OBJECTIVE: To investigate the anti-tumor effects of cinobufacini (CINO) on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) induced by des-gamma-carboxy-prothrombin (DCP) and to uncover the underlying mechanisms. METHODS: The inhibitory effect of CINO on HCC cell proliferation was evaluated using the cell counting kit-8 method, and the apoptosis rate was quantified using flow cytometry. Immunofluorescence and Western blot analyses were used to investigate the differential expression of proteins associated with cell growth, apoptosis, migration, and invasion pathways after CINO treatment. The therapeutic potential of CINO for HCC was confirmed, and the possibility of combining cinobufacini with c-Met inhibitor for the treatment of primary HCC was further validated by in vivo experiments. RESULTS: Under the induction of DCP, CINO inhibited the activity of HCC cells, induced apoptosis, and inhibited migration and invasion. Upon the induction of DCP, CINO regulated c-Met activation and the activation of the phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/AKT) and mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MEK/ERK) pathways. In a mouse model of HCC, CINO exhibited significant antitumor effects by inhibiting the phosphorylation of c-Met and the downstream PI3K/AKT and MEK/ERK pathways in tumor tissues. CONCLUSIONS CINO inhibited HCC cell growth, promoted apoptosis, and suppressed HCC cell invasion and migration by targeting c-Met and PI3K/AKT and MEK/ERK signaling pathways under DCP induction.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/drug therapy* ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met/metabolism* ; Liver Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Signal Transduction/drug effects* ; Animals ; Humans ; Cell Movement/drug effects* ; Apoptosis/drug effects* ; Cell Proliferation/drug effects* ; Amphibian Venoms/therapeutic use* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Cell Survival/drug effects* ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/metabolism* ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases/metabolism* ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Nude ; Mice ; Male ; Bufanolides/therapeutic use* ; Protein Precursors ; Prothrombin ; Biomarkers

A primary hallmark of pathological cardiac hypertrophy is excess protein synthesis due to enhanced translational activity. However, regulatory mechanisms at the translational level under cardiac stress remain poorly understood. Here we examined the translational regulations in a mouse cardiac hypertrophy model induced by transaortic constriction (TAC) and explored the conservative networks versus the translatome pattern in human dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). The results showed that the heart weight to body weight ratio was significantly elevated, and the ejection fraction and fractional shortening significantly decreased 8 weeks after TAC. Puromycin incorporation assay showed that TAC significantly increased protein synthesis rate in the left ventricle. RNA-seq revealed 1,632 differentially expressed genes showing functional enrichment in pathways including extracellular matrix remodeling, metabolic processes, and signaling cascades associated with pathological cardiomyocyte growth. When combined with ribosome profiling analysis, we revealed that translation efficiency (TE) of 1,495 genes was enhanced, while the TE of 933 genes was inhibited following TAC. In DCM patients, 1,354 genes were upregulated versus 1,213 genes were downregulated at the translation level. Although the majority of the genes were not shared between mouse and human, we identified 93 genes, including Nos3, Kcnj8, Adcy4, Itpr1, Fasn, Scd1, etc., with highly conserved translational regulations. These genes were remarkably associated with myocardial function, signal transduction, and energy metabolism, particularly related to cGMP-PKG signaling and fatty acid metabolism. Motif analysis revealed enriched regulatory elements in the 5' untranslated regions (5'UTRs) of transcripts with differential TE, which exhibited strong cross-species sequence conservation. Our study revealed novel regulatory mechanisms at the translational level in cardiac hypertrophy and identified conserved translation-sensitive targets with potential applications to treat cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure in the clinic.
Animals ; Humans ; Cardiomegaly/physiopathology* ; Ribosomes/physiology* ; Protein Biosynthesis/physiology* ; Mice ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated/genetics* ; Ribosome Profiling

