Objective:To explore the value of REG3α,sST2 and TNFR1 in peripheral blood for risk stratification and prognostic evaluation of acute graft-versus-host disease(aGVHD)after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation(allo-HSCT)in children.Methods:From January 2020 to March 2022,70 children with aGVHD after allo-HSCT in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University were selected as the research objects,of which 50 cases were mild aGVHD(grade Ⅰ-Ⅱ)and 20 cases were severe aGVHD(grade Ⅲ-Ⅳ).30 healthy children who underwent physical examinations in our hospital during the same period were selected as the control group.Luminex platform was used to detect the protein expression levels of REG3α,sST2 and TNFR1 during aGVHD occurrence,and the differences between the three groups were analyzed by one-way ANOVA.According to the outcome of aGVHD treatment within 28 days,the patients were divided into a good prognosis group of 58 cases and a poor prognosis group of 12 cases.The ROC curve was used to analyze the value of REG3α,sST2 and TNFR1 in predicting the prognosis of children with aGVHD.Results:The peripheral blood levels of REG3α,sST2 and TNFR1 in the mild aGVHD and severe aGVHD groups were significantly higher than those in the control group(P＜0.05),and those in the severe aGVHD group were significantly higher than those in the mild aGVHD group(P＜0.05).Compared with the good prognosis group,the peripheral blood levels of REG3α,sST2 and TNFR1 in the poor prognosis group were significantly higher(t=9.27,3.33,2.97;P＜0.01).ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the curve(AUC),sensitivity and specificity of the combined detection of REG3α,sST2 and TNFR1 in predicting the prognosis of children with aGVHD were higher than those of the above indicators detected alone or in pairs.Conclusion:The expression levels of REG3α,sST2 and TNFR1 were related to the severity of aGVHD.The combination of REG3α,sST2 and TNFR1 has a high clinical value in predicting the prognosis of children with aGVHD,which is expected to provide a reliable reference for clinical evaluation of the prognosis of children with aGVHD.

AIM:To investigate the effect of circular RNA MYO9A-006(circMYO9A_006)on hypertrophic phenotype of cardiomyocytes and the underlying mechanism.METHODS:The effect of adenovirus-mediated overexpres-sion of circMYO9A_006 on the expression of hypertrophy-related proteins,including β-myosin heavy chain(β-MHC),skeletal muscle actin alpha 1(ACTA1)and atrial natriuretic peptide(ANP),was evaluated in neonatal mouse ventricular cardiomyocytes(NMVCs).Moreover,a neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocyte(NRVC)model of phenylephrine(PE)-in-duced hypertrophy was established.The effect of circMYO9A_006 overexpression on NRVC size was ascertained using Phalloidin-iFluor 647 staining method.Dual-luciferase reporter assay was employed to measure the activity of potential in-ternal ribosome entry sites(IRES)in circMYO9A_006.The translation and intracellular location of the circMYO9A_006-translated protein,MYO9A-208aa,were verified using Western blot.To investigate the role of MYO9A-208aa in the ef-fect of circMYO9A_006 on the cardiomyocyte hypertrophic phenotype,we prepared and used the following adenoviruses:the recombinant circMYO9A_006-ORF adenovirus to express MYO9A-208aa,the recombinant circMYO9A_006-ATG-mut adenovirus that does not express MYO9A-208aa,the recombinant circMYO9A_006 adenovirus,and the adenovirus vector control.These were then employed to infect NRVCs.RESULTS:Successful adenovirus-mediated overexpression of circMYO9A_006 was observed in NMVCs.The increased expression of circMYO9A_006 notably reduced the expres-sion of hypertrophy-related proteins in NMVCs(P<0.01).Concurrently,overexpression of circMYO9A_006 substantially reduced the expression of hypertrophy-associated proteins and diminished the size of PE-induced NRVCs(P<0.05).Dual-luciferase reporter assay identified the activity of 2 IRES in circMYO9A_006.Western blot results indicated that circ-MYO9A_006 could produce the MYO9A-208aa protein with an anticipated molecular weight of 28 kD in NRVCs,primari-ly found in the cytoplasm.Elevated expression of both circMYO9A_006 and MYO9A-208aa consistently reduced the ex-pression of hypertrophy-associated proteins(P<0.01),and counteracted the enlarged size of PE-induced NRVCs(P<0.05).However,increased expression of circMYO9A_006-ATG-mut did not counteract the PE-induced hypertrophic phe-notype of NRVCs.CONCLUSION:circMYO9A_006 attenuates the hypertrophic phenotype of cardiomyocytes by synthe-sizing the MYO9A-208aa protein.

