High Expression MicroRNA-206 Inhibits the Growth of Tumor Cells in Human Malignant Fibrous Histiocytoma

Background: Malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) is a common type of soft tissue sarcoma and a serious threat to human health. MFH often relapses locally after the curettage is related to the residual cancer stem cells (CSCs). Currently, the dysregulation of microRNA (miRNA) has been found to be closely related to the recurrence of CSCs. However, whether dysregulations of miRNAs exist in MFH, CSCs remained unknown.Methods: In this study, miRNAs in MFH CSCs and MFH common cells were examined by gene probe. Then, target genes and their functions involved in the signal pathway were predicted by the relevant database. Finally, the miRNAs’ target regulatory network was constructed. Furthermore, the miRNAs and target genes were identified by quantitative polymerase chain reaction, whereas miRNA analogs and antagonists were transfected in tumor cells to investigate cell proliferation ability further.Results: Results showed that a total of 47 miRNAs were found, including 16 that were upregulated and 31 that were downregulated. The screened differential miRNA showed a different expression in the cell resistant strains compared with the control group. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis confirmed that the relative abundance of seven miRNAs and four target genes varied significantly. The encouraging issue is that we found Hsa-miR-206 significantly inhibited MFH proliferative activity.Conclusion: Hsa-miR-206 played a key role in regulating MFH CSC properties that might be a representative marker and target for the diagnosis and treatment of MFH in the future.

A case of chlamydia psittaci caused severe pneumonia and meningitis diagnosed by metagenome next-generation sequencing and clinical analysis: a case report and literature review

Background Psittacosis, which is also known as parrot fever, is Chlamydia psittaci (C. psittaci) caused infectious disease. The clinical manifestations vary from asymptomatic infection to severe atypical pneumonia or even fatal meningitis. Early recognition of psittacosis is difficult because of its nonspecific clinical manifestations. Culture and gene probe techniques for C. psittaci are not available for routine clinical use, which makes the diagnosis difficult too. Although psittacosis has increasingly been recognized and reported in recent years, cure of severe pneumonia complicated with meningitis, with etiologic diagnosis aided by the use of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS), is still uncommon. So, it is necessary to report and review such potentially fatal case. Case presentation This report describes a 54-year-old woman with C. psittaci caused severe atypical pneumonia and meningitis. She presented with symptoms of fever, dry cough and dyspnea, accompanied by prominent headache. Her condition deteriorated rapidly to respiratory failure and lethargy under the treatment of empirical antibacterial agents, and was treated with invasive mechanical ventilation soon. She denied contact with birds, poultry or horses, but unbiased mNGS of both the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) identified sequence reads corresponding to C. psittaci infection, and there was no sequence read corresponding to other probable pathogens. Combined use of targeted antimicrobial agents of tetracyclines, macrolides and fluoroquinolones was carried out, and the patient’s condition improved and she was discharged home 28 days later. Her status returned close to premorbid condition on day 60 of follow-up. Conclusions When clinicians come across a patient with atypical pneumonia accompanied by symptoms of meningitis, psittacosis should be taken into consideration. mNGS is a promising detection method in such condition and is recommended.

Mutational Frequencies in Mycobacterial rpoB gene using GeneXpert/MTB Rif Assay in Rifampicin Resistant patients at a tertiary care setting in Urban Sindh, Pakistan: Analysis from a Five-Year Period

Objectives: To assess the mutational frequencies in Mycobacterial rpoB gene using GeneXpert/MTB Rif Assay in rifampicin resistant patients during 2013-2017 at a tertiary care setting in Urban Sindh, Pakistan. Methods: This Retrospective Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study was conducted at the TB laboratories, Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases, Dow University of Health Sciences. The record of 713 positive cases of Rifampicin Resistant Tuberculosis from January 2013 to December 2017 were analysed. These were diagnosed using GeneXpert® that detects mutations in the 81 base pair region of rpoB gene with the help of five molecular probes A, B, C, D and E. All invalid and extra pulmonary samples were excluded. Results: In total, 713 cases were found to be rifampicin resistant during the five-year period, among which 374 (52.45%) were males while 339 (47.55%) were females. Among the five standard probes A, B, C, D and E, 97.48% of the cases had a single mutation. Among these, mutations in Probe E (66.48%) were the most common, followed by Probe B (14.3%) and Probe D (11.08%). Only 13 cases (1.82%) of double mutations and five cases (0.7%) of triple mutations were detected. Conclusion: The rpoB gene Probe E region 529-533 appears the most potent site for a mutation and development of rifampicin resistance in the rpoB gene in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, that encodes the β-subunit of RNA polymerase. The most affected age-group in both males and females is 19-45 Years. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.4.3875 How to cite this:Alamgir M, Sajjad M, Baig MS, Noori MY. Mutational Frequencies in Mycobacterial rpoB gene using GeneXpert/MTB Rif Assay in Rifampicin Resistant patients at a tertiary care setting in Urban Sindh, Pakistan: Analysis from a Five-Year Period. Pak J Med Sci. 2021;37(4):1151-1154. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.4.3875 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Optimization of RNA In Situ Hybridization for mRNA Localization Detection in Mature Tissue of Cucumber Seedlings

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is one of the main vegetable crops in China. The physiological cultivation mechanism and gene function characteristics of cucumber are of great significance to the construction of modern agriculture. Due to the low genetic transformation rate of cucumber, only in situ hybridization, which does not involve the progress of gene modified transformation, is convenient to study mRNA localization, so it is more suitable for determination on mRNA localization in the mature tissue of cucumber. At present, the existing in situ hybridization technology system is more suitable for cucumber meristem than for the mature tissue of cucumber seedlings. Therefore, we optimized the traditional plant in situ hybridization protocol. Taking a known gene CsNPF7.2 (Nitrate Transporter Families protein) as an example, we then optimized the steps of plant tissue culture, gene probe preparation, plant material sampling and fixation, preparation of cross section, hybridization pretreatment, hybridization incubation, chromogenic reaction, microscopy examination, and treatment after reaction termination in order to obtain a new RNA in situ hybridization technique suitable for identification on mRNA localization in mature tissues of cucumber seedlings. This optimized technique will ensure the yield of probes, the integrity of RNA molecules, and the clarity and integrity of plant tissue structure, which is conducive to the study of gene function and screening of key genes in cucumber.

