The American journal of Chinese medicine
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The intestinal tract plays an essential role in protecting tissues from the invasion of external harmful substances due to impaired barrier function. Furthermore, it participates in immunomodulation by intestinal microorganisms, which is important in health. When the intestinal tract is destroyed, it can lose its protective function, resulting in multiple systemic complications. ⋯ Both their aglycone and glycoside forms have anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcer, antibacterial, antiviral, antihypertensive, anti-obesity, anticancer, antidiabetic, cardio protective, hepatoprotective, and anti-neurodegenerative properties in living organisms. In recent years, several studies have shown that UA and OA can reduce the risk of intestinal pathological injury, alleviate intestinal dysfunction, and restore intestinal barrier function. The present study evaluated the beneficial effects of UA and OA on intestinal damage and diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colorectal cancer (CRC).
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Sophora tonkinensis Gagnep. (ST) (Fabaceae) is distributed chiefly in south-central and southeast China and Vietnam. In traditional Chinese medicine theory, the root and rhizome of ST are toxic and mainly used in the treatment of pharyngeal and laryngeal diseases. Modern studies provide new insights into the pharmacological and toxicological aspects of ST. ⋯ The results of the literature analysis showed that ST has hepatoprotective, immunomodulatory, and anticancer effects and produces obvious toxicity to the liver and nervous and cardiovascular system. The results of bioinformatics showed that the compounds from ST may be applied to the treatment of cancer and digestive and nervous system diseases and show the possibility to cause hematotoxicity, neurotoxicity, and immunotoxicity. The present review demonstrates that attention should be paid to the potential toxicity of ST in the treatment of diseases and provides the reference for the subsequent pharmacological toxicological studies on the mechanism and chemical basis of ST.
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Multicenter Study
Add-On Chinese Medicine for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (ACCORD): A Retrospective Cohort Study of Hospital Registries.
Chinese medicine (CM) was extensively used to treat COVID-19 in China. We aimed to evaluate the real-world effectiveness of add-on semi-individualized CM during the outbreak. A retrospective cohort of 1788 adult confirmed COVID-19 patients were recruited from 2235 consecutive linked records retrieved from five hospitals in Wuhan during 15 January to 13 March 2020. ⋯ Immunomodulating and anti-asthmatic CMs were most used. Add-on semi-individualized CM was associated with significantly reduced mortality, especially among severe/critical cases. Chinese medicine could be considered as an add-on regimen for trial use.
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Intestinal flora is essential for maintaining host health and plays a unique role in transforming Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). TCM, as a bodyguard, has saved countless lives and maintained human health in the long history, especially in this COVID-19 pandemic. Pains of diseases have been removed from the effective TCM therapy, such as TCM preparation, moxibustion, and acupuncture. ⋯ Therefore, it is necessary to sum up the latest results in time. This paper systematically depicted the profile of TCM and the importance of intestinal flora in host. What is more, we comprehensively summarized and discussed the latest progress of the interplay between TCM and intestinal flora to better reveal the core connotation of TCM.
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Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the world and classified into non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC). As tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), several triterpenoid saponins can target to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a widely used molecular therapeutic target, to exhibit remarkable anti-proliferative activities in cancer cells. As one of triterpenoid saponins, 20([Formula: see text])-ginsenoside Rg3 [20([Formula: see text])-Rg3] was confirmed to be an EGFR-TKI in this work. ⋯ Molecular docking suggested that the combination of both hydrophobic and hydrogen-bonding interactions may help stabilizing the 20([Formula: see text])-Rg3-EGFR binding. Furthermore, their binding stability was assessed by molecular dynamics simulation. Taken together, these data provide the evidence that 20([Formula: see text])-Rg3 could prohibit A549 cell proliferation, probably by arresting the cell cycle at the G0/G1 phase via the EGFR/Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK pathway.