Knockout of the NONO Gene Inhibits Neointima Formation in a Mouse Model of Vascular Injury

RNA binding proteins in cardiovascular development and disease

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common birth defect affecting>1.35 million newborn babies worldwide. CHD can lead to prenatal, neonatal, postnatal lethality or life-long cardiac complications. RNA binding protein (RBP) mutations or variants are emerging as contributors to CHDs. RBPs are wizards of gene regulation and are major contributors to mRNA and protein landscape. However, not much is known about RBPs in the developing heart and their contributions to CHD. In this chapter, we will discuss our current knowledge about specific RBPs implicated in CHDs. We are in an exciting era to study RBPs using the currently available and highly successful RNA-based therapies and methodologies. Understanding how RBPs shape the developing heart will unveil their contributions to CHD. Identifying their target RNAs in the embryonic heart will ultimately lead to RNA-based treatments for congenital heart disease.

Nono deficiency impedes the proliferation and adhesion of H9c2 cardiomyocytes through Pi3k/Akt signaling pathway

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common type of birth defect and the main noninfectious cause of death during the neonatal stage. The non-POU domain containing, octamer-binding gene, NONO, performs a variety of roles involved in DNA repair, RNA synthesis, transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation. Currently, hemizygous loss-of-function mutation of NONO have been described as the genetic origin of CHD. However, essential effects of NONO during cardiac development have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we aim to understand role of Nono in cardiomyocytes during development by utilizing the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing system to deplete Nono in the rat cardiomyocytes H9c2. Functional comparison of H9c2 control and knockout cells showed that Nono deficiency suppressed cell proliferation and adhesion. Furthermore, Nono depletion significantly affected the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and glycolysis, resulting in H9c2 overall metabolic deficits. Mechanistically we demonstrated that the Nono knockout impeded the cardiomyocyte function by attenuating phosphatidyl inositol 3 kinase-serine/threonine kinase (Pi3k/Akt) signaling via the assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing in combination with RNA sequencing. From these results we propose a novel molecular mechanism of Nono to influence cardiomyocytes differentiation and proliferation during the development of embryonic heart. We conclude that NONO may represent an emerging possible biomarkers and targets for the diagnosis and treatment of human cardiac development defects.

NONO regulates B-cell development and B-cell receptor signaling

The paraspeckle protein NONO is a multifunctional nuclear protein participating in the regulation of transcriptional regulation, mRNA splicing and DNA repair. However, whether NONO plays a role in lymphopoiesis is not known. In this study, we generated mice with global deletion of NONO and bone marrow (BM) chimeric mice in which NONO is deleted in all of mature B cells. We found that the global deletion of NONO in mice did not affect T-cell development but impaired early B-cell development in BM at pro- to pre-B-cell transition stage and B-cell maturation in the spleen. Studies of BM chimeric mice demonstrated that the impaired B-cell development in NONO-deficient mice is B-cell-intrinsic. NONO-deficient B cells displayed normal BCR-induced cell proliferation but increased BCR-induced cell apoptosis. Moreover, we found that NONO deficiency impaired BCR-induced activation of ERK, AKT, and NF-κB pathways in B cells, and altered BCR-induced gene expression profile. Thus, NONO plays a critical role in B-cell development and BCR-induced B-cell activation.

Genetic analysis of potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets in ferroptosis from coronary artery disease

Ferroptosis plays a key role in the death of cells including cardiomyocytes, and it is related to a variety of cardiac diseases. However, the role of ferroptosis‐related genes (FRGs) in coronary artery disease (CAD) is not well characterized. We downloaded CAD‐related information and FRGs from the gene expression omnibus (GEO) database and Ferroptosis Database (FerrDb) respectively. A total of 10 CAD‐related DE‐FRGs were obtained, which were closely linked to autophagy regulation and immune response. Subsequently, CA9, CBS, CEBPG, HSPB1, SLC1A4, STMN1 and TRIB3 among the 10 DE‐FRGs were identified as marker genes by LASSO and SVM‐RFE algorithms, which had tolerable diagnostic capabilities. Subsequent functional enrichment analysis showed that these marker genes may play a corresponding role in CAD by participating in the regulation of immune response, amino acid metabolism, cell cycle and multiple pathways related to the pathogenesis of CAD. Furthermore, a total of 58 drugs targeting 7 marker genes had been obtained. On the contrary, the ceRNA network revealed a complex regulatory relationship based on the marker genes. Also, CIBERSORT analysis showed that the changes in the immune microenvironment of CAD patients may be related to CBS, HSPB1 and CEBPG. We developed a diagnostic potency and provided an insight for exploring the mechanism for CAD. Before clinical application, further research is needed to test its diagnostic value for CAD.