1.Prenatal diagnosis and genetic counseling of 1q21.1 distal microdeletion/microduplication in 14 fetuses
Caiqin GUO ; Lan YANG ; Zeling SANG ; Jingna SU ; Hehua TAO ; Yu CUI ; Heng ZHANG
Chinese Journal of Perinatal Medicine 2023;26(11):934-940
Objective:To explore the clinical phenotypes, pregnancy outcomes, and follow-up of fetuses with 1q21.1 distal microdeletion/microduplication, and to provide a basis for prenatal and genetic counseling.Methods:This was a retrospective study involving 14 singleton fetuses with 1q21.1 distal microdeletion/microduplication that were prenatally diagnosed by karyotype analysis and chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) at Wuxi Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital from January 2017 to June 2022. The results of ultrasound and genetic analysis, pregnancy outcome after genetic counseling, and postnatal follow-up were summarized using descriptive statistical methods.Results:All 14 fetuses had normal karyotypes. Out of the 14 cases, CMA indicated 1q21.1 distal microdeletion in eight cases and 1q21.1 distal microduplication in six cases. The fragments ranged from 813 kb to 4.48 Mb, all of which contained the key region of 1q21.1 microdeletion/microduplication syndrome and were pathogenic copy number variations (CNV). Among eight fetuses with distal 1q21.1 microdeletion, four cases had abnormal prenatal ultrasound findings, including one case with overlapping fingers of left hand and polyhydramnios, two were small for gestational age, and one with small head circumference. Among the six cases who underwent parental origin detection, the microdeletions were de novo in four fetuses and two fetuses were inherited from the parent with normal phenotype. As for six fetuses with distal 1q21.1 microduplication, nasal bone absence or hypoplasia was shown by ultrasound in four cases and no obvious abnormality was found in the other two cases. Parental origin detection was performed in four cases, which found that one case was de novo and the other three cases were inherited from their phenotypically normal parents. After genetic counseling, five families chose to terminate the pregnancies and the remaining nine cases continued the pregnancies to delivery. The last follow-up showed that all of the nine live births grew well, whose ages ranged from seven months to half past five years old. Conclusions:CMA is of great value in prenatal diagnosis of 1q21.1 distal microdeletion/ microduplication. Ones carrying pathogenic CNV may not develop the disease. Combined with ultrasound findings and parental genetic tracing results, individualized genetic counseling and long-term follow-up are of great importance for reasonable guidance in pregnancy outcome and reproduction.
2.Screening of Anti-breast Cancer Active Ingredients in Famous Classical Formula Yanghetang
Sijia SU ; Xinyu ZHAO ; Jingna ZHOU ; Junfeng GAO ; Xu TANG ; Binyu WEN
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae 2025;31(8):21-30
ObjectiveBased on ultra performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry(UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS), the combination of serum pharmacochemistry, response profile of absorbed components in serum, network pharmacology and drug-likeness prediction was used to screen the potential active ingredients of Yanghetang against breast cancer. MethodsUPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS was used to identify the main components in different solvent extracts of Yanghetang, and serum pharmacochemistry was applied to analyze the absorbed components from the serum of female SD rats after 0.5, 1, 2 h of administration. Combined with the response characteristic values of serum drug components obtained from UNIFI 1.8.2, the absorbed prototype components and metabolites were screened to get the absorbed components of Yanghetang with a significant patterns of elimination and growth. Network pharmacology was applied to construct a drug-component-pathway-target-disease network, and molecular docking was performed between absorbed components and key targets of breast cancer, and the drug similarity was analyzed by SwissADME. ResultsForty-two compounds were identified in Yanghetang samples extracted with different solvents, of which 16 compounds were common to the three different extraction solvents(methanol, 50% methanol and water). The results of drug-containing serum analysis showed that there were 16 absorbed components in serum, including 5 prototypes and 11 metabolites. Network pharmacology results showed that Yanghetang against breast cancer involved 15 key targets such as proto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase Src(SRC), epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR) and phosphoinositide 3 kinase catalytic alpha polypeptide(PIK3CA). Molecular docking results showed that 16 potential active ingredients were well combined with the predicted targets. Combined with drug likenesses, 12 compounds in the absorbed components of Yanghetang were considered to have potential for anti-breast cancer activity, mainly including α-pinene and γ-eudesmol and their metabolites, of which one was from Ephedrae Herba, one was from Rehmanniae Radix, and eight were from Cinnamomi Cortex. ConclusionThe chemical components of Yanghetang mainly include polysaccharides, monoterpene glycosides and coumarins, and its prototype components mainly undergo oxidation, hydrolysis and acetylation after entering the blood. Its anti-breast cancer mechanism may be related to the regulation of signaling pathways such as the mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B(PI3K/Akt). The results of this study can lay a foundation for further exploration of Yanghetang in the treatment of breast cancer.