BACKGROUND: To date, results on relationship between CYP3A4 gene polymorphism were limited and inconclusive, and no study focused on the influence of CYP3A4 gene-obesity interaction on breast cancer risk, especially in Chinese women. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of CYP3A4 gene, the SNP-SNP and gene-environment interactions on the susceptibility to breast cancer in Chinese women. METHODS: Logistic regression was used to explore the relationship between four SNPs of CYP3A4 gene and the risk of breast cancer. Generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction (GMDR) was used to screen the best SNP-SNP and gene-abdominal obesity interaction combinations among four SNPs and abdominal obesity. Haplotype examination among 4 SNPs was conducted using the SHEsis web-based platform. RESULTS: Logistic regression analysis showed that carriers of rs2242480- T allele have significantly higher breast cancer risk, than those with rs2242480- CC genotype, adjusted OR (95%CI) was 1.68 (1.23-2.16) and 2.03 (1.53-2.58) for participants with CT genotype and TT genotype under additive model. We did not find any notable interactions between the four SNPs within the CYP3A4 gene. GMDR model found a significant association in a two-locus model involving rs2242480 and obesity, with a p-value of 0.018. Stratified analysis found that breast cancer risk was the highest in obese participants with rs2242480- CT or TT genotype, compared to those non-obese participants with rs2242480- CC genotype, OR (95%CI) was 3.02 (1.83-4.25). We found that all haplotype combinations were not correlated with breast cancer risk. CONCLUSIONS We found that the T allele of rs2242480 within the CYP3A4 gene and interaction between rs2242480 and obesity were associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. However, the results of this study were only applicable to the Han ethnic group and cannot be generalized to other ethnic groups in China, and more SNPs of CYP3A4 gene should been enrolled in the analysis in the future, to verify the results obtained in this study.
Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Breast Neoplasms/etiology* ; China/epidemiology* ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A/metabolism* ; Gene-Environment Interaction ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Haplotypes ; Obesity/epidemiology* ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Risk Factors ; East Asian People

OBJECTIVE To explore the levels of helper T lymphocytes(Th)in patients with hepatitis B virus(HBV)infection who were treated with entecavir and observe the impact on viral clearance.METHODS A total of 149 patients with HBV infection who were treated with entecavir in Yan'an Hospital of Kunming City from Jan.2020 to Jan.2024 were enrolled in the study,82 of whom were chronic hepatitis B(CHB),and 67 were chro-nic hepatitis B virus carriers.The enrolled patients were divided into the clearance group with 64 cases and the no clearance group with 85 cases according to the levels of serum hepatitis B surface antigen(HBsAg)at Week 72 of the treatment.The clinical data were compared between the two groups,and the changes of Th1 and Th2 levels during the treatment were analyzed.Multivariate linear regression analysis was performed for the association be-tween virological change during the treatment and immune level.The risk factors for failed clearance of viruses were analyzed by logistic regression model.RESULTS There were significant differences in the age,the levels of alanine aminotransferase(ALT)and HBV DNA between the baseline and Week 24,the levels of aspartate trans-aminase(AST)at the baseline and Week 12,the HBsAg level at Week 24,and the baseline levels of Th1,Th1/Th2 between the CHBc treatment group and the CHB treatment group(P＜0.05).There were linear correlations between the HBV DNA,HBsAg,hepatitis E antigen(HBeAg)and the Th1,Th2 and Th1/Th2,respectively(P＜0.05).Totally 64 patients were accumulatively eradicated with HBsAg on Week 72,with the eradication rate 42.95％.After the confounding factors were adjusted,multivariate analysis showed that the high levels of Th1,Th2 and Th1/Th2 were the risk factors for the failed clearance of viruses(P＜0.05).CONCLUSIONS Among the patients with HBV infection,there is difference in the immune level between the CHB patients and the CHB virus carriers.The levels of Th1,Th2 and Th1/Th2 are strongly correlated with the HBV DNA,HBsAg,HBeAg and efficiency of viral clearance during the treatment with entecavir.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the predominant cause of subfertility in reproductive-aged women; however, its pathophysiology remains unknown. Neurotensin (NTS) is a member of the gut-brain peptide family and is involved in ovulation; its relationship with PCOS is unclear. Here, we found that NTS expression in ovarian granulosa cells and follicular fluids was markedly decreased in patients with PCOS. In the in vitro culture of cumulus-oocyte complexes, the neurotensin receptor 1 (NTSR1) antagonist SR48692 blocked cumulus expansion and oocyte meiotic maturation by inhibiting metabolic cooperation and damaging the mitochondrial structure in oocytes and surrounding cumulus cells. Furthermore, the ERK1/2-early growth response 1 pathway was found to be a key downstream mediator of NTS/NTSR1 in the ovulatory process. Animal studies showed that in vivo injection of SR48692 in mice reduced ovulation efficiency and contributed to irregular estrus cycles and polycystic ovary morphology. By contrast, NTS partially ameliorated the ovarian abnormalities in mice with dehydroepiandrosterone-induced PCOS. Our findings highlighted the critical role of NTS reduction and consequent abnormal NTSR1 signaling in the ovulatory dysfunction of PCOS, suggesting a potential strategy for PCOS treatment.
