OBJECTIVES: To investigate the inhibitory effect of multimerin-2 (MMRN2) overexpression on growth and metastasis of cutaneous melanoma cells. METHODS: Clinical data of patients with cutaneous melanoma were obtained from the GEO database to compare MMRN2 expressions between normal and tumor tissues. A protein-protein interaction network was constructed using the STRING database, and the intersecting genes from GEPIA2.0 were subjected to GO and KEGG enrichment analysis. The prognostic relevance of MMRN2 expression level was assessed using Cox regression and "timeROC". The correlations of MMRN2 expression level with immune infiltration and angiogenesis-related genes were analyzed using GSCA database and the ssGSEA algorithm. Colony-forming assay, Transwell assay, and wound healing assay were used to examine the changes in proliferation and migration of cultured cutaneous melanoma cells following MMRN2 knockdown. In a mouse model bearing cutaneous melanoma xenograft, the effect of MMRN2 knockdown on vital organ pathologies, survival of the mice and GM-CSF, CXCL9, and TGF‑β1 protein expressions were analyzed. RESULTS: MMRN2 was significantly upregulated in metastatic cutaneous melanoma (P<0.001). Protein interaction network analysis identified 15 intersecting genes, which were enriched in endothelium development and cell-cell junctions. In patients with cutaneous melanoma, a high MMRN2 expression was correlated with a poor prognosis, an advanced T stage, a greater Breslow depth, and ulceration (P<0.05). MMRN2 expression level was strongly correlated with 24 immune cell types (P<0.001), fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and expressions of the pro-angiogenic genes (KCNJ8, SLCO2A1, NRP1, and COL3A1; P<0.001). In cultured B16F10 cells, MMRN2 knockdown significantly suppressed cell proliferation, migration and invasion and caused remo-deling of the immunosuppressive microenvironment. CONCLUSIONS MMRN2 overexpression drives progression of cutaneous melanoma by enhancing tumor metastasis, angiogenesis and immune evasion, highlighting its potential as a therapeutic target for melanomas.
Humans ; Melanoma/metabolism* ; Animals ; Cell Movement ; Prognosis ; Skin Neoplasms/metabolism* ; Mice ; Cell Proliferation ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Protein Interaction Maps

Objective To establish normal reference values for left ventricular trabecular and papillary muscle mass(TPMM)in Chinese adults using MRI and to explore its impact factors.Methods A total of 168 healthy Chinese adults were retrospectively included,and compacted and total left ventricular myocardial mass(LVM)were measured using traditional and dedicated methods,respectively.TPMM was calculated from the difference between total and compacted LVM.Independent sample t-tests and analysis of variance were used to explore the differences in TPMM among genders and age groups,while multiple linear regression was used to explore the independent correlation between TPMM and age,gender,heart rate,systolic blood pressure(SBP),fasting blood glucose(FBG),and body mass index(BMI).Results TPMM for men was significantly larger than that for female(P<0.001).TPMM in the elderly group was significantly larger in female(P<0.05),but not in men.Multiple linear regression showed that BMI and SBP were both independently positively correlated with TPMM,and female and heart rate were independently negatively correlated with TPMM(P<0.05).Conclusion This study provides age-and gender-specific normal reference values for TPMM in Chinese adults.Gender,heart rate,BMI,and SBP are all independently associated with TPMM.

BACKGROUND:In recent years,research on the interaction mechanism between the immune system and the skeleton in postmenopausal osteoporosis has become a hot topic.However,the impact of changes in key immune-related cytokine expression on postmenopausal osteoporosis remains unclear and requires further exploration. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the differential expression of immune-related cytokines in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells of mice with postmenopausal osteoporosis by bioinformatics methods. METHODS:Postmenopausal osteoporosis mouse model was established through ovariectomy.Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells were obtained by the whole bone marrow adherence method and passaged to passage 2.RayBio L-Series Mouse Antibody Array 308 Glass Slide Kit immune-related factor antibody chip was used to detect the differentially expressed proteins in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells from ovariectomy and sham-operation mice.Gene ontology,Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis,and protein-protein interaction network analysis were performed to screen common Hub genes by MCC,EPC,and MNC algorithms. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:This study identified a total of 68 differentially expressed genes.Gene ontology analysis revealed that the differentially expressed genes were enriched in terms including"immune system processes","extracellular regions",and"signal receptor binding".Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis revealed that the differentially expressed genes were mainly enriched in"cytokine-cytokine receptor interactions","tumor necrosis factor signaling pathways",and"chemokine signaling pathways".Further screening was performed by constructing a protein-protein interaction network analysis of these 68 differentially expressed genes to identify 8 Hub genes.The violin plot and correlation matrix showed that the expression levels of these 8 Hub genes were significantly down-regulated in the ovariectomy group compared to the sham-operation group.These results demonstrated that there was differential expression of immune-related factors in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells of postmenopausal osteoporosis mice,and key genes involved in cytokine-cytokine receptor interactions,immune system-related processes,and potential targeted signaling pathways and cellular biological processes were identified,providing new promising targets for the diagnosis,treatment,and prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis.

