[Study of the Role and Mechanism of Asprosin/Spartin Pathway in Cardiac Microvascular Endothelial Injury Induced by Diabete Mellitus].

OBJECTIVE: To detect the effects and mechanism of asprosin (Asp) and spartin on the injury of mice cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (CMECs) induced by high glucose. METHODS: The cultured CMECs were divided into 2 groups, one group is normal group (5.5 mmol/L glucose in the medium) and another is HG group (30 mmol/L glucose in the medium). Real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blot were respectively used to detect the mRNA level of spastic paraplegia 20 (SPG20) and protein expression of spartin in CMECs. Upregulation or downregulation of the expression of spartin was achieved via transfection with adenovirus (Ad) or small interfering RNA (siRNA) respectively. CMECs with downregulation of spartin expression were firstly treated with anti-oxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) or Asp respectively for 48 h, and then were interfered with 30 mmol/L glucose for 24 h afterward. The apoptosis of cell was detected by flow cytometry. Nitric oxide (NO) production was detected by NO probe and ELISA kit. The intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were tested by DHE staining and ELISA kit. Type 2 diabetic model mice were established and then divided into T2DM group and T2DM+Asp group. After the model mice were established successfully (random blood glucose was more than 16.7 mmol/L), Asp (1 µg/g) was intraperitoneally injected once a day. After 2 weeks, mice echocardiography was performed to test cardiac diastolic function. The integrity of the microvascular endothelium was observed by scanning electron microscopy. RESULTS: Compared with the normal group, the mRNA level of SPG20 and protein expression of spartin in mice CMECs of HG group were significantly reduced (P < 0.05). Under the condition of high glucose, Ad transfection induced significant decrease of the intracellular ROS level and the apoptosis level of the CMECs (P < 0.05), while NO increased after Ad transfection. In contrast, siRNA intervention resulted in opposite effect. In addition, the antioxidant NAC partly reversed the above changes caused by downregulating spartin. Asp upregulated the level of SPG20 mRNA and spartin protein expression in CMECs, reduced ROS production, reduced apoptosis and increased NO production. However, intervention effects of Asp, such as decreasing of ROS production, inhibiting apoptosis of CMECs and increasing of NO production, were partly reversed in spartin downregulated cells. In vivo, we found that Asp can improve cardiac function and increase the integrity and smoothness of cardiac microvascular endothelium in type 2 diabetic mice. CONCLUSION: Asp can inhibit oxidative stress in mice CMECs through upregulating spartin signaling pathway, thereby alleviating the damage of microvascular endothelium in diabetic heart.

Melatonin attenuates postmyocardial infarction injury via increasing Tom70 expression.

Mitochondrial dysfunction leads to reactive oxygen species (ROS) overload, exacerbating injury in myocardial infarction (MI). As a receptor for translocases in the outer mitochondrial membrane (Tom) complex, Tom70 has an unknown function in MI, including melatonin-induced protection against MI injury. We delivered specific small interfering RNAs against Tom70 or lentivirus vectors carrying Tom70a sequences into the left ventricles of mice or to cultured neonatal murine ventricular myocytes (NMVMs). At 48 h post-transfection, the left anterior descending coronary arteries of mice were permanently ligated, while the NMVMs underwent continuous hypoxia. At 24 h after ischemia/hypoxia, oxidative stress was assessed by dihydroethidium and lucigenin-enhanced luminescence, mitochondrial damage by transmission electron microscopy and ATP content, and cell apoptosis by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling and caspase-3 assay. At 4 weeks after ischemia, cardiac function and fibrosis were evaluated in mice by echocardiography and Masson's trichrome staining, respectively. Ischemic/hypoxic insult reduced Tom70 expression in cardiomyocytes. Tom70 downregulation aggravated post-MI injury, with increased mitochondrial fragmentation and ROS overload. In contrast, Tom70 upregulation alleviated post-MI injury, with improved mitochondrial integrity and decreased ROS production. PGC-1α/Tom70 expression in ischemic myocardium was increased with melatonin alone, but not when combined with luzindole. Melatonin attenuated post-MI injury in control but not in Tom70-deficient mice. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) reversed the adverse effects of Tom70 deficiency in mitochondria and cardiomyocytes, but at a much higher concentration than melatonin. Our findings showed that Tom70 is essential for melatonin-induced protection against post-MI injury, by breaking the cycle of mitochondrial impairment and ROS generation.

Meta-analysis of the efficacy of sorafenib for hepatocellular carcinoma.

PURPOSE: By carrying out a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials that compared sorafenib or combined chemotherapy with placebo or combined chemotherapy, the effectiveness of sorafenib in hepatocellular carcinoma was evaluated in the present study, which also provided clinical practice guidelines of evidence-based-medicine. METHODS: We reviewed PubMed citations concerning sorafenib treating hepatocellular carcinoma in randomized controlled trials from Jan 2000 to July 2012. All the literature was extracted by Cochrane systematic reviews and underwent meta-analysis with RewMan 5.0 software. RESULTS: Finally, four papers documenting randomized controlled studies were included. Compared with controls, sorafenib was shown to significantly increase overall survival (OS), time to progression (TTP), and disease control rates (DCR), but not the time to symptom progression (TTSP) in hepatocellular carcinoma patients. The incidence of grade-III/IV adverse reactions, including hand- foot-skin reactions, diarrhea, hypertension and skin rash or desquamation, in sorafenib treatment group was higher than that in controls. However, there was no significant difference in the incidence of hypodynamia between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Sorafenib exerts significant curative effects in hepatocellular carcinoma.