[Anti-pneumonia targets and mechanism of Xiaoer Xiaoji Zhike Oral Liquid].

This study aims to identify the anti-pneumonia targets of Xiaoer Xiaoji Zhike Oral Liquid(XXZL) with "target fishing" strategy and investigate the related signaling pathways, thereby clarifying the anti-pneumonia mechanism of XXZL. To be specific, the magnetic nanoparticles cross-linked with XXZL extract were prepared based on the photochemical activity of benzophenone, which were then used to capture the target proteins from the lysate of tissue with lipopolysaccharide(LPS)-induced pneumonia in mice. Then, the target proteins were identified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(LC-MS/MS). The signaling pathways and interactions of target proteins were explored with KEGG and STRING analysis on Cytoscape, and the possible biological functions of the target proteins were verified by immunohistochemistry(IHC) and RT-PCR. The result showed that LC-MS/MS identified 62 potential anti-pneumonia targets of XXZL in the lungs. The targets were involved in Ras signaling pathway, mitophagy, leukocyte transendothelial migration, mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK) signaling pathway, platelet activation, and actomyosin structure organization, which were closely related to inflammation, pulmonary microcirculation, pulmonary fibrosis, and energy metabolism. XXZL up-regulated the content of CD31, and heat shock protein 60(HSP60) and ATP5 b mRNA expression, down-regulated interleukin-6(IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), COL1 A1 content, and alleviated fibrosis, which suggested the obvious effects of XXZL such as anti-inflammation, pulmonary microcirculation improvement, pulmonary fibrosis inhibition, and energy metabolism regulation. This study explained the anti-pneumonia mechanism of XXZL from targets, which can serve as a reference for the clinical application of the prescription.

Carbon Quantum Dots-Based Nanozyme from Coffee Induces Cancer Cell Ferroptosis to Activate Antitumor Immunity.

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) offer huge potential due to their enzymatic properties as compared to natural enzymes. Thus, discovery of CQDs-based nanozymes with low toxicity from natural resources, especially daily food, implies a promising direction for exploring treatment strategies for human diseases. Here, we report a CQDs-based biocompatible nanozyme prepared from chlorogenic acid (ChA), a major bioactive natural product from coffee. We found that ChA CQDs exhibited obvious GSH oxidase-like activities and subsequently promoted cancer cell ferroptosis by perturbation of GPX4-catalyzed lipid repair systems. In vivo, ChA CQDs dramatically suppressed the tumor growth in HepG2-tumor-bearing mice with negligible side toxicity. Particularly, in hepatoma H22-bearing mice, ChA CQDs recruited massive tumor-infiltrating immune cells including T cells, NK cells, and macrophages, thereby converting "cold" to "hot" tumors for activating systemic antitumor immune responses. Taken together, our study suggests that natural product-derived CQDs from coffee can serve as biologically safe nanozymes for anticancer therapeutics and may aid the development of nanotechnology-based immunotherapeutic.