ObjectiveTo evaluate the effects and safety of the optimized new Shengmai Powder （优化新生脉散方） on exercise tolerance in patients with chronic heart failure （CHF） of qi deficiency， blood stasis， and fluid retention syndrome. MethodsA randomized， double-blind， placebo-controlled trial was conducted. A total of 78 CHF patients with qi deficiency， blood stasis， and fluid retention syndrome were recruited and randomly assigned to a treatment group （39 cases） and a control group （39 cases）. On the basis of conventional western medical therapy， patients in the treatment group additionally received the optimized new Shengmai Powder granules， while the control group was given an oral placebo of optimized new Shengmai Powder granules. Patients in both groups took 30.6 g each time， twice a day， mixed with water for administration， with a total treatment course of 4 weeks. The primary outcomes were 6-minute walk distance （6MWD） and peak oxygen uptake （Peak VO₂） measured by cardiopulmonary exercise testing. Secondary outcomes included New York Heart Association （NYHA） functional classification， B-type natriuretic peptide （BNP） levels， cardiac function indexes including left ventricular ejection fraction （LVEF）， left ventri-cular end-systolic diameter （LVESD） and left ventricular end-diastolic diameter （LVEDD）， Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire （MLHFQ） scores， and scores of four diagnostic information of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM）. All indicators were assessed once before and after treatment respectively. Safety indicators were evaluated， and adverse events during the trial were recorded. ResultsAll patients in both groups were included in the full ana-lysis set （FAS） and safety set （SS）. Compared with baseline， the 6MWD and Peak VO₂ of cardiopulmonary exercise test in the treatment group significantly increased after treatment， while the MLHFQ scores， serum BNP levels and scores of TCM four diagnostic information significantly decreased， and the NYHA cardiac function grade significantly improved （P＜0.01）. After treatment， the 6MWD and Peak VO₂ of cardiopulmonary exercise test， as well as their changes from baseline in the treatment group were higher than those in the control group； the MLHFQ scores， serum BNP levels and scores of TCM four diagnostic information in the treatment group were lower than those in the control group； and the improvement of NYHA cardiac function grade in the treatment group was superior to that in the control group （P＜0.01）. There was no statistically significant differences in all indicators after treatment in the control group （P＞0.05）. The incidence of adverse events was 5.1% （2/39） in the treatment group and 2.6% （1/39） in the control group， with no statistically significant difference between groups （P＞0.05）. ConclusionOn the basis of conventional western medicine treatment， the addition of the optimized new Shengmai Powder can further improve exercise tolerance， cardiac function and quality of life in patients with CHF of qi deficiency， blood stasis and fluid retention syndrome， and show good safety.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the association of the expression of WW domain-containing ubiquitin E3 ligase 1 (WWP1) with immune infiltration in tumor microenvironment (TME) of ovarian cancer. METHODS: Ovarian cancer patient data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were used to analyze the association of WWP1 expression with patient prognosis. TISCH2 was utilized to analyze the changes in immune cell subtypes in TME of metastatic tumor and after chemotherapy. The impact of WWP1 on immune cell infiltration, somatic copy number alterations of WWP1 and evolution of immune cell subtypes was evaluated using TIMER and TIGER pseudo-time analysis. A deep learning model was used to analyze TCGA pathological images to investigate the effect of WWP1 on TME of ovarian cancer. RNA-seq analysis was conducted to identify the differentially expressed genes in WWP1-overexpressing SKOV3 cells and validate immune infiltration. Multicolor immunofluorescence assay was used to analyze the immune markers in SKOV3 and SKOV3/DDP cell xenografts in nude mice. RESULTS: The patients with high WWP1 expression levels had significantly lower overall survival rate (P=0.0012). High WWP1 expression levels and Stage IV disease were both associated with a poor prognosis (P<0.05). In metastatic ovarian cancer or after chemotherapy, the percentages of malignant tumor cells and tumor-associated fibroblasts increased in the TME, accompanied by elevated WWP1 levels. WWP1 expression level was positively correlated with pro-tumorigenic immunosuppressive cells (r=0.1323-0.3955, P<0.05) and negatively with tumor-inhibiting immune cells (r=-0.1949- -0.1333, P<0.05). Specific copy number alterations of WWP1 also influenced CD8⁺ T cell percentage and neutrophil infiltration levels in the TME. RNA-seq analysis of WWP1-overexpressing SKOV3 cells and immunofluorescence assay of the tumor-bearing mice yielded findings consistent with those of bioinformatics analysis. CONCLUSIONS WWP1 may serve as a prognostic biomarker and a potential target for immune regulation in the TME of ovarian cancer.
Female ; Ovarian Neoplasms/genetics* ; Humans ; Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases/metabolism* ; Tumor Microenvironment/immunology* ; Animals ; Mice ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Mice, Nude ; Prognosis ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic

Objective To predict the core targets and action pathways of Hedysari Radix based on UPLC-MS/MS and network pharmacology methods,and to verify the results of network pharmacology by molecular docking and molecular dynamics techniques.This article aims to investigate immune regulation mechanism of effective components absorbed into blood from Hedysari Radix.Methods Qualitative quantification of effective components absorbed into blood from Hedysari Radix were operated by using UPLC-MS/MS technique.The corresponding targets of effective components absorbed into blood from Hedysari Radix were screened by TCMSP and HERB databases.Targets of immune-related disease were obtained through DisGeNET,OMIM,TTD,and MalaCards databases.The network of"components absorbed into blood from Hedysari Radix-immune-related diseases"was then constructed.GO and KEGG enrichment analysis and mapped the PPI network were performed.Molecular docking and molecular dynamics techniques were applied for validation.Results A total of 8 prototype components absorbed into blood,synergistically acting on 101 targets,were identified by UPLC-MS/MS.They mediated 538 biological processes including immune response,positive regulation of gene expression,receptor binding,and cytokine activity.Meanuhile,116 signaling pathways,such as HIF-1,Toll-like receptor,JAK-STAT,T cell receptor,PI3K-Akt,and FoxO etc.were involved.The core targets were MAPK14,PTGS2,MMP9,PPARG,CCND1,etc..The results of molecular docking showed that formononetin and calycosin had strong docking binding activity with MAPK14.And molecular dynamics simulations further demonstrated that the binding between MAPK14 and formononetin or calycosin had good structural stability and binding affinity.Conclusion The results of serum pharmacochemistry,network pharmacology and molecular dynamics were verified to reveal the material basis and mechanism of Hedysari Radix in regulating immunity.The aim of this study is to provide scientific basis for its immunomodulatory mechanism.

DNMT3A encodes a DNA methyltransferase involved in development, cell differentiation, and gene transcription, which is mutated and aberrant-expressed in cancers. Here, we revealed that loss of DNMT3A promotes malignant phenotypes in lung cancer. Based on the epigenetic inhibitor library synthetic lethal screening, we found that small-molecule HDAC6 inhibitors selectively killed DNMT3A-defective NSCLC cells. Knockdown of HDAC6 by siRNAs reduced cell growth and induced apoptosis in DNMT3A-defective NSCLC cells. However, sensitive cells became resistant when DNMT3A was rescued. Furthermore, the selectivity to HDAC6 inhibition was recapitulated in mice, where an HDAC6 inhibitor retarded tumor growth established from DNMT3A-defective but not DNMT3A parental NSCLC cells. Mechanistically, DNMT3A loss resulted in the upregulation of HDAC6 through decreasing its promoter CpG methylation and enhancing transcription factor RUNX1 binding. Notably, our results indicated that HIF-1 pathway was activated in DNMT3A-defective cells whereas inactivated by HDAC6 inhibition. Knockout of HIF-1 contributed to the elimination of synthetic lethality between DNMT3A and HDAC6. Interestingly, HIF-1 pathway inhibitors could mimic the selective efficacy of HDAC6 inhibition in DNMT3A-defective cells. These results demonstrated HDAC6 as a HIF-1-dependent vulnerability of DNMT3A-defective cancers. Together, our findings identify HDAC6 as a potential HIF-1-dependent therapeutic target for the treatment of DNMT3A-defective cancers like NSCLC.

