AIM: To investigate the effects of agkis-trodon halys venom anti-tumor component (AHVAC-) on the biological behavior of gastric cancer MKN-28 cells. METHODS: Gastric cancer MKN-28 cells were treated with the experimental concentrations (5, 10, 15 μg/mL) of AHAVC- for 24 h. Cell proliferation and toxicity assay (cell counting kit-8, CCK-8) was used to detect the inhibition rates of the cells in different concentrations of AHVAC-. The migration ability of the cells was evaluated by wound-healing and Transwell assay. The apoptosis were observed by laser confocal microscopy with annexin V-mCherry/DAPI double staining, and the apoptosis rates were analyzed by flow cytometry with annexin V-FITC/PI double fluorescence staining. The protein level of Caspease-3 was determined by Western blot. RESULTS: Compared with normal control group, the results of AHVAC- concentration groups showed that with the increase of AHVAC- concentration, the proliferative activity of MN-28 cells decreased gradually (P<0.01), the cell migration ability decreased gradually (P<0.01), and the cell apoptosis rate increased (P<0.05). The expression of apoptosis-related protein Caspease-3 was up-regulated (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: AHVAC- inhibits proliferation and migration of gastric cancer MSN-28 cells and induces apoptosis.

Objective We tried to investigate the effects of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell exosomes(hUCMSC-Exos)on the proliferation of human dermal papilla cells(HDPCs)and the mechanism of hUCMSC-Exos promoting hair growth.Methods HDPCs were isolated using two-step enzymatic method and cul-tured in vitro.Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells(hUC-MSCs)were cultured.Cell culture supernatant was collected,and exosomes were isolated and extracted using high-speed centrifugation.Electron microscopy,particle size,and surface marker identification were performed on them.Dihydrotestosterone(DHT)induces HDPCs and establishment of an androgenic alopecia cell model.Co-culture hUCMSC-Exos with HDPCs,cell proliferation experiment(EdU)was used to detect the relative activity of induced HDPCs.Real-time qPCR was used to detect the expression level of alkaline phosphatase(ALP),and Western blot was used to detect β-catenin,Wnt10b,GSK-3β expression at the protein level.Results The obtained primary HDPCs,hUC-MSCs,and hUCMSC-Exos were all conformed to the characteristics of dermal papilla cells,mesenchymal stem cells,and exosomes.The num-ber of EdU positive cells significantly increased,and exosomes could effectively promote the proliferation of HDPCs(P<0.05),enhance the vitality of HDPCs and alleviate the damage caused by DHT(P<0.05).Real-time qPCR showed that exosomes could enhance the expression level of ALP gene(P<0.05)and hair follicle induction ability.Western Blot confirmation β-catenin,Wnt10b,GSK-3β were differences in expression at the protein level(P<0.05).Conclusions HUCMSC-Exos could promote DHT induced proliferation of HDPCs,enhance their hair follicle regeneration and repair ability,and its mechanism may be related to the activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

Objective To investigate the alteration of M1/M2 polarization of monocyte-macrophages from the peripheral blood of patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis,and the effect of Mycobacterium tuberculosis ESAT6 on the polarization of human THP-1 cells.Methods Whole blood and serum samples were collected from 14 patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis and 10 healthy controls.Peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMCs)were isolated from whole blood with heparin sodium using lymphocyte fluid.The mRNA levels of HLA-DR,CD11C,CD68,CD206 and Arg-1 in PBMCs from patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis were detected by real-time quantitative PCR.The secretion of cytokines(IL-2,IL-6,TNF-α,IFN-γ,IL-4,etc.)was detected by flow cytometry.Human THP-1 cells were induced by phorbol ester(PMA)to differentiate into macrophages-like cells,which were divided into M0 group,M1 group,M2 group,and M0+ESAT6 group.After 24 hours of stimulation,the mRNA levels of HLA-DR,CD11C,CD68,CD206 and Arg-1 were detected by real-time PCR.Following stimulation with ESAT6 for 6 h,12 h and 24 h,the levels of cytokines(IL-2,IL-6,TNF-α,IL-4,etc.)in cell culture supernatant from THP-1 cells were detected by flow cytometry.Results Compared with the healthy control group,the mRNA expression levels of M1-polarized phenotypic molecules HLA-DR,CD11C and CD68 in PBMCs of the active pulmonary tuberculosis group were up-regulated(P<0.05).The mRNA expression level of M2-polar-ized phenotype molecule CD206 was decreased(P<0.05),while the expression level of Arg-1 mRNA was not statistically significant(P>0.05).Serum levels of M1-related proinflammatory cytokines IL-2,IL-6,IFN-γ and TNF-α were increased in patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis(all P<0.05),whereas decreased level of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-4(P<0.05)were found in serum samples from patients with active pulmonary tuber-culosis.THP-1 macrophages were induced to differentiate into different phenotypes in vitro,and the HLA-DR mRNA expression level of cell M1 polarization phenotype molecule was statistically significant among all groups(F=21.83,P=0.000).Pairwise comparison results showed that expressions of HLA-DR mRNA in M1 group and M0+ESAT6 group were significantly upregulated compared with M0 group(P<0.05),there was no significant difference between the other groups(P>0.05).However,there was no significant difference in the expression of CD68 mRNA among all groups(F=2.480,P=0.135).There was no significant difference of mRNA expressions of CD206 and Arg-1 among all groups(F=1.233,P=0.3597;F=6.059,P=0.068).There were no significant differences between the M1-related pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-2 and anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-4 at different time points of cell culture(P>0.05).Compared with the M0 and ESAT6 phenotypes,the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α in the M1 phenotype group were significantly increased at 12 h and 24 h(P<0.05,P<0.05,P<0.001,P<0.001;P<0.05,P<0.05,P<0.01,P<0.01);but there was no significant difference between the other groups(P>0.05).Conclusions The ability of peripheral blood monocyte-macrophages to polarize to M1 is enhanced,while the ability to polarize to M2 is weakened in patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis.Mycobacterium tuberculosis ESAT6 can promote the polarization of macrophages to M1,which affects the activity and progression of tuberculosis.

