Liver cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide. Currently, the available treatment methods cannot fully control its recurrence and mortality rate. Establishing appropriate animal models for liver cancer is crucial for developing new treatment technologies and strategies. The patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model preserves the tumor's microenvironment and heterogeneity, which makes it advantageous for biological research, drug evaluation, personalized medicine, and other purposes. This article reviews the development, preparation techniques, application fields, and challenges of PDX models in liver cancer, providing insights for the research and exploration of PDX models in diagnostic and therapeutic strategies of liver cancer.
Liver Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Animals ; Humans ; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays/methods* ; Mice ; Disease Models, Animal

Objective:To explore the characteristics of depression,anxiety,and stress symptoms among Chinese men who have sex with men(MSM),to determine the links of psychological resilience with these symptoms at the symptom level,and to provide insights for tailoring mental health intervention measures for MSM.Methods:A cross-sectional survey was conducted in southwestern China(Chongqing and Sichuan)from May to August 2022.The Depression,Anxiety,and Stress Scale-21 was used to assess mental health-related symptoms in MSM.Psychological resilience was evaluated using the brief version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale.A regularized partial correlation network was constructed,and then a Bayesian network was established to identify potential causal rela-tionships in symptoms.A flow network was used to explore the link between psychological resilience and symptoms of anxiety,depres-sion,and stress.Results:A total of 938 MSM were included in the analysis.The proportion of MSM with depression,anxiety,and stress was 29.74%."Panic","scared","no relax",and"down-hearted"showed high expected influence.Bridging symptoms were"panic","down-hearted",and"agitated".Central and bridging symptoms also appeared at the top of the Bayesian network.Psychological resil-ience was negatively correlated with"no initiative","down-hearted","meaningless","panic",and"no relax".Conclusion:Central symptoms"panic","scared","no relax",and"down-hearted",as well as bridging symptoms"panic","down-hearted",and"agi-tated"are identified through network analysis.The potential causal priority of these symptoms is prominent.Interventions tailored to central and bridging symptoms may be effective,and interventions for enhancing psychological resilience may alleviate negative emotion-related symptoms,especially depressive symptoms in the MSM population.

Background and aims:Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease(MAFLD)is a common chronic condition that can lead to cancer due to its complex pathogenesis.Therapeutic agents targeting AMP-activated protein kinase(AMPK)activation have been suggested as potential treatments for metabolic disorders such as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis(MASH).Rhizoma Atractylodis Mac-rocephalae(RAM)has been clinically used to treat obesity-related health problems,but its therapeutic effects on MAFLD and the underlying mechanism remain unclear.Therefore,this study was conducted to evaluate the function and underlying mechanism of RAM in the treatment of MAFLD.Methods:The effect of RAM decoction on MAFLD was evaluated using a high-fat diet(HFD)-induced MAFLD mouse model.In vitro studies were conducted using a palmitic acid/oleic acid-induced lipid accumulation model in the alpha mouse liver 12 cells and RAM-containing serum.The underlying mechanisms were elucidated through a combination of network pharmacology analysis,immunohis-tochemistry,western blotting,and polymerase chain reaction analysis.Results:Administration of RAM decoction significantly reduced body weight gain in MAFLD mice without changing food intake.The weights of the liver and inguinal adipose tissues were also reduced after RAM treatment.Additionally,RAM administration decreased serum levels of alanine aminotrans-ferase,aspartate transaminase,total cholesterol,triglyceride,low-density lipoprotein cholesterol,and glucose,while reducing lipid droplet accumulation in the liver tissues of MAFLD mice.The underlying mechanisms included the activation of the phosphorylation of AMPK and acetyl-CoA carboxylase(ACC),and inhibition of the expression of sterol regulatory element binding protein 1(SREBP1).However,RAM did not alter the protein expression levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α and carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1α.Furthermore,the RAM-induced upregulation of phosphorylated AMPK,phos-phorylated ACC,and SREBP1 expression,as well as the downregulation of fatty acid synthase expression,were reversed by using an AMPK inhibitor.Conclusions:Through a combination of network pharmacology and experimental validation,we demonstrated that RAM may exert therapeutic effects on MAFLD by inhibiting lipid synthesis and activating phosphorylated AMPK pathways.

