ABSTRACT
ObjectiveTo investigate the protective effect and mechanism of Artemisia capillaris Thunb. decoction (YCHT), a classic heat-clearing and cholagogic traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription, on rats with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) induced by sodium taurocholate. MethodsA total of 30 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham-operation (SO) group, SAP model group, and YCHT (4.0 g/kg) treatment group, with 10 rats in each group. At 24 hours after successful modeling, pancreatic tissue and plasma samples were collected for analysis. HE staining was used to observe pathological injury of the pancreas; ELISA was used to measure the plasma levels of amylase, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β); immunofluorescent staining was used to measure the fluorescence intensity of LC-3 protein, and TUNEL was used to measure cell apoptosis. Western blot was used to measure the protein expression of LC-3, Beclin-1, X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP), caspase-3, and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) in the pancreas, and quantitative real-time PCR was used to measure the expression levels of lncRNA PVT1 and miRNA-30a-5p. A one-way analysis of variance and the Tukey’s test were used to analyze the differences between multiple independent samples. ResultsYCHT significantly alleviated the pathological injury of the pancreas of SAP rats, such as edema, necrosis, hemorrhage, and inflammatory cell infiltration. Compared with the SO group, the SAP group had significant increases in the plasma levels of amylase and the inflammatory factors TNFα and IL-1β, and there were significant reductions in the plasma levels of amylase, TNFα, and IL-1β after YCHT treatment (all P＜0.05). Compared with the SO group, the SAP group had significant increases in LC-3II/LC-3I ratio and the protein expression of Beclin-1, XIAP, caspase-3, and NF-κB, and compared with the SAP group, the YCHT group had significant reductions in LC-3II/LC-3I ratio and the protein expression of Beclin-1, XIAP, and NF-κB (all P＜0.05). Compared with the SO group, the SAP group had a significant increase in the expression of lncRNA PVT1 and a significant reduction in the expression of miRNA-30a-5p in the pancreas (both P＜0.05), and compared with the SAP group, the YCHT group had a significant reduction in the expression of lncRNA PVT1 and a significant increase in the expression of miRNA-30a-5p (both P＜0.05). ConclusionCell autophagy and apoptosis mediated by lncRNA PVT1/miRNA-30a-5p may be a drug target for YCHT treatment of SAP, which provides experimental and theoretical bases for further development of the TCM prescription YCHT for the treatment of SAP.
ABSTRACT
Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a devastating malignant tumor with high incidence and mortality rate worldwide. Meanwhile, the surgical approaches and drugs of this disease remain challenging. In recent years, reactive oxygen species (ROSs) study has become a hotspot in the field of PC research. ROSs may regulate tumor mic roenvironment (TME), cancer stem cells (CSCs) renewal and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which result in drug-resistance and recurrence of the PC. Currently, TME that includes immune infiltrates, fibroblasts, vascular vessels and extracellular matrix has become a hotspot in the cancer research. Meanwhile, numerous researches have shown that ROSs-mediated TME plays a central role in the occurrence and development of PC. Targeting ROSs may be promising therapeutic treatments for the PC patients. Therefore, the purposes of the review were manifold: (1) to summarize the regulations of ROSs in tumorigenesis and drug-resistance of PC; (2) to investigate the modulation of ROSs in signaling cascades in PC; (3) to study the effects of ROSs in stromal cells in PC; (4) to generalize the potent therapies targeting ROSs in PC. Overall, this review summarized the current status of ROSs in PC research and suggested some potential anti-PC drugs that may target ROSs.
Subject(s)
Humans , Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition , Neoplastic Stem Cells , Pancreatic Neoplasms , Reactive Oxygen Species , Tumor MicroenvironmentABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effect of the aqueous extracts from Dioscorea nipponica Makino (AEDN) against the carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced mice acute liver injury by regulating TLR4/MyD88 signal pathway.Methods 60 mice were randomly divided into control group, model group, low, medium and high dose AEDN groups according to radom number table with 10 mice in each group. Mice in low, medium and high dose AEDN groups were adiminstrated with 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg AEDN, in control and model groups were adiminstrated with solvent once a day for 7 consecutive days. Two hours after the last administration, mice were intraperitoneal injected with with 0.3% CCl4 olive oil solution to induce acute liver injury model, except for the mice in control group. Twenty-four hours after injection, the expressions of TLR4, MyD88 and NF-κB in liver tissue were evaluated by Western blot, mRNA levels were evaluated by PCR, and the AST and ALT levels in serum were also detected.Results Compared with model group, the serum AST (98.00 ± 17.75 U/L, 57.49 ± 9.66 U/L, 39.60 ± 9.49 U/Lvs. 113.40 ± 9.71 U/L) and ALT levels (76.00 ± 14.73 U/L, 50.70 ± 9.35 U/L, 35.25 ± 9.93 U/Lvs. 95.42 ± 11.64 U/L) were significantly decreased in low, medium and high dose AEDN groups (P<0.01); MyD88 (0.67 ± 0.21vs. 1.74 ± 0.42), NF-κB p65 (0.51 ± 0.09vs. 1.76 ± 0.31) and TLR4 (0.97 ± 0.25vs. 2.99 ± 0.72) levels were down-regulated in high dose AEDN group (P<0.01); the mRNA levels of IL-6 (2.22 ± 0.25, 1.76 ± 0.31vs. 5.20 ± 0.60), IL-1β (1.96 ± 0.35, 1.47 ± 0.23vs. 7.37 ± 0.99)、TNF-α (2.06 ± 0.25, 1.34 ± 0.33vs. 2.98 ± 0.50) in medium and high dose AEDN groups significantly decresed (P<0.01).Conclusions The AEDN has protective effect against CCl4-induced acute liver injury in mice via adjusting TLR4/MyD88 signal pathway.
ABSTRACT
Liver diseases are serious diseases harmful for human health. CCl4 induced liver injury, as a classic liver injury model, has been widely used in the screening of hepatoprotective drugs. This paper reviewed the research progress in the hepatoprotective effect of traditional Chinese medicines ( TCMs) on CCl4 induced acute liver injury in recent years, which can provide basis for searching TC-Ms with high efficiency and low toxicity and lay foundation for TCMs in the treatment of liver diseases.