Flavonoids from the roots and rhizomes of Sophoratonkinensis and their in vitro anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity / 中国天然药物

Acute respiratory infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) had caused a global pandemic since 2019, and posed a serious threat to global health security. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has played an indispensable role in the battle against the epidemic. Many components originated from TCMs were found to inhibit the production of SARS-CoV-2 3C-like protease (3CLpro) and papain-like protease (PLpro), which are two promising therapeutic targets to inhibit SARS-CoV-2. This study describes a systematic investigation of the roots and rhizomes of Sophora tonkinensis, which results in the characterization of 12 new flavonoids, including seven prenylated flavanones (1-7), one prenylated flavonol (8), two prenylated chalcones (9-10), one isoflavanone (11), and one isoflavan dimer (12), together with 43 known compounds (13-55). Their structures including the absolute configurations were elucidated by comprehensive analysis of MS, 1D and 2D NMR data, and time-dependent density functional theory electronic circular dichroism (TDDFT ECD) calculations. Compounds 12 and 51 exhibited inhibitory effects against SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro with IC50 values of 34.89 and 19.88 μmol·L-1, repectively while compounds 9, 43 and 47 exhibited inhibitory effects against PLpro with IC50 values of 32.67, 79.38, and 16.74 μmol·L-1, respectively.

Determination of the ELISA kits for screening convalescence plasma with high potency of SARS-CoV-2 IgG / 中国输血杂志

【Objective】 To determine the ELISA kit for screening convalescence plasma with high potency of SARS-CoV-2 IgG by comparing and analyzing the plasma detection results of convalescent plasma collected in different periods via ELISA kits from two manufacturers and the results of mixed plasma with different potency via pseudovirus neutralization experiments. 【Methods】 Two ELISA kits from different manufacturers(named A, B) were used to detect the plasma of 269 convalescent patients collected from Feb.2020~Jan.2022. The correlation and concordance rate of the two results were analyzed to determine the kit preliminarily. According to the titers of diluted series of standard of the preliminary selected kit, 5 mixed plasma samples (G4-G128) with different potency were prepared. The correlation of ELISA IgG results of product A/B, as well as the pseudovirus neutralization test of the original strain, Omicron mutant BA.1 and BA.2 strains were analyzed. Combined with the outside-well dilution mode of the strongly positive samples, the kit for high potency of SARS-CoV-2 IgG screening was determined. 【Results】 When the internal control reference B2 was used as the standard, the detection sensitivity of product A and B was 1∶32 vs 1∶8; the detection sensitivity of product A was 4 times that of product B. The correlation Pearson r between the results given by two kits was 0.944 1(P<0.000 1). Product B with low sensitivity was primarily selected as an alternative kit. The ELISA IgG results of samples from mixed plasma showed that the order of correlation r between product A and B was 0.988. The correlation r between product A and neutralization antibody potency of the three viruses was original strain (0.978)>BA.2(0.970)>BA.1(0.799); the order of correlation r between ELISA IgG results of product B and neutralization antibody potency of the three viruses was original strain(0.994)>BA.2(0.968)>BA.1(0.804). If twice-diluted B2 was taken as the excellent standard, 55.4% of product B met the criterion, while 47.2% of product A met.For positive plasma with high IgG potency, the product B kit required a lower dilution of the sample, which was more convenient to operate. 【Conclusion】 Both of the ELISA IgG kit from product A and B can be used to screen IgG antibodies of SARS-CoV-2, while product B is more suitable for screening positive plasma with high IgG potency.

Natural Plant-derived Polysaccharides Against Cervical Cancer： A Review / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Cervical cancer is a gynecological malignant tumor with a high incidence in the world. With the insidious onset and lack of obvious symptoms and signs in the early stage， 13% of cervical cancer patients are diagnosed in the advanced stage of the disease， and the 5-year survival rate of metastatic cervical cancer is only 16.5%. So far， surgery and radiotherapy/chemotherapy are still the basic means for the treatment of cervical cancer. However， with the emergence of toxicity， drug resistance， and other side effects， there are still some limitations in the clinical application of these therapies. In recent years， natural compounds represented by polysaccharides have been found to have a significant anti-cervical cancer effect， which has attracted extensive attention from researchers in China and abroad. Widely distributed in the roots， stems， leaves， flowers， and fruits of higher plants， plant-based polysaccharides are important components of natural polysaccharides， as well as multimers with a complex structure and biological response regulators， which have been widely studied in the fields of cancer， cardiovascular， endocrine， and other diseases. This study reviewed the research on the anti-cervical cancer effect and mechanism of natural plant-derived polysaccharides by consulting the literature in the past 20 years to bring breakthroughs in the research and development of anti-cervical cancer new drugs. Through the literature review， the results indicated that natural plant-derived polysaccharides could exert anti-tumor effects by inhibiting cell proliferation， promoting apoptosis， inhibiting invasion and migration， promoting autophagy， arresting cell cycle of cervical cancer cells， regulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition （EMT）， resisting oxidative stress， inhibiting tumor angiogenesis， improving immunomodulatory activity， and regulating signaling pathways. It should be noted that in the current research on natural plant-derived polysaccharides against cervical cancer， the bioavailability of some natural polysaccharides is low and a considerable proportion of the research is limited to the in vitro experiment. Therefore， it is urgent to carry out more clinical experimental studies on the anti-cervical cancer of natural plant-based polysaccharides to obtain a more reliable theoretical and practical basis.

