Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of Bushen Yiliu Formula(mainly composed of Epimedii Folium,Ligustri Lucidi Fructus,Ecliptae Herba,and Paridis Rhizoma)in treating advanced hormone-sensitive prostate cancer accompanied by bone metastasis of kidney deficiency type.Methods A prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted on 45 patients with advanced hormone-sensitive prostate cancer accompanied by bone metastasis of kidney deficiency type,who received treatment at Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine from January 2022 to February 2024.The patients were randomly divided into an observation group(23 cases)and a control group(22 cases).All patients received complete androgen blockade therapy combined with bone-protective therapy.Additionally,the observation group was treated with the modified Bushen Yiliu Formula for 6 months.The clinical efficacy of Bushen Yiliu Formula was evaluated with the disease control rate(DCR)and objective response rate(ORR)after 3 and 6 months of treatment,and with the changes in the TCM syndrome scores,Karnofsky Performance Status(KPS)scores,Numerical Rating Scale(NRS)pain scores,and serum levels of total prostate-specific antigen(tPSA)and alkaline phosphatase(ALP)before treatment and after 3 and 6 months of treatment.Changes in serum alanine aminotransferase(ALT),aspartate aminotransferase(AST),and creatinine(Scr)levels before treatment and after 3 and 6 months of treatment were observed to assess the clinical safety of the formula.Results(1)After 3 months of treatment,both groups had no complete remission cases.After 6 months,the observation group hand only one complete remission case.After 3 months of treatment,the ORR and DCR in the observation group were 21.74%(5/23)and 95.65%(22/23),respectively,compared to 22.73%(5/22)and 95.45%(21/22)in the control group.The intergroup comparison showed that there were no significant differences between the two groups(P＞0.05).After 6 months of treatment,the ORR and DCR in the observation group were 60.87%(14/23)and 95.65%(22/23),respectively,significantly higher than those in the control group[22.73%(5/22)and 68.18%(15/22),respectively],with statistically significant differences(P＜0.05).(2)After 3 and 6 months of treatment,TCM syndrome scores and NRS pain scores in both groups were significantly decreased(P＜0.01),and KPS scores were significantly increased(P＜0.01).Except for TCM syndrome scores after 3 months of treatment,the observation group had stronger effect on decreasing TCM syndrome scores and NRS pain scores and on increasing KPS scores after 3 and 6 months of treatment than the control group(P＜0.01).(3)The serum level of tumor-related marker tPSA after 3 months of treatment,and serum tPSA and ALP levels after 6 months of treatment were significantly decreased in both groups compared to the baseline level(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).The observation group had stronger effect on decreasing serum tPSA level after 3 and 6 months compared to the control group(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).However,no significant differences of serum ALP level were observed between the two groups after 3 and 6 months of treatment(P＞0.05).(4)Serum levels of safety indicators of ALT,AST,and Scr showed no significant changes in either group after 3 or 6 months of treatment compared to the baseline level(P＞0.05).Conclusion Bushen Yiliu Formula combined with endocrine therapy exerts certain efficacy for the treatment of advanced hormone-sensitive prostate cancer accompanied by bone metastasis of kidney deficiency type.The combined therapy is effective in reducing tumor burden of bone metastases,improving objective response rates,alleviating clinical symptoms,decreasing NRS pain scores,enhancing quality of life,and effectively lowering serum tPSA and ALP levels.Its efficacy is significantly superior to endocrine therapy alone.

The aim of this updated guideline is to provide comprehensive recommendations for the management of gout in patients with common comorbidities, such as chronic kidney disease(CKD), cardiovascular disease(CVD), diabetes, osteoarthritis(OA), and gastrointestinal disorders. This guideline was developed by a multidisciplinary expert panel consisting of specialists in endocrinology, rheumatology, nephrology, cardiology, gastroenterology, and methodology. The development process adhered to standard methodologies, including PICO(population, intervention, comparator, and outcomes) question deconstruction, systematic literature review, the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation(GRADE) for evidence and recommendation evaluation, Delphi voting, and expert consensus. The guideline presents 26 evidence-based recommendations addressing 7 clinical questions for patients with hyperuricemia and gout in the context of comorbidities. Key recommendations include the maintenance of strict serum urate targets, particularly for patients with CKD stage≥3, chronic gouty arthritis, and OA, in order to prevent disease progression. In patients with CVD or diabetes, intra-articular triamcinolone is preferred over systemic glucocorticoids. Prioritized anti-inflammatory treatments for patients with CKD, gastrointestinal diseases and OA are recommended. The guideline also introduces emerging therapies, such as interleukin-1 inhibitors and selective urate transport inhibitors, as potential treatment options for refractory cases. The update offers a comprehensive, patient-centered approach to managing gout, particularly in individuals with associated comorbidities. Multidisciplinary collaboration and emerging new treatments and evidence ensure the optimization of the recommendations.

