Metabolic associated fatty liver disease （MAFLD） has become one of the most prevalent chronic liver disease worldwide， and its progression to liver fibrosis is a key influencing factor for prognosis and the risk of complications. In recent years， novel drugs， such as selective thyroid hormone receptor-β agonists， glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists， and fibroblast growth factor 21 analogs， have shown preliminary efficacy in the treatment of MAFLD-related liver fibrosis； however， such drugs have limited overall effectiveness， and there is still a lack of ideal therapeutic strategy to address the disease across its different stages. Traditional Chinese medicine （TCM）， with its characteristics of multiple targets and systemic regulation， has shown unique advantages in this field. This article systematically reviews the basic and clinical research on the anti-fibrotic mechanisms of compound TCM prescriptions and their active components in recent years， focusing on the key processes including hepatic stellate cell activation， lipid metabolism disorders， oxidative stress， immune inflammation， and gut-liver axis dysfunction. Meanwhile， it is pointed out that there are still certain issues in current research， including ambiguities in the clarification of mechanisms， a lack of standardized evaluation systems， and the need to improve the quality of clinical evidence. Future research should emphasize the standardization and quality control of TCM herbal preparations and integrate emerging technologies， such as omics analysis， organoid models， and real-world data， to advance TCM intervention of MAFLD-related liver fibrosis toward well-defined mechanisms， clear therapeutic pathways， and robust scientific evidence. TCM is expected to play a vital role in the multi-dimensional targeted intervention and stage-specific management of MAFLD-related liver fibrosis， in order to provide new perspectives and comprehensive solutions for the precise treatment of chronic liver diseases.

Lamin B1 (LMNB1) is highly expressed in liver cancer tissues, and its influence and mechanism on the proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma cells were explored by knocking down the expression of the protein. In liver cancer cells, siRNAs were used to knock down LMNB1. Knockdown effects were detected by Western blotting. Changes in telomerase activity were detected by telomeric repeat amplification protocol assay (TRAP) experiments. Telomere length changes were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). CCK8, cloning formation, transwell and wound healing were performed to detect changes in its growth, invasion and migration capabilities. The lentiviral system was used to construct HepG2 cells that steadily knocked down LMNB1. Then the changes of telomere length and telomerase activity were detected, and the cell aging status was detected by SA-β-gal senescence staining. The effects of tumorigenesis were detected by nude mouse subcutaneous tumorigenesis experiments, subsequent histification staining of tumors, SA-β-gal senescence staining, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for telomere analysis and other experiments. Finally, the method of biogenesis analysis was used to find the expression of LMNB1 in clinical liver cancer tissues, and its relationship with clinical stages and patient survival. Knockdown of LMNB1 in HepG2 and Hep3B cells significantly reduced telomerase activity, cell proliferation, migration and invasion abilities. Experiments in cells and tumor formation in nude mice had demonstrated that stable knockdown of LMNB1 reduced telomerase activity, shortened telomere length, senesced cells, reduced cell tumorigenicity and KI-67 expression. Bioinformatics analysis showed that LMNB1 was highly expressed in liver cancer tissues and correlated with tumor stage and patient survival. In conclusion, LMNB1 is overexpressed in liver cancer cells, and it is expected to become an indicator for evaluating the clinical prognosis of liver cancer patients and a target for precise treatment.
Animals ; Mice ; Telomerase/metabolism* ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/genetics* ; Liver Neoplasms/genetics* ; Telomere Shortening ; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence ; Mice, Nude ; Telomere/pathology* ; Carcinogenesis