Medical visit status and clinical features in patients with IgG4 related disease / 北京大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To understand the medical treatment and clinical characteristics of patients with IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) with complex clinical manifestations and easy to be misdiagnosed and missed, and to improve the recognition of this disease among doctors from relevant medical departments.@*METHODS@#A retrospective analysis was conducted on the medical records of patients diagnosed with IgG4-RD who were hospitalized and discharged from Peking University Third Hospital from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2022. The patient' s medical visit status, clinical manifestations, laboratory examinations, diagnosis, and treatment information were summarized.@*RESULTS@#A total of 116 patients diagnosed with IgG4-RD were included in this study, with a male to female ratio of 2. 52∶ 1 and an average age of (61.83±10.80) years. The departments for initial visits were gastroenterology, general surgery, and ophthalmology. While the departments responsible for definitive diagnosis were gastroenterology, rheumatology and immunology, and respiratory medicine. Twenty-one patients (18. 10%) required consultation and treatment from three or more departments before receiving a definitive diagnosis. The median time from symptom onset to the initial clinic visit was 2 (1, 7) months, and the median time from symptom onset to diagnosis was 1 (1, 12) month. Twenty-four patients (20.69%) underwent surgical resection of the affected sites before diagnosis. According to the classification criteria of IgG4-RD, sixty-eight (58.62%) cases were diagnosed definitively, eight (6.9%) cases were likely to be diagnosed, and 40 (34.48%) cases were suspected to be diagnosed. In the 68 definitively diagnosed patients, the most commonly affected organs were submandibular gland, the pancreas, biliary tract, parotid in sequence. The median serum IgG4 (IgG4, immunoglobulin G4) level was 6.16 (3. 61, 12. 30) g/L. Fifty-seven patients (83.82%) were treated with glucocorticoids, and 14 patients (20.59%) were treated with immunosuppressants. The use of immunosuppressants was mainly in the rheumatology and immunology department (78. 57%).@*CONCLUSION@#IgG4-RD is more common in elderly males, with submandibular gland, the pancreas, biliary tract, and parotid being most commonly affected. The distribution of initial visit departments in patients is wide. The proportion of definitive diagnosis based on pathology is relatively low. In terms of treatment, the main approach is steroid treatment, while the use of immunosuppres-sants is not widespread.

Analysis of target and mechanism of rhynchophylline in treatment of inflammatory bowel disease / 中国药理学通报

Aim To investigate the feasibility and mechanism of rhynchophylline in the treatment of in-rhynchophylline flammatory bowel disease (IBD) based on network pharmacology combined with in vivo and in vitro experiments. Methods The target of rhynchophylline-IBD intersection was obtained from the database, and GO and KEGG enrichment analysis were performed. The binding of key target proteins was screened by molecular docking. In vivo the IBD model of mice was induced by sodium dextran sulfate (DSS). After seven days of rhynchophylline intervention, the signs of mice in each group were observed and DAI scores were recorded. The levels of interleukin-1β (3 (IL-1 β), my-eloperoxidase (MPO) and other inflammatory factors in colon tissue of mice were detected by ELISA. The intestinal permeability of each group was detected. In vitro experiments were conducted to establish the inflammatory model of Caco2 cells induced by DSS, and to clarify the regulatory effect of leptosinine on key targets. Results A total of 70 rhynchophylline-IBD intersection targets were screened, and enrichment analysis showed that they were related to the inflammatory prooess, PI3K-Akt and Hippo signaling pathway s. Molecular docking results showed that was most stable in binding with JAK2 and JAK1. In vivo experiment results showed that compared with model group, body weight, colon length and weight of rhynchophylline group significantly increased (P < 0. 05). DAI score, IL-1β, MPO and other inflammatory factors in colon tissue and intestinal permeability significantly decreased (P < 0. 01). In vitro experiment results showed that compared with model group, rhynchophylline group significantly promoted the proliferation of Caco2 cells (P < 0. 05). The levels of IL-6 and NO were significantly reduced (P < 0. 05). Western blot results showed that rhynchophylline could decrease the expressions of JAK2 and JAK1 (P < 0. 05). Conclusion Rhynchophylline may play a role in the treatment of IBD by inhibiting the expression of JAK2 and JAK1 proteins and reducing inflammatory response in body.

