南方医科大学学报杂志最新文献

Objectives: To investigate the therapeutic effect of Exocarpium Citri Grandis formula granules (ECGFG) on fatty liver disease (FLD) in zebrafish and explore the underlying mechanism.

Methods: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and alcoholic fatty liver disease (ALD) models were established in zebrafish larvae at 3 days post fertilization (dpf), in which the treatment efficacy of 16, 32, or 64 μg/mL ECGFG was evaluated by examining zebrafish survival and liver pathologies and using whole-fish oil red O staining and RT-qPCR. The therapeutic mechanism of ECGFG for FLD was investigated using Prussian blue staining, DCFH-DA probe, MDA content detection, RT-qPCR assay and immunohistochemical staining for CAV1.

Results: In zebrafish models of NAFLD and ALD, treatment with ECGFG significantly reduced lipid accumulation and the expression levels of FASN, SREBP1, HMGCRA, TNF-α and IL-6, increased the expressions of Apoa1 and PPARα, and reduced iron deposition and the contents of MDA and ROS in the liver. In zebrafish models of NAFLD, treatment with ECGFG at the 3 doses significantly increased hepatic expressions of Tf, TfR, FPN and SLC7A11, and at the doses of 32 and 64 μg/mL, ECGFG obviously increased hepatic expression of GPX4. ALD fish models showed significantly increased hepatic expressions of Tf, TfR and FPN, which were effectively lowered by treatment with ECGFG at the 3 doses. ECGFG did not obviously affect the expression of SLC7A11, but its high dose (64 μg/mL) caused significant elevation of GPX4 expression. Both zebrafish models of NAFLD and ALD showed obviously increased CAV1 expression level in the liver, which was significantly reduced by treatment with 32 and 64 μg/mL ECGFG.

Conclusions: In zebrafish models of NAFLD and ALD, ECGFG can alleviate lipid accumulation and inflammatory response and lower the expression level of CAV1 to restore iron homeostasis and suppress lipid peroxidation and ferroptosis in the liver.

Objectives: To evaluate the performance of different multi-modality fusion models for predicting radiation-induced oral mucositis (RIOM) following radiotherapy in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

Methods: We retrospectively collected the data from 198 patients with locally advanced NPC who experienced RIOM following radiotherapy at the Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University from September, 2022 to February, 2023. Based on oral radiation dose-volume parameters and clinical features of NPC, basic classification models were developed using different combinations of feature selection algorithms and classifiers and integrated using a multi-criterion decision-making (MCDM)-based classifier fusion (MCF) strategy and its variant, the H-MCF model. The basic classification models, MCF model, the H-MCF model with a single modality or multiple modalities and other ensemble classifiers were compared for performances for predicting RIOM by assessing the area under the ROC curve (AUC), accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity.

Results: The H-MCF model, which integrated multi-modality features, achieved the highest accuracy for predicting severe RIOM with an AUC of 0.883, accuracy of 0.850, sensitivity of 0.933, and specificity of 0.800.

Conclusions: Compared with each of the individual classifiers, the multimodal multi-classifier fusion algorithm combining clinical and dosimetric modalities demonstrates superior performance in predicting the incidence of severe RIOM in NPC patients following radiotherapy.

Objectives: To investigate the regulatory mechanism of aurora kinase B (AURKB) for promoting malignant phenotype of osteosarcoma cells.

Methods: HA-Vector or HA-AURKB was transfected in 293T cells to identify the molecules interacting with AURKB using immunoprecipitation combined with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry followed by verification with co-immunoprecipitation and Western blotting. In cultured osteosarcoma cells with lentivirus-mediated RNA interference of AURKB or DHX9 or their overexpression, the changes in cell proliferation, migration, and invasion activities were observed with EDU and Transwell assays. Mechanistic analysis was performed using Co-IP and in vivo ubiquitination experiments to detect the interaction between AURKB and DHX9 and the phosphorylation and ubiquitination levels of DHX9. Western blotting was used to detect the effect of AURKB and DHX9 on activation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling.

