1.COLEC12high tumor-associated macrophages orchestrate lenvatinib resistance and cancer stemness in hepatocellular carcinoma via paracrine NRG1-HER2/HER3 signaling
Jianxing ZHANG ; Liang QIAO ; Zongfeng WU ; Dinglan ZUO ; Shanshan HUANG ; Shaoru LIU ; Zhenkun HUANG ; Yi ZENG ; Yu LI ; Yichuan YUAN ; Chenwei WANG ; Wei HE ; Jiliang QIU ; Yunfei YUAN ; Yi NIU ; Binkui LI
Clinical and Molecular Hepatology 2026;32(2):772-786
Background/Aims:
Lenvatinib resistance remains a critical barrier in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) therapy. However, the underlying mechanisms and strategies for reversing resistance remain incompletely understood.
Methods:
Integrated transcriptomics of lenvatinib-resistant patient tumors and an acquired-resistance murine model identified a novel macrophage subpopulation. Functional validation employed CRISPR-SAM screening, conditioned medium (CM) assays, subcutaneous/orthotopic xenografts, patient-derived organoids (PDOs), and patient-derived xenografts (PDXs). Mechanistic studies included ChIP-qPCR, co-immunoprecipitation, and pharmacologic targeting. Clinical relevance was assessed in a retrospective cohort.
Results:
Resistant HCC exhibited significant enrichment of a COLEC12high TAM subset , which correlated with poor survival and treatment response. These TAMs secreted neuregulin-1 (NRG1) , activating HER2/HER3-AKT signaling in tumor cells to drive cancer stemness and lenvatinib resistance. Mechanistically, in TAMs COLEC12 sequestered STAT1 in the cytoplasm, preventing its phosphorylation, and thereby derepressing STAT3-mediated NRG1 transcription. Depletion of NRG1 reversed the stemness phenotypes and resensitized tumors to lenvatinib both in vitro and in vivo. Clinically, high NRG1 expression predicted an inferior lenvatinib response and shorter survival. Crucially, the bispecific anti-HER2/HER3 antibody zenocutuzumab restored lenvatinib efficacy in PDOs, PDXs, and murine models.
Conclusions
Our work establishes the COLEC12high TAM/NRG1 axis as a master regulator of therapeutic resistance and identifies NRG1 as a predictive biomarker, providing a clinically actionable strategy to overcome lenvatinib resistance in HCC.
2.Role of ferroptosis in pterygium based on bioinformatic analysis
Yuhang ZHANG ; Chaodong SUN ; Su XU ; Wei SI ; Yi MAO ; Jingzhi SHAO ; Shanshan DU ; Fengyan ZHANG
Chinese Journal of Experimental Ophthalmology 2025;43(7):603-610
Objective:To investigate ferroptosis-related genes in pterygium tissue by using bioinformatic analysis.Methods:The pterygium gene expression profile dataset GSE2513 was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus Database to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to ferroptosis.Functional annotation and enrichment analysis of the DEGs were performed using Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG).Hub genes were identified from the DEGs using LASSO logistic regression analysis and a support vector machine recursive feature elimination (SVM-REF).Single-gene GSEA analysis was performed on hub genes and a competitive endogenous RNA interaction network was constructed to determine the RNA regulatory relationships of the hub genes.Pterygium tissue samples from 9 patients (9 eyes) undergoing pterygium surgery and conjunctival tissue samples from 9 patients (9 eyes) undergoing strabismus surgery who visited the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University were collected from 2022 to 2023 during surgery, and the expression of hub genes and ferroptosis-related marker genes was detected by fluorescence quantitative PCR.This study followed the Declaration of Helsinki, and the study protocol was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University (No.2022-KY-0006-001).Results:In the dataset, there were 37 ferroptosis-related genes with significant expression differences, including 16 upregulated genes and 21 downregulated genes.GO analysis revealed significant enrichment in responses to external stimuli, responses to nutritional levels, responses to extracellular stimuli, responses to oxidative stress and starvation, transcription regulatory complexes, and RNA polymerase Ⅱ transcription regulatory complexes, RNA polymerase Ⅱ-specific transcription, and DNA-binding transcription.KEGG analysis showed that the DEGs were primarily enriched in ferroptosis and NOD-like receptor signaling pathways.LASSO regression analysis identified DUOX2, ATF3, NDRG1, EGR1, and ALDH3A2 as hub genes, and SVM-REF analysis identified NDRG1, NF2, IDH2, DUOX2, CHP1, ATF3, and SREBF1 as hub genes. DUOX2, ATF3, and NDRG1 were identified as the intersection hub genes.Single-gene GSEA analysis revealed that DUOX2 was enriched in the cell adhesion molecule CAMs pathway, the heparan sulfate glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis pathway, and the glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis ganglioside series pathway. ATF3 and NDRG1 were enriched in the PPAR signaling pathway and other pathways.Compared with normal conjunctival tissue, the relative expression levels of the ferroptosis markers PTGS2 and TFRC mRNA were increased in pterygium tissue, while the relative expression levels of FTH1, GPX4, SLC40A1, HSPB1, and NFE2L2 mRNA were decreased, with statistically significant differences ( t=12.220, 16.580, 5.664, 6.455, 8.691, 9.883, 17.590; all P<0.01). Conclusions:Ferroptosis may play an important role in the pathogenesis of pterygium. DUOX2, ATF3, and NDRG1 may be the hub genes affecting this complicated process.
