE

To explore the effect of preoperative neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) on the prognosis of patients with laryngeal carcinoma.

METHODS

Clinical data of 202 patients with laryngeal carcinoma treated from January 2004 to October 2009 were retrospective analyzed to determine the optimal critical value of NLR. To study whether NLR is an independent factor affecting the recurrence and 5-year survival rate of patients with laryngeal cancer after surgery, single factor and multivariate analyses were performed. The factors included age, gender, T stage, pathological differentiation, lymph node metastasis, primary tumor site and NLR value. The relationship between NLR and cervical lymph node metastasis was analyzed.

RESULTS

The optimal critical value of NLR was 2.85, by which cases were divided into high NLR group (NLR≥2.85) and low NLR group (NLR<2.85). Single factor and multivariate analyses indicated that T staging, lymph node metastasis, primary tumor location, and NLR were the independent factors affecting the recurrence of laryngeal carcinoma. T stage and lymph node metastasis were the independent factors affecting 5-year survival rate of laryngeal carcinoma. The increase of NLR value increased the rate of cervical lymph node metastasis.

CONCLUSION

Preoperative NLR level influences the recurrence and cervical lymph node metastasis of laryngeal carcinoma and can be considered a prognosis factor of laryngeal cancer.

Overexpression of ZWF1 and POS5 improves carotenoid biosynthesis in recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae expressing exogenous carotenogenic genes can synthesize carotenoids. NADPH is a key cofactor for carotenoid biosynthesis, while glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (Zwf1) and an NADH kinase (Pos5) are the two main NADPH-supplying sources in S. cerevisiae. Here, the effect of ZWF1 and POS5 overexpression on carotenoid yield in recombinant S. cerevisiae was explored. The initial carotenogenic strain Sc-EYBIH+I which expressed crtE, crtYB, crtI, cHMG1 and another copy of crtI could synthesize 1·35 ± 0·13 mg l(-1) of lycopene and 0·32 ± 0·02 mg l(-1) of β-carotene. When ZWF1 was overexpressed (Sc-EYBIZH+I), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity increased by 103-fold, the transcription level of crtE and crtI increased significantly, the lycopene and β-carotene yield increased to 2·29 ± 0·06 and 0·38 ± 0·02 mg l(-1) respectively. When POS5 was overexpressed (Sc-EYBIPH+I), NAD kinase activity increased by 5·5-fold, the transcription level of crtE, crtYB and crtI increased obviously, the lycopene and β-carotene yield increased to 2·50 ± 0·11 and 0·53 ± 0·03 mg l(-1) respectively. Therefore, improvement of NADPH supply contributed to carotenoids biosynthesis in S. cerevisiae and overexpression of POS5 was more effective than overexpression of ZWF1. This study provides a new strategy for enhancing carotenoid biosynthesis.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

NADPH is a key cofactor for carotenoid biosynthesis. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (Zwf1) and an NADH kinase (Pos5) are effective NADPH-supplying sources in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. When ZWF1 and POS5 were overexpressed in a carotenoid-producing S. cerevisiae strain individually, the total yield of lycopene and β-carotene increased by 59·9% and 81·4%, respectively, and the final product β-carotene yield increased by 18·8% and 65·6% respectively. This suggests the improvement of NADPH supply as a useful strategy for carotenoids biosynthesis.

The validity of Kirchhoff theory for scattering of elastic waves from rough surfaces

The Kirchhoff approximation (KA) for elastic wave scattering from two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) rough surfaces is critically examined using finite-element (FE) simulations capable of extracting highly accurate data while retaining a fine-scale rough surface. The FE approach efficiently couples a time domain FE solver with a boundary integration method to compute the scattered signals from specific realizations of rough surfaces. Multiple random rough surfaces whose profiles have Gaussian statistics are studied by both Kirchhoff and FE models and the results are compared; Monte Carlo simulations are used to assess the comparison statistically. The comparison focuses on the averaged peak amplitude of the scattered signals, as it is an important characteristic measured in experiments. Comparisons, in both two dimensions and three dimensions, determine the accuracy of Kirchhoff theory in terms of an empirically estimated parameter σ 2 /λ 0 ( σ is the RMS value, and λ 0 is the correlation length, of the roughness), being considered accurate when this is less than some upper bound c , ( σ 2 /λ 0 < c ). The incidence and scattering angles also play important roles in the validity of the Kirchhoff theory and it is found that for modest incidence angles of less than 30°, the accuracy of the KA is improved even when σ 2 /λ 0 > c . In addition, the evaluation results are compared using 3D isotropic rough surfaces and 2D surfaces with the same surface parameters.

Analysis of Fcgrt gene polymorphism in indigenous Chinese sheep and its association with colostrum IgG concentration

The neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) plays an important role in regulating IgG homeostasis in the body and passive protection to the offspring. Changes in FcRn expression levels caused by genetic polymorphisms of Fcgrt, which encodes FcRn, may lead to inter-individual differences in colostrum IgG levels in sheep. In this study, we sequenced the FcRn partial heavy chain from 179 sheep from Xinjiang Province, China, and detected the differences in colostrum IgG levels and Fcgrt genotypes to identify the correlation between the Fcgrt genotype and colostrum IgG levels in 4 sheep breeds. The DNA sequencing of a 680-bp fragment of the Fcgrt gene revealed various patterns depending on the single-strand conformation in the Suffolk breed. Sequencing analysis revealed a total of 3 patterns, AA, BB, AB, in this fragment, among which the absence of AB and BB genotype acted as a marker for breed identification and characterization, while the AA genotype was shared by Suffolk and 3 other breeds. The only allele found in all 4 breeds was allele A, indicating that natural selection may be favoring the AB and BB genotypes in general and B allele in particular, as the colostrum IgG concentration was relatively higher in the Suffolk breed compared to the other 3 breeds.

