Investigation on anti-hepatitis B virus active components and mechanism of Salvia miltiorrhiza based on network pharmacology / 药学学报

We predicted the anti-hepatitis B virus (HBV) active components and mechanism of Salvia miltiorrhiza based on network pharmacology. The active components of S. miltiorrhiza were obtained through TCMSP, PubChem database and literature research. The potential targets of the active components and HBV infection were predicted by SwissTargetPrediction and GeneCards databases, respectively. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed by String database. Cytoscape software was adopted to construct a visual network of active component-disease target and perform topological analysis. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses were performed using DAVID platform. The molecular docking of key components and core targets was carried out by AutoDock Vina software. We screened out a total of 38 active components and 178 disease-component overlapping targets. Enrichment analyses obtained 405 related GO items and 68 signaling pathways, such as T/B cell receptor signaling pathways, PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, and mTOR signaling pathway. According to the results of molecular docking, most characteristic components of S. miltiorrhiza (miltionone Ⅱ, miltirone, protocatechuic acid, lithospermic acid, protocatechualdehyde) showed good affinity with the key targets (PIK3CA, APP, STAT3,AKT1 and mTOR). Furthermore, the anti-HBV activity of lithospermic acid, the representative active component of S. miltiorrhiza, and its regulation on PI3K/AKT and mTOR signaling pathways were investigated in an HBV replicating mouse model. Animal welfare and experimental procedures follow the regulations of the Animal Ethics and Welfare Committee of Hubei University. The results showed that lithospermic acid significantly inhibited HBV DNA replication, reduced serum HBsAg and HBeAg levels, and decreased the phosphorylation protein expression levels of AKT and mTOR in liver, indicating that lithospermic acid might exert the anti-HBV activity by regulating PI3K/AKT and mTOR signaling pathways.

Opposite Expression of HNRNPA2B1 in Cancer and Senescent Cells and Its Regulatory Role in Senescence of Cancer Cells / 中国生物化学与分子生物学报

Splicing factor Heterogeneous Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein A2/B1 (HNRNPA2B1 ) is associated with mouse lifespan and human longevity.It also plays a causal role in cancer development.However, whether it participates in cellular senescence, a biological process that contributes to individual aging and inhibits cancer, remains unknown.Here, we report that HNRNPA2B1 showed significantly increased expression in various cancer types while consistently decreased expression in multiple cellular senescence models.Knocking down HNRNPA2B1 in cancer cells leads to a series of senescence- associated phenotvpes.In line with its function as a splicing factor, HNRNPA2B1 downregulation causes alternative splicing changes in over one thousand genes, including those known to have a causal role in senescence.Our results also suggests that the E2F transcription factor 1 (E2F1 ) could regulate the expression of HNRNPA2BI, and E2F1-HNRNPA2B1 may be a new regulatory axis functioning in both cancer and cellular senescence, which might also have potential medical implications for cancer therapies.