Identification of disease-specific cell subtypes (DSCSs) has profound implications for understanding disease mechanisms, preoperative diagnosis, and precision therapy. However, achieving unified annotation of DSCSs in heterogeneous single-cell datasets remains a challenge. In this study, we developed the gPRINT algorithm (generalized approach for cell subtype identification with single cell's voicePRINT). Inspired by the principles of speech recognition in noisy environments, gPRINT transforms gene position and gene expression information into voiceprints based on ordered and clustered gene expression phenomena, obtaining unique "gene print" patterns for each cell. Then, we integrated neural networks to mitigate the impact of background noise on cell identity label mapping. We demonstrated the reproducibility of gPRINT across different donors, single-cell sequencing platforms, and disease subtypes, and its utility for automatic cell subtype annotation across datasets. Moreover, gPRINT achieved higher annotation accuracy of 98.37% when externally validated based on the same tissue, surpassing other algorithms. Furthermore, this approach has been applied to fibrosis-associated diseases in multiple tissues throughout the body, as well as to the annotation of fibroblast subtypes in a single tissue, tendon, where fibrosis is prevalent. We successfully achieved automatic prediction of tendinopathy-specific cell subtypes, key targets, and related drugs. In summary, gPRINT provides an automated and unified approach for identifying DSCSs across datasets, facilitating the elucidation of specific cell subtypes under different disease states and providing a powerful tool for exploring therapeutic targets in diseases.
Humans ; Algorithms ; Single-Cell Analysis ; Databases, Genetic ; Molecular Sequence Annotation

This study aims to investigate the antipyretic effects and mechanisms of ethanol extracts from Arisaematis Rhizoma fermented with bile from different sources on a rat model of fever induced by a dry-yeast suspension. The rat model of fever was established by subcutaneous injection of 20% dry-yeast suspension into the rat back. The levels of tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), interleukin-1β(IL-1β), interleukin-6(IL-6) in the serum, as well as prostaglandin E_2(PGE_2) and cyclic adenosine monophosphate(cAMP) in the hypothalamus, were determined by ELISA. Metabolomics analysis was then performed on serum and hypothalamus samples based on UPLC-Q-TOF MS to explore the potential biomarkers and metabolic pathways. The results showed that the body temperatures of rats significantly rose 4 h after modeling. After oral administration of high-dose ethanol extracts of Arisaematis Rhizoma fermented with bovine bile(NCH) and porcine bile(ZCH), the body temperatures of rats declined(P<0.05), and the NCH group showed better antipyretic effect than the ZCH group. Additionally, compared with the model group, the NCH and ZCH groups showed lowered levels of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, PGE_2, and cAMP(P<0.01). The results of serum and hypothalamus metabolomics analysis indicated that both NCH and ZCH exerted antipyretic effects by regulating phenylalanine metabolism, sphingolipid metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, and steroid hormone biosynthesis. Collectively, both NCH and ZCH can play an obvious antipyretic role in the rat model of dry yeast-induced fever, and the underlying mechanism might be closely associated with inhibiting inflammation and regulating metabolic disorders. Moreover, NCH demonstrates better antipyretic effect.
Animals ; Rats ; Male ; Fermentation ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rhizome/metabolism* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Bile/chemistry* ; Antipyretics/chemistry* ; Fever/metabolism* ; Cattle ; Swine ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/metabolism* ; Ethanol/chemistry* ; Interleukin-6/blood* ; Interleukin-1beta/blood*

This study aimed to characterize and identify the non-volatile components in aqueous and ethanolic extracts of the stems and leaves of Rhododendron tomentosum by using sensitive and efficient ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry(UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS) combined with a self-built information database. By comparing with reference compounds, analyzing fragment ion information, searching relevant literature, and using a self-built information database, 118 compounds were identified from the aqueous and ethanolic extracts of R. tomentosum, including 35 flavonoid glycosides, 15 phenolic glycosides, 12 flavonoids, 7 phenolic acids, 7 phenylethanol glycosides, 6 tannins, 6 phospholipids, 5 coumarins, 5 monoterpene glycosides, 6 triterpenes, 3 fatty acids, and 11 other types of compounds. Among them, 102 compounds were reported in R. tomentosum for the first time, and 36 compounds were identified by comparing them with reference compounds. The chemical components in the ethanolic and aqueous extracts of R. tomentosum leaves and stems showed slight differences, with 84 common chemical components accounting for 71.2% of the total 118 compounds. This study systematically characterized and identified the non-volatile chemical components in the ethanolic and aqueous extracts of R. tomentosum for the first time. The findings provide a reference for active ingredient research, quality control, and product development of R. tomentosum.
Rhododendron/chemistry* ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid/methods* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Mass Spectrometry/methods* ; Plant Leaves/chemistry*

