1.Ziyuglycoside II suppressed the progression of osteosarcoma by coordinating estrogen-related receptor gamma and p53 signaling pathway.
Hang DU ; Dongjin WU ; Tianyu ZHANG ; Ying ZHONG ; Kaiyi WU ; Xin GUO ; Lisong SHENG ; Nana HUANG ; Chunzheng GAO ; Rong SUN
Chinese Journal of Natural Medicines (English Ed.) 2025;23(3):354-367
Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most prevalent primary malignant bone tumor affecting children and adolescents. Despite ongoing research efforts, the 5-year survival rate has remained stagnant for many years, highlighting the critical need for novel drug development to enhance current treatment protocols. Ziyuglycoside II (ZYG II), a triterpenoid saponin extracted from S. officinalis, has recently demonstrated antitumor properties. This study evaluates the antitumor effect of ZYG II on osteosarcoma and elucidates its mechanism of action through the co-regulation of p53 and estrogen-related receptor gamma (ESRRG), which inhibits disease progression. The research employs in vitro experiments using multiple established osteosarcoma cell lines, as well as in vivo studies utilizing a nude mouse model of orthotopic xenograft osteosarcoma. Additionally, ESRRG shRNA was used to construct stable ESRRG-reducing OS cell lines to investigate the molecular mechanism by which ZYG II exerts its anti-osteosarcoma effects through the co-regulation of ESRRG and p53. Results indicate that ZYG II administration led to decreased OS cell viability and reduced tumor volumes. Furthermore, cell cycles were arrested at the G0/G1 phase, while the proportion of apoptotic cells increased. Expression of p53, ESRRG, p21, Bax, Cleaved Caspase-9, and Cleaved Caspase-3 proteins increased, while expression of CDK4, Cyclin D1, and Bcl-2 proteins decreased. Multiple ZYG II and ESRRG docking patterns were simulated through molecular docking. Comparing the pharmacodynamic response of ZYG II to OS cell lines with reduced ESRRG and normal expression demonstrated that ZYG II inhibits osteosarcoma progression, induces cell cycle arrest, and promotes cell apoptosis through the coordination of p53 and ESRRG. In conclusion, ZYG II inhibits osteosarcoma progression, leads to cell cycle arrest, and promotes cell apoptosis through synergistic regulation of p53 and ESRRG.
Osteosarcoma/physiopathology*
;
Tumor Suppressor Protein p53/genetics*
;
Humans
;
Animals
;
Saponins/chemistry*
;
Bone Neoplasms/physiopathology*
;
Signal Transduction/drug effects*
;
Cell Line, Tumor
;
Mice, Nude
;
Mice
;
Apoptosis/drug effects*
;
Receptors, Estrogen/genetics*
;
Mice, Inbred BALB C
;
Female
;
Male
;
Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays
2.Curative Efficacy Analysis of Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Acute Myeloid Leukemia with ASXL1 Mutation.
Ya-Jie SHI ; Xin-Sheng XIE ; Zhong-Xing JIANG ; Ding-Ming WAN ; Rong GUO ; Tao LI ; Xia ZHANG ; Xue LI ; Yu-Pei ZHANG ; Yue SU
Journal of Experimental Hematology 2025;33(3):720-725
OBJECTIVE:
To explore the efficacy and apoptosis of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with ASXL1 mutation.
METHODS:
The clinical data of 80 AML patients with ASXL1 mutation treated in our hospital from January 2019 to December 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. The clinical characteristics of the patients were summarized, and the therapeutic effect and prognostic factors of allo-HSCT for the patients were analyzed.