Comprehensive identification of metabolites and metabolic characteristics of luteolin and kaempferol in Simiao Yong'an Decoction in rats by UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap MS/MS / 中国中药杂志

Simiao Yong'an Decoction is a classic prescription for treating gangrene. Modern medical evidence has proven that Si-miao Yong'an Decoction has therapeutic effects on atherosclerosis(AS), vascular occlusion angeitides, and hypertension, while its pharmacodynamic mechanism remains unclear. The evidence of network pharmacology, molecular docking, literature review, and our previous study suggests that luteolin and kaempferol are two major flavonoids in Simiao Yong'an Decoction and can inhibit macrophage inflammation and exert anti-AS effects. However, due to lack of the metabolism studies in vivo, little is known about the metabolic characteristics of luteolin and kaempferol. This study employed ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with linear ion trap-Orbitrap mass spectrometry(UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap MS/MS) and relevant software to identify the metabolites and metabolic pathways of luteolin and kaempferol in rat plasma, urine, and feces, after oral administration of luteolin and kaempferol, respectively. After the administration of luteolin, 10, 11, and 3 metabolites of luteolin were detected in the plasma, urine, and feces, respectively. After the administration of kaempferol, 9, 3, and 1 metabolites of kaempferol were detected in the plasma, urine, and feces, respectively. The metabolic pathways mainly involved methylation, glucuronidation, and sulfation. This study enriches the knowledge about the pharmacological mechanism of luteolin and kaempferol and supplies a reference for revealing the metabolic process of other flavonoids in Simiao Yong'an Decoction, which is of great significance for elucidating the pharmacological effects and effective substances of this decoction in vivo.

Effects of oxiracetam on neurological impairment and oxidative stress in lead-exposed rats / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

Objective:To investigate the effects of different doses of oxiracetam (ORC) on the neurological impairment and oxidative stress ability of lead(Pb)-exposed rats.Methods:Total 32 male SD rats with SPF grade were randomly divided into control group, the lead-exposed group, low-dose ORC intervention group and high-dose ORC intervention group according to the random number table method, with 8 rats in each group.The neurobehavioral indexes of rats were measured by gait score, tail flicking test, hindlimb support test and Morris water maze test.The lead content in hippocampal tissue was detected by spectrophotometry.The cell morphology of hippocampal tissue was observed by HE staining.Superoxide dismutase (superoxide dismutase, SOD) level in hippocampal tissues was detected by xanthine oxidase, and the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the hippocampus tissue was detected by the thiobarbiturate, and the level of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) in the hippocampus tissue was detected by chemical colorimetric.SPSS 24.0 software was used for statistical analysis, one-way ANOVA was used for multiple group comparisons and LSD- t test was used for further pairwise comparisons. Results:(1)After 8 weeks of lead exposure, there was no significant difference in body weight among the 4 groups( F=0.869, P=0.469). (2)Results of neurobehavioral indicators: there were statistically significant differences in gait scores, tail flick time, hind limb deployment distance, escape latency, and number of crossing platforms among the four groups of rats ( F=7.854, 13.630, 8.484, 23.485, 45.457, all P<0.05). The gait score, tail flick time, hind limb deployment distance, and escape latency of the lead-exposed group rats were higher than those of the control group (all P<0.05), while the number of crossing platforms was lower than that of the control group ( P<0.05). The gait score, tail flick time, hind limb deployment distance, and escape latency of the high-dose ORC intervention group were lower than those of the lead exposed group (all P<0.05), and the number of crossing platforms was higher than that of the lead exposed group ( P<0.05). (3)Lead content in hippocampal tissue: there was a statistically significant difference in lead content in the hippocampus of the four groups( F=309.013, P<0.001). The lead contents of lead exposed group ((1.21±0.10)μg/g), low-dose ORC intervention group ((1.03±0.10)μg/g) and high-dose ORC intervention group ((1.02±0.06)μg/g) were higher than that of the control group((0.02±0.00) μg/g) (all P<0.05), while the lead content in the low-dose ORC intervention group and high-dose ORC intervention group were both lower than that of the lead exposed group (both P<0.05). (4) HE staining showed that compared with the control group, the hippocampal tissue cells in the lead exposed group were arranged disordered, the tissue was loose, and the number of cells was reduced.Compared with the lead exposed group, the hippocampal histiocytes were closely arranged and regular, and the nuclei were fuller.(5)Oxidative stress levels in hippocampal tissue: there were significant differences in MDA, GPx content and SOD activity of hippocampal tissues in the four groups( F=69.879, 56.757, 11.644, all P<0.001). The levels of SOD ((2.03±0.18)U/mg, (3.42±0.26)U/mg), GPx((67.29±7.94)nmol/mg, (89.50±7.94)nmol/mg) in the hippocampus tissue of the lead exposed group were lower than those of the control group (all P<0.05), while the content of MDA was higher than that of the control group((43.73±3.74) nmol/mg, (16.42±1.60) nmol/mg)( P<0.05). The levels of SOD ((3.32±0.12) U/mg) and GPx ((84.11±6.26) nmol/mg) in the high-dose ORC intervention group were higher than those in the lead exposed group (both P<0.05), while the levels of MDA ((21.05±2.56) nmol/mg) was lower than that in the lead exposed group ( P<0.05). Conclusion:ORC can alleviate neurological damage in rats caused by lead exposure, which may be related to the up-regulation of antioxidant capacity of hippocampal tissues, thereby improving pathological damage.

