Metabolic differentiation and classification of abnormal Savda Munziq's pharmacodynamic role on rat models with different diseases by nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabonomics

Identification of potential serum biomarkers for congenital heart disease children with pulmonary arterial hypertension by metabonomics

BACKGROUND

Pulmonary arterial hypertension is a common complication in patients with congenital heart disease. In the absence of early diagnosis and treatment, pediatric patients with PAH has a poor survival rate. Here, we explore serum biomarkers for distinguishing children with pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with congenital heart disease (PAH-CHD) from CHD.

METHODS

Samples were analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy-based metabolomics and 22 metabolites were further quantified by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy.

RESULTS

Serum levels of betaine, choline, S-Adenosyl methionine (SAM), acetylcholine, xanthosine, guanosine, inosine and guanine were significantly altered between CHD and PAH-CHD. Logistic regression analysis showed that combination of serum SAM, guanine and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), yielded the predictive accuracy of 157 cases was 92.70% with area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic curve value of 0.9455.

CONCLUSION

We demonstrated that a panel of serum SAM, guanine and NT-proBNP is potential serum biomarkers for screening PAH-CHD from CHD.

Detection and verification of coexisting diagnostic markers in plasma and serum of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer

Aim: To screen and identify the potential biomarkers co-existing in plasma and serum of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and establish appropriate diagnostic models. Methods: A cohort of 195 plasma samples and 180 serum samples were obtained from healthy controls (HCs), adenocarcinoma (AdC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) patients enrolled from the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University. Metabolites in plasma and serum were analyzed by GC-MS. Results: Hypoxanthine was found to have good performance in the differential diagnosis of NSCLC (including AdC and SqCC) and HC (area under the receiver operating characteristic [AUROC] ≥0.85). Combinations of metabolites could be used for differential diagnosis of NSCLC and HC (AUROC >0.93), AdC and HC (AUROC >0.91), SqCC and HC (AUROC >0.95), AdC and SqCC (AUROC >0.72). Conclusions: Metabolomics based on GC-MS can screen and identify the differential metabolites coexisting in plasma and serum of patients with NSCLC, and prediction models established by this method can be used for the differential diagnosis of patients with NSCLC.

TLR4 Knockout Attenuates BDL-induced Liver Cholestatic Injury through Amino Acid and Choline Metabolic Pathways

The exact mechanism by which knockout of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) attenuates the liver injury remains unclear. The present study aimed to examine the role of TLR4 in the pathogenesis of bile duct ligation (BDL)-induced liver cholestatic injury and the underlying mechanism. Wild type (WT) mice and TLR4 knockout (TLR4-KO) mice were used for the establishment of the BDL model. Metabolomics were applied to analyze the changes of small molecular metabolites in the serum and liver of the two groups. The serum biochemical indexes and the HE staining results of liver tissue showed that liver damage was significantly reduced in TLR4-KO mice after BDL when compared with that in WT mice. The metabolite analysis results showed that TLR4 KO could maintain the metabolisms of amino acids- and choline-related metabolites. After BDL, the amino acids- and choline-related metabolites, especially choline and 3-hydroxybutyrate, were significantly increased in WT mice (both in serum and liver), but these metabolites in the liver of TLR4-KO mice after BLD were not significant different from those before BLD. In conclusion, TLR4 KO could attenuate BDL-induced liver cholestatic injury through regulating amino acid and choline metabolic pathways.

ASMq protects against early burn wound progression in rats by alleviating oxidative stress and secondary mitochondria‑associated apoptosis via the Erk/p90RSK/Bad pathway

Burn wounds present an evolutionary progression, in which the initial wound tissue deepens and expands following thermal injury. Progressive tissue damage in the zone of stasis may worsen burn injury, which is associated with oxidative stress and secondary apoptosis, and worsen the prognosis of patients with burn wounds. The mitochondrial apoptotic pathway is involved in receiving oxidative signals and regulating tissue apoptosis. Previously, Abnormal Savda Munziq (ASMq), a natural compound of traditional Uyghur Medicine, which includes ten types of herb, has been reported to exhibit a number of effects, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidative and anti-apoptotic activities. The present study demonstrated that ASMq protected against early burn wound progression following thermal injury in rats; this effect may be mediated by its ability to attenuate oxidative stress-induced mitochondria-associated apoptosis. The present study may provide a novel therapeutic method to prevent early burn wound progression following burn injury.

Diagnosis of acute pediatric appendicitis from children with inflammatory diseases by combination of metabolic markers and inflammatory response variables

BACKGROUND

The discovery of new metabolic markers may be helpful for early diagnosis of acute pediatric appendicitis (APA). However, no studies have been reported regarding identification of potential metabolic markers for the APA diagnosis by metabonomics.

METHODS

Serum samples of APA (n=32), non-appendicitis inflammation (NAI, n=32) and healthy children (HS, n=65) were analyzed by the 1H NMR-based metabonomics. A logistic regression model was established to screen the most efficient markers combinations for classification. Forty double-blind samples were further validated the model.