Objective:To investigate long-term auditory changes and characteristics of Alport syndrome（AS） patients with different degrees of renal injury. Methods:Retrospectively analyzing clinical data of patients diagnosed AS from January 2007 to September 2022, including renal pathology, genetic detection and hearing examination. A long-term follow-up focusing on hearing and renal function was conducted. Results:This study included 70 AS patients, of which 33（25 males, 8 females, aged 3.4-27.8 years） were followed up, resulting in a loss rate of 52.9%.The follow-up period ranged from 1.1to 15.8 years, with 16 patients followed-up for over 10 years. During the follow-up, 10 patients presenting with hearing abnormalities at the time of diagnosis of AS had progressive hearing loss, and 3 patients with new hearing abnormalities were followed up, which appeared at 5-6 years of disease course. All of which were sensorineural deafness. While only 3 patients with hearing abnormalities among 13 patients received hearing aid intervention. Of these patients,7 developed end-stage renal disease（ESRD）, predominantly males （6/7）. The rate of long-term hearing loss was significantly different between ESRD group and non-ESRD group（P=0.013）. There was no correlation between the progression of renal disease and long-term hearing level（P>0.05）. kidney biopsies from 28 patients revealed varying degrees of podocyte lesion and uneven thickness of basement membrane. The severity of podocyte lesion was correlated with the rate of long-term hearing loss（P=0.048）, and there was no correlation with the severity of hearing loss（P>0.05）. Among 11 cases, theCOL4A5mutationwas most common （8 out of 11）, but there was no significant correlation between the mutation type and hearing phenotype（P>0.05）. Conclusion:AS patients exhibit progressive hearing loss with significant heterogeneity over the long-term.. THearing loss is more likely to occur 5-6 years into the disease course. Hearing abnormalities are closely related to renal disease status, kidney tissue pathology, and gene mutations, emphasizing the need for vigilant long-term hearing follow-up and early intervention.
Male ; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Nephritis, Hereditary/pathology* ; Retrospective Studies ; Kidney ; Deafness ; Hearing Loss/genetics* ; Kidney Failure, Chronic/pathology* ; Mutation

OBJECTIVE To establish the HPLC fingerprint and content determination of five components in Ranunculus sceleratus L.. METHODS The separation was developed on an Agilent ZORBAX SB C18 chromatographic (4.6 mm×250 mm, 5 μm)column by gradient elution with methanol(A)-0.1 % phosphoric acid aqueous solution(B) as mobile phase to establish HPLC fingerprint of Ranunculus sceleratus L.. Combined with similarity evaluation, cluster analysis, principal component analysis, and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis, the quality of 13 batches of Ranunculus sceleratus L. was evaluated. RESULTS Thirteen batches of Ranunculus sceleratus L. samples were calibrated with 20 common peaks, of which 5 common peaks were identified, and the similarity ranged from 0.874 to 0.984. The results of cluster analysis and principal component analysis were basically the same, indicating that there might be differences in the content of chemical components of Ranunculus sceleratus L. in different regions. Protocatechuic aldehyde, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, hyperoside and isoquercitrin were determined in thirteen batches of Ranunculus sceleratus L., and their contents were 0.016−0.035, 0.010−0.070, 0.010−0.029, 0.016−0.051, 0.028−0.086 mg·g–1, respectively. CONCLUSION The established HPLC fingerprint and content determination method is simple, stable, and reliable, which can be used for qualitative analysis and provide reference to quality evaluation and resource utilization of Ranunculus sceleratus L..

