Acute kidney injury （AKI） is a severe complication in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis and tends to have a high mortality rate and a poor prognosis. Current studies have shown that gut microbiota might be associated with the development and progression of AKI， and it is necessary to pay attention to the application of targeted therapy based on gut microbiota in the prevention and treatment of such patients. Therefore， this article reviews the possible pathogenesis of gut microbiota in liver cirrhosis comorbid with AKI， as well as potential prevention and treatment measures targeting gut microbiota， in order to provide a reference for the pathogenesis of such patients and related treatment methods.

As new evidence emerges, treatment strategies toward the functional cure of chronic hepatitis B are evolving. In 2019, a panel of national hepatologists published a Consensus Statement on the functional cure of chronic hepatitis B. Currently, an international group of hepatologists has been assembled to evaluate research since the publication of the original consensus, and to collaboratively develop the updated statements. The 2.0 Consensus was aimed to update the original consensus with the latest available studies, and provide a comprehensive overview of the current relevant scientific literatures regarding functional cure of hepatitis B, with a particular focus on issues that are not yet fully clarified. These cover the definition of functional cure of hepatitis B, its mechanisms and barriers, the effective strategies and treatment roadmap to achieve this endpoint, in particular new surrogate biomarkers used to measure efficacy or to predict response, and the appropriate approach to pursuing a functional cure in special populations, the development of emerging antivirals and immunomodulators with potential for curing hepatitis B. The statements are primarily intended to offer international guidance for clinicians in their practice to enhance the functional cure rate of chronic hepatitis B.

As new evidence emerges, treatment strategies toward the functional cure of chronic hepatitis B are evolving. In 2019, a panel of national hepatologists published a Consensus Statement on the functional cure of chronic hepatitis B. Currently, an international group of hepatologists has been assembled to evaluate research since the publication of the original consensus, and to collaboratively develop the updated statements. The 2.0 Consensus was aimed to update the original consensus with the latest available studies, and provide a comprehensive overview of the current relevant scientific literatures regarding functional cure of hepatitis B, with a particular focus on issues that are not yet fully clarified. These cover the definition of functional cure of hepatitis B, its mechanisms and barriers, the effective strategies and treatment roadmap to achieve this endpoint, in particular new surrogate biomarkers used to measure efficacy or to predict response, and the appropriate approach to pursuing a functional cure in special populations, the development of emerging antivirals and immunomodulators with potential for curing hepatitis B. The statements are primarily intended to offer international guidance for clinicians in their practice to enhance the functional cure rate of chronic hepatitis B.

As new evidence emerges, treatment strategies toward the functional cure of chronic hepatitis B are evolving. In 2019, a panel of national hepatologists published a Consensus Statement on the functional cure of chronic hepatitis B. Currently, an international group of hepatologists has been assembled to evaluate research since the publication of the original consensus, and to collaboratively develop the updated statements. The 2.0 Consensus was aimed to update the original consensus with the latest available studies, and provide a comprehensive overview of the current relevant scientific literatures regarding functional cure of hepatitis B, with a particular focus on issues that are not yet fully clarified. These cover the definition of functional cure of hepatitis B, its mechanisms and barriers, the effective strategies and treatment roadmap to achieve this endpoint, in particular new surrogate biomarkers used to measure efficacy or to predict response, and the appropriate approach to pursuing a functional cure in special populations, the development of emerging antivirals and immunomodulators with potential for curing hepatitis B. The statements are primarily intended to offer international guidance for clinicians in their practice to enhance the functional cure rate of chronic hepatitis B.