Development of small molecule extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs) inhibitors for cancer therapy

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) signaling pathway is widely activated by a variety of extracellular stimuli, and its dysregulation is associated with the proliferation, invasion, and migration of cancer cells. ERK1/2 is located at the distal end of this pathway and rarely undergoes mutations, making it an attractive target for anticancer drug development. Currently, an increasing number of ERK1/2 inhibitors have been designed and synthesized for antitumor therapy, among which representative compounds have entered clinical trials. When ERK1/2 signal transduction is eliminated, ERK5 may provide a bypass route to rescue proliferation, and weaken the potency of ERK1/2 inhibitors. Therefore, drug research targeting ERK5 or based on the compensatory mechanism of ERK5 for ERK1/2 opens up a new way for oncotherapy. This review provides an overview of the physiological and biological functions of ERKs, focuses on the structure-activity relationships of small molecule inhibitors targeting ERKs, with a view to providing guidance for future drug design and optimization, and discusses the potential therapeutic strategies to overcome drug resistance.

Clinical analysis of 10 cases with extramedullary plasmacytoma of the head and neck / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

Objective: To explore the clinical characteristics, treatment methods and outcomes of extramedullary plasmacytoma of the head and neck. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 10 cases with extramedullary plasmacytoma of the head and neck who were admitted to Henan Tumor Hospital from January 2005 to January 2020. Among the 10 patients, 6 were male and 4 were female. The average age at diagnosis was 56.3 years old (34-74 years old). Among them, 3 cases were located in the nasal cavity, 2 cases in the nasopharynx, 1 case in the sinuses, 2 cases in the larynx, 1 case in the oropharynx, and 1 case in the cervical lymph nodes. Treatments were administered according to tumor size and resection extent. Complete surgical excision (negative margins) was preferred, followed by adjuvant radiotherapy or radiotherapy alone. The clinical characteristics, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of EMP were analyzed. Results: The patients' symptoms were not specific, frequently with local obstruction symptom and localized masses. All patients were confirmed pathologically as suffering from monoclonal plasmacytoma, with negative bone marrow biopsy and negative skeletal survey. Five patients received surgery, 3 received radiotherapy, and 2 received surgery with additional radiation. The follow-up time was 16-125 months, with a median of 92 months. Two patients developed into multiple myeloma. One patient who received radiotherapy after surgery relapsed after 7 years of follow-up and again received surgical treatment, with no evidence of second recurrence. The remaining patients had no recurrence or progression. Conclusion: Extramedullary plasmacytoma of the head and neck has a good prognosis. Surgical treatment can be considered for completely resectable lesions.