Objective:To investigate the application value of optical coherence tomography (OCT) and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) in evaluating flow diverter (FD) apposition and endothelialization in aneurysm animal models, and analyze the effect of incomplete stent apposition (ISA) on aneurysm lumen healing and stent endothelialization.Methods:Lateral common carotid artery aneurysm models in swines were established by surgical method and then FD was implanted. Immediately after surgery, OCT and IVUS were used to evaluate the locations and degrees of ISA, and difference between these 2 methods in evaluating FD apposition was compared. DSA was performed at 12 weeks after surgery to evaluate the aneurysm occlusion (Kamran grading) and stent patency. OCT and IVUS were used again to observe the stent endothelial situation; by comparing with histopathologic results, effect of ISA on aneurysm healing and stent endothelialization was analyzed.Results:Lateral common carotid artery aneurysm models in 6 swines were established, and 6 Tubridge FDs were successfully implanted. Compared with IVUS (3 stents, 4 locus), OCT could detect more ISA (6 stents, 14 locus); and the vascular diameter change area (7 locus), aneurysm neck area (4 locus) and the head and tail of FD (3 locus) were the main sites of FD malapposition; average distance between stent wire and vessel wall was (560.14±101.48) μm. At 12 weeks after surgery, DSA showed that 1 patient had a little residual contrast agent at the aneurysm neck (Kamran grading 3), and the remaining 5 had complete aneurysm occlusion (Kamran grading 4). One FD had moderate lumen stenosis, and the other 5 FDs had lumen patency. OCT indicated mostly disappeared acute ISA; ISA proportion decreased to 21.4 % (3/14), including 2 in the aneurysm neck and 1 in the partial stent. Histopathological results showed bare stent woven silk, without obvious endothelial coverage; in one FD with luminal stenosis, intimal hyperplasia was mainly composed of vascular smooth muscle cells.Conclusion:In carotid artery aneurysm model with FD implantation, OCT can detect more ISA than IVUS; most acute ISA have good outcome at 12 th week of follow-up, while severe ISA can cause delayed FD endothelialization and delayed aneurysm occlusion.

【Objective】 To analyze the association between the composition of gut microbiota and blood pressure in children aged 6 - 9 years, in order to provide new ideas for childhood hypertension prevention and treatment. 【Methods】 A total of 411 children aged 6 - 9 years were recruited in Guangzhou from December 2015 to March 2017. The gut microbiota was characterized by 16S ribosomal RNA amplicon sequencing. The multivariate methods with unbiased variable selection in R (MUVR) were performed to identify the significant OTUs. Spearman correlation as well as multiple linear regression were used to explore the relationship between gut microbiota and blood pressure in children. 【Results】 Significant difference in β diversity index was observed between children with normal blood pressure and those with abnormal blood pressure (R²weighted=0.015,Pweighted=0.01; R²unweighted=0.027, Punweighted=0.001). After adjustment for covariates and controlling the false discovery rate (FDR), multiple linear regression analysis showed that blood pressure level in children decreased with the increasing abundance of OTU_3 (genus Blautia), OTU_131 (genus [Clostridium]_innocuum_group), OTU_1776 (genus Blautia), OTU_2159 (genus Prevotella) and OTU_91 (species Bifidobacterium_breve) (β:-0.18 --0.14; PFDR<0.05. In contrast, blood pressure in children increased with the increasing abundance of OTU_108(genus Sutterella), OTU_1(species Faecalibacterium_prausnitzii)、OTU_8(genus Roseburia), OTU_48 (genus Lachnoclostridium), OTU_81 (genus Coprococcus), OTU_401 (family Lachnospiraceae), OTU_1284 (family Lachnospiraceae) and OTU_2793 (family Lachnospiraceae)(β: 0.14 - 0.21; PFDR<0.05. The influence of gut microbiota on systolic pressure and diastolic pressure may be mediated by the increase of body mass index (BMI). 【Conclusions】 Pediatric blood pressure level is associated with the composition of gut microbiota, while BMI partially plays a mediating role in the relationship. It is recommended to modulate the abundance of microbiota as genus Blautia, Sutterella and so on to prevent hypertension in children.