Nonunion of osteoporotic vertebral fractures (OVF), predominantly affecting the elderly, can lead to intractable pain, vertebral collapse, progressive kyphotic deformity, and neurological impairment, significantly compromising patients′ quality of life. There exists considerable debate on diagnosis and management of OVF, encompassing key issues such as clinical diagnosis and staging criteria for nonunion, surgical indications and procedure selection, and postoperative rehabilitation planning. Currently, there lacks standardized clinical guideline and expert consensus on the diagnosis and management of OVF nonunion in China. To address this gap, Minimally Invasive Surgery Group of Chinese Orthopedic Association, Osteoporosis Committee of Chinese Association of Orthopedic Surgeons, Prevention and Rehabilitation Committee for Osteoporosis of Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine and Minimally Invasive Orthopedic Surgery Branch of China Association for Geriatric Care jointly organized domestic experts in spinal surgery, endocrinology, and rehabilitation to formulate the Clinical guideline for the diagnosis and treatment for nonunion of osteoporotic vertebral fractures ( version 2025), based on existing literature and clinical experience and adhering to principles of scientific rigor and practicality. The guideline provided 13 evidence-based recommendations encompassing diagnosis and treatment of OVF nonunion, aiming to standardize its clinical management.

Nonunion of osteoporotic vertebral fractures (OVF), predominantly affecting the elderly, can lead to intractable pain, vertebral collapse, progressive kyphotic deformity, and neurological impairment, significantly compromising patients′ quality of life. There exists considerable debate on diagnosis and management of OVF, encompassing key issues such as clinical diagnosis and staging criteria for nonunion, surgical indications and procedure selection, and postoperative rehabilitation planning. Currently, there lacks standardized clinical guideline and expert consensus on the diagnosis and management of OVF nonunion in China. To address this gap, Minimally Invasive Surgery Group of Chinese Orthopedic Association, Osteoporosis Committee of Chinese Association of Orthopedic Surgeons, Prevention and Rehabilitation Committee for Osteoporosis of Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine and Minimally Invasive Orthopedic Surgery Branch of China Association for Geriatric Care jointly organized domestic experts in spinal surgery, endocrinology, and rehabilitation to formulate the Clinical guideline for the diagnosis and treatment for nonunion of osteoporotic vertebral fractures ( version 2025), based on existing literature and clinical experience and adhering to principles of scientific rigor and practicality. The guideline provided 13 evidence-based recommendations encompassing diagnosis and treatment of OVF nonunion, aiming to standardize its clinical management.

The aim of this updated guideline is to provide comprehensive recommendations for the management of gout in patients with common comorbidities, such as chronic kidney disease(CKD), cardiovascular disease(CVD), diabetes, osteoarthritis(OA), and gastrointestinal disorders. This guideline was developed by a multidisciplinary expert panel consisting of specialists in endocrinology, rheumatology, nephrology, cardiology, gastroenterology, and methodology. The development process adhered to standard methodologies, including PICO(population, intervention, comparator, and outcomes) question deconstruction, systematic literature review, the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation(GRADE) for evidence and recommendation evaluation, Delphi voting, and expert consensus. The guideline presents 26 evidence-based recommendations addressing 7 clinical questions for patients with hyperuricemia and gout in the context of comorbidities. Key recommendations include the maintenance of strict serum urate targets, particularly for patients with CKD stage≥3, chronic gouty arthritis, and OA, in order to prevent disease progression. In patients with CVD or diabetes, intra-articular triamcinolone is preferred over systemic glucocorticoids. Prioritized anti-inflammatory treatments for patients with CKD, gastrointestinal diseases and OA are recommended. The guideline also introduces emerging therapies, such as interleukin-1 inhibitors and selective urate transport inhibitors, as potential treatment options for refractory cases. The update offers a comprehensive, patient-centered approach to managing gout, particularly in individuals with associated comorbidities. Multidisciplinary collaboration and emerging new treatments and evidence ensure the optimization of the recommendations.

