Preeclampsia (PE) is a severe gestational disorder characterized by hypertension and proteinuria, with a subset of cases exhibiting an immune-driven phenotype marked by placental overexpression of proinflammatory cytokines and chronic inflammatory damage, profoundly impacting fetal development. To elucidate the pathophysiology of this PE subtype, we established an inflammation-driven PE mouse model via lipopolysaccharide (LPS) intraperitoneal injection, systematically evaluating histopathological changes in maternal heart, liver, lung, kidney, and placenta, and integrating transcriptomic profiling to uncover molecular mechanisms. LPS administration robustly induced maternal hypertension and proteinuria, hallmarks of PE, without significantly altering organ or fetal weights. Histological analyses revealed pronounced inflammatory damage in the maternal lung, kidney, and placenta, with the lung exhibiting the most severe pathology, characterized by inflammatory cell infiltration, alveolar wall thickening, and interstitial edema-challenging the conventional focus on placental and renal primacy in PE. Placental labyrinth and junctional zones displayed extensive structural disruption and necrosis, indicating functional impairment. Transcriptomic analysis identified 27 inflammation-related genes consistently upregulated across tissues, with protein-protein interaction networks pinpointing Il1β, Il6, Ccl5, Ccl2, Cxcl10, Tlr2, and Icam1 as hub genes. Quantitative PCR validation confirmed Tlr2 as a central regulator, evidenced by significant upregulation of Tlr2 in lung, kidney, and placenta of LPS-induced PE mice, while Cxcl10 exhibited placenta-specific upregulation, suggesting a synergistic inflammatory axis in placental pathology. These findings highlight the lung as a critical, yet underappreciated, target in inflammation-driven PE, reframe the multi-organ inflammatory landscape of the disease, and nominate Tlr2 and Cxcl10 as potential diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets, offering new avenues for precision intervention in PE.
Animals ; Female ; Pregnancy ; Mice ; Pre-Eclampsia/genetics* ; Inflammation ; Lipopolysaccharides/adverse effects* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Transcriptome ; Placenta/pathology* ; Phenotype

This study aims to investigate the optimal ratio of Astragali Radix-Curcumae Rhizoma(AC) for inhibiting the proliferation of 143B osteosarcoma cells, and to investigate the mechanism by which AC inhibits osteosarcoma growth and metastasis through angiogenesis and cell adhesion mediated by the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase(PI3K)/protein kinase B(Akt)/hypoxia inducible factor-1α(HIF-1α) pathway. A subcutaneous 143B tumor-bearing nude mouse model was successfully established and randomly divided into the model group, and the AC 1∶1, 2∶1, and 4∶1 groups. Body weight, tumor volume, and tumor weight were recorded. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction(RT-qPCR) and Western blot were used to detect the mRNA and protein expression levels of PI3K, Akt, phosphorylated Akt(p-Akt), HIF-1α, vascular endothelial growth factor A(VEGFA), transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1), epithelial cadherin(E-cadherin), neural cadherin(N-cadherin), vimentin, matrix metalloproteinase 2(MMP2), matrix metalloproteinase 9(MMP9), B-cell lymphoma-2(Bcl-2), Bcl-2-associated X protein(Bax), and caspase-3 in the hypoxic core region of the tumor tissue. A cell hypoxia model was established, and the effects of AC-medicated serum(model group, AC 1∶1, 2∶1, and 4∶1 groups) on angiogenesis, proliferation, adhesion, invasion, and migration of 143B osteosarcoma cells were examined through CCK-8, flow cytometry, Transwell assay, cell adhesion assay, and HUVEC tube formation assay. The results showed that compared with the model group, the tumor weight and volume were smallest in the 2∶1 group. The expression levels of PI3K, Akt, p-Akt, HIF-1α, VEGFA, and TGF-β1 were significantly decreased, and the protein expression of E-cadherin was significantly increased, while the protein expression of N-cadherin, vimentin, MMP2, and MMP9 was significantly decreased. Additionally, the protein expression of Bax and caspase-3 was significantly increased, and Bcl-2 protein expression was significantly decreased. In vitro experiments showed that after intervention with AC-medicated serum at a 2∶1 ratio, the cell activity, adhesion, invasion, and migration of 143B cells were significantly reduced, apoptosis was significantly increased, and HUVEC tube formation was significantly decreased. In conclusion, the 2∶1 ratio of AC showed the most effective inhibition of 143B cell growth. AC can inhibit the growth and metastasis of osteosarcoma 143B cells by regulating the PI3K/Akt/HIF-1α signaling pathway, inhibiting angiogenesis and reducing cell adhesion, invasion, and migration.
Osteosarcoma/pathology* ; Animals ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/genetics* ; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit/genetics* ; Humans ; Mice ; Cell Adhesion/drug effects* ; Cell Proliferation/drug effects* ; Neovascularization, Pathologic/metabolism* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage* ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases/genetics* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Mice, Nude ; Signal Transduction/drug effects* ; Astragalus Plant/chemistry* ; Bone Neoplasms/physiopathology* ; Male ; Rhizome/chemistry* ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Angiogenesis

