Coronaviruses (CoVs), a family of enveloped positive-sense RNA viruses, are characterized by club-like spikes that project from their surface, unusually large RNA genome, and unique replication capability. CoVs are known to cause various potentially lethal human respiratory infectious diseases, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and the very recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Unfortunately, neither drug nor vaccine has yet been approved to date to prevent and treat these diseases caused by CoVs. Therefore, effective prevention and treatment medications against human coronavirus are in urgent need. In the past decades, many natural compounds have been reported to possess multiple biological activities, including antiviral properties. In this article, we provided a comprehensive review on the natural compounds that interfere with the life cycles of SARS and MERS, and discussed their potential use for the treatment of COVID-19.

Lung cancer remains a major global health challenge and one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Despite significant advancements in treatment, challenges such as drug resistance, side effects, metastasis and recurrence continue to impact patient outcomes and quality of life. In response, there is growing interest in complementary and integrative approaches to cancer care. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), with its long history, abundant clinical experience, holistic perspective and individualized approach, has garnered increasing attention for its role in lung cancer prevention and management. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the advances in TCM for lung cancer treatment, covering its theoretical foundation, treatment principles, clinical experiences and evidence supporting its efficacy. We also provide a systematic summary of the preclinical mechanisms, through which TCM impacts lung cancer, including the induction of cell death, reversal of drug resistance, inhibition of metastasis and modulation of immune responses. Additionally, future prospects for TCM in lung cancer treatment are discussed, offering insights into its expanded application and integration with modern medicine to address this challenging disease.

Gout is well known as an inflammatory rheumatic disease presenting with arthritis and abnormal metabolism of uric acid. The recognition of diet-induced systemic metabolic pathways have provided new mechanistic insights and potential interventions on gout progression. However, the dietary recommendations for gouty patients generally focus on food categories, with few simultaneous considerations of nutritional factors and systemic metabolism. It is worthwhile to comprehensively review the mechanistic findings and potential interventions of diet-related nutrients against the development of gout, including purine metabolism, urate deposition, and gouty inflammation. Although piecemeal modifications of various nutrients often provide incomplete dietary recommendations, understanding the role of nutritional factors in gouty development can help patients choose their healthy diet based on personal preference and disease course. The combination of dietary management and medication may potentially achieve enhanced treatment effects, especially for severe patients. Therefore, the role of dietary and nutritional factors in the development of gout is systematically reviewed to propose dietary modification strategies for gout management by: (1) reducing nutritional risk factors against metabolic syndrome; (2) supplementing with beneficial nutrients to affect uric acid metabolism and gouty inflammation; and (3) considering nutritional modification combined with medication supplementation to decrease the frequency of gout flares.

Redox equilibria and the modulation of redox signalling play crucial roles in physiological processes. Overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) disrupts the body’s antioxidant defence, compromising redox homeostasis and increasing oxidative stress, leading to the development of several diseases. Manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) is a principal antioxidant enzyme that protects cells from oxidative damage by converting superoxide anion radicals to hydrogen peroxide and oxygen in mitochondria. Systematic studies have demonstrated that MnSOD plays an indispensable role in multiple diseases. This review focuses on preclinical evidence that describes the mechanisms of MnSOD in diseases accompanied with an imbalanced redox status, including fibrotic diseases, inflammation, diabetes, vascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer. The potential therapeutic effects of MnSOD activators and MnSOD mimetics are also discussed. Targeting this specific superoxide anion radical scavenger may be a clinically beneficial strategy, and understanding the therapeutic role of MnSOD may provide a positive insight into preventing and treating related diseases.

Background: Panax notoginseng (Burk) F.H. Chen is important medicinal plant of the Araliacease family. Triterpene saponins are the bioactive constituents in P. notoginseng. However, available genomic information regarding this plant is limited. Moreover, details of triterpene saponin biosynthesis in the Panax species are largely unknown. Results: Using the 454 pyrosequencing technology, a one-quarter GS FLX titanium run resulted in 188,185 reads with an average length of 410 bases for P. notoginseng root. These reads were processed and assembled by 454 GS De Novo Assembler software into 30,852 unique sequences. A total of 70.2% of unique sequences were annotated by Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) similarity searches against public sequence databases. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) assignment discovered 41 unique sequences representing 11 genes involved in triterpene saponin backbone biosynthesis in the 454-EST dataset. In particular, the transcript encoding dammarenediol synthase (DS), which is the first committed enzyme in the biosynthetic pathway of major triterpene saponins, is highly expressed in the root of four-year-old P. notoginseng. It is worth emphasizing that the candidate cytochrome P450 (Pn02132 and Pn00158) and UDP-glycosyltransferase (Pn00082) gene most likely to be involved in hydroxylation or glycosylation of aglycones for triterpene saponin biosynthesis were discovered from 174 cytochrome P450s and 242 glycosyltransferases by phylogenetic analysis, respectively. Putative transcription factors were detected in 906 unique sequences, including Myb, homeobox, WRKY, basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH), and other family proteins. Additionally, a total of 2,772 simple sequence repeat (SSR) were identified from 2,361 unique sequences, of which, di-nucleotide motifs were the most abundant motif. Conclusion: This study is the first to present a large-scale EST dataset for P. notoginseng root acquired by next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology. The candidate genes involved in triterpene saponin biosynthesis, including the putative CYP450s and UGTs, were obtained in this study. Additionally, the identification of SSRs provided plenty of genetic makers for molecular breeding and genetics applications in this species. These data will provide information on gene discovery, transcriptional regulation and marker-assisted selection for P. notoginseng. The dataset establishes an important foundation for the study with the purpose of ensuring adequate drug resources for this species.