Establishment and validation of a prediction model for myocarditis in Chinese children below 14 years old: a protocol for a retrospective cohort study.

Introduction: Paediatric myocarditis, a rare inflammatory disease, often presents without clear early symptoms. Although cardiac troponin I levels can aid in diagnosing myocarditis, they are not definitive indicators. Troponin I levels frequently fluctuate within and outside the reference range, potentially causing misinterpretations by clinicians.

Circulating tumor cells participate in the formation of microvascular invasion and impact on clinical outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignant tumor worldwide. Although the treatment strategies have been improved in recent years, the long-term prognosis of HCC is far from satisfactory mainly due to high postoperative recurrence and metastasis rate. Vascular tumor thrombus, including microvascular invasion (MVI) and portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT), affects the outcome of hepatectomy and liver transplantation.

[Genetic analysis of a Chinese pedigree affected with Congenital coagulation factor XII deficiency due to a c.1A>G start codon variant of F12 gene].

Objective: To explore the clinical characteristics and genetic etiology of a consanguineous Chinese pedigree affected with Congenital coagulation factor XII (XII) deficiency.

Methods: Members of the pedigree who had visited Ruian People's Hospital on July 12, 2021 were selected as the study subjects. Clinical data of the pedigree were reviewed.

A novel matrine derivative, WM130, inhibits activation and movement of human hepatic stellate LX-2 cells by targeting cofilin 1.

Unlabelled: Matrine one of the active ingredients of Ait. has a protective effect in animal models on acute liver injury and liver fibrosis. However, since the protective effects are short-lived, a structural modification of matrine is needed to improve its anti-fibrotic effects.

Triple-serotype chimeric oncolytic adenovirus exerts multiple synergistic mechanisms against solid tumors.

Background: Oncolytic virotherapy has become an important branch of cancer immunotherapy. This study investigated the efficacy of an oncolytic adenovirus (OAV), OncoViron, with synergistic mechanisms in the treatment of multiple solid tumors.

Methods: An OAV, OncoViron, was constructed and investigated by cytological experiments and implanted tumor models of multiple solid tumor cell lines to certify its anticancer efficacy, the synergistic effects of viral oncolysis and transgene anticancer activity of OncoViron, as well as oncolytic virotherapy combined with immunotherapy, were also verified.

miR-2392 functions as tumour suppressor and inhibits malignant progression of hepatocellular carcinoma via directly targeting JAG2.

Background & Aims: Dysregulation of microRNA (miRNA) expression in various cancers and their vital roles in malignant progression of cancers are well investigated. Our previous studies have analysed miRNAs that promote malignant progression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); this study aims to systematically elucidate the mechanism of metastasis suppressor miRNAs in HCC.

Methods: High-throughput RNA sequencing was used to identify anti-metastatic miRNAs.

LncRNA CCAT1 Upregulates ATG5 to Enhance Autophagy and Promote Gastric Cancer Development by Absorbing miR-140-3p.

Background: Long noncoding RNA colon cancer-associated transcript 1 (LncRNA CCAT1) is highly expressed in gastric cancer tissues and plays a role in autophagy. However, the underlying mechanism still needs to be further clarified.

Objective: To study the role of LncRNA CCAT1 in regulating autophagy of gastric cancer cells, analyze its downstream targets, and elucidate the mechanism.

LpCat1 Promotes Malignant Transformation of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells by Directly Suppressing STAT1.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignant cancer with rapid proliferation and high metastasis ability. To explore the crucial genes that maintain the aggressive behaviors of cancer cells is very important for clinical gene therapy of HCC. LpCat1 was reported to be highly expressed and exert pro-tumorigenic effect in a variety of cancers, including HCC.

Phospholipase A2 superfamily in cancer.

Phospholipase A2 enzymes (PLAs) comprise a superfamily that is generally divided into six subfamilies known as cytosolic PLAs (cPLAs), calcium-independent PLAs (iPLAs), secreted PLAs (sPLAs), lysosomal PLAs, platelet-activating factor (PAF) acetylhydrolases, and adipose specific PLAs. Each subfamily consists of several isozymes that possess PLA activity. The first three PLA subfamilies play important roles in inflammation-related diseases and cancer.