Diterpenoid ferruginol is a key intermediate in biosynthesis of active ingredients such as tanshinone and carnosic acid.However, the traditional process of obtaining ferruginol from plants is often cumbersome and inefficient. In recent years, the increasingly developing gene editing technology has been gradually applied to the heterologous production of natural products, but the production of ferruginol in microbe is still very low, which has become an obstacle to the efficient biosynthesis of downstream chemicals, such as tanshinone. In this study, miltiradiene was produced by integrating the shortened diterpene synthase fusion protein,and the key genes in the MVA pathway were overexpressed to improve the yield of miltiradiene. Under the shake flask fermentation condition, the yield of miltiradiene reached about(113. 12±17. 4)mg·L~(-1). Subsequently, this study integrated the ferruginol synthase Sm CYP76AH1 and Sm CPR1 to reconstruct the ferruginol pathway and thereby realized the heterologous synthesis of ferruginol in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The study selected the best ferruginol synthase(Il CYP76AH46) from different plants and optimized the expression of pathway genes through redox partner engineering to increase the yield of ferruginol. By increasing the copy number of diterpene synthase, CYP450, and CPR, the yield of ferruginol reached(370. 39± 21. 65) mg·L~(-1) in the shake flask, which was increased by 21. 57-fold compared with that when the initial ferruginol strain JMLT05 was used. Finally, 1 083. 51 mg·L~(-1) ferruginol was obtained by fed-batch fermentation, which is the highest yield of ferruginol from biosynthesis so far. This study provides not only research ideas for other metabolic engineering but also a platform for the construction of cell factories for downstream products.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae/genetics* ; Diterpenes/metabolism* ; Metabolic Engineering ; Fermentation ; Abietanes

Objective:To investigate the reasons for the weak expression of RHCE gene in a patient whose mimicking anti-Ce combined with anti-Jkb caused cross-matching non-combination.Methods:ABO,Rh,and Kidd blood group antigens were identified by test tube method and capillary centrifugation.Antibody screening and antibody specificity identification were performed using saline,polybrene and antiglobulin in tri-media association with multispectral cells.RHCE gene sequencing and haploid analysis were performed by multiplex PCR technique and RHCE protein modeling was performed using Swiss-Model.Results:The serum of the patient contained anti-Ce mimicking autoantibodies along with anti-Jkb antibodies.c.48G＞C,c.150C＞T,c.178C＞A,c.201A＞G,c.203A＞G,and c.307C＞T mutations were detected in the RHCE triple-molecule sequencing.A 109 bp insertion sequence was found in intron 2,with fragment loss from intron 5-8.The Rh-group genotype was DCe/DCe,and phenotype was CCDee.Conclusion:Genotyping techniques can assist in deducing the molecular mechanisms of some weakly expressed RhC,c,E,and e in patients'sera to aid in the identification of difficult antibodies and thus ensure the safety of patients'blood transfusion.

Objective:To compare the efficacy of conventional open ankle fusion and three dimensional(3D) printed guide plate assisted arthroscopic ankle fusion.Methods:A retrospective cohort study was performed on 256 patients with advanced traumatic ankle arthritis, who were admitted to the Department of Orthopaedics, Shanghai Sixth People′s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from May 2018 to February 2023 and underwent ankle fusion procedures. The study cohort comprised 119 males and 137 females, with an age of (59.6±9.5) years (range: 37 to 83 years). Among them, 175 cases underwent internal fixation with plates and screws (58 cases through the combined medial and lateral approach, and 117 cases through the simple lateral approach), 48 cases underwent internal fixation with screws through the anterior approach (conventional open group), and 33 cases underwent minimally invasive arthroscopic ankle fusion assisted by 3D printed guide plate (3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group). Propensity score matching was employed to achieve a 1∶1 match(caliper value=0.02) between the baseline characteristics of patients in the 3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group and the conventional open group. Perioperative and follow-up data between the two groups were compared using the t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, Wilcoxon signed rank test, χ2 test or corrected χ2 test as appropriate. Results:Matching was successfully achieved with 20 cases in both the 3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group and the conventional open group, and there were no statistically significant differences in baseline characteristics between the two groups (all P>0.05). The operation time in the 3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group was significantly longer than that in the conventional open group ((88.9±5.6) minutes vs. (77.9±11.7) minutes; t=-2.392, P=0.022), while the frequency of intraoperative fluoroscopies ((1.7±0.8) times vs. (5.2±1.2) times; t=10.604, P<0.01) and length of hospitalization ((5.5±0.9) days vs. (6.4±1.5) days; t=2.480, P=0.018) were significantly lower in the 3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group compared to the conventional open group. The fusion rate was 95.0% (19/20) in the 3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group and 85.0% (17/20) in the conventional open group, with no statistically significant difference between the two groups ( χ2=0.278, P=0.598). The fusion time was (12.1±2.0) weeks in the conventional open group and (11.1±1.7) weeks in the 3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group, with no statistically significant difference between the two groups ( t=1.607, P=0.116). At the final follow-up, the American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society ankle hindfoot scale was (72.6±5.5)points in the 3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group and (70.5±5.8)points in the conventional open group, with no statistically significant difference between the two groups ( t=-1.003, P=0.322). The pain visual analogue score of the 3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group was ( M(IQR)) 1.50 (1.00) points, lower than that of the conventional open group by 3.00 (1.00) points, with statistically significant differences ( Z=-3.937, P<0.01). There was no significant difference in complication rate between the conventional open group and the 3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group (25.0%(5/20) vs. 5.0%(1/20), χ2=1.765， P=0.184). Conclusion:3D printed guide plate assisted arthroscopic ankle fusion exhibited several advantages, including reduced frequency of fluoroscopies, alleviation of postoperative pain, and decreased complications and length of hospitalization.