Glycoengineering was carried out in the mammalian cell line CHO for the production of pro-tein-based drugs.Firstly,the genome sequence of the Rosa26 locus of CHO cells was determined,the gRNA sequences were designed,and the landing pad was integrated into the Rosa26 locus of CHO cells by CRISPR/Cas9 technology.Three targeting vectors co-expressed by glycosyltransferases,which are β-1,4 galactosyltransferase(B4GALT1),α-2,6-sialyltransferase 1(ST6GAL1)and N-acetaminoglycosyl-transferase Ⅲ(GnT Ⅲ),were constructed by overlapping PCR and seamless ligation technology,and the three glycosyltransferase genes were integrated into the CHO Rosa26 locus by Cre enzyme-mediated cassette exchange technology.PCR confirmed that three glycosyltransferases had been successfully site-directed integrated into the Rosa26 site.The mRNA expression levels of the three glycosyltransferases were more than 50 000-fold by qRT-PCR,and the protein expression levels of the three glycosyltrans-ferases were more than 4-fold via western blotting(P＜0.001).A CHO-engineered cell line with three glycosyltransferases integrated into Rosa26 site was successfully constructed.

Glycoengineering was carried out in the mammalian cell line CHO for the production of pro-tein-based drugs.Firstly,the genome sequence of the Rosa26 locus of CHO cells was determined,the gRNA sequences were designed,and the landing pad was integrated into the Rosa26 locus of CHO cells by CRISPR/Cas9 technology.Three targeting vectors co-expressed by glycosyltransferases,which are β-1,4 galactosyltransferase(B4GALT1),α-2,6-sialyltransferase 1(ST6GAL1)and N-acetaminoglycosyl-transferase Ⅲ(GnT Ⅲ),were constructed by overlapping PCR and seamless ligation technology,and the three glycosyltransferase genes were integrated into the CHO Rosa26 locus by Cre enzyme-mediated cassette exchange technology.PCR confirmed that three glycosyltransferases had been successfully site-directed integrated into the Rosa26 site.The mRNA expression levels of the three glycosyltransferases were more than 50 000-fold by qRT-PCR,and the protein expression levels of the three glycosyltrans-ferases were more than 4-fold via western blotting(P＜0.001).A CHO-engineered cell line with three glycosyltransferases integrated into Rosa26 site was successfully constructed.

Objective:To establish a mesenchymal stem cell(MSC)-based in vitro cell model for the evaluation of mouse bone marrow acute graft-versus-host disease(aGVHD).Methods:Female C57BL/6N mice aged 6-8 weeks were used as bone marrow and lymphocyte donors,and female BALB/c mice aged 6-8 weeks were used as aGVHD recipients.The recipient mouse received a lethal dose(8.0 Gy,72.76 cGy/min)of total body γ irradiation,and injected with donor mouse derived bone marrow cells(1× 107/mouse)in 6-8 hours post irradiation to establish a bone marrow transplantation(BMT)mouse model(n=20).In addition,the recipient mice received a lethal dose(8.0 Gy,72.76 cGy/min)of total body γ irradiation,and injected with donor mouse derived bone marrow cells(1 × 107/mouse)and spleen lymphocytes(2 × 106/mouse)in 6-8 hours post irradiation to establish a mouse aGVHD model(n=20).On the day 7 after modeling,the recipient mice were anesthetized and the blood was harvested post eyeball enucleation.The serum was collected by centrifugation.Mouse MSCs were isolated and cultured with the addition of 2％,5％,and 10％recipient serum from BMT group or aGVHD group respectively.The colony-forming unit-fibroblast(CFU-F)experiment was performed to evaluate the potential effects of serums on the self-renewal ability of MSC.The expression of CD29 and CD105 of MSC was evaluated by immunofluorescence staining.In addition,the expression of self-renewal-related genes including Oct-4,Sox-2,and Nanog in MSC was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR(RT-qPCR).Results:We successfully established an in vitro cell model that could mimic the bone marrow microenvironment damage of the mouse with aGVHD.CFU-F assay showed that,on day 7 after the culture,compared with the BMT group,MSC colony formation ability of aGVHD serum concentrations groups of 2％and 5％was significantly reduced(P＜0.05);after the culture,at day 14,compared with the BMT group,MSC colony formation ability in different aGVHD serum concentration was significantly reduced(P＜0.05).The immunofluorescence staining showed that,compared with the BMT group,the proportion of MSC surface molecules CD29+and CD 105+cells was significantly dereased in the aGVHD serum concentration group(P＜0.05),the most significant difference was at a serum concentration of 10％(P＜0.001,P＜0.01).The results of RT-qPCR detection showed that the expression of the MSC self-renewal-related genes Oct-4,Sox-2,and Nanog was decreased,the most significant difference was observed at an aGVHD serum concentration of 10％(P＜0.01,P＜0.001,P＜0.001).Conclusion:By co-culturing different concentrations of mouse aGVHD serum and mouse MSC,we found that the addition of mouse aGVHD serum at different concentrations impaired the MSC self-renewal ability,which providing a new tool for the field of aGVHD bone marrow microenvironment damage.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the causes of graft loss in kidney transplant recipients. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 135 recipients with graft loss after renal transplantation in the Eighth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital from January 1, 2002 to January 1, 2022. RESULTS: A total of 135 kidney transplant recipients experienced graft failure. The causes of graft loss included graft rejection (70 cases, 51.8%), death of the recipients with functional graft (37 cases, 27.4%), surgical complications (12 cases, 8.9%), drug toxicity (4 cases, 3.0%), carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae infection (4 cases, 3.0%), polyoma BK virus-related nephropathy (3 cases, 2.2%), primary nonfunctioning kidney (2 cases, 1.5%), recurrence of primary disease (2 cases, 1.5%), and prerenal acute renal failure (1 case, 0.7%). CONCLUSION The main cause of graft loss after renal transplantation is graft rejection, and the secondary cause is death of the recipient with functional graft, and other reasons can be rare.
Humans ; Graft Rejection ; Kidney Transplantation/adverse effects* ; Retrospective Studies

