1.KG-CNNDTI: a knowledge graph-enhanced prediction model for drug-target interactions and application in virtual screening of natural products against Alzheimer's disease.
Chengyuan YUE ; Baiyu CHEN ; Long CHEN ; Le XIONG ; Changda GONG ; Ze WANG ; Guixia LIU ; Weihua LI ; Rui WANG ; Yun TANG
Chinese Journal of Natural Medicines (English Ed.) 2025;23(11):1283-1292
Accurate prediction of drug-target interactions (DTIs) plays a pivotal role in drug discovery, facilitating optimization of lead compounds, drug repurposing and elucidation of drug side effects. However, traditional DTI prediction methods are often limited by incomplete biological data and insufficient representation of protein features. In this study, we proposed KG-CNNDTI, a novel knowledge graph-enhanced framework for DTI prediction, which integrates heterogeneous biological information to improve model generalizability and predictive performance. The proposed model utilized protein embeddings derived from a biomedical knowledge graph via the Node2Vec algorithm, which were further enriched with contextualized sequence representations obtained from ProteinBERT. For compound representation, multiple molecular fingerprint schemes alongside the Uni-Mol pre-trained model were evaluated. The fused representations served as inputs to both classical machine learning models and a convolutional neural network-based predictor. Experimental evaluations across benchmark datasets demonstrated that KG-CNNDTI achieved superior performance compared to state-of-the-art methods, particularly in terms of Precision, Recall, F1-Score and area under the precision-recall curve (AUPR). Ablation analysis highlighted the substantial contribution of knowledge graph-derived features. Moreover, KG-CNNDTI was employed for virtual screening of natural products against Alzheimer's disease, resulting in 40 candidate compounds. 5 were supported by literature evidence, among which 3 were further validated in vitro assays.
Alzheimer Disease/drug therapy*
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Biological Products/therapeutic use*
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Humans
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Neural Networks, Computer
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Machine Learning
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Drug Discovery/methods*
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Algorithms
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Drug Evaluation, Preclinical/methods*
2.Effectiveness research of opportunistic screening for osteoporosis based on chest CT and deep convolutional neural network
Jing PAN ; Pengcheng LIN ; Kun ZHANG ; Shenchu GONG ; Bosheng HE ; Ze WANG ; Yujuan ZHANG ; Rui CAO ; Lin WANG
Journal of Practical Radiology 2024;40(1):145-150
Objective To analyze the feasibility and efficacy of a deep convolutional neural network(DCNN)model based on chest CT images to evaluate bone mineral density(BMD).Methods A total of 1 048 health check subjects'2 096 central level images of lumbar 1 and 2 vertebral bodies were used for experiments and analysis in this retrospective study.According to the results of quanti-tative computed tomography(QCT)BMD measurement,the subjects were divided into three categories:normal,osteopenia,osteopo-rosis(OP).Herein,a DCNN segmentation model was constructed based on chest CT images[training set(n=1 096),tuning set(n=200),and test set(n=800)],the segmentation performance was evaluated using the Dice similarity coefficient(DSC)to com-pare the consistency with the manually sketched region of vertebral body.Then,the DCNN classification models 1(fusion feature construction of lumbar 1 and 2 vertebral bodies)and model 2(image feature construction of lumbar 1 alone)was developed based on the training set(n=530).Model performance was compared in a test set(n=418)by the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve analysis.Results When the number of images in the training set(n=300)was adopted,the DSC value was 0.950 in the test set.The results showed that the sensitivity,specificity and area under the curve(AUC)of model 1 and model 2 in diagno-sing osteopenia and OP were 0.716,0.960,0.952;0.941,0.948,0.980;0.638,0.954,0.940;0.843,0.959,0.978,respectively.The AUC value of normal model 1 was higher than that of model 2(0.990 vs 0.983,P=0.033),while there was no significant difference in AUC values between osteopenia and OP(P=0.210,0.546).Conclusion A DCNN may have the potential to evaluate bone mass based on chest CT images,which is expected to become an effective tool for OP screening.
