Pharmacological Activities and Mechanisms of Hirudin and Its Derivatives - A Review.

Hirudin, an acidic polypeptide secreted by the salivary glands of Hirudo medicinalis (also known as "Shuizhi" in traditional Chinese medicine), is the strongest natural specific inhibitor of thrombin found so far. Hirudin has been demonstrated to possess potent anti-thrombotic effect in previous studies. Recently, increasing researches have focused on the anti-thrombotic activity of the derivatives of hirudin, mainly because these derivatives have stronger antithrombotic activity and lower bleeding risk. Additionally, various bioactivities of hirudin have been reported as well, including wound repair effect, anti-fibrosis effect, effect on diabetic complications, anti-tumor effect, anti-hyperuricemia effect, effect on cerebral hemorrhage, and others. Therefore, by collecting and summarizing publications from the recent two decades, the pharmacological activities, pharmacokinetics, novel preparations and derivatives, as well as toxicity of hirudin were systematically reviewed in this paper. In addition, the clinical application, the underlying mechanisms of pharmacological effects, the dose-effect relationship, and the development potential in new drug research of hirudin were discussed on the purpose of providing new ideas for application of hirudin in treating related diseases.

Pharmacological activities and mechanisms of action of Pogostemon cablin Benth: a review.

Patchouli ("Guanghuoxiang") or scientifically known as Pogostemon cablin Benth, belonging to the family Lamiaceae, has been used in traditional Chinse medicine (TCM) since the time of the Eastern Han dynasty. In TCM theory, patchouli can treat colds, nausea, fever, headache, and diarrhea. Various bioactive compounds have been identified in patchouli, including terpenoids, phytosterols, flavonoids, organic acids, lignins, glycosides, alcohols, pyrone, and aldehydes. Among the numerous compounds, patchouli alcohol, ß-patchoulene, patchoulene epoxide, pogostone, and pachypodol are of great importance. The pharmacological impacts of these compounds include anti-peptic ulcer effect, antimicrobial effect, anti-oxidative effect, anti-inflammatory effect, effect on ischemia/reperfusion injury, analgesic effect, antitumor effect, antidiabetic effect, anti-hypertensive effect, immunoregulatory effect, and others.For this review, we examined publications from the previous five years collected from PubMed, Web of Science, Springer, and the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure databases. This review summarizes the recent progress in phytochemistry, pharmacology, and mechanisms of action and provides a reference for future studies focused on clinical applications of this important plant extract.

Evaluation of TAZ and KLF5 expression and their clinical significance in hepato-cellular carcinoma / 中国免疫学杂志

Objective:To investigate the expression of TAZ and KLF5 and their clinical significance in hepatocellular carcinoma ( HCC).Methods:We freshly collected 76 samples of surgically resected HCC and matched normal tumor-adjacent tissues and detected TAZ and KLF5 expression in these samples using immunohistochemical staining.The clinical significance of TAZ and KLF5 protein expression were analysed.Results:The protein expression of TAZ and KLF5 in HCC tissues was significantly higher than those in matched normal tumor-adjacent tissues ( P=0.001;P=0.035 ).Clinicopathological analysis suggested that TAZ and KLF5 protein expression were associated with histopathological differentiation ( P=0.007;P=0.047 ) and TNM stage ( P=0.009;P=0.040).TAZ was positively correlated with KLF5 protein in HCC tissues (r=0.651,P=0.003).Conclusion:The high-expression of TAZ and KLF5 are correlated with poor clinicopathological characteristics,and TAZ is positively associated with KLF5 in HCC tissues, suggesting that TAZ may promote tumor progression through inhibition of KLF5 protein degradation in HCC.