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Biomedical subjects

Li Li

Publications and source records attributed to Li Li.

At least 451 records · Page 25Linked to original sources
PubMed2004

[Capecitabine combined with TACE for advanced liver cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of capecitabine combined with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for advanced liver cancer. METHODS: Forty-nine patients with liver cancer were retrospectively divided into two groups: Treatment group, on the basis of TACE, 23 patients received oral capecitabine at 2500 mg/m(2), twice-daily for 14 days followed by 7-day rest period and repeated in every three week intervals for more than two cycles. Control group, 26 patients received TACE only at 2-month intervals for at least two cycles. RESULTS: In capecitabine and TACE group: there were 1 CR, 14 PR, 5 SD and 3 PD; the overall response rate was 65.2%; the AFP and tumor reduction rates were 68.8% and 73.9%; the median survival time was 11.9 months. In the TACE only group: there were 0 CR, 7 PR, 12 SD and 7 PD; the overall response rate was 26.9%; the AFP and tumor reduction rates were 31.6 % and 30.8%; the median survival time was 8.3 months. The most common side-effects of capecitabine were hand-foot syndrome and diarrhea. CONCLUSION: Capecitabine combined with TACE is safe and effective for advanced liver cancer.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed2004

[Antigenic localization of specific allergen in the body of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus by immunohistochemistry].

OBJECTIVE: To study the localization of specific allergen of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus. METHODS: Through optical microscope, the specific allergens of D. pteronyssinus were observed in paraffin sections using D. pteronyssinus-specific IgE antibodies from the patient sera. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The digestive system was found occupying large parts of body cavity of D. pteronyssinus by HE staining, while the specific allergens of D. pteronyssinus were mostly occurred in the midgut tissue, gut contents, cuticle and reproductive system in the immunostained sections. The results also showed that many parts of D. pteronyssinus were recognized by the specific IgE antibodies obtained from allergic individuals to D. pteronyssinus, which provided a theoretic base for further study of isolation and purification of the specific allergen.

Allergens↗
PubMed2004

Inhibition of tumor growth in xenografted nude mice with adenovirus-mediated endostatin gene comparison with recombinant endostatin protein.

BACKGROUND: Inhibition of tumor growth by endostatin has been shown to be an effective strategy in cancer therapy in mice. However, its widespread application has been hampered by difficulties in a large-scale production of the recombinant endostatin protein, rapid loss bioactivity of the protein, and the cumbersome daily administration. These limitations could be resolved by in vivo delivery and expression of the endostatin gene. In this study, we observed the effect and advantage of endostatin gene therapy mediated by a recombinant adenoviral vector (Ad/hEndo) on the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma BEL-7402 xenografted tumors, comparison with recombinant endostatin protein. METHODS: Hepatocellular carcinoma BEL-7402 cells were inoculated subcutaneously in the flank of Balb/c nude mice. Nine days after tumor cell inoculation, animals were given a cycle of four courses of intra-tumoral injections of Ad/hEndo of 5 x 10(8) pfu (low-dose group) and 1 x 10(9) pfu (high-dose group) at intervals of six days, respectively. Recombinant human endostatin protein (rhEndo) was administrated daily subcutaneously at a dose of 10 mg.kg(-1).d(-1) at a site nearby the tumor for ten days. The expression of endostatin mRNA in tumor tissue was analyzed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) after Ad/hEndo injection. Dynamic changes of concentration of endostatin protein in tumor tissue were quantitated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: After 4 courses of treatment, the tumor growth rates of high-dose treated group with 1 x 10(9) pfu of Ad/hEndo were inhibited by 42.26% compared with the Ad/LacZ control group (P = 0.001) and by 46.26% compared with the NIH buffer control group (P = 0.003), respectively. However, in this study, Ad/hEndo at low dose of 5 x 10(8) pfu failed to demonstrate significant inhibition of tumor growth, compared with control groups. After daily administration of recombinant human endostatin protein (rhEndo) for 9 days, the ratio of T/C (rhEndo group versus PBS group) was less than 47%. However, two days after rhEndo treatment ceased, the ratio of T/C was more than 50%. The peak of expression of endostatin mRNA in tumor tissue was at 2 or 3 days after administration intratumorally with Ad/hEndo of 1 x 10(9) pfu and gradually dropped undetectable by day 7. Dynamic analysis of endostatin concentration in tumor tissue showed that the highest level of mRNA is up at the third day after injection, and dropped to basal level three weeks later. CONCLUSIONS: Endostatin gene therapy mediated by a recombinant adenoviral vector had significantly inhibited the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma BEL-7402 xenografted tumors at a high dose of 1 x 10(9) pfu compared with other groups. The analysis of dynamic expression of endostatin in vivo indicated that Ad/hEndo had acquired a high-level, relatively long-term expression in vivo and bioactivity capability.

