Medicine
-
The tyrosine kinase ephrin type-A receptor 2 (EPHA2) was remarkably elevated expressed in various tumors and plays a crucial role in cancer tumorigenesis and progression, while pan-cancer analyses are currently lacking. This study was designed to analyze the expression status and prognostic significance of EPHA2 in pan-cancer. By mining The Cancer Genome Atlas data, we performed a comprehensive and systematic characterization of EPHA2 across >10,000 samples of 33 types of cancer. ⋯ Furthermore, functional enrichment analysis showed that the biological role of EPHA2 in tumors was mainly involved in some noticeably pro-oncogenic pathways, such as the Ras signaling pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, ErbB signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway, etc. This study provided the first pan-cancer analyses of EPHA2 in various tumors, and EPHA2 was potentially involved in many cancer types and can be developed as candidates for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic biomarkers. In addition, EPHA2 seemed to be a key modulator of the tumor immune microenvironment and might be a potential biomarker in predicting the immunotherapeutic efficacy for cancer patients.
-
Since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, although have controlled, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is constantly mutating and affects people's health. FDA has approved Paxlovid and Molnupiravir for COVID-19 treatment, however, they have not been approved for children under 12 years old. Therefore, it is urgent to explore new drugs for treating COVID-19 in children. ⋯ Molecular docking of interleukin-6 (IL-6) revealed that 5 active compounds had relatively stable binding activities with IL-6. Molecular dynamics simulation was performed for molecular docking results, showing IL-6-(4aS,6aR,6aS,6bR,8aR,10R,12aR,14bS)-10-hydroxy-2,2,6a,6b,9,9,12a-heptamethyl-1,3,4,5,6,6a,7,8,8a,10,11,12,13,14b-tetradecahydropicene-4a-carboxylic acid (4aS) complex, IL-6-stigmasterol complex, IL-6-poriferasterol complex, IL-6-sitosterol complex, and IL-6-beta-sitosterol complex had relatively good binding stability. In conclusion, the multi-component and multi-target intervention of QYHJ against COVID-19 is closely related to antiviral and anti-inflammatory activities, which provides a theoretical basis for clinical application.
-
Folate is a vitamin that is exclusively derived from diet sources. Low folate levels are typically associated with cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment, and cancer risk. However, few studies have examined the direct relationship between serum folate levels and sleep duration. ⋯ In the threshold analysis, for participants with serum folate of <32.208 nmol/L (β = 0.608, 95% CI: (0.275, 0.942), P < .001), the sleep duration was significantly increased by 0.608 minutes, with every 1 nmol/L in serum folate increased. At serum folate of ≥32.208 nmol/L, no significant association between serum folate and sleep duration was detected [β = 5.686, 95% CI: (-1.508, 12.88), P = .118]. Our findings revealed an inverted L-shaped relationship and saturation effects between serum folate levels and sleep duration in adults in the United States.
-
While observational studies have illustrated correlations between plasma metabolites and gastric cancer (GC), the causal association between the 2 is still unclear. Our study aims to delineate the bidirectional relationship between plasma metabolites and GC and find potential metabolic pathways. We undertook a bidirectional 2-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to investigate the causal relationship, specificity, and direction of association between 1400 plasma metabolites and GC. ⋯ Furthermore, our analysis identified 18 significant metabolic pathways, including Arginine and proline metabolism (P < .009) and Valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthesis (P < .031). Our findings offer evidence supporting potential casual relations between multiple plasma metabolites and GC. These findings may offer great potential for future application of these biomarkers in GC screening and clinical prevention strategies.
-
Previous research has shown that internal signals from the body can modulate the processing of external stimuli. This study investigated whether respiratory phases influence auditory deviance detection by recording mismatch negativity (MMN) responses of event-related brain potentials. ⋯ This study provides further evidence that respiratory phases influence the auditory processing of external events.