Construction and evaluation of rats’ tolerogenic dendritic cells (DC) induced by NF-κB Decoy method

Aims: To construct and evaluate rats’ tolerogenic dendritic cells (DC) through induction by NF-κB Decoy method.Methods: GM-CSF and IL-4 were used to transform rats’s monocytes into DC, and DC were stimulated with LPS, NF-κB Decoy ODN, and loaded with Bovine TypeⅡCollagen. The following methods were employed to phenotype DC: 1) Observation of cell morphology; 2) Evaluation of cell viability using trypan blue staining; 3) Purity determination of DC through detection of specific markers OX-62; 4) Evaluation of mature state of DC via the determination of the expression of CD80 and CD86; 5) Determination of stimulation capability towards the proliferation of lymphocyte and the secretion of INF-r and IL-10.Results: The activity of DC was more than 92%, and the expression of OX-62 was more than 70%. Most of DC exhibited the phenotype of CD80+/CD86-. Compared with control group and LPS-stimulation group, the less mature adhered cells and hairlike DC were observed in NF-κB decoy group. Significant reduction (p<0.05) was observed for the positive expression and extension of CD80 and CD86 in cell surface. After loaded with calf type II collagen, the low expression of CD80 and CD86 remains to be existed. The stimulation capability of DC towards lymphocyte in NF-κB decoy group was lower than that in control group (p<0.05) and LPS stimulation group (p<0.05).Conclusion: NF-κB Decoy ODN method can be successfully applied for construct rats’ tolerogenic dendritic cells (DC) with stable morphology and phenotype. The tolerogenic DC exhibited immature immune phenotype, and low capability to stimulate lymphocytes.Keywords: dendritic cells (DC), NF-κB Decoy ODN, calf type II collage

Electric-field-induced alignment of electrically neutral disk-like particles: modelling and calculation

This work reveals a torque from electric field to electrically neutral flakes that are suspended in a higher electrical conductive matrix. The torque tends to rotate the particles toward an orientation with its long axis parallel to the electric current flow. The alignment enables the anisotropic properties of tiny particles to integrate together and generate desirable macroscale anisotropic properties. The torque was obtained from thermodynamic calculation of electric current free energy at various microstructure configurations. It is significant even when the electrical potential gradient becomes as low as 100 v/m. The changes of electrical, electroplastic and thermal properties during particles alignment were discussed

Anti-Cripto Mab inhibit tumour growth and overcome MDR in a human leukaemia MDR cell line by inhibition of Akt and activation of JNK/SAPK and bad death pathways

Doxorubicin (DOX) selection of CCRF-CEM leukaemia cell line resulted in multidrug resistance (MDR) CEM/A7R cell line, which overexpresses MDR, 1 coded P-glycoprotein (Pgp). Here, we report for the first time that oncoprotein Cripto, a founding member of epidermal growth factor-Cripto-FRL, 1-Criptic family is overexpressed in the CEM/A7R cells, and anti-Cripto monoclonal antibodies (Mab) inhibited CEM/A7R cell growth both in vitro and in an established xenograft tumour in severe combined immunodeficiency mice. Cripto Mab synergistically enhanced sensitivity of the MDR cells to Pgp substrates epirubicin (EPI), daunorubicin (DAU) and non-Pgp substrates nucleoside analogue cytosine arabinoside (AraC). In particular, the combination of anti-Cripto Mab at less than 50% of inhibition concentrations with noncytotoxic concentrations of EPI or DAU inhibited more than 90% of CEM/A7R cell growth. Cripto Mab slightly inhibited Pgp expression, and had little effect on Pgp function, indicating that a mechanism independent of Pgp was involved in overcoming MDR. We demonstrated that anti-Cripto Mab-induced CEM/A7R cell apoptosis, which was associated with an enhanced activity of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase/stress-activated protein kinase and inhibition of Akt phosphorylation, resulting in an activation of mitochondrial apoptosis pathway as evidenced by dephosphorylation of Bad at Ser136, Bcl-2 at Ser70 and a cleaved caspase-9

Dynamics of one-dimensional tight-binding models with arbitrary time-dependent external homogeneous fields

The exact propagators of two one-dimensional systems with time-dependent external fields are presented by following the path-integral method. It is shown that the Bloch acceleration theorem can be generalized to the impulse-momentum theorem in quantum version. We demonstrate that an evolved Gaussian wave packet always keeps its shape in an arbitrary time-dependent homogeneous driven field. Moreover, that stopping and accelerating of a wave packet can be achieved by the pulsed field in a diabatic way.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Induction of MDR1 gene expression by anthracycline analogues in a human drug resistant leukaemia cell line

