Enlightenment from clinical trials on Chinese medicine for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Pang Bo,Junhua Zhang,이명수,Wenke Zheng 한국한의학연구원 2020 Integrative Medicine Research Vol.9 No.3

piRNA-1742 promotes renal cell carcinoma malignancy by regulating USP8 stability through binding to hnRNPU and thereby inhibiting MUC12 ubiquitination

Zhang Wentao,Zheng Zongtai,Wang Keyi,Mao Weipu,Li Xue,Wang Guangchun,Zhang Yuanyuan,Huang Jianhua,Zhang Ning,Wu Pengfei,Liu Ji,Zhang Haimin,Che Jianping,Peng Bo,Zheng Junhua,Li Wei,Yao Xudong 생화학분자생물학회 2023 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.55 No.-

Accumulating studies have confirmed that PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are considered epigenetic effectors in cancer. We performed piRNA microarray expression analysis on renal cell carcinoma (RCC) tumor tissues and paired normal tissues and performed a series of in vivo and in vitro experiments to explore piRNAs associated with RCC progression and investigate their functional mechanisms. We found that piR-1742 was highly expressed in RCC tumors and that patients with high piR-1742 expression had a poor prognosis. Inhibition of piR-1742 significantly reduced tumor growth in RCC xenograft and organoid models. Mechanistically, piRNA-1742 regulates the stability of USP8 mRNA by binding directly to hnRNPU, which acts as a deubiquitinating enzyme that inhibits the ubiquitination of MUC12 and promotes the development of malignant RCC. Subsequently, nanotherapeutic systems loaded with piRNA-1742 inhibitors were found to effectively inhibit the metastasis and growth of RCC in vivo. Therefore, this study highlights the functional importance of piRNA-related ubiquitination in RCC and demonstrates the development of a related nanotherapeutic system, possibly contributing to the development of therapeutic approaches for RCC.

Tongue features of patients with coronavirus disease 2019: a retrospective cross-sectional study

Wentai Pang,Dong Zhang,Junhua Zhang,Nan Li,Wenke Zheng,Hui Wang,ChunxiangLiu,Fengwen Yang,Pang Bo 한국한의학연구원 2020 Integrative Medicine Research Vol.9 No.3

Background: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been widely used in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Tongue features should be referred for diagnosis and treatment of diseases in TCM. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the tongue features of the patients suffered from COVID-19. Methods: COVID-19 Symptom Database (established by Evidence-based Medicine Center of Tianjin University of TCM) was searched for eligible tongue pictures. The tongue pictures were assessed by TCM experts to extract the data of tongue color, coating color, tongue body shape and coating proper feature. The relationship between tongue features and patient’s condition was analyzed. Results: Patients diagnosed as mild and moderate COVID-19 commonly had light red tongue and white coating. Severe patients had purple tongue and yellow coating. The proportion of critical patients with tender tongue increased to 75%. Greasy coating was a significant characteristic of patients with COVID-19. The proportions of greasy coating were 53.3%, 73.3%, 83.6% and 87.5% in disease category of mild, moderate, severe and critical. In addition, the thick coating proportion increased from mild (24.9%) to critical (50.0%). Conclusions: Tongue features have certain relationship with the category of COVID-19. Tongue features can serve as potential indicators for the evaluation of patient’s condition and prognosis. Further studies are needed to enhance the quantification of tongue features and develop standards.

Evidence for the medicinal value of Squama Manitis (pangolin scale): A systematic review

Xinyao Jin,Hui Zi Chua,Keyi Wang,Nan Li,Wenke Zheng,Wentai Pang,Fengwen Yang,Bo Pang,Mingyan Zhang,Junhua Zhang 한국한의학연구원 2021 Integrative Medicine Research Vol.10 No.1

Background: Squama Manitis (pangolin scale) has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years. However, its efficacy has not been systematically reviewed. This review aims to fill the gap. Methods: We searched six electronic databases including PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database (CNKI), WanFang Database and SinoMed from inception to May 1, 2020. Search terms included “pangolin”, “Squama Manitis”, “Manis crassicaudata”, “Manis javanica”, “Malayan pangolins”, “Manis pentadactyla”, “Ling Li”, “Chuan Shan Jia”, “Shan Jia”, “Pao Jia Zhu”, “Jia Pian” and “Pao Shan Jia”. The Cochrane Risk of Bias (RoB) assessment tool and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) were used to evaluate the risk of bias of the included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and case control studies (CCSs). Results: After screening, 15 articles that met the inclusion criteria were finally included. There were 4 randomized controlled trials, 1 case control study, 3 case series and 7 case reports. A total of 15 different diseases were reported in these studies, thus the data could not be merged to generate powerful results. Two RCTs suggested that Squama Manitis combined with herbal decoction or antibiotics could bring additional benifit for treating postpartum hypogalactia and mesenteric lymphadenitis. However, this result was not reliable due to low methodological quality and irrational outcomes. The other two RCTs generated negative results. All the non-RCTs did not add any valuable evidence to the efficacy of Squama Manitis beacause of small samples, incomplete records, non-standardized outcome detection. In general, currently available evidence cannot support the clinical use of Squama Manitis. Conclusion: There is no reliable evidence that Squama Manitis has special medicinal value. The removal of Squama Manitis from Pharmacopoeia is rational.

