TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you are given a passage which has a question and the context. You have to generate an answer to the question based on the information present in the context.
PROBLEM: Context: Triptolide (TPT), a component of the Chinese herb Triptergium wilfordii, has potent immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory activity and is used clinically in recipients of kidney transplantation.', 'This work aimed to investigate the effect of TPT on the differentiation of regulatory T lymphocytes (Tregs) from CD4+ cells in rats.', 'MACS-purified rat CD4+ cells were costimulated with anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 in the presence of TGF-beta to induce the expression of FoxP3, which was detected by flow cytometry. TPT and cyclosporine A (CsA) were separately added into the cultures to observe the effect on the expression of FoxP3. Kidney transplantation was performed in rats that either received no treatment or were treated with TPT after transplantation.', 'TPT treatment enhanced the expression of FoxP3 in CD4+ cells, whereas CsA inhibited the FoxP3 expression. In the rat kidney transplantation model, the recipient rats treated with TPT survived longer than the control rats (18-19.83 vs 6.83 days, P<0.05). Meanwhile, the FoxP3+ T cells in the spleens of treated rats were higher than those from the untreated rats (12.4% vs 4.7%, P<0.05).\Question: Does triptolide promote generation of FoxP3+ T regulatory cells in rats?

SOLUTION: These data suggest that TPT may promote the differentiation of CD4+ cells to FoxP3+ Tregs. This would be at least one of the pathways responsible for the immunosuppressive activity of TPT.

PROBLEM: Context: The proteasome is the proteolytically active core of the ubiquitin-proteasome system, which regulates vital processes and which can cause various diseases when it malfunctions. Therefore, the proteasome has become an attractive target for pharmaceutical interventions. Inhibition of the cardiac proteasome by specific proteasome inhibitors has been shown to attenuate cardiac hypertrophy and ischaemia reperfusion injury of the heart. We have resolved the cardiac proteasome into its subtypes and have addressed the key question of how proteasome inhibitors affect single cardiac proteasomal subtypes.', 'The 20S proteasome from rat heart was dissected into three different subpopulations (groups I-III), each comprising 4-7 different subtypes. The major group (group II) comprises standard proteasome subtypes; the two minor subpopulations (groups I and III) contain intermediate proteasome subtypes. All subtypes exhibit chymotrypsin-, trypsin-, and caspase-like activity but to different degrees. We have tested the effect of two common proteasome inhibitors on the chymotrypsin-like activity of all subtypes: 20-30 nmol/L MG132 caused 50% inhibition of all subtypes from groups I and II, whereas 100 nmol/L was necessary to affect group III subtypes to the same extent. However, another inhibitor, bortezomib (VELCADE), already used clinically, inhibited 50% of the activity of group III proteasome subtypes even below 20 nmol/L, a concentration showing almost no effect on group I and II proteasome subtypes. The caspase-like activity of group II proteasome subtypes was not affected by MG132 and was inhibited by bortezomib only at concentrations above 100 nmol/L.\Question: Do multiple cardiac proteasome subtypes differ in their susceptibility to proteasome inhibitors?

SOLUTION: These data show that different inhibitors have differential inhibitory effects on the various cardiac proteasome subtypes. Different cardiac subtypes are inhibited by the same dose of proteasome inhibitor to a different extent.

PROBLEM: Context: Insulin resistance and hyperglycaemia are common in severe sepsis. Mitochondrial uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) plays a role in insulin release and sensitivity.', 'To determine if a common, functional polymorphism in the UCP2 gene promoter region (the -866 G/A polymorphism) contributes to the risk of hyperglycaemia in severe sepsis.', 'In the prospective group 120 non-diabetic patients who were carriers of the G allele had significantly higher maximum blood glucose recordings than non-carriers (mean (SD) AA 8.5 (2.2) mmol/l; GA 8.5 (2.4) mmol/l; GG 10.1 (3.1) mmol/l; p = 0.0042) and required significantly more insulin to maintain target blood glucose (p = 0.0007). In the retrospective study 103 non-diabetic patients showed a similar relationship between maximum glucose and UCP genotype (AA 6.8 (2.3) mmol/l; GA 7.8 (2.2) mmol/l; GG 9.2 (2.9) mmol/l; p = 0.0078).\Question: Does a common UCP2 polymorphism predispose to stress hyperglycaemia in severe sepsis?

SOLUTION:
A common, functional polymorphism in the promoter region of the UCP2 gene is associated with hyperglycaemia and insulin resistance in severe sepsis. This has implications for our understanding of the genetic pathophysiology of sepsis and is of use in the stratification of patients for more intensive management.