Meng Meng

Scar tissue is the inevitable result of repairing human skin after it has been subjected to external destructive stimuli. It leads to localized damage to the appearance of the skin, accompanied by symptoms such as itching and pain, which reduces the quality of life of the patient and causes serious medical burdens. With the continuous development of economy and society, there is an increasing demand for beauty. People are looking forward to a safer and more effective method to eliminate pathological scarring. In recent years, adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) have received increasing attention from researchers. It can effectively improve pathological scarring by mediating inflammation, regulating fibroblast proliferation and activation, and vascular reconstruction. This review focuses on the pathophysiological mechanisms of hypertrophic scarring, summarizing the therapeutic effects of in vitro, in vivo, and clinical studies on the therapeutic effects of ADSCs in the field of hypertrophic scarring prevention and treatment, the latest application techniques, such as cell-free therapies utilizing ADSCs, and discussing the advantages and limitations of ADSCs. Through this review, we hope to further understand the characterization of ADSC and clarify the effectiveness of its application in hypertrophic scarring treatment, so as to provide clinical guidance.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic and autoimmune disease characterized by inflammation, autoimmune dysfunction, and cartilage and bone destruction. In this review, we summarized the available reports on the protective effects of Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides (GLP) on RA in terms of anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, anti-angiogenic and osteoprotective effects. Firstly, GLP inhibits RA synovial fibroblast (RASF) proliferation and migration, modulates pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines and reduces synovial inflammation. Secondly, GLP regulates the proliferation and differentiation of antigen-presenting cells such as dendritic cells, inhibits phagocytosis by mononuclear macrophages and nature killer (NK) cells and regulates the ratio of M1, M2 and related inflammatory cytokines. In addition, GLP produced activities in balancing humoral and cellular immunity, such as regulating immunoglobulin production, modulating T and B lymphocyte proliferative responses and cytokine release, exhibiting immunomodulatory effects. Thirdly, GLP inhibits angiogenesis through the direct inhibition of vascular endothelial cell proliferation and induction of cell death and the indirect inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) production in the cells. Finally, GLP can inhibit the production of matrix metalloproteinases and promote osteoblast formation, exerting protective effects on bone and articular cartilage. It is suggested that GLP may be a promising agent for the treatment of RA.

Background In recent years, alterations in lipid metabolism are currently considered a hallmark feature of many diseases. However, the role in women with reproductive dysfunction (WRD) remains to be fully elucidated. Here, this study aimed to explore the effect of lipid metabolism-related genes (LMRGs) on endometrial receptivity of WRD. Methods This study retrospectively analyzed endometrial receptivity array (ERA) in GEO database. The differential expression genes (DEGs) were obtained by limma differential analysis, and the core genes and corresponding predicted microRNA were obtained through protein–protein interaction (PPI) analysis and TargetScan database, so as to predict the chemical targets of drug therapy. Through the intersection of DEGs and LMRGs, the target gene expression profile was obtained for subsequent consensus clustering analysis and immune analysis. In addition, the immune cell infiltration was assessed by applying the ESTIMATE and MCPcounter algorithm and potential drug targets were obtained from the HERB website. Results 1473 genes showed differential expression between the groups of WRD and fertile women, and then a large number of lipid metabolism-related pathways and immune-related pathways were enriched. Twelve core genes and corresponding predicted miR-134-3p were obtained; most importantly, we found that these 12 genes were all LMRGs. Through drug target prediction, we obtained three drugs that regulate lipid metabolism and improve blood circulation, namely lovastatin, estrogen, and quercetin. EHHADH (AUC = 0.85) and PTEN (AUC = 0.82) have the best diagnostic performance. UMAP and heatmap revealed large differences between three clusters. LMRGs revealed specific manifestations of WRD in endometrial receptivity and immune microenvironment. Conclusions Our study explored the expression pattern of LMRGs in endometrium of WRD, screened the corresponding biomarkers, and proposed the combination of traditional Chinese and Western medicine to improve the endometrial receptivity.