Key factors and potential drug combinations of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis:Bioinformatic analysis and experimental validation-based study

Background:Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and its advanced stage,nonalcoholic steatohepatitis(NASH),are the major cause of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)and other end-stage liver disease.However,the potential mechanism and therapeutic strategies have not been clarified.This study aimed to identify potential roles of mi RNA/m RNA axis in the pathogenesis and drug combinations in the treatment of NASH.Methods:Microarray GSE59045 and GSE48452 were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus and analyzed using R.Then we obtained differentially expressed genes(DE-genes).DAVID database was used for Gene Ontology(GO)analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG)enrichment pathway analysis.Protein-protein interaction(PPI)networks were used for the identification of hub genes.We found upstream regulators of hub genes using mi RTar Base.The expression and correlation of key mi RNA and its targets were detected by q PCR.Drug Pair Seeker was employed to predict drug combinations against NASH.The expression of mi RNA and hub genes in HCC was identified in the Cancer Genome Atlas database and Human Protein Atlas database.Results:Ninety-four DE-genes were accessed.GO and KEGG analysis showed that these predicted genes were linked to lipid metabolism.Eleven genes were identified as hub genes in PPI networks,and they were highly expressed in cells with vigorous lipid metabolism.hsa-mi R-335-5 p was the upstream regulator of 9 genes in the 11 hub genes,and it was identified as a key mi RNA.The hub genes were highly expressed in NASH models,while hsa-mi R-335-5 p was lowly expressed.The correlation of mi RNA-m RNA was established by q PCR.Functional verification indicated that hsa-mi R-335-5 p had inhibitory effect on the development of NASH.Finally,drug combinations were predicted and the expression of mi RNA and hub genes in HCC was identified.Conclusions:In the study,potential mi RNA-m RNA pathways related to NASH were identified.Targeting these pathways may be novel strategies against NASH.

Coptis,Pinellia,and Scutellaria as a promising new drug combination for treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection

BACKGROUND Helicobacter pylori(H.pylori)is the most important infectious agent and plays an important role in the progression of chronic gastritis and the development of gastric cancer.AIM To identify efficient therapeutic agents or strategies that can treat H.pylori infection.METHODS We performed literature analysis,experimental validation,and network pharmacology.First,traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)prescriptions for the treatment of H.pylori infection were obtained from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure,China Biology Medicine,China Science and Technology Journal Database,and WanFang databases.In addition,we conducted a relevant search by Reference Citation Analysis(RCA)(https://www.referencecitationanalysis.com).Next,we used TCM Inheritance Support System V2.5 to identify core drug combinations in the TCM prescriptions.Then,an H.pylori-associated chronic mouse model of gastritis was established.The antibacterial properties and antiinflammatory potential of the core drug combination were evaluated by the rapid urease test,modified Warthin-Starry silver staining,histopathological analysis,and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.Finally,the active compounds,hub targets,and potential signaling pathways associated with the core drug combination were analyzed by network pharmacology.RESULTS The TCM treatment of H.pylori was mainly based on reinforcing the healthy Qi and eliminating pathogenic factors by simultaneously applying pungent dispersing,bitter descending,cold and warm drugs.The combination of Coptis,Pinellia,and Scutellaria(CPS)was identified as the core drug combination from 207 prescriptions and 168 herbs.This drug combination eradicated H.pylori,alleviated the gastric pathology induced by H.pylori infection,and reduced the expression levels of tumor necrosis factor-α(P=0.024)and interleukin-1β(P=0.001).Moreover,a total of 35 compounds and 2807 targets of CPS were identified using online databases.Nine key compounds(tenaxin I,neobaicalein,norwogonin,skullcapflavone II,baicalein,5,8,2'-trihydroxy-7-methoxyflavone,acacetin,panicolin,and wogonin)and nine hub target proteins(EGFR,PTGS2,STAT3,MAPK3,MAPK8,HSP90AA1,MAPK1,MMP9,and MTOR)were further explored.Seventy-seven signaling pathways were correlated with H.pylori-induced inflammation and carcinogenesis.CONCLUSION In summary,we showed that CPS is the core drug combination for treating H.pylori infection.Animal experiments demonstrated that CPS has bacteriostatic properties and can reduce the release of inflammatory cytokines in the gastric mucosa.Network pharmacology predictions further revealed that CPS showed complex chemical compositions with multi-target and multipathway regulatory mechanisms.Although the results derived from network pharmacology are not necessarily comprehensive,they still expand our understanding of CPS for treating H.pylori infection.