Malignant tumors are one of the main causes of human death worldwide and pose a serious threat to human health. The current treatment methods are mainly the combination of chemotherapeutics， surgery， radiotherapy， or hormone therapy. The treatment process has limitations such as multidrug resistance， non-selective targeting of cancer cells， and drug toxicity. With the development and application of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM）， Chinese medicine has the characteristics of multi-angle and multi-mechanism coordination and slight toxic and side effects. It can effectively inhibit tumor proliferation， differentiation， and metastasis， and avoid drug resistance， serving as the focus of current tumor treatment research. Hedysari Radix， one of the genuine medicinal materials in Gansu province， is a tonic Chinese medicine with a wide range of pharmacological effects such as anti-inflammation， immune regulation， anti-oxidation， prevention and treatment of diabetic complications. In the majority of the ancient works on herbs of the past dynasties， Hedysari Radix was included under the item of Astragali Radix and used as Astragali Radix. Hedysari Radix is superior to Astragali Radix in enhancing immunity， scavenging free radicals， and resisting liver fibrosis. Studies have found that the effective components of Hedysari Radix have a prominent anti-tumor effect and a significant inhibitory effect on various malignant tumors such as liver cancer， bladder cancer， gastric cancer， breast cancer， and colorectal cancer. They can also combine with clinical anti-cancer drugs to reduce the toxic and side effects of chemotherapy drugs and improve the tolerance of patients during chemotherapy. On the basis of current research， this study summarized the mechanism of Hedysari Radix active components in inducing cell apoptosis， blocking cell cycle， inhibiting tumor cell proliferation， migration， and invasion， regulating micro mRNA （miRNA）， inducing cell autophagy， enhancing immune regulation， as well as reducing toxicity and enhancing efficiency and sensitization with clinical chemotherapeutics， and systematically explained the anti-tumor mechanism of Hedysari Radix active components， aiming to provide a basic reference for the further exploration of the anti-tumor mechanism of Hedysari Radix and the further development and utilization of its effective components.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common pathological type of primary liver cancer, with high fatality rate. The pathogenesis of HCC is complex, and the specific occurrence and development mechanism is still in the exploratory stage. CircRNA is a special endogenous noncoding RNA and mainly participates in the regulation of gene expression at the transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. By regulating gene transcription, it acts as a molecular sponge of miRNA, participates in protein translation, and interacts with RNA binding protein (RBP). CircRNA is involved in the occurrence and development of HCC. Its abnormal expression in HCC cells is related to the pathological characteristics of HCC tissue, regulates the expression of downstream target genes, miRNA and proteins, participates in the proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis of HCC cells, and regulates tumor microenvironment and signal pathways, suggesting that circRNA may be a potential novel biomarker and therapeutic target for the diagnosis and prognosis of HCC. This paper reviews the biological mechanism of circRNA, its role in HCC, and research progress in diagnosis and treatment.

Qi-Yu-San-Long decoction(QYSLD)is a traditional Chinese medicine that has been clinically used in the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer(NSCLC)for more than 20 years.However,to date,metabolic-related studies on QYSLD have not been performed.In this study,a post-targeted screening strategy based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight full infor-mation tandem mass spectrometry(UPLC-QTOF-MSE)was developed to identify QYSLD-related xeno-biotics in rat urine.The chemical compound database of QYSLD constituents was established from previous research,and metabolites related to these compounds were predicted in combination with their possible metabolic pathways.The metabolites were identified by extracted ion chromatograms using predicted m/z values as well as retention time,excimer ions,and fragmentation behavior.Overall,85 QYSLD-related xenobiotics(20 prototype compounds and 65 metabolites)were characterized from rat urine.The main metabolic reactions and elimination features of QYSLD included oxidation,reduction,decarboxylation,hydrolysis,demethylation,glucuronidation,sulfation,methylation,deglycosylation,acetylation,and associated combination reactions.Of the identified molecules,14 prototype compounds and 58 metabolites were slowly eliminated,thus accumulating in vivo over an extended period,while five prototypes and two metabolites were present in vivo for a short duration.Furthermore,one pro-totype and five metabolites underwent the process of"appearing-disappearing-reappearing"in vivo.Overall,the metabolic profile and characteristics of QYSLD in rat urine were determined,which is useful in elucidating the active components of the decoction in vivo,thus providing the basis for studying its mechanism of action.

