National Health and Family Planning Commission

About: National Health and Family Planning Commission is a government organization based out in Beijing, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Kashin–Beck disease. The organization has 2379 authors who have published 1440 publications receiving 20078 citations. The organization is also known as: Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China.

Multilayered HIV-1 gag-specific T-cell responses contribute to slow progression in HLA-A*30-B*13-C*06-positive patients.

Abstract: OBJECTIVE The HLA-A30-B13-C06 haplotype is reported to be associated with slow disease progression in the HIV-1-infected Northern Han Chinese population, but the mechanism remains unknown. DESIGN Gag-specific T-cell responses and gag sequencing were performed in nine B' clade HIV-1-infected HLA-A30-B13-C06-positive slow progressors to understand HLA-associated viral control. METHODS Interferon-γ ELISPOT assays were performed to determine the Gag-specific T-cell responses and cross-reactivity to variant peptides. Longitudinal HIV-1 gag sequencing was performed at the clonal level. RESULTS The overlapping peptides (OLP)-48: RQANFLGKIWPSHKGRPGNF (RL42 Gag434-453); OLP-2: GQLDRWEKIRLRPGGKKKYR (RL42 Gag11-30); OLP-15: VQNLQGQMVHQPISPRTLNA (RL42 Gag135-154) and OLP-16: HQPISPRTLNAWVKVVEEKA (RL42 Gag144-163) were dominant in HLA-A30-B13-C06-positive patients. A new epitope [HQPISPRTL (Gag144-152, HL9)] within OLP-15 and OLP-16 was identified. Results showed that strong cross-reactive responses to multiple immunodominant peptides were associated with better clinical outcomes. In addition, efficient cross-recognition of HL9 autologous variants developed in patients was associated with high CD4 T-cell counts. However, two patients who had developed mutations to their dominant responses during the follow-up experienced decrease in CD4 T-cell counts. It appears that Gag-specific T-cell responses against one or more unmutated epitopes or cross-recognition of autologous epitope variants contribute to slow disease progression in HLA-A30-B13-C06-positive patients. CONCLUSION We conclude that a single 'appropriate' Gag-specific T-cell response appears to be sufficient to protect patients from disease progression. HLA-A30-B13-C06-positive individuals benefited from having a choice of numerous immunodominant gag epitopes for T cells to react. The study offers new insight for future design of T-cell-based HIV-1 vaccine.

Evaluating the Correlations Between Osteoporosis and Lifestyle-Related Factors Using Transcriptome-Wide Association Study.

Abstract: Osteoporosis (OP) is a multi-factorial bone disease influenced by genetic factors, age, and lifestyles. The aim of this study is to evaluate the genetic correlations between OP and multiple lifestyle-related factors, and explore the genes underlying the detected genetic correlations. Linkage disequilibrium score regression (LDSC) analysis was applied to evaluate the genetic correlations of total body bone mineral density (TB-BMD) of different ages (including 15–30 years, 30–45 years, 45–60 years, and over 60 years) with four common lifestyle/environment-related factors (including serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D, cigarette smoking, alcohol dependence, and caffeine metabolites). Transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) of TB-BMD (30–45 years) and smoking were conducted in peripheral blood (PB), whole blood (WB), and adipose tissues. The identified candidate genes were also subjected to gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). Genetic correlation was only observed between TB-BMD (30–45 years) and cigarette smoking status (P = 0.01, LD score = 0.11 ± 0.04). No significant genetic correlation was detected for other lifestyle/environmental factors, including serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D, alcohol dependence, and caffeine metabolites for TB-BMD within all of the four age groups. TWAS identified 85 genes in PB and 163 genes in WB for TB-BMD, as well as 123 genes in PB and 257 genes in WB for smoking. Multiple common candidate genes shared by both TB-BMD and smoking were detected, such as MAP1LC3B (PTB-BMD-PB = 1.00 × 10–3, Psmoking-PB = 9.62 × 10–3, PTB-BMD-WB = 2.99 × 10–2) and SLC23A3 (PTB-BMD-WB = 1.48 × 10–2, Psmoking-WB = 8.76 × 10–3). GSEA detected one GO terms for TB-BMD (cytosol) in WB, one GO term for smoking (mitochondrion) in PB, and one pathway (oocyte meiosis) for smoking in WB.

