The Establishment of China Bronchiectasis Registry and Research Collaboration (BE-China): Protocol of a prospective multicenter observational study.

BACKGROUND: Bronchiectasis is a highly heterogeneous chronic airway disease with marked geographic and ethnic variations. Most influential cohort studies to date have been performed in Europe and USA, which serve as the examples for developing a cohort study in China where there is a high burden of bronchiectasis. The Establishment of China Bronchiectasis Registry and Research Collaboration (BE-China) is designed to: (1) describe the clinical characteristics and natural history of bronchiectasis in China and identify the differences of bronchiectasis between the western countries and China; (2) identify the risk factors associated with disease progression in Chinese population; (3) elucidate the phenotype and endotype of bronchiectasis by integrating the genome, microbiome, proteome, and transcriptome with detailed clinical data; (4) facilitate large randomized controlled trials in China. METHODS: The BE-China is an ongoing prospective, longitudinal, multi-center, observational cohort study aiming to recruit a minimum of 10,000 patients, which was initiated in January 2020 in China. Comprehensive data, including medical history, aetiological testing, lung function, microbiological profiles, radiological scores, comorbidities, mental status, and quality of life (QoL), will be collected at baseline. Patients will be followed up annually for up to 10 years to record longitudinal data on outcomes, treatment patterns and QoL. Biospecimens, if possible, will be collected and stored at - 80 °C for further research. Up to October 2021, the BE-China has enrolled 3758 patients, and collected 666 blood samples and 196 sputum samples from 91 medical centers. The study protocol has been approved by the Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital ethics committee, and all collaborating centers have received approvals from their local ethics committee. All patients will be required to provide written informed consent to their participation. CONCLUSIONS: Findings of the BE-China will be crucial to reveal the clinical characteristics and natural history of bronchiectasis and facilitate evidence-based clinical practice in China. Trial registration Registration Number in ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03643653.

Population pharmacokinetics of high-dose methotrexate in Chinese pediatric patients with medulloblastoma.

Methotrexate (MTX) pharmacokinetics has substantial inter-individual variability and toxicity. In children with medulloblastoma treated with high-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX), the pharmacokinetic properties of methotrexate have not been established. A total of 660 serum samples from 105 pediatric patients with medulloblastoma were included in a population pharmacokinetic (PPK) analysis of methotrexate by using the nonlinear mixed-effects modeling method. The basic one-compartment population pharmacokinetic model was established by NONMEM software and the first-order conditional estimation (FOCE) method, and the final covariate model was obtained by the stepwise regression method. Weight (WT), creatinine clearance (CrCL), and whether the treatment was combined with dexamethasone (DEX) were covariates that had significant effects on the clearance rate (CL) of the model. The pharmacokinetic equation of CL in the final covariate model was as follows: CLi = 9.23× (1 + 0.0005× (θCrCL -105.78)) × (1 + 0.0017× (θWT -16)) × eηcl,i (L/h), IF (θDEX ) CLi = 1.19× CLi (L/h). The estimation accuracy of all pharmacokinetic parameters were acceptable (relative standard error < 14.74%). The goodness-of-fit diagram and bootstrap tests indicated that the final PPK model was stable with acceptable predictive ability. The PPK model may be useful for determining personalized medication levels in pediatric medulloblastoma patients undergoing HD-MTX therapy.

A phase 4 multicentre, 2×2 factorial randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to investigate the efficacy and safety of tobramycin inhalation solution for Pseudomonas aeruginosa eradication in bronchiectasis: ERASE.

Chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) infection significantly contributes to morbidity and mortality in bronchiectasis patients. Initiating antibiotics early may lead to the eradication of PA. Here we outline the design of a trial (ERASE; NCT06093191) assessing the efficacy and safety of inhaled tobramycin, alone or with oral ciprofloxacin, in bronchiectasis patients with a new isolation of PA. This multicentre, 2×2 factorial randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial includes a 2-week screening period, a 12-week treatment phase (with a combination of ciprofloxacin or a placebo at initial 2 weeks) and a 24-week follow-up. 364 adults with bronchiectasis and a new PA isolation will be randomly assigned to one of four groups: placebo (inhaled saline and ciprofloxacin placebo twice daily), ciprofloxacin alone (750 mg ciprofloxacin and inhaled saline twice daily), inhaled tobramycin alone (inhaled 300 mg tobramycin and ciprofloxacin placebo twice daily) or a combination of both drugs (inhaled 300 mg tobramycin and 750 mg ciprofloxacin twice daily). The primary objective of this study is to assess the proportion of patients successfully eradicating PA in each group by the end of the study. Efficacy will be evaluated based on the eradication rate of PA at other time points (12, 24 and 36 weeks), the occurrence of exacerbations and hospitalisations, time to first pulmonary exacerbations, patient-reported outcomes, symptom measures, pulmonary function tests and the cost of hospitalisations. To date no randomised trial has evaluated the benefit of different PA eradication strategies in bronchiectasis patients. The ERASE trial will therefore generate crucial data to inform future clinical guidelines.

Associations between SLCO1B1, APOE and CYP2C9 and lipid-lowering efficacy and pharmacokinetics of fluvastatin: a meta-analysis.

Objective: This meta-analysis was designed to investigate the associations between SLCO1B1, APOE and CYP2C9 and the lipid-lowering effects and pharmacokinetics of fluvastatin. Methods: Studies were searched from inception to March 2023, including three SNPs related to fluvastatin, SLCO1B1, CYP2C9 and APOE. Weighted mean differences and corresponding 95% CIs were analyzed to evaluate the associations between SNPs and outcomes. Results: SLCO1B1 521T>C was associated with lower total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein reduction. Patients carrying 521CC or total cholesterol had a significantly higher area under the curve than those carrying 521TT, but no significant difference existed. Conclusion: CYP2C9 and SLCO1B1 may be associated with the efficacy and pharmacokinetics of fluvastatin.

Gambogic acid-induced degradation of mutant p53 is mediated by proteasome and related to CHIP.

As an oncoprotein, mutant p53 is a potential tumor-specific target for cancer therapy. Most mutated forms of the protein are largely accumulated in cancer cells due to their increased stability. In the present study, we demonstrate that mutant p53 protein stability is regulated by gambogic acid (GA). Following GA exposure, protein levels of mutant p53 decreased while the mRNA levels were not affected in MDA-MB-435 cells, which indicate that GA down-regulates mutant p53 at post-transcription level. Co-treatment with GA and cycloheximide, a protein synthesis inhibitor, induced a decrease of half-life of mutant p53 protein. These findings indicated that the reduction of mutant p53 by GA was due to the destabilization and degradation of the protein. Furthermore, inhibition of proteasome activity by MG132 blocked GA-induced down-regulation of mutant p53, causing mutant p53 accumulation in detergent-insoluble cellular fractions. Further studies revealed that mutant p53 was ubiquitinated and it was chaperones related ubiquitin ligase carboxy terminus of Hsp70-interacting protein (CHIP) rather than MDM2 involved in the degradation of mutant p53. In addition, GA prevented Hsp90/mutant p53 complex formation and enhanced interaction of mutant p53 with Hsp70. Depletion of CHIP stabilized mutant p53 in GA treated cells. In conclusion, mutant p53 may be down-regulated by GA through chaperones-assisted ubiquitin/proteasome degradation pathway in cancer cells.

Cordycepin Alleviates Anterior Cruciate Ligament Transection (ACLT)-Induced Knee Osteoarthritis Through Regulating TGF-ß Activity and Autophagy.

