Esophageal cancer is one of the leading malignancies globally and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been proved to have an important role in different malignancies including esophageal cancer. However their role in disease progression is still not clear. The objective of the study was to investigate the expression and role of LINC01234 in progression of esophageal cancer cells. LncRNA LINC01234 was found to be upregulated in esophageal cancer cells by chip sequencing. The expression level of LINC01234 was detected from different esophageal cancer cell lines by qRT-PCR. After this, the LINC01234 knockdown effects on cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis were evaluated by cell proliferation assay, wound healing assay, invasion assay, and flow cytometric analysis in vitro. Expression of lncRNA LINC01234 was found to be markedly upregulated in the CEC2 cell line. Furthermore, cell proliferation, migration and invasion were significantly (P < 0.05) suppressed as compared to negative control while apoptotic rate was also found increased as a result of the knockdown of LINC01234. Significantly upregulated expression of LINC01234 in CEC2 cells and downregulated expression after knockdown is observed. The impact of LINC01234 knockdown on cell migration, invasion, proliferation and apoptosis indicated that LINC01234 may represent a new marker and a potential therapeutic target for esophageal cancer.

Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is major cause of hand, foot and mouth disease. Large epidemics of EV71 infection have been recently reported in the Asian-Pacific region. Currently, no vaccine is available to prevent EV71 infection.

Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is the most common causative pathogens of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) associated with severe neurological complications. There is a great need to develop prophylactic vaccine against EV71 infection. EV71 virus-like particle (VLP) was produced in yeast expression system by the co-expression of four EV71 structural proteins VP1–VP4. Immunization with the recombinant VLPs elicited potent anti-EV71 antibody responses in adult mice and anti-VLP sera were able to neutralize EV71 virus in vitro. Neonatal mice model demonstrated VLP immunization conferred protection to suckling mice against the lethal viral challenge. Co-expression of four EV71 structural proteins VP1–VP4 in yeast expression systems is an effective method to produce EV71 VLPs. VLP-based vaccine shows great potential to prevent EV71 infection.

To investigate the origin and evolutionary history of the spread of HIV-1 subtype B in China, a total of 409 sequences of pol gene sampled from 1994 to 2012 in 29 provinces across China was subjected to phylogenetic and Bayesian molecular clock analyses. The study reveals that subtype B strains in China are genetically diverse and can be classified into four distinct subgroups, namely B′ (Thai-B), BJ-B (Beijing-B), Pan-B (Pandemic-B), and TW-B (Taiwan-B), according to the origin of the sequences. The BJ-B and TW-B are reported for the first time. Phylogeographic analysis reveals that B′ exhibits a nationwide, transprovincial distribution, and is found in 21 provinces in China in this study, whereas the Pan-B, BJ-B, and TW-B lineages are restricted to particular regions. From the same common ancestor of B′, there arise two subclusters in which sequences from Yunnan occupy the basal position. The times of the most recent common ancestors (tMRCAs) of B′ and BJ-B are estimated to be 1983.6 (1975.9–1990.3) and 1995.3 (1989.6–2000.3), respectively. The skyline plot profile reveals an exponential decrease in median number of effective infections of subtype B in China from 1994 to 2009. The existence of four types of B clades also indicates distinct transmission networks of subtype B, originating from different introduction events at different time points. The data presented here offer a new perspective on the epidemic of HIV-1 subtype B in China.