1.The synergistic effect and mechanism verification of effective components of Biejia-Ezhu against triple-negative breast cancer based on network pharmacology and component compatibility theory
Dou-dou FENG ; Xiao-shan LUO ; Yan-yun MENG ; Jing-zhe ZHAO ; Jiu-long ZHU ; Ya-zhen HUANG ; Qing XIE ; Xiang-Li LING ; Su XIE
Chinese Pharmacological Bulletin 2025;41(5):950-959
Aim To explore the compatibility and po-tential mechanism of effective components of Biejia-Ezhu against triple negative breast cancer(TNBC)and verify it by experiments.Methods Effective compo-nents and targets of Biejia-Ezhu were obtained by TC-MSP and Swiss Target Prediction.Disease targets of TNBC were obtained from OMMI and GeneCards data-bases.The PPI network was constructed using STRING database.GO and KEGG path enrichment analysis was performed using DAVID database.Cytoscape3.9.1 software was used to construct the"drug-component-target-disease"network,screen key targets and compo-nents for molecular docking,and further verify the com-patibility of key components and targets in vitro.Re-sults ① A total of 71 effective components were iden-tified in the Biejia-Ezhu drug pair.There were 146 drug targets associated with the disease.A total of 113 signaling pathways were identified by KEGG analysis.The 71 potential active components of Biejia-Ezhu mainly acted on key targets such as mTORC1,ULK1,TNF,EGFR,ESR1,STAT3,HIF1A,and PTGS2.Mo-lecular docking results showed that glycine and curcu-min were the key active components of Biejia-Ezhu,and both had strong docking activity against key target proteins mTORC1 and ULK1.②The results of in vitro experiment showed that glycine combined with curcu-min significantly inhibited the proliferation and clonal formation ability of TNBC cells(P<0.05),up-regula-ted the expression of autophagy marker LC3 Ⅱ/Ⅰ,down-regulated the expression of EGFR,down-regula-ted the expression of pathway protein mTORC1,p-mTOR,p-ULK1,and promoted the expression of path-way protein ULK1(P<0.05).Conclusion The key component of Biejia-Ezhu against triple-negative breast cancer is glycine-curcumin,the mechanism of which may be related to the regulation of the mTORC1/ULK1 signaling pathway to promote autophagy.
2.Inhibitory effects of Shuyu Pills combined with everolimus on TGF-β1-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition in triple-negative breast cancer cells
Xiao-shan LUO ; Su XIE ; Dou-dou FENG ; Yan-yun MENG ; Jing-zhe ZHAO ; Qing XIE ; Xiang-li LING
Chinese Traditional Patent Medicine 2025;47(7):2190-2197
AIM To investigate the effects of Shuyu Pills combined with evolimus on the epithelial mesenchymal transformation of triple negative breast cancer cells 4T1 and MDA-MB-231 induced by TGF-β1.METHODS The 4T1 and MDA-MB-231 cells were divided into the blank group and the induction group to induce the epithelial mesenchymal transformation with TGF-β1 cytokine treatment,followed by the assignment into the model group,the Shuyu Pills group,the everolimus group and the Shuyu Pills combined with everolimus group.CCK8 method,plate cloning method,cell scratch test and Transewll test were used to detect the proliferation,cloning formation,migration and invasion ability of the cells whose expressions of E-cadherin,N-cadherin,Vimentin,MMP9,MMP2 and pathway proteins PTEN,PI3K,Akt and mTOR were detected by Western blot.RESULTS Compared with the blank group,the induction group displayed a cell morphological change from epithelioid to stromal,decreased expression of E-cadherin protein(P<0.01);and increased protein expressions of N-cadherin and Vimentin(P<0.05).Compared with the model group,each group intervened with the medicine displayed decreased proliferation,clone formation,migration and invasion ability of both kinds of cells(P<0.01);increased protein expressions of PTEN and E-cadherin(P<0.05,P<0.01);and decreased protein expressions of PI3K,Akt,mTOR,N-cadherin,Vimentin,MMP9 and MMP2(P<0.05,P<0.01);and more significantly in the Shuyu Pills combined with evolimus group(P<0.05,P<0.01).CONCLUSION With a more ideal effect than the single uses in inhibiting the TGF-β1-induced epithelial mesenchymal transformation of triple-negative breast cancer cells,the combination use of Shuyu Pills and everolimus may work through the regulation of PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway.