A BIO-INSPIRED POLYDOPAMINE APPROACH TO PREPARATION OF GOLD-COATED Fe3O4 CORE-SHELL NANOPARTICLES: SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION AND MECHANISM

PENG AN,FANG ZUO,XINHUA LI,YUANPENG WU,JUNHUA ZHANG,ZHAOHUI ZHENG,XIAOBIN DING,YUXING PENG 성균관대학교(자연과학캠퍼스) 성균나노과학기술원 2013 NANO Vol.8 No.6

A biomimetic and facile approach for integrating Fe3O4 and Au with polydopamine (PDA) was proposed to construct gold-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles (Fe3O4@Au–PDA) with a core–shell structure by coupling in situ reduction with a seed-mediated method in aqueous solution at room temperature. The morphology, structure and composition of the core–shell structured Fe3O4@Au–PDA nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectrometry (XPS). The formation process of Au shell was assessed using a UV-Vis spectrophotometer. More importantly, according to investigating changes in PDA molecules by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and in preparation process of the zeta-potential data of nanoparticles, the mechanism of core–shell structure formation was proposed. Firstly, PDA-coated Fe3O4 are obtained using dopamine (DA) self-polymerization to form thin and surface-adherent PDA films onto the surface of a Fe3O4 "core". Then, Au seeds are attached on the surface of PDA-coated Fe3O4 via electrostatic interaction in order to serve as nucleation centers catalyzing the reduction of Au3+ to Au0 by the catechol groups in PDA. Accompanied by the deposition of Au, PDA films transfer from the surface of Fe3O4 to that of Au as stabilizing agent. In order to confirm the reasonableness of this mechanism, two verification experiments were conducted. The presence of PDA on the surface of Fe3O4@Au–PDA nanoparticles was confirmed by the finding that glycine or ethylenediamine could be grafted onto Fe3O4@Au–PDA nanoparticles through Schiff base reaction. In addition, Fe3O4@Au–DA nanoparticles, in which DA was substituted for PDA, were prepared using the same method as that for Fe3O4@Au–PDA nanoparticles and characterized by UV-Vis, TEM and FTIR. The results validated that DA possesses multiple functions of attaching Au seeds as well as acting as both reductant and stabilizing agent, the same functions as those of PDA.

Chinese medical drugs for coronavirus disease 2019: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Wentai Pang,Zhi Liu,Nan Li,Yuyun Li,Fengwen Yang,Pang Bo,Xin-Yao Jin,Wenke Zheng,Junhua Zhang 한국한의학연구원 2020 Integrative Medicine Research Vol.9 No.3

Background: Integration of Chinese medical drugs (CMD) and western medicine (WM) has been widely used in the treatment of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). This systematic review aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of CMD for COVID-19. Method: A literature search was performed in six databases from injection to June 2020. Both randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-RCTs were considered as eligible. The quality of included RCTs were assessed by Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool, and Review Manager 5.3 software was used to do meta-analysis. Result: Eleven studies with 1259 patients were included in this study. CMD included herbal decoction and Chinese patent medicine. The methodological quality was evaluated as generally unclear. The results of meta-analysis showed that the integration of CMD and WM had better efficacy than WM in number of patients turned to severe and critical type (RR = 0.47, 95% CI=[0.32, 0.69], P < 0.0001), length of hospital stay (MD= -7.95, 95% CI=[-14.66, -1.24], P = 0.02), defervescence time (MD= -1.20, 95% CI=[-2.03, -0.38], P = 0.004), cough resolution rate (RR = 1.37, 95% CI=[1.15, 1.64], P = 0.0004), fatigue resolution rate (RR = 1.37, 95% CI=[1.02, 1.83], P = 0.04), and tachypnea resolution rate (RR = 2.20, 95% CI=[1.11, 4.39], P = 0.02). As for safety, there was no significant difference between two groups. Conclusion: CMD may bring potential benefit to patients suffered from COVID-19. However, the quality of included trials is not good enough. High quality study with core outcome set are still required.