MedComm最新文献

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease caused by the loss of dopaminergic neurons (DNs). Currently, there is no treatment that can cure PD. Deep brain stimulation has been used to treat PD due to its good effectiveness, but there are safety issues. Therefore, noninvasive electrical stimulation (NES) may be an effective and safe strategy for the treatment of PD. Here, we performed NES treatment and NES combined with human adipose-derived stem cells-induced DN transplantation (NES-DN) on the PD monkey model to explore the therapeutic effect of NES on PD. The results show that NES or NES-DN can increase dopamine levels, improve mitochondrial dysfunction, reduce neuroinflammation, enhance synaptic function, and protect TH neurons, thereby improving the movement disorders of PD. Moreover, NES/NES-DN may exert immunomodulatory effects by regulating serpin family A member 3 in PD monkeys. Our results support the scientific basis and preclinical evidence for NES in the treatment of PD. Not only does NES alone improve PD, but NES combined with stem cell therapy can greatly enhance the therapeutic effect of PD.

Vacuole membrane Protein 1 (VMP1) is widely known to be an important mediator in the formation of autophagosomes, playing a crucial role in macroautophagic processes. Emerging evidence suggests that VMP1 may have context-dependent functions across diverse cancer types and different tumor microenvironments, both within the context of autophagy and beyond. Here, using glioblastoma as a cancer model, we found that VMP1 can promote tumor growth independent of its autophagic functions. We observed significant upregulation of VMP1 in glioblastoma, which was correlated with poorer prognosis, and its ability to promote tumor growth without altering autophagic flux. Bulk, single-cell, and spatial transcriptomics analyses revealed that the pro-angiogenic markers were enriched in glioblastomas with high VMP1 expression. We further validated that overexpression of VMP1 would enhance angiogenesis through VEGFA-VEGFR2 signaling-mediated activation in endothelial cells. Treatment with bevacizumab, a monoclonal antibody against VEGFA, significantly inhibited VMP1-driven tumor growth and prolonged survival in mice. Our study thus uncovered non-autophagic functions of VMP1 as an important mediator in glioblastoma angiogenesis with the potential for therapeutic targeting.

Research on bedtime procrastination and depression has primarily used traditional psychometric approaches, limiting the ability to capture symptom-level temporal dynamics. This study aimed to examine within- and between-person associations between symptoms of depression and bedtime procrastination, considering sex differences. Data from 3296 adolescents followed over 18 months were used to explore symptom associations and their centrality in cross-sectional networks, as well as cross-lagged effects to clarify temporal relationships. In the within-person temporal network, not going to bed on time and trouble concentrating were the most influential symptoms for males and females, respectively. In the contemporaneous network, feeling worried and not going to bed on time were most central for males, while feeling tired and feeling worried were central for females. No significant sex differences were found in overall network strength (S = 0.10, p = 0.75) or structure (M = 0.48, p = 0.09). Positive associations were consistent at the between-person level. Overall, this study characterizes the symptom-to-symptom associations between depression and bedtime procrastination at both the within- and between-person levels, with notable sex differences. For males, sleep difficulties and worries were key factors, while for females, concentration issues and fatigue played a more significant role.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections resurged globally in 2023–2024 following a significant decline during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. To understand the genomic epidemiology of this resurgence in China, a nationwide 1-year genomic surveillance identified 9907 patients infected with M. pneumoniae, resulting in an overall positive rate of 10.05%. We developed a hybrid capture-based targeted next-generation sequencing (hc-tNGS) assay, obtaining 271 high-quality genomes directly from clinical samples. Phylogenetic analysis of a global collection of 562 M. pneumoniae genomes identified six distinct lineages, including three newly emerged main Chinese clades (MCCs) that co-circulated across various regions of China. Among these MCCs, one clade, comprising P1-1, ST17, and L4, was localized in Taiwan, while two others—P1-1, ST3, and L6 clade, and P1-2, ST14 and L2 clade—co-circulated in different regions of China during the 2023–2024 epidemic season. Notably, 96.31% of the isolates identified in this study exhibited a point mutation, primarily A2063G (95.94%). This study offers a comprehensive genomic characterization of the post-pandemic M. pneumoniae resurgence in China, highlighting the emergence and spread of resistant clades. These findings emphasize the importance of adopting a One Health approach to address the potential global public health threats posed by this resurgent pathogen.

