Identification of Casz1 as a Regulatory Protein Controlling T Helper Cell Differentiation, Inflammation, and Immunity

CASZ1 Is Essential for Skin Epidermal Terminal Differentiation

The barrier function of skin epidermis is crucial for our bodies to interface with the environment. Because epidermis continuously turns over throughout the lifetime, this barrier must be actively maintained by regeneration. Although several transcription factors have been established as essential activators in epidermal differentiation, it is unclear whether additional factors remain to be identified. In this study, we show that CASZ1, a multi zinc-finger transcription factor previously characterized in nonepithelial cell types, shows highest expression in skin epidermis. CASZ1 expression is upregulated during epidermal terminal differentiation. In addition, CASZ1 expression is impaired in several skin disorders with impaired barrier function, such as atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, and squamous cell carcinoma. Using transcriptome profiling coupled with RNA interference, we identified 674 differentially expressed genes with CASZ1 knockdown. Downregulated genes account for 91.2% of these differentially expressed genes and were enriched for barrier function. In organotypic epidermal regeneration, CASZ1 knockdown promoted proliferation and strongly impaired multiple terminal differentiation markers. Mechanistically, we found that CASZ1 upregulation in differentiation requires the action of both the master transcription factor, p63, and the histone acetyltransferase, p300. Taken together, our findings identify CASZ1 as an essential activator of epidermal differentiation, paving the way for future studies understanding of CASZ1 roles in skin disease.

TH17 cell: a double-edged sword in the development of inflammatory bowel disease

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic nonspecific inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract, and its pathogenesis has not been fully understood. Extensive dysregulation of the intestinal mucosal immune system is critical in the development and progression of IBD. T helper (Th) 17 cells have the characteristics of plasticity. They can transdifferentiate into subpopulations with different functions in response to different factors in the surrounding environment, thus taking on different roles in regulating the intestinal immune responses. In this review, we will focus on the plasticity of Th17 cells as well as the function of Th17 cells and their related cytokines in IBD. We will summarize their pathogenic and protective roles in IBD under different conditions, respectively, hoping to further deepen the understanding of the pathological mechanisms underlying IBD and provide insights for future treatment.

Pathophysiology and Genetic Associations of Varicose Veins: A Narrative Review

Varicose veins (VVs) have a high prevalence worldwide and have become a major medical burden. Their pathophysiology involves a complex interplay of inflammation and tissue remodeling, and current treatment is limited by its impact on the pathophysiological mechanisms. In addition, despite clear environmental factors, family history is an important risk factor, suggesting a genetic component to the risk of developing VVs. Our understanding of the pathogenesis of these diseases has benefited greatly from the expansion of population genetic studies, from pioneering family studies to large genome-wide association studies; we now find multiple risk loci for each venous disease. This review considers the pathophysiology of VVs, highlighting the current state of genetic knowledge. We also propose future directions for research.

Role of the CASZ1 transcription factor in tissue development and disease

The zinc finger transcription factor gene, CASZ1/Castor (Castor zinc finger 1), initially identified in Drosophila, plays a critical role in neural, cardiac, and cardiovascular development, exerting a complex, multifaceted influence on cell fate and tissue morphogenesis. During neurogenesis, CASZ1 exhibits dynamic expression from early embryonic development to the perinatal period, constituting a key regulator in this process. Additionally, CASZ1 controls the transition between neurogenesis and gliomagenesis. During human cardiovascular system development, CASZ1 is essential for cardiomyocyte differentiation, cardiac morphogenesis, and vascular morphology homeostasis and formation. The deletion or inactivation of CASZ1 mutations can lead to human developmental diseases or tumors, including congenital heart disease, cardiovascular disease, and neuroblastoma. CASZ1 can be used as a biomarker for disease prevention and diagnosis as well as a prognostic indicator for cancer. This review explores the unique functions of CASZ1 in tissue morphogenesis and associated diseases, offering new insights for elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying diseases and identifying potential therapeutic targets for disease prevention and treatment.

CASZ1: Current Implications in Cardiovascular Diseases and Cancers

Castor zinc finger 1 (CASZ1) is a C2H2 zinc finger family protein that has two splicing variants, CASZ1a and CASZ1b. It is involved in multiple physiological processes, such as tissue differentiation and aldosterone antagonism. Genetic and epigenetic alternations of CASZ1 have been characterized in multiple cardiovascular disorders, such as congenital heart diseases, chronic venous diseases, and hypertension. However, little is known about how CASZ1 mechanically participates in the pathogenesis of these diseases. Over the past decades, at first glance, paradoxical influences on cell behaviors and progressions of different cancer types have been discovered for CASZ1, which may be explained by a "double-agent" role for CASZ1. In this review, we discuss the physiological function of CASZ1, and focus on the association of CASZ1 aberrations with the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases and cancers.