Objective:To explore the application of COVID-19-specific IgG antibody in identifying epidemic Omicron BA.5 strain infection.Method:Omicron BF.7/BA.5 naturally infected population, healthy population vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine, and Omicron BF.7/BA.5 breakthrough cases were enrolled into this study. The serum WT-S-IgG and BA.5-S-IgG were detected by indirect ELISA, and the serum-specific IgG antibody levels of different populations were compared. The application value of the two antibody titers and the ratio of the two antibodies in identifying Omicron BA.5 epidemic strain infection were explored by the ROC curve, aiming to provide technical support for pathogen diagnosis.Results:The antibody titers of WT-S-IgG and BA.5-S-IgG in the breakthrough cases were higher than those in the naturally infected population and the healthy population ( P<0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) of WT-S-IgG and BA.5-S-IgG in identifying epidemic Omicron BA.5 strain infection was 0.947 and 0.961, respectively. The AUC of BA.5-S-IgG and WT-S-IgG antibody titer ratio was 0.873. When the antibody titer ratio was 0.855, the sensitivity and specificity were 80.00% and 90.00%, respectively. According to the interval since the last infection, the AUC of the ratio of BA.5-S-IgG to WT-S-IgG antibody titer to identify the infection of epidemic strains less than 30 days and more than 30 days was 0.887 and 0.863, respectively, and the sensitivity and specificity were both above 80%. Conclusion:Both BA.5-S-IgG and WT-S-IgG, as well as the combination of these two antibodies, are of high value in the identification of epidemic strains.

Objective:To explore the application of COVID-19-specific IgG antibody in identifying epidemic Omicron BA.5 strain infection.Method:Omicron BF.7/BA.5 naturally infected population, healthy population vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine, and Omicron BF.7/BA.5 breakthrough cases were enrolled into this study. The serum WT-S-IgG and BA.5-S-IgG were detected by indirect ELISA, and the serum-specific IgG antibody levels of different populations were compared. The application value of the two antibody titers and the ratio of the two antibodies in identifying Omicron BA.5 epidemic strain infection were explored by the ROC curve, aiming to provide technical support for pathogen diagnosis.Results:The antibody titers of WT-S-IgG and BA.5-S-IgG in the breakthrough cases were higher than those in the naturally infected population and the healthy population ( P<0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) of WT-S-IgG and BA.5-S-IgG in identifying epidemic Omicron BA.5 strain infection was 0.947 and 0.961, respectively. The AUC of BA.5-S-IgG and WT-S-IgG antibody titer ratio was 0.873. When the antibody titer ratio was 0.855, the sensitivity and specificity were 80.00% and 90.00%, respectively. According to the interval since the last infection, the AUC of the ratio of BA.5-S-IgG to WT-S-IgG antibody titer to identify the infection of epidemic strains less than 30 days and more than 30 days was 0.887 and 0.863, respectively, and the sensitivity and specificity were both above 80%. Conclusion:Both BA.5-S-IgG and WT-S-IgG, as well as the combination of these two antibodies, are of high value in the identification of epidemic strains.

