1.Structure and Function of GPR126/ADGRG6
Ting-Ting WU ; Si-Qi JIA ; Shu-Zhu CAO ; De-Xin ZHU ; Guo-Chao TANG ; Zhi-Hua SUN ; Xing-Mei DENG ; Hui ZHANG
Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics 2025;52(2):299-309
GPR126, also known as ADGRG6, is one of the most deeply studied aGPCRs. Initially, GPR126 was thought to be a receptor associated with muscle development and was primarily expressed in the muscular and skeletal systems. With the deepening of research, it was found that GPR126 is expressed in multiple mammalian tissues and organs, and is involved in many biological processes such as embryonic development, nervous system development, and extracellular matrix interactions. Compared with other aGPCRs proteins, GPR126 has a longer N-terminal domain, which can bind to ligands one-to-one and one-to-many. Its N-terminus contains five domains, a CUB (complement C1r/C1s, Uegf, Bmp1) domain, a PTX (Pentraxin) domain, a SEA (Sperm protein, Enterokinase, and Agrin) domain, a hormone binding (HormR) domain, and a conserved GAIN domain. The GAIN domain has a self-shearing function, which is essential for the maturation, stability, transport and function of aGPCRs. Different SEA domains constitute different GPR126 isomers, which can regulate the activation and closure of downstream signaling pathways through conformational changes. GPR126 has a typical aGPCRs seven-transmembrane helical structure, which can be coupled to Gs and Gi, causing cAMP to up- or down-regulation, mediating transmembrane signaling and participating in the regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation and migration. GPR126 is activated in a tethered-stalk peptide agonism or orthosteric agonism, which is mainly manifested by self-proteolysis or conformational changes in the GAIN domain, which mediates the rapid activation or closure of downstream pathways by tethered agonists. In addition to the tethered short stem peptide activation mode, GPR126 also has another allosteric agonism or tunable agonism mode, which is specifically expressed as the GAIN domain does not have self-shearing function in the physiological state, NTF and CTF always maintain the binding state, and the NTF binds to the ligand to cause conformational changes of the receptor, which somehow transmits signals to the GAIN domain in a spatial structure. The GAIN domain can cause the 7TM domain to produce an activated or inhibited signal for signal transduction, For example, type IV collagen interacts with the CUB and PTX domains of GPR126 to activate GPR126 downstream signal transduction. GPR126 has homology of 51.6%-86.9% among different species, with 10 conserved regions between different species, which can be traced back to the oldest metazoans as well as unicellular animals.In terms of diseases, GPR126 dysfunction involves the pathological process of bone, myelin, embryo and other related diseases, and is also closely related to the occurrence and development of malignant tumors such as breast cancer and colon cancer. However, the biological function of GPR126 in various diseases and its potential as a therapeutic target still needs further research. This paper focuses on the structure, interspecies differences and conservatism, signal transduction and biological functions of GPR126, which provides ideas and references for future research on GPR126.
2.Research on prediction of fracture reduction fixator therapy based on multimodal multi-label method.
Hai-Yu LIU ; De-Long WANG ; Xing-Ping ZHANG ; Hong-de LI ; Yan SUN ; Xiao-Ping ZHANG
China Journal of Orthopaedics and Traumatology 2025;38(11):1164-1169
OBJECTIVE:
To construct a prediction model for fracture reduction fixator therapy using the multi-modal multi-label classification (MMC) method.
METHODS:
Medical record data of 818 orthopedic patients from 2019 to 2023 were collected. Medical image features were extracted using the VGG19 network, text features of TCM four diagnostic methods (Inspection, Auscultation & Olfaction, Inquiry, Palpation) were extracted via the MiniLM model, and clinical case features were extracted through a fully connected neural network. After fusing the multi-modal information, multi-label therapy prediction was achieved using a linear layer.
RESULTS:
Experimental results on the clinical multi-modal dataset showed that the MMC method performed excellently in terms of subset accuracy(SA), accuracy(Acc), precision, and F1-score, reaching 0.661, 0.856, 0.897, and 0.899 respectively. When the image modality and text modality were removed, the model performance decreased by an average of 8.1% and 2.4% respectively, while the hamming loss(HL) increased by 21.1% and 5.6% respectively.
CONCLUSION
The fracture reduction fixator therapy prediction model constructed in this study can effectively fuse multi-modal data, accurately predict personalized treatment plans for patients, and significantly improve the accuracy and reliability of treatment decisions. It provides a new solution for the digitalization and intellectualization of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) in fracture treatment and has important clinical application prospects.
