Sepsis is characterized by a severe and life-threatening host immune response to polymicrobial infection accompanied by organ dysfunction.Studies on the therapeutic effect and mechanism of immunomodulatory drugs on th...Sepsis is characterized by a severe and life-threatening host immune response to polymicrobial infection accompanied by organ dysfunction.Studies on the therapeutic effect and mechanism of immunomodulatory drugs on the sepsis-induced hyperinflammatory or immunosuppression states of various immune cells remain limited.This study aimed to investigate the protective effects and underlying mechanism of artesunate(ART)on the splenic microenvironment of cecal ligation and puncture-induced sepsis model mice using single-cell RNA sequencing(scRNA-seq)and experimental validations.The scRNA-seq analysis revealed that ART inhibited the activation of pro-inflammatory macrophages recruited during sepsis.ART could restore neutrophils’chemotaxis and immune function in the septic spleen.It inhibited the activation of T regulatory cells but promoted the cytotoxic function of natural killer cells during sepsis.ART also promoted the differentiation and activity of splenic B cells in mice with sepsis.These results indicated that ART could alleviate the inflammatory and/or immunosuppressive states of various immune cells involved in sepsis to balance the immune homeostasis within the host.Overall,this study provided a comprehensive investigation of the regulatory effect of ART on the splenic microenvironment in sepsis,thus contributing to the application of ART as adjunctive therapy for the clinical treatment of sepsis.展开更多
The widespread use of artemisinin(ART)and its derivatives has significantly reduced the global burden of malaria;however,malaria still poses a serious threat to global health.Although significant progress has been ach...The widespread use of artemisinin(ART)and its derivatives has significantly reduced the global burden of malaria;however,malaria still poses a serious threat to global health.Although significant progress has been achieved in elucidating the antimalarial mechanisms of ART,the most crucial target proteins and pathways of ART remain unknown.Knowledge on the exact antimalarial mechanisms of ART is urgently needed,as signs of emerging ART resistance have been observed in some regions of the world.Here,we used a combined strategy involving mass spectrometry-coupled cellular thermal shift assay(MS-CETSA)and transcriptomics profiling to identify a group of putative antimalarial targets of ART.We then conducted a series of validation experiments on five prospective protein targets,demonstrating that ART may function against malaria parasites by interfering with redox homeostasis,lipid metabolism,and protein synthesis processes.Taken together,this study provides fresh perspectives on the antimalarial mechanisms of ART and identifies several crucial proteins involved in parasite survival that can be targeted to combat malaria.展开更多
Artemisinin and its derivatives represent the most important and influential class of drugs in the fight against malaria. Since the discovery of artemisinin in the early 1970s, the global community has made great stri...Artemisinin and its derivatives represent the most important and influential class of drugs in the fight against malaria. Since the discovery of artemisinin in the early 1970s, the global community has made great strides in characterizing and understanding this remarkable phytochemical and its unique chemical and pharmacological properties. Today, even as artemisinin continues to serve as the foundation for antimalarial therapy, numerous challenges have surfaced in the continued application and development of this family of drugs. These challenges include the emergence of delayed treatment responses to artemisinins in malaria and efforts to apply artemisinins for non-malarial indications. Here, we provide an overview of the story of artemisinin in terms of its past, present, and future. In particular, we comment on the current understanding of the mechanism of action (MOA) of artemisinins, and emphasize the importance of relating mechanistic studies to therapeutic outcomes, both in malarial and non-malarial contexts.展开更多
Hepatic stellate cells(HSCs)are essential drivers of fibrogenesis.Inducing activated-HSC apoptosis is a promising strategy for treating hepatic fibrosis.18beta-glycyrrhetinic acid(18b-GA)is a natural compound that exi...Hepatic stellate cells(HSCs)are essential drivers of fibrogenesis.Inducing activated-HSC apoptosis is a promising strategy for treating hepatic fibrosis.18beta-glycyrrhetinic acid(18b-GA)is a natural compound that exists widely in herbal medicines,such as Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch,which is used for treating multiple liver diseases,especially in Asia.In the present study,we demonstrated that 18b-GA decreased hepatic fibrosis by inducing the apoptosis in activated HSCs.18b-GA inhibited the expression of a-smooth muscle actin and collagen type Ⅰ alpha-1.Using a chemoproteomic approach derived from activity-based protein profiling,together with cellular thermal shift assay and surface plasmon resonance,we found that 18b-GA covalently targeted peroxiredoxin 1(PRDX1)and peroxiredoxin 2(PRDX2)proteins via binding to active cysteine residues and thereby inhibited their enzymatic activities.18b-GA induced the elevation of reactive oxygen species(ROS),resulting in the apoptosis of activated HSCs.PRDX1 knockdown also led to ROS-mediated apoptosis in activated HSCs.Collectively,our findings revealed the target proteins and molecular mechanisms of 18b-GA in ameliorating hepatic fibrosis,highlighting the future development of 18b-GA as a novel therapeutic drug for hepatic fibrosis.展开更多