INTRODUCTION: Osteoarthritis is the most prevalent articular disease in the elderly. We aimed to explore the role of cordycepin (COR) in the progression and development of osteoarthritis and its correlation with TGF-ß activity and autophagy. METHODS: Sprague Dawley rats were induced by anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) to establish knee osteoarthritis model. To investigate the role of COR in knee osteoarthritis, rats were injected with 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg of COR before joint surgery. After surgery, paw withdrawal mechanical threshold (PWMT) was performed. HE staining and Alcian blue staining were carried out to detect cartilage damage. ELISA was used to detect the level of TGFß in the serum. Protein expression was analyzed by Western blotting. RESULTS: In this study, we found that the PWMT of rats with osteoarthritis induced by ACLT was decreased significantly, accompanied by obvious histological and cartilage damage. After different doses of COR treatment, the PWMT of osteoarthritis rats induced by ACLT was increased in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, compared with the control group, COR treatment also reversed the effect of ACLT on cartilage injury in rats. Furthermore, the level of TGF-ß in serum of ACLT rats was increased significantly, which may be related to the overexpression of TGF-ß R1. However, the increase of serum TGF-ß level in ACLT rats was reversed by COR treatment in a dose-dependent manner. It is worth noting that TGF-ß overexpression reduced the proportion of autophagy-related protein LC3-II/I, thus inhibiting autophagy. In order to further confirm the effect of TGF-ß on autophagy, TGF-ß was overexpressed or the autophagy inhibitor 3-MA was applied. The results showed that TGF-ß overexpression and 3-MA treatment reversed the effect of COR on autophagy. CONCLUSION: In summary, our findings declared that COR alleviated ACLT-induced osteoarthritis pain and cartilage damage by inhibiting TGF-ß activity and inducing autophagy in rat model with knee osteoarthritis.

Wogonin induces the granulocytic differentiation of human NB4 promyelocytic leukemia cells and up-regulates phospholipid scramblase 1 gene expression.

Previous studies have firmly demonstrated that wogonin, a naturally occurring monoflavonoid extracted from the root of the Chinese herb medicine Scutellaria baicalensis, could effectively inhibit the proliferation of several cancer cell lines. However, little is known about the effect of wogonin on differentiation induction of leukemic cells. Here we investigate the potential role of wogonin in the proliferation and differentiation of NB4, a human promyelocytic leukemia cell line derived from a patient with acute promyelocytic leukemia. Our results indicated that wogonin significantly suppressed the proliferation and efficiently induced the differentiation of NB4 cells. NB4 cell growth was inhibited by 55-60% after treatment with 50 microM wogonin for a period of 5 days. The results of the nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) reduction test (with 67.13% positive cells by 50 microM wogonin for 5 days), Giemsa staining (with 67.24% positive cells by 50 microM wogonin for 5 days), and the expression of mature-related cell-surface differentiation antigens CD11b and CD14 (with 70.94% CD11b(+) and 5.82% CD14(+) cells by 50 microM wogonin for 5 days) demonstrated an increase in the differentiation-inducing action of wogonin on the NB4 cells, which was accompanied by an increase in mRNA and protein expression of phospholipids scramblase 1 (PLSCR1). Meanwhile, the level of phosphorylated PKC delta (Ser643) was dramatically increased in wogonin treated NB4 cells. Interestingly, wogonin treatment displayed little effect on the apoptosis of NB4 cells. Taken together, the results reported here demonstrated that wogonin could promote the granulocytic differentiation of NB4 cells by up-regulating the expression of PLSCR1 gene.

Posttranscriptional regulation of the telomerase hTERT by gambogic acid in human gastric carcinoma 823 cells.

