Coats disease is a relatively rare and idiopathic disorder characterized by retinal telangiectasia and massive intra-retinal and (or) sub-retinal lipid accumulation, resulting in complications including retinal detachment and neovascular glaucoma. Previous reports have revealed that Coats disease can be associated with other disorders, especially some inherited diseases, such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). Coats disease associated with other inherited disorders is generally called Coats-like retinopathy, which has some unique features that differs from the classic Coats disease, for example there is no sex and age preference, more bilateral cases, more severe cases and more genetic factors involved. Patients of Coats-like retinopathy with RP and FSHD may have mutations in Crumbs homologue gene 1 and D4Z4 genes.
Inherited retinal diseases (IRD) are a group of genetic disorders with high genetic and clinical heterogeneity. Patients with IRD may have their clinical diagnosis confirmed by genetic testing. Over the past 30 years, rapid advances in molecular genetics have raised the disease-causing gene variant detection rate and the accuracy of genetic testing, which provide hope to patients. The genetic diagnosis of patients with IRD is complicated due to the overlapping clinical phenotypes, and the fact that different variants lead to different phenotypes and severity even of the same gene. It is very important to overall evaluate the clinical phenotype of patients, precisely select genetic testing methods, and reasonably define disease-causing genes and variants during genetic diagnosis, which can guide the patient's subsequent treatment and provide genetic counseling.
Paediatric retinal disease is the most important part of paediatric ophthalmology. It usually manifests as leukocoria or yellow pupil, typically in retinopathy of prematurity, familial exudative vitreoretinopathy, persistent hyperplastic primary vitreous, Coats disease and retinoblastoma. It also can be manifested as nystamus poor visual fixation or progressive worsening of visual function, typically in Leber congenital amaurosis, Stargardt disease, Best disease and cone and rod dystrophy. Paediatric retinal diseases can be roughly divided into acquired, hereditary and congenital developmental abnormalities. With the development of gene and stem cell technologies, the advent of new medicine, equipments and new techniques, the concept of diagnosis and treatment in paediatric retinal diseases is also changing. In China, the level is improving progressively in both clinical and research areas of paediatric retinal diseases.
Objective To investigate the impact of genetic and environmental factors on mental health status and to estimate the prevalence of subclinical psychiatric symptoms and psychological problems in child and adolescent twins, by using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Methods A total of 59 pairs of twins aged 6-16 years were recruited with support from educational committees and schools. After the guardians of these twins had signed an informed consent form, SDQ were completed by the parents and teachers of these twins to investigate their mental health status. Buccal mucosa samples were collected from all twins for DNA extraction and zygosity identification test. Results The intrapair correlation coefficients of monozygotic twins were significantly different from those of dizygotic twins in terms of emotional symptoms, inattention-hyperactivity, peer problems, impact and diagnostic predictions (including any psychiatric disorder, emotional disorder, oppositional/conduct disorders, ADHD/hyperkinesis). The results from the SDQ screening questionnaire showed that up to 37.5% of the studied twins were suffering from a psychiatric disorder, including emotional disorder (5.5%), oppositional/conduct disorder (29.7%), and ADHD/hyperkinesis (14.8%).Conclusion Genes plays an important role in the mental health status of child and adolescent twins. More attention should be paid to the mental development and mental health in these twins, because of the considerable prevalence of subclinical psychiatric symptoms and psychological problems.
Clinically, fracture nonunion often leads to pain and disability in patients. Fracture nonunion often requires additional surgery to restore skeletal muscle function, so the treatment of fracture nonunion has always been a difficult point in the field of orthopedics. In recent years, with the development of genetic engineering, the technology of using gene to treat fracture nonunion has been widely studied. A large number of experiments have confirmed that the target genes encoding growth factors related to fracture healing are introduced into target cells through different delivery methods in vivo or in vitro, thereby expressing specific growth factors can promote fracture healing, which provides a new way for treating fracture nonunion. This article will discuss the research status of different delivery methods of osteogenic genes, as well as their advantages and disadvantages, in order to provide a theoretical basis for targeted gene therapy for fracture nonunion.