3.Relationship of osteosarcopenia with depressive symptoms and physical activity in community elderly people
Shanshan WEI ; Keru LIU ; Ruoxian WANG ; Jing TAO ; Bin HE ; Yuhuan WANG
Chinese Mental Health Journal 2025;39(7):611-616
Objective:To explore the relationship between the osteosarcopenia and depressive symptom in the elderly in community,and the moderating effect of physical activity in the interrelationship.Methods:Using strati-fied random sampling,1 051 elderly people from 20 communities in Shihezi were selected for the study,and sur-veyed using the Strength,Assistance with walking,Rise from a chair,Climb stairs,Falls and Calf circumference(SARC-Cal F),grip strength measurements,previous fragility fracture,or osteoporosis risk one-minute test,and the Osteoporosis Self-Screening Tool for Asians(OSTA)to screen for osteoporosis,the short version of the Geriatric Depression Scale(GDS-15)and the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly(PASE)were used to assess depressive symptoms and physical activity.Results:Osteosarcopenia were positively correlated with GDS-15 scores(r=0.54,P<0.01),PASE scores were negatively correlated with both osteosarcopenia and GDS-15 scores(r=-0.45,-0.55,Ps<0.01).Physical activity negatively moderated the association between osteosarcopenia anddepressive symptom in community elderly people(β=-0.01,P<0.05).Conclusion:Osteosarcopenia associated with de-pressive symptoms,and physical activity moderates the association between osteosarcopenia and depressive symp-tom in community elderly people.
4.Analysis of clinical characteristics and factors affecting activities of daily living in patients with neurosyphi-lis
Caidie XIE ; Shoucheng XU ; Ning ZHANG ; Wei WANG ; Shanshan HE ; Yabin ZHENG
Chinese Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases 2025;51(3):135-141
Objective To analyze the clinical data of patients with neurosyphilis(NS)and explore factors influencing their activity of daily living(ADL).Methods The clinical data of 90 patients with NS was retrospectively analyzed,and the ADL scores at admission were assessed by using the Barthel index(BI).The patients were divided into no-dependency,mild-dependency,and moderate-to-severe-dependency groups.The influencing factors of ADL were explored through comparative analysis and multiple linear regression analysis.The receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was used to evaluate the predictive value of clinical indicators for poor ADL recovery(BI score≤60)at discharge in patients.Results Among the 90 NS patients,the average age was 54.17±12.45 years,with 70 males(77.78%).The most common clinical manifestation was abnormal mental behavior(44.44%),followed by limb sensory or motor disorders(25.56%)and dysarthria(16.67%).Based on the BI scores,41 patients(45.6%)were independent,31 patients(34.4%)had mild dependence,and 18 patients(20.0%)had moderate to severe dependence.The comparison results of the three groups showed that the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio(NLR)was gradually increased[2.80(1.97,4.73)vs.3.80(2.28,4.89)vs.5.37(3.76,7.20)]which was higher in the moderate-to-severe-dependency group than in the independent and the mildly-dependent group(P<0.05);cerebrospinal fluid protein concentration[427(341,644)mg/L vs.553(425,830)mg/L vs.933(641,1706.5)mg/L]was gradually increased and there were significant differences in pairwise comparisons(P<0.05).Multiple linear regression analysis showed that NLR(β=-0.242,P=0.018)and cerebrospinal fluid protein concentration(β=-0.461,P<0.001)were negatively correlated with ADL at admission.The area under curve(AUC)for cerebrospinal fluid protein concentration in predicting poor ADL recovery at discharge was 0.806(95%CI:0.708-0.883,P<0.001),with an optimal cutoff value of 620 mg/L,sensitivity of 86.7%,and specificity of 69.4%.Conclusion The main clinical manifestations of NS patients are psychiatric/behavioral abnormalities.Elevated NLR and cerebrospinal fluid protein concentration may be associated with the decreased ADL.Early active intervention of inflammatory response and cerebrospinal fluid protein abnormalities may provide a new way to improve the prognosis of patients.
