Objective To investigate the effects of LBL-007, a novel fully human lymphocyte activation gene 3 (LAG-3) monoclonal antibody, in combination with programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) antibody, on the invasion, migration and proliferation of tumor cells, and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. Methods Human lymphocyte cells Jurkat were co-cultured with A549 and MGC803 tumor cell lines and treated with the isotype control antibody human IgG, LBL-007, anti-PD-1 antibody BE0188, or tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α, the NF-κB signaling pathway agonist). Tumor cell proliferation was assessed using a colony formation assay; invasion was measured by Transwell^TM assay; migration was evaluated using a wound healing assay. Western blotting was employed to determine the expression levels of NF-κB pathway-related proteins: IκB inhibitor kinase alpha (Ikkα), phosphorylated Ikkα (p-IKKα), NF-κB subunit p65, phosphorylated p65 (p-p65), NF-κB Inhibitor Alpha (IκBα), phosphorylated IκBα (p-IκBα), matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9), and MMP2. Results Compared with the control and IgG isotype groups, LBL-007 and BE0188 significantly reduced tumor cell proliferation, invasion, and migration. They also decreased the phosphorylation of p-IKKα, p-p65 and p-IκBα, and the expression of MMP9 and MMP2 of tumor cells in the co-culture system. The combined treatment of LBL-007 and BE0188 enhanced inhibitory effects. Treatment with the NF-κB signaling pathway agonist TNF-α reversed the suppressive effects of LBL-007 and BE0188 on tumor cell proliferation, invasion, migration, and NF-κB signaling. Conclusion LBL-007 and anti-PD-1 antibody synergistically inhibit the invasion, migration, and proliferation of A549 and MGC803 tumor cells by blocking the NF-κB signaling pathway.
Humans ; Cell Proliferation/drug effects* ; Cell Movement/drug effects* ; Signal Transduction/drug effects* ; NF-kappa B/metabolism* ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Antibodies, Monoclonal/pharmacology* ; Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor/antagonists & inhibitors* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Antigens, CD/immunology* ; Lymphocyte Activation Gene 3 Protein ; A549 Cells ; I-kappa B Kinase/metabolism* ; Jurkat Cells ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 9/metabolism*

Magnetic stimulation has made significant strides in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Nonetheless, current magnetic stimulation techniques lack the precision to accurately modulate specific nuclei and cannot realize deep brain magnetic stimulation. To address this, we utilized superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles as mediators to achieve precise targeting and penetration. We investigated the effects of magnetic fields with varying frequencies on neuronal activity and compared the activation effects on neurons using a 10-Hz precise magneto-stimulation system (pMSS) with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in mice. Oxytocin levels, dendritic morphology and density, and mouse behavior were measured before and after pMSS intervention. Our findings suggest that pMSS can activate oxytocinergic neurons, leading to upregulation of oxytocin secretion and neurite outgrowth. As a result, sociability was rapidly improved after a one-week pMSS treatment regimen. These results demonstrate a promising magneto-stimulation method for regulating neuronal activity in deep brain nuclei and provide a promising therapeutic approach for autism spectrum disorder.
Animals ; Autism Spectrum Disorder/physiopathology* ; Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus/physiology* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation/methods* ; Male ; Social Behavior ; Mice ; Oxytocin/metabolism* ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Neurons/physiology*

Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF), characterized by excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) that causes oral mucosal tissue sclerosis, and even cancer transformation, is a chronic, progressive fibrosis disease. However, despite some advancements in recent years, no targeted antifibrotic strategies for OSF have been approved; likely because the complicated mechanisms that initiate and drive fibrosis remain to be determined. In this review, we briefly introduce the epidemiology and etiology of OSF. Then, we highlight how cell-intrinsic changes in significant structural cells can drive fibrotic response by regulating biological behaviors, secretion function, and activation of ECM-producing myofibroblasts. In addition, we also discuss the role of innate and adaptive immune cells and how they contribute to the pathogenesis of OSF. Finally, we summarize strategies to interrupt key mechanisms that cause OSF, including modulation of the ECM, inhibition of inflammation, improvement of vascular disturbance. This review will provide potential routes for developing novel anti-OSF therapeutics.
Humans ; Oral Submucous Fibrosis/immunology* ; Extracellular Matrix/metabolism* ; Myofibroblasts

