Expression of survivin protein in human colorectal carcinogenesis

AIM: To identify the role of survivin in colorectal carcinogenesis and the relationship between Survivin and histological differentiation grade of colorectal carcinoma.METHODS: Immunohistochemical staining of survivin by using the monoclonal antibody was performed by the standard streptavidin-peroxidase (SP) technique for the 188paraffin sections which included 30 normal colorectal mucosas, 41 adenomas with low grade dysplasia, 30adenomas with high grade dysplasia, and 87 colorectal carcinomas which were classified as high, middle and low differentiated subgroups which included 33, 28, 26 cases respectively.RESULTS: Expression of survivin was observed in the cytoplasm of adenoma with dysplasia and colorectal carcinoma cells. No immunoreactivity of survivin was seen in normal mucosas. The positive rate of survivin increased in the transition from normal mucosas to adenomas with low grade dysplasia to high grade dysplasia/carcinomas (0.0 %, 31.7 %, 56.7 % and 63.2% respectively). But the difference between high grade dyspiasia and carcinomas had no statistical significance. Positive rate was not related to histological differentiation grade of colorectal carcinoma.Moreover, there was no correlation between histological differentiation grade of colorectal carcinoma and immunoreactive intensity of survivin.CONCLUSION: The expression of survivin is the essential event in the early stage of colorectal carcinogenesis and plays an important role in the transition sequence and it is not related to histological differentiation grade of colorectal carcinoma. It thus may provide a new diagnostic and therapeutic target in colorectal cancer.

Oral immunization of animals with transgenic cherry tomatillo expressing HBsAg

AIM: To investigate the expression of recombinant HBsAg (rHBsAg) in transgenic cherry tomatillo in order to explore the feasibility of producing HBV oral vaccine with cherry tomatillo by animal immune tests.METHODS: The recombinant plant expression vector containing HBsAg gene was constructed. Mediated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens, HBsAg gene was transferred into cotyledons of cherry tomatillo. Transformed cherry tomatillos were obtained through hygromycin delay-selection. Integrated DNA in transgenic cherry tomatillo was confirmed by hygromycin resistance selection, Gus detection, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and dot blotting analysis. Antigenicity of rHBsAg was examined by ELISA and the immunogenicity of rHBsAg derived from transgenic cherry tomatillo tissues was confirmed by oral feed of transformed tissues to BALB/c mice primed with commercial HBV vaccines. Specific antibody titers in mice's serum were examined by ELISA every week.RESULTS: By far, 10 positive lines of transgenic cherry tomatillos containing HBsAg gene were obtained. Among different organs of the same transgenic cherry tomatillo,level of rHBsAg expressed in leaves was the highest with the yield up to 300ng/g fresh weight. And the rHBsAg expression level in fruits was about 10 ng/g fresh weight.In animal immune tests, oral delivery with transgenic tissues to mice primed with commercial vaccine instead of naive mice resulted in significant immune response.CONCLUSION: The result of this animal immune test indicated the rHBsAg derived from transgenic cherry tomatillo possessed normal immunogenicity. This work demonstrated the feasibility to generate oral immunogenic rHBsAg in transgenic cherry tomatillo, and would provide some experimental approach for the production of low-cost oral vaccines using transgenic cherry tomatillo in large scale.

Expression of ORF2 partial gene of hepatitis E virus in tomatoes and immunoactivity of expression products

AIM: To transfer hepatitis E virus (HEV) ORF2 partial gene to tomato plants, to investigate its expression in transformants and the immunoactivity of expression products, and to explore the feasibility of developing a new type of plantderived HEV oral vaccine.METHODS: Plant binary expression vector p1301E2,carrying a fragment of HEV open reading frame-2 (named HEV-E2), was constructed by linking the fragment to a constitutive CaMV35s promoter and nos terminator, then directly introduced into Agrobacterium tumefaciens EHA105. With leaf-disc method, tomato plants medicated by EHA105 were transformed and hygromycin-resistant plantlets were obtained in selective medium containing hygromycin. The presence and integration of foreign DNA in transgenic tomato genome were confirmed by Gus gene expression, PCR amplification and Southern dot blotting.The immunoactivity of recombinant protein extracted from transformed plants was examined by enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) using a monoclonal antibody specifically against HEV. ELISA was also used to estimate the recombinant protein content in leaves and fruits of the transformants.RESULTS: Seven positive lines of HEV-E2-transgenic tomato plants confirmed by PCR and Southern blotting were obtained and the immunoactivity of recombinant protein could be detected in extracts of transformants. The expression levels of recombinant protein were 61.22 ng/g fresh weight in fruits and 6.37-47.9 ng/g fresh weight in leaves of the transformants.CONCLUSION: HEV-E2 gene was correctly expressed in transgenic tomatoes and the recombinant antigen derived from them has normal immunoactivity. Transgenic tomatoes may hold a good promise for producing a new type of lowcost oral vaccine for hepatitis E virus.