中老年脂质代谢紊乱患者胰岛素抵抗相关因素分析

探讨中老年不同时期的脂质代谢紊乱患者对胰岛素抵抗(IR)影响的相关因素.91例中年期、182例老年期脂质代谢紊乱患者检测空腹血糖、胰岛素、甘油三酯(TG)、胆固醇(TC)、高密度脂蛋白胆固醇(HDL-C)、低密度脂蛋白胆固醇(LDL-C)和体质量指数(BMI),并进行相关因素分析.中年期脂质代谢紊乱患者稳态胰岛素抵抗指数(HOMA-IR)与BMI相关,老年期脂质代谢紊乱患者HOMA-IR与TG水平相关.中年期脂质代谢紊乱患者体质量因素对其胰岛素抵抗的影响较为明显,随着年龄增长,老年期TG水平对其IR的影响较为明显.     

Abdominal obesity and metabolic syndrome

Metabolic syndrome is associated with abdominal obesity, blood lipid disorders, inflammation, insulin resistance or full-blown diabetes, and increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Proposed criteria for identifying patients with metabolic syndrome have contributed greatly to preventive medicine, but the value of metabolic syndrome as a scientific concept remains controversial. The presence of metabolic syndrome alone cannot predict global cardiovascular disease risk. But abdominal obesity - the most prevalent manifestation of metabolic syndrome - is a marker of 'dysfunctional adipose tissue', and is of central importance in clinical diagnosis. Better risk assessment algorithms are needed to quantify diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk on a global scale.     

Phenotypic plasticity and the epigenetics of human disease

It is becoming clear that epigenetic changes are involved in human disease as well as during normal development. A unifying theme of disease epigenetics is defects in phenotypic plasticity--cells' ability to change their behaviour in response to internal or external environmental cues. This model proposes that hereditary disorders of the epigenetic apparatus lead to developmental defects, that cancer epigenetics involves disruption of the stem-cell programme, and that common diseases with late-onset phenotypes involve interactions between the epigenome, the genome and the environment. Increased understanding of epigenetic-disease mechanisms could lead to disease-risk stratification for targeted intervention and to targeted therapies.     

A century-old debate on protein aggregation and neurodegeneration enters the clinic

The correlation between neurodegenerative disease and protein aggregation in the brain has long been recognized, but a causal relationship has not been unequivocally established, in part because a discrete pathogenic aggregate has not been identified. The complexity of these diseases and the dynamic nature of protein aggregation mean that, despite progress towards understanding aggregation, its relationship to disease is difficult to determine in the laboratory. Nevertheless, drug candidates that inhibit aggregation are now being tested in the clinic. These have the potential to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and related disorders and could, if administered presymptomatically, drastically reduce the incidence of these diseases. The clinical trials could also settle the century-old debate about causality.     

儿童精神障碍的遗传机制研究进展

 儿童精神障碍是一类在儿童和少年期发病的异常行为和精神障碍,具有较高的发病率,是遍及世界各国的重要问题之一。综述了几种常见儿童精神障碍的主要遗传学研究类型、相关的主要结果,总结了遗传位点鉴定后的功能研究方法及结果,提出了目前儿童精神障碍遗传学研究的挑战和未来的研究方向。     

糖尿病肾病发病机制研究进展

从遗传易感因素、糖代谢异常、脂代谢异常、肾血流动力学改变、炎性反应及细胞因子等方面研究并阐述糖尿病肾病的发病机制,从而寻找预防和治疗糖尿病肾病的最有效方法.     

