Polysaccharide from Echinacea purpurea plant ameliorates oxidative stress-induced liver injury by promoting Parkin-dependent autophagy.

BACKGROUND: Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose represents one of the most common drug-induced liver injuries (DILI) worldwide. Oxidative damage to the hepatocytes and their resultant autophagy are the key components in the APAP-induced DILI. Echinacea purpurea polysaccharide (EPPS), the component extracted from the root of Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench, shows various biological functions including immunoregulation and antioxidant activity. PURPOSE: This study aimed to elucidate the protective effect of EPPS against APAP-induced DILI and the underlying mechanisms. RESULTS: EPPS attenuates APAP overdose induced DILI in mice and ameliorates inflammation and oxidative stress in mice with APAP overdose-induced DILI. Furthermore, EPPS protected the hepatocytes against APAP-induced liver injury by suppressing apoptosis. EPPS ameliorates APAP-induced DILI via an autophagy-dependent mechanism in vivo and increases autophagy with a reduction in oxidative stress and inflammation in vitro. Parkin knockdown prevents the autophagic-dependent manner of EPPS effects in APAP-treated hepatocytes. CONCLUSIONS: EPPS exhibited a strong hepatoprotective effect against APAP-induced DILI and was correlated with reduction of autophagy-dependent oxidant response, inflammation, and apoptosis. Moreover, the findings indicated that EPPS exerts its hepatoprotective effect against APAP mainly via Parkin-dependent autophagy, and the use of EPPS can serve as a promising novel therapeutic strategy for APAP-induced DILI.

[Therapeutic efficacy of Traditional Vein Chemotherapy and Bronchial Arterial Infusion Combining with CIKs on III Stage Non-small Cell Lung Cancer.].

BACKGROUND: The therapeutic efficacy of late lung-cancer was very poor, and cytokine-induced killer cells (CIK) were paid more attention to treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The aim of this study is to get insight into the role of bronchial arterial infusion bronchial arterial infusion (BAI) plus CIK about NSCLC by comparing therapeutic efficacy among BAI, traditional vein chemotherapy and BAI plus CIK, for late NSCLC. METHODS: A total of 120 patients were enrolled in this study, dividing randomly into three groups: bronchial arterial infusion (BAI), traditional vein chemotherapy and BAI plus CIK. Clinical effects and side effects were estimated after two period of therapy. RESULTS: The effective rate (CR+PR%) of combined group is higher than the traditional vein chemotherapy group (66.67%, n=39) and there are significant differences (Chi-square=4.721, P=0.03); The side effect of rate of BAI plus CIK group is significantly lower than the traditional vein chemotherapy group, and so did the non-bone marrow inhibition side effects (P<0.05). The tumor progression rate (PD%) of bronchial arterial infusion (BAI) group is higher than combined group (Chi-square=4.287, P=0.038). There was no difference between the traditional vein chemotherapy group and combined group (Chi-square=0.082, P=0.775). CONCLUSIONS: Bronchial Artery Infusion combined with cytokine-induced killer cells is an ideal, safety, effective comprehensive treatment method for late stage lung cancer.