As activated hepatic stellate cells (aHSCs) play a central role in fibrogenesis, they have become key target cells for anti-fibrotic treatment. Nevertheless, the therapeutic efficiency is constrained by the exosomes they secrete, which are linked to energy metabolism and continuously stimulate the activation of neighboring quiescent hepatic stellate cells (qHSCs). Herein, an intercellular communication interference strategy is designed utilizing paeoniflorin (PF) loaded and hyaluronic acid (HA) coated copper-doped ZIF-8 (PF@HA-Cu/ZIF-8, PF@HCZ) to reduce energy-related exosome secretion from aHSCs, thus preserving neighboring qHSCs in a quiescent state. Simultaneously, the released copper and zinc ions disrupt key enzymes involved in glycolysis to reduce bioenergy synthesis in aHSCs, thereby promoting the reversion of aHSCs to a quiescent state and further decreasing exosome secretion. Therefore, PF@HCZ can effectively sustain both aHSCs and qHSCs in a metabolically dormant state to ultimately alleviate liver fibrosis. The study provides an enlightening strategy for interrupting exosome-mediated intercellular communication and remodeling the energy metabolic status of HSCs with boosted antifibrogenic activity.

Objective:To investigate the efficacy and safety of fluoroscopically-guided percutaneous gastrostomy (FGPG) for establishing enteral nutrition access in the treatment of esophageal fistula after radiotherapy for cervical esophageal cancer (CEC).Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 54 patients who underwent FGPG due to esophageal fistula after radiotherapy for CEC at our department from November 2009 to August 2019. All patients received endoscopy before radiotherapy, and CEC was pathologically confirmed. Enteral nutrition support was offered through a gastrostomy tube postoperatively. The success rate of FGPG, complications, and healing of perforation were recorded and analyzed.Results:FGPG was successfully performed in all 54 patients (100%). During the 12-month follow-up, 50 patients (92.6) survived while four (7.4%) died. Among 36 patients with esophagomediastinal fistula, 32 (88.9%) healed in a median of 12 weeks; of 18 patients with esophagotracheal fistula, 8 (44.4%) healed in a median of 18 weeks. Thus, patients with esophagomediastinal fistula had a significantly higher healing rate ( P<0.01) and shorter healing time ( P=0.017). Gastrostomy tube-related complications were minimal, and no serious complication was noted. Conclusions:FGPG is effective for the treatment of esophageal fistula after CEC radiotherapy and may be an alternative treatment for esophageal fistula.

Objective:To investigate the efficacy and safety of fluoroscopically-guided percutaneous gastrostomy (FGPG) for establishing enteral nutrition access in the treatment of esophageal fistula after radiotherapy for cervical esophageal cancer (CEC).Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 54 patients who underwent FGPG due to esophageal fistula after radiotherapy for CEC at our department from November 2009 to August 2019. All patients received endoscopy before radiotherapy, and CEC was pathologically confirmed. Enteral nutrition support was offered through a gastrostomy tube postoperatively. The success rate of FGPG, complications, and healing of perforation were recorded and analyzed.Results:FGPG was successfully performed in all 54 patients (100%). During the 12-month follow-up, 50 patients (92.6) survived while four (7.4%) died. Among 36 patients with esophagomediastinal fistula, 32 (88.9%) healed in a median of 12 weeks; of 18 patients with esophagotracheal fistula, 8 (44.4%) healed in a median of 18 weeks. Thus, patients with esophagomediastinal fistula had a significantly higher healing rate ( P<0.01) and shorter healing time ( P=0.017). Gastrostomy tube-related complications were minimal, and no serious complication was noted. Conclusions:FGPG is effective for the treatment of esophageal fistula after CEC radiotherapy and may be an alternative treatment for esophageal fistula.