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)in the treatment of male im-mune infertility(MII)by meta-analysis.Methods:We retrieved randomized controlled trial(RCT)on the treatment of male im-mune infertility with traditional Chinese medicine from the databases of WanFang,Chinese Biomedical Literature,Cochrane Library,Weipu,PubMed and CNKI,and performed methodological quality assessment of the RCTs identified and statistical analysis and evalua-tion of the publication bias using the RevMan5.4 software.Results:Totally,25 RCTs(2 563 cases)were included in this study.Compared with Western medicine alone in the treatment of MII,TCM achieved a significantly higher total effectiveness rate(OR=6.35,95% CI:4.96-8.13,P<0.000 01),negative conversion rate of seminal plasma anti-sperm antibodies(OR=4.52,95% CI:2.72-7.51,P<0.000 01),negative rate of serum anti-sperm antibodies(OR=2.98,95% CI:2.23-3.96,P<0.000 01),sperm concentration(MD=15.56,95% CI:11.32-19.79,P<0.000 01),grade a sperm motility(MD=3.85,95% CI:1.91-5.79,P=0.000 01),grade a+b sperm motility(MD=13.77,95% CI:7.06-20.48,P<0.000 1),sperm viability(MD=10.32,95% CI:6.78-13.86,P<0.000 01)and pregnancy rate(OR=3.53,95% CI:2.68-4.63,P<0.000 01),but a lower rate of adverse reactions(OR=0.06,95% CI:0.01-0.23,P<0.000 01).There was no statistically significant difference in the percentage of morphologically abnormal sperm between TCM and Western medicine alone in the treatment of MII(MD=-7.53,95% CI:-15.50-0.44,P=0.06).Conclusion:TCM has a definite effectiveness and high safe in the treatment of male immune infertility.

Objective:To explore effect of Glioma-associated oncogene family zinc finger 1(GLI1)on hypoxia induced trans-formation of NR8383 to M1 phenotype and development of pulmonary hypertension(PH).Methods:Fifteen adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into control group,hypoxia PH model group and hypoxic PH with GANT61 treatment group,with 5 rats in each group.PH related indexes of rats were detected by small animal ultrasound and right cardiac catheter experiment to determine effect of GLI1 specific inhibitor GANT61 on progression of PH.Pulmonary arterial thickness was measured by HE staining.α-SMA and M1 polarization markers TNF-α and IL-1β expressions were determined by immunohistochemistry.M1 polarization markers CD86 and TNF-α expressions were determined by immunofluorescence.GLI1 expression and NF-κB protein were detected by Western blot.mRNA expressions of iNOS,CD86,TNF-α,IL-1β and IL-12 were detected by qRT-PCR.CHIP-PCR verified that GLI1 regulates NF-κB promoter activity.IL-12 content was detected by ELISA.Rat pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells proliferation was detected by CCK-8.Results:GLI1 inhibitor GANT61 could alleviate symptoms of PH in hypoxic rats(P<0.05).Compared with hypoxic group,inhibition of GLI1 reduced expressions of TNF-α and IL-1β in rat lung tissue(P<0.05).In cell experiments,hypoxia induced M1 polarization of NR8383 by up-regulating GLI1 to activate NF-κB pathway,GLI1 overexpression increased expressions of iNOS,CD86,TNF-α,IL-1β and IL-12 in M1 macrophages(P<0.05).NR8383 culture supernatants could stimulate pulmonary artery smooth muscle cell proliferation(P<0.05)and contribute to development of PH.Conclusion:Hypoxia activates NF-κB pathway by up-regulating GLI1 to induce M1 polarization of macrophages contributes to development of PH.

