Objective:To investigate the effect and mechanism of Jianpi Qinghua granule in improving skeletal muscle insulin resistance induced by long-term low-dose cadmium exposure in rats.Methods:A total of 24 SPF-grade healthy 2-month-old Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to normal control(NC) group, cadmium exposure(Cd) group, and Jianpi Qinghua granule protection(Cd+ JPQHG) group. After 24 weeks, fasting blood glucose and insulin levels were measured, and HOMA-IR was calculated. The intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test and insulin tolerance test were conducted to assess insulin sensitivity. Skeletal muscle tissues were extracted for Western blot analysis to detect levels of insulin signaling pathway-related proteins. Immunofluorescence was used to assess the translocation of glucose transporter 4(GLUT4), and oxidative stress markers were measured.Results:Compared to the NC group, the Cd group showed significant increases in fasting plasma glucose, fasting insulin levels, and HOMA-IR after 24-week exposure. Abnormal glucose and insulin tolerance were also observed in the Cd group. The 12-week intervention with Jianpi Qinghua granule significantly improved glucose metabolism and alleviated the abnormalities in glucose and insulin tolerance. Western blot results indicated that the phosphorylation levels of PI3K and Akt in the skeletal muscle of the Cd group were significantly reduced compared to the NC group, while these levels were significantly elevated in the Cd+ JPQHG group, along with increased translocation of GLUT4 to the cell membrane. Additionally, cadmium exposure significantly increased H 2O 2 and malondialdehyde levels while decreased antioxidant enzyme activity. These oxidative stress indicators improved significantly after Jianpi Qinghua granule intervention( P<0.05). Conclusion:Jianpi Qinghua granule may improve skeletal muscle insulin resistance and glucose metabolism disorders due to long-term low-dose cadmium exposure by reducing oxidative stress, regulating the phosphorylation levels of key proteins in the insulin signaling pathway, and promoting GLUT4 translocation to the cell membrane.

Objective:To investigate the assoication of amino acid metabolism levels with severity of diabetic peripheral neuropathy(DPN) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on 118 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who were admitted to Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January to April 2021. Patients were divided into groups according to the Toronto Clinical Scoring System(TCSS), and amino acid profiling was performed. General demographics and biochemical indicators of each group were collected to analyze the relationship between DPN severity and amino acid metabolism.Results:As TCSS scores increased, patients were older and had a longer duration of diabetes. Statistically significant differences in leucine, isoleucine, tryptophan, and phenylalanine levels were observed among the four groups. After adjusting for confounding variables using covariance analysis, when the TCSS score was≥13, the serum phenylalanine level was significantly elevated, and the difference was statistically significant( P<0.05). Multivariate linear regression analysis indicated that TCSS score was an influencing factor for phenylalanine levels( P=0.010). Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that higher serum phenylalanine levels correlated with higher TCSS scores( OR=1.047, 95% CI 1.011-1.083, P=0.010). Receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve analysis revealed that serum phenylalanine and the difference between phenylalanine and tryptophan had diagnostic value for severe DPN patients, with areas under the ROC curve of 0.673(95% CI 0.553-0.793, P=0.006) and 0.746(95% CI 0.641-0.852, P<0.001) respectively. Conclusions:The levels of phenylalanine and tryptophan in the serum of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus are correlated with the severity of DPN. These findings suggest that serum phenylalanine, tryptophan, or their metabolic products may be involved in the pathogenesis and progression of DPN.