Complex diseases demand novel treatment strategies: understanding drug combination

For many multigene or multifactorial diseases,the one-drug therapy for inhibiting a defined molecular target is often less effective than combined treatments.Typically,drug combination therapies are multitargeted,so the mechanisms or even interactions are often complementary.These drug-drug interactions may promote alteration of pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic activities of one drug by another drug.Other interactions may change the expected effect of medications through polymorphisms that alter the expression or activity of the drug-mediated enzyme and the cell signaling cascade,such as drug-gene interactions and drug-drug-gene interactions.The number of possible existing interactions requires appropriate methods of study.In this review,we summarized combination therapies for cancer,as well as for viral,cardiovascular,and neurological diseases.Here,we also highlight known methodologies,such as in vitro methods based on Loewe’s and Bliss’s pioneer models and in silico methods based on online available data.With more elaborate methods and reliable results,multitarget therapies through drug combinations may increasingly benefit patients suffering from complex diseases.

SynergyFinder Plus:Toward Better Interpretation and Annotation of Drug Combination Screening Datasets

Combinatorial therapies have been recently proposed to improve the efficacy of anticancer treatment. The Synergy Finder R package is a software used to analyze pre-clinical drug combination datasets. Here, we report the major updates to the Synergy Finder R package for improved interpretation and annotation of drug combination screening results. Unlike the existing implementations, the updated Synergy Finder R package includes five main innovations. 1) We extend the mathematical models to higher-order drug combination data analysis and implement dimension reduction techniques for visualizing the synergy landscape. 2) We provide a statistical analysis of drug combination synergy and sensitivity with confidence intervals and P values. 3)We incorporate a synergy barometer to harmonize multiple synergy scoring methods to provide a consensus metric for synergy. 4) We evaluate drug combination synergy and sensitivity to provide an unbiased interpretation of the clinical potential. 5) We enable fast annotation of drugs and cell lines, including their chemical and target information. These annotations will improve the interpretation of the mechanisms of action of drug combinations. To facilitate the use of the R package within the drug discovery community, we also provide a web server at www.s ynergyfinderplus.org as a user-friendly interface to enable a more fexible and versatile analysis of drug combination data.

A DNA Nano-train Carrying a Predefined Drug Combination for Cancer Therapy

Herein,we reported a tumor cell-targeting aptamer-nano-train to deliver paclitaxel(PTX)and combretastatin A4(CA4)at a predefined ratio to cancer cells based on DNA nanotechnology.Such a drug-carrying aptamer-nano-train(aptamer-NT-PTX/CA4)was prepared via self-assembly of two DNA hairpins,which were conjugated with PTX and CA4,respectively,induced by aptamer trigger.Our research revealed that the aptamer-NT-PTX/CA4 could specifically recognize CD71-positive cancer cells,but not CD71-negative healthy normal cells,and achieve synergistic therapeutic effect on cancer cells.The aptamer-nano-train-based strategy is simple and efficient,and provides a new platform for drug combination cancer therapy.

Mouse tumor susceptibility genes identify drug combinations for multiple myeloma

Long-term genetic studies utilizing backcross and congenic strain analyses coupled with positional cloning strategies and functional studies identified Cdkn2a,Mtor,and Mndal as mouse plasmacytoma susceptibility/resistance genes.Tumor incidence data in congenic strains carrying the resistance alleles of Cdkn2a and Mtor led us to hypothesize that drug combinations affecting these pathways are likely to have an additive,if not synergistic effect in inhibiting tumor cell growth.Traditional and novel systems-level genomic approaches were used to assess combination activity,disease specificity,and clinical potential of a drug combination involving rapamycin/everolimus,an Mtor inhibitor,with entinostat,an histone deacetylase inhibitor.The combination synergistically repressed oncogenic MYC and activated the Cdkn2a tumor suppressor.The identification of MYC as a primary upstream regulator led to the identification of small molecule binders of the G-quadruplex structure that forms in the NHEIII region of the MYC promoter.These studies highlight the importance of identifying drug combinations which simultaneously upregulate tumor suppressors and downregulate oncogenes.

Synergistic drug combinations prediction by integrating pharmacological data

There is compelling evidence that synergistic drug combinations have become promising strategies for combating complex diseases,and they have evident predominance comparing to traditional one drug-one disease approaches.In this paper,we develop a computational method,namely SyFFM,that takes pharmacological data into consideration and applies field-aware factorization machines to analyze and predict potential synergistic drug combinations.Firstly,features of drug pairs are constructed based on associations between drugs and target,and enzymes,and indication areas.Then,the synergistic scores of drug combinations are obtained by implementing field-aware factorization machines on latent vector space of these features.Finally,synergistic combinations can be predicted by introducing a threshold.We applied SyFFM to predict pairwise synergistic combinations and three-drug synergistic combinations,and the performance is good in terms of cross-validation.Besides,more than 90%combinations of the top ranked predictions are proved by literature and the analysis of parameters in model shows that our method can help to investigate and explain synergistic mechanisms underlying combinatorial therapy.

