We evaluated the effects of Danggui-Chuanxiong (GX) herb pair with different proportions (1:0, 3:2, 1:1, 2:3, 0:1) and preparation methods (water extract W, alcohol extract A, and water-alcohol extracts WA) on vasoactive substances and endothelial cell adhesion molecules in the serum of acute blood stasis in rats. An acute blood stasis model was co-replicated by ice water bath and subcutaneous injection of epinephrine hydrochloride in rats. The expressions of vasoactive substances (arachidonic acid metabolites, coagulation-fibrin system index) and adhesion molecules in the serum were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay method; the Spearman method was used to analyze the correlation of those detection indicators; the partial least squares-discriminant analysis and multi-attribute comprehensive index method were used to comprehensively evaluate the total effect of GX herb pair samples with different proportions and preparation methods on vasoactive substances and adhesion molecules. The experimental scheme was approved by the Animal Experimental Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine. The results showed that GX 1:1_WA had the strongest effect on the improvement of vasoactive substances and adhesion molecules in the serum of acute blood stasis in rats (the total effect value was 6.96). When extraction method was same, the overall effect of GX 1:1 had better effect than that of other proportions; when the proportion of GX was same, the total effects of GX_WA and GX_A were better than GX_W. The combination of Danggui and Chuanxiong can significantly improve the expressions of vasoactive substances and adhesion molecules in the serum of blood stasis in rats. But the action strength of GX herb pairs was different when the proportions and preparations of GX herb pair were different. These findings provide a basis for clinical rational application of GX herb pair, and lay the foundation for in-depth research on GX herb pair for treatment of blood stasis related diseases.

Indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) is a key enzyme in the human tryptophan metabolism pathway, which can mediate tumor immune response. An IDO1 inhibitor would be a potential cancer immunotherapy drug. Based on the recently reported crystal of an IDO1 protein-inhibitor complex (PDBID:6AZV), the structure of reported inhibitor, and by analyzing the interaction mode between the inhibitor and IDO1, new inhibitor molecules were designed and synthesized. All structures were confirmed by spectral data. Preliminary activity studies showed that compounds containing an azabiphenyl tetrazole structure (B1 and B2) and biphenyl compounds containing a sulfonamide structure (D1, D2 and D3) had excellent inhibitory activity of IDO1 at the enzyme and cell level, and were comparable or even better than the control drug INCB24360.

Seven main components in eleutheroside were used as research objects, and the mechanism of action of total eleutheroside for treatment of diabetes mellitus type 2 was investigated by network pharmacology. The SwissTargetPrediction, GeneCard, and String platforms were used to predict the 35 potential targets of these 7 components that are related to diabetes mellitus type 2. Then we used cytoscape 3.6.1 to build a " component-target" network map and used the Networkanalyzer tool for topology analysis. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were performed on the DAVID6.8 platform, and the " component-target-path" network map was constructed based on the enrichment results. Those components mainly used in diabetes mellitus type 2 were screened as core components, and the core components were docked with key disease target proteins to verify the potential mechanism of the total eleutheroside. After screening, 8 important pathways associated with diabetes mellitus type 2 were identified. This study showed that eleutheroside A, eleutheroside D, eleutheroside E and sesamin played key roles in insulin resistance, apoptosis and inflammation pathways. The total eleutheroside may ameliorate type 2 diabetes mainly through regulating signal transducer and activator of transcription factors (STATs), non-receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTPN) 1, PTPN2, c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and p38 mitogen activate protein kinase. These components worked together through multiple signaling pathway. Based on our data, eleutheroside is proposed as a novel therapeutic strategy for treatment of type 2 diabetes.

The marketing authorization application is a milestone of drug life cycle, which indicates a candidate has potential to become a commercial drug. As of now, there are only 12 domestic therapeutic antibodies approved in China. The chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC) development and evaluation of monoclonal antibody were more challenging for both industry and authority agency. As the result of domestic biopharmaceutical industry development and implement of priority review system, the marketing authorization application of domestic antibody biosimilar and imported antibodies had dramatic increased in recent years. Thus, the CMC evaluation of monoclonal antibody become the important task of biological product's marketing authorization registration management. In the article, the CMC regulatory considerations for marketing authorization application based on author's review experience was proposed, in order to accelerate development and registration of commercial antibody in China.