Objective:To investigate the expression of heat shock factor binding protein 1 (HSPB1) in endometrial carcinoma and its clinical significance.Methods:The pan-cancer dataset after standardization and unification was downloaded from the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) Genome database (updated to December 6, 2019), and the expression of HSPB1 in pan-cancer was analyzed. The transcriptome data of endometrial carcinoma of the uterus from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database were downloaded (updated to July 21, 2016), including 552 cases of endometrial carcinoma and 35 cases of corresponding adjacent tissue samples. The clinical data of 543 patients with endometrial cancer were obtained. The differences in the expression levels of HSPB1 in patients with different clinicopathological features were compared. R 4.3.1 software maxstat was used to calculate the optimal critical value (>46.30) of HSPB1 expression, and the patients were divided into HSPB1 low expression group (<46.30) and HSPB1 high expression group (≥46.30). Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze the difference in prognosis between the 2 groups, and log-rank test was performed. The top 50 genes with positive and negative correlation with HSPB1 were screened by LinkedOmics database. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis were performed on HSPB1. The interaction network of HSPB1 protein was analyzed by STRING database and Cytoscape 3.9.1 software. The correlation between HSPB1 expression and various immune cell infiltration levels was analyzed by using the TIMER2.0 database.Results:The expression of HSPB1 in 27 kinds of tumor tissues was higher than that in paracancerous tissues, and the expression of HSPB1 in 2 kinds of tumor tissues was lower than that in paracancerous tissues (all P < 0.05). In the transcriptome data of 552 cases of endometrial cancer and 35 cases of corresponding paracancerous tissues in the TCGA database, the relative expression level of HSPB1 in endometrial cancer tissues was higher than that in corresponding paracancerous tissues ( t = -2.90, P = 0.005). The result of the comparison of relative expression level of HSPB1 in endometrial cancer patients with different clinicopathological features showed that patients aged < 65 years had higher expression level compared to those aged ≥ 65 years, patients at clinical stage Ⅰ-Ⅱ had higher expression level compared to those at stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ, patients with Grade grading G 1-G 2 had higher expression level compared to those with G 3, and patients with pathological type I had higher expression level compared to those with type Ⅱ (all P < 0.05). Of the 543 patients, 2 were lost to follow-up, and the overall survival of the remaining 541 patients with high HSPB1 expression was better than that of those with the low expression ( HR = 0.532, 95% CI: 0.333-0.849, P = 0.008). HSPB1 and its related genes were mainly involved in estrogen signaling, p53 signaling and other pathways; HSPB1 was involved in cysteine-type endopeptidase inhibitor activity and calcium-dependent protein binding. The top 10 genes with the strongest correlation with HSPB1 in protein-protein interaction analysis were DSG3, EVPL, PKP1, DSC3, PKP3, PPL, KRT5, IVL, TGM1 and CSTA. The expression of HSPB1 was negatively correlated with tumor purity ( r = -0.025, P < 0.01), and positively correlated with CD4 + T cells ( r = 0.204, P < 0.01), CD8 + T cells ( r = 0.225, P < 0.01), B cells ( r = 0.285, P < 0.01), NK cells ( r = 0.269, P < 0.01), macrophages ( r = 0.234, P < 0.01) and dendritic cells ( r = 0.354, P < 0.01). Conclusions:The high expression of HSPB1 is associated with clinicopathological features, prognosis and immune infiltration in patients with endometrial carcinoma. It may be one of the reference indexes for predicting the prognosis of patients with endometrial cancer.

Objective:To investigate the effect and mechanism of Jianpi Qinghua granule in improving skeletal muscle insulin resistance induced by long-term low-dose cadmium exposure in rats.Methods:A total of 24 SPF-grade healthy 2-month-old Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to normal control(NC) group, cadmium exposure(Cd) group, and Jianpi Qinghua granule protection(Cd+ JPQHG) group. After 24 weeks, fasting blood glucose and insulin levels were measured, and HOMA-IR was calculated. The intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test and insulin tolerance test were conducted to assess insulin sensitivity. Skeletal muscle tissues were extracted for Western blot analysis to detect levels of insulin signaling pathway-related proteins. Immunofluorescence was used to assess the translocation of glucose transporter 4(GLUT4), and oxidative stress markers were measured.Results:Compared to the NC group, the Cd group showed significant increases in fasting plasma glucose, fasting insulin levels, and HOMA-IR after 24-week exposure. Abnormal glucose and insulin tolerance were also observed in the Cd group. The 12-week intervention with Jianpi Qinghua granule significantly improved glucose metabolism and alleviated the abnormalities in glucose and insulin tolerance. Western blot results indicated that the phosphorylation levels of PI3K and Akt in the skeletal muscle of the Cd group were significantly reduced compared to the NC group, while these levels were significantly elevated in the Cd+ JPQHG group, along with increased translocation of GLUT4 to the cell membrane. Additionally, cadmium exposure significantly increased H 2O 2 and malondialdehyde levels while decreased antioxidant enzyme activity. These oxidative stress indicators improved significantly after Jianpi Qinghua granule intervention( P<0.05). Conclusion:Jianpi Qinghua granule may improve skeletal muscle insulin resistance and glucose metabolism disorders due to long-term low-dose cadmium exposure by reducing oxidative stress, regulating the phosphorylation levels of key proteins in the insulin signaling pathway, and promoting GLUT4 translocation to the cell membrane.