Effect of monosialotetrahexosylganglioside sodium treatment on neurological function, inflammatory factor and blood coagulation function in patients with traumatic brain injury / 中国基层医药

Objective:To investigate the effect of monosialotetrahexosylganglioside sodium treatment on neurological function, inflammatory factor, and blood coagulation function in patients with traumatic brain injury.Methods:The clinical data of 90 patients with traumatic brain injury who received treatment in Taizhou Central Hospital from February 2018 to May 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. These patients were divided into a control group ( n = 46) and an observation group ( n = 44) according to different treatment methods. The control group was given routine symptomatic treatment and the observation group was given monosialotetrahexosylganglioside sodium treatment based on routine symptomatic treatment. Remission rate, inflammatory factor level, the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, Glasgow Outcome Scale score, and coagulation function were compared between the two groups at each time point. Results:At 3 days and 2 weeks post-surgery, neuropeptide Y in the observation group was (121.13 ± 12.68) ng/L and (68.52 ± 10.21) ng/L, tumor necrosis factor α was (96.15 ± 8.16) ng/L and (46.68 ± 5.95) ng/L, interleukin-6 was (231.26 ± 9.41) ng/L and (126.74 ± 12.23) ng/L, C-reactive protein was (47.52 ± 4.32) μg/L and (18.65 ± 1.32) μg/L, the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score was (20.12 ± 2.22) points and (17.67 ± 1.31) points. They were significantly lower than those in the control group [neuropeptide Y: (135.69 ± 15.42) ng/L, (79.36 ± 11.15) ng/L; tumor necrosis factor-α: (108.56 ± 10.13) ng/L, (69.33 ± 6.42) ng/L; interleukin-6: (264.13 ± 10.24) ng/L and (157.89 ± 12.13) ng/L; C-reactive protein: (65.19 ± 5.17) μg/L and (24.39 ± 3.45) μg/L; the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score: (24.56 ± 2.54) points and (20.39 ± 2.55) points] ( t3 days post-surgery = 4.88, 6.38, 15.83, 17.55, 8.81; t2 weeks post-surgery= 4.80, 17.33, 12.12, 10.33, 6.32, all P < 0.001). At 3 days and 2 weeks post-surgery, the Glasgow Outcome Scale score in the observation group was (3.65 ± 0.35) points and (4.65 ± 0.26) points, respectively, which was significantly higher than (3.15 ± 0.10) points and (4.11 ± 0.11) points in the control group ( t = 9.30, 12.93, both P < 0.05). At 3 days and 2 weeks post-surgery, fibrinogen in the observation group was (4.52 ± 0.39) g/L and (3.12 ± 0.10) g/L, thrombin time was (18.46 ± 2.95) seconds and (21.79 ± 2.45) seconds, prothrombin time was (12.42 ± 1.33) seconds and (15.79 ± 2.36) seconds, activated partial thromboplastin time was (34.59 ± 2.64) seconds and (38.98 ± 2.78) seconds, which were significantly superior to those in the control group [fibrinogen: (5.02 ± 0.13) g/L and (4.29 ± 0.16) g/L; thrombin time: (17.36 ± 1.56) seconds and (19.63 ± 1.62) seconds; prothrombin time: (10.69 ± 1.21) seconds and (13.26 ± 1.78) seconds; activated partial thromboplastin time: (32.16 ± 2.59) seconds and (35.69 ± 2.91) seconds] ( t3 days post-surgery = 8.23, 2.22, 6.46, 4.40; t2 weeks post-surgery = 41.38, 4.95, 5.75, 5.48, all P < 0.001). At 1 and 2 weeks post-surgery, the remission rate in the observation group was significantly higher than that in the control group ( χ2 = 4.75, 4.44, both P < 0.05). Conclusion:Monosialotetrahexosylganglioside sodium treatment for a traumatic brain injury can inhibit inflammatory reactions, improve blood coagulation and protect brain tissue.

Erratum: Author correction to "Development of small-molecule tropomyosin receptor kinase (TRK) inhibitors for NTRK fusion cancers" Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B 11 (2021) 355-372

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2020.05.004.].

Pulmonary function grading and comprehensive assessment in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease / 预防医学