Both maternal and paternal risk factors for term singleton low birthweight infants in rural Chinese population: a population-based, retrospective cohort study

Abstract: No large population-based study has focused on both maternal paternal risk factors for low birthweight (LBW) in China. We aimed to identify parental risk factors associated with LBW.A population-based, retrospective cohort study was conducted on 202,725 singleton infants at 37–42 weeks. These term singleton newborns were classified as LBW with birthweight ≤2500 g(TLBW) and normal birthweight between 50th to 97th percentile (TNBW 50th–97th) according to Chinese singleton norms. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to find those parental risk factors of LBW by comparing two groups. TLBW and TNBW(50th–97th) occupied 4.8% and 70.8% of the study population, respectively. Logistic regression showed a significant association with positive maternal hepatitis B surface antigen (RR = 1.979, P = 0.047), irregular folic acid intake (RR = 1.152, P = 0.003), paternal history of varicocele (RR = 2.404, P = 0.003) and female babies (RR = 1.072, P = 0.046). Maternal smoking, hypertension and history of stillbirth were found related to LBW but no statistically significant. Positive maternal hepatitis B surface antigen, irregular folic acid intake, paternal history of varicocele had a negative effect on birth weight. Measures are necessarily taken to avoid them to improve pregnancy outcomes. Further studies should be done to investigate each detailed risk factors on LBW.

Pre-pregnancy body mass index and time to pregnancy among couples pregnant within a year: A China cohort study.

Abstract: Background Extreme pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) values have been associated with reduced fecundability and prolonged time to pregnancy in previous studies. However, the effect in fertile couples is unclear. Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the association between pre-pregnancy BMI and fecundability, measured as time to pregnancy (TTP), among couples that achieved pregnancy within 1 year. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study of 50,927 couples wishing to conceive, enrolled in the National Free Preconception Health Examination Project (NFPHEP) in Chongqing, China, during 2012–2016. Participants’ weight and height were measured by NFPHEP-trained preconception guidance physicians. TTP measured in months was used to determine subfecundity (TTP >6 months). The strength of association between BMI and TTP/subfecundity was measured with fecundability odds ratios (FOR)/odds ratios (OR) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI), calculated with Cox and logistic regression analysis. We used restricted cubic spline regression (RCS) to test the observed FOR trends. Results Compared to women with normal BMI, women with pre-pregnancy overweight/obesity had longer TTP (FOR = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.94–0.99) and increased risk of subfecundity (OR = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.00–1.17). There was no association between TTP and male BMI. RCS trends varied when data were stratified by male pre-pregnancy BMI, with the greatest change detected in pre-pregnancy underweight men. Conclusions Pre-pregnancy overweight/obesity was associated with longer TTP and subfecundity among women who became pregnant within 1 year; this effect was likely mediated by their partners’ pre-pregnancy BMI. These findings indicate that BMI could affect fecundability, independently of affecting the risk of sterility. Advice on weight management and maintaining healthy weight should be included in couples’ preconception guidance.

Tubeimoside I Inhibits Cell Proliferation and Induces a Partly Disrupted and Cytoprotective Autophagy Through Rapidly Hyperactivation of MEK1/2-ERK1/2 Cascade via Promoting PTP1B in Melanoma.

Abstract: Tubeimoside I (TBMS1), also referred to as tubeimoside A, is a natural compound extracted from the plant Tu Bei Mu (Bolbostemma paniculatum), which is a traditional Chinese herb used to treat multiple diseases for more than 1,000 years. Studies in recent years reported its anti-tumor activity in several cancers. However, whether it is effective in melanoma remains unknown. In the current study, we discovered that TBMS1 treatment inhibited melanoma cell proliferation in vitro and tumorigenecity in vivo. Besides, we also observed that TBMS1 treatment induced a partly disrupted autophagy, which still remained a protective role, disruption of which by chloroquine (CQ) or 3-methyladenine (3-MA) enhanced TBMS1-induced cell proliferation inhibition. CQ combined with TBMS1 even induced cellular apoptosis. BRAF(V600E) mutation and its continuously activated downstream MEK1/2-ERK1/2 cascade are found in 50% of melanomas and are important for malanomagenesis. However, hyperactivating MEK1/2-ERK1/2 cascade can also inhibit tumor growth. Intriguingly, we observed that TBMS1 rapidly hyperactivated MEK1/2-ERK1/2, inhibition of which by its inhibitor SL-327 rescued the anti-cancerous effects of TBMS1. Besides, the targets of TBMS1 were predicted by the ZINC Database based on its structure. It is revealed that protein-tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) might be one of the targets of TBMS1. Inhibition of PTP1B by its selective inhibitor TCS401 or shRNA rescued the anti-cancerous effects of TBMS1 in melanoma cells. These results indicated that TBMS1 might activate PTP1B, which further hyperactivates MEK1/2-ERK1/2 cascade, thereby inhibiting cell proliferation in melanoma. Our results provided the potentiality of TBMS1 as a drug candidate for melanoma therapy and confirmed that rapidly hyperactivating an oncogenic signaling pathway may also be a promising strategy for cancer treatment.