Advances in drug delivery system for platinum agents based combination therapy

Platinum-based anticancer agents are widely used as first-line drugs in cancer chemotherapy for various solid tumors. However, great side effects and occurrence of resistance remain as the major drawbacks for almost all the platinum drugs developed. To conquer these problems, new strategies should be adopted for platinum drug based chemotherapy. Modern nanotechnology has been widely employed in the delivery of various therapeutics and diagnostic. It provides the possibility of targeted delivery of a certain anticancer drug to the tumor site, which could minimize toxicity and optimize the drug efficacy. Here, in this review, we focused on the recent progress in polymer based drug delivery systems for platinum-based combination therapy.

A proteomic landscape of pharmacologic perturbations for functional relevance

Pharmacological perturbation studies based on protein-level signatures are fundamental for drug discovery. In the present study, we used a mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomic platform to profile the whole proteome of the breast cancer MCF7 cell line under stress induced by 78 bioactive compounds. The integrated analysis of perturbed signal abundance revealed the connectivity between phenotypic behaviors and molecular features in cancer cells. Our data showed functional relevance in exploring the novel pharmacological activity of phenolic xanthohumol, as well as the noncanonical targets of clinically approved tamoxifen, lovastatin, and their derivatives. Furthermore, the rational design of synergistic inhibition using a combination of histone methyltransferase and topoisomerase was identified based on their complementary drug fingerprints. This study provides rich resources for the proteomic landscape of drug responses for precision therapeutic medicine.

Effects of Taxotere on invasive potential and multidrug resistance phenotype in pancreatic carcinoma cell line SUIT-2

INTRODUCTIONDevelopment of drug-resistance to chemotherapyand subsequent metastasis of tumor are primarilyresponsible for treatment failure and the death fromcancer. There have been many previous studies onthe relationship between expression of multidrugresistance (MDR) phenotype P-glycoprotein (P-gp)and the malignant properties of tumors, but theresults are often conflicting[1-8]. The difference intumor types or MDR phenotype induced by specificagents might account for this discrepancy. Taxotere(TXT), a member of the family of taxanes, hasantitumor activity through its effect of promotingthe polymerization of tubulin[9,10].

Drug-drug cocrystals:Opportunities and challenges

Recently,drug-drug cocrystal attracts more and more attention.It offers a low risk,low-cost but high reward route to new and better medicines and could improve the physiochemical and biopharmaceutical properties of a medicine by addition of a suitable therapeutically effective component without any chemical modification.Having so many advantages,to date,the reported drug-drug cocrystals are rare.Here we review the drug-drug cocrystals that reported in last decade and shed light on the opportunities and challenges for the development of drug-drug cocrystals.

Application of the Drugs for Expelling the Pathogenic Wind in Treatment of Chronic Diarrhea

Chronic diarrhea can be divided into four types:retention of dampness leading to blockage of qi,invasion of the intestines by pathogenic wind,damp-retention due to deficiency of the spleen, andstagnation of the liver-qi with deficiency of thespleen.

Immuno-oncology combinations： raising the tail of the survival curve

There have been exponential gains in immuno-oncology in recent times through the development of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for advanced melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer,immune checkpoint inhibitors also appears to have significant antitumor activity in multiple other tumor types. An exciting component of immunotherapy is the durability of antitumor responses observed, with some patients achieving disease control for many years. Nevertheless, not all patients benefit, and efforts should thus now focus on improving the efficacy of immunotherapy through the use of combination approaches and predictive biomarkers of response and resistance. There are multiple potential rational combinations using an immunotherapy backbone, including existing treatments such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy or molecularly targeted agents, as well as other immunotherapeutics. The aim of such antitumor strategies will be to raise the tail on the survival curve by increasing the number of long term survivors, while managing any additive or synergistic toxicities that may arise with immunotherapy combinations. Rational trial designs based on a clear understanding of tumor biology and drug pharmacology remain paramount. This article reviews the biology underpinning immuno-oncology, discusses existing and novel immunotherapeutic combinations currently in development, the challenges of predictive biomarkers of response and resistance and the impact of immuno-oncology on early phase clinical trial design.

