The Potential Impact of Radix Paeoniae Alba in Embryonic Development of Mice.

Although Radix Paeoniae Alba (RPA) has been ranked as one of the top 6 herbs used frequently to prevent and treat miscarriages clinically, there is no clear evidence regarding its safety in embryonic development. This study aims to evaluate the potential impacts of RPA on embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and pregnant mice. Cytotoxicity assays of the extract were performed in ESCs and 3T3 cells. Pregnant ICR mice were orally treated with RPA extracts at dosages of 0 (G1 group as negative controls), 2, 8 and 32 g/kg/day (G2, G3 and G4 groups) respectively from the gestation day (Gd) 6-15. On Gd 18, there was no significant difference in the IC50 values between ESCs and 3T3 cells (p > 0.05). There was no significant difference in the maternal and fetal evaluations among four groups (p > 0.05). Fetal IL-2, IL-2r, TNF-α, TNF-αr, IL-4, IL-4r, IL-10r, IL-17 and IL-17r of G4 group were significantly lower than G1 group (p < 0.05). In conclusion, RPA at dosage of 32 g/kg/day (16-folds of human daily dosage) did not cause adverse impact in cultured ESCs and pregnant mice. RPA might down-regulate fetal Th1/Th2/Th17 cytokines and receptors maybe beneficial to embryonic survival and development. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Complement C1q (C1qA, C1qB, and C1qC) May Be a Potential Prognostic Factor and an Index of Tumor Microenvironment Remodeling in Osteosarcoma.

The tumor microenvironment (TME) has important effects on the tumorigenesis and development of osteosarcoma (OS). However, the dynamic mechanism regulating TME immune and matrix components remains unclear. In this study, we collected quantitative data on the gene expression of 88 OS samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and downloaded relevant clinical cases of OS from the TARGET database. The proportions of tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TICs) and the numbers of immune and matrix components were determined by CIBERSORT and ESTIMATE calculation methods. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network construction and Cox regression analysis were conducted to analyze differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The complement components C1qA, C1qB and C1qC were then determined to be predictive factors through univariate Cox analysis and PPI cross analysis. Further analysis found that the levels of C1qA, C1qB and C1qC expression were positively linked to OS patient survival time and negatively correlated with the clinicopathological feature percent necrosis at definitive surgery. The results of gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) demonstrated that genes related to immune functions were significantly enriched in the high C1qA, C1qB and C1qC expression groups. Proportion analysis of TICs by CIBERSORT showed that the levels of C1qA, C1qB and C1qC expression were positively related to M1 and M2 macrophages and CD8+ cells and negatively correlated with M0 macrophages. These results further support the influence of the levels of C1qA, C1qB and C1qC expression on the immune activity of the TME. Therefore, C1qA, C1qB and C1qC may be potential indicators of remodeling in the OS TME, which is helpful to predict the prognosis of patients with OS and provide new ideas for immunotherapy for OS.

[Influence of cervical curvature change on the nerve root and vertebral artery of patients with cervical spondylosis and clinical observation of manipulation treatment].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the influence of the change of cervical curvature on the nerve root and the vertebral artery of the patients with cervical spondylosis and the curative effect of therapeutic manipulations. METHODS: Sixty cases of cervical spondylosis with the change of cervical curvature, 60 cases of cervical spondylosis without the change of cervical curvature and 60 normal people were chosen. They were clinically observed and the cervical spondylosis was treated by manipulations and the data was processed according to the principle of statistics. RESULTS: The change of cervical curvature affected the nerve root and the vertebral artery and therapeutic manipulations produced a satisfactory curative effect. CONCLUSION: Cervical spondylosis with change of cervical curvature has special characteristics in the etiology, course and state of the disease. The change of cervical curvature produces an effect on the nerve root and the vertebral artery. Selected therapeutic manipulations produce a better curative effect.