DAB2IP inhibits glucose uptake by modulating HIF-1α ubiquitination under hypoxia in breast cancer.

Metabolic reprogramming has become increasingly important in tumor biology research. The glucose metabolic pathway is a major energy source and is often dysregulated in breast cancer. DAB2IP is widely reported to be a tumor suppressor that acts as a scaffold protein to suppress tumor malignancy in breast cancer. Interestingly, DAB2IP has also been found to be a potential regulator of glucose uptake; however, the exact mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we found that DAB2IP inhibited glucose uptake under hypoxia conditions in breast cancer cells by suppressing HIF-1α signals. Mechanically, DAB2IP interacted with the E3 ubiquitin ligase STUB1 via its PER domain, thus triggering STUB1 mediated HIF-1α ubiquitylation and degradation, and inhibit glucose metabolism and tumor progression. Deleting the PER domain abrogated the DAB2IP-related inhibitory effects on glucose uptake, intracellular ATP production, and lactic acid production in breast cancer cells. These findings elucidate the biological roles of DAB2IP in cancer-related glucose metabolism as well as a novel mechanism by which STUB1-driven HIF-1α ubiquitylated degradation is regulated in breast cancer.

Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms: current development, challenges, and clinical perspectives.

Neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) are highly heterogeneous and potentially malignant tumors arising from secretory cells of the neuroendocrine system. Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (GEP-NENs) are the most common subtype of NENs. Historically, GEP-NENs have been regarded as infrequent and slow-growing malignancies; however, recent data have demonstrated that the worldwide prevalence and incidence of GEP-NENs have increased exponentially over the last three decades. In addition, an increasing number of studies have proven that GEP-NENs result in a limited life expectancy. These findings suggested that the natural biology of GEP-NENs is more aggressive than commonly assumed. Therefore, there is an urgent need for advanced researches focusing on the diagnosis and management of patients with GEP-NENs. In this review, we have summarized the limitations and recent advancements in our comprehension of the epidemiology, clinical presentations, pathology, molecular biology, diagnosis, and treatment of GEP-NETs to identify factors contributing to delays in diagnosis and timely treatment of these patients.

Characteristics of microbial community structure and influencing factors of Yangcheng Lake and rivers entering Yangcheng Lake during the wet season.

Yangcheng Lake, a typical fishery lake in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, is threatened by eutrophication. As the main performers of biogeochemical cycles, microorganisms affect the ecological stability of the lake. To study the structural characteristics of the microbial community in Yangcheng Lake and rivers entering Yangcheng Lake and the response relationship with environmental factors, the microbial community was categorized based on the contour of Yangcheng Lake, the major rivers entering Yangcheng Lake, and the pollution sources. The distribution characteristics of seven physicochemical indices were analyzed, including total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), water temperature (WT), pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), and ratio of total nitrogen to total phosphorus (TN/TP). Characterization of microbial community structure based on 16S rRNA high-flux sequencing technology and ANOSIM analysis were used to explore the differences in the relative abundance of microorganisms at each sampling point in the lake and rivers, and redundancy analysis (RDA) was used to analyze the relationship between the microbial community and physicochemical factors. The results showed that the dominant phyla, genera of microorganisms, and the total number of OTUs in the lake and rivers were similar. The dominant phyla included Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Cyanobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia; the dominant genera included the hgcI clade, CL500-29 marine group, Microcystis PCC-7914, Chloroplast_norank, Clade III_norank, and Flavobacterium. ANOSIM analyses revealed that the microbial community of Yangcheng Lake exhibited an association with geographical space, while the microbial community in the rivers that was linked to the type of pollution source. Redundancy analysis (RDA) indicated that dissolved oxygen (DO), total nitrogen (TN), and pH were significantly correlated with the dominant phyla in Yangcheng Lake (p < 0.05), while total nitrogen (TN), water temperature(WT), and the ratio of total nitrogen to total phosphorus (TN/TP) were significantly related with the dominant genera in Yangcheng Lake (p < 0.05). Total nitrogen (TN) was also significantly linked to the dominant phyla and genera of the tributaries (p < 0.05). Despite the structural similarities in microbial communities between Yangcheng Lake and its inflowing rivers, environmental factors demonstrated significant associations with these communities, providing crucial data support for pollution prevention and the ecological restoration of Yangcheng Lake.

