Chinese Medicine as Supporting Therapy for Psoriasis: Past, Present, and Future / 中国结合医学杂志

Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease and an important health concern. Western medicine and therapies are the main treatment strategies for psoriasis vulgaris (PV); however, the overall prognosis of patients with PV is still poor. Therefore, PV prevention is especially crucial. Chinese medicine (CM) has a long history of treating psoriasis, and it has unique wisdom in different cognitive angles and treatment modes from modern medicine. In this review, we first summarized the herbs and ancient CM formulas that have therapeutic effects on PV. Second, the research status and obstacles to the current development of CM in modern medicine were reviewed. Finally, the future of CM in the context of precision medicine and integrated medicine was discussed. After a detailed reading of the abundant literature, we believe that CM, through thousands of years of continuous development and clinical practice, has achieved high effectiveness and safety for PV treatment, despite its surrounding controversy. Moreover, precise analyses and systematic research methods have provided new approaches for the modernization of CM in the future. The treatment of PV with CM is worth popularizing, and we hope it can benefit more patients.

Yishen Tonglong Decoction inhibits the epithelial-mesenchymal transition and Ras/ERK signaling pathway in human prostate cancer DU-145 cells / 中华男科学杂志

Objective@#To observe the effect of Yishen Tonglong Decoction (YTD) on the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and Ras/ERK signaling pathway in human PCa DU-145 cells and explore its action mechanism.@*METHODS@#We treated human PCa DU-145 cells with normal plasma (the blank control) or plasma containing 5% (low-dose), 10% (medium-dose) and 15% (high-dose) YTD. After intervention, we examined the proliferation of the DU-145 cells in different groups with CCK-8 and their apoptosis by Annexin V/PI double staining. We detected the cell cycle by PI assay, the invasion and migration of the cells using the Transwell chamber and scratch test, and the expressions of the proteins and genes related to the EMT and Ras/ERK signaling pathways in the cells by Western blot and RT-PCR.@*RESULTS@#Compared with the blank control group, high-, medium- and low-dose YTD significantly inhibited the proliferation of the PCa DU-145 cells, decreased their adherence and growth (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), promoted their apoptosis (P < 0.01), regulated their cell cycles (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), and reduced their in vitro invasion and migration abilities (P < 0.05), all in a dose-dependent manner. The results of Western blot and RT-PCR revealed down-regulated protein and mRNA expressions of N-cadherin, zinc finger transcription factor (Snail), Ras, p-ERK1/2 and ERK1/2, but up-regulated protein and mRNA expressions of E-cadherin in the PCa DU-145 cells treated with YTD (P < 0.05, P < 0.01).@*CONCLUSIONS@#Yishen Tonglong Decoction can effectively inhibit the proliferation, promote the apoptosis, regulate the cell cycle and suppress the invasion and migration abilities and EMT process of human PCa DU-145 cells. The mechanism of Yishen Tonglong Decoction acting on PCa may be associated with its inhibitory effect on the EMT process and expression of the Ras/ERK signaling pathway in PCa cells./.

Effects of Yishen Tonglong Capsules on sex hormone levels in mice with benign prostatic hyperplasia / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>Objective</b>To study the effect of Yishen Tonglong Capsules (YTC) on the sex hormone levels in the mouse model of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The BPH model was made in male mice by subcutaneous injection of testosterone propionate at 5 mg per kg of the body weight per day for 3 weeks. Then the model animals were divided into five groups of 10 in each: model control, Longbishu Capsules (LBS), and high-, medium- and low-dose YTC. Another 10 mice were included as normal controls. The mice in the LBS group were treated intragastrically with LBS at 0.45 g per kg of the body weight, those in the high-, medium- and low-dose YTC groups with YTC at 1.2, 0.6 and 0.3 g per kg of the body weight, and those in the model and normal control groups given the same volume of distilled water. After 8 weeks of treatment, the mice were sacrificed and their prostates taken for measurement of their wet weight, calculation of the prostatic index (PI), determination of the levels of serum testosterone (T), estradiol (E2) and E2/T ratio, and observation of the morphological changes of the prostate tissue under the light microscope.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The wet weight of the prostate and PI were significantly decreased in the LBS and medium- and high-dose YTC groups as compared with the model control group (P<0.01). The serum T and E2 levels and E2/T ratio were (1.73±0.02) ng/ml, (73.08±1.03) pg/ml and 42.30±0.53 in the normal control, (3.86±0.02) ng/ml, (145.79±0.88) pg/ml and 37.76±0.25 in the model control, (2.47±0.02) ng/ml, (95.87±0.47) pg/ml and 38.80±0.13 in the LBS, (2.91±0.03) ng/ml, (112.68±0.77) pg/ml and 38.80±0.42 in the low-dose YTC, (2.77±0.02) ng/ml, (112.16±0.82) pg/ml and 40.56±0.29 in the medium-dose YTC, and (2.75±0.03) ng/ml, (107.11±0.61) pg/ml and 38.92±0.36 in the high-dose YTC group, all with statistically significant differences between the model control and the other groups (P<0.05 or P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Yishen Tonglong Capsules significantly reduced the levels of serum T and E2 and elevated the E2/T ratio in the mouse model of BPH, which manifested the action mechanism of Yishen Tonglong Capsules in the treatment of BPH.</p>

Qianlongtong capsule elevates the Smad4 gene expression in prostate stromal cells / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of the plasma containing Qianlongtong Capsule (QLT)-containing plasma on the expression of the Smad4 gene in prostate stromal cells in vitro and provide some experimental evidence for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) with Chinese medicinal compound.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fifteen cases of BPH were equally randomized to three groups to be treated with QLT at a high dose (6 capsules once), a medium dose (3 capsules once), and a low dose (1.5 capsules once), tid, for 7 days consecutively. QLT-containing plasma was collected from the patients. Prostate stromal cells were identified by immunofluorescence when they became monolayered and cultured in the QLT-containing plasma for 24 hours, followed by detection of the expression of the Smad4 gene by real-time quantitative PCR and that of the Smad4 protein by Western blot.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After treatment with the QLT-containing plasma, the expression of the Smad4 gene in the stromal cells was significantly increased in a dose-dependent manner as compared with the blank control and no-QLT groups (P < 0.01). The expression of the Smad4 protein was also markedly elevated after treatment. The differences were statistically significant between the blank control and medium-dose groups (P < 0.01), low-dose and medium-dose groups (P < 0.05), and high-dose and the other groups (P < 0.01), but not between the blank control and low-dose groups (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>QLT-containing plasma could inhibit the proliferation and improve the apoptotic index of prostate stromal cells in vitro, which was related to the elevation of the mRNA and protein expressions of Smad4.</p>