Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of non-coding transcripts which are greater than 200 nucleotides in length and have a variety of biological functions. Studies have found that lncRNAs play an important role in the development of gastrointestinal cancers and can affect tumor cell growth, angiogenesis, metastasis and drug resistance. This paper has reviewed lncRNAs associated with gastrointestinal cancers and explored their roles in the occurrence, diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal cancers.
Animals ; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms ; genetics ; metabolism ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; RNA, Long Noncoding ; genetics ; metabolism

Objective To investigate personal identification of mixed seminal stain of two individuals, we combined the detection of genotyping autosomal, Y and X STR and sequencing mtDNA hypervariable Ⅰ (HV Ⅰ ) region. Methods We analyzed autosomal, Y and X STR with commercial kit and separating and sequencing HVⅠfragments of mixed seminal stain from two males by SSCP electrophoresis. Results Four genetic markers of the high amount sample can be obtained when mixed ratio is more than 1:10. When the proportion of two samples is close, the suspect could be excluded or, to some extent, identified by comparing with our results. Conclusion The combined detection of four genetic marker systems can, to some degree, solve the personal identification from mixed seminal stain of two individuals.

Objective In this study,a multiplex PCR amplification system was constructed based on fluorescent labeling PCR and LDR,to provide a new strategy for analyzing severely degraded DNA.Methods Eight SNP loci (rs10802248,rs10516197,rs10488372,rs2278945,rs4757318,rs4887255,rs4889002,and rs9304473) were selected.Their LDR probes and PCR primers of linked products were designed and synthesized.Ligase detection reaction,PCR amplification,and capillary gel electrophoresis (CEG) were performed to establish the multiplex LDR-PCR amplification system.Results The genotypes of these 8 loci were obtained simultaneously by the fluorescence-labeled multiplex LDR-PCR amplification method.The loci profiles obtained by fluorescence-labeled multiplex LDR-PCR amplification were in accordance with those obtained by direct sequencing of the polymorphic regions in samples from all individuals.By fluorescence-labeled multiplex LDR-PCR amplification,the 8 SNP loci were efficiently amplified from the severely degraded FFPET DNA.Conclusion Eight SNP loci results could be obtained simultaneously by using the multiplex LDR-PCR amplification system,which is a simple,efficient,and practical SNP genotyping method with accurate and reliable results for highly degraded samples.

Objective:Rapid assessment of the outcome after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is an important clinical issue. In this study, an electrocardiogram (ECG) analysis method based on dynamic learning was proposed.Methods:A total of 203 patients with ACS after successful PCI were enrolled for prospective analysis at the Emergency Department of Qilu Hospital of Shandong University from April 2019 to December 2020. All patients were divided into group without ≥70% postoperative stenosis ( n=72) and group with ≥ 70% postoperative stenosis ( n=131) according to the presence of 70% or more stenosis after PCI. The clinical data of ACS patients were collected and analyzed by χ2 test, t-test, or Mann-Whitney test. ECGs were recorded before and 2 h after PCI, and were dynamically analyzed to generate cardiodynamicsgram (CDG) using dynamic learning. In the group without ≥ 70% postoperative stenosis, the model and CDG index for evaluating myocardial ischemia were obtained by training support vector machine (SVM) using 10 times 10-fold cross-validation. Results:There was no significant difference in clinical data between the two groups. The prediction accuracy and sensitivity of the support vector machine model for myocardial ischemia in group without≥70% postoperative stenosis were 73.61%, and 84.72% respectively. CDG transformed from disorderly to regular after PCI, and CDG index decreased significantly ( P<0.001): 90.28% (65) patients in group without≥70% postoperative stenosis, and 79.39% (104) patients in group with≥70% postoperative stenosis had lower CDG indexes than before PCI. Conclusions:In this study, CDG obtained by dynamic learning can intuitively and effectively evaluate the changes of myocardial ischemia before and after PCI, which is helpful to assist clinicians to formulate the next treatment plan.

