Objective To investigate the autophagy inducing effect of dihydroartemisinin (DHA) on prostate cancer PC-3 cells and its possible mechanism. Methods PC-3 cells were treated with 0, 12.5, 25, 50, 100 μmol/L of DHA. Cell viability was detected by CCK-8 method, and cell proliferation rate was detected by cell clone formation assay. Set control group, DHA group (50 μmol/L DHA for 48 h), 3-MA group (5 mmol/L 3-MA for 48 h) and DHA+3-MA group (50 μmol/L DHA+5 mmol/L 3-MA for 48 h), expressions of autophagy-related protein [microtubule associated protein light chain 3B (LC3B), yeast Atg6 homologue (Beclin-1)] were detected by Western blotting and RT-qPCR, the cell viability was detected by CCK-8 method, and the apoptosis rate was detected by flow cytometry, the formation of autophagosomes was observed by transmission electron microscope. PC-3 cells were transfected with the autophagy double labeled lentivirus mCherry-GFP-LC3B to detect the changes of autophagy flow. Set control group, DHA group (50 μmol/L DHA for 48 h), NAC group (5 mmol/L NAC for 48 h) and DHA+NAC group (50 μmol/L DHA+5 mmol/L NAC for 48 h), expressions of ROS/AMPK/mTOR signaling pathway related proteins were detected by Western blotting. After treated with 50 μmol/L DHA for 48 h, the total protein was extracted and divided into Input group (whole protein lysate), IP group (added with Beclin-1 antibody), and IgG group (added with the same mass of IgG), interaction between Beclin-1, Vps34, Bcl-2 and HMGB1 in PC-3 cells was detected by the Co-IP. Results CCK-8 assay showed that the survival rate of PC-3 cells was decreased with the increase of the concentration of DHA in a dose- and time-dependent manner (P<0.05). The half inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of DHA for 24 h, 48 h and 72 h were 97.12, 57.10 and 29.35 μmol/L, select 50 μmol/L DHA for 48 h for follow-up experiments. Cell clone formation assay showed that the colony formation rate of PC-3 cells decreased significantly with the increase of DHA concentration (P<0.01). Western blotting and RT-qPCR results showed that, compared with control group, the mRNA and protein expression levels of Beclin-1, LC3B increased in PC-3 cells of DHA group (P<0.01); Compared with DHA group, the mRNA and protein expression levels of Beclin-1 and LC3B significantly decreased in PC-3 cells of DHA+3-MA group (P<0.01). Transmission electron microscopy showed that there were obvious autophagosomes in PC-3 cells of DHA group, and the number of autophagosomes was significantly increased compared with control group (P<0.05). The results of mCherry-GFP-LC3B lentivirus transfection showed that the ratio of red and yellow spots per cell in DHA group was higher (P<0.01) and that in DHA+3-mA group was lower (P<0.01). Compared with DHA group, the survival rate of DHA+3-mA group decreased (P<0.05) and the apoptosis rate increased (P<0.01). Compared with DHA group, the expression levels of p-mTOR decreased in PC-3 cells of DHA group (P<0.05), the expression levels of p-AMPK increased (P<0.01); Compared with DHA group, the expression levels of p-mTOR increased in PC-3 cells of DHA+NAC group (P<0.05), the expression levels of p-AMPK decreased (P<0.01). The results of Co-IP experiments showed that the effect of Beclin-1 on Bcl-2 was weakened and the binding with Vps34 and HMGB1 was enhanced after DHA treatment. Conclusions DHA can induce autophagy in prostate cancer PC-3 cells. The mechanism may be related to the regulation of the autophagy-related genes Beclin-1, LC3 and ROS/AMPK/mTOR signaling pathways.