Results: AURKB was highly expressed in osteosarcoma cell lines, and in osteosarcoma 143B cells, AURKB silencing significantly reduced cell proliferation, migration and invasion abilities. Interactions between AURKB and DHX9 were detected, and they were both highly expressed in osteosarcoma tissues; silencing AURKB reduced the protein expression of DHX9, and AURKB overexpression increased DHX9 phosphorylation. Silencing AURKB did not significantly affect the transcription and translation of DHX9 but accelerated its degradation and ubiquitination. Overexpression of DHX9 effectively reversed the effects of AURKB silencing on IKBα protein and phosphorylated p65, promoted nuclear translocation of p65 to activate the NF-κB signaling pathway, and enhanced the proliferation, migration, and invasion abilities of cultured osteosarcoma cells.

Conclusions: AURKB overexpression promotes the malignant phenotype of osteosarcoma cells by activating the NF-κB signaling pathway via regulating DHX9.

Methods: We retrospectively collected CT scan data from 276 patients with pathologically confirmed primary bone tumors from 4 medical centers in Guangdong Province between January, 2010 and August, 2021. A convolutional neural network (CNN) was employed as the deep learning architecture. The optimal baseline deep learning model (R-Net) was determined through transfer learning, and an optimized model (S-Net) was obtained through algorithmic improvements. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to screen the clinical features such as sex, age, mineralization location, and pathological fractures, which were then connected with the imaging features to construct the deep learning fusion model (SC-Net). The diagnostic performance of the SC-Net model and machine learning models were compared with radiologists' diagnoses, and their classification performance was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and F1 score.

Results: In the external test set, the fusion model (SC-Net) achieved the best performance with an AUC of 0.901 (95% CI: 0.803-1.00), an accuracy of 83.7% (95% CI: 69.3%-93.2%) and an F1 score of 0.857, and outperformed the S-Net model with an AUC of 0.818 (95% CI: 0.694-0.942), an accuracy of 76.7% (95% CI: 61.4%-88.2%), and an F1 score of 0.828. The overall classification performance of the fusion model (SC-Net) exceeded that of radiologists' diagnoses.

Conclusions: The deep learning fusion model based on multi-center CT images and clinical features is capable of accurate classification of osseous and chondroid matrix mineralization and may potentially improve the accuracy of clinical diagnoses of osteogenic versus chondrogenic primary bone tumors.

Objectives: To examine how the glucose transporter SLC2A1 influences the proliferation and migration of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and explore the underlying molecular mechanisms.

Methods: We examined the differential expression of SLC2A1 between normal and LUAD tissues in the TCGA database and its prognostic implications. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect SLC2A1 protein levels in clinical samples of LUAD and adjacent tissues, and the association of SLC2A1 expression levels with clinicopathological features of the patients was analyzed. In PC9 cells with stable SLC2A1 overexpression or knockdown, the effects of SLC2A1 expression level on cell proliferation and migration were assessed using CCK-8 and Transwell assays, and the changes in expressions of ferroptosis- and autophagy-related proteins were measured; the occurrence of ferroptosis was confirmed using ROS and Fe²⁺ fluorescence staining.

Results: SLC2A1 expression was significantly higher in LUAD tumor tissues than in normal lung tissues (P<0.05) and was associated with worse pathological parameters and prognosis of the patients (P<0.05). In PC9 cells, SLC2A1 overexpression significantly promoted cell proliferation, invasion and migration, and SLC2A1 knockdown significanty increased cell death and inhibited cell invasion and proliferation. SLC2A1 knockdown caused obvious activation of cell ferroptosis, reduced GPX4 and xCT expressions, and increased intracellular levels of ROS and Fe²⁺. SLC2A1 knockdown also resulted in increased cell autophagy shown by increased LC3B expression, which could be reversed by treatement with 3-MA.

Conclusions: High SLC2A1 expression is correlated with poor prognosis of patients with LUAD, and inhibiting SLC2A1 can induce ferroptosis and autophagy of LUAD cells, suggesting the potential of SLC2A1 as a target for LUAD diagnosis and treatment.

Objectives: To investigate the mechanism of luteolin for inhibiting proliferation of lung cancer A549 cells.

