Traditional Chinese medicine for post-viral olfactory dysfunction: A systematic review.

Background: Post-viral olfactory dysfunction (PVOD) is the common symptoms of long COVID, lacking of effective treatments. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is claimed to be effective in treating olfactory dysfunction, but the evidence has not yet been critically appraised. We conducted a systematic review to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of TCM for PVOD. Methods: We searched eight databases to identified clinical controlled studies about TCM for PVOD. The Cochrane risk of bias tools and GRADE were used to evaluate the quality of evidence. Risk ratio (RR), mean differences (MD), and 95 % confidence interval (CI), were used for effect estimation and RevMan 5.4.1 was used for data analysis. Results: Six randomized controlled trials (RCTs) (545 participants), two non-randomized controlled trials (non-RCTs) (112 participants), and one retrospective cohort study (30 participants) were included. The overall quality of included studies was low. Acupuncture (n = 8) and acupoint injection (n = 3) were the mainly used TCM therapies. Five RCTs showed a better effect in TCM group. Four trials used acupuncture, and three trials used acupoint injection. The results of two non-RCTs and one cohort study were not statistically significant. Two trials reported mild to moderate adverse events (pain and brief syncope caused by acupuncture or acupoint injection). Conclusions: Limited evidence focus on acupuncture and acupoint injection for PVOD and suggests that acupuncture and acupoint injection may be effective in improving PVOD. More well-designed trials should focus on acupuncture to confirm the benefit. Protocol registration: The protocol of this review was registered at PROSPERO: CRD42022366776.

Synthesis and mitochondria-localized iridium (III) complexes induce cell death through pyroptosis and ferroptosis pathways.

This paper introduces a new ligand, 4,6-dichloro-5-(1H-imidazo [4,5-f]phenanthroline-2-yl)pyrimidin-2-amine (DPPA), and its corresponding new iridium(III) complexes: [Ir(ppy)2(DPPA)](PF6) (2a) (where ppy represents deprotonated 2-phenylpyridine), [Ir(bzq)2(DPPA)](PF6) (2b) (with bzq indicating deprotonated benzo[h]quinoline), and [Ir(piq)2(DPPA)](PF6) (2c) (piq denoting deprotonated 1-phenylisoquinoline). The cytotoxic effects of both DPPA and 2a, 2b, and 2c were evaluated against human lung carcinoma A549, melanoma B16, colorectal cancer HCT116, human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cancer cell lines, as well as the non-cancerous LO2 cell line using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) method. While DPPA exhibited moderate anticancer activity toward A549, B16, HCT116 and HepG2 cells, complexes 2a, 2b, and 2c displayed remarkable efficacy against A549, B16, and HCT116 cells. The cell colonies and wound healing were investigated. Moreover, various aspects of the anticancer mechanisms were explored. The cell cycle analyses revealed that the complexes block cell proliferation of A549 cells during the S phase. Complex 2c induce an early apoptosis, while 2a and 2b cause a late apoptosis. The interaction of 2a, 2b and 2c with endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria was identified, leading to elevated ROS and Ca2+ amounts. This resulted in a reduced mitochondrial membrane potential, mitochondrial permeability transition pore opening, and an increase of cytochrome c. Also, ferroptosis was investigated through measurements of intracellular glutathione (GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA), and recombinant glutathione peroxidase (GPX4) protein expression. The pyroptosis was explored via cell morphology, release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and expression of pyroptosis-related proteins. RNA sequencing was applied to examine the signaling pathways. Western blot analyses illuminated that the complexes regulate the expression of Bcl-2 family proteins. Additionally, an in vivo antitumor study demonstrated that complex 2c exhibited a remarkable inhibitory rate of 58.58% in restraining tumor growth. In summary, the findings collectively suggest that the iridium(III) complexes induce cell death via ferroptosis, apoptosis by a ROS-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction pathway and GSDMD-mediated pyroptosis.

Magnetic liposomal emodin composite with enhanced killing efficiency against breast cancer.

As an active natural ingredient extracted from the plant Rheum palmatum, emodin exhibits various pharmacological activities, especially the inhibition of tumor growth and migration. However, the anticancer activity of emodin is limited mainly due to its poor solubility and the lack of specific targeting. Herein, we employed liposome to load emodin into the lipid bilayer, and high-performance ferromagnetic iron oxide nanocubes were simultaneously encapsulated in the hydrophilic bilayer. The optimized magnetic liposomal emodin nanocomposite (MLE) exhibited a 24.1% increase in the efficiency of killing MCF-7 cancer cells at a low concentration of 16 µg mL-1 compared with that of the hydrophobic free emodin. A further 8.67% enhancement of the killing efficiency was obtained by magnetic targeting. Benefitting from the high ferromagnetism, the transverse relaxivity (r2) of MLE was measured to be as high as 392.9 mM-1 s-1. With guidance from the external magnetic field, the effective accumulation of this magnetic liposome in the tumor region of a 4T1 breast tumor bearing mouse was observed by both MR tracking and fluorescence imaging, which should be beneficial for decreasing the required therapeutic dose of emodin. Hemolysis, cytotoxicity and biochemistry assays confirmed the excellent biocompatibility of this magnetic liposomal carrier. The anti-tumor therapeutic effect of MLE was further investigated in vivo, and the tumor in the therapeutic group was almost eliminated, indicating that this magnetic liposomal emodin could serve as a novel magnetically guided theranostic nanoagent.