We previously reported that gambogic acid (GA), a natural product, was an effective telomerase inhibitor by repressing hTERT promoter. In this study, posttranscriptional regulation of the telomerase hTERT by GA was investigated in BGC-823 human gastric carcinoma cells. The telomerase activity was detected by PCR-TRAP assay. RT-PCR assay and Western blot were performed to examine the repression of telomerase hTERT and c-Myc after GA or c-Myc-specific siRNA treatment. The results indicated that GA repressed telomerase activity and hTERT transcriptional activity via down-regulation of c-Myc expression in BGC-823 human gastric carcinoma cells. We further observed that hTERT transcriptional activity was not completely blocked by c-Myc-specific siRNA, suggesting that additional factors are involved in the repression of telomerase activity. The results of Western blot and immunoprecipitation assay revealed that GA inhibits the phosphorylation of Akt. The further results also confirmed that celecoxib, an inhibitor of Akt phosphorylation, could significantly repressed telomerase activity alone and enhance the repression of telomerase activity combined with GA. These data suggested that GA inhibits the posttranslational modification of hTERT by inhibiting the phosphorylation of Akt. Collectively, we suggest that GA represses telomerase activity not only by repressing hTERT transcriptional activity via c-Myc but also by posttranslational modification of hTERT via Akt.

Inhibition of alpha(4) integrin mediated adhesion was involved in the reduction of B16-F10 melanoma cells lung colonization in C57BL/6 mice treated with gambogic acid.

Gambogic acid, the major active ingredient of gamboge, has been shown to exhibit anti-cancer activity both in vivo and in vitro. However, its potential activity in tumor metastasis remains unclear. In the present study, we found that gambogic acid strongly inhibited the adhesion of highly metastatic mouse melanoma B16-F10 cells in vitro. Gambogic acid also exhibited significant anti-metastasis activity on the development of in vivo artificial metastases (i.e. following tail vein i.v. injection of the B16-F10 melanoma tumor cells in C57BL/6 mice). Flow cytometric analysis and Western blot showed that gambogic acid inhibited the cell surface expression of alpha(4) integrin, while exhibited negligible effects on the expression of alpha(5) and beta(1) integrin. Thus we concluded for the first time that gambogic acid could inhibit the adhesion and migration of B16-F10 cells in vitro and in vivo, in which down-regulation of alpha(4) integrin expression was involved.

Wogonin suppresses tumor growth in vivo and VEGF-induced angiogenesis through inhibiting tyrosine phosphorylation of VEGFR2.

Previous studies revealed that wogonin, a naturally occurring monoflavonoid extracted from Scutellariae radix, possessed anticancer activity both in vitro and in vivo. However, the molecular mechanism of its potent anticancer activity remains poorly understood and warrants further investigations. In this study, we found for the first time that wogonin inhibited the growth and tumor angiogenesis of human gastric carcinoma in nude mice. We explored the inhibitory effect of wogonin on angiogenesis stimulated by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in vitro. Wogonin suppressed the VEGF-stimulated migration and tube formation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). It also restrained VEGF-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2). This inhibition of receptor phosphorylation was correlated with a significant decrease in VEGF-triggered phosphorylated forms of ERK, AKT and p38. Taken together, these findings strongly suggest that wogonin might be a promising antitumor drug.

Microtubule depolymerization and phosphorylation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase-1 and p38 were involved in gambogic acid induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human breast carcinoma MCF-7 cells.

Gambogic acid (GA), an ingredient isolated from Garcinia hanburyi, has potent anticancer activity both in vitro and in vivo. In the present study, we examined the effects of GA on intracellular microtubules and reconstituted microtubules in vitro. Immunofluorescence microscopy revealed that 2.5 muM GA caused microtubule cytoskeleton disruption and microtubule depolymerization in human breast carcinoma MCF-7 cells, thereby reducing the amount of polymer form of tubulin and increasing the amount of monomer form of tubulin. We further confirmed that GA could depolymerize microtubule associated protein (MAP)-free microtubules and MAP-rich microtubules in vitro. Thus we suggested that GA-induced G2/M phase cell cycle arrest may be attributed to its depolymerization of microtubules. We also revealed that phosphorylation levels of p38 and c-Jun N-terminal kinase-1 (JNK-1) were increased markedly by GA, resulting in apoptosis of MCF-7 cells. Taken together, our results suggested that GA depolymerized microtubules and elevated the phosphorylation levels of JNK1 and p38, which caused G2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in MCF-7 cells.

