At least 10% of the elderly population above the age of 70 carry a condition termed clonal hematopoiesis indeterminate potential (CHIP) due to oligoclonal expansion of mutated hematopoietic stem cells. Although CHIP is known to predispose patients to a higher risk of malignant blood disorders, the recent revelation of its association with higher morbidity and mortality of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and ischemic stroke is rather surprising. Two independent research groups published studies indicating that Tet2 mutated monocytes from mice modeling CHIP had a causal role in accelerating the growth of atherosclerotic lesions due to their pro-inflammation activities. This important discovery points to CHIP as a risk factor and raises the prospect of novel treatment to minimize the adverse cardio/cerebro-vascular events.
第5卷, 第2期
切换刊期年期
2018
2
研究文章2018-04-12
Fei Li,Xiaojing Wu,Qi Zhou,Dennis Weixi Zhu
关键词:Artheroslerosis;Cardiovascular;CHIP;Genetic mutation;Hematopoiesis;Risk factor;Stem cells;
综述2018-05-12
Yixiao Feng,Mia Spezia,Shifeng Huang,Chengfu Yuan,Zongyue Zeng,Linghuan Zhang,Xiaojuan Ji,Wei Liu,Bo Huang,Wenping Luo,Bo Liu,Yan Lei,Scott Du,Akhila Vuppalapati,Hue H. Luu,Rex C. Haydon,Tong-Chuan He,Guosheng Ren
As the most commonly occurring cancer in women worldwide, breast cancer poses a formidable public health challenge on a global scale. Breast cancer consists of a group of biologically and molecularly heterogeneous diseases originated from the breast. While the risk factors associated with this cancer varies with respect to other cancers, genetic predisposition, most notably mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, is an important causative factor for this malignancy. Breast cancers can begin in different areas of the breast, such as the ducts, the lobules, or the tissue in between. Within the large group of diverse breast carcinomas, there are various denoted types of breast cancer based on their invasiveness relative to the primary tumor sites. It is important to distinguish between the various subtypes because they have different prognoses and treatment implications. As there are remarkable parallels between normal development and breast cancer progression at the molecular level, it has been postulated that breast cancer may be derived from mammary cancer stem cells. Normal breast development and mammary stem cells are regulated by several signaling pathways, such as estrogen receptors (ERs), HER2, and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways, which control stem cell proliferation, cell death, cell differentiation, and cell motility. Furthermore, emerging evidence indicates that epigenetic regulations and noncoding RNAs may play important roles in breast cancer development and may contribute to the heterogeneity and metastatic aspects of breast cancer, especially for triple-negative breast cancer. This review provides a comprehensive survey of the molecular, cellular and genetic aspects of breast cancer.
关键词:BRCA1/2;Breast cancer;Cancer stem cells;Estrogen receptors;HER2;Noncoding RNAs;Triple-negative breast cancer;Tumor heterogeneity;
综述2018-11-25
Craig A. Hodges,Ronald A. Conlon
In this review, we describe a path for translation of gene editing into therapy for cystic fibrosis (CF). Cystic fibrosis results from mutations in the CFTR gene, with one allele predominant in patient populations. This simple, genetic etiology makes gene editing appealing for treatment of this disease. There already have been success in applying this approach to cystic fibrosis in cell and animal models, although these advances have been modest in comparison to advances for other disease.Less than six years after its first demonstration in animals, CRISPR/Cas gene editing is in early clinical trials for several disorders. Most clinical trials, thus far, attempt to edit genes in cells of the blood lineages. The advantage of the blood is that the stem cells are known, can be isolated, edited, selected, expanded, and returned to the body. The likely next trials will be in the liver, which is accessible to many delivery methods. For cystic fibrosis, the biggest hurdle is to deliver editors to other, less accessible organs. We outline a path by which delivery can be improved.The translation of new therapies doesn't occur in isolation, and the development of gene editors is occurring as advances in gene therapy and small molecule therapeutics are being made. The advances made in gene therapy may help develop delivery vehicles for gene editing, although major improvements are needed. Conversely, the approval of effective small molecule therapies for many patients with cystic fibrosis will raise the bar for translation of gene editing.