RESULTS:
Among the 80 patients, 38 were males and 42 were females, and the median age was 39(14-65) years. There were 17 patients in low-risk group, 25 patients in medium-risk group and 38 patients in high-risk group. ASXL1 mutation co-occurred with many other gene mutations, and the frequent mutated genes were TET2 (71.25%), NRAS (18.75%), DNMT3A (16.25%), NPM1 (15.00%), CEBPA (13.75%). Among medium and high-risk patients, 29 underwent allo-HSCT, while 34 received chemotherapy. The 2-year overall survival (OS) rate and disease-free survival (DFS) rate of the allo-HSCT group were 72.4% and 70.2%, while those of the chemotherapy group were 44.1% and 34.0%, respectively. The statistical analysis showed significant differences between the two groups (both P < 0.01). Multivariate analysis showed that age at transplantation >50- years and occurrence of acute graft-versus-host disease after transplantation were poor prognostic factors for OS and DFS in transplantation patients.
CONCLUSION
Allo-HSCT can improve the prognosis of AML patients with ASXL1 mutation.
Humans
;
Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/therapy*
;
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
;
Female
;
Male
;
Middle Aged
;
Mutation
;
Adult
;
Repressor Proteins/genetics*
;
Adolescent
;
Retrospective Studies
;
Aged
;
Nucleophosmin
;
Young Adult
;
Transplantation, Homologous
;
Prognosis
;
Survival Rate
3.Mechanism of hedysarum polybotrys polysaccharide in improving diabetic gastroparesis based on network pharmacology and molecular docking
Qian GUO ; Rong-ke LI ; Lei ZHANG ; Zhao-hui WEI ; Sheng-fang WAN ; Jing SHAO
Chinese Pharmacological Bulletin 2025;41(6):1158-1166
Aim To investigate the key targets and mechanisms of diabetic gastroparesis(DGP)by in-tegrating network pharmacology and molecular docking technology with animal experiments,and to specifically focus on exploring the effects of hedysarum polybotrys polysaccharide(HPS)on DGP through animal experi-mentation to validate its potential as a treatment for di-abetic gastroparesis.Methods The chemical constit-uents of HPS were analyzed,and the active chemical components of Radix Astragali were identified using the TCMSP database.The Swisstarget database was utilized to screen for HPS active ingredient targets,while DGP-related targets were identified from disease databases such as TTD,GeneCards,Drugbank,and DisGeNET.The STRING database was used to construct the PPI network,and Cytoscape 3.10.1 software was employed for network topology analysis and selection of key tar-gets.Subsequently,a compound-target-pathway net-work diagram was constructed.Key targets underwent GO function(biological function,molecular function,and cellular function)and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis using the Metascape database.Molecular doc-king was performed using Pymol 2.5 and AutoDock software.DGP rat model was established to observe the histopathological changes in small intestine after eight weeks of HPS intervention through HE staining.Addi-tionally,Western blot was conducted to detect the ex-pression of AGEs,RAGE,and NF-κB in eggs.The re-sults revealed a total of 302 key targets.Results A total of 302 key targets which were further analyzed for gene GO function and KEGG pathway enrichment.CUL3,YWHAZ,and NTRK1 were predicted as the key targets with critical pathways including the AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications,viral carci-nogenesis,hepatitis B,and alcoholism signaling path-way among others.Furthermore,in vivo experiments confirmed that HPS could improve small intestine histo-pathology in DGP rats,resulting in significant protective effects on this organ.It also reduced the expression of AGEs,RAGE,and NF-κB protein,hence achieving its purpose of treating DGP.Conclusion HPS has the characteristics of multi-component,multi-target and multi-pathway action,which may affect the regulatory role of AGE-RAGE signaling pathway on DGP,and provide new ideas for the subsequent clinical improve-ment of DGP.