BACKGROUND: Several studies have reported that polygenic risk scores (PRSs) can enhance risk prediction of coronary artery disease (CAD) in European populations. However, research on this topic is far from sufficient in non-European countries, including China. We aimed to evaluate the potential of PRS for predicting CAD for primary prevention in the Chinese population. METHODS: Participants with genome-wide genotypic data from the China Kadoorie Biobank were divided into training ( n = 28,490) and testing sets ( n = 72,150). Ten previously developed PRSs were evaluated, and new ones were developed using clumping and thresholding or LDpred method. The PRS showing the strongest association with CAD in the training set was selected to further evaluate its effects on improving the traditional CAD risk-prediction model in the testing set. Genetic risk was computed by summing the product of the weights and allele dosages across genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Prediction of the 10-year first CAD events was assessed using hazard ratios (HRs) and measures of model discrimination, calibration, and net reclassification improvement (NRI). Hard CAD (nonfatal I21-I23 and fatal I20-I25) and soft CAD (all fatal or nonfatal I20-I25) were analyzed separately. RESULTS: In the testing set, 1214 hard and 7201 soft CAD cases were documented during a mean follow-up of 11.2 years. The HR per standard deviation of the optimal PRS was 1.26 (95% CI:1.19-1.33) for hard CAD. Based on a traditional CAD risk prediction model containing only non-laboratory-based information, the addition of PRS for hard CAD increased Harrell's C index by 0.001 (-0.001 to 0.003) in women and 0.003 (0.001 to 0.005) in men. Among the different high-risk thresholds ranging from 1% to 10%, the highest categorical NRI was 3.2% (95% CI: 0.4-6.0%) at a high-risk threshold of 10.0% in women. The association of the PRS with soft CAD was much weaker than with hard CAD, leading to minimal or no improvement in the soft CAD model. CONCLUSIONS In this Chinese population sample, the current PRSs minimally changed risk discrimination and offered little improvement in risk stratification for soft CAD. Therefore, this may not be suitable for promoting genetic screening in the general Chinese population to improve CAD risk prediction.
Male ; Humans ; Female ; Coronary Artery Disease/genetics* ; Biological Specimen Banks ; East Asian People ; Risk Assessment/methods* ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease/genetics* ; Risk Factors ; Genome-Wide Association Study

Objective:To investigate the expression of forkhead box protein O3(FOXO3) in pancreatic cancer and its effect on the motility and proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells.Methods:The FOXO3 expression in pancreatic cancer and adjacent tissues was retrieved from LinkedOmics database. Western blotting and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction were used to detect FOXO3 expression in pancreatic cancer cells and human pancreatic stellate cells. PANC-1 and MIAPaCa-2 pancreatic cancer cells with low FOXO3 expression were selected to transfect FOXO3 overexpression plasmid and negative control plasmid, respectively. The motility and proliferation ability of pancreatic cancer cells were detected by colony formation assay, cell scratch assay, Transwell assay and flow cytometry.Results:In the LinkedOmics database, the relative expression of FOXO3 protein in the cancer tissues of 64 patients with pancreatic cancer was significantly lower than that in the adjacent tissues ( t=8.36, P<0.001). The number of clones in PANC-1 cell line was (30.0±6.6) after overexpressed FOXO3, which was lower than that in negative control cells (92.7±6.7), and the difference was statistically significant ( t=11.54, P<0.001). After overexpressed FOXO3 in PANC-1 and MIAPaCa-2 cell lines, the scratch repair rate was significantly decreased compared with the control group. In Transwell experiment, the number of cells in FOXO3 overexpressed group in PANC-1 cell lines was (21.0±6.6), which was lower than that of negative control groups (55.7±8.5), and the difference was statistically significant ( t=5.59, P=0.005). The results of MIAPaCa-2 cell line were consistent with that of PANC-1 cell line. After overexpressing of FOXO3 in PANC-1 and MIAPaCa-2 cell lines, the proportion of cells in the G0/G1 phase decreased, while the proportion in the S phase increased. Conclusion:The expression of FOXO3 was decreased in pancreatic cancer. Overexpression of FOXO3 could significantly inhibit the proliferation, migration and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells and induce cell cycle arrest, which is a potential target for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