Objective@#To understand the characteristics of different pulmonary function grades and comprehensive assessment groups among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) from community survey, so as to provide the evidence for the comprehensive community management of COPD. @*Methods@#The survey data of five monitoring sites in Zhejiang Province during 2014-2015 in the COPD surveillance of Chinese residents aged 40 years and above was collected. The patients with COPD were classified by pulmonary function according to the percentage of forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) in the predicted value, and by comprehensive assessment according to modified British Medical Research Council (mMRC) score, COPD Assessment Test (CAT) score and acute exacerbation in the past year. The characteristics of different pulmonary function grading and comprehensive assessment groups were compared. @*Results@#A total of 355 patients with COPD were found, with an average age of (63.00±9.63) years. The male-to-female ratio was 3.18:1. There were 243 patients with an education level of primary school or below, accounting for 68.45%. The awareness rate of COPD related knowledge was only 1.69%. There were 257 (72.39%) patients with mild, 86 (24.23%) patients with moderate, and 12 (3.38%) patients with severe pulmonary function. The proportions of patients with childhood history of severe respiratory infection, self-reported respiratory system diseases, chronic cough, chronic sputum, acute exacerbation in the past year, CAT score ≥10 points, and inhaled medication were lower in the patients with mild pulmonary function than with moderate and severe pulmonary function; the body mass index and waist circumference were higher in the patients with mild pulmonary function than in the patients with moderate and severe pulmonary function (all P<0.05). The comprehensive assessment resulted in 158 (44.51%) patients of Group A, 134 (37.75%) patients of Group B, 1 (0.28%) patient of Group C, and 7 (1.97%) patients of Group D. The average age and systolic pressure were lower in Group A than in Group B, C and D; the proportions of patients with self-reported respiratory system diseases, family history of respiratory diseases, chronic cough, chronic sputum, dyspnea, acute exacerbation in the past year and CAT score ≥10 points were lower in Group A than in Group B, C and D (all P<0.05). @*Conclusion@#The community patients with COPD are mainly classified to mild pulmonary function and Group A in the comprehensive assessment; thus they need different levels of management.

Development of small-molecule tropomyosin receptor kinase (TRK) inhibitors for

Tropomyosin receptor kinase A, B and C (TRKA, TRKB and TRKC), which are well-known members of the cell surface receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) family, are encoded by the neurotrophic receptor tyrosine kinase 1, 2 and 3 (

Effects of resveratrol on high-fat diet-induced hypertrophic obesity in elderly mice / 中华老年医学杂志

Objective:To investigate the effects and potential mechanisms of resveratrol on obesity in elderly mice.Methods:In this study, 3 groups were randomly formed for 32-week-old mice and for 48-week-old mice.The normal diet group received regular chow and 0.3 ml saline by gavage once a day, the high-fat diet group received a high-fat diet(containing 21% fat and 1.25% cholesterol)and 0.3 ml saline once a day, and the high-fat diet plus resveratrol group received a high-fat diet and resveratrol(22.4 mg/kg, dispersed in 0.3 ml saline)by gavage once a day.After 12 weeks, body weight and adipose tissues were measured.Plasma leptin concentrations were determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA), and values for hypertrophic obesity-related indexes of mice were obtained by quantitative real-time PCR.Results:The body weight and the proportion of subcutaneous fat tissues were lower in the high-fat diet plus resveratrol group than in the high-fat diet group[(34.43±3.23)g vs.(53.16±2.16)g, (3.21±1.58)% vs.(4.86±0.64)%, P<0.01], and were similar to those in the normal diet group.Resveratrol had a more obvious inhibitory effect on leptin in elderly mice than in middle-aged mice.In elderly mice, the plasma leptin concentration was lower in the high-fat diet plus resveratrol group than in the high-fat diet group[(0.015±0.009)g/L vs.(0.100±0.027)g/L]and the normal diet group( F=19.85, P=0.001), and it was similar to that in the middle-aged mice on a normal diet.Resveratrol significantly increased the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma(PPARγ)and glucose transporter 4(GLUT4)and reduced the expression of tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)( F=10.79, 9.31 and 7.02, P=0.003, 0.006 and 0.010). Conclusions:Resveratrol can significantly improve hypertrophic obesity in elderly mice, and the inhibition of leptin secretion and up-regulation of PPARγ may be the key mechanisms.

The use of miR122 and its target sequence in adeno-associated virus-mediated trichosanthin gene therapy / 中西医结合学报

OBJECTIVE@#Plant-derived cytotoxic transgene expression, such as trichosanthin (tcs), regulated by recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vector is a promising cancer gene therapy. However, the cytotoxic transgene can hamper the vector production in the rAAV producer cell line, human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cells. Here, we explored microRNA-122 (miR122) and its target sequence to limit the expression of the cytotoxic gene in the rAAV producer cells.@*METHODS@#A miR122 target (122T) sequence was incorporated into the 3' untranslated region of the tcs cDNA sequence. The firefly luciferase (fluc) transgene was used as an appropriate control. Cell line HEK293-mir122 was generated by the lentiviral vector-mediated genome integration of the mir122 gene in parental HEK293 cells. The effects of miR122 overexpression on cell growth, transgene expression, and rAAV production were determined.@*RESULTS@#The presence of 122T sequence significantly reduced transgene expression in the miR122-enriched Huh7 cell line (in vitro), fresh human hepatocytes (ex vivo), and mouse liver (in vivo). Also, the normal liver physiology was unaffected by delivery of 122T sequence by rAAV vectors. Compared with the parental cells, the miR122-overexpressing HEK293-mir122 cell line showed similar cell growth rate and expression of transgene without 122T, as well as the ability to produce liver-targeting rAAV vectors. Fascinatingly, the yield of rAAV vectors carrying the tcs-122T gene was increased by 77.7-fold in HEK293-mir122 cells. Moreover, the tcs-122T-containing rAAV vectors significantly reduced the proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma cells without affecting the normal liver cells.@*CONCLUSION@#HEK293-mir122 cells along with the 122T sequence provide a potential tool to attenuate the cytotoxic transgene expression, such as tcs, during rAAV vector production.