Humans
;
Female
;
Male
;
Middle Aged
;
Fracture Fixation/methods*
;
Adult
;
Fractures, Bone/surgery*
;
Neural Networks, Computer
;
Medicine, Chinese Traditional
;
Aged
3.Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome induces metabolomic changes in expressed prostatic secretions and plasma.
Fang-Xing ZHANG ; Xi CHEN ; De-Cao NIU ; Lang CHENG ; Cai-Sheng HUANG ; Ming LIAO ; Yu XUE ; Xiao-Lei SHI ; Zeng-Nan MO
Asian Journal of Andrology 2025;27(1):101-112
Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is a complex disease that is often accompanied by mental health disorders. However, the potential mechanisms underlying the heterogeneous clinical presentation of CP/CPPS remain uncertain. This study analyzed widely targeted metabolomic data of expressed prostatic secretions (EPS) and plasma to reveal the underlying pathological mechanisms of CP/CPPS. A total of 24 CP/CPPS patients from The Second Nanning People's Hospital (Nanning, China), and 35 asymptomatic control individuals from First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University (Nanning, China) were enrolled. The indicators related to CP/CPPS and psychiatric symptoms were recorded. Differential analysis, coexpression network analysis, and correlation analysis were performed to identify metabolites that were specifically altered in patients and associated with various phenotypes of CP/CPPS. The crucial links between EPS and plasma were further investigated. The metabolomic data of EPS from CP/CPPS patients were significantly different from those from control individuals. Pathway analysis revealed dysregulation of amino acid metabolism, lipid metabolism, and the citrate cycle in EPS. The tryptophan metabolic pathway was found to be the most significantly altered pathway associated with distinct CP/CPPS phenotypes. Moreover, the dysregulation of tryptophan and tyrosine metabolism and elevation of oxidative stress-related metabolites in plasma were found to effectively elucidate the development of depression in CP/CPPS. Overall, metabolomic alterations in the EPS and plasma of patients were primarily associated with oxidative damage, energy metabolism abnormalities, neurological impairment, and immune dysregulation. These alterations may be associated with chronic pain, voiding symptoms, reduced fertility, and depression in CP/CPPS. This study provides a local-global perspective for understanding the pathological mechanisms of CP/CPPS and offers potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets.
Humans
;
Male
;
Prostatitis/blood*
;
Adult
;
Pelvic Pain/blood*
;
Metabolomics
;
Prostate/metabolism*
;
Middle Aged
;
Chronic Pain/blood*
;
Metabolome
;
Case-Control Studies
;
Tryptophan/blood*
;
Depression/blood*
;
Oxidative Stress/physiology*
;
Chronic Disease
;
Lipid Metabolism/physiology*
4.Prediction of testicular histology in azoospermia patients through deep learning-enabled two-dimensional grayscale ultrasound.
Jia-Ying HU ; Zhen-Zhe LIN ; Li DING ; Zhi-Xing ZHANG ; Wan-Ling HUANG ; Sha-Sha HUANG ; Bin LI ; Xiao-Yan XIE ; Ming-De LU ; Chun-Hua DENG ; Hao-Tian LIN ; Yong GAO ; Zhu WANG
Asian Journal of Andrology 2025;27(2):254-260
Testicular histology based on testicular biopsy is an important factor for determining appropriate testicular sperm extraction surgery and predicting sperm retrieval outcomes in patients with azoospermia. Therefore, we developed a deep learning (DL) model to establish the associations between testicular grayscale ultrasound images and testicular histology. We retrospectively included two-dimensional testicular grayscale ultrasound from patients with azoospermia (353 men with 4357 images between July 2017 and December 2021 in The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China) to develop a DL model. We obtained testicular histology during conventional testicular sperm extraction. Our DL model was trained based on ultrasound images or fusion data (ultrasound images fused with the corresponding testicular volume) to distinguish spermatozoa presence in pathology (SPP) and spermatozoa absence in pathology (SAP) and to classify maturation arrest (MA) and Sertoli cell-only syndrome (SCOS) in patients with SAP. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUCs), accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were used to analyze model performance. DL based on images achieved an AUC of 0.922 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.908-0.935), a sensitivity of 80.9%, a specificity of 84.6%, and an accuracy of 83.5% in predicting SPP (including normal spermatogenesis and hypospermatogenesis) and SAP (including MA and SCOS). In the identification of SCOS and MA, DL on fusion data yielded better diagnostic performance with an AUC of 0.979 (95% CI: 0.969-0.989), a sensitivity of 89.7%, a specificity of 97.1%, and an accuracy of 92.1%. Our study provides a noninvasive method to predict testicular histology for patients with azoospermia, which would avoid unnecessary testicular biopsy.
