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1.
Research Progress and Application of Bioorthogonal Reactions in Biomolecular Analysis and Disease Diagnosis.
Li, Z, Chen, Q, Wang, J, Pan, X, Lu, W
Topics in current chemistry (Cham). 2021;(6):39
Abstract
Bioorthogonal reactions are rapid, specific and high yield reactions that can be performed in in vivo microenvironments or simulated microenvironments. At present, the main biorthogonal reactions include Staudinger ligation, copper-catalyzed azide alkyne cycloaddition, strain-promoted [3 + 2] reaction, tetrazine ligation, metal-catalyzed coupling reaction and photo-induced biorthogonal reactions. To date, many reviews have reported that bioorthogonal reactions have been used widely as a powerful tool in the field of life sciences, such as in target recognition, drug discovery, drug activation, omics research, visualization of life processes or exogenous bacterial infection processes, signal transduction pathway research, chemical reaction dynamics analysis, disease diagnosis and treatment. In contrast, to date, few studies have investigated the application of bioorthogonal reactions in the analysis of biomacromolecules in vivo. Therefore, the application of bioorthogonal reactions in the analysis of proteins, nucleic acids, metabolites, enzyme activities and other endogenous molecules, and the determination of disease-related targets is reviewed. In addition, this review discusses the future development opportunities and challenges of biorthogonal reactions. This review presents an overview of recent advances for application in biomolecular analysis and disease diagnosis, with a focus on proteins, metabolites and RNA detection.
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2.
Phytochemicals of garlic: Promising candidates for cancer therapy.
Zhang, Y, Liu, X, Ruan, J, Zhuang, X, Zhang, X, Li, Z
Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie. 2020;:109730
Abstract
Of the numerous health benefits of garlic, the anticancer effect is probably the most noticeable. Observations over the past years have shown that the consumption of garlic in the diet provides strong protection against cancer risk. Previous studies involving garlic phytochemicals have usually focused on the cancer chemopreventive properties, but there is little published evidence showing its therapeutic potential in cancer treatment. In view of the multitargeted carcinoma actions and lack of severe toxicity, some components of garlic are likely to play vital roles in the selective killing of cancer cells. However, the rational design of experimental studies and clinical trials are required to verify this concept. This paper discusses the promises and pitfalls of garlic for the treatment of cancer.
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3.
Anti-cancer effect of toosendanin and its underlying mechanisms.
Zhang, S, Cao, L, Wang, ZR, Li, Z, Ma, J
Journal of Asian natural products research. 2019;(3):270-283
Abstract
Toosendanin (TSN) is a triterpenoid purified from the medicinal herb Melia toosendan Sieb. et Zucc and has been used as an insecticide for decades. Recent studies have attracted increasing interest of TSN due to its novel anti-cancer effect in diverse cancer models. The broad spectrum anti-cancer activity suggests that TSN inhibits multiple pathways/targets that are critical for cancer cell survival and proliferation. Our recent study indicated that TSN has anti-cancer effect in glioblastoma through induction of estrogen receptor β (ERβ) and p53. This review highlights the anti-cancer efficacy of TSN and provides proof-of-principle insight into the underlying mechanisms.
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The use of proteomic technologies to study molecular mechanisms of multidrug resistance in cancer.
Cao, Y, Li, Z, Mao, L, Cao, H, Kong, J, Yu, B, Yu, C, Liao, W
European journal of medicinal chemistry. 2019;:423-434
Abstract
Multidrug resistance (MDR), defined as the cross-resistance of cancer cells toward a broad range of chemotherapeutic agents, is a universal and intractable problem in chemotherapy. The understanding of MDR mechanisms is essential to discover the potential biomarkers for predicting multidrug resistance and more importantly, tackling and preventing multidrug resistance. Multiple technologies have been used to study MDR mechanisms including comparative genomic hybridization, DNA array, differential display RT-PCR and various immunoassays. Compared with these approaches, proteomic technologies allow a high through-put analysis of protein detection, protein quantification and protein interaction with high accuracy. With the rapid development of proteomic studies in recent years, proteomic technologies have made substantial contributions to the characterization of MDR mechanisms including MDR-related protein detection and quantification, as well as the characterization of drug-transporter binding sites. This review offers a comprehensive illustration of MDR, proteomic technologies and the discoveries made in understanding MDR mechanisms using proteomic approaches.
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5.
Prospective investigation of folic acid supplements before and during early pregnancy and paediatric and adult cancers in the Chinese children and families cohort: a pilot study in a sample of rural and urban families.
