Triptonide Inhibits the Cervical Cancer Cell Growth via Downregulating the RTKs and Inactivating the Akt-mTOR Pathway.

The high incidence and mortality of cervical cancer (CC) require an urgent need for exploring novel valuable therapeutics. Triptonide (TN) is a small molecule monomer extracted from the Chinese herb Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. Our results showed that TN, at only nanomolar concentrations, strongly inhibited growth, colony formation, proliferation, migration, and invasion of established and primary human cervical cancer cells. TN induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in cervical cancer cells. Moreover, cervical cancer cell in vitro migration and invasion were suppressed by TN. It was however noncytotoxic and proapoptotic to normal cervical epithelial cells and human skin fibroblast cells. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) of RNA sequencing data of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in TN-treated cervical cancer cells implied that DEGs were enriched in the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) signaling and PI3K-Akt-mTOR cascade. In cervical cancer cells, RTKs, including EGFR and PDGFRα, were significantly downregulated and Akt-mTOR activation was largely inhibited after TN treatment. In vivo, oral administration of TN significantly inhibited subcutaneous cervical cancer xenograft growth in nude mice. EGFR and PDGFRα downregulation as well as Akt-mTOR inactivation was detected in TN-treated HeLa xenograft tumor tissues. Thus, TN inhibits human cervical cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Its anticervical cancer activity was associated with RTK downregulation and Akt-mTOR inactivation.

Application of preoperative ultrasound features combined with clinical factors in predicting HER2-positive subtype (non-luminal) breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Human epidermal growth factor receptor2+ subtype breast cancer has a high degree of malignancy and a poor prognosis. The aim of this study is to develop a prediction model for the human epidermal growth factor receptor2+ subtype (non-luminal) of breast cancer based on the clinical and ultrasound features related with estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor2. METHODS: We collected clinical data and reviewed preoperative ultrasound images of enrolled breast cancers from September 2017 to August 2020. We divided the data into in three groups as follows. Group I: estrogen receptor ± , Group II: progesterone receptor ± and Group III: human epidermal growth factor receptor2 ± . Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to analyze the clinical and ultrasound features related with biomarkers among these groups. A model to predict human epidermal growth factor receptor2+ subtype was then developed based on the results of multivariate regression analyses, and the efficacy was evaluated using the area under receiver operating characteristic curve, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity. RESULTS: The human epidermal growth factor receptor2+ subtype accounted for 138 cases (11.8%) in the training set and 51 cases (10.1%) in the test set. In the multivariate regression analysis, age ≤ 50 years was an independent predictor of progesterone receptor + (p = 0.007), and posterior enhancement was a negative predictor of progesterone receptor + (p = 0.013) in Group II; palpable axillary lymph node, round, irregular shape and calcifications were independent predictors of the positivity for human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 in Group III (p = 0.001, p = 0.007, p = 0.010, p < 0.001, respectively). In Group I, shape was the only factor related to estrogen receptor status in the univariate analysis (p < 0.05). The area under receiver operating characteristic curve, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity of the model to predict human epidermal growth factor receptor2+ subtype breast cancer was 0.697, 60.14%, 72.46%, 58.49% and 0.725, 72.06%, 64.71%, 72.89% in the training and test sets, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our study established a model to predict the human epidermal growth factor receptor2-positive subtype with moderate performance. And the results demonstrated that clinical and ultrasound features were significantly associated with biomarkers.

[Analysis and evaluation of nutrient composition of Ophiopogonis Radix in Santai area].

Ophiopogon japonicus is one of the commonly used medicines,and it has gradually become a therapeutic food for people's daily health care. O. japonicus in Sichuan province is the famous Dao-di herbs in Sichuan province,and is mainly produced in Santai county,Sichuan province. With the unique geographical advantage,Santai county plans to declare the new food raw materials of O. japonicus based on the geographical indication products( Fu Cheng O. japonicus),so it is necessary to analyze and evaluate the nutritional components of O. japonicus in Santai county. The experimental results showed that the content of the nutrients was characterized by low fat,high polysaccharide,high potassium and high vitamin B2,which can be developed as new food raw materials.

[Research on protection mode of Dao-di herbs-taking the protection mode of geographical indications as an example].

Dao-di herbs have been synonymous with quality medicinal herbs in our mind hearts since ancient times and are the essence of Chinese medicine culture. The development of genuine regional herbs faces problems such as insufficient supply of local resources and lack of competitive advantages. It is necessary to seek a suitable model to protect and develop authentic medicinal materials. The protection mode of geographical indication products has become more mature. Geographical indication(GI) products and authentic medicinal materials are all related to the origin. There is certain commonality between them. However, there are also differences between authentic Chinese herbal medicines and geographical indications, and it is unsuitable to simply equate the authentic Chinese medicinal materials with GI products. This article comprehensively combs and compares the development of the authentic Chinese herbal medicines and geographical indication products, and believes that it is necessary to fully learn from the experience of GI products and combine the characteristics of authentic medicinal materials to establish a set of protection systems that meet the characteristics of authentic medicinal materials. Through this research, it has positive significance to promote the protection and management of authentic medicinal materials.

[Species diversity of ex-situ cultivated Chinese medicinal plants].

Ex-situ conservation is an important means to protect biological genetic resources. Resource protection has received more and more attention with the continuous improvement of the comprehensive utilization of traditional Chinese medicine resources. In this paper, the research and compilation of the species list of ex-situ cultivated medicinal plants in 12 Chinese Academy of Sciences botanic gardens and 19 specialized medicinal botanic gardens in China were carried out. Based on the Species 2000(2017) and other classification databases, species diversity of medicinal plants ex-situ cultivated in these botanical gardens were analyzed. The study found that there were 16 351 higher plant species in our country, belonging to 276 families and 1 936 genera. Of these, 6 949 specieswere medicinal plants, accounting for 50.4% of the total medicinal plants. There were 1 280 medicinal plants were in threatened status, accounting for 19.6% of all threatened species in the Chinese Biodiversity Red List, with ex-situ cultivated proportion of 59.5%. And 3 988 medicinal plants were Chinese endemic species, accounting for 22.5% of all Chinese endemic species, with ex-situ cultivated proportion of 53.3%. This article has reference significance for the management and protection of medicinal plant resources.