Protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) acts as an oncogene in liver cancer, yet its roles and in-depth molecular mechanisms within the liver cancer immune microenvironment remain mostly undefined. Here, we demonstrated that disruption of tumor-intrinsic PRMT5 enhances CD8⁺ T-cell-mediated antitumor immunity both in vivo and in vitro. Further experiments verified that this effect is achieved through downregulation of the inhibitory immune checkpoint molecule, fibrinogen-like protein 1 (FGL1). Mechanistically, PRMT5 catalyzed symmetric dimethylation of transcription factor 12 (TCF12) at arginine 554 (R554), prompting the binding of TCF12 to FGL1 promoter region, which transcriptionally activated FGL1 in tumor cells. Methylation deficiency at TCF12-R554 residue downregulated FGL1 expression, which promoted CD8⁺ T-cell-mediated antitumor immunity. Notably, combining the PRMT5 methyltransferase inhibitor GSK591 with PD-L1 blockade efficiently inhibited liver cancer growth and improved overall survival in mice. Collectively, our findings reveal the immunosuppressive role and mechanism of PRMT5 in liver cancer and highlight that targeting PRMT5 could boost checkpoint immunotherapy efficacy.

Immune suppression in the tumor microenvironment (TME) is closely related to abnormal glycolysis. Tumor cells gain metabolic advantages and suppress immune responses through the "Warburg effect". Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been shown to regulate key glycolysis enzymes (such as HK2 and PKM2), metabolic signaling pathways (such as PI3K/AKT/mTOR, HIF-1α) and non-coding RNAs at multiple targets, thus synergistically inhibiting lactate accumulation, improving vascular abnormalities, and relieving metabolic inhibition of immune cells. Studies have shown that TCM monomers and formulas can promote immune cell infiltration and functions, improve metabolic microenvironment, and with the assistance by the nano-delivery system, enhance the precision of treatment. However, the dynamic mechanism of the interaction between TCM-regulated glycolysis and TME has not been fully elucidated, for which single-cell sequencing and other technologies provide important technical support to facilitate in-depth analysis and clinical translational research. Future studies should be focused on the synergistic strategy of "metabolic reprogramming-immune activation" to provide new insights into the mechanisms of tumor immunotherapy.
Humans ; Tumor Microenvironment/immunology* ; Glycolysis/drug effects* ; Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Signal Transduction ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology*

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of Zhuanyaotang Granules for the treatment of degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis(DLSS).Methods Using a randomized double blind controlled design,104 DLSS patients were divided into an experimental group and a control group using a random number table method,with 52 patients in each group.The treatment group took oral Zhuanyaotang Granules,methylcobalamin tablets and celecoxib capsule simulants.The control group used Zhuanyaotang Granules simulants,methylcobalamin tablets and celecoxib capsules.The course of treatment was 3 weeks for both groups.The follow-ups were conducted at 1 month and 3 months after treatment.The intermittent claudication distance,visual analogue scale(VAS)score and JOA efficacy rating criteria for low back pain score were observed in both groups before treatment,1,2,3 weeks of treatment and 1 month after treatment and 3 months after treatment.Adverse reactions during treatment were recorded.Results There were 5 cases of detachment and 2 cases of exclusion in the experimental group,and 5 cases of detachment and 1 case of exclusion in the control group.Compared with before treatment,there were statistically significant differences in intermittent claudication distance,VAS score,and JOA score between the two groups of patients at various time points during treatment and follow-up(P<0.05);there was no statistically significant difference in intermittent claudication distance,VAS score,and JOA score between the experimental group and the control group before treatment and 1 and 2 weeks of treatment(P>0.05);compared with the two groups at 3 weeks of treatment and 1 and 3 months after treatment,the intermittent claudication distance and JOA score in the experimental group were lower than those in the control group(P<0.05);There was no significant difference in VAS score between the two groups and the control group after 3 weeks of treatment(P>0.05).There were 2 adverse reactions(4.4%)in the experimental group and 5 adverse reactions(10.8%)in the control group,without statistical significance(P>0.05).Conclusion Zhuanyaotang Granules can effectively relieve pain and improve lumbar function in patients with DLSS,which is more effective and safer than oral celecoxib capsules and methylcobalamin tablets.