关键词:CFTR gene;CRISPR/Cas9;Cystic fibrosis;Gene editing;Gene therapy;
综述2018-04-12
Sierra Sandler,Lauren Alfino,Mir Saleem
Genetic screening in the primary care setting is the future of preventative medicine. Genetic testing is an important medical tool for assessing various inheritable diseases, conditions, and cancers. The ability to diagnose patients before symptoms surface can help lessen the severity of symptoms and promote quality of life. However, genetic screening can cause psychological distress from the knowledge of test results, in some cases only serving to increase the risk of developing a condition due to stress. Genetic testing can be conducted anytime in life, even before birth. In this review, a compilation of genetic testing's definitions and boundaries, factors influencing an individual's test outcomes, and an overview of a wide variety of diseases, conditions and cancers were collected.
关键词:Cancer screening;DNA testing;Genetic abnormalities;Genetic analysis;Gene mutation;Hereditary disorders;Prevention of genetic diseases;Primary care;
综述2018-05-05
Jin Liao,Xin Tian,Hao Wang,Zheng Xiao
Epilepsy and migraine often co-occur. From the clinical symptoms, they often have some signs of symptoms before onset; from the pathogenesis of epilepsy and migraine, both of them have a high degree of neuronal excitement and ion channel abnormalities; in terms of treatment, many antiepileptic drugs are work in migraine. All of this indicates that they interact with each other. But it is undeniable that there are interactions and relationships between them, and there are also some differences such as the different clinical episodes, the different ways of neuronal haperexcitability and the different drug treatment programs. And are they comorbidity?If we can better understand the correlation between seizures and migraines, then this will help develop better guidelines for clinical diagnosis and treatment.
关键词:Comorbidity;CSD;Epilepsy;FHM;Migraine;
研究简报2018-04-11
Abraham Peele Karlapudi,Venkateswarulu T.C,Jahnavi Tammineedi,Krupanidhi Srirama,Lohit Kanumuri,Vidya Prabhakar Kodali
CRISPR genome editing utilizes Cas9 nuclease and single guide RNA (sgRNA), which directs the nuclease to a specific site in the genome and makes a double-stranded break (DSB). Design of sgRNA for CRISPR-Cas targeting, and to promote CRISPR adaptation, uses a regulatory mechanism that ensures maximum CRISPR-Cas9 system functions when a bacterial population is at highest risk of phage infection. Acinetobacter baumannii is the most regularly identified gram-negative bacterium infecting patients. Recent reports have demonstrated that the extent of diseases caused by A. baumannii is expanding and, in a few cases, now surpasses the quantity of infections caused by P. aeruginosa. Most Acinetobacter strains possess biofilm-forming ability, which plays a major role in virulence and drug resistance. Biofilm bacteria use quorum sensing, a cell-to-cell communication process, to activate gene expression. Many genes are involved in biofilm formation and the mechanism to disrupt the biofilm network is still not clearly understood. In this study, we performed in silico gene editing to exploit the AbaI gene, responsible for biofilm formation. The study explored different tools available for genome editing to create gene knockouts, selecting the A. baumannii AbaI gene as a target.
关键词:AbaI;Acinetobacter baumannii;CHOPCHOP;CRISPR-Cas9;sgRNA;
研究文章2018-10-13
J. Huang,W. Zhu,J. Tang,S.H. Saravelos,L.C.Y. Poon,T.C. Li
To investigate the association of specific ultrasonography features identified during the diagnosis of early pregnancy loss (EPL) and abnormal karyotype. This was a systematic review and meta-analysis conducted in accordance with PRISMA criteria. We searched PubMed, Cochrane and Ovid MEDLINE from 1977 to Jan 2017 to identify the articles that described EPL with karyotype and ultrasonography features. Risk differences were pooled to estimate the chromosomal abnormality rates in ultrasonography features, including pre-embryonic, enlarged yolk sac (YS), short crown rump length (CRL), small gestational sac (GS), symmetrical arrested growth embryo, or gestational sac with only a YS. Quality assessment of included studies was performed using Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklists for Observational Studies (2007 version). Thirteen studies were included in the meta-analysis. Chromosomal abnormality was more likely to occur in embryonic EPL and enlarged YS. On the other hand, short CRL, small GS, symmetrical arrested growth embryo, or gestational sac with only a YS, were not associated with an increased risk of fetal chromosomal abnormality. Ultrasonography features at the time of diagnosis of EPL have limited predictive value of fetal chromosomal abnormality.