Adenoviridae↗
PubMed2004

[Treatment of childhood leukemia with unrelated donor allogeneic bone marrow transplantation].

OBJECTIVE: Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation has been established as a standard method for the treatment of a range of malignant and non-malignant hematologic diseases in children. Unfortunately, fewer than 30% of patients have a human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched sibling. Advances in our understanding of the HLA system and the development of large international donor registries encourage the increasing use of unrelated donors as an alternative source of stem cells. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of unrelated donor allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (URD-BMT) for the treatment of childhood leukemia. METHODS: Six patients with leukemia received URD-BMT. Two of them suffered from chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), 3 suffered from acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) and 1 suffered from acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) (CR2). All cases were facilitated by Tzu Chi Marrow Donor Registry (TCTMDR). The high resolution DNA test for classIand II was carried out in HLA typing of all donor-receiver pairs. HLA allele matched in three cases, mismatched with one locus in two cases and with two loci in one case. All patients were prepared with cyclophosphamide (CY) 60 mg/kg/day for 2 days (total dose 120 mg/kg) and busulfan (Bu) 1 mg/kg x 4/day for 4 days (total dose 16 mg/kg). Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), CsA and MTX were given to prevent acute graft-versus-host-disease (aGVHD). CsA of 3 mg/kg/d was continuously given by i.v. infusion, and then 6mg/kg/d by oral. The blood CsA concentration was 200 - 300 ng/ml. MTX was given at the dosage of 15 mg/m(2) on d 1 and 10 mg/m(2) on d 3, 6,9 or 11. MMF was given at the dosage of 0.25 - 0.5 g/d from day 0 to day 120. Prostaglandin E1 was given to prevent the hepatic veno-occlusive disease (VOD), Ganciclovir was used to prevent CMV infection until the CMV antigenemia became negative. RESULTS: Analysis of DNA short tandem repeats showed total engraftment of donor marrow after transplantation in all cases. The median time when granulocyte exceeded 0.5 x 10(9)/L was 14.5 (13 - 18) days, platelets exceeded 20 x 10(9)/L was 16 (14 - 23) days. The acute GVHD grade II-IV occurred in 2 of 6 (33.3%) patients. There were 3 cases with chronic GVHD and none of them developed with the extensive chronic GVHD. All patients were alive in disease-free situation now with median follow-up 412 (187 - 1338) days. CONCLUSION: URD-BMT is an effective method for the treatment of childhood leukemia.

Bone Marrow Transplantation↗
PubMed2004

[Establishment of a new method for early embryo culture in vitro].

A new method, nest culture method, was developed in this study. The culture effects of different methods for embryo culture in vitro were compared. The results showed that whether the suspension in phi35mm dish in nest culture method was covered with mineral oil or not, the developmental rates of embryos had no significant difference. Compared to the nest culture method, the developmental rates of embryos in Brinster's method were significant lower. However, all embryos cultured in the single dish in which the suspensions were not covered with mineral oil were blocked at 2-cell stage. The nest culture method is an effective method for early embryo culture in vitro.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

[ABO genotyping by duplex amplification and oligonucleotide arrays assay].