In order to make the shared traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） pharmacy develop more efficiently and normatively at the grass-roots level， using the “shared TCM pharmacy” as the retrieval word， this paper uses the literature research method to retrieve the reports， documents and policies from CNKI， the websites of people’s governments at all levels， the official websites of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine， people.com， China News Network， Xinhua News and other platforms before May 20， 2022， sort out the development mode and history of two “Internet plus” TCM pharmacies， namely “shared TCM pharmacies” and “smart TCM pharmacies”， and compare them with each other. Combined with the actual work of community hospitals and community service centers （stations）， the necessity and advantages （such as reducing the costs of the intermediate links of drug circulation and standardizing the grass-roots drug use process） of the development of “shared TCM pharmacy” are obtained from the perspective of primary medical care. Combined with the current situation of the promotion and application of shared TCM pharmacy in county medical communities， it is concluded that the shared TCM pharmacy should be further constructed from four aspects： improving the work process of drug centralized procurement under the background of normalization， improving the compatibility and synchronization of the whole process dispensing information system module， unifying pharmaceutical services and personnel training， defining the authority of data query and clarifying the boundaries of patient privacy to further build a shared TCM pharmacy. Finally， it integrates information technology， summarizes the definition of shared TCM pharmacy and its future construction direction， and provides reference for the next development of shared TCM pharmacy at the grass-roots level.

Objective:To analyze the clinical and laboratory characteristics of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients with NPM1 mutation, and to explore the prognostic factors.Methods:A total of 77 AML patients with NPM1 gene mutation admitted to Hebei Yanda Ludaopei Hospital from May 1st 2012 to December 31st 2021 were enrolled in the study, including 34 male and 43 female patients. The median age was 40 (3, 68) years old. Patients were selected and divided into 4 groups according to the morphological FAB classification. There were 29 cases (37.7%) of M1 type, 13 cases (16.9%) of M2 type, 23 cases (29.9%) of M4 type, and 12 cases (15.5%) of M5 type. The clinical characteristics, bone marrow/peripheral blood cell morphology, immunophenotype, cytogenetics, molecular biology and overall survival of different groups were retrospectively analyzed, and the risk factors affecting the prognosis of AML were also explored. Cox multivariate regression was used to analyze the clinical influencing factors of survival and prognosis.Results:The white blood cell counts were highest in M4 and M5 patients and lowest in M2 patients, while no significant difference in the red blood cell, hemoglobin, and platelet counts( P>0.05). Morphologically, there were significant differences in the percentage of blasts and blasts with cup-like nuclei on bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB). The proportion of blasts in BM and PB was the highest in M1 and the lowest in M2 ( P<0.001). The positive rate of blasts with cup-like nuclei was the highest in M1 and the lowest in M5 of BM ( P<0.001), while the highest in M2 and the lowest in M5 of PB ( P=0.006). The scores of myeloperoxidase and chloroacetate esterase were all the highest in M1 and the lowest in M5 ( P<0.001, 0.001, respectively). In terms of molecular biology, the occurence rate of blasts combined with DNMT3A mutation was the highest in M4 and the lowest in M2 ( P=0.044), while those combined with FLT3-ITD mutation was the highest in M4 and the lowest in M5 ( P=0.002). In immunophenotype, there were significant differences in the expression positivities of seven antigens including HLA-DR, CD56, CD11c, CD15, CD14, CD96 and cMPO ( P<0.05). Multivariate COX regression analysis showed that no recurrence after treatment ( P<0.001), complete remission after treatment ( P=0.015) and transplantation ( P<0.001) were correlated with overall survival (OS). No recurrence after treatment ( P=0.033), transplantation ( P=0.027), no mutation of FLT3-ITD ( P=0.040), and hemoglobin concentration ( P=0.023) were associated with relapse-free survival (RFS). Survival analysis by Kaplan-Meier curve showed that there was no significant difference in survival time between the M1, M2, M4 and M5 groups in OS and RFS. Conclusion:There were significant differences in the white blood count, the percentage of blasts and blasts with cup-like nuclear morphology, cytochemical staining (MPO integration, CE integration and percentage of NAS-DCE), gene mutation (DNMT3A and FLT3-ITD) and immunophenotypes (HLA-DR, CD56, CD11c, CD15, CD14, CD96 and cMPO) between the four groups. The multivariate analysis revealed that no recurrence after treatment and transplantation were independent prognostic factors in NPM1 mut AML patients. On the other hand, FLT3-ITD mutation and hemoglobin concentration were associated with RFS and complete remission after treatment was associated with OS in the entire NPM1 mut cohort.