Present research on the antimalarial mechanisms of artemisinin(ART)is mainly focused on covalent drug binding targets alkylated by free radicals,while non-covalent binding targets have rarely been reported.Here,we dev...Present research on the antimalarial mechanisms of artemisinin(ART)is mainly focused on covalent drug binding targets alkylated by free radicals,while non-covalent binding targets have rarely been reported.Here,we developed a novel photoaffinity probe of ART to globally capture and identify the antimalarial target proteins of ART through chemical proteomics.The results demonstrated that ART can bind to par-asite proteins by both covalent and non-covalent modification,and these may jointly contribute to the antimalarial effects.Our work enriches the research on the antimalarial targets of ART,and provides a new perspective for further exploring the antimalarial mechanism of ART.展开更多
Natural products are an important source of new drugs for the treatment of various diseases.However,developing natural productbased new medicines through random moiety modification is a lengthy and costly process,due ...Natural products are an important source of new drugs for the treatment of various diseases.However,developing natural productbased new medicines through random moiety modification is a lengthy and costly process,due in part to the difficulties associated with comprehensively understanding the mechanism of action and the side effects.Identifying the protein targets of natural products is an effective strategy,but most medicines interact with multiple protein targets,which complicate this process.In recent years,an increasing number of researchers have begun to screen the target proteins of natural products with chemical proteomics approaches,which can provide a more comprehensive array of the protein targets of active small molecules in an unbiased manner.Typically,chemical proteomics experiments for target identification consist of two key steps:(1)chemical probe design and synthesis and(2)target fishing and identification.In recent decades,five different types of chemical proteomic probes and their respective target fishing methods have been developed to screen targets of molecules with different structures,and a variety of protein identification approaches have been invented.Presently,we will classify these chemical proteomics approaches,the application scopes and characteristics of the different types of chemical probes,the different protein identification methods,and the advantages and disadvantages of these strategies.展开更多
基金support by the Establishment of Sino-Austria“Belt and Road”Joint Laboratory on Traditional Chinese Medicine for Severe Infectious Diseases and Joint Research,China(Grant No.:2020YFE0205100)the National Key Research and Development Program of China(Grant Nos.:2020YFA0908000,2022YFC2303600)+9 种基金the Distinguished Expert Project of Sichuan Province Tianfu Scholar(Grant No.:CW202002)the Innovation Team and Talents Cultivation Program of National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine,China(Grant No.:ZYYCXTD-C-202002)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.:82141001,82274182,82074098,82173914)the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences(CACMS)Innovation Fund,China(Grant Nos.:CI2021A05101,CI2021A05104)the Scientific and Technological Innovation Project of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences(Grant No.:CI2021B014)the Science and Technology Foundation of Shenzhen,China(Grant No.:JCYJ20210324115800001)the Science and Technology Foundation of Shenzhen,China(Shenzhen Clinical Medical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases),the National Key R&D Program of China Key Projects for International Cooperation on Science,Technology and Innovation(Grant No.:2020YFE0205100)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Public Welfare Research Institutes,China(Grant Nos.:ZZ14-YQ-050,ZZ14-YQ-051,ZZ14-YQ-052,ZZ14-FL-002,ZZ14-ND-010,ZZ15-ND-10),Shenzhen Governmental Sustainable Development Fund,China(Grant No.:KCXFZ20201221173612034)Shenzhen key Laboratory of Kidney Diseases,China(Grant No.:ZDSYS201504301616234)Shenzhen Fund for Guangdong Provincial High-level Clinical Key Specialties,China(Grant No.:SZGSP001).