Objective:To investigate the effects of repeated high acceleration(+Gz)on implant osseointegration in SD rats.Methods:18 SD rats were divided into+Gz and control groups randomly(n=9),and 1 implant was placed in each femur of the rat's lower limb.24 hours postoperatively,the experimental rats were exposed to+Gz of 4 to 9 G with 1 G/s environment 3 times a week,while the con-trol rats were fed normally.3 rats from each of the 2 groups were sacrificed at 2,4 and 8 weeks after implantation.Micro-CT,sequential fluorescence double labeling,and histological examination were perfomed for the analysis of implant osseointegration.Results:The bone volume fraction(BV/TV),trabecular number(Tb.N),mineral apposition rate(MAR),implant-bone contact rate(BIC)and bone area in implant thread(BA)of the+Gz group were significantly lower than those of the control group at 2 weeks(P＜0.05),and so as to MAR,BA at 4 weeks(P＜0.05),while there was no significant difference of the parameters at 8 weeks after implantation.Conclusion:In SD rats early exposure to+Gz environment postoperatively may have a negative effect on initial osseointegration by slowing bone forma-tion.However,it will not lead to poorer bone mass when sustained over a long period.

As a potential vectored vaccine,Newcastle disease virus(NDV)has been subject to various studies for vaccine development,while relatively little research has outlined the immunomodulatory effect of the virus in antigen presentation.To elucidate the key inhibitory factor in regulating the interaction of infected dendritic cells(DCs)and T cells,DCs were pretreated with the NDV vaccine strain LaSota as an inhibitor and stimulated with lipopolysaccharide(LPS)for further detection by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA),flow cytometry,immunoblotting,and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction(qRT-PCR).The results revealed that NDV infection resulted in the inhibition of interleukin(IL)-12p40 in DCs through a p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK)-dependent manner,thus inhibiting the synthesis of IL-12p70,leading to the reduction in T cell proliferation and the secretion of interferon-γ(IFN-γ),tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α),and IL-6 induced by DCs.Consequently,downregulated cytokines accelerated the infection and viral transmission from DCs to T cells.Furthermore,several other strains of NDV also exhibited inhibitory activity.The current study reveals that NDV can modulate the intensity of the innate?adaptive immune cell crosstalk critically toward viral invasion improvement,highlighting a novel mechanism of virus-induced immunosuppression and providing new perspectives on the improvement of NDV-vectored vaccine.

Background: SM-like (LSM) genes a family of RNA-binding proteins, are involved in mRNA regulation and can function as oncogenes by altering mRNA stability. However, their roles in B-cell progression and tumorigenesis remain poorly understood. Methods: We analyzed gene expression profiles and overall survival data of 123 patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). The LSM index was developed to assess its potential as a prognostic marker of MCL survival. Results: Five of the eight LSM genes were identified as potential prognostic markers for survival in MCL, with particular emphasis on the LSM.index. The expression levels of these LSM genes demonstrated their potential utility as classifiers of MCL. The LSM.index-high group exhibited both poorer survival rates and lower RNA levels than did the overall transcript profile. Notably, LSM1 and LSM8 were overexpressed in the LSM.index-high group, with LSM1 showing 2.5-fold increase (p < 0.001) and LSM8 depicting 1.8-fold increase (p < 0.01) than those in the LSM.index-low group.Furthermore, elevated LSM gene expression was associated with increased cell division and RNA splicing pathway activity. Conclusions The LSM.index demonstrates potential as a prognostic marker for survival in patients with MCL. Elevated expression of LSM genes, particularly LSM1 and LSM8, may be linked to poor survival outcomes through their involvement in cell division and RNA splicing pathways. These findings suggest that LSM genes may contribute to the aggressive behavior of MCL and represent potential targets for therapeutic interventions.