4.Treating Type 2 Diabetic Nephropathy by Down-regulating NOX4 to Inhibit the Oxidative Stress Pathway in Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Shu-Qi FENG ; Guo-Rong JIN ; Qun-Hang XUE ; Min HE ; Ze-Hang WANG ; Jia-Xin YAO ; Long CHEN ; Yu-Jiao WANG ; An-Xiu ZHANG ; Sheng HE ; Bing-Rui ZHOU ; Jun XIE
Chinese Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2025;41(5):730-740
Diabetic nephropathy(DN)is a serious complication of diabetes mellitus and a leading cause of end-stage renal diseases.In DN patients,key pathological mechanisms include proteinuria,glomerulo-sclerosis,and fibrosis,largely driven by poor glycemic control and oxidative stress caused by prolonged hyperglycemia.This stress damages renal podocytes and triggers inflammatory mesenchymal infiltration of renal tubular cells,exacerbating the progression of proteinuria and fibrosis.Human umbilical cord-de-rived mesenchymal stem cells(hUC-MSCs)offer promising potential for treating DN due to their strong anti-oxidative properties.In this study,we developed a DN mouse model and treated the mouse via tail vein injections of hUC-MSCs(1×106 cells/mouse).The results indicated that hUC-MSCs significantly lowered fasting blood glucose levels(22.5±3.0 vs 14.7±1.1,P<0.01)and improved glucose toler-ance,as shown by intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test(IPGTT)results(P<0.05).Additionally,the renal function improved in hUC-MSCs-treated mice,with marked reductions in oxidative stress markers,including blood urea nitrogen(BUN),urinary creatinine(Ucr),urinary protein(PRO),superoxide dismutase(SOD),and malondialdehyde(MDA)(P<0.05).Histological analyses through hematoxy-lin-eosin(H&E),Periodic Acid-Schiff(PAS),and Sirius red staining demonstrated alleviation of glo-merular mesangial hyperplasia,glomerular hypertrophy,and tubular inflammation.Furthermore,hUC-MSCs treatment downregulated the expression of oxidative stress-related proteins,such as NADPH oxi-dase 4(NOX4)and thioredoxin-interacting protein(TXNIP),and reduced reactive oxygen species(ROS)production(P<0.05).Meanwhile,human renal cortical proximal tubule epithelial cells(HK-2 cells)were selected for validation in vitro experiments using high glucose treatment followed by super-natants of hUC-MSCs(MSC-CM),and Western blotting showed that the expression of both NOX4 and TXNIP was inhibited(P<0.05)and ROS expression was reduced.In conclusion,hUC-MSC treatment effectively lowered blood glucose levels and improved renal function in DN mice,likely through the sup-pression of NOX4 expression and TXNIP-mediated oxidative stress.
5.Mechanism of improving oxidative stress in diabetic kidney disease by regulating NOX family through ultrafiltration membrane extract of Angelica sinensis and Radix Hedysari
Qian GUO ; Sheng-fang WAN ; Jing SHAO ; Rong-ke LI ; Zhao-hui WEI ; Lei ZHANG
Chinese Pharmacological Bulletin 2025;41(8):1584-1592
Aim To investigate the mechanisms of the ultrafiltration membrane extract of Angelica sinensis and Radix Hedysari extracts on oxidative stress in rats with diabetic kidney disease(DKD).Methods Forty-five SD rats were randomly divided into a control group(n=8)a model group(n=37).Rats in the model group were fed a high-sugar,high-fat diet for four weeks,followed by intraperitoneal injection of strepto-zotocin at a dose of 30 mg·kg-1 to induce diabetes in the rats.Three weeks later,rats with 24-hour urinary protein(24-hUP)levels more than or equal to 30 mg were injected via the tail vein with 0.05 mg·kg-1 of 10%high molecular weight dextran for three times to induce a model of blood stasis in diabetic kidney dis-ease(DKD).The rats were then evaluated for random blood glucose(GLU)levels,24-hUP,biochemical markers,histopathological staining,and the protein expression of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phos-phate(NADPH)oxidase(NOX)1,NOX2,NOX3,NOX4,and NOX5 in renal tissues using immunoblot a-nalysis.Results Compared to the control group,rats in the model group showed significantly increased GLU,24-hUP,SCr,BUN,TG,TC,bu markedly de-creased ALB2,HDL,LDL levels,and the relative ex-pression of NOX1,NOX2,NOX4,NOX5 proteins in-creased markedly(P<0.01);Comparison with the model group,rats in the treatment group exhibited sig-nificantly decreased GLU,24-hUP,SCr,BUN,TG,TC at 6 weeks and 8 weeks,but markedly increased ALB2,HDL,LDL levels,and the relative expression of NOX1,NOX2,NOX4,NOX5 proteins decreased significantly(P<0.05).Conclusions The ultrafil-tration membrane extract of Angelica sinensis and Radix Hedysari can effectively ameliorate oxidative stress and renal function in DKD rats,which may be associated with targets within the NOX family.
