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Ge D, Luo T, Sun Y, Liu M, Lyu Y, Yin W, Li R, Zhang Y, Yue H, Liu N. Natural diterpenoid EKO activates deubiqutinase ATXN3 to preserve vascular endothelial integrity and alleviate diabetic retinopathy through c-fos/focal adhesion axis. Int J Biol Macromol 2024; 260:129341. [PMID: 38218272 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.129341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2023] [Revised: 12/26/2023] [Accepted: 01/07/2024] [Indexed: 01/15/2024]
Abstract
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the most prevalent severe diabetic microvascular complications caused by hyperglycemia. Deciphering the underlying mechanism of vascular injury and finding ways to alleviate hyperglycemia induced microvascular complications is of great necessity. In this study, we identified that a compound ent-9α-hydroxy-15-oxo-16-kauren-19-oic acid (EKO), the diterpenoid isolated and purified from Pteris semipinnata L., exhibited good protective roles against vascular endothelial injury associated with diabetic retinopathy in vitro and in vivo. To further uncover the underlying mechanism, we used unbiased transcriptome sequencing analysis and showed substantial impairment in the focal adhesion pathway upon high glucose and IL-1β stimulation. EKO could effectively improve endothelial focal adhesion pathway by enhancing the expression of two focal adhesion proteins Vinculin and ITGA11. We found that c-fos protein was involved in regulating the expression of Vinculin and ITGA11, a transcription factor component that was downregulated by high glucose and IL-1β stimulation and recovered by EKO. Mechanically, EKO facilitated the binding of deubiquitylation enzyme ATXN3 to c-fos protein and promoted its deubiquitylation, thereby elevating its protein level to enhance the expression of Vinculin and ITGA11. Besides, EKO effectively suppressed ROS production and restored mitochondrial function. In vivo studies, we confirmed EKO could alleviate some of the indicators of diabetic mice. In addition, protein levels of ATXN3 and focal adhesion Vinculin molecule were also verified in vivo. Collectively, our findings addressed the endothelial protective role of natural diterpenoid EKO, with emphasize of mechanism on ATXN3/c-fos/focal adhesion signaling pathway as well as oxygen stress suppression, implicating its therapeutic potential in alleviating vascular endothelium injury and diabetic retinopathy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Di Ge
- School of Biological Science and Technology, University of Jinan, Jinan 250024, China
| | - Tingting Luo
- School of Biological Science and Technology, University of Jinan, Jinan 250024, China
| | - Yajie Sun
- School of Biological Science and Technology, University of Jinan, Jinan 250024, China
| | - Mengjia Liu
- School of Biological Science and Technology, University of Jinan, Jinan 250024, China
| | - Yuzhu Lyu
- School of Biological Science and Technology, University of Jinan, Jinan 250024, China
| | - Wenying Yin
- School of Biological Science and Technology, University of Jinan, Jinan 250024, China
| | - Rongxian Li
- School of Biological Science and Technology, University of Jinan, Jinan 250024, China
| | - Yongqi Zhang
- School of Biological Science and Technology, University of Jinan, Jinan 250024, China
| | - Hongwei Yue
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Shandong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Key Laboratory of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine of Shandong Province, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
| | - Na Liu
- School of Biological Science and Technology, University of Jinan, Jinan 250024, China.
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Braß SM, Mazrekaj A, Mulorz J, Ibing W, Krott KJ, Takeuchi K, Cappallo M, Liu HH, Elvers M, Schelzig H, Wagenhäuser MU. Nicotine Potentially Alters Endothelial Inflammation and Cell Adhesion via LGALS9. J Cardiovasc Dev Dis 2023; 11:6. [PMID: 38248876 PMCID: PMC10816207 DOI: 10.3390/jcdd11010006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2023] [Revised: 12/20/2023] [Accepted: 12/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/23/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The endothelial cell layer is essential for the maintenance of various blood vessel functions. Major risk factors for endothelial dysfunction that contribute to aortic pathologies such as abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and aortic dissection (AD) include smoking tobacco cigarettes and hypertension. This study explores the effects of nicotine (Nic) and angiotensin II (Ang II) on human aortic endothelial cells (HAoECs) at a transcriptional level. METHODS HAoECs were exposed to 100 nM Nic and/or 100 nM Ang II. RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) was performed to identify regulated genes following exposure. Results were validated applying RT-qPCR. GeneMANIA was used to perform in silico analysis aiming to identify potential downstream interacting genes in inflammatory, cell-adhesion, endothelial cell proliferation, and coagulation pathways. RESULTS RNA-Seq identified LGALS9 (Galectin-9) as being potentially regulated following Nic exposure, while subsequent RT-qPCR experiments confirmed the transcriptional regulation (p < 0.05). Subsequent in silico analysis identified potential candidate genes for interacting with LGALS9 in different gene sets. Of the top 100 genes potentially interacting with LGALS9, 18 were inflammatory response genes, 28 were involved in cell adhesion, 2 in cell proliferation, and 6 in coagulation. CONCLUSION Nic exposure of HAoECs causes a significant increase in LGALS9 at a transcriptional level. LGALS9 itself may serve as key regulator for essential endothelial cell processes via interfering with various signaling pathways and may thus represent a potentially novel target in the pathogenesis of aortic pathologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sönke Maximilian Braß