Objective:To establish a linkage prediction model for human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DPA1-DPB1 and validate it by using clinical data and follow-up data from unrelated allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation donors and recipients, and to explore the clinical application value of the prediction model in transplantation prognosis.Methods:This is a retrospective study. Leveraging the artificial neural network algorithm of NetMHCⅡpan and the DPA1-DPB1 haplotype linkage database of the Chinese population established in our previous research, and incorporating the amino acid FASTA data of DPA1-DPB1 of all known sequences newly published by the Latest International Immunogenetics/Human Leukocyte Antigens, 47 DPA1-DPB1 linkage models were established. Employing next-generation sequencing technology based on the hybridization capture library construction method, HLA genotyping tests for HLA-A, -B, -C, DRB1, DQB1, DQA1, DRB3/4/5, DPB1, and DPA1 (9 loci) were performed on 250 donor-recipients pairs who underwent unrelated-donor hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in the Department of Hematology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University between January 2016 and September 2021. HLA typing data and clinical information of transplant donors and recipients were retrospectively analyzed to assess and predict the impact of permissive and non-permissive linkage mismatches of DPA1-DPB1 on transplantation prognosis. The Kaplan-Meier method with the log-rank test was applied to compare the survival curves of overall survival (OS) rates between different groups. Additionally, a competing risks model was utilized to compare the cumulative incidence of grade Ⅱ-Ⅳ acute graft-versus-host disease and non-relapse mortality (NRM) across groups. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was employed to compare the predictive performance of the established prediction model with that of the T-cell epitope (TCE) model.Results:According to the different hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties of amino acids, the DPA1-DPB1 linkage model is categorized into types Ⅰ-Ⅳ: type I consists of 6 hydrophobic types at P1-P8 plus hydrophilic type at P9; type Ⅱ includes 17 hydrophobic types; type Ⅲ comprises 9 amphiphilic types; and type Ⅳ consists of 15 hydrophilic types. According to the prediction model, DPA1-matched and DPB1-mismatched donor-recipient cases were classed into P1-matched or P1-mismatched groups. Compared with fully matched DPA1 and DPB1 cases, P1-mismatched patients had a 2-year OS rate of 75% (12/16) versus 96.2%(25/26) (χ2=4.13, P=0.04), and a NRM rate of 4/16 versus 0 (χ2=7.05, P<0.01). However, there was no statistically significant difference in the 2-year OS and NRM rates compared to DPA1 and DPB1 cases ( P>0.05). The prediction model established in this study demonstrated a larger area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for predicting the 2-year OS rate compared with the DPB1 TCE model ( Z=0.71, P=0.48). In donor-recipient cases where both DPA1 and DPB1 were mismatched, the 2-year OS rates decreased and the NRM increased in both P1-matched and P1-mismatched cases compared with fully matched DPA1 and DPB1. Moreover, P1-mismatched patients had a worse prognosis compared to P1-matched patients. Conclusion:The DPA1-DPB1 linkage prediction model established based on high-throughput next-generation sequencing technology can be used to predict the impact of HLA-DP mismatches on OS and NRM in transplantation, and the prediction performance is superior to the TCE model.

Background: SM-like (LSM) genes a family of RNA-binding proteins, are involved in mRNA regulation and can function as oncogenes by altering mRNA stability. However, their roles in B-cell progression and tumorigenesis remain poorly understood. Methods: We analyzed gene expression profiles and overall survival data of 123 patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). The LSM index was developed to assess its potential as a prognostic marker of MCL survival. Results: Five of the eight LSM genes were identified as potential prognostic markers for survival in MCL, with particular emphasis on the LSM.index. The expression levels of these LSM genes demonstrated their potential utility as classifiers of MCL. The LSM.index-high group exhibited both poorer survival rates and lower RNA levels than did the overall transcript profile. Notably, LSM1 and LSM8 were overexpressed in the LSM.index-high group, with LSM1 showing 2.5-fold increase (p < 0.001) and LSM8 depicting 1.8-fold increase (p < 0.01) than those in the LSM.index-low group.Furthermore, elevated LSM gene expression was associated with increased cell division and RNA splicing pathway activity. Conclusions The LSM.index demonstrates potential as a prognostic marker for survival in patients with MCL. Elevated expression of LSM genes, particularly LSM1 and LSM8, may be linked to poor survival outcomes through their involvement in cell division and RNA splicing pathways. These findings suggest that LSM genes may contribute to the aggressive behavior of MCL and represent potential targets for therapeutic interventions.