Multiple sclerosis(MS)is a chronic autoimmune disease of the central nervous system(CNS),which is characterized by infiltration of immune cells,glia activation,demyelination and neurodegeneration.With the progression of MS,the peripheric infiltrated immune cells promote lymphocytes to locate in parenchyma or meninges adjacent to active lesions by secreting cytokines,such as C-X-C motif chemokine ligand(CXCL)13,CXCL12 and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α),contributing to the formation of tertiary lymphoid structure(TLS).TLS formation in the CNS can directly trigger immune reaction independent from peripheral immune system,leading to the differentiation of pathogenic lymphocytes,the activation of microglia and astrocyte,and the recruitment of additional peripheral immune cells into the CNS by secreting proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines.The immune reaction in CNS caused by TLS leads to aggravated neuroinflammation and pathological changes,even irreversible neuron damage,which is thought to be responsible the progression of MS.The formation,distribution,tissue structure,and the mechanism of formation and distribution of the TLS in MS are reviewed in this article,which may contribute to potential therapeutic approaches for chronic progressive MS.

Objective:To compare the efficacy of conventional open ankle fusion and three dimensional(3D) printed guide plate assisted arthroscopic ankle fusion.Methods:A retrospective cohort study was performed on 256 patients with advanced traumatic ankle arthritis, who were admitted to the Department of Orthopaedics, Shanghai Sixth People′s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from May 2018 to February 2023 and underwent ankle fusion procedures. The study cohort comprised 119 males and 137 females, with an age of (59.6±9.5) years (range: 37 to 83 years). Among them, 175 cases underwent internal fixation with plates and screws (58 cases through the combined medial and lateral approach, and 117 cases through the simple lateral approach), 48 cases underwent internal fixation with screws through the anterior approach (conventional open group), and 33 cases underwent minimally invasive arthroscopic ankle fusion assisted by 3D printed guide plate (3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group). Propensity score matching was employed to achieve a 1∶1 match(caliper value=0.02) between the baseline characteristics of patients in the 3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group and the conventional open group. Perioperative and follow-up data between the two groups were compared using the t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, Wilcoxon signed rank test, χ2 test or corrected χ2 test as appropriate. Results:Matching was successfully achieved with 20 cases in both the 3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group and the conventional open group, and there were no statistically significant differences in baseline characteristics between the two groups (all P>0.05). The operation time in the 3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group was significantly longer than that in the conventional open group ((88.9±5.6) minutes vs. (77.9±11.7) minutes; t=-2.392, P=0.022), while the frequency of intraoperative fluoroscopies ((1.7±0.8) times vs. (5.2±1.2) times; t=10.604, P<0.01) and length of hospitalization ((5.5±0.9) days vs. (6.4±1.5) days; t=2.480, P=0.018) were significantly lower in the 3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group compared to the conventional open group. The fusion rate was 95.0% (19/20) in the 3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group and 85.0% (17/20) in the conventional open group, with no statistically significant difference between the two groups ( χ2=0.278, P=0.598). The fusion time was (12.1±2.0) weeks in the conventional open group and (11.1±1.7) weeks in the 3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group, with no statistically significant difference between the two groups ( t=1.607, P=0.116). At the final follow-up, the American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society ankle hindfoot scale was (72.6±5.5)points in the 3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group and (70.5±5.8)points in the conventional open group, with no statistically significant difference between the two groups ( t=-1.003, P=0.322). The pain visual analogue score of the 3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group was ( M(IQR)) 1.50 (1.00) points, lower than that of the conventional open group by 3.00 (1.00) points, with statistically significant differences ( Z=-3.937, P<0.01). There was no significant difference in complication rate between the conventional open group and the 3D printed guide plate arthroscopy group (25.0%(5/20) vs. 5.0%(1/20), χ2=1.765， P=0.184). Conclusion:3D printed guide plate assisted arthroscopic ankle fusion exhibited several advantages, including reduced frequency of fluoroscopies, alleviation of postoperative pain, and decreased complications and length of hospitalization.