Immunotherapy is an important breakthrough in canc-er treatment.Unfortunately,low drug concentration in tumor sites almost ineffectively initiates immune responses and thereby severely limits immune therapy applications in clinics.Nanoma-terials are well-recognized drug delivery system in cancer thera-py.Nanographene oxide(NGO)have shown immense perti-nence for anti-cancer drug delivery owing to their ultra-high sur-face area,chemical stability,good biocompatibility and excel-lent photosensitivity.In addition,functionalized modifications on the surface of NGO increase tumor targeting and minimize cy-totoxicity.This study focuses on reviewing the literature and up-dates on NGO in drug delivery and discussing the possibilities and challenges of NGO in cancer synergetic therapy.

Bladder cancer is the most common malignancy of the urinary system. Compound Kushen Injection (CKI) is a Chinese medicinal preparation that has been widely used in the treatment of various types of cancers in the past two decades. However, the pharmacological effect of CKI on bladder cancer is not still completely understood. In the current study, network pharmacology combined with bioinformatics was used to elucidate the therapeutic mechanism and potential targets of CKI in bladder cancer. The mechanism by which CKI was effective against bladder cancer was further verified in vitro using human bladder cancer cell line T24. Network pharmacology analysis identified 35 active compounds and 268 target genes of CKI. Bioinformatics data indicated 5500 differentially expressed genes associated with bladder cancer. Common genes of CKI and bladder cancer suggested that CKI exerted anti-bladder cancer effects by regulating genes such as MMP-9, JUN, EGFR, and ERK1. Functional enrichment analysis indicated that CKI exerted therapeutic effects on bladder cancer by regulating certain biological processes, including cell proliferation, cell migration, and cell apoptosis. In addition, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis implicated pathways related to cancer, bladder cancer, and the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. Consistently, cell experiments indicated that CKI inhibited the proliferation and migration of T24 cells, and induced their apoptosis. Moreover, RT-qPCR and Western blot results demonstrated that CKI was likely to treat bladder cancer by down-regulating the gene and protein expression of MMP-9, JUN, EGFR, and ERK1. CKI inhibited the proliferation and migration, and induced the apoptosis of T24 bladder cancer cells through multiple biological pathways and targets. CKI also exhibited significant effects on the regulation of key genes and proteins associated with bladder cancer. Overall, our findings provide solid evidence and deepen current understanding of the therapeutic effects of CKI for bladder cancer, and further support its clinical use.
Computational Biology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Humans ; Network Pharmacology ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms/genetics*