The genetic landscape and clinical implication of pediatric Moyamoya angiopathy in an international cohort

Pediatric Moyamoya Angiopathy (MMA) is a progressive intracranial occlusive arteriopathy that represents a leading cause of transient ischemic attacks and strokes in childhood. Despite this, up to now no large, exclusively pediatric MMA cohort has been subjected to systematic genetic investigation. In this study, we performed molecular karyotyping, exome sequencing and automated structural assessment of missense variants on a series of 88 pediatric MMA patients and correlated genetic, angiographic and clinical (stroke burden) findings. The two largest subgroups in our cohort consisted of RNF213 and neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) patients. While deleterious RNF213 variants were associated with a severe MMA clinical course with early symptom onset, frequent posterior cerebral artery involvement and higher stroke rates in multiple territories, NF1 patients had a similar infarct burden compared to non-NF1 individuals and were often diagnosed incidentally during routine MRIs. Additionally, we found that MMA-associated RNF213 variants have lower predicted functional impact compared to those associated with aortic disease. We also raise the question of MMA as a feature of recurrent as well as rare chromosomal imbalances and further support the possible association of MMA with STAT3 deficiency. In conclusion, we provide a comprehensive characterization at the genetic and clinical level of a large exclusively pediatric MMA population. Due to the clinical differences found across genetic subgroups, we propose genetic testing for risk stratification as part of the routine assessment of pediatric MMA patients.

Network diffusion-based approach for survival prediction and identification of biomarkers using multi-omics data of papillary renal cell carcinoma

Identification of cancer subtypes based on molecular knowledge is crucial for improving the patient diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. In this work, we integrated copy number variations (CNVs) and transcriptomic data of Kidney Papillary Renal Cell Carcinoma (KIRP) using a network diffusion strategy to stratify cancers into clinically and biologically relevant subtypes. We constructed GeneNet, a KIRP specific gene expression network from RNA-seq data. The copy number variation data was projected onto GeneNet and propagated on the network for clustering. We identified robust subtypes that are biologically informative and significantly associated with patient survival, tumor stage and clinical subtypes of KIRP. We performed a Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) analysis of KIRP subtypes, which revealed the genes/silent players related to poor survival. A differential gene expression analysis between subtypes showed that genes related to immune, extracellular matrix organization, and genomic instability are upregulated in the poor survival group. Overall, the network-based approach revealed the molecular subtypes of KIRP and captured the relationship between gene expression and CNVs. This framework can be further expanded to integrate other omics data.

Transcriptional and Epigenetic Regulation of Context-Dependent Plasticity in T-Helper Lineages

Th cell lineage determination and functional specialization are tightly linked to the activation of lineage-determining transcription factors (TFs) that bind cis-regulatory elements. These lineage-determining TFs act in concert with multiple layers of transcriptional regulators to alter the epigenetic landscape, including DNA methylation, histone modification and three-dimensional chromosome architecture, in order to facilitate the specific Th gene expression programs that allow for phenotypic diversification. Accumulating evidence indicates that Th cell differentiation is not as rigid as classically held; rather, extensive phenotypic plasticity is an inherent feature of T cell lineages. Recent studies have begun to uncover the epigenetic programs that mechanistically govern T cell subset specification and immunological memory. Advances in next generation sequencing technologies have allowed global transcriptomic and epigenomic interrogation of CD4+ Th cells that extends previous findings focusing on individual loci. In this review, we provide an overview of recent genome-wide insights into the transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of CD4+ T cell-mediated adaptive immunity and discuss the implications for disease as well as immunotherapies.

CASZ1 promotes migration, invasion, and metastasis of lung cancer cells by controlling expression of ITGAV

CASZ1, a zinc finger transcription factor with two isoforms, is known to play important roles in cardiac and neural development. The abnormal expression of CASZ1 is also frequently found in a variety of tumors but has different effects on different tumors; for example, it acts as a tumor suppressor in neuroblastoma but promotes cancer metastasis in ovarian cancer. However, the effect of CASZ1 in lung cancer, the most lethal cancer, remains unclear. Here, we found that the expression of CASZ1 in lung cancer is positively associated with cancer metastasis and poor prognosis. The overexpression of CASZ1b promotes lung cancer cell migration, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition and is associated with poor prognosis in lung cancer patients. The knockdown of CASZ1 resulted in the suppression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition, migration, and invasion of lung cancer cells and reduced metastasis in vivo. The results of an RNA-sequencing analysis of CASZ1-silenced cells showed that CASZ1 considerably affected the integrin-mediated pathways. CASZ1 bound to the ITGAV promoter and transcriptionally regulated ITGAV expression. Our findings demonstrate that CASZ1 plays an oncogenic role in lung cancer and that CASZ1 promotes lung cancer migration, invasion and metastasis is mediated by ITGAV.

T cell-related prognostic risk model and tumor immune environment modulation in lung adenocarcinoma based on single-cell and bulk RNA sequencing

BACKGROUND

T cells are present in all stages of tumor formation and play an important role in the tumor microenvironment. We aimed to explore the expression profile of T cell marker genes, constructed a prognostic risk model based on these genes in Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), and investigated the link between this risk model and the immunotherapy response.

METHODS

We obtained the single-cell sequencing data of LUAD from the literature, and screened out 6 tissue biopsy samples, including 32,108 cells from patients with non-small cell lung cancer, to identify T cell marker genes in LUAD. Combined with TCGA database, a prognostic risk model based on T-cell marker gene was constructed, and the data from GEO database was used for verification. We also investigated the association between this risk model and immunotherapy response.

RESULTS

Based on scRNA-seq data 1839 T-cell marker genes were identified, after which a risk model consisting of 9 gene signatures for prognosis was constructed in combination with the TCGA dataset. This risk model divided patients into high-risk and low-risk groups based on overall survival. The multivariate analysis demonstrated that the risk model was an independent prognostic factor. Analysis of immune profiles showed that high-risk groups presented discriminative immune-cell infiltrations and immune-suppressive states. Risk scores of the