Oroxylin A induces G2/M phase cell-cycle arrest via inhibiting Cdk7-mediated expression of Cdc2/p34 in human gastric carcinoma BGC-823 cells.

We reported previously that oroxylin A, a natural product isolated from Scutellariae Radix, was a potent apoptosis inducer of human hepatoma HepG2 cells. In this study, cell-cycle arrest of BGC-823 human gastric carcinoma cells caused by oroxylin A has been investigated. Based on our 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazoliumbromide (MTT) assay and flow cytometric analysis, treatment of BGC-823 cells with growth suppressive concentrations of oroxylin A caused an irreversible arrest in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle. Western blot analysis demonstrated that oroxylin A-induced cell-cycle arrest in BGC-823 cells was associated with a significant decrease in cdc2/p34, cyclin B1 and cyclin A expression. In addition, oroxylin A-treated cells decreased the expression of Cdk7, which was responsible for the low expression of M phase promoting factor (cyclin B1/Cdc2). The results suggested that oroxylin A induced G2/M phase cell-cycle arrest via inhibiting Cdk7-mediated expression of Cdc2/p34 in human gastric carcinoma BGC-823 cells.

Differential apoptotic induction of gambogic acid, a novel anticancer natural product, on hepatoma cells and normal hepatocytes.

Gambogic acid (GA) is the major active ingredient of gamboge, a brownish resin exuded from Garcinia hanburryi tree in Southeast Asia. In this study, we compared the different apoptotic induction of GA on human normal embryonic hepatic L02 cells and human hepatoma SMMC-7721 cells by detecting growth inhibition, observing morphological changes, and the expressions of the relative apoptotic proteins (Bax, Bcl-2 and caspase-3). The results indicated that GA could selectively induce apoptosis of SMMC-7721 cells, while had relatively less effect on L02 cells. To illustrate the distinct selective antitumor mechanism of GA, we further study its distribution in cultured cells and in tumor-bearing mice. The results indicated that SMMC-7721 cells have higher GA binding activity than L02 cells. The retention time of GA in grafted tumor was longer than in liver, renal and other organs. Collectively, the selective anticancer activity of GA could be due to its significant apoptotic inducing effects as well as its higher distribution and longer retention time in tumor cells compared to the normal cells. So GA might be a kind of highly effective anticancer drug candidate with low toxicity to normal tissue.

Gambogic acid inhibits angiogenesis through suppressing vascular endothelial growth factor-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of KDR/Flk-1.

Previous studies revealed that gambogic acid (GA), the major active ingredient of gamboge, a brownish to orange resin exuded from Garcinia hanburryi tree in Southeast Asia, possessed significant anticancer activity both in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we explored the high antiangiogenic activities of GA for the first time. GA inhibits the VEGF-stimulated proliferation, migration and tube formation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) as well as microvessel sprouting from rat aortic rings in vitro. Moreover, GA inhibits vessel growth in matrigel plugs and CAM in vivo and transplanted tumor in mice. The results also indicated that GA decreases VEGF production of cultured tumor cells and inhibits VEGF-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of KDR/Flk-1. This inhibition of receptor phosphorylation is correlated with a significant decrease in VEGF-triggered phosphorylated forms of ERK, AKT and p38. Taken together, these findings strongly suggest that GA might be a structurally novel angiogenesis inhibitor.