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a well-accepted therapy for atopic dermatitis (AD). However, there are currently no evidence-based guidelines integrating TCM and Western medicine for the treatment of AD, limiting the clinical application of such combined approaches. Therefore, the China Association of Chinese Medicine initiated the development of the current guideline, focusing on key issues related to the use of TCM in the treatment of AD. This guideline was developed in accordance with the principles of the guideline formulation manual published by the World Health Organization. A comprehensive review of the literature on the combined use of TCM and Western medicine to treat AD was conducted. The findings were extensively discussed by experts in dermatology and pharmacy with expertise in both TCM and Western medicine. This guideline comprises 23 recommendations across seven major areas, including TCM syndrome differentiation and classification of AD, principles and application scenarios of TCM combined with Western medicine for treating AD, outcome indicators for evaluating clinical efficacy of AD treatment, integration of TCM pattern classification and Western medicine across disease stages, daily management of AD, the use of internal TCM therapies and proprietary Chinese medicines, and TCM external treatments. Please cite this article as: Du XR, Wu MY, Tao MC, Lin Y, Gu CY, Wu MF, Cao Y, Chen DC, Li W, Wang HW, Wang Y, Wang Y, Lu HZ, Liu X, Su XF, Li FL. Clinical practice guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of atopic dermatitis with integrative traditional Chinese and Western medicine. J Integr Med. 2025; 23(6):641-653.
Dermatitis, Atopic/drug therapy* ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/methods* ; Integrative Medicine ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Practice Guidelines as Topic

OBJECTIVE To explore the effect of Huangqin decoction on improving peritubular fat inflammatory microenvironment and protecting vascular endothelial function in obese hypertensive rats by regulating the NEK7-NLRP3/IL-1β inflammatory axis.METHODS Fifty 4-week-old male Wistar rats were selected,10 of which were randomly selected as the control group,and the oth-er 40 were fed a high-salt and high-fat diet to establish an obese hypertension model.The rats with successful modeling(20 rats)were randomly divided into the model group,normal-dose Huangqin decoction group,high-dose Huangqin decoction group,and IL-1β in-hibitor group,with 5 rats in each group.From the 12th week,the normal-dose group was gavaged with Huangqin decoction 2.835 g·kg-1,the high-dose group was gavaged with Huangqin decoction 5.67 g·kg-1,and the IL-1β inhibitor group was intraper-itoneally injected with 1.5 mg·kg-1 AS101,3 times a week,for 8 weeks.The rats were weighed and blood was collected 12 h after the last administration,and the thoracic aorta and perivascular fat tissue were isolated.Serum inflammatory factors were detected,patho-logical changes were observed,eNOS expression was detected by immunofluorescence,and NEK7,NLRP3,Caspase-1,ASC,and IL-1β expression levels were detected by Western blot and qPCR.RESULTS The rats in the model group had a significant increase in body weight,an increase in the area of peritubular fat lipid droplets,and severe endothelial injury;systolic blood pressure,diastolic blood pressure,serum IL-1β,IL-6,and TNF-α were significantly elevated in the model group,and the expression of eNOS was sig-nificantly reduced,and the expression levels of NEK7,NLRP3,Caspase-1,ASC,and IL-1β proteins and mRNAs were significantly elevated.Compared with the model group,rats in the Huangqin decoction and IL-1β inhibitor groups had lower body weights,reduced endothelial damage,lower systolic and diastolic blood pressures,lower serum IL-1β,IL-6,and TNF-α,and higher eNOS expression.NEK7,NLRP3,Caspase-1,ASC and IL-1β protein expression was significantly reduced in the high dose group of Huan-gqin decoction and the IL-1β inhibitor group.In addition,Huangqin decoction protected the endothelial function of obese hypertensive vessels in a dose-dependent manner,with the effect being more pronounced in the high-dose group.CONCLUSION Huangqin de-coction can improve the inflammatory microenvironment of perivascular fat and protect the vascular endothelial function in obese hyper-tension by regulating the NEK7-NLRP3/IL-1β inflammatory axis.

