1.Artificial intelligence in prostate cancer.
Wei LI ; Ruoyu HU ; Quan ZHANG ; Zhangsheng YU ; Longxin DENG ; Xinhao ZHU ; Yujia XIA ; Zijian SONG ; Alessia CIMADAMORE ; Fei CHEN ; Antonio LOPEZ-BELTRAN ; Rodolfo MONTIRONI ; Liang CHENG ; Rui CHEN
Chinese Medical Journal 2025;138(15):1769-1782
Prostate cancer (PCa) ranks as the second most prevalent malignancy among men worldwide. Early diagnosis, personalized treatment, and prognosis prediction of PCa play a crucial role in improving patients' survival rates. The advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly the utilization of deep learning (DL) algorithms, has brought about substantial progress in assisting the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis prediction of PCa. The introduction of the foundation model has revolutionized the application of AI in medical treatment and facilitated its integration into clinical practice. This review emphasizes the clinical application of AI in PCa by discussing recent advancements from both pathological and imaging perspectives. Furthermore, it explores the current challenges faced by AI in clinical applications while also considering future developments, aiming to provide a valuable point of reference for the integration of AI and clinical applications.
Humans
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Prostatic Neoplasms/diagnosis*
;
Male
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Artificial Intelligence
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Deep Learning
;
Prognosis
2.SMUG1 promoted the progression of pancreatic cancer via AKT signaling pathway through binding with FOXQ1.
Zijian WU ; Wei WANG ; Jie HUA ; Jingyao ZHANG ; Jiang LIU ; Si SHI ; Bo ZHANG ; Xiaohui WANG ; Xianjun YU ; Jin XU
Chinese Medical Journal 2025;138(20):2640-2656
BACKGROUND:
Pancreatic cancer is a lethal malignancy prone to gemcitabine resistance. The single-strand selective monofunctional uracil DNA glycosylase (SMUG1), which is responsible for initiating base excision repair, has been reported to predict the outcomes of different cancer types. However, the function of SMUG1 in pancreatic cancer is still unclear.
METHODS:
Gene and protein expression of SMUG1 as well as survival outcomes were assessed by bioinformatic analysis and verified in a cohort from Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center. Subsequently, the effect of SMUG1 on proliferation, cell cycle, and migration abilities of SMUG1 cells were detected in vitro . DNA damage repair, apoptosis, and gemcitabine resistance were also tested. RNA sequencing was performed to determine the differentially expressed genes and signaling pathways, followed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting verification. The cancer-promoting effect of forkhead box Q1 (FOXQ1) and SMUG1 on the ubiquitylation of myelocytomatosis oncogene (c-Myc) was also evaluated. Finally, a xenograft model was established to verify the results.
RESULTS:
SMUG1 was highly expressed in pancreatic tumor tissues and cells, which also predicted a poor prognosis. Downregulation of SMUG1 inhibited the proliferation, G1 to S transition, migration, and DNA damage repair ability against gemcitabine in pancreatic cancer cells. SMUG1 exerted its function by binding with FOXQ1 to activate the Protein Kinase B (AKT)/p21 and p27 pathway. Moreover, SMUG1 also stabilized the c-Myc protein via AKT signaling in pancreatic cancer cells.
CONCLUSIONS
SMUG1 promotes proliferation, migration, gemcitabine resistance, and c-Myc protein stability in pancreatic cancer via protein kinase B signaling through binding with FOXQ1. Furthermore, SMUG1 may be a new potential prognostic and gemcitabine resistance predictor in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
Humans
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Pancreatic Neoplasms/pathology*
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Forkhead Transcription Factors/genetics*
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Signal Transduction/genetics*
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Animals
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Cell Line, Tumor
;
Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/metabolism*
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Cell Proliferation/physiology*
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Mice
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Uracil-DNA Glycosidase/genetics*
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Female
;
Male
;
Gemcitabine
;
Mice, Nude
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Apoptosis/physiology*
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Deoxycytidine/analogs & derivatives*
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Cell Movement/genetics*
3.Nucleic acid-based delivery system delivering platinum drugs cooperates with siRNA for potentiated chemo-immunotherapy by reducing phosphatidylserine exposure and activating the cGAS-STING pathway.
