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Chen L, Mou X, Li J, Li M, Ye C, Gao X, Liu X, Ma Y, Xu Y, Zhong Y. Alterations in gut microbiota and host transcriptome of patients with coronary artery disease. BMC Microbiol 2023; 23:320. [PMID: 37924005 PMCID: PMC10623719 DOI: 10.1186/s12866-023-03071-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a widespread heart condition caused by atherosclerosis and influences millions of people worldwide. Early detection of CAD is challenging due to the lack of specific biomarkers. The gut microbiota and host-microbiota interactions have been well documented to affect human health. However, investigation that reveals the role of gut microbes in CAD is still limited. This study aims to uncover the synergistic effects of host genes and gut microbes associated with CAD through integrative genomic analyses. RESULTS Herein, we collected 52 fecal and 50 blood samples from CAD patients and matched controls, and performed amplicon and transcriptomic sequencing on these samples, respectively. By comparing CAD patients with health controls, we found that dysregulated gut microbes were significantly associated with CAD. By leveraging the Random Forest method, we found that combining 20 bacteria and 30 gene biomarkers could distinguish CAD patients from health controls with a high performance (AUC = 0.92). We observed that there existed prominent associations of gut microbes with several clinical indices relevant to heart functions. Integration analysis revealed that CAD-relevant gut microbe genus Fusicatenibacter was associated with expression of CAD-risk genes, such as GBP2, MLKL, and CPR65, which is in line with previous evidence (Tang et al., Nat Rev Cardiol 16:137-154, 2019; Kummen et al., J Am Coll Cardiol 71:1184-1186, 2018). In addition, the upregulation of immune-related pathways in CAD patients were identified to be primarily associated with higher abundance of genus Blautia, Eubacterium, Fusicatenibacter, and Monoglobus. CONCLUSIONS Our results highlight that dysregulated gut microbes contribute risk to CAD by interacting with host genes. These identified microbes and interacted risk genes may have high potentials as biomarkers for CAD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liuying Chen
- Department of Cardiology, Affiliated Hangzhou First People's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xuanting Mou
- Department of Cardiology, Affiliated Hangzhou First People's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jingjing Li
- National Engineering Research Center of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Eye Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325027, China
| | - Miaofu Li
- Department of Cardiology, Affiliated Hangzhou First People's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Caijie Ye
- Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xiaofei Gao
- Department of Cardiology, Affiliated Hangzhou First People's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xiaohua Liu
- Department of Cardiology, Affiliated Hangzhou First People's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yunlong Ma
- National Engineering Research Center of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Eye Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325027, China.
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Institute of Biomedical Big Data, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325027, China.
- Oujiang Laboratory, Zhejiang Lab for Regenerative Medicine, Vision and Brain Health, Wenzhou, 325101, Zhejiang, China.
| | - Yizhou Xu
- Department of Cardiology, Affiliated Hangzhou First People's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
| | - Yigang Zhong
- Department of Cardiology, Affiliated Hangzhou First People's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
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Sowers A, Wang G, Xing M, Li B. Advances in Antimicrobial Peptide Discovery via Machine Learning and Delivery via Nanotechnology. Microorganisms 2023; 11:1129. [PMID: 37317103 PMCID: PMC10223199 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11051129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2023] [Revised: 04/13/2023] [Accepted: 04/19/2023] [Indexed: 06/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been investigated for their potential use as an alternative to antibiotics due to the increased demand for new antimicrobial agents. AMPs, widely found in nature and obtained from microorganisms, have a broad range of antimicrobial protection, allowing them to be applied in the treatment of infections caused by various pathogenic microorganisms. Since these peptides are primarily cationic, they prefer anionic bacterial membranes due to electrostatic interactions. However, the applications of AMPs are currently limited owing to their hemolytic activity, poor bioavailability, degradation from proteolytic enzymes, and high-cost production. To overcome these limitations, nanotechnology has been used to improve AMP bioavailability, permeation across barriers, and/or protection against degradation. In addition, machine learning has been investigated due to its time-saving and cost-effective algorithms to predict AMPs. There are numerous databases available to train machine learning models. In this review, we focus on nanotechnology approaches for AMP delivery and advances in AMP design via machine learning. The AMP sources, classification, structures, antimicrobial mechanisms, their role in diseases, peptide engineering technologies, currently available databases, and machine learning techniques used to predict AMPs with minimal toxicity are discussed in detail.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexa Sowers
