Treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and prevention of nonalcoholic Wernicke’s disease:A case report and review of literature

BACKGROUND Wernicke encephalopathy is a neurological disorder caused by thiamine deficiency,commonly seen in alcoholic populations but also involving other circumstances that may lead to thiamine deficiency.The recognition of Wernicke encephalopathy often depends on clinicians’keen ability to detect its typical triad of features;however,most cases do not present with the full constellation of signs,which complicates the timely identification of Wernicke encephalopathy.CASE SUMMARY This case report describes a patient with nasopharyngeal carcinoma who developed abnormal ocular function and ataxia following concurrent chemoradiotherapy,without a history of alcohol abuse.With the aid of radiological examinations,he received a timely diagnosis and treatment;however,his symptoms did not fully resolve during follow-up.CONCLUSION For patients with malignant tumors exhibiting neurological symptoms,clinicians should consider the possibility of Wernicke encephalopathy and provide prophylactic thiamine therapy.

Puerarin modulation of CENPA affects downstream PLK1 and CCNB1 expression to inhibit bladder cancer cell proliferation

Background:The treatment alternatives for bladder cancer(BLCA),the 10th most prevalent cancer in the world,need to be further investigated,and many active substances like Puerarin in herbal medicine were found to be effective in treating BLCA.The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential treating mechanisms of Puerarin on BLCA.Methods:The cell counting kit 8 assay and flow cytometry were performed to confirm Puerarin’s ability to suppress BLCA.The differentially expressed proteins(DEPs)were obtained by Tandem Mass Tags technology and functional enrichment analysis performed by R studio.The most enriched pathways were selected for study and the DEPs were screened out.Protein-protein interaction network maps were created using String and Cytoscape and key proteins,which will be analyzed for survival,expression,and upstream transcription factor prediction,were screened out using the cytoHubba plugin.CHEA3 was used to obtain upstream transcription factor validated by molecular docking and western blotting experiments.Results:Cell counting kit 8 showed that Puerarin inhibited BLCA cells,with 50%inhibitory concentration of 218μmol/L in T24 and 198μmol/L in 5637.Flow cytometry reveals that Puerarin blocks T24 and 5637 cells in G1 phase.1,385 DEPs were obtained and the enrichment analysis revealed that cell cycle and DNA replication were the two main areas in which DEPs were enriched.Cyclin-B-cyclin dependent kinase 1(CDK1),cyclin B1(CCNB1),and polo-like kinase 1(PLK1)were identified as key proteins,and their upstream transcription factor was predicted to be centromere protein A(CENPA).Puerarin’s binding energy to CENPA was determined by molecular docking to be−6.3 kcal/mol,indicating a strong binding interaction.Western blot showed that Puerarin significantly reduced the expression of CENPA.Conclusion:We hypothesize that Puerarin may inhibit the proliferation of bladder cancer cells by inhibiting CENPA expression to regulate PLK1 and CCNB1 expression,thereby affecting cell cycle.