Jianqin YAN ; Zijian ZHAO ; Dengshuai WEI ; Huapeng ZHENG ; Bin HE ; Yong SUN
Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B 2025;15(10):5444-5457
Chemotherapeutic drugs, such as cisplatin and phenanthriplatin (PhenPt), as STING agonists to induce DNA damage and activate the cyclic GMP-AMP synthase-stimulator of interferon genes (cGAS-STING) signaling pathway provides a potential strategy for clinical chemo-immunotherapy. However, treatment with Pt-based drugs leads to irreversible ectopia of phosphatidylserine (PS), a major component of the intracellular membrane, to the surface of the cancer cells by enzymes (Xkr8). Exposed PS can bind to immune cell receptors and inhibit the presentation of tumor antigens, leading to immunosuppression and attenuation of chemotherapy. Herein, we report a novel approach to enhance chemo-immunotherapy by constructing siRNA targeted Xkr8 (siXkr8)-mediated tetrahedral framework nucleic acid nanogel structure concurrently loaded with PhenPt (siXkr8-FNG/PhenPt) for co-delivery of siRNA and Pt-based drugs. The results showed that siXkr8-FNG/PhenPt can not only be used as an efficient delivery carrier to deliver siXkr8, block the expression of Xkr8, reduce the exposure of PS on the cancer cells surface, but also act as an immune stimulant to activate cGAS-STING pathway, effectively improve the immunosuppressive microenvironment, produce antitumor immune response, and inhibit tumor growth and metastasis. Overall, this new delivery system is important for improving the effect of Pt-based drug chemotherapy, inducing immune enhancement and nucleic acid drug delivery.
4.Disease costs in inpatients with schizophrenia,major depressive disorder,and bipolar disorder
Guoping WU ; Jingming WEI ; Yueqin HUANG ; Tingting ZHANG ; Yanling HE ; Liang ZHOU ; Jie ZHANG ; Yuandong GONG ; Yan LIU ; Bo LIU ; Jin LU ; Zijian ZHAO ; Yuhang LIANG ; Libo WANG ; Bin LI ; Linling JIANG ; Zhongcai LI ; Zhaorui LIU
Chinese Mental Health Journal 2024;38(1):9-15
Objective:To evaluate direct and indirect costs for schizophrenia,major depressive disorder(MDD)and bipolar disorder,and to compare their differences of cost composition,and to explore the drivers of the total costs.Methods:A total of 3 175 inpatients with schizophrenia,MDD,and bipolar disorder were recruited.In-patient's self-report total direct of medical costs outpatient and inpatient,out-of-pocket costs,and direct non-medical costs were regarded as direct costs.Productivity loss and other loss caused by damaging properties were defined as indirect costs.The perspectives of this study included individual and societal levels.Multivariate regression analysis was applied for detecting the factors influencing disease costs.Results:The total cost of schizophrenia was higher than those of MDD and bipolar disorder at individual and societal levels.The indirect costs of three mental disorders were higher than the direct costs,and the indirect cost ratio of bipolar disorder was higher than those of schizophre-nia and MDD.Age,gender,working condition and marital status(P<0.05)were the important drivers of total costs.Conclusion:The economic burden of the three mental disorders is relatively heavy.Schizophrenia has heaviest disease burden,and the productivity loss due to mental disorders is the driving force of the soaring disease cost
6.The effects on the language ability and life quality of aphasic stroke survivors of synchronous, long-distance speech rehabilitation training based on Oral Reading for Language with Aphasia
Li GAN ; Xin YANG ; LiJuan LI ; Lei WANG ; Zijian PANG ; Yang YANG ; Hongyan WANG ; Xinxing CHEN ; Quan WEI
Chinese Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2023;45(3):199-204