- Department of Orthopaedics, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
- School of Pharmacy, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
| | - Guangshun Wang
- Department of Pathology and Microbiology, College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 985900 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198, USA
| | - Malcolm Xing
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
| | - Bingyun Li
- Department of Orthopaedics, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
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Yang XF, Liu X, Yan XY, Shang DJ. Effects of frog skin peptide temporin-1CEa and its analogs on ox-LDL induced macrophage-derived foam cells. Front Pharmacol 2023; 14:1139532. [PMID: 37021059 PMCID: PMC10067733 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1139532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2023] [Accepted: 03/08/2023] [Indexed: 03/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Purpose: Atherosclerosis is one of the most important pathological foundations of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases with high morbidity and mortality. Studies have shown that macrophages play important roles in lipid accumulation in the vascular wall and thrombosis formation in atherosclerotic plaques. This study aimed to explore the effect of frog skin antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) temporin-1CEa and its analogs on ox-LDL induced macrophage-derived foam cells.Methods: CCK-8, ORO staining, and intracellular cholesterol measurements were used to study cellular activity, lipid droplet formation and cholesterol levels, respectively. ELISA, real-time quantitative PCR, Western blotting and flow cytometry analysis were used to study the expression of inflammatory factors, mRNA and proteins associated with ox-LDL uptake and cholesterol efflux in macrophage-derived foam cells, respectively. Furthermore, the effects of AMPs on inflammation signaling pathways were studied.Results: Frog skin AMPs could significantly increase the cell viability of the ox-LDL-induced foaming macrophages and decrease the formation of intracellular lipid droplets and the levels of total cholesterol and cholesterol ester (CE). Frog skin AMPs inhibited foaming formation by reducing the protein expression of CD36, which regulates ox-LDL uptake but had no effect on the expression of efflux proteins ATP binding cassette subfamily A/G member 1 (ABCA1/ABCG1). Then, decreased mRNA expression of NF-κB and protein expression of p-NF-κB p65, p-IκB, p-JNK, p-ERK, p-p38 and the release of TNF-α and IL-6 occurred after exposure to the three frog skin AMPs.Conclusion: Frog skin peptide temporin-1CEa and its analogs can improve the ox-LDL induced formation of macrophage-derived foam cells, in addition, inhibit inflammatory cytokine release through inhibiting the NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways, thereby inhibiting inflammatory responses in atherosclerosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xue-Feng Yang
- School of Life Science, Liaoning Provincial Key Laboratory of Biotechnology and Drug Discovery, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Department of Physiology, Jinzhou Medical University, Jinzhou, China
| | - Xin Liu
- School of Life Science, Liaoning Provincial Key Laboratory of Biotechnology and Drug Discovery, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
| | - Xiao-Yi Yan
- School of Life Science, Liaoning Provincial Key Laboratory of Biotechnology and Drug Discovery, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
| | - De-Jing Shang
- School of Life Science, Liaoning Provincial Key Laboratory of Biotechnology and Drug Discovery, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
- *Correspondence: De-Jing Shang,
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Recent Advances in Multifunctional Antimicrobial Peptides as Immunomodulatory and Anticancer Therapy: Chromogranin A-Derived Peptides and Dermaseptins as Endogenous versus Exogenous Actors. Pharmaceutics 2022; 14:pharmaceutics14102014. [PMID: 36297449 PMCID: PMC9608009 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14102014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2022] [Revised: 09/18/2022] [Accepted: 09/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are produced by all living organisms exhibiting antimicrobial activities and representing the first line of innate defense against pathogens. In this context, AMPs are suggested as an alternative to classical antibiotics. However, several researchers reported their involvement in different processes defining them as Multifunctional AMPs (MF-AMPs). Interestingly, these agents act as the endogenous responses of the human organism against several dangerous stimuli. Still, they are identified in other organisms and evaluated for their anticancer therapy. Chromogranin A (CgA) is a glyco-phosphoprotein discovered for the first time in the adrenal medulla but also produced in several cells. CgA can generate different derived AMPs influencing numerous physiological processes. Dermaseptins (DRSs) are a family of α-helical-shaped polycationic peptides isolated from the skin secretions of several leaf frogs from the Phyllomedusidae family. Several DRSs were identified as AMPs and, until now, more than 65 DRSs have been classified. Recently, these exogenous molecules were characterized for their anticancer activity. In this review, we summarize the role of these two classes of MF-AMPs as an example of endogenous molecules for CgA-derived peptides, able to modulate inflammation but also as exogenous molecules for DRSs, exerting anticancer activities.
