Epicoccum sorghinum Causing Leaf Spot on Polygonatum cyrtonema in China.

Polygonatum cyrtonema Hua (family Asparagaceae) is a traditional Chinese medicinal plant that is widely cultivated in various parts of China, including Hunan Province. In summer 2022, a leaf spot disease was observed in 10% of the P. cyrtonema plants (Huang jing) in 18 hectares of this crop in the Hongjiang District (27°18'4″N, 110°11'1″E) of Hunan Province. The initial symptoms of the disease were brown spots on young leaves, and adjacent tissues gradually changed from green to yellow. The entire leaf then became yellow, withered, and eventually exhibited a thn and black appearance. In total, 12 diseased plants from four sampling sites (three plants per site) were collected for laboratory analysis to address the concerns of P. cyrtonema growers. Symptomatic leaf samples were selected, and the leaf fragments containing infected parts of the plants were disinfected with 75% ethanol for 1 min, then immersed in 2.5% hypochlorite for 45 s. After disinfection, symptomatic leaf samples were rinsed three times with sterile water, placed on potato saccharose agar containing 50 µg/ml kanamycin and incubated at 25°C for 2 days. Subsequently, 12 fungal isolates were isolated from various leaf samples through hyphal tip transferring. Ten of the 12 fungal isolates had similar morphological features, and one of them (isolate hjh) was used as the representative isolate for the study. With a growth rate of 6.3 mm per day, its white colonies transformed into red concentric rings in five days; they gradually became black after 10 days of growth. The chlamydospores were round (4.0-9.9 × 3.1-9.3 µm, n = 30), whereas the conidia were ovate (8.0-12.1 × 3.2-6.5 µm, n = 30). The morphological features of the isolate hjh were similar to the features of Epicoccum spp. (Aveskamp et al. 2010). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region (including the partial ITS1 sequence and the 5.8S and ITS2 complete sequences), ß-tubulin (tub) gene, and large subunit (LSU) rRNA gene, were amplified from the isolate hjh using the primer pairs ITS5/ITS4, Bt2a/Bt2b, and LROR/LR5, respectively (Taguiam et al. 2021). BLASTn analysis showed that the ITS (OR253745), tub (OR253764), and LSU (OR253746) sequences generated from the isolate hjh were 98-99% similar to the sequences of E. sorghinum strains CBS 179.80 and CBS 627.68. Subsequently, the ITS, tub, and LSU sequences were combined using Sequence Matrix software; phylogenetic analysis via Bayesian and maximum likelihood methods (Vaidya et al. 2011; Li et al. 2021) classified the isolate hjh into the E. sorghinum clade. To fulfill Koch's postulates, pathogenicity tests were conducted on healthy (lesion-free and disease-free) 2-year-old P. cyrtonema plants. Three healthy plants were inoculated by spraying whole plant until run-off with a spore suspension of the isolate hjh (1 × 106 conidia/ml); Three other healthy plants were sprayed with sterile water as controls. The inoculated plants were incubated in a growth chamber at 25 ± 2°C with 85% humidity for 28 days(Chen et al. 2021). Leaves from the inoculated plants gradually became brown within 15 days. Finally, the plants died 28 days after inoculation. The control plants showed no symptoms throughout the experimental period. Isolates (isolate hjh1, hjh2 and hjh3) that were reisolated from the inoculated plants exhibited morphologically similar characteristics and molecularly identical to the original isolate hjh. To our knowledge, this is the first report of E. sorghinum causing leaf spot disease on P. cyrtonema. The results of this study may facilitate the production of P. cyrtonema in China.

Triacanthine enhances the sensitivity of colorectal cancer cells to 5-fluorouracil by regulating RRM2.

BACKGROUND: According to the literatures, triacanthine is isolated from the leaves of Gleditsia triacanthos L. and acts as an anti-hypertensive agent, also cardiotonic, antispasmodic and a respiratory analeptic. The 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is widely used to treat the patients of colorectal cancer (CRC), but the resistance to 5-FU treatment restricts the therapeutic efficacy of CRC patients. PURPOSE: This study aims to explore a novel therapeutics regimen overcoming CRC resistance to 5-FU. METHODS: The cell proliferation of CRC cells was determined by SRB and colony formation assay. Transwell and wound-healing assay were applied to explore the potential metastatic abilities of CRC cells. qRT-PCR and Western blot were performed to evaluate the level of indicated mRNAs and proteins respectively. Xenograft assay was used to explore the anti-CRC effect of triacanthine. RESULTS: Triacanthine statistically restrained CRC proliferation both in vitro and in vivo. Triacanthine induced cell cycle G1/G0 phase arrest in CRC cells. Meanwhile, triacanthine also inhibited the migrative and invasive abilities of CRC cells. A Venn diagram was generated showing that O-6-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase (MGMT) might be a molecular target of triacanthine in treating CRC. Furthermore, triacanthine plus 5-FU significantly suppressed the cell proliferation of CRC cells compared with single agent treatment alone, and highly synergistic anti-cancer effects were scored when 5-FU was combined with triacanthine in CRC cells. In addition, triacanthine sensitized the anti-cancer activity of 5-FU via regulating Ribonucleotide Reductase Regulatory Subunit M2 (RRM2). MGMT or RRM2 might be novel biomarkers for evaluating the therapeutical efficiency of 5-FU in CRC patients. CONCLUSION: We firstly demonstrated triacanthine suppressed cell proliferation and metastasis abilities and found the novel molecular targets of triacanthine in CRC cells. This is the first study to evaluate the anti-cancer efficiency of triacanthine plus 5-FU. Our study has revealed triacanthine as a pertinent sensitizer to 5-FU, and provided novel strategies for predicting outcomes and reversing resistance of 5-FU therapy.