Objective:To observe any effect of long-distance application of Oral Reading for Language with Aphasia (ORLA) training on patients with post-stroke aphasia.Methods:A total of 42 stroke survivors with aphasia were randomly divided into an inpatient group, and two online groups, each of 14. All three groups had their routine rehabilitation treatment supplemented with ordinary multimodal language therapy and ORLA. The inpatient group completed the routine in the rehabilitation treatment room, while the online groups completed it at home using Tencent video conferencing software. The conventional multimodal language therapy was conducted once daily, 5 days a week for 4 weeks. For the inpatient group and online group 2 the daily session lasted 30 minutes, while for the online 1 groups the daily length was doubled. The ORLA therapy was also conducted once daily, 5 days a week for 4 weeks, for the inpatient group and online group 2 the daily session lasted 1h, while for the online 1 groups the daily length was 30min.The speech function, reading ability and life quality of the three groups were evaluated before and after the intervention using the Western Aphasia Battery, the Chinese Standard Aphasia Examination Scale and the Chinese version of the Stroke Aphasia Quality of Life Scale.Results:After treatment, the average aphasia quotient (AQ), reading, naming and quality of life scores in all three groups had improved significantly compared with those before treatment. And related language ability scores (such as retelling, fluency, information volume, listening comprehension, etc.) had also improved significantly in all three groups. However, the average AQ, reading, and oral fluency scores of the inpatient group and online group 2 were significantly higher than those of online group 1. Significant improvement was also observed in the reading aloud and life quality of all three groups, but the average improvement in reading aloud was significantly greater in the inpatient group and in online group 2 compared to online group 1. The average life quality of the online groups was significantly superior to that of the inpatient group.Conclusion:Medium- and high-intensity ORLA synchronous remote speech rehabilitation can significantly improve the speech ability, reading ability and life quality of aphasic stroke survivors.
7.Genome-wide identification of the BmAKR gene family in the silkworm (Bombyx mori) and their expression analysis in diapause eggs and nondiapause eggs.
Jing GONG ; Wei ZHANG ; Qinglang WANG ; Zijian ZHU ; Jiaxin PANG ; Yong HOU
Chinese Journal of Biotechnology 2023;39(12):4982-4995
The aldo-keto reductase super family (AKRs) has a wide range of substrate specificity. However, the systematic identification of insect AKR gene family members has not been reported. In this study, bioinformatics methods were used to predict the phylogenetic evolution, physical and chemical properties, chromosome location, conserved motifs, and gene structure of AKR family members in Bombyx mori (BmAKR). Transcriptome data or quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) were used to analyze the expression level of BmAKR genes during different organizational periods and silkworm eggs in different developmental states. Moreover, Western blotting was used to detect the expression level of the BmAKR in silkworm eggs. The results showed that 11 BmAKR genes were identified. These genes were distributed on 4 chromosomes of the silkworm genome, all of which had the (α/β) 8-barrel motif, and their physical and chemical characteristics were relatively similar. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the BmAKR genes could be divided into 2 subgroups (AKR1 and AKR2). Transcriptome data analysis showed that the expression of BmAKR genes were quite different in different tissues and periods. Moreover, the expression analysis of BmAKR genes in silkworm eggs showed that some genes were expressed significantly higher in nondiapause eggs than in diapause eggs; but another gene, BmAKR1-1, was expressed significantly higher in diapause eggs than in nondiapause eggs. The detection of protein level found that the difference trend of BmAKR1-1 in diapause eggs and non-diapause eggs was consistent with the results of qRT-PCR. In conclusion, BmAKR1-1 was screened out as candidates through the identification and analysis of the BmAKR genes in silkworm, which may regulate silkworm egg development is worthy of further investigation.
