Liver cancer has always been a threat to national health since liver disease has a high incidence rate in China. At present, methods for the prevention and treatment of liver cancer have unsatisfactory effects in clinical practice, and with in-depth studies, scholars have changed their focus to cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in tumor microenvironment. More and more evidence has shown that CAFs may provide a new target for the prevention and treatment of liver cancer. This article summarizes the role of CAFs in the development and progression of liver cancer and the potential of CAFs in the treatment of liver cancer.

As a novel form of programmed cell death different from cell necrosis, apoptosis, and autophagy discovered in recent years, pyroptosis is characterized by cell membrane rupture and release of cell contents and proinflammatory factors mediated by gasdermin, thus leading to cell death. Pyroptosis signaling pathways can be classified into classical pathways dependent on caspase-1 and non-classical pathways dependent on caspase-4/5/11; the activation of caspase-1 in classical pathways depends on the function of inflammasome, while the direct activation of caspase-4/5/11 is observed in non-classical pathways, which leads to the lysis of gasdermin D and induce the formation of membrane pores, the maturation and release of interleukin-1β and interleukin-18, and the rupture of cell membrane to cause pyroptosis. Latest research has shown that pyroptosis plays an important role in the development and progression of chronic liver diseases. This article introduces the mechanism of pyroptosis and summarizes the role of pyroptosis in the development and progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, alcoholic liver disease, viral hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma, in order to provide new ideas and methods for the prevention and treatment of liver diseases in clinical practice.

Objective: To conduct a comprehensive and systematic review of the efficacy and safety of Wenxin Keli (WXKL) in the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) . Methods: Seven databases (PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Web ofScience, CNKI, Wanfang Database, VIP and SinoMed) were searched to identify relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from inceptions to 1 October, 2018. Two review authors independently assessed the methodological quality andanalyzed data by Cochrane handbook and the Rev Man 5.3 software. Begg.s test was conducted to assess publication biasvia Stata 14 software. Results: Twenty-four RCTs with 2246 patients were included in this review. Compared with blankcontrol, placebo or western medicine alone, WXKL alone or combined with western medicine could effectively reducerapid ventricular rate (MD=-7.14, 95％CI:-8.42——5.87), the frequency and duration of AF. It could also shorten thesinus rhythm conversion time (MD=-3.04, 95％CI:-3.47——2.61), increase the sinus rhythm conversion rate (RR=1.19, 95％ CI: 1.09～1.29) and decrease recurrence rate of AF (RR=0.28, 95％ CI: 0.13-0.59) . Besides, WXKL alone orcombined with western medicine was beneficial for improving the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (MD=3.44, 95％ CI: 0.87-6.01), left ventricular end diastolic diameter (LVEDD) (MD=-2.47, 95％ CI:-2.86——2.08), left atrialdiameter (LAd) (MD=-0.91, 95％CI:-1.58——0.25) and P wave dispersion (Pd) (MD=-4.04, 95％CI:-4.15——3.93) .WXKL combined with low-dose amiodarone was superior to conventional-dose amiodarone alone in improving themaximum P wave (Pmax) (MD=-8.25, 95％ CI:-10.33——6.17), and WXKL combined with conventional-doseamiodarone is more effective (MD=-13.10, 95％CI:-13.65——12.55) . Compared with the control group, the treatmentgroup had fewer adverse reactions, and the Begg.s test did not find any publication bias. Conclusion: WXKL alone orcombined with western medicine exhibited better therapeutic effects in the treatment of AF, but these results still needhigh-quality evidence to verify.