Pharmacology最新文献

Background: Cancer is a major cause of death worldwide. Although modern medicine has made strides in treatment, a complete cure for cancer remains elusive.

Summary: Utilization of medicinal plants in traditional medicine for the treatment of multiple diseases, including cancer, is a well-established practice. Sinomenine is an alkaloid extracted from a medicinal plant and has a diverse range of biological properties, including anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial effects. Sinomenine exhibits inhibitory effects on various types of tumor cells, including breast, lung, and liver cancers. The anticancer properties of sinomenine are believed to involve stimulation of apoptosis and autophagy as well as suppression of cell proliferation, invasion, and metastasis.

Key message: This review summarizes the current research on sinomenine's potential as an anticancer agent, which may contribute to the discovery of more effective cancer treatments.

Introduction: The prevalence of potential drug-drug interactions (pDDIs) is becoming a major safety concern, as it has been previously linked to a significant number of adverse drug events and could have serious consequences for patients, including death. This is especially relevant for patients with chronic renal failure, as they are particularly vulnerable to drug-drug interactions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and associated factors of pDDIs in patients receiving chronic peritoneal dialysis.

Methods: An observational, cross-sectional study was conducted on consecutive peritoneal dialysis patients attending four tertiary care hospitals for regular monthly examination. The primary outcome was the number of pDDIs identified using Lexicomp. Potential predictors were determined using multiple linear regression.

Results: Total number of patients included in the study was 140. The results showed that pDDIs were highly prevalent, especially in patients who use antiarrhythmics (p = 0.001), have diabetes mellitus (p = 0.001), recently started peritoneal dialysis (p = 0.003), or have higher number of prescribed drugs (p < 0.001). Number of prescribed drugs (p < 0.001) remained a significant predictor of high-risk pDDIs in addition to the female gender (p = 0.043).

Conclusion: Clinicians should be particularly cautious when prescribing multiple medications to high-risk patients, such as peritoneal dialysis patients, to mitigate the risk of drug-drug interactions and associated adverse health outcomes.

Introduction: Hyperuricemia may be involved in the phenotypic transformation of vascular smooth muscle cells, thus promoting the occurrence of atherosclerosis, and autophagy may be one of the important links, but little is known about the specific molecular mechanism.

Methods: We established a mouse model of hyperuricemia and studied the relationship between changes in autophagy levels and the phenotypic transformation of muscle cells.

Results: Our study found that high uric acid levels promote the phenotypic transformation of muscle cells by inhibiting autophagy, thus enhancing their proliferation and migration abilities. If autophagy is restored, phenotypic transformation can be reversed by reducing the levels of the transcription factor Kruppel-like factor 4.

Conclusion: Uric acid may induce the phenotypic transformation of muscle cells and promote the occurrence of atherosclerosis by disrupting normal autophagy.

Introduction: The traditional Japanese herbal medicine hochuekkito (TJ-41) has been reported to ameliorate systemic inflammation and malnutrition in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). TJ-41 has also been known to have preventive effects against influenza virus infection. However, its role in the acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD) remains to be elucidated. Our previous study established a murine model of viral infection-associated AECOPD that was induced by intratracheal administration of porcine pancreatic elastase (PPE) and polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid [poly(I:C)]. Here, we used this model and investigated the effects of TJ-41 in AECOPD.

Methods: Specific pathogen-free C57BL/6J mice were used. A COPD model was induced by treating mice intratracheally with PPE on day 0. To generate the murine model of AECOPD, poly(I:C) was administered intratracheally following PPE treatment on days 22-24. Mice were sacrificed and analyzed on day 25. Mice were fed a diet containing 2% TJ-41 or a control diet.

Results: Daily oral intake of TJ-41 significantly decreased the numbers of neutrophils and lymphocytes in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), which was accompanied by decreased transcripts of CXC chemokines involved in neutrophil migration, viz., Cxcl1 and Cxcl2, in whole lung homogenates and reduced Cxcl2 concentration in BALF.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates the anti-inflammatory effects of TJ-41 in a mouse model of AECOPD, suggesting the effectiveness of TJ-41 for the management of COPD. Clinical investigations evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of TJ-41 in AECOPD would be meaningful.

Introduction: Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are known to decrease the risk of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. However, concerns have been raised regarding the potential pharmacodynamic interactions of PPIs and antiplatelet drugs with respect to cardiovascular risk. Patients with BCR::ABL1-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), essential thrombocythemia (ET), and polycythemia vera (PV) often suffer from peptic ulcer disease (PUD) and frequently receive low-dose aspirin due to an intrinsically high thrombotic risk.

Method: This retrospective multicenter study from a community setting investigated whether continuous PPI use may affect thrombohemorrhagic risk in ET and PV patients treated with long-term aspirin.

Results: Ninety-four aspirin-treated MPN patients (ET = 36, PV = 58) were included; median age was 69.5 years (range 21-92) and 40 (42.6%) were males. Nineteen (20.2%) patients continuously received PPIs and pantoprazole (n = 15, 78.9%) was the most frequently received PPI. PV phenotype (p = 0.085), male sex (p = 0.011), and prior thrombosis (p = 0.005) were associated with PPI use, whereas no correlations were found with respect to age, disease risk, splenomegaly, mutational status, constitutional symptoms, cardiovascular risk factors, cytoreductive treatment, or any of the blood cell counts (p > 0.050 for all analyses). The median follow-up time was 55.5 months; 19 (20.2%) thrombotic and 13 (13.8%) bleeding events occurred during this time. The use of PPIs was not associated with an increased risk of thrombosis (p = 0.158) or overall bleeding (p = 0.229) and none of the patients treated with PPIs experienced GI bleeding.