Objective:To compare the patient-reported outcomes and short-term clinical outcomes between robotic-assisted and laparoscopic-assisted radical gastrectomy for locally advanced gastric cancer.Methods:This single-center prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted in the Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University from October 2020 to August 2022. Patients with locally advanced gastric cancer who were to undergo radical gastrectomy were selected and randomly divided into two groups according to 1∶1, and received robotic surgery and laparoscopic surgery, respectively. Patient-reported outcomes and short-term clinical outcomes (including postoperative complications, surgical quality and postoperative short-term recovery) were compared between the two groups by independent sample t test, Mann-Whitney U test, repeated ANOVA, generalized estimating equation, χ2 test and Fisher′s exact test. Results:A total of 237 patients were enrolled for modified intention-to-treat analysis (120 patients in the robotic group, 117 patients in the laparoscopic group). There were 180 males and 59 females, aged (63.0±10.2) years (range: 30 to 85 years). The incidence of postoperative complications was similar between the robotic group and laparoscopic group (16.7% (20/120) vs. 15.4% (18/117), χ2=0.072, P=0.788). The robotic group had higher patient-reported outcomes scores in general health status, emotional, and social domains compared to the laparoscopic group, differences in time effect, intervention effect, and interaction effect were statistically significant (general health status: χ2 value were 275.68, 3.91, 6.38, P value were <0.01, 0.048, 0.041; emotional: χ2 value were 77.79, 6.04, 6.15, P value were <0.01, 0.014, 0.046; social: χ2 value were 148.00, 7.57, 5.98, P value were <0.01, 0.006, 0.048). However, the financial burden of the robotic group was higher, the differences in time effect, intervention effect and interaction effect were statistically significant ( χ2 value were 156.24, 4.08, 36.56, P value were <0.01, 0.043,<0.01). Conclusion:Compared to the laparoscopic group, the robotic group could more effectively relieve postoperative negative emotions and improve recovery of social function in patients.

Objective To investigate the role of silencing regulatory protein 1(Sirt1)in the regulation of Vibrio vulnificus sepsis-induced macrophage apoptosis and the molecular mechanisms.Methods Mouse RAW264.7 macrophages which stably overexpressed Sirt1 were constructed and screened by genistein G418.CCK-8 analysis was used to detect the proliferation of cells in the control group and Sirt1-Flag group.The changes of expression levels of apoptosis-associated protein poly ADP-ribose polymerase(PARP),cleaved-PARP,caspase3,cleaved-caspase3 and acetylated p53 in different treatment groups were detected via Western blotting.A Vibrio vulnificus sepsis model in mice was established,and the expression levels of apoptosis-associated protein cleaved-caspase3 in the lung,spleen and liver of mice of different treatment groups were detected by immunohistochemistry.Results Overexpression of Sirt1 reduced VVC-induced RAW264.7 cell damage.Overexpression of Sirt1 as well as RSV pretreatment lowered the expression of apoptosis-associated protein cleaved-PARP,cleaved-caspase3 and acetylated p53 in VVC-stimulated RAW264.7 cells and mouse peritoneal macrophages.In the mouse model of Vibrio vulnificus sepsis,therapeutic administration of RSV reduced the expression of apoptosis-associated protein marker cleaved-caspase3 in lung,spleen and liver tissues.Conclusion Sirt1 can inhibit p53 acetylation and reduces apoptosis in mouse macrophages,which helps protect against Vibrio vulnificus sepsis.

