Publications by authors named "FengZhi Li"

Addition of fluorine atoms into chemical compounds is a validated strategy to enhance their physical, chemical and biological properties. In this study, FL118, a novel camptothecin-related small molecule known for its unique mechanism of action and superior antitumor efficacy, was utilized as a foundational drug platform. By replacing the hydrogen atom at position 7 of FL118 with a fluoroaryl group, a diverse array of FL118 derivatives were synthesized.

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Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of blindness globally. Buyang Huanwu decoction (BHD) is a traditional Chinese medicine for treating DR, but its therapeutic mechanisms are not fully understood. This study aimed to elucidate and validate the underlying mechanisms of BHD in DR treatment through network pharmacology and in vitro experiments.

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Aim: To compare the efficacy of pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) combined with internal limiting membrane (ILM) and silicone oil or sterile air tamponade for the treatment of myopic foveoschisis (MF) in highly myopic eyes.

Methods: This retrospective study included 48 myopic eyes of 40 patients with MF and axial lengths (ALs) ranging from 26-32 mm treated between January 2020 and January 2022. All patients were underwent PPV combined with ILM peeling followed by sterile air or silicone oil tamponade and followed up at least 12mo.

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  • The subcommissural organ (SCO) is a brain gland whose function remains largely unclear, despite being present in a variety of species, including humans.
  • A comparison of gene expression in the SCO versus non-SCO brain areas revealed three key genes (Sspo, Car3, and Spdef) that are highly active in the SCO.
  • Genetic removal of SCO cells during embryonic development led to significant brain issues like hydrocephalus and impaired neuron growth, but introducing certain peptides from the SCO helped to alleviate these developmental problems.
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  • The subcommissural organ (SCO) is a brain gland found in various species, but its specific functions remain largely unclear.
  • Research identified three genes that are significantly active in the SCO and showed that disrupting these genes in mice led to severe brain issues, including hydrocephalus and neuronal development problems.
  • The study also discovered three peptides produced by the SCO that, when reintroduced into affected brain areas, helped mitigate developmental defects, highlighting the SCO's essential role in brain development.
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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of circ_HLCS on age-related cataract (ARC).

Methods: Circ_HLCS, microRNA (miR)-338-3p, and bisphosphate 3'-nucleotidase 1 (BPNT1) were quantified by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction or western blot. Cell proliferation and cell viability were assessed by the 5-Ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridinr and cell counting kit-8 assays.

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Structurally, FL118 is a camptothecin analogue and possesses exceptional antitumor efficacy against human cancer through a novel mechanism of action (MOA). In this report, we have synthesized and characterized 24 FL118 Position 7-substituted and 24 FL118 Position 9-substituted derivatives. The top compounds were further characterized for their MOA in colorectal cancer (CRC) models using CRC patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models and pancreatic cancer PDX models to evaluate their antitumor activities.

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Background: The alkaloid camptothecin analog SN38 is a potent antineoplastic agent, but cannot be used directly for clinical application due to its poor water solubility. Currently, the prodrug approach on SN38 has resulted in 3 FDA-approved cancer therapeutics, irinotecan, ONIVYDE, and Trodelvy. However, only 2-8% of irinotecan can be transformed enzymatically in vivo into the active metabolite SN38, which severely limits the drug's efficacy.

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Non-O1, non-O139 (NOVC) can cause cholera-like diarrhea, but it rarely causes extraintestinal infection, so it is easily overlooked. In this report, we present a case of NOVC detected through blood culture in a 58-year-old male patient with cirrhosis, resulting in severe infection. The patient had been diagnosed with cirrhosis seven years prior and was admitted to the hospital due to abdominal distension and gastrointestinal bleeding.

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Allyl-isothiocyanate (AITC) is a common Isothiocyanates (ITC) and its chemo-preventive and anti-tumor effects are believed to be related to the activation of NF-E2 p45-related Factor 2 (Nrf2). However, its anti-tumor effects on colorectal cancer (CRC) are not well elucidated. Here, we investigated the therapeutic in vitro and/or in vivo effects and mechanisms of action (MOA) for AITC on CRC cell line HCT116 (human) and MC38 (mouse).

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There is increasing evidence indicating the significant role of DDX5 (also called p68), acting as a master regulator and a potential biomarker and target, in tumorigenesis, proliferation, metastasis and treatment resistance for cancer therapy. However, DDX5 has also been reported to act as an oncosuppressor. These seemingly contradictory observations can be reconciled by DDX5's role in DNA repair.