Buffalo yogurt fermented with commercial starter and Lactobacillus plantarum originating from breast milk lowered blood pressure in pregnant hypertensive rats.

Nutritional therapy, which may have advantages over medication, is being investigated as a novel treatment for pregnancy-induced hypertension. Several studies have shown that probiotic yogurt supplementation during pregnancy has beneficial effects on maternal and fetal health. In this study, fermented buffalo milk was produced with yogurt culture and Lactobacillus plantarum B, a probiotic isolated from healthy breast milk with high angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitory activity. The fermentation conditions under which the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity reached 84.51% were optimized by the response surface method as follows: 2 × 106 cfu/mL of L. plantarum B, yogurt culture 2.5 × 105 cfu/mL, and 8 h at 37°C. The distribution of ACE inhibitory peptides from fermented buffalo milk and fermented cow milk were further analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. By searching according to the structural features of ACE inhibitory peptides, 29 and 11 peptides containing ACE inhibitory peptide features were found in fermented buffalo milk and fermented cow milk, respectively. To investigate the in vivo antihypertensive activity of fermented buffalo milk, 18 pregnant rats were divided into 3 groups (n = 6 in each group) and administered 10 mL of normal saline, yogurt (20 mg/kg), or labetalol hydrochloride (4 mg/kg) daily from the beginning of pregnancy to parturition. To induce hypertension, methyl nitrosoarginine (125 mg/kg) was injected subcutaneously every day from d 15 of pregnancy to the day of delivery. Blood pressure was not significantly changed in the yogurt and labetalol groups after induction of hypertension and was lower compared with the normal saline group, but there was no difference between the yogurt and labetalol groups. This implied that the buffalo yogurt had a preventive and antihypertensive effect in the pregnancy-induced hypertensive rat model. Further studies to determine the mechanism of action, as well as a randomized control trial, are warranted.

Recent advances in small-molecule inhibitors targeting influenza virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase / 药学学报

Influenza virus causes serious threat to human life and health. Due to the inherent high variability of influenza virus, clinically resistant mutant strains of currently approved anti-influenza virus drugs have emerged. Therefore, it is urgent to develop antiviral drugs with new targets or mechanisms of action. RNA-dependent RNA polymerase is directly responsible for viral RNA transcription and replication, and plays key roles in the viral life cycle, which is considered an important target of anti-influenza drug design. From the point of view of medicinal chemistry, this review summarizes current advances in diverse small-molecule inhibitors targeting influenza virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, hoping to provide valuable reference for development of novel antiviral drugs.

Early-onset pharyngeal airway collapse in infants: a retrospective single-center study.

BACKGROUND: Early-onset pharyngeal airway collapse (PAC) in infants, which presents with onset within 6-months old is relatively rare. This disease has not been given enough attention in clinic. The aim of this study was to explore the clinical features, endoscopic findings and outcomes of early-onset PAC in infants. METHODS: The children of PAC with onset within 6-months old were included. A retrospective study was conducted. RESULTS: (1) Total 26 cases were included. The age of onset was neonatal period in 20 cases, 1 to 3-months old in 5 cases, and 4 to 6-months old in 1 case. (2) The main clinical manifestations were noisy breathing (26/26), suprasternal retraction (18/26), snoring (14/26) and hypoxic episode (13/26). (3) Based on the endoscopic findings, collapse at the retropalatal level was most common (24/26). (4) Twelve cases underwent pharyngolaryngeal CT examination, which revealed abnormal findings in 7 cases. (5) Fifteen cases were accompanied with the other airway malformations. (6) In the group with comorbidities of cerebral impairment or craniofacial abnormalities, 1 case was lost to follow up, 4 cases died, and 10 cases survived, in which 9 cases had neurodevelopmental disorders. In the group without comorbidities, 2 cases were lost to follow up, 9 cases survived, in which 1 case had neurodevelopmental disorders. The incidence of poor prognosis including death and neurodevelopmental disorders was significantly higher in the group with comorbidities than that without comorbidities (P<0.01). (7) An symptomatic improvement of PAC was found in the majority of the survived cases (18/19) with age. CONCLUSIONS: Early-onset PAC in infants usually exhibits varying degrees of relief with age, whereas the cases with comorbidities had a poor prognosis.

[CT-Based Weighted Radiomic Score Predicts Tumor Response to Immunotherapy in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer].