3. Paeonol inhibits rheumatoid arthritis through formyl peptide receptors
Xiao-Si YANG ; Shu-Yan SHENG ; Yu-Bao SHAO ; Xiao-Yu CHEN ; Li WEN-HAO ; Meng-Meng CHEN ; Jia-Hao WANG ; Ze-Rui GONG
Chinese Pharmacological Bulletin 2022;38(9):1320-1327
Aim To investigate the pharmacological effects of paeonol as a formyl peptide receptor activator on rheumatoid arthritis (HA).Methods The target rlataset was obtained from the high throughput Gene Expression Database ( GEO) , and multiple data sets were combined by USING R language to explore three groups of macrophage differentially expressed genes ( DEGs) in untreated,lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treat¬ment and paeonol and LPS treatment, and their enrich-ment pathway was analyzed.Protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks were constructed in the STRING data¬base anrl visualized in Cytoscape software.The inhibi¬tor}' effect of Hub gene formyl peptide receptor ( FPR) on RA inflammation was validated by TNF-cx stimula¬tion of fibroblast synovial cells ( FLS).Results Through bioinformatics analysis, 169 differential genes ( DEGs) related to inflammation and 275 DEGs related to the mechanism of paeonol action were obtained.Combined analysis of the two groups of DEGs showed that FPR played a key role in the anti-inflammatory mechanism of paeonol.Further studies on the mecha¬nism of paeonol showed that paeonol activated FPR, and the inhibitory effect of paeonol on FLS inflamma¬tion was rescued by TRP-ARg-TRP-TRP-TRP-TRP- TRP-TRP-NH2 (WRW4).Conclusion Paeonol can inhibit the inflammatory development of RA through the FPR pathway.
4.Impact of obstructive sleep apnea on the long-term cardiovascular outcomes in patients with acute coronary syndrome.
Xiao WANG ; Wen HAO ; Jing Yao FAN ; Rui Feng GUO ; Xin HUANG ; Ze Xuan LI ; Si Yi LI ; Ge WANG ; Ying ZHANG ; Wei GONG ; Shao Ping NIE
Chinese Journal of Cardiology 2021;49(8):776-782
Objective: To investigate the impact of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) on long-term cardiovascular outcomes in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Methods: This is a single-center, prospective cohort study. Between June 2015 to January 2020, consecutive ACS patients hospitalized at Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University were enrolled. All patients underwent portable sleep breathing monitoring, and they were then divided into moderate/severe OSA group (apnea-hypopnea index (AHI)≥15 events/hour) and no/mild OSA group (AHI<15 events/hour). The primary endpoint was major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular event (MACCE), defined as a composite of cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, ischemia-driven revascularization and hospital admission for unstable angina or heart failure. MACCE were compared yearly by the log-rank test. Multivariable Cox regression analyses were performed to determine the independent predictors of MACCE. Results: A total of 1 927 patients with ACS were enrolled, including 1 629 males (84.5%), aged (56.4±10.5) years. Moderate/severe OSA was present in 1 014 (52.6%) patients. Compared with no/mild OSA group, moderate/severe OSA group exhibited a higher body mass index (P<0.05). Hypertension, prior PCI were more prevalent in moderate/severe OSA group (both P<0.05). The difference of ACS category between the two groups was statistically significant (P=0.021). The rate of patients who underwent PCI and the number of stents were higher in the moderate/severe OSA group. During a 5-year follow-up (median 2.9 years (IQR 1.5-3.6 years)), the cumulative incidence of MACCE was significantly higher in the moderate/severe OSA group than in the no/mild OSA group (34.0% vs. 24.0%, HR=1.346, 95%CI 1.100-1.646, log-rank P=0.004). The cumulative incidence of MACCE remained statistically higher at 4 and 5 year in the moderate/severe OSA group as compared to the no/mild OSA group (33.3% vs. 22.9%, HR=1.397, 95%CI 1.141-1.710, log-rank P=0.001; 34.0% vs. 24.0%, HR=1.341, 95%CI 1.096-1.640, log-rank P=0.004, respectively). Multivariate analysis showed that moderate/severe OSA (HR=1.312, 95%CI 1.054-1.631, P=0.015) was an independent predictor of long-term MACCE in ACS patients. Conclusions: Moderate/severe OSA is observed in more than 52% ACS patients. Moderate/severe OSA is an independent predictor of long-term MACCE.
