Cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor 1 C is a female-specific marker of left ventricular function after acute myocardial infarction

From multi-omics approaches to personalized medicine in myocardial infarction

Myocardial infarction (MI) is a prevalent cardiovascular disease characterized by myocardial necrosis resulting from coronary artery ischemia and hypoxia, which can lead to severe complications such as arrhythmia, cardiac rupture, heart failure, and sudden death. Despite being a research hotspot, the etiological mechanism of MI remains unclear. The emergence and widespread use of omics technologies, including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and other omics, have provided new opportunities for exploring the molecular mechanism of MI and identifying a large number of disease biomarkers. However, a single-omics approach has limitations in understanding the complex biological pathways of diseases. The multi-omics approach can reveal the interaction network among molecules at various levels and overcome the limitations of the single-omics approaches. This review focuses on the omics studies of MI, including genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and other omics. The exploration extended into the domain of multi-omics integrative analysis, accompanied by a compilation of diverse online resources, databases, and tools conducive to these investigations. Additionally, we discussed the role and prospects of multi-omics approaches in personalized medicine, highlighting the potential for improving diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of MI.

GATA3 as a Blood-Based RNA Biomarker for Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease

Finding novel biomarkers for Parkinson's disease (PD) is crucial for early disease diagnosis, severity assessment and identifying novel disease-modifying drug targets. Our study aimed at investigating the GATA3 mRNA levels in whole blood samples of idiopathic PD (iPD) patients with different disease severities as a biomarker for iPD. The present study is a cross-sectional, case-control study, with samples obtained from the Luxembourg Parkinson's cohort (LuxPARK). iPD (N = 319) patients, along with age-matched controls without PD (non-PD; N = 319) were included in this study. Blood GATA3 mRNA expression was measured using quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) assays. The capacity of GATA3 expression levels to establish the diagnosis of iPD (primary end-point) and assess disease severity (secondary end-point) was determined. The blood levels of GATA3 were significantly lower in iPD patients, compared to non-PD controls (p ≤ 0.001). Logistic regression models showed a significant association of GATA3 expression with iPD diagnosis after adjustment for the confounders (p = 0.005). Moreover, the addition of GATA3 expression to a baseline clinical model improved its iPD diagnosis capacity (p = 0.005). There was a significant association of GATA3 expression levels with the overall disease severity (p = 0.002), non-motor experiences of daily living (nm-EDL; p = 0.003) and sleep disturbances (p = 0.01). Our results suggest that GATA3 expression measured in blood may serve as a novel biomarker and may help in the diagnosis of iPD and assessment of disease severity.

Sex-related differences in ventricular remodeling after myocardial infarction

The epidemiology, clinical features and outcome of myocardial infarction (MI) display significant differences between men and women. Prominent sex differences have also been suggested in left ventricular (LV) remodeling after MI. Ventricular remodeling refers to a deterioration of LV geometry and function often leading to heart failure (HF) development and an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events. Women have a lower propensity to the acquisition of a spherical geometry and LV dysfunction. These differences can be attributed at least partially to a lower frequency of transmural infarction and smaller areas of microvascular obstruction in women, as well as to a less prominent activation of neuroendocrine systems and apoptotic, inflammatory and profibrotic pathways in women. Estrogens might play a role in this difference, which could partially persist even after the menopause because of a persisting intramyocardial synthesis of estrogens in women. Conversely, androgens may exert a detrimental influence. Future studies should better clarify sex differences in the predictors, clinical correlates, prognostic impact and disease mechanisms of remodeling, as well as the existence of sex-specific therapeutic targets. This research effort should hopefully allow to optimize the treatment of MI during the acute and post-acute phase, possibly through different therapeutic strategies in men and women, with the goal of reducing the risk of HF development and improving patient outcome.

Antioxidant stress and anticancer activity of peptide‑chelated selenium in vitro

The association between selenium and peptide in gastric cancer is an important research topic. The present study reported the facile synthesis of anticancer bioactive peptide (ACBP)-functionalized selenium (ACBP-S-Se) particles with enhanced anticancer activities and a detailed mechanistic evaluation of their ability to regulate oxidative stress in vitro. Structural and chemical characterizations were revealed by ultraviolet absorption, Fourier transform infrared, X-ray photoelectron, nuclear magnetic resonance carbon and hydrogen, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, as well as scanning electron microscopy. Sulfhydrylation modifications of ACBP were achieved with Sacetylmercaptosuccinic anhydride via chemical absorption. After the polypeptide was modified by sulfhydrylation, the ACBP chain was linked to sulfhydryl groups by amide bonds to form the ACBP-chelated selenium complex. Two gastric cancer cell lines (MKN-45 and MKN-74 cells) demonstrated high susceptibility to ACBP-S-Se particles and displayed significantly decreased proliferation ability following treatment. The results suggested that the bioactive peptide-chelated selenium particles effectively inhibited the proliferation of MKN-45 and MKN-74 cells in vitro. The genes encoding CDK inhibitor 1A (CDKN1A), cyclin B1, thioredoxin (TXN) and mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase 5 are associated with regulation of oxidative stress, while CDKN1A and TXN protect cells by decreasing oxidative stress and promoting cell growth arrest. Therefore, ACBP-S-Se may be an ideal chemotherapeutic candidate for human cancer, especially gastric cancer.

Approaching Sex Differences in Cardiovascular Non-Coding RNA Research

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the biggest cause of sickness and mortality worldwide in both males and females. Clinical statistics demonstrate clear sex differences in risk, prevalence, mortality rates, and response to treatment for different entities of CVD. The reason for this remains poorly understood. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are emerging as key mediators and biomarkers of CVD. Similarly, current knowledge on differential regulation, expression, and pathology-associated function of ncRNAs between sexes is minimal. Here, we provide a state-of-the-art overview of what is known on sex differences in ncRNA research in CVD as well as discussing the contributing biological factors to this sex dimorphism including genetic and epigenetic factors and sex hormone regulation of transcription. We then focus on the experimental models of CVD and their use in translational ncRNA research in the cardiovascular field. In particular, we want to highlight the importance of considering sex of the cellular and pre-clinical models in clinical studies in ncRNA research and to carefully consider the appropriate experimental models most applicable to human patient populations. Moreover, we aim to identify sex-specific targets for treatment and diagnosis for the biggest socioeconomic health problem globally.

Analysis of extracellular vesicle miRNA profiles in heart failure

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have recently emerged as an important carrier for various genetic materials including microRNAs (miRs). Growing evidences suggested that several miRs transported by EVs were particularly involved in modulating cardiac function. However, it has remained unclear what miRs are enriched in EVs and play an important role in the pathological condition. Therefore, we established the miR expression profiles in EVs from murine normal and failing hearts and consecutively identified substantially altered miRs. In addition, we have performed bioinformatics approach to predict potential cardiac outcomes through the identification of miR targets. Conclusively, we observed approximately 63% of predicted targets were validated with previous reports. Notably, the predicted targets by this approach were often involved in both beneficial and malicious signalling pathways, which may reflect heterogeneous cellular origins of EVs in tissues. Lastly, there has been an active debate on U6 whether it is a proper control. Through further analysis of EV miR profiles, miR‐676 was identified as a superior reference control due to its consistent and abundant expressions. In summary, our results contribute to identifying specific EV miRs for the potential therapeutic targets in heart failure and suggest that miR‐676 as a new reference control for the EV miR studies.