Long-term alpha interferon and lamivudine combination therapy in non-responder patients with anti-HBe-positive chronic hepatitis B:Results of an open,controlled trial

AIM: To investigate the safety and efficacy of long-term combination therapy with alpha interferon and lamivudine in non-responsive patients with anti-HBe-positive chronic hepatitis B.METHODS: 34 patients received combination treatment (1 month lamivudine, 12 month lamivudine+interferon, 6month lamivudine), 24 received lamivudine (12 months),24 received interferon (12 months). Interferon was administered at 6 MU tiw and lamivudine at 100 mg orally once daily. Patients were followed up for 6 months after treatment.RESULTS: At the end of treatment, HBV DNA negativity rates were 88 % with lamivudine+interferon, 99 % with lamivudine and 55 % with interferon, (P=0.004, combination therapy vs. interferon, and P=0.001 lamivudine vs.interferon), and serum transaminase normalization rates were 84 %, 91% and 53 % (P=0.01 combination therapy vs. interferon, and P=0.012 lamivudine vs. interferon). Six months later, HBV DNA negativity rates were 44 % with lamivudine+interferon, 33 % with lamivudine and 25 % with interferon, and serum transaminase normalization rates were 61%, 42 % and 45 %, respectively, without statistical significance. No YMDD variants were observed with lamivudine+interferon (vs. 12 % with lamivudine). The combination therapy appeared to be safe. CONCLUSION: Although viral clearance and transaminase normalization are slower with long-term lamivudine+interferon than that with lamivudine alone, the combination regimen seems to provide more lasting benefits and to protect against the appearance of YMDD variants. Studies with other regimens regarding sequence and duration are needed.

Portable and automated analyzer for rapid and high precision in vitro dissolution of drugs

We developed a novel portable and automated dissolution test analyzer for rapid and high precision in vitro dissolution testing of drugs.The analyzer consists of a flow-through-cell drug dissolution system,an automated sequential sampling system,a high-speed capillary electrophoresis(HSCE)system,and a data acquisition system.Combining the high-temporal resolution flow-gating sampling approach with HSCE,which has outstanding advantages of efficient separation and resolution,the analyzer can achieve rapid analysis and exhibits the ability in miniaturization for on-site assessment of different active pharmaceutical ingredients.To integrate the flow-through-cell dissolution system with HSCE,a specially designed flow-gating-injection(FGI)interface was employed.The performance of the analyzer was investigated by analyzing the dissolution of immediate-release drugs including single dose(amoxicillin dispersible tablets)and fixed dose combination(amoxicillin and clavulanate potassium)drug tablets with the high-temporal resolutions of 12 s and 20 s,respectively.The dissolution profiles of different active pharmaceutical ingredients could be simultaneously and automatically monitored with high repeatability and accuracy.The analyzer was successfully utilized for the pharmaceutical quality control and bio-relevant dissolution testing,as well as in vivo-in vitro correlation analysis.Our portable analyzer is miniaturized,convenient and of low-cost,and will provide a valuable tool for dissolution testing in pharmaceutical research and development.

Short-term effect of topical brinzolamide-timolol fixed combination on ocular surface of glaucoma patients

AIM: To evaluate the short-term effect of the fixed combination of brinzolamide-timolol on the ocular surface in glaucoma patients. METHODS: This is a prospective study of 23 eyes of 23 patients with newly diagnosed glaucoma. Schirmer Ⅰ test, tear break-up time (BUT) measurement, conjunctival impression cytology and central corneal thickness (CCT) measurements were performed in one of the eyes of each patients before and 4 weeks after brinzolamide-timolol fixed combination therapy. All patients were asked to answer the OSDI questionnaire form about the ocular surface symptoms at baseline and at 1 week and 4 weeks follow-up visits. RESULTS: After brinzolamide-timolol fixed combination theraphy, Schirmer Ⅰ, BUT and CCT values decreased but the only statistically significant decrease was seen in BUT test (P =0.03). OSDI scores increased during the follow-up but this increase was not statistically significant (P =0.22, P = 0.42 respectively). Impression cytology findings ranged from 0.78±0.42 to 0.95±0.36 according to the Nelson classification. There was no statistically significant difference between baseline and 4 weeks follow up in impression cytology grades (P =0.15). CONCLUSION: The results of our study indicate that short-term use of brinzolamide-timolol fixed combination theraphy does not have a profound effect on ocular surface except BUT values.

