Objective To investigate the effect of down-regulating adenosine deaminase acting on RNA-1(AD AR1)on the radiosensitivity of lung adenocarcinoma cells.Methods Lentiviral transfection was used to establish an ADAR1 knockdown cell line based on A549 cells.Then the cells were divided into negative control(shNC)and ADAR1 knockdown(shADAR1)groups,which were followed by a single-dose irradiation of 0 Gy and 6 Gy X-rays.Western blotting and RT-PCR were utilized to detect the expression of AD AR1 at protein and mRNA levels,respectively.CCK-8 assay,wound healing assay and Transwell migration assay were applied to measure cell proliferation and migration abilities.Meanwhile,clone formation assay was performed to detect the effect of down-regulating ADAR1 on the radiosensitivity of A549 cells.Flow cytometry and Western blotting were conducted to detect the expression levels of apoptosis and apoptosis-related proteins Bax and Bcl-2.Immunofluorescence assay and Western blotting were used to detect the expression level of γ-H2AX.Comet assay was performed to detect the level of cellular DNA damage.Twelve female nude mice(4～6 weeks old,weighing 16～18 g)were divided into shNC group,shADAR1 group,shNC+ionizing radiation(IR)group and shADAR1+IR group,with 3 mice in each group.The growth of tumor of different groups was observed with subcutaneous tumorigenesis assay.Results Western blotting and RT-qPCR showed that the protein and mRNA expression of ADAR1 were significantly reduced in A549 shADAR1 cells(P＜0.05).CCK-8 assay,wound healing assay and Transwell migration assay indicated that down-regulation of ADAR 1 inhibited the proliferation and migration abilities of A549 cells,and this inhibition trend became more obvious(P＜0.01)after IR.Cell clone formation assay showed that the clone formation rate of both groups was decreased,with the increase of radiation dose.But the number of formed clones was lower in the shADAR1 group than the shNC group.Flow cytometry and Western blotting displayed that down-regulation of AD AR1 increased the apoptotic rate and Bax expression in A549 cells(P＜0.01)and decreased Bcl-2 expression(P＜0.05),and the apoptotic rate and Bax protein level were further increased in A549 shADAR1 cells after IR(P＜0.01),and the Bcl-2 protein level was further decreased(P＜0.01).The number of γ-H2AX foci and protein level in A549 shADAR1 cells were significantly increased after IR(P＜0.05),and the results of comet assay showed that the DNA damage was more obvious in A549 shADAR1 cells after IR(P＜0.01).Subcutaneous tumorigenesis assay in nude mice showed that the growth of subcutaneous tumour of A549 shADAR1 cells was significantly inhibited after IR(P＜0.01).Conclusion Down-regulation of ADAR1 significantly inhibits the proliferation and migration of A549 cells after IR and promotes apoptosis and DNA damage,and thereby increases the radiosensitivity of lung adenocarcinoma cells.

Total glucosides of Rhizoma Smilacis Glabrae (RSG) are selective immunosuppressants that exhibit primary efficacy in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis through targeted inhibition of activated T cells. In this study, we aimed to investigate the potential application of RSG in the treatment of psoriasis and elucidate its mechanism of action and material basis. Our findings revealed significant improvements upon administration of RSG in an imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriasis model. These improvements were characterized by a remarkable increase in the number of tail scales in mice and a substantial amelioration of skin erythema, ulceration, and flaking. By transcriptome sequencing and T-cell flow sorting assay, we identified notable effects of RSG on the modulation of various cellular processes. Specifically, RSG prominently down-regulated the Th17/Treg ratio in damaged skin tissues and reduced the proportion of G₂ phase cells. Furthermore, RSG exhibited a stimulatory effect on the proliferation and differentiation of epithelial cells. Of particular interest, we discovered that β-sitosterol, sitostenone, stigmasterol, smiglanin, and cinchonain Ib displayed potent inhibitory effects on the IL-17-mediated inflammatory response in HaCaT cells. In summary, our study highlights the therapeutic potential of RSG in the treatment of psoriasis, attributed to its ability to regulate the Th17/Treg balance. These findings contribute to the development of new indications for RSG and provide a solid theoretical foundation for further exploration in this field.
Animals ; Mice ; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory ; Psoriasis/drug therapy* ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Biological Assay ; Glucosides/pharmacology*

