Role of Traditional Chinese Medicine for the Treatment of Lupus nephritis: Mechanisms and Applications.

Background: Lupus nephritis (LN), caused by Systemic lupus erythematosus, is a chronic autoimmune renal disease and a key risk factor for morbidity and fatality involving 50% damage to the kidney. LN is associated with aberrant functioning of the immune system, characterized by increased systemic inflammation, altered lymphocyte count, perivascular infiltration of inflammatory cells, and declined organ functioning. Current Therapies and Limitations: Conventional therapies to LN include high-dose glucocorticoids, immunosuppressants, calcineurin inhibitors, immune boosters, and targeted medicines that improve kidney functioning. However, these drugs triggered severe adverse side effects, and their prolonged usage resulted in drug resistance, accentuating LN complications. TCM in LN Treatment: Hence, safe and functional Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCM), with supporting clinical trials and observational studies, received significant recognition worldwide for the Treatment of LN. In the form of herbal extracts and preparations, TCM proved effective in treating immunodeficient disorders, including LN. Additionally, acupuncture as a TCM appeared promising in reducing LN-induced inflammation and joint pain. Mechanisms and Benefits: The therapeutic mechanisms included reduced antibody generation, pro-inflammatory cytokine release, immune complex formation, complement activation, extracellular matrix damage and proteinuria levels that played vital roles in chronic kidney diseases. They generated immunosuppressive effects by modulating apoptosis, oxidative stress, and inflammatory signaling pathways, such as JAK/STAT, NF-κB, AP-1 and MAPK and their cross-talk in LN and associated renal injury. These therapies improved blood circulation, alleviated renal pathological changes, restored glomerular capillary functioning, and regenerated renal tissues. However, an essential requisite for these therapies for LN included reduced side effects and improved hepatoprotection and detoxification. Clinical studies suggest that TCM formulations may demonstrate therapeutic benefits in alleviating the symptoms of LN, suggesting prospects of combined applications with Western medicine to enhance treatment efficiencies. Overall, TCM is beneficial for treating LN, and may serve as a potential alternative to conventional medicines.

[Expression of Aurora Family Genes in Acute Leukemia and Its Clinical Significance].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the mRNA expression of Aurora-A,B,C(AUR-A,B,C) in acute leukemia(AL) and their correlations with the clinical indications. METHODS: The mRNA expression levels of AUR-A,B,C in 73 cases of newly diagnosed AL (untreated group), 20 cases of AL with remission (remission group) and 14 healthy volunteers as control (healthy group) were detected by QRT-PCR, and the difference of expression levels in difference groups, their correlations with clinical indicators and the correlation between the AUR-A,B,C mRNA expression levels themselves were analyzed. RESULTS: The mRNA expression levels of AUR-A,B,C in untreated group were all higher than those in healthy group and remission group(P<0.01), but there was not significant difference between healthy group and remission group(P>0.05); the mRNA expressions of AUR-A,B,C in acute lymphoblastic leukemia(ALL) group were all significantly higher than that in AML group(P<0.01). The mRNA expression of AUR-A,B,C in high risk group was higher than that in low risk group(P<0.05), but there was no difference in mRNA expression of AUR-A,B,C between high risk group and middle risk group as well as between middle risk group and low risk group(P>0.05). The mRNA expression of AUR-A, B, C in CD34, CD71 and CD56 negative group was not statistically different from that in CD34,CD71 and CD56 positive group(P>0.05). In 73 cases of newly diagnosed AL, the mRNA expression levels of AUR-A, B significantly were positively correlated with lactate dehydrogenase(LDH) level and risk stratification (r=0.279, P=0.017; r=0.314, P=0.007 and r=0.277, P=0.018; r=0.349, P=0.002), while the mRNA expression levels of AUR-A, B were not significantly correlated with age, WBC count, blast ratio in bone marrow at initial diagnosis and remission or no-remission after 1 cours of chemotherapy; the mRNA expression level of AUR-C was significantly positively correlated with WBC count (r=0.263, P=0.025), and LDH level (r=0.348, P=0.003) at initial diagnosis and risk stratificantion(r=0.376, P=0.001), and negatively correlated with age (r=-0.241, P=0.040), and was not significantly correlated with blast ratio in bone marrow at initial diagnosis and remission or noremission after 1 course of chemotherapy. There were significant positive correlations in the mRNA expression between AUR-A and B (r=0.444, P=0.000), AUR-B and C (r=0.763, P=0.000) as well as AUR-A and C (r=0.616, P=0.000). CONCLUSION: Aur-A, B, C mRNA were highly expressed in patients with newly diagnosed AL, moreover the mRNA expression levels of Aur-A,B,C were positively correlated with each other, the high expression of Aur-A, B, C are associated with leukemia types, risk stratification, WBC count and LDH level at initial diagnosis, so they all maybe used as the prognostic markers and potential therapeutic targets.

Untangling the transcriptome from fungus-infected plant tissues.

The development of sequencing technology allows low-cost generation of sequence data. The huge amount of raw sequence data now available has introduced many challenges associated with analysis of these large-scale data banks. For example, it is very important to distinguish materials of plant and fungal origin in fungus-infected plant tissue. The origin of transcripts that were sequenced from Library 895-M6 (poplar tissue infected by Marssonina brunnea) on Illumina/Solexa GA IIx was determined by combining three methods: (1) based on the taxonomic information of homologous sequences; (2) based on the reference genome sequence; (3) based on the transcriptome sequence of the host and its pathogen obtained from Library 895 (poplar) and Library M6 (M. brunnea) as well as Library 895-M6 (mixture of poplar and M. brunnea). We idenified accurately the origin of 80,978 (99.5%) contigs in the mixed poplar and M. brunnea sample (Library 895-M6) by integrating the results from the three methods. The results of this study demonstrate that a combination of these three approaches described here is an effective strategy for determining the origin of sequences in a mixed pool, and provides a basis for further transcriptome analysis of the mixed sample.

[A method for simultaneous assay of propulsion and absorption in small intestine].

OBJECTIVE: To develop a method for simultaneous assay of propulsion and absorption in small intestine. METHODS: The mice were administrated through gastric tube with mixed reagents containing 0.12% phenol red, D-xylose (1.25%, 2.5% and 5%) and 15% gelatin. The influence of phenol red on D-xylose absorption and the influence of D-xylose on small intestine propulsion rate were investigated by measuring serum concentration of D-xylose with phloroglucinol method. RESULTS: At 10 min, no significant difference was found between 5% D-xylose mixed reagent group and 5% D-xylose control. At 15 min, small intestine propulsion rate in 5% D-xylose mixed reagent group, but not in 2.5% and 1.25% D-xylose mixed reagent groups, was significantly higher than in phenol red control (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Gastric administration of mixed reagent containing 0.12% phenol red, 5% D-xylose and 15% gelatin can simultaneously assay propulsion and absorption of small intestine in mice.

[Analysis of genetic structure in population of Larix kaempferi by chloroplast SSR markers].

Genetic structure of seven populations in Larix kaempferi in Japan was studied by use of cpSSR markers. Ten different length fragments in and ten different kinds of haplotypes were reduced in 197 samples based on 3 pairs of polymorphic primers screened from 11 pairs of primers. There were significant variant haplotypes among the populations. The genetic variation in the populations of Larix kaempferi was detected by using cpSSR with the number of average loci A=3.33, the number of average efficient loci NE=1.20, gene diversity HE=0.17 and 5.37% variation from different populations. The genetic variation was mainly from individuals in population.