Objective To evaluate the clinical application value of serum high sensitive α-fetoprotein variant ratio (hs-AFP-L3％) in the diagnosis and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.Methods From October 2016 to March 2018,at Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University,160 patients diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma,32 patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC),52 patients with post-hepatitis B liver cirrhosis,53 patients with chronic hepatitis B and 50 healthy controls were enrolled.The serum levels of hs-AFP-L3％ and α-fetoprotein were measured.Mann-Whitney U test,Spearman correlation analysis,Wilcoxon signed rank test and chi-square test were performed for statistical analysis.Results The serum levels of hs-AFP-L3％ and α-fetoprotein in hepatocellular carcinoma group were 24.90％ (4.68％ to 61.85％) and 113.45 μg/L (11.18 μg/L to 1 803.48 μg/L),respectively,which were higher than those in ICC group (0.50％,0.50％ to 0.50％;and 2.79 μg/L,1.72 μg/L to 4.04 μg/L),cirrhosis group (0.50％,0.50％ to 5.25％;and 18.35 μg/L,3.95 μg/L to 31.93 μg/L),chronic hepatitis group (0.50％,0.50％ to 4.25％;and 2.70 μg/L,1.80 μg/L to 17.00 μg/L),and healthy control group (0.50％,0.50％ to 0.50％;and 1.94 μg/L,1.46 μg/L to 2.63 μg/L),and the differences were statistically significant (U =461.00,1 485.50,1 141.00,625.00;401.50,2 207.00,1 254.00,266.00;all P ＜0.01).The sensitivity of hs-AFP-L3％ and α-fetoprotein in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma was 66.3％ and 70.0％,respectively;and the difference was not statistically significant (x2 =0.54,P ＞ 0.05).The sensitivity of the combined detection was 82.5％,which was higher than that of the separate detection,and the differences were statistically significant (x2 =24.04 and 18.05,both P ＜0.01).The specificity of hs-AFP-L3％ was 95.2％,which was higher than that of α-fetoprotein (68.6％),and the difference was statistically significant (x2 =26.04,P ＜ 0.01).The specificity of the combined detection of these two markers was 68.6％,which was lower than that of hs-AFP-L3％ alone (95.2％),and the difference was statistically significant (x2 =26.04,P ＜ 0.01).There was no statistically significant difference in the specificity between the combined detection and α-fetoprotein detection alone (68.6％,P ＞ 0.05).The sensitivity of hs-AFP-L3％ in the diagnosis of patients with α-fetoprotein-negative (α-fetoprotein ＜ 20 μg/L) hepatocellular carcinoma was 41.7％.The serum levels of hs-AFP-L3％ and α-fetoprotein were both positively correlated with tumor size and clinical stage (hs-AFP-L3％ r =0.272 and 0.436;α-fetoprotein r =0.375 and 0.458;all P ＜ 0.01).The reduction of serum hs-AFP-L3％ in 38 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after operation was 82.2％,which was higher than that of oα-fetoprotein (69.2％),and the difference was statistically significant (U =532.50,P =0.049).There was no correlation between serum level of hs-AFP-L3％ and α-fetoprotein level (r =0.077,P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions The sensitivity of hs-AFP-L3％ is similar to that of α-fetoprotein in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma,while the specificity of hs-AFP-L3％ is higher than that of α-fetoprotein.The combined detection of the two markers can improve the diagnostic rate of hepatocellular carcinoma.The hs-AFP-L3％ has a high diagnostic value in α-fetoprotein-negative hepatocellular carcinoma.

PURPOSE: This study was aimed to investigate the effect of pseudolaric acid B (PAB) on proliferation, invasion and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in pancreatic cancer cells and to explore the possible mechanism. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The pancreatic cancer cell line SW1990 was cultured and treated with PAB dose- and time-dependent manners. Cell proliferation and invasion ability were measured by MTT assay and Matrigel/Transwell test, respectively. Semi-quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting were conducted to detect the expression of EMT markers and the key molecules. Finally, nude mice subcutaneous transplantation tumor model was used to confirm the therapy efficacy of PAB. RESULTS: PAB could inhibit SW1990 cell proliferation and invasion in time- and dose-dependent manners. Vimentin, fibronectin, N-cadherin, Snail, Slug, YAP, TEAD1, and Survivin were down-regulated (p < 0.01), while E-cadherin, caspase-9, MST1, and pYAP were up-regulated (p < 0.05). Combined PAB and gemcitabine treatment markedly restricted the tumor growth compared with gencitabin or PAB alone groups. CONCLUSION: PAB could inhibit the proliferation and invasion ability of pancreatic cancer cells through activating Hippo-YAP pathway and inhibiting the process of EMT.
Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents/pharmacology ; Antineoplastic Agents/therapeutic use ; Biomarkers, Tumor/metabolism ; Cadherins ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Movement ; Cell Proliferation/drug effects ; Cytokines ; Deoxycytidine/analogs & derivatives ; Deoxycytidine/pharmacology ; Deoxycytidine/therapeutic use ; Diterpenes/pharmacology ; Diterpenes/therapeutic use ; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition/drug effects ; Female ; Humans ; Mice, Nude ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Pancreatic Neoplasms/diet therapy ; Pancreatic Neoplasms/pathology ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Signal Transduction/drug effects ; Vimentin/metabolism