5.Exploration of epidemiological characteristics of multidrug-resistant organisms among burn wound patients and prevention and control strategies based on worldwide database for nosocomial outbreaks
Jiao SHAN ; Wei HUAI ; Shanshan MENG ; Meng JIN ; Xiaoyuan BAO ; Yulong CAO ; Hong LI ; Hui CHEN
Chinese Journal of Nosocomiology 2025;35(17):2592-2596
OBJECTIVE To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of hospital-associated infections caused by multidrug-resistant organisms(MDROs)among the burn wound patients so as to provide bases for taking tar-geted control measures.METHODS A systematic search was conducted in the worldwide database for nosocomial outbreaks,PubMed and CNKI databases so as to summarize and analyze the data regarding to outbreaks of MDROs hospital-associated infections among burn wound patients.RESULTS A total of 61 incidents of MDROs hospital-associated infections outbreaks among the burn wound patients were included,involving 2 293 patients from 21 countries and regions,50(81.97%)of which were reported for the infection sites or colonization sites in-volving burn wound,12(19.67%)involving the respiratory tract,10(16.39%)involving the bloodstream infec-tions.Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(28 incidents,45.90%)was dominant among the pathogens causing the infections,followed by multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii(17 incidents,27.87%)and multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aureus(9 incidents,14.75%).52 incidents(82.25%)of outbreaks were reported the contact as the major transmission mode.The suspected sources of the outbreaks included the patients(37 incidents,28.46%),health care workers(30 incidents,23.08%),ward environments(28 incidents,21.54%),medical equipments(19 incidents,30.56%),drainage systems(6 incidents,4.62%).The major pre-vention and control measures included environmental cleaning and disinfection,screening of colonization in patients and health care workers,isolation of patients with infections and hand hygiene;8 incidents were taken the measure of closing the ward.CONCLUSIONS The outbreaks of MDROs infections in the burn wound patients are mostly associated with the high frequently contact environments,medical equipments and hand hygiene of health care workers.In view of the peculiarities of the burn wound patients,it is feasible to take the targeted measures based on the summarized prevention and control combinations for MDROs so as to prevent the outbreak of hospital-asso-ciated infections.
6.Research progress on the clinical application and mechanism of com-monly used traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of breast cancer
Shanshan LI ; Dandan WEI ; Hanyu KANG ; Xiaopeng LIU ; Shuxun YAN ; Shiqing JIANG
Chinese Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics 2025;30(7):977-983
Breast cancer is a common clinical gy-necological tumor.According to the 2022 global cancer data statistics,breast cancer ranks second in terms of incidence among newly diagnosed cancer cases worldwide.Modern medicine often adopts surgical operation,chemotherapy,and other meth-ods,which have certain efficacy but also many problems such as high drug resistance rates and sig-nificant adverse reactions.Chinese patent medi-cines exhibit extensive anticancer effects.The study found that Shenyi Capsule,Pingxiao Capsule,and Zhenqi Fuzheng Granules were widely used in the treatment of breast cancer,exerting therapeu-tic effects on breast cancer by inhibiting cell prolif-eration,invasion,and metastasis,suppressing an-giogenesis,reversing cellular drug resistance,and inhibiting precancerous lesions.Meanwhile,the oral administration of Chinese patent medicines in combination with other traditional Chinese medi-cine(TCM)compounds,TCM decoctions,or mod-ern medical treatments can improve patients' quali-ty of life and reduce adverse reactions.Currently,there are numerous studies on the treatment of breast cancer with Chinese patent medicines,but a systematic summary is lacking.Therefore,this study conducted a systematic review of the mecha-nisms of action and clinical applications of Chinese patent medicines as adjuvant therapy for breast cancer,aiming to provide guidance for clinical medi-cation.