OBJECTIVE: To explore and design a novel bi-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) structure. To obtain the corresponding CAR-T cells and verify killing effects on tumor cells in vitro and in vivo. METHODS: Five kinds of bi-specific CAR structures including humanized CD19 scFv and CD79b scFv, CD8 hinge & TM-4-1BB-CD3ζ and/or CD3ε chain intracellular regions were constructed and prepared. CAR-19-79b cells were obtained. Five kinds of CAR-T cells were co-incubated with the 3M-CD19-CD79b-Luc target cells. Luciferase assay and ELISA were used to detecte the killing ability of these five groups of CAR-T cells and the secretion of cytokines and compared. The optimal structure of CAR-T cells was used to treat the leukemia mouse model constructed by Daudi-Luc cells. And the treatment efficacy was evaluated. At the same time, other targets were used in this structure. With the same methods, the stability and effectiveness of the structure were verified. RESULTS: CAR-19-79b-T cells were cultured for 7 days, the expression rates of CAR-19 and CAR-79b were 21.6%-36.3% and 21.7%-37.8%, respectively. The killing rates of 5 kinds of CAR-19-79b-T cells prepared by T cells from 3 healthy donors on 3M-CD19-CD79b-Luc cells were significantly higher than those of the T cell control group at the effect-target ratio of 10∶1. Among them, the killing rates of CAR-19-79b-T cells with No. III and No. IV structures were the strongest. After co-incubation with 3M-CD19-CD79b-Luc target cells, the amount of IFN-γ and TNF-α secreted by CAR-T cells with CAR IV and CARV structures was the lowest. And there was no significance between the two groups (P>0.05). CAR IV cells with remarkable killing effect and low secretion factor had obvious therapeutic effect on Daudi-Luc leukemia mice, extending the survival period of mice to 64 days. And all mice in the T cell control group died at 41.0±2.4 days. The CAR-19-BCMA-T and CAR-19-22-T with the same structure showed significant killing ability and low cytokine expression levels. CONCLUSION A novel bi-specific CAR structures was successfully designed, which could efficiently kill the corresponding tumor cells and secrete less cytokines (such as TNF-α, IFN-γ). Moreover, it shows obvious therapeutic effect on Daudi lymphoma mouse model. The bi-specific CAR structure shows good killing specificity and safety.
Animals ; Mice ; Leukemia ; Receptors, Chimeric Antigen ; T-Lymphocytes ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Objective:To explore the expression of long non-coding RNA LINC00630 in bladder cancer cell lines, and to explore the effect of interference with its expression in vitro on the proliferation and migration of bladder cancer cells.Methods:Real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of LINC00630 in bladder cancer cell lines 5637, BIU-87, T24, J82 and normal bladder epithelial cell line SV-HUC-1. The bladder cancer cell line with the highest LINC00630 expression was selected for follow-up experiments, then the cell line infected with the control lentivirus was used as the control group, and the cell line infected with the lentivirus that could interfere with the expression of LINC00630 was used as the experimental group. qRT-PCR was used to detect the expression of LINC00630 in the two groups of cells. MTS method and cell scratch test were used to detect the proliferation and migration abilities of cells in the two groups. qRT-PCR was used to detect the expression of neuregulin 1 (NRG1) mRNA in the two groups of cells, and Western blot was used to detect the expressions of NRG1 protein, cell proliferation-related proteins (cyclin D3 and CDK2) and cell migration-related proteins (Vimentin and N-cadherin) in the two groups of cells.Results:Compared with SV-HUC-1 cells (1.05±0.17), the expression of LINC00630 was significantly increased in all bladder cancer cell lines (all P < 0.01), and the expression was highest in J82 cells (relative expression 5.83±0.42). Compared with J82 cells of the control group, the expression of LINC00630 in J82 cells of the experimental group decreased (0.18±0.02 vs. 1.00±0.05, t=14.36, P < 0.01); from day 2 of transfection, the cell proliferation activity of the experimental group was lower than that of the control group (all P < 0.05). The cell scratch closure rate of the experimental group was lower than that of the control group [(27.4±7.1)% vs. (66.0±5.4)%, t = 4.31, P < 0.01]. Therelative expression of NRG1 mRNA in the experimental group was lower than that in the control group (0.34±0.03 vs. 1.07±0.24, t = 2.99, P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the expressions of NRG1 protein, cell proliferation-related proteins and cell migration-related proteins in the experimental group were reduced. Conclusions:LINC00630 is up-regulated in bladder cancer cell lines, and interference with LINC00630 may inhibit the proliferation and migration of J82 cells by down-regulating the expression of NRG1 gene. LINC00630 may be a new molecular target for the treatment of bladder cancer.

Objective: The relationship between serum uric acid (SUA) levels and glycemic indices, including plasma glucose (FPG), 2-hour postload glucose (2h-PG), and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), remains inconclusive. We aimed to explore the associations between glycemic indices and SUA levels in the general Chinese population. Methods: The current study was a cross-sectional analysis using the first follow-up survey data from The China Cardiometabolic Disease and Cancer Cohort Study. A total of 105,922 community-dwelling adults aged ≥ 40 years underwent the oral glucose tolerance test and uric acid assessment. The nonlinear relationships between glycemic indices and SUA levels were explored using generalized additive models. Results: A total of 30,941 men and 62,361 women were eligible for the current analysis. Generalized additive models verified the inverted U-shaped association between glycemic indices and SUA levels, but with different inflection points in men and women. The thresholds for FPG, 2h-PG, and HbA1c for men and women were 6.5/8.0 mmol/L, 11.0/14.0 mmol/L, and 6.1/6.5, respectively (SUA levels increased with increasing glycemic indices before the inflection points and then eventually decreased with further increases in the glycemic indices). Conclusion An inverted U-shaped association was observed between major glycemic indices and uric acid levels in both sexes, while the inflection points were reached earlier in men than in women.
Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Blood Glucose/analysis* ; China/epidemiology* ; Cohort Studies ; Diabetes Mellitus/blood* ; Female ; Glucose Tolerance Test ; Glycated Hemoglobin A/analysis* ; Glycemic Index ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Uric Acid/blood*

