Kallistatin alleviates heart failure in rats by inhibiting myocardial inflammation and apoptosis via regulating sirt1

OBJECTIVE

Heart failure (HF) is the loss of myocardial structure and function caused by various congenital or acquired heart diseases. This study explored the new target of treatment of HF by investigating the effect of Kallistatin (KS) on inflammation and apoptosis of myocardial tissue in HF rats.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We used doxorubicin to induce rat HF, and determined the success rate of modeling by detecting changes in rat heart weight and body weight, cardiac function and histology. We used two different doses (1 mg/kg, 2 mg/kg) of KS intraperitoneally injected rats and detected changes in inflammation and apoptosis of rat myocardial tissue by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemical staining. Changes in the expression of sirt1 were also detected. In addition, we cultured rat myocardial cell line, H9c2 cells, and used siRNA-sirt1 to inhibit sirt1 in H9c2 cells to clarify the mechanism of KS regulating myocardial cells.

RESULTS

The body weight of HF rats treated with KS decreased while the heart weight increased. KS has also been found to reduce the concentration of brain natriuretic polypeptide (BNP) in rat serum. The results of echocardiography showed that KS effectively relieved the cardiac function of HF rats. Inflammatory factors (interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-8 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α) and pro-apoptotic molecules (caspase3/9 and Bax) in the serum and myocardial tissue of rats treated with KS were also significantly reduced. The inhibition of sirt1 in H9c2 cells significantly reduced the anti-apoptotic effect of KS on H9c2 cells.

CONCLUSIONS

KS reduces the inflammation and apoptosis of myocardial tissue in HF rats by promoting the expression of sirt1, thereby alleviating HF-induced myocardial injury.

LINC00114 promoted nasopharyngeal carcinoma progression and radioresistance in vitro and in vivo through regulating ERK/JNK signaling pathway via targeting miR-203

OBJECTIVE

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignancy and is prone to distant metastasis and radioresistance. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play vital roles in human cancers. The purpose of this study was to explore the role and the action mechanism of intergenic lncRNA (LINC00114) in NPC.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The expression of LINC00114 and microRNA-203 (miR-203) was measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). NPC cells were exposed to X-ray as radiation treatment. Cell proliferation, migration, cell survival fraction and apoptosis were assessed by 3-(4, 5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2-H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT), transwell, colony formation, and flow cytometry assays, respectively. The expression of Cleaved-cas-3, Cleaved-cas-9, phosphor-ERK (p-ERK) and phosphor-JNK (p-JNK) was quantified by Western blot. The interaction between miR-203 and LINC00114 was predicted by bioinformatics tool microRNA.org and verified by dual-luciferase reporter assay. Tumor formation assay in nude mice was conducted to examine the role of LINC00114 in vivo.

RESULTS

LINC00114 was upregulated in serums from NPC patients, tissues and cell lines of NPC. LINC00114 knockdown inhibited proliferation, migration, and radioresistance of NPC cells. MiR-203 was a target of LINC00114, and miR-203 inhibition eliminated the effects of LINC00114 knockdown. Besides, the extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK)/c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK) pathway was inactivated by LINC00114 knockdown but recovered by miR-203 inhibition. Moreover, LINC00114 knockdown suppressed tumor growth and radioresistance in vivo.

CONCLUSIONS

LINC00114 contributed to NPC development and radioresistance through the regulation of ERK/JNK signaling pathway and the mediation of miR-203, suggesting that LINC00114 was a promising biomarker to defense NPC progression and radioresistance.

The role of stromal cell-derived factor 1 on cartilage development and disease

Stromal cell-derived factor 1 (SDF-1), also known as CXC motif chemokine ligand 12 (CXCL12), is recognized as a homeostatic cytokine with strong chemotactic potency. It plays an important role in physiological and pathological processes, such as the development of multiple tissues and organs, the regulation of cell distribution, and tumour metastasis. SDF-1 has two receptors, CXC chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) and CXC chemokine receptor type 7 (CXCR7). SDF-1 affects the proliferation, survival, differentiation and maturation of chondrocytes by binding to CXCR4 on chondrocytes. Therefore, SDF-1 has been used as an exogenous regulatory target in many studies to explore the mechanism of cartilage development. SDF-1 is also a potential therapeutic target for osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), because of its role in pathological initiation and regulation. In addition, SDF-1 shows potent capacity in the repair of cartilage defects by recruiting endogenous stem cells in a cartilage tissue engineering context. To summarize the specific role of SDF-1 on cartilage development and disease, all articles had been screened out in PubMed by May 30, 2020. The search was limited to studies published in English. Search terms included SDF-1; CXCL12; CXCR4; chondrocyte; cartilage; OA; RA, and forty-seven papers were studied. Besides, we reviewed references in the articles we searched to get additional relevant backgrounds. The review aims to conclude the current knowledge regarding the physiological and pathological role of SDF-1 on the cartilage and chondrocyte. More investigations are required to determine methods targeted SDF-1 to cartilage development and interventions to cartilage diseases.

