Chronic heart failure is a common end-stage syndrome of the cardiovascular system that seriously impairs patients’ quality of life and increases the social and healthcare burden. At present, integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine treatment for chronic heart failure continues to evolve; however, there is still a lack of standardized diagnostic and therapeutic protocols that fully reflect regional clinical experience, the characteristics of syndrome differentiation in traditional Chinese medicine, and the advantages of integrated Chinese and Western medicine. Therefore, relying on regional medical resources and a multidisciplinary collaborative platform, this protocol systematically summarizes recent advances in the integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine diagnosis and treatment of chronic heart failure, and, in conjunction with domestic and international guidelines and expert consensus as well as the clinical experience of regional experts, formulates this protocol for the integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine diagnosis and treatment of chronic heart failure. The aim is to further standardize clinical practice in the integrated diagnosis and treatment of chronic heart failure, improve the quality of care, and fully leverage the exemplary, radiating, and leading role of regional medical centers.

Atherosclerosis is the common pathological basis of various cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events. It is characterized by insidious onset, slow progression, extensive vascular involvement, and a high risk of disability and death, posing a serious threat to public health and increasing the social and healthcare burden. At present, the integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis continues to evolve; however, there remains a need to further develop a diagnostic and therapeutic protocol that reflects the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine syndrome differentiation, the synergistic advantages of integrated Chinese and Western medicine, and the requirements of standardized clinical management. Therefore, this protocol systematically summarizes recent research advances in the integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and comprehensive management of atherosclerosis. In conjunction with domestic and international guidelines and expert consensus, as well as expert clinical experience, this protocol reviews and updates key aspects including diagnostic assessment, syndrome differentiation, traditional Chinese medicine treatment, standardized Western medical treatment, and preventive care, thereby formulating a protocol for the integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerosis. The aim is to further standardize integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine clinical practice for atherosclerosis, improve comprehensive prevention and treatment, delay disease progression, and reduce the occurrence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events.

Human cancer/testis antigens (CTAs) have a biased expression pattern in various human malignancies and normal tissues restricted to the testis and placenta. While im-munotherapies have shown promise across cancers, the roles of CTAs remain unclear. Here, we systematically, investigated the genetic alterations, methylation status, pathway modulation, drug sensitivity, and clinical relevance of key CTA genes across 33 cancer types. We proposed the calculation of the CTA score for each sample based on the gene set variation analysis (GSVA). We discovered that there were pervasive ge-netic modifications in the CTA genes. The classification system based on these CTA genes was verified to be beneficial for prognostic stratification in KIRC, GBM, and COAD. Additionally, we identified 9 key CTA genes that are prognostic factors and are differentially expressed in most cancer types. Target-driven reverse network pharmacology identified a CTA-centered herb–compound–target network linking the 9 key CTA genes to 20 compounds and 238 herbs, with CEP55 and OIP5 representing the most extensively connected nodes. Subsequently, CEP55 showed hypomethylation and an inverse correlation with its expression across multiple tumors. ODF2 downregulation in liver cancer was attributed to promoter hypermethylation, confirmed by methylation-specific PCR (MSP), reverse tran-scription PCR (RT-PCR) and bisulfite genomic sequencing. Moreover, the CTA score exhibited desirable per-formance in immune activity prediction and immune response assessment. Overall, this study offers a comprehensive molecular portrait of CTAs and highlights their clinical utility in cancer immunotherapy.

PIEZO1, a representative member of mechanosensitive ion channels, plays crucial roles in various physiological and pathological processes. This review focuses on significant advances regarding the role of PIEZO1 in intestinal mechanical signal transduction and metabolic regulation since 2022. Recent studies have elucidated the structural characteristics of PIEZO1 and how its conformational changes mediate mechanical signal transduction. PIEZO1 exhibits specific distribution patterns in the intestinal environment and preferentially responds to high-intensity mechanical stresses while maintaining functional stability. From a signal transduction perspective, PIEZO1 activation triggers multiple downstream pathways through calcium influx, regulating inflammatory responses, cell apoptosis, tissue repair, and metabolism. These multi-level regulatory mechanisms provide new insights into understanding intestinal mechanosensing and metabolism-related diseases while establishing a theoretical foundation for developing PIEZO1-targeted therapeutic strategies.