ObjectiveTo observe the clinical effectiveness and safety of Xuandi Ziyin Mixture （玄地滋阴合剂） for central precocious puberty （CPP） in girls with syndrome of yin deficiency and fire exuberance， and to analyse the effect of body mass index （BMI） on the effectiveness. MethodsA total of 236 girls with CPP of yin deficiency and fire exuberance syndrome were included， and all of them were given Xuandi Ziyin Mixture， 30 ml each time， twice a day， for a total treatment period of 6 months. Before and after treatment， children's weight， height and bone age were measured， BMI and BMI Z-score （BMI Z） and the difference between bone age and actual age were calculated； ultrasound was used to detect uterine and ovarian sizes， and to calculate uterine volume （V_uterus）， bilateral ovarian volume （V_{left ovary}， V_{right ovary}）， and bilateral maximal follicle diameters （r_{left follicle} and r_{right follicle}）； and serum sex hormones were measured， including follicle-stimulating hormone （FSH）， luteinising hormone （LH）， prolactin （PRL）， estradiol （E₂）， and testosterone （T）， and were scored for traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） syndrome. Multiple linear regression was used to analyse the influence factors of the difference between bone age and actual age， and changes in uterine volume. The children were divided into the normal weight group and the overweight/obesity group according to baseline BMI， and the bone age， the difference between bone age and actual age， V_uterus and BMI Z scores before and after treatment were compared between the two groups. ResultsFinally， 199 children entered the statistical analysis. Compared with pre-treatment， the bone age， BMI and BMI Z scores of the children increased after treatment， and the difference between bone age and actual age， TCM syndrome scores， V_uterus， V_{left ovary}， V_{right ovary}， r_{left follicle} and r_{right follicle} decreased； and the levels of serum FSH， LH， E₂， and T significantly decreased （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. The difference between bone age and actual age was negatively correlated with LH and V_uterus （P＜0.05）， and changes in uterine volume were positively correlated with LH （P＜0.01）. Comparing between the groups before and after treatment， the bone age， difference between bone age and actual age， and BMI Z scores of children in the normal weight group （100 cases） were significantly smaller than those in the overweight/obesity group （99 cases） （P＜0.01）. Compared with pre-treatment， the bone age of the children in both groups increased， but the difference between bone age and actual age and V_uterus were significantly smaller （P＜0.01）. Further comparison of Δ bone age and actual age difference and ΔV_uterus （Δ = post-treatment value - pre-treatment value） between the two groups showed no statistically significant difference （P＞0.05）. ConclusionsXuandi Ziyin Mixture can reduce bone age， sex hormone level， ovary and uterus size， and improve clinical symptoms in girls with yin deficiency and fire exuberance syndrome of CPP. It is also effective in overweight/obese children， and the inhibitory effect on bone age in girls with CPP is not affected by BMI， with good safety.

Anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy has achieved 40%-50% long-term complete response in relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients. However, the underlying mechanism of alterations in the tumor microenvironments resulting in CAR-T cell therapy failure needs further investigation. A multi-center phase I/II trial of anti-CD19 CD28z CAR-T (FKC876, ChiCTR1800019661) was conducted. Among 22 evaluable DLBCL patients, seven achieved complete remission, 10 experienced partial remissions, while four had stable disease by day 29. Single-cell RNA sequencing results were obtained from core needle biopsy tumor samples collected from long-term complete remission and early-progressed patients, and compared at different stages of treatment. M2-subtype macrophages were significantly involved in both in vivo and in vitro anti-tumor functions of CAR-T cells, leading to CAR-T cell therapy failure and disease progression in DLBCL. Immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments persisted before CAR-T cell therapy, during both cell expansion and disease progression, which could not be altered by infiltrating CAR-T cells. Aberrant metabolism profile of M2-subtype macrophages and those of dysfunctional T cells also contributed to the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments. Thus, our findings provided a clinical rationale for targeting tumor microenvironments and reprogramming immune cell metabolism as effective therapeutic strategies to prevent lymphoma relapse in future designs of CAR-T cell therapy.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of omeprazole on pharmacokinetic parameters of imatinib in rats. METHODS According to body weight， the rats were divided into imatinib+low-dose， medium-dose， and high-dose omeprazole groups， imatinib group， with 6 rats in each group. They were given omeprazole suspension at the doses of 1.8， 3.6 and 7.2 g/kg， or 0.5% sodium carboxymethyl cellulose solution intragastrically respectively； one hour later， imatinib suspension was administered by oral gavage at a the dose of 10 mg/kg. Blood sample （100 μL） was taken from the orbit before and 0.5， 1， 2， 2.5， 3， 4， 5， 6， 8， 12， 24 and 36 hours after intragastric administration of imatinib. Using imatinib-d3 as internal standard， the plasma concentrations of imatinib and its metabolite N-desmethyl imatinib in rat were determined by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated by DAS 2.0 software and compared. RESULTS Compared with imatinib group， AUC0－∞ and AUMC0－∞ of imatinib in rat plasma of imatinib+medium-dose omeprazole group， cmax， t1/2， AUC0－∞ and AUMC0－∞ of imatinib in rat plasma of imatinib+high-dose omeprazole group were all increased or prolonged significantly （P＜0.05）. Compared with imatinib group， AUC0－∞ and AUMC0－∞ of N-desmethyl imatinib in rat plasma of imatinib+medium-dose omeprazole group， and cmax and AUC0→∞ of N-desmethyl imatinib in rat plasma of imatinib+high-dose omeprazole group were decreased significantly （P＜0.05）. CONCLUSIONS Omeprazole may increase the plasma concentration of imatinib in rats and reduce the plasma concentration of N-desmethyl imatinib in rats， which may be associated with inhibiting the metabolism of imatinib.