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome/physiopathology* ; Female ; Animals ; Neurotensin/metabolism* ; Receptors, Neurotensin/antagonists & inhibitors* ; Mice ; Ovulation/drug effects* ; Humans ; Granulosa Cells/metabolism* ; Adult ; Oocytes/metabolism* ; MAP Kinase Signaling System ; Signal Transduction ; Follicular Fluid/metabolism* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone/analogs & derivatives*

Apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1(APE 1)is a multifunctional protein that plays important roles in DNA repair and regulation of gene expression.Because APE 1 is overexpressed in various cancers,it can serve as a cancer biomarker for aiding clinical diagnosis,guiding therapy,and monitoring prognosis.On this basis,a label-free fluorescent probe was designed based on the primer exchange reaction(PER)strategy for highly sensitive detection of APE 1 activity.In the absence of APE 1,the structure of catalytic hairpin(HP)was stable and could not form G-quadruplex.Therefore,the background fluorescence of this sensing system was very low due to the dissociation of thioflavin T(ThT).In the presence of APE 1,the apurinic/apyrimidinic(AP)site of HP was cleaved by APE 1 and a short nucleic acid fragment that acted as a primer to initiate PER was generated.After PER reaction,a large number of G-quadruplex were produced,which could specifically bind with ThT and resulted in significant increase of fluorescence signal.The combination of low background design of HP and PER amplification made this biosensor had high sensitivity with a detection limit(3σ)of 0.0008 U/mL.Furthermore,the primer sequence was directly generated by the cleavage of APE 1 without additional addition,which not only increased the specificity of the reaction,but also simplified the experiment procedure.Moreover,the use of label-free fluorescence signal reduced the cost of the experiment,and realized rapid detection of APE 1.Finally,this sensor was used to detect APE 1 in human serum samples with spiked recoveries of 91%-104%,proving great potential in study of biological enzyme.

