Gαq, the alpha subunit of Gq, a member of the Gq/11 sub‐family, was reported to inhibit phosphatidylinositol‐3‐Kinase (PI3K) activation and prevent the activation of Akt. Previous studies demonstrated that mice losing Gαq in their immune system could spontaneously develop inflammatory arthritis. In this study, we showed that the Gαq expressions at mRNA and protein levels in the peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were significantly decreased in comparison of which in healthy individuals. The expression levels of Gαq mRNA in PBLs from patients with RA were correlated with RA disease activity (DAS28), anti‐cyclic citrullinated protein antibodies, C‐reactive protein and rheumatoid factor. We also demonstrated that Gαq controlled the apoptosis of RA PBLs through regulating the activity of Mcl‐1 and caspase‐3. These data suggested that Gαq might be involved in the pathogenesis of RA by regulating PBLs apoptosis.
The existence of cell-free fetal (cff) DNA in maternal plasma through the process of pregnancy, makes it possible to do noninvasive paternity test for a woman who got pregnant as a result of a sexual assault. However, the cff DNA in a high background of maternal DNA could not be easily detected. The SNP-STR markers, developed for analyzing the minor component in a two-man unbalanced mixture, were used for noninvasive paternity identification during pregnancy. Six SNP-STR loci, rs4847015-D1S1656, rs6736691-D2S1338, rs25768-D5S818, rs7786079-D7S820, rs2246512-D10S1248, rs11642858-D16S539, were screened based on autosomal STRs of Expanded U.S. Core Loci, and the corresponding primers were designed by amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) method. The primers for every loci consisted of two forward primers targeting the genotype of SNP and one reverse primer, and each forward primer was amplified with the reverse one respectively. The amplicons of the six loci were all less than 210 bp. The cff DNA of plasma samples from ten pregnant women at 16 to 22-week was detected using the informative makers selected from the analysis of maternal and biological paternal DNA by SNP-STR PCR. The results demonstrate the availability of SNP-STR in the noninvasive paternity test.
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