Inherited eye disease is a heterogeneous group of eye disorders caused by genetic defects, which has many genetic characteristics, such as multiple inheritance modes and numerous gene variation types. Over the past few decades, genetic testing has improved significantly, with more and more known disease-causing gene variants identified. With the rapid development of high-throughput sequencing technology, clinical diagnosis and treatment of eye genetic diseases have been accelerated, and molecular diagnosis of eye genetic diseases has become an important step in accurate diagnosis and treatment. How to correctly select and evaluate each kind of genetic testing technology, reasonably standardize the use of genetic testing technology, and provide patients with more accurate genetic counseling are problem that clinicians need to seriously consider.
ObjectiveTo assess the association of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene-460C/T and-634C/G polymorphism with diabetic retinopathy (DR) among patients in Asia and European by meta-analysis. MethodsA systematic search of electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, VIP, Wanfang technological, CNKI, etc.) was carried out until Jun, 2014. Case-control studies on the relationship between genetic polymorphism of VEGF-460C/T and VEGF-634C/G with diabetic retinopathy were included in this analysis. The data were quantitatively analyzed by RevMan 5.0 software after assessing the quality of included studies. The pooled odds ratios (OR) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to assess the strength of the association. ResultsVEGF-460C/T (7 studies:899 cases and 786 controls) and VEGF-634C/G (10 studies:1615 cases and 1861 controls) were inclued in this meta-analysis. Significant association was found for-460C/T polymorphism in Aisa (C versus T:OR=1.52, 95%CI was, Z=3.72, P=0.0002; CC versus CT+TT:OR=1.61, 95%CI was[1.22, 1.90], Z=3.05, P=0.002; TT versus CT+CC:OR=0.64, 95%CI was[1.19, 2.19], Z=2.07, P=0.04), and VEGF-634CC gene type was associated with DR in European (OR=1.56, 95%CI[1.08, 2.25], Z=2.37, P=0.02). No significant publication bias was found. ConclusionsThe meta-analysis demonstrated that DR was associated with VEGF-460C/T polymorphism in Asia, and C alleles and CC gene type was the risk polymorphism; VEGF-634C/G polymorphism was not associated with DR, but its CC genotype maybe the risk factor in European. Further case-control studies based on larger sample size are still needed, especially for-634C/G polymorphism.
Objective To summarize the current progress in the genetic modification of vascular prostheses and to look forward to the future of genetic modification in vascular prostheses. Methods PubMed onl ine search with the key words of “vascular prostheses, gene” was undertaken to identify articles about the genetic modification of vascular prostheses. Then these articles were reviewed and summarized. Results To improve long-term patency of vascular prostheses, various genes were transfected into seeded cells. The antithrombosis activity of local vessels increased. Conclusion Progresses in tissue engineering and molecular biology make possible endothel ial ization and genetic modification of vascular prostheses. However, because most relevant researches are still basic experiments, further study is needed before cl inical appl ication.
Objective To observe the effect of RNA interference (RNAi) on HepG2 hepatic cancer cell by small interfering RNA (siRNA). Methods siRNA targeting vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene was transfected into HepG2 cells by LipofectimineTM 2000. The VEGF mRNA and protein were respectively detected by real-time quantitive PCR and Western blot, and the concentration of VEGF protein in the cell culture supertant was determined by ELISA at 48 h after culture. Results The average efficiency of siRNA transfection was (90.4±2.9)% after 6 h cell culture. The expressions of VEGF mRNA and protein in HepG2 cells could be effectively suppressed by siRNA, and the concentration of VEGF protein in the cell culture supertant was also decreased. Conclusion siRNA can knock down the expression of VEGF gene and decrease the concentration of VEGF protein in HepG2 cells.
Epilepsy is a chronic brain dysfunction disease with complex and diverse causes, but 70%-80% of patients do not have obvious characteristic phenotypic symptoms. In order to provide precise treatment for epilepsy patients, research on the genetic pathogenic factors and pathogenesis of epilepsy has attracted much attention. Different types of epilepsy are constantly found to be closely related to mutations in specific genes, such as SCN1A, KCNA2, KCNT1, GABRA1, TSCs, CDKL5, and so on. Therefore, the development of broad-spectrum antiepileptic drugs is very difficult. However, plant-based drugs or functional ingredients derived from traditional medicinal herbs, such as cannabinol, aconitine, and dodecenal, will expand the development of safer and more effective anti epileptic drugs.