关键词:Ultrasonography;Early pregnancy loss;Chromosomal abnormality;Predictive value;
研究文章2018-04-23
Xinyi Yu,Liqun Chen,Ke Wu,Shujuan Yan,Ruyi Zhang,Chen Zhao,Zongyue Zeng,Yi Shu,Shifeng Huang,Jiayan Lei,Xiaojuan Ji,Chengfu Yuan,Linghuan Zhang,Yixiao Feng,Wei Liu,Bo Huang,Bo Zhang,Wenping Luo,Xi Wang,Bo Liu,Rex C. Haydon,Hue H. Luu,Tong-Chuan He,Hua Gan
Glomerular podocytes are highly specialized epithelial cells and play an essential role in establishing the selective permeability of the glomerular filtration barrier of kidney. Maintaining the viability and structural integrity of podocytes is critical to the clinical management of glomerular diseases, which requires a thorough understanding of podocyte cell biology. As mature podocytes lose proliferative capacity, a conditionally SV40 mutant tsA58-immortalized mouse podocyte line (designated as tsPC) was established from the Immortomouse over 20 years ago. However, the utility of the tsPC cells is hampered by the practical inconvenience of culturing these cells. In this study, we establish a user-friendly and reversibly-immortalized mouse podocyte line (designated as imPOD), on the basis of the tsPC cells by stably expressing the wildtype SV40 T-antigen, which is flanked with FRT sites. We show the imPOD cells exhibit long-term high proliferative activity, which can be effectively reversed by FLP recombinase. The imPOD cells express most podocyte-related markers, including WT-1, Nephrin, Tubulin and Vinculin, but not differentiation marker Synaptopodin. The imPOD cells do not form tumor-like masses in vivo. We further demonstrate that TGFβ1 induces a podocyte injury-like response in the FLP-reverted imPOD cells by suppressing the expression of slit diaphragm-associated proteins P-Cadherin and ZO-1 and upregulating the expression of mesenchymal markers, α-SMA, Vimentin and Nestin, as well as fibrogenic factors CTGF and Col1a1. Collectively, our results strongly demonstrate that the newly engineered im-POD cells should be a valuable tool to study podocyte biology both under normal and under pathological conditions.
关键词:Chronic kidney disease;FLP recombinase;Glomerular disease;Glomerulus;Immortalization;Nephropathy;Podocyte;SV40 T antigen;
研究文章2018-12-11
R.L. Babu,M. Naveen Kumar,Rajeshwari H. Patil,K.M. Kiran Kumar,K.S. Devaraju,Govindarajan T. Ramesh,S. Chidananda Sharma
Activator protein-1 (AP-1) transcription factor is a key component of many signal transduction pathways involved in the regulation of cellular processes and controls rapid responses of mammalian cells when exposed to the variety of stimulus. The phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate and Forskolin (Fo) are well-known kinase activators/stimulators of Protein Kinase C (PKC) and Protein Kinase A (PKA) respectively. Importantly, these kinases are found to be present in transitional points of many cell signaling pathways, especially those involved in proliferation. The stimulating effect of PKC and PKA on the expression of AP-1 factors in MCF-7 breast cell proliferation is not well characterized. Hence, the role of PKC by PMA treatment and the role of PKA by using Fo in MCF-7 cells is investigated. Where, cells treated with PMA showed increased cell proliferation, while Fo had no effect, but inhibited the PMA induced proliferation. The RT-PCR results showed the PMA induced c-Jun, c-Fos and Fra-1 expressions compared to control and Fo. However, Fo in combination with PMA, inhibit the PMA induced above mRNA expressions where Fo alone has no effect. Western blot studies validated the c-Jun expressions in PMA treated MCF-7 cells. Further, PMA increases the mRNA expression of Cyclin-E1, Cyclin-D1, and CDK-4, whereas Fo decreases their expressions. Thus, mitogenic effect of PMA and inhibitory action of Fo on MCF-7 cells is probably enhanced via activation of AP-1 factors and concomitant action of cell cycle regulators in the downstream singling cascade.
关键词:AP-1 transcription factor;Cell cycle;Forskolin;MCF-7 cells;Phorbol esters;
研究文章2018-01-31
Heng Xiao,Baoyong Zhou,Ning Jiang,Yunshi Cai,Xiongwei Liu,Zhengrong Shi,Ming Li,Chengyou Du
CDV3 is correlated with tumorigenesis and may affect some biological process in cancer. In this study, we explore the role of CDV3 in HCC. According to the TCGA data base, CDV3 is over-expressed in HCC tissues. Up-regulation of CDV3 is correlated with lower over-all survival rate in HCC patients. In HCC samples from our hospital, CDV3 is also enriched in cancer tissues and CDV3 expression associated with HCC pathological T stage. What is more, higher CDV3 expression could forecast poor survival rate in HCC patients. In conclusion, CDV3 is a biomarker of HCC and could be a potential therapeutic target.
