A minimalist cancer cell membrane-shielded biomimetic nanoparticle for nasopharyngeal carcinoma active-targeting therapy.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a common head and neck malignancy, which is characterized by high incidence and aggression with poor diagnosis and limited therapeutic opportunity. The innovative strategy for achieving precise NPC active-targeting drug delivery has emerged as a prominent focus in clinical research. Here, a minimalist cancer cell membrane (CCM) shielded biomimetic nanoparticle (NP) was designed for NPC active-targeting therapy. Chemotherapeutant model drug doxorubicin (DOX) was loaded in polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer. The PAMAM/DOX (PD) NP was further shielded by human CNE-2 NPC CCM. Characterization results verified that the biomimetic PAMAM/DOX@CCM (abbreviated as PDC) NPs had satisfactory physical properties with high DOX-loading and excellent stability. Cell experiments demonstrated that the CNE-2 membrane-cloaked PDC NPs presented powerful cellular uptake in the sourcing cells by homologous targeting and adhesive interaction. Further in vivo results confirmed that this biomimetic nanoplatform had extended circulation and remarkable tumor-targeting capability, and the PDC NPs effectively suppressed the progression of CNE-2 tumors by systemic administration. This CCM-shielded biomimetic NP displayed a minimalist paradigm nanoplatform for precise NPC therapy, and the strategy of CCM-shielded biomimetic drug delivery system (DDS) has great potential for extensive cancer active-targeting therapy.

The role of TGF-ß signaling in muscle atrophy, sarcopenia and cancer cachexia.

Skeletal muscle, comprising a significant proportion (40 to 50 percent) of total body weight in humans, plays a critical role in maintaining normal physiological conditions. Muscle atrophy occurs when the rate of protein degradation exceeds protein synthesis. Sarcopenia refers to age-related muscle atrophy, while cachexia represents a more complex form of muscle wasting associated with various diseases such as cancer, heart failure, and AIDS. Recent research has highlighted the involvement of signaling pathways, including IGF1-Akt-mTOR, MuRF1-MAFbx, and FOXO, in regulating the delicate balance between muscle protein synthesis and breakdown. Myostatin, a member of the TGF-ß superfamily, negatively regulates muscle growth and promotes muscle atrophy by activating Smad2 and Smad3. It also interacts with other signaling pathways in cachexia and sarcopenia. Inhibition of myostatin has emerged as a promising therapeutic approach for sarcopenia and cachexia. Additionally, other TGF-ß family members, such as TGF-ß1, activin A, and GDF11, have been implicated in the regulation of skeletal muscle mass. Furthermore, myostatin cooperates with these family members to impair muscle differentiation and contribute to muscle loss. This review provides an overview of the significance of myostatin and other TGF-ß signaling pathway members in muscular dystrophy, sarcopenia, and cachexia. It also discusses potential novel therapeutic strategies targeting myostatin and TGF-ß signaling for the treatment of muscle atrophy.

Comparative transcriptome analysis provides molecular insights into heterosis of waterlogging tolerance in Chrysanthemum indicum.

BACKGROUND: Heterosis breeding is one of the most important breeding methods for chrysanthemum. To date, the genetic mechanisms of heterosis for waterlogging tolerance in chrysanthemum are still unclear. This study aims to analyze the expression profiles and potential heterosis-related genes of two hybrid lines and their parents with extreme differences in waterlogging tolerance under control and waterlogging stress conditions by RNA-seq. RESULTS: A population of 140 F1 progeny derived from Chrysanthemum indicum (Nanchang) (waterlogging-tolerant) and Chrysanthemum indicum (Nanjing) (waterlogging-sensitive) was used to characterize the extent of genetic variation in terms of seven waterlogging tolerance-related traits across two years. Lines 98 and 95, respectively displaying positive and negative overdominance heterosis for the waterlogging tolerance traits together with their parents under control and waterlogging stress conditions, were used for RNA-seq. In consequence, the maximal number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) occurred in line 98. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis revealed multiple stress-related biological processes for the common up-regulated genes. Line 98 had a significant increase in non-additive genes under waterlogging stress, with transgressive up-regulation and paternal-expression dominant patterns being the major gene expression profiles. Further, GO analysis identified 55 and 95 transgressive up-regulation genes that overlapped with the up-regulated genes shared by two parents in terms of responses to stress and stimulus, respectively. 6,640 genes in total displaying maternal-expression dominance patterns were observed in line 95. In addition, 16 key candidate genes, including SAP12, DOX1, and ERF017 which might be of significant importance for the formation of waterlogging tolerance heterosis in line 98, were highlighted. CONCLUSION: The current study provides a comprehensive overview of the root transcriptomes among F1 hybrids and their parents under waterlogging stress. These findings lay the foundation for further studies on molecular mechanisms underlying chrysanthemum heterosis on waterlogging tolerance.

