Biomedical subjects

Lishu Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to Lishu Zhang.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Enhancing immune responses against HIV-1 DNA vaccine by coinoculating IL-6 expression vector.

DNA vaccines have a demonstrated ability to induce humoral and cellular immune responses in animal models and humans. To analyze the immunogenicity of HIV-1 DNA vaccine which expressing the chimeric gene gag-gp120 of Chinese prevalent HIV-1 strain and the immunoregulatory activity of IL-6, DNA vaccine plasmid pVAX1-gag-gp120 and eukaryotic expression plasmid pVAX1-IL6 were constructed and the expression in vitro was detected by RT-PCR and Western blotting, the results showed that the gene of interest expressed in the transfected HeLa cells. To explore the immune response in mice coinoculated with HIV-1 DNA vaccine and IL-6 expression plasmid, BALB/c mice were injected i.m. with eukaryotic expression plasmid pVAX1-IL6 and DNA vaccine plasmid pVAX1-gag-gp120. The specific humoral and cellular immunity in mice could be induced by inoculating separately HIV-1 DNA vaccine plasmid or coinoculating with IL-6 expression plasmid, and the specific killing activities of spleen CTL and the level of serum antibodies in the coinoculation group were significantly higher than those in the separate inoculation group. These results strongly support the use of IL-6 as a cytokine adjuvant in DNA vaccination.

AIDS Vaccines↗

PubMed2005

Construction and characterization of recombinant fowlpox virus coexpressing HIV-1(CN) gp120 and IL-2.

The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has now become one of the most serious infectious disease in the world, the safe and effective AIDS vaccines would be the best tools to control the disease. Fowlpox virus has been studied recently as a potential vector for the delivery of heterologous vaccine antigen. In this study, a recombinant fowlpox virus coexpressing gp120 of Chinese prevalent HIV-1 strain and IL-2 was constructed and the cellular immune responses against HIV-1 gp120 in BALB/c mice were evaluated. Chinese vaccine strain 282E4 of fowlpox virus was used as the vector to construct the recombinant fowlpox virus (rFPV) coexpressing HIV-1 gp120 and IL-2 via homologous recombination, and the recombinant virus was identified by PCR and Western blotting. The specific DNA fragment was amplified by PCR from the genomes of rFPV. Western blotting analysis showed that HIV-1 gp120 and IL-2 was expressed not only in chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) cells infected by rFPV, but also in mammalian cells infected by rFPV. After the recombinant fowlpox virus was inoculated into BALB/c mice, specific CTL activities in the immunized mice were detected in the spleen. The results demonstrated that rFPV had good immunogenicity and could induce BALB/c mice to produce specific cellular immunity. IL-2 played a role of immunoadjuvant and enhanced the cellular immune response. The study provides the basis for the preparation of a Chinese vaccine candidate against HIV-1.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗

PubMed2005

A universal plasmid library encoding all permutations of small interfering RNA.

Small interfering RNA (siRNA) is normally designed to silence preselected known genes. Such selections are inevitably prone to bias as a result of limited knowledge about the biological process, transcript identity, and functions. A library that contains all permutations of siRNA could avoid such problems. In this paper, it is shown that 5 x 10(7) siRNA-encoding plasmids can be constructed in a single tube by using vectors with two mutated RNA polymerase III promoters arranged in a convergent manner. Such a library was used to carry out genomewide screening of functional genes in a phenotype-driven manner. Multiple siRNAs that induce a significant increase of cell proliferation speed were identified.

Base Sequence↗

PubMed2003

Brain circuits determine destiny in depression: a novel approach to the psychopharmacology of wakefulness, fatigue, and executive dysfunction in major depressive disorder.

Recent advances in neuropharmacology and neuroimaging are mapping the topography of symptoms in major depressive disorder (MDD). Different malfunctioning neuronal circuits apparently mediate different symptoms in MDD. Since all patients with MDD do not have the same symptoms, this implies that they may not all have the same malfunctioning circuits. Furthermore, since MDD patients treated with antidepressants commonly experience residual symptoms that prevent them from attaining complete remission, this implies that not all circuits are successfully targeted by treatment in such patients. A new neurobiologically informed treatment strategy for such patients calls for targeting residual symptoms by augmenting antidepressants with agents capable of boosting specific neurotransmitters in the hypothetically malfunctioning circuits. With this approach, the frequently residual symptoms of sleepiness, fatigue, and executive dysfunction can be targeted with bupropion, atomoxetine, modafinil, atypical antipsychotics, and stimulants.

Antidepressive Agents↗