Publications by authors named "Donghui Cai"

The anti-inflammatory effect of phellodendrine (PHE), derived from Phellodendri Chinensis Cortex, has been verified in previous studies. Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with immune dysregulation and inflammatory processes. This study aimed to explore the therapeutic effects of PHE on MDD through network pharmacology and experimental validation.

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Background: Phellodendrine, one of the characteristic and important active components of Cortex phellodendri, has been proven to show anti-inflammatory effects. However, the underlying mechanism of phellodendrine on inflammation remains largely unclear.

Aim Of The Study: In this study, network pharmacology and experimental validation were used to explore the underlying mechanism of phellodendrine on inflammation.

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Many classic decoctions of Chinese medicine including Radix Bupleuri are used to treat major depressive disorder (MDD). Saikosaponin D is a representative bioactive ingredient discovered in Radix Bupleuri. The mechanism of saikogenin G (SGG) as a metabolite in MDD remains unclear to date.

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Purpose: Bone destruction and pain caused by cancer is one of the most devastating complications of cancer patients with bone metastases, and it seriously affects the quality of patients' life. Extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer (EMMPRIN) is a cell adhesion molecule with increased expression in a variety of tumors. This study focused to clarify the specific function of EMMPRIN in bone metastasis of breast cancer.

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The present study is to measure the expression of programmed death-1 (PD-1) and programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1), as well as its clinical significance in cervical cancer patients. Our results showed that different T cell subsets in patients with cervical cancer had high expression of PD-1, and DCs had high expression of PD-L1. High expression of PD-1 on Treg cells in cervical cancer patients facilitated the production of TGF- and IL-10 but inhibited the production of IFN-.

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The methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MECP2), a transcriptional suppressor, is involved in gene regulation by binding to methylated promoters. We found that MECP2 is overexpressed in gastric cancer (GC), and that Mecp2 knockdown affects the growth of GC cells both in vitro and in vivo. MECP2 can directly bind to the methylated-CpG island of miR-338 promoter and suppress the expression of two mature microRNAs, namely, miR-338-3p and miR-338-5p.

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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important gene regulators that participate in tumorigenesis. Previous studies have implicated that miR-214 is a tumor suppressor that is capable of inhibiting human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell growth. However, the mechanism by which miR-214 suppresses tumor development remains unknown.

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MiR-302b is a member of miR-302-367 cluster. The miR-302-367 cluster played important roles in maintaining pluripotency in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and has been proved to be capable of suppressing cell growth in several types of cancer cell lines including Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) Cell lines. However, the role that miR-302b plays in the 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) sensitivity of HCC has not been known.

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Dysregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) has been associated with carcinogenesis in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). In the present study, we investigated the expression and function of miR-99b-3p in human OSCC. We found that the expression levels of miR-99b-3p decreased in 21 clinical OSCC samples (84%).

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Hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) plays an important role in the metabolic salvage of purines, and been used as an alternative pathway for mutant selection in many studies. To facilitate its application in rabbits, we have cloned the cDNA and genomic DNA of the rabbit HPRT gene using an approach that combines bioinformatics and recombineering methods. The cDNA is comprised of 1449 bp containing a coding sequence for a protein of 218 amino acids.

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