Animals
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Bombyx/metabolism*
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Phylogeny
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Diapause
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Genes, Insect
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Gene Expression Profiling
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Insect Proteins/metabolism*
8.Study on reverse transsynaptic virus tracing targeting Shenmen (HT7) and heart in mice
Libin WU ; Fan ZHANG ; Qing YU ; Lei LIU ; Xia WEI ; Ronglin CAI ; Zijian WU ; Ling HU
Journal of Acupuncture and Tuina Science 2023;21(2):109-120
Objective: To investigate the neural connections between Shenmen (HT7)-heart and the brain by observing the tracing viruses co-labeled brain nuclear groups after injection of the pseudorabies viruses (PRV), the reverse transsynaptic virus tracer carrying different fluorescent protein genes, into the myocardium and Shenmen (HT7) point, respectively.Methods: Pseudorabies virus 531 (PRV531) carrying the green fluorescent protein gene and pseudorabies virus 724 (PRV724) carrying the red fluorescent protein gene were injected into the left ventricular wall and Shenmen (HT7) point area of the left forelimb of six C57BL/6 mice, respectively. After 120 h, whole brain tissue was extracted under 4% paraformaldehyde perfusion to prepare brain sections. Neuronal co-labeling with the tracing viruses was observed under fluorescence microscopy. Results: Co-labeled signals from the mouse ventricular wall and Shenmen (HT7) point region were found at all levels of the mouse central nervous areas, such as the cerebral cortex, hypothalamus, midbrain, pons, and medulla oblongata. The number of co-labeled neurons was higher in the primary motor area, the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus, the subceruleus nucleus, and the paramedian reticular nucleus. Conclusion: There is a neural connection between Shenmen (HT7), the heart, and the brain, which may be most closely related to the autonomic nervous system.
9.Effects and mechanism of Elafibranor on the proliferation, migration and apoptosis of human prostate cancer
Junjie AI ; Zijian WANG ; Wei NI ; Xiaojuan LIN
Journal of Modern Urology 2023;28(9):813-817
【Objective】 To investigate the effects and molecular mechanism of Elafibranor (ELA) on the proliferation, migration and apoptosis of human prostate cancer (PCa) cells. 【Methods】 After PCa DU145 cells were treated with culture media containing different dosages of ELA, the proliferation, migration and apoptosis were determined with MTT assay, wound healing assay and Transwell assay, respectively. The expressions of genes related to lipid metabolism were detected with real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (real-time qPCR). 【Results】 The relative cell proliferation rate at 48 h was 100% in the blank control group, (86.9±7.8)% in the low-dose (5 μmol/L) group and (58.5±9.4)% in the high-dose (15 μmol/L) group;the wound healing rate at 24 h was (74.7±3.2)%, (61.8±2.9)% and (53.2±3.3)%;the relative percentage of migrated cells at 24 h was 100%, (32.4±11.2)% and (15.4±3.2)%;the cell apoptosis rate at 48 h was (9.3±1.4)%, (11.3±0.3)%, and (15.2±4.5)%, respectively, all P<0.05. After ELA treatment for 48 h, the genes related to fatty acid intake (SCPX, PLTP) and fatty acid oxidation (PDK1, ACOX2) were significantly down-regulated in the high-dose group, while the gene related to fatty acid deposition (PLIN2) was significantly up-regulated, indicating that the lipid metabolism pathway of DU145 cells was seriously interfered by the ELA treatment. 【Conclusion】 ELA can inhibit the proliferation and migration, and promote the apoptosis of prostate cancer cells by interfering in the lipid metabolism pathway, which exhibits remarkable potential of clinical translation in the field of anti-tumor chemotherapy.
10.Fine-tuning cell organelle dynamics during mitosis by small GTPases.
Zijian ZHANG ; Wei ZHANG ; Quentin LIU
Frontiers of Medicine 2022;16(3):339-357
During mitosis, the allocation of genetic material concurs with organelle transformation and distribution. The coordination of genetic material inheritance with organelle dynamics directs accurate mitotic progression, cell fate determination, and organismal homeostasis. Small GTPases belonging to the Ras superfamily regulate various cell organelles during division. Being the key regulators of membrane dynamics, the dysregulation of small GTPases is widely associated with cell organelle disruption in neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases, such as cancer and Alzheimer's disease. Recent discoveries shed light on the molecular properties of small GTPases as sophisticated modulators of a remarkably complex and perfect adaptors for rapid structure reformation. This review collects current knowledge on small GTPases in the regulation of cell organelles during mitosis and highlights the mediator role of small GTPase in transducing cell cycle signaling to organelle dynamics during mitosis.
Humans
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Mitosis
;
Monomeric GTP-Binding Proteins
;
Neoplasms
;
Organelles/physiology*
;
Signal Transduction

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