Methods: A549 cells treated with different concentrations of luteolin for 48 h were evaluated for changes in cell viability, proliferation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and apoptosis using MTT assay, plate cloning assay, EdU staining, DCFH-DA assay and Hoechst33258 staining. The changes in cell autophagy were examined with MDC staining, and the expressions of apoptosis-related proteins (Bax, Bcl-2, and cleaved caspase-9), autophagy-related proteins (LC3B, Beclin 1, and P62), AKT/mTOR pathway proteins, and HO-1 protein were detected using Western blotting.

Results: Treatment with luteolin dose-dependently inhibited the viability and proliferation of A549 cells, increased intracellular ROS levels, up-regulated the expressions of Bax, cleaved caspase-9, and Beclin 1, increased the LC3B-II/LC3B-I ratio, down-regulated the expressions of Bcl-2 and P62, and induced cell apoptosis and autophagy. Luteolin also significantly inhibited the phosphorylation of AKT and mTOR and down-regulated the expression of HO-1 protein in the cells.

Conclusions: Luteolin induces apoptosis and autophagy to inhibit proliferation of A549 cells by increasing ROS production, inhibiting the AKT/mTOR pathway and down-regulating HO-1 protein expression.

Objectives: To investigate the protective effect of the probiotic bacterium Streptococcus salivarius K12 (K12) against Mycoplasma pneumoniae (Mp) infection in mice.

Methods: Forty male BALB/c mice were randomized into normal control group, K12 treatment group, Mp infection group, and K12 pretreatment prior to Mp infection group. The probiotic K12 was administered daily by gavage for 14 days before Mp infection induced by intranasal instillation of Mp. Three days after Mp infection, the mice were euthanized for analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) cell counts and serum levels of secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and interleukin-6 (IL-6). RT-qPCR was performed to detect the P1 and community-acquired respiratory distress syndrome ( CARDS ) toxin of Mp in the lung tissues and the mRNA expressions of TNF-α, IL-6, chemokine 1 (CXCL1), matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9), mucin 5ac (MUC5ac), collagen 3a1 (Col3a1), Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and TLR4; the protein expressions of TLR2 and TLR4 in the lung tissue were detected using Western blotting. Pathological changes in the lung tissue and airway remodeling were examined with HE staining and AB/PAS staining.

Results: Compared with the Mp-infected mice with PBS treatment, the infected mice with K12 treatment showed significantly lowered mRNA levels of P1 and CARDS in the lung tissue and reduced white blood cell counts in the BALF (P<0.05). In spite of the absence of significant differences in serum levels of inflammatory factors between the two groups, the mRNA expressions of TNF‑α, IL-6, CXCL1, MMP9, MUC5ac and COL3A1 and the mRNA and protein levels of TLR2 and TLR4 in the lung tissues were significantly lower in K12-treated mice, in which AB/PAS staining showed obviously decreased mucus secretion.

Conclusions: K12 pretreatment can effectively reduce pulmonary inflammatory responses, improve airway remodeling and alleviate lung injury in Mp-infected mice.

Objective: To explore the key genes and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) associated with Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods: Peripheral blood plasma samples were collected from 6 PD patients and 6 healthy individuals. The mRNA and lncRNA expression profiles were detected using ceRNA microarray technology, and the differentially expressed genes were analyzed using bioinformatics methods. The differentially expressed mRNAs transcribed within 10 kb upstream or downstream of the differentially expressed lncRNAs were defined as potential cis-regulatable (Cis) target genes of the lncRNAs. A PD-specific protein-protein interaction network (PPI) was constructed. Competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks were also constructed using the differential lncRNAs with mRNAs and known microRNAs. Using MPP⁺-treated SHSY5Y cells as a PD cell model, the expressions of the key lncRNAs and their functions were examined.