ObjectiveTo explore the mechanism of Zhuangyao Tongluo Formula（壮腰通络方，ZTF） in delaying intervertebral disc degeneration. MethodsM1 macrophages were induced from THP-1 cells using LPS， IFN-γ and PMA. The induced M1 macrophages were then co-cultured with nucleus pulposus cells in a transwell system. Fetal bovine serum was used as the control serum， and the effects of different concentrations （5%， 10%， 15%， 20%） of serum from rats treated with ZTF on the activity of M1 macrophages and nucleus pulposus cells were analyzed using MTT assay. Experiment 1 was established， including the nucleus pulposus cell control group， M1 macrophage control group， nucleus pulposus cell + ZTF group， nucleus pulposus cell + TNF control group， nucleus pulposus cell + TNF + ZTF group， co-culture group， and co-culture + ZTF group. The levels of IL-1β， and IL-18 in the culture supernatant were detected using ELISA. The mRNA expression of IL-1β and IL-18 in nucleus pulposus cells was detected using qPCR. Additionally， the expression of GSDMD protein in nucleus pulposus cells was detected using cell immunofluorescence. In experiment 2， co-culture groups were constructed using TNF-α overexpression （OE） or empty vector （EV） plasmids， including co-culture group， TNF-EV + co-culture group， TNF-EV co-culture group + ZTF， co-culture + ZTF group， TNF-OE co-culture group + ZTF， and TNF-OE + co-culture group. The mRNA and protein expression of TNF-α in M1 cells in each group were detected using qPCR and WB. ResultsThe ZTF with 10% serum was selected for subsequent experiments. The results of experiment 1 showed that compared to the control group of nucleus pulposus cells， there was no statistically significant difference in the levels of IL-1β， IL-18， mRNA， and GSDMD expression in the nucleus pulposus cells + ZTF group （P＞0.05）. However， the TNF-α + co-culture group showed a significant increase in IL-1β， IL-18 levels， mRNA， and GSDMD expression （P＜0.01）. When compared to the co-culture group， the ZTF+ co-culture group showed a significant decrease in IL-1β， IL-18 levels， mRNA， and GSDMD expression （P＜0.01）. The results of experiment 2 showed that there was no statistically significant difference in TNF-α mRNA and protein expression between the empty vector plasmids + co-culture group and the co-culture group （P＞0.05）. Compared to the empty vector + co-culture group， the expression of TNF-α mRNA and protein was significantly reduced in the empty vector co-culture + ZTF group （P＜0.01）. Compared to the co-culture group and the empty vector + co-culture group， the expression of TNF-α mRNA and protein was significantly reduced in the co-culture + ZTF group （P＜0.01）. Compared to the co-culture + ZTF group， the expression of TNF-α mRNA and protein significantly increased in the overexpression vector co-culture + ZTF group （P＜0.01）. Compared to the overexpression vector co-culture + ZTF group， the expression of TNF-α mRNA and protein significantly increased in the overexpression vector co-culture group （P＜0.01）. ConclusionZTF serum can inhibit the TNF-α-induced apoptosis of nucleus pulposus cells and delay lumbar disc degeneration by reducing the expression of TNF-α in M1 macrophages.