Association between stress hyperglycemia ratio and diabetes mellitus mortality in American adults: a retrospective cohort study and predictive model establishment based on machine learning algorithms (NHANES 2009-2018).

BACKGROUND: Stress hyperglycemia is a physiological response of the body under stress to make adaptive adjustments in response to changes in the internal environment. The stress hyperglycemia ratio (SHR) is a new indicator after adjusting the basal blood glucose level of the population. Previous studies have shown that SHR is associated with poor prognosis in many diseases, such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and delirium in elderly patients. However, there are currently no studies on the correlation between SHR and the general U.S. POPULATION: The purpose of this study was to examine the association between SHR and adverse outcomes among adults in the United States in general. METHODS: Data on 13,315 follow-up cohorts were extracted from NHANES. The study population was divided into four groups according to quartiles of SHR. The primary outcomes were all-cause mortality and diabetes mellitus mortality. The relationship between SHR and outcomes was explored using restricted cubic splines, COX proportional hazards regression, Kaplan-Meier curves, and mediation effects. SHR is incorporated into eight machine learning algorithms to establish a prediction model and verify the prediction performance. RESULTS: A total of 13,315 individual data were included in this study. Restricted cubic splines demonstrated a "U-shaped" association between SHR and all-cause mortality and diabetes mellitus mortality, indicating that increasing SHR is associated with an increased risk of adverse events. Compared with lower SHR, higher SHR was significantly associated with an increased risk of all cause mortality and diabetes mellitus mortality (HR > 1, P < 0.05). The mediating effect results showed that the positively mediated variables were segmented neutrophils and aspartate aminotransferase, and the negatively mediated variables were hemoglobin, red blood cell count, albumin, and alanine aminotransferase. The ROC of the eight machine learning algorithm models are XGBoost (0.8688), DT (0.8512), KNN (0.7966), RF (0.8417), Logistic regression (0.8633), ENET (0.8626), SVM (0.8327) and MLP (0.8662). CONCLUSION: SHR can be used as a predictor of all cause mortality and diabetes mellitus mortality in the general adult population in the United States. Higher SHR is significantly associated with an increased risk of poor prognosis, especially in those aged < 65 years and in women.

Multi-locus genome-wide association studies reveal the dynamic genetic architecture of flowering time in chrysanthemum.

KEY MESSAGE: The dynamic genetic architecture of flowering time in chrysanthemum was elucidated by GWAS. Thirty-six known genes and 14 candidate genes were identified around the stable QTNs and QEIs, among which ERF-1 was highlighted. Flowering time (FT) adaptation is one of the major breeding goals in chrysanthemum, a multipurpose ornamental plant. In order to reveal the dynamic genetic architecture of FT in chrysanthemum, phenotype investigation of ten FT-related traits was conducted on 169 entries in 2 environments. The broad-sense heritability of five non-conditional FT traits, i.e., budding (FBD), visible coloring (VC), early opening (EO), full-bloom (OF) and decay period (DP), ranged from 56.93 to 84.26%, which were higher than that of the five derived conditional FT traits (38.51-75.13%). The phenotypic variation coefficients of OF_EO and DP_OF were relatively large ranging from 30.59 to 36.17%. Based on 375,865 SNPs, the compressed variance component mixed linear model 3VmrMLM was applied for a multi-locus genome-wide association study (GWAS). As a result, 313 quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) were identified for the non-conditional FT traits in single-environment analysis, while 119 QTNs and 67 QTN-by-environment interactions (QEIs) were identified in multi-environment analysis. As for the conditional traits, 343 QTNs were detected in single-environment analysis, and 119 QTNs and 83 QEIs were identified in multi- environment analysis. Among the genes around stable QTNs and QEIs, 36 were orthologs of known FT genes in Arabidopsis and other plants; 14 candidates were mined by combining the transcriptomics data and functional annotation, including ERF-1, ACA10, and FOP1. Furthermore, the haplotype analysis of ERF-1 revealed six elite accessions with extreme FBD. Our findings contribute to the understanding of dynamic genetic architecture of FT and provide valuable resources for future chrysanthemum molecular breeding programs.

Astragaloside IV restrains pulmonary fibrosis progression via the circ_0008898/miR-211-5p/HMGB1 axis.