5. Study on formation regularity and kinetics of advanced glycation end-products during processing of boiled Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum
Chinese Traditional and Herbal Drugs 2020;51(7):1852-1861
Objective: To study the formation regularity and kinetic parameters of advanced glycation end-products during the processing of boiled Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum (CCP). Methods: UV-visible spectrophotometry and UPLC-MS/MS method were used to determine the change of browning index and content of typical advanced glycation end-products, Nε-(carboxymethyl) lysine and Nε-(carboxyethyl) lysine, of the processing system of simulated boiled CCP. The formation regularity and kinetic parameters of advanced glycation end-products during the processing of boiled CCP were discussed by constructing glucose and lysine to simulate the Maillard reaction system of CCP processing. Results: The activation energy of browning reaction, Nε-(carboxymethyl) lysine and Nε-(carboxyethyl) lysine reaction during processing of boiled CCP were 5.07, 40.44 and 78.47 kJ/mol, respectively, and all of them were zero-order kinetics. The activation energies of the above reactions in the baking process were 6.72, 89.34 and 164.77 kJ/mol, respectively, and all of them were zero-order kinetics. Compared to the formation of Nε-(carboxymethyl) lysine, the formation of Nε-(carboxyethyl) lysine required higher activation energy and was more difficult to occur. Conclusion: The temperature changed in the baking process has a significantly higher effect on the kinetic parameters of the advanced glycation end-products than in the boiling process. Long-term higher baking temperature resulted in more advanced glycation end-products produced in the boiled CCP. This study provides a solid theoretical basis for the blocking and inhibition strategies of advanced glycation end-products in the processing of CCP, which is also a great significance for the production of green safety CCP and strengthening the safety of traditional Chinese medicine.
6. Advances in effects and regulation of Maillard reaction on quality of Chinese materia medica
Chinese Traditional and Herbal Drugs 2019;50(1):243-251
Maillard reaction is a non-enzymatic browning reaction which is ubiquitous in the food industry and processing of Chinese materia medica (CMM). Maillard reaction can not only change the color and aroma of CMM, extend the shelf life of CMM, but also produce new active substances in CMM. In addition, a small amount of toxic and harmful substances such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and advanced glycation end-products produced by Maillard reaction have been given increasingly attention. It is of great significance to control the quality of CMM by changing the reaction temperature, time, potential of hydrogen, adding inhibitors, and anti-oxidants to regulate Maillard reaction. This paper reviews the general situation of Maillard reaction research and its research progress on the quality and regulation of CMM, and provides a reference for further research on the regulation of Maillard reaction for the quality control of CMM.
7.Effects of ginseng neutral polysaccharide on gut microbiota in antibiotic-associated diarrhea mice.
Yu-Li QI ; Shan-Shan LI ; Di QU ; Li-Xue CHEN ; Rui-Ze GONG ; Kun GAO ; Yin-Shi SUN
China Journal of Chinese Materia Medica 2019;44(4):811-818
To investigate the effect of ginseng neutral polysaccharide on gut microbiota composition and diversity as well as the therapeutic effect for antibiotic associated diarrhea( AAD) in mice. The water-soluble ginseng neutral polysaccharide( WGPN) was purified from water-soluble ginseng polysaccharides( WGP) by DEAE-sepharose fast flow column,which was obtained from the roots of Panax ginseng. AAD mice were induced by gastric gavage with lincomycin hydrochloride,followed by administration of normal saline( natural recovery group,NR) or WGPN( WGPN group) for one week. Body weight changes,psychosis and diarrhea status were observed and assessed. 12 h after the last administration,histological observation of ileum and 16 S rRNA high throughput sequencing analysis of intestinal contents were conducted to identify the effects of WGPN on AAD mice. The results showed that WGPN could alleviate the symptoms of diarrhea in mice,decrease the inflammation and edema of ileum,and increase the length of intestinal villi. As compared to NR mice,WGPN could increase the relative abundance of Lactobacillus,and significantly decrease the relative abundance of Bacteroides,Streptococcus,Ochrobactrum and Pseudomonas at the genus level. In conclusion,WGPN could improve the gut microecology by recovering the ileum structure and improving the diversity and composition of the gut microbiota in AAD mice.
Animals
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Anti-Bacterial Agents
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Diarrhea
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Gastrointestinal Microbiome
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Mice
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Panax
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Polysaccharides
8.Progress in Molecular Chaperone Regulation of Heat Shock Protein 90 and Cancer
Rui ZHAI ; Xiao-Yun GONG ; Xing-Chuang XIONG ; You JIANG ; Ze-Jian HUANG ; Xiang FANG
Chinese Journal of Analytical Chemistry 2018;46(3):301-310
Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) is a member of genetically conserved heat shock protein family. As an important molecular chaperone in eukaryotic cells, HSP90 plays a key regulatory role in maintaining cellular protein homeostasis. HSP90 clients encompass a wide range of proteins, thus HSP90 is involved in diverse biological process. With the deeper study, it is found that HSP90 takes an important part in the development and metastasis of cancer,and has become a promising target for the study of anticancer biology. We review the progress of HSP90 as molecular chaperone and its relationship with cancer.
