Salidroside in the Treatment of NAFLD/NASH.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the commonest reason for chronic liver diseases in the world and is commonly related to the hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome. Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a deteriorating form of NAFLD, which can eventually develop into fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. The reason for NAFLD/NASH development is complicated, such as liver lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, inflammatory response, apoptosis and autophagy, liver fibrosis and gut microbiota. Apart from bariatric surgery and lifestyle changes, officially approved drug therapy for NAFLD/NASH treatment is lacking. Salidroside (SDS) is a phenolic compound extensively distributed in the tubers of Rhodiola plants, which possesses many significant biological activities. This review summarized the related targets regulated by SDS in treating NAFLD/NASH. It is indicated that SDS could improve the status of NAFLD/NASH by ameliorating abnormal lipid metabolism, inhibiting oxidative stress, regulating apoptosis and autophagy, reducing inflammatory response, alleviating fibrosis and regulating gut microbiota. In conclusion, although the multiple bioactivities of SDS have been confirmed, the clinical data are inadequate and need to become the focus of attention in the later study.

Research landscape and trends of melanoma immunotherapy: A bibliometric analysis.

Background: Immunotherapy for lung cancer has been a hot research area for years. This bibliometric analysis was intended to present research trends on melanoma immunotherapy. Method: On April 1, 2022, the authors identified 2,109 papers on melanoma immunotherapy using the Web of Science and extracted their general information and the total number of citations. The authors then conducted a bibliometric analysis to present the research landscape, clarify the research trends, and determine the most cited papers (top-papers) as well as major journals on melanoma immunotherapy. Subsequently, recent research hotspots were identified by analyzing the latest articles in major journals. Results: The total and median number of citations of these 2,109 papers on melanoma immunotherapy was 137,686 and 11, respectively. "Improved survival with ipilimumab in patients with metastatic melanoma" by Hodi et al. was the most cited paper (9,824 citations). Among the journals, the top-paper number (16), average citations per paper (2,510.7), and top-papers rate (100%) of New England Journal of Medicine were the highest. Corresponding authors represented the USA took part in most articles (784). Since 2016, the hottest research area has changed from CTLA-4 to PD-1. Conclusions: This bibliometric analysis comprehensively and quantitatively presents the research trends and hotspots based on 2,109 relevant publications, and further suggests future research directions. The researchers can benefit in selecting journals and in finding potential collaborators. This study can help researchers gain a comprehensive impression of the research landscape, historical development, and current hotspots in melanoma immunotherapy and can provide inspiration for future research.

Integrating transcriptome and metabolome analyses of the response to cold stress in pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima).

Cucurbita maxima belong to the genus Cucurbita and are of nutritional and economic importance. Physiological activity, transcriptome, and metabolome analyses of leaf samples from the C. maxima inbreding line IL7 treated at 5 °C and 25 °C were performed. Cold stress resulted in a significant increase in the malondialdehyde content, relative electrical conductivity, soluble protein, sugar content, and catalase activity. A total of 5,553 differentially expressed genes were identified, of which 2,871 were up-regulated and 2,682 down-regulated. In addition, the transcription of differentially expressed genes in the plant hormone signal transduction pathway and transcription factor families of AP2/ERF, bHLH, WRKY, MYB, and HSF was activated. Moreover, 114 differentially expressed metabolites were identified by gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry, particularly through the analysis of carboxylic acids and derivatives, and organooxygen compounds. The demonstration of a series of potential metabolites and corresponding genes highlighted a comprehensive regulatory mechanism. These findings will provide novel insights into the molecular mechanisms associated with the response to cold stress in C. maxima.

EsTrx-2, the mitochondrial thioredoxin from Antarctic microcrustacean (Euphausia superba): Cloning and functional characterization.

Thioredoxin system plays an important role in antioxidative stress, thioredoxin 2 (Trx2) being one of the most important components in the thioredoxin system. The full-length cDNA sequence of thioredoxin 2 from Euphausia superba (EsTrx2) is 1276 bp and contain a 5' untranslated region (UTR) of 94 bp, a 3' UTR of 741 bp and an open reading frame (ORF) of 441 bp, encoding a putative protein of 146 amino acids. Multiple sequence alignments have indicated that EsTrx2 possesses a conserved (-Cys-Gly-Pro-Cys-) CGPC redox-active site. EsTrx2 shares 62.3% identity with the swimming crab (Portunus trituberculatus) Trx2. The predicted three-dimensional structure of EsTrx2 consists of a thioredoxin fold. The high similarity and phylogenetic analysis have indicated that EsTrx2 is a member of the mitochondrial Trx2 sub-family. The recombinant EsTrx2 (rEsTrx2) was constructed and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The rEsTrx2 protein showed high redox activity and antioxidant capacity at temperature from 4 to 37 °C. All results indicated that EsTrx2 was involved in the oxidative stress response of E. superba.