Pulmonary Fibrosis (PF) is a fatal lung disease with complicated pathogenesis. Astragaloside IV (ASV) has been discovered to alleviate PF progression, and the potential molecular mechanism of ASV in the development of PF need to be further clarified. Bleomycin (BLM) was used to construct PF in vivo model. Expression levels of circ_0008898, miR-211-5p, high mobility group protein B1 (HMGB1), alpha smooth muscle Actin (α-SMA) and Collagen I were examined by Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blot. Cell survival was analyzed using Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and EdU (5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine) assay. The invasion abilities were investigated by transwell assay. The levels of inflammatory factors were tested via using Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The relationship between circ_0008898 or HMGB1 and miR-211-5p was identified by dual-luciferase reporter assay. The results showed that ASV attenuated BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis in vivo. In vitro study, ASV alleviated TGF-ß1-induced fibrogenesis in HFL1 cells. Circ_0008898 was increased in TGF-ß1-induced HFL1 cells. ASV-induced impacts were abrogated by circ_0008898 overexpression in TGF-ß1-induced HFL1 cells. Mechanistically, circ_0008898 competitively bound to miR-211-5p to increase the expression of its target HMGB1. MiR-211-5p deficiency rescued ASV-mediated effects in TGF-ß1-induced HFL1 cells. In addition, HMGB1 overexpression partially overturned circ_0008898 interference-induced impacts in HFL1 cells upon TGF-ß1 treatment. In conclusion, our work manifested that ASV hindered PF process by mediating the circ_0008898/miR-211-5p/HMGB1 network.

CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells ex vivo generated from autologous naïve CD4+ T cells suppress EAE progression.

CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) play an important role in maintaining immune homeostasis in multiple sclerosis (MS). Hence, we aimed to explore the therapeutic efficacy and safety of adoptive cell therapy (ACT) utilizing induced antigen-specific Tregs in an animal model of MS, that is, in an experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model. B cells from EAE model that were activated with soluble CD40L were used as antigen-presenting cells (APCs) to induce the differentiation of antigen-specific Tregs from naïve CD4 precursors, and then, a stepwise isolation of CD4+CD25highCD127low Tregs was performed using a flow sorter. All EAE mice were divided into Treg-treated group (2 × 104 cells in 0.2 mL per mouse, n = 14) and sham-treated group (0.2 mL normal saline (NS), n = 20), which were observed daily for clinical assessment, and for abnormal appearance for 6 weeks. Afterward, histological analysis, immunofluorescence and real-time PCR were performed. Compared to sham-treated mice, Treg-treated mice exhibited a significant decrease in disease severity scores and reduced inflammatory infiltration and demyelination in the spinal cord. Additionally, Tregs-treated mice demonstrated higher CCN3 protein and mRNA levels than sham-treated mice. The results of this preclinical study further support the therapeutic potential of this ACT approach in the treatment of MS.

Fully connected-convolutional (FC-CNN) neural network based on hyperspectral images for rapid identification of P. ginseng growth years.

P. ginseng is a precious traditional Chinese functional food, which is used for both medicinal and food purposes, and has various effects such as immunomodulation, anti-tumor and anti-oxidation. The growth year of P. ginseng has an important impact on its medicinal and economic values. Fast and nondestructive identification of the growth year of P. ginseng is crucial for its quality evaluation. In this paper, we propose a FC-CNN network that incorporates spectral and spatial features of hyperspectral images to characterize P. ginseng from different growth years. The importance ranking of the spectra was obtained using the random forest method for optimal band selection. Based on the hyperspectral reflectance data of P. ginseng after radiometric calibration and the images of the best five VNIR bands and five SWIR bands selected, the year-by-year identification of P. ginseng age and its identification experiments for food and medicinal purposes were conducted, and the FC-CNN network and its FCNN and CNN branch networks were tested and compared in terms of their effectiveness in the identification of P. ginseng growth years. It has been experimentally verified that the best year-by-year recognition was achieved by utilizing images from five visible and near-infrared important bands and all spectral curves, and the recognition accuracy of food and medicinal use reached 100%. The FC-CNN network is significantly better than its branching model in the effect of edible and medicinal identification. The results show that for P. ginseng growth year identification, VNIR images have much more useful information than SWIR images. Meanwhile, the FC-CNN network utilizing the spectral and spatial features of hyperspectral images is an effective method for the identification of P. ginseng growth year.

Controlled and Site-Selective C-H/N-H Alkenylation, Dialkenylation, and Dehydrogenative ß-Alkenylation of Various N-Heterocycles.

