The roles of B cells in cardiovascular diseases

Damage to the heart can start the repair process and cause cardiac remodeling. B cells play an important role in this process. B cells are recruited to the injured place and activate cardiac remodeling through secreting antibodies and cytokines. Different types of B cells showed specific functions in the heart. Among all types of B cells, heart-associated B cells play a vital role in the heart by secreting TGFβ1. B cells participate in the activation of fibroblasts and promote cardiac fibrosis. Four subtypes of B cells in the heart revealed the relationship between the B cells' heterogeneity and cardiac remodeling. Many cardiovascular diseases like atherosclerosis, heart failure (HF), hypertension, myocardial infarction (MI), and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) are related to B cells. The primary mechanisms of these B cell-related activities will be discussed in this review, which may also suggest potential novel therapeutic targets.

Effectiveness of a standardized quality control management procedure for COVID-19 RT-PCR testing: a large-scale diagnostic accuracy study in China

BACKGROUND

The study aimed to construct a standardized quality control management procedure (QCMP) and access its accuracy in the quality control of COVID-19 reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

METHODS

Considering the initial RT-PCR results without applying QCMP as the gold standard, a large-scale diagnostic accuracy study including 4,385,925 participants at three COVID-19 RT-PCR testing sites in China, Foshan (as a pilot test), Guangzhou and Shenyang (as validation sites), was conducted from May 21, 2021, to December 15, 2022.

RESULTS

In the pilot test, the RT-PCR with QCMP had a high accuracy of 99.18% with 100% specificity, 100% positive predictive value (PPV), and 99.17% negative predictive value (NPV). The rate of retesting was reduced from 1.98% to 1.16%. Its accuracy was then consistently validated in Guangzhou and Shenyang.

CONCLUSIONS

The RT-PCR with QCMP showed excellent accuracy in identifying true negative COVID-19 and relieved the labor and time spent on retesting.

Serum Albumin-to-Creatinine Ratio: A Novel Predictor of Pulmonary Infection in Patients with ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

AIM

In patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), a low serum albumin-to-creatinine ratio (sACR) is associated with elevated risk of poor short- and long-term outcomes. However, the relationship between sACR and pulmonary infection during hospitalization in patients with STEMI undergoing PCI remains unclear.

METHODS

A total of 4,507 patients with STEMI undergoing PCI were enrolled and divided into three groups according to sACR tertile. The primary outcome was pulmonary infection during hospitalization, and the secondary outcome was in-hospital major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) including stroke, in-hospital mortality, target vessel revascularization, recurrent myocardial infarction, and all-cause mortality during follow-up.

RESULTS

Overall, 522 (11.6%) patients developed pulmonary infections, and 223 (4.9%) patients developed in-hospital MACE. Cubic spline models indicated a non-linear, L-shaped relationship between sACR and pulmonary infection (P=0.039). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicated that sACR had good predictive value for both pulmonary infection (area under the ROC curve [AUC]=0.73, 95% CI=0.70-0.75, P＜0.001) and in-hospital MACE (AUC=0.72, 95% CI=0.69-0.76, P＜0.001). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis indicated that higher sACR tertiles were associated with a greater cumulative survival rate (P＜0.001). Cox regression analysis identified lower sACR as an independent predictor of long-term all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR]=0.96, 95% CI=0.95-0.98, P＜0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

A low sACR was significantly associated with elevated risk of pulmonary infection and MACE during hospitalization, as well as all-cause mortality during follow-up among patients with STEMI undergoing PCI. These findings highlighted sACR as an important prognostic marker in this patient population.

Exosomes and their derivatives as biomarkers and therapeutic delivery agents for cardiovascular diseases: Situations and challenges

Microvesicles known as exosomes have a diameter of 40 to 160 nm and are derived from small endosomal membranes. Exosomes have attracted increasing attention over the past ten years in part because they are functional vehicles that can deliver a variety of lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids to the target cells they encounter. Because of this function, exosomes may be used for the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of many diseases. All throughout the world, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) continue to be a significant cause of death. Because exosomes are mediators of communication between cells, which contribute to many physiological and pathological aspects, they may aid in improving CVD therapies as biomarkers for diagnosing and predicting CVDs. Many studies demonstrated that exosomes are associated with CVDs, such as coronary artery disease, heart failure, cardiomyopathy and atrial fibrillation. Exosomes participate in the progression or inhibition of these diseases mainly through the contents they deliver. However, the application of exosomes in diferent CVDs is not very mature. So further research is needed in this field.

Screening out anti-inflammatory or anti-viral targets in Xuanfei Baidu Tang through a new technique of reverse finding target

Traditional Chinese herbal compound prescription in Xuanfei Baidu Tang (XBT) has obvious effects in the treatment of COVID-19. However, its effective compounds and targets for the treatment of COVID-19 remain unclear. Computer-Aided Drug Design is used to virtually screen out the anti-inflammatory or anti-viral compounds in XBT, and predict the potential targets by Discovery Studio 2020. Then, we searched for COVID-19 targets using Genecards databases and Protein Data Bank (PDB) databases and compared them to identify targets that were common to both. Finally, the target we screened out is: TP53 (Tumor Protein P53). This article also shows that XBT in the treatment of COVID-19 works in a multi-link and overall synergistic manner. Our results will help to design the new drugs for COVID-19.