Objective To investigate the effects of GCN5-mediated histone H3 acetylation (ac) on the proliferation, apoptosis and inflammatory factors of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) -induced alveolar epithelial cells. Methods A549 cells were randomly divided into 6 groups: control group, LPS group, NC+LPS group, GCN5+LPS group, MB-3 (GCN5 inhibitor) +LPS group and GCN5+MB-3+LPS group. Expression levels of H3K9ac, H3K14ac, H3K23ac, GCN5, and cell viability, cell proliferation, apoptosis, levels of inflammatory factors were compared between different groups. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used to detect the GCN5 mRNA expression; CCK-8 kit was used to detect cell viability; Cell proliferation was detected by EdU assay; apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry. The expression of GCN5, H3K9ac, H3K14ac, H3K23ac, Caspase-3 and Bcl-2 proteins were detected by Western blotting. The levels of inflammatory factors [interleukin (IL) -1β, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) -α] were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results Compared with control group, the levels of H3K9ac, H3K14ac and H3K23ac were decreased, the mRNA and protein expression of GCN5 were down-regulated, and the cell viability and proliferation were decreased, cell apoptosis was increased, Caspase-3 protein expression was up-regulated while Bcl-2 was down-regulated, the levels of inflammatory factors were increased in LPS group (P<0.05). Compared with the LPS group, no significant changes existed in the levels of the mRNA and protein expression of GCN5 in NC+LPS group (P>0.05), the mRNA and protein expression of GCN5 were up-regulated, the levels of H3K9ac, H3K14ac and H3K23ac were increased, and the cell viability and proliferation were increased, cell apoptosis was decreased, Caspase-3 protein expression was down-regulated while Bcl-2 was up-regulated, the levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α were decreased in GCN5+LPS group (P<0.05). Compared with GCN5+LPS group, the levels of H3K9ac, H3K14ac and H3K23ac were decreased, and the cell viability and proliferation were reduced, cell apoptosis was elevated, the levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α were increased in GCN5+MB-3+LPS group (P<0.05). Conclusion GCN5 overexpression could resist LPS-induced injuries of alveolar epithelial cells such as abnormal proliferation and apoptosis and inflammatory factors production, which could be related to the increase of histone H3 acetylation level.

Objective To explore the relationship between perioperative hemoglobin (HGB) concentration and acute kidney injury (AKI) after pulmonary lobectomy. Methods Patients, who received selective pulmonary lobectomy under general anesthesia in Peking University First Hospital from July 2017 to December 2019, were recruited and divided into low HGB group (HGB<120.0 g/L; n=230) and normal group (HGB≥120.0 g/L, n=1522) according to the HGB concentration before surgery. And the primary endpoint was the incidence of AKI after surgery. Multivariate logistic regression model was used to analyze the influence of preoperative HGB, minimum HGB concentration during surgery and the decrease of HGB concentration after surgery on postoperative AKI. Results A total of 1752 patients were involved in the study, and the overall incidence of postoperative AKI was 2.3%. The incidence of AKI was significantly higher in low HGB group than in normal group [5.7% (13/230) vs. 1.8% (28/1522), RR=3.197, 95%CI 1.631-6.266, P=0.001]. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of postoperative AKI increased to 3.590 (95%CI 1.765-7.303, P<0.001) times if preoperative HGB concentration being lower than 120.0 g/L, and that the risk of postoperative AKI increased to 2.751 (95%CI 1.633-4.635, P<0.001) times for every 15.0 g/L reduction of preoperative HGB. Moreover, the independent risk factors involved preoperative eGFR <60 ml/ (min.1.73 m²), intraoperative infusion rate <5 ml/ (kg·h) and intraoperative urine output <0.8 ml/ (kg·h) (P<0.05). In addition, multivariate logistic regression models also showed that minimum HGB concentration during surgery (OR=0.933, 95%CI 0.780-1.114, P=0.442) and the decrease of HGB concentration after surgery (OR=0.900, 95%CI 0.630-1.287, P=0.565) were not independent risk factors of postoperative AKI. Conclusion Preoperative HGB <120.0 g/L is an independent risk factor of postoperative AKI after pulmonary lobectomy.

