Advances in the treatment of malignant ascites in China.

PURPOSE: Malignant ascites (MA) often occurs in recurrent abdominal malignant tumors, and the large amount of ascites associated with cancerous peritonitis not only leads to severe abdominal distension and breathing difficulties, but also reduces the patient's quality of life and ability to resist diseases, which usually makes it difficult to carry out anti-cancer treatment. The exploration of MA treatment methods is also a key link in MA treatment. This article is going to review the treatment of MA, to provide details for further research on the treatment of MA, and to provide some guidance for the clinical treatment of MA. METHOD: This review analyzes various expert papers and summarizes them to obtain the paper. RESULT: There are various treatment methods for MA, including systemic therapy and local therapy. Among them, systemic therapy includes diuretic therapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, anti angiogenic therapy, CAR-T, and vaccine. Local therapy includes puncture surgery, peritoneal vein shunt surgery, acellular ascites infusion therapy, radioactive nuclide intraperitoneal injection therapy, tunnel catheter, and intraperitoneal hyperthermia chemotherapy. And traditional Chinese medicine treatment has also played a role in enhancing efficacy and reducing toxicity to a certain extent. CONCLUSION: Although there has been significant progress in the treatment of MA, it is still one of the clinical difficulties. Exploring the combination or method of drugs with the best therapeutic effect and the least adverse reactions to control MA is still an urgent problem to be solved.

Anti-oxidative effect of zinc in human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells.

Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (HUC-MSCs) are pluripotent and functional in many biological processes, by which releasing secretary factors to promote the self-repairing of damaged tissue or developing into functional cell at local organ. However, there is a high risk that oxidative stress would reduce the pluripotency and factor-secretion during the preparation and transplantation. Therefore, reducing oxidative stress is expected to improve the efficacy of HUC-MSCs therapy. Zinc (Zn) is an essential trace element which involves in the resistance of oxidative stress. To investigate Zn-regulated signaling pathways, we have profiled the gene expression at transcriptome level in primary HUC-MSCs treated with zinc sulfate, followed with GO and KEGG gene enrichment analysis. Zn treatment improved signal pathways for mineral absorption, cell growth, and cell death. Zn deficiency was mimicked by TPEN administration, which suppressed cell proliferation and reduced the expression of HUC-MSCs surface stem cell markers CD73, CD90 and CD105 by flow cytometry. Nuclear factor erythrocyte 2 related factor 2 (Nrf2) plays an important role in antioxidant biological processes. In vitro treatment of Zn significantly increased Nrf2 and Sirt3 expression at gene level and protein level respectively. Zn supplementation inhibited TPEN-induced failure of cell survival and reversed the reduction of Nrf2 and Sirt3 expression, which further reduced the production of ROS. Zn successfully presented its anti-oxidation effect by activating Nrf2/Sirt3 signaling pathway in HUC-MSCs. Zn supplementation may improve the efficacy of HUC-MSCs therapy with reduced oxidative stress.

Zinc is essential for the transcription function of the PGC-1α/Nrf2 signaling pathway in human primary endometrial stromal cells.

Zinc (Zn) has antioxidant effect in different types of organs and is closely associated with human health. Endometrial receptivity is one of the most important factors in the embryo implantation and development. However, the regulatory mechanism of Zn in endometrium tissue is still unclear. In the study, we found that plasma Zn level is significantly associated with female infertility, which severely affects female reproductive health. Primary endometrial stromal cells were isolated from female endometrium and cultured in the laboratory. Zn chelator TPEN treatment reduced the expression of stem cell markers CD73, CD90, and CD105 and generated reactive oxygen species in endometrial stromal cells. However, pretreatment of Zn (zinc sulfate) is able to prevent TPEN-induced oxidative stress in vitro. By transcriptional profiling and gene ontology analysis, we found that Zn increased the cellular pluripotency signaling and extracellular matrix-receptor interaction, but reduced autophagy, endocytosis, and the nitrogen metabolism pathway. We further discovered the antioxidant function of Zn through the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1α/nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor signaling pathway in endometrial stromal cells. Zn supplementation may open up an effective therapeutic approach for patients with oxidative stress-related endometrial diseases.