Purpose: Oligometastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients have been increasingly regarded as a distinct group that could benefit from local treatment to achieve a better clinical outcome. However, current definitions of oligometastasis are solely numerical, which are imprecise because of ignoring the biological heterogeneity caused by genomic characteristics. Our study aimed to profile the molecular alterations of oligometastatic NSCLC and elucidate its potential difference from polymetastasis. Materials and Methods: We performed next-generation sequencing to analyze tumors and paired peripheral blood from 77 oligometastatic and 21 polymetastatic NSCLC patients to reveal their genomic characteristics and assess the genetic heterogeneity. Results: We found ERBB2, ALK, MLL4, PIK3CB, and TOP2A were mutated at a significantly lower frequency in oligometastasis compared with polymetastasis. EGFR and KEAP1 alterations were mutually exclusive in oligometastatic group. More importantly, oligometastasis has a unique significant enrichment of apoptosis signaling pathway. In contrast to polymetastasis, a highly enriched COSMIC signature 4 and a special mutational process, COSMIC signature 14, were observed in the oligometastatic cohort. According to OncoKB database, 74.03% of oligometastatic NSCLC patients harbored at least one actionable alteration. The median tumor mutation burden of oligometastasis was 5.00 mutations/Mb, which was significantly associated with smoking, DNA damage repair genes, TP53 mutation, SMARCA4 mutation, LRP1B mutation, ABL1 mutation. Conclusion Our results shall help redefine oligometastasis beyond simple lesion enumeration that will ultimately improve the selection of patients with real oligometastatic state and optimize personalized cancer therapy for oligometastatic NSCLC.

Objective:To investigate the expression of soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) in serum of children with Kawasaki disease at acute stage and its diagnostic value in coronary artery disease (CAL).Methods:This study adopts case-control study method. Select 127 children with Kawasaki disease admitted to Xuzhou Children's Hospital affiliated to Xuzhou Medical University from August 2021 to August 2022. They are divided into CAL group and non-CAL group according to the degree of coronary artery involvement. Select 30 healthy children who have physical examination in this hospital at the same time as the healthy control group, and select another 30 children with acute upper respiratory tract infection and fever admitted to this hospital at the same time as the fever control group.Compare the sex, age and laboratory indicators of children with Kawasaki disease with or without CAL, and compare the difference between the serum sCD40L level of children with Kawasaki disease with or without CAL and the fever control group and the healthy control group, the serum sCD40L level of children with different degrees of coronary artery dilation, and analyze the correlation between the serum sCD40L and various laboratory indicators of children with Kawasaki disease and the influencing factors of children with Kawasaki disease complicated with CAL, To evaluate the screening effect of serum sCD40L for Kawasaki disease complicated with CAL. The measurement data with normal distribution is expressed by xˉ± s, the comparison between the two groups adopts independent sample t-test, the comparison between multiple groups adopts one-way ANOVA, and the comparison between two groups adopts LSD method and Bonferroni correction; The measurement data of non-normal distribution is expressed by M( Q1, Q3), and the comparison between the two groups is conducted by Mann-Whitney U test. Pearson method and Spearman mothod were used for correlation analysis. Logistic regression model was used to analyze the influencing factors of children with Kawasaki disease complicated with CAL. The diagnostic value of serum sCD40L level in Kawasaki disease complicated with CAL was analyzed by drawing the ROC curve. Results:All 127 children with Kawasaki disease were divided into CAL group (45 cases) and non-CAL group (82 cases) according to the presence or absence of CAL. The serum level of sCD40L in CAL group was higher than that in non-CAL group, healthy control group and fever control group ((7.03±0.91) μg/L vs (4.66±1.23), (1.73±0.96), (2.21±1.08) μg/L), the difference was statistically significant (all P<0.001). The serum level of sCD40L in children with coronary artery dilation in CAL group was lower than that in children with small CAA, medium CAA and large CAA ((6.04±0.22) μg/L vs (6.95±0.69), (8.02±0.57), (8.23±0.26) μg/L), the difference was statistically significant (all P<0.001). Serum sCD40L level and platelet count (PLT), C-reactive protein (CRP), N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-8 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) in children with Kawasaki disease All were positively correlated ( r=0.31, P<0.001, r=0.32, P<0.001, r=0.26, P=0.003, r=0.58, P<0.001, r=0.27, P=0.002, r=0.39, P<0.001). Serum sCD40L, IL-6 and NT-proBNP were the risk factors of complicated CAL in children with Kawasaki disease (odds ratio 1.21, 1.06 and 1.01, 95% confidence interval 1.03-1.43, 1.01-1.12, 1.00-1.01, P values were 0.022, 0.011 and 0.039, respectively). The area under the curve of serum sCD40L in diagnosing Kawasaki disease complicated with CAL was 0.928 (95% confidence interval: 0.885-0.971), and the optimal critical value was 5.60 μg/L, the sensitivity was 97.8% and the specificity was 79.3%. Conclusions:The level of serum sCD40L increased in children with Kawasaki disease in acute phase, especially in children with CAL. The level of serum sCD40L increased with the severity of CAL, which is a risk factor for Kawasaki disease complicated with CAL, and has certain diagnostic value for Kawasaki disease complicated with CAL.