Objective To investigate whether Piceatannol(PIC)improves diabetic retinopathy(DR)mediated by microglial polarization and to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms.Methods Network pharmacology and bioinformatics were used to analyze the common targets of DR,PIC,and microglia.Human retinal vascular endothelial cells(HRVECs)were cultured in vitro and randomly divided into the NG-HRVECs group,HG-HRVECs group,and HG+PIC-HRVECs group.Cell viability was assessed by the CCK-8 assay,apoptosis was detected by the TUNEL assay,and the concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)and interleukin-6(IL-6)were measured using ELISA kits.BV-2 cells were cultured in vitro and randomly divided into the NG-BV-2 group,HG-BV-2 group,HG+PIC-BV-2 group,HG+Si-NC-BV-2 group,HG+Si-CXCR4-BV-2 group,and HG+Ibrutinib-BV-2 group.The levels of arginase-1(Arg-1)and inducible ni-tric oxide synthase(iNOS)were measured using ELISA kits.Furthermore,conditioned medium(CM)from BV-2 cells of each group was collected to treat HRVECs,after which the viability,apoptosis rate,and TNF-α and IL-6 concentrations of the HRVECs were measured.A DR rat model was established and intervened with PIC to investigate the ameliorative effects of PIC on retinal pathology.Results Bioinformatics analysis identified CXCR4 as the key target of this study.Compared with the NG-HRVECs group,the apoptosis rate and the concentrations of TNF-α and IL-6 were increased in the HG-HRVECs group.Compared with the HG-HRVECs group,the HG+PIC-HRVECs group showed a decreased apoptosis rate and reduced concentrations of TNF-α and IL-6(all P＜0.05).Compared with the NG-BV-2 group,the HG-BV-2 group ex-hibited decreased Arg-1 levels and increased iNOS levels.Compared with the HG-BV-2 group,the HG+PIC-BV-2,HG+Si-CXCR4-BV-2,and HG+Ibrutinib-BV-2 groups all showed increased Arg-1 levels and decreased iNOS levels(all P＜0.05).Compared with the NG-BV-2-CM group,the HG-BV-2-CM group led to decreased viability,increased apoptosis rate,and in-creased concentrations of TNF-α and IL-6 in HRVECs.In contrast,the HG+PIC-BV-2-CM,HG+Si-CXCR4-BV-2-CM,and HG+Ibrutinib-BV-2-CM groups reversed the effects induced by HG-BV-2-CM on HRVECs(all P＜0.05).Animal experiment results showed that compared with DR model rats,rats treated with different doses of PIC exhibited significantly ameliora-ted retinal histopathological damage,and the protein expressions of Arg-1,iNOS,CXCR4,and p-BTK were reversed.Con-clusion PIC ameliorates DR progression mediated by microglial polarization by inhibiting the CXCR4/BTK pathway.

Objective To investigate whether Piceatannol(PIC)improves diabetic retinopathy(DR)mediated by microglial polarization and to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms.Methods Network pharmacology and bioinformatics were used to analyze the common targets of DR,PIC,and microglia.Human retinal vascular endothelial cells(HRVECs)were cultured in vitro and randomly divided into the NG-HRVECs group,HG-HRVECs group,and HG+PIC-HRVECs group.Cell viability was assessed by the CCK-8 assay,apoptosis was detected by the TUNEL assay,and the concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)and interleukin-6(IL-6)were measured using ELISA kits.BV-2 cells were cultured in vitro and randomly divided into the NG-BV-2 group,HG-BV-2 group,HG+PIC-BV-2 group,HG+Si-NC-BV-2 group,HG+Si-CXCR4-BV-2 group,and HG+Ibrutinib-BV-2 group.The levels of arginase-1(Arg-1)and inducible ni-tric oxide synthase(iNOS)were measured using ELISA kits.Furthermore,conditioned medium(CM)from BV-2 cells of each group was collected to treat HRVECs,after which the viability,apoptosis rate,and TNF-α and IL-6 concentrations of the HRVECs were measured.A DR rat model was established and intervened with PIC to investigate the ameliorative effects of PIC on retinal pathology.Results Bioinformatics analysis identified CXCR4 as the key target of this study.Compared with the NG-HRVECs group,the apoptosis rate and the concentrations of TNF-α and IL-6 were increased in the HG-HRVECs group.Compared with the HG-HRVECs group,the HG+PIC-HRVECs group showed a decreased apoptosis rate and reduced concentrations of TNF-α and IL-6(all P＜0.05).Compared with the NG-BV-2 group,the HG-BV-2 group ex-hibited decreased Arg-1 levels and increased iNOS levels.Compared with the HG-BV-2 group,the HG+PIC-BV-2,HG+Si-CXCR4-BV-2,and HG+Ibrutinib-BV-2 groups all showed increased Arg-1 levels and decreased iNOS levels(all P＜0.05).Compared with the NG-BV-2-CM group,the HG-BV-2-CM group led to decreased viability,increased apoptosis rate,and in-creased concentrations of TNF-α and IL-6 in HRVECs.In contrast,the HG+PIC-BV-2-CM,HG+Si-CXCR4-BV-2-CM,and HG+Ibrutinib-BV-2-CM groups reversed the effects induced by HG-BV-2-CM on HRVECs(all P＜0.05).Animal experiment results showed that compared with DR model rats,rats treated with different doses of PIC exhibited significantly ameliora-ted retinal histopathological damage,and the protein expressions of Arg-1,iNOS,CXCR4,and p-BTK were reversed.Con-clusion PIC ameliorates DR progression mediated by microglial polarization by inhibiting the CXCR4/BTK pathway.