Objective:To establish a rapid and precise dose measurement method with EBT4 film and ensure its measurement accuracy to be within the required range through strict operational procedures for the purpose of addressing the two essential issues of poor measurement accuracy and timeliness of EBT film under FLASH conditions.Methods:After storing under different humidity conditions for a certain period of time, the film was exposed to radiation for analyzing the influence of air humidity on the intrinsic performance of EBT film. By means of repeated scanning operations and the film angle rotation, the influences of repeated scanning and film placement angle were analuzed. Parabolic correction method was used to reduce the spatial position influence during the scanning process. By analying the relationship between net optical density (netOD) and absorbed dose through the comparison of three fitting method, the optimal fitting curve was selected. After irradiation of the same batch of films for 5 min and 24 h, the film doses were calibrated and then compared with ionization chamber-measured result. The rapid and precise film dosimetry method was used to measure both the percentage depth dose from X-rays at ultra-high dose rate and the dose distribution at a depth of 2 cm in water.Results:Air humidity had the greatest influence on the intrinsic performance of EBT film (approximately 20%). The average deviation of repeated scans is within 0.5%. The angle at which the film is placed significantly affected the readouts of the film with the maximum influence approximately 70%. The net optical density combined with polynomial fitting can control the fitting residuals of 1-16 Gy within 3%. The change rate of light channels at 5 min already mostly met the requirements of the rapid mode (< 0.5%). Compared with the measurement result obtained using the reference ionization chamber, the deviations of the 5 min or 24 h dose calibration curves were all within 2%.Conclusions:The EBT4 film can be employed as a precise dosimeter to quickly measure the FLASH radiation dose. Rapid and precise FLASH dose measurements can meet the stringent requirements of both preclinical and clinical FLASH research.

Objective:To explore the expression of YARS1, the subform of protein-based tRNA synthase ( YARS1), and its prognostic effect on the analysis of gene set enrichment in hepatocellular carcinoma Methods:The expressional condition of the YARS1 gene in tumor tissue samples (374 cases) and adjacent tissue samples (50 cases) of hepatocellular carcinoma patients was compared and recorded by mining the Cancer Genome Atlas database. Hepatocellular carcinoma patients were divided into high expression and low expression groups according to this data. Logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between YARS1 and the clinical pathological characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma patients. The effect of YARS1 expression on the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma patients was analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test. The prognostic value of the YARS1 gene for hepatocellular carcinoma was analyzed by univariate and multivariate Cox regression. Gene set enrichment analysis was used to evaluate the gene pathways related to YARS1 in the occurrence and development of hepatocellular carcinoma. Results:The expression of the YARS1 gene was higher in hepatocellular carcinoma tissue than in normal tissue ( P<0.001). The expression level of YARS1 was correlated with the grade of patients ( P<0.05), but not with age, gender, TNM stage, and others ( P>0.05). The results of Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test showed that the survival rate was lower in patients with high YARS1 gene expression than that of patients with low YARS1 gene expression ( P<0.001). The results of multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that YARS1 was used as an independent prognostic factor for hepatocellular carcinoma [hazard ratio=1.10, 95% confidence interval (1.050-1.156), P<0.001]. The results of gene set enrichment analysis showed that YARS1 was involved in pyrimidine metabolism, purine metabolism, aminoacyl tRNA biosynthesis, fatty acid metabolism, ppar signal transduction pathway, oocyte meiosis, amino acid and nucleotide sugar metabolism, RNA degradation, complement pathway, valine and isoleucine degradation, spliceosome, and other pathways. Conclusion:The high expression of YARS1 is associated with the progression and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma. Therefore, this gene is expected to become a novel biomarker and a sort of target for biological therapy in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objective:To explore the influence of human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived skin organoid-conditioned culture medium (SO-CM) on the function of human dermal fibroblasts (Fbs) induced by high glucose, with the aim of providing treatment ideas for diabetic wounds.Methods:This study was an experimental research. Human iPSCs were induced into skin organoids. Human iPSC-derived skin organoids and human dermal Fbs were seeded into skin organoid culture medium (SOM) and cultured for three days, respectively. Then the cell culture supernatants were collected as SO-CM and Fb-conditioned culture medium (Fb-CM), respectively. The content of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-10 (IL-10), IL-18, C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 (CCL-2), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), epidermal growth factor (EGF), and VEGF-β in SOM, Fb-CM, and SO-CM was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Human Fbs of passage 8 and 9 induced by high glucose were divided into SOM group, Fb-CM group, and SO-CM group according to the random number table method, and were cultured with SOM, Fb-CM, and SO-CM all containing glucose at final molarity of 35 mmol/L, respectively. After 24 hours of culture, the Ki67 positive ratio of cells was calculated after immunofluorescence staining, and the cell absorbance value was detected by using cell counting kit-8, representing cell proliferation activity. The cell scratch test was performed to calculate the cell migration rate at 13 hours after scratching. After 48 hours of culture, the expression of reactive oxygen species in cells was detected by fluorescent probe method, and the rate of β-galactosidase-positive staining of cells was detected by β-galactosidase staining kit, representing cellular senescence. The sample size was three.Results:There was no statistically significant difference in the content of TNF-α, PDGF, and TGF-β among the three culture media ( P>0.05). Compared with that in SOM, the content of IL-10 and EGF in Fb-CM and SO-CM was significantly decreased ( P<0.05), while the content of CCL-2 in FB-CM and VEGF in SO-CM was significantly increased ( P<0.05). After 24 hours of culture, the Ki67 positive ratio ((45.2±6.0)% and (57.4±4.0)%) and absorbance values (124±5 and 158±12) of cells in the Fb-CM group and the SO-CM group were significantly higher than those in the SOM group ((29.6±2.1)% and 100±6, P<0.05), and the Ki67 positive ratio and absorbance value of cells in the SO-CM group were significantly higher than those in the Fb-CM group ( P<0.05). At 13 hours after scratching, the cell migration rates in the Fb-CM group and the SO-CM group were significantly higher than that in the SOM group ( P<0.05). After 48 hours of culture, the level of reactive oxygen species in the SO-CM group was significantly higher than that in the SOM group and the Fb-CM group (with both P values <0.05). After 48 hours of culture, there was no statistically significant difference in the rate of β-galactosidase-positive staining of cells among the three groups ( P>0.05). Conclusions:The SO-CM has high content of VEGF and can significantly promote the proliferation, migration, and expression of reactive oxygen species in human dermal Fbs induced by high glucose, but has no significant effect on cell senescence.

