Cervical cancer (CC) patients have a poor prognosis due to the high recurrence rate. However, there are still no effective molecular signatures to predict the recurrence and survival rates for CC patients. Here, we aimed to identify a novel signature based on three types of RNAs [messenger RNA (mRNAs), microRNA (miRNAs), and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs)]. A total of 763 differentially expressed mRNAs (DEMs), 46 lncRNAs (DELs), and 22 miRNAs (DEMis) were identified between recurrent and non-recurrent CC patients using the datasets collected from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GSE44001; training) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (RNA- and miRNA-sequencing; testing) databases. A competing endogenous RNA network was constructed based on 23 DELs, 15 DEMis, and 426 DEMs, in which 15 DELs, 13 DEMis, and 390 DEMs were significantly associated with disease-free survival (DFS). A prognostic signature, containing two DELs (CD27-AS1, LINC00683), three DEMis (hsa-miR-146b, hsa-miR-1238, hsa-miR-4648), and seven DEMs (ARMC7, ATRX, FBLN5, GHR, MYLIP, OXCT1, RAB39A), was developed after LASSO analysis. The built risk score could effectively separate the recurrence rate and DFS of patients in the high- and low-risk groups. The accuracy of this risk score model for DFS prediction was better than that of the FIGO (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics) staging (the area under receiver operating characteristic curve: training, 0.954 vs 0.501; testing, 0.882 vs 0.656; and C-index: training, 0.855 vs 0.539; testing, 0.711 vs 0.508). In conclusion, the high predictive accuracy of our signature for DFS indicated its potential clinical application value for CC patients.

RESUMO OBJETIVO: A anemia aplástica (AA) é uma doença imunomediada que destrói células hematopoiéticas por meio dos linfócitos T ativados. A imunidade humoral mediada por linfócitos B também desempenha um papel importante na patogênese da AA. A subpopulação de células B reguladoras (Breg), que é definida como “B10”, secreta interleucina 10 (IL-10). No experimento, investigou-se se a proporção reduzida de células B10 nos pacientes de AA pode desempenhar um papel-chave na patogênese. MÉTODOS: Um total de 38 pacientes de AA (14 pacientes de anemia aplástica grave e 24 pacientes de anemia aplástica não grave) e 20 indivíduos de controle saudáveis foram incluídos. Todos os indivíduos não sofriam de doenças autoimunes ou de quaisquer outras doenças que afetam o sistema imunológico, tais como doenças contagiosas. As células mononucleares da medula óssea (PBMCs) eram isoladas e analisadas por citometria de fluxo (FCM) e ensaio de dupla marcação por imunofluorescência. A relação entre as proporções relativas de células B10 e as células ProB10 e as suas associações à AA, assim como a gravidade da doença avaliada por indicadores clínicos comuns, foram examinadas. RESULTADOS: Nossas análises revelaram que os pacientes de AA têm proporções significativamente menores de células B10 e células ProB10 periféricas em comparação com indivíduos de controle saudáveis. Os pacientes de anemia aplástica grave tiveram uma percentagem substancialmente menor de células B10 e células B10pro em comparação com pacientes de anemia aplástica não grave. Além disso, as células B10 e B10pro foram negativamente correlacionadas com contagens absolutas de neutrófilos, níveis de hemoglobina e plaquetas e contagem de reticulócitos absolutos nos pacientes de AA. CONCLUSÕES: Além disso, o estudo presente tentou elucidar o papel imunorregulatório potencial das células B10 na patogênese da AA e fornecer uma nova estratégia para a aplicação de imunoterapia baseada na célula B para tratar a AA no futuro.

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: Aplastic anemia (AA) is an immune-mediated disease that destroys hematopoietic cells through activated T lymphocytes. B lymphocyte-mediated humoral immunity also plays an important role in the pathogenesis of AA. Regulatory B cell (Breg) subpopulation, which is defined as “B10”, secretes interleukin 10 (IL-10). The objective of our experiment was to investigate whether the scale-down proportion of B10 cells in AA patients may play a key role in the pathogenesis. METHODS: A total of 38 AA patients (14 SAA patients and 24 NSAA patients) and 20 healthy control subjects were included. All subjects did not suffer from autoimmune diseases or any other diseases affecting the immune system, such as infectious diseases. Bone marrow mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated and analyzed by Flow cytometry (FCM) and Immunofluorescence double-labeling assay. The relationship between the relative proportions of B10 and ProB10 and their associations to AA, as well as disease severity, were assessed by common clinical indicators and then examined. RESULTS: Our analyses revealed AA patients had significantly lower proportions of peripheral B10 and B10pro compared to healthy controls. SAA patients had a substantially lower percentage of B10 cells and B10pro cells compared to NSAA patients. In addition, B10 cells and B10pro cells were negatively correlated with absolute neutrophil counts, hemoglobin levels and platelet, and absolute reticulocyte counts in AA patients. CONCLUSIONS: The present study attempted to elucidate the potential role of the scale-down proportion of B10 cells in the pathogenesis of AA.

Abstract In the production of chemicals from fermentation, the cost of downstream purification constitutes the major portion of the total production cost. Since the bioprocess generally contains a large amount of biochemical separation units, its flowsheets are complex. How to generate the rigorous superstructure of the downstream bioprocess is a primary problem and key step. In this work, a robust combined approach based on the P-graph was proposed to generate the rigorous superstructure of the downstream process of fermentation. This method integrates the hierarchical decomposition of the heuristics with P-graph-based algorithm MSG with the advantages including: (1) Different design flowsheets could be evaluated simultaneously; (2) An unique bipartite graph, P-graph, was introduced, which could represent the maximum structure clearly and intuitively; (3) The rigorous superstructure could be automatically generated. The validity of the present method was verified with two practical bioprocesses. Results show that the effective processes and the adequate operation units could be determined in the beginning stage of the design, and the tedious reforming steps during process synthesis could be avoided.