OBJECTIVE To explore the levels of helper T lymphocytes(Th)in patients with hepatitis B virus(HBV)infection who were treated with entecavir and observe the impact on viral clearance.METHODS A total of 149 patients with HBV infection who were treated with entecavir in Yan'an Hospital of Kunming City from Jan.2020 to Jan.2024 were enrolled in the study,82 of whom were chronic hepatitis B(CHB),and 67 were chro-nic hepatitis B virus carriers.The enrolled patients were divided into the clearance group with 64 cases and the no clearance group with 85 cases according to the levels of serum hepatitis B surface antigen(HBsAg)at Week 72 of the treatment.The clinical data were compared between the two groups,and the changes of Th1 and Th2 levels during the treatment were analyzed.Multivariate linear regression analysis was performed for the association be-tween virological change during the treatment and immune level.The risk factors for failed clearance of viruses were analyzed by logistic regression model.RESULTS There were significant differences in the age,the levels of alanine aminotransferase(ALT)and HBV DNA between the baseline and Week 24,the levels of aspartate trans-aminase(AST)at the baseline and Week 12,the HBsAg level at Week 24,and the baseline levels of Th1,Th1/Th2 between the CHBc treatment group and the CHB treatment group(P＜0.05).There were linear correlations between the HBV DNA,HBsAg,hepatitis E antigen(HBeAg)and the Th1,Th2 and Th1/Th2,respectively(P＜0.05).Totally 64 patients were accumulatively eradicated with HBsAg on Week 72,with the eradication rate 42.95％.After the confounding factors were adjusted,multivariate analysis showed that the high levels of Th1,Th2 and Th1/Th2 were the risk factors for the failed clearance of viruses(P＜0.05).CONCLUSIONS Among the patients with HBV infection,there is difference in the immune level between the CHB patients and the CHB virus carriers.The levels of Th1,Th2 and Th1/Th2 are strongly correlated with the HBV DNA,HBsAg,HBeAg and efficiency of viral clearance during the treatment with entecavir.

Purpose: The association between immune-related adverse events (irAEs) and survival outcomes in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with programmed death-(ligand) 1 [PD-(L)1] inhibitors remains controversial, partly due to variations in dealing with immortal-time bias (ITB). Materials and Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 425 advanced NSCLC patients who received anti–PD-(L)1 monotherapy between January 2016 and June 2021, stratifying them into irAE (n=127) and non-irAE (n=298) groups. The primary endpoint was to assess the impact of irAEs on progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Landmark (2-, 3-, 6-, and 9-month) and time-dependent Cox analyses were performed to eliminate ITB. Results: With a median follow-up of 38.8 months, the occurrence of overall irAEs was significantly associated with superior PFS (11.2 vs. 3.4 months, p < 0.001) and OS (31.4 vs. 14.0 months, p < 0.001), which persisted in landmark and time-dependent Cox analyses. For the main organ-specific irAEs, skin, thyroid, and hepatic irAEs, respectively, showed significantly improved survival compared to the non-irAE group, whereas pneumonitis did not. Single-organ irAEs had the best outcomes compared with multi-organ or no irAE, which also held across subgroups of skin, thyroid, and hepatic irAEs. Moreover, severe grade irAEs and immunotherapy discontinuation had a detrimental effect on survival, systemic steroid therapy showed little effect, while immunotherapy resumption had tolerable safety and a trend of improved survival. Conclusion After adequately adjusting ITB, the occurrence of overall irAEs predicts for favorable efficacy of anti–PD-(L)1 monotherapy in NSCLC, with better outcomes observed in patients with skin, thyroid, or hepatic irAEs, particularly those with single-organ involvement.

