Protective Effect and Possible Mechanisms of Astragaloside IV in Animal Models of Diabetic Nephropathy: A Preclinical Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Astragaloside IV (AS-IV) has a variety of biological activities and is widely used to treat kidney diseases. We conducted a systematic review of 24 animal studies including 424 animals to evaluate the efficacy of AS-IV for diabetic nephropathy (DN); all current possible mechanisms were summarized. A search strategy was applied to eight databases from inception to June 2020.

14-3-3γ, a novel regulator of the large-conductance Ca-activated K channel.

14-3-3γ is a small protein regulating its target proteins through binding to phosphorylated serine/threonine residues. Sequence analysis of large-conductance Ca-activated K (BK) channels revealed a putative 14-3-3 binding site in the COOH-terminal region. Our previous data showed that 14-3-3γ is widely expressed in the mouse kidney.

Diagnostic, progressive and prognostic performance of mA methylation RNA regulators in lung adenocarcinoma.

N6-methyladenosine (mA) RNA methylation is dynamically and reversibly regulated by methyl-transferases ("writers"), binding proteins ("readers"), and demethylases ("erasers"). The mA is restored to adenosine and thus to achieve demethylation modification. The abnormality of mA epigenetic modification in cancer has been increasingly attended.

Integrated transcriptomic analysis reveals hub genes involved in diagnosis and prognosis of pancreatic cancer.

Background: The hunt for the molecular markers with specificity and sensitivity has been a hot area for the tumor treatment. Due to the poor diagnosis and prognosis of pancreatic cancer (PC), the excision rate is often low, which makes it more urgent to find the ideal tumor markers.

Methods: Robust Rank Aggreg (RRA) methods was firstly applied to identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between PC tissues and normal tissues from GSE28735, GSE15471, GSE16515, and GSE101448.

G protein pathway suppressor 2 enhanced the renal large-conductance Ca-activated potassium channel expression via inhibiting ERK1/2 signaling pathway.

G protein pathway suppressor 2 (GPS2) is a multifunctional protein and transcriptional regulation factor that is involved in the G protein MAPK signaling pathway. It has been shown that the MAPK signaling pathway plays an important role in the regulation of renal large-conductance Ca-activated potassium (BK) channels. In this study, we investigated the effects of GPS2 on BK channel activity and protein expression.

WNK3 Kinase Enhances the Sodium Chloride Cotransporter Expression via an ERK 1/2 Signaling Pathway.

Background: WNK kinase is a serine/threonine kinase that plays an important role in normal blood pressure homeostasis. WNK3 was previously found to enhance the activity of sodium chloride cotransporter (NCC) in Xenopus oocyte. However, the mechanism through which it works remains unclear.

Hypericin-mediated photodynamic therapy induces apoptosis in K562 human leukemia cells through JNK pathway modulation.

Hypericin (Hyp) is traditionally used as an antidepressant and antiviral agent. It selectively accumulates in spheroids and is also used as a photosensitizer in the photodynamic therapy of cancer. The present study aimed to investigate the cytotoxic effect of Hyp‑mediated photodynamic therapy (Hyp‑PDT) on cell growth and apoptosis of K562 leukemia cells, and to examine the underlying mechanisms.

Aldosterone modulates thiazide-sensitive sodium chloride cotransporter abundance via DUSP6-mediated ERK1/2 signaling pathway.

Thiazide-sensitive sodium chloride cotransporter (NCC) plays an important role in maintaining blood pressure. Aldosterone is known to modulate NCC abundance. Previous studies reported that dietary salts modulated NCC abundance through either WNK4 [with no lysine (k) kinase 4]-SPAK (Ste20-related proline alanine-rich kinase) or WNK4-extracellular signal-regulated kinase-1 and -2 (ERK1/2) signaling pathways.