Inhibition of SRSF3 Alleviates Proliferation and Migration of Gastric Cancer Cells by Regulating the PI3K/AKT/mTOR Signalling Pathway

This study was aimed to investigate the impact of serine/arginine-rich splicing factor 3 (SRSF3) on the proliferation and migration of gastric cancer (GC) cells. SRSF3 levels in GC tissues and cell lines were measured by Western blotting. Functional assays were used for evaluation of GC cell proliferation, migration and invasion. The PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway was then examined by Western blotting. SRSF3 exhibits abnormal expression for the significantly increased levels in GC. SRSF3 knockdown significantly suppressed GC progression. SRSF3 knockdown significantly inhibited activation of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signalling. Inhibition of SRSF3 alleviates proliferation and migration of GC cells, and this process is mediated by inactivation of PI3K/ AKT/mTOR signalling. Targeting SRSF3 may be a promising strategy to combat GC.

Intravenously delivered mesenchymal stem cells prevent MVO formation after myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury

 

Microvascular obstruction (MVO) after primary PCI is identified as an independent risk factor for prognosis in AMI patients. Inflammatory response induced by ischemia and reperfusion injury (I/R injury) was considered as one of main mechanisms for MVO formation. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a unique stromal cell type that confers immunomodulatory effect in cardiac disease. Here we investigate whether intravenously and immediately delivered MSC could be used as potential therapeutic method to attenuate MVO formation. A cardiac-catheterization-induced porcine model of myocardial I/R injury was established, and allograft MSCs were delivered intravenously and immediately. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging was performed 2 days and 7 days after operation to determine infarct area, MVO and cardiac function. We observed that the animals with allograft MSC delivering revealed decreased MVO and infarct size, as well as improved LVEF. In histology analysis, decreased myocytes area, fibrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration were observed in peri-infarct zone of animals with allograft MSC delivering. Meanwhile, the concentrations of IL-6, CRP and IL-1β in the serum were reduced in the allograft MSC group versus the control group. Flow cytometry indicated that decreased NK cells in the peripheral blood and ischemic heart tissue in the animals with allograft MSC delivering. In summary, we observed that allograft MSC delivering intravenously and immediately after myocardium I/R injury could attenuate MVO formation in porcine by NK cells depression.

Figure 1

Funding Acknowledgement

Type of funding source: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): Natural Science Foundation of China

Histone deacetylase HDA19 interacts with histone methyltransferase SUVH5 to regulate seed dormancy in Arabidopsis

Seed dormancy controls the timing of germination and plays a significant role in adaptation and evolution of seed plants. In this study, a yeast two-hybrid, pull-down assay and co-immunoprecipitation assay were used to ascertain the protein relationship of SUVH5 and HDA19. Both qRT-PCR and ChIP-qPCR were used to examine the molecular mechanism of how HDA19 and SUVH5 regulate seed dormancy. The results demonstrated that histone methyltransferase SUVH5 interacted with histone deacetylase HDA19 in vivo and in vitro. In addition, they showed that mutants of HDA19 could deepen seed dormancy, and that SUVH5 had the same effect. The hda19 suvh5 double mutant displayed a higher level of seed dormancy than the single mutants hda19 or suvh5. Moreover, the expression of seed dormancy-related genes increased in hda19, suvh5 and in hda19 suvh5 double mutant plants, which was associated with increased histone H3 acetylation (H3ac), but decreased histone H3 Lys 9 dimethylation (H3K9me2). ChIP assays proved that HDA19 could directly integrate into the chromatin of genes regulating seed dormancy. Taken together, our results show that HDA19 and SUVH5 work together and have a negative role in seed dormancy.

