Ginsenoside Rg1, one of the most notable active components of Panax ginseng, has been widely reported to exert anti-inflammatory actions. This study aimed to reveal whether ginsenoside Rg1 also exhibits beneficial roles against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced apoptosis and inflammation in human renal tubular epithelial cells, and to evaluate the potential role of the component on tubulointerstitial nephritis treatment. HK-2 cells were treated with various doses of ginsenoside Rg1 (0, 50, 100, 150, and 200 μM) in the absence or presence of 5 μg/mL LPS. Thereafter, CCK-8 assay, flow cytometry, western blot, migration assay, reactive oxygen species (ROS) assay, and ELISA were carried out to respectively assess cell viability, apoptosis, migration, ROS activity, and the release of inflammatory cytokines. As a result, ginsenoside Rg1 protected HK-2 cells from LPS-induced injury, as cell viability was increased, cell apoptosis was decreased, and the release of MCP-1, IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α was reduced. Ginsenoside Rg1 functioned to HK-2 cells in a dose-dependent manner, and the 150 μM dose exhibited the most protective functions. Ginsenoside Rg1 had no significant impact on cell migration and ROS activity, while it alleviated LPS-induced ROS release and migration impairment. Furthermore, the down-regulations of p-PI3K, p-AKT, and up-regulations of PTEN, p-IκBα, p-p65, Bcl-3 induced by LPS were recovered to some extent after ginsenoside Rg1 treatment. In conclusion, ginsenoside Rg1 protects HK-2 cells against LPS-induced inflammation and apoptosis via activation of the PI3K/AKT pathway and suppression of NF-κB pathway.

BackgroundN6-methyladenosine (m6A) methylation and ferroptosis assist long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in promoting immune escape in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the predictive value of m6A- and ferroptosis-related lncRNAs (mfrlncRNAs) in terms of immune efficacy remains unknown.MethodA total of 365 HCC patients with complete data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database were used as the training cohort, and half of them were randomly selected as the validation cohort. A total of 161 HCC patients from the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) database were used as external validation (ICGC cohort).ResultsWe first identified a group of specific lncRNAs associated with both m6A regulators and ferroptosis-related genes and then constructed prognosis-related mfrlncRNA pairs. Based on this, the mfrlncRNA signature was constructed using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) analysis and Cox regression. Notably, the risk score of patients was proven to be an independent prognostic factor and was better than the TNM stage and tumor grade. Moreover, patients with high-risk scores had lower survival rates, higher infiltration of immunosuppressive cells (macrophages and Tregs), lower infiltration of cytotoxic immune cells (natural killer cells), poorer immune efficacy (both immunophenoscore and score of tumor immune dysfunction and exclusion), higher IC50, and enrichment of the induced Treg pathway, which confirmed that the mfrlncRNA signature contributed to survival prediction and risk stratification of patients with HCC.ConclusionsThe mfrlncRNA signature, which has great prognostic value, provides new clues for identifying “cold” and “hot” tumors and might have crucial implications for individualized therapy to improve the survival rate of patients with HCC.

Introduction: Aconitine is a highly toxic diterpenoid alkaloid, produced by plants of the Aconitum genus, that is still used in Chinese herbal medicines. Aconitine poisoning remains common in China and other parts of Asia.Case Report: A 48-year-old man received a diagnosis of aconitine poisoning after ingesting herbal medicinal wine made with caowu, which is made from Aconitum kusnezoffii roots, and was admitted to our hospital's emergency department. Electrocardiography and thoracoabdominal computed tomography showed cardiovascular toxicity from aconitine poisoning along with polycystic renal hemorrhaging. Because the arrhythmia was not controlled with lidocaine, blood purification with a reduced dosage of heparin was performed to treat the arrhythmia and to avoid increasing the bleeding of the polycystic renal hemorrhage. The patient recovered from aconitine poisoning and polycystic kidney hemorrhage. Conclusions:This case significantly advances our understanding of hemoperfusion with reduced heparin for the treatment of ventricular arrhythmia caused by aconitine poisoning. (J Nippon Med Sch 2015; 82: 257 261)

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