3.Inhibitory effects of Shuyu Pills combined with everolimus on TGF-β1-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition in triple-negative breast cancer cells
Xiao-shan LUO ; Su XIE ; Dou-dou FENG ; Yan-yun MENG ; Jing-zhe ZHAO ; Qing XIE ; Xiang-li LING
Chinese Traditional Patent Medicine 2025;47(7):2190-2197
AIM To investigate the effects of Shuyu Pills combined with evolimus on the epithelial mesenchymal transformation of triple negative breast cancer cells 4T1 and MDA-MB-231 induced by TGF-β1.METHODS The 4T1 and MDA-MB-231 cells were divided into the blank group and the induction group to induce the epithelial mesenchymal transformation with TGF-β1 cytokine treatment,followed by the assignment into the model group,the Shuyu Pills group,the everolimus group and the Shuyu Pills combined with everolimus group.CCK8 method,plate cloning method,cell scratch test and Transewll test were used to detect the proliferation,cloning formation,migration and invasion ability of the cells whose expressions of E-cadherin,N-cadherin,Vimentin,MMP9,MMP2 and pathway proteins PTEN,PI3K,Akt and mTOR were detected by Western blot.RESULTS Compared with the blank group,the induction group displayed a cell morphological change from epithelioid to stromal,decreased expression of E-cadherin protein(P<0.01);and increased protein expressions of N-cadherin and Vimentin(P<0.05).Compared with the model group,each group intervened with the medicine displayed decreased proliferation,clone formation,migration and invasion ability of both kinds of cells(P<0.01);increased protein expressions of PTEN and E-cadherin(P<0.05,P<0.01);and decreased protein expressions of PI3K,Akt,mTOR,N-cadherin,Vimentin,MMP9 and MMP2(P<0.05,P<0.01);and more significantly in the Shuyu Pills combined with evolimus group(P<0.05,P<0.01).CONCLUSION With a more ideal effect than the single uses in inhibiting the TGF-β1-induced epithelial mesenchymal transformation of triple-negative breast cancer cells,the combination use of Shuyu Pills and everolimus may work through the regulation of PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway.
4.The synergistic effect and mechanism verification of effective components of Biejia-Ezhu against triple-negative breast cancer based on network pharmacology and component compatibility theory
Dou-dou FENG ; Xiao-shan LUO ; Yan-yun MENG ; Jing-zhe ZHAO ; Jiu-long ZHU ; Ya-zhen HUANG ; Qing XIE ; Xiang-Li LING ; Su XIE
Chinese Pharmacological Bulletin 2025;41(5):950-959
Aim To explore the compatibility and po-tential mechanism of effective components of Biejia-Ezhu against triple negative breast cancer(TNBC)and verify it by experiments.Methods Effective compo-nents and targets of Biejia-Ezhu were obtained by TC-MSP and Swiss Target Prediction.Disease targets of TNBC were obtained from OMMI and GeneCards data-bases.The PPI network was constructed using STRING database.GO and KEGG path enrichment analysis was performed using DAVID database.Cytoscape3.9.1 software was used to construct the"drug-component-target-disease"network,screen key targets and compo-nents for molecular docking,and further verify the com-patibility of key components and targets in vitro.Re-sults ① A total of 71 effective components were iden-tified in the Biejia-Ezhu drug pair.There were 146 drug targets associated with the disease.A total of 113 signaling pathways were identified by KEGG analysis.The 71 potential active components of Biejia-Ezhu mainly acted on key targets such as mTORC1,ULK1,TNF,EGFR,ESR1,STAT3,HIF1A,and PTGS2.Mo-lecular docking results showed that glycine and curcu-min were the key active components of Biejia-Ezhu,and both had strong docking activity against key target proteins mTORC1 and ULK1.②The results of in vitro experiment showed that glycine combined with curcu-min significantly inhibited the proliferation and clonal formation ability of TNBC cells(P<0.05),up-regula-ted the expression of autophagy marker LC3 Ⅱ/Ⅰ,down-regulated the expression of EGFR,down-regula-ted the expression of pathway protein mTORC1,p-mTOR,p-ULK1,and promoted the expression of path-way protein ULK1(P<0.05).Conclusion The key component of Biejia-Ezhu against triple-negative breast cancer is glycine-curcumin,the mechanism of which may be related to the regulation of the mTORC1/ULK1 signaling pathway to promote autophagy.