文摘Sepsis is characterized by a severe and life-threatening host immune response to polymicrobial infection accompanied by organ dysfunction.Studies on the therapeutic effect and mechanism of immunomodulatory drugs on the sepsis-induced hyperinflammatory or immunosuppression states of various immune cells remain limited.This study aimed to investigate the protective effects and underlying mechanism of artesunate(ART)on the splenic microenvironment of cecal ligation and puncture-induced sepsis model mice using single-cell RNA sequencing(scRNA-seq)and experimental validations.The scRNA-seq analysis revealed that ART inhibited the activation of pro-inflammatory macrophages recruited during sepsis.ART could restore neutrophils’chemotaxis and immune function in the septic spleen.It inhibited the activation of T regulatory cells but promoted the cytotoxic function of natural killer cells during sepsis.ART also promoted the differentiation and activity of splenic B cells in mice with sepsis.These results indicated that ART could alleviate the inflammatory and/or immunosuppressive states of various immune cells involved in sepsis to balance the immune homeostasis within the host.Overall,this study provided a comprehensive investigation of the regulatory effect of ART on the splenic microenvironment in sepsis,thus contributing to the application of ART as adjunctive therapy for the clinical treatment of sepsis.
基金supported by grants from the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2020YFA0908000 and 2022YFC2303600)the Innovation Team and Talents Cultivation Program of National Administration of Traditional Chinese-Medicine(ZYYCXTD-C-202002)+8 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(82141001,82274182,82074098,82003814,and 82173914)the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences(CACMS)Innovation Fund(CI2021A05104 and CI2021A05101)the Distinguished Expert Project of Sichuan Province Tianfu Scholar(CW202002)the Scientific and Technological Innovation Project of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences(CI2021B014)the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2022M721541)the Establishment of Sino-Austria‘‘Belt and Road”Joint Laboratory on Traditional Chinese Medicine for Severe Infectious Diseases and Joint Research(2020YFE0205100)the Excellent Scientific and Technological Innovation Training Program of Shenzhen(RCYX20210706092040048)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Public Welfare Research Institutes(ZZ14-YQ-051,ZZ14-YQ-052,ZZ14-FL-002,ZZ14-YQ-050,ZZ14-ND-010,and ZZ15-ND-10)the Introduce Innovative Team Projects of Jinan(202228029)。
文摘The widespread use of artemisinin(ART)and its derivatives has significantly reduced the global burden of malaria;however,malaria still poses a serious threat to global health.Although significant progress has been achieved in elucidating the antimalarial mechanisms of ART,the most crucial target proteins and pathways of ART remain unknown.Knowledge on the exact antimalarial mechanisms of ART is urgently needed,as signs of emerging ART resistance have been observed in some regions of the world.Here,we used a combined strategy involving mass spectrometry-coupled cellular thermal shift assay(MS-CETSA)and transcriptomics profiling to identify a group of putative antimalarial targets of ART.We then conducted a series of validation experiments on five prospective protein targets,demonstrating that ART may function against malaria parasites by interfering with redox homeostasis,lipid metabolism,and protein synthesis processes.Taken together,this study provides fresh perspectives on the antimalarial mechanisms of ART and identifies several crucial proteins involved in parasite survival that can be targeted to combat malaria.
基金the projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81641002 and 81473548)Major National Science and Technology Program of China for Innovative Drug (2017ZX09101002-001-001-05 and 36 J. Wang et al./ Engineering 5 (2019) 32–39 2017ZX09101002-001-001-3)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Public Welfare Research Institutes (ZZ10-024 and ZXKT18003).
文摘Artemisinin and its derivatives represent the most important and influential class of drugs in the fight against malaria. Since the discovery of artemisinin in the early 1970s, the global community has made great strides in characterizing and understanding this remarkable phytochemical and its unique chemical and pharmacological properties. Today, even as artemisinin continues to serve as the foundation for antimalarial therapy, numerous challenges have surfaced in the continued application and development of this family of drugs. These challenges include the emergence of delayed treatment responses to artemisinins in malaria and efforts to apply artemisinins for non-malarial indications. Here, we provide an overview of the story of artemisinin in terms of its past, present, and future. In particular, we comment on the current understanding of the mechanism of action (MOA) of artemisinins, and emphasize the importance of relating mechanistic studies to therapeutic outcomes, both in malarial and non-malarial contexts.
基金the Innovation Team and Talents Cultivation Program of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine,China(Grant No.:ZYYCXTD-C-202002)the National Key Research and Development Program of China,China(Grant No.:2020YFA0908000)+1 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China,China(Grant Nos.:81803389,81903588,32101219,81702580,82074098,81903866,and 81803456)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Public Welfare Research Institutes,China(Grant Nos.:ZZ14-YQ-050,ZZ14-YQ-059,ZZ15-ND-10,ZZ15-YQ-063,ZZ14-ND-010,and ZZ14-FL-002).
