Autophagy often occurs after cells are attacked by oxidative stress, where damaged structures are phagocytic and degraded into nutrients, thereby reducing oxidative damage, promoting the survival of cancer cells and reducing the therapeutic effect of photodynamic therapy (PDT). However, excessive activation of autophagy can promote cell apoptosis. In this paper, the photosensitizer pyropheophorbide-a (Ppa) was used to produce a large amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to achieve the effect of killing cancer cells. At the same time, icaritin (Ica), an autophagy inducer, was used to over-activate autophagy, which transformed the protection of cancer cells into the promotion of cancer cell apoptosis, so as to improve the effect of photodynamic therapy. In this study, the interaction force between Ica and Ppa was exploited to successfully construct a self-assembled nanomedicine IP with good stability and high drug load. The synthesis method is simple, through using the drug itself as a carrier, and the loading capacity (LA) of Ica and Ppa can be increased to 83.53% and 16.45% without introducing potential biosafety risks of nanocarriers. Compared with free Ppa, self-assembled nanomedicine IP showed superior performance in cellular uptake and reactive oxygen species production. In addition, the self-assembled nanomedicine IP can reverse the protective autophagy induced by PDT by activating the autophagy of tumor cells, and facilitate apoptosis and antitumor coordination, which significantly improves the antitumor activity of PDT.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a new modality for cancer therapy, which has been used in the clinical treatment for various tumors, such as skin cancer, bladder cancer and prostate cancer. Most photosensitizers have the disadvantages of hydrophobic, low bioavailability and the limited tumor targeting ability. The nanoscale delivery systems can improve the solubility of photosensitizers and enhance their accumulation at the tumor sites. The multifunctional nano-delivery systems are prepared in combination with other anti-tumor drugs to enhance the anti-tumor effect. In addition to addressing the issues of poor solubility and the insufficient tumor targeting ability, the nanoscale delivery systems need to improve the pharmacokinetic properties of photosensitizers, facilitating their rapid accumulation at the tumor sites and quick elimination in vivo, and reducing the skin phototoxicity. This review summarizes the recent clinical application of PDT of cancer, the development of photosensitizers, the delivery systems for photosensitizers and the combinatorial application with other therapeutic methods. The goal is to present an understanding of knowledge on the design of new types of photosensitizers and its clinical application in PDT of cancer.

Chinese patent medicine (CPM) is an important part of traditional and Chinese medicine (TCM). Its quality has direct impact on the safety and effectiveness of clinical use. The quality standard is the pivotal approach to guarantee the quality of CPM. Due to the complex material basis, multitudinous quality influencing factors and unveiled active ingredients, dose-effect relationship and action mechanism, the investigation on quality standard faces many difficulties. This paper surveys the current quality status of CPM and the general situation of CPM standards. At present, the dosing problem has the crucial impact on the quality of CPM. The current quality standard system of CPM is confirmed and the limitations are indicated. Based on the above analysis, the principles and considerations on investigation of quality standard are proposed as follows: ① Adhere to safety as the bottom line, strengthen the risk-control ability of the standard of CPM; ② Adhere to theory of TCM and comprehensive quality, improve the integrative control level of the CPM standard; ③ Emphasize technological development and innovation, promote the quality control competence of CPM standard; ④ Facilitate planning and coordination, optimize the management of the CPM standard system; ⑤ Reinforce investigation on evaluation method, develop grade evaluation standard, accelerate high-quality development of CPM. Finally, the future perspective on investigation of CPM quality standard is prospected.

