LevelⅡ, systematic review and network meta-analysis of RCTs.

ObjectiveAutoantibody and inflammatory cytokines play crucial roles in the development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE); however, the regulation of their production warrants further investigation. This study aimed to investigate the role of basophil activation in the development of SLE based on studies in patients with SLE and spontaneous lupus-prone MRL-lpr/lpr mice.MethodsThe phenotypes of peripheral basophils and the production of autoantibody and interleukin (IL)-17 in patients with SLE were determined by flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and also their correlations were investigated by statistical analysis. Thereafter, the effect of basophils on autoantibody production by B cells and Th17 differentiation in SLE were evaluated in vitro. Finally, the effect of basophil depletion on the development of autoimmune disorders in spontaneous lupus-prone MRL-lpr/lpr mice was examined.ResultsThe decreased numbers and an increased activation of peripheral basophils were found to be correlated with increased autoantibody production and disease activity in patients with SLE. Correspondingly, in vitro coculture studies showed that basophils obtained from patients with SLE promoted autoantibody production by SLE B cells and promoted Th17 differentiation from SLE naïve CD4+ T cells. The decrease of peripheral basophils in patients with SLE might be due to their migration to lymph nodes post their activation mediated by (autoreactive) IgE as supported by their increased CD62L and CCR7 expressions and accumulation in the lymph nodes of MRL-lpr/lpr mice. Furthermore, an increased activation of peripheral basophils was identified in MRL-lpr/lpr mice. Importantly, basophil-depleted MRL-lpr/lpr mice exhibited an extended life span, improved renal function, and lower serum levels of autoantibodies and IL-17, while basophil-adoptive-transferred mice exhibited the opposite results.ConclusionThese finding suggest that basophil activation-dependent autoantibody and IL-17 production may constitute a critical pathogenic mechanism in SLE.

Albeit much less abundant than Ser/Thr phosphorylation (pSer/pThr), Tyr phosphorylation (pTyr) is considered as a hallmark in cellular signal transduction. However, its analysis at the proteome level remains challenging. The conventional immunopurification (IP) approach using antibodies specific to pTyr sites is known to have low sensitivity, poor reproducibility and high cost. Our recent study indicated that SH2 domain-derived pTyr-superbinder is a good replacement of pTyr antibody for the specific enrichment of pTyr peptides for phosphoproteomics analysis. In this study, we presented an efficient SH2 superbinder based workflow for the sensitive analysis of tyrosine phosphoproteome. This new method can identify 41% more pTyr peptides than the previous method. Its excellent performance was demonstrated by the analysis of a variety of different samples. For the highly tyrosine phosphorylated sample, for example, pervanadate-treated Jurkat T cells, it identified over 1800 high confident pTyr sites from only 2 mg of proteins. For the unstimulated Jurkat cells, where the pTyr events rarely occurred, it identified 343 high confident pTyr sites from 5 mg of proteins, which was 31% more than that obtained by the antibody-based method. For the heterogeneous sample of tissue, it identified 197 high confident pTyr sites from 5 mg protein digest of mouse skeletal muscle. In general, it is a sensitive, robust and cost-effective approach and would have wide applications in the study of the regulatory role of tyrosine phosphorylation in diverse physiological and pathological processes.

A variety of biologically active products have been isolated from Gracilariopsis lemaneiformis. In the present study, two novel angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptides, FQIN [M(O)] CILR, and TGAPCR, were screened and identified from G. lemaneiformis protein hydrolysates by LC-MS/MS. The IC50 values of FQIN [M(O)] CILR and TGAPCR were 9.64 ± 0.36 μM and 23.94 ± 0.82 μM, respectively. In the stability study, both peptides showed stabilities of pH, temperature, simulated gastrointestinal digestion, and ACE hydrolysis. The Lineweaver–Burk plot showed that the two peptides were noncompetitive inhibitors of ACE. Molecular docking simulated the intermolecular interactions of two peptides and ACE, and the two peptides formed hydrogen bonds with the active pockets of ACE. However, FQIN [M(O)] CILR was more closely linked to the active pockets of ACE, thereby exerting better ACE inhibition. Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) were studied with an oral dose of 10 mg/kg body weight. Both peptides reduced systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in SHRs, of which FQIN [M(O)] CILR was able to reduce the systolic blood pressure by 34 mmHg (SBP) (p < 0.05). Therefore, FQIN [M(O)] CILR was an excellent ACE inhibitory peptide.