Objective To observe the pathological features of diabetic tubulopathy (DT) and analyze the relationship between interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy (IFTA) scores and poor disease prognosis. Methods The pathological types, basic data, laboratory examination indexes and follow-up of 121 patients diagnosed as diabetic tubulopathy by pathological biopsy from 2018-2021 at the Army Specialized Medical Center of Army Medical University were collected and retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into 3 groups according to the different IFTA scores: group 1 (n=20), group 2 (n=55), and group 3 (n=46). Adverse prognosis was based on the occurrence of endpoint events. Differences between clinical and laboratory data of each group were compared, and correlation analysis was performed between IFTA and glomerular injury, interstitial inflammation, renal artery vitreous lesion and renal arteriosclerosis. Cox regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between IFTA scores and endpoint events. Results The age of 121 DT patients was (53.0±10.2) years old, including 84 males and 37 females, and 99 cases of the 121 patients were with hypertension (81.8%). The incidence of nocturia, lower limb edema, proteinuria, and diabetic retinopathy increased with increasing IFTA score (P<0.01), and urinary microalbumin, urinary protein quantification, urinary albumin creatinine ratio (ACR), corrected urinary N-acyl-β-D-amino glucosidase (NAG), cystatin C (CYC), and blood creatinine levels showed increasing trend (P<0.01), and urinary creatinine (Ucr) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) levels gradually decreased (P<0.01), but there was no statistically significant difference between the development of complications such as coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and chronic liver disease and high IFTA scores (P>0.05). Among pathological changes, IFTA score was strongly correlated with glomerular injury (r=0.503, P=0.000), and renal artery vitreous changes (r=0.329, P=0.007). There was a positive correlation between IFTA score and poor prognosis of patients (model-corrected P=0.021, HR=2.740, 95%CI 1.167-6.410), where the risk of adverse prognosis was 2.740 times higher in patients with IFTA score 3 than in patients with IFTA score 1. Conclusion Glomerular injury, renal artery vitreous degeneration, and renal arteriosclerosis scores were closely associated with IFTA scores in DT, and IFTA scores were closely associated with poor prognosis in DT patients.

Objective To analyze the value of tumor growth pattern (TGP) and tumor budding (TB) on judgment of the prognosis of patients with stage Ⅰ-Ⅲ colorectal cancer. Methods The clinical data of 152 patients with stage Ⅰ-Ⅲ colorectal cancer, admitted and undergone radical operation from December 2012 to June 2020 in Hainan Hospital of Chinese PLA General Hospital, were collected and retrospectively analyzed. TGP and TB were interpreted with HE staining and patients were divided into TGP-A (dilatant growth type and intermediate type) or B (invasive growth type), TB-low or TB-high subgroups. The differences of clinicopathological features among these subgroups were analyzed; Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed to analyze the disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) of these subgroups. Finally, Cox proportional risk model was used to analyze the risk factors influencing prognosis of colorectal cancer patients. Results Statistical differences of tumor differentiation degree and N stage existed in TGP-A or TGP-B, TB-low or TB-high subgroups (P<0.01); in addition, the characteristics were more obvious of high CEA level (P=0.03), T₃+T₄ stage (P<0.01) and TNM Ⅲ stage (P<0.01) in TGP-B groups. Between TGP-A and TGP-B subgroups, and between TB-low and TB-high subgroups, the statistical significantly difference existed in DFS (TGP: Log-rank=10.06, P<0.01; TB: Log-rank=6.62, P=0.01) and OS (TGP: Log-rank=6.53, P=0.01; TB: Log-rank=4.90, P=0.03). TGP was an independent risk factor for both DFS (HR=2.95, 95%CI 1.54-5.63, P<0.01) and OS (HR=2.37, 95%CI 1.14-4.94, P=0.02). Conclusion Both TGP and TB were more reliable prognostic markers for patients with stage Ⅰ-Ⅲ colorectal cancer, the ones presented TGP with infiltrative pattern or TB ≥10/0.785 mm² would have poor prognosis.

