Flavonoid intake and the risk of age-related cataract in China’s Heilongjiang Province

Background/Objectives: Epidemiological evidence suggests that diets rich in flavonoids may reduce the risk of developing age-related cataract (ARC). Flavonoids are widely distributed in foods of plant origin and the objective of this study was to evaluate retrospectively the association between the intakes of the five flavonoid subclasses and the risk of ARC.  Subjects/Methods: A population-based case-control study (249 cases and 66 controls) was carried out in Heilongjiang province, which is located in the Northeast of China, and where intakes and availability of fresh vegetables and fruits can be limited. Dietary data gathered by food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) were used to calculate flavonoid intake. Adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated by logistic regression.  Results: No linear associations between risk of developing ARC and intakes of total dietary flavonoids, anthocyanidins, flavon-3-ol, flavanone, total flavones or total flavonols were found, but quercetin and isorhamnetin intake was inversely associated with ARC risk (OR 11.78, 95% CI: 1.62-85.84, P<0.05, and OR 6.99, 95% CI:1.12-43.44, P<0.05, quartile 4 vs quartile 1, respectively).  Conclusion: As quercetin is contained in many plant foods and isorhamnetin is only contained in very few foods, we concluded that higher quercetin intake may be an important dietary factor in the reduction of risk of age-related cataract

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) as powerful and recyclable catalysts and solvents for the synthesis of 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones/thiones

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are successfully used as powerful and recyclable catalysts and solvents for the synthesis of 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones/thiones (DHPMs). The acidity of DESs is the main factor that determines catalytic activity. DESs, based on p-toluene sulfonic acid (PTSA) and choline chloride (ChCl), exhibits the highest catalytic activity. ChCl/2PTSA is suitable for a vast variety of aromatic aldehydes with electron-donating and electron-withdrawing groups, different β-diketonates, and urea or thiourea to obtain the corresponding DHPMs. Furthermore, DESs can be recycled easily after synthesis. The reused DESs achieve catalytic efficiency six times without significant changes. This study will provide a new green catalyst and efficient process for the synthesis of DHPMs

A novel statistical prognostic score model that includes serum CXCL5 levels and clinical classification predicts risk of disease progression and survival of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients.

BACKGROUND:Aberrant expression of C-X-C motif chemokine 5 (CXCL5) contributes to the progression of various cancers. This study analyzed the clinical significance of serum CXCL5 (sCXCL5) levels of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients, with the goal of building a novel prognostic score model. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN:Serum samples were collected prior to treatment from 290 NPC patients for the detection of sCXCL5 with ELISA. Half of the patients (n = 145) were randomly assigned to the training set to generate the sCXCL5 cutoff point using receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis, while the other half (n = 145) were assigned to the testing set for validation. Associations between sCXCL5 levels and clinical characteristics were analyzed. A prognostic score model was built using independent predictors derived from multivariate analysis. A concordance index (C-Index) was used to evaluate prognostic ability. RESULTS:The sCXCL5 cutoff point was 0.805 ng/ml. Sex, age, histology, T classification, clinical classification and local recurrence were not associated with sCXCL5 levels. However, sCXCL5 levels were positively associated with N classification, distant metastasis and disease progression (P<0.05). A high sCXCL5 level predicted poor 6-year overall survival (OS), poor 6-year distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), and poor 6-year progression-free survival (PFS). A prognostic score model was subsequently constructed based on sCXCL5 levels and clinical classification (C-C model), which are independent predictors of OS, DMFS, and PFS, as confirmed by the multivariate analysis. Furthermore, this novel model successfully divided the patients into four risk subgroups in the training set, the testing set and the entire set of patients. The C-Indices were 0.751 and 0.762 for the training set and the testing set, respectively. CONCLUSIONS:sCXCL5 level was determined to be an independent prognostic factor for NPC patients. The novel statistical C-C model, which includes sCXCL5 levels and clinical classification, could be helpful in predicting the prognosis of NPC patients

SCARB1 in extracellular vesicles promotes NPC metastasis by co-regulating M1 and M2 macrophage function

Abstract Distant metastasis is currently the main factor affecting the prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), and understanding the mechanisms of metastasis and identifying reliable therapeutic targets are critical for improving prognosis and achieving clinical translation. Macrophages, as important immune cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME), have been shown to regulate metastasis. And extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted by stromal cells and tumor cells play the important role in intercellular communication in the tumor microenvironment. However, the role of NPC-EVs on macrophages and their function in regulating macrophages to affect metastasis has not been fully clarified. In this study, we report that NPC-EVs can be uptake by macrophages and alter macrophage polarization, for the first time, we identified the genes implicated in these regulatory functions: SCARB1, HAAO, and CYP1B1. Moreover, we found that SCARB1 was positively associated with metastasis and poor prognosis of NPC. Interestingly, we found that SCARB1-rich EVs promoted M1 macrophages ferroptosis to decrease M1 macrophages infiltration by upregulating the HAAO level while decreasing phagocytosis of M2 macrophages by upregulating the CYP1B1 level. Finally, we identified the SCARB1-binding gene KLF9, which is involved in the transcription of HAAO and CYP1B1. Our findings showed that SCARB1-EVs promoted metastasis by co-regulating M1 and M2 macrophage function. The related mechanism will provide a new therapeutic strategy to help patients with NPC improve their prognosis

The C-C model-derived survival curves for the nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients in the training set.

<p>The follow-up prognoses of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients in the training set were clearly identified by the four risk subgroups of the C-C model. (A) The overall survival curves for the L, IL, IH, and H risk subgroups of the C-C model; (B) The distant metastasis-free survival curves for the L, IL, IH, and H risk subgroups of the C-C model; (C) The progression-free survival curves for the L, IL, IH, and H risk subgroups of the C-C model; and (D) The local-regional recurrence-free survival curves for the L, IL, IH, and H risk subgroups of the C-C model. L, low-risk, n = 16; IL, intermediate-low-risk, n = 39; IH, intermediate-high-risk, n = 62; H, high-risk, n = 28.</p

The survival curves for the nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients with high/low serum CXCL5-levels in the training set.

<p>A high sCXCL5 level correlated with poor overall survival and distant metastasis-free survival rates in the training set patients. (A) The overall survival rate was significantly higher in the low sCXCL5 level patients; (B) The distant metastasis-free survival rate was significantly higher in the low sCXCL5 level patients. Low sCXCL5 level, n = 70; high sCXCL5 level, n = 75.</p

The C-C model-derived survival curves for the nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients in the testing set.

<p>The follow-up prognoses of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients in the testing set were clearly identified by the four risk subgroups of the C-C model. (A) The overall survival curves for the L, IL, IH, and H risk subgroups of the C-C model; (B) The distant metastasis-free survival curves for the L, IL, IH, and H risk subgroups of the C-C model; (C) The progression-free survival curves for the L, IL, IH, and H risk subgroups of the C-C model; and (D) The local-regional recurrence-free survival curves for the L, IL, IH, and H risk subgroups of the C-C model. L, low risk, n = 8; IL, intermediate-low risk, n = 38; IH, intermediate-high risk, n = 68; H, high risk, n = 31.</p