Objective:To analyze the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of children with acute brucellosis, providing reference for early diagnosis and standardized treatment of brucellosis in children.Methods:The data of 140 children with acute brucellosis at Xi'an Children's Hospital from April 2012 to October 2021 were collected. Their general information, epidemiological characteristics, clinical manifestations, laboratory and imaging examinations, treatment and prognosis were analyzed retrospectively.Results:Among 140 children with acute brucellosis, there were 78 males and 62 females, with a median age of onset and interquartile range of 3.4 (1.8, 5.8) years; 88.6% (124/140) of these children came from rural areas. The peak season for the onset of brucellosis was summer (47.1%, 66/140); 92.9% (130/140) had a confirmed epidemiological history; 7.9% (11/140) of the affected children were latent carriers. Among the 129 children with obvious clinical manifestations, fever accounted for 99.2% (128/129), hyperhidrosis accounted for 52.7% (68/129), and involvement of the reticuloendothelial system, joints, and nervous system accounted for 46.5% (60/129), 44.2% (57/129), and 6.2% (8/129), respectively, joint effusion accounted for 64.9% (37/57). All patients tested positive for tiger red plate agglutination test; 97.9% (137/140) of the patients had a serum tube agglutination test titer ≥1 ∶ 100. Positive blood culture accounted for 85.7% (120/140). The positive detection rate of serum tube agglutination test was higher than that of blood culture (χ 2 = 13.69, P < 0.001). Brucella was cultured from the cerebrospinal fluid of 8 children with concomitant encephalitis. The initial treatment plan for all children was oral compound sulfamethoxazole/doxycycline + rifampicin. In cases of arthritis, osteomyelitis or encephalitis, third-generation cephalosporins or meropenem were used intravenously at the same time. Dexamethasone was used for patients suffered from bilateral abductor nerve damage. All patients were cured without recurrence. Two cases had sequelae, namely introverted vision in the right eye and knee joint movement disorders. Conclusions:Most children with acute brucellosis have a confirmed epidemiological history and are mainly distributed in rural areas. The main clinical manifestation is fever, and joint involvement is also common. Standardized treatment can cure them.

Objective:To summarize the clinical characteristics of patients with renal angiomyolipoma(RAML)combined with inferior vena cava(IVC)tumor thrombus,and to explore the feasibility of par-tial nephrectomy and thrombectomy in this series of patients.Methods:The clinical data of patients diagnosed with RAML combined with IVC tumor thrombus in the Department of Urology of the Peking University Third Hospital from April 2014 to March 2023 were retrospectively analyzed,and demographic and perioperative data of RAML patients with IVC tumor thrombus were recorded and collected from Elec-tronic Medical Record System,including age,gender,surgical methods,and follow-up time,etc.The clinical characteristics between classic angiomyolipoma(CAML)patients with IVC tumor thrombus and epithelioid angiomyolipoma(EAML)patients with IVC tumor thrombus were compared to determine the clinical characteristics of these patients.Results:A total of 11 patients were included in this study,in-cluding 7 patients with CAML with IVC tumor thrombus and 4 patients with EAML with IVC tumor thrombus.There were 9 females(9/11,81.8％)and 2 males(2/11,18.2％),with an average age of(44.0±17.1)years.9 patients(9/11,81.8％)experienced clinical symptoms,including local symp-toms including abdominal pain,hematuria,abdominal masses,and systemic symptoms including weight loss and fever;2 patients(2/11,18.2％)with RAML and IVC tumor thrombus did not show clinical symptoms,which were discovered by physical examination.Among the 11 patients,10 underwent radical nephrectomy with thrombectomy,of whom,3 underwent open surgery(3/10,30.0％),2 underwent laparoscopic surgery(2/10,20.0％),and 5 underwent robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery(5/10,50.0％).In addition,1 patient underwent open partial nephrectomy and thrombectomy.The patients with EAML combined with I VC tumor thrombus had a higher proportion of systemic clinical symptoms(100％vs.0％,P=0.003),more intraoperative bleeding[400(240,3 050)mL vs.50(50,300)mL,P=0.036],and a higher proportion of tumor necrosis(75％vs.0％,P=0.024)compared to the patients with CAML combined with I VC tumor thrombus.However,there was no statistically significant difference in operation time[(415.8±201.2)min vs.(226.0±87.3)min,P=0.053]between the two groups.Conclusion:Compared with the patients with CAML and IVC tumor thrombus,the patients with EAML and IVC tumor thrombus had a higher rate of systemic symptoms and tumor necrosis.In addi-tion,in the selected patients with CAML with IVC tumor thrombus,partial nephrectomy and tumor thrombectomy could be performed to better preserve renal function.

As a kind of immunosuppressive cells, myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are an important component of the immune microenvironment. MDSCs play a significant role in promoting tumor immune escape. In addition, non-immunological functions such as promoting angiogenesis can also promote tumor development with the deepening of research. MDSCs can promote tumor angiogenesis directly through vascular endothelial growth factor signaling pathway, or promote tumor growth and angiogenesis by secreting cytokines such as matrix metalloprotein-9, basic fibroblast growth factor, angiogenic peptide Bv8, platelet derived growth factor, exosomes, or interacting with other cells. Exploring the expansion, activation, recruitment and angiogenesis mechanism of MDSCs will provide new ideas for regulating the individualized diagnosis and treatment based on targeted MDSCs.