Here, we report controlled and site-selective C-H alkenylation and dialkenylation of indolizines and pyrrolo[1,2-a]quinolines with ß-alkoxyvinyl trifluoromethylketones under simple and practical conditions. Moreover, this direct C-H alkenylation strategy can also be extended to imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines. Notably, without a transition metal and external oxidant, efficient dehydrogenative ß-alkenylation of tertiary amines with ß-alkoxyvinyl trifluoromethylketones is presented.

Dual role of pregnancy in breast cancer risk.

Reproductive history is one of the strongest risk factors for breast cancer in women. Pregnancy can promote short-term breast cancer risk, but also reduce a woman's lifetime risk of breast cancer. Changes in hormone levels before and after pregnancy are one of the key factors in breast cancer risk. This article summarizes the changes in hormone levels before and after pregnancy, and the roles of hormones in mammary gland development and breast cancer progression. Other factors, such as changes in breast morphology and mammary gland differentiation, changes in the proportion of mammary stem cells (MaSCs), changes in the immune and inflammatory environment, and changes in lactation before and after pregnancy, also play key roles in the occurrence and development of breast cancer. This review discusses the dual effects and the potential mechanisms of pregnancy on breast cancer risk from the above aspects, which is helpful to understand the complexity of female breast cancer occurrence.

Dynamic changes of nasal tight junctions in patients with convalescent COVID-19 with allergic rhinitis.

KEY POINTS: Nasal tight junction module score correlates negatively to allergy module score in COVID-19. Omicron variant may slow-down tight junction restoration in patients with AR.

The efficacy of perioperative antibiotic therapy in adenotonsillectomy children.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the role of perioperative antibiotics use in children after adenotonsillectomy. METHODS: SPSS 27.0 was used for statistical analysis. Two independent samples mean T test was used to evaluate the throat pain scores consecutive 3 days after the surgery, the time to resume to normal diet, and the wound healing time. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the independent risk factors of the two groups. The generalized estimation model was used to evaluate the correlation between age and postoperative pain scores, and the relationship between different tonsillar bed gradings and postoperative pain scores. RESULTS: The pain scores were 5.83 ± 1.879, 5.20 ± 1.933, and 4.02 ± 1.936 in the observation group; and 6.83 ± 1.892, 6.17 ± 2.001, and 5.29 ± 2.068 in the control group on days 1-3 after surgery, respectively. The time of pain disappearance was 6.24 ± 2.121 days in the observation group and 7.73 ± 2.210 days in the control group. The wound repair time was 18.66 ± 2.200 days in the observation group and 18.70 ± 2.468 days in the control group. Logistic regression analysis showed that fever was an independent risk factor for the two groups and was negatively correlated (B = - 1.237, P < 0.001, OR = 0.290). Generalized estimation model showed that there was a positive correlation between age and pain scores (P < 0.001), and with the increasing grading of tonsillar bed, the higher the pain scores was (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Perioperative use of antibiotics in children with adenotonsillectomy can effectively reduce postoperative fever, throat pain symptoms, and shorten the pain time. With the increasing of tonsillar bed grading, perioperative antibiotic therapy was more necessary.

MiR-203 improves cardiac dysfunction by targeting PARP1-NAD+ axis in aging murine.

Heart aging is a prevalent cause of cardiovascular diseases among the elderly. NAD+ depletion is a hallmark feature of aging heart, however, the molecular mechanisms that affect NAD+ depletion remain unclear. In this study, we identified microRNA-203 (miR-203) as a senescence-associated microRNA that regulates NAD+ homeostasis. We found that the blood miR-203 level negatively correlated with human age and its expression significantly decreased in the hearts of aged mice and senescent cardiomyocytes. Transgenic mice with overexpressed miR-203 (TgN (miR-203)) showed resistance to aging-induced cardiac diastolic dysfunction, cardiac remodeling, and myocardial senescence. At the cellular level, overexpression of miR-203 significantly prevented D-gal-induced cardiomyocyte senescence and mitochondrial damage, while miR-203 knockdown aggravated these effects. Mechanistically, miR-203 inhibited PARP1 expression by targeting its 3'UTR, which helped to reduce NAD+ depletion and improve mitochondrial function and cell senescence. Overall, our study first identified miR-203 as a genetic tool for anti-heart aging by restoring NAD+ function in cardiomyocytes.

Structure-based design of novel heterocycle-substituted ATDP analogs as non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors with improved selectivity and solubility.