6.Treating Type 2 Diabetic Nephropathy by Down-regulating NOX4 to Inhibit the Oxidative Stress Pathway in Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Shu-Qi FENG ; Guo-Rong JIN ; Qun-Hang XUE ; Min HE ; Ze-Hang WANG ; Jia-Xin YAO ; Long CHEN ; Yu-Jiao WANG ; An-Xiu ZHANG ; Sheng HE ; Bing-Rui ZHOU ; Jun XIE
Chinese Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2025;41(5):730-740
Diabetic nephropathy(DN)is a serious complication of diabetes mellitus and a leading cause of end-stage renal diseases.In DN patients,key pathological mechanisms include proteinuria,glomerulo-sclerosis,and fibrosis,largely driven by poor glycemic control and oxidative stress caused by prolonged hyperglycemia.This stress damages renal podocytes and triggers inflammatory mesenchymal infiltration of renal tubular cells,exacerbating the progression of proteinuria and fibrosis.Human umbilical cord-de-rived mesenchymal stem cells(hUC-MSCs)offer promising potential for treating DN due to their strong anti-oxidative properties.In this study,we developed a DN mouse model and treated the mouse via tail vein injections of hUC-MSCs(1×106 cells/mouse).The results indicated that hUC-MSCs significantly lowered fasting blood glucose levels(22.5±3.0 vs 14.7±1.1,P<0.01)and improved glucose toler-ance,as shown by intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test(IPGTT)results(P<0.05).Additionally,the renal function improved in hUC-MSCs-treated mice,with marked reductions in oxidative stress markers,including blood urea nitrogen(BUN),urinary creatinine(Ucr),urinary protein(PRO),superoxide dismutase(SOD),and malondialdehyde(MDA)(P<0.05).Histological analyses through hematoxy-lin-eosin(H&E),Periodic Acid-Schiff(PAS),and Sirius red staining demonstrated alleviation of glo-merular mesangial hyperplasia,glomerular hypertrophy,and tubular inflammation.Furthermore,hUC-MSCs treatment downregulated the expression of oxidative stress-related proteins,such as NADPH oxi-dase 4(NOX4)and thioredoxin-interacting protein(TXNIP),and reduced reactive oxygen species(ROS)production(P<0.05).Meanwhile,human renal cortical proximal tubule epithelial cells(HK-2 cells)were selected for validation in vitro experiments using high glucose treatment followed by super-natants of hUC-MSCs(MSC-CM),and Western blotting showed that the expression of both NOX4 and TXNIP was inhibited(P<0.05)and ROS expression was reduced.In conclusion,hUC-MSC treatment effectively lowered blood glucose levels and improved renal function in DN mice,likely through the sup-pression of NOX4 expression and TXNIP-mediated oxidative stress.
