Development and Validation of a Carbohydrate Metabolism-Related Model for Predicting Prognosis and Immune Landscape in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients

Objective The activities and products of carbohydrate metabolism are involved in key processes of cancer.However,its relationship with hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)is unclear.Methods The cancer genome atlas(TCGA)-HCC and ICGC-LIRI-JP datasets were acquired via public databases.Differentially expressed genes(DEGs)between HCC and control samples in the TCGA-HCC dataset were identified and overlapped with 355 carbohydrate metabolism-related genes(CRGs)to obtain differentially expressed CRGs(DE-CRGs).Then,univariate Cox and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator(LASSO)analyses were applied to identify risk model genes,and HCC samples were divided into high/low-risk groups according to the median risk score.Next,gene set enrichment analysis(GSEA)was performed on the risk model genes.The sensitivity of the risk model to immunotherapy and chemotherapy was also explored.Results A total of 8 risk model genes,namely,G6PD,PFKFB4,ACAT1,ALDH2,ACYP1,OGDHL,ACADS,and TKTL1,were identified.Moreover,the risk score,cancer status,age,and pathologic T stage were strongly associated with the prognosis of HCC patients.Both the stromal score and immune score had significant negative/positive correlations with the risk score,reflecting the important role of the risk model in immunotherapy sensitivity.Furthermore,the stromal and immune scores had significant negative/positive correlations with risk scores,reflecting the important role of the risk model in immunotherapy sensitivity.Eventually,we found that high-/low-risk patients were more sensitive to 102 drugs,suggesting that the risk model exhibited sensitivity to chemotherapy drugs.The results of the experiments in HCC tissue samples validated the expression of the risk model genes.Conclusion Through bioinformatic analysis,we constructed a carbohydrate metabolism-related risk model for HCC,contributing to the prognosis prediction and treatment of HCC patients.

Quality assurance of postharvest grapes against Botrytis cinerea by terbinafine

Worldwide,fruit is an indispensable treasure house of nutrition for human beings,occupying a vital position of human diet.Postharvest fruit storage requires efficient antifungal agents to control Botrytis cinerea,which is a vital postharvest disease affecting fruit and leading to enormous losses.However,with the enormous abuse of existing antifungal drugs,the problem of drug-resistant fungi is imminent,making the controlling diseases caused by pathogenic fungi even more challenging.Drug repurposing is an efficient alternative method,we evaluated a well-known antifungal chemical,terbinafine,against the agricultural pathogen,B.cinerea in vitro,as a result,terbinafine showed strong anti-fungal activity.Furthermore,the in vivo antifungal activity of terbinafine was evaluated,the results showed that terbinafine could reduce the decay area on grapes.Terbinafine could disrupt the cell membrane integrity,increase cell membrane permeability,and eventual cell death of B.cinerea.In addition,terbinafine reduced decay incidence,and weight loss and maintained the soluble solids,titratable acidity,ascorbic acid,total phenolic,and malondialdehyde content during the storage period of grapes.Overall,terbinafine could be an antifungal preservative for postharvest table grapes fresh-keeping.