Objective:To investigate the assoication of amino acid metabolism levels with severity of diabetic peripheral neuropathy(DPN) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on 118 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who were admitted to Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January to April 2021. Patients were divided into groups according to the Toronto Clinical Scoring System(TCSS), and amino acid profiling was performed. General demographics and biochemical indicators of each group were collected to analyze the relationship between DPN severity and amino acid metabolism.Results:As TCSS scores increased, patients were older and had a longer duration of diabetes. Statistically significant differences in leucine, isoleucine, tryptophan, and phenylalanine levels were observed among the four groups. After adjusting for confounding variables using covariance analysis, when the TCSS score was≥13, the serum phenylalanine level was significantly elevated, and the difference was statistically significant( P<0.05). Multivariate linear regression analysis indicated that TCSS score was an influencing factor for phenylalanine levels( P=0.010). Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that higher serum phenylalanine levels correlated with higher TCSS scores( OR=1.047, 95% CI 1.011-1.083, P=0.010). Receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve analysis revealed that serum phenylalanine and the difference between phenylalanine and tryptophan had diagnostic value for severe DPN patients, with areas under the ROC curve of 0.673(95% CI 0.553-0.793, P=0.006) and 0.746(95% CI 0.641-0.852, P<0.001) respectively. Conclusions:The levels of phenylalanine and tryptophan in the serum of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus are correlated with the severity of DPN. These findings suggest that serum phenylalanine, tryptophan, or their metabolic products may be involved in the pathogenesis and progression of DPN.

Objective:To investigate the expression of heat shock factor binding protein 1 (HSPB1) in endometrial carcinoma and its clinical significance.Methods:The pan-cancer dataset after standardization and unification was downloaded from the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) Genome database (updated to December 6, 2019), and the expression of HSPB1 in pan-cancer was analyzed. The transcriptome data of endometrial carcinoma of the uterus from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database were downloaded (updated to July 21, 2016), including 552 cases of endometrial carcinoma and 35 cases of corresponding adjacent tissue samples. The clinical data of 543 patients with endometrial cancer were obtained. The differences in the expression levels of HSPB1 in patients with different clinicopathological features were compared. R 4.3.1 software maxstat was used to calculate the optimal critical value (>46.30) of HSPB1 expression, and the patients were divided into HSPB1 low expression group (<46.30) and HSPB1 high expression group (≥46.30). Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze the difference in prognosis between the 2 groups, and log-rank test was performed. The top 50 genes with positive and negative correlation with HSPB1 were screened by LinkedOmics database. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis were performed on HSPB1. The interaction network of HSPB1 protein was analyzed by STRING database and Cytoscape 3.9.1 software. The correlation between HSPB1 expression and various immune cell infiltration levels was analyzed by using the TIMER2.0 database.Results:The expression of HSPB1 in 27 kinds of tumor tissues was higher than that in paracancerous tissues, and the expression of HSPB1 in 2 kinds of tumor tissues was lower than that in paracancerous tissues (all P < 0.05). In the transcriptome data of 552 cases of endometrial cancer and 35 cases of corresponding paracancerous tissues in the TCGA database, the relative expression level of HSPB1 in endometrial cancer tissues was higher than that in corresponding paracancerous tissues ( t = -2.90, P = 0.005). The result of the comparison of relative expression level of HSPB1 in endometrial cancer patients with different clinicopathological features showed that patients aged < 65 years had higher expression level compared to those aged ≥ 65 years, patients at clinical stage Ⅰ-Ⅱ had higher expression level compared to those at stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ, patients with Grade grading G 1-G 2 had higher expression level compared to those with G 3, and patients with pathological type I had higher expression level compared to those with type Ⅱ (all P < 0.05). Of the 543 patients, 2 were lost to follow-up, and the overall survival of the remaining 541 patients with high HSPB1 expression was better than that of those with the low expression ( HR = 0.532, 95% CI: 0.333-0.849, P = 0.008). HSPB1 and its related genes were mainly involved in estrogen signaling, p53 signaling and other pathways; HSPB1 was involved in cysteine-type endopeptidase inhibitor activity and calcium-dependent protein binding. The top 10 genes with the strongest correlation with HSPB1 in protein-protein interaction analysis were DSG3, EVPL, PKP1, DSC3, PKP3, PPL, KRT5, IVL, TGM1 and CSTA. The expression of HSPB1 was negatively correlated with tumor purity ( r = -0.025, P < 0.01), and positively correlated with CD4 + T cells ( r = 0.204, P < 0.01), CD8 + T cells ( r = 0.225, P < 0.01), B cells ( r = 0.285, P < 0.01), NK cells ( r = 0.269, P < 0.01), macrophages ( r = 0.234, P < 0.01) and dendritic cells ( r = 0.354, P < 0.01). Conclusions:The high expression of HSPB1 is associated with clinicopathological features, prognosis and immune infiltration in patients with endometrial carcinoma. It may be one of the reference indexes for predicting the prognosis of patients with endometrial cancer.