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Bei Y, Pan LL, Zhou Q, Zhao C, Xie Y, Wu C, Meng X, Gu H, Xu J, Zhou L, Sluijter JPG, Das S, Agerberth B, Sun J, Xiao J. Cathelicidin-related antimicrobial peptide protects against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury. BMC Med 2019; 17:42. [PMID: 30782145 PMCID: PMC6381635 DOI: 10.1186/s12916-019-1268-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2018] [Accepted: 01/22/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cathelicidins are a major group of natural antimicrobial peptides which play essential roles in regulating host defense and immunity. In addition to the antimicrobial and immunomodulatory activities, recent studies have reported the involvement of cathelicidins in cardiovascular diseases by regulating inflammatory response and microvascular dysfunction. However, the role of cathelicidins in myocardial apoptosis upon cardiac ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury remains largely unknown. METHODS CRAMP (cathelicidin-related antimicrobial peptide) levels were measured in the heart and serum from I/R mice and in neonatal mouse cardiomyocytes treated with oxygen glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGDR). Human serum cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (LL-37) levels were measured in myocardial infarction (MI) patients. The role of CRAMP in myocardial apoptosis upon I/R injury was investigated in mice injected with the CRAMP peptide and in CRAMP knockout (KO) mice, as well as in OGDR-treated cardiomyocytes. RESULTS We observed reduced CRAMP level in both heart and serum samples from I/R mice and in OGDR-treated cardiomyocytes, as well as reduced LL-37 level in MI patients. Knockdown of CRAMP enhanced cardiomyocyte apoptosis, and CRAMP KO mice displayed increased infarct size and myocardial apoptosis. In contrast, the CRAMP peptide reduced cardiomyocyte apoptosis and I/R injury. The CRAMP peptide inhibited cardiomyocyte apoptosis by activation of Akt and ERK1/2 and phosphorylation and nuclear export of FoxO3a. c-Jun was identified as a negative regulator of the CRAMP gene. Moreover, lower level of serum LL-37/neutrophil ratio was associated with readmission and/or death in MI patients during 1-year follow-up. CONCLUSIONS CRAMP protects against cardiomyocyte apoptosis and cardiac I/R injury via activation of Akt and ERK and phosphorylation and nuclear export of FoxO3a. Increasing LL-37 might be a novel therapy for cardiac ischemic injury.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yihua Bei
- Cardiac Regeneration and Ageing Lab, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, School of Life Science, Shanghai University, 333 Nan Chen Road, Shanghai, 200444, China
| | - Li-Long Pan
- School of Medicine, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China
| | - Qiulian Zhou
- Cardiac Regeneration and Ageing Lab, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, School of Life Science, Shanghai University, 333 Nan Chen Road, Shanghai, 200444, China
| | - Cuimei Zhao
- Department of Cardiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200065, China
| | - Yuan Xie
- Department of Cardiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200065, China
| | - Chengfei Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi, 214122, Jiangsu, China.,School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China
| | - Xiangmin Meng
- Cardiac Regeneration and Ageing Lab, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, School of Life Science, Shanghai University, 333 Nan Chen Road, Shanghai, 200444, China
| | - Huanyu Gu
- Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210029, China
| | - Jiahong Xu
- Department of Cardiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200065, China
| | - Lei Zhou
- Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210029, China
| | - Joost P G Sluijter
- Department of Cardiology, Laboratory of Experimental Cardiology, University Utrecht, University Medical Center Utrecht, 3584 CX, Utrecht, The Netherlands.,UMC Utrecht Regenerative Medicine Center, University Medical Center Utrecht, 3508 GA, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Saumya Das
- Cardiovascular Division of the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02114, USA
| | - Birgitta Agerberth
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Clinical Microbiology, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, F68, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Jia Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi, 214122, Jiangsu, China. .,School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China.
| | - Junjie Xiao
- Cardiac Regeneration and Ageing Lab, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, School of Life Science, Shanghai University, 333 Nan Chen Road, Shanghai, 200444, China.
