The nucleophosmin 1(NPM1)muta-tion is one of the most frequent subtypes in acute myeloid leukemia(AML).Under the conditions of FLT3-internal tandem duplications(FLT3-ITD)and/or DNMT3A co-mutations or adverse cytogenetics,the originally favorable prognosis will deteriorate.In recent years,studies have found that multiple endocrine neoplasia protein(Menin)inhibitors tar-geting Menin-KMT2A complex can downregulate the overexpression of leukemia causing genes HOX(homeotic gene)and MEIS1(myeloid ecotropic vi-ral integration site 1)in NPM1-mutated AML,dem-onstrating remarkable anti-leukemia activity.This article aims to review the mechanism and clinical research of Menin inhibitors,novel small molecule targeted drugs in NPM1-mutated AML,as well as the resistance mechanism of Menin inhibitors,hop-ing to provide promising approaches for the subse-quent treatment of NPM1-mutated AML patients.

ObjectiveTo explore the protective effect and mechanism of Gegen Qianliantang （GQT） on intestinal mucosal barrier function in dextran sulfate sodium （DSS）-induced ulcerative colitis （UC） model mice. MethodsA UC model was established in C57BL/6 mice using a 2.5% DSS solution. Mice were randomly divided into five groups （n=8 per group）： blank group， model group， mesalazine sustained-release granule group （0.52 g·kg^-1）， high-dose GQT group （2.23 g·kg^-1）， and low-dose GQT group （1.12 g·kg^-1）. Fecal characteristics and body weight changes were observed before and after treatment. The body weight loss and disease activity index （DAI） of UC mice were calculated to evaluate symptom severity. Hematoxylin-eosin （HE） staining and Alizarin blue-periodic acid-Schiff （AB-PAS） staining were used to detect histological changes in colon tissue. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of zonula occludens-1 （ZO-1） and mucin 2 （MUC2）. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） was used to detect serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines interferon-γ （IFN-γ）， interleukin-6 （IL-6）， tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α）， IL-17A， and anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. Flow cytometry was used to detect the activation of helper T lymphocyte subsets （Th1， Th17）， regulatory T cells （Treg）， and regulatory B cells （Breg） in spleen and colon tissues. Western blot was used to detect the expression levels of T-bet， forkhead box protein P3（FoxP3）， nuclear transcription factor（NF）-κB p65， phosphorylated NF-κB p65 （p-NF-κB p65）， signal transducer and activator of transcription 3（STAT3）， and phosphorylated STAT3 （p-STAT3）. ResultsCompared with the model group， both high- and low-dose GQT groups significantly improved the body weight loss and DAI scores （P<0.05）， alleviated colonic inflammation， and showed optimal efficacy in the high-dose group. AB-PAS staining showed that compared with the model group， both the high- and low-dose GQT groups significantly increased goblet cell proliferation and mucin secretion， indicating improved mucosal barrier function. GQT upregulated the expression of ZO-1 and MUC2 in colon tissue （P<0.05）， suppressed IFN-γ， IL-6， and TNF-α secretion （P<0.05）， elevated IL-10 secretion （P<0.05）， but had no significant effect on IL-17A. At the same time， high- and low-dose GQT intervention increased the activation of CD4⁺ FoxP3⁺ Treg cells （P<0.05） and suppressed activation of CD4⁺ IFN-γ⁺ Th1 cells （P<0.05）. Western blot showed that GQT downregulated T-bet， NF-κB p65， and STAT3 protein expression （P<0.05）， upregulated FoxP3 （P<0.05）， and also reduced phosphorylation levels of p-NF-κB p65 and p-STAT3 （P<0.05）. ConclusionGQT can upregulate the activation of CD4⁺ FoxP3⁺ Treg cells， reduce the activation of CD4⁺ IFN-γ⁺ Th1 cells， inhibit the secretion of IFN-γ， IL-6， and TNF-α， and increase the secretion of IL-10. It enhances the expression of MUC2 and ZO-1 in colon tissue， thereby alleviating inflammatory damage to the intestinal mucosa and restoring mucosal barrier integrity. These effects may be related to its regulation of NF-κB p65 and STAT3 signaling pathways， ultimately regulating the activation of transcription factors T-bet and FoxP3.