7.Mechanism of improving oxidative stress in diabetic kidney disease by regulating NOX family through ultrafiltration membrane extract of Angelica sinensis and Radix Hedysari
Qian GUO ; Sheng-fang WAN ; Jing SHAO ; Rong-ke LI ; Zhao-hui WEI ; Lei ZHANG
Chinese Pharmacological Bulletin 2025;41(8):1584-1592
Aim To investigate the mechanisms of the ultrafiltration membrane extract of Angelica sinensis and Radix Hedysari extracts on oxidative stress in rats with diabetic kidney disease(DKD).Methods Forty-five SD rats were randomly divided into a control group(n=8)a model group(n=37).Rats in the model group were fed a high-sugar,high-fat diet for four weeks,followed by intraperitoneal injection of strepto-zotocin at a dose of 30 mg·kg-1 to induce diabetes in the rats.Three weeks later,rats with 24-hour urinary protein(24-hUP)levels more than or equal to 30 mg were injected via the tail vein with 0.05 mg·kg-1 of 10%high molecular weight dextran for three times to induce a model of blood stasis in diabetic kidney dis-ease(DKD).The rats were then evaluated for random blood glucose(GLU)levels,24-hUP,biochemical markers,histopathological staining,and the protein expression of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phos-phate(NADPH)oxidase(NOX)1,NOX2,NOX3,NOX4,and NOX5 in renal tissues using immunoblot a-nalysis.Results Compared to the control group,rats in the model group showed significantly increased GLU,24-hUP,SCr,BUN,TG,TC,bu markedly de-creased ALB2,HDL,LDL levels,and the relative ex-pression of NOX1,NOX2,NOX4,NOX5 proteins in-creased markedly(P<0.01);Comparison with the model group,rats in the treatment group exhibited sig-nificantly decreased GLU,24-hUP,SCr,BUN,TG,TC at 6 weeks and 8 weeks,but markedly increased ALB2,HDL,LDL levels,and the relative expression of NOX1,NOX2,NOX4,NOX5 proteins decreased significantly(P<0.05).Conclusions The ultrafil-tration membrane extract of Angelica sinensis and Radix Hedysari can effectively ameliorate oxidative stress and renal function in DKD rats,which may be associated with targets within the NOX family.
8.Establishment of animal model of blood stasis syndrome in diabetic kidney disease and metabonomic analysis
Qian GUO ; Sheng-fang WAN ; Rong-ke LI ; Lei ZHANG ; Zhao-hui WEI ; Zi-hui ZHONG ; Jing SHAO
Chinese Pharmacological Bulletin 2025;41(3):592-599
Aim To establish an animal model of diabetic kidney disease(DKD)integrating blood stasis syndrome and syndrome evaluation indicators.Methods Twenty-five SD rats were ran-domly divided according to body weight into a control group(8 rats)and a modeling group(17 rats).The modeling group was fed a high-sugar and high-fat diet for four weeks and induced to form diabetic rats by intraperitoneal injection of 30 mg·kg-1 streptozocin.The modeling rats were randomly divided into the DKD group and blood stasis syndrome combination group accord-ing to 24-hour urinary protein(24-hUP).The blood stasis syn-drome combination group was induced to replicate the DKD blood stasis syndrome model by injecting 10%high molecular weight D-glucoside three times at a dose of 0.05 mg·kg-1 via tail vein.The model was evaluated based on random blood glu-cose level,24-hUP level,syndrome assessment,pathological staining etc,and differential metabolites were selected using metabolomics.Results The comprehensive evaluation of syn-drome manifestations and pathological staining in the combined model of blood stasis syndrome in rats demonstrated successful replication.Utilizing the technique of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry,22 differential metabolites were identified,with associated pathways showing a certain relevance to blood stasis syndrome in DKD.Conclusions The successful replica-tion of an animal model combining the syndrome of blood stasis in DKD has been achieved in this study.Evaluation of indicators and results from metabolomics studies consistently demonstrate a correlation with the syndrome of blood stasis in DKD.