The Ly-6 and uPAR (LU) domain-containing proteins represent a large family of cell-surface markers. In particular, mouse Ly-6A/Sca-1 is a widely used marker for various stem cells; however, its human ortholog is missing. In this study, based on a systematic survey and comparative genomic study of mouse and human LU domain-containing proteins, we identified a previously unannotated human gene encoding the candidate ortholog of mouse Ly-6A/Sca-1. This gene, hereby named LY6A, reversely overlaps with a lncRNA gene in the majority of exonic sequences. We found that LY6A is aberrantly expressed in pituitary tumors, but not in normal pituitary tissues, and may contribute to tumorigenesis. Similar to mouse Ly-6A/Sca-1, human LY6A is also upregulated by interferon, suggesting a conserved transcriptional regulatory mechanism between humans and mice. We cloned the full-length LY6A cDNA, whose encoded protein sequence, domain architecture, and exon-intron structures are all well conserved with mouse Ly-6A/Sca-1. Ectopic expression of the LY6A protein in cells demonstrates that it acts the same as mouse Ly-6A/Sca-1 in their processing and glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchoring to the cell membrane. Collectively, these studies unveil a novel human gene encoding a candidate biomarker and provide an interesting model gene for studying gene regulatory and evolutionary mechanisms.
Humans ; Membrane Proteins/genetics* ; Pituitary Neoplasms/genetics* ; Biomarkers

Objective:To investigate the development of intrapulmonary vascular volume (IPVV) in normal preschool children based on quantitative measurement on chest CT.Methods:The CT data of 407 normal preschool children (236 males and 171 females, aged 1-72 months, with a median of 36 months) who underwent chest CT examination from January 2014 to May 2017 in the "Digital Lung" imaging database were retrospectively collected. The pulmonary vessels were segmented by the "Digital Lung" automatic detection tool, and the IPVV of the whole lung, the right lung, the left lung and each lobe were obtained, and the IPVV upper/lower and IPVV left/right were calculated. According to the age, the subjects were divided into infant period (0-12 months), early childhood period (13-36 months) and preschool period (37-72 months), with 30 cases (17 males and 13 females), 175 cases (95 males and 80 females) and 202 cases (124 males and 78 females) respectively. Spearman correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between IPVV and month age. One-way analysis of variance or Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to compare the differences of IPVV, IPVV upper/lower and IPVV left/right between different months of age. Independent sample t test or Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the differences of IPVV between different genders, and the normal reference range of IPVV in normal preschool children of different months of age was established. Results:The IPVV of the whole lung, right lung, left lung and each lung lobe were positively correlated with age, the correlation coefficient was 0. 638-0.820 in males and 0. 683-0.791 in females (all P<0.001). There was no significant difference in IPVV of whole lung, right lung, left lung and each lobe between male and female from 0 to 12 months (all P>0.05), but there was significant difference in IPVV of whole lung, right lung, left lung and each lobe between male and female from 13 to 36 months (all P<0.05). There were significant differences in IPVV of the whole lung, right lung, left lung and upper lobe of both lungs between boys and girls from 37 to 72 months (all P<0.05). IPVV upper/lower in the right lung (χ 2=14.00, 12.87, P=0.001, 0.002) and IPVV upper/lower in the left lung (χ 2=6.65, 22.84, P=0.036,<0.001) were significantly different in both boys and girls among 3 months of age. And with the increase of age, it showed a decreasing trend. There was no significant difference in IPVV upper/lower between boys and girls at the same age (all P>0.05).There was no significant difference in IPVV left/right among different months and between different sexes (all P>0.05). Finally, the normal reference value range of IPVV of different genders in infancy, early childhood and preschool age was calculated. Conclusions:The increase of pulmonary vessels in normal preschool children is positively correlated with age. There is no significant difference in IPVV between boys and girls in infant period, but IPVV in boys is larger than that in girls in early childhood period and preschool period. IPVV in the lower lung increased faster than that in the upper lung, but there was no significant difference between the left and right lungs.

