LncRNA RP11-59J16.2 aggravates apoptosis and increases tau phosphorylation by targeting MCM2 in AD

Liver as a new target organ in Alzheimer's disease: insight from cholesterol metabolism and its role in amyloid-beta clearance

Alzheimer's disease, the primary cause of dementia, is characterized by neuropathologies, such as amyloid plaques, synaptic and neuronal degeneration, and neurofibrillary tangles. Although amyloid plaques are the primary characteristic of Alzheimer's disease in the central nervous system and peripheral organs, targeting amyloid-beta clearance in the central nervous system has shown limited clinical efficacy in Alzheimer's disease treatment. Metabolic abnormalities are commonly observed in patients with Alzheimer's disease. The liver is the primary peripheral organ involved in amyloid-beta metabolism, playing a crucial role in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease. Notably, impaired cholesterol metabolism in the liver may exacerbate the development of Alzheimer's disease. In this review, we explore the underlying causes of Alzheimer's disease and elucidate the role of the liver in amyloid-beta clearance and cholesterol metabolism. Furthermore, we propose that restoring normal cholesterol metabolism in the liver could represent a promising therapeutic strategy for addressing Alzheimer's disease.

Non-coding RNAs involved in the molecular pathology of Alzheimer's disease: a systematic review

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia globally, having a pathophysiology that is complex and multifactorial. Recent findings highlight the significant role of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), specifically microRNAs (miRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), circular RNAs (circRNAs), and piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) in the molecular mechanisms underlying AD. These ncRNAs are involved in critical biological processes such as cell proliferation, apoptosis, oxidative stress, amyloid-beta aggregation, tau phosphorylation, neuroinflammation, and autophagy, which are pivotal in AD development and progression. This systematic review aims to consolidate current scientific knowledge on the role of ncRNAs in AD, making it the first to encompass the four types of ncRNAs associated with the disease. Our comprehensive search and analysis reveal that ncRNAs not only play crucial roles in the pathogenesis of AD but also hold potential as biomarkers for its early detection and as novel therapeutic targets. Specifically, the findings underscore the significance of miRNAs in regulating genes involved in key AD pathways such as activin receptor signaling pathway, actomyosin contractile ring organization, and advanced glycation endproducts-receptor advanced glycation endproducts (AGE-RAGE) signaling pathway. This review also highlights the potential of ncRNAs in unveiling novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies, emphasizing the need for further research to validate their clinical utility. Our systematic exploration provides a foundation for future bioinformatic analyses and the development of ncRNA-based precision medicine approaches for AD, offering new insights into the disease's molecular pathology and paving the way for innovative treatment strategies.

Systematic review registration

PROSPERO, https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, CRD42022355307.

LncRNA ENST00000440246.1 Promotes Alzheimer's Disease Progression by Targeting PP2A

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an extremely prevalent neurodegenerative disease. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play pivotal roles in the regulation of AD. However, the function of most lncRNAs in AD remains to be elucidated. In this study, the effects of lncRNA ENST00000440246.1 on the biological characteristics of AD were explored. Differentially expressed lncRNAs in AD were identified through bioinformatics analysis and peripheral blood from thirty AD patients was collected to verify the expression of these lncRNAs by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The correlations between lncRNAs and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) or the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) were assessed by Pearson's correlation analysis. Immunofluorescence (IF), Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and flow cytometry assays were conducted to evaluate the biological effect of ENST00000440246.1 and protein phosphatase 2 A (PP2A) in SK-N-SH cells. Gene expression at the protein and mRNA levels was analyzed by Western blotting and RT-qPCR. The interaction between PP2A and ENST00000440246.1 was confirmed by IntaRNA and RNA pulldown assays. ENST00000440246.1 was upregulated and significantly negatively correlated with the MMSE and MoCA scores and the overexpression of ENST00000440246.1 inhibited cell proliferation and facilitated apoptosis and Aβ expression in SK-N-SH cells. Mechanistically, ENST00000440246.1 targeted PP2A and regulated AD-related gene expression. The silencing of ENST00000440246.1 had the opposite effect. Furthermore, PP2A overexpression reversed the influence of ENST00000440246.1 overexpression in SK-N-SH cells. In conclusion, ENST00000440246.1 could promote AD progression by targeting PP2A, which indicates that ENST00000440246.1 has the potential to be a diagnostic target in AD.

NcRNAs: A synergistically antiapoptosis therapeutic tool in Alzheimer's disease

AIMS

The aim of this review is to systematically summarize and analyze the noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), especially microRNAs (miRNAs), long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), and circular RNAs (circRNAs), in the cell apoptosis among Alzheimer's disease (AD) in recent years to demonstrate their value in the diagnosis and treatment of AD.

METHODS

We systematically summarized in vitro and in vivo studies focusing on the ncRNAs in the regulation of cell apoptosis among AD in PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar.

RESULTS

We discover three patterns of ncRNAs (including 'miRNA-mRNA', 'lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA', and 'circRNA-miRNA-mRNA') form the ncRNA-based regulatory networks in regulating cell apoptosis in AD.

CONCLUSIONS

This review provides a future diagnosis and treatment strategy for AD patients based on ncRNAs.

Bioinformatic identification and experiment validation reveal 6 hub genes, promising diagnostic and therapeutic targets for Alzheimer's disease

BACKGROUND

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that can cause dementia. We aim to screen out the hub genes involved in AD based on microarray datasets.

