Publications by authors named "Hongcui Cao"

Background: Early identification of hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF) holds crucial importance in guiding clinical management and reducing mortality. However, existing scoring systems often overlook patient's underlying clinical condition, which significantly impacts prognosis.

Aims: Use the age-adjusted Charlson comorbidity index (aCCI) to evaluate the patient's complications to develop a more precise model for predicting transplant-free mortality in HBV-ACLF patients.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study looks at how a type of stem cell treatment from the placenta can help patients with a liver disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).
  • Researchers used special mice to see how the stem cell treatment affected their liver health and identified important substances in their blood to check its effectiveness.
  • They found that after the treatment, certain harmful substances in the liver decreased while beneficial ones increased, suggesting the stem cell treatment was successful in improving liver function.
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Organoids are miniature, highly accurate representations of organs that capture the structure and unique functions of specific organs. Although the field of organoids has experienced exponential growth, driven by advances in artificial intelligence, gene editing, and bioinstrumentation, a comprehensive and accurate overview of organoid applications remains necessary. This review offers a detailed exploration of the historical origins and characteristics of various organoid types, their applications-including disease modeling, drug toxicity and efficacy assessments, precision medicine, and regenerative medicine-as well as the current challenges and future directions of organoid research.

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Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a challenging cholestatic liver disease marked by progressive bile duct inflammation and fibrosis that has no FDA-approved therapy. Although obeticholic acid (OCA) has been sanctioned for PSC, its clinical utility in PSC is constrained by its potential hepatotoxicity. Here, we introduce a novel therapeutic construct consisting of OCA encapsulated within a reactive oxygen species (ROS)-responsive, biodegradable polymer, further cloaked with human placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cell (hP-MSC) membrane (MPPFTU@OCA).

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Article Synopsis
  • The text discusses the importance of evaluating safety and efficacy for new drugs and therapies, highlighting various preclinical models such as cellular, tissue, organoid, and animal models.* -
  • Human hepatobiliary organoids, which mirror the structure and function of liver and bile duct tissues, are particularly useful for studying diseases like hepatitis and liver cancer.* -
  • The review focuses on recent advances in using these organoid models for drug toxicity testing, screening, and personalized treatment strategies for hepatobiliary diseases, while also addressing current research challenges and potential solutions.*
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Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy offers a promising cure for Crohn's disease (CD), however, its therapeutic effects vary significantly due to individual differences. Therefore, identifying easily detectable biomarkers is essential to assess the efficacy of MSC therapy. In this study, SAMP1/Yit mice were used as a model of CD, which develop spontaneous chronic ileitis, closely resembling the characteristics present in CD patients.

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Background And Aims: The immunomodulatory characteristics of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) make them a promising therapeutic approach for liver fibrosis (LF). Here, we postulated that MSCs could potentially suppress the pro-fibrotic activity of intrahepatic B cells, thereby inhibiting LF progression.

Approach And Results: Administration of MSCs significantly ameliorated LF as indicated by reduced myofibroblast activation, collagen deposition, and inflammation.

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Acute lung injury (ALI) is an inflammatory disease associated with alveolar injury, subsequent macrophage activation, inflammatory cell infiltration, and cytokine production. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are beneficial for application in the treatment of inflammatory diseases due to their immunomodulatory effects. However, the mechanisms of regulatory effects by MSCs on macrophages in ALI need more in-depth study.

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Hepatitis E virus (HEV) persists in the male genital tract that associates with infertility. However, the presence of HEV in the female genital tract is unreported. Vaginal secretions, cervical smears, and cervix uteri were collected to explore the presence of HEV in the female genital tract.

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Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is an autoimmune cholangiopathy characterized by chronic inflammation of the biliary epithelium and periductal fibrosis, with no curative treatment available, and liver transplantation is inevitable for end-stage patients. Human placental mesenchymal stem cell (hpMSC)-derived exosomes have demonstrated the ability to prevent fibrosis, inhibit collagen production and possess immunomodulatory properties in autoimmune liver disease. Here, we prepared hpMSC-derived exosomes (Exo) and further investigated the anti-fibrotic effects and detailed mechanism on PSC based on Mdr2 mice and multicellular organoids established from PSC patients.

