Xiaotan Sanjie recipe, a compound Chinese herbal medicine, inhibits gastric cancer metastasis by regulating GnT-V-mediated E-cadherin glycosylation.

OBJECTIVE: Xiaotan Sanjie recipe (XTSJ), a Chinese herbal compound medicine, exerts a significant inhibitory effect on gastric cancer (GC) metastasis. This work investigated the mechanism underlying the XTSJ-mediated inhibition of GC metastasis. METHODS: The effect of XTSJ on GC metastasis and the associated mechanism were investigated in vitro, using GC cell lines, and in vivo, using a GC mouse model, by focusing on the expression of Glc-N-Ac-transferase V (GnT-V; encoded by MGAT5). RESULTS: The migration and invasion ability of GC cells decreased significantly after XTSJ administration, which confirmed the efficacy of XTSJ in treating GC in vitro. XTSJ increased the accumulation of E-cadherin at junctions between GC cells, which was reversed by MGAT5 overexpression. XTSJ administration and MGAT5 knockdown alleviated the structural abnormality of the cell-cell junctions, while MGAT5 overexpression had the opposite effect. MGAT5 knockdown and XTSJ treatment also significantly increased the accumulation of proteins associated with the E-cadherin-mediated adherens junction complex. Furthermore, the expression of MGAT5 was significantly lower in the lungs of BGC-823-MGAT5 + XTSJ mice than in those of BGC-823-MGAT5 + solvent mice, indicating that the ability of gastric tumors to metastasize to the lung was decreased in vivo following XTSJ treatment. CONCLUSION: XTSJ prevented GC metastasis by inhibiting the GnT-V-mediated E-cadherin glycosylation and promoting the E-cadherin accumulation at cell-cell junctions. Please cite this article as: Huang N, He HW, He YY, Gu W, Xu MJ, Liu L. Xiaotan Sanjie recipe, a compound Chinese herbal medicine, inhibits gastric cancer metastasis by regulating GnT-V-mediated E-cadherin glycosylation. J Integr Med. 2023; 21(6): 561-574.

A novel chiral inorganic mesoporous silica used as a stationary phase in GC.

Chiral mesoporous silica (CMS) has attracted widespread attention because of some unique properties, such as high surface area, uniformly structured nanoscale cavities, and excellent chemical and thermal stability. In this work, we report the utilization of a CMS as the stationary phase for the separation of racemates in gas chromatography (GC). A CMS-coated capillary column was fabricated by a dynamic coating method. Eighteen racemates belonging to different classes of organic compounds were separated on this column, including chiral alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, organic acids, halohydrocarbons, alkenes, alcohol amines, epoxides, and amino acid derivatives. In addition, linear alkanes, alcohols, and aromatic hydrocarbons have also been resolved.

A highly ordered chiral inorganic mesoporous material used as stationary phase for high-resolution gas chromatographic separations.

A highly ordered chiral mesoporous silica-coated capillary column has been used for high-resolution gas chromatographic separations. The column has excellent selectivity, not only for the separation of isomers, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, linear alkanes, long chain alkanes, Grob's test mixture and aromatic hydrocarbons, but also for the resolution of different classes of chiral compounds. Additionally, the column exhibits high column efficiency, excellent temperature resistance, and analysis times are short. This is the first report of a highly ordered chiral inorganic mesoporous silica used in separation science.

Wrist-ankle Acupuncture Increases Pain Thresholds in Healthy Adults.

Context • Wrist-ankle acupuncture (WAA) has been used to relieve both chronic and acute pain in China. Some research has shown that WAA can increase the pain thresholds in pain patients, but the ability of WAA to affect the pain thresholds in healthy adults is unknown. Objective • The study intended to assess the influence of WAA on the pain thresholds of healthy adults. Design • This is an observational study. Setting • This study was conducted in the School of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Second Military Medical University (Shanghai, China). Participants • Participants were 50 healthy university students aged 19-23 y. Intervention • In the theory of WAA, each side of the body and each limb are longitudinally divided into 6 regions, with 1 needling point defined for each region at the wrist or ankle. The theory indicates that needling a point should relieve pain in a point's corresponding region. For the study, a needle was inserted and retained for 30 min in the Upper 2 point of the left wrist of each participant. Outcome Measures • The pressure pain threshold was measured by a handheld algometer at a position in the left Upper 2 region corresponding to the site of the needling and at positions in the right Upper 2 region as well as the left and right Upper 3 regions not corresponding to the site of the needling. The measurements were taken at 40 min before needling, 5 min after needling, 30 min after needling when the needles were removed, and 70 min after needling. Results • The immediate influence of the WAA on the pain threshold was not significant at 5 min after needling (P > .05). However, at 30 min after needling when the needles were removed, the increases in the pain thresholds were statistically significant when compared to those at 40 min before needling, which were the measurements at baseline (P ≤ .01). At 70 min after needling, the pain thresholds remained higher than those at 40 min before needling (P < .05). From 40 min before needling to 70 min after needling, the pain thresholds in the different positions showed a continuous increase. Conclusions • The WAA had an analgesic effect on pressure-induced pain not only in the corresponding but also in the noncorresponding regions of the needling point in healthy adults. The immediate analgesic effect of the WAA at 5 min after needling was not obvious, but the effects at 30 min and 70 min after needling were statistically significant.

High expression of Bcl-2 protein predicts favorable outcome in non-small cell lung cancer: evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The prognostic value of Bcl-2 protein expression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is under debate. We therefore systematically reviewed the evidence for Bcl-2 protein effects on NSCLC survival to elucidate this issue. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An electronic search in Pubmed and Embase complemented by manual searches in article references were conducted to identify eligible studies to evaluate the association between Bcl-2 protein expression and overall survival (OS) as well as disease free survival (DFS) of NSCLC patients. Combined hazard ratios (HRs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) were pooled using the random-effects model. RESULTS: A total of 50 trials (including 52 cohorts) encompassing 7,765 patients were pooled in the meta-analysis regarding Bcl-2 expression and OS of NSCLC patients. High expression of Bcl-2 protein had a favorable impact (HR=0.76, 95%CI=0.67-0.86). In the group of Bcl-2 expression and DFS, 11 studies including 2,634 patients were included. The synthesized result indicated high expression of Bcl-2 protein might predict good DFS (HR=0.85, 95%CI=0.75-0.95). CONCLUSIONS: Our present meta-analysis demonstrated favorable prognostic values of Bcl-2 expression in patients with NSCLC. Further prospective trails are welcomed to validate the utility of assessing Bcl-2 in NSCLC patient management.