Gene Therapy Activates Retinal Pigment Epithelium Cell Proliferation for Age-related Macular Degeneration in a Mouse Model

Objective Age-related macular degeneration(AMD)is a degenerative retinal disease.The degeneration or death of retinal pigment epithelium(RPE)cells is implicated in the pathogenesis of AMD.This study aimed to activate the proliferation of RPE cells in vivo by using an adeno-associated virus(AAV)vector encodingβ-catenin to treat AMD in a mouse model.Methods Mice were intravitreally injected with AAV2/8-Y733F-VMD2-β-catenin for 2 or 4 weeks,andβ-catenin expression was measured using immunofluorescence staining,real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(PCR),and Western blotting.The function ofβ-catenin was determined using retinal flat mounts and laser-induced damage models.Finally,the safety of AAV2/8-Y733F-VMD2-β-catenin was evaluated by multiple intravitreal injections.Results AAV2/8-Y733F-VMD2-β-catenin induced the expression ofβ-catenin in RPE cells.It activated the proliferation of RPE cells and increased cyclin D1 expression.It was beneficial to the recovery of laser-induced damage by activating the proliferation of RPE cells.Furthermore,it could induce apoptosis of RPE cells by increasing the expression of Trp53,Bax and caspase3 while decreasing the expression of Bcl-2.Conclusion AAV2/8-Y733F-VMD2-β-catenin increasedβ-catenin expression in RPE cells,activated RPE cell proliferation,and helped mice heal from laser-induced eye injury.Furthermore,it could induce the apoptosis of RPE cells.Therefore,it may be a safe approach for AMD treatment.

Effect of tirofiban combined with PCI on myocardial damage and platelet activation in patients with STEMI

Objective: To study the effect of tirofiban combined with PCI on myocardial damage and platelet activation in patients with STEMI. Methods: Patients with STEMI who were treated and underwent PCI in Wujiang First People's Hospital in Suzhou between March 2015 and February 2017 were selected as the research subjects and randomly divided into two groups, intervention group received tirofiban combined with PCI therapy, control group received routine PCI therapy, and the myocardial damage indexes and platelet activation indexes of two groups of patients were detected. Results: 24 h after PCI treatment, serum S100A/B, H-FABP, GDF-15, cTnT, FKN, MDA, sFas, sTWEAK and 8-OHdG levels of intervention group were obviously lower than those of control group;before PCI treatment and 24 h after PCI treatment, peripheral blood CD62p and PAC-1 expression intensity as well as serum P-selectin, thrombospondin and CD40 ligand levels of intervention group were obviously lower than those of control group. Conclusion: Tirofiban therapy before PCI can help alleviate myocardial damage and inhibit platelet activation.

In-vivo retinal imaging by optical coherence tomography using an RSOD-based phase modulator

Fourier-domain rapid scanning optical delay line (RSOD) was introduced for phase modulation and depth scanning in a time-domain optical coherence tomography (TD-OCT) system. Investigation of parameter optimization of RSOD was conducted. Experiments for RSOD characterization at different parameters of the groove pitch, focal length, galvomirror size, etc. were performed. By implementing the optimized RSOD in our established TD-OCT system with a broadband light source centered at 840 nm with 50 nm bandwidth, in vivo retina imaging of a rabbit was presented, demonstrating the feasibility of high-quality TD-OCT imaging using an RSOD-based phase modulator.