Objective:To explore the strategy of preimplantation genetic testing for monogenic disorders (PGT-M) with variants of uncertain significance (VUS).Methods:Monogenic disorder couples who carried VUS and sought fertility counseling between 2018 and 2020 in Reproductive and Genetic Hospital of CITIC-Xiangya were recruited in this study. The pathogenicity of VUS was reanalyzed according to the Standards and Guidelines for the Interpretation of Sequence Variants released by the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) and the Bayesian Classification. Those VUSs were reclassified as "pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants (P/LP)", "likely pathogenic VUS", "variants of uncertain significance", or "likely benign VUS". PGT-M was applied to families with VUS upgraded as "P/LP" or "likely pathogenic VUS" under the principle of couples fully voluntary and understanding the risks. We also followed up the developmental status of fetuses and the health condition of the born children.Results:1) A total of 25 variants were detected in 16 families with monogenic disorders, including 1 P, 3 LP, and 21 VUS. After reanalysis, 11 VUS and 7 VUS were upgraded as LP (52.4%) and "likely pathogenic VUS" (33.3%), respectively. Two VUS were still reclassified as "variants of uncertain significance"(9.5%), and 1 VUS was reclassified as "likely benign VUS" (4.8%). 2) PGT-M was implemented for 14 families with monogenic disorders, including 9 families with VUS upgraded as LP, 2 families with one LP/P and one "likely pathogenic VUS", and 3 families with only "likely pathogenic VUS". 3) Twelve healthy babies were born after PGT-M. Following up was done according to the onset age of diseases: 8 offsprings did not show the symptoms as probands, and 4 offsprings had not yet reached the age of onset and need continuous follow-up.Conclusion:It is necessary to actively search for new evidence and reanalyze the pathogenicity of VUS according to ACMG guidelines before PGT-M. Under fully informed consent of the patients, PGT-M can be carried out for VUS reclassified as "P/LP" and "likely pathogenic VUS", to reduce the risk of recurrence.

Objective:To explore the strategy of preimplantation genetic testing for monogenic disorders (PGT-M) with variants of uncertain significance (VUS).Methods:Monogenic disorder couples who carried VUS and sought fertility counseling between 2018 and 2020 in Reproductive and Genetic Hospital of CITIC-Xiangya were recruited in this study. The pathogenicity of VUS was reanalyzed according to the Standards and Guidelines for the Interpretation of Sequence Variants released by the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) and the Bayesian Classification. Those VUSs were reclassified as "pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants (P/LP)", "likely pathogenic VUS", "variants of uncertain significance", or "likely benign VUS". PGT-M was applied to families with VUS upgraded as "P/LP" or "likely pathogenic VUS" under the principle of couples fully voluntary and understanding the risks. We also followed up the developmental status of fetuses and the health condition of the born children.Results:1) A total of 25 variants were detected in 16 families with monogenic disorders, including 1 P, 3 LP, and 21 VUS. After reanalysis, 11 VUS and 7 VUS were upgraded as LP (52.4%) and "likely pathogenic VUS" (33.3%), respectively. Two VUS were still reclassified as "variants of uncertain significance"(9.5%), and 1 VUS was reclassified as "likely benign VUS" (4.8%). 2) PGT-M was implemented for 14 families with monogenic disorders, including 9 families with VUS upgraded as LP, 2 families with one LP/P and one "likely pathogenic VUS", and 3 families with only "likely pathogenic VUS". 3) Twelve healthy babies were born after PGT-M. Following up was done according to the onset age of diseases: 8 offsprings did not show the symptoms as probands, and 4 offsprings had not yet reached the age of onset and need continuous follow-up.Conclusion:It is necessary to actively search for new evidence and reanalyze the pathogenicity of VUS according to ACMG guidelines before PGT-M. Under fully informed consent of the patients, PGT-M can be carried out for VUS reclassified as "P/LP" and "likely pathogenic VUS", to reduce the risk of recurrence.