7.Effect of the DrCloudme platform on follow-ups of patients with intracranial aneurysms
Dongni PAN ; Lihua PAN ; Ping WEI ; Xuemei QIN ; Shanshan HUANG ; Fangqian CHEN
Modern Hospital 2025;25(5):776-779
Objective To evaluate the efficacy of the DrCloudme platform in follow-ups of intracranial aneurysm(IA)patients.Methods A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 120 IA patients treated at Hechi People's Hospital from July 2021 to June 2024.Participants were equally allocated via random number table method into two groups:The control group(n=60)received conventional telephone follow-up post interventional embolization,while the intervention group(n=60)uti-lized the DrCloudme platform for digital follow-up management.Outcome measures included medical compliance,social functio-ning(assessed by Social Disability Screening Schedule,SDSS),quality of life(evaluated using Quality of Life Instrument for Head and Neck Cancer,QLICP-HN),follow-up completion rates,and patient satisfaction.Results The observation group dem-onstrated significantly higher medical compliance,follow-up completion rate,and follow-up patient satisfaction compared to the control group(P<0.05).Additionally,the observation group had lower SDSS scores and higher QLICP-HN scores,indicating better social function and quality of life(P<0.05).Conclusion The DrCloudme platform can not only improve the follow-up completion rate for healthcare providers,but also enhance medical compliance,social functioning,and quality of life among dis-charged IA patients.Moreover,it significantly boosts patient satisfaction with follow-ups.
8.Molecular epidemiological study on ST11 carbepenem-resistant hyperviru-lent Klebsiella pneumoniae in a general hospital in Jiangxi Province
Shanshan HUANG ; Bowen SHI ; Dandan WEI ; Binghui HUO ; Hanxu HONG ; Xinzhu JIANG ; Yang LIU
Chinese Journal of Infection Control 2025;24(1):30-36
Objective To explore the clinical characteristics,antimicrobial resistance,virulence and molecular epi-demiology characteristics of carbapenem-resistant hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae(CR-hvKP).Methods Car-bapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae(CRKP)strains isolated from clinical specimens in a tertiary first-class teaching hospital from 2018 to 2021 were collected.ST1 1 CR-hvKP strains were screened through the detection of antimicrobial resistance genes and virulence genes as well as multilocus sequence typing(MLST).Basic clinical in-formation,antimicrobial resistance genes and virulence genes were analyzed.Twenty-three strains of ST1 1 CR-hvKP were randomly selected for virulence phenotype analysis;45 strains of CR-hvKP were randomly selected for homology analysis by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis(PFGE).Results There were a total of 124 clinically isolated strains of ST11 CR-hvKP from 2018 to 2021,mainly from the department of neurosurgery(33.87%).The major specimen source was sputum(56.45%),the average age of infected patients were(55.2±16.4)years old,and the majority were male patients(77.42%).Antimicrobial susceptibility testing results showed these strains were resis-tant to most clinically commonly used antimicrobial agents.Virulence detection showed that virulence varied among these strains,but most of them were hypervirulence strains.PFGE analysis results showed that the strains were mainly subtype A1(63.4%).Conclusion ST1 1 CR-hvKP presents multidrug resistance and hypervirulence.Clonal transmission of some strains exists in this hospital,which poses great challenges for clinical anti-infection treatment as well as prevention and control.It is necessary to strengthen the prevention and control of healthcare-associated infection.