Platelet adhesion is a key process in thrombosis. Anti-platelet adhesion effect of some Chinese medicines for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis (PBCRBS) has been reported, but their relative efficacies as a whole and specific targets remained unclear. This paper combined activity screening, drug compatibility analysis, pathway clustering, target prediction, and molecular docking to explore the mechanism of anti-platelet adhesion by PBCRBS Chinese medicine. Screening the activity of anti-platelet adhesion of 58 commercially available PBCRBS Chinese patent medicines showed that about 50.0% significantly inhibit ADP-induced platelet adhesion in vitro, and about 96.6% significantly inhibit thrombin-induced platelet adhesion in vitro. The animal experiment involved was approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Tianjin International Biomedical Research Institute. Combined with the auxiliary platform for TCM (V2.0) inheritance showed that the compatibility of Danshen-Chuanxiong was used most frequently among the top 20 active proprietary Chinese patent medicines. IPA network analysis revealed that IL-1, APP and CCL2 might be the key targets for anti-platelet adhesion function of Danshen-Chuanxiong against atherosclerosis, neuroinflammation and chemokine signaling pathways as the main mechanisms. Molecular docking analysis confirmed the interaction between one of the active compounds shared by Danshen and Chuanxiong, i.e. chlorogenic acid, with its target CCL2. This study provides TCM theory guidance and experimental support for targeting platelet adhesion in anti-thrombosis therapy by Chinese medicine for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis.

Paeoniflorin (PAE), the major active compounds of Chinese herbs Radix Paeoniae Alba and Chinese patent drug " Total Glucosides of Paeony Capsules" , which is effective in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), exerted multi-pharmacological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, immune-regulatory, etc. However, its potential action mechanisms remain unclear. Herein, we predicted the putative targets of Radix Paeoniae Alba and constructed an interaction network of putative targets of Radix Paeoniae Alba and known RA-related genes. A list of key putative targets was identified by calculating their topological features (degree, node betweenness and closeness) in the above pharmacological network. Importantly, pathway enrichment analysis revealed that these key putative targets were significantly enriched in several RA-related pathways, including cartilage damage-related IL1B-TNF-TLR2-JUN-MMP1-MMP3 signaling pathway. Further molecular docking simulation showed that PAE, the major active compounds of Radix Paeoniae Alba, has strong binding affinity with MMP1 and MMP3 proteins. Next, in vivo experiments based on the adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA) animal models showed that PAE significantly alleviated the disease severity and the syndromes of severe redness or swelling in hind limbs of AIA rats, including decreasing the arthritis score, the diameter of the limbs, and elevating body weight and pain thresholds (all P < 0.05). ELISA assay indicated that PAE obviously suppressed the abnormal up-regulation of serum inflammatory factors including IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-17 and IFN-γ in AIA rats (all P < 0.001). Western blot analysis found that PAE simultaneously modulated the abnormal up-regulation of MMP1 and MMP3 proteins in the ankle tissues of AIA rats (all P < 0.001) (all procedures in the current study were performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the Center for Laboratory Animal Care, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences). In conclusion, PAE alleviated the cartilage damage and disease severity in the progressive process of RA via regulating the IL1B-TNF-TLR2-JUN-MMP1-MMP3 pathway. This study provided the theoretical basis of the PAE for its immune-regulatory effects, and as well provided references for the action mechanism study of extract compounds of Chinese herbs.

The Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) metastatic mouse model was used to investigate the effects of gefitinib and Sijunzi Tang (SJZ) on pre-metastatic niche. The experimental protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee which belongs to Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. To generate spontaneous lung metastatic models, 1×10⁶ luciferase-labeled LLC cells were injected subcutaneously in the shaved right flank of mice. One day after LLC inoculation, the mice were randomly divided into model (saline), gefitinib (50 mg·kg^-1) treatment, SJZ treatment (25.74 g·kg^-1), and co-treatment gefitinib with SJZ groups, with intragastrical administration. After 14 days of continuous administration, tumor size was detected by IVIS^® Spectrum system. The number of monocytes and neutrophils and the expression levels of chemokine receptors (CXCR1, CCR2) and carcinogenic gene (c-Kit), in peripheral blood, spleen and lung tissues of mice were determined by flow cytometry. The contents of interleukin-IL-1α (IL-1α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were detected by the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). After 21 days of treatment, tumors were surgically removed, weighed and the tumor volume was measured with vernier caliper and the antitumor effect of co-administration was evaluated. After 45 days of administration, the survival of mice was recorded. The results of flow cytometry showed that the percentage of neutrophils in gefitinib group, SJZ group, and co-treatment group was significantly decreased in the lung tissue compared to the model group (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01), but there was no significant difference between three treatment groups (P > 0.05). In the mouse peripheral blood and lung tissue, compared with the model group, the expression levels of CXCR1, CCR2 and c-Kit on the surface of neutrophils and monocytes in SJZ group and co-treatment group decreased or decreased significantly (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05). However, there was a significant increase in the expression level of c-Kit on the surface of monocytes (P < 0.05). In the mouse spleen tissue, the expression levels of CXCR1, CCR2 and c-Kit in the gefitinib group increased significantly (P < 0.05), while decreased significantly in SJZ or co-treatment group (P < 0.05). The results of ELISA showed that the content of IL-1α in SJZ group decreased significantly in the plasma of the mice compared with the model group (P < 0.01) and the content of IL-6 in co-treatment group decreased significantly (P < 0.05). Compared with the gefitinib group, the content of IL-1 in the co-treatment group decreased significantly (P < 0.05). In the tumor tissues of mice, compared with the model group, the content of IL-1α in the co-treatment group decreased significantly (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the content of IL-1α in co-administrated group and IL-6 in SJZ or co-treatment group decreased significantly compared with the gefitinib group (P < 0.05). After 21 days of continuous administration, the tumor inhibition rates of gefitinib group, SJZ group and co-administrated group were 45.7%, 38.4%, and 84.8%, respectively. After 45 days of administration, the survival rate of the model group was 0%, whereas the gefitinib, SJZ or co-treatment group has a survival rate of 40%, 60%, or 60%, respectively. In summary, our study illustrated that Sijunzi Tang could improve the anti-tumor effect of gefitinib by regulating pre-metastatic niche.