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High glucose promotes retinal pigment epithelial cell (RPEC) migration. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms explaining how high fatty acid levels affect RPEC migration remain largely unknown. We investigated whether and how palmitic acid (PA) impacts the migration of human RPEC cell line ARPE-19.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The alkaloid SN38 is an effective cancer treatment but is poorly soluble in water, leading to limited clinical use and low conversion rates to the active form in existing drugs like irinotecan, making it necessary to find better delivery methods.
  • - Researchers have developed a new technology called single protein encapsulation (SPE) that enhances the delivery and effectiveness of cancer drugs, successfully creating two formulations of SPESN38 to treat colorectal cancer and soft tissue sarcoma in mouse models.
  • - Initial results show that these SPESN38 formulations can dissolve in water and achieve significant dosages, with promising pharmacokinetic profiles and maximum tolerated doses indicating potential for future clinical trials.
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  • Single-cell omics helps identify differences among individual cells and discover rare cell types, which is crucial for understanding tumors and immune therapy.
  • Protein glycosylation is an important post-translational modification that influences various biological processes.
  • A new carrier strategy using isobaric labeling allows for sensitive profiling of glycopeptides from single cells, enabling the study of unique glycosylation patterns in specific regions of the mouse brain.
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Multilabel learning involving hundreds of thousands or even millions of labels is referred to as extreme multilabel learning (XML), in which the labels often follow a power-law distribution with the majority occurring in very few data points as tail labels. Recent years have witnessed the intensive use of deep-learning methods for high-performance XML, but they are typically optimized for the head labels with abundant training instances and less consider the performance on tail labels, which, however, like the needles in haystacks, are often the focus of attention in real-life applications. In light of this, we present BoostXML, a deep learning-based XML method for extreme multilabel text classification, enhanced greatly by gradient boosting.

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Cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs) and spinal cord cavernous malformations (SCCMs) are common vascular abnormalities of the CNS that can lead to seizure, haemorrhage and other neurological deficits. Approximately 85% of patients present with sporadic (versus congenital) CCMs. Somatic mutations in MAP3K3 and PIK3CA were recently reported in patients with sporadic CCM, yet it remains unknown whether MAP3K3 mutation is sufficient to induce CCMs.

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Fourteen 20(S)-substituted FL118 hybrids coupled with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or amino acids (AA) were synthesized and characterized. Most of them exhibited excellent antitumor activity against the four types of human cancer cell lines (A549, HepG2, HeLa and HCT116). FL118-NSAID derivatives(- showed insoluble and lactone increased stability, and could not release FL118 as esterase-triggered prodrugs.

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Purpose: β-asarone is the prime component of essential oil extracted from Acori graminei Rhizoma, which plays an inhibitory role in various tumors. Here, we aim to investigate the functions as well as the mechanism of β-asarone in retinoblastoma (RB).

Methods: RB cell lines SO-Rb50 and HXO-Rb44 were treated with different doses of β-asarone.

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Pig hair (PH), a keratinous waste, was modified by ammonium thioglycolate in a ball milling to promote its performance of Hg(II) sequestration. The ball milling broke the hydrophobic cuticle sheath and enhanced the reduction of disulfide bond, which increased the sulfydryl content of the modified PH (BTPH) from 0.07 to 11.

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Purpose: To investigate risk factors associated with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) of patients with septic shock.

Materials And Methods: Patients with septic shock concomitant with or without LVDD were retrospectively enrolled and divided into the LVDD group (n = 17) and control without LVDD (n = 85). The clinical and ultrasound data were analyzed.

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Article Synopsis
  • Irinotecan and Topotecan are Camptothecin derivatives whose effectiveness is reduced by the expression of BCRP and P-glycoprotein, leading to drug resistance.
  • Two new derivatives, FL77-28 and FL77-29, were developed and found to have stronger anti-tumor properties compared to their parent compound, FL118.
  • Testing in Caco-2 cells indicated moderate absorption for FL77-28 and FL77-29, with FL77-28 showing potential to overcome drug resistance as it is not affected by major efflux proteins, while FL77-29 is influenced by P-glycoprotein.
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Ubiquitin-binding domains (UBDs) are modular elements that bind non-covalently to the ubiquitin and ubiquitin chains. The preferences of UBDs for ubiquitin chains of specific length and linkage are central to their functions. We demonstrated that an artificial tandem hybrid UBD (ThUBD) exhibits an unbiased high affinity to all ubiquitin chains and is a promising tool for global ubiquitination profiling research.

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Molecular glue (MG) compounds are a type of unique small molecule that can change the protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and interactomes by degrading, stabilizing, or activating the target protein after their binging. These small-molecule MGs are gradually being recognized for their potential application in treating human diseases, including cancer. Evidence suggests that small-molecule MG compounds could essentially target any proteins, which play critical roles in human disease etiology, where many of these protein targets were previously considered undruggable.

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Background: Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors, including cetuximab and panitumumab, are valuable therapeutics for colorectal cancer (CRC), but resistance to these inhibitors is common. The reason for such resistance is not well understood, which hampers development of better therapeutic strategies. Although activating mutations in KRAS, BRAF and PIK3CA are considered major drivers of CRC resistance to EGFR inhibitors, therapeutic targeting of these drug resistance drivers has not produced substantial clinical benefit.

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