Background::The Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria were published to build a global consensus on nutritional diagnosis. Reduced muscle mass is a phenotypic criterion with strong evidence to support its inclusion in the GLIM consensus criteria. However, there is no consensus regarding how to accurately measure and define reduced muscle mass in clinical settings. This study aimed to investigate the optimal reference values of skeletal muscle mass index for diagnosing sarcopenia and GLIM-defined malnutrition, as well as the prevalence of GLIM-defined malnutrition in hospitalized cirrhotic patients.Methods::This retrospective study was conducted on 1002 adult patients with liver cirrhosis between January 1, 2018, and February 28, 2022, at Beijing You-An Hospital, Capital Medical University. Adult patients with a clinical diagnosis of liver cirrhosis and who underwent an abdominal computed tomography (CT) examination during hospitalization were included in the study. These patients were randomly divided into a modeling group (cohort 1, 667 patients) and a validation group (cohort 2, 335 patients). In cohort 1, optimal cut-off values of skeletal muscle index at the third lumbar skeletal muscle index (L3-SMI) were determined using receiver operating characteristic analyses against in-hospital mortality in different gender groups. Next, patients in cohort 2 were screened for nutritional risk using the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS-2002), and malnutrition was diagnosed by GLIM criteria. Additionally, the reference values of reduced muscle mass in GLIM criteria were derived from the L3-SMI values from cohort 1. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the association between GLIM-defined malnutrition and clinical outcomes.Results::The optimal cut-off values of L3-SMI were 39.50 cm 2/m 2 for male patients and 33.06 cm 2/m 2 for female patients. Based on the cut-off values, 31.63% (68/215) of the male patients and 23.3% (28/120) of the female patients had CT-determined sarcopenia in cohort 2. The prevalence of GLIM-defined malnutrition in cirrhotic patients was 34.3% (115/335) and GLIM-defined malnutrition was an independent risk factor for in-hospital mortality in patients with liver cirrhosis ( Wald = 6.347, P = 0.012). Conclusions::This study provided reference values for skeletal muscle mass index and the prevalence of GLIM-defined malnutrition in hospitalized patients with liver cirrhosis. These reference values will contribute to applying the GLIM criteria in cirrhotic patients.

Aim To study the effects of Taohong Siwu Tang(TSD)on serum lipid metabolites in rats with abnormal uterine bleeding(AUB),and to analyze the mechanism of action of TSD in improving lipid metabo-lism disorders in AUB.Methods The rat model of AUB was replicated by the method of incomplete abor-tion with drugs,and the lipid metabolites of serum were detected by applying UPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap/MS technology,and combined with the principal com-ponent analysis and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis to screen for differential lipids,the changes of lipids in serum before and after the in-tervention of TSD were clarified.Results A total of 11 differential lipids were screened,mainly phosphati-dyl inositol,phosphatidic acid,phosphatidyl ethanola-mine,phosphatidyl serine,sterol lipids,ceramide,acrylolipids and fatty acids.The screened differential lipids all tended to regress to normal after the adminis-tration of TSD intervention.Conclusion Improvement of AUB by TSD may be related to lipid metabolism such as phosphatidic acid,phosphatidyl inositol,phos-phatidyl ethanolamine,phosphatidyl serine,and ce-ramide.

