The American journal of Chinese medicine
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Breast cancer is a malignant disease with an increasing incidence. Chemotherapy is still an important means for breast cancer treatment, but multidrug resistance (MDR) greatly limits its clinical application. ⋯ This review firstly summarizes the major mechanisms of MDR in breast cancer, including the reduced accumulation of intracellular chemotherapeutic drugs, the promoted inactivation of intracellular chemotherapeutic drugs, and the enhanced damage repair ability of DNA, etc., and secondly highlights the research progress of 15 kinds of TCM monomers, including curcumin, resveratrol, emodin, apigenin, tetrandrine, gambogic acid, matrine, paeonol, schisandrin B, [Formula: see text]-elemene, astragaloside IV, berberine, puerarin, tanshinone IIA, and quercetin, in reversing MDR of breast cancer. This review also provides the suggestion for the future research of MDR reversal agents in breast cancer.
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The cytokine storm plays an indispensable role in the severe and critical illness and death of the COVID-19 vulnerable population. Thus, suppressing the cytokine storm is of great significance. Ginseng is a traditional Chinese herb originally used for improving physiological conditions and ameliorating disease. ⋯ Furthermore, ginseng modulates both natural and acquired immunity during viral infection. Collectively, we propose that ginseng can act as a key immune response modulator against the cytokine storm of COVID-19. This paper may provide a new approach to discover specific medications using ginseng to combat COVID-19.
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Review
Advances in the Application of Traditional Chinese Medicine Using Artificial Intelligence: A Review.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), as one of the crystallizations of Chinese wisdom, emphasizes the balance of Yin and Yang to keep the body healthy. Under the theoretical guidance of a holistic view, the diagnostic process in TCM has characteristics of subjectivity, fuzziness, and complexity. ⋯ However, the combination of TCM and AI is still in its infancy and currently faces many challenges. Therefore, this review provides a comprehensive discussion of the existing advances, problems, and prospects of the applications of AI technologies in TCM with the hope of promoting a better understanding of the TCM modernization and intellectualization.
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Several functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) have overlapping symptoms, and, consequently, developing treatment strategies based on symptomatology poses a challenge for the clinical management of complex FGIDs. The significant overlap in the symptoms of FGIDs caused by the shared pathophysiological mechanisms is both a challenge and an excellent target for therapeutic development, since treatment strategies focused on shared pathophysiological mechanisms can treat the associated underlying diseases rather than just alleviating the primary symptoms. ⋯ Systems biology is characterized by holistic and dynamic research, which corresponds to the holistic, multi-targeted, and syndrome-based approach of TCM. Therefore, high-throughput analysis techniques can be employed to describe and comprehend the genesis and progression of diseases, as well as the impacts of TCM on the organism, which may aid in elucidating the pathogenic mechanisms of the diseases as well as the mechanism of action of TCM.
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Targeting the stemness of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a potential therapeutic approach for treating TNBC. Tetrandrine, a natural plant alkaloid, has several anticancer effects. Here, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy of tetrandrine in cancer stemness and epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in TNBC, and to explore the underlying mechanisms. The effects of tetrandrine on cell growth, cell viability, cell stemness capacity, cell migration, and cell invasion, as well as the molecules involved in these processes, were investigated in a cell culture system. ⋯ The in vivo studies also showed that tetrandrine inhibited tumor growth and metastasis of both adherent normal cells, and flow cytometry sorted specific CD44[Formula: see text]CD24[Formula: see text] breast cancer stem cells, which could be rescued by SOD1 overexpression. The results of this study suggest that tetrandrine could effectively inhibit breast cancer stem cell characteristics and the EMT process via the SOD1/ROS signaling pathway. Therefore, tetrandrine can be considered a promising anti-TNBC agent.