Targeting autophagy using small-molecule compounds to improve potential therapy of Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD), known as one of the most universal neurodegenerative diseases, is a serious threat to the health of the elderly. The current treatment has been demonstrated to relieve symptoms, and the discovery of new small-molecule compounds has been regarded as a promising strategy. Of note, the homeostasis of the autolysosome pathway (ALP) is closely associated with PD, and impaired autophagy may cause the death of neurons and thereby accelerating the progress of PD. Thus, pharmacological targeting autophagy with small-molecule compounds has been drawn a rising attention so far. In this review, we focus on summarizing several autophagy-associated targets, such as AMPK, mTORC1, ULK1, IMPase, LRRK2, beclin-1, TFEB, GCase, ERR

MCDB: A comprehensive curated mitotic catastrophe database for retrieval, protein sequence alignment, and target prediction

Mitotic catastrophe (MC) is a form of programmed cell death induced by mitotic process disorders, which is very important in tumor prevention, development, and drug resistance. Because rapidly increased data for MC is vigorously promoting the tumor-related biomedical and clinical study, it is urgent for us to develop a professional and comprehensive database to curate MC-related data. Mitotic Catastrophe Database (MCDB) consists of 1214 genes/proteins and 5014 compounds collected and organized from more than 8000 research articles. Also, MCDB defines the confidence level, classification criteria, and uniform naming rules for MC-related data, which greatly improves data reliability and retrieval convenience. Moreover, MCDB develops protein sequence alignment and target prediction functions. The former can be used to predict new potential MC-related genes and proteins, and the latter can facilitate the identification of potential target proteins of unknown MC-related compounds. In short, MCDB is such a proprietary, standard, and comprehensive database for MC-relate data that will facilitate the exploration of MC from chemists to biologists in the fields of medicinal chemistry, molecular biology, bioinformatics, oncology and so on. The MCDB is distributed on http://www.combio-lezhang.online/MCDB/index_html/.

Preliminary study on phonetic characteristics of patients with pulmonary nodules / 中西医结合学报

OBJECTIVE@#Pulmonary nodules (PNs) are one of the imaging manifestations of early lung cancer screening, which should receive more attention. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that voice changes occur in patients with pulmonary diseases. The purpose of this study is to explore the differences in phonetic characteristics between patients with PNs and able-bodied persons.@*METHODS@#This study explores the phonetic characteristics of patients with PNs in order to provide a simpler and cheaper method for PN screening. It is a case-control study to explore the differences in phonetic characteristics between individuals with and without PNs. This study performed non-parametric statistics on acoustic parameters of vocalizations, collected from January 2017 to March 2018 in Shanghai, China, from these two groups; it explores the differences in third and fourth acoustic parameters between patients with PNs and a normal control group. At the same time, computed tomography (CT) scans, course of disease, combined disease and other risk factors of the patients were collected in the form of questionnaire. According to the grouping of risk factors, the phonetic characteristics of the patients with PNs were analyzed.@*RESULTS@#This study was comprised of 200 patients with PNs, as confirmed by CT, and 86 healthy people that served as a control group. Among patients with PNs, 43% had ground glass opacity, 32% had nodules with a diameter ≥ 8 mm, 19% had a history of smoking and 31% had hyperlipidemia. Compared with the normal group, there were statistically significant differences in pitch, intensity and shimmer in patients with PNs. Among patients with PNs, patients with diameters ≥ 8 mm had a significantly higher third formant. There was a significant difference in intensity, fourth formant and harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR) between smoking and non-smoking patients. Compared with non-hyperlipidemia patients, the pitch, jitter and shimmer of patients with PNs and hyperlipidemia were higher and the HNR was lower; these differences were statistically significant.@*CONCLUSION@#This measurable changes in vocalizations can be in patients with PNs. Patients with PNs had lower and weaker voices. The size of PNs had an effect on the phonetic formant. Smoking may contribute to damage to the voice and formant changes. Voice damage is more pronounced in individuals who have PNs accompanied by hyperlipidemia.

