Transcriptome analysis to reveal the mechanism of the effect of Echinops latifolius polysaccharide B on palmitate-induced insulin-resistant

Polysaccharide from Panax japonicus C.A. Mey prevents non-alcoholic fatty liver disease development based on regulating liver metabolism and gut microbiota in mice

In this study, a new polysaccharide (PSPJ) with specific molecular weight and monosaccharide compositions was isolated and purified from the water extract of Panacis Japonici Rhizoma (PJR). 16S rRNA analysis and untargeted metabolomic analysis were used to assess PSPJ's efficacy in averting non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This study indicated that PSPJ significantly reduced liver fat accumulation, the increase in blood lipids and ALT caused by HFD, indicating that PSPJ can prevent NAFLD. We demonstrated through cell experiments that PSPJ does not directly affect liver cells. The gut microbiota disorder and alterations in short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) induced by the high-fat diet (HFD) were ameliorated by PSPJ, as evidenced by the analysis of 16S rRNA. In particular, supplementing PSPJ reduced the abundance of Turicibacter, Dubosiella, and Staphylococcus, and increased the abundance of Bacteroides, Blautia, and Lactobacillus. Untargeted metabolomic analysis shows that PSPJ improves liver metabolic disorders by regulating arachidonic acid metabolism, carbohydrate digestion and absorption, fatty acid biosynthesis, fatty acid metabolism and retinol metabolism. The findings of our investigation indicate that PSPJ has the potential to modulate liver metabolism through alterations in the composition of intestinal bacteria, hence preventing NAFLD.

Molecular mechanism of microRNA-mediated hypoglycemic effect of whole grain highland barley

As a non-coding RNA, microRNA (miRNA) has been proven to play an important role in the development and progression of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Highland barley is a whole grain from the Tibetan areas of China. Our previous studies have demonstrated its hypoglycemic effect. To further explore the underlining molecular mechanism, we investigated the effect of highland barley intervention on liver miRNA expression profiles in diabetic mice. Our results showed that ten differentially expressed miRNA among different groups were identified and their target genes were predicted. Remarkably, many glycometabolism-associated genes, including Foxo3, Nras, Rptor, Igf1r, Tsc2 and Braf, were negatively regulated by miR-122-5p, miR-503-5p, miR-455-5p and miR-210-3p, respectively. Pathway enrichment analysis revealed these target genes were mainly involved in AMPK, MAPK and FOXO signaling pathways. Thereby, these miRNA and mRNA were validated using qRT-PCR, and the results were consistent with the small RNA-seq and expectations. Highland barley could regulate the MAPK, AMPK, and FOXO signaling pathways by regulating critical miRNA-mRNA pairs, e.x. miR-210-3p-Tsc2/Braf, miR-122-5p-Foxo3, and miR-455-5p-Igf1r, thereby improving blood glucose metabolism in diabetic mice. The present study preliminarily explored the hypoglycaemic effects of highland barley based on transcriptomics, and more detailed and in-depth studies on this topic are needed in the future.

The LINC00261/MiR105-5p/SELL axis is involved in dysfunction of B cell and is associated with overall survival in hepatocellular carcinoma

Background

Previous studies have been reported the immune dysfunction of various live tissues. However, the potential molecular mechanism of post-transcriptional regulation of immune related genes in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still not clear. We tried to identify crucial immune related biomarkers associated with HCC patients' outcomes and to reveal the transcriptional regulation.

Method

The fractions of 22 immune cells in tumor and adjacent tissues were estimated by CIBERSORT. Kruskal-Wallis test and differentially expressed analyzes were used for comparative studies. Cox proportional hazard regression model, Kaplan-Meier estimates and Log-rank test were used for survival analyses.

Results

From The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), the gene, lncRNA and miRNA expression profiles of 379 HCC samples with clinical information were used for comparative studies. Eleven adaptive and innate immune cell types were significantly altered in HCC samples, including B cell memory, regulatory T cells and follicular helper T cells. Differentially expressed competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network associated with patients' overall survival was identified. Then, the novel pathway, including LINC00261, MiR105-5p and selectin L(SELL) was found and may be potential novel biomarkers for patients' outcomes and immunotherapy. Furthermore, SELL was significantly positively correlated (correlation coefficients: 0.47-0.69) with 12 known gene signatures of immunotherapy except for programmed cell death 1 (PDCD1).

Conclusions

Our findings could provide insights into the selection of novel LINC00261/MiR105-5p/SELL pathway which is associated with overall survival and may impact on efficacy of immunotherapy in HCC.