A prospective multicentre controlled study of Gaoweikang (Chinese multiherb extract-based tincture) used in high-risk HPV infections.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to investigate the safety and antiviral efficacy of a Chinese multiherb extract-based tincture (GWK) on a population of patients with high-risk human papilloma (hrHPV) infections and hrHPV-caused cervical low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSILs). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with persistent hrHPV infection were enrolled in Group A, including A1 subjects, who received the intervention, and A2 subjects, who received the control. Patients with hrHPV infection causing cervical LSIL were enrolled in Group B, which included B1 subjects, who received the intervention, and B2 subjects, who served as the control. For Groups A1 and B1, hrHPV was tested at 3 months (M3) and 6 months (M6) after the intervention. The side effects were also analyzed. RESULTS: At baseline (D0), a total of 99 patients were enrolled in Group A, with 50 subjects in Group A1 and 49 subjects in Group A2. A total of 91 patients were enrolled in Group B, with 45 subjects in Group B1 and 46 subjects in Group B2. There was no significant difference in the characteristics, including average age, age stratification, and HPV genotype. At M6, both Group A1 and Group B1 had a higher hrHPV clearance rate than the control group (A1/A2: 80.0% vs. 20.4%; B1/B2: 64.4% vs. 15.2%, p<0.001). At M6, the effective rates of Group A1 and Group B1 were 84% (42/50) and 68.9% (31/45), respectively. The side effect rates of Groups A1 and B1 were 11.5% (6/52) and 11.1% (5/45), respectively. Most adverse reactions involved local discomfort, including vulvar erythema, vulvar itch, increased vaginal discharge, cervical bleeding, and mild pain in the lower abdomen. Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that the intervention had an OR of 12 (95% CI 4.431-32.50) for clearing persistent HPV infection (p<0.001). For cervical LSIL, the intervention had an OR of 10.1 for clearing persistent HPV infection (95% CI 3.68-27.7) (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that the Chinese multiherb extract-based tincture GWK is safe and well tolerated. Furthermore, this preliminary study showed that this Chinese multiherb extract-based tincture is helpful for promoting HPV clearance in cases of persistent HPV and HPV-induced LSIL.

RN1, a novel galectin-3 inhibitor, inhibits pancreatic cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo via blocking galectin-3 associated signaling pathways.

Galectin-3 (Gal-3) has been implicated in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), and its candidacy as a therapeutic target has been evaluated. Gal-3 is widely upregulated in tumors, and its expression is associated with the development and malignancy of PDAC. In the present study, we demonstrate that a polysaccharide, RN1, purified from the flower of Panax notoginseng binds to Gal-3 and suppresses its expression. In addition, RN1 markedly inhibits PDAC cells growth in vitro, in vivo and in patient-derived xenografts. Mechanistically, RN1 binds to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and Gal-3, thereby disrupting the interaction between Gal-3 and EGFR and downregulating extracellular-related kinase (ERK) phosphorylation and the transcription factor of Gal-3, Runx1 expression. Inhibiting the expression of Runx1 by RN1, suppresses Gal-3 expression and inactivates Gal-3-associated signaling pathways, including the EGFR/ERK/Runx1, BMP/smad/Id-3 and integrin/FAK/JNK signaling pathways. In addition, RN1 can also bind to bone morphogenetic protein receptors (BMPR1A and BMPR2) and block the interaction between Gal-3 and the BMPRs. Thus, our results suggest that a novel Gal-3 inhibitor RN1 may be a potential candidate for human PDAC treatment via multiple targets and multiple signaling pathways.