Roles of lncRNAs in childhood cancer: Current landscape and future perspectives.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is the leading cause of death for children and adolescents. Leukemias, brain cancers, lymphomas and solid tumors, such as neuroblastoma, ostesarcoma and Wilms tumors are the most common types of childhood cancers. Approximately 400,000 children and adolescents between the ages of 0 and 19 are diagnosed with cancer each year worldwide. The cancer incidence rates have been rising for the past few decades. Generally, the prognosis of childhood cancers is favorable, but the survival rate for many unresectable or recurring cancers is substantially worse. Although random genetic mutations, persistent infections, and environmental factors may serve as contributing factors for many pediatric malignancies, the underlying mechanisms are yet unknown. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a group of transcripts with longer than 200 nucleotides that lack the coding capacity. However, increasing evidence indicates that lncRNAs play vital regulatory roles in cancer initiation and development in both adults and children. In particular, many lncRNAs are stable in cancer patients' body fluids such as blood and urine, suggesting that they could be used as novel biomarkers. In support of this notion, lncRNAs have been identified in liquid biopsy samples from pediatric cancer patients. In this review, we look at the regulatory functions and underlying processes of lncRNAs in the initiation and progression of children cancer and discuss the potential of lncRNAs as biomarkers for early detection. We hope that this article will help researchers explore lncRNA functions and clinical applications in pediatric cancers.

Roxadustat: Do we know all the answers?

Anemia is a common complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD), and its prevalence rises as the disease progresses. Intravenous or subcutaneous erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) are advised to treat CKD-associated anemia, since shortage of erythropoietin (EPO) and iron are the main cause of anemia. However, ESA resistance and safety have spurred a lot of interest in the development of alternate anemia therapies. Roxadustat, an orally administered hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor (HIF-PHI) that increases erythropoiesis and may modulate iron metabolism, was recently licensed in China, Chile, South Korea, Japan and the European Union for the treatment of CKD-related anemia. Despite this, clinical trials have shown a number of adverse effects, including cardiovascular disease, hyperkalemia, and infections. In addition, of concern is roxadustat's possible effects on other organs and systems. In this review, based on clinical evidence, we discuss the potentially detrimental effects of roxadustat to the known biology on systems other than kidney, and the need for long-term follow-up in order for roxadustat to be approved in more countries in the future.

Quantitative analysis and visualization of literature on acupuncture and related TCM therapies for the treatment of colorectal cancer based on CiteSpace.

Objective: We analyzed the literature describing the results of treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC) using acupuncture in the past three decades from the Web of Science (WoS) and Chinese databases (including CNKI, WANGFANG and VIP), and summarized the current development of CRC treatment as well as future research directions through the presentation of maps and visualization analysis. Methods: We searched the WoS and Chinese databases. Relevant articles were exported, and the data were organized using Excel software and was visualized and analyzed using CiteSpace software. Results: A total of 355 articles from the WoS and 95 articles from Chinese databases were selected for inclusion in the analysis. The articles in WoS were sourced from 174 journals, 1274 institutions, and 66 countries, and covered 299 keywords. The articles in the Chinese databases were sourced from 43 journals, 111 institutions, and 3 countries, and included 126 keywords. The article with the most citations in the WoS was cited 128 times and in the Chinese databases, the article with the most citations was cited 120 times. Acupuncture, CRC, rectal cancer, apoptosis, warm acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and gastrointestinal function were mentioned most frequently in the WoS. CRC, electroacupuncture, gastrointestinal function, rectal cancer, acupuncture and moxibustion, acupuncture, and colon cancer were mentioned most frequently in the Chinese databases. Conclusion: Both the WoS and Chinese databases showed a gradual increase in the number of articles related to acupuncture treatment for CRC, indicating a growing interest in this area. Acupuncture treatments are diverse, including warm acupuncture, auricular acupuncture, acupuncture injection, and electroacupuncture. They are often used in combination with drugs to treat symptoms such as depression, nausea and vomiting, pain, diarrhea, and urinary and fecal incontinence, which are commonly associated with CRC.

Polysaccharides from Chrysanthemun indicum L. enhance the accumulation of polysaccharide and atractylenolide in Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz.

Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz. (AM), an herb of traditional Chinese medicine, is well-known for anti-oxidant, anti-tumor and immune regulation potential. However, it is low bioactive compound content that restricts the application of this species. Elicitation is considered as an effective method to enhance biomass and bioactive compound in plants. Our precious study found that polysaccharide of Chrysanthemun indicum L. could promote plant growth by triggering plant defense. In the present study, polysaccharide of Chrysanthemun indicum L. is used to stimulate the accumulation of biomass and bioactive compound with different concentration in Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz. during pot, plot and field experiments. The results suggested that polysaccharide of Chrysanthemun indicum L. could significantly enhance the accumulation of biomass, atractylenolides and polysacchrides. Moreover, 2 mg/mL is determined and verified to be the appropriate concentration during field experiments. In addition, RT-qPCR revealed that CIP-induced terpenoid synthesis in AM mainly depended on mevalonate (MVA) pathway. This is the first report on the discovery of polysaccharide of Chrysanthemun indicum L. for the enhanced accumulation of biaomass and bioactive compound and the use of its for agricultural production.

Structural characterization and evaluation the elicitors activity of polysaccharides from Chrysanthemum indicum.

This research evaluates the elicitors activity and structure characterization of four Chrysanthemum indicum polysaccharides (CIPs) which were isolated from C. indicum, obtained CIP1, CIP2, CIP3, CIP4. Results demonstrated that there was a distinct difference in inducibility and CIP3 was significantly stronger than other CIPs through bioactivity-tests. Taking CIP3 with total carbohydrate content 91.93 % as a representative, its structure was elucidated as a relative molecular weight of 8. 741 × 103 g/mol and mainly composed of xylose, galacturonic acid, galactose and glucuronic acid. Through GC, IR and NMR, CIP3 was determined to possess a backbone comprised of T-α-d-GalpA, 1,4-α-d-GlcpA, 1,2-α-d-Xylp, 1,3-α-l-Rhap, 1,2,4-α-l-Rhap and sidechains comprised of 1,3-ß-d-Galp, 1,6-α-d-Galp, T-α-Glcp, 1,3-ß-d-Glcp, 1,4-α-d-Glcp, 1,3,4-α-d-Manp, T-α-l-Fucp. Further results indicated that CIP3 with active sidechains could significantly increase the expression of defense genes in Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz (AM). It is believed that the sidechains of CIP3 were necessary to its elicitor activity via bioactivity tests.