Background/Aims: Ubiquitination is widely involved in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by regulating various cellular processes. However, systematic strategies for screening core ubiquitin-related genes, clarifying their functions and mechanisms, and ultimately developing potential therapeutics for patients with HCC are still lacking. Methods: Cox and LASSO regression analyses were performed to construct a ubiquitin-related gene prediction model for HCC. Loss- and gain-of-function studies, transcriptomic and metabolomics analysis were used to explore the function and mechanism of UBE2S on HCC cell glycolysis and growth. Results: Based on 1,423 ubiquitin-related genes, a four-gene signature was successfully constructed to evaluate the prognosis of patients with HCC. UBE2S was identified in this signature with the potential to predict the survival of patients with HCC. E2F2 transcriptionally upregulated UBE2S expression by directly binding to its promoter. UBE2S positively regulated glycolysis in a HIF-1α-dependent manner, thus promoting the proliferation of HCC cells. Mechanistically, UBE2S enhanced K11-linkage polyubiquitination at lysine residues 171 and 196 of VHL independent of E3 ligase, thereby indirectly stabilizing HIF-1α protein levels by mediating the degradation of VHL by the proteasome. In particular, the combination of cephalomannine, a small molecule compound that inhibits the expression of UBE2S, and PX-478, an inhibitor of HIF-1α, significantly improved the anti-tumor efficacy. Conclusions UBE2S is identified as a key biomarker in HCC among the thousands of ubiquitin-related genes and promotes glycolysis by E3 enzyme-independent ubiquitination, thus serving as a therapeutic target for the treatment of HCC.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether Omicron BA.1 breakthrough infection after receiving the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine could create a strong immunity barrier. METHODS: Blood samples were collected at two different time points from 124 Omicron BA.1 breakthrough infected patients and 124 controls matched for age, gender, and vaccination profile. Live virus-neutralizing antibodies against five SARS-CoV-2 variants, including WT, Gamma, Beta, Delta, and Omicron BA.1, and T-lymphocyte lymphocyte counts in both groups were measured and statistically analyzed. RESULTS: The neutralizing antibody titers against five different variants of SARS-CoV-2 were significantly increased in the vaccinated population infected with the Omicron BA.1 variant at 3 months after infection, but mainly increased the antibody level against the WT strain, and the antibody against the Omicron strain was the lowest. The neutralizing antibody level decreased rapidly 6 months after infection. The T-lymphocyte cell counts of patients with mild and moderate disease recovered at 3 months and completely returned to the normal state at 6 months. CONCLUSION Omicron BA.1 breakthrough infection mainly evoked humoral immune memory in the original strain after vaccination and hardly produced neutralizing antibodies specific to Omicron BA.1. Neutralizing antibodies against the different strains declined rapidly and showed features similar to those of influenza. Thus, T-lymphocytes may play an important role in recovery.
Humans ; Antibodies, Neutralizing ; Prospective Studies ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Breakthrough Infections ; COVID-19 Vaccines ; COVID-19 ; T-Lymphocytes ; China/epidemiology* ; Antibodies, Viral

Objective:To explore the predictive value of deep learning (DL)-based coronary artery calcification score (CACS) for obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) and noncalcified plaque/mixed plaque in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).Methods:Forty hundred and twenty-four consecutive T2DM patients who accepted CACS scan and coronary CT angiography (CCTA) from December 2012 to December 2019 were included retrospectively, with clinical risk factors and plaque features collected. Plaque composition was classified as calcified, non-calcified or mixed plaque. Obstructive CAD was defined as maximum diameter stenosis≥50%. CACS was calculated with a fully automated method based on DL. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were applied to select statistically significant factors and the odds ratios(ORs) were measured. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was evaluated to assess the predictive performance.Results:Increased CACS was associated with a significantly higher odds of obstructive CAD in CCTA (adjusted ORs were 2.22, 6.18 and 16.98 for CACS=1-99, 100-299, 300-999 vs. CACS=0, and P values were 0.009,<0.001,<0.001 respectively). The area under ROC curve (AUC) of CACS to predict obstructive CAD was 0.764. Compared with 0, increased CACS was associated with increased risk of non-calcified/mixed plaque (adjusted ORs were 2.75, 4.76, 5.29 for CACS=1-99, 100-299, 300-999 respectively and P values were 0.001,<0.001,<0.001 respectively). The AUC of CACS to predict non-calcified/mixed plaque was 0.688. It took 1.17 min to perform automated measurement of CACS based on DL in total, which was significantly less than manual measurement of 1.73 min ( P<0.001). Conclusion:DL-based CACS can predict obstructive CAD and non-calcified plaque/mixed plaque in T2DM, which is economical and efficient, and has important value for clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Objective:To explore the relationship between AluYb8 insertion in the MUTYH gene and the risk of decreased left ventricular diastolic function in the elderly.Methods:In the retrospective analysis, 498 elderly patients with decreased left ventricular diastolic function(the disease group)and 155 people without left ventricular diastolic function(the control group)were recruited.Polymerase chain reaction was employed to analyze the genotype distribution of AluYb8 insertion in MUTYH gene.Cardiac function was measured by high-resolution color Doppler ultrasound.Results:The frequencies of the A/A, A/P and P/P genotypes were 30.1%(150/498), 48.4%(241/498)and 21.5%(107/498)in patients with decreased left ventricular diastolic function, and 27.7%(43/155), 54.8%(85/155)and 17.5%(27/155)in the control group, respectively.There were no significant differences in genotype( χ2=2.162, P=0.339)and allele frequency( χ2=1.342, P=0.794)between the two groups.Further analysis after stratification revealed that there were statistically significant differences in genotype( χ2=7.173, P=0.028)and allele frequency( χ2=8.352, P=0.015). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that, in elderly patients with diabetes, P-allele carriers had a higher risk of decreased left ventricular diastolic function than non-carriers( OR=3.450, 95% CI: 1.148-10.372, P=0.027). Conclusions:AluYb8 insertion in the MUTYH gene may be associated with the risk of decreased left ventricular diastolic function in the elderly with diabetes.