Objective To investigate the effect of the aqueous extract of Chuan Xiong Rhizoma(CR)on brain metastasis of melanoma B16F10 cells in mice.Methods C57BL/6J mouse models of brain metastasis of melanoma were established by ultrasound-guided intraventricular injection of Luc-labeled B16F10 cells,and brain tumor growth was monitored by in vivo imaging.The mouse models were then randomized for daily gavage of saline or aqueous extract of CR(equivalent crude drug concentration of 1 mg/g).Behavioral tests were used to evaluate the neuroprotective effects of CR in the tumor-bearing mice,and the changes in proteins associated with blood-brain barrier integrity,neuronal cell proliferation and apoptosis,and microglial cell apoptosis and activation were observed using immunofluorescence assay.The efficacy of CR combined with temozolomide(25 mg/kg)against brain metastases of B16F10 cells was observed by in vivo imaging.Results CR-treated mouse models did not show obvious progression of brain metastases and had a reduced rate of body weight loss and lowered protein expressions of ZO-1,claudin-5,occludin,P-gp,TNF-α,AQP4 and PDGFRβ.In the behavioral tests,the CR-treated mice showed prolonged stay on the wooden stick with a shortened time of sticky stick removal.Immunofluorescence assay showed increased proliferation and decreased apoptosis of neuronal cells and microglia in CR-treated mice.CR treatment significantly increased the levels of CD86,CD206,IL-4 and IL-10 and decreased the levels of CD163 and IL-1β in the microenvironment of brain metastases.The mice receiving combined treatments with CR and temozolomide showed significantly lower intensity of fluorescent signals in the brain than those treated with temozolomide alone.Conclusion CR does not promote brain metastasis of melanoma while inducing opening of the blood-brain barrier,and its combined use with TMZ results in enhanced inhibition against brain metastasis of melanoma B16F10 cells in mice.

Objective To investigate the effect of Euphorbia helioscopia on biological behaviors of non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC)cells.Methods NSCLC cell lines PC-9 and A549 treated with different concentrations of Euphorbia helioscopia preparations were examined for changes in proliferation,apoptosis,invasion and migration using CCK-8 assay,colony formation assay,flow cytometry,wound healing assay and Transwell assay.Western blotting was performed to detect the changes in protein expressions of Bax,Bcl-2,E-cadherin,vimentin,MMP2,and MMP9 in the treated cells.PC-9 cells were injected subcutaneously into BALB/C nude mice to establish a nude mouse subcutaneous tumor model.According to the growth of subcutaneous tumors,mice were randomly divided into control group:gavaged daily with saline;Euphorbia helioscopia-treated group:gavaged daily with Euphorbia helioscopia 65 mg/mL,and Euphorbia helioscopia granules were dissolved in saline;cisplatin-treated group:injected intraperitoneally with cisplatin 4 mg/kg every 5 days,6 mice per group.The subcutaneous tumor volume and mass changes of mice were measured,and the toxic effects of Euphorbia helioscopia on heart,liver,spleen,lung and kidney as well as the therapeutic effects of Euphorbia helioscopia were observed in the mice bearing tumor.Results Euphorbia helioscopia granules concentration-dependently inhibited the proliferation and survival of PC-9 and A549 cells,significantly promoted cell apoptosis,suppressed invasion and migration abilities of the cells,up-regulated the expression levels of E-cadherin and Bax,and down-regulated the expressions of Bcl-2,vimentin,MMP2,and MMP9.In the tumor-bearing mice,treatment with Euphorbia helioscopia significantly inhibited tumor growth without producing obvious toxicity in the vital organs.Conclusion Euphorbia helioscopia can inhibit proliferation,invasion,and migration and induces apoptosis of NSCLC cells in vitro.

Objective To investigate the inhibitory effect of aumolertinib combined with anlotinib on proliferation of non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC)cells.Methods CCK-8 assay,colony formation assay,and flow cytometry were used to assess the effect of different concentrations of aumolertinib or anlotinib on proliferation,survival,and apoptosis of PC-9 and HCC827 cells,and their synergistic effect was evaluated using the SynergyFinder model.In PC-9 and HCC827 cells treated with aumolertinib combined with anlotinib,the changes in cell invasion and migration abilities were assessed with Transwell assay,and the expressions of apoptosis-and invasion/migration-related proteins(Bax,Bcl-2,E-cadherin,vimentin,MMP2,and MMP9)and the key PI3K-Akt pathway proteins were detected using Western blotting.Results In PC-9 cells,the IC50 of aumolertinib and anlotinib was 1.701 μmol/L and 4.979 μmol/L,respectively,with a synergy score(ZIP)of 19.112;in HCC827 cells,their IC50 was 2.961 μmol/L and 7.934 μmol/L,respectively,with a ZIP of 12.325.Compared with aumolertinib and anlotinib used alone,their combined treatment more strongly inhibited the proliferation and survival,enhanced apoptosis and suppressed invasion and migration abilities of PC-9 and HCC827 cells.Western blotting showed that in both PC-9 and HCC827 cells,the combined treatment significantly upregulated the expressions of E-cadherin and Bax proteins,downregulated the expressions of Bcl-2,vimentin,MMP2,and MMP9 proteins,and reduced phosphorylation levels of PI3K and Akt.Conclusion Aumolertinib combined with anlotinib can effectively inhibit NSCLC cell proliferation by downregulating the PI3K-Akt pathway,suggesting a potentially new option for NSCLC treatment.