Objective To investigate the therapeutic effect of dental pulp stem cells(DPSCs)on autoimmune hepatitis in in vivo and in vitro experiments and the related mechanism.Methods An in vitro co-culture system was used to evaluate the immunoregulatory effect of DPSCs,and 32 mice were randomly divided into healthy control group,model group,positive drug group,and DPSCs treatment group,with 8 mice in each group.The serum levels of alanine aminotransferase(ALT),aspartate aminotransferase(AST),and inflammatory factors were measured,and HE staining was used to assess liver pathological injury.An analysis of variance was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between multiple groups,and the least significant difference t-test was used for further comparison between two groups.Results The in vitro experiment showed that the positive rates of CD105,CD73,and CD90 in DPSCs were 99.97%,100%,and 99.53%,respectively,while the positive rates of CD34,HLA-DR,and CD45 were 0.56%,0.17%,and 0,respectively.DPSCs significantly inhibited the proliferation of Th1 and Th17 subsets,with inhibition rates of 31.32%and 45.76%,respectively;DPSCs promoted the proliferation of Treg(CD4+CD25+FoxP3+),with a promoting rate of 52.29%.DPSCs had an inhibition rate of 93.70%on the proliferation of lymphocytes.In the mouse model of autoimmune hepatitis,compared with the model group,the DPSCs treatment group had significant reductions in the serum levels of ALT and AST,with reduction rates of 66.8%and 60.0%,respectively(t=3.321 and 2.907,P=0.007 5 and 0.017 5)and significant reductions in the inflammatory factors tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β,with reduction rates of 57.5%and 71.3%,respectively(t=2.484 and 2.796,P=0.039 8 and 0.020 6),and histopathological examination showed no significant improvement in periportal bridging necrosis(t=1.969,P=0.098).Conclusion DPSCs effectively alleviate immune-mediated liver injury through immunoregulation,which provides an experimental basis for clinical translation.