文摘Hepatic stellate cells(HSCs)are essential drivers of fibrogenesis.Inducing activated-HSC apoptosis is a promising strategy for treating hepatic fibrosis.18beta-glycyrrhetinic acid(18b-GA)is a natural compound that exists widely in herbal medicines,such as Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch,which is used for treating multiple liver diseases,especially in Asia.In the present study,we demonstrated that 18b-GA decreased hepatic fibrosis by inducing the apoptosis in activated HSCs.18b-GA inhibited the expression of a-smooth muscle actin and collagen type Ⅰ alpha-1.Using a chemoproteomic approach derived from activity-based protein profiling,together with cellular thermal shift assay and surface plasmon resonance,we found that 18b-GA covalently targeted peroxiredoxin 1(PRDX1)and peroxiredoxin 2(PRDX2)proteins via binding to active cysteine residues and thereby inhibited their enzymatic activities.18b-GA induced the elevation of reactive oxygen species(ROS),resulting in the apoptosis of activated HSCs.PRDX1 knockdown also led to ROS-mediated apoptosis in activated HSCs.Collectively,our findings revealed the target proteins and molecular mechanisms of 18b-GA in ameliorating hepatic fibrosis,highlighting the future development of 18b-GA as a novel therapeutic drug for hepatic fibrosis.
基金supported by grants from the National Key Research and Development Program of China(Nos.2020YFA0908000 and 2022YFC2303600)the Innovation Team and Talents Cultivation Program of National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine(No.ZYYCXTD-C-202002)+10 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.82141001,82274182,82074098 and 82173914)the CACMS Innovation Fund(Nos.CI2021A05101 and CI2021A05104):the Scientific and Technological Innovation Project of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences(No.CI2021B014)the Science and Technology Foundation of Shenzhen(No.JCYj20210324115800001)the Science and Technology Foundation of Shenzhen(Shenzhen Clinical Medical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases)Establishment of Sino-Austria"Belt and Road"Joint Laboratory on Traditional Chinese Medicine for Severe Infectious Diseases and Joint Research(No.2020YFE0205100)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Public Welfare Research Institutes(Nos.ZZ14-YQ-050,ZZ14-YQ-051,ZZ14-YQ-052,ZZ14-FL-002,ZZ14-ND-010 and ZZ15-ND-10)Introduce innovative team projects of Jinan(No.202228029)Shenzhen Governmental Sustainable Development Fund(No.KCXFZ20201221173612034)Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Kidney Diseases(No.ZDSYS201504301616234)Shenzhen Fund for Guangdong Provincial High-level Clinical Key Specialties(No.SZGSPO01).
文摘Present research on the antimalarial mechanisms of artemisinin(ART)is mainly focused on covalent drug binding targets alkylated by free radicals,while non-covalent binding targets have rarely been reported.Here,we developed a novel photoaffinity probe of ART to globally capture and identify the antimalarial target proteins of ART through chemical proteomics.The results demonstrated that ART can bind to par-asite proteins by both covalent and non-covalent modification,and these may jointly contribute to the antimalarial effects.Our work enriches the research on the antimalarial targets of ART,and provides a new perspective for further exploring the antimalarial mechanism of ART.
基金support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(81903588,81803456 and 81841001)the Major National Science and Technology Program of China for Innovative Drug(2017ZX09101002-001-001-05)+5 种基金the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Public Welfare Research Institutes(ZXKT18003)the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province(BK20190799,China)the Science and Technology Foundation of Shenzhen(JCYJ20180305164128430)the International Cooperation Foundation of Shenzhen(GJHZ20180928171602104)the Shenzhen Economic and Information Committee“Innovation Chain and Industry Chain”integration special support plan project(20180225112449943)the Shenzhen Public Service Platform on Tumor Precision Medicine and Molecular Diagnosis.
文摘Natural products are an important source of new drugs for the treatment of various diseases.However,developing natural productbased new medicines through random moiety modification is a lengthy and costly process,due in part to the difficulties associated with comprehensively understanding the mechanism of action and the side effects.Identifying the protein targets of natural products is an effective strategy,but most medicines interact with multiple protein targets,which complicate this process.In recent years,an increasing number of researchers have begun to screen the target proteins of natural products with chemical proteomics approaches,which can provide a more comprehensive array of the protein targets of active small molecules in an unbiased manner.Typically,chemical proteomics experiments for target identification consist of two key steps:(1)chemical probe design and synthesis and(2)target fishing and identification.In recent decades,five different types of chemical proteomic probes and their respective target fishing methods have been developed to screen targets of molecules with different structures,and a variety of protein identification approaches have been invented.Presently,we will classify these chemical proteomics approaches,the application scopes and characteristics of the different types of chemical probes,the different protein identification methods,and the advantages and disadvantages of these strategies.
