Estrogen upregulates DNA2 expression through the PI3K-AKT pathway in endometrial carcinoma / 浙江大学学报（英文版）（B辑：生物医学和生物技术）

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecological malignancy, affecting up to 3% of women at some point during their lifetime (Morice et al., 2016; Li and Wang, 2021). Based on the pathogenesis and biological behavioral characteristics, endometrial cancer can be divided into estrogen-dependent (I) and non-estrogen-dependent (II) types (Ulrich, 2011). Type I accounts for approximately 80% of cases, of which the majority are endometrioid carcinomas, and the remaining are mucinous adenocarcinomas (Setiawan et al., 2013). It is generally recognized that long-term stimulation by high estrogen levels with the lack of progesterone antagonism is the most important risk factor; meanwhile, there is no definite conclusion on the specific pathogenesis. The incidence of endometrial cancer has been on the rise during the past two decades (Constantine et al., 2019; Gao et al., 2022; Luo et al., 2022). Moreover, the development of assisted reproductive technology and antiprogestin therapy following breast cancer surgery has elevated the risk of developing type I endometrial cancer to a certain extent (Vassard et al., 2019). Therefore, investigating the influence of estrogen in type I endometrial cancer may provide novel concepts for risk assessment and adjuvant therapy, and at the same time, provide a basis for research on new drugs to treat endometrial cancer.

Relationship between prognostic nutritional index and neutropenia after chemotherapy in patients with colorectal cancer / 肿瘤研究与临床

Objective To investigate the relationship between prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and neutropenia after adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with colorectal cancer. Methods The clinical data of 44 patients with colorectal cancer performed adjuvant chemotherapy in Shunyi District Hospital from December 2014 to January 2018 were retrospectively analyzed, and the patients were divided into group A (grade 0-2 neutropenia) and group B (grade3-4 neutropenia) according to the degree of neutropenia. The serum albumin, peripheral lymphocyte counts, and neutrophil counts within 1 week before chemotherapy were collected, and the PNI was calculated. The chi-square test and rank sum test were used to compare the clinical data, body mass index (BMI), baseline neutrophil count, and PNI between the two groups. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the risk factors for neutropenia after chemotherapy. Results The baseline median neutrophil counts and median PNI in group A were 3.17×109/L [(1.38-7.79)×109/L] and 50.40 (37.40-57.05), and in group B were 2.54 ×109/L [(1.22-3.87) ×109/L] and 45.50 (37.95-50.95). The baseline neutrophil counts and PNI in group A were significantly higher than those in group B, the differences between the two groups were statistically significant (Z= -2.085, P= 0.037; Z= -2.615, P= 0.009). Logistic regression analysis showed that PNI was an independent risk factor for neutropenia after chemotherapy (HR=0.803, 95％CI 0.646-0.998, P= 0.048). Conclusion PNI has a certain role in predicting neutropenia after adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with colorectal cancer.

CRISPR/Cas9-mediated targeted gene correction in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patient iPSCs

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a complex neurodegenerative disease with cellular and molecular mechanisms yet to be fully described. Mutations in a number of genes including SOD1 and FUS are associated with familial ALS. Here we report the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from fibroblasts of familial ALS patients bearing SOD1 and FUS mutations, respectively. We further generated gene corrected ALS iPSCs using CRISPR/Cas9 system. Genome-wide RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis of motor neurons derived from SOD1 and corrected iPSCs revealed 899 aberrant transcripts. Our work may shed light on discovery of early biomarkers and pathways dysregulated in ALS, as well as provide a basis for novel therapeutic strategies to treat ALS.

Modeling xeroderma pigmentosum associated neurological pathologies with patients-derived iPSCs

Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) is a group of genetic disorders caused by mutations of XP-associated genes, resulting in impairment of DNA repair. XP patients frequently exhibit neurological degeneration, but the underlying mechanism is unknown, in part due to lack of proper disease models. Here, we generated patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) harboring mutations in five different XP genes including XPA, XPB, XPC, XPG, and XPV. These iPSCs were further differentiated to neural cells, and their susceptibility to DNA damage stress was investigated. Mutation of XPA in either neural stem cells (NSCs) or neurons resulted in severe DNA damage repair defects, and these neural cells with mutant XPA were hyper-sensitive to DNA damage-induced apoptosis. Thus, XP-mutant neural cells represent valuable tools to clarify the molecular mechanisms of neurological abnormalities in the XP patients.