Survivin-targeted drug screening platform identifies a matrine derivative WM-127 as a potential therapeutics against hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of cancer related death which needs novel drugs to improve patient outcome. Survivin overexpresses in HCC and contributes to HCC malignant progression. In this study, we established a Survivin-targeted drug screening platform, a cell model HepG2-Sur5P-EGFP-Sur3U stably transfected with lentivirus carrying an EGFP expression cassette, in which the EGFP expression was regulated by the upstream Survivin promoter and downstream Survivin 3'-UTR.

[Analysis of a consanguineous pedigree affected with hereditary coagulation factor XII deficiency caused by homozygous Gly341Arg mutation].

OBJECTIVE To analyze the laboratory phenotype and FXII gene mutation in a consanguineous Chinese pedigree affected with factor XII (FXII) deficiency. METHODS Activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), FXII activity (FXII:C) and FXII antigen (FXII:Ag) of the proband and her family members (10 individuals from 3 generations) were determined. Sanger sequencing was used to detect potential mutation within the 14 exons, their flanking regions and 5',3'-untranslated regions of the FXII gene.

A rapid quantitative analysis of bile acids, lysophosphatidylcholines and polyunsaturated fatty acids in biofluids based on ultraperformance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole tandem massspectrometry.

Much evidence suggested that quantitative analysis of bile acids (BAs), lysophosphatidylcholines (LPCs), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in biofluids may be very useful for diagnosis and prevention of hepatobiliary disease with a non-invasive manner. However, simultaneously fast analysis of these metabolites has been challenging for their huge differences of physicochemical properties and concentration levels in biofluids. In this study, we present a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method with a high throughput analytical cycle (10min) to fast and accurately quantify fifteen potential biomarkers (eight BAs, four LPCs and three PUFAs) of hepatobiliary disease.

Transcriptional factor OCT4 promotes esophageal cancer metastasis by inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition through VEGF-C/VEGFR-3 signaling pathway.

The octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (OCT4) can promote cancer proliferation and metastasis. Esophageal carcinoma (ECC) harbors different quantities of OCT4-positive cancer cells. These cells are highly malignant and prone to metastasis; however, the mechanism remains unknown.

Costunolide and dehydrocostuslactone combination treatment inhibit breast cancer by inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis through c-Myc/p53 and AKT/14-3-3 pathway.

Our previous studies demonstrated that volatile oil from saussurea lappa root (VOSL), rich in two natural sesquiterpene lactones, costunolide (Cos) and dehydrocostuslactone (Dehy), exerts better anti-breast cancer efficacy and lower side effects than Cos or Dehy alone in vivo, however, their anti-cancer molecular mechanisms were still unknown. In this study, we investigated the underlying mechanisms of Cos and Dehy combination treatment (CD) on breast cancer cells through proteomics technology coupled with Western blot validation. Ingenuity Pathways Analysis (IPA) results based on the differentially expressed proteins revealed that both VOSL and CD affect the 14-3-3-mediated signaling, c-Myc mediated apoptosis signaling and protein kinase A (PKA) signaling.

Targeting MicroRNAs in Cancer Gene Therapy.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a kind of conserved small non-coding RNAs that participate in regulating gene expression by targeting multiple molecules. Early studies have shown that the expression of miRNAs changes significantly in different tumor tissues and cancer cell lines. It is well acknowledged that such variation is involved in almost all biological processes, including cell proliferation, mobility, survival and differentiation.

Volatile oil from Saussurea lappa exerts antitumor efficacy by inhibiting epithelial growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase-mediated signaling pathway in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment remains lack of effective chemotherapeutic drugs, therefore, discovering novel anti-HCC drugs is a very attractive and urgent task. In this study, we reported VOSL (volatile oil from Saussurea lappa root) exhibits potent therapeutic effect on SMMC-7721 xenografts without obvious side effects. In the in vitro experiments, VOSL inhibited HCC cell proliferation by arresting cell cycle at S and G2/M phases, and induced HCC cell apoptosis by activating the Caspase3 pathway.

