The clinical significance of tumor angiogenesis and invasiveness-related gene expressions in gastric cancer

Identification and molecular analysis of 11 cases of the PTS gene variants associated with tetrahydrobiopterin deficiency

Background: Tetrahydrobiopterin deficiency (BH4D) is a rare autosomal recessive amino acid metabolic disease that belongs to a kind of hyperphenylalaninemia (HPA), and 6-pyruvyltetrahydrotrexate synthase (PTPS) deficiency is the most common type of BH4D. This study investigates the clinical and genetic characteristics of 11 PTPS deficiency cases in the Beijing area, identifies the genetic pathogenic factors, and evaluates the value of high-throughput sequencing in the precise diagnosis of PTPS deficiency.

Methods: The Beijing Neonatal Disease Screening Center diagnosed patients with HPA. The study used phenylalanine (Phe) in blood, the ratio of Phe to Thr, urotrexate spectrum analysis, erythrocyte dihydrotrexate reductase (DHPR) activity determination, and high-throughput sequencing as methods. Bioinformatics software analyzed the variants’ pathogenicity and used RT-PCR to identify deep intron variants’ pathogenicity.

Result: Among 635 cases with HPA, 38 cases were diagnosed with BH4D, of which the incidence in HPA was 5.98%. Nine kinds of PTS gene variants were detected, including seven missense variants, one splicing variant, and one deletion variant. The splicing variant c.84–291A>G had three splicing results in vivo: normal length, 79bp pseudoexon insertion, and exon 3 skipping. Bioinformatics and Sanger sequencing were performed to verify the identified variants.

Conclusion: High-throughput sequencing is a helpful tool for clinical diagnosis and differential diagnosis of BH4D. This study confirms that c.84–291A>G is the hot spot variant of PTPS deficiency, and it is the first reported variant with a new splicing pattern in vivo. A novel deletion variant c.84_163del (p.Lys29Cysfs∗9) was found to enrich the genetic variant spectrum of the disease.

Integrated Serum Pharmacochemistry and Network Pharmacology Approach to Explore the Effective Components and Potential Mechanisms of Menispermi Rhizoma Against Myocardial Ischemia

Background: Myocardial ischemia (MI) is a leading cause of death worldwide. Menispermi Rhizoma is a traditional Chinese medicine that exerts a variety of beneficial pharmacological activities in many diseases, including MI.

Purpose: Serum pharmacochemistry and network pharmacology were used to explore the material basis and mechanism of action of Menispermi Rhizoma against MI.

Methods: The absorbed components of Menispermi Rhizoma in rat plasma were analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS). The key components, targets, pathways, and interrelated information were obtained by network pharmacology. The potential effective components of Menispermi Rhizoma against MI were screened by methyl-thiazolyl-tetrazolium (MTT) assay, and the cardioprotective effect and mechanism of active components were verified by Western blotting and molecular docking.

Results: In total, 25 absorbed components of Menispermi Rhizoma in plasma were identified. Network pharmacology revealed 81 major targets of Menispermi Rhizoma against MI, mainly involving the regulation of the PI3K/AKT and MAPK pathways. In vitro validation of H9c2 cells revealed that acutumine, daurisoline, dauricoside, and 6-O-demethylmenisporphine are the main bioactive components of Menispermi Rhizoma. The levels of lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase, and malondialdehyde (MDA) were significantly decreased by four alkaloids, whereas the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione (GSH) were significantly increased. Four alkaloids effectively protected H9c2 cells against OGD-induced apoptosis by Hoechst/PI staining and flow cytometry assay. Western blotting results showed that the four alkaloids upregulated the expression ratio of Bcl-2/Bax and downregulated the expression levels of Cyt-C and cleaved caspase 3, which further supported the anti-cardiomyocyte apoptosis and antioxidative stress effect of Menispermi Rhizoma. Molecular docking confirmed that the four compounds were capable of binding to AKT1, MAPK1, EGFR, CASP3, and MAPK8 proteins, suggesting the protective effect of Menispermi Rhizoma on MI via PI3K/AKT, MAPK, and apoptosis pathways.

Conclusion: Menispermi Rhizoma exerted cardioprotective effects through the effect characteristics: multiple-ingredient, multi-target, and multi-pathway. This research provided a reference for further mechanistic research on wider applications of Menispermi Rhizoma for MI treatment.