Lithium chloride inhibits vascular smooth muscle cell calcification by increasing pyrophosphate levels / 中华老年医学杂志

Objective:To investigate the effects of lithium chloride on vascular smooth muscle cell calcification and the potential underlying mechanisms.Methods:Human aortic smooth muscle cells were cultured in vitro, and a smooth muscle cell calcification model was established by using a calcification medium(the concentration of inorganic phosphorus was 3 mmol/L). Cells in the drug treatment group were pretreated with lithium chloride(10 mmol/L)for 4 hours and then with inorganic phosphorus at 3 mmol/L.After several days in culture, calcium deposition in cells was measured by alizarin red S staining.The secretion of extracellular pyrophosphate was detected by measuring nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide hydrogen(NADH) consumption of pyrophosphate-coupled enzyme reactions, which were monitored spectrophotometrically at 340 nm.Real-time PCR and Western blotting were used to detect mRNA and protein expression of the human progressive ankylosis( ankh)gene.Human aortic smooth muscle cells were infected with the scramble control lentivirus and the sh- ankh lentivirus, respectively, to establish the control cell group and the ankh knockdown cell group.The effects of ankh knockdown on cell calcification were examined. Results:The calcification level in vascular smooth muscle cells increased in the high inorganic phosphorus group, compared with the control group[(65.00±2.11)ng/g vs.(12.39±0.38)ng/g, P<0.01)]. Compared with the high-phosphorus control group, lithium chloride evidently inhibited high phosphate-induced vascular smooth muscle cell calcification[(24.92±1.87)ng/g vs.(60.94±4.51)ng/g, P<0.01)]. Lithium chloride pretreatment clearly increased extracellular pyrophosphate levels under unstimulated conditions[(51.70±7.26)×10 -3mmol/g vs.(28.71±2.55)×10 -3mmol/g( P<0.01)]and under high phosphorus stimulation[(34.35±4.27)×10 -3mmol/g vs.(20.89±4.93)×10 -3mmol/g( P<0.05)], and increased the expression of ankh as well( P<0.01). In addition, ankh knockdown markedly enhanced the extent of inorganic phosphorus-induced vascular smooth muscle cell calcification(71.73±2.45 ng/g vs.56.19±3.59 ng/g, P<0.01). Conclusions:Lithium chloride inhibits high phosphorus-induced vascular smooth muscle cell calcification by enhancing the level of extracellular pyrophosphate via increased ankh expression.

Prevalence and influencing factors of dyslipidemia among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in rural communities of Zhejiang Province / 预防医学

Objective@#To learn the prevalence of dyslipidemia and its influencing factors among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in rural areas of Zhejiang Province, and to provide evidence for dyslipidemia control.@* Methods@#A sample of 10 343 patients with T2DM managed by communities from three counties (Jiashan,Suichang and Yongkang) were recruited. Through the residents’ health record system and specific investigation, demographic features,physical examination results of blood pressure,height, weight, waist circumstance (WC), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c),total cholesterol (TC),triglyceride (TG),low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were collected to analyze the spectrum of dyslipidemia. A logistic regression model was established to explore the associated factors of dyslipidemia. @*Results @#The prevalence rate of dyslipidemia among the patients with T2DM in rural communities was 66.91%. The prevalence rates of higher level of TC, TG, LDL-C were 41.76%, 41.28%, 15.89%, respectively, while the prevalence rateof lower level of HDL-C was 16.92%. The prevalence rates of purely high TC,high TC with TG and purely high TG were 11.84%,11.75% and 11.47%,respectively. Higher level of TG with lower level of HDL-C was common in males (11.32%) and higher level of TC with TG was common in females (14.60%). The results from multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that females(OR=1.499,95%CI:1.352-1.663),age(OR=0.992,95%CI:0.988-0.996),poor control of HbA1c(OR=1.241,95%CI:1.141-1.351), abdominal obesity(OR=1.169,95%CI:1.064-1.285),overweight(OR=1.384,95%CI:1.257-1.524)and obesity(OR=1.582,95%CI:1.352-1.852)were associated with dyslipidemia. @*Conclusions@#The prevalence of dyslipidemia is relatively higher among the patients with T2DM in rural communities of Zhejiang Province. Higher level of TC and TG contributed to most dyslipidemia. The patients with T2DM who are females,have poor control of plasma glucose and suffer from obesity should be under surveillance.