Results: We identified 316 genes and 986 lncRNAs showing significant differential expressions in PD patients (P< 0.05). The differentially expressed mRNAs and the potential cis-regulatable target genes of these lncRNAs were functionally annotated using GO and KEGG enrichment analysis, and the targeting relationship of the differentially expressed mRNAs and lncRNAs with microRNAs were predicted. Analysis of the ceRNA networks constructed based on the differentially expressed lncRNAs suggested that lncMTG2-1:1, lnc-CTSD-5:1, lnc-PCCA-3:1, lnc-VTCN1-3:1, lnc-ZNF25-7:1, and lnc-DAZ3-1:1 might be the key lncRNAs in PD. In MPP⁺-treated SH-SY5Y cells, the expression of lnc-CTSD-5:1 showed the most significant changes, and silencing lnc-CTSD-5:1 obviously restored the expression level of tyrosine hydroxylase.

Conclusion: PD patients have significant changes in plasma lncRNA expression profile, and the differentially expressed genes and lncRNAs found in this study may provide new clues for exploring the pathogenesis and identifying potential biomarkers of PD.

Objective: We report a case of application of third-generation sequencing (TGS) combined with preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) for successful prevention of hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) caused by SPAST gene mutations and assess the value of PGT-M and TGS in managing hereditary spastic paraplegia.

Methods: A family affected by HSP underwent whole exon sequencing (WES), and a c.1699G>T mutation in the SPAST gene was identified. The mutation site in the proband was confirmed through Sanger sequencing. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) site flanking the SPAST gene mutation was selected as the genetic linkage marker, and a SNP haplotype carrying the mutated gene was constructed. Ovarian stimulation using an antagonist regimen was performed for oocyte retrieval, followed by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and embryo culture. Blastocyst trophectoderm cells were biopsied for preimplantation genetic testing for monogenic disorders (PGT-M) to allow the selection of disease-free embryos for transfer.

Results: In this cycle, a total of 20 oocytes were retrieved, among which 18 were successfully fertilized to result in 12 blastocysts eligible for biopsy. Genetic testing revealed that all the 12 blastocysts were successfully amplified and confirmed as euploidy. Among them, 8 blastocysts did not carry paternal mutations, and a high-quality euploid embryo was selected for frozen embryo transfer (FET). Subsequent amniotic fluid testing during pregnancy confirmed the absence of paternal mutations in the fetus, resulting in the birth of a healthy baby girl.

Conclusion: For cases of genetic diseases with missing pedigree data, the application of third-generation sequencing and PGT-M technique can effectively block vertical transmission of SPAST gene mutation to the offspring, avoid pregnancy with an aneuploid embryo, and help families with autosomal dominant HSP obtain healthy offsprings.

Objective: To investigate the role of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in the pathogenesis of acute kidney injury (AKI) after laparoscopic radical nephrectomy (LRN) and the predictive value of RAS activation status for AKI.

Methods: Eighty-two patients undergoing LRN at the Third Medical Center of General Hospital of PLA from December, 2023 to March, 2024 were enrolled, including 57 with postoperative AKI and 25 without AKI according to KDIGO criteria. Blood and urine samples were collected from the patients before and at 24 h after the operation for analyzing the correlation of urinary aldosterone, plasma ACE2, Ang1-7, Nrf-2, and IL-10 levels with postoperative AKI. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses and ROC curve were employed to identify the risk factors for postoperative AKI and their predictive value for AKI.

Results: Compared with those without postoperative AKI, the patients with AKI had significantly higher postoperative urinary aldosterone levels and lower plasma ACE 2, Ang 1-7, Nrf-2, and IL-10 levels (P < 0.05). Postoperative urinary aldosterone level was positively correlated with AKI and negatively with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (P < 0.05); plasma levels of ACE 2, Nrf-2, and IL-10 were all negatively correlated with AKI and positively with eGFR. Urinary aldosterone was a risk factor and plasma ACE 2, Ang 1-7, Nrf-2 and IL-10 were protective factors for AKI, and among them urinary aldosterone was an independent risk factor (AUC=0.651) and plasma Nrf-2 was an independent protective factor (AUC=0.679). The unconventional RAS pathway indices had an AUC of 0.758, and aldosterone combined with the unconventional pathway indices had an AUC of 0.788 for predicting postoperative AKI.

Conclusion: Activation of the conventional RAS pathway and suppression of the unconventional pathway contribute to AKI following LRA possibly by affecting eGFR. Aldosterone combined with the unconventional pathway indicators can predict the occurrence of AKI after LRN.