BACKGROUND: LY01005 (Goserelin acetate sustained-release microsphere injection) is a modified gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist injected monthly. This phase III trial study aimed to evaluated the efficacy and safety of LY01005 in Chinese patients with prostate cancer. METHODS: We conducted a randomized controlled, open-label, non-inferiority trial across 49 sites in China. This study included 290 patients with prostate cancer who received either LY01005 or goserelin implants every 28 days for three injections. The primary efficacy endpoints were the percentage of patients with testosterone suppression ≤50 ng/dL at day 29 and the cumulative probability of testosterone ≤50 ng/dL from day 29 to 85. Non-inferiority was prespecified at a margin of -10%. Secondary endpoints included significant castration (≤20 ng/dL), testosterone surge within 72 h following repeated dosing, and changes in luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and prostate specific antigen levels. RESULTS: On day 29, in the LY01005 and goserelin implant groups, testosterone concentrations fell below medical-castration levels in 99.3% (142/143) and 100% (140/140) of patients, respectively, with a difference of -0.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], -3.9% to 2.0%) between the two groups. The cumulative probabilities of maintaining castration from days 29 to 85 were 99.3% and 97.8%, respectively, with a between-group difference of 1.5% (95% CI, -1.3% to 4.4%). Both results met the criterion for non-inferiority. Secondary endpoints were similar between groups. Both treatments were well-tolerated. LY01005 was associated with fewer injection-site reactions than the goserelin implant (0% vs . 1.4% [2/145]). CONCLUSION: LY01005 is as effective as goserelin implants in reducing testosterone to castration levels, with a similar safety profile. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04563936.
Humans ; Male ; Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal/therapeutic use* ; East Asian People ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone/agonists* ; Goserelin/therapeutic use* ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; Prostatic Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Testosterone

Marine microorganisms, especially marine fungi, have historically proven their value as a prolific source for structurally novel and pharmacologically active secondary metabolites (Deshmukh et al., 2018; Carroll et al., 2022). The corals constitute a dominant part of reefs with the highest biodiversity, and harbor highly diverse and abundant microbial symbionts in their tissue, skeleton, and mucus layer, with species-specific core members that are spatially partitioned across coral microhabitats (Wang WQ et al., 2022). The coral-associated fungi were very recently found to be vital producers of structurally diverse compounds, terpenes, alkaloids, peptides, aromatics, lactones, and steroids. They demonstrate a wide range of bioactivity such as anticancer, antimicrobial, and antifouling activity (Chen et al., 2022). The genetically powerful genus Emericella (Ascomycota), which has marine and terrestrial sources, includes over 30 species and is distributed worldwide. It is considered a rich source of diverse secondary metabolites with antimicrobial activity or cytotoxicity (Alburae et al., 2020). Notably, Emericella nidulans, the sexual state of a classic biosynthetic strain Aspergillus nidulans, was recently reported as an important source of highly methylated polyketides (Li et al., 2019) and isoindolone-containing meroterpenoids (Zhou et al., 2016) with unusual skeletons.
Animals ; Aspergillus nidulans ; Polyketides/chemistry* ; Anthozoa/microbiology* ; Anti-Infective Agents/pharmacology* ; Alkaloids

ObjectiveTo establish a more accurate and sensitive liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (LC-UV) method for the determination of uric acid in rat serum, and compare the results with those of commercial kits, providing a new method for the accurate determination of uric acid in the rat hyperuricemia model induced by potassium oxonate.Methods A hyperuricemia model was established by intraperitoneal injection of potassium oxonate (300 mg/kg) into SPF-grade male SD rats, and the control group was administered an equal amount of 0.5% sodium carboxymethylcellulose solution. Blood samples were collected from the posterior orbital venous plexus and centrifuged to obtain serum samples. After precipitation with 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid-acetonitrile (containing the internal standard 3,4-dihydroxybenzylamine hydrobromide), the supernatant was injected for analysis. Uric acid was separated on a Waters XBridge HILIC column (150 mm×4.6 mm, 3.5 μm) using acetonitrile (containing 0.5% formic acid and 2 mmol/mL ammonium formate) as the organic phase and methanol solution (methanol∶water=1∶1, containing 0.5% formic acid with 2 mmol/L ammonium formate) as the aqueous phase for isocratic elution and detection at 290 nm. Serum samples treated with activated carbon were used as substitute matrices for the methodological verification. Serum uric acid levels in rats with potassium oxonate-induced hyperuricemia were measured using the established LC-UV method and commercially available kits (uricase and phosphotungstic acid methods), and the accuracies of the three methods were compared.Results Serum uric acid showed a good linear relationship (R>0.999) at mass concentration of 10–200 μg/mL in rats, the lower limit of quantification was 10 μg/mL, the accuracy ranged from -2.17% to 2.21%, the intra-batch precision ranged from 0.52% to 1.95%, the inter-batch precision ranged from 3.04% to 4.90%, and the extraction recovery ranged from 83.12% to 89.91%. In the rat model, the results obtained using the commercially available phosphotungstic acid method kit were significantly higher than those of the LC-UV method, and those obtained using the commercially available uricase method kit were significantly lower than those of the LC-UV method, but the LC-UV method showed the best recovery of the spiked sample (95.90%–99.96%).ConclusionThe LC-UV method developed in this study can determine the concentration of uric acid in rat serum with higher accuracy than commercially available kits and is recommended for the determination of serum uric acid in the rat model of hyperuricemia induced by potassium oxonate.