Mulberry (Morus alba) is a new natural host of Citrus leaf blotch virus in China

Mulberries (Morus spp., family Moraceae) are economically important deciduous woody plants. Their leaves are food for silkworms, and both the fruits and leaves have nutritional and medicinal values (Qin et al. 2012). The plants are widely distributed globally and have been cultivated in China for more than 5,000 years (Xie et al. 2014). In April 2019, virus-like symptoms of chlorotic leaf spots and, occasionally witches' broom were observed in trees of white mulberry (M. alba) in Shapingba district of Chongqing province. To investigate if any potential viral agent is associated with the symptoms, total RNA was extracted from leaves of one symptomatic tree using an RNAprep Pure Plant Plus Kit (TianGen, China). Ribosomal RNAs were depleted using a TruSeq RNA Sample Prep Kit (Illumina, USA), and the depleted RNA was used for construction of a cDNA library for sequencing using an Illumina HiSeq X-ten platform with pair-ended reads length layout 150 bp. Adaptors, low-quality reads and mulberry genomes-derived reads (He et al. 2013) were removed from a total of 25,433,798 reads using the CLC Genomics Workbench 11 (Qiagen, USA) and the clean reads of 936,562 were subjected to de novo assembly that generated 4,278 contigs (200-3,862 bp). These sequences were annotated by Blastx searches to local Viruses_NR and viroid datasets downloaded from GenBank. Finally, except three contigs (3,862 nt, 1,950 nt, and 1,179 nt) with 81.4-90% nucleotide sequence identities to citrus leaf blotch virus (CLBV, genus Citrivirus, family Betaflexiviridae), no other contigs were identified as viral-related. Total clean reads of 113,185 were mapped to the viral contigs with average coverage depth of 1,915, suggesting the presence of CLBV in the symptomatic tree. To recover the complete genome of CLBV, overlapping fragments were amplified by RT-PCR using virus-specific primer pairs. The 5' and 3' termini were determined by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE kit, Invitrogen, USA). Five clones per amplicon were sequenced in two directions (Cao et al. 2018). The complete genome of the mulberry strain of CLBV (CLBV-ML, GenBank accession no. MT767171) is 8,776 nucleotides (nt) in length, excluding the poly (A) tail. CLBV-ML is similar to extant CLBV isolates in genome structure. BLASTn analysis showed that CLBV-ML had highest nucleotide sequence identities of 79.65-81.56% with Actinidia isolates (Liu et al. 2019) of CLBV at the whole genome. Phylogenetic analysis also placed it with the Actinidia isolates, indicating they are closely related. Thus, CLBV-ML is a highly divergent strain of CLBV. To study the occurrence of CLBV-ML, a total of 62 mulberry samples (42 with similar symptoms and 20 without symptoms) were randomly collected from Shapingba and tested by conventional RT-PCR using an isolate-specific primer pair (CLBV-F7182: ACCAATGACAATGCCACA; CLBV-R7857: TTATGAAACTCTTCCCACTT) designed in the CP gene to amplify a 676 bp fragment. The virus was detected in 37 symptomatic trees (88%) and 2 (10%) asymptomatic trees, suggesting the association of CLBV-ML with the symptoms. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of CLBV infection in mulberry which expands the host range of CBLV.

[Effects of comorbid gestational diabetes mellitus and depression on glucose metabolism during pregnancy and neonatal morphological outcome]

Objective: To estimate the effect of comorbid gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and depression on glucose metabolism and neonatal morphology. Methods: From March 2015 to October 2018, recruited 18 to 28 weeks pregnant women who met the criteria in the Hefei First People's Hospital or First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University or Anhui Maternal and Child Health Hospital, including a total of 4 380 study subjects, of which the birth outcome information of 3 827 newborns were collected. The self-made questionnaire "Maternal Health Questionnaire for Hefei City" and Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale were used to obtain basic demographic characteristics and emotional state of depression. Data from the 75-g oral-glucose-tolerance test were obtained at 24-28 weeks of gestation. After delivery, delivery outcome information were collected from the hospital medical records. Covariance analysis was used to analyze the differences in glucose metabolism indicators and neonatal outcome indicators in pregnant women with different GDM and depression status. Multiple logistic regression model was used to analyze the correlation between GDM and depression, with different groups of GDM and depression status (no GDM and depression, simple depression, simple GDM, comorbid GDM and depression)as independent variables and whether they were large for gestational age as dependent variables. The interaction between GDM and depression was also analyzed. Results: The 4 380 pregnant women were (28.8±4.2) years old. The incidence of GDM was 19.5% (852/4 380), and the detection rates of depression in the second and third trimesters were 12.1% (526/4 380) and 12.3% (536/4 367). PG-1h and AUC in the comorbid GDM and depression group were significantly higher than those in the group with no GDM and depression (P<0.05) and the single GDM group (P<0.05). After adjusting for factors such as the childbirth age, education level, family's main economic income, BMI before pregnancy, parity, number of physical activities, and weight gain during pregnancy, compared with the group with no GDM and depression, the RR(95%CI) of LGA occurred in the single depression group, the single GDM group and the comorbid group were 1.31(0.89-1.91), 1.51(1.14-2.00) and 2.43(1.29-4.57), respectively. Further analysis showed that the association between GDM pregnant women with depression and newborn LGA ［RR (95%CI): 2.12 (1.01-4.49)］ was stronger than that between GDM pregnant women without depression and newborn LGA ［RR (95%CI): 1.50 (1.12-1.99)］, the P interaction value was<0.05. Conclusion: The status of comorbid GDM and depression can impair glucose metabolism and increase the risk of LGA.