Objective To investigate the role of caspase-1-medicated canonical pyroptosis pathway in chlorogenic acid(CGA)treatment of acute kidney injury(AKI)in mice.Method Twenty-four C57Bl/6J mice were randomized into sham-operated group,cecal ligation and puncture(CLP)group,CLP+dexamethasone group(CLP+DXM group),and CLP+CGA group(n=6)and subjected to either sham operation(laparotomy only)or CLP.After modeling the mice received intravenous infusion of 10 mg/kg normal saline(in sham and CLP groups),1 μg/kg dexamethasone or 15 mg/kg of chlorogenic acid for 6 h delivered using an intravenous pump.Eight hours after the infusion,renal morphology and histology,renal cell apoptosis,and the renal function parameters such as urea nitrogen(BUN),creatinine(Scr),and kidney injury molecule 1(KIM-1)were compared among the 4 groups;the 7-day survival rates of the mice were recorded,and the expressions of NLRP3 inflammasomes and key proteins of the caspase-1 pathway in the renal tissue were detected.Results CGA treatment significantly improved the 7-day survival rate,reduced renal pathologies of the septic mice(P<0.05),and lowered the levels of BUN,Scr,KIM-1,NLRP3 inflammasome and expressions of key proteins of the caspase-1 pathway.Conclusion CGA alleviates AKI in mice with CLP-induced sepsis by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasomes and the caspase-1 signaling pathway.

Objective To investigate the role of caspase-1-medicated canonical pyroptosis pathway in chlorogenic acid(CGA)treatment of acute kidney injury(AKI)in mice.Method Twenty-four C57Bl/6J mice were randomized into sham-operated group,cecal ligation and puncture(CLP)group,CLP+dexamethasone group(CLP+DXM group),and CLP+CGA group(n=6)and subjected to either sham operation(laparotomy only)or CLP.After modeling the mice received intravenous infusion of 10 mg/kg normal saline(in sham and CLP groups),1 μg/kg dexamethasone or 15 mg/kg of chlorogenic acid for 6 h delivered using an intravenous pump.Eight hours after the infusion,renal morphology and histology,renal cell apoptosis,and the renal function parameters such as urea nitrogen(BUN),creatinine(Scr),and kidney injury molecule 1(KIM-1)were compared among the 4 groups;the 7-day survival rates of the mice were recorded,and the expressions of NLRP3 inflammasomes and key proteins of the caspase-1 pathway in the renal tissue were detected.Results CGA treatment significantly improved the 7-day survival rate,reduced renal pathologies of the septic mice(P<0.05),and lowered the levels of BUN,Scr,KIM-1,NLRP3 inflammasome and expressions of key proteins of the caspase-1 pathway.Conclusion CGA alleviates AKI in mice with CLP-induced sepsis by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasomes and the caspase-1 signaling pathway.

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is one of the most common microvascular complications occurring in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus patients, which often results in patients suffering from severe hyperalgesia and allodynia. Up to now, the clinical therapeutic effect of DPN is still unsatisfactory. Metformin is an anti-diabetic drug that has been safely and widely used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes for decades. Studies have shown that metformin can improve pain caused by DPN, but its effects on the nerve conduction velocity and morphology of the sciatic nerve of DPN, and the mechanism for improving DPN are not clear. Therefore, the STZ-induced model of type 1 DPN in SD rats was used to study the effects of metformin on DPN, and to preliminarily explore its mechanism in this study. All animal experiments were carried out with approval of the Experimental Animal Welfare Ethics Committee of the Institute of Materia Medica (Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College). After the model was established successfully, STZ diabetic rats were randomly divided into a model group and a metformin treatment group, and 10 normal SD rats were selected as the normal control group, and the rats were intragastrically administered for 12 weeks. The results showed that metformin significantly reduced blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, food consumption and water consumption in STZ rats. Metformin markedly increased the motor nerve conduction velocity and mechanical stabbing pain threshold, prolonged the hot plate latency threshold, and improved the pathological morphological abnormalities of the sciatic nerve in STZ rats. In addition, metformin increased the content of glutathione (GSH), enhanced the activities of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), and reduced the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in serum and sciatic nerve of STZ diabetic rats, as well as regulating the expression of genes related to oxidative stress in the sciatic nerve. Metformin obviously reduced the levels of pro-inflammatory factors such as tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6 in the serum in STZ rats, and inhibited the gene expression of these inflammatory factors in the sciatic nerve. In summary, metformin significantly increased nerve conduction velocity, improved sciatic nerve morphological abnormalities and pain in DPN rats, which may be related to its effect in improving oxidative stress and reducing inflammation.