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological features, treatment and prognosis of maxillofacial neuroendocrine carcinoma. Methods: A total of 11 patients with maxillofacial neuroendocrine carcinoma diagnosed in the Department of Pathology of The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from December 2010 to July 2022 were retrospectively enrolled, including 8 males and 3 females, aged (65.2±9.5) years (ranged from 49 to 87 years), with a disease course of 0.5 to 6.0 months. The clinicopathological data including head and neck CT, MRI and treatment methods were analyzed. Results: Submandibular gland and maxilla were involved in 3 cases, parapharynx in 2 cases, and face, tongue root and soft palate in 1 case respectively. Clinically, the initial symptom is a rapidly growing painless or tender mass, which may be accompanied by restricted mouth opening, dysphagia, and local numbness after invasion of masticatory muscles and nerves. The tumors were all invasive and low-density, with unclear boundaries from the surrounding tissues. Among the patients, 9 received surgical treatment, and 5 received adjuvant treatment after surgery (2 received chemotherapy, 3 received radiotherapy+chemotherapy). According to the 5th edition of the World Health Organization classification of head and neck tumors in 2022, there were 1 case (1/11) with poorly differentiated large cells and 10 cases (10/11) with poorly differentiated small cells. Histologically, the macrocell type is composed of large cells with rough chromatin, obvious vacuolar nucleolus, protruding nucleolus, and necrosis. The small cell type is dominated by small blue round cells with neuroendocrine characteristics, with active growth and multifocal necrosis. Immunohistochemical staining showed that cytokeratin (CK), epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) and synaptophysin (Syn) were diffusively expressed, 10 cases expressed CD56, 8 cases expressed p63, 6 cases expressed weakly punctated chromograin-A (CgA), and S-100 was not expressed. The Ki-67 index ranges from 20 to 90 percent. By the end of follow-up (0.5 to 127.0 months), 3 patients were alive, and the mean progression-free survival (21.0 months) of postoperative chemoradiotherapy patients was significantly longer than that of surgery and/or chemotherapy alone (3.3 months). Conclusions: Maxillofacial neuroendocrine carcinoma is characterized by low differentiation of small cells, high degree of malignancy and poor prognosis. Radical surgery combined with chemoradiotherapy has better local control effect.
Male ; Female ; Humans ; Carcinoma, Small Cell/therapy* ; Retrospective Studies ; Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine/pathology* ; Prognosis ; Tongue

Nuclear transporter importin-β1 is emerging as an attractive target by virtue of its prevalence in many cancers. However, the lack of druggable inhibitors restricts its therapeutic proof of concept. In the present work, we optimized a natural importin-β1 inhibitor DD1 to afford an improved analog DD1-Br with better tolerability (>25 folds) and oral bioavailability. DD1-Br inhibited the survival of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) cells with sub-nanomolar potency and completely prevented tumor growth in resistant CRPC models both in monotherapy (0.5 mg/kg) and in enzalutamide-combination therapy. Mechanistic study revealed that by targeting importin-β1, DD1-Br markedly inhibited the nuclear accumulation of multiple CRPC drivers, particularly AR-V7, a main contributor to enzalutamide resistance, leading to the integral suppression of downstream oncogenic signaling. This study provides a promising lead for CRPC and demonstrates the potential of overcoming drug resistance in advanced CRPC via targeting importin-β1.

Aim To explore the effects of NaAsO