Pernicious Vomiting Treated with Acupoints Application Combined with TCM Decoction and Auricular Point Buried-bean / 浙江中医药大学学报

[Objective] To discuss the cure effect of acupoints application combined with TCM decoctions and auricular point buried-bean on pernicious vomiting. [Method] Choose 65 such cases from April 2011 to March 2012 as control group and another 65 from Nov. 2011 to Sep. 2013 as treatment group. The control one take oral y TCM decoction combined with auricular point buried-bean, the treatment one added with TCM acupoints applica-tion;observe the result after 1 course. [Result] In treatment group, 46 cases were cured, 18 better, 1 was not cured, the total effective rate 98.5%;in con-trol one, they were respectively 40,11,14 and 78.4%; the comparison of them had difference of statistical meaning.[Conclusion] The acupoint application combined with TCM decoction and auricular point buried-bean has obvious cure effect on pernicious vomiting.

Converted neural cells: induced to a cure?

Many neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease (PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and others often occur as a result of progressive loss of structure or function of neurons. Recently, many groups were able to generate neural cells, either differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) or converted from somatic cells. Advances in converted neural cells have opened a new era to ease applications for modeling diseases and screening drugs. In addition, the converted neural cells also hold the promise for cell replacement therapy (Kikuchi et al., 2011; Krencik et al., 2011; Kriks et al., 2011; Nori et al., 2011; Rhee et al., 2011; Schwartz et al., 2012). Here we will mainly discuss most recent progress on using converted functional neural cells to treat neurological diseases and highlight potential clinical challenges and future perspectives.

Analysis on the metabolites of mesaconitine in the rat urine by liquid chromatography and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry / 药学学报

The mesaconitine and its major metabolites in the rat urine were identified by liquid chromatography and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. The rat urine was collected for consecutive 24 hours from the rat following intragastric infusion of mesaconitine, subsequently which were enriched and purified using solid phase extraction. The metabolites of mesaconitine in the rat urine were analyzed by the liquid chromatography and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. It is shown that the parent drug mesaconitine and its metabolites were found in the rat urine, such as hypo-mesaconitine glucuronic acid conjugate, 10-hydroxy-mesaconitine, 1-O-demethyl mesaconitine, deoxy-mesaconitine and hypo-mesaconitine. Among the five of metabolites, the hypo-mesaconitine glucuronic acid conjugate (m/z 766) was first discovered as the aconitine in rats phase II metabolites, which revealed a new way of mesaconitine metabolism in rats.

Molecular cloning, genomic organization and functional characterization of a new short-chain potassium channel toxin-like peptide BmTxKS4 from Buthus martensii Karsch(BmK).

Scorpion venom contains many small polypeptide toxins, which can modulate Na(+), K(+), Cl(-), and Ca(2+) ion-channel conductance in the cell membrane. A full-length cDNA sequence encoding a novel type of K(+)-channel toxin (named BmTxKS4) was first isolated and identified from a venom gland cDNA library of Buthus martensii Karsch (BmK). The encoded precursor contains 78 amino acid residues including a putative signal peptide of 21 residues, propeptide of 11 residues, and a mature peptide of 43 residues with three disulfide bridges. BmTxKS4 shares the identical organization of disulfide bridges with all the other short-chain K(+)-channel scorpion toxins. By PCR amplification of the genomic region encoding BmTxKS4, it was shown that BmTxKS4 composed of two exons is disrupted by an intron of 87 bp inserted between the first and the second codes of Phe (F) in the encoding signal peptide region, which is completely identical with that of the characterized scorpion K(+)-channel ligands in the size, position, consensus junctions, putative branch point, and A+T content. The GST-BmTxKS4 fusion protein was successfully expressed in BL21 (DE3) and purified with affinity chromatography. About 2.5 mg purified recombinant BmTxKS4 (rBmTxKS4) protein was obtained by treating GST-BmTxKS4 with enterokinase and sephadex chromatography from 1 L bacterial culture. The electrophysiological activity of 1.0 microM rBmTxKS4 was measured and compared by whole cell patch-clamp technique. The results indicated that rBmTxKS4 reversibly inhibited the transient outward K(+) current (I(to)), delayed inward rectifier K(+) current (I(k1)), and prolonged the action potential duration of ventricular myocyte, but it has no effect on the action potential amplitude. Taken together, BmTxKS4 is a novel subfamily member of short-strain K(+)-channel scorpion toxin.