The nucleophosmin 1(NPM1)muta-tion is one of the most frequent subtypes in acute myeloid leukemia(AML).Under the conditions of FLT3-internal tandem duplications(FLT3-ITD)and/or DNMT3A co-mutations or adverse cytogenetics,the originally favorable prognosis will deteriorate.In recent years,studies have found that multiple endocrine neoplasia protein(Menin)inhibitors tar-geting Menin-KMT2A complex can downregulate the overexpression of leukemia causing genes HOX(homeotic gene)and MEIS1(myeloid ecotropic vi-ral integration site 1)in NPM1-mutated AML,dem-onstrating remarkable anti-leukemia activity.This article aims to review the mechanism and clinical research of Menin inhibitors,novel small molecule targeted drugs in NPM1-mutated AML,as well as the resistance mechanism of Menin inhibitors,hop-ing to provide promising approaches for the subse-quent treatment of NPM1-mutated AML patients.

Objective:To investigate the heterogeneity of FLT3 mutations and the consequences of co-occurring mutations on the clinical features and prognosis of patients with acute myeloid leukemia(AML).Methods:We retrospectively analyzed the clinical characteristics of 80 patients with AML who carried FLT3 mutations,as detected by genetic testing,and were treated in The First Hospital of Lanzhou Uni-versity from October 2017 to March 2024.An analysis was performed to evaluate the impact of FLT3 mutation frequency,insertion length of base pairs,insertion site,and co-occurring mutations on survival outcomes.Results:The variant allele frequency(VAF)of FLT3-ITD muta-tions was correlated with leukocyte counts and lactate dehydrogenase levels in patients with de novo AML.There was an association between the insertion site and the length of the base-pair insertion.Patients with AML who also had a VAF of FLT3-ITD mutations greater than or equal to 0.38 exhibit reduced overall survival(OS),whereas the length of base pair insertion,insertion site,and number of muta-tions did not correlate with OS.Patients with non-classical FLT3 mutations demonstrated a significantly longer OS than did those with FLT3-ITD mutations.The co-occurrence of FLT3-ITD,NPM1,and DNMT3A mutations was associated with markedly reduced OS.The use of FLT3 inhibitors and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation(allo-HSCT)can improve the prognosis of patients with FLT3-ITD mutations.Conclusions:FLT3 mutational heterogeneity correlates with the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with AML.Non-classical FLT3 and FLT3-TKD mutations are associated with superior prognosis.Patients with a VAF of 0.38 or higher have a poorer prognosis,but the use of FLT3 inhibitors can improve their prognosis.Patients with triple mutations have poor prognosis.

Objective:To investigate the heterogeneity of FLT3 mutations and the consequences of co-occurring mutations on the clinical features and prognosis of patients with acute myeloid leukemia(AML).Methods:We retrospectively analyzed the clinical characteristics of 80 patients with AML who carried FLT3 mutations,as detected by genetic testing,and were treated in The First Hospital of Lanzhou Uni-versity from October 2017 to March 2024.An analysis was performed to evaluate the impact of FLT3 mutation frequency,insertion length of base pairs,insertion site,and co-occurring mutations on survival outcomes.Results:The variant allele frequency(VAF)of FLT3-ITD muta-tions was correlated with leukocyte counts and lactate dehydrogenase levels in patients with de novo AML.There was an association between the insertion site and the length of the base-pair insertion.Patients with AML who also had a VAF of FLT3-ITD mutations greater than or equal to 0.38 exhibit reduced overall survival(OS),whereas the length of base pair insertion,insertion site,and number of muta-tions did not correlate with OS.Patients with non-classical FLT3 mutations demonstrated a significantly longer OS than did those with FLT3-ITD mutations.The co-occurrence of FLT3-ITD,NPM1,and DNMT3A mutations was associated with markedly reduced OS.The use of FLT3 inhibitors and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation(allo-HSCT)can improve the prognosis of patients with FLT3-ITD mutations.Conclusions:FLT3 mutational heterogeneity correlates with the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with AML.Non-classical FLT3 and FLT3-TKD mutations are associated with superior prognosis.Patients with a VAF of 0.38 or higher have a poorer prognosis,but the use of FLT3 inhibitors can improve their prognosis.Patients with triple mutations have poor prognosis.

Myelodysplastic syndrome(MDS)is a heterogeneous myeloid tumor that originates from hematopoietic stem cells(HSCs)and is associated with a high risk of progression to acute myeloid leukemia(AML).Studies have shown that 90%of patients with MDS have gene mutations,of whom approximately 25%have SF3B1 mutations.In patients with MDS carrying this mutation,the TGF-β pathway is upregu-lated,inducing cell cycle arrest and thereby leading to erythroid ineffective hematopoiesis and pathological hematopoiesis.Luspatercept can be used as a ligand trap to capture TGF-β ligands,inhibit SMAD2/3 pathway activation,downregulate TGF-β pathway,and promote ad-vanced red blood cell maturation.Currently,it has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration(FDA)for the treatment of anemia in patients with low-risk MDS,and studies have shown that the response rate is higher in patients with SF3B1 mutations.This article will re-view the current status of luspatercept in the treatment of SF3B1 mutation-related MDS;it will also analyze its effectiveness and safety and provide therapeutic strategies for clinical use.