Humans
;
Male
;
Azoospermia/diagnostic imaging*
;
Deep Learning
;
Testis/pathology*
;
Retrospective Studies
;
Adult
;
Ultrasonography/methods*
;
Sperm Retrieval
;
Sertoli Cell-Only Syndrome/diagnostic imaging*
5.Clinical features and immunotherapy for children with loss-of-function/gain-of-function mutations in the STAT gene: an analysis of 10 cases.
Hong-Wei LI ; Yan-Hong WANG ; Shang-Zhi WU ; Bi-Yun ZHANG ; Shi-Hui XU ; Jia-Xing XU ; Zhan-Hang HUANG ; Cheng-Yu LU ; De-Hui CHEN
Chinese Journal of Contemporary Pediatrics 2025;27(8):951-958
OBJECTIVES:
To investigate the clinical features of children with STAT gene mutations, and to explore corresponding immunotherapy strategies.
METHODS:
A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 10 children with STAT gene mutations who were admitted to the Department of Pediatrics of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, from October 2015 to October 2024. Exploratory immunotherapy was implemented in some refractory cases, and the changes in symptoms, imaging manifestations, and cytokine levels were assessed after treatment.
RESULTS:
For the 10 children, the main clinical manifestations were recurrent rash since birth (7/10), cough (8/10), wheezing (5/10), expectoration (4/10), and purulent nasal discharge (4/10). Genotyping results showed that there was one child with heterozygous loss-of-function (LOF) mutation in the STAT1 gene, four children with heterozygous LOF mutation in the STAT3 gene, and five children with heterozygous gain-of-function (GOF) mutation in the STAT3 gene. Two children with LOF mutation in the STAT3 gene showed decreased interleukin-6 levels and improved clinical symptoms and imaging findings after omalizumab treatment. Three children with GOF mutation in the STAT3 gene achieved effective disease control after treatment with methylprednisolone (0.5 mg/kg per day). Two children with GOF mutation in the STAT3 gene received treatment with JAK inhibitor and then showed some improvement in symptoms.
CONCLUSIONS
STAT gene mutation screening should be considered for children with recurrent rash and purulent respiratory tract infections. Targeted immunotherapy may improve prognosis in patients with no response to conventional treatment.
Humans
;
Male
;
Immunotherapy
;
Female
;
Child, Preschool
;
Child
;
Gain of Function Mutation
;
Retrospective Studies
;
Infant
;
Loss of Function Mutation
;
STAT Transcription Factors/genetics*
6.The Valvular Heart Disease-specific Age-adjusted Comorbidity Index (VHD-ACI) score in patients with moderate or severe valvular heart disease.
Mu-Rong XIE ; Bin ZHANG ; Yun-Qing YE ; Zhe LI ; Qing-Rong LIU ; Zhen-Yan ZHAO ; Jun-Xing LV ; De-Jing FENG ; Qing-Hao ZHAO ; Hai-Tong ZHANG ; Zhen-Ya DUAN ; Bin-Cheng WANG ; Shuai GUO ; Yan-Yan ZHAO ; Run-Lin GAO ; Hai-Yan XU ; Yong-Jian WU
Journal of Geriatric Cardiology 2025;22(9):759-774
BACKGROUND:
Based on the China-VHD database, this study sought to develop and validate a Valvular Heart Disease- specific Age-adjusted Comorbidity Index (VHD-ACI) for predicting mortality risk in patients with VHD.
METHODS & RESULTS:
The China-VHD study was a nationwide, multi-centre multi-centre cohort study enrolling 13,917 patients with moderate or severe VHD across 46 medical centres in China between April-June 2018. After excluding cases with missing key variables, 11,459 patients were retained for final analysis. The primary endpoint was 2-year all-cause mortality, with 941 deaths (10.0%) observed during follow-up. The VHD-ACI was derived after identifying 13 independent mortality predictors: cardiomyopathy, myocardial infarction, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary artery hypertension, low body weight, anaemia, hypoalbuminaemia, renal insufficiency, moderate/severe hepatic dysfunction, heart failure, cancer, NYHA functional class and age. The index exhibited good discrimination (AUC, 0.79) and calibration (Brier score, 0.062) in the total cohort, outperforming both EuroSCORE II and ACCI (P < 0.001 for comparison). Internal validation through 100 bootstrap iterations yielded a C statistic of 0.694 (95% CI: 0.665-0.723) for 2-year mortality prediction. VHD-ACI scores, as a continuous variable (VHD-ACI score: adjusted HR (95% CI): 1.263 (1.245-1.282), P < 0.001) or categorized using thresholds determined by the Yoden index (VHD-ACI ≥ 9 vs. < 9, adjusted HR (95% CI): 6.216 (5.378-7.184), P < 0.001), were independently associated with mortality. The prognostic performance remained consistent across all VHD subtypes (aortic stenosis, aortic regurgitation, mitral stenosis, mitral regurgitation, tricuspid valve disease, mixed aortic/mitral valve disease and multiple VHD), and clinical subgroups stratified by therapeutic strategy, LVEF status (preserved vs. reduced), disease severity and etiology.