9.Regulation of PU.1 on apoptosis resistance of aging macrophages stimulated by Porphyromonas gingivalis lipopolysaccharide
Hui FANG ; Yiting YUAN ; Yongchun ZHANG ; Shanshan REN ; Lulu CHEN ; Wei LIAO ; Ai TIAN
The Journal of Practical Medicine 2025;41(4):471-477
Objective To investigate the regulatory effect of PU.1 on apoptosis resistance of aging macro-phages under in vitro inflammatory stimulation simulated by lipopolysaccharide(LPS)of Porphyromonas.Methods The expression of PU.1 in periodontitis gingival tissue and normal gingival tissue was analyzed by GEO database.Mouse macrophage cell line RAW264.7 was divided into control group,P.g-LPS group,H2O2 group and PU.1 inhibitor group.mRNA expression of senescence associated secretory phenotype(IL-6,IL-1β,TNF-α)and PU.1 were detected by RT-qPCR;The protein expressions of p21,p16,BAX,caspase-3,Bcl-2,Bcl-xl and PU.1 were detected by Western blot.The number of senescent cells was detected by senescence-associated-galactosidase(SA-β-gal)staining.The apoptosis rate was detected by flow cytometry.Results Compared with control group,the expression of p21,p16 protein and mRNA of IL-6,IL-1β and TNF-α were up-regulated in P.g-LPS group and H2O2 group,the number of senescent cells was increased,the expression of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl was up-regulated,the expression of BAX and caspase-3 was decreased,and the apoptosis rate was decreased.Meanwhile,the mRNA and protein expression of PU.1 were increased(P<0.05).Compared with P.g-LPS group,mRNA and protein expression of PU.1 in PU.1 inhibitor group were down-regulated,Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl were down-regulated,BAX and caspase-3 expressions were increased,apoptosis rate was increased,the number of senescent cells was decreased,and mRNA levels of IL-6,IL-1β and TNF-α were decreased.The expression of p21 and p16 proteins were down-regulated.(P<0.05).Conclusion Under inflammatory stimulation in vitro,increased expression of PU.1 induced apoptosis resistance of aging macrophages,inhibition of PU.1 promoted apoptosis of aging macrophages,reduced the number of aging macrophages,and down-regulated the secretion of inflammatory factors.
10.Role of ferroptosis in pterygium based on bioinformatic analysis
Yuhang ZHANG ; Chaodong SUN ; Su XU ; Wei SI ; Yi MAO ; Jingzhi SHAO ; Shanshan DU ; Fengyan ZHANG
Chinese Journal of Experimental Ophthalmology 2025;43(7):603-610
Objective:To investigate ferroptosis-related genes in pterygium tissue by using bioinformatic analysis.Methods:The pterygium gene expression profile dataset GSE2513 was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus Database to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to ferroptosis.Functional annotation and enrichment analysis of the DEGs were performed using Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG).Hub genes were identified from the DEGs using LASSO logistic regression analysis and a support vector machine recursive feature elimination (SVM-REF).Single-gene GSEA analysis was performed on hub genes and a competitive endogenous RNA interaction network was constructed to determine the RNA regulatory relationships of the hub genes.Pterygium tissue samples from 9 patients (9 eyes) undergoing pterygium surgery and conjunctival tissue samples from 9 patients (9 eyes) undergoing strabismus surgery who visited the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University were collected from 2022 to 2023 during surgery, and the expression of hub genes and ferroptosis-related marker genes was detected by fluorescence quantitative PCR.This study followed the Declaration of Helsinki, and the study protocol was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University (No.2022-KY-0006-001).Results:In the dataset, there were 37 ferroptosis-related genes with significant expression differences, including 16 upregulated genes and 21 downregulated genes.GO analysis revealed significant enrichment in responses to external stimuli, responses to nutritional levels, responses to extracellular stimuli, responses to oxidative stress and starvation, transcription regulatory complexes, and RNA polymerase Ⅱ transcription regulatory complexes, RNA polymerase Ⅱ-specific transcription, and DNA-binding transcription.KEGG analysis showed that the DEGs were primarily enriched in ferroptosis and NOD-like receptor signaling pathways.LASSO regression analysis identified DUOX2, ATF3, NDRG1, EGR1, and ALDH3A2 as hub genes, and SVM-REF analysis identified NDRG1, NF2, IDH2, DUOX2, CHP1, ATF3, and SREBF1 as hub genes. DUOX2, ATF3, and NDRG1 were identified as the intersection hub genes.Single-gene GSEA analysis revealed that DUOX2 was enriched in the cell adhesion molecule CAMs pathway, the heparan sulfate glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis pathway, and the glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis ganglioside series pathway. ATF3 and NDRG1 were enriched in the PPAR signaling pathway and other pathways.Compared with normal conjunctival tissue, the relative expression levels of the ferroptosis markers PTGS2 and TFRC mRNA were increased in pterygium tissue, while the relative expression levels of FTH1, GPX4, SLC40A1, HSPB1, and NFE2L2 mRNA were decreased, with statistically significant differences ( t=12.220, 16.580, 5.664, 6.455, 8.691, 9.883, 17.590; all P<0.01). Conclusions:Ferroptosis may play an important role in the pathogenesis of pterygium. DUOX2, ATF3, and NDRG1 may be the hub genes affecting this complicated process.

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