- Clinic for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Duesseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
| | - Agnesa Mazrekaj
- Clinic for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Duesseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
| | - Joscha Mulorz
- Clinic for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Duesseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
| | - Wiebke Ibing
- Clinic for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Duesseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
| | - Kim-Jürgen Krott
- Clinic for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Duesseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
| | - Kiku Takeuchi
- Clinic for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Duesseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
| | - Melanie Cappallo
- Clinic for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Duesseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
- Clinic for Cardiac Surgery, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Duesseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
- CURE 3D Lab, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Duesseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
| | - Hsiang-Han Liu
- Clinic for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Duesseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
| | - Margitta Elvers
- Clinic for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Duesseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
| | - Hubert Schelzig
- Clinic for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Duesseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
| | - Markus Udo Wagenhäuser
- Clinic for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Duesseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
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Magouliotis DE, Arjomandi Rad A, Kourliouros A, Viviano A, Koulouroudias M, Salmasi MY, Briasoulis A, Triposkiadis F, Skoularigis J, Athanasiou T. Transcriptomic Analysis of Tight Junction Proteins Demonstrates the Aberrant Expression and Function of Zona Occludens 2 (ZO-2) Protein in Stanford Type A Aortic Dissection. J Pers Med 2023; 13:1697. [PMID: 38138924 PMCID: PMC10744791 DOI: 10.3390/jpm13121697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2023] [Revised: 12/02/2023] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Thoracic aortic aneurysm dissection (TAAD) represents a cardiac surgery emergency characterized by the disrupted integrity of the aortic wall and is associated with poor prognosis. In this context, the identification of biomarkers implicated in the pathobiology of TAAD is crucial. Our aim in the present original in silico study is to assess the differential gene expression profile of the tight junction proteins (TJPs) in patients with TAAD and to propose novel biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of this disease. METHODS We implemented bioinformatics methodology in order to construct the gene network of the TJPs family, identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in pathologic aortic tissue excised from patients with TAAD as compared to healthy aortic tissue, and assess the related biological functions and the associated miRNA families. RESULTS Data regarding the transcriptomic profile of selected genes were retrieved and incorporated from three microarray datasets, including 23 TAAD and 20 healthy control samples. A total of 32 TJPs were assessed. The zona occludens 2 (ZO-2) protein encoded by the gene TJP2 was significantly under-expressed in patients with TAAD compared to the control group (p = 0.009). ZO-2 was associated with fair discrimination and calibration traits in predicting the TAAD presentation. CpG islands of ZO-2 were demonstrated. No important difference was found regarding ZO-2 expression between aneurysmal non-dissected and healthy control aortic tissue. Finally, we performed gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and uncovered the major biological functions and miRNA families (hsa-miR-155-5p, hsa-miR-1-3p, hsa-miR-2118-5p, hsa-miR-4691-3p, and hsa-miR-1229-3p) relevant to ZO-2. CONCLUSIONS These outcomes demonstrated the important role of ZO-2 in the pathobiology of TAAD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dimitrios E. Magouliotis
- Unit of Quality Improvement, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Thessaly, 41110 Biopolis, Greece
| | - Arian Arjomandi Rad
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, St Mary’s Hospital, London W2 1NY, UK; (A.A.R.); (M.Y.S.); (T.A.)
| | - Antonios Kourliouros
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Oxford University Hospitals, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK;
| | - Alessandro Viviano
- Department of Cardiac Surgery, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London W2 1NY, UK;
| | - Marinos Koulouroudias
- Department of Cardiac Surgery, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham NG5 1PB, UK;
| | - Mohammad Yousuf Salmasi
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, St Mary’s Hospital, London W2 1NY, UK; (A.A.R.); (M.Y.S.); (T.A.)
| | - Alexandros Briasoulis
- Department of Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10679 Athens, Greece;
| | | | - John Skoularigis
- Department of Cardiology, University of Thessaly, Biopolis, 41110 Larissa, Greece;
| | - Thanos Athanasiou
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, St Mary’s Hospital, London W2 1NY, UK; (A.A.R.); (M.Y.S.); (T.A.)
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