α-Synuclein occurs physiologically as a helically folded tetramer that resists aggregation

Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder. Growing evidence indicates a causative role of misfolded forms of the protein α-synuclein in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. Intraneuronal aggregates of α-synuclein occur in Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites, the cytopathological hallmarks of Parkinson's disease and related disorders called synucleinopathies. α-Synuclein has long been defined as a 'natively unfolded' monomer of about 14?kDa (ref. 6) that is believed to acquire α-helical secondary structure only upon binding to lipid vesicles. This concept derives from the widespread use of recombinant bacterial expression protocols for in vitro studies, and of overexpression, sample heating and/or denaturing gels for cell culture and tissue studies. In contrast, we report that endogenous α-synuclein isolated and analysed under non-denaturing conditions from neuronal and non-neuronal cell lines, brain tissue and living human cells occurs in large part as a folded tetramer of about 58?kDa. Several methods, including analytical ultracentrifugation, scanning transmission electron microscopy and in vitro cell crosslinking confirmed the occurrence of the tetramer. Native, cell-derived α-synuclein showed α-helical structure without lipid addition and had much greater lipid-binding capacity than the recombinant α-synuclein studied heretofore. Whereas recombinantly expressed monomers readily aggregated into amyloid-like fibrils in vitro, native human tetramers underwent little or no amyloid-like aggregation. On the basis of these findings, we propose that destabilization of the helically folded tetramer precedes α-synuclein misfolding and aggregation in Parkinson's disease and other human synucleinopathies, and that small molecules that stabilize the physiological tetramer could reduce α-synuclein pathogenicity.     

Unravelling the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease

Recently, substantial advances in the understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have been made owing to three related lines of investigation. First, IBD has been found to be the most tractable of complex disorders for discovering susceptibility genes, and these have shown the importance of epithelial barrier function, and innate and adaptive immunity in disease pathogenesis. Second, efforts directed towards the identification of environmental factors implicate commensal bacteria (or their products), rather than conventional pathogens, as drivers of dysregulated immunity and IBD. Third, murine models, which exhibit many of the features of ulcerative colitis and seem to be bacteria-driven, have helped unravel the pathogenesis/mucosal immunopathology of IBD.     

Ionophore A23187 disrupts membrane structure by modifying protein-lipid interactions.

The physiological function of membrane-boudn protein clearly depends on the nature of its neighbouring lipid. However, the question of how critical the protein is to the structure and function of membrane lipid has received much less attention. There is some evidence that lipid surrounding membrane protein, 'boundary lipid', may be more ordered than continuum lipid. Protein can also alter the enthalpy and temperature of pure lipid-phase transitions. However, controversy surrounds the question of whether membrane proteins determine long-range aspects of lipid structure or merly perturb their local environments. Here, we demonstrate that a lipophilic substance, the calcium ionophore, A23187 (Lilly), dramatically disorders the lipid structure of the membrane and that this phenomenon depends on the presence of proteins.     

血清总胆红素、血脂与冠心病关系的研究

目的研究血清总胆红素、血脂与冠心病的关系.方法测定冠心病组、对照组的血清总胆红素、血脂(总胆固醇、甘油三酯、低密度脂蛋白),采用病例-对照的研究方法,对两组结果进行比较分析.结果冠心病组的血清总胆红素明显低于对照组(P<0.01),血脂明显高于对照组(P<0.01).血脂与冠心病发病之间的联系,其差别的显著性受到低水平血清总胆红素的影响而增高.结论冠心病的发病危险与低水平血清总胆红素和高水平血脂呈正相关,血清总胆红素水平影响高血脂与冠心病之间的关系.     

川崎病冠脉损害患儿血脂水平变化及洛伐他汀的干预作用

目的探索川崎病出现冠脉损害的患儿血脂水平的变化,以及他汀类降脂药物对其干预作用。方法研究39例川崎病冠脉损伤患儿血脂水平变化。对血脂异常者随机分成治疗组和非洛伐他汀对照组。对照组常规治疗,治疗组在对照组基础上加用洛伐他汀一月后对比血脂水平。结果冠脉损害患儿血脂水平明显存在差异（P〈0．05）,洛伐他汀治疗后冠脉损害患儿血脂水平可显著改善（P〈0．05）。结论川崎病冠脉损害患儿普遍存在血脂水平紊乱,洛伐他汀可改善川崎病患儿血脂水平。     

Keeping time with the human genome

The cloning and characterization of 'clock gene' families has advanced our understanding of the molecular control of the mammalian circadian clock. We have analysed the human genome for additional relatives, and identified new candidate genes that may expand our knowledge of the molecular workings of the circadian clock. This knowledge could lead to the development of therapies for treating jet lag and sleep disorders, and add to our understanding of the genetic contribution of clock gene alterations to sleep and neuropsychiatric disorders. The human genome will also aid in the identification of output genes that ultimately control circadian behaviours.     