Background: and Purpose Orthostatic hypotension (OH) is common in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Early recognition OH is required with sensitive assessments. The purpose of this study was to determine whether blood pressure (BP) changes during exercise can predict the occurrence of OH in PD. Methods: This prospective cohort study included 80 consecutive patients with PD. All patients agreed to participate in a baseline evaluation and cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET).According to the initial active standing test (AST), those without OH (PD-nonOH) at baseline had their AST results followed up for 6 months. The main outcome was defined as whether patients without OH at baseline would develop OH after 6 months. Logistic regression analysis was applied to identify the relevant variables. A nomogram was constructed based on clinical features and identified variables. The concordance index (C-index) and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were used to evaluate the accuracy and predictive ability of the nomogram, respectively. Results: CPET results indicated that peak load, peak heart rate, heart rate recovery at 1 min, and systolic BP change (ΔSBP) were lower in those with OH than in the PD-nonOH group (p<0.05) at baseline. Logistic regression analysis indicated that peak load and ΔSBP during CPET had significant effects on OH (p<0.05). Age, sex, peak load, and ΔSBP were used to construct the nomogram model (C-index=0.761). The prediction model had an AUC of 0.782 (95% confidence interval=0.649–0.889) and a specificity and sensitivity of 70.0% and 81.8%, respectively. Conclusions This study has identified predictive factors for OH development in patients with PD. CPET could be used as a complementary examination to identify patients at a high risk of OH.

BACKGROUND: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a chronic systemic autoimmune disease, is characterized by synovitis and progressive damage to the bone and cartilage of the joints, leading to disability and reduced quality of life. This study was a randomized clinical trial comparing the outcomes between withdrawal and dose reduction of tofacitinib in patients with RA who achieved sustained disease control. METHODS: The study was designed as a multicenter, open-label, randomized controlled trial. Eligible patients who were taking tofacitinib (5 mg twice daily) and had achieved sustained RA remission or low disease activity (disease activity score in 28 joints [DAS28] ≤3.2) for at least 3 months were enrolled at six centers in Shanghai, China. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to one of three treatment groups: continuation of tofacitinib (5 mg twice daily); reduction in tofacitinib dose (5 mg daily); and withdrawal of tofacitinib. Efficacy and safety were assessed up to 6 months. RESULTS: Overall, 122 eligible patients were enrolled, with 41 in the continuation group, 42 in the dose-reduction group, and 39 in the withdrawal group. After 6 months, the percentage of patients with a DAS28-erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) of <3.2 was significantly lower in the withdrawal group than that in the reduction and continuation groups (20.5%, 64.3%, and 95.1%, respectively; P  < 0.0001 for both comparisons). The average flare-free time was 5.8 months for the continuation group, 4.7 months for the dose reduction group, and 2.4 months for the withdrawal group. CONCLUSION: Withdrawal of tofacitinib in patients with RA with stable disease control resulted in a rapid and significant loss of efficacy, while standard or reduced doses of tofacitinib maintained a favorable state. TRIAL REGISTRATION Chictr.org, ChiCTR2000039799.
Humans ; Quality of Life ; China ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid/drug therapy* ; Piperidines/therapeutic use* ; Treatment Outcome ; Antirheumatic Agents/therapeutic use* ; Pyrroles/therapeutic use*

Anthocyanidin reductase (ANR) is one of the key enzyme in the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway, and its catalytic activity is important for the synthesis of plant anthocyanin. In this study, specific primers were designed according to the transcriptome data of Lonicera japonica Thunb., and the CDS, gDNA and promoter sequences of ANR genes from Lonicera japonica Thunb. and Lonicera japonica Thunb. var. chinensis (Wats.) Bak. were cloned. The results showed that the CDS sequences of LjANR and rLjANR were 1 002 bp, the gDNA sequences were 2 017 and 2 026 bp respectively, and the promoter sequences were 1 170 and 1 164 bp respectively. LjANR and rLjANR both contain 6 exons and 5 introns, which have the same length of exons and large differences in introns. The promoter sequences both contain a large number of light response, hormone response and abiotic stress response elements. Bioinformatics analysis showed that both LjANR and rLjANR encoded 333 amino acids and were predicted to be stable hydrophobic proteins without transmembrane segments and signal peptides. The secondary structures of LjANR and rLjANR were predicted to be mainly consisted of α-helix and random coil. Sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis showed that LjANR and rLjANR had high homology with Actinidia chinensis var. chinensis, Camellia sinensis and Camellia oleifera, and were closely related to them. The expression levels of LjANR and rLjANR were the highest in flower buds and the lowest in roots. The expression patterns at different flowering stages were similar, with higher expression levels in S1 and S2 stages and then gradually decreased until reaching the lowest level in S4 stage, after a slow increase in S5 stage, the expression levels decreased again. The expression levels of ANR genes in the two varieties showed significant differences in roots, S2 and S5 stages, while the differences in stems, flower buds, S1, S3 and S6 stages were extremely significant. The prokaryotic expression vector pET-32a-LjANR was constructed for protein expression. The target protein was successfully expressed of about 59 kD. This study lays a foundation for further study on the function of ANR gene and provides theoretical guidance for breeding new varieties of Lonicera japonica Thunb.

Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics and related factors of corticosteroid induced adrenal crisis (AC) in children with primary nephrotic syndrome (NS). Methods: Case control study. The case group included 7 children aged 1 to 18 years with NS combined with AC hospitalized in Peking University First Hospital from January 2016 to May 2021 (AC group). According to the ratio of case group: control group 1: 4, 28 children aged 1 to 18 years who were diagnosed with NS without AC during the same period were matched as controls (non-AC group). Clinical data were collected. The clinical characteristics of AC were described. The clinical parameters were compared between the 2 groups by t test, Mann-Whitney U test or Fisher's test. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze the cutoff values of clinical parameters for prediction of AC. Results: The AC group included 4 boys and 3 girls aged 6.9 (4.6, 10.8) years. The non-AC group included 20 boys and 8 girls aged 5.2 (3.3, 8.4) years. All AC events occurred during the relapse of NS with infection. Seven children had gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. Six children had poor mental state or impaired consciousness. No significant differences in NS course, corticosteroid treatment course, corticosteroid type, steroid dosage, steroid medication interval, the proportion of gastroenteritis and fever existed between the two groups (all P>0.05). Compared with the non-AC group, the duration from the onset of the relapse of NS until hospitalization in the AC group was significantly shorter (0.2 (0.1, 0.6) vs. 1.0 (0.4, 5.0) month,U=25.50, P=0.005). The 24 h urinary total protein (UTP) level was significantly higher in the AC group (193 (135, 429) vs. 81 (17, 200) mg/kg, U=27.00,P=0.036) than the non-AC group. The serum albumin level in the AC group was significantly lower((13.1±2.1) vs. (24.5±8.7) g/L,t=-6.22,P<0.001) than the non-AC group. There were significantly higher total white blood cell counts ((26±9)×10⁹ vs. (11±5)×10⁹/L,t=4.26,P=0.004), percentage of neutrophils (0.71±0.08 vs. 0.60±0.19,t=2.56,P=0.017) and the proportion of children with C reactive protein level≥8 mg/L (3/7 vs. 0,P=0.005) in the AC group than in the non-AC group. ROC curve analysis showed that the cutoff value of 24 h UTP was 122 mg/(kg·d) with a sensitivity of 100.0% and specificity of 70.4%. The cutoff value of serum albumin was 17.0 g/L with a sensitivity of 100.0% and specificity of 82.1%. Conclusions: Gastrointestinal symptoms and poor mental state were prominent manifestations of AC in children with NS. High 24 h UTP level, low serum albumin level, high peripheral white blood cell counts, high neutrophils percentage, and high C-reactive protein level during the early stage of NS relapse may be related to the occurrence of AC in children with NS.
Nephrotic Syndrome/drug therapy* ; Humans ; Child ; Adolescent ; Male ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Diseases/diagnosis* ; Adrenal Cortex Hormones/therapeutic use* ; Nausea/chemically induced* ; Vomiting/chemically induced* ; Abdominal Pain/chemically induced* ; Mental Processes/drug effects* ; China

Aim To investigate the mechanism of RhoA/ROCK signaling pathway in abnormal aortic contractility in type 2 diabetes (T2DM) mice. Methods The experiment was divided into two groups, the control group (db/m mice) and the model group (db/db mice). Changes of the response to different methods were measured in aorta rings using a Multi Myograph System. At the same time, the protein expression changes of aortic smooth muscle contraction signaling pathway in mice were determined by Western method. Results Compared with the control group, the blood glucose and body weight levels of the mice in the T2DM group significantly increased, and the cardiac function was abnormal (P <0. 01). The contractile response of the aorta of the diabetic mice induced by the contractile agents Phe, 5-HT and CaCl