Objective To analyze the correlation between the characteristics of Sonazoid contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS)and pathological differentiation in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).Methods A total of 64 patients with HCC diagnosed pathologically by CEUS examination were included,and a total of 64 lesions were divided into the high,medium and low differentiation groups(6,48 and 10 cases,respectively)according to the degree of pathological differentiation.The enhancement pattern,enhancement level and enhancement pattern of CEUS arterial stage in HCC with different pathological differentiation were compared.Results The enhancement pattern of arterial phase was divided into the uniform enhancement and the uneven enhancement.All lesions in the low differentiated group and 58.3%in the middle differentiated group showed uneven and high enhancement.In the highly differentiated group,lesions showed homogenous hyperintensification,homogenous isointensification and non-homogenous hyperintensification.At arterial stage,all lesions in the middle and low differentiated groups and 66.7%lesions in the highly differentiated group showed high enhancement,and the enhancement levels of HCC with different differentiation degrees were significantly different(P＜0.01).At the portal stage,16.7%,25.0%and 70.0%lesions in the high,medium and low differentiated HCC groups subsided to low enhancement,and the enhancement levels of HCC with different differentiation degrees were significantly different(P＜0.05).In the delayed stage,75%lesions in the medium-differentiated group and all lesions in the low-differentiated group showed low enhancement,and 66.7%lesions in the highly differentiated group showed equal enhancement.Enhancement levels of HCC with different differentiation degrees were significantly different(P＜0.01).At the Kupffer stage,all lesions in the low differentiated group and 95.8%of the moderately differentiated group showed low enhancement,while 50%lesions in the highly differentiated group still showed equal enhancement,and there were significant differences in the enhancement levels of HCC with different differentiation degrees(P＜0.01).The highly differentiated group showed multiple CEUS patterns,the moderately differentiated group mainly showed"fast advance and fast retreat"and"fast advance and slow retreat"patterns,and 90.0%of the low differentiated group showed"fast advance and fast retreat"patterns.There were significant differences in CEUS patterns between HCC with different degrees of differentiation(P＜0.01).Conclusion Sonazoid-CEUS has certain value in evaluating the differentiation degree of HCC.

ObjectiveTo explore new targets and herbal medicines of total ginsenosides in ameliorating alcoholic hepatitis （AH） by data mining and experimental validation and to provide new directions for the clinical treatment of AH. MethodGSE28619 was selected as the test set from the GEO database and GSE83148 and GSE103580 were selected as the validation sets. The limma package and weighted gene co-expression network analysis （WGCNA） were employed to identify the AH-related differentially expressed genes and modular genes， and Venny was used to extract the common genes. The protein-protein interaction （PPI） network was constructed and the enrichment analysis was carried out. The hub genes were further screened and evaluated for their diagnostic value. After validation with the datasets， new potential targets of AH and traditional Chinese medicine were predicted. Molecular docking between the targets and active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine was performed， and the results were validated by experiments. Eight out of 48 SD rats were randomly selected into a blank group and received an equal amount of normal saline. The rest rats were subjected to modeling with ethanol by gavage and then randomized into low- （10 mg·kg^-1）， medium- （20 mg·kg^-1）， and high-dose （40 mg·kg^-1） total ginsenosides， model， and positive control （metadoxine， 117 mg·kg^-1） groups. After 3 weeks of gavage， serum samples were collected for the measurement of aspartate aminotransferase （AST） and alanine aminotransferase （ALT） levels， and liver samples were collected for hematoxylin-eosin （HE） staining. Western blot and Real-time PCR were employed to determine the protein and mRNA levels， respectively， of potential targets in the liver tissue. ResultData mining predicted the potential genes： Proto-oncogene FOS and collagen type Ⅰ alpha 2 （COL1A2）. Experimental validation showed that the liver injury was alleviated after drug administration compared with that after modeling. The serum AST and ALT levels were reduced after drug administration. The protein and mRNA levels of FOS were significantly up-regulated， while those of COL1A2 were down-regulated after drug administration. ConclusionTotal ginsenosides ameliorate HA via FOS and COL1A2.