Whether there was crossing between Astragalus major split constituents was explored, and the methodology of cross validation for split constituents was studied to determine Astragalus sweet and warm property. The Astragalus was extracted by boiling water or other different solvents, and detected by HPLC-DAD or HPLC-ELSD. Finally, the similarity of each constituent was calculated by fingerprint software. Similarities of flavonoids and saponin constituents were all less than 0.31 and 0.34, respectively, compared to other constituents. The cross situation of nature-taste split components which was extracted by solvents was not serious. This method was proven to be feasible, and provided a theoretical and substantial basis for the Chinese taste pharmacological experiments and would be conductive to determine Astragalus sweet and warm property.

Objective To compare the efficacy of concurrent chemoradiotherapy versus radiotherapy alone for T3-4 N0-1 M0 and T14 N2-3 M0 nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) after induction chemotherapy.Methods From 2002 to 2005,400 patients with stage Ⅲ and Ⅳa NPC were randomly divided into 2 groups :induction chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy group (IC/CCRT,201 patients),and induction chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy alone group (IC/RT, 199 patients).Subgroup analysis was conducted for 197 patients with stage T3-4N0-1M0 NPC and 203 with stage T1-4N2-3M0 NPC.Results The follow-up rate were 96.2%, with a median followg-up time of 3.9 years.For T3-4N0-1 M0 NPC patients in IC/CCRT group (104 patients) and IC/RT group (93 patients), the 3-year overall survival, disease-free survival, locoregional recurrence-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival rates were 84.0% and 85.9% (χ2=0.08,P =0.780) ,77.0% and 72.0% (χ2=0.44,P =0.510) ,89.5% and 92.3% (χ2=0.65 ,P = 0.420), and 84.9% and 77.0% (χ2= 1.59, P = 0.210), respectively; For T1-4 N2-3 M0 NPC patients in IC/CCRT group (97 patients) and IC/RT group (106 patients), the corresponding rates were 67.4% and 82.2% (χ2=3.48,P=0.060), 61.5% and 68.0% (χ2= 1.86,P=0.170), 86.2% and 87.0% (χ2=0.57 ,P =0.450) and 66.2% and 75.6% (χ2=2.07 ,P =0.150), respectively.Acute sideeffects were similar except more leucocytopenia in IC/CCRT group than IC/RT group.Conclusions Compared with IC/RT, IC/CCRT dose not improve the overall survival in patients with T3-4N0-1 M0 and T1-4 N2-3 M0 NPC.

Hypoxia is a serious impediment to current treatments of many malignant tumors. Catalase, an antioxidant enzyme, is capable of decomposing endogenous hydrogen peroxide (H

The limited penetration of nanoparticles and their poor accessibility to cancer cell fractions in tumor remain essential challenges for effective anticancer therapy. Herein, we designed a targeting peptide-decorated biomimetic lipoprotein (termed as BL-RD) to enable their deep penetration and efficient accessibility to cancer cell fractions in a tumor, thereby improving the combinational chemo-photodynamic therapy of triple negative breast cancer. BL-RD was composed of phospholipids, apolipoprotein A1 mimetic peptide (PK22), targeting peptide-conjugated cytotoxic mertansine (RM) and photodynamic agents of DiIC18(5) (DiD). The counterpart biomimetic lipoprotein system without RM (termed as BL-D) was fabricated as control. Both BL-D and BL-RD were nanometer-sized particles with a mean diameter of less than 30 nm and could be efficiently internalized by cancer cells. After intravenous injection, they can be specifically accumulated at tumor sites. When comparing to the counterpart BL-D, BL-RD displayed superior capability to permeate across the tumor mass, extravasate from tumor vasculature to distant regions and efficiently access the cancer cell fractions in a solid tumor, thus producing noticeable depression of the tumor growth. Taken together, BL-RD can be a promising delivery nanoplatform with prominent tumor-penetrating and cancer cells-accessing capability for effective tumor therapy.

Objective To investigate the role and mechanism of ubiquitin-specific protease 46 (USP46) in hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R)-induced pyroptosis of renal tubular epithelial cells. Methods Renal tubular epithelial cells were divided into negative control siRNA group (si-CTL group), USP46 knockdown group (si-USP46 group), negative control siRNA + H/R treatment group (si-CTL+H/R group), and USP46 knockdown + H/R treatment group (si-USP46+H/R group). Flow cytometry was used to detect cell apoptosis in each group. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was employed to measure the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of USP46, NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3), gasdermin D (GSDMD), interleukin (IL)-18, and IL-1β. Western blotting was used to detect the protein expression of USP46, NLRP3, GSDMD, and cleaved cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase (C-Caspase)-1. The levels of inflammatory factors and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the cell supernatants were detected, and the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in the cells were detected. Co-immunoprecipitation was used to verify the interaction between USP46 and NLRP3. Results Compared with the si-CTL group, the si-CTL+H/R group exhibited increased cell apoptosis, elevated protein expression of USP46, NLRP3, GSDMD-N and C-Caspase-1, increased mRNA expression of USP46, NLRP3, GSDMD, IL-18 and IL-1β, higher levels of IL-18, IL-1β, TNF-α and LDH, and increased ROS and MDA levels (all P < 0.05). Compared with the si-CTL+H/R group, the si-USP46+H/R group showed decreased cell apoptosis, reduced protein expression of USP46, NLRP3, GSDMD-N and C-Caspase-1, decreased mRNA expression of USP46, GSDMD and IL-18, lower levels of IL-18, IL-1β, TNF-α and LDH, and decreased ROS and MDA levels (all P < 0.05). Co-immunoprecipitation results indicated that USP46 could bind to NLRP3. Conclusions Downregulation of USP46 alleviates H/R-induced pyroptosis in renal tubular epithelial cells, possibly by inhibiting USP46-dependent NLRP3 deubiquitination and promoting NLRP3 ubiquitination and degradation.