Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fourth main reason of cancer-related death. Codonopsis pilosula is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for patients with HCC. However, its potential mechanism for treatment of HCC remains unclear. Here, we used transcriptomics and network pharmacology to explore the potential molecular mechanisms of Codonopsis pilosula. In our study, twelve differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (5 upregulated and 7 downregulated) of Codonopsis pilosula treating HepG2 cells (a kind of HCC cell) were identified. Among the 12 DEGs, HMOX1 may play an essential role. Codonopsis pilosula mainly affects the mineral absorption pathway in HCC. We acquired 2957, 1877, and 255 targets from TCMID, SymMap, and TCMSP, respectively. Codonopsis pilosula could upregulate HMOX1 via luteolin, capsaicin, and sulforaphane. Our study provided new understanding of the potential pharmacological mechanisms of Codonopsis pilosula in treating HCC and pointed out a direction for further experimental research.

Background: Multidimensional evidence on exercise participation and frailty in older adults is limited. Methods: This 12-week preference-based, non-randomized study included 145 participants (mean age 82.25 years): walking (n = 50), resistance training (n = 20), Traditional Chinese exercise (n = 23), and control (n = 52). Frailty was the primary outcome; physical-performance and molecular analyses were exploratory. Paired trajectories, baseline-stratified binary transitions, and adjusted associations were examined. Results: Among paired participants, pre-frailty/frailty prevalence changed from 70.0% to 60.0% with walking, 90.0% to 70.0% with resistance training, 50.0% to 63.6% with Traditional Chinese exercise (n = 22), and 50.0% to 69.2% in controls. Baseline status constrained opportunities for binary improvement or deterioration. All adjusted frailty risk-ratio confidence intervals included 1. Walking was associated with faster Timed Up and Go and Five-Yard Walk Test performance after correction across eight outcomes. Molecular changes also occurred in controls; intervention timing and potential laboratory-batch confounding limited between-group interpretation. No microbiome taxon survived multiplicity correction; small paired samples limited precision. Conclusions: Walking and resistance-training groups showed descriptively more favorable prevalence trajectories, but adjusted frailty comparisons remained inconclusive. These findings do not establish frailty prevention, modality superiority, or exercise-specific molecular mechanisms.

Exosomes are cell-derived lipid bilayer particles which are abundant in biological fluids. Exosome is an emerging source of biomarkers to diagnose various human diseases. Sequencing based exosomal studies could provide a comprehensive view of exosomal RNA and protein. To extracted these inclusions, exosomes should be isolated from the plasma first. Several exosome isolation methods were introduced since the discover of exosome. To promote the clinical application of exosomal inclusions, different isolation methods should be compared. We isolated exosomes from human plasma by using user-friendly and commercially available kits, SBI ExoQuick and QIAGEN exoRNeasy. Subsequently, small RNA sequencing was performed with two groups of isolated exosome samples and one group of plasma samples. No fundamental differences of exRNA yield between SC and EQ were found. In RNA profile analysis, the small RNA aligned reads, miRNA pattern, sample clustering varied as a result of methodological differences. Small RNA isolated by ExoQuick presented better data quality and RNA profile than exoRNeasy. This study compared sRNA sequencing data generated from two exosome isolation kits, it provides a reference for future small RNA studies and biomarker prediction in human plasma exosome.