Misfolded proteins partition between two distinct quality control compartments

The accumulation of misfolded proteins in intracellular amyloid inclusions, typical of many neurodegenerative disorders including Huntington's and prion disease, is thought to occur after failure of the cellular protein quality control mechanisms. Here we examine the formation of misfolded protein inclusions in the eukaryotic cytosol of yeast and mammalian cell culture models. We identify two intracellular compartments for the sequestration of misfolded cytosolic proteins. Partition of quality control substrates to either compartment seems to depend on their ubiquitination status and aggregation state. Soluble ubiquitinated misfolded proteins accumulate in a juxtanuclear compartment where proteasomes are concentrated. In contrast, terminally aggregated proteins are sequestered in a perivacuolar inclusion. Notably, disease-associated Huntingtin and prion proteins are preferentially directed to the perivacuolar compartment. Enhancing ubiquitination of a prion protein suffices to promote its delivery to the juxtanuclear inclusion. Our findings provide a framework for understanding the preferential accumulation of amyloidogenic proteins in inclusions linked to human disease.     

Familial dementia caused by polymerization of mutant neuroserpin.

Aberrant protein processing with tissue deposition is associated with many common neurodegenerative disorders; however, the complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors has made it difficult to decipher the sequence of events linking protein aggregation with clinical disease. Substantial progress has been made toward understanding the pathophysiology of prototypical conformational diseases and protein polymerization in the superfamily of serine proteinase inhibitors (serpins). Here we describe a new disease, familial encephalopathy with neuroserpin inclusion bodies, characterized clinically as an autosomal dominantly inherited dementia, histologically by unique neuronal inclusion bodies and biochemically by polymers of the neuron-specific serpin, neuroserpin. We report the cosegregation of point mutations in the neuroserpin gene (PI12) with the disease in two families. The significance of one mutation, S49P, is evident from its homology to a previously described serpin mutations, whereas that of the other, S52R, is predicted by modelling of the serpin template. Our findings provide a molecular mechanism for a familial dementia and imply that inhibitors of protein polymerization may be effective therapies for this disorder and perhaps for other more common neurodegenerative diseases.     

海糖平改善小鼠脂质代谢紊乱作用研究

研究射干茎叶提取物-海糖平（HTP）对高脂饲料诱导的小鼠脂代谢紊乱的改善作用. ICR小鼠连续12周高脂饲料喂养诱发脂质代谢紊乱. 造模成功后分别灌胃给予海糖平50,100,200 mg/kg BW,治疗4周,并以吉非罗齐胶囊（100 mg/kg BW）作为阳性对照药. 治疗结束后检测肝脏和血清中甘油三酯（TG）、总胆固醇（TC）含量,附睾脂肪组织重量等指标,同时做肝脏组织病理检查. 结果显示海糖平能够降低肝脏中TG、TC水平及血清中TG水平,减轻附睾脂肪组织重量,减少肝细胞中脂滴的蓄积. 证实海糖平具有改善高脂饲料喂养小鼠的血清和肝脏中脂质代谢紊乱的作用.      

磷脂形状对生物膜自组织结构的影响

采用聚合物自洽场理论研究了构成生物膜的磷脂分子的形状对含有2个跨膜蛋白的生物膜自组织结构的影响.每个磷脂分子由一条疏水的尾巴和亲水的头构成,可以看作一根接有亲水头的高分子链.由系统自由能求极小,可以得到系统的平衡态构型.结果发现,当磷脂分子具有头尾对称的柱状形状时,生物膜形成的是人们熟知的通常形态;而当磷脂分子头部比较大、整体形成锥形结构时,生物膜可以形成孔洞结构.随着2个跨膜蛋白之间距离的增加,生物膜会依次形成两孔洞、三孔洞和四孔洞.通过改变跨膜蛋白不同的疏水程度和磷脂分子头尾的体积比,构造出了生物膜结构形态的相图.这一发现对于理解蛋白质-磷脂膜的相互作用、生物膜的融合分裂以及脂质筏的形成等具有重要的意义.     

