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Objective: To analyze the mechanism of action and compatibility of the active compounds of the traditional herb pair Bupleuri Radix (Chai Hu, CH, 柴胡) - Paeoniae Radix Alba (Bai Shao, BS, 白芍). Methods: All chemical compounds related to CH and BS were retrieved from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP), Traditional Chinese Medicine Integrated Database (TCMID), Bioinformatics Analysis Tool for Molecular mechANism of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Batman-TCM), Traditional Chinese Medicine Database@Taiwan (TCM Database@Taiwan), and the literature. Relevant compounds were screened for oral bioavailability (OB), drug-likeness (DL), and the Caco-2 cell model. The Uniprot, Genecard, and CTD databases were used to obtain information on potential targets and diseases of associated compounds. Based on this, Cytoscape 3.2.1 software, GO enrichment analysis, and KEGG pathway enrichment were used to analyze the potential mechanism of action and pathways of the CH - BS drug combination. Results: A total of 23 active compounds of CH and BS were indentified after meeting specific criteria by network pharmacology, showing 79 predicted targets of active compounds. Among them, all targets were associated with 344 diseases, and the compounds in CH and BS were connected to 94 pathways and biological, such as calcium signaling pathway, neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction and TNF signaling pathway. Conclusions: Our results preliminarily validated the main compounds in CH - BS herb pair interacted with multiple targets in different diseases, and the molecular mechanism of these compounds involves multiple pathways, thereby establishing a good foundation for further studies. Keywords: Bupleuri Radix (Chai Hu, 柴 胡), Paeoniae Radix Alba (Bai Shao, 白芍), Herb pair, Network pharmacology, Mechanism of action

Author(s): Karl-Ludwig Laugwitz [1, 6]; Alessandra Moretti [1, 6]; Jason Lam [1, 6]; Peter Gruber [3]; Yinhong Chen [1]; Sarah Woodard [1]; Li-Zhu Lin [1]; Chen-Leng Cai [1]; Min Min [...]

Abstract Background This paper describes the development of the Chinese Quality of Life Instrument (ChQOL) which is a self-report health status instrument. Chinese Medicine relies very much on asking subjective feelings of patients in the process of diagnosis and monitoring of treatment. For thousands of years, Chinese Medicine practitioners have accumulated a good wealth of experiences in asking questions about health of their patients based on the concept of health in Chinese Medicine. These experiences were then transformed into questions for the ChQOL. It is believed that ChQOL can contribute to the existing Patient Report Outcome measures. This paper outlines the concept of health and disease in Traditional Chinese Medicine, the building of the conceptual framework of the ChQOL, the steps of drafting, selecting and validating the items, and the psychometric properties of the ChQOL. Methods The development of the ChQOL was based on the concept of health in Traditional Chinese Medicine with a theory driven approach. Based on the results of literature review, the research team developed an initial model of health which encompassed the concept of health in TCM. An expert panel was then invited to comment and give suggestions for improvement of the initial model. According to their suggestions, the model was refined and a set of initial items for the ChQOL was drafted. The refined model, together with the key domains, facets and initial items of the ChQOL were then mailed to a sample of about 100 Chinese medicine practitioners throughout Mainland China for their comments and advice. A revised set of items were developed for linguistic testing by a convenience sample consisting of both healthy people and people who attended Chinese Medicine treatment. After that, an item pool was developed for field-testing. Field test was conducted on a convenience sample of healthy and patient subjects to determine the construct validity and psychometric properties of the ChQOL. Results Construct validity was established by various methods, i.e. the internal consistency in all facets and domains were good; the correlation between facets to domain, and domains to overall ChQOL correlation were high; confirmatory factor analysis showed that the structure fitness of all facets, domain and overall structure were good with CFI > 0.9. Test-retest reliability was also good, especially in the domain scores with ICC value ranging from 0.83 to 0.90. No ceiling or floor effect was noted which indicated that ChQOL can be applied to subjects with a wide range of health status. Most facet scores, domain scores and the overall CHQOL scores were able to discriminate groups of subjects with known differences in health status. The ChQOL had mild positive convergence with the other generic health related QOL measures, i.e. the WHOQOL-100 and the SF-36, with moderate correlations. Conclusion In conclusion, the study indicated that the ChQOL is conceptually valid with satisfactory psychometric properties. It can provide additional information on health and QOL on top of the existing generic health related QOL measures. Furthermore, it forms basis for further testing and applications in clinical trials.

Gastric cancer, one of the most common types of cancers, develops over a series of consecutive histopathological stages. As such, the analysis and research of the gastric precancerous lesions (GPLs) play an important role in preventing the occurrence of gastric cancer. Ginsenoside Rg3 (Rg3), an herbal medicine, plays an important role in the prevention and treatment of various cancers. Studies have demonstrated a correlation between glycolysis and gastric cancer progression. Herein, the aim of the present study was to clarify the potential role for glycolysis pathogenesis in Rg3-treated GPL in Atp4a−/− mice. The GPL mice model showed chronic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia, and more atypical hyperplasia in gastric mucosa. According to the results of HE and AB-PAS staining, it could be confirmed that GPL mice were obviously reversed by Rg3. Additionally, the increased protein levels of PI3K, AKT, mTOR, HIF-1α, LDHA, and HK-II, which are crucial factors for evaluating GPL in the aspect of glycolysis pathogenesis in the model group, were downregulated by Rg3. Meanwhile, the miRNA-21 expression was decreased and upregulated by Rg3. Furthermore, the increased gene levels of Bcl-2 and caspase-3 were attenuated in Rg3-treated GPL mice. In conclusion, the findings of this study imply that abnormal glycolysis in GPL mice was relieved by Rg3 via regulation of the expressions of PI3K, AKT, mTOR, HIF-1α, LDHA, HK-II, and miRNA-21. Rg3 is an effective supplement for GPL treatment and can be harnessed to inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis of GPL cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: lung cancer; lung adenocarcinoma; epithelial mesenchymal transition; hypoxia; glucose-regulated protein 78; GRP78 EN lung cancer lung adenocarcinoma epithelial mesenchymal transition hypoxia glucose-regulated protein 78 GRP78 N.PAG N.PAG 3 12/18/20 20201215 NES 201215 In the original article, there was a mistake in Figure 1 and 2 as published. * P < 0.05, compared with A549 cells in the normal oxygen environments, the Smad2/3, Src, and MAPK proteins of A549 cells are highly regulated and activated in hypoxia environments. * P < 0.05, compared with A549 cells in the normal oxygen environments, the EMT process of A549 cells under hypoxia is activated; # P < 0.05, compared with A549 cells in the hypoxia environments, the EMT process of A549 cells under hypoxia is inhibited separately by Smad2/3, Src, p38, ERK, and JNK inhibitors. [Extracted from the article]