Cholesterol is an important lipid component in the body, which not only participates in the formation of cell membranes, but also is the raw material for the synthesis of bile acids and steroid hormones. Low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) is involved in cholesterol metabolism and plays an important role in maintaining the cholesterol homeostasis of organism cells. The expression of LDLR is precisely regulated by transcription, post-transcription and post-translation, and the imbalance of ldlr expression will lead to the occurrence and development of many diseases. In this paper, the molecular regulation mechanism of LDLR, the damage of target organs caused by the imbalance of LDLR expression and the research and development progress of drugs targeting LDLR are reviewed, which provides theoretical basis for further understanding of the progress of diseases related to lipid metabolism disorder and new insights for developing drugs targeting LDLR with more effective and less side effects.

Hypertension is the leading risk factor for global mortality and morbidity and those with hypertension are more likely to develop severe symptoms in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular system, which is closely related to abnormal renin-angiotensin system and elabela/apelin-apelin receptor (APJ) axis. The elabela/apelin-APJ axis exerts essential roles in regulating blood pressure levels, vascular tone, and cardiovascular dysfunction in hypertension by counterbalancing the action of the angiotensin II/angiotensin II type 1 receptor axis and enhancing the endothelial nitric oxide (NO) synthase/NO signaling. Furthermore, the elabela/apelin-APJ axis demonstrates beneficial effects in cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology, including angiogenesis, cellular proliferation, fibrosis, apoptosis, oxidative stress, and cardiovascular remodeling and dysfunction during hypertension. More importantly, effects of the elabela/apelin-APJ axis on vascular tone may depend upon blood vessel type or various pathological conditions. Intriguingly, the broad distribution of elabela/apelin and alternative isoforms implicates its distinct functions in diverse cardiac and vascular cells and tissue types. Finally, both loss-of-function and gain-of-function approaches have defined critical roles of the elabela/apelin-APJ axis in reducing the development and severity of hypertensive diseases. Thus, targeting the elabela/apelin-APJ axis has emerged as a pre-warning biomarker and a novel therapeutic approach against progression of hypertension, and an increased understanding of cardiovascular actions of the elabela/apelin-APJ axis will help to develop effective interventions for hypertension. In this review, we focus on the physiology and biochemistry, diverse actions, and underlying mechanisms of the elabela/apelin-APJ axis, highlighting its role in hypertension and hypertensive cardiovascular injury and dysfunction, with a view to provide a prospective strategy for hypertensive disease therapy.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the genetic basis for a Chinese pedigree affected with non-syndromic cleft lip and cleft palate (NSCLP). METHODS: With informed consent obtained, members of the pedigree were subjected to clinical examination and history taking to exclude syndromic cleft lip and palate. One affected member was subjected to whole-exome sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. Candidate variant was verified by Sanger sequencing and co-segregation analysis of her family members and 100 unrelated healthy individuals. RESULTS: Whole-exome sequencing and co-segregation analysis showed that all affected members of this pedigree have carried a heterozygous missense c.253A>G (p.Cys85Arg) variant in exon 4 of the IRF6 gene, which has co-segregated with the phenotype and was not found among the 100 unrelated healthy individuals. CONCLUSION The missense c.253A>G variant in exon 4 of the IRF6 gene probably underlay the NSCLP in this pedigree.
Brain/abnormalities* ; China ; Cleft Lip/genetics* ; Cleft Palate/genetics* ; Female ; Humans ; Interferon Regulatory Factors/genetics* ; Mutation, Missense ; Pedigree ; Whole Exome Sequencing