9.Mechanism of hedysarum polybotrys polysaccharide in improving diabetic gastroparesis based on network pharmacology and molecular docking
Qian GUO ; Rong-ke LI ; Lei ZHANG ; Zhao-hui WEI ; Sheng-fang WAN ; Jing SHAO
Chinese Pharmacological Bulletin 2025;41(6):1158-1166
Aim To investigate the key targets and mechanisms of diabetic gastroparesis(DGP)by in-tegrating network pharmacology and molecular docking technology with animal experiments,and to specifically focus on exploring the effects of hedysarum polybotrys polysaccharide(HPS)on DGP through animal experi-mentation to validate its potential as a treatment for di-abetic gastroparesis.Methods The chemical constit-uents of HPS were analyzed,and the active chemical components of Radix Astragali were identified using the TCMSP database.The Swisstarget database was utilized to screen for HPS active ingredient targets,while DGP-related targets were identified from disease databases such as TTD,GeneCards,Drugbank,and DisGeNET.The STRING database was used to construct the PPI network,and Cytoscape 3.10.1 software was employed for network topology analysis and selection of key tar-gets.Subsequently,a compound-target-pathway net-work diagram was constructed.Key targets underwent GO function(biological function,molecular function,and cellular function)and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis using the Metascape database.Molecular doc-king was performed using Pymol 2.5 and AutoDock software.DGP rat model was established to observe the histopathological changes in small intestine after eight weeks of HPS intervention through HE staining.Addi-tionally,Western blot was conducted to detect the ex-pression of AGEs,RAGE,and NF-κB in eggs.The re-sults revealed a total of 302 key targets.Results A total of 302 key targets which were further analyzed for gene GO function and KEGG pathway enrichment.CUL3,YWHAZ,and NTRK1 were predicted as the key targets with critical pathways including the AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications,viral carci-nogenesis,hepatitis B,and alcoholism signaling path-way among others.Furthermore,in vivo experiments confirmed that HPS could improve small intestine histo-pathology in DGP rats,resulting in significant protective effects on this organ.It also reduced the expression of AGEs,RAGE,and NF-κB protein,hence achieving its purpose of treating DGP.Conclusion HPS has the characteristics of multi-component,multi-target and multi-pathway action,which may affect the regulatory role of AGE-RAGE signaling pathway on DGP,and provide new ideas for the subsequent clinical improve-ment of DGP.
10.Establishment of animal model of blood stasis syndrome in diabetic kidney disease and metabonomic analysis
Qian GUO ; Sheng-fang WAN ; Rong-ke LI ; Lei ZHANG ; Zhao-hui WEI ; Zi-hui ZHONG ; Jing SHAO
Chinese Pharmacological Bulletin 2025;41(3):592-599
Aim To establish an animal model of diabetic kidney disease(DKD)integrating blood stasis syndrome and syndrome evaluation indicators.Methods Twenty-five SD rats were ran-domly divided according to body weight into a control group(8 rats)and a modeling group(17 rats).The modeling group was fed a high-sugar and high-fat diet for four weeks and induced to form diabetic rats by intraperitoneal injection of 30 mg·kg-1 streptozocin.The modeling rats were randomly divided into the DKD group and blood stasis syndrome combination group accord-ing to 24-hour urinary protein(24-hUP).The blood stasis syn-drome combination group was induced to replicate the DKD blood stasis syndrome model by injecting 10%high molecular weight D-glucoside three times at a dose of 0.05 mg·kg-1 via tail vein.The model was evaluated based on random blood glu-cose level,24-hUP level,syndrome assessment,pathological staining etc,and differential metabolites were selected using metabolomics.Results The comprehensive evaluation of syn-drome manifestations and pathological staining in the combined model of blood stasis syndrome in rats demonstrated successful replication.Utilizing the technique of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry,22 differential metabolites were identified,with associated pathways showing a certain relevance to blood stasis syndrome in DKD.Conclusions The successful replica-tion of an animal model combining the syndrome of blood stasis in DKD has been achieved in this study.Evaluation of indicators and results from metabolomics studies consistently demonstrate a correlation with the syndrome of blood stasis in DKD.

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