Objective:To evaluate the prognostic value of amplitude-integrated electroencephalogram(aEEG) on predicting long-term neurodevelopmental outcome of preterm infants.Methods:Literatures were searched in PubMed, the Cochrane library, Web of science, Wanfang database, CNKI and CBM database from inception to August, 2020.The studies which investigated the prognostic value of aEEG on neurodevelopmental outcome of preterm infants were included.Articles screening, data extraction and quality assessment were accomplished by two investigators independently, and statistical analyses were performed by Meta-disc1.4.Results:Six studies were included with 557 cases.The Meta-analysis revealed that the pooled sensitivity was 0.81 (95% CI 0.75-0.87), specificity was 0.68 (95% CI 0.63-0.73), positive likelihood ratio was 2.32(95% CI 1.52-3.52), negative likelihood ratio was 0.27(95% CI 0.19-0.37)and the area under the curve of summary receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.79(95% CI 0.75-0.82). Burst-suppression, continuous low voltage and flat trace were regard as a index of poor neurodevelopmental prognosis. Conclusion:aEEG is a valuable tool for predicting the outcome of long-term neurodevelopment in preterm infants.

Objective:To compare the efficacy of haplotype hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HIDT) and sibling matched hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (MSDT) in the treatment of complete remission (CR) acute T-lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) .Methods:We retrospectively analyzed the clinical characteristics and outcomes of 98 patients who underwent HSCT in Hebei Yanda Ludaopei hospital with HID ( n=81) or ISD ( n=17) between May 2012 and May 2016. Results:The incidence of grades 2-4 and 3-4 acute-versus-host disease 100 days after HSCT were 51.9% (95% Confidence interval [ CI] 42.0%-64.0%) vs 29.4% (95% CI 14.1%-61.4%) ( P=0.072) and 9.8% (95% CI 5.1%-19.1%) vs 11.8% (95% CI 3.2%-43.3%) ( P=1.000) for HIDT and MSDT. The 100-day cumulative incidences of CMV and EBV viremia were 53.1% (95% CI 43.3%-65.2%) vs 29.4% (95% CI 14.1%-61.4%) ( P=0.115) and 35.8% (95% CI 26.8%-47.9%) vs11.8% (95% CI 3.2%-43.3%) ( P=0.048) . The 5-year overall survival, leukemia-free survival, cumulative incidences of relapse, and no-relapse mortality were 60.5% (95% CI 5.4%-49.0%) vs 68.8% (95% CI 11.8%-40.0%) ( P=0.315) , 58.0% (95% CI 5.5%-46.5%) vs 68.8% (95% CI 11.8%-40.0%) ( P=0.258) , 16.1% (95% CI 9.8%-26.4%) vs 11.8% (95% CI 3.2%-43.3%) ( P=0.643) , 25.9% (95% CI 17.9%-37.5%) vs 19.4% (95% CI 6.9%-54.4%) ( P=0.386) for HIDT and MSDT, respectively. Conclusion:HID could be a valid alternative donor for patients with T-ALL in CR lacking an identical donor.

Objective:To study the clinical efficacy of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CART) treatment followed by a second allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) in patients with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who relapsed following the first HSCT.Methods:Retrospective analysis of the clinical characteristics and prognosis of 41 patients with B-cell ALL who received a second allo-HSCT from October 2015 to June 2020 in Hebei Yanda Lu Daopei Hospital. After the first HSCT, all patients received CD19-CART, or CD22-CART treatment following a relapse of bone marrow morphology or extramedullary leukemia.Results:A total of 41 patients (male, 21; female, 20) were included in this study. The median age at the second HSCT was 16 (3-46) years. There were 31 cases of bone marrow recurrence (75.6%) , 5 cases of extramedullary recurrence (12.2%) , and 5 cases of bone marrow and extramedullary recurrences (12.2%) . After relapse, 35 patients (85.4%) received CD19-CART treatment, 2 patients received CD22-CART treatment (4.9%) , and 4 patients received CD19-CART and CD22-CART treatments (9.8%) . The expected 3-year overall survival (OS) , leukemia-free survival, cumulative relapse incidence, and non-relapse mortality (NRM) of patients after the second HSCT were 48.9% (95% CI 23.0%-70.6%) , 41.8% (95% CI 17.3%-64.9%) , 8.8% (95% CI 2.9%-26.4%) , and 51.1% (95% CI 31.2%-83.6%) , respectively. The 1-year OS of patients who relapsed ≤6 months and >6 months after the first HSCT were 45.0% (95% CI 12.7%-73.5%) and 75.0% (95% CI 51.4% -88.8%) ( P=0.017) , respectively. Conclusion:CART bridging in the second HSCT enables some B-cell ALL patients who relapsed after the first HSCT to achieve long-term survival. However, because of the high NRM, further modifications could help improve the outcome.