The effects of 4-demethoxydaunorubicin (idarubicin, IDA) and MX2, a new morpholino-anthracycline, on up-regulation of the MDR1 gene in the low-level multidrug resistant (MDR) cell line CEM/A7R were compared at similar concentrations (IC10, IC50and IC90) over a short time exposure (4 and 24 h). The chemosensitivity of each drug was determined by a 3-day cell growth inhibition assay. Compared with epirubicin (EPI), IDA and MX2 were 17- and eightfold more effective in the CEM/A7R line respectively. No cross-resistance to 5-FU was seen in the CEM/A7R line. Verapamil (5 μM) and PSC 833 (1 μM), which dramatically reversed resistance to EPI in the CEM/A7R line, had no sensitizing effect on the resistance of this line to MX2, but slightly decreased resistance to IDA. The sensitivity to 5-FU was unchanged by these modulators. The induction of MDR1 mRNA expression by IDA, MX2 and 5-FU was analysed by Northern blotting and semiquantitatively assessed by scanning Northern blots on a phosphorimager. The relative level of MDR1 expression was expressed as a ratio of MDR1 mRNA to the internal RNA control glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). IDA, MX2 and 5-FU differentially up-regulated MDR1 mRNA in the CEM/A7R line in a dose-dependent manner. Both IDA and MX2 induced MDR1 expression within 4 h. 5-FU up-regulated MDR1 expression only when drug exposure was prolonged to 24 h. Based on MRK 16 binding, flow cytometric analysis of P-glycoprotein (Pgp) expression paralleled the increase in MDR1 mRNA levels. For the three anthracyclines, the increase in MDR1 expression was stable in cells grown in the absence of drug for more than 3 weeks after drug treatment. The induction of MDR1 expression by 5-FU was transient, associated with a rapid decrease in the increased Pgp levels which returned to baseline 72 h after the removal of 5-FU. This study demonstrates that MDR1 expression can be induced by analogues of anthracyclies not pumped by Pgp, and that this induction appears to be stable despite a 3-week drug-free period. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig

In Situ ATR-FTIR Investigation of Photodegradation of 3,4-Dihydroxybenzoic Acid on TiO2

The catalytic photo-oxidation of 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid on TiO2 has been studied by in situ ATR-FTIR in flowing water and in flowing wet air/nitrogen gas. In flowing water it was difficult to observe photodegradation intermediates despite photocatalytic action during UV illumination. In the flowing wet air/nitrogen system carboxylic acids and carbonates were observed. It was shown that water plays an important role in the formation of oxidation active species. Oxygen shows a prominent role for carboxylic acid degradation, but the photogenerated hole plays the important role for the 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid ring cleavage

Interface Coupling in Twisted Multilayer Graphene by Resonant Raman Spectroscopy of Layer Breathing Modes.

Raman spectroscopy is the prime nondestructive characterization tool for graphene and related layered materials. The shear (C) and layer breathing modes (LBMs) are due to relative motions of the planes, either perpendicular or parallel to their normal. This allows one to directly probe the interlayer interactions in multilayer samples. Graphene and other two-dimensional (2d) crystals can be combined to form various hybrids and heterostructures, creating materials on demand with properties determined by the interlayer interaction. This is the case even for a single material, where multilayer stacks with different relative orientations have different optical and electronic properties. In twisted multilayer graphene there is a significant enhancement of the C modes due to resonance with new optically allowed electronic transitions, determined by the relative orientation of the layers. Here we show that this applies also to the LBMs, which can be now directly measured at room temperature. We find that twisting has a small effect on LBMs, quite different from the case of the C modes. This implies that the periodicity mismatch between two twisted layers mostly affects shear interactions. Our work shows that ultralow-frequency Raman spectroscopy is an ideal tool to uncover the interface coupling of 2d hybrids and heterostructures

Exploiting Magnetic Resonance Angiography Imaging Improves Model Estimation of BOLD Signal

The change of BOLD signal relies heavily upon the resting blood volume fraction () associated with regional vasculature. However, existing hemodynamic data assimilation studies pretermit such concern. They simply assign the value in a physiologically plausible range to get over ill-conditioning of the assimilation problem and fail to explore actual . Such performance might lead to unreliable model estimation. In this work, we present the first exploration of the influence of on fMRI data assimilation, where actual within a given cortical area was calibrated by an MR angiography experiment and then was augmented into the assimilation scheme. We have investigated the impact of on single-region data assimilation and multi-region data assimilation (dynamic cause modeling, DCM) in a classical flashing checkerboard experiment. Results show that the employment of an assumed in fMRI data assimilation is only suitable for fMRI signal reconstruction and activation detection grounded on this signal, and not suitable for estimation of unobserved states and effective connectivity study. We thereby argue that introducing physically realistic in the assimilation process may provide more reliable estimation of physiological information, which contributes to a better understanding of the underlying hemodynamic processes. Such an effort is valuable and should be well appreciated

Prediction of migratory routes of the invasive fall armyworm in eastern China using a trajectory analytical approach

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this record BACKGROUND: The fall armyworm (FAW), an invasive pest from the Americas, is rapidly spreading through the Old World, and has recently invaded the Indochinese Peninsula and southern China. In the Americas, FAW migrates from winter-breeding areas in the south into summer-breeding areas throughout North America where it is a major pest of corn. Asian populations are also likely to evolve migrations into the corn-producing regions of eastern China, where they will pose a serious threat to food security. RESULTS: To evaluate the invasion risk in eastern China, the rate of expansion and future migratory range was modelled by a trajectory simulation approach, combined with flight behavior and meteorological data. Our results predict that FAW will migrate from its new year-round breeding regions into the two main corn-producing regions of eastern China (Huang-Huai-Hai Summer Corn and Northeast Spring Corn Regions), via two pathways. The western pathway originates in Myanmar and Yunnan, and FAW will take four migration steps (i.e. four generations) to reach the Huang-Huai-Hai Region by July. Migration along the eastern pathway from Indochina and southern China progresses faster, with FAW reaching the Huang-Huai-Hai Region in three steps by June and reaching the Northeast Spring Region in July. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that there is a high risk that FAW will invade the major corn-producing areas of eastern China via two migration pathways, and cause significant impacts to agricultural productivity. Information on migration pathways and timings can be used to inform integrated pest management strategies for this emerging pest.Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)CABI Bioscienc