A Case Report of Malignant Perivascular Epithelioid Cell Tumors of the Uterus and Literature Review

Daifeng Hu,1,* Mengyue Miao,1,* Hui Zhou,1 Xia Gu,1,2 Xuedan Wang,3 Alexander Tobias Teichmann,1 Qin Wang,1 Youzhe Yang1,2 1Sichuan Provincial Center for Gynaecology and Breast Diseases, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, People’s Republic of China; 2Academician (Expert) Workstation of Sichuan Province, Luzhou, 646000, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Pathology, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Qin Wang; Youzhe Yang, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, NO. 25 Taiping Street, Jiangyang District, Luzhou, 646000, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Perivascular epithelioid cell tumors (PEComas) are rare mesenchymal tumors originating from perivascular epithelioid cells. In gynecological system, the uterus is one of the most common sites affected by PEComas. Most PEComas are benign, and patients usually have a good prognosis. However, malignant uterus PEComa is rare, and better comprehensive epidemiological investigations are needed. To date, there are a few reported cases of uterus PEComa. We herein report a rare case of malignant PEComa occurred in the uterine corpus and cervix, possibly accompanied by pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis (PLAM). In addition, 55 cases of malignant uterus PEComa were picked out and collected in the data base of PubMed and Medline. On the one hand, the age of onset, population distribution, clinical manifestations, metastatic sites and routes of metastasis were analysed. On the other hand, a summary of the epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatments of uterus PEComa was given.Keywords: perivascular epithelioid cell tumors, uterus, malignant, rare case, cervi

Therapeutic Potential of Natural Resources Against Endometriosis: Current Advances and Future Perspectives

Xia Gu,1,2,* Hui Zhou,1,* Mengyue Miao,1 Daifeng Hu,1 Xinyue Wang,3 Jing Zhou,4 Alexander Tobias Teichmann,1 Youzhe Yang,1,5 Chunyan Wang1 1Sichuan Provincial Center for Gynaecology and Breast Diseases, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Leshan People’s Hospital, Leshan, 614003, People’s Republic of China; 3The Basic Medical College, Army Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Endocrinology, Chengdu Third People’s Hospital, Chengdu, 610014, People’s Republic of China; 5Academician (Expert) Workstation of Sichuan Province, Luzhou, 646000, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Youzhe Yang; Chunyan Wang, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, NO. 25 Taiping Street, Jiangyang District, Luzhou, 646000, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Endometriosis (EMS) is defined as the appearance, growth, infiltration, and repeated bleeding of endometrioid tissue (glands and stroma) outside the uterus cavity, which can form nodules and masses. Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory estrogen-dependent disease and occurs in women of reproductive age. This disorder may significantly affect the quality of life of patients. The pathogenic processes involved in the development and maintenance of endometriosis remain unclear. Current treatment options for endometriosis mainly include drug therapy and surgery. Drug therapy mainly ties to the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and hormonal drugs. However, these drugs may produce adverse effects when used for long-term treatment of endometriosis, such as nausea, vomiting gastrointestinal reactions, abnormal liver and kidney function, gastric ulcers, and thrombosis. Although endometriosis lesions can be surgically removed, the disease has a high recurrence rate after surgical resection, with a recurrence rate of 21.5% within 2 years and 40% to 50% within 5 years. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop alternative or additional therapies for the treatment of endometriosis. In this review, we give a systematic summary of therapeutic multiple component prescriptions (including traditional Chinese medicine and so on), bioactive crude extracts of plants/herbs and purified compounds and their newly found mechanisms reported in literature in recent years against endometriosis.Keywords: endometriosis, treatment, multiple component prescriptions, extracts of plants/herbs, purified compounds, mechanism

Single-cell multi-omics analysis of the immune response in COVID-19

Analysis of human blood immune cells provides insights into the coordinated response to viral infections such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We performed single-cell transcriptome, surface proteome and T and B lymphocyte antigen receptor analyses of over 780,000 peripheral blood mononuclear cells from a cross-sectional cohort of 130 patients with varying severities of COVID-19. We identified expansion of nonclassical monocytes expressing complement transcripts (CD16+C1QA/B/C+) that sequester platelets and were predicted to replenish the alveolar macrophage pool in COVID-19. Early, uncommitted CD34+ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells were primed toward megakaryopoiesis, accompanied by expanded megakaryocyte-committed progenitors and increased platelet activation. Clonally expanded CD8+ T cells and an increased ratio of CD8+ effector T cells to effector memory T cells characterized severe disease, while circulating follicular helper T cells accompanied mild disease. We observed a relative loss of IgA2 in symptomatic disease despite an overall expansion of plasmablasts and plasma cells. Our study highlights the coordinated immune response that contributes to COVID-19 pathogenesis and reveals discrete cellular components that can be targeted for therapy

A practical guide to single-cell RNA-sequencing for biomedical research and clinical applications.

RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) is a genomic approach for the detection and quantitative analysis of messenger RNA molecules in a biological sample and is useful for studying cellular responses. RNA-seq has fueled much discovery and innovation in medicine over recent years. For practical reasons, the technique is usually conducted on samples comprising thousands to millions of cells. However, this has hindered direct assessment of the fundamental unit of biology-the cell. Since the first single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) study was published in 2009, many more have been conducted, mostly by specialist laboratories with unique skills in wet-lab single-cell genomics, bioinformatics, and computation. However, with the increasing commercial availability of scRNA-seq platforms, and the rapid ongoing maturation of bioinformatics approaches, a point has been reached where any biomedical researcher or clinician can use scRNA-seq to make exciting discoveries. In this review, we present a practical guide to help researchers design their first scRNA-seq studies, including introductory information on experimental hardware, protocol choice, quality control, data analysis and biological interpretation

Gene expression variability across cells and species shapes innate immunity.

As the first line of defence against pathogens, cells mount an innate immune response, which varies widely from cell to cell. The response must be potent but carefully controlled to avoid self-damage. How these constraints have shaped the evolution of innate immunity remains poorly understood. Here we characterize the innate immune response's transcriptional divergence between species and variability in expression among cells. Using bulk and single-cell transcriptomics in fibroblasts and mononuclear phagocytes from different species, challenged with immune stimuli, we map the architecture of the innate immune response. Transcriptionally diverging genes, including those that encode cytokines and chemokines, vary across cells and have distinct promoter structures. Conversely, genes that are involved in the regulation of this response, such as those that encode transcription factors and kinases, are conserved between species and display low cell-to-cell variability in expression. We suggest that this expression pattern, which is observed across species and conditions, has evolved as a mechanism for fine-tuned regulation to achieve an effective but balanced response

Review of the Potential Therapeutic Effects and Molecular Mechanisms of Resveratrol on Endometriosis

Tao Jiang,1,* Yuan Chen,1,* Xia Gu,1,2 Mengyue Miao,1 Daifeng Hu,1 Hui Zhou,1 Jing Chen,3 Alexander Tobias Teichmann,1 Youzhe Yang1,2 1Sichuan Provincial Center for Gynaecology and Breast Diseases, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, People’s Republic of China; 2Academician (Expert) Workstation of Sichuan Province, Luzhou, 646000, People’s Republic of China; 3Reproductive Medicine Center, The Second People’s Hospital of Yibin, Yibin, 644000, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Alexander Tobias Teichmann; Youzhe Yang, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, No. 25 Taiping Street, Jiangyang District, Luzhou, 646000, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Endometriosis is a hormone-dependent inflammatory disease characterized by the existence of endometrial tissues outside the uterine cavity. Pharmacotherapy and surgery are the current dominant management options for endometriosis. The greater incidence of recurrence and reoperation after surgical treatment as well as the adverse effects of medical approaches predispose patients to potential limitations for their long-term usage. Consequently, it is essential to explore novel supplementary and alternative drugs to ameliorate the therapeutic outcomes of endometriotic patients. Resveratrol is a phenolic compound that has attracted increasing interest from many researchers due to its pleiotropic biological activities. Here, we review the possible therapeutic efficacies and molecular mechanisms of resveratrol against endometriosis based on in vitro, animal, and clinical studies. The potential mechanisms of resveratrol include anti-proliferative, pro-apoptotic, anti-angiogenic, anti-oxidative stress, anti-invasive and anti-adhesive effects, thereby suggesting that resveratrol is a promising candidate for endometriosis. Because most studies have investigated the effectiveness of resveratrol on endometriosis via in vitro trials and/or experimental animal models, further high-quality clinical trials should be undertaken to comprehensively estimate the clinical application feasibility of resveratrol on endometriosis.Keywords: endometriosis, resveratrol, therapeutic efficacies, molecular mechanisms, clinical applicatio