Objective To develop a CT-based weighted radiomic model that predicts tumor response to programmed death-1(PD-1)/PD-ligand 1(PD-L1)immunotherapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.Methods The patients with non-small cell lung cancer treated by PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitors in the Peking Union Medical College Hospital from June 2015 to February 2022 were retrospectively studied and classified as responders(partial or complete response)and non-responders(stable or progressive disease).Original radiomic features were extracted from multiple intrapulmonary lesions in the contrast-enhanced CT scans of the arterial phase,and then weighted and summed by an attention-based multiple instances learning algorithm.Logistic regression was employed to build a weighted radiomic scoring model and the radiomic score was then calculated.The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve(AUC)was used to compare the weighted radiomic scoring model,PD-L1 model,clinical model,weighted radiomic scoring + PD-L1 model,and comprehensive prediction model.Results A total of 237 patients were included in the study and randomized into a training set(n=165)and a test set(n=72),with the mean ages of(64±9)and(62±8)years,respectively.The AUC of the weighted radiomic scoring model reached 0.85 and 0.80 in the training set and test set,respectively,which was higher than that of the PD-L1-1 model(Z=37.30,P<0.001 and Z=5.69,P=0.017),PD-L1-50 model(Z=38.36,P<0.001 and Z=17.99,P<0.001),and clinical model(Z=11.40,P<0.001 and Z=5.76,P=0.016).The AUC of the weighted scoring model was not different from that of the weighted radiomic scoring + PD-L1 model and the comprehensive prediction model(both P>0.05).Conclusion The weighted radiomic scores based on pre-treatment enhanced CT images can predict tumor responses to immunotherapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Generation and molecular characterization of human pluripotent stem cell-derived pharyngeal foregut endoderm.

Approaches to study human pharyngeal foregut endoderm-a developmental intermediate that is linked to various human syndromes involving pharynx development and organogenesis of tissues such as thymus, parathyroid, and thyroid-have been hampered by scarcity of tissue access and cellular models. We present an efficient stepwise differentiation method to generate human pharyngeal foregut endoderm from pluripotent stem cells. We determine dose and temporal requirements of signaling pathway engagement for optimized differentiation and characterize the differentiation products on cellular and integrated molecular level. We present a computational classification tool, "CellMatch," and transcriptomic classification of differentiation products on an integrated mouse scRNA-seq developmental roadmap confirms cellular maturation. Integrated transcriptomic and chromatin analyses infer differentiation stage-specific gene regulatory networks. Our work provides the method and integrated multiomic resource for the investigation of disease-relevant loci and gene regulatory networks and their role in developmental defects affecting the pharyngeal endoderm and its derivatives.

Mesenchymal stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles in skin wound healing: roles, opportunities and challenges.

Skin wounds are characterized by injury to the skin due to trauma, tearing, cuts, or contusions. As such injuries are common to all human groups, they may at times represent a serious socioeconomic burden. Currently, increasing numbers of studies have focused on the role of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) in skin wound repair. As a cell-free therapy, MSC-derived EVs have shown significant application potential in the field of wound repair as a more stable and safer option than conventional cell therapy. Treatment based on MSC-derived EVs can significantly promote the repair of damaged substructures, including the regeneration of vessels, nerves, and hair follicles. In addition, MSC-derived EVs can inhibit scar formation by affecting angiogenesis-related and antifibrotic pathways in promoting macrophage polarization, wound angiogenesis, cell proliferation, and cell migration, and by inhibiting excessive extracellular matrix production. Additionally, these structures can serve as a scaffold for components used in wound repair, and they can be developed into bioengineered EVs to support trauma repair. Through the formulation of standardized culture, isolation, purification, and drug delivery strategies, exploration of the detailed mechanism of EVs will allow them to be used as clinical treatments for wound repair. In conclusion, MSC-derived EVs-based therapies have important application prospects in wound repair. Here we provide a comprehensive overview of their current status, application potential, and associated drawbacks.

Tetraspanin Tspan8 restrains interferon signaling to stabilize intestinal epithelium by directing endocytosis of interferon receptor.

