Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is one of the most common complications of diabetes, and its prevalence is still growing rapidly. However, the efficient therapies for this kidney disease are still limited. The pathogenesis of DKD involves glucotoxicity, lipotoxicity, inflammation, oxidative stress, and renal fibrosis. Glucotoxicity and lipotoxicity can cause oxidative stress, which can lead to inflammation and aggravate renal fibrosis. In this review, we have focused on in vitro and in vivo experiments to investigate the mechanistic pathways by which natural compounds exert their effects against the progression of DKD. The accumulated and collected data revealed that some natural compounds could regulate inflammation, oxidative stress, renal fibrosis, and activate autophagy, thereby protecting the kidney. The main pathways targeted by these reviewed compounds include the Nrf2 signaling pathway, NF-κB signaling pathway, TGF-β signaling pathway, NLRP3 inflammasome, autophagy, glycolipid metabolism and ER stress. This review presented an updated overview of the potential benefits of these natural compounds for the prevention and treatment of DKD progression, aimed to provide new potential therapeutic lead compounds and references for the innovative drug development and clinical treatment of DKD.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease in the world, and its incidence continues to increase each year. Yet, there is still no definitive drug that can stop its development. This review focuses mainly on lipotoxicity, oxidative stress, inflammation, and intestinal flora dysbiosis to understand NAFLD’s pathogenesis. In this review, we used NCBI’s PubMed database for retrieval, integrating in vivo and in vitro experiments to reveal the therapeutic effects of natural compounds on NAFLD. We also reviewed the mechanisms by which the results of these experiments suggest that these compounds can protect the liver from damage by modulating inflammation, reducing oxidative stress, decreasing insulin resistance and lipid accumulation in the liver, and interacting with the intestinal microflora. The natural compounds discussed in these papers target a variety of pathways, such as the AMPK pathway and the TGF-β pathway, and have significant therapeutic effects. This review aims to provide new possible therapeutic lead compounds and references for the development of novel medications and the clinical treatment of NAFLD. It offers fresh perspectives on the development of natural compounds in preventing and treating NAFLD.

The chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) is an important health problem that affects millions of people worldwide. Current therapies for HBV always suffer from a poor response rate, common side effects, and the need for lifelong treatment. Novel therapeutic targets are expected. Interestingly, non-canonical structures of nucleic acids play crucial roles in the regulation of gene expression. Especially the formation of G-quadruplexes (G4s) in G-rich strands has been demonstrated to affect many bioprocesses including replication, transcription, and translation, showing great potential as targets in anticancer and antiviral therapies. In this review, we summarize recent antiviral studies about G4s and discuss the potential roles of G4 structures in antiviral therapy for HBV.

Sangbaipi Decoction (SBPD) has been used as a therapy for lung-related diseases in China for hundreds of years. It is commonly applied in the treatment of pulmonary diseases such as acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and acute attack of chronic bronchitis. However, the anti-inflammatory mechanism underlying its therapeutic effect on acute lung injury (ALI) remains unclear. Under the guidance of traditional Chinese medicine theory, this study aims to explore the therapeutic effect and mechanism of SBPD on ALI, so as to provide a scientific basis for its clinical application. The chemical composition of SBPD was characterized using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). An ALI model was established in mice induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and an inflammatory cell model was constructed using LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages. The pharmacological effects of SBPD were investigated both at the whole-formula level and the monomer level, while its anti-inflammatory mechanisms were subsequently validated. The effects of SBPD were evaluated through hematoxylin and eosin(H&E) staining, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), immunohistochemistry (IHC), and Western blot analysis. Key signaling pathways and targets were verified, and it was demonstrated that SBPD exerts anti-inflammatory and lung-protective effects via the inflammasome pathway. All data were analyzed using GraphPad Prism 9.0 software. Six characteristic compounds were identified as marker components for quality control of SBPD. In a murine model of ALI, SBPD administration significantly ameliorated pathological conditions, as evidenced by reduced inflammatory cell infiltration and lower inflammatory scores. ELISA results demonstrated decreased tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) levels in lung tissues of SBPD-treated mice. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed markedly downregulated protein expression of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3), cysteine aspartate-specific protease-1(Caspase-1), high mobility group box 1(HMGB1), Toll-like receptor 2(TLR2), yeloid differentiation factor 88(MyD88), and nuclear factor-κB(NF-κB) in the treatment group compared with the model group. Consistent with these findings, Western blot analysis confirmed that SBPD significantly suppressed the expression of TNF-α, NLRP3, Caspase-1, HMGB1, TLR2, MyD88, and NF-κB proteins in lung tissues. Both SBPD and its monomer component baicalin significantly inhibited LPS-induced protein expression of p-NF-κB/NF-κB, interleukin-1β(IL-1β), HMGB1, and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in RAW264.7 macrophages. Western blot results further verified that treatment with either SBPD or baicalin effectively reduced the expression levels of these proteins. This study investigated the pharmacodynamics and mechanism of SBPD in treating respiratory inflammation. SBPD protected mice against LPS-induced ALI by alleviating lung tissue damage. Through integrated investigation of the complete formulation and the monomer baicalin, it was collaboratively demonstrated that SBPD exerts anti-inflammatory effects via the NLRP3 inflammasome pathway.

This study aims to investigate emerging signals and clinical characteristics associated with adverse event reports of respiratory, thoracic, and mediastinal diseases (RTMD) related to proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin 9 inhibitors (PCSK9i) in the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database. PCSK9i-related RTMD adverse event reports were extracted from the FAERS database (covering the period from the first quarter of 2016 to the fourth quarter of 2023), and the clinical characteristics and onset times of these reports were analyzed. The reporting odds ratio (ROR) and the Bayesian Confidence Propagation Neural Network (BCPNN) were used to calculate disproportionate signals in the adverse event reports. A total of 17,063 PCSK9i-related RTMD adverse event reports were extracted from the FAERS database. A summary of these reports revealed that the median age of the reported population was 68 years (interquartile range: 61–74 years); the proportion of female patients was higher than that of male patients (56.53% vs 40.56%). The United States submitted the highest number of adverse event reports (n = 15,031, 88.09%), followed by Germany (n = 1076, 6.31%). The median time to onset for adverse event reports was 7.5 days (interquartile range = 0.5–77.5 days); the median time to onset for reports related to alirocumab was 14.5 days (interquartile range = 1.5–100.5 days), while for evolocumab it was only 6.5 days (interquartile range = 0.5–70.5 days). Disproportionate analysis of adverse event reports revealed signals for both evolocumab (ROR = 1.18, 95% CI: 1.16–1.20; information component [IC] = 0.35, IC ₀₂₅ = 0.33) and alirocumab (ROR = 1.50, 95% CI: 1.45–1.55; IC = 0.41, IC ₀₂₅ = 0.38). Among these, rhinorrhea, cough, oropharyngeal pain, nasal congestion, and dysphonia were the most frequently reported preferred terms (PTs). The results of this study indicate the presence of a disproportionate signal of RTMD adverse events associated with PCSK9i in the FAERS database; however, this merely suggests that such events warrant further attention in reports related to PCSK9i and does not establish a causal relationship between the 2.