BACKGROUND: Few studies have assessed the relationship between multimorbidity patterns and mortality risk in the Chinese population. We aimed to identify multimorbidity patterns and examined the associations of multimorbidity patterns and the number of chronic diseases with the risk of mortality among Chinese middle-aged and older adults. METHODS: We used data from the China Kadoorie Biobank and included 512,723 participants aged 30 to 79 years. Multimorbidity was defined as the presence of two or more of the 15 chronic diseases collected by self-report or physical examination at baseline. Multimorbidity patterns were identified using hierarchical cluster analysis. Cox regression was used to estimate the associations of multimorbidity patterns and the number of chronic diseases with all-cause and cause-specific mortality. RESULTS: Overall, 15.8% of participants had multimorbidity. The prevalence of multimorbidity increased with age and was higher in urban than rural participants. Four multimorbidity patterns were identified, including cardiometabolic multimorbidity (diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, and hypertension), respiratory multimorbidity (tuberculosis, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), gastrointestinal and hepatorenal multimorbidity (gallstone disease, chronic kidney disease, cirrhosis, peptic ulcer, and cancer), and mental and arthritis multimorbidity (neurasthenia, psychiatric disorder, and rheumatoid arthritis). During a median of 10.8 years of follow-up, 49,371 deaths occurred. Compared with participants without multimorbidity, cardiometabolic multimorbidity (hazard ratios [HR] = 2.20, 95% confidence intervals [CI]: 2.14 - 2.26) and respiratory multimorbidity (HR = 2.13, 95% CI:1.97 - 2.31) demonstrated relatively higher risks of mortality, followed by gastrointestinal and hepatorenal multimorbidity (HR = 1.33, 95% CI:1.22 - 1.46). The mortality risk increased by 36% (HR = 1.36, 95% CI: 1.35 - 1.37) with every additional disease. CONCLUSION Cardiometabolic multimorbidity and respiratory multimorbidity posed the highest threat on mortality risk and deserved particular attention in Chinese adults.
Aged ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Asians ; China/epidemiology* ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Middle Aged ; Multimorbidity

Objective:To observe the clinical effects of intraperitoneal perfusion of bevacizumab combined with albumin paclitaxel and carboplatin in the treatment of malignant peritoneal adhesion caused by ovarian cancer.Methods:From January 2016 to December 2020, 54 patients treated in our hospital with malignant peritoneal adhesions caused by ovarian cancer were enrolled in this study. They were randomly divided into experimental group ( n=27) and control group ( n=27) according to the random number table method. The treatment regimen of the experimental group was intravenous infusion of albumin paclitaxel plus intraperitoneal infusion of carboplatin and bevacizumab. The treatment regimen of the control group was intra-venous infusion of albumin paclitaxel plus intraperitoneal infusion of carboplatin. The treatment was repeated every 21 days, and the therapeutic effect was evaluated every two cycles. The treatment lasted for six cycles. The efficacy and incidence of adverse reactions were compared between the two groups. Results:The remission rate of incomplete malignant bowel obstruction of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group [85.19% (23/27) vs. 59.26% (16/27)], the total effective rate of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group [74.07% (20/27) vs. 44.44% (12/27)], and there were statistically significant differences ( χ2=4.523, P=0.033; χ2=4.909, P=0.027). After treatment, the levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in ascites of the experimental group and the control group were significantly lower than those before treatment [(80.33±1.41) pg/ml vs. (310.45±3.35) pg/ml, t=449.884, P<0.001; (135.68±1.60) pg/ml vs. (310.46±3.09) pg/ml, t=499.281, P<0.001], and after treatment, the VEGF level in the experimental group decreased more significantly than that in the control group ( t=-134.907, P<0.001). Patients in the experimental group and the control group tolerated the treatment well, and there were no significant differences in the incidences of adverse reactions such as hypertension (11.11% vs. 3.70%, χ2=0.270, P=0.603), neutropenia (14.81% vs. 11.11%, χ2<0.001, P>0.999), peripheral neuropathy (3.70% vs. 0, χ2<0.001, P>0.999), diarrhea (7.41% vs. 3.70%, χ2<0.001, P>0.999), nausea (3.70% vs. 0, χ2<0.001, P>0.999), epistaxis (7.41% vs. 0, χ2=0.519, P=0.471) or albuminuria (3.70% vs. 0, χ2<0.001, P>0.999) between the two groups. Conclusion:Intraperitoneal perfusion of bevacizumab combined with chemotherapy is superior to simple chemotherapy in the treatment of malignant peritoneal adhesion caused by ovarian cancer.