Objective: The relationship between adverse childhood experiences and methamphetamine use disorder (MUD) has been shown in previous studies; nevertheless, the underlying neural mechanisms remain elusive. Childhood trauma is associated with aberrant functional connectivity (FC) within the default-mode network (DMN). Furthermore, within the DMN, FC may contribute to impaired self-awareness in addiction, while cross-network FC is critical for relapse.We aimed to investigate whether childhood trauma was associated with DMN-related resting-state FC among healthy controls and patients with MUD and to examine whether DMN-related FC affected the effect of childhood trauma on the symptom load of MUD diagnosis. Methods: Twenty-seven male patients with MUD and 27 male healthy controls were enrolled and completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. DMN-related resting-state FC was examined using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results: There were 47.1% healthy controls and 66.7% MUD patients in this study with adverse childhood experiences.Negative correlations between adverse childhood experiences and within-DMN FC were observed in both healthy controls and MUD patients, while within-DMN FC was significantly altered in MUD patients. The detrimental effects of adverse childhood experiences on MUD patients may be attenuated through DMN-executive control networks (ECN) FC. Conclusion Adverse childhood experiences were negatively associated with within-DMN FC in MUD patients and healthy controls. However, DMN-ECN FC may attenuate the effects of childhood trauma on symptoms load of MUD.

BACKGROUND:Although nerve conduits provide an effective treatment approach for nerve repair,traditional nerve conduits merely serve as mechanical channels in the repair process.The therapeutic effect still needs to be improved.Carbon nanomaterials have good physicochemical properties and hold great potential in fields such as electrochemistry and tissue engineering.Nerve conduits loaded with carbon nanomaterials,after appropriate functional modifications,are expected to further enhance the quality of nerve repair. OBJECTIVE:To review the recent research progress of carbon nanomaterial-loaded nerve conduits/scaffolds for peripheral nerve repair. METHODS:PubMed,Web of Science,China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI),and Wanfang databases were searched for the literature on the application of carbon nanomaterial catheters in peripheral nerve regeneration.English keywords were"carbon nanomaterials,carbon-based nanomaterials,nerve conduit,nerve guidance conduit,scaffold,nerve regeneration,peripheral nerve repair,peripheral nerve injury"and Chinese keywords were"carbon nanomaterials,carbon materials,graphene,carbon nanotubes,nerve conduits,nerve scaffolds,nerve repair,nerve regeneration,peripheral nerve injury".Finally,69 articles were selected for this review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)Carbon nanomaterials primarily restore damaged neural bioelectric signal conduction by activating calcium ion channels and inducing intracellular calcium activity.The application of various nerve conduit design strategies has improved the effectiveness of nerve repair.(2)Successful intraneural vascularization is the prerequisite for repairing peripheral nerve injuries.Reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species generated by carbon nanomaterials trigger subsequent signaling pathways that promote intraneural vascularization.(3)The ratio of M1 to M2 macrophages affects the repair of peripheral nerve injuries.Carbon nanomaterials promote the polarization of macrophages into the M2 phenotype,thereby exerting their anti-inflammatory and regenerative effects.(4)Some carbon nanomaterials may induce excessive generation of reactive oxygen species intracellularly,potentially exhibiting cytotoxicity detrimental to nerve repair.However,appropriate functional modifications can improve the adverse effects caused by carbon nanomaterials.(5)Although carbon nanomaterials can restore the microenvironment of peripheral nerve injuries and play a positive role in promoting peripheral nerve regeneration,their inherent cytotoxicity and unclear in vivo degradation pathways still pose challenges for clinical application.However,by employing methods such as functional modification,it is possible to enhance the biocompatibility of carbon nanomaterials.Modified carbon nanomaterials have promising prospects in the field of neural tissue engineering.