Chemiluminescence Immunoassay: Basic Mechanism and Applications

Chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) has been widely applied in different fields including environmental monitoring, liquid chromatography, clinical diagnosis; food safety, pharmaceutical analysis, immuno- and gene probe assays, as a promising approach for selective, sensitive, rapid and simple analysis. It is often necessary to detect a large number of complicated or low-abundance samples. However, traditional methods need great consumption of time, reagents and labor, which limit their clinical applications. As a result, rapid, high-throughput, sensitive and low-cost detection methods have become the development trend of CLIA. A new chemiluminescence immunoassay analyzer with advanced acridinium ester (AE) technology will be installed at the radioimmunoassy laboratory of National Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (NINMAS) shortly. In conjunction with the existing Radioimmunoassay (RIA), Immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) and DissociationEnhanced Lanthanide Fluorescent Immunoassay (DELFIA), introduction of chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) technology will expand the activities of in vitro immunoassay. It will also improve the research and development activities of in vitro division of NINMAS. In this review article, we have summarized the basic principle of chemiluminescence immunoassay and its applications. A comparison of RIA, CLIA and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was also briefly described in the article.Bangladesh J. Nuclear Med. 18(2): 171-178, July 2015

Verification of the analytical performance of a molecular diagnostic for response to anti-PD1 therapy on the nCounter Dx Analysis System.

8 Background: Pembrolizumab is a humanized anti-PD1 antibody that is approved for use in advanced melanoma, recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer. It has also shown clinical activity in a number of other tumor types in clinical trials, but there is need for a precise and accurate test that can identify patients most likely to benefit from therapy. We have previously described the development and analytical performance of a NanoString RNA expression clinical trial assay, referred to here as the Tumor Inflammation Signature (TIS) assay, which is being evaluated as a patient enrichment biomarker in multiple solid tumor types for treatment with pembrolizumab. Here we describe additional performance data and analytical verification of reproducibility from tissue and RNA input range in multiple tumor types. Methods: Linearity and specificity were assessed with single targets or pools of in vitro transcribed RNAs with sequences matching the 18 biomarker and 10 normalization gene probe targets. The verification of the previously reported analytical precision from RNA and reproducibility from tissue was performed using independent samples from 11 tumor types. The biological variability of the signature within a patient sample was evaluated by testing multiple core punches from formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue blocks. Results: The TIS assay’s measurement of the 28 genes was linear across a wide dynamic range ( ≥ 4 logs) and was highly specific with < 1% cross reactivity between probes. The assay was verified across the specified RNA input range with > 90% concordance at the low end (50ng) of the RNA input range. The total standard deviation of the anti-PD1 Predictor Score from tissue was verified as < 5% of the signature score range and > 90% concordance in biomarker high/low categorization within the biological replicates. Conclusions: The analytical performance of the NanoString TIS assay was verified to be robust. The assay is well suited for decentralized clinical testing and is currently under investigation to identify responders to anti-PD1 therapy in multiple tumor types in several clinical studies.

Molecular Analysis and Effectiveness Assay of AV1 Gene in Transgenic Tobacco for Resistance to Begomovirus

<p>Genetic transformation<br />of tobacco plant using AV1 gene was conducted at<br />the previously experiment and generated transgenic tobacco<br />plants positively carrying the selectable marker nptII gene.<br />The objectives of this experiment were to (1) analyze the<br />presence of Begomovirus AV1 gene in T0 generation putative<br />transgenic tobacco plants using PCR technique with specific<br />primers and its correlation with resistance phenotype, (2)<br />analyze the integration and copy number of the transgene in<br />T0 generation putative transgenic tobacco plants and its<br />correlation with resistance response, (3) screen the T0<br />generation putative transgenic tobacco plants with the target<br />virus infection and to detect the presence of the virus in the<br />transgenic plant tissue using universal primers. PCR<br />detection of AV1 gene in tobacco transgenic was conducted<br />by using specific primer for Begomovirus AV1 gene.<br />Meanwhile, Southern Blot analysis was conducted by using<br />the AV1 gene probe. The effectiveness of AV1 gene in<br />tobacco transgenic was tested by inoculation of target virus<br />using whiteflies vector. Result of the experiments showed<br />that there was a positive correlation between the presence<br />of the AV1 transgene in T0 generation putative transgenic<br />tobacco plants and the resistant phenotype. Transgenic<br />plants with a single copy integration of the transgene<br />exhibited more resistant than the multiple copy one. and<br />non transgenic plant. The resistance as a result of AV1 gene<br />expression was indicated with no symptom in T0 generation<br />transgenic tobacco plants and the accumulation of the virus<br />in the transgenic plants tissue. Northern and Western<br />hybridization analysis need to be perfomed for investigating<br />the presence of mRNA or protein accumulation so that the<br />resistance mechanism of the AV1 gene could be explained<br />more detail.</p>