Desulfation of cell surface HSPG is an effective strategy for the treatment of gallbladder carcinoma.

Cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG) is a group of critical glycoproteins that mediates signal transduction. Sulfated HSPG can mediate the activation of a variety of cell growth factor signal pathway to promote the progression of gallbladder carcinoma (GBC). This study analyzed 527 clinical GBC specimens and confirmed that the HSPG sulfation level was significantly higher in GBC tissues than in gallbladder mucosa (GBM) tissues.

An Artificially Designed Interfering lncRNA Expressed by Oncolytic Adenovirus Competitively Consumes OncomiRs to Exert Antitumor Efficacy in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Endogenous miRNAs, especially oncogenic miRNAs (OncomiR), have been molecular targets for cancer therapy. We generated an artificially designed interfering long noncoding RNA (lncRNAi), which contains the sequences that can complementarily bind to multiple OncomiRs and is expressed by cancer-selectively replicating adenovirus. The adenovirus-expressed lncRNAi with high levels in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells competes with OncomiR target genes to bind to and consume OncomiRs, thereby achieving the targeted anti-HCC efficacy.

Therapeutic strategy with artificially-designed i-lncRNA targeting multiple oncogenic microRNAs exhibits effective antitumor activity in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

In diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), many oncogenic microRNAs (OncomiRs) are highly expressed to promote disease development and progression by inhibiting the expression and function of certain tumor suppressor genes, and these OncomiRs comprise a promising new class of molecular targets for the treatment of DLBCL. However, most current therapeutic studies have focused on a single miRNA, with limited treatment outcomes. In this study, we generated tandem sequences of 10 copies of the complementary binding sequences to 13 OncomiRs and synthesized an interfering long non-coding RNA (i-lncRNA).

Matrine derivative WM130 inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma by suppressing EGFR/ERK/MMP-2 and PTEN/AKT signaling pathways.

Matrine, a sophora alkaloid, has been demonstrated to exert antitumor effects on many types of cancer. However, its bioactivity is weak and its potential druggability is low. We modified the structure of matrine and obtained a new matrine derivative, WM130 (C30N4H40SO5F), which exhibited better pharmacological activities than matrine.

A Novel Matrine Derivative WM130 Inhibits Activation of Hepatic Stellate Cells and Attenuates Dimethylnitrosamine-Induced Liver Fibrosis in Rats.

Activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) is a critical event in process of hepatic fibrogenesis and cirrhosis. Matrine, the active ingredient of Sophora, had been used for clinical treatment of acute/chronic liver disease. However, its potency was low.

Hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α induces a tendency of differentiation and activation of rat hepatic stellate cells.

Aim: To investigate the effect of hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4α) on the differentiation and transformation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs).

Methods: By constructing the recombinant adenovirus vector expressing HNF4α and HNF4α shRNA vector, and manipulating HNF4α expression in HSC-T6 cells, we explored the influence of HNF4α and its induction capacity in the differentiation of rat HSCs into hepatocytes.

Results: With increased expression of HNF4α mediated by AdHNF4α, the relative expression of Nanog was downregulated in HSC-T6 cells (98.

Targeted Hsp70 expression combined with CIK-activated immune reconstruction synergistically exerts antitumor efficacy in patient-derived hepatocellular carcinoma xenograft mouse models.

The patient-derived tumor xenograft (PDTX) models can reproduce a similar natural genetic background and similar biological behaviors to tumor cells in patients, which is conducive to the assessment of personalized cancer treatment. In this study, to verify the targeting and effectiveness of the therapeutic strategy using a Survivin promoter-regulated oncolytic adenovirus expressing Hsp70, the PDTX models of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were established in nude mice and the cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells were intravenously infused into mice to partially reconstruct the mouse immune function. The results demonstrated that, either the immune anti-tumor effect caused by CIK cell infusion or the oncolytic effect generated by oncolytic adenovirus replication was very limited.