Following on our recently developed biphenyl-ATDP non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor ZLM-66 (SI = 2019.80, S = 1.9 µg/mL), a series of novel heterocycle-substituted ATDP derivatives with significantly improved selectivity and solubility were identified by replacement of the biphenyl moiety of ZLM-66 with heterocyclic group with lower lipophilicity. Evidently, the representative analog 7w in this series exhibited dramatically enhanced selectivity and solubility (SI = 12,497.73, S = 4472 µg/mL) in comparison with ZLM-66 (SI = 2019.80, S = 1.9 µg/mL). This new NNRTI conferred low nanomolar inhibition of wild-type HIV-1 strain and tested mutant strains (K103N, L100I, Y181C, E138K, and K103N + Y181C). The analog also demonstrated favorable safety and pharmacokinetic profiles, as evidenced by its insensitivity to CYP and hERG, lack of mortality and pathological damage, and good oral bioavailability in rats (F = 27.1%). Further development of 7w for HIV therapy will be facilitated by this valuable information.

Xanthogranulomatous cystitis and bilateral ureteral reflux due to bladder neck obstruction: a case report.

Xanthogranulomatous cystitis (XC) is a rare benign disease of chronic granulomatous inflammation. We report a 23-year-old woman with xanthogranulomatous cystitis. She was referred to our hospital with the chief complaint of a 1-year history of frequent, urgent dysuria with recurrent fever. An imaging examination showed bilateral ureteral reflux and a normal bladder. Urodynamic findings suggested bladder outlet obstruction and increased post-void residual urine. Finally, the patient underwent endoscopy, and bladder neck obstruction was confirmed. Additionally, we found multiple granulomatous masses in the bladder. Therefore, we performed transurethral resection of the tumor and bladder neck. A histopathological examination of resected tumor tissue showed xanthogranulomatous cystitis, and the patient received anti-infective therapy. Follow-up cystourethroscopic results and urination symptoms returned to normal, and the bilateral ureteral reflux was gradually reduced.

Efficacy and safety of Kangxian Huanji Granule as adjunctive treatment in acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: An exploratory randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (AE-IPF) is an important occurrence in the natural history of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), associated with high hospitalization rates, high mortality and poor prognosis. At present, there is no effective treatment for AE-IPF. Chinese herbal medicine has some advantages in treating IPF, but its utility in AE-IPF is unclear. OBJECTIVE: The treatment of AE-IPF with Kangxian Huanji Granule (KXHJ), a compound Chinese herbal medicine, lacks an evidence-based justification. This study explores the efficacy and safety of KXHJ in patients with AE-IPF. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS AND INTERVENTIONS: We designed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, exploratory clinical trial. A total of 80 participants diagnosed with AE-IPF were randomly assigned to receive KXHJ or a matching placebo; the treatment included a 10 g dose, administered twice daily for 4 weeks, in addition to conventional treatment. Participants were followed up for 12 weeks after the treatment. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary endpoints were treatment failure rate and all-cause mortality. Secondary endpoints included the length of hospitalization, overall survival, acute exacerbation rate, intubation rate, the modified British Medical Research Council (mMRC) score, and the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire for IPF (SGRQ-I) score. RESULTS: The rate of treatment failure at 4 weeks was lower in the intervention group compared to the control group (risk ratio [RR]: 0.22; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.051 to 0.965, P = 0.023). There was no significant difference in all-cause mortality at 16 weeks (RR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.179 to 3.138; P > 0.999) or in the acute exacerbation rate during the 12-week follow-up period (RR: 0.69; 95% CI: 0.334 to 1.434; P = 0.317). The intervention group had a shorter length of hospitalization than the control group (mean difference [MD]: -3.30 days; 95% CI, -6.300 to -0.300; P = 0.032). Significant differences in the mean change from baseline in the mMRC (between-group difference: -0.67; 95% CI: -0.89 to -0.44; P < 0.001) and SGRQ-I score (between-group difference: -10.36; 95% CI: -16.483 to -4.228; P = 0.001) were observed after 4 weeks, and also in the mMRC (between-group difference: -0.67; 95% CI: -0.91 to -0.43; P < 0.001) and SGRQ-I (between-group difference: -10.28; 95% CI, -15.838 to -4.718; P < 0.001) at 16 weeks. The difference in the adverse events was not significant. CONCLUSION: KXHJ appears to be effective and safe for AE-IPF and can be considered a complementary treatment in patients with AE-IPF. As a preliminary exploratory study, our results provide a basis for further clinical research. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR1900026289). Please cite this article as: Li JS, Zhang HL, Guo W, Wang L, Zhang D, Zhao LM, Zhou M. Efficacy and safety of Kangxian Huanji Granule as adjunctive treatment in acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: an exploratory randomized controlled trial. J Integr Med. 2023; 21(6): 543-549.