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Gui-ling-gao (GLG), also known as turtle/tortoise jelly, has been traditionally used as a functional food in southern China, Singapore, and Malaysia to regulate the immune system. In the present study, the antiinflammatory effects of GLG against Concanavalin A (Con A)-induced inflammation in BALB/c mice isolated splenocytes were evaluated. GLG significantly ( p < .05) inhibited Con A-induced splenocyte proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner. Con A-mediated increases in mRNA and protein expressions of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) were suppressed by GLG treatment ( p < .001). GLG decreased the upregulated mRNA expressions of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) ( p < .05) and IL-15 ( p < .001) induced by Con A. These findings suggest that GLG possesses potential antiinflammatory effects by inhibiting the expressions of iNOS and proinflammatory cytokines, such as TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-15. Practical applications The present study revealed that Gui-ling-gao (GLG) exhibited potential antiinflammatory effect. Thus, GLG could be employed as an effective health food for regulating immune system to cope with inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypercholesterolemia is a major risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Natural compounds have been proved to be useful in lowering serum cholesterol to slow down the progression of cardiovascular disease and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. In the present study, the hypocholesterolemic and hepatoprotective effects of the dietary consumption of chlorogenic acid were investigated by monitoring plasma lipid profile (total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein) in Sprague-Dawley rats fed with a normal diet, a high-cholesterol diet or a high-cholesterol diet supplemented with chlorogenic acid (1 or 10 mg/kg/day p.o.) for 28 days. Chlorogenic acid markedly altered the increased plasma total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein but decreased high-density lipoprotein induced by a hypercholesterolemic diet with a dose-dependent improvement on both atherogenic index and cardiac risk factor. Lipid depositions in liver were attenuated significantly in hypercholesterolemic animals supplemented with chlorogenic acid. It is postulated that hypocholesterolemic effect is the primary beneficial effect given by chlorogenic acid, which leads to other secondary beneficial effects such as atheroscleroprotective, cardioprotective and hepatoprotective functions. The hypocholesterolemic functions of chlorogenic acid are probably due to the increase in fatty acids unitization in liver via the up-regulation of peroxisome proliferation-activated receptor [alpha] mRNA. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of tissues of origin of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is of research and diagnostic interest. Many studies focused on bisulfite treatment or immunoprecipitation protocols to assess the tissues of origin of cfDNA. DNA loss often occurs during such processes. Fragmentomics of cfDNA molecules has uncovered a wealth of information related to tissues of origin of cfDNA. There is still much room for the development of tools for assessing contributions from various tissues into plasma using fragmentomic features. Hence, we developed an approach to analyze the relative contributions of DNA from different tissues into plasma, by identifying characteristic fragmentation patterns associated with selected histone modifications. We named this technique as FRAGmentomics-based Histone modification Analysis (FRAGHA). Deduced placenta-specific histone H3 lysine 27 acetylation (H3K27ac)-associated signal correlated well with the fetal DNA fraction in maternal plasma (Pearson's r = 0.96). The deduced liver-specific H3K27ac-associated signal correlated with the donor-derived DNA fraction in liver transplantation recipients (Pearson's r = 0.92) and was significantly increased in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ( P < 0.01, Wilcoxon rank-sum test). Significant elevations of erythroblasts-specific and colon-specific H3K27ac-associated signals were observed in patients with β-thalassemia major and colorectal cancer, respectively. Furthermore, using the fragmentation patterns from tissue-specific H3K27ac regions, a machine learning algorithm was developed to enhance HCC detection, with an area under the curve (AUC) of up to 0.97. Finally, genomic regions with H3K27ac or histone H3 lysine 4 trimethylation (H3K4me3) were found to exhibit different fragmentomic patterns of cfDNA. This study has shed light on the relationship between cfDNA fragmentomics and histone modifications, thus expanding the armamentarium of liquid biopsy., Competing Interests: Competing interests statement:J.B., P.J., L.J., M.Y., K.C.A.C., and Y.M.D.L. filed patent applications based on the data in this study. Reviewer S.B. is an inventor on patents related to cfDNA mutation and methylation analysis technologies that have been licensed to Roche and Adela, respectively, and is a co-founder and has ownership in Adela.