First Report of Pseudonectria buxi Causing Volutella Blight on Boxwood (Buxus sp.) in Beijing, China

Pseudonectria buxi (also called Volutella buxi) is a fungal pathogen that causes a disease of boxwood (Buxus spp.). This disease has been reported in several countries in Europe and North America, and has been traditionally considered the primary cause of boxwood decline (1), although box blight caused by Cylindrocladium buxicola has claimed notoriety because of its recent introduction to North America. In August 2013, symptoms resembling Volutella blight were observed at a park in Haidian District, Beijing, China, on leaves and stems of Korean boxwood (B. sinica var. insularis). The plants were still alive, but diseased leaves and twigs were yellowed and showed dieback. Symptoms were common on boxwood throughout this park, and the disease was also seen in other nearby areas. Pink sporodochia were observed on some yellowed leaves and stems. Diseased tissues (stems and leaves) were collected, cut into 1 mm² pieces, surface sterilized in 1% sodium hypochlorite for 1 min, and placed on potato dextrose agar. After 3 days of incubation at room temperature, white fluffy mycelia were seen. The middle of the colonies turned pink by 7 days, and conidia produced on verticillately branched conidiophores in these pink areas were elliptical, 6 to 9 × 2 to 2.5 μm. DNA was extracted from one colony containing spores and mycelium, and a portion of the beta-tubulin gene was amplified using primers designed from highly conserved regions (5'-AACAACTGGGCCAAGGGTC, 5'-GAAGAGTTCTTGTTCTGGA) (3). The 676-bp amplicon was sequenced (GenBank Accession No. KJ755987), and the top matches were two isolates of P. buxi (KC819609 and DQ522522) with identities of 566/567 bp (99.8%) and 551/567 bp (97.2%), respectively. The next best matches were at 92% for Fusarium spp. For inoculation, four pots of 2-year-old healthy B. sinica var. insularis × B. sempervirens cv. Green Velvet were used. As wounds are required for the infection process (2,3), two parallel light scratches were made using needles on adaxial surface of three leaves per plant. One plant was only sprayed with water until runoff, while the other three plants were sprayed with a spore suspension (10⁶ spores/ml) of P. buxi until runoff, covered with plastic bags, and placed at 25°C. After 3 days, pink sporodochia were observed on inoculated wounded leaves, but not on non-wounded leaves. By 10 days, inoculated wounded leaves turned yellow and became covered with sporodochia all over the adaxial surface, and on wound sites on the adaxial surfaces. No signs or symptoms were observed on either non-wounded inoculated leaves or on plants sprayed only with water. P. buxi was re-isolated from the diseased leaves but not the water-treated leaves, to successfully complete Koch's postulates. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of P. buxi causing Volutella blight on boxwood in China. References: (1) J. L. Bezerra. Acta Botanica Neerlandica 12:58, 1963. (2) B. Henricot et al. Plant Pathol. 49:805, 2000. (3) F. Shi and T. Hsiang. Eur. J. Plant Pathol. 138:763, 2014.

Association between an alternative promoter polymorphism and sperm deformity rate is due to modulation of the expression of KATNAL1 transcripts in Chinese Holstein bulls

Katanin p60 subunit A-like 1 (KATNAL1) is an ATPase that regulates Sertoli cell microtubule dynamics and sperm retention. We evaluated one novel splice variant and characterized the promoter and a functional single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the bovine KATNAL1 gene to explore its expression pattern, possible regulatory mechanism and relationship with semen traits in Chinese Holstein bulls. A novel splice variant, KATNAL1 transcript variant 2 (KATNAL1-TV2) of the retained 68 bp in intron 2, was identified by RT-PCR and compared with KATNAL1 transcript variant 1 (KATNAL1-TV1, NM 001192918.1) in various tissues. Bioinformatics analyses predicted that KATNAL1 transcription was regulated by two promoters: P1 in KATNAL1-TV1 and P2 in KATNAL1-TV2. Results of qRT-PCR revealed that KATNAL1-TV1 had higher expression than did KATNAL1-TV2 in testes of adult bulls (P < 0.05). Promoter luciferase activity analysis suggested that the core sequences of P1 and P2 were mapped to the region of c.-575˜c.-180 and c.163-40˜c.333+59 respectively. One novel SNP (c.163-210T>C, ss836312085) located in intron 1 was found using sequence alignment. The SNP in P2 resulted in the presence of the DeltaE binding site, improving its basal promoter activity (P < 0.05); and we observed a greater sperm deformity rate in bulls with the genotype CC than in those with the genotype TT (P < 0.05), which indicated that different genotypes were associated with the bovine semen traits. Bioinformatics analysis of the KATNAL1 protein sequence predicted that the loss of the MIT domain in the KATNAL1-TV2 transcript resulted in protein dysfunction. These findings help us to understand that a functional SNP in P2 and subsequent triggering of expression diversity of KATNAL1 transcripts are likely to play an important role with regard to semen traits in bull breeding programs.