OBJECTIVE: ABO genotyping for forensic identification by oligonucleotide chip. METHODS: Oligonucleotide microarrays which could detect 3 different SNPs in exon 6 and exon 7 for ABO genotyping were used. Population studies on ABO was carried out in a sample of 115 unrelated Chinese Han individuals. The method was also applied to cases. RESULTS: The technique could identify 6 genotypes of ABO system. According to the results of population studies, no significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium could be found. The observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.591 and 0.616 respectively. The polymorphic information content was 0.544. The average exclusion probabilities in buos and trios was 0.188 and 0.344 respectively. The discrimination power is 0.777. CONCLUSION: The data and case application demonstrated that ABO typing by oligonucleotide probe arrays was a useful technique for paternity testing and individual identification.

ABO Blood-Group System↗
PubMed2004

[Study on trace elements in wuji baifeng wan and its preparation].

We studied the amount of trace elements in the traditional Chinese medicine Wuji Baifeng Wan by cluster analysis, and found that the clustering results of the trace elements in Twelve Wuji Baifeng Wan (the southern preparation) and Wuji Baifeng Wan (the northern preparation) were not in the same group. In this paper, AAS was used for the determination of trace elements in Wuji Baifeng Wan and its preparation. The results showed that there were great differences between Twelve Wuji Baifeng Wan and Wuji Baifeng Wan , while the difference between Chinese Taihe Chicken and Native Chicken was slight. So we drew a conclusion that the great differences between Twelve Wuji Baifeng Wan and Wuji Baifeng Wan were caused by other medicine, not in its preparation.

Drugs, Chinese Herbal↗
PubMed2004

[Expression of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone in human split-thickness skin graft].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) in human split-thickness skin autograft and the role of alpha-MSH in hyperpigmented process of the grafted skin. METHODS: Immunohistochemical technique was used to detect the expression and distribution of alpha-MSH in the split-thickness grafted skin and normal skin separately. RESULTS: The expression of alpha-MSH in most of the split-thickness grafted skin was much stronger than the control skin. The positive ratio of alpha-MSH expression was 61.1% in the split-thickness grafted skin, 11.1% in the normal skin of the donor area and 16.7% in the normal skin around the recipient area. The expression of alpha-MSH in the split-thickness grafted skin was significant high, compared with the normal skins (P < 0.01). The expression of alpha-MSH in the normal skin of the donor area was no statistic remarkably differences compared to the normal skin around the recipient area. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the expression of alpha-MSH may markedly increase in the split-thickness grafted skin and correlate with its pigmentation after the skin graft. Overexpression of alpha-MSH may play an important role in hyperpigmented process of the skin graft.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

[Effects of ulinastatin on erythrocyte lipid peroxidation in patients undergoing open heart surgery].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of ulinastatin on erythrocyte lipid peroxidation in patients undergoing open heart surgery. METHODS: Twenty adult patients with rheumatic heart disease undergoing elective value replacement were divided randomly into 2 groups of 10 patients each: a control group (group C) and an ulinastatin group (group W). The patients were premedicated with intramuscular morphine 0.08 mg/kg and scopolamine 0.06 mg/kg. Anesthesia was induced with midazolam 0.1 mg/kg, fentanyl 5 microg/kg and vecuronium 0.1 mg/kg. After the tracheal intubation, the patients were mechanically ventilated. Anesthesia was maintained with midazolam, fentanyl and isoflurane. Blood samples were taken from radial artery before the operation (T1), 30 min after the initiation of CPB (T2), at the end of the CPB (T3), 30 min after the aorta declamping (T4) and 24 h after the operation (T5) for the determination of plasma and erythrocyte MDA (P-MDA and E-MDA) and erythrocyte SOD (E-SOD). RESULTS: The levels of P-MDA and E-MDA increased significantly after the initiation of CPB and the level of E-SOD was higher than the baseline level at T2, and then decreased from T3 to T5 in group C (P <0.001). The levels of P-MDA and E-MDA didn't increased until T4 (P <0.001) and returned to the baseline level at T5 in group W. The levels of P-MDA and E-MDA were significantly higher in group C than those in group W and the level of E-SOD was markedly lower than that in group W (P <0.05). CONCLUSION: Ulinastatin can alleviate erythrocyte lipid peroxidation in patients undergoing open heart surgery.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Conversion of peripheral CD4+CD25- naive T cells to CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells by TGF-beta induction of transcription factor Foxp3.

CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Treg) are instrumental in the maintenance of immunological tolerance. One critical question is whether Treg can only be generated in the thymus or can differentiate from peripheral CD4+CD25- naive T cells. In this paper, we present novel evidence that conversion of naive peripheral CD4+CD25- T cells into anergic/suppressor cells that are CD25+, CD45RB-/low and intracellular CTLA-4+ can be achieved through costimulation with T cell receptors (TCRs) and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta). Although transcription factor Foxp3 has been shown recently to be associated with the development of Treg, the physiological inducers for Foxp3 gene expression remain a mystery. TGF-beta induced Foxp3 gene expression in TCR-challenged CD4+CD25- naive T cells, which mediated their transition toward a regulatory T cell phenotype with potent immunosuppressive potential. These converted anergic/suppressor cells are not only unresponsive to TCR stimulation and produce neither T helper cell 1 nor T helper cell 2 cytokines but they also express TGF-beta and inhibit normal T cell proliferation in vitro. More importantly, in an ovalbumin peptide TCR transgenic adoptive transfer model, TGF-beta-converted transgenic CD4+CD25+ suppressor cells proliferated in response to immunization and inhibited antigen-specific naive CD4+ T cell expansion in vivo. Finally, in a murine asthma model, coadministration of these TGF-beta-induced suppressor T cells prevented house dust mite-induced allergic pathogenesis in lungs.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Characteristics of period adding bifurcation without chaos in firing pattern transitions in an experimental neural pacemaker.

Time variant signals received by a neuron were encoded into and output in the changing firing patterns. Recent investigations revealed that the firing patterns changed according to certain bifurcation principles. Thus, the bifurcation scenarios among various firing patterns were fundamental to the study of neural coding. In this study one of the previous theoretically proposed scenarios, period adding bifurcation without chaos, was experimentally confirmed to exist in real neuronal activities. The realistic bifurcation process possessed integer multiple patterns not found in previous theoretical reports. The observed bifurcation process was simulated in the stochastic neuronal model and the generation of the integer multiple patterns were related to the interplay between the internal noise and the dynamics of the neuron.

Action Potentials↗
PubMed2003

A porous supramolecular architecture from a copper(II) coordination polymer with a 3D four-connected 8(6) net.

A novel coordination polymer [[Cu(L(1))(L(2))(H(2)O)].5H(2)O](n) (1), where L(1) =1,1'-(1,4-butanediyl)bis(imidazole) and L(2) = m-phthalate anion, has been obtained by using an unusual crystallization process. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pna2(1), which belongs to the crystal class mm2, with a = 9.0521(18), b = 15.401(3), and c = 17.141(3) A, alpha = beta = gamma = 90 degrees, V = 2389.7(8) A(3), and Z = 4. The complex 1 composing a porous supramolecular architecture displays unprecedented four-connected topology of an 8(6) net in coordination polymer chemistry. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) patterns for 1 are discussed in detail.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

RDOCK: refinement of rigid-body protein docking predictions.

