[Differentially expressed genes in adrenal gland of H22 liver cancer mice with different syndromes and in different stages]

Proteomics analysis to reveal biological pathways and predictive proteins in the survival of high-grade serous ovarian cancer

High-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC) is an aggressive cancer with a worse clinical outcome. Therefore, studies about the prognosis of HGSC may provide therapeutic avenues to improve patient outcomes. Since genome alteration are manifested at the protein level, we integrated protein and mRNA data of ovarian cancer from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) and utilized the sparse overlapping group lasso (SOGL) method, a new mechanism-driven variable selection method, to select dysregulated pathways and crucial proteins related to the survival of HGSC. We found that biosynthesis of amino acids was the main biological pathway with the best predictive performance (AUC = 0.900). A panel of three proteins, namely EIF2B1, PRPS1L1 and MAPK13 were selected as potential predictive proteins and the risk score consisting of these three proteins has predictive performance for overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS), with AUC of 0.976 and 0.932, respectively. Our study provides additional information for further mechanism and therapeutic avenues to improve patient outcomes in clinical practice.

Research advances in traditional Chinese medicine syndromes in cancer patients

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome, also known as TCM ZHENG or TCM pattern, is an integral and essential part of TCM theory that helps to guide the design of individualized treatments. A TCM syndrome, in essence, is a characteristic profile of all clinical manifestations in one patient that can be readily identified by a TCM practitioner. In this article, the authors reviewed the presentations of TCM syndromes in seven common malignancies (liver, lung, gastric, breast, colorectal, pancreatic and esophageal cancers), the objectivity and the standardization of TCM syndrome differentiation, the evaluation of TCM syndrome modeling in cancer research, and syndrome differentiation-guided TCM treatment of cancers. A better understanding of TCM syndrome theory, as well as its potential biological basis, may contribute greatly to the clinical TCM diagnosis and the treatment of cancer.

[Methodology and purposes of establishing mouse and rat models for syndrome differentiation and treatment]

Methodology of syndrome differentiation and syndrome-based treatment in rats and mice has professional characteristics and caters to the research and development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In this paper, the authors introduced their systematic research in five aspects. 1) Rats and mice can be used to simulate TCM clinical practice. Diagnosis and syndrome differentiation can be done to the rats and mice, and information collected by the four diagnostic methods from the experimental animals meets the requirements of treatment based on syndrome differentiation. 2) Standardized and quantified four diagnostic methods and syndrome differentiation for rats and mice can be established, and are operational and applicable for general use. 3) There exists constitution and syndrome diversity in normal rats and mice. A spontaneous syndrome can develop in diseased rats and mice, and it can be accompanied by or even change to another syndrome, similar to that in human beings. 4) There is a complicated material base for syndromes inferred from the different gene expressions and splices in neuroendocrine-immune network. 5) Individualized treatment based on syndrome differentiation, as well as quantified evaluation and comparison of the treatment efficacy can be done in the rat and mouse models of syndromes. The established methodology and criteria for syndrome differentiation and syndrome-based treatment in rats and mice can be used in the following four research fields: 1) syndrome identification on rat or mouse models; 2) research on the basic theories of TCM, such as the research on the viscera manifestation theory, the material base of syndromes, function mechanisms of the treatment based on syndrome differentiation, and the diagnostics of TCM; 3) study in clinical subject of TCM, such as evaluation and comparison of the efficacy of treatment based on syndrome differentiation, protocol optimization of syndrome differentiation and treatment, and preventive treatment of diseases; 4) study in traditional Chinese drugs, such as the research on properties of Chinese herbal drugs, and pharmacological research on Chinese herbal medicines and formulas.

Traditional Chinese medicine for prevention and treatment of hepatocarcinoma: From bench to bedside

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has played a positive role in the management of hepatocarcinoma. Hepatocarcinoma patients may present Qi-stagnation, damp-heat, blood stasis, Qi-deficiency, Yin-deficiency and other TCM syndromes (Zheng). Modern treatments such as surgery, transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and high intensity focus ultrasound treatment would influence the manifestation of TCM syndromes. Herbs with traditional efficacy of tonifying Qi, blood and Yin, soothing liver-Qi stagnation, clearing heat and detoxifying and dissolving stasis, have been demonstrated to be potent to prevent hepatocarcinogenesis. TCM has been widely used in all aspects of integrative therapy in hepatocarcinoma, including surgical resection, liver transplantation, TACE, local ablative therapies and even as monotherapy for middle-advanced stage hepatocarcinoma. Clinical practices have confirmed that TCM is effective to alleviate clinical symptoms, improve quality of life and immune function, prevent recurrence and metastasis, delay tumor progression, and prolong survival time in hepatocarcinoma patients. The effective mechanism of TCM against hepatocarcinoma is related to inducing apoptosis, autophagy, anoikis and cell senescence, arresting cell cycle, regulating immune function, inhibiting metastasis and angiogenesis, reversing drug resistance and enhancing effects of chemotherapy. Along with the progress of research in this field, TCM will contribute more to the prevention and treatment of hepatocarcinoma.