Objective To explore the correlation between peripheral blood microRNA-34a(miR-34a),mi-croRNA-431(miR-431),and microRNA-183(miR-183)levels with hemodynamics and hearing prognosis in patients with sudden deafness(SD).Methods A total of 132 patients with SD who visited the First Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Medical University(the hospital)from January 2021 to December 2023 were included as the disease group,132 healthy individuals(without SD)who came to the hospital for physical examination were used as the control group.Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR(RT-qPCR)was used to detect the levels of miR-34a,miR-431,and miR-183 in peripheral blood.Pearson correlation was applied to analyze the correlation between peripheral blood miR-34a,miR-431,miR-183 levels and hemodynamic indicators.Multiple Logistic regression analysis(stepwise forward method)was applied to screen for factors affecting the hearing prognosis of patients with SD.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was plotted to obtain the area under the curve(AUC)of the single and combination of peripheral blood miR-34a,miR-431,and miR-183 in predicting hearing prognosis in patients with SD,and the AUC was compared using Z-test.Results The levels of miR-34a and miR-431 in the peripheral blood in the disease group were greatly higher than those in the con-trol group,while the level of miR-183 was greatly lower than that in the control group(P＜0.05).After treatment,the whole blood high shear viscosity(HSV),whole blood low shear viscosity(LSV),plasma vis-cosity(PV)of patients with SD were greatly lower than those before treatment(P＜0.05).The levels of miR-34a and miR-431 in peripheral blood of patients with SD were positively correlated with pre-treatment levels of HSV,LSV,and PV(P＜0.05),while the levels of miR-183 were negatively correlated with pre-treatment levels of HSV,LSV,and PV(P＜0.05).The miR-34a and miR-431 levels in the peripheral blood in the good prognosis group were greatly lower than those in the poor prognosis group,and the miR-183 level was greatly higher than that in the poor prognosis group(P＜0.05).The risk factors affecting the hearing prognosis of patients with SD included miR-34a and miR-431,and miR-183 was a protective factor affecting the hearing prognosis of patients with SD(P＜0.05).The AUC of peripheral blood miR-34a,miR-431,and miR-183 in predicting hearing prognosis in patients with SD was 0.969(95％CI:0.938-1.00),and the pre-dictive value of the the combination of the three was higher than that of miR-34a(Z=2.336,P=0.019),miR-431(Z=2.157,P=0.031),and miR-183(Z=2.351,P=0.019)alone.Conclusion The levels of miR-34a and miR-431 are abnormally elevated in peripheral blood of patients with SD,and are positively correlated with hemodynamic indicators.The level of miR-183 is abnormally reduced and is negatively correlated with hemodynamic indicators.The combination of the three has certain predictive value for the hearing prognosis of patients with SD.

Purpose: Oligometastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients have been increasingly regarded as a distinct group that could benefit from local treatment to achieve a better clinical outcome. However, current definitions of oligometastasis are solely numerical, which are imprecise because of ignoring the biological heterogeneity caused by genomic characteristics. Our study aimed to profile the molecular alterations of oligometastatic NSCLC and elucidate its potential difference from polymetastasis. Materials and Methods: We performed next-generation sequencing to analyze tumors and paired peripheral blood from 77 oligometastatic and 21 polymetastatic NSCLC patients to reveal their genomic characteristics and assess the genetic heterogeneity. Results: We found ERBB2, ALK, MLL4, PIK3CB, and TOP2A were mutated at a significantly lower frequency in oligometastasis compared with polymetastasis. EGFR and KEAP1 alterations were mutually exclusive in oligometastatic group. More importantly, oligometastasis has a unique significant enrichment of apoptosis signaling pathway. In contrast to polymetastasis, a highly enriched COSMIC signature 4 and a special mutational process, COSMIC signature 14, were observed in the oligometastatic cohort. According to OncoKB database, 74.03% of oligometastatic NSCLC patients harbored at least one actionable alteration. The median tumor mutation burden of oligometastasis was 5.00 mutations/Mb, which was significantly associated with smoking, DNA damage repair genes, TP53 mutation, SMARCA4 mutation, LRP1B mutation, ABL1 mutation. Conclusion Our results shall help redefine oligometastasis beyond simple lesion enumeration that will ultimately improve the selection of patients with real oligometastatic state and optimize personalized cancer therapy for oligometastatic NSCLC.

