Cordycepin exhibits anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory effects against gastritis in Helicobacter pylori-infected mice.

Helicobacter pylori is one of the dominant members of gastric microbiota associated with gastritis. Chronic H. pylori colonization may yield detrimental consequences, including mucosal layer atrophy, gastritis, and gastric cancer. The traditional antibiotic treatment might result in antibiotic resistance. To overcome this obstacle, this study aims to investigate the potential antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects of cordycepin on mice infected with H. pylori. A mouse model of H. pylori infection was established. The expression levels of target genes were evaluated by qRT-PCR, western blotting, or ELISA. The infiltrated Th17 cell population was determined by flow cytometry analysis. Our results demonstrated that the administration of cordycepin exhibited up to 3-fold antibacterial effect against H. pyloriin vivo. Cordycepin treatment resulted in around 50% inflammatory cytokine production (e.g. IL-6 and IL-1ß) and about 60% immune cell infiltration (e.g. Th17 cells) when compared to vehicle control group. Thus, we confirmed that cordycepin conferred antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects on H. pylori-infected mice. Cordycepin may serve as a potential candidate for developing a therapeutic regimen for H. pylori-induced gastritis.

V-Raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B1 (BRAF) as a prognostic biomarker of poor outcomes in esophageal cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: Esophageal cancer is one of the most aggressive malignancies, and is associated with multiple genetic mutations. At present, the v-Raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B1 (BRAF) gene mutation has been observed in esophageal cancer and is associated with poor prognosis. This study aimed to investigate the protein expression of BRAF in esophageal cancer and determine its effect on patient outcomes. METHODS: We used immunohistochemistry to detect the expression of BRAF via tissue microarrays in esophageal cancer samples, the Kaplan-Meier method to perform survival analysis, and the Cox proportional hazards regression model to explore the risk factors of esophageal cancer. The role of BRAF in the proliferation, invasion, and metastasis of esophageal cancer was studied by clone formation, scratch test, Transwell invasion and migration test. The tumor-bearing model of BRAF inhibitor was established using TE-1 cells, and corresponding negative control was set up to observe the growth rate of the two models. RESULTS: The results revealed that BRAF overexpression was significantly correlated with Ki67 (P < 0.05). Survival analysis showed that BRAF overexpression contributed to a shorter overall survival (P = 0.014) in patients with esophageal cancer. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses demonstrated that BRAF was a prognostic factor for poor esophageal cancer outcomes (P < 0.05). Small interfering RNA knockdown of BRAF significantly reduced the cell clone formation rate compared to the control group. Transwell assay analysis showed that the migration and invasion of cells in the experimental group were significantly inhibited relative to the control group, and the inhibition rates of the small interfering RNA group were 67% and 60%, respectively. In the scratch test, the wound healing ability of the BRAF knockdown group was significantly weaker than that of the control group. There were significant differences in tumor growth volume and weight between the two groups in nude mice. CONCLUSION: BRAF overexpression may serve as an effective predictive factor for poor prognosis.

Clinical manifestations and pathological features of 28 cases of adult celiac disease in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China / 中华消化杂志

Objective:To investigate the clinical manifestations and pathological features of adult celiac disease in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.Methods:From January 2016 to December 2019, the clinical data of 943 patients with gastrointestinal symptoms such as chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain, abdominal distension and visited the People′s Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region were collected. All patients tested for serum anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody inmunoglobulin A (tTG-IgA). And patients with positive serum tTG-IgA underwent gastroscopy and colonoscopy examination. To observe whether duodenal and ileal mucosal villi atrophy and histopathological examination was performed. Body mass index (BMI), hemoglobin, serum calcium, serum albumin level were compared between patients with and without celiac disease. T test and chi-square test were used for statistical analysis. Results:Serum tTG-IgA was positive in 30 patients, and 28 cases were finally diagnosed as celiac disease. The detection rate of celiac disease of Kazakh patients was higher than that of Uygur and Han patients (17.3%, 9/52 vs. 3.2%, 12/375 and 1.4%, 6/427), the detection rate of celiac disease of Uygur was higher than that of Han, and the differences were statistically significant ( χ2=7.65, 5.42 and 5.98, all P<0.05). The main clinical manifestations of 28 patients with celiac disease were weight loss or marasmus (71.4%, 20/28), iron deficiency anemia (67.9%, 19/28), persistent fatigue (57.1%, 16/28) and chronic diarrhea (53.6%, 15/28). The serum tTG-IgA level of patients with celiac disease was higher than that of patients without celiac disease ((131.97±64.58) CU vs. (7.58±1.92) CU), while the levels of BMI, hemoglobin, serum calcium and serum albumin were all lower than those of patients without celiac disease ((15.4±2.9) kg/m 2 vs. (23.8±3.4) kg/m 2, (110±28) g/L vs. (138±12) g/L, (1.70±0.20) mmol/L vs. (2.52±0.15) mmol/L, and (31.5±11.6) g/L vs. (48.2±7.3) g/L, respectively), and the differences were statistically significant ( t=2.473, 2.521, 2.641, 2.734 and 2.512, all P<0.05). Under gastroscopy all patients with celiac disease had atrophy of duodenal mucosal villi, which mainly appeared as nodular mucosal atrophy, grooves and fissure like changes, and villous atrophy was confirmed by histopathology. Conclusions:The detection rates of celiac disease in Kazakh and Uyghur in Xinjiang Uygur Antonomous Region are significantly higher than that of Han nationality. Celiac disease screening has a certain clinical significance.