Gene therapy targeted to telomerase in HCC by AF-hTERT-TK/GCV

Objective： The aim of this study was to observe the affection of targeted therapy to plasmid AF-pGL3-hTERT-TK in HCC cell line HepG2. Methods： We constructed therapeutic plasmid pGL3-hTERT-TK （containing suicide gene TK that promoted by promoter of hTERT） and was conjugated with AF-liposome （a protein that can combine with the receptor ASPGR on HCC cell surface）. Then we transfected HCC cell line HepG2 and hepatic cell L02 with AF-pGL3-hTERT-TK, observed the effects of therapeutic plasmid AF-pGL3-hTERT-TK for HCC cell line growth and apoptosis in vitro by Flow cytometry and Tun- nel method. Results： Our results showed that TK gene was 1100 bp in plasmid pGL3-hTERT-TK. Plasmid pGL3-hTERT-TK can effectively transfect HCC cell HepG2 and the transfection rate was 8.91%. By recognizing and combining effects of recep- tor protein ASPGR on HCC cell surface the therapeutic plasmid AF-pGL3-hTERT-TK could easily enter into HCC cell HepG2 and induce its apeptosis. The apoptosis rate was 85.87% while only 8.65% in L02 cell. Four days after AF-pGL3-hTERT-TK transfected HepG2 was intervention by ganciclovir （GCV）, a lot of apeptotic bodies were found by Tunnel analysis, while little apoptotic body was found in hepatic cell L02. Conclusion： AF-pGL3-hTERT-TK can target to HCC cell line and induce it to apoptesis, almost has no influence on hepatic cell L02. AF-pGL3-hTERT-TK has the potential therapeutic effects for HCC.

Particle shape effect on hydrodynamics and heat transfer in spouted bed:A CFD-DEM study

Spouted bed has drawn much attention due to its good heat and mass transfer efficiency in many chemical units.Investigating the flow patterns and heat and mass transfer inside a spouted bed can help optimize the spouting process.Therefore,in this study,the effects of particle shape on the hydrodynamics and heat transfer in a spouted bed are investigated.This is done by using a validated computational fluid dynamics-discrete element method(CFD-DEM)model,considering volume-equivalent spheres and oblate and prolate spheroids.The results are analysed in detail in terms of the flow pattern,microstruc-ture,and heat transfer characteristics.The numerical results show that the prolate spheroids(Ar=2.4)form the largest bubble from the beginning of the spouting process and rise the highest because the fluid drag forces can overcome the interlocking and particle-particle frictional forces.Compared with spherical particles,ellipsoidal spheroids have better mobility because of the stronger rotational kinetic energy resulting from the rough surfaces and nonuniform torques.In addition,the oblate spheroid system exhibits better heat transfer performance benefiting from the larger surface area,while prolate spheroids have poor heat transfer efficiency because of their orientation distribution.These findings can serve as a reference for optimizing the design and operation of complex spouted beds.