Estradiol (E 2) Reduction Adversely Affect the Embryo Quality and Clinical Outcomes of In Vitro Fertilization and Embryo transfer (IVF-ET).

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of decreased serum estradiol (E 2) levels during controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) on in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF). Methods: The clinical data of 300 IVF-ET cycles with patients were analyzed retrospectively. According to the presence of falling E 2 level during the COH, we divided all subjects into two groups: the E 2 levels fall group (n = 120, group A) and the control group (n = 180, group B). In group A, there were 57 patients with falling E 2 with drug dosage reduction. The other 63 patients experienced the decreased E 2 level spontaneously. The clinical and laboratory variables in the groups were compared. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were carried out in order to evaluate the predict value of E 2 level on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) administration on IVF outcomes. Results: Duration and total dosage of gonadotropin (Gn) used were statistically more in group A than in group B (P < 0.001). The high-quality embryo rate was significantly lower in group A (P = 0.048). Women in group A had lower clinical pregnancy rate (P = 0.029), live birth rate (P < 0.001), ongoing pregnancy rate (P = 0.001), and higher early abortion rates (P = 0.008) than group B. Women with spontaneously falling E 2 group had a higher BMI index than those in the drug dosage reduction group (P = 0.001). More dosage and longer duration of Gn in spontaneously falling E 2 group than in the drug dosage reduction group (P < 0.01). There were no differences in clinical outcomes between the two types of E 2 decreased groups. Results from ROC showed an E 2 level <1987.5 pg/ml on the hCG day might predict early abortion in this study. The sensitivity was 58.4% and the specificity was 78.9%. In addition, an E 2 level >2020 pg/ml on the hCG day might be an index to predict live birth. The sensitivity was 57.0% and the specificity was 61.7%. Conclusions: Reduction of E 2 during COH might adversely affect the clinical pregnancy, early abortion, and ongoing pregnancy of IVF-ET.

Influence of icariin on inflammation, apoptosis, invasion, and tumor immunity in cervical cancer by reducing the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB and Wnt/ß-catenin pathways.

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is a type of the most common gynecology tumor in women of the whole world. Accumulating data have shown that icariin (ICA), a natural compound, has anti-cancer activity in different cancers, including cervical cancer. The study aimed to reveal the antitumor effects and the possible underlying mechanism of ICA in U14 tumor-bearing mice and SiHa cells. METHODS: The antitumor effects of ICA were investigated in vivo and in vitro. The expression of TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB and Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathways were evaluated. RESULTS: We found that ICA significantly suppressed tumor tissue growth and SiHa cells viability in a dose-dependent manner. Also, ICA enhanced the anti-tumor humoral immunity in vivo. Moreover, ICA significantly improved the composition of the microbiota in mice models. Additionally, the results clarified that ICA significantly inhibited the migration, invasion capacity, and expression levels of TGF-ß1, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-17A, IL-10 in SiHa cells. Meanwhile, ICA was revealed to promote the apoptosis of cervical cancer cells by down-regulating Ki67, survivin, Bcl-2, c-Myc, and up-regulating P16, P53, Bax levels in vivo and in vitro. For the part of mechanism exploration, we showed that ICA inhibits the inflammation, proliferation, migration, and invasion, as well as promotes apoptosis and immunity in cervical cancer through impairment of TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB and Wnt/ß-catenin pathways. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, ICA could be a potential supplementary agent for cervical cancer treatment.

Identification and expression profiling of genes involved in circadian clock regulation in red dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus) by full-length transcriptome sequencing.

Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) plants fix CO2 at night, exhibiting a reversed regulatory pattern of metabolomic pathways compared with most model plants, which have C3 and C4 pathways. In this study, we used a valuable tropic fruit, red dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus), as model plant to identify and analyze the circadian regulation genes. Due to the absence of red dragon fruit's whole-genome dataset, we established a full-length transcriptome dataset using single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing method. A 7.66-Gb dataset with 4,552,474 subreads was generated, with an average length of 1,683 bp and an N50 of 2,446 bp. Using this dataset, we identified center oscillator genes: CCA1 (CIRCADIAN CLOCK ASSOCIATED1), ELF3 (EARLY FLOWERING 3), GI (GIGANTEA), LHY (LATE ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL), LNK1 (NIGHT LIGHT-INDUCIBLE AND CLOCK-REGULATED 1), and TOC1 (TIMING OF CAB EXPRESSION 1); a gene for the input pathway: CRY1 (CRYPTOCHROME); a gene for the output pathway: CO (CONSTANS); and genes related to the CAM pathway: MDH (MALATE DEHYDROGENASE), ME (MALIC ENZYMES), and PPDK (PYRUVATE PHOSPHATE DIKINASE). We further established the 24-h rhythmic expression pattern of these genes and classified these into three groups: HpCCA1, HpELF3, HpLHY, HpLNK1, and HpGI have expression peaks during the day; HpTOC1, HpCO, and HpCRY1 have highest expression levels at night; The genes involved in the CAM pathways, namely, HpMDH, HpME1, and HpPPDK, have double expression peaks in the day and night. Comparison of these expression patterns between red dragon fruit and model plants could provide clues in understanding the circadian clock regulation and the activity of the CAM pathways in cactus plants.