Peking Union Medical College Hospital

About: Peking Union Medical College Hospital is a healthcare organization based out in Beijing, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Medicine & Population. The organization has 15996 authors who have published 16018 publications receiving 226505 citations.

SARS-CoV-2 proteome microarray for mapping COVID-19 antibody interactions at amino acid resolution

Abstract: Comprehensive profiling of humoral antibody response to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus-2 (CoV-2) proteins is essential in understanding the host immunity and in developing diagnostic tests and vaccines. To address this concern, we developed a SARS-CoV-2 proteome peptide microarray to analyze antibody interactions at the amino acid resolution. With the array, we demonstrate the feasibility of employing SARS-CoV-1 antibodies to detect the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid phosphoprotein. The first landscape of B-cell epitopes for SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG antibodies in the serum of 10 coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) patients with early infection is also constructed. With array data and structural analysis, a peptide epitope for neutralizing antibodies within the SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor-binding domain's interaction interface with the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor was predicted. All the results demonstrate the utility of our microarray as a platform to determine the changes of antibody responses in COVID-19 patients and animal models as well as to identify potential targets for diagnosis and treatment.

Significance of Serum Pepsinogens as a Biomarker for Gastric Cancer and Atrophic Gastritis Screening: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract: Background Human pepsinogens are considered promising serological biomarkers for the screening of atrophic gastritis (AG) and gastric cancer (GC). However, there has been controversy in the literature with respect to the validity of serum pepsinogen (SPG) for the detection of GC and AG. Consequently, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the diagnostic accuracy of SPG in GC and AG detection.

Effect of TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway on lung myofibroblast differentiation

Abstract: Aim: Myofibroblasts play important roles in the pathogenesis of lung fibrosis. Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 has been widely recognized as a key fibrogenic cytokine. The major signaling pathway of TGF-β1 is through cytoplasmic Smad proteins. Our study investigated the role of individual TGF-β1/Smad signal proteins in mediating α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) gene expression, which is a well-known key marker of myofibroblast differentiation. Methods: We transiently cotransfected α-SMA promoter-luciferase fusion plasmid (p895-Luc) and Smad expression plasmids and measured Luc activity in TGF-β1-treated human fetal lung fibroblasts. We induced Smad3 knockout mice lung fibrosis by bleomycin. α-SMA protein expression was assessed by Western blotting. Collagen protein was analyzed by measuring hydroxyprolin. Myofibroblast morphology was assessed by immunohistochemistry. Results: We found that the overexpression of Smad3, not Smad2 markedly increased TGF-β1-induced α-SMA promoter activity and α-SMA protein expression in vitro , whereas the overexpression of dominant negative mutant Smad3 and Smad7 repressed TGF-β1-induced α-SMA gene expression. Compared to wild-type mice, Smad3 knockout mice showed attenuated lung fibrosis after bleomycin treatment, manifested by lower collagen production and myofibroblast differentiation. Conclusion: Our study suggested TGF-β1/Smad3 is a major pathway which regulated the myofibroblast differentiation. This result indicates a potential significance for future attempts of attenuating the progression of human lung fibrosis by the inhibition of the Smad3 cascade.