Objective To explore establish a risk prediction model for patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) after ablation based on serum miRNA levels. Methods A total of 389 NVAF patients who received ablative therapy in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University from August 2018 to December 2020 were selected as the study objects. 70.0% (272 cases) were randomly selected as the training set, 20.0% (78 cases) as the test set, and 10.0% (39 cases) as the verification set. The patients were followed up for 1 year, and the Kaplan-Meier cumulative recurrence risk curve was drawn. According to the recurrence of patients during the follow-up period, the patients were divided into recurrence group and non-recurrence group. The factors influencing the risk of recurrence after ablation in the training set of NVAF patients were explored through univariate and multivariate analysis, and the prediction model of recurrence risk after ablation was constructed. The prediction efficiency of this model was further tested by the consistency index (C-index) and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Then the model effectiveness of the test set is verified. Results As of December 21, 2021, a total of 30 cases were lost to follow-up (18 cases in the training set, 10 cases in the test set, and 2 cases in the validation set), and 359 actual cases were finally included (254 cases in training set, 68 in test set, and 37 in validation set). Of which 58 cases recurred in training set, and the recurrence rate was 22.8%. The baseline epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) volume was higher in recurrent group than that in non-recurrent group (P<0.05). The levels of miRNA-21, miRNA-150 and miRNA-192-5p in relapse group before and at the end of follow-up were higher than those in non-recurrence group, while the levels of miRNA-29 were lower than those in non-recurrence group with statistical significance (P<0.05). Multivariate logistic analysis showed that EAT volume (OR=1.060, 95%CI 1.012-1.109), miRNA-192-5p (OR=1.759, 95%CI 1.135-2.726), miRNA-21 (OR=32.508, 95%CI 9.224-114.577), miRNA-150 (OR=18.704, 95%CI 5.513-63.456) are independent risk factors for recurrence after ablation, miRNA-29b (OR=0.166, 95%CI 0.049-0.560) are protective factors for recurrence after ablation (P<0.05). Based on the above factors, the recurrence risk prediction model predicted that the C-index of NVAF patients after ablation was 0.929 (95%CI 0.890-0.958). ROC curve results of verification set showed that the specificity and sensitivity of this model were 83.2% and 88.0%, and the optimal critical value of area under ROC curve (AUC) was 0.711. The test data showed that the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the model were 86.7%, 88.7% and 88.3%. Conclusion The post-NVAF ablation recurrence risk model constructed by EAT volume, miRNA-192-5p, miRNA-29b, miRNA-21, miRNA-150 and other factors has a high predictive value for the recurrence risk after NVAF ablation.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating neurological and pathological condition that causes severe motor, sensory, and autonomic nerve dysfunction. Although SCI has been treated with varying degrees of success, these treatments have not yet achieved satisfactory results because the pathological molecular mechanisms of SCI are not fully understood. Recent studies have shown that astrocytes can be activated into A1/A2 phenotypes after SCI. The A1 phenotype of reactive astrocytes plays a neurotoxic role, while the A2 phenotype of reactive astrocytes plays a neuroprotective role. A full understanding of the role and activation mechanism of A1/A2 reactive astrocytes in SCI is expected to provide new ideas for the treatment of SCI. This review focuses on the role of A1/A2 reactive astrocytes in SCI, the signaling pathways that regulate the activation of A1/A2 reactive astrocytes, and SCI therapy for astrocytes.

Chemotherapy is the main treatment for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) due to the lack of effective targeted therapy. At present, neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is one of the standard treatment strategies. However, the response of patients to NAC is different, and how to identify effective or resistant individuals before treatment is an urgent clinical problem to be solved. The research progress on the prediction of NAC response for TNBC has many aspects, including imageomics, tumor immunology and genomics. Combining different factors to build a prediction model can better improve the prediction efficiency. With the development of gene detection technology, single-cell sequencing technology can exclude the influence of non-tumor cells in tumor microenvironment, accurately determine tumor subtypes, reveal drug resistance mechanisms, and may be applied to NAC in the future to improve the accuracy of prediction. This article reviews the latest research progress in predicting the efficacy of TNBC NAC.

Obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) is a common sleep disorder, which is caused by collapse and obstruction of upper airway during sleep, accompanied by snoring, daytime drowsiness and sleep structure disorder. OSAHS is closely related to cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorder, diabetes, cognitive impairment and tumors. The prevalence rate of OSAHS is relatively high, which significantly increases the social and economic burden. Therefore, early diagnosis and treatment of OSAHS is necessary. miRNA is a non-coding small RNA molecule, which can play important role in a variety of important biological functions by regulating the expression of target genes. In recent years, some studies indicated that miRNA could be used as a biomarker for early diagnosis of hypertension, coronary heart disease, diabetes and tumors. Recently, a large number of studies showed that miRNA can be used in diagnosis, assessment, and therapeutic target of OSAHS with its complications. This review summarizes the research progress on the role of miRNA in OSAHS with its complications.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious public health problem, and it is estimated that more than 50 million patients worldwide su ff ered from TBI each year. At present, the diagnosis of TBI mainly relies on scoring scales, and it is extremely necessary to screen objective biomarkers of TBI. A large number of studies have focused on the screening of protein markers of TBI, however, protein markers have short half-life and low sensitivity, so it is important to screen new biomarkers of TBI for its rapid diagnostic and treatment. As a lack of effective therapeatic drugs, TBI was mainly treated according to symptoms. microRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs whose altered expression levels are associated with a variety of diseases in central nervous system including TBI and play an important role in the regulation of neuroplasticity and repair of neuronal damage. In addition, its small molecular weight make it crossing the blood-brain barrier conveniently and be easily detected in peripheral fluids. Therefore, miRNAs have the potential to be used as diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets for TBI. This paper aims to review the features of miRNAs and their applications on diagnosis and treatment of TBI, and provide a reference for their potential clinical applications.