The chemical constituents from Brassica rapa were identified by various chromatographic techniques including silica gel, reversed-phase silica gel, macroporous resin and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography. Eight compounds were isolated from this plant. The isolated compounds were elucidated by physicochemical properties and spectroscopic methods, including extensive 1D, 2D-NMR, and HR-ESI-MS techniques. Compounds 1, 2 are new triterpenoids and 3-7 were isolated for the first time from Brassica rapa. The cytotoxic effect of compounds 1 and 2 were tested by MTT assay against five cancer cell lines. The result showed that all compounds exhibit growth inhibition for the cancer lines. Compound 1 has an IC₅₀ value of 5.87 μmol·L^-1 for growth inhibition of leukemia cell line HL-60, and IC₅₀ value for compound 2 was 10.32 μmol·L^-1.

The in vivo fate is a crucial factor that governs the successful translation of nanoformulations. However, one of the current biggest challenges is with the real-time monitoring of the body of the nanoparticles themselves. Conventional radioactive or fluorescent probes give signals even after they are disassociated from the particle matrix, generating interference to bioimaging and leading to misjudgment of results. Environment-responsive fluorescent dyes are regarded as promising tools due to signal switching in response to the changes in the environment. Currently, there are three categories of dyes in bioimaging of nanoparticles based on Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ). They have similar characteristics that strong fluorescence is emitted when they are embedded in the matrix of nanocarriers, whereas the fluorescence quenches upon release from the matrix due to dissociation of nanocarriers. The fluorescence switching reflects the existing status of the nanocarriers and therefore helps to interpret the in vivo behaviors. FRET and AIE probes have been widely used in elucidating the interactions between nanoparticles and cell models. However, they show intrinsic defects in studying in vivo fate of nanoparticles. ACQ-based dyes are sensitive to water, a universal factor in the biological environment. Therefore, with the help of bioimaging equipment, the in vivo trafficking process of nanoparticles can be unraveled. This review article tends to provide an overview on the rationale, pros and cons and applications of the three categories of environment-responsive fluorescent dyes in the investigation of the in vivo fate of nanocarriers.

In order to explore the chloroplast genome characteristics of Sophora flavescens and the phylogenetic relationship of the genus, this study used high-throughput sequencing technology to sequence and functionally annotate the chloroplast genome of Sophora flavescens. The results showed that the full length 154 165 bp of Sophora flavescens chloroplast genome showed a typical four-stage structure. The chloroplast genome contains 123 genes, including 77 protein-coding genes, 38 tRNA genes and 8 rRNA genes. Sequence analysis revealed 104 SSR loci, most of which consisted of A and T. In addition, the chloroplast genome codon preference is weak, and the coding region is biased towards the use of A and T bases. A comparative analysis of two different regions of Sophora flavescens chloroplast genome revealed four differential genes. Based on the maximum likelihood method (ML) for phylogenetic analysis of Sophora flavescens and 16 other leguminous, it was found that the relationship between Sophora flavescens and the genus Sophora alopecuroides is the closest. This study provides an important theoretical basis for the genetic variation, breeding and phylogenetic analysis of Sophora flavescens, and has certain reference value.