Modulation of Cathepsin L Expression in the Coronary Arteries of Atherosclerotic Swine

Design and Fabrication of Environmentally Responsive Nanoparticles for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Atherosclerosis

Cardiovascular disease poses a significant threat to human health in today's society. A major contributor to cardiovascular disease is atherosclerosis (AS). The development of plaque in the affected areas involves a complex pathological environment, and the disease progresses rapidly. Nanotechnology, combined with emerging diagnostic and treatment methods, offers the potential for the management of this condition. This paper presents the latest advancements in environment-intelligent responsive controlled-release nanoparticles designed specifically for the pathological environment of AS, which includes characteristics such as low pH, high reactive oxygen species levels, high shear stress, and multienzymes. Additionally, the paper summarizes the applications and features of nanotechnology in interventional therapy for AS, including percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and drug-eluting stents. Furthermore, the application of nanotechnology in the diagnosis of AS shows promising real-time, accurate, and continuous effects. Lastly, the paper explores the future prospects of nanotechnology, highlighting the tremendous potential in the diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerotic diseases, especially with the ongoing development in nano gas, quantum dots, and Metal-Organic Frameworks materials.

The many roles of cathepsins in restenosis

Drug-eluting stents (DES) and dual antiplatelet regimens have significantly improved the clinical management of ischemic heart disease; however, the drugs loaded with DES in clinical practice are mostly paclitaxel or rapamycin derivatives, which target symptoms of post implantation proliferation and inflammation, leading to delayed re-endothelialization and neo-atherosclerosis. Along with the treatments already in place, there is a need for novel strategies to lessen the negative clinical outcomes of DES delays as well as a need for greater understanding of their pathobiological mechanisms. This review concentrates on the function of cathepsins (Cats) in the inflammatory response and granulation tissue formation that follow Cat-induced damage to the vasculature scaffold, as well as the functions of Cats in intimal hyperplasia, which is characterized by the migration and proliferation of smooth muscle cells, and endothelial denudation, re-endothelialization, and/or neo-endothelialization. Additionally, Cats can alter essential neointima formation and immune response inside scaffolds, and if Cats are properly controlled in vivo, they may improve scaffold biocompatibility. This unique profile of functions could lead to an original concept for a cathepsin-based coronary intervention treatment as an adjunct to stent placement.

Overview of multifunctional cysteinyl cathepsins in atherosclerosis-based cardiovascular disease: from insights into molecular functions to clinical implications

Cysteinyl cathepsins (CTSs) are widely known to have a proteolysis function that mediates recycling of unwanted proteins in endosomes and lysosomes, and investigation of CTSs has greatly improved with advances in live-imaging techniques both in vivo and in vitro, leading to three key findings. (1) CTSs are relocated from the lysosomes to other cellular spaces (i.e., cytosol, nucleus, nuclear membrane, plasma membrane, and extracellular milieu). (2) In addition to acidic cellular compartments, CTSs also exert biological activity in neutral environments. (3) CTSs also exert multiple nontraditional functions in, for example, extracellular matrix metabolism, cell signaling transduction, protein processing/trafficking, and cellular events. Various stimuli regulate the expression and activities of CTSs in vivo and vitro-e.g., inflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress, neurohormones, and growth factors. Accumulating evidence has confirmed the participation of CTSs in vascular diseases characterized by atherosclerosis, plaque rupture, thrombosis, calcification, aneurysm, restenosis/in-stent-restenosis, and neovasel formation. Circulating and tissue CTSs are promising as biomarkers and as a diagnostic imaging tool in patients with atherosclerosis-based cardiovascular disease (ACVD), and pharmacological interventions with their specific and non-specific inhibitors, and cardiovascular drugs might have potential for the therapeutic targeting of CTSs in animals. This review focuses on the update findings on CTS biology and the involvement of CTSs in the initiation and progression of ACVD and discusses the potential use of CTSs as biomarkers and small-molecule targets to prevent deleterious nontraditional functions in ACVD.

Endothelial colony-forming cell-derived exosomal miR-21-5p regulates autophagic flux to promote vascular endothelial repair by inhibiting SIPL1A2 in atherosclerosis

Background

Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) represents an efficient therapeutic method for atherosclerosis but conveys a risk of causing restenosis. Endothelial colony-forming cell-derived exosomes (ECFC-exosomes) are important mediators during vascular repair. This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic effects of ECFC-exosomes in a rat model of atherosclerosis and to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying the ECFC-exosome-mediated effects on ox-LDL-induced endothelial injury.

Methods

The effect of ECFC-exosome-mediated autophagy on ox-LDL-induced human microvascular endothelial cell (HMEC) injury was examined by cell counting kit-8 assay, scratch wound assay, tube formation assay, western blot and the Ad-mCherry-GFP-LC3B system. RNA-sequencing assays, bioinformatic analysis and dual-luciferase reporter assays were performed to confirm the interaction between the miR-21-5p abundance of ECFC-exosomes and SIPA1L2 in HMECs. The role and underlying mechanism of ECFC-exosomes in endothelial repair were explored using a high-fat diet combined with balloon injury to establish an atherosclerotic rat model of vascular injury. Evans blue staining, haematoxylin and eosin staining and western blotting were used to evaluate vascular injury.

Results

ECFC-exosomes were incorporated into HMECs and promoted HMEC proliferation, migration and tube formation by repairing autophagic flux and enhancing autophagic activity. Subsequently, we demonstrated that miR-21-5p, which is abundant in ECFC-exosomes, binds to the 3’ untranslated region of SIPA1L2 to inhibit its expression, and knockout of miR-21-5p in ECFC-exosomes reversed ECFC-exosome-decreased SIPA1L2 expression in ox-LDL-induced HMEC injury. Knockdown of SIPA1L2 repaired autophagic flux and enhanced autophagic activity to promote cell proliferation in ox-LDL-treated HMECs. ECFC-exosome treatment attenuated vascular endothelial injury, regulated lipid balance and activated autophagy in an atherogenic rat model of vascular injury, whereas these effects were eliminated with ECFC-exosomes with knockdown of miR-21-5p.

Conclusions

Our study demonstrated that ECFC-exosomes protect against atherosclerosis- or PTCA-induced vascular injury by rescuing autophagic flux and inhibiting SIAP1L2 expression through delivery of miR-21-5p.

Common markers of testicular Sertoli cells

INTRODUCTION

Sertoli cells play central roles in the development of testis formation in fetuses and the initiation and maintenance of spermatogenesis in puberty and adulthood, and disorders of Sertoli cell proliferation and/or functional maturation can cause male reproductive disorders at various life stages. It's well documented that various genes are either overexpressed or absent in Sertoli cells during the conversion of an immature, proliferating Sertoli cell to a mature, non-proliferating Sertoli cell, which are considered as Sertoli cell stage-specific markers. Thus, it is paramount to choose an appropriate Sertoli cell marker that will be used not only to identify the developmental, proliferative, and maturation of Sertoli cell status in the testis during the fetal period, prepuberty, puberty, or in the adult, but also to diagnose the mechanisms underlying spermatogenic dysfunction.

AREAS COVERED

In this review, we principally enumerated 5 categories of testicular Sertoli cell markers - including immature Sertoli cell markers, mature Sertoli cell markers, immature/mature Sertoli cell markers, Sertoli cell functional markers, and others.

EXPERT OPINION

By delineating the characteristics and applications of more than 20 Sertoli cell markers, this review provided novel Sertoli cell markers for the more accurate diagnosis and mechanistic evaluation of male reproductive disorders.

Nucleolin regulates the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells in atherosclerotic via Aurora B

Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) play a significant role in atherosclerosis. As a multifunctional protein, nucleolin (NCL) is involved in many important physiological and pathological processes. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of nucleolin in VSMCs proliferation and cell cycle. The expression of nucleolin increased in VSMCs of mice with aortas advanced plaques. With the left common carotid-artery ligation-injury model, immunofluorescence staining revealed that nucleolin and Ki67 expression increased in VSMCs in mice left carotid artery compared with right carotid artery after surgery. POVPC or ox-LDL up-regulated nucleolin mRNA and protein expression in a dose- and time-dependent manner in HAVSMCs. POVPC (5μg/ml) or ox-LDL (50μg/ml) promoted the proliferation of HAVSMCs. Nucleolin ablation relieved the pro-proliferation role of VSMCs. The cell cycle assay and cell ability results showing that POVPC or ox-LDL increased the proliferation, but nucleolin ablation inhibited the proliferation of HAVSMCs. And nucleolin ablation can prevent DNA replication at S phase and induce cell cycle arrest in S phase. The bioinformatics database predicts protein-protein interactions with nucleolin and aurora B. Nucleolin overexpression and ablation affected the expression of aurora B. These findings indicate for the first time that nucleolin actively involved the proliferation of VSMCs via aurora B.

Nutraceuticals in Chronic Coronary Syndromes: Preclinical Data and Translational Experiences

Non-pharmacological treatments have always been considered important in the management of Chronic Coronary Syndromes. Nutraceuticals ("Nutrition" + "Pharmaceutical") could fall both under the definition of non-pharmacological treatment and pharmacological one or, probably more correctly, in the middle of these two kinds of therapies. However, the word "nutraceuticals" never appears in the latest guidelines on this issue. This is probably determined by the fact that evidences on this topic are scarce and most of the published articles are based on preclinical data while translational experiences are available only for some molecules. In this review we will focus on nutraceutical strategies that act on the ischemic myocardium itself and not only on the cardiovascular risk factors. As demonstrated by the important number of papers published in recent years, this is an evolving topic and evaluated substances principally act on two mechanisms (cardiac energetics and ischemia-reperfusion damage) that will be also reviewed.