ETS2 alleviates acute-on-chronic liver failure by suppressing excessive inflammation

Neutrophil Extracellular Trap Scores Predict 90-Day Mortality in Hepatitis B-Related Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure

Hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is associated with pronounced systemic inflammation, and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are key components of this response. The primary objective of this study was to establish an NET-related scoring system for patients with HBV-ACLF. A prospective training cohort of 81 patients from the Beijing Ditan Hospital was included. The concentrations of NET markers (cell-free DNA, myeloperoxidase DNA [MPO-DNA], and citrullinated histone H3) in peripheral blood were quantified. Random survival forest, LASSO regression, and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to identify prognostic factors associated with 90-day mortality in ACLF patients and develop a nomogram for visualization, which was followed by evaluation in a validation cohort (n = 40). NET-related marker levels were significantly higher in the non-survival group than in the survival group (p < 0.05). The NET score was constructed by combining MPO-DNA, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, and age data. The score's diagnostic effectiveness, assessed by the area under the curve, yielded values of 0.83 and 0.77 in the training and validation sets, respectively, markedly surpassing those of other established models (p < 0.05). In both groups, the 90-day mortality rates were 88.8% and 75.0%, respectively, for patients categorized as high risk and 18.0% and 12.5%, respectively, for those classified as low risk.

Pesticide avermectin-induced hepatotoxicity and growth inhibition in carp: Ameliorative capacity and potential mechanisms of quercetin as a dietary additive

Flavonoid quercetin (QUE) has biological activities of anti-oxidation, anti-inflammation and anti-apoptosis, however, its protective effects against avermectin (AVM) induced liver toxicity in carp remains unclear. The objective of this research is to explore the biologically potent effects of QUE in AVM-induced hepatotoxicity in carp and its underlying mechanism. Therefore, we established a liver injury model in carp induced by AVM to evaluate QUE against AVM induced liver toxicity in carp. In this investigation, AVM dosage was determined as 2.404 μg/L for both groups, and an experimentation of 30 days duration was carried out. Various methods including hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, biochemical kits, real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR), western blotting, TUNEL, reactive oxygen species (ROS) staining, immunofluorescence (Hoseinifar, et al.,), and oil red O staining were used in this study. Results showed that the growth inhibition of carp was relieved in the QUE treatment group comparing to the AVM group. In the QUE treatment group, there was a significant decrease in the levels of ALT and AST in carp liver tissue. Additionally, the histopathological damage and lipid accumulation were alleviated compared to the AVM group. Moreover, QUE prevented AVM induced decrease in the activities of antioxidant enzymes of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT) and the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), but reduced accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA). In addition, the mRNA levels of liver pro-inflammatory factors of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (iL-1β), interleukin-6 (iL-6), interleukin-10 (iL-10) and the protein levels of NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome were significantly down-regulated in the QUE treatment group in comparison to the AVM group. We also found that QUE could affect the expression of Bcl2-associated x (Bax), B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), cleaved-cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase (CCaspase3) key apoptotic proteins and TUNEL-labeled apoptotic hepatocytes by regulating SIRT1/FOXO3a signal pathway. In summary, QUE alleviated the growth inhibition, liver oxidative damage, lipid accumulation, inflammatory response, and apoptosis of carp induced by AVM. QUE is a potential protective agent against liver injury induced by AVM in carp.

Comprehensive analysis of senescence-associated genes in sepsis based on bulk and single-cell sequencing data

Background: Sepsis is a pathological state resulting from dysregulated immune response in host during severe infection, leading to persistent organ dysfunction and ultimately death. Senescence-associated genes (SAGs) have manifested their potential in controlling the proliferation and dissemination of a variety of diseases. Nevertheless, the correlation between sepsis and SAGs remains obscure and requires further investigation. Methods: Two RNA expression datasets (GSE28750 and GSE57065) specifically related to sepsis were employed to filter hub SAGs, based on which a diagnostic model predictive of the incidence of sepsis was developed. The association between the expression of the SAGs identified and immune-related modules was analyzed employing Cell-type Identification By Estimating Relative Subsets Of RNA Transcripts (CIBERSORT) and Microenvironment Cell Populations-counter (MCP-counter) analysis. The identified genes in each cohort were clustered by unsupervised agreement clustering analysis and weighted gene correlation network analysis (WGCNA). Results: A diagnostic model for sepsis established based on hub genes (IGFBP7, GMFG, IL10, IL18, ETS2, HGF, CD55, and MMP9) exhibited a strong clinical reliability (AUC = 0.989). Sepsis patients were randomly assigned and classified by WGCNA into two clusters with distinct immune statuses. Analysis on the single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data revealed high scores of SAGs in the natural killer (NK) cells of the sepsis cohort than the healthy cohort. Conclusion: These findings suggested a close association between SAGs and sepsis alterations. The identified hub genes had potential to serve as a viable diagnostic marker for sepsis.