Objective:To investigate the expression of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) BDNF-AS in kidney cancer tissues, and its effect on the proliferation and migration ability of kidney cancer cells and the molecular mechanism.Methods:Real-time reverse quantitative polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression levels of BDNF-AS gene in renal cancer tissues, tumor-adjacent tissues of 67 renal cancer patients and normal renal tubular epithelial cells HK-2 and renal cancer cell lines A498, ACHN, OS-RC-2, Caki-1, 786-O in Huangshi Central Hospital of Edong Medical Group from May 2017 to July 2018. The kidney cancer cell line with the lowest expression of BDNF-AS was taken as the research object. Transient transfection with BDNF-AS overexpression plasmid was treated as the experiment group or a plasmid carrying meaningless sequences was treated as the control group. rRT-PCR was used to detect transfection efficiency. After the transfection with Caki-1 for 24 h, methythiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) method was used to detect the proliferation of cells in both groups, Transwell migration assay was applied to detect the cell migration ability, rRT-PCR was used to detect the expression level of protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor type G (PTPRG) mRNA and Western blot was used to detect the expression level of PI3K-AKT pathway related-proteins.Results:The relative expression level of BDNF-AS in kidney cancer tissues was lower than that in tumor-adjacent tissues (0.96±0.24 vs. 4.62±0.84, t = 41.76, P < 0.01). The relative expression of BDNF-AS in kidney cancer cell lines was lower than that in normal renal tubular epithelial cells HK-2 (all P < 0.05), and the relative expression in Caki-1 cells was the lowest (0.10±0.01). The relative expression of BDNF-AS in the experimental group was higher than that in the control group ( P < 0.01). From the second day of transfection, the proliferation ability of Caki-1 cells in the experimental group was lower than that in the control group (all P < 0.05). The number of Caki-1 migrated cells in the experimental group was lower than that in the control group after migration for 15 h of Caki-1 cells transfected for 24 h [(51±8) vs. (192±25), t = 5.31, P < 0.01]. After 48 h transfection, the relative expression of PTPRG mRNA in Caki-1 cells ( P < 0.01) and protein expression of the experimental group were higher than those of the control group, the expression levels of PI3K-AKT signaling pathway related-proteins p-PI3K, p-AKT, p-Tpl2 in Caki-1 cells of the experimental group were lower than those of the control group. Conclusions:The expression of BDNF-AS is down-regulated in kidney cancer tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of BDNF-AS can inhibit the proliferation and migration ability of kidney cancer Caki-1 cells. The molecular mechanism may be related to the transduction that BDNF-AS promotes PTPRG gene expression and interferes with PI3K-AKT signaling pathway.

Objective: Several COVID-19 patients have overlapping comorbidities. The independent role of each component contributing to the risk of COVID-19 is unknown, and how some non-cardiometabolic comorbidities affect the risk of COVID-19 remains unclear. Methods: A retrospective follow-up design was adopted. A total of 1,160 laboratory-confirmed patients were enrolled from nine provinces in China. Data on comorbidities were obtained from the patients' medical records. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds ratio ( Results: Overall, 158 (13.6%) patients were diagnosed with severe illness and 32 (2.7%) had unfavorable outcomes. Hypertension (2.87, 1.30-6.32), type 2 diabetes (T2DM) (3.57, 2.32-5.49), cardiovascular disease (CVD) (3.78, 1.81-7.89), fatty liver disease (7.53, 1.96-28.96), hyperlipidemia (2.15, 1.26-3.67), other lung diseases (6.00, 3.01-11.96), and electrolyte imbalance (10.40, 3.00-26.10) were independently linked to increased odds of being severely ill. T2DM (6.07, 2.89-12.75), CVD (8.47, 6.03-11.89), and electrolyte imbalance (19.44, 11.47-32.96) were also strong predictors of unfavorable outcomes. Women with comorbidities were more likely to have severe disease on admission (5.46, 3.25-9.19), while men with comorbidities were more likely to have unfavorable treatment outcomes (6.58, 1.46-29.64) within two weeks. Conclusion Besides hypertension, diabetes, and CVD, fatty liver disease, hyperlipidemia, other lung diseases, and electrolyte imbalance were independent risk factors for COVID-19 severity and poor treatment outcome. Women with comorbidities were more likely to have severe disease, while men with comorbidities were more likely to have unfavorable treatment outcomes.
Adult ; Aged ; COVID-19/virology* ; China/epidemiology* ; Comorbidity ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Severity of Illness Index ; Treatment Outcome