Objective:To describe the prevalence of multimorbidity and its secular trend, and to explore the common patterns of multimorbidity in Chinese adults.Methods:A total of 25 033 participants who attended the second resurvey of China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) were included in the study. We used data collected both at baseline (2004-2008) and at resurvey (2013-2014). A total of 13 chronic conditions were included, defined by self-reported, physical examination, and blood sample testing. Multimorbidity was defined as co-existence of two or more chronic conditions. Patterns of multimorbidity were explored using hierarchical cluster analysis.Results:The mean age of participants was (51.5±10.1) years at baseline and (59.5±10.2) years at second resurvey. The prevalence of multimorbidity increased from 33.5% to 58.1% over (8.0±0.8) years of follow-up. The average number of chronic conditions per person increased from 1.15 to 1.82 and all participants increased 0.42 conditions per 5 years on average. Participants who were older, less educated or lived in urban areas had a higher prevalence of multimorbidity and a higher increase in the number of chronic conditions. The increase in the number of chronic conditions was also higher among smokers and heavy alcohol drinkers. The most common multimorbidity pattern in the present population consisted of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, stroke, and heart disease.Conclusions:The prevalence of multimorbidity in Chinese adults is increasing rapidly due to ageing population. Populations of different sociodemographic background and lifestyle habits may have different prevalence of multimorbidity and changes in rates over time.

Objective:To compare the consistency of frailty status measured by Fried phenotype and frailty index composed of different numbers of deficits, and their prospective associations with risk of mortality.Methods:Data of 23 615 participants from the second resurvey of the China Kadoore Biobank (CKB) was used. Fried phenotype was constructed using five phenotypes, and frailty indexes (FI) were constructed using 28 and 40 deficits, respectively. We calculated the Weighted Kappa coefficient to compare the consistency of three measures in the classification of frailty status. Cox regression was performed to analyze the association of frailty status with risk of mortality.Results:The frailty prevalence calculated by Fried phenotype, FI-28, and FI-40 were 5.4%, 7.9%, and 4.0%, respectively. The Kappa coefficients of Fried phenotype with FI-28 and FI-40 were 0.357 and 0.408, respectively. The Kappa coefficients of FI-28 and FI-40 was 0.712. During an average of (3.9±0.5) years of follow-up, 755 participants died. When Fried phenotype was used, compared with the robust participants, the prefrail and frail participants had increased risk of mortality, the multivariable-adjusted HRs were 1.60 (95% CI: 1.32-1.94) and 2.90 (95% CI: 2.25-3.73), respectively. When FI-28 was used, the corresponding HRs were 1.71 (95% CI: 1.39-2.11) and 2.52 (95% CI:1.95-3.27) for prefrail and frail participants, and when FI-40 was used, the corresponding HRs were 1.98 (95% CI:1.60-2.44) and 3.71 (95% CI: 2.80-4.91). The association of frailty status with mortality differed in different age groups, with the association stronger in younger adults than in older adults. Conclusion:Fried phenotype and frailty index constituted with different numbers of deficits showed good consistency; which can be used to well predict the risk of mortality.

Objective:To evaluate the transitions of frailty status and related factors influencing its worsening in middle-aged and elderly adults.Methods:Data was obtained from the Beijing MJ Health Screening Center. A total of 13 689 participants who attended health checkups at least twice during 2008-2019 and had more than three years' intervals during these two health checkups were included in the study. The frailty index comprising 28 variables was used to measure frailty status. Frailty was defined as frailty index ≥0.25, and prefrailty was defined as frailty index >0.10 and <0.25. Logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the association of socio-demographic factors and lifestyle characteristics with the worsening of frailty status, stratified by frailty status at the first health checkup.Results:The mean age at the first and last health checkups were (42.3±9.2) and (47.9±9.3) years, respectively. The mean interval during these two health checkups was (5.7±1.9) years. At the first health checkup, the prevalence of frailty and prefrailty were 2.5% and 50.3%, respectively. While at the last health checkup, the prevalence of frailty and prefrailty rose to 3.9% and 55.4%. Of all participants, 67.3% remained in the same frailty state, 21.2% worsening, and 12.5% improving. In robust participants at the first health checkup, older age, female, low education level, smoking cessation, daily smoking, being general obesity measured by BMI or central obesity measured by WHR showed an increased the risk of worsening frailty status. However, in prefrail participants at the first health checkup, older age, female, general, or central obesity presented as risk factors for worsening frailty status.Conclusion:Modifiable factors such as low education level, smoking, and obesity may increase the risk of worsening frailty status.