An IgG autoantibody which inactivates C1-inhibitor

Antibodies are considered to play a specific pathogenic role in certain disease states such as myasthenia gravis, Graves' disease and autoimmune haemolytic anaemia. Autoantibodies which interfere with the function of enzyme cascade systems have also been described in diseases such as acquired haemophilia (anti-factor VIII antibodies) and glomerulonephritis (C3 nephritic factor). The identification of these autoantibodies is crucial to an understanding of the aetiology of such diseases and is also of importance in revealing the inter-relationships of the immune system with other biological pathways. This is the first report of an immunoglobulin G (IgG) autoantibody reactive with C1-inhibitor (C1-Inh), a pivotal inhibitor of the inflammatory response which is known to inactivate proteins of the complement, kinin, fibrinolytic and 'contact phase' systems. This autoantibody was isolated from a patient with a novel variant of acquired angioedema and C1-Inh dysfunction. This finding highlights the involvement of the immune system in the pathogenesis of disorders characterized by the presence of dysfunctional inflammatory response proteins.     

Crystal structure of a stable dimer reveals the molecular basis of serpin polymerization

Repeating intermolecular protein association by means of beta-sheet expansion is the mechanism underlying a multitude of diseases including Alzheimer's, Huntington's and Parkinson's and the prion encephalopathies. A family of proteins, known as the serpins, also forms large stable multimers by ordered beta-sheet linkages leading to intracellular accretion and disease. These 'serpinopathies' include early-onset dementia caused by mutations in neuroserpin, liver cirrhosis and emphysema caused by mutations in alpha(1)-antitrypsin (alpha(1)AT), and thrombosis caused by mutations in antithrombin. Serpin structure and function are quite well understood, and the family has therefore become a model system for understanding the beta-sheet expansion disorders collectively known as the conformational diseases. To develop strategies to prevent and reverse these disorders, it is necessary to determine the structural basis of the intermolecular linkage and of the pathogenic monomeric state. Here we report the crystallographic structure of a stable serpin dimer which reveals a domain swap of more than 50 residues, including two long antiparallel beta-strands inserting in the centre of the principal beta-sheet of the neighbouring monomer. This structure explains the extreme stability of serpin polymers, the molecular basis of their rapid propagation, and provides critical new insights into the structural changes which initiate irreversible beta-sheet expansion.     

Angiogenesis as a therapeutic target

Inhibiting angiogenesis is a promising strategy for treatment of cancer and several other disorders, including age-related macular degeneration. Major progress towards a treatment has been achieved over the past few years, and the first antiangiogenic agents have been recently approved for use in several countries. Therapeutic angiogenesis (promoting new vessel growth to treat ischaemic disorders) is an exciting frontier of cardiovascular medicine, but further understanding of the mechanisms of vascular morphogenesis is needed first.     

DNA sequence and analysis of human chromosome 18

Chromosome 18 appears to have the lowest gene density of any human chromosome and is one of only three chromosomes for which trisomic individuals survive to term. There are also a number of genetic disorders stemming from chromosome 18 trisomy and aneuploidy. Here we report the finished sequence and gene annotation of human chromosome 18, which will allow a better understanding of the normal and disease biology of this chromosome. Despite the low density of protein-coding genes on chromosome 18, we find that the proportion of non-protein-coding sequences evolutionarily conserved among mammals is close to the genome-wide average. Extending this analysis to the entire human genome, we find that the density of conserved non-protein-coding sequences is largely uncorrelated with gene density. This has important implications for the nature and roles of non-protein-coding sequence elements.