Highlights The detection rate of hock-a-loogie saliva was higher than nasopharyngeal swabs. Hock-a-loogie saliva sample had a higher viral load than throat swab. Hock-a-loogie saliva sampling for SARS-CoV-2 detection is reliable.

The efficacy of entecavir and tenofovir in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) is inconsistent. To address this issue, we conducted a meta-analysis based on a current review of the literature addressing the efficacy and safety of entecavir and tenofovir. Electronic databases were searched through June 2014 for relevant clinical trials. We included 2 randomized controlled trials, 2 prospective cohort studies, and 7 case-control studies that included 1,656 patients. In the entecavir group, 842 of 992 were nucleos(t)ide-naïve chronic HBV patients, and in the tenofovir group 481 of 664 were nucleos(t)ide-naïve. The virological response to tenofovir was superior to entecavir (RR: 0.82; 95%CI: 0.72-0.93), especially in nucleos(t)ide-naïve chronic HBV patients at 48 weeks (RR: 0.78; 95%CI: 0.65-0.92). Additionally, there was no difference between entecavir and tenofovir for virological response at 24 weeks (RR: 0.87, 95%CI: 0.71-1.05). The alanine aminotransferase normalization rate, serological response, and adverse event rate were also not significantly different between entecavir and tenofovir at 24 or 48 weeks after treatment. These results suggest that tenofovir is a better choice to treat chronic HBV patients than entecavir as it is better able to suppress HBV viral load and has a similar safety profile.

Many important experiments in proteomics including protein digestion, enzyme substrate screening, enzymatic labeling, etc., involve the enzymatic reactions in a complex system where numerous substrates coexists with an enzyme. However, the enzyme kinetics in such a system remains unexplored and poorly understood. Herein, we derived and validated the kinetics equations for the enzymatic reactions in complex system. We developed an iteration approach to depict the enzymatic reactions in complex system. It was validated by 630 time-course points from 24 enzymatic reaction experiments and was demonstrated to be a powerful tool to simulate the reactions in the complex system. By applying this approach, we found that the ratio of substrate depletion is independent of other coexisted substrates under specific condition. This observation was then validated by experiments. Based on this striking observation, a simplified model was developed to determine the catalytic efficiencies of numerous competing substrates presented in the complex enzyme reaction system. When coupled with high-throughput quantitative proteomics technique, this simplified model enabled the accurate determination of catalytic efficiencies for 2369 peptide substrates of a protease by using only one enzymatic reaction experiment. Thus, this study provided, in the first time, a validated model for the large scale determination of specificity constants which could enable the enzyme substrate screening approach turned from a qualitative method of identifying substrates to a quantitative method of identifying and prioritizing substrates. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD004665.

Background/Aims: Basophils have been reported to infiltrate skin lesions in various skin diseases, but not in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This study investigated basophil infiltration in SLE and its mechanism. Methods: Twenty newly diagnosed SLE patients and twenty healthy controls were enrolled. Nine SLE patients underwent skin biopsies. Flow cytometric analysis the phenotype of peripheral basophils and their migration rate toward RANTES and MCP-1 were analyzed with the transwell culture system, also the expression of these two chemokines in skin tissue were analyzed with immunohistochemistry. Results: Increased activation and decreased numbers of peripheral basophils were observed in SLE patients compared with controls. Basophil migration into skin lesions of SLE patients were observed, but not in normal skin tissue. This migration was related to the upregulation of chemokine receptors CCR1 and CCR2 on basophils. In vitro studies showed that migration rate toward RANTES and MCP-1 increased significantly in basophils from SLE patients compared with those from controls. Consistently, high levels of RANTES and MCP-1 expression were observed in skin lesions from SLE patients but not in normal skin tissue. Conclusion: Basophil recruitment to skin lesions of SLE patients mediated by CCR1 and CCR2, which may contribute to tissue damage in SLE.