ISSN 1673-6184 CN 31-1966/R
The introduction of vaccines has greatly reduced the rates of morbidity and mortality caused by infectious diseases, and has a transformational effect on global human health. Here, we systematically review the history and development of vaccines, and analyze the advantages and drawbacks of different types of vaccines. Moreover, we detail a broadly protective vaccine type, which we dub precision-designed vaccine. Precision-designed vaccine is a high-throughput and reverse genetics based recombinant vaccine, which is precisely designed on a comprehensive functional characterization of a pathogen genome. Precision medicine, which takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle, leads to a new revolution in healthcare system. In like manner, the emerging precision-designed vaccine, targetting specific genes, proteins and pathways of pathogens or abnormal cells, sheds new light on the design of vaccines and can help usher in a new era of vaccinology.
The present study aims to establish a method for rapid detection of a panel of pathogenic viruses based on reverse transcription-loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP). Primer sets of 10 pathogenic viruses with high specificity were screened. It was suggested that the method was safe, rapid, convenient, and high-throughput in detection of pathogenic viruses. When combined with the new immobilized reaction tubes, the amplification for 10 pathogenic viruses in 1-100 copies could be finished within 45 min. In the assay of 30 serum samples, one rift valley fever virus-positive sample was obtained. A rapid, convenient, low-cost, real-time and high-throughput detection method for common pathogenic viruses was established. The results indicate that RT-LAMP method for 10 high-pathogenic viruses has a good application prospect in rapidly screening suspected patients in areas with high population mobility such as ports.
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a lymphatic follicular virus, and its infection is a very common concern for human health. The present paper aims to investigate the clinical feature and consequences of EBV-associated lymphoma patients. The clinical data of 49 patients who were diagnosed with lymphoma with EBV infection from January 2013 to December 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. Among the 49 EBV-associated lymphoma patients, 18 with B cell lymphoma and 31 with T/NK cell lymphoma. Among the relevant laboratory indicators, inter-group statistical differences existed in white blood cell count, platelet count, alanine aminotransferase level, aspartate aminotransferase level, lactate dehydrogenase level, ferritin level, fibrinogen level, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein level. The median follow-up period was 5.0 months. The results showed that compared with EBV-associated B cell lymphoma patients, EBV-associated T/NK cell lymphoma patients had more severe liver function damage, more frequency of hemophagocytic syndrome, and shorter survival period. But there was no significant difference in survival period between the two groups (P>0.05). The 1-month, 6-month, 1-year and 3-year overall survival rates were 84.4%, 59.8%, 53.2% and 40.3%, respectively.
The present paper aims to investigate the cytokine levels and immune function in children with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) combined with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. The children hospitalized during September 2016 to March 2017 in Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital were subjected for this study. The children with MPP and EBV infection, with MPP and the ones undergoing hexadactyly resection surgery were classified as group A，group B and group C, respectively. The serum levels of interleukins (IL-6, IL-4, IL-10) and interferon γ (IFN-γ) were assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The results showed that the levels of IL-6, IL-4, IFN-γ and IL-10 in group A and group B were higher than those in group C (P<0.05), the levels of IL-6 and IL-10 in group A were higher than those in group B (P<0.05), the levels of IL-6, IL-10 and IL-4 in severe pneumonia group were higher than those in non-severe pneumonia group (P<0.05). The results indicated cellular immunity dysfunction in cases of MPP combined with EBV infection. It is suggested that MPP combined with EBV infection could induce the secretion of IL-6, IL-4, IFN-γ， IL-10 to cause tissue damage, and the detection of IL-6, IL-4, IFN-γ， IL-10 has important significance in the diagnosis and evaluation of MPP combined with EBV infection.
Persisters are a small portion of bacteria insensitive to lethal dose of antibiotic treatment and are important cause for chronic infections. Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is an important pathogen causing acute and chronic clinical infections. Although sdhCAB operon of S. aureus had been implicated in persister formation, the impact of sdhCAB operon knockout is still missing. In this study, we demonstrated that knockout of sdhCAB operon in USA500 had a significantly negative impact on its persister formation on the stress of acid, oxidation, and antibiotic treatment. The impact was reversed by gene complementation. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis showed that deletion of sdhCAB decreased the expression of genes involved in drug resistance, amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism, porphyrin metabolism, and transporters and increased the expression of genes of methane metabolism pathway, tricarboxylic acid cycle, polymerase IV, etc. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) confirmed the transcription changes in 20 out of 23 genes. Phenotype microarray analysis (PM) showed that the knockout of sdhCAB operon could decrease the metabolism of 64 carbon sources, such as succinic acid, citric acid, glycogen, and L-aspartic acid, but the metabolism of various phosphate sources and nitrogen sources was not impacted. The results suggest that the sdhCAB operon affects persister formation through its impact on metabolism. The findings provide new insights for study and treatment of S. aureus persistent infections.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a new therapy using light of a specific wavelength to selectively activate non-toxic light-sensitive compounds (known as photosensitizer) to kill a variety of pathogens with reactive oxygen species (ROS). It has many advantages including broad antibacterial spectrum, safety in use, and low possibility of resistance, etc. Although the killing effects of PDT in vitro have already been proved, reliable animal models are required to verify the therapeutic parameters in vivo. This review involves research progresses on building animal models for PDT and regimen design of PDT in recent years, aiming to provide reference for future laboratory and clinical researches on treating infectious diseases with PDT.
Because the pace of new antibiotic development could not match the development of bacterial drug resistance, the phenomenon of multidrug-resistance and pan-resistance of Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) in clinical treatment is becoming widespread. Therefore, more and more attentions have been paid to the development of antimicrobial substances other than classical antimicrobial agents, such as metal ions and chelates. The antimicrobial activity of iron and zinc against A. baumannii was reviewed in this paper. Iron, zinc and the other essential metal ions can inhibit bacterial growth by regulating efflux pumps or affecting biofilm formation and adhesion. In addition, metals such as gold, silver and palladium, also have strong antibacterial effects and can be used as antimicrobial coating for medical indwelling devices to prevent infections.
In order to train the medical students with medical skills and humanities, medical humanities elements should be introduced in Medical Microbiology teaching. In this paper, we summarize some humanity knowledge points that could be used in Medical Microbiology teaching process, and expect to inspire the Medical Humanity teaching in this course.
