Multi-functional osteoclasts in matrix-based tissue engineering bone / 中华创伤杂志(英文版)

The repair of bone defects, especially for the large segment of bone defects, has always been an urgent problem in orthopedic clinic and attracted researchers' attention. Nowadays, the application of tissue engineering bone in the repair of bone defects has become the research hotspot. With the rapid development of tissue engineering, the novel and functional scaffold materials for bone repair have emerged. In this review, we have summarized the multi-functional roles of osteoclasts in bone remodeling. The development of matrix-based tissue engineering bone has laid a theoretical foundation for further investigation about the novel bone regeneration materials which could perform high bioactivity. From the point of view on preserving pre-osteoclasts and targeting mature osteoclasts, this review introduced the novel matrix-based tissue engineering bone based on osteoclasts in the field of bone tissue engineering, which provides a potential direction for the development of novel scaffold materials for the treatment of bone defects.

Effect of Soft Fibrin Gels onTransdifferentiation Behaviour in Activated Hepatic Stellate Cell / 中山大学学报(医学科学版)

[Objective]To determine whether activated hepatic stellate cell(HSC)become quiescent phenotype if cultured in a soft extracellular matrix(ECM).[Methods]HSC-T6 cells which stably expressed myofibroblast(MFB) phenotype,were cultured in the 2D and 3D in-vitro matrix culture models that were constructed by 1 mg/mL fibrin gel. The proliferation activity of HSC-T6 was determined by cell counting kit-8(CCK8)assay at different time points(24 h, 48 h,72 h,96 h). Immunofluorescence and gelatin zymography analysis were performed to detect the expression of α-SMA,MMP-2,and MMP-9. Moreover,the cellular surface morphology and deformability was detected by AFM.[Results]After cultured in the fibrin gel,the cellular proliferation activity,expression of α-SMA,MMP-2 and MMP-9,and cellular deformability of activated HSC-T6 was obviously down-regulated in contrast to the control group (P<0.05),and there were also differences in the inhibition of cellular proliferation activity,the assembly of α-SMA stress fiber and the effect of cellular deformability between 2D and 3D fibrin gel cultured(P<0.05).[Conclusions]Soft fibrin gel inhibited the transdifferentiation of activated HSC-T6,but could not make it revert to α-SMA negative quies-cent phenotype.

Potential immunotherapies for traumatic brain and spinal cord injury / 中华创伤杂志(英文版)

Traumatic injury of the central nervous system (CNS) including brain and spinal cord remains a leading cause of morbidity and disability in the world. Delineating the mechanisms underlying the secondary and persistent injury versus the primary and transient injury has been drawing extensive attention for study during the past few decades. The sterile neuroinflammation during the secondary phase of injury has been frequently identified substrate underlying CNS injury, but as of now, no conclusive studies have determined whether this is a beneficial or detrimental role in the context of repair. Recent pioneering studies have demonstrated the key roles for the innate and adaptive immune responses in regulating sterile neuroinflammation and CNS repair. Some promising immunotherapeutic strategies have been recently developed for the treatment of CNS injury. This review updates the recent progress on elucidating the roles of the innate and adaptive immune responses in the context of CNS injury, the development and characterization of potential immunotherapeutics, as well as outstanding questions in this field.

Drug discovery for Alzheimer's disease based on the functional disturbance of microglia / 药学学报

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease of the brain. Due to the uncertain pathogenesis, prevention and treatment of AD is difficult. Clinic symptoms of AD including progressive loss of memory and spatial orientation are rooted in synaptic and neuronal loss. Unsuccessful clinical trials of several candidate drugs based on amyloid hypothesis and tau hypothesis have led to exploration of new approaches. Neuro-inflammation characterized by dysfunction in microglia is believed to be the hallmark of AD and also the initiator of downstream responses in neurodegeneration. Alleviate microglia activation and neuro-inflammation may delay AD development. In this paper, we describe the current literature on interaction between microglia and neuron, and review the progress in AD drug discovery and neuro-inflammatory inhibitors for treatment of AD.

Application of temperature sensitive yeast models with definite target in the screening of potential human Pin1 inhibitors / 药学学报

This study is to explore new lead compounds by inhibition of Pin1 for anticancer therapy using temperature sensitive mutants. As Pin1 is conserved from yeast to human, we established a high-throughput screening method for Pin1 inhibitors, which employed yeast assay. This method led to the identification of one potent hits, 8-11. In vitro, 8-11 inhibited purified Pin1 enzyme activity with IC50 of (10.40 +/- 1.68) micromol x L(-1), induced G1 phase arrest and apoptosis, showed inhibitory effects on a series of cancer cell proliferation, reduced Cyclin D1 expression, was defined as reciprocally matched for protein-ligand complex in virtual docking analysis and reduced cell migration ability. In vivo, we could observe reduction of tumor volume after treatment with 8-11 in xenograft mice compared with vehicle DMSO treatment. Altogether, these results provide for the first time the involvement of 8-11 in the anticancer activity against Pin1.

A novel dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitors developed through scaffold hopping and drug splicing strategy / 药学学报

Though all the marketed drugs of dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitors are structurally different, their inherent correlation is worthy of further investigation. Herein we rapidly discovered a novel DPP-IV inhibitor 8g (IC50 = 4.9 nmol.L-1) which exhibits as good activity and selectivity as the market drugs through scaffold hopping and drug splicing strategies based on alogliptin and linagliptin. This study demonstrated that the employment of classic medicinal chemistry strategy to the marketed drugs with specific target is an efficient approach to discover novel bioactive molecules.