A new lignan glucoside,(+)-fragransin A_2-4-O-β-D-glucopyranoside(1), has been isolated from the dry root of Paeonia lactiflora by column chromatography on silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, and MCI-gel resin, as well as preparative RP-HPLC. The structure of the new compound was elucidated by spectroscopic data analysis(MS, UV, IR, CD, 1 D and 2 D NMR) and chemical method. Compound 1 showed moderate inhibition against lipopolysaccharide induced nitric oxide production in RAW264.7 macrophages, with an IC_(50) value of 21.3 μmol·L~(-1).
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Glucosides ; Lignans ; Paeonia ; Plant Extracts

OBJECTIVE: Pyrotinib, a novel irreversible pan-ErbB receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, showed promising antitumor activity and acceptable tolerability in phase II and phase III randomized clinical trials. We assessed the activity and safety of oral pyrotinib for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive metastatic breast cancer patients in the real world. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 72 HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients who received oral pyrotinib based regimens at Beijing Cancer Hospital and other four hospitals (Peking University First Hospital, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, General Hospital of PLA, Peking University Third Hospital) from August 2018 to September 2019. Progression free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), adverse events (AE) of pyrotinib were investigated. RESULTS: Seventy-two patients with HER2 positive MBC were enrolled. The median age of the patients was 55 years (range: 32-79 years). Sixty-nine (95.8%) patients had received anti-HER2 treatment in the metastatic and/or (neo) adjuvant settings; 61 (84.7%) patients had received anti-HER2 treatments in the metastatic setting in terms of trastuzumab 56 (77.8%) patients, lapatinib 36 (50.0%) patients, and T-DM1 4 (5.6%) patients. Among these 72 patients who received oral pyrotinib based regimens, 62 (86.1%) patients received pyrotinib (±trastuzumab) in combination with chemotherapy, 6 (8.3%) patients received pyrotinib (± trastuzumab) in combination with endocrine therapy and 4 (5.6%) patients received pyrotinib (±trastuzumab). Sixty-five (90.3%) patients received 400 mg pyrotinib once daily as initial dose, and 7 (9.7%) patients received 320 mg. OBJECTIVE response and safety to pyrotinib based therapy were evaluable in all the 72 patients. One (1.4%) patient achieved complete response (CR), 18 (25.0%) patients achieved partial response (PR), 41 (56.9%) patients had stable disease (SD), and 12 (16.7%) patients had progressive disease (PD). The ORR (CR+PR) was 26.4% and the median PFS was 7.6 months (95%CI: 5.5-9.7 months). Among the 36 patients with prior lapatinib therapy, the median PFS was 7.9 months (95%CI: 4.1-11.7 months). Among the 15 patients with brain metastasis, the median PFS was 6.0 months (95%CI: 2.2-9.8 months). The main toxicities related to pyrotinib were diarrhea in 57 (79.2%) cases, and 48 (66.7%) cases with grade 1-2 as well as 9 (12.5%) cases with grade 3. CONCLUSION Pyrotinib based therapy is an effective treatment for patients with HER2 positive MBC, including patients with lapatinib treatment failure and brain metastasis, and the toxicities can be tolerated.
Acrylamides/therapeutic use* ; Adult ; Aged ; Aminoquinolines/therapeutic use* ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; Breast Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; China ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Receptor, ErbB-2 ; Retrospective Studies ; Trastuzumab ; Treatment Outcome

Dihydrochelerythrine was isolated from the ethanol extract of Corydalis yanhusuo by chromatographic and recrystallization techniques. To our knowledge, this is the first report that dihydrochelerythrine was found to be unstable. The NMR, HPLC, and LC-MS were applied to monitor the structural conversion process of dihydrochelerythrine. The results showed that when dissolved in polar deuteration solvent (e.g., DMSO-₆ & MeOD), dihydrochelerythrine is directly converted to chelerythrine gradually. However, if used non-polar reagent (e.g.,CD₂Cl₂), the sample of dihydrochelerythrine undergoes the formation of pseudobase, chelerythrine, and bimolecular ether then followed by oxidation to oxychelerythrine as the major final product. Which leads to this phenomenon maybe is that the C-6 in dihydrochelerythrine is highly reactive to nucleophiles, and is easily converted to different derivatives in different solvents attributed to the solvent effect. This finding will contribute to the extraction and isolation, bioactivity screening, and quality evaluation of medicinal materials containing dihydrochelerythrine and other similar derivatives.