From October 2021 to February 2023, we retrospectively analyzed the clinical and laboratory data of six patients (three male and three female, median age: 54 years, age range: 29-73 years) with mast cell leukemia (MCL) diagnosed in the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University (The Mastocytosis Collaborative Network of China). All patients had acute MCL, with at least one C-finding present. The main clinical presentations were hypoalbuminemia ( n=4), fatigue ( n=3), fever ( n=2), abdominal discomfort ( n=2), osteolytic lesions ( n=2), dizziness ( n=1), skin flushing ( n=1), and weight loss ( n=1). Splenomegaly and lymphadenopathy were noted in six and three patients, respectively. Six patients were strongly positive for CD117, five were positive for CD30 and CD25, and four were positive for CD2. Four patients had a normal karyotype and two patients had an abnormal karyotype. Gene mutations were detected in 4/6 cases. The median serum tryptase level was 24.9 (range: 20.1-171.9) μg/L. Two patients were treated with venetoclax and azacitidine for induction (one patient achieved partial remission by combination with afatinib, while there was no remission after combination with dasatinib in the other patient). Two patients did not achieve complete remission despite treatment with cladribine and imatinib, respectively. One patient treated with interferon combined with glucocorticoids was lost to follow-up, and one patient abandoned treatment. The follow-up time ranged from 1.1 to 21.7 months. Three patients died and two survived. Overall, MCL is a rare subtype of systemic mastocytosis with heterogeneous clinical course, and these patients have poor outcome. A better understanding of the clinical characteristics, treatment, and prognosis of MCL is urgently needed.

Objective:To investigate the proliferation kinetics of T cells in patients with B-cell hematologic malignancies who received CAR19 T cell therapy.Methods:Observational study. Flow cytometry was used to monitor the levels of CAR19+and CAR19-T cell expansion and the dynamic changes of T lymphocyte subsets before and after CAR19 T cell therapy. The 52 patients with B-cell hematologic malignancies (including 12 B-ALL and 40 NHL) who received CAR19 T cell therapy in the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University from November 2021 to December 2023 were recruited in this study. Patients were divided into complete response group and incomplete response group according to the efficacy evaluation criteria in the treatment guidelines for B-cell hematologic malignancies. T test or non-parametric rank sum test were used to compare the differences of CAR19+and CAR19-T cell subsets between the two groups.Results:At the peak of CAR19+T cell expansion, there was no statistic difference of CAR19+T cell subsets between the complete response group and the incomplete response group. After 6 months, the percentage of CD4+T cells (CD3+CD4+CD8-) in CAR19-T cells in patients was lower than the pre-treatment level(48.0+27.2,63.1+19.7,<0.01), and the percentages of CD197+CD45RA+and CD197-CD45RA-subsets recovered to the pre-treatment level, while the percentage of CD197-CD45RA+subset(4.2+3.0,21.1+15.6,<0.01) was lower than the pre-treatment level. The percentage of CD8+T cells (CD3+CD4-CD8+) returned to pre-treatment level after 6 months, CD197-CD45RA-subset in CD8+T cells returned to pre-treatment level, while CD197+CD45RA+subset(16.6+8.7,35.1+30.1,<0.01),CD197+CD45RA-subset(18.7+9.1,25.8+19.1,<0.01) were still lower than pre-treatment level.Conclusion:After CAR19 T cell treatment, there was no significant differences in the proportions of CAR19+T cell subsets in patients with different therapeutic effects. After treatment, the proportion of CAR19-CD3+CD4-CD8+cells recovered earlier than CD3+CD4+CD8-cells, and the dynamic changes of each subgroup were different. This therapeutic regimen has a great impact on the subpopulation of CAR19-T cells in vivo, and the reconstruction of such T cells takes a long time.