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Bacterial infection causes lung inflammation and recruitment of several inflammatory factors that may result in acute lung injury (ALI). During bacterial infection, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and other signaling pathways are activated, which intensify inflammation and increase ALI-related mortality and morbidity. To improve the ALI therapy outcome, it is imperative clinically to manage bacterial infection and excessive inflammation simultaneously.

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Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a biliary disease accompanied by chronic inflammation of the liver and biliary stricture. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are used to treat liver diseases because of their immune regulation and regeneration-promoting functions. This study was performed to explore the therapeutic potential of human placental MSCs (hP-MSCs) in PSC through the Takeda G protein-coupled receptor 5 (TGR5) receptor pathway.

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Background: Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) treatment plays a major role in the management of acute lung injury (ALI), and neutrophils are the initial line of defense against ALI. However, the effect of MSCs on neutrophils in ALI remains mostly unknown.

Methods: We investigated the characteristics of neutrophils in lung tissue of ALI mice induced by lipopolysaccharide after treatment with MSCs using single-cell RNA sequencing.

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Hypoxia-inducible factor-2α (HIF-2α) is a transcription factor responsible for regulating genes related to angiogenesis and metabolism. This study aims to explore the effect of a previously unreported mutation c.C2473T (p.

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Background: Although increasing preclinical studies have emphasized the benefits of exosome-related therapies, the efficacy of mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC)-derived extracellular vesicles (EV) for liver injury is unclear. In this work, a pooled analysis was conducted to explore the overall effect of MSC-EV in animal models.

Methods: A systematic search of the PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases was performed, from initiation to February 2022, for preclinical studies with liver disease models.

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The noninvasive diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is insufficiently accurate. Therefore, the discovery of new prognostic markers is vital for the understanding of the CCA mechanism and related treatment. The information on CCA patients in The Cancer Genome Atlas database was used for weighted gene co-expression network analysis.

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Objective: In recent years, the anti-programmed cell death protein-1 and its ligand (PD-1/PD-L1) or combination therapies have been recommended as an alternative emerging choice of treatment for oncology patients. However, the efficacy and adverse events of different combination strategies for the treatment of tumors remain controversial.

Methods: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and the European Society of Medicine Oncology (ESMO) were searched from database inception until 16 February 2022.

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Accumulating evidence has confirmed the links between transfer RNA (tRNA) modifications and tumor progression. The present study is the first to explore the role of tRNA methyltransferase 5 (TRMT5), which catalyzes the m1G37 modification of mitochondrial tRNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression. Here, based on bioinformatics and clinical analyses, we identified that TRMT5 expression was upregulated in HCC, which correlated with poor prognosis.

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Preclinical studies have proven that nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF) ablation can be a safe and effective treatment for humans with unresectable liver cancer that are ineligible for thermal ablation. The concomitant activation of antitumor immunity by nsPEF can also potentially prevent tumor recurrence. However, whether nsPEF exhibits similar efficacy in a clinical setting remains to be investigated.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study investigates how hypoxia affects the expression of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and messenger RNAs (mRNAs) in human placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hP-MSCs), focusing on their role in regulating cell behavior under low oxygen conditions.
  • Researchers created a hypoxic environment using a multigas incubator and discovered that it significantly enhances the proliferation of hP-MSCs, identifying 289 lncRNAs and 240 mRNAs with altered expression levels.
  • The study highlights that a specific upregulated lncRNA can boost hP-MSC proliferation by activating the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway and increasing the expression of proteins related
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Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have evoked considerable interest in recent years due to their critical functions in the regulation of disease processes. Abnormal expression of lncRNAs is found in multiple diseases, and lncRNAs have been exploited for diverse medical applications. The lncRNA MIR210HG is a recently discovered lncRNA that is widely dysregulated in human disease.

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Background: Cancers of digestive system have high case-fatality rate. It is important to find more appropriate methods in diagnosing and predicting gastrointestinal malignances. And thrombospondin-2 (TSP-2) was reported to have the functions, although results were not identical.

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