The effects of exogenous p16^ink4a gene on biological behaviors of human lung cancer cell line with homozygous deletion of p16^ink4a gene were investigated. Exogenous p16^ink4a gene was transfected by lipofectin into human lung cell line A549, in which p16^ink4a gene was homozygously deleted. The expression of p16^ink4a mRNA and protein was detected by RT-PCR and immunocyto-chemistry, respectively. The changes in the behaviors of the transfected cell lines in vitro and in vivo were observed. In the transfected cell line A549, the exogenous p16^ink4a gene could be stably expressed. The growth of A549 cells transfected with p16^ink4a gene was obviously slowed down. Flow cytometry revealed that transfection of the exogenous p16^ink4a gene resulted in A549 cell lines arrest in G1 phase of cell cycle. The tumorigenicity of these transfected cells in nude mice could be inhibited, and the tumor growth of nude mice was significantly suppressed. It was concluded that exogenous p16^ink4a gene may be stably expressed in human lung cancer cell line A549. The expression of the introduced p16^ink4a could block lung cancer cells to entry into S phase of cell cycle and inhibit tumor malignant growth both in vitro and in vivo.

The effects of protein kinase C (PKC) on the tension and the activity of voltage-dependent delayed rectifier potassium channel (K_y) were examined in normal and passively sensitized human airway smooth muscle (HASM), by measuring tones and whole-cell patch clamp techniques, and the K_v activities and membrane potential (E_m) were also detected. The results showed that phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), a PKC activator, caused a concentration-dependent constriction in normal HASM rings. The constriction of the passively sensitized muscle in asthma serum group was significantly higher than that of the normal group (P<0.05), and the constrictions of both groups were completely abolished by PKC inhibitor Ro31-8220 and calcium channel inhibitor nifedipine. K_v activities of HASM cells were significantly inhibited by PMA, and the E_m became more positive, as compared with the DMSO (a PMA menstruum)-treated group (P<0.01). This effect could be blocked by Ro31-8220 (P<0.01). It was concluded that activation of PKC could increase the tones of HASM, which might be related to the reduced K_v activity. In passively sensitized HASM rings, this effect was more notable.

An HA-1-DC nucleic-acid vaccine was constructed to induce anti-leukemia effect after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). DCs were generated from HSCT donors in vitro, and its immunologic activity was assayed by using flow cytometry and mixed lymphocytes reaction. HA-1 gene was electroporated into the cultured DCs to construct a DC nucleic-acid vaccine. After transfection for 48 h, the expression of HA-1 protein could be detected by using Western blot. The DCs were cultured with syngenic lymphocytes to induce specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). The cytoxicity of the CTLs was detected by LDH assay. The results showed that The DCs derived from peripheral blood monocytes (PBMCs) expressed the phenotype of DCs, and were effective in stimulating proliferation of the allogenic lymphocytes. After electroporating for 48−h, HA-1 protein was detected by using Western blot. The cytotoxicty of inducing CTLs was higher than the control group. It was suggested that minor histocompatibility antigen HA-1 could be considered as a target of immunotherapy against leukemia after HSCT.

Survivin variants specific real time quantitative RT-PCR was developed to analyze their expression in 53 paired cancer and para-cancerous tissues, and the expression of the wild-type survivin protein was detected by immunohistochemistry. The results showed that survivin mRNA and protein were expressed in gastric cancer and para-cancerous tissues. The survivin-2B was dominantly expressed in para-cancerous tissues, whereas the survivin-ΔEx3 was more frequently detected in cancer tissues. The positive rate of survivin-2a was 100% in both cancer and para-cancerous tissues, but its relative transcript expression level was not significantly increased in cancer tissues in comparison with para-cancerous tissues. The correlation analysis revealed that the expression of survivin-2a mRNA was significantly associated with that of total survivin (r_s=0.4178, P=0.0018), whereas inversely to that of survivin-ΔEX3 (r_s=−0.4506, P=0.0007). It was suggested that survivin-2a may act as an antagonist of survivin-ΔEX3. The balance between antiapoptotic survivin iso-forms and nonantiapoptotic ones may play an important role in tumorigenesis and tumor progression. Promising value is hinted to analyze survivin and its variants in tumor early diagnosis and distinguishing malignant tumors from benign ones.

In order to investigate the association of G+1688A (Ser563Asn) polymorphism of platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1) gene with myocardial infarction (MI) in the Chinese Han population, the G+1688A polymorphism in PECAM-1 gene was detected by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment-length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method among 502 subjects, including 218 patients with MI and 284 controls. The results showed that there was significant difference in AA frequencies of genotype G+1688A polymorphism between case and control groups (39% vs 24%, P<0.001). A similar trend was observed on the allele frequencies (A/G: 62% vs 49%, P<0.001). Among the subjects with high serum total cholesterol level or high systolic blood pressure level, the variant AA genotype was associated with high risk of MI (adjusted OR, 2.13; 95% CI, 1.08–4.41 and adjusted OR, 2.53; 95%CI, 1.63–3.63). The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at position +1688 in the exon 8 of PECAM-1 gene was associated with MI and the allele A might be a risk factor for MI in the Chinese Han population.

To explore the correlation between the C807T polymorphism of platelet membrane glycoprotein I a (GP I a) gene and aspirin resistance in Chinese people, 200 patients with high-risk of atherosclerosis took aspirin (100 mg/d) for 7 days. Platelet aggregation function was detected using adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and arachidonic acid (AA) before and after the administration of aspirin. Then the subjects were divided into three groups according to the results of platelet aggregation function: an aspirin resistant (AR) group, an aspirin semi-responder (ASR) group and an aspirin-sensitive (AS) group. Platelet GP I a gene 807CT polymorphism was examined by means of polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primers (PCR-SSP). The results showed that T allelic frequency in AR group and ASR group were higher that of AS group (P<0.005), and the prevalence of genotypes (TT+TC) of these two groups was significantly higher than that in AS group (P<0.05). Platelet GP I a T allele was significantly associated with aspirin resistance as revealed by multiple logistic regression (OR=3.76, 95% CI: 2.87–9.58). The results suggest that inherited platelet GP I a variations may have an important impact on aspirin resistance and the presence of GP I a T allele may be a marker of genetic susceptibility to aspirin resistance.