Background:Accumulating evidence links colorectal cancer (CRC) with the gut microbiota.Fusobacterium nucleatum (F.nucleatum) has been revealed to be involved in the development of CRC, however, the mechanism of F.nucleatum in mediating colorectal tumorigenesis is still poorly understood.Aims:To investigate the effect and potential mechanism of F.nucleatum on CRC.Methods:Wild type C57BL/6 mice and APC(Min/+) mice characterized by multiple intestinal neoplasia were used in this animal study.After administered with F.nucleatum intragastrically and/or 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH, a carcinogen) subcutaneously, the aberrant crypt foci (ACF) and colonic tumor were counted at 8th and 20th week, respectively.Structural alteration of intestinal microbiota and mucosal immune factors were detected in wild type C57BL/6 mice receiving different interventions by using Roche 454 GS FLX pyrosequencing and Bio-Plex ProTM cytokine assay, respectively.Results:In DMH-treated wild type C57BL/6 mice or APC(Min/+) mice, number of ACF and colonic tumor in those administered with F.nucleatum were significantly higher than those without (P<0.05).F.nucleatum colonization significantly altered the lumen microbial structure, with decreased Cyanobacterium and increased Tenericutes and Verrucomicrobia (P all <0.05).Furthermore, F.nucleatum up-regulated expressions of tumor-related immune factors in colonic mucosa, such as IL-21, IL-22, IL-31 and CD40L (P<0.05).Conclusions:F.nucleatum colonization in intestine may prompt colonic tumorigenesis in mice via inducing intestinal dysbiosis and modulating tumor-related immune factors expression.

Objective To investigate the effects of Saccharomyces boulardii ( S. boulardii) on the col-onization of Helicobacter suis ( H. suis) in stomach and the formation of gastric mucosa associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) during H. suis infection. Methods Sixty C57BL/6 wild type mice were randomly divided into six groups. The mice in group A and group B were respectively given sterile distilled water and S. boulardii twice by gavage and then infected with H. suis for one week. The mice in group C and group E were given sterile phos-phate buffer saline by gavage for one week and then respectively given sterile distilled water and S. boulardii by gavage twice a week for 12 weeks. The mice in group D and group F were infected with H. suis for one week and then respectively given sterile distilled water and S. boulardii by gavage twice a week for 12 weeks. Serum and gastric tissue samples were collected from each mouse. Results The bacterial loads of H. suis in the stomachs of mice in group B were significantly lower than those in group A. No significant differences in the levels of se-creted IgA( sIgA) in serum and gastric tissue samples and the expression of IFN-γat mRNA level in gastric mu-cosa samples were found between the two groups. The expression of H. suis 16S RNA and the formation of gastric lymphoid follicles were detected in mice in groups D and F. The levels of sIgA in serum and gastric tissue sam-ples and the expression of IFN-γ and CXCL13 at mRNA level in gastric mucosa samples increased significantly in groups D and F as compared with groups C and E. Compared with the mice in group D, the bacterial loads of H. suis in stomachs, the numbers of MALT per unit length of gastric mucosa and the expression of IFN-γ and CXCL13 at mRNA level in gastric mucosa decreased significantly in mice from group F, but the levels of sIgA in serum and gastric tissue samples increased significantly. Conclusion S. boulardii could inhibit the colonization of H. suis in stomach and suppress the formation of gastric MALT during H. suis infection.

Obesity is growing rapidly and becomes an important public health problem worldwide. Epidemiologic data revealed that obesity increased the risk of a variety of disease,including digestive system tumor. Therefore,investigating the molecular mechanism of carcinogenic effect of obesity may provide new clues for management of obesity-associated digestive system tumor. In this article,the progress in research on effect of obesity on digestive system tumorigenesis and its potential mechanism were summarized.