Changes in the levels of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in the skin tissue fluid, and the expression of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-17 and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in the blood of patients with vitiligo were investigated. One hundred and twenty patients diagnosed with vitiligo and treated in Daqing Long Nan Hospital from March 2014 to March 2016 were selected, including 88 patients with vitiligo vulgaris and 32 patients with segmental vitiligo. Comparative analyses were performed for research indexes. Another 80 healthy volunteers receiving physical examination were selected as healthy controls. The levels of GM-CSF in tissue fluid were detected via radioimmunoassay (RIA). The levels of sICAM-1 in tissue fluid and IL-6, IL-17 and TNF-α in the blood were detected via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The expression levels of IL-6, IL-17 and TNF-α in patients with progressive vitiligo were significantly higher than those in patients with stable vitiligo (P<0.05). The levels of sICAM-1 and GM-CSF in the skin tissue fluid at white spots of patients with vitiligo vulgaris were significantly higher than those in the skin tissue fluid at non-white spots (P<0.05). sICAM-1 levels had significant positive correlations with the levels of IL-6, IL-17 and TNF-α in the blood (P<0.05). The levels of sICAM-1 in the skin tissue fluid and IL-6 in the blood of patients with vitiligo were negatively correlated with the course of disease (P<0.05). The levels of sICAM-1 in the skin tissue fluid and IL-6 and IL-17 in the blood of patients with vitiligo were positively correlated with the skin lesion area of patients (P<0.05). The levels of sICAM-1 and GM-CSF in the skin tissue fluid, and the expression levels of IL-6, IL-17 and TNF-α in the blood of patients with vitiligo are abnormal.

Pediatric tuberculosis (TB) is an important part of global TB prevention and control. Diagnosis of childhood TB still remains challenging when using conventional tests, due to the non-specific clinical manifestations and paucibacillary nature of the specimens. Thus, a sensitive, rapid and low-cost diagnostic test is of great demand. Benefiting from specific and rapid Cas-protein-based catalytic activities, CRISPR-based biosensing platforms (CRISPR platforms) are showing superiority in detecting pathogen nucleic acid traces in clinical samples. Based on their excellent sensitivity, and time and cost saved in existing research, this study aimed to highlight the potential of CRISPR platforms as a tool for diagnosing pediatric TB, and advocate for studies to evaluate its performance in specimens collected from children, especially noninvasive specimens. These platforms are also promising in identifying drug resistance and genotyping. All of the above will help early diagnosis of pediatric TB, thus guide reasonable treatment, and be significant in achieving the World Health Organization End-TB strategy.

Editor, Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum (T. pallidum), and human beings are the only host. Recent studies have shown that pathological angiogenesis plays a key role in the pathogenesis of syphilis. 1,2 This benefits T. pallidum survival in the host and facilitates invasion of other parts of the host body. However, the molecular mechanism of pathological angiogenesis induced by T. pallidum remains unclear.Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are small and highly reactive molecules that are essential for redox signalling in various biological responses (such as gene expression, proliferation, differentiation and migration) at the physiological level. Excess ROS contribute to pathological angiogenesis in cancer, diabetic retinopathy, atherosclerosis and degenerative nervous system diseases. 3 There have been some studies on pathogenic microorganism-induced pathological angiogenesis that can be modulated by ROS, which mainly focused on carcinogenic pathogenic microorganisms. For example, Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus-induced ROS play an important role in Kaposi's sarcoma carcinogenesis by promoting proliferation and angiogenesis. 4 Whether ROS play a crucial role in pathological angiogenesis induced by T. pallidum has not been examined. The study published in this issue of JEADV by Li et al. 5 is the first to demonstrate that ROS play an important role in Tp47induced angiogenesis. Tp47 enhanced the excessive production of intracellular ROS and promoted angiogenesis through ROS-mediated autophagy. Therefore, these findings provide new molecular insights for understanding pathological angiogenesis in syphilis, which is relevant to developing therapeutic strategies.

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