Src homology phosphotyrosyl phosphatase 2 (SHP2) is a protein tyrosine phosphatase encoded by PTPN11, which catalyzes the dephosphorylation of protein tyrosine. As a convergence node, SHP2 mediates multiple signaling pathways such as rat sarcoma (RAS)-rapidly accelerated fibrosarcoma (RAF)-mitogen-activated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MEK)-extracellular regulated protein kinases (ERK), phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-serine/threonine kinase (AKT), janus kinase (JAK)-signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) and programmed death-1 (PD-1)/programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1). It can not only regulate the growth and proliferation of tumor cells, but also mediate the immune escape of tumor cells by influencing the tumor microenvironment. Given its dual biological functions in tumor immune regulation, SHP2 is a promising target for cancer immunotherapy. To date, several SHP2 allosteric inhibitors have been advanced into clinical trials for tumor immunotherapy with single or combination therapeutic strategies. Additionally, SHP2 activators also showed therapeutic potential in the field of tumor immune modulation. In this paper, we reviewed the dual function of SHP2 in both tumor and immune cells. Besides, the challenges and prospects of SHP2 modulators in cancer immunotherapy were also briefly discussed, aiming to explore new horizon of SHP2 modulators for tumor immunotherapy.

The medicinal history of Pien Tze Huang is long, and it is the only "double top secret" variety of technology and formula at present. It has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, detumescence and pain, cooling blood and removing blood stasis. At present, researchers have analyzed and identified some compounds in Pien Tze Huang and its precious medicinal materials, such as Panax notoginseng, calculus bovis, snake gall and musk, and conducted activity screening, pharmacokinetics and pharmacological related studies on these chemical components. It was found that Pien Tze Huang had a significant effect on the treatment of acute and chronic hepatitis, ulcer, colon cancer, liver cancer and other diseases. The purpose of this paper is to systematically discuss the research achievements of researchers in recent years on the material basis, pharmacological effects and clinical application of Pien Tze Huang, with a view to providing ideas for the further research of Pien Tze Huang.

Alternative splicing is the key to human gene expression regulation and plays a decisive role in enlarging the diversity of functional proteins. Alternative splicing is an important biomarker in tumor progression, which is closely related to the development of tumors. Tumor cells tend to produce alternative spliceosome that are conducive to their progression. Therefore, targeting regulation of tumor-specific alternative spliceosomes is a potential strategy for tumor therapy. Herein, we provide a brief review of the complex relationship between alternative splicing and tumors. Alternative splicing works by removing non-coding sequences of pre-mRNA and assembling protein-coding fragments in different combinations, ultimately producing proteins with different or even opposite functions. Alternative splicing events can promote the transformation of tumor cells through apoptosis, invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis, and metabolism; they can also influence the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy by affecting genes that play a key role in the immune pathway. We proposed that direct or indirect targeting of alternative splicing factors and oligonucleotide-based therapies are the main strategies to reverse tumor alternative splicing events. These findings will help us to better understand tumor-related alternative splicing and to develop new strategies for tumor treatment.

Dengzhan Shengmai capsule, as a compound Chinese patent medicine, consists of four herbs: Herba Erigerontis, Ginseng, Ophiopogon, and Schisandrae Chinensis Fructus, and contains significant components of flavonoids, lignans, saponins, and organic acids. It is widely used clinically to treat cerebrovascular diseases such as chronic cerebral hypoperfusion and dementia with remarkable efficacy. This study proposes a research strategy for multi-component traditional Chinese medicine metabolites based on prediction databases and unfolds the analysis using Dengzhan Shengmai capsule as an example. Using the UPLC-Q-TOF/MS method, the analytical method was established and detected biological samples such as urine, feces, and bile of rats before and after administration based on the prediction of theoretical metabolites of Dengzhan Shengmai capsule. The possible secondary fragment ion information of metabolites was identified by comparing the detected results with prediction databases. The metabolites were identified based on the archetypal component mass spectrometric cleavage law and multistage mass spectrometric data. 51 metabolites, mainly flavonoid, organic acid, and lignan constituents, were finally identified from rat biosamples based on 306 theoretical metabolites of Dengzhan Shengmai capsule. This study provides a new strategy for the identification of metabolites in vivo and the analysis of metabolic pathways of TCM. The study complied with the procedures established by the Animal Experiment Ethics Committee of the Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and passed the animal experiment ethics examine (No. 00003645).

