Breast cancer (BC) is the most common type of cancer among females. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARG) can regulate the production of adipocyte-related genes and has anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor effects. Our aim was to investigate PPARG expression, its possible prognostic value, and its effect on immune cell infiltration in BC, and explore the regulatory effects of natural drugs on PPARG to find new ways to treat BC. Using different bioinformatics tools, we extracted and comprehensively analyzed the data from the Cancer Genome Atlas, Genotype-Tissue Expression, and BenCaoZuJian databases to study the potential anti-BC mechanism of PPARG and potential natural drugs targeting it. First, we found that PPARG was downregulated in BC and its expression level correlates with pathological tumor stage (pT-stage) and pathological tumor-node-metastasis stage (pTNM-stage) in BC. PPARG expression was higher in estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) BC than in estrogen receptor-negative (ER−) BC, which tends to indicate a better prognosis. Meanwhile, PPARG exhibited a significant positive correlation with the infiltration of immune cells and correlated with better cumulative survival in BC patients. In addition, PPARG levels were shown to be positively associated with the expression of immune-related genes and immune checkpoints, and ER+ patients had better responses to immune checkpoint blocking. Correlation pathway research revealed that PPARG is strongly associated with pathways, such as angiogenesis, apoptosis, fatty acid biosynthesis, and degradation in ER+ BC. We also found that quercetin is the most promising natural anti-BC drug among natural medicines that upregulate PPARG. Our research showed that PPARG may reduce BC development by regulating the immune microenvironment. Quercetin as PPARG ligands/agonists is a potential natural drug for BC treatment.
The natural compound Xihuang Pill (XHP) has an anti-cancer effect and was effective for breast cancer (BrCa) prevention and treatment. However, the mechanisms underlying this effect remain poorly characterized. Here, we searched the ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs) regulated by XHP using the HERB and FerrDb databases, and extracted the FRGs' data on expression and pertinent clinical data by way of the TCGA dataset. A single-factor Cox regression analysis was used to confirm FRGs associated with prognosis, and LASSO Cox regression analysis was used for prognostic model building. We then constructed a prognostic model and assessed it based on Kaplan-Meier survival curves and ROC curves. Next, we applied GO, KEGG, and ssGSEA analyses to further investigate FRGs' functions and potential mechanisms. We discovered that eight FRGs from the XHP targets were associated with a higher likelihood of survival. The prognostic model formed by eight genes also possessed good prognostic ability, and the risk score could be a separate risk factor for the BrCa prognosis. The GO, KEGG, and ssGSEA analyses showed risk score-related genes were associated with immune-related activities. Molecular docking showed that quercetin and beta-sitosterol as XHP's active ingredients are effective and promising agents for the treatment of BrCa. Our results provided insights into the underlying molecular mechanisms by which XHP improves BrCa patient prognosis; quercetin and beta-sitosterol may provide a new road for anti-BrCa natural products.
Background and Aims: Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) are both common clinical problems in cancer patients. As a traditional Chinese medicine treatment method, acupuncture has a remarkable healing effect on the treatment of nausea and vomiting, but a systematic meta-analysis is lacking concerning this topic.Methods: This paper searched the randomized controlled clinical trial literature on acupuncture for the prevention of CINV in the Pubmed, EMBASE, CNKI, WF (WAFANG DATE), Cochrane, and VIP (CQVIP) databases with a search date of October 20, 2021. An independent quality evaluation and effect size extraction of the literature were performed by two researchers, and the meta-analysis and quality evaluation of all the literature was performed using RevMan 5.4. A total of 18 publications meeting the criteria were screened for the meta-analysis with a total of 1,135 patients.Results: Combined acupuncture prophylaxis was significantly better than other chemotherapy regimens in comparison with conventional chemotherapy regimens (risk ratio (RR) = 1.29; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.17-1.43, p < 0.00001; odds ratio (OR) = 3.61; 95% CI: 2.19-5.96, p < 0.00001). Combined acupuncture was also effective in the prevention of side effects, such as loss of appetite (RR = 0.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.