Acupuncture and moxibustion for irritable bowel syndrome: An umbrella systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional bowel disease characterized by abdominal pain or discomfort associated with altered bowel habits. Several clinical studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of acupuncture and moxibustion for IBS. Many systematic reviews of acupuncture and moxibustion for IBS have been published in recent years, but their results are not entirely consistent. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the methodological, reporting, and evidence quality of systematic reviews of acupuncture and moxibustion for IBS. SEARCH STRATEGY: Systematic reviews of acupuncture and moxibustion for IBS published before February 20, 2023 were searched in eight databases: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data, VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals, and China Biology Medicine. The keywords used for literature search were acupuncture, moxibustion, systematic review, meta-analysis, and irritable bowel syndrome. INCLUSION CRITERIA: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials of acupuncture and moxibustion for IBS were included. DATA EXTRACTION AND ANALYSIS: Relevant information was independently extracted by two investigators. The A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR 2), Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA 2020), and Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) were used to evaluate the methodological quality, reporting quality and evidence quality, respectively. RESULTS: A total of 342 studies were retrieved and 15 systematic reviews were included. The results of AMSTAR 2 showed low methodological quality in 2 studies and very low methodological quality in the remaining 13 studies, with main issues being failure to register a protocol, incomplete search strategy, not providing a list of excluded studies, incomplete consideration of the risk of bias in the included studies, and a failure to assess the publication bias. The results of PRISMA 2020 showed seriously deficient reporting quality of 2 studies, somewhat deficient reporting quality of 12 studies, and relatively complete reporting quality of 1 study, with the main problems being lack of a complete search strategy, non-availability of a list of excluded studies with justification for their exclusion, not conducting heterogeneity and sensitivity analyses, not evaluating the credibility of the evidence, and not registering the protocol. The results of GRADE showed that the quality of the evidence is low or very low. CONCLUSION: Most included systematic reviews interpreted findings to suggest that acupuncture and moxibustion have benefits for IBS. However, there is a need to improve the methodological, reporting and evidence quality of the systematic reviews. Larger, multicenter, rigorously designed randomized controlled trials and high-quality systematic reviews are required to obtain more robust evidence. PLEASE CITE THIS ARTICLE AS: Ma YY, Hao Z, Chen ZY, Shen YX, Liu HR, Wu HG, Bao CH. Acupuncture and moxibustion for irritable bowel syndrome: An umbrella systematic review. J Integr Med. 2024; 22(1): 22-31.

Acupoint Thread Embedding Combined With Wenshen Bugu Decoction for the Treatment of Aromatase Inhibitor-Associated Musculoskeletal Symptom Among Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Patients: Study Protocol of a Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are recommended as the preferred therapy for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive (HR+) breast cancer. As a result, aromatase inhibitor-associated musculoskeletal symptom (AIMSS) have become a major problem leading to therapy discontinuation and decreased quality of life in patients receiving adjuvant AIs treatment. Multiple therapies have been attempted, but have yielded limited clinical results. This study will be performed to determine whether acupoint thread embedding (ATE) combined with Wenshen Bugu Decoction can effectively treat AIMSS, so as to improve the AIs medication compliance of postmenopausal breast cancer patients. METHODS: This study will utilize a randomized, 2 parallel groups controlled trial design. A total of 128 eligible postmenopausal breast cancer women with AIMSS will be randomized to receive a 12-week treatment with Wenshen Bugu Decoction alone (control group) or in combination with ATE (treatment group) in a 1:1 ratio. The primary outcome will be the 12 week Brief Pain Inventory Worst Pain (BPI-WP) score. The secondary outcome measures will include response rate, Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form (BFI-SF), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Endocrine Symptom (FACT-ES), Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B), bone marrow density (BMD), blood markers of bone metabolite, Morisky medication adherence scale-8 (MMAS-8), credibility and expectancy, and survival outcomes. DISCUSSION: This trial may provide clinical evidence that ATE combined with Wenshen Bugu Decoction can be beneficial for treating AIMSS among postmenopausal breast cancer survivors. Our findings will be helpful to enhance the quality of life and reduce the occurrence of AIs withdrawal.

[Research advance in multi-component pharmacokinetics of Chinese herbal extracts in recent five years].

The multi-component pharmacokinetic study of Chinese herbal extracts elaborates the in vivo processes,including absorption,distribution,metabolism,and excretion,of multiple bioactive components,which is of significance in revealing pharmacodynamic material basis of Chinese herbal medicine. In recent years,with the innovation in ideas,and development of techniques and methods on traditional Chinese medicine( TCM) research,the pharmacokinetic studies of Chinese herbal extracts were extensively performed,and notable progress has been made. This paper reviewed the advancement of multi-component pharmacokinetics of Chinese herbal extracts in recent five years from analysis technology of biological sample,the pharmacokinetic characteristics of Chinese herbal medicine with complex system,and the impacts of processing and pathological state on pharmacokinetics of Chinese herbal extracts,aiming to provide a reference for quality control,product development and rational medication of Chinese herbal extracts.