Severe muscle injury is hard to heal and always results in a poor prognosis. Recent studies found that extracellular vesicle-based therapy has promising prospects for regeneration medicine, however, whether extracellular vesicles have therapeutic effects on severe muscle injury is still unknown. Herein, we extracted apoptotic extracellular vesicles derived from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs-ApoEVs) to treat cardiotoxin induced tibialis anterior (TA) injury and found that MSCs-ApoEVs promoted muscles regeneration and increased the proportion of multinucleated cells. Besides that, we also found that apoptosis was synchronized during myoblasts fusion and MSCs-ApoEVs promoted the apoptosis ratio as well as the fusion index of myoblasts. Furthermore, we revealed that MSCs-ApoEVs increased the relative level of creatine during myoblasts fusion, which was released via activated Pannexin 1 channel. Moreover, we also found that activated Pannexin 1 channel was highly expressed on the membrane of myoblasts-derived ApoEVs (Myo-ApoEVs) instead of apoptotic myoblasts, and creatine was the pivotal metabolite involved in myoblasts fusion. Collectively, our findings firstly revealed that MSCs-ApoEVs can promote muscle regeneration and elucidated that the new function of ApoEVs as passing inter-cell messages through releasing metabolites from activated Pannexin 1 channel, which will provide new evidence for extracellular vesicles-based therapy as well as improving the understanding of new functions of extracellular vesicles.
Creatine/metabolism* ; Extracellular Vesicles ; Muscle, Skeletal/metabolism* ; Myoblasts/metabolism* ; Regeneration ; Connexins/metabolism*

Objective:To investigate the efficacy and safety of the Steward Scale(S Scale)and the Modified Aldrete Scale (A Scale) for resuscitation of children undergoing gastrointestinal endoscopy with general anesthesia.Methods:A total of 199 underage children who underwent non-intubated gastrointestinal endoscopy with general anesthesia in Children′s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine from July to December 2022 were retrospectively included in this study and divided into preschool group (36 cases), low school-age group (75 cases) and high school-age group (88 cases) according to age. S Scale and A Scale were also performed to evaluate the recovery from anesthesia. The vital signs of the children and the time required for reaching the target were recorded, and the scoring efficiency and safety of the two scales were compared.Results:The time required for S Scale to reach the standard (17.50 ± 9.29) min was significantly lower than that of A Scale (20.80 ± 12.61) min, and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant ( t = 2.97, P<0.01). In the low school-age group, oxygen saturation (0.989 ± 0.010) of A Scale was higher than that of S Scale (0.980 ± 0.015), the difference was significant ( t = 2.17, P<0.05). The time required for S Scale to reach the standard was negatively correlated with age ( r = -0.385, P<0.01). There was no significant correlation between the time required for A scale to reach the standard and the children′s age ( r = -0.089, P>0.05). Conclusions:Although Steward Scale is more efficient than modified Aldrete Scale in evaluating anesthesia resuscitation in underage children undergoing gastrointestinal endoscopy with general anesthesia, modified Aldrete Scale is safer than Steward Scale and is more conducive to ensuring the life safety of children.

Aristolochic acid (AA), extracted from Aristolochiaceae plants, plays an essential role in traditional herbal medicines and is used for different diseases. However, AA has been found to be nephrotoxic and is known to cause aristolochic acid nephropathy (AAN).AA-induced acute kidney injury (AKI) is a syndrome in AAN with a high morbidity that manifests mitochondrial damage as a key part of its pathological progression. Melatonin primarily serves as a mitochondria-targeted antioxidant. However, its mitochondrial protective role in AA-induced AKI is barely reported. In this study, mice were administrated 2.5 mg/kg AA to induce AKI. Melatonin reduced the increase in Upro and Scr and attenuated the necrosis and atrophy of renal proximal tubules in mice exposed to AA. Melatonin suppressed ROS generation, MDA levels and iNOS expression and increased SOD activities in vivo and in vitro. Intriguingly, the in vivo study revealed that melatonin decreased mitochondrial fragmentation in renal proximal tubular cells and increased ATP levels in kidney tissues in response to AA. In vitro, melatonin restored the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) in NRK-52E and HK-2 cells and led to an elevation in ATP levels. Confocal immunofluorescence data showed that puncta containing Mito-tracker and GFP-LC3A/B were reduced, thereby impeding the mitophagy of tubular epithelial cells. Furthermore, melatonin decreased LC3A/B-II expression and increased p62 expression. The apoptosis of tubular epithelial cells induced by AA was decreased. Therefore, our findings revealed that melatonin could prevent AA-induced AKI by attenuating mitochondrial damage, which may provide a potential therapeutic method for renal AA toxicity.