Radiogenomics is a rapidly developing field that links radiological image features (radiomics) to genomic-level data (genomics, transcriptomics, and epigenomics), addressing the limitations of single-omic approaches. Radiomics provides a noninvasive and cost-effective method to capture tissue-level characteristics, while genomics elucidates the underlying molecular mechanisms. The central hypothesis is that the formation of imaging phenotypes is associated with the genetic and molecular processes, and thus can reflect underlying biological activities. This review presents the fundamental principles of radiogenomic analysis, covering key concepts in image analysis and gene analysis, as well as advanced analytical techniques for linking imaging and genomic data. Moreover, we summarize recent research findings across various human diseases, including oncology and nononcology, to highlight the current understandings and achievements in this field. Radiogenomics shows potential in clinical applications for elucidating disease mechanisms, detecting genomic variations noninvasively, and improving prognosis predictions. However, its implementation in clinical practice is limited by data scarcity, analytical methods, and barriers in translational processes. Future research should focus on enhancing data quality and establishing guidelines, developing analytical platforms, and validating current findings through animal models and clinical trials.

The 2022 global mpox outbreak caused by the monkeypox virus (MPXV) has underscored the urgent need for improved vaccine development. To address this need, we developed four candidate vaccine antigens based on conserved sequences of the MPXV A35R and M1R proteins utilizing a lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery system. All four vaccine candidates elicited varying degrees of humoral and cellular immune responses and conferred differential protection against MPXV and vaccinia virus (VACV) in BALB/c mice; notably, the dual-antigen vaccines MV1 and MV2 induced more potent immunogenicity, including higher neutralizing antibody titers and cytokine secretion levels. However, among the four candidates, only the dual-antigen vaccines MV1 and MV2 conferred protective efficacy in AGB6 mice and reduced infection-induced pox lesion formation, indicating that antigens containing both intracellular mature virus (IMV) and extracellular enveloped virus (EEV) targets may be key to exerting robust protection. Notably, MV2—which was designed via structural truncation and recombination based on poxvirus-broad-spectrum antibodies using the AlphaFold3 prediction platform and adopts a single-chain “dimer-like” configuration—exhibited not only optimal protective efficacy but also sustained durable immune responses and protection. These findings indicate that MV2 induces favorable immunogenicity and has potential for preventing MPXV and VACV infections, supporting its promise as a clinical vaccine candidate for MPXV.

The advent of neuroimmunology has dismantled the traditional doctrine of the brain's immune privilege, uncovering a sophisticated and dynamic bidirectional regulatory interplay between the nervous and immune systems. This review synthesizes pivotal advances in neuroimmunology, integrating recent anatomical and molecular discoveries to refine the understanding of neuro-immune communication. It highlights the pathological roles of neurotransmitters, cytokines, and their signaling networks in neurodegenerative, psychiatric, and neoplastic diseases, while critically examining contested regulatory mechanisms. The review further evaluates the clinical translational potential and challenges of innovative strategies such as vagus nerve stimulation, optogenetics, multiomics sequencing, and cytokine-targeted therapies. By integrating multidisciplinary perspectives, this review consolidates a theoretical framework for neuro-immune research and provides insights into precision medicine for related diseases. On the basis of synthesizing existing knowledge, it proposes promising research directions, identifies priorities and potential challenges for future investigations, and emphasizes the value of neuro-immune mechanisms in guiding therapeutic development—including target identification, design of individualized treatment strategies, and cross-disciplinary collaborative innovation to advance clinical interventions for neuro-immune diseases. Finally, the review delves into the recent advances and challenges in combined neuromodulation-immunotherapy strategies.