We present a simple and effective algorithm RDOCK for refining unbound predictions generated by a rigid-body docking algorithm ZDOCK, which has been developed earlier by our group. The main component of RDOCK is a three-stage energy minimization scheme, followed by the evaluation of electrostatic and desolvation energies. Ionic side chains are kept neutral in the first two stages of minimization, and reverted to their full charge states in the last stage of brief minimization. Without side chain conformational search or filtering/clustering of resulting structures, RDOCK represents the simplest approach toward refining unbound docking predictions. Despite its simplicity, RDOCK makes substantial improvement upon the top predictions by ZDOCK with all three scoring functions and the improvement is observed across all three categories of test cases in a large benchmark of 49 non-redundant unbound test cases. RDOCK makes the most powerful combination with ZDOCK2.1, which uses pairwise shape complementarity as the scoring function. Collectively, they rank a near-native structure as the number-one prediction for 18 test cases (37% of the benchmark), and within the top 4 predictions for 24 test cases (49% of the benchmark). To various degrees, funnel-like energy landscapes are observed for these 24 test cases. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of binding funnels starting from global searches for a broad range of test cases. These results are particularly exciting, given that we have not used any biological information that is specific to individual test cases and the whole process is entirely automated. Among three categories of test cases, the best results are seen for enzyme/inhibitor, with a near-native structure ranked as the number-one prediction for 48% test cases, and within the top 10 predictions for 78% test cases. RDOCK is freely available to academic users at http://zlab.bu.edu/ approximately rong/dock.

Algorithms↗
PubMed2003

Involvement of endogenous ceramide in the inhibition of telomerase activity and induction of morphologic differentiation in response to all-trans-retinoic acid in human neuroblastoma cells.

In this study, we examined the role of endogenous ceramide in the inhibition of telomerase and induction of morphologic differentiation in response to all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) in the SK-N-SH and SK-N-AS human neuroblastoma cell lines. The results showed that ATRA inhibited the activity of telomerase significantly in a time- and dose-dependent manner, as determined by telomere repeat amplification protocol (TRAP). The inhibition of telomerase by ATRA was maximum (about 50-80% of untreated controls) at 5-10 microM for 4-8 days. Treatment of cells with ATRA (5 microM) also resulted in the inhibition of growth by about 30-70% after 4 and 8 days of treatment, respectively, which was measured by trypan blue exclusion method. Measurement of accumulation of endogenous ceramide by high pressure liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy (LC/MS) showed that treatment of cells with ATRA resulted in increased levels of mainly C24:0 and C24:1 ceramides at days 2, 4, and 8, respectively. Also, treatment of cells with ATRA in the presence of myriocin blocked the accumulation of ceramide significantly, and more importantly, presence of myriocin partially prevented the inhibition of telomerase. Mechanistically, inhibition of telomerase by endogenous ceramide in response to ATRA treatment involves, at least in part, down-regulation of the expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) mRNA, as determined by semi-quantitative RT-PCR, in these cells. In addition, the modulation of telomerase activity by ATRA correlated with the induction of morphologic differentiation, which was also blocked by myriocin, as determined by extension of neurites using phase-contrast microscopy. These results, therefore, reveal an important effect of ATRA on telomerase inhibition and induction of morphologic differentiation in human neuroblastoma cells. These data also demonstrate that endogenous ceramide is one of the upstream regulators of telomerase activity in human neuroblastoma cells in response to ATRA.

Cell Differentiation↗
PubMed2003

[A novel keratin 17 gene mutation in a Chinese pedigree of delayed-onset pachyonychia congenita type II].

OBJECTIVE: To detect the keratin 17 gene mutation in a Chinese pedigree of typical delayed-onset pachyonychia congenita type II (PC-II) and to explore the relationship between the genetic mutation and the phenotype of PC-II. METHODS: The DNA was extracted from the blood samples of 19 patients with PC-II in four generations in the pedigree, 1 unaffected member of the pedigree, and 50 un-related normal persons. Nested PCR was used to amplify the mutation hot spot in the exon 1 of keratin 17 gene. The PCR products were directly sequenced to detect the mutation. RESULTS: Sequencing of the PCR products revealed that the codon 109 (AAC) was mutated as GAC in the nine affected members of the pedigree, causing the substitution of asparagine by aspartic acid in codon 109 (N109D) located in the 1A domain of keratin 17 gene. No such mutation was found in the unaffected member of the pedigree and the 50 unrelated controls. CONCLUSION: The novel missense mutation (N109D) located in the second half of 1A domain of keratin 17 gene underlies the affected members' phenotype, delayed-onset pachyonychia congenita type II.

Age of Onset↗