CONCLUSION
The VHD-ACI is a simple 13-comorbidity algorithm for the prediction of mortality in VHD patients and providing a simple and rapid tool for risk stratification.
7.Analysis of epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 1247 cases of infectious diseases of the central nervous system
Jia-Hua ZHAO ; Yu-Ying CEN ; Xiao-Jiao XU ; Fei YANG ; Xing-Wen ZHANG ; Zhao DONG ; Ruo-Zhuo LIU ; De-Hui HUANG ; Rong-Tai CUI ; Xiang-Qing WANG ; Cheng-Lin TIAN ; Xu-Sheng HUANG ; Sheng-Yuan YU ; Jia-Tang ZHANG
Medical Journal of Chinese People's Liberation Army 2024;49(1):43-49
Objective To summarize the epidemiological and clinical features of infectious diseases of the central nervous system(CNS)by a single-center analysis.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the data of 1247 cases of CNS infectious diseases diagnosed and treated in the First Medical Center of PLA General Hospital from 2001 to 2020.Results The data for this group of CNS infectious diseases by disease type in descending order of number of cases were viruses 743(59.6%),Mycobacterium tuberculosis 249(20.0%),other bacteria 150(12.0%),fungi 68(5.5%),parasites 18(1.4%),Treponema pallidum 18(1.4%)and rickettsia 1(0.1%).The number of cases increased by 177 cases(33.1%)in the latter 10 years compared to the previous 10 years(P<0.05).No significant difference in seasonal distribution pattern of data between disease types(P>0.05).Male to female ratio is 1.87︰1,mostly under 60 years of age.Viruses are more likely to infect students,most often at university/college level and above,farmers are overrepresented among bacteria and Mycobacterium tuberculosis,and more infections of Treponema pallidum in workers.CNS infectious diseases are characterized by fever,headache and signs of meningeal irritation,with the adductor nerve being the more commonly involved cranial nerve.Matagenomic next-generation sequencing improves clinical diagnostic capabilities.The median hospital days for CNS infectious diseases are 18.00(11.00,27.00)and median hospital costs are ¥29,500(¥16,000,¥59,200).The mortality rate from CNS infectious diseases is 1.6%.Conclusions The incidence of CNS infectious diseases is increasing last ten years,with complex clinical presentation,severe symptoms and poor prognosis.Early and accurate diagnosis and standardized clinical treatment can significantly reduce the morbidity and mortality rate and ease the burden of disease.
8. Down-regulation of METTL5 inhibits proliferation, migration and invasion of triple-negative breast cancer cells through Wnt/6-catenin signaling pathway
Kun-Lin WU ; Hui-Hao ZHANG ; Kun-Lin WU ; Xiu-Ying LIAO ; Hui-Hao ZHANG ; Qian-Yi YAN ; De-Xing WANG
Chinese Pharmacological Bulletin 2024;40(2):285-291
Aim To investigate the role and potential mechanism of methyltransferase-like 5 (METTL5) in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) . Methods The expression of METTL5 in TNBC tumor tissues and cell lines was detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blot. After shRNA targeting METTL5 (shRNAMETTL5) was transfected into TNBC cells, cell proliferation, migration and invasion were detected by CCK-8, colony formation, wound healing and Transwell assays, respectively. Western blot was used to detect the expression of Wnt/p-catenin signaling-related key proteins. A xenograft tumor model was constructed to verify the effect of METTL5 knockdown on the growth of TNBC cells and Wnt/p-catenin signaling activity in vivo. Results The expression of METTL5 was up-regulated in TNBC tumor tissues and cell lines (P < 0. 01) . Knockdown of METTL5 significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of TNBC cells and reduced the expression of Wnt/p-catenin signaling molecules (3-catenin, cyclin Dl, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) -2 and MMP-7 (all P < 0. 01) . Knockdown of METTL5 reduced tumor growth and Wnt/pcatenin signaling activity in vivo. Conclusions Knockdown of METTL5 can inhibit the proliferation, migration and invasion of TNBC cells, which may be related to the inhibition of Wnt/p-catenin signaling pathway.