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into surgical practices is advancing towards greater intelligence and precision. This study assesses the potential of AI in video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomy for lung cancer by developing an AI system named LungSurg. LungSurg comprises two interconnected networks: a segmentation network for identifying intrathoracic anatomy and surgical instruments, and a classification network for recognizing surgical phases. We prospectively collected 222 VATS lobectomy videos from eight centers, generating over 32,000 annotations and more than one million frames with phase information. In external validation, the segmentation network achieved mean Average precision scores of 0.745 for the left lung and 0.726 for the right lung across various instruments and anatomical structures. The classification network demonstrated Top-1 and Top-3 accuracies of 71.5% and 88.0%, respectively, in identifying 14 surgical phases. Comparative experiments revealed that LungSurg performed comparably to senior surgeons in anatomical identification and surpassed them in sensitivity. In addition, an educational study showed that surgical residents trained with LungSurg significantly improved their anatomical identification and phase classification skills compared to those using conventional methods. These results indicate that LungSurg accurately analyzes VATS lobectomy procedures, highlighting the feasibility and potential of AI-driven tools in enhancing thoracic surgical practices.

Cancer immunotherapy has emerged as a transformative therapeutic strategy that harnesses the immune system to combat malignant tumors, overcoming critical limitations such as the nonspecific cytotoxicity of conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy and drug resistance arising from target mutations in targeted therapies. Growing evidence demonstrates that the human microbiome plays a pivotal role in modulating immune responses and influencing the efficacy of immunotherapeutic interventions. Although the impact is increasingly recognized, the molecular mechanisms and translational potential of microbiome-based strategies remain incompletely explored. This review systematically elucidates how microorganisms from distinct anatomical sites (including bacteria, fungi, and viruses residing in the gut, oral cavity, skin, respiratory tract, and urogenital tract) and intratumoral microbes modulate the tumor immune microenvironment through metabolites, immune cell priming, and antigen mimicry. Furthermore, we discuss how specific microbial signatures predict responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and CAR-T cell therapy, and highlight emerging interventional strategies, including fecal microbiome transplantation (FMT), probiotics, and engineered bacteria, that demonstrate synergistic effects with immunotherapy in preclinical and clinical settings. By integrating mechanistic insights with translational advances, this review provides a comprehensive scientific foundation for microbiome-based precision immunotherapy, aimed at improving patient survival outcomes and reducing treatment-related adverse events.

The interplay between diet, gut microbiota, and depressive symptoms is increasingly recognized, but underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We investigated whether adherence to several dietary patterns relates to gut microbial signatures and whether these profiles are associated with depressive symptoms in an elderly Mediterranean cohort. In 644 participants, 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing and dietary intake from a food-frequency questionnaire were obtained at baseline and 1-year follow-up. Adherence scores were computed for the Mediterranean diet adherence score (MEDAS), energy-reduced MEDAS (erMEDAS), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), Healthy Plant-Based Diet Index (HPDI), Unhealthy Plant-Based Diet Index (UPDI), and Western Diet Score (WESTDIET). Healthy patterns (erMEDAS, MEDAS, DASH, HPDI) were associated with 22, 28, 24, and 16 genera, of which 82%, 75%, 79%, and 88% showed a protective profile (more abundant with lower, or less abundant with higher, depressive symptoms). UPDI and WESTDIET were associated with 20 and 27 genera, but only 25% and 26% were protective. Mediation analyses indicated that gut microbiota mediated the associations of MEDAS (ACME = –0.066, p = 0.006) and erMEDAS (ACME = –0.029, p = 0.011) with depressive symptoms. This study is among the first to test whether diet shapes a microbiota signature that mediates the diet–depression relationship, adding mechanistic insight into diet–mental health research.