Inflammation can impair intestinal barrier, while increased epithelial permeability can lead to inflammation. In this study, we found that the expression of Tspan8, a tetraspanin expressed specifically in epithelial cells, is downregulated in mouse model of ulcerative disease (UC) but correlated with those of cell-cell junction components, such as claudins and E-cadherin, suggesting that Tspan8 supports intestinal epithelial barrier. Tspan8 removal increases intestinal epithelial permeability and upregulates IFN-γ-Stat1 signaling. We also demonstrated that Tspan8 coalesces with lipid rafts and facilitates IFNγ-R1 localization at or near lipid rafts. As IFN-γ induces its receptor undergoing clathrin- or lipid raft-dependent endocytosis and IFN-γR endocytosis plays an important role in Jak-Stat1 signaling, our analysis on IFN-γR endocytosis revealed that Tspan8 silencing impairs lipid raft-mediated but promotes clathrin-mediated endocytosis of IFN-γR1, leading to increased Stat1 signaling. These changes in IFN-γR1 endocytosis upon Tspan8 silencing correlates with fewer lipid raft component GM1 at the cell surface and more clathrin heavy chain in the cells. Our findings indicate that Tspan8 determines the IFN-γR1 endocytosis route, to restrain Stat1 signaling, stabilize intestine epithelium, and subsequently prevent intestine from inflammation. Our finding also implies that Tspan8 is needed for proper endocytosis through lipid rafts.

Retrospective analysis of 217 fatal intoxication autopsy cases from 2009 to 2021: temporal trends in fatal intoxication at Tongji center for medicolegal expertise, Hubei, China.

This retrospective analysis of fatal intoxication case autopsies was performed at Tongji Center for Medicolegal Expertise in Hubei (TCMEH) from 2009 to 2021 to obtain up-to-date information on intoxication cases. The objective was to describe important data about evolving patterns in intoxication occurrences, enhance public safety policies, and assist forensic examiners and police in more efficient handling of such cases. Analyses based on sex, age, topical exposure routes, toxic agents, and mode of death were performed using 217 records of intoxication cases collected from TCMEH as a sample, and the results were compared with reports previously published (from 1999 to 2008) from this institution. Deaths from intoxications occurred at a higher rate in males than in females and were most common among individuals aged 30-39 years. The most frequent method of exposure was oral ingestion. The causative agents of deadly intoxications have changed when compared to the data from the previous 10 years. For instance, deaths from amphetamine overdoses are becoming more prevalent gradually, whereas deaths due to carbon monoxide and rodenticide intoxication have declined dramatically. In 72 cases, pesticides continued to be the most frequent intoxication cause. A total of 60.4% of the deaths were accidental exposure. Men died from accidents at a higher rate than women, although women were more likely to commit suicide. Particular focus is needed on the use of succinylcholine, cyanide, and paraquat in homicides.

Acupuncture on intrauterine growth restriction associated brain injury: case study including use of magnetic resonance imaging.

Brain injury due to intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is a thorny clinical problem that often leads to permanent neurological deficits such as cerebral palsy. Few practical therapies can treat an IUGR-associated brain injury. We employed acupuncture to treat a 6-month-old male patient with severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) due to IUGR, as confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Three courses of acupuncture treatment significantly improved some of the patient's clinical characteristics, such as his insensitive responsiveness and motor deficits, with remarkably reversed HIE features on MRI at 1-year of age. This case suggests that acupuncture is a potential treatment option for an IUGR-associated brain injury and warrants further investigation.

LncRNA CASC11 upregulation promotes HDAC4 to alleviate oxidized low-density lipoprotein-induced injury of cardiac microvascular endothelial cells.

Long noncoding RNAs (LncRNAs) are essential to regulate the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease (CAD). This study was conducted to analyze the functionality of long noncoding RNA cancer susceptibility candidate 11 (lncRNA CASC11) in oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL)-induced injury of cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (CMECs). CMECs were treated with ox-LDL to induce the CAD cell model. The cellular expression levels of CASC11 and histone deacetylase 4 (HDAC4) were determined by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction or Western blot assay. Cell absorbance, apoptosis, angiogenesis, and inflammation were evaluated by cell counting kit-8, flow cytometry, tube formation, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The subcellular localization of CASC11 was examined by the nuclear/cytoplasmic fractionation assay. The binding of human antigen R (HuR) to CASC11 and HDAC4 was analyzed by RNA immunoprecipitation. HDAC4 stability was determined after actinomycin D treatment. CASC11 was found to be decreased in the CAD cell model. CASC11 upregulation increased cell viability and angiogenesis and reduced apoptosis and inflammation. CASC11 bound to HuR and improved HDAC4 expression. HDAC4 downregulation counteracted the protective role of CASC11 overexpression in CMECs. In summary, CASC11 alleviated ox-LDL-induced injury of CMECs by binding to HuR and stabilizing HDAC4.

