Clinical effect and mechanism of total glucosides of paeony in the adjuvant therapy for children with Henoch-Schönlein purpura nephritis: a prospective randomized controlled study / 中国当代儿科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To study the clinical effect and mechanism of total glucosides of paeony (TGP) in the adjuvant therapy for children with Henoch-Schönlein purpura nephritis (HSPN).@*METHODS@#Sixty-four HSPN children with moderate proteinuria were divided into a TGP treatment group (@*RESULTS@#Compared with the healthy children before treatment, the children with HSPN had higher proportion of Tfh cells and expression levels of IL-21 and IL-4 (@*CONCLUSIONS@#TGP has a marked clinical effect in the treatment of HSPN and can reduce the inflammatory response of the kidney and exert a protective effect on the kidney by inhibiting the proliferation of Tfh cells and downregulating the expression of IL-21 and IL-4 in plasma.

Lonidamine induces apoptosis via endoplasmic reticulum stress response and down-regulating cIAP expression in human breast carcinoma MCF-7 cells / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of lonidamine on apoptosis of human breast carcinoma cells MCF-7 and the possible mechanisms.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>MTT assay and colony-forming assay were used to evaluate the growth inhibition induced by lonidamine in breast cancer MCF-7 cells. PI/Annexin-V staining was used to detect the apoptotic cells. The ATP levels in the cells were detected using an ATP assay kit. The expression of glucose regulated protein 78 (GRP78), inhibitor of apoptosis protein (cIAP1) and caspase-8 were analyzed with Western blotting.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>MTT assay and colony-forming assay showed that 50-250 mmol/L lonidamine caused a time- and concentration-dependent inhibition of MCF-7 cell proliferation. Exposure to increased concentrations of lonidamine resulted in significantly increased apoptosis rate in MCF-7 cells. In MCF-7 cells treated with 50, 150 and 250 mmol/L lonidamine for 5 h, the intracellular ATP levels were lowered to 80.67%, 62.78% and 30.73% of the control level, respectively. Western blotting showed that lonidamine up-regulated the expression of GRP78, down-regulated the expression of cIAP1 and promoted caspase-8 activation as the treatment time extended.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Lonidamine can inhibit the proliferation and induce apoptosis in MCF-7 cells, and these effects are probably mediated by reducing ATP level, inducing endoplasmic reticulum stress response, down-regulating cIAP1, and promoting caspase-8 activation in the cells.</p>