RESULTS

Nine blood metabolites that were different in the APA group from other groups were identified. To differentiate APA from HS, single variable of acetate, formate, white blood cell (WBC) and C-reactive protein (CRP) showed a high diagnostic value (area under the receiver operating characteristic [AUROC]<0.92), while they had a weak diagnostic value (AUROC<0.77) for identifying the APA and NAI. By contrast, the AUROC values of leucine (0.799) were higher than that of WBC and CRP. A combination of five variables, i.e. leucine, lactate, betaine, WBC and CRP, showed a high diagnostic value (AUROC=0.973) for the APA discriminating from the NAI, and the sensitivity and specificity were 93.8% and 93.7%, respectively. Further double-blind sample prediction showed that the accuracy of the model was 85% for 40 unknown samples.

CONCLUSIONS

The current study provides useful information in our understanding of the metabolic alterations associated with APA and indicates that measurement of these metabolites in serum effectively aids in the clinical identification of APA.

Discovery and Validation of Potential Serum Biomarkers for Pediatric Patients with Congenital Heart Diseases by Metabolomics

To identify and screen serum biomarkers to determine pediatric patients with congenital heart diseases (PCH) from healthy control children (NC), a total of 614 clinically diagnosed subjects from three hospitals, including 491 PCH and 234 NC, were enrolled for nontargeted proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H NMR)-based and targeted ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy (UPLC-MS/MS)-based metabolomics studies. Nineteen serum metabolites distinguishing PCH from NC were identified by ¹H NMR-based metabolomic analysis. The amino acid and choline metabolic pathways were considered to be closely related to PCH. The serum levels of 13 metabolites in these two pathways were further determined by UPLC-MS/MS and observed to be altered significantly in PCH. Taurine, glutamine, and glutamate presented considerable diagnostic value for the diagnosis of PCH (AUROC > 0.80). Logistic regression analysis showed that a combination of four variables, namely, betaine, taurine, glutamine, and phenylalanine, yields a high diagnostic value (AUROC = 0.949) and prediction accuracy (89.1%) for differentiating PCH from the NC, and the sensitivity and specificity were 93.9 and 95.2%, respectively. Further double-blind sample prediction showed that the accuracy of the model was 83.8% for 80 unknown samples. Our results showed that the serum amino acid and choline metabolite levels in PCH were changed considerably. The combination of four metabolites, namely, betaine, taurine, glutamine, and phenylalanine, can be used as potential serum biomarkers in PCH diagnosis, which contributes to the early PCH screening.

Enhanced antitumor efficacy and reduced toxicity of Abnormal Savda Munziq on tumor bearing mice treated with chemotherapy

Previous research has demonstrated the anti-tumor properties of Abnormal Savda Munziq (ASMq), a traditional Uyghur compound herbal medicine. The effects of ASMq on cervical carcinomas in U27 tumor-bearing mice is investigated, the effect of adding Fluorouracil (5-FU) is also assessed in this paper. The results demonstrate that ASMq and 5-FU significantly inhibited the proliferation of U27 cells in a time-dependent and dose-dependent manner. Evaluating the interactions between ASMq and 5-FU on U27 cell growth yields a combination index (CI) < 1 in different time periods, suggesting a synergistic effect between the two drugs in vitro. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis demonstrates that ASMq can inhibit enhanced lipid metabolism in tumor mice, enhance the glutamine content, promote lymphocyte and macrophage proliferation, and increase tumor necrosis factor(TNF-α) and interleukin(IL) production, which can enhance the effect of 5-FU on the inhibition of tumors. Also ASMq can reduce the content of ALT and AST in serum. Increased SOD, GSH-Px, and decreased the content of MDA in liver tissue. ASMq has a synergistic effect on liver and tumor pathology, as well as tumor inhibition rate. In addition, ASMq can also enhance the body's antioxidant capacity and improve the body's metabolism, and reduce 5-FU's toxic side effects.

News from Tartary: an ethnopharmacological approach to drug and therapeutic discovery

Ethnopharmacology aims to identify new therapeutic agents based on their traditional use. It begins by the identification of disease states, and of the traditional therapies for these, most commonly herbals. Herbals of interest are selected from ethnopharmacological surveys, and tested on experimental models of the diseases of interest. Once the activity of the traditional remedy is demonstrated, including dose-dependence, if possible comparatively to reference medications, the active ingredients can be explored, if possible using bioguided extraction. Identified molecules can then be further developed as medicinal products or pharmaceutical medicines (e.g., artemisine), or the herbal product can be developed as such (e.g. St John's wort). We provide examples of various study programmes, concerning the antiplatelet and antithrombotic effects of Armagnac extracts from Southwest France; antithrombotic and antihypertensive effects of extracts of Ocimum basilicum L; antithrombotic, antihypertensive and antihyperlipidemic effects of Cydonia oblonga; Antiproliferative and antithrombotic effects of Abnorma Savda Munziq of traditional Uyghur medicine; and the antidiabetic and hepatoprotective effects of Centaurium erythraea Rafn, Artemisia herba-alba Asso and Trigonella foenum-graecum L., all in collaboration between University of Bordeaux, France, Xinjiang Medical University in Urumqi, China and University Mentouri in Constantine, Algeria.