Icariin promotes the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of bone-derived mesenchymal stem cells in patients with osteoporosis and T2DM by upregulating GLI-1.

BACKGROUND: The function of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from patients with osteoporosis (OP) is impaired and worsens in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Icariin (ICA) is the major active flavonoid glucoside isolated from traditional Chinese herbal Epimedium pubescens, and confirmed able to improve bone mass of OP patients. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of ICA on the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of bone-derived MSCs (BMSCs) from patients with OP and T2DM and uncover the potential mechanism. METHODS: BMSCs were treated with ICA, and proliferation and osteogenic potency were evaluated using the 2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and detection of osteogenic markers (ALP, RUNX2, SPP1, COL1A1, and mineralized nodules) was performed. RNA sequencing and bioinformatic analysis were performed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) after ICA treatment and screen proliferation- and osteogenic differentiation-related processes. Gene gain and loss were performed to confirm the role of the key candidate gene. RESULTS: ICA significantly promoted the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs. A total of 173 DEGs were identified after ICA treatment. Six DEGs (GLI-1, IGF2, BMP6, WNT5A, PTHLH, and MAPK14) enriched in both proliferation- and osteogenic differentiation-related processes were screened; GLI-1 had the highest validated |log2FC| value. Overexpression of GLI-1 enhanced the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs, and knockdown of GLI-1 weakened the positive effect of ICA on BMSCs. CONCLUSION: ICA promoted the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of impaired BMSCs by upregulating GLI-1.

A gene expression profile for the lower osteogenic potent of bone-derived MSCs from osteoporosis with T2DM and the potential mechanism.

BACKGROUND: Osteoporosis (OP) patients complicated with type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has a higher fracture risk than the non-diabetic patients, and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from T2DM patients also show a weaker osteogenic potent. The present study aimed to provide a gene expression profile in MSCs from diabetic OP and investigated the potential mechanism. METHODS: The bone-derived MSC (BMSC) was isolated from OP patients complicated with or without T2DM (CON-BMSC, T2DM-BMSC). Osteogenic differentiation was evaluated by qPCR analysis of the expression levels of osteogenic markers, ALP activity and mineralization level. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in T2DM-BMSC was identified by RNA-sequence, and the biological roles of DEGs was annotated by bioinformatics analyses. The role of silencing the transcription factor (TF), Forkhead box Q1 (FOXQ1), on the osteogenic differentiation of BMSC was also investigated. RESULTS: T2DM-BMSC showed a significantly reduced osteogenic potent compare to the CON-BMSC. A total of 448 DEGs was screened in T2DM-BMSC, and bioinformatics analyses showed that many TFs and the target genes were enriched in various OP- and diabetes-related biological processes and pathways. FOXQ1 had the highest verified fold change (abs) among the top 8 TFs, and silence of FOXQ1 inhibited the osteogenic differentiation of CON-BMSC. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provided a comprehensive gene expression profile of BMSC in diabetic OP, and found that downregulated FOXQ1 was responsible for the reduced osteogenic potent of T2DM-BSMC. This is of great importance for the special mechanism researches and the treatment of diabetic OP.

In vitro anti-synovial sarcoma effect of diallyl trisulfide and mRNA profiling.

OBJECTIVE: Synovial sarcoma (SS) is a malignant soft tissue sarcoma and its natural history is a long, indolent clinical course followed by high rate of local recurrence and distant metastasis. Current therapies are still limited in increasing satisfactory of 5-year survival, especially for patients with recurrence and metastasis. Accordingly, finding new therapeutic drug for SS treatment is clinically urgent need. Diallyl trisulfide (DATS), a bioactive compound derived from garlic, is reported as a promising anti-cancer agent for various carcinomas. However, its effect on anti-SS remains unknown. This study investigated the anti-SS effect of DATS in human synovial sarcoma SW982 cells. METHODS: CCK-8 assay were used to examine the cell viability. High-content Imaging System was used to examine the apoptosis, intracellular ROS and autophagy. Flow cytometry was used to detect cell cycle. qPCR and Western blot were used to examine the expression of related mRNA and protein. High-throughput RNA-sequencing and bio-information analysis were used to investigate the mRNA profiling. RESULTS: The results showed a suppressive effect of DATS on tumor biology of SW982 cells including inducing apoptosis, triggering G2/M cell cycle arrest, elevating intracellular ROS and damaging mitochondria. Further high-throughput RNA-sequencing analysis clarified a comprehensive molecular portrait for DATS-induced transcriptional regulation. Besides, protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis demonstrated that a network consisted of FOXM1, CCNA2, CCNB1, MYBL2, PLK1 and CDK1 might be response for DATS-induced G2/M cell cycle arrest and increased intracellular ROS. Notably, protein feature analysis revealed structure enrichment in microtubule network like kinesin motors domain, and tubulin domain. Molecular function analysis suggested that DATS-induced dysfunction of microtubule network might be the major cause for its effect on cell cycle arrest and successive apoptosis. Furthermore, 28 hub genes (including KIF2C, PLK1, CDK1, BIRC5, CCNB2, CENPF, TPX2, TOP2A and so on) were determined. Finally, pathway analysis showed that DATS-induced differentially expressed genes were mainly involved in cell cycle. CONCLUSION: Collectively, our findings for the first time provided the DATS-induced cellular response and transcriptional profiling of SW982 cells, which proposes that suppression of DATS on SS is multi-targeted and represent a therapeutic evidence for SS.

[Clinical observation on cervical type cervical spondylosis treated with sword-like needle and chiropractic spinal manipulation].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the difference in the efficacy on cervical type of cervical spondylosis (CS) between the combined treatment of sword-like needle and chiropractic spinal manipulation (the combined therapy) and the simple chiropractic spinal manipulation. METHODS: One hundred and thirty-eight cases of cervical type of CS were randomized into a combined therapy group (76 cases) and a simple chiropractic spinal manipulation group (62 cases). In the combined therapy group, the sword-like needle therapy was applied at Fengchi (GB 20), Tianzhu (BL 10) and Jiaji (EX-B 2) C3-C5. The chiropractic spinal manipulation was used in combination. In the chiropractic spinal manipulation group, the simple chiropractic spinal manipulation was adopted. The treatment was given once every other day in the two groups, 10 days made one session. One session of treatment was required. Visual analog scale (VAS) score was observed before and after treatment in the two groups and the efficacies were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: VAS score after treatment was reduced obviously as compared with that before treatment in the patients of the two groups (both P < 0.01) and VAS score after treatment in the combined therapy group was lower than that in the simple chiropractic spinal manipulation group (1.50 +/- 0.58 vs 1.87+/-1.05, P < 0.01). In the combined therapy group, 48 cases were cured, 20 cases remarkably effective, 8 cases improved and 0 case failed. In the chiropractic spinal manipulation group, 30 cases were cured, 16 cases remarkably effective, 15 cases improved and 1 case failed. The overall efficacy in the combined therapy group was better than that in the chiropractic spinal manipulation (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The sword-like needle therapy combined with chiropractic spinal manipulation relieve effectively pain in cervical type of CS and the efficacy is superior to the simple chiropractic spinal manipulation.