Climate change has led to an increasing frequency and intensity of extreme climate events such as heat and drought extremes with considerable global public health burden. This systematic review collected 87 domestic and international studies from 2000 to 2023, considering the impacts of heat extremes, drought extremes, and compound hot-dry events on infectious diseases attributable to various transmission pathways such as waterborne, foodborne, insect-borne, airborne, and contact-transmitted diseases. Our results showed that high temperature was associated with increased transmission risks of waterborne and foodborne diseases including infectious diarrheal diseases (cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and paratyphoid) and infectious gastroenteritis; vector-borne diseases including dengue fever, Zika virus (ZIKV) disease, chikungunya fever, malaria, West Nile fever, and Rift Valley fever; airborne diseases including influenza-like diseases, influenza A, measles, and mumps; and contact-transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS, schistosomiasis, and leptospirosis. Additionally, drought conditions also amplified the transmission risks of waterborne and foodborne diseases including cholera, Escherichia coli infection, rotavirus infection, and hepatitis E; vector-borne diseases such as scrub typhus, schistosomiasis, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, and West Nile fever; airborne diseases including meningococcal meningitis, pertussis, measles, and upper respiratory infections; and contact-transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Along with global warming, the frequency of compound high temperature and drought events shows a considerably increasing trend, causing more adverse health effects than heat or drought alone. However, there is limited research quantifying their effects on infectious diseases. These associations may be mediated through temperature and precipitation on infectious disease pathogens, transmission vectors, population susceptibility, public health services, and behaviors. In the context of climate change, the increasing occurrence of compound events of high temperatures and droughts raises health concerns, and further studies are needed to enhance our understanding of the impacts of climate change on infectious diseases and improve human adaption to climate change.

Objective To construct a recombinant eukaryotic expression vector of human tumor suppressor p53-binding protein 2(TP53BP2)and transfect human embryonic kidney Expi293F cells.High-purity recombinant human full-length TP53BP2 protein was obtained and its biological activity was identified.Methods The TP53BP2 gene sequence was queried on the UniProt website,and the Expi293F expression system was optimized.The TP53BP2 gene was connected to pcDNA3.1(+)-P2A-eGFP vector by homologous recombination,and identified by double enzyme digestion and sequencing.Transect pcDNA3.1(+)-P2A-eGFP-TP53BP2 plasmid into Expi293F cells of Polyethylenimine(PEI),observe the transfection efficiency with a fluorescence microscope,collected cells from the experiment group and control group.The expression level of TP53BP2 recombinant protein was detected by Western blot(WB).Protein was purified by His label purification kit and Superdex 20010/300 GL chromatographic column.Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.The purified recombinant protein was identified by SDS-PAGE.Combining recombinant human full-length TP53BP2 protein with p65 protein was investigated for Co-immunoprecipitation(Co-IP)precipitation.Recombinant human full-length TP53BP2 protein was co-localized with p65 protein by Immunofluorescence(IF).The surface plasmon resonance(SPR)technique was used to detect the interaction between purified recombinant human full-length TP53BP2 protein and TP53BP2 antibody.Results The recombinant plasmid pcDNA3.1(+)-P2A-eGFP-TP53BP2 was successfully constructed by sequencing and double digestion.The fluorescence microscopy results showed that the transfection efficiency was about 60%.WB showed that the TP53BP2 protein was overexpressed in Expi293F cells,which proved that transfection was successful.SDS-PAGE results showed that the purity of the purified recombinant protein was above 90%,which proved that the purification was successful.Co-IP results showed that the TP53BP2 could interact with p65 protein.The results of IF showed that His tag protein,TP53BP2 protein,and p65 protein were co-located,indicating the interaction between the three proteins.SPR results showed that the purified TP53BP2 recombinant protein had good binding activity with the TP53BP2 antibody.These results all prove that the recombinant human full-length TP53BP2 protein has biological activity.Conclusion The eukaryotic expression vector of TP53BP2 gene was successfully constructed and the recombinant full-length human TP53BP2 protein with biological activity was successfully expressed in human embryonic kidney Expi293F cells.It lays a foundation for further study on the structure and function of TP53BP2.