There is an accumulating body of evidence implicating the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor 4 (M₄) in schizophrenia and dementia with Lewy bodies, however, a clinically validated M₄ positron emission tomography (PET) radioligand is currently lacking. As such, the aim of this study was to develop a suitable M₄ PET ligand that allows the non-invasive visualization of M₄ in the brain. Structure-activity relationship studies of pyrazol-4-yl-pyridine derivates led to the discovery of target compound 12 - a subtype-selective positive allosteric modulator (PAM). The radiofluorinated analogue, [¹⁸F] 12, was synthesized in 28 ± 10% radiochemical yield, >37 GBq/μmol and an excellent radiochemical purity >99%. Initial in vitro autoradiograms on rodent brain sections were performed in the absence of carbachol and showed moderate specificity as well as a low selectivity of [¹⁸F] 12 for the M₄-rich striatum. However, in the presence of carbachol, a significant increase in tracer binding was observed in the rat striatum, which was reduced by >60% under blocking conditions, thus indicating that orthosteric ligand interaction is required for efficient binding of [¹⁸F] 12 to the allosteric site. Remarkably, however, the presence of carbachol was not required for high specific binding in the non-human primate (NHP) and human striatum, and did not further improve the specificity and selectivity of [¹⁸F] 12 in higher species. These results pointed towards significant species-differences and paved the way for a preliminary PET study in NHP, where peak brain uptake of [¹⁸F] 12 was found in the putamen and temporal cortex. In conclusion, we report on the identification and preclinical development of the first radiofluorinated M₄ PET radioligand with promising attributes. The availability of a clinically validated M₄ PET radioligand harbors potential to facilitate drug development and provide a useful diagnostic tool for non-invasive imaging.

Objective:To investigate the effect of polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminaminyltransferase 2 (GALNT2) on the proliferation and apoptosis of human retinal vascular endothelial cells (HRCECs) cultured in high glucose and its possible mechanism.Methods:The small hairpin RNA (shRNA) targeting GALNT2 gene was constructed to interfere with the lentiviral vector and infect HRCECs.HRCECs were divided into blank control group, model group, NC-shGALNT2 group and shGALNT2 group, which were cultured in medium containing 5.5 mmol/L glucose, 25 mmol/L glucose, shGALNT2 negative control virus 25 mmol/L glucose and shGALNT2 knockdown virus 25 mmol/L glucose for 24 hours, respectively.The relative expression of GALNT2 mRNA in the four groups was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR.The relative expression levels of GALNT2, epidermal growth factor (EGF), EGF receptor (EGFR) and phosphorylated EGFR (p-EGFR) were detected by Western blot.The proliferative values of HRCECs were detected by cell counting kit-8 method.The apoptosis rate of different groups was detected by flow cytometry. Results:The relative expression levels of GALNT2 mRNA and protein were significantly higher in model group than in blank control group, and were significantly lower in shGALNT2 group than in blank control group (all at P<0.05). The cell proliferation value was significantly lower in model group than in blank control group, and was significantly higher in shGALNT2 than in model group and NC-shGALNT2 group (all at P<0.05). The apoptosis rates of blank control group, model group, NC-shGALNT2 group and shGALNT2 group were (4.73±0.26)%, (8.66±0.25)%, (9.26±1.12)% and (5.47±0.18)%, respectively, with a significant overall difference ( F=342.921, P<0.001). The apoptosis rate was significantly higher in model group than in blank control group, and was significantly lower in shGALNT2 group than in model group and NC-shGALNT2 group (all at P<0.05). The relative expression level of EGFR protein was significantly higher and the relative expression level of p-EGFR protein was significantly lower in model group than in blank control group (all at P<0.05). The relative expression of p-EGFR protein was significantly higher in shGALNT2 group than in model group (all at P<0.05). Conclusions:Knocking down GALNT2 can improve the proliferative ability of HRCECs under high glucose culture and reduce apoptosis, which may be related to the activation of EGFR signaling pathway.

During the analysis of benziamidazole-class irreversible proton pump inhibitors,an unusual mass spectral response with the mass-to-charge ratio at[M+10]+intrigued us,as it couldn't be assigned to any literature known relevant structure,intermediate or adduct ion.Moreover,this mysterious mass pattern of[M+10]+has been gradually observed by series of marketed proton pump inhibitors,viz.omeprazole,pantoprazole,lansoprazole and rabeprazole.All the previous attempts to isolate the corresponding component were unsuccessful.The investigation of present work addresses this kind of signal to a pyridinium thiocyanate mass spectral intermediate(10),which is the common fragment ion of series of labile aggregates.The origin of such aggregates can be traced to the reactive intermediates formed by acid-promoted degradation.These reactive intermediates tend to react with each other and give raise series of complicated aggregates systematically in a water/acetonitrile solution by electrospray ioniza-tion.The structure of the corresponding pyridinium thiocyanate species of omeprazole(10a)has been eventually characterized with the help of synthetic specimen(10a').Our structural proposal as well as its origin was supported by in situ nuclear magnetic resonance,chemical derivatization and colorimetric experiments.