Knowledge about the neuronal dynamics and the projectome are both essential for understanding how the neuronal network functions in concert. However, it remains challenging to obtain the neural activity and the brain-wide projectome for the same neurons, especially for neurons in subcortical brain regions. Here, by combining in vivo microscopy and high-definition fluorescence micro-optical sectioning tomography, we have developed strategies for mapping the brain-wide projectome of functionally relevant neurons in the somatosensory cortex, the dorsal hippocampus, and the substantia nigra pars compacta. More importantly, we also developed a strategy to achieve acquiring the neural dynamic and brain-wide projectome of the molecularly defined neuronal subtype. The strategies developed in this study solved the essential problem of linking brain-wide projectome to neuronal dynamics for neurons in subcortical structures and provided valuable approaches for understanding how the brain is functionally organized via intricate connectivity patterns.
Animals ; Neurons/physiology* ; Mice ; Brain/physiology* ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Somatosensory Cortex/physiology* ; Neural Pathways/physiology* ; Hippocampus/physiology* ; Mice, Transgenic ; Male ; Brain Mapping ; Nerve Net/physiology* ; Substantia Nigra/physiology* ; Tomography, Optical/methods*

Neurons in the primary auditory area (AUDp) innervate multiple brain regions with long-range projections while receiving informative inputs for diverse functions. However, the brain-wide connections of these neurons have not been comprehensively investigated. Here, we simultaneously applied virus-based anterograde and retrograde tracing, labeled the connections of excitatory and inhibitory neurons in the mouse AUDp, and acquired whole-brain information using a dual-channel fluorescence micro-optical sectioning tomography system. Quantified results showed that the two types of neurons received inputs with similar patterns but sent heterogeneous projections to downstream regions. In the isocortex, functionally different areas consistently sent feedback-dominated projections to these neurons, with concomitant laterally-dominated projections from the sensory and limbic cortices to inhibitory neurons. In subcortical regions, the dorsal and medial parts of the non-lemniscal auditory thalamus (AT) were reciprocally connected to the AUDp, while the ventral part contained the most fibers of passage from the excitatory neurons and barely sent projections back, indicating the regional heterogeneity of the AUDp-AT circuit. Our results reveal details of the whole-brain network and provide new insights for further physiological and functional studies of the AUDp.

Many people affected by fragile X syndrome (FXS) and autism spectrum disorders have sensory processing deficits, such as hypersensitivity to auditory, tactile, and visual stimuli. Like FXS in humans, loss of Fmr1 in rodents also cause sensory, behavioral, and cognitive deficits. However, the neural mechanisms underlying sensory impairment, especially vision impairment, remain unclear. It remains elusive whether the visual processing deficits originate from corrupted inputs, impaired perception in the primary sensory cortex, or altered integration in the higher cortex, and there is no effective treatment. In this study, we used a genetic knockout mouse model (Fmr1^KO), in vivo imaging, and behavioral measurements to show that the loss of Fmr1 impaired signal processing in the primary visual cortex (V1). Specifically, Fmr1^KO mice showed enhanced responses to low-intensity stimuli but normal responses to high-intensity stimuli. This abnormality was accompanied by enhancements in local network connectivity in V1 microcircuits and increased dendritic complexity of V1 neurons. These effects were ameliorated by the acute application of GABA_A receptor activators, which enhanced the activity of inhibitory neurons, or by reintroducing Fmr1 gene expression in knockout V1 neurons in both juvenile and young-adult mice. Overall, V1 plays an important role in the visual abnormalities of Fmr1^KO mice and it could be possible to rescue the sensory disturbances in developed FXS and autism patients.
Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein/metabolism* ; Fragile X Syndrome/metabolism* ; Humans ; Mice ; Mice, Knockout ; Neurons/metabolism*

The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is involved in diverse brain functions via its extensive projections to multiple target regions. There is a growing understanding of the overall outputs of the OFC at the population level, but reports of the projection patterns of individual OFC neurons across different cortical layers remain rare. Here, by combining neuronal sparse and bright labeling with a whole-brain florescence imaging system (fMOST), we obtained an uninterrupted three-dimensional whole-brain dataset and achieved the full morphological reconstruction of 25 OFC pyramidal neurons. We compared the whole-brain projection targets of these individual OFC neurons in different cortical layers as well as in the same cortical layer. We found cortical layer-dependent projections characterized by divergent patterns for information delivery. Our study not only provides a structural basis for understanding the principles of laminar organizations in the OFC, but also provides clues for future functional and behavioral studies on OFC pyramidal neurons.