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Human amniotic membrane (HAM) was a biocompatible scaffold with advantages of anti-inflammatory, low antigen, feasibility, tolerance and low cost. In our previous work, HAM was treated to be decellularized using surfactant, lipase and DNAase methods and the efficacy as an implantable biological mesh was verified after decellularization treatment. In this work, we used the previous protocol to decellularize the fresh HAM, and applied it to repair full-thickness skin defects with Sprague-Dawley rats as the test animals. The wound healing progress was followed in the duration of 8months, and the biological repairing mechanism was explored. From the wound area alteration, white blood cell (WBC) measurements and H&E staining, dHAM was detected to promote the wound healing, comparing with the traditional clinic treatment. Immunohistochemical analyses of the bio-factors involved in the wound healing, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGF-β1), exhibited that dHAM enhanced VEGF and α-SMA secretion but reduced TGF-β1 expression at early stage, which alleviated the wound inflammation, promoted the tissue regeneration and relieved the scar formation.

Background: Nontuberculous mycobacteria are recognized as a concern for cystic fibrosis (CF) patients due to increasing disease prevalence and the potential for detrimental effects on pulmonary function and mortality. Current standard of care involves prolonged systemic antibiotics, which often leads to severe side effects and poor treatment outcomes. In this study, we investigated the tolerability and efficacy of a novel inhaled therapeutic in various mouse models of NTM disease. Methods: We developed clofazimine inhalation suspension (CIS), a novel formulation of clofazimine developed for inhaled administration. To determine the efficacy, minimum inhibitory concentrations were evaluated in vitro, and tolerability of CIS was determined in naïve mouse models over various durations. After establishing tolerability, CIS efficacy was tested in in vivo infection models of both Mycobacterium avium and M. abscessus. Lung and plasma clofazimine levels after chronic treatments were evaluated. Results: Clofazimine inhalation suspension demonstrated antimycobacterial activity in vitro, with MIC values between 0.125 and 2 μg/ml for M. avium complex and M. abscessus. Administration into naïve mice showed that CIS was well tolerated at doses up to 28 mg/kg over 28 consecutive treatments. In vivo, CIS was shown to significantly improve bacterial elimination from the lungs of both acute and chronic NTM-infected mouse models compared to negative controls and oral clofazimine administration. Clofazimine concentrations in lung tissue were approximately four times higher than the concentrations achieved by oral dosing. Conclusion: Clofazimine inhalation suspension is a well tolerated and effective novel therapeutic candidate for the treatment of NTM infections in mouse models.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a class of endogenous RNA molecules, are produced by alternative splicing of precursor RNA and are covalently linked at the 5′ and 3′ ends. Recent studies have revealed that dysregulated circRNAs are closely related to the occurrence and progression of gastrointestinal malignancies. Accumulating evidence indicates that circRNAs, including circPVT1, circLARP4, circ-SFMBT2, cir-ITCH, circRNA_100782, circ_100395, circ-DONSON, hsa_circ_0001368, circNRIP1, circFAT1(e2), circCCDC66, circSMARCA5, circ-ZNF652, and circ_0030235 play important roles in the proliferation, differentiation, invasion, and metastasis of cancer cells through a variety of mechanisms, such as acting as microRNA sponges, interacting with RNA-binding proteins, regulating gene transcription and alternative splicing, and being translated into proteins. With the characteristics of high abundance, high stability, extensive functions, and certain tissue-, time-and diseasespecific expressions, circRNAs are expected to provide novel perspectives for the diagnoses and treatments of gastrointestinal malignancies.

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Background Recent studies have indicated that circular RNAs (circRNAs) are novel endogenous RNAs whose 5′ and 3′ ends are covalently linked and play critical roles in gastric carcinogenesis. However, the significance of circRNA hsa_circ_0001874 in gastric cancer (GC) is still unclear. Methods Therefore, we first detected hsa_circ_0001874 levels in GC cell lines and tissues and analyzed their potential correlation with clinicopathological factors. Then, a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was established to evaluate its clinical value. Finally, we further predicted the biological functions of this molecule by bioinformatics analysis. Results Our data showed that as an indicator, hsa_circ_0001874 expression was significantly decreased in 78.02% (71/91) of the GC patients. Combined with clinicopathological factors, the hsa_circ_0001874 level was strongly associated with cell differentiation (p < 0.001), tumor stage (p = 0.005), invasion (p = 0.024), lymphatic metastasis (p = 0.023), and CEA level (p < 0.001) in GC tissues. The area under the curve (AUC) was up to 0.673, with a sensitivity and specificity of 61.54% and 68.13%, respectively. Bioinformatics analysis showed that hsa_circ_0001874 harbors miR‐593‐5p, miR‐103a‐3p, and miR‐107 seed sequences to regulate these three miRNAs and downstream target genes and exert its various biological functions in the carcinogenesis and progression of GC. Conclusion In summary, these data suggest that hsa_circ_0001874 is an indicator of GC and plays a significant role in gastric carcinogenesis and progression.