5.Clinical phenotype characteristics and genetic analysis in children with nephronophthisis and related syndromes caused by different gene mutations.
Xue ZHAO ; Li-Jun JIANG ; Zan-Hua RONG ; Zhi-Yan DOU ; Qing-Xiao SU ; Yu-Heng LIANG ; Xing-Jie QI
Chinese Journal of Contemporary Pediatrics 2023;25(8):831-836
OBJECTIVES:
To improve the understanding of the clinical phenotypes and genetic characteristics of nephronophthisis (NPHP) and related syndromes in children.
METHODS:
A retrospective analysis was performed on the medical data of eight children with NPHP and related syndromes who were diagnosed and treated in the Department of Pediatrics of the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, from January 2018 to November 2022. The clinical characteristics and genetic testing results were analyzed.
RESULTS:
Among these eight children, there were five boys and three girls, with an age of onset ranging from 15 months to 12 years. All 8 children exhibited different degrees of renal function abnormalities when they attended the hospital. Among the eight children, two had the initial symptom of delayed development, two had the initial symptom of anemia, and two were found to have abnormal renal function during physical examination. The extrarenal manifestations included cardiovascular abnormalities in two children, skeletal dysplasia in two children, liver dysfunction in one child, retinitis pigmentosa in one child, and visceral translocation in one child. All eight children had renal structural changes on ultrasound, and four children had mild to moderate proteinuria based on routine urine test. Of all eight children, five had NPHP1 gene mutations and one each had a gene mutation in the NPHP3, IFT140, and TTC21B genes, and four new mutation sites were discovered.
CONCLUSIONS
Children with NPHP and related syndromes often have the initial symptom of delayed development or anemia, and some children also have extrarenal manifestations. NPHP and related syndromes should be considered for children with unexplained renal dysfunction, and high-throughput sequencing may help to make a confirmed diagnosis.
Child
;
Humans
;
Retrospective Studies
;
Syndrome
;
Kidney Diseases, Cystic/genetics*
;
Mutation
;
Phenotype
6.Evaluation of the clinical effect of an artificial intelligence-assisted diagnosis and treatment system for neonatal seizures in the real world: a multicenter clinical study protocol.
Tian-Tian XIAO ; Ya-Lan DOU ; De-Yi ZHUANG ; Xu-Hong HU ; Wen-Qing KANG ; Lin GUO ; Xiao-Fen ZHAO ; Peng ZHANG ; Kai YAN ; Wei-Li YAN ; Guo-Qiang CHENG ; Wen-Hao ZHOU
Chinese Journal of Contemporary Pediatrics 2022;24(2):197-203
Neonatal seizures are the most common clinical manifestations of critically ill neonates and often suggest serious diseases and complicated etiologies. The precise diagnosis of this disease can optimize the use of anti-seizure medication, reduce hospital costs, and improve the long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes. Currently, a few artificial intelligence-assisted diagnosis and treatment systems have been developed for neonatal seizures, but there is still a lack of high-level evidence for the diagnosis and treatment value in the real world. Based on an artificial intelligence-assisted diagnosis and treatment systems that has been developed for neonatal seizures, this study plans to recruit 370 neonates at a high risk of seizures from 6 neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in China, in order to evaluate the effect of the system on the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of neonatal seizures in neonates with different gestational ages in the NICU. In this study, a diagnostic study protocol is used to evaluate the diagnostic value of the system, and a randomized parallel-controlled trial is designed to evaluate the effect of the system on the treatment and prognosis of neonates at a high risk of seizures. This multicenter prospective study will provide high-level evidence for the clinical application of artificial intelligence-assisted diagnosis and treatment systems for neonatal seizures in the real world.