BACKGROUND:The cryopreservation technology enables tissues/cells to be stored for a long time in a low-temperature environment while maintaining the integrity of their activity and function,which is of great significance for the construction of cell therapy,tissue engineering and biological sample banks.Cryoprotective agents often contain dimethyl sulfoxide and serum.To avoid the toxic side effects of dimethyl sulfoxide,the complexity of serum components and immune responses,although some finished cryoprotective agents have been marketed,they are faced with many difficulties such as high cost and limited application.Therefore,there is an urgent need to develop a cryoprotective agent with clear components and the ability to solve the above problems.OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the effects of a novel cryoprotectant on cryopreservation efficiency of different tissue and cell sources.METHODS:By applying the novel cryoprotectant as an experimental group with the commercially available and widely used cryoprotectant(control group)to umbilical cord Wharton's jelly tissue,umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells,umbilical cord blood/peripheral blood mononuclear cells,NK and CIK cells,comparative analyses were conducted in terms of cell morphology,number,viability,surface markers,differentiation potential,and cell-killing toxicity assay before cryopreservation and after resuscitation thawing.We confirmed the cryopreservation effect of the new cryoprotectant and its potential application value.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)The novel cryoprotectant facilitated the normal growth of cryopreserved Wharton's jelly tissue upon recovery,exhibiting mesenchymal stem cell morphology.No significant differences were observed between the experimental and control groups in terms of cell recovery rate,surface markers,and differentiation potential.(2)There was no significant difference in the number and viability of cells between the experimental group and the control group after cryopreservation of cord blood/peripheral blood mononuclear cells,and the cryo-resuscitated cell numbers and viability of derived NK cells/CIK cells did not show significant difference between the experimental and control groups.(3)For NK cells derived and differentiated from cord blood/peripheral blood mononuclear cells,there was no significant difference in the proportion of CD56+CD16+cell subpopulations between the experimental group and the control group.For CIK cells derived and differentiated from cord blood/peripheral blood mononuclear cells,there was no significant difference in the proportions of CD3+CD8+and CD3+CD56+cell subpopulations between the experimental group and the control group.(4)In terms of cytotoxicity testing,when the effective-target ratio of immune cells and melanoma cell line Mel624 was 20:1,whether it was NK cells/CIK cells derived from cord blood or peripheral blood mononuclear cells,there was no significant difference in the tumoricidal activity of cells between the experimental group and the control group.These findings suggest that the novel cryoprotectant can replace existing commercially available and widely used cryoprotectants,and is applicable to Wharton's jelly tissue,umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells,umbilical cord blood/peripheral blood mononuclear cells,as well as NK and CIK cells,providing a solid technical foundation for the scaling,standardization,and commercialization of universal cryoprotectants.

AIM:To elucidate the pharmacody-namic and network pharmacological mechanisms of total flavonoids of Carthamus tinctorius L.,to ex-plore their key targets and related pathways,and to clarify their mechanism of action against hepatic fibrosis.METHODS:The total flavonoids of Cartha-mus tinctorius L.were determined by LC-MS/MS and analysed for their compositions;the active in-gredients were screened by TCMSP database,SWISS ADME database and literature search;the targets related to total flavonoids of Carthamus tinctorius L.were screened by Swiss Target Predic-tion database;and the targets related to hepatic fi-brosis were screened by GeneCards database;the anti-hepatic fibrosis targets of total flavonoids of Carthamus tinctorius L.were obtained by taking the intersection of Venny.2.1.0;the protein interac-tions were analysed by STRING database;the visu-alization analysis was carried out by Cytoscape soft-ware;the GO function and KEGG pathway analysis was carried out by Metascape platform;and molec-ular docking was verified by using AutoDock soft-ware for the core targets and active ingredients.The mechanism of anti-hepatic fibrosis of total fla-vonoids of Carthamus tinctorius L.was verified by animal model and in vitro cell experiments.RE-SULTS:A total of 41 flavonoid components were identified in Carthamus tinctorius L.Through the network pharmacological analysis,149 anti-hepatic fibrosis targets of total flavonoids of Carthamus tinctorius L.were obtained,including 23 core tar-gets.The GO enrichment analyses involved a total of three aspects,namely,biological process(BP),cellular component(CC),and molecular function(MF).KEGG enrichment results showed that PI3K/Akt and MAPK are pathways involved in the devel-opment of hepatic fibrosis.Molecular docking veri-fied that the active ingredients Quercetin,Acacetin and Glabridin were tightly bound to Akt1 and HI-FIA,respectively.In animal model experiments,it was observed by HE and Masson staining that fibro-plasia was reduced,collagen deposition was re-duced,inflammatory cell infiltration was reduced,and fibrotic liver tissues were improved in total fla-vonoids of Carthamus tinctorius L.administration group.In isolated cell experiments:Western blot-ting results suggested that total flavonoids of Car-thamus tinctorius L.could decrease the hepatic fi-brosis marker factor α-SMA,Collagen1(P＜0.01)and PI3K,Akt protein expression(P＜0.01).CONCLU-SION:Total flavonoids of Carthamus tinctorius L.ex-erted anti-hepatic fibrosis effects through multi-components,multi-targets and multi-pathways,and their mechanism of action may be achieved by regulating the PI3K/Akt signalling pathway.