关键词:Carnitine deficiency-associated gene expressed in ventricle 3 (CDV3);Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC);The cancer genome Atlas (TCGA);Prognostic value;Therapeutic biomarker;
研究文章2018-06-15
Dan Huang,Lu Zhang,Jun-qing Yang,Ying Luo,Ting Cui,Ting-ting Du,Xin-hui Jiang
Inflammation drives the development of depression and may affect neurotransmitters and thus neurocircuits increase the risk of depression. To investigate the influence of inhibition of inflammatory pathways on the biogenic amine neurotransmitters metabolism in depressive rats, sertraline, and meloxicam, the inhibitors of arachidonic acidcyclooxygenase-2/lipoxygenase (AA-COX-2/5-LO) pathways, were given to depressive rats. After the development of depression model by chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) for 6 weeks, Successful modeling rats were selected and randomly divided into CUMS group and medication administration group. After given medicine, The biogenic amine neurotransmitters in rat cortex and hippocampus were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography equipped with an electrochemical detector (HPLC-ECD). Compared with the normal group, the concentration of norepinephrine (NE) significantly decreased and the concentrations of Tyrosine (Tyr), Tryptophan (Trp), 3, 4-dihydroxyphenyl acetic acid (DOPAC), 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG), homovanillic acid (HVA) and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) significantly increased in the CUMS group. Sertraline significantly inhibited the elevation of 5-HIAA. Meloxicam inhibited the decrease of NE level in CUMS-induced rat and the increase of Trp, MHPG, and 5-HIAA level in a dose-dependent manner. Caffeic acid inhibited the decrease of NE and the increase of Trp and MHPG in a dose-dependent manner. The inhibition of AA-COX-2/5-LO pathways can improve the behaviors of depression rats and suppress CUMS-induced changes in biogenic amines. Compared with the single-dose lipoxygenase (5-LO) or Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, the combination treatment with meloxicam 1 mg/kg and caffeic acid 10 mg/kg have no significant improvement in CUMS-induced depression behavior and the level of cortical monoamine neurotransmitters and their metabolites.
关键词:AA-COX-2/5-LO inflammatory pathways;Bioamine neurotransmitters;Caffeic acid;Depression rat;Meloxicam;Sertraline;
研究文章2018-04-27
Shujuan Yan,Ruyi Zhang,Ke Wu,Jing Cui,Shifeng Huang,Xiaojuan Ji,Liping An,Chengfu Yuan,Cheng Gong,Linghuan Zhang,Wei Liu,Yixiao Feng,Bo Zhang,Zhengyu Dai,Yi Shen,Xi Wang,Wenping Luo,Bo Liu,Rex C. Haydon,Michael J. Lee,Russell R. Reid,Jennifer Moriatis Wolf,Qiong Shi,Hue H. Luu,Tong-Chuan He,Yaguang Weng
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent stem cells and capable of differentiating into multiple cell types including osteoblastic, chondrogenic and adipogenic lineages. We previously identified BMP9 as one of the most potent BMPs that induce osteoblastic differentiation of MSCs although exact molecular mechanism through which BMP9 regulates osteogenic differentiation remains to be fully understood. Here, we seek to develop a recombinant adenovirus system to optimally silence mouse BMP9 and then characterize the important role of BMP9 in osteogenic differentiation of MSCs. Using two different siRNA bio-informatic prediction programs, we design five siRNAs targeting mouse BMP9 (or simB9), which are expressed under the control of the converging H1 and U6 promoters in recombinant adenovirus vectors. We demonstrate that two of the five siRNAs, simB9-4 and simB9-7, exhibit the highest efficiency on silencing exogenous mouse BMP9 in MSCs. Furthermore, simB9-4 and simB9-7 act synergistically in inhibiting BMP9-induced expression of osteogenic markers, matrix mineralization and ectopic bone formation from MSCs. Thus, our findings demonstrate the important role of BMP9 in osteogenic differentiation of MSCs. The characterized simB9 siRNAs may be used as an important tool to investigate the molecular mechanism behind BMP9 osteogenic signaling. Our results also indicate that recombinant adenovirus-mediated expression of siRNAs is efficient and sustained, and thus may be used as an effective delivery vehicle of siRNA therapeutics.