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Wessely-Szponder J, Szponder T, Bobowiec R, Smolira A. The influence of porcine cathelicidins on neutrophils isolated from rabbits in the course of bone graft implantation. WORLD RABBIT SCIENCE 2013. [DOI: 10.4995/wrs.2013.1350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
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van der Does AM, Bergman P, Agerberth B, Lindbom L. Induction of the human cathelicidin LL-37 as a novel treatment against bacterial infections. J Leukoc Biol 2012; 92:735-42. [DOI: 10.1189/jlb.0412178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
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Mihajlovic M, Lazaridis T. Charge distribution and imperfect amphipathicity affect pore formation by antimicrobial peptides. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-BIOMEMBRANES 2012; 1818:1274-83. [PMID: 22290189 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2012.01.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 88] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2011] [Revised: 01/14/2012] [Accepted: 01/17/2012] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Abstract
Antimicrobial peptides often permeabilize biological membranes via a pore mechanism. Two pore types have been proposed: toroidal, where the pore is partly lined by lipid, and barrel-stave, where a cylindrical pore is completely lined by peptides. What drives the preference of antimicrobial peptides for a certain pore type is not yet fully understood. According to neutron scattering and oriented circular dichroism, melittin and MG-H2 induce toroidal pores whereas alamethicin forms barrel-stave pores. In previous work we found that indeed melittin seems to favor toroidal pores whereas alamethicin favors cylindrical pores. Here we designed mutants of these two peptides and the magainin analog MG-H2, aimed to probe how the distribution of charges along the helix and its imperfectly amphipathic structure influence pore formation. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the peptides in a pre-formed cylindrical pore have been performed. The duration of the simulations was 136ns to 216ns. We found that a melittin mutant with lysine 7 neutralized favors cylindrical pores whereas a MG-H2 mutant with lysines in the N-terminal half of these peptides neutralized and an alamethicin mutant with a positive charge at the position 7 form semitoroidal pores. These results suggest that charged residues within the N-terminal half are important for toroidal pore formation. Toroidal pores produced by MG-H2 are more disordered than the melittin pores, likely because of the charged residues located in the middle of the MG-H2 helix (K11 and K14). Imperfect amphipathicity of melittin seems to play a role in its preference for toroidal pores since the substitutions of charged residues located within the nonpolar face by hydrophobic residues suppress evolution of a toroidal pore. The mutations change the position of lysine 7 near the N-terminus, relative to the lower leaflet headgroups. The MD simulations also show that the melittin P14A mutant forms a toroidal pore, but its configuration diverges from that of melittin and it is probably metastable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maja Mihajlovic
- Department of Chemistry, The City College of New York, 160 Convent Ave. New York, NY 10031, USA.
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Zhao H, Yan H, Yamashita S, Li W, Liu C, Chen Y, Zhou P, Chi Y, Wang S, Zhao B, Song L. Acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction is associated with decreased human antimicrobial peptide LL-37 and increased human neutrophil peptide-1 to 3 in plasma. J Atheroscler Thromb 2011; 19:357-68. [PMID: 22186100 DOI: 10.5551/jat.10108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
AIM Increasing evidence indicates that antimicrobial peptides, human neutrophil peptide-1, -2, and -3 (HNP1-3) and human antimicrobial peptide LL-37 are involved in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis; however, little is known about their circulating protein levels in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We therefore investigated whether their plasma levels are associated with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) and acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). METHODS Systemic or local (culprit artery) blood samples were obtained from 112 consecutive male subjects including no CAD (n = 31) controls, stable CAD (n = 44) and STEMI (n = 47). Plasma HNP1-3 and LL-37 levels were measured by the ready-to-use solid-phase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on the sandwich principle. RESULTS Systemic HNP1-3 in STEMI was increased compared with no CAD (p = 0.000) and stable CAD (p = 0.008), and systemic HNP1-3 in stable CAD was higher than in no CAD (p = 0.004). Systemic LL-37 in STEMI was decreased compared with no CAD (p = 0.009) and stable CAD (p =0.001) and restored within 1 day following STEMI (p = 0.000). Local LL-37 levels in STEMI were higher than systemic levels (p = 0.013). The areas under the ROC curve of systemic HNP1-3 and LL-37 for STEMI were 0.717 (95% CI: 0.624, 0.811; p = 0.000) and 0.702 (95% CI: 0.609, 0.795; p = 0.000), respectively. In addition, ischemia time in the STEMI group correlated with systemic and local levels of HNP1-3 (rs = -0.360, p = 0.013; rs = 0.608, p = 0.000, respectively), and was also associated with systemic and local levels of hs-CRP (rs = 0.408, p = 0.004; rs = 0.425, p = 0.003, respectively), but not with those of LL-37 (all p > 0.05). CONCLUSION STEMI was associated with transiently decreased LL-37, but persistently increased HNP1-3 in the systemic circulation and the diagnostic accuracy for STEMI were moderate. Future studies should pay more attention to their prognostic values for myocardial infarction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanjun Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Cadiovascular Disease, Fuwai Hospital, National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, No. 167 Beilishi Road, Beijing, China
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