Objective:To investigate the proliferation kinetics of T cells in patients with B-cell hematologic malignancies who received CAR19 T cell therapy.Methods:Observational study. Flow cytometry was used to monitor the levels of CAR19+and CAR19-T cell expansion and the dynamic changes of T lymphocyte subsets before and after CAR19 T cell therapy. The 52 patients with B-cell hematologic malignancies (including 12 B-ALL and 40 NHL) who received CAR19 T cell therapy in the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University from November 2021 to December 2023 were recruited in this study. Patients were divided into complete response group and incomplete response group according to the efficacy evaluation criteria in the treatment guidelines for B-cell hematologic malignancies. T test or non-parametric rank sum test were used to compare the differences of CAR19+and CAR19-T cell subsets between the two groups.Results:At the peak of CAR19+T cell expansion, there was no statistic difference of CAR19+T cell subsets between the complete response group and the incomplete response group. After 6 months, the percentage of CD4+T cells (CD3+CD4+CD8-) in CAR19-T cells in patients was lower than the pre-treatment level(48.0+27.2,63.1+19.7,<0.01), and the percentages of CD197+CD45RA+and CD197-CD45RA-subsets recovered to the pre-treatment level, while the percentage of CD197-CD45RA+subset(4.2+3.0,21.1+15.6,<0.01) was lower than the pre-treatment level. The percentage of CD8+T cells (CD3+CD4-CD8+) returned to pre-treatment level after 6 months, CD197-CD45RA-subset in CD8+T cells returned to pre-treatment level, while CD197+CD45RA+subset(16.6+8.7,35.1+30.1,<0.01),CD197+CD45RA-subset(18.7+9.1,25.8+19.1,<0.01) were still lower than pre-treatment level.Conclusion:After CAR19 T cell treatment, there was no significant differences in the proportions of CAR19+T cell subsets in patients with different therapeutic effects. After treatment, the proportion of CAR19-CD3+CD4-CD8+cells recovered earlier than CD3+CD4+CD8-cells, and the dynamic changes of each subgroup were different. This therapeutic regimen has a great impact on the subpopulation of CAR19-T cells in vivo, and the reconstruction of such T cells takes a long time.

Objective:To study the effects of Jianpi Qinghua Decoction on hepatocyte apoptosis under non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and to discuss its mechanism.Methods:Totally 29 C57 mice were randomly selected and fed a 60% high fat diet for 16 weeks, while the remaining 6 mice were given regular feed as the normal group. After successful modeling, 12 mice with larger body weight were divided into TCM group and model group using a random number table method, while continuing to receive high-fat feed. The TCM group was orally administered Jianpi Qinghua Decoction 20.961 g/kg. The normal group and model group were orally administered an equal volume of distilled water once a day, with continuous intervention for 4 weeks. The levels of GOT and GPT in blood were detected by ELISA, the deposition of triglyceride in liver was detected by oil red O, and the apoptosis of liver cells was detected by TUNEL fluorescence staining. Western blot was used to detect the expressions of cleaved Caspase-3, Caspase-3, Bax, Bcl-2, JNK and p-JNK.Results:Compared with the model group, the body weight and GPT in the TCM group significantly decreased ( P<0.05), TG deposition was significantly reduced, apoptosis range of liver cells was significantly reduced, and cleaved Caspase-3/Caspase-3, p-JNK/JNK and the expression of Bax significantly decreased ( P<0.05). The expression of Bcl-2 increased ( P<0.05). Conclusion:Jianpi Qinghua Decoction can inhibit JNK protein phosphorylation and effectively reduce liver cell apoptosis in NAFLD mice, which may delay the progression of NAFLD towards cirrhosis and liver cancer.