Intestinal and lung inflammatory group 2 innate lymphoid cells (iILC2s) and their related cytokines in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease / 细胞与分子免疫学杂志

Objective To investigate the relationship between intestinal inflammatory group 2 innate lymphoid cells (iILC2s) and lung ILC2s and its inflammatory response in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods Mouse COPD model was established by smoking method. The mice were randomly divided into normal group and COPD group. HE staining was used to detect the pathological changes in lung and intestine tissues of mice in normal group and COPD group, and the contents of natural ILC2s(nILC2s) and iILC2s cells were measured by flow cytometry. Wright-Giemsa staining was used to measure the number of immune cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of mice in normal group and COPD group, and the concentration of IL-13 and IL-4 was detected by ELISA. Results In COPD mice, epithelial cells of the lung and intestinal tissues exhibited pathological hyperplasia, partial atrophy or deletion, inflammatory cell infiltration, increased pathological score and significantly increased neutrophils, monocytes, and lymphocytes in BALF. Lung iILC2s, intestinal nILC2s and iILC2s were increased significantly in the COPD group. The contents of IL-13 and IL-4 in BALF were significantly increased. Conclusion The increase of iILC2s and their related cytokines in COPD lung may be related to intestinal inflammatory ILC2s.

Diagnosis and Treatment Outcomes and Influencing Factors of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis Based on Patient Pathway / 中国医学科学院学报

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has become one of the major challenges in the global tuberculosis (TB) control.Despite years of efforts on MDR-TB control,the treatment success rates in China have increased slowly,which indicates possible deficiencies in the management of prevention and control work.Therefore,it is necessary to analyze the current status of MDR-TB prevention and treatment based on the patient pathway.This review summarizes the current drop-out situation of MDR-TB patients in the diagnosis and treatment pathway and the factors affecting patients' outcomes in the whole pathway,so as to provide a scientific reference for the prevention and control of MDR-TB.

Advances in biotransformation of methanol into chemicals / 生物工程学报

Methanol has become an attractive substrate for the biomanufacturing industry due to its abundant supply and low cost. The biotransformation of methanol to value-added chemicals using microbial cell factories has the advantages of green process, mild conditions and diversified products. These advantages may expand the product chain based on methanol and alleviate the current problem of biomanufacturing, which is competing with people for food. Elucidating the pathways involving methanol oxidation, formaldehyde assimilation and dissimilation in different natural methylotrophs is essential for subsequent genetic engineering modification, and is more conducive to the construction of novel non-natural methylotrophs. This review discusses the current status of research on methanol metabolic pathways in methylotrophs, and presents recent advances and challenges in natural and synthetic methylotrophs and their applications in methanol bioconversion.

Synthesis, biodegradation and waste disposal of polylactic acid plastics: a review / 生物工程学报

With the escalation of plastic bans and restrictions, bio-based plastics, represented by polylactic acid (PLA), have become a major alternative to traditional plastics in the current market and are unanimously regarded as having potential for development. However, there are still several misconceptions about bio-based plastics, whose complete degradation requires specific composting conditions. Bio-based plastics might be slow to degrade when it is released into the natural environment. They might also be harmful to humans, biodiversity and ecosystem function as traditional petroleum-based plastics do. In recent years, with the increasing production capacity and market size of PLA plastics in China, there is an urgent need to investigate and further strengthen the management of the life cycle of PLA and other bio-based plastics. In particular, the in-situ biodegradability and recycling of hard-to-recycle bio-based plastics in the ecological environment should be focused. This review introduces the characteristics, synthesis and commercialization of PLA plastics, summarizes the current research progress of microbial and enzymatic degradation of PLA plastics, and discusses their biodegradation mechanisms. Moreover, two bio-disposal methods against PLA plastic waste, including microbial in-situ treatment and enzymatic closed-loop recycling, are proposed. At last, the prospects and trends for the development of PLA plastics are presented.

