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  • Pate Kjellerup posted an update 1 week, 5 days ago

    While promising agents have already been identified, the vast majority of Chinese herbal mechanisms remain undiscovered. In this review, we summarize the effects and mechanisms of specific Chinese herbs and herbal decoctions on tumor related T cells. Copyright © 2020 Hoffman, Li, He, Wu, He, He and Gao.[This corrects the article DOI 10.3389/fphar.2020.00073.]. Copyright © 2020 Xie, Li, Tian and Li.Purpose Oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of obesity and its associated disorders. Safflower yellow (SY) and hydroxysafflor yellow A (HSYA), the natural compounds isolated from Carthamus tinctorius L., has been found to possess antioxidative and anti-obesity properties. The purpose of the present study is to investigate whether SY and its main component HSYA alleviate obesity by the antioxidant effects. Methods Diet-induced obese (DIO) mice were treated with 200 mg/kg/d SY or HSYA for 10 weeks. Body weight, fat mass, serum biochemical parameters and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were measured. Glucose and insulin tolerance tests were performed. The expression of antioxidant enzymes in liver and adipose tissue were measured. In vitro, H2O2-induced oxidative stress HepG2 cells and 3T3-L1 adipocytes were treated with SY and HSYA to investigate the direct effects of SY and HSYA on the expression of antioxidant enzymes. Results SY and HSYA significantly decreased the body weight gain of DIO mice, and decreased fat mass to 57.8% and 61.6% of the control mice, respectively (P less then 0.05). The parameters of glucose metabolism and liver function were improved after SY and HSYA treatment. The hepatic SOD activities and the mRNA levels of antioxidant enzymes in liver and adipose tissue of SY and HSYA treated mice were increased (P less then 0.05). Meanwhile, the administration of SY and HSYA on the H2O2-induced oxidative stress HepG2 cells and adipocytes also increased the expression of the antioxidant factor and antioxidant enzymes to 1.2~3.3 folds of the control cells (P less then 0.05). Conclusion SY and its main component HSYA could significantly decrease the fat mass, and improve glucose metabolism and liver function in diet-induced obese mice. The beneficial effects of SY and HSYA on obesity and metabolism may be associated with the increased expression of antioxidant enzymes in liver and adipose tissue. Copyright © 2020 Yan, Wang, Pan, Wang, Yang, Liu, Zhu and Gong.Background Huangci Granule is a traditional Chinese medicine for treating metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Huangci Granule combination with chemotherapy and cetuximab (CET) or bevacizumab (BV) for treating mCRC. Methods We performed a randomized, controlled, and double-blind trial and recruited patients with mCRC who were planned to undergo chemotherapy combined with CET or BV. The treatment group was treated with Huangci Granule, while the control group was treated with placebo. Continuous treatment until disease progression, death, intolerable toxicity or up to 6 months. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS), and the secondary endpoint was quality of life and safety. Result 320 patients were randomly assigned to receive treatment, including 200 first-line patients and 120 second-line patients. In the first-line treatment, the median PFS was 9.59 months (95% CI, 6.94-13.25) vs 6.89 months (95% CI, 4.99-9.52) in treatment group and control group (HR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.50-0.97; P = 0.027). Chinese medicine was an independent factor affecting the PFS. In the second-line treatment, the median PFS was 6.51 months (95% CI, 4.49-9.44) vs 4.53 months (95% CI, 3.12-6.57) in the treatment group and control group (HR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.45-0.95; P = 0.020). DBZ inhibitor price Compared with the control group, “role function,” “social function,” “fatigue,” and “appetite loss” were significantly improved in the treatment (P less then 0.05) and drug related grades 3 to 4 adverse events were less. Conclusion Huangci Granule combined with chemotherapy and CET or BV can prolong the PFS of mCRC, improve the quality of life, reduce adverse reactions, and have good safety. Copyright © 2020 Liu, Wu, Jia, Cai, Wang, Zhou, Ji, Sui, Zeng, Xiao, Liu, Huo, Feng, Deng and Li.Alpinetin is a naturally occurring flavonoid from the ginger plants. We previously reported the identification of alpinetin as a ligand of human pregnane X receptor (hPXR). The current study investigated the role of alpinetin as a putative PXR activator in ameliorating chemically induced inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We found that oral administration of alpinetin significantly alleviated the severity of dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice by decreasing the inflammatory infiltration, the levels of the pro-inflammatory mediators, and the PXR target genes in the colon. In vitro, alpinetin blocked the nuclear translocation of p-p65 in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages. Further, alpinetin significantly upregulated PXR target genes and inhibited TNF-α-induced NF-κB-luciferase activity in LS174T colorectal cells; however, this regulatory effects were lost when cellular PXR gene was knocked down. In PXR transactivation assays, alpinetin increased both mouse and human PXR transactivation in a dose-dependent manner. Ligand occluding mutants, S247W/C284W and S247W/C284W/S208W, in hPXR-reporter assays, abrogated alpinetin-induced hPXR transactivation. Finally, alpinetin bound to the hPXR-ligand-binding domain (LBD) was confirmed by competitive ligand binding assay. The current study significantly extends prior observations by validating a PXR/NF-κB regulatory mechanism governing alpinetin’s anti-inflammatory effects in a murine model of IBD. Copyright © 2020 Yu, Yue, Ding, Luo, Ren, Zhang, Mani, Wang and Dou.Antimicrobial resistance has become a serious threat to human and animal health, and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus has become an important nosocomial infection pathogen, causing thousands of deaths each year. In this study, after screening a variety of natural products, we found that cajanin stilbene acid (CSA) had significant inhibitory effect on sensitive and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) in vitro. And we also confirmed that CSA had significant anti-VRE infection ability in vivo. Subsequently, we studied the antibacterial mechanism of CSA through proteomics experiments, and the results showed that CSA killed Enterococcus by inhibiting the phosphotransferase system of Enterococcus, thus hinders the normal growth and metabolic functions of bacteria. The results of this study provided evidence for the in-depth study on the mechanism of the antibacterial action of CSA and also provided a candidate for the development of anti-VRE drugs. Copyright © 2020 Tan, Hua, Xue and Ma.