NKX6.3 protects against gastric mucosal atrophy by downregulating β-amyloid production

Research on drug treatment and the novel signaling pathway of chronic atrophic gastritis

BACKGROUND

Chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) is a global digestive system disease and one of the important causes of gastric cancer. The incidence of CAG has been increasing yearly worldwide.

PURPOSE

This article reviews the latest research on the common causes and future therapeutic targets of CAG as well as the pharmacological effects of corresponding clinical drugs. We provide a detailed theoretical basis for further research on possible methods for the treatment of CAG and reversal of the CAG process.

RESULTS

CAG often develops from chronic gastritis, and its main pathological manifestation is atrophy of the gastric mucosa, which can develop into gastric cancer. The drug treatment of CAG can be divided into agents that regulate gastric acid secretion, eradicate Helicobacter. pylori (H. pylori), protect gastric mucous membrane, or inhibit inflammatory factors according to their mechanism of action. Although there are limited specific drugs for the treatment of CAG, progress is being made in defining the pathogenesis and therapeutic targets of the disease. Growing evidence shows that NF-κB, PI3K/AKT, Wnt/ β-catenin, MAPK, Toll-like receptors (TLRs), Hedgehog, and VEGF signaling pathways play an important role in the development of CAG.

The occurrence, progression and development of four types of gastric mucosal atrophic lesions and their histopathological characteristics

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the occurrence and development of gastric mucosal atrophic lesions and their histopathological characteristics.

METHODS

Histopathological diagnosis and immunohistochemical staining using the EnVision two-step method were conducted on 1969 gastric mucosal atrophic lesions obtained from gastroscopic biopsy specimens. A total of 48-month three-stage endoscopic biopsy follow-ups were performed.

RESULTS

When the gastric mucosal epithelium was affected by infection, chemical irritation, or immune or genetic factors, the gastric mucosal epithelium glands atrophied, the mucosa became thinner, the number of glands decreased, the intestinal epithelium progressed to metaplasia and smooth muscle fibre became hyperplasia. Such changes may lead to the proliferation and dysplasia of epithelial cells of the gastric mucosa and neoplastic hyperplasia in nature; this is referred to as gastric mucosal atrophic lesions in this study. According to this definition, the present study divided gastric mucosal atrophy into four types: (1) glandular atrophy of the lamina propria; (2) compensatory proliferative atrophy; (3) intestinal metaplasia atrophy; and (4) smooth muscle proliferative atrophy. The incidence rates of the above were 40.1% (789/1969), 14.3% (281/1969), 27.8% (547/1969) and 17.9% (352/1969), respectively. One- to 4-year follow-ups found that the changes were not significant and that the percentages of patients with disease exacerbation were 85.7% (1688/1969) and 9.8% (192/1969). The percentages of patients who developed low-grade intraepithelial neoplasia and high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia were 2.8% (55/1969) and 1.1% (21/1969), respectively; 0.7% (13/1969) of patients developed intramucosal cancer.

CONCLUSION

Gastric mucosal atrophic lesions and histopathological staging are based on the morphological characteristics of gastric mucosal atrophy and the hypothesis of malignant transformation of cells during the occurrence and development of mucosal atrophy. Mastering pathological staging is beneficial to clinicians for enacting precise treatment and is important for reducing the incidence of gastric cancer.

Research Progress of Alzheimer's Disease Therapeutic Drugs: Based on Renin-Angiotensin System Axis

It is widely recognized that Alzheimer's disease (AD) has a complicate link to renin-angiotensin system (RAS). It is known that cerebrovascular disease has some connections with AD, but most of the studies are still conducted in parallel or independently. Although previous research came up with large number of hypotheses about the pathogenesis of AD, it does not include the mechanism of RAS-related regulation of AD. It has been found that many components of RAS have been changed in AD. For example, the multifunctional and high-efficiency vasoconstrictor Ang II and Ang III with similar effects are changed under the action of other RAS signal peptides; these signal peptides are believed to help improve nerve injury and cognitive function. These changes may lead to neuropathological changes of AD, and progressive defects of cognitive function, which are association with some hypotheses of AD. The role of RAS in AD gradually attracts our attention, and RAS deserved to be considered carefully in the pathogenesis of AD. This review discusses the mechanisms of RAS participating in the three current hypotheses of AD: neuroinflammation, oxidative stress and amyloid-β protein (Aβ) hypothesis, as well as the drugs that regulate RAS systems already in clinical or in clinical trials. It further demonstrates the importance of RAS in the pathogenesis of AD, not only because of its multiple aspects of participation, which may be accidental, but also because of the availability of RAS drugs, which can be reused as therapies of AD.

Morroniside protects against chronic atrophic gastritis in rat via inhibiting inflammation and apoptosis

The aim of our study was to investigate the therapeutic efficacy of Morroniside (MR) in a chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) rat model and its underlying mechanisms. Male Wistar rats were employed to induce CAG model. All animals were divided into six groups: control, model (CAG), positive (Vitacoenzyme tablets), MR low, middle and high three doses groups. Histopathology observation of gastric tissues was detected by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. The levels of gastrointestinal hormones and inflammatory factors in serum were measured by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Apoptosis of gastric mucosa cell was detected using Terminal-deoxynucleoitidyl Transferase Mediated Nick End Labeling (TUNEL) assay. Protein expressions were evaluated by Western blotting. Obvious pathological injury and in the CAG model group were observed, which was improved after treatment with MR. The contents of serum gastrin (GAS) was increased whereas motilin (MTL) was decreased in a dose-dependent manner after MR treatment. MR markedly attenuated the levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β). Moreover, MR inhibited apoptosis of gastric mucosal cell as presented by TUNEL, coupled with an upregulation in Bcl-2 expression and a downregulation in Bax, cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-9 expression. Furthermore, the expression levels of phospho-NF-κB p65 (p-NF-κB p65) and p-IKKα/β proteins were reduced accompanied by an increase in IκB-α expression in the MR-treated groups. The study demonstrated that MR is able to protect against CAG via inhibiting inflammation and apoptosis, which might provide a stronger theoretical basis for the treatment of CAG.