This study was performed to explore the effects of berberine(BBR)and berbamine(BA)on the apoptosis and activity of eosinophils,and to provide new ideas for the treatment of eosinophil-related diseases.Anticoagulated whole blood was taken from hospitalized patients,and eosinophils were purified by magnetic bead sorting technology,and the cell purification rate was compared by using flow cytometry.The purified eosinophils were cultured and stimulated with different concentrations of BBR and BA,and the apoptosis of eosinophils was observed using immunofluorescence microscopy.Flow cytometry was used to detect the apoptosis rate,reactive oxygen species(ROS)release,mitochondrial membrane potential,and CD11b,CD62L and CD63 molecular expression of eosinophils.Data showed that 10 μmol/L BBR displayed significant anti-apoptosis effect on eosinophils at 18 h,24 h,48 h,however,100 μmol/L and 150 μmol/L BBR displayed significant apoptosis-promoting effects on eosinophils at 24 h,48 h,especially in the early stage.BA at 5 μmol/L,15 μmol/L and 25 μmol/L showed significant apoptosis-promoting effects on eosinophils at 24 h,48 h,especially in the late stage.In eosinophils,BA stimulated the production of ROS and the decrease of mitochondrial membrane potential in a concentration-dependent manner,reaching the maximum effect at 25 μmol/L,while BBR stimulation did not change mitochondria and ROS.Pretreatment with 25 μmol/L BA significantly inhibited the increase of CD11b expression and the decrease of CD62L expression in eosinophils after eotaxin-2 stimulation.In conclusion,berberine has a bidirectional regulatory effect on the quantity of eosinophils,while berbamine promotes eosinophil apoptosis and inhibits eosinophil activation.Both compounds hold significant potential for regulating the progression of eosinophil-associated diseases,and their regulatory mechanisms need further investigation.

AIM:This study aimed to observe the analgesic effects of Hegu acupoint catgut embedding in a rat model of labor and investigate its influence on biomarkers such as calcitonin gene-related peptide(CGRP)signals at the Hegu acupoint.METHODS:Thirty-six pregnant rats were randomly divided into three groups:control group,Hegu acu-puncture group,and Hegu catgut embedding group.Pain threshold changes were assessed using the tail immersion test and paw withdrawal thermal latency at four time points:pre-induction,before the onset of labor,at the onset of labor,and at the mid-stage of labor.Tissue samples from the Hegu acupoint were collected at the mid-stage of labor to detect the ex-pression of CGRP,substance P(SP),and mast cells using immunofluorescence.The concentrations of ATP and ade-nosine were measured using ELISA.RESULTS:Before labor induction,there was no significant difference in tail immer-sion test and paw withdrawal thermal latency among the three groups(P>0.05).Before the onset of labor,both the acu-puncture and catgut embedding groups exhibited significantly higher tail-flick times and paw withdrawal latencies com-pared to the control group(P<0.05).At labor initiation and mid-labor,the catgut embedding group had significantly higher tail-flick times and paw withdrawal latencies compared to both the control and acupuncture groups(P<0.05).During mid-labor,the expression of CGRP,SP,mast cells,ATP,and adenosine concentrations in the catgut embedding group was significantly higher than that in the control and acupuncture groups(P<0.05),with co-expression of CGRP,SP,and mast cells observed.CONCLUSION:Hegu acupoint catgut embedding effectively alleviates labor pain,and its mechanism may involve increased local expression of CGRP and SP,promoting mast cell degranulation,and increasing ATP release and its conversion to adenosine.

OBJECTIVE: To study the inhibitory effect of pills (BJJ) agaisnt diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced hepatocarcinogenesis and explore the relation between this effect and the inflammasome signaling pathway. METHODS: Sixty-five male SD rats were randomly divided into control group, DEN model group, and 3 BJJ treatment groups at low, medium and high dose (with daily dose of 0.55, 1.1 and 2.2 g/kg, respectively, for 12 consecutive weeks starting from the 5th week after modeling). The pathological changes of the liver tissue were observed with HE and Masson staining, and serum levels of alanine transaminase (ALT), glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and total bilirubin (TBIL) of the rats were detected using ELISA. Oxidation stress in the liver tissue was assessed with ELISA, and Western blotting and ELISA were used to detect the molecular expressions of inflammasome-related pathway. RESULTS: BJJ significantly inhibited tumor growth in the liver of the rats. HE and Masson staining showed that BJJ treatment obviously ameliorated liver fibrosis and reduced cancer cell and inflammatory cell infiltration in the liver. BJJ significantly reduced elevations of serum ALT, AST, ALP and TBIL levels, increased the contents of superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase in the liver and suppressed malondialdehyde in Den-treated rats. BJJ also dose-dependently decreased the expressions of NLRP3, apoptosis-associated speck-like protein (ASC), caspase-1, pro-IL-1β, pro-IL-18, IL-1β and IL-18 in the liver of Den-treated rats. CONCLUSIONS BJJ treatment can dose-dependently inhibit DEN-induced hepatocarcinogenesis by enhancing antioxidant capacity and down-regulating inflammatory-related pathways in rats.
Animals ; Aspartate Aminotransferases ; Diethylnitrosamine ; Liver ; Liver Neoplasms ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