9.Stable co-expression of human kappa opioid receptor and PKAcat-EGFP in CHO cells and functional identification
Yu-Lei LI ; Long LONG ; Quan WEN ; Li-Li WANG ; Ze-Hui GONG ; Rui-Bin SU
Chinese Pharmacological Bulletin 2018;34(9):1321-1326
Aim To establish a cell model which stably co-ex-press human kappa opioid receptor (hKOR) and enhanced green fluorescent protein ( EGFP) labeled catalytic domain of cAMP-dependent protein kinase A(PKAcat) fusion protein (PKAcat-EGFP) in Chinese hamster ovary(CHO) cells, laying the foun-dation for the high-throughput screening of hKOR drugs and drug molecular mechanisms in vitro. Methods Hygromycin B resist-ant hKOR recombinant plasmid [ pcDNA3.1/Hygro ( + ) -hKOR] was transfected into CHO cells stably expressing PKA-cat-EGFP by a lipofectin based method. Transfected cells were selected in culture medium containing hygromycin B. The posi-tive clones were selected by PKA redistribution assay. Z’ factor was used for evaluation and validation the reliability of the cell model. PKA redistribution assay and LANCE cAMP 384 Kit were used to test the function of the receptors in selected clone. Results CHO-PKAcat-EGFP/hKOR-13 cell model exhibited stable response in PKA redistribution assay and LANCE cAMP 384 Kit. Treated with 100 nmol·L-1U-50488 for 30 min, the average value of Z’ factor was 0.596, proving the reliability of the cell model. The hKOR expression in cell model remained stable after a few generations. Conclusion The CHO-PKAcat-EGFP/hKOR-13 cell model with stable co-expression of hKOR and PKAcat-EGFP has been successfully established.
10.Wnt1/β-catenin signaling up-regulates spinal VGLUT2 expression to maintain neuropathic pain in mice
Zhi-Ling ZHANG ; Gang YU ; Xiao-Nan LIANG ; Rui-Bin SU ; Ze-Hui GONG
Chinese Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology 2018;32(4):340-340
OBJECTIVE The present study was aimed to investigate the role of Wnt/β-catenin sig-naling in spinal VGLUT2 regulation and neuropathic pain. METHODS To elucidate the association be-tween VGLUT2 and neuropathic pain,we determined the expression and distribution characteristics of VGLUT2 in mice subjected to spared nerve injury(SNI),and then observed the effects of two VGLUT2 targeting shRNAs on mechanical allodynia and glutamate release.The effects of Wnt/β-catenin signal-ing on VGLUT2 expression and pain behavior were investigated by using Wnt agonist,Wnt1,and Wnt/β-catenin pathway inhibitor XAV939 in SNI mice.RESULTS SNI surgery induced significant up-regula-tion of VGLUT2 on postoperative days 7,14,and 21.Double immunofluorescence labeling of VGLUT2 with NeuN,MAP2,Iba-1,or GFAP showed that VGLUT2 was mainly expressed in neurons in the dor-sal horn of the spinal cord after SNI(NeuN,MAP2).Intrathecal administration of VGLUT2 shRNAs be-fore or after SNI surgery significantly decreased mechanical allodynia and glutamate release. Mean-while,Wnt1/β-catenin signaling increased significantly after SNI surgery.Over-expression of β-catenin in PC12 cells increased VGLUT2 protein level,intrathecal administration of Wnt agonist or Wnt1 signifi-cantly increased VGLUT2 protein expression in spinal cord, while Wnt/β-catenin pathway inhibitor XAV939 decreased VGLUT2 expression in PC12 cells and spinal cord.Additionally,intrathecal admin-istration of XAV939 7 days after SNI significantly attenuated mechanical allodynia in mice, which was in accordance with down-regulation of VGLUT2 protein levels.VGLUT2 shRNAs significantly attenuat-ed Wnt agonist or Wnt1 induced mechanical allodynia. CONCLUSION Wnt1/β-catenin signaling path-way up-regu-lates the spinal VGLUT2 expression,and this regulation is involved in neuropathic pain behavior.

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