Elevated serum A20 is associated with severity of chronic hepatitis B and A20 inhibits NF-κB-mediated inflammatory response

A prospective cohort study on serum A20 as a prognostic biomarker of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage

BACKGROUND

A20 may be a neuroprotective factor. Herein, we aimed to investigate whether serum A20 levels were associated with disease severity, delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI), and outcome after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH).

METHODS

In this prospective cohort study containing 112 aSAH patients and 112 controls, serum A20 levels were quantified. At 90 d poststroke, Modified Rankin Scale (MRS) scores ≥3 were defined as a poor outcome. All correlations and associations were assessed using multivariate analysis.

RESULTS

Compared with controls, there was a significant elevation of serum A20 levels in patients (median 123.7 pg/mL vs. 25.8 pg/mL; P<0.001). Serum A20 levels were independently correlated with Hunt-Hess scores (β 9.854; 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 2.481-17.227, P=0.009) and modified Fisher scores (β 10.349, 95% CI 1.273-19.424, P=0.026). Independent associations were found between serum A20 levels and poor outcome (odds ratio [OR] 1.015, 95% CI 1.000-1.031, P=0.047) and DCI (OR 1.018, 95% CI 1.001-1.035, P=0.042). Areas under the curve for predicting poor outcome and DCI were 0.771 (95% CI 0.682-0.845) and 0.777 (95% CI 0.688-0.850), respectively. Serum A20 levels ≥128.15 pg/mL predicted poor outcome, with a sensitivity of 73.9% and specificity of 74.2%, and A20 levels ≥160.55 pg/mL distinguished the risk of DCI with 65.5% sensitivity and 89.2% specificity. Its ability to predict poor outcome and DCI was similar to those of Hunt-Hess scores and modified Fisher scores (both P>0.05).

CONCLUSION

Enhanced serum A20 levels are significantly associated with stroke severity and poor clinical outcome after aSAH, implying that serum A20 may be a potential prognostic biomarker for aSAH.

miR-125b promotes the NF-κB-mediated inflammatory response in NAFLD via directly targeting TNFAIP3

BACKGROUND

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has a high incidence and mortality rate, and a rapid course of clinical development. Although miR-125b is closely associated with the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, the role of miR-125b in NAFLD remains unknown.

METHODS

The levels of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β expression were examined via ELISA assays. Real-time PCR was used to determine the levels of miR-125b and tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced protein 3 (TNFAIP3) expression. The related molecular mechanisms were examined by performing luciferase reporter, western blot, and immunofluorescence assays. Structural changes in the livers of mice with NAFLD were observed via H&E staining.

RESULTS

The levels of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β in NAFLD patients were greatly increased, and miR-125b expression was significantly up-regulated. The phosphorylation of IκBα and p65, and secretion of inflammatory factors were all markedly decreased by miR-125b silencing, but greatly increased by miR-125b overexpression. We also demonstrated that downregulation of TNFAIP3 in NAFLD was negatively correlated with miR-125b. Interestingly, the influence of miR-125b inhibitors on nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB)-mediated inflammatory responses were greatly aggravated by co-treatment with TNFAIP siRNA; however, the opposite results were obtained after treatment with miR-125b mimics and TNFAIP plasmids. Furthermore, the HF-induced liver damage and inflammatory responses were greatly ameliorated by miR-125b inhibitors but further aggravated by co-treatment with TNFAIP3 siRNA.

CONCLUSION

MiR-125b promoted the NF-κB-mediated inflammatory response in NAFLD by directly targeting TNFAIP3, and that mechanism might be target for treating NAFLD.

Identification of TNFAIP3 as relapse biomarker and potential therapeutic target for MOG antibody associated diseases

MOG-antibody associated disease (MOG-AAD) is a recently recognized demyelinating disorder predominantly affecting children but also occurs in adults, with a relapsing course in approximately 50% of patients. We evaluated peripheral blood mononuclear cells from MOG-AAD patients by flow cytometry and found a strong antigen specific central memory cell (CMC) response with increased Th1 and Th17 cells at the time of a relapse. Transcriptomic analysis of CMCs by three independent sequencing platforms revealed TNFAIP3 as a relapse biomarker, whose expression was down regulated at a relapse compared to remission in MOG-AAD patients. Serum in an additional cohort of patients showed decreased TNFAIP3 levels at relapse compared to remission state in MOG-AAD patients. Our studies suggest that alterations in TNFAIP3 levels are associated with relapses in MOG-AAD patients, which may have clinical utility as a disease course biomarker and therapeutic target.

Identifying and Characterizing Stress Pathways of Concern for Consumer Safety in Next-Generation Risk Assessment

Many substances for which consumer safety risk assessments need to be conducted are not associated with specific toxicity modes of action, but rather exhibit nonspecific toxicity leading to cell stress. In this work, a cellular stress panel is described, consisting of 36 biomarkers representing mitochondrial toxicity, cell stress, and cell health, measured predominantly using high content imaging. To evaluate the panel, data were generated for 13 substances at exposures consistent with typical use-case scenarios. These included some that have been shown to cause adverse effects in a proportion of exposed humans and have a toxicological mode-of-action associated with cellular stress (eg, doxorubicin, troglitazone, and diclofenac), and some that are not associated with adverse effects due to cellular stress at human-relevant exposures (eg, caffeine, niacinamide, and phenoxyethanol). For each substance, concentration response data were generated for each biomarker at 3 timepoints. A Bayesian model was then developed to quantify the evidence for a biological response, and if present, a credibility range for the estimated point of departure (PoD) was determined. PoDs were compared with the plasma Cmax associated with the typical substance exposures, and indicated a clear differentiation between "low" risk and "high" risk chemical exposure scenarios. Developing robust methods to characterize the in vitro bioactivity of xenobiotics is an important part of non-animal safety assessment. The results presented in this work show that the cellular stress panel can be used, together with other new approach methodologies, to identify chemical exposures that are protective of consumer health.

Interference of Apoptosis by Hepatitis B Virus

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) causes liver diseases that have been a consistent problem for human health, leading to more than one million deaths every year worldwide. A large proportion of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cases across the world are closely associated with chronic HBV infection. Apoptosis is a programmed cell death and is frequently altered in cancer development. HBV infection interferes with the apoptosis signaling to promote HCC progression and viral proliferation. The HBV-mediated alteration of apoptosis is achieved via interference with cellular signaling pathways and regulation of epigenetics. HBV X protein (HBX) plays a major role in the interference of apoptosis. There are conflicting reports on the HBV interference of apoptosis with the majority showing inhibition of and the rest reporting induction of apoptosis. In this review, we described recent studies on the mechanisms of the HBV interference with the apoptosis signaling during the virus infection and provided perspective.