The aldo-keto reductase super family (AKRs) has a wide range of substrate specificity. However, the systematic identification of insect AKR gene family members has not been reported. In this study, bioinformatics methods were used to predict the phylogenetic evolution, physical and chemical properties, chromosome location, conserved motifs, and gene structure of AKR family members in Bombyx mori (BmAKR). Transcriptome data or quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) were used to analyze the expression level of BmAKR genes during different organizational periods and silkworm eggs in different developmental states. Moreover, Western blotting was used to detect the expression level of the BmAKR in silkworm eggs. The results showed that 11 BmAKR genes were identified. These genes were distributed on 4 chromosomes of the silkworm genome, all of which had the (α/β) 8-barrel motif, and their physical and chemical characteristics were relatively similar. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the BmAKR genes could be divided into 2 subgroups (AKR1 and AKR2). Transcriptome data analysis showed that the expression of BmAKR genes were quite different in different tissues and periods. Moreover, the expression analysis of BmAKR genes in silkworm eggs showed that some genes were expressed significantly higher in nondiapause eggs than in diapause eggs; but another gene, BmAKR1-1, was expressed significantly higher in diapause eggs than in nondiapause eggs. The detection of protein level found that the difference trend of BmAKR1-1 in diapause eggs and non-diapause eggs was consistent with the results of qRT-PCR. In conclusion, BmAKR1-1 was screened out as candidates through the identification and analysis of the BmAKR genes in silkworm, which may regulate silkworm egg development is worthy of further investigation.
Animals ; Bombyx/metabolism* ; Phylogeny ; Diapause ; Genes, Insect ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Insect Proteins/metabolism*

【Objective】 To prepare positron emission computed tomography (PET) molecular probes targeting macrophages using Nb119 and BCⅡ10 labeled with ⁶⁸Ga nuclide. 【Methods】 To explore the labeling conditions of nanobodies with ⁶⁸Ga nuclides, first, the anti-Vsig4 nanobody Nb119 and isotype control antibody BCⅡ10 were incubated with NOTA and then purified to obtain the chelating agent-modified NOTA-Nb119 and NOTA-BCⅡ10. The NOTA-Nb119 and NOTA-BCⅡ10 were further incubated with ⁶⁸Ga. Finally, NOTA-Nb119 was identified by SDS-PAGE and MALDI-TOF methods, and the radiochemical purity was detected by radio-HPLC. 【Results】 The results of SDS-PAGE showed that the lanes of the successfully labeled NOTA-Nb119 had apparent hysteresis than the unlabeled nanobody band, which proved that the molecular weight of the labeled product was increased and NOTA successfully modified the nanobody. Subsequently, ⁶⁸Ga nuclides could successfully label Nb119 and BCⅡ10. According to radio-HPLC detection, the radiochemical purity of NOTA-Nb119 and NOTA-BCⅡ10 labeled with ⁶⁸Ga was greater than 90% and remained stable. 【Conclusion】 ⁶⁸Ga-labeled nanobodies have high radiochemical purity and high stability, indicating that this study can be applied to other nanobodies for modification and labeling and provides a practical and feasible method for the preparation of PET using nanobodies.

Silicosis is a leading cause of occupational disease-related morbidity and mortality worldwide, but the molecular basis underlying its development remains unclear. An accumulating body of evidence supports gasdermin D (GSDMD)-mediated pyroptosis as a key component in the development of various pulmonary diseases. However, there is little experimental evidence connecting silicosis and GSDMD-driven pyroptosis. In this work, we investigated the role of GSDMD-mediated pyroptosis in silicosis. Single-cell RNA sequencing of healthy and silicosis human and murine lung tissues indicated that GSDMD-induced pyroptosis in macrophages was relevant to silicosis progression. Through microscopy we then observed morphological alterations of pyroptosis in macrophages treated with silica. Measurement of interleukin-1β release, lactic dehydrogenase activity, and real-time propidium iodide staining further revealed that silica induced pyroptosis of macrophages. Additionally, we verified that both canonical (caspase-1-mediated) and non-canonical (caspase-4/5/11-mediated) signaling pathways mediated silica-induced pyroptosis activation, in vivo and in vitro. Notably, Gsdmd knockout mice exhibited dramatically alleviated silicosis phenotypes, which highlighted the pivotal role of pyroptosis in this disease. Taken together, our results demonstrated that macrophages underwent GSDMD-dependent pyroptosis in silicosis and inhibition of this process could serve as a viable clinical strategy for mitigating silicosis.