Repression of telomerase reverse transcriptase mRNA and hTERT promoter by gambogic acid in human gastric carcinoma cells.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effects and potential mechanisms of gambogic acid (GA), a naturally occurring anticancer agent, on the expression and regulation of telomerase in human gastric carcinoma cells. METHODS: GA-induced inhibition of cell proliferation was evaluated by the commonly employed MTT assay on two human gastric carcinoma cell lines, MGC-803 and SGC-7901. Telomerase activity and hTERT mRNA expression were determined by telomeric repeat amplication protocol-polymerase chain reaction and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, respectively. The hTERT promoter activity was measured by luciferase assay. The expression of c-MYC, an apoptotic gene that modulates the expression of hTERT promoter, was quantified by Western blotting. RESULTS: The proliferation of human gastric carcinoma cell lines, MGC-803 and SGC-7901, was significantly inhibited with GA treatment. Both telomerase activity and hTERT mRNA expression were notably decreased in cells treated with GA. The activity of hTERT promoter and the expression of c-MYC were also remarkably decreased in GA-treated cells. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that GA treatment of human gastric carcinoma cell lines, MGC-803 and SGC-7901, significantly reduced the expression of c-MYC in a time- and concentration-dependent manner accompanied with the down-regulation of the hTERT transcription and the ultimate reduction in telomerase activity. Our results indicate that the hTERT is a target of c-MYC activity and identify a feasible mechanism of GA's potent anticancer activity.

Inhibition of human telomerase reverse transcriptase gene expression by gambogic acid in human hepatoma SMMC-7721 cells.

The activation of human telomerase, a process regulated by the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), is a crucial step during cellular immortalization and malignant transformation. We have reported that gambogic acid (GA), a natural product isolated from the gamboge resin of Garcinia hanburyi tree, is an effective telomerase inhibitor and thus displays potent anticancer activity both in vitro and in vivo. Here we present the direct interaction of GA with oncogene c-MYC, a ubiquitous transcription factor involved in the control of cell proliferation and differentiation, as the molecular mechanism of GA's inhibitory effect on telomerase activity. Consistent with the recently reported association between c-MYC overexpression and induction of telomerase activity, we find here that GA treatment of a human hepatoma cell line SMMC-7721 significantly reduced the expression of c-MYC in a time- and concentration-dependent manner accompanied with the down-regulation of the hTERT transcription and the ultimate reduction in telomerase activity. Our results indicate that the hTERT is a target of c-MYC activity and identify a feasible mechanism of GA's potent anticancer activity.

The anticancer activities of wogonin in murine sarcoma S180 both in vitro and in vivo.

The anticancer effects of wogonin on murine sarcoma S180 both in vitro and in vivo were investigated, and its pro-apoptotic molecular mechanism was further studied. Wogonin treatment resulted in significant inhibition of S180 cells in a concentration-dependent manner detected by MTT assay. The IC50 value for 48 h was (7.37+/-1.53) x 10(-5) M. Typical morphological changes and apoptosis bleb phenomenon in S180 cells exposed to wogonin were distinctly observed by the inverted light microscope and the fluorescence microscope, respectively. According to protocols of transplanted tumor research, mice were transplanted with tumor cells S180. The weight of tumor and the peripheral leucocyte count were observed after the treatment of wogonin. The significant suppression of tumor growth was observed, and the peripheral leucocyte count of S180-bearing mice remained no significant changes compared with control group. After the treatment of 40 mg/kg wogonin, the inhibitory rate of tumor weight was 53.01%. Additional DNA fragmentation assay showed that wogonin induced apoptosis on murine sarcoma S180 tissue. RT-PCR results indicated that the increasing mRNA levels of bax and p53 and the decreasing mRNA level of bcl-2 were induced by wogonin. Western-blot assay showed that the increasing protein level of bax and the decreasing protein level of bcl-2 were induced by wogonin. Collectively, wogonin could induce apoptosis in murine sarcoma S180 thereby inhibiting the tumor growth both in vitro and in vivo. The pro-apoptotic effects might be related to the improvement of mRNA level of p53, the improvement of mRNA and protein levels of bax, and the reduction of mRNA and protein levels of bcl-2.

Anticancer effect and apoptosis induction of gambogic acid in human gastric cancer line BGC-823.