Metabolomic and Lipidomic Approaches to Evaluate the Effects of Eucommia ulmoides Leaves on Milk Quality and Biochemical Properties

Eucommia ulmoides leaves (EUL) contain a variety of natural bioactive compounds including chlorogenic acid, geniposide acid, and aucubin. These bioactive chemicals improve immune function and regulate lipid metabolism. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of EUL on the biochemical properties of milk. Twenty Holstein dairy cows were randomly allocated to two groups fed a control (CTR, diet without EUL, n = 10) or EUL (diet containing 3% EUL, dry matter, n = 10) diet for 55 d. At the end of the experimental period (d 55), milk samples were collected and analyzed to determine their composition. Though levels of milk fat, protein, lactose, and total milk solids were similar between the groups, small molecules, metabolites, lipids, and cytokines differed. Compared with the CTR group, the EUL group had an improved cluster of differentiation (CD)4/CD8 ratio (P < 0.05) and lower interleukin (IL)-8 and IL-6 content (P < 0.05). Metabolomics analysis identified 14 metabolites including 7Z, 10Z, 13Z, 16Z, 19Z-docosapentaenoic acid (FC = 3.129), adrenic acid (FC = 2.830), and eicosapentaenoic acid (FC=1.685) as having significantly increased in the EUL group (P < 0.05) while 11 metabolites, including indole-2-carboxylic acid (FC = 0.636), cholic acid (FC = 0.430), and creatine (FC = 0.784) had significantly decreased (P < 0.05). Based on a constructed metabolome map, linoleic acid metabolism had the highest impact value for EUL. A total of 21 lipid classes and 1,094 lipid species were detected in the milk by lipidomic analysis, among which 40 differed significantly between the CTR and EUL groups. The present findings showed that the EUL altered milk composition. Correlation analysis showed that 7Z, 10Z, 13Z, 16Z, 19Z-docosapentaenoic acid, adrenic acid, and eicosapentaenoic acid levels were negatively correlated with those of the inflammatory factors IL-6 and IL-8 (P < 0.05), indicating that EUL improved milk quality by reducing inflammatory factors and increasing the CD4/CD8 ratio. Overall, our data demonstrate that EUL had positive effects on milk antioxidant parameters, immune indices, and micro-composition metabolism, thereby improving milk quality.

Development and application of a rapid HPLC method for simultaneous determination of hyperoside, isoquercitrin and eleutheroside E in Apocynum venetum L. and Eleutherococcus senticosus

Apocynum venetum L. and Eleutherococcus senticosus have been used for hundreds of years to treat hypertension in China. In previous research, there was not a suitable quality control of method for the formulas of Apocynum venetum L. and Eleutherococcus senticosus. It is urgent and essential to develop modern analytical methods for Apocynum venetum L. and Eleutherococcus senticosus to ensure the quality of the formulas. A rapid approach for simultaneous determination of hyperoside, isoquercitrin and eleutheroside E in Apocynum venetum L. and Eleutherococcus senticosus by high-performance liquid chromatography with a diode array detector was described and validated. The full method validation, including the linearity, limits of detection and quantification, precision, repeatability, stability and recovery, was examined. All target components, including isomers of hyperoside and isoquercitrin, were baseline separated in 35 min. The developed method was sensitive, reliable and feasible. With this method, the optimal decoction conditions of Apocynum venetum L. and Eleutherococcus senticosus were selected, and their quality analysis was carried out. Furthermore, an herbal compatibility study of Apocynum venetum L. and Eleutherococcus senticosus based on detecting variations in the content of their active ingredients was performed by the developed HPLC method. It could be an alternative for the quantitative analysis of herbs that contain hyperoside, isoquercitrin or (and) eleutheroside E in the future.

Prognostic Value of NME1 (NM23-H1) in Patients with Digestive System Neoplasms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVE

There is a heated debate on whether the prognostic value of NME1 is favorable or unfavorable. Thus, we carried out a meta-analysis to evaluate the relationship between NME1 expression and the prognosis of patients with digestive system neoplasms.

METHODS

We searched PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science for relevant articles. The pooled odd ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95%CI were calculated to evaluate the prognostic value of NME1 expression in patients with digestive system neoplasms, and the association between NME1 expression and clinicopathological factors. We also performed subgroup analyses to find out the source of heterogeneity.

RESULTS

2904 patients were pooled from 28 available studies in total. Neither the incorporative OR combined by 17 studies with overall survival (OR = 0.65, 95%CI:0.41-1.03, P = 0.07) nor the pooled OR with disease-free survival (OR = 0.75, 95%CI:0.17-3.36, P = 0.71) in statistics showed any significance. Although we couldn't find any significance in TNM stage (OR = 0.78, 95%CI:0.44-1.36, P = 0.38), elevated NME1 expression was related to well tumor differentiation (OR = 0.59, 95%CI:0.47-0.73, P<0.00001), negative N status (OR = 0.54, 95%CI:0.36-0.82, P = 0.003) and Dukes' stage (OR = 0.43, 95%CI:0.24-0.77, P = 0.004). And in the subgroup analyses, we only find the "years" which might be the source of heterogeneity of overall survival in gastric cancer.

CONCLUSIONS

The results showed that statistically significant association was found between NME1 expression and the tumor differentiation, N status and Dukes' stage of patients with digestive system cancers, while no significance was found in overall survival, disease-free survival and TNM stage. More and further researches should be conducted to reveal the prognostic value of NME1.