METHODS

Gene expression profiles GSE5281 and GSE28146 were retrieved from Gene Expression Omnibus database to acquire differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Gene Ontology and pathway enrichment were conducted using DAVID online tool. The STRING database and Cytoscape tools were employed to analyze protein-protein interactions and identify hub genes. The predictive value of hub genes was assessed by principal component analysis and receiver operating characteristic curves. AD mice model was constructed, and histology was then observed by hematoxylin-eosin staining. Gene expression levels were finally determined by real-time quantitative PCR.

RESULTS

We obtained 197 overlapping DEGs from GSE5281 and GSE28146 datasets. After constructing protein-protein interaction network, three highly interconnected clusters were identified and 6 hub genes (RBL1, BUB1, HDAC7, KAT5, SIRT2, and ITGB1) were selected. The hub genes could be used as basis to predict AD. Histological abnormalities of brain were observed, suggesting successful AD model was constructed. Compared with the control group, the mRNA expression levels of RBL1, BUB1, HDAC7, KAT5 and SIRT2 were significantly increased, while the mRNA expression level of ITGB1 was significantly decreased in AD groups.

CONCLUSION

RBL1, BUB1, HDAC7, KAT5, SIRT2 and ITGB1 are promising gene signatures for diagnosis and therapy of AD.

KNTC1 and MCM2 are the molecular targets of gallbladder cancer

BACKGROUND

Gallbladder carcinoma is a malignant epithelial tumor of gallbladder with a high degree of malignancy. However, relationship between KNTC1 and MCM2 and gallbladder cancer is unclear.

METHODS

GSE139682 and GSE202479 were downloaded from gene expression omnibus (GEO). Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened. Functional enrichment analysis and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) were performed. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) Network was constructed and analyzed. Gene expression heat map was drawn. Comparative toxicogenomics database (CTD) analysis was performed to find diseases most related to core genes. TargetScan was performed for screening miRNAs that regulated central DEGs.

RESULTS

230 DEGs were identified. According to GObp analysis, they were mainly concentrated in regulation of ossification, regulation of spindle microtubule and centromere attachment, cytoskeleton tissue of cortical actin. According to GOcc analysis, they are mainly concentrated in plasma membrane part, cell junction, plasma membrane region and anterior membrane. According to GOmf analysis, they are mainly enriched in protein homodimerization activity, proximal promoter sequence-specific DNA binding and sulfur compound binding. KEGG showed that target genes were mainly enriched in Hippo signal pathway, p53 signal pathway and cancer pathway. KIFC2, TUBG1, RACGAP1, CHMP4C, SFN and MYH11 were identified as core genes. Gene expression heat map showed that KNTC1, MCM2, CKAP2, RACGAP1, CCNB1 were highly expressed in gallbladder carcinoma samples. CTD analysis showed that KNTC1, MCM2, CKAP2, RACGAP1, CCNB1 were associated with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, necrosis, inflammation and hepatomegaly.

CONCLUSIONS

KNTC1 and MCM2 are highly expressed in gallbladder cancer. Higher expression level correlates with worse prognosis.

The Emerging Role of Autophagy-Associated lncRNAs in the Pathogenesis of Neurodegenerative Diseases

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) have become a significant global public health problem and a major societal burden. The World Health Organization predicts that NDDs will overtake cancer as the second most common cause of human mortality within 20 years. Thus, it is urgently important to identify pathogenic and diagnostic molecular markers related to neurodegenerative processes. Autophagy is a powerful process for removing aggregate-prone proteins in neurons; defects in autophagy are often associated with the pathogenesis of NDDs. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been suggested as key regulators in neurodevelopment; aberrant regulation of lncRNAs contributes to neurological disorders. In this review, we summarize the recent progress in the study of lncRNAs and autophagy in the context of neurodegenerative disorders, especially Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). The information presented here should provide guidance for future in-depth investigations of neurodegenerative processes and related diagnostic molecular markers and treatment targets.

Hypoxia Inhibits Cell Cycle Progression and Cell Proliferation in Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells via the miR-212-3p/MCM2 Axis

Hypoxia impairs blood-brain barrier (BBB) structure and function, causing pathophysiological changes in the context of stroke and high-altitude brain edema. Brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) are major structural and functional elements of the BBB, and their exact role in hypoxia remains unknown. Here, we first deciphered the molecular events that occur in BMECs under 24 h hypoxia by whole-transcriptome sequencing assay. We found that hypoxia inhibited BMEC cell cycle progression and proliferation and downregulated minichromosome maintenance complex component 2 (Mcm2) expression. Mcm2 overexpression attenuated the inhibition of cell cycle progression and proliferation caused by hypoxia. Then, we predicted the upstream miRNAs of MCM2 through TargetScan and miRanDa and selected miR-212-3p, whose expression was significantly increased under hypoxia. Moreover, the miR-212-3p inhibitor attenuated the inhibition of cell cycle progression and cell proliferation caused by hypoxia by regulating MCM2. Taken together, these results suggest that the miR-212-3p/MCM2 axis plays an important role in BMECs under hypoxia and provide a potential target for the treatment of BBB disorder-related cerebrovascular disease.

Targeting G-quadruplexes in an ageing epigenetic regulator promoter for rescuing mitochondrial dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease

Here, we provide an out-of-the-box G-quadruplex (G4) targeting-based strategy for rescuing mitochondrial dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease. We predict and verify the presence of G4s within the promoter of an ageing epigenetic regulator BAZ2B. G4-specific ligands targeting BAZ2B G4s could significantly down-regulate the BAZ2B expression and relieve mitochondrial dysfunction. Therefore, this work may provide a new way of rescuing mitochondrial dysfunction in AD by targeting G4s in a specific ageing epigenetic regulator promoter.