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Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the neurodegenerative diseases that is characterized by obvious motor and some nonmotor symptoms. Various therapeutics failed in the effective treatment of PD because of impaired neurological function in the brain and various complications. Periplaneta Americana oligosaccharides (OPA), the main active ingredients extracted from the medicine residues of Periplaneta Americana (P. Americana), have been reported to exert anti-inflammatory effects. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the possible mechanisms of OPA against 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+)-induced apotosis in SH-SY5Y cells and its potential neuroprotective effects in 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced PD subacute model mice. The data demonstrated that OPA significantly reversed the MPP+-induced decrease in SH-SY5Y cell viability, reduced the proportion of apoptotic cells, and protected SH-SY5Y cells from apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner by regulating the expression of apoptosis-related genes. Furthermore, OPA also alleviated the motor dysfunction of PD model mice, prevented the loss of tyrosine hydroxylase positive cells, suppressed the apoptosis of substantia nigra cells, and improved the dysbiosis of gut microbiota in vivo, suggesting that OPA demonstrated a significantly neuroprotective effect on PD model mice. These results indicated that OPA might be the possibility of PD therapeutics with economic utility and high safety.

Plant lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins with nonimmune origin, which can reversibly bind with carbohydrates, agglutinate cells, and precipitate polysaccharides and glycoconjugates. Plant lectins have attracted much attention for their anti-virus, anti-proliferation, and pro-apoptosis properties. Thus the exploration of new lectins has received special attention. Here we purified a mannose-binding lectin from the rhizomes of Liparis nervosa by ion exchange chromatography on DEAE-Sepharose, affinity chromatography on Mannose-Sepharose 4B, and gel filtration chromatography on Sephacryl S-100. The purified L. nervosa lectin (LNL) was identified to be a monomeric protein with a molecular mass of 13 kDa. LNL exhibited hemagglutinating activity towards rabbit erythrocytes, and its activity could be strongly inhibited by D-mannose, N-acetyl glucosamine and thyroglobulin. In vitro experiments showed that LNL exhibited a comparable anti-fungal activity against Piricularia oryzae (Cavara), Bipolaris maydis, Fusarium graminearum, and Sclerotium rolfsii, and anti-proliferation activity against tumor cells by inducing apoptosis. The full-length cDNA sequence of LNL is 715 bp in length and contains a 525 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a 110-residue mature protein. It was predicted to have three mannose-binding conserved motifs ‘QXDXNXVXY’. The binding pattern of LNL was further revealed by homology modeling and molecular docking. We demonstrated that LNL is not only a potential therapeutic candidate against tumor but also a new anti-fungal agent.

Objective To investigate the relationships of leukemia inhibitory factor receptor (LIFR) with cervical cancer invasion and metastasis. Methods From January 2021 to December 2022, 45 patients treated for cervical cancer and lung metastases were identified. Western blotting was used to determine the expression of Hippo–YAP signaling pathway-related proteins. Meanwhile, 40 healthy Sprague-Dawley nude mice were used and evenly randomized into two groups, which were injected with LIFR-overexpressing (study group) or normal cervical cancer cells (control group). The lung tissue of nude mice was removed for hematoxylin–eosin staining, and the number of lung cell metastases in nude mice was counted. Results The highest LIFR mRNA expression was found in paracancerous tissue, followed by cervix cancer tissue and metastatic lesions. The study group exhibited higher LIFR, P-YAP, and P-TAZ protein expression and lower YAP and TAZ protein expression than the control group. The study group had a lower number of lung metastases than the control group. Conclusion Decreased expression of LIFR and decreased phosphorylation of Hippo–YAP signaling pathway-related proteins might be the underlying mechanisms that promote lung metastasis of cervical cancer.