Linet, MS, Wang, L, Wang, N, Berry, RJ, Chao, A, Hao, L, Li, Z, Fang, L, Yin, P, Potischman, N, et al
BMJ open. 2018;(7):e022394
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To determine the feasibility of long-term prospective follow-up and ascertainment of cancer in offspring and mothers from the 1993-1995 Chinese Community Intervention Program that provided folic acid supplements before and during early pregnancy to reduce neural tube defects. DESIGN Feasibility pilot study for a prospective cohort study. SETTING Families residing during 2012-2013 in one rural and one urban county from 21 counties in 3 provinces in China included in the Community Intervention Program campaign. PARTICIPANTS The feasibility study targeted 560 families, including 280 from the rural and 280 from the urban county included in the large original study; about half of mothers in each group had taken and half had not taken folic acid supplements. INTERVENTION The planned new study is observational. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES Primary: incidence of paediatric cancers in offspring; secondary: other chronic diseases in offspring and chronic diseases in mothers RESULTS Only 3.4% of pilot study families could not be found, 3.9% had moved out of the study area and 8.8% refused to participate. Interviews were completed by 82% of mothers, 79% of fathers and 83% of offspring in the 560 families. Almost all mothers and offspring who were interviewed also participated in anthropometric measurements. We found notable urban-rural differences in sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics of the parents, but fewer differences among the offspring. In eight catchment area hospitals, we identified a broad range of paediatric cancers diagnosed during 1994-2013, although paediatric brain tumours, lymphomas and rarer cancers were likely under-represented. CONCLUSIONS Overall, 20 years after the original Community Intervention Program, the pilot study achieved high levels of follow-up and family member interview participation, and identified substantial numbers of paediatric malignancies during 1994-2013 in catchment area hospitals. Next steps and strategies for overcoming limitations are described.
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The role of long non-coding RNA AFAP1-AS1 in human malignant tumors.
Ji, D, Zhong, X, Jiang, X, Leng, K, Xu, Y, Li, Z, Huang, L, Li, J, Cui, Y
Pathology, research and practice. 2018;(10):1524-1531
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a type Table of endogenous RNA longer than 200 nucleotides in length, and this kind of RNAs lack or possess limited ability of coding proteins. A large number of studies have demonstrated that lncRNAs could take part in massive biological processes, such as transcriptional activation and interference, cellular differentiation, proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis. The abnormal expression of lncRNAs has been clarified to play extremely important roles in various diseases, especially in human cancers. LncRNA actin filament-associated protein 1 antisense RNA 1 (AFAP1-AS1) is a newly recognized cancer-related lncRNA deriving from the antisense strand of DNA at the AFAP1 coding gene locus. A slew of new studies suggest that AFAP1-AS1 is involved in many kinds of malignant tumors. Moreover, in recent years, the dysregulated expression of AFAP1-AS1 has been confirmed to be associated with oncogenesis and tumor progression. Evidence has increasingly shown that AFAP1-AS1 could probably serve as a novel potential molecular biomarker in tumor diagnosis and therapeutic target in tumor treatment. In this review, we sum up present stage new hottest research issues in respect of the biological functions and molecular mechanisms of AFAP1-AS1 in occurrence and progression of human tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this review, we summarize the recent researches about the expression and molecular biological mechanisms of lncRNA AFAP1-AS1 in tumor development. Existing relevant studies are acquired and analyzed by searching Pubmed, BioMedNet, GEO database and Academic Search Elit systematically. RESULTS Long non-coding RNA AFAP1-AS1 is an important tumor-associated lncRNA and its aberrant expression has been found in many malignancies so far, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma, gallbladder cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, esophageal cancer, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, retinoblastoma, laryngeal cancer, tongue squamous cell carcinoma and thyroid cancer. In addition, the dysregulated expression of AFAP1-AS1 is related to carcinogensis, overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), progression-free survival (PFS) and tumor progression containing lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, histological grade, tumor size and tumor stage. CONCLUSIONS A series of studies provide detailed information to understand lncRNA AFAP1-AS1 role in various human cancers. LncRNA AFAP1-AS1 is an oncogene in tumors that have been studied so far, and it may act as a useful tumor biomarker and therapeutic target.
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7.
Application of Lipophilic Balance Modification in the Creation of Potent Synthetic Anionophores.
Li, Z, Chen, WH
Mini reviews in medicinal chemistry. 2017;(14):1398-1405
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Synthetic anionophores are created to mediate the transmembrane transport of anions across phospholipid bilayer membranes. By replacing the defective natural anion channels, they are thought to have high potentials as chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of channelopathies. METHOD In addition, there is a hope that synthetic anionophores may serve as therapeutic agents for cancers and bacterial infections. Because of the amphiphilicity of phospholipid bilayer membranes, lipophilicity has been well studied as one of the most important structural factors that affect the activity of synthetic anionophores. This paper reviews the application of lipophilic balance modification in the creation of effective synthetic anionophores during the past few years. CONCLUSION The strategies that have been widely used to change the lipophilicity are introduced. In addition, the important role of optimal lipophilicity in terms of logP in the rational design of synthetic anionophores is also discussed.
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8.
A systematic review on ethnomedicines of anti-cancer plants.