[Association between sleep and serum hemoglobin A1c in nondiabetic population in Beijing]

Objective: To understand the status quo of sleep and its associations with serum hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) among nondiabetic people of 18-79 years old in Beijing. Methods: Data was gathered from the 2017 Beijing Non-communicable and Chronic Disease Surveillance Program. Multiple classified clusters sampling method was used while the 18-79 years old were sampled from the 16 districts of Beijing. Questionnaires would include information on demographic characteristics, chronic diseases and related risk factors, sleep duration and related problems (snore/asphyxia, difficult to get to sleep, waking often during the night, waking up early or taking sleeping pills) within the last 30 days. Complex sampling logistic regression models were established to analyze the association between sleep-related problems and serum HbA1c. Results: A total of 11 608 non-diabetic participants were involved in this study, with average age, reported sleep duration and median of serum HbA1c level as (43.36±15.27) years old, (7.49±1.29) h/d and 5.30%, respectively. 47.38% of them reported having sleep problems within the last 30 days. With the increasing time of sleep, serum HbA1c level was fluctuating significantly (F=413.06, P<0.01). Significant differences appeared in serum HbA1c levels among different age groups (t=358.3, P<0.01). Among participants with several kinds of sleep problems, the serum HbA1c levels were significantly higher than those without, through the single factor analysis (U=15.11, P<0.01). After adjusting for potential confounding factors, the combination of one sleep-related problem (OR=1.21, 95%CI: 1.03-1.41) and snore/asphyxia were associated with higher serum HbA1c levels (HbA1c≥5.7%) (OR=1.37, 95%CI: 1.16-1.61). People under 60 years of age were with higher risk of having higher serum HbA1c levels. Conclusion: Duration and sleep-related problems might affect the serum HbA1c levels, especially among those younger than 60 years of age.

TFPI-2 inhibits the invasion and metastasis of bladder cancer cells

INTRODUCTION

Bladder cancer metastasis seriously affects the prognosis of patients, but its molecular mechanism is unclear. This study sought to explore the roles of tissue factor pathway inhibitor-2 (TFPI-2) gene overexpression in the infiltration and metastasis of bladder cancer.

MATERIALS

Firstly, real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry were used to compare the mRNA and protein expression levels, respectively, of TFPI-2 and matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) in adjacent non-tumoral tissues, muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) tissues, and non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) tissues. BIU-87-TFPI-2 cells that stably expressed TFPI-2 were generated by transfection with pcDNA3.1-TFPI-2. Real-time PCR and western blotting were performed to determine the mRNA and protein expression levels, respectively, of TFPI-2 and MMP-1 in BIU-87-TFPI-2 cells. The invasion and migration abilities of BIU-87-TFPI-2 cells were investigated using the Transwell chamber method.

RESULTS

TFPI-2 was found to be significantly downregulated in bladder cancer tissue. The expression of MMP-1 was increased with the progression of bladder cancer. BIU-87 cells that overexpressed TFPI-2 were successfully generated by transfection with pcDNA3.1-TFPI-2. TFPI-2 overexpression in BIU-87 cells significantly inhibited cancer cell invasion and metastasis. Furthermore, the mRNA and protein expression levels of MMP-1 were significantly reduced in TFPI-2-overexpressing cells.

CONCLUSION

Decreased TFPI-2 expression in bladder tissue was correlated with invasion and metastasis in bladder cancer. TFPI-2 overexpression could inhibit bladder cancer cell invasion and migration in vitro by inhibiting MMP-1 protein expression.

LEVEL OF PROOF

3.