关键词:BMP9;Bone formation;Mesenchymal stem cells;Osteogenic differentiation;RNA interference;Recombinant adenovirus;siRNA;
研究文章2018-03-10
Quan Wang,Zhili Wang,Chun Wu,Zhengxia Pan,Li Xiang,Hang Liu,Xin Jin,Kerong Tong,Shulei Fan,Xianqing Jin
Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is a congenital heart disease characterized by abnormal cardiomyocyte differentiation in the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT), and HA117 is a novel long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) with anti-differentiation roles.To investigate the potential association of HA117 with TOF, we collected 84 RVOT tissues from patients with TOF. We determined the expression of HA117 in RVOT samples from TOF patients and collected clinical data to conduct a cross-sectional and short-term follow-up study.McGoon ratio, Nakata index, and left ventricular end-diastolic volume index (LVEDVI) were negativelycorrelatedwiththeexpressionofHA117basedonsubgroupanalysis, correlationanalysis and logistic regression analysis. Additionally, cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) time and ICU stay were longer in patients with higher expression of HA117 than in patients with lower expression of HA117. Furthermore, percentage improvement in SPO2 was significantly reduced in patients with increased HA117 expression at 6 months after surgery.Our results suggested that the increased expression of the novel lncRNA HA117 is a risk factor for unfavorable McGoon ratio, Nakata index and LVEDVI in TOF patients. Additionally, an increased expression of HA117 might lead to adverse short-term outcomes in TOF patients.
关键词:HA117;Tetralogy of Fallot;Long noncoding RNA;McGoon ratio;Nakata index;
研究文章2018-05-18
Yi Tian,Lan Jin,Wenhong Zhang,Zumeng Ya,Yuan Cheng,Hongyun Zhao
A keloid (KD) is a benign dermal fibrotic tumor. Treatment of KDs is challenging and the recurrence rate is high; thus, there is an unmet need to explore new target sites and new treatment methods. As a tumor-associated cytokine, autocrine motility factor (AMF) can effectively stimulate the random and directional movement of cells. We first found that AMF was overexpressed in keloid fibroblasts (KFs) and the proliferation and migration of KFs were promoted by AMF stimulation. After treatment with Y-27632, RhoA kinase inhibitor, the proliferation and migration capacity of KFs declined significantly, and type I collagen protein, active RhoA and ROCK1 also were downregulated. In addition, a KD transplantation model was established under the skin of nude mice, with KD intramural injection AMF siRNA, we found that the weight of the KD was smaller than in the control group (P<0.05), KD tissue sections stained by HE and Masson showed that fibers became loose and the blood vessels were visibly reduced. In conclusion, AMF siRNA is expected to be a novel strategy to treat KD by inhibiting signaling pathway of RhoA/ROCK1.
关键词:Autocrine motility factor;Keloid;RhoA;siRNA;Treatment;
研究文章2018-08-26
Wesam A. Mokhtar,Amal Fawzy,Reem M. Allam,Rania M. Amer,Mona S. Hamed
Vitamin D& vitamin D receptor (VDR) signaling play a very crucial role in early embryonic heart development. We construct this case-control study to investigate the association between maternal serum vitamin D level& VDR gene Fok1 polymorphism and risk of congenital heart defects (CHD) in offspring. Fifty mothers who had term neonates with CHD were considered as cases. Fifty age-comparable healthy mothers who had neonates without CHD were contemplated as controls. Maternal serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D[25 (OH) D]level was tested using ELISA. Maternal VDR gene Fok1 polymorphism was analyzed using PCR-based RFLP-assay. There was a significant decrease in maternal vitamin D level (P=0.002) and a significant increase in vitamin D deficient status (P=0.007) among cases when compared to controls. VDR gene Fok1 genotypes distribution frequency were in accordance with Hardy Weinberg equilibrium (HW) among controls. A significant increase in VDR gene Fok1 F/f& f/f genotypes and fallele were observed in cases compared to controls with estimated odds ratio (95% confidence interval) & P-value of 3 (1-8) & P=0.006, 11 (1-97) & P=0.01 and 3 (2-6) & P=0.001 respectively. There was a significant decrease in maternal vitamin D level in neonates with cyanotic CHD (P=0.000) compared to those with a cyanotic CHD while there was no significant difference in VDR Fok1 genotype (P=0.18) & allele (P=0.05) distribution between two groups. We concluded that maternal vitamin D deficiency and VDR gene Fok1 F/f, f/f genotype and fallele were associated with increased risk of CHD in offspring.
关键词:Congenital heart disease;FoK1 polymorphism;Vitamin D;Vitamin D receptor gene;Maternal vitamin D;