Tariq, A, Sadia, S, Pan, K, Ullah, I, Mussarat, S, Sun, F, Abiodun, OO, Batbaatar, A, Li, Z, Song, D, et al
Phytotherapy research : PTR. 2017;(2):202-264
Abstract
Cancer is a serious health problem and the second leading cause of death around the globe. Present review is an attempt to provide utmost information based on ethno-pharmacological and toxicological aspects of anti-cancer plants of the world. A total of 276 articles published in English journals and containing maximum ethnomedicinal information were reviewed using several data sources such as; Google scholar, Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed and floras of different countries. A total of 199 anti-cancer plants were recorded in present review and results indicated that traditional medicines are mostly being use in developing countries for cancer treatment. Traditionally and scientifically skin and breast cancer types gained more focus. Seventy plants were reportedly analyzed for in-vitro activities while 32 plants were having in-vivo reports. Twenty nine pure compounds (mostly phenolic) were reportedly isolated from anti-cancer plants and tested against different cancer cell lines. Inspite having better efficiency of ethnomedicines as compared to synthetic drugs, several plants have also shown toxic effects on living system. Therefore, we invite researchers attention to carry out detailed ethno-pharmacological and toxicological studies on un-explored anti-cancer plants in order to provide reliable knowledge to the patients and develop novel anti-cancer drugs. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Whole-grain consumption and the risk of all-cause, CVD and cancer mortality: a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.
Wei, H, Gao, Z, Liang, R, Li, Z, Hao, H, Liu, X
The British journal of nutrition. 2016;(3):514-25
Abstract
Results of the relationships between dietary whole-grain consumption and the risk of all-cause, CVD and cancer-specific mortality are mixed. We summarised the evidence based on a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. Pertinent studies were identified by searching articles in the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases up to 20 January 2016 and by reviewing the reference lists of the retrieved articles. Random-effects models were used to calculate summary relative risks (SRR) and 95 % CI. In all, eleven prospective studies (ten publications) were included in the meta-analysis. There were a total of 816 599 subjects and 89 251 cases of all-cause mortality. On the basis of the highest v. the lowest categories of intake, whole grains may be associated with a lower risk of mortality from all causes (SRR 0·87; 95 % CI 0·84, 0·90), CVD (SRR 0·81; 95 % CI 0·75, 0·89) and all cancers (SRR 0·89; 95 % CI 0·82, 0·96). For each 3 servings/d increase in whole-grain intake, there was a 19 % reduction in the risk of all-cause mortality (SRR 0·81; 95 % CI 0·76, 0·85), a 26 % reduction in CVD mortality (SRR 0·74; 95 % CI 0·66, 0·83) and a 9 % reduction in cancer mortality (SRR 0·91; 95 % CI 0·84, 0·98). The current meta-analysis provides some evidence that high intake of whole grains was inversely associated with the risk of all-cause, CVD and cancer-specific mortality. Further well-designed studies, including clinical trials and in different populations, are required to confirm our findings.
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A pharmacokinetic and safety study of single dose intravenous combretastatin A4 phosphate in Chinese patients with refractory solid tumours.
He, X, Li, S, Huang, H, Li, Z, Chen, L, Ye, S, Huang, J, Zhan, J, Lin, T
British journal of clinical pharmacology. 2011;(6):860-70
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Abstract
WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT • Three pharmacokinetic and safety studies for combretastatin A4 phosphate (CA4P), the first vascular disrupting agent, have been conducted in Western countries. • The maximum tolerated dose (MTD) was approximately 60-68 mg m(-2). • CA4P-related grade 3 or 4 adverse events were tumour pain, dyspnoea, hypoxia and syncope in patients who received doses ≥ 50 mg m(-2). WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS • This is the first pharmacokinetic and safety study conducted in East Asian patients. • There appeared to be a trend that Chinese patients metabolized CA4 more rapidly and had greater neurotoxicity than patients in Western countries. • We observed favourable clinical responses in patients with refractory nasopharyngeal carcinoma. • CA4P-induced acute renal failure was seen in one dehydrated Chinese patient. AIMS This trial was conducted to evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetics of combretastatin A4 phosphate (CA4P) given intravenously as a single dose to Chinese patients with refractory solid tumours. METHODS Twenty-five patients were treated with single doses of CA4P according to a dose escalation scheme: 5, 10, 20, 33, 50, 65 and 85 mg m(-2) infused intravenously over 30 min. RESULTS CA4P was generally well tolerated at ≤ 65 mg m(-2). Transient, moderate increases in the heart rate-corrected QT interval occurred at all doses. CA4P produced a transient dose-dependent increase in neural and gastrointestinal toxicities. Acute renal failure occurred in one dehydrated patient who had also taken paracetamol. There were seven episodes of dose-limiting toxicity at doses ≥65 mg m(-2), including two episodes of reversible ataxia at 85 mg m(-2).For CA4, at 50 mg m(-2),mean (SD) peak plasma concentration (C(max) was 0.99 (0.33) mM, area under the curve from time zero to time of last quantifiable concentration (AUC(0,t)) was 1.42 (0.30) mM h and terminal elimination half-life (t(1/2)was 1.81 (0.61) h. At 65 mg m-2,C(max) was 1.73 (0.62) mM,AUC(0,t) was 3.19 (1.47) mM h and t (1/2) was 1.90 (0.61) h [corrected]One patient with nasopharyngeal carcinoma had an obvious clinical response with central necrosis in the metastatic lung mass. CONCLUSION Doses ≤ 65 mg m(-2) given as 30 min infusions define the maximum tolerated dose in East Asian patients, and doses in the range of 50-65 mg m(-2) have been selected for further studies.