AIM: To investigate the anticancer effect of a traditional Chinese medicine gambogic acid (GA) in human gastric cancer line BGC-823 and further study the mechanism of apoptosis induction of GA. METHODS: Low differential human gastric cancer line BGC-823 were treated with GA at different doses and different times, the inhibitory rates were detected by MTT assay. Apoptosis induced by GA in BGC-823 cells was observed by Annexin-V/PI doubling staining flow cytometry assay. And T/C (%) was chosen to detect the inhibition of GA on human gastric adenocarcinoma BGC-823 nude mice xenografts. Apoptosis on nude mice xenografts was observed by Annexin-V/PI doubling staining flow cytometry assay and DNA fragmentation assay. To further determine the molecular mechanism of apoptosis induced by GA, the changes on the expression of bcl-2 and bax genes were detected by RT-PCR. RESULTS: After incubation with GA, low differential human gastric cancer line BGC-823 was dramatically inhibited in a dose-dependent manner. After these cells was exposed to GA for 24, 48 and 72 h, the IC(50) value were 1.02+/-0.05, 1.41+/-0.20 and 1.14+/-0.19 micromol/L, respectively. Apoptosis in BGC-823 cells induced by GA was observed by Annexin-V/PI doubling staining flow cytometry assay. The apoptotic population of BGC-823 cells was about 12.96% and 24.58%, respectively, when cells were incubated with 1.2 micromol/L GA for 48 and 72 h. T/C (%) of human gastric carcinoma adenocarcinoma BGC-823 nude mice xenografts was 44.3, when the nude mice were treated with GA (8 mg/kg). Meanwhile, apoptosis induced by GA was observed in human gastric carcinoma adenocarcinoma BGC-823 nude mice xenografts. The increase of bax gene and the decrease of bc1-2 gene expressions were found by RT-PCR. CONCLUSION: The inhibition of GA on human gastric cancer line BGC-823 was confirmed. This effect connects with the inducing apoptosis in BGC-823 cells and the molecular mechanism might be related to the reduction of expression of apoptosis-regulated gene bcl-2, and the improvement of the expression of apoptosis-regulated gene bax. The result was also confirmed in vivo.

[Randomized controlled trials of acupuncture and moxibustion for post-stroke constipation: a meta analysis].

The clinical efficacy of acupuncture and moxibustion for post-stroke constipation was systematically reviewed. By computerized and manual retrieval of clinical research literature regarding acupuncture and moxibustion for post-stroke constipation, the randomized control trials (RCTs) that met the inclusive criteria were collected. Cochrane systematic review method was used and Revmen 5.2 software was adopted to perform this Meta analysis. Totally 8 articles were included, involving 610 cases of post-stroke constipation. As a result, the total effective rate and cured rate of acupuncture and moxibustion for post-stroke constipation were significantly superior to those of the control group [total effective rate: OR = 2.10, 95% CI (1.25, 3.54), Z = 2.78, P = 0.005; cured rate: OR = 2.37, 95% CI (1.57, 3.58), Z = 4.10, P < 0.0001]. This result indicated that acupuncture was effective for post-stroke constipation and had some advantages compared with other therapies. But the quality of included RCTs was low, and high-quality, large-sample and multi-center RCTs were needed to perform further verification.

Macranthoside B, a hederagenin saponin extracted from Lonicera macranthoides and its anti-tumor activities in vitro and in vivo.

Macranthoside B (MB) is a hederagenin saponin extracted from the flower bud of Lonicera macranthoides. In this study, we defined the anticancer effect of MB both in vitro and in vivo using cell proliferation assays and xenograft tumor growth assays. Our data indicate that MB inhibits the proliferation of various kinds of cancer cells with IC(50) values in the range of 10-20 microM. Moreover, the volume and weight of xenograft tumors in nude mice treated with 5mg/kgMB were decreased remarkably compared to those of the vehicle control group. Furthermore, DAPI staining and flow cytometry analysis with Annexin V/PI double staining revealed that more apoptotic cells were observed following MB treatment. In addition, degradation of PARP (poly-ADP-ribose polymerase), and activation of the caspase cascade for intrinsic pathways were observed. We also found that the expression of Bcl-2 protein decreased and the protein level of Bax increased which leading to an increase of the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio. Our results showed that MB exhibited strong anti-tumor effect and mitochondrion-mediated apoptosis induction involved in it.