Obesity is an important risk factor related to osteoarthritis, but it′s role in post-traumatic osteoarthritis on young people need to further study. The internal mechanism except the mechanical loading may be associated with adipose exosomes. To examine the effect of obesity induced by high fat diet and adipose exosomes on knee post-traumatic osteoarthritis caused by destabilization of medial meniscus (DMM) surgery in young mice, 20 6-week-old C57BL/6J mice were randomly assigned to the control diet group (CD, n = 5), the DMM group (n = 5), the high fat diet group (HFD, n = 5) and the HFD plus DMM group (HFD+DMM, n = 5). The CD and DMM group were fed with a control diet, and the HFD and HFD+DMM group were fed with a high fat diet. We did the DMM surgery and the sham surgery on the mice when it was 10 weeks old. Extract obese and normal adipose exosomes, identify exosomes in vitro, and proceed fluorescence imaging in vivo using DiR staining. DMM+HFD-Exo group and DMM+CD-Exo group were injected the exosomes from the tail vain once a week (100 μL per shot with a concentration of 1 μg·μL^-1). Second, 15 6-week-old C57BL/6J mice were randomly assigned to the DMM group (n = 5), the DMM plus obese adipose exosomes group (DMM+HFD-Exo, n = 5), and the DMM plus control diet adipose exosomes group (DMM+CD-Exo, n = 5). Animal welfare and experimental process are in accordance with the regulations of the Experimental Animal Ethics Committee of Nanjing University (IACUC-D2204005). All mice were sacrificed at the age of 18 weeks, the knee joints of the mice were harvested and fixed. We used micro CT to examine the samples and measured the bone volume/tissue volume, trabecular thickness, trabecular number and trabecular separation. Then the samples were decalcified and embedded in paraffin, and 4 μm thickness sections were stained with H&E and safranin O/fast green to observe the histological changes of the knee joint. The results showed compared with the control diet group, high fat diet induced obesity can aggravate the pathological changes of the post-traumatic osteoarthritis caused by DMM surgery, which shows in having a higher Mankin score. The surface of knee articular cartilage in the HFD+DMM group was rough, and the subchondral bone has an increase in bone sclerosis. Compared with the DMM group, obese adipose exosomes can exacerbate the pathological changes of the knee articular cartilage, while not influencing the subchondral bone. In conclusion, high fat diet induced obesity can aggravate the post-traumatic osteoarthritis caused by DMM surgery in young mice. The obese adipose exosomes mainly affect the surface of the knee articular cartilage.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major contributor to patient deaths worldwide, and its pathogenesis is complex and mortality rates are increasing every year. Numerous researches have shown that the gut microbiota and its metabolites were closely associated with the development of CVD, and gut microbiota was expected to be a potential new target for the treatment of CVD. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), characterized by its multi-component, multi-target and integrity, can play a therapeutic role in CVD by regulating the gut microbiota, which has obvious advantages in stabilizing the disease, improving heart function and enhancing quality of life, and is an ideal intestinal microecological regulator. Therefore, this review will mainly discuss the intimate association of gut microbiota and its metabolites with CVD, and the therapeutic strategies of TCM targeting gut microbiota to improve CVD, including regulating the composition of gut microbiota, protecting the intestinal mucosal barrier, influencing the intestinal immune function and modulating the metabolites of gut microbiota, in order to provide a reference for the research of TCM targeting gut microbiota for CVD.

Small molecule fluorescent probes have gained widespread attention for their advantages of high selectivity, sensitivity, and easy to operate, and have played a critical role in the detection of various species. They have also demonstrated great potential in the field of biomedical research. Iron, as the most abundant transition metal in the human body, plays a vital role in many physiological functions. Due to the influence of the reductive microenvironment of cell, ferrous ion (Fe²⁺) is the main component of labile iron in living cells. Heme, consisting of Fe²⁺ and protoporphyrin IX, is one of the main signaling molecules that wrap biological iron in the human body, and also participates in many physiological and pathological processes. Therefore, the development of small molecule fluorescent probes for detecting Fe²⁺ and heme as effective monitoring tools will help to further understand their pathological and physiological functions, with potential applications in other fields. This review summarizes the research progress of small molecule fluorescent probes for Fe²⁺ and heme detection in recent years, and provides insights into future directions for their development.