The Antagonistic Action of Heat-Clearing and Detoxifying Chinese Drugs on Endotoxins

In the recent decade, interest in treatment and prevention of many critical, severe and acute diseases caused by bacterial endotoxins has been aroused along with the advance of the knowledge on the nature of the endotoxin and the conditions involved. In abroad, attention has been mainly payed to raising antisera and monocolonal antibodies against the endotoxin and the induced mediators. However, the allergic reactions and the cost are still the problems. Till now, there is no drug that can antagonize endotoxin with high effectiveness and low toxicity. Clinical treatments are still confined in inhibiting or killing the pathogen, and correcting the internal environmental disturbance. Being less toxic and rich in resources with low cost and less side-effects, screening of effective Chinese drugs for antagonizing endotoxin is of important and practical significance. Endotoxin belongs to the category of toxic evils, or more precisely, the heat toxin in TCM. Therefore the application of heat-clearing and detoxifying Chinese drugs to antagonizing endotoxins is consistent with the theory of TCM. Some achievements in this field are reported as follows.

Oligospermia due to partial maturation arrest responds to low dose estrogen-testosterone combination therapy resulting in live-birth: a case report

A man having severe oligospermia, due to partial maturation arrest at spermatid stage, was given low dose estrogen-testosterone combination therapy for three months. His sperm count increased enormously, following which his wife conceived and delivered a healthy baby at term.

Current and novel approaches in the pharmacological treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)is one of the most lethal malignant tumours worldwide.The mortality-to-incidence ratio is up to 91.6%in many countries,representing the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths.Systemic drugs,including the multikinase inhibitors sorafenib and lenvatinib,are first-line drugs used in HCC treatment.Unfortunately,these therapies are ineffective in most cases due to late diagnosis and the development of tumour resistance.Thus,novel pharmacological alternatives are urgently needed.For instance,immune checkpoint inhibitors have provided new approaches targeting cells of the immune system.Furthermore,monoclonal antibodies against programmed cell death-1 have shown benefits in HCC patients.In addition,drug combinations,including first-line treatment and immunotherapy,as well as drug repurposing,are promising novel therapeutic alternatives.Here,we review the current and novel pharmacological approaches to fight HCC.Preclinical studies,as well as approved and ongoing clinical trials for liver cancer treatment,are discussed.The pharmacological opportunities analysed here should lead to significant improvement in HCC therapy.

CLINICAL OBSERVATION ON 40 CASES OF ANKYLOSING SPONDYLITIS TREATED WITH ACUPUNCTURE AND CHINESE DRUGS

Objective： To observe the clinical therapeutic effect of acupuncture plus Chinese herbal medicines for ankylceing Methods： A total of 80 cases of AS patients were evenly and randomly divided into treatment group and control group. In treatment group, patients were treated with acupuncture of Jiaji （夹脊 EX-B 2） and oral administration of Yishen Tongdu Won （益肾通督丸,Bolus for Reinforcing the Kidney and Dredging Governor Vessesl） and those of control group treated with oral administration of Sulfasalazin （0.5 g, twice daily）. Before and after treatment, the thoracic-dilaion scale, Schober test, Bath ankylceing spondylitis disease activity index （BASDAI）, Bath ankylosing spondylitis functional index （BASFI）, erythrocyte sedimentation rate （ESR） and C-reaction protein （CRP） were detected separately. Results： After 6 months of treatment, of the both 40cases in treatment and control groups, 27 （67.5%） and 13 （32.5%） were improved remarkably, 11 （27.5%） and 16 （40.0%） effective, and 2 （5.0%） and 11 （27.5%） failed, with the effective rates being 95.0% and 72.5% separately. The therapeutic effect of treatment group was significantly superior to that of control group （P〈 0.05）. After treatment, the thoracicdilaion scale and Schober test values increased significantly （ P〈 0.05）, while BASDAI, BASFI, ESR and CRP lowered considerably （P〈0.01, P〈0.05）. Comparison between two groups indicated that after treatment, the decreased values of BASDAI, BASFI, ESR and CRP of treatment group were significantly lower than those of control group （ P〈 0.01 ）, while those of the thoracio-dilaion scale and Schober test of treatment group were significantly higher than those of control group （ P 〈 0.05, P 〈 0.01 ）. Results displayed that both acupuncture combined with Chinese drugs and Sulfasalazin could lower BASDAI, BASFI, ESR and CRP, raise the thoracic-dilaion scale and Schober test values considerably in AS patients, and the therapeutic effect of combined acupunclure and Chinese drugs was apparently superior to that of Westem medicine. Conclusion： Joint application of acupuncture and Chinese drugs is superior to Western medicine in the therapeutic effect for AS and has fewer side effects.