Conclusions: Considering that Helicobacter pylori infection and PUD are quite frequent in ET and PV patients, these preliminary results may provide some reassurance to physicians regarding the absence of thrombohemorrhagic risk associated with prolonged PPI use in MPN patients treated with long-term aspirin. Our observations may be even more important in the light of recent evidence suggesting suboptimal platelet inhibition in ET with once-daily when compared to twice- or triple-daily aspirin which may also cause more abdominal discomfort. Limitations of this study are its retrospective design, limited number of patients included, and the lack of pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic assessments.

Introduction: Fisetin has been demonstrated to inhibit the occurrence of atherosclerosis; however, the mechanism of fisetin suppressing atherosclerosis remains elusive.

Methods: The function of fisetin in the inhibition of atherosclerosis was evaluated by hematoxylin and eosin and Oil Red O staining in ApoE-/- mice. Molecular biomarkers of atherosclerosis progression were detected by Western blot and qPCR. Moreover, the inhibition of atherosclerosis on oxidative stress and ferroptosis was evaluated by immunofluorescence staining, qPCR, and Western blot assays.

Results: The obtained results showed that serum lipid was attenuated and consequentially the formation of atherosclerosis was also suppressed by fisetin in ApoE-/- mice. Exploration of the mechanism revealed that molecular biomarkers of atherosclerosis were decreased under fisetin treatment. The level of reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde declined, while the activity of superoxide dismutases and glutathione peroxidase was increased under the fisetin treatment. Additionally, the suppressor of ferroptosis, glutathione peroxidase 4 proteins, was elevated. The ferritin was decreased in the aortic tissues treated with fisetin.

Conclusions: In summary, fisetin attenuated the formation of atherosclerosis through the inhibition of oxidative stress and ferroptosis in the aortic tissues of ApoE-/- mice.

Introduction: The occurrence of lung ischemia-reperfusion injury (LIRI) after lung transplantation results in primary graft dysfunction (PGD) in more than 50% of cases, which seriously affects the prognosis of recipients. Currently, donor lung protection is the focus of research on improving graft survival in lung transplant recipients. Dexmedetomidine (Dex) is a widely used general anesthesia adjuvant in clinical practice to alleviate ischemia-reperfusion injury in the lungs, liver, heart, kidneys, and brain. However, intravenous infusion of Dex can cause negative effects on the cardiovascular system. Inhaling nebulized Dex can directly act on the alveolar tissue and alleviate its cardiovascular inhibitory effect by reducing drug intake. This study aimed to investigate the effect of donor nebulized Dex inhalation on LIRI after lung transplantation in rats.

Methods: We randomly divided the male Sprague-Dawley rats into donor rats and recipient rats, and allowed the donor rats to inhale nebulized Dex or physiological saline 15 min before surgery. The donor lung was refrigerated for 8 h before each single-lung transplant. After 2 h of reperfusion of the transplanted lung, serum and transplanted lung tissue were collected. The wet-to-dry weight ratio of the lung tissue was measured, arterial blood gas was detected, and histopathology changes, oxidative stress, inflammatory reactions, and apoptosis were evaluated.

Results: Pretransplant inhalation of Dex through the donor's lung reduced the injury of the transplanted lung, increased the levels of malondialdehyde and myeloperoxidase, and decreased the levels of superoxide dismutase and glutathione in the lung tissue. Moreover, nebulized Dex inhalation of the donor lung inhibited LIRI-induced tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, and inducible nitric oxide synthase expression and also suppressed nuclear factor kappa B phosphorylation. Nebulized Dex inhalation reduced the rate of cell apoptosis in the transplanted lung tissue by inhibiting the upregulation of Bax, downregulation of Bcl-2, and increase in caspase-3 lysis caused by LIRI.

Conclusion: Inhalation of atomized Dex is a potential donor lung protection strategy, which can be used to reduce LIRI after lung transplantation and may be helpful to improve the occurrence of PGD and prognosis of lung transplant recipients.

Introduction: Membrane-associated guanylate kinase with an inverted domain structure-1 (MAGI1) is dysregulated in diabetes; however, its role in diabetic nephropathy (DN) remains unclear. In this study, we determined the function and associated mechanisms of MAGI1 in DN.

Methods: Serum samples from 28 patients with DN and 28 normal volunteers were collected. High-glucose (HG)-treated human renal mesangial cells (HRMCs) and streptozotocin-treated rats were used as cell and animal models of DN, respectively. MAGI1 mRNA expression was measured by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. An 5-Ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine assay was used to assess cell proliferation, whereas Western blot analysis was performed to quantitate the levels of markers associated with proliferation, the extracellular matrix (ECM), and inflammation. These included collagens I, collagen IV, cyclin D1, AKT, phosphorylated-AKT (p-AKT), PI3K, and phosphorylated-PI3K (p-PI3K). The predicted binding of miR-205-5p with the MAGI1 3'UTR was verified using a luciferase assay.

Results: MAGI1 expression was increased in serum samples from DN patients and in HRMCs treated with HG. MAGI1 knockdown attenuated excessive proliferation, ECM accumulation, and inflammation in HG-induced HRMCs as well as injury to DN rats. MiR-205-5p potentially interacted with the 3'UTR of MAGI1 and binding was verified using a dual-luciferase reporter assay. Moreover, miR-205-5p repression offset the inhibitory influence of MAGI1 knockdown on proliferation, collagen deposition, and inflammation in HG-treated HRMCs.

Conclusion: MAGI1 contributes to injury caused by DN. Furthermore, miR-205-5p binds to MAGI1 and suppresses MAGI1 function. These findings suggest that miR-205-5p-mediates MAGI1 inhibition, which represents a potential treatment for DN.