9.Comparison of the efficacy of TiRobot orthopaedic robot assisted F screw technique and inverted triangle parallel nail internal fixation in the treatment of unstable femoral neck fractures
Xing-Long ZHAO ; Jian-Jun SHEN ; Kang-Hu FENG ; Zhi-Wei CHEN ; Yuan-Long SI ; Xuan ZHANG ; Guan-De WANG ; Xiang HAI
China Journal of Orthopaedics and Traumatology 2024;37(2):129-134
Objective To compare the effectiveness of TiRobot assisted F screw technique and inverted triangle parallel nail internal fixation in the treatment of unstable femoral neck fractures.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on 72 patients with unstable femoral neck fractures who were treated with percutaneous cannulated screw fixation assisted with TiRobot Orthopaedic robot from December 2019 to April 2021.Among them,37 patients were treated with F screw internal fixa-tion,including 16 males and 21 females,aged47 to 64years old with an average of(53.87±5.28)years old;According to Pauwels classification,there were 1 case of type Ⅰ,19 cases of type Ⅱ,17 cases of type Ⅲ;8 cases of combined medical diseases;17 cases of falling,8 cases of traffic accident and 12 cases of falling from height;The time from injury to operation was 29 to 49 hours with average of(35.00±7.34)hours.Another 35 cases used internal fixation with an inverted triangle parallel nail,including 13 males and 22 females with an average age of 46 to 63 years old(52.36±5.05)years old;According to the Pauwels injury classifi-cation:there were 2 cases of type Ⅰ,21 cases of type Ⅱ,12 cases of type Ⅲ;6 cases of medical diseases,15 cases of falling in-jury,9 cases of traffic accident,11 cases of falling injury;The time from injury to operation was 30 to 45 hours with an average of(33.00±6.83)h.The intraoperative blood loss,operation time,intraoperative fluoroscopy times,follow-up time,fracture healing time,postoperative complications were observed and compared between the two groups.The hip joint function was e-valuated by Harris score at 6 months and 12 months after operation.Results There was no significant difference in operation time,intraoperative blood loss,intraoperative fluoroscopy times and other intraoperative data between two groups(P>0.05).Both groups were followed up regularly,and the follow-up time was 12 to 16 months.The fracture healing time and Harris score of the F screw internal fixation group were better than those of the inverted triangle parallel nail internal fixation group(P<0.05).There was 1 case of femoral neck shortening in the F screw internal fixation group,1 case of nonunion,1 case of nail withdrawal,and 1 case of lower extremity deep vein thrombosis in the inverted triangle internal fixation group.The incidence of complications in the F screw internal fixation group was lower than that in the inverted triangle parallel nail internal fixation group(P<0.05).Conclusion Percutaneous cannulated F screw technique using Tirobot navigation positioning system is a safe and effective treatment for patients with unstable femoral neck fractures.It can significantly shorten the fracture healing time,reduce the incidence of postoperative complications,significantly improve hip joint function,and improve the quality of life.
10.Correlation analysis between patient stature-based optimization of image acquisition parameters and low-dose coronary angiography
Hai QIAN ; Yu-Qin ZHANG ; Ke-Nan LOU ; De-Xing HU
Chinese Journal of Interventional Cardiology 2024;32(4):191-196
Objective To explore the correlation among image acquisition parameter optimization,coronary angiography radiation dose and image quality.Methods 60 patients scheduled for elective percutaneous coronary angiography from January 2022 to January 2024 in our hospital were selected.Basic information and body measurements were collected.Patients were divided into three groups based on BMI,and patients in each BMI group were randomly assigned to the conventional mode group(coronary mode image acquisition:Cardiac Left Coronary,15fps)and the optimized mode group(electrophysiology mode image acquisition:Cardiac EP,7.5fps).Radiation dose data were collected.Image quality was evaluated using an image quality scoring table.Independent sample t-tests,Mann-Whitney U tests,and one-way ANOVA were used for comparisons between groups.Pearson analysis was used for correlations.Results Higher BMI and larger chest circumference were associated with higher radiation doses in a positive linear correlation.Within each BMI group,all radiation dose data(Dose-Area Product,Air Kerma and Chest skin dose)were lower in the optimized mode group than in the conventional mode group(all P<0.05,reduction rate 48.95%-70.59%).The difference in image quality scores between two groups was not statistically significant(P>0.05),and all images were of the required quality.Conclusions The radiation dose of percutaneous coronary angiography is affected by the patient's body size,image acquisition parameters,exposure time and many other factors.Optimizing the image acquisition parameters can ensure the quality of the image while realizing the low dose of radiation and reducing the radiation hazards to the patient and the operator.

Result Analysis
Print
Save
E-mail