Artificial Intelligence
;
Electroencephalography/methods*
;
Epilepsy/diagnosis*
;
Humans
;
Infant, Newborn
;
Infant, Newborn, Diseases/diagnosis*
;
Intensive Care Units, Neonatal
;
Multicenter Studies as Topic
;
Prospective Studies
;
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
;
Seizures/drug therapy*
7.Correlation between saliva glucose and blood glucose levels by ion chromatography
Qian DOU ; Chun XU ; Qing DAI ; Boyu ZHU ; Haijian GUO ; Xinhua XIAO
Chinese Journal of Endocrine Surgery 2022;16(3):269-273
Objective:To analyze the correlation between saliva glucose and blood glucose level by measuring the concentration of saliva with high-precision ion chromatograph, and further to provide the clinical data for saliva glucose as an auxiliary index of blood glucose monitoring.Methods:A total of 268 subjects with normal glucose metabolism (NGT) and diabetes mellitus (DM) were enrolled and fasting venous blood and saliva samples were collected at the same time. The levels of saliva glucose, blood glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were measured by ion chromatograph, automatic biochemical analyzer and glycosylated hemoglobin analyzer, respectively. Methods of Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for comparison between groups, and the Spearman correlation was used for correlation analysis. Results:The mean values of blood glucose, saliva glucose and HbA1c in the DM group are all higher than those in the NGT group, and the differences are all statistically significant ( P<0.05). Saliva glucose cut-off points are set at 10, 15, 20 and 25 mg/L, respectively. When the saliva glucose concentration is greater than or equal to the above cut-off points, the saliva glucose level are positively correlated with the blood glucose level ( r=0.321, 0.379, 0.509 and 0.428, respectively, P<0.05) . Conclusion:The level of saliva glucose in DM is significantly higher than that in NGT. When the concentration of saliva glucose is greater than 20 mg/ L, there is a significant positive correlation between saliva glucose and blood glucose, and the max correlation coefficient r is 0.509.
8.Effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Reducing the Positive Rate of COVID-19 Close Contacts: A Large Popula-tion Cohort Study
Xiao-Xiao WANG ; Li DOU ; Chong ZOU ; Yong-Jun WU ; Wei WANG ; Jing-Jing ZHAO ; Qian YU ; Zhao-Feng SHEN ; Ping-Min NI ; Wen ZHANG ; Ya-Wen LU ; Zhao-Qing XI ; Zhu-Yuan FANG
Journal of Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2022;38(12):1086-1093
OBJECTIVE Corona-virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus. The variant of corona-virus first identified in India, known as Delta, has become the dominant strain in China. Unfortunately, more conta-gious and unknown variants are coming, leading to a number of close contacts under quarantine. Chinese medicine (TCM) has been recommended to prevention and treatment due to the satisfactory therapeutic effects. However, the effect of TCM to decrease positive rate in close contacts remains unknown. METHODS We conducted an retrospective cohort study in Yangzhou, China to assess the effect of Chinese medicine on decreasing positive rate in close contacts under quarantine. The primary observation outcome was positive rate of Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests (NAATs). The secondary observation outcome was a composite of viral load of positive NAATs, severity levels of confirmed cases (asymptomatic, mild, moderate, or severe), daily body temperature, and levels of close contact (primary or secondary). RESULTS A total of 1286 subjects were collected, of which 1016 (79.00%) in TCM group and 270 (21.00%) in control group with 55 participants tested positive. The incidence of the primary outcome, positive rate of NAATs was significantly lower in the Chinese medicine group than in the control group, occurring in male and age≥60 years subjects. Multi-varia-ble logistic regression (excluding NO viral load) indicated that the risk of testing positive was reduced by 0.547 times in TCM groupcompared to control group. CT value of TCM group was higher than that of control group in all subjects and female subjects, and the re-sult showed statistically significant difference. CONCLUSIONS In our study involving close contacts under quarantine, Chinese medicine resulted in lower positive rate of NAATs and viral load than control.
9.Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo and American ginseng mixture: A Chinese herbal formulation for gut microbiota modulation.
Cheng-Zhi LIU ; Wei CHEN ; Mei-Xia WANG ; Ying WANG ; Li-Qing CHEN ; Feng ZHAO ; Ya SHI ; Hui-Jun LIU ; Xiao-Bing DOU ; Chao LIU ; Huan CHEN
Chinese Journal of Natural Medicines (English Ed.) 2020;18(6):446-459
Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo (D. officinale) is a famous traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). A mixture of D. officinale and American ginseng has been shown to enhance cell-mediated immunity, humoral immunity, and monocyte/macrophage functions in mice. Here, the effects of a D. officinale and American ginseng mixture on the structure of gut microbial community in dogs were examined using high-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. The data revealed that while the mixture did not change the diversity of gut microbial community significantly, differences among individuals were significantly reduced. Furthermore, the mixture-responsive operational taxonomic units (OTUs) exhibited a phase-dependent expression pattern. Fifty-five OTUs were found to exhibit a mixture-induced expression pattern, among which one third were short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing genera and the others were probiotic genera included Lactobacillus spp., Sutterella, Alistipes, Anaerovorax, Bilophila, Coprococcus, Gordonibacter, Oscillibacter, among others. By contrast, 36% of the OTUs exhibiting a mixture-repressed expression pattern were disease-associated microorganisms, and six genera, namely Actinomyces, Escherichia/Shigella, Fusobacterium, Slackia, Streptococcus and Solobacterium, were associated with cancer. In addition, five genera were closely associated with diabetes, namely Collinsella, Rothia, Howardella, Slackia and Intestinibacter. Our results indicate that this D. officinale and American ginseng mixture may be used as a prebiotic agent to enhance SCFA-producing genera and prevent gut dysbiosis.
10.Clinical characteristics of early and late drug-eluting stent in-stent restenosis and mid-term prognosis after repeated percutaneous coronary intervention.
Jian-Feng ZHENG ; Ting-Ting GUO ; Yuan TIAN ; Yong WANG ; Xiao-Ying HU ; Yue CHANG ; Hong QIU ; Ke-Fei DOU ; Yi-Da TANG ; Jin-Qing YUAN ; Yong-Jian WU ; Hong-Bing YAN ; Shu-Bin QIAO ; Bo XU ; Yue-Jin YANG ; Run-Lin GAO
Chinese Medical Journal 2020;133(22):2674-2681
BACKGROUND:
The mechanism and characteristics of early and late drug-eluting stent in-stent restenosis (DES-ISR) have not been fully clarified. Whether there are different outcomes among those patients being irrespective of their repeated treatments remain a knowledge gap.
METHODS:
A total of 250 patients who underwent initial stent implantation in our hospital, and then were readmitted to receive treatment for the reason of recurrent significant DES-ISR in 2016 were involved. The patients were categorized as early ISR (<12 months; E-ISR; n = 32) and late ISR (≥12 months; L-ISR; n = 218). Associations between patient characteristics and clinical performance, as well as clinical outcomes after a repeated percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were evaluated. Primary composite endpoint of major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) included cardiac death, non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI), or target lesion revascularization (TLR).
RESULTS:
Most baseline characteristics are similar in both groups, except for the period of ISR, initial pre-procedure thrombolysis in myocardial infarction, and some serum biochemical indicators. The incidence of MACE (37.5% vs. 5.5%; P < 0.001) and TLR (37.5% vs. 5.0%; P < 0.001) is higher in the E-ISR group. After multivariate analysis, E-ISR (odds ratio [OR], 13.267; [95% CI 4.984-35.311]; P < 0.001) and left ventricular systolic dysfunction (odds ratio [OR], 6.317; [95% CI 1.145-34.843]; P = 0.034) are the independent predictors for MACE among DES-ISR patients in the mid-term follow-up of 12 months.
CONCLUSIONS
Early ISR and left ventricular systolic dysfunction are associated with MACE during the mid-term follow-up period for DES-ISR patients. The results may benefit the risk stratification and secondary prevention for DES-ISR patients in clinical practice.
Coronary Angiography
;
Coronary Restenosis
;
Drug-Eluting Stents/adverse effects*
;
Humans
;
Percutaneous Coronary Intervention/adverse effects*
;
Prognosis
;
Treatment Outcome

Result Analysis
Print
Save
E-mail