Identification of Ceruloplasmin as a Gene that Affects Susceptibility to Glomerulonephritis Through Macrophage Function

The regulatory landscape of multiple brain regions in outbred heterogeneous stock rats

Heterogeneous Stock (HS) rats are a genetically diverse outbred rat population that is widely used for studying genetics of behavioral and physiological traits. Mapping Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) associated with transcriptional changes would help to identify mechanisms underlying these traits. We generated genotype and transcriptome data for five brain regions from 88 HS rats. We identified 21 392 cis-QTLs associated with expression and splicing changes across all five brain regions and validated their effects using allele specific expression data. We identified 80 cases where eQTLs were colocalized with genome-wide association study (GWAS) results from nine physiological traits. Comparing our dataset to human data from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project, we found that the HS rat data yields twice as many significant eQTLs as a similarly sized human dataset. We also identified a modest but highly significant correlation between genetic regulatory variation among orthologous genes. Surprisingly, we found less genetic variation in gene regulation in HS rats relative to humans, though we still found eQTLs for the orthologs of many human genes for which eQTLs had not been found. These data are available from the RatGTEx data portal (RatGTEx.org) and will enable new discoveries of the genetic influences of complex traits.

Molecular mechanisms and therapeutic effects of different vitamins and minerals in COVID-19 patients

COVID-19 is a rapidly spreading disease, which has caught the world by surprise. Millions of people suffer from illness, and the mortality rates are dramatically high. Currently, there is no specific and immediate treatment for this disease. Remedies are limited to supportive regiments and few antiviral and anti-inflammatory drugs. The lack of a definite cure for COVID-19 is the reason behind its high mortality and global prevalence. COVID-19 can lead to a critical illness with severe respiratory distress and cytokine release. Increased oxidative stress and excessive production of inflammatory cytokines are vital components of severe COVID-19. Micronutrients, metalloids, and vitamins such as iron, manganese, selenium, Zinc, Copper, vitamin A, B family, and C are among the essential and trace elements that play a pivotal role in human nutrition and health. They participate in metabolic processes that lead to energy production. In addition, they support immune functions and act as antioxidants. Therefore, maintaining an optimal level of micronutrients intake, particularly those with antioxidant activities, is essential to fight against oxidative stress, modulate inflammation, and boost the immune system. Therefore, these factors could play a crucial role in COVID-19 prevention and treatment. In this review, we aimed to summarize antiviral properties of different vitamins and minerals. Moreover, we will investigate the correlation between them and their effects in COVID-19 patients.

Rat models of human diseases and related phenotypes: a systematic inventory of the causative genes

The laboratory rat has been used for a long time as the model of choice in several biomedical disciplines. Numerous inbred strains have been isolated, displaying a wide range of phenotypes and providing many models of human traits and diseases. Rat genome mapping and genomics was considerably developed in the last decades. The availability of these resources has stimulated numerous studies aimed at discovering causal disease genes by positional identification. Numerous rat genes have now been identified that underlie monogenic or complex diseases and remarkably, these results have been translated to the human in a significant proportion of cases, leading to the identification of novel human disease susceptibility genes, helping in studying the mechanisms underlying the pathological abnormalities and also suggesting new therapeutic approaches. In addition, reverse genetic tools have been developed. Several genome-editing methods were introduced to generate targeted mutations in genes the function of which could be clarified in this manner [generally these are knockout mutations]. Furthermore, even when the human gene causing a disease had been identified without resorting to a rat model, mutated rat strains (in particular KO strains) were created to analyze the gene function and the disease pathogenesis. Today, over 350 rat genes have been identified as underlying diseases or playing a key role in critical biological processes that are altered in diseases, thereby providing a rich resource of disease models. This article is an update of the progress made in this research and provides the reader with an inventory of these disease genes, a significant number of which have similar effects in rat and humans.

COVID-19: The Potential Role of Copper and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) in a Combination of Candidate Antiviral Treatments Against SARS-CoV-2

BACKGROUND

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) a pandemic. Since then, thousands of people have suffered and died, making the need for a treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) more crucial than ever.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The authors carried out a search in PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov and New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) for COVID-19 to provide information on the most promising treatments against SARS-CoV-2.

RESULTS

Possible COVID-19 agents with promising efficacy and favorable safety profile were identified. The results support the combination of copper, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), colchicine and nitric oxide (NO) with candidate antiviral agents, remdesivir or EIDD-2801, as a treatment for patients positive for SARS-CoV-2.

CONCLUSION

The authors propose to study the effects of the combination of copper, NAC, colchicine, NO and currently used experimental antiviral agents, remdesivir or EIDD-2801, as a potential treatment scheme for SARS-COV-2.

Heterogeneous macrophages: Supersensors of exogenous inducing factors

As heterogeneous immune cells, macrophages mount effective responses to various internal and external changes during disease progression. Macrophage polarization, rather than macrophage heterogenization, is often used to describe the functional differences between macrophages. While macrophage polarization partially contributes to heterogeneity, it does not completely explain the concept of macrophage heterogeneity. At the same time, there are abundant and sophisticated endogenous and exogenous substances that can affect macrophage heterogeneity. While the research on endogenous factors has been systematically reviewed, the findings on exogenous factors have not been well summarized. Hence, we reviewed the characteristics and inducing factors of heterogeneous macrophages to reveal their functional plasticity as well as their targeting manoeuvreability. In the process of constructing and analysing a network organized by disease-related cells and molecules, paying more attention to heterogeneous macrophages as mediators of this network may help to explore a novel entry point for early prevention of and intervention in disease.

BCAT1 controls metabolic reprogramming in activated human macrophages and is associated with inflammatory diseases

Branched-chain aminotransferases (BCAT) are enzymes that initiate the catabolism of branched-chain amino acids (BCAA), such as leucine, thereby providing macromolecule precursors; however, the function of BCATs in macrophages is unknown. Here we show that BCAT1 is the predominant BCAT isoform in human primary macrophages. We identify ERG240 as a leucine analogue that blocks BCAT1 activity. Selective inhibition of BCAT1 activity results in decreased oxygen consumption and glycolysis. This decrease is associated with reduced IRG1 levels and itaconate synthesis, suggesting involvement of BCAA catabolism through the IRG1/itaconate axis within the tricarboxylic acid cycle in activated macrophages. ERG240 suppresses production of IRG1 and itaconate in mice and contributes to a less proinflammatory transcriptome signature. Oral administration of ERG240 reduces the severity of collagen-induced arthritis in mice and crescentic glomerulonephritis in rats, in part by decreasing macrophage infiltration. These results establish a regulatory role for BCAT1 in macrophage function with therapeutic implications for inflammatory conditions.