Advances in methods for detecting plastics biodegradation / 生物工程学报

The pollution caused by improper handling of plastics has become a global challenge. In addition to recycling plastics and using biodegradable plastics, an alternative solution is to seek efficient methods for degrading plastics. Among them, the methods of using biodegradable enzymes or microorganisms to treat plastics have attracted increasing attention because of its advantages of mild conditions and no secondary environmental pollution. Developing highly efficient depolymerizing microorganisms/enzymes is the core for plastics biodegradation. However, the current analysis and detection methods cannot meet the requirements for screening efficient plastics biodegraders. It is thus of great significance to develop rapid and accurate analysis methods for screening biodegraders and evaluating biodegradation efficiency. This review summarizes the recent application of various commonly used analytical techniques in plastics biodegradation, including high performance liquid chromatography, infrared spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography, and determination of zone of clearance, with fluorescence analysis techniques highlighted. This review may facilitate standardizing the characterization and analysis of plastics biodegradation process and developing more efficient methods for screening plastics biodegraders.

Preface to the special issue: biotechnology of plastic waste degradation and valorization / 生物工程学报

Synthetic plastics have been widely used in various fields of the national economy and are the pillar industry. However, irregular production, plastic product use, and plastic waste piling have caused long-term accumulation in the environment, contributing considerably to the global solid waste stream and environmental plastic pollution, which has become a global problem to be solved. Biodegradation has recently emerged as a viable disposal method for a circular plastic economy and has become a thriving research area. In recent years, important breakthroughs have been made in the screening, isolation, and identification of plastic-degrading microorganisms/enzyme resources and their further engineering, which provide new ideas and solutions for treating microplastics in the environment and the closed-loop bio-recycling of waste plastics. On the other hand, the use of microorganisms (pure cultures or consortia) to further transform different plastic degradants into biodegradable plastics and other compounds with high added value is of great significance, promoting the development of a plastic recycling economy and reducing the carbon emission of plastics in their life cycle. We edited a Special Issue on the topic of "Biotechnology of Plastic Waste Degradation and Valorization", focusing on the researches progress in three aspects: Mining microbial and enzyme resources for plastic biodegradation, Design and engineering of plastic depolymerase, and biological high-value transformation of plastic degradants. In total, 16 papers have been collected in this issue including reviews, comments, and research articles, which provide reference and guidance for further development of plastic waste degradation and valorization biotechnology.

Effects of auricular thumbtack needle on lactation function and TDP-43/Btn1A1/XDH pathway in primiparous women with cesarean section / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To observe the effects of auricular thumbtack needle on breast feeding and lactation function in primiparous women with cesarean section, and to explore its mechanism of action from the perspective of lactation-related gene expression.@*METHODS@#One hundred cases of primiparous women with cesarean section were randomly divided into an observation group (50 cases, 3 cases dropped off) and a control group (50 cases, 2 cases were eliminated). The patients in the control group were treated with routine obstetric care. Based on the treatment of the control group, the patients in the observation group were treated with auricular thumbtack needle at Neifenmi (CO18), Xiong (AH10), Xiongzhui (AH11), Shenmen (TF4), and Jiaogan (AH6a), etc., with one side of auricular point selected, only once for a total of 3 d. The lactation initiation time, lactation adequacy rate at postpartum 72 h, exclusive breastfeeding rate at postpartum 42 d, and breastfeeding score after treatment were compared between the two groups. Real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot method were used to detect the mRNA and protein expression levels of TDP-43, Btn1A1 and XDH.@*RESULTS@#After treatment, the lactation initiation time in the observation group was earlier than that in the control group (P<0.01), and breastfeeding score in the observation group was higher than that in the control group (P<0.01). The lactation adequacy rate at postpartum 72 h was 63.8% (30/47) in the observation group, which was higher than 41.7% (20/48) in the control group (P<0.05). The exclusive breastfeeding rate at postpartum 42 d was 72.3% (34/47) in the observation group, which was higher than 47.9% (23/48) in the control group (P<0.05). The mRNA and protein expression levels of TDP-43 and Btn1A1 in breast milk in the observation group were higher than those in the control group (P<0.01), while there was no statistically significant difference in mRNA and protein expression of XDH in breast milk between the two groups (P>0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#The auricular thumbtack needle in addition to routine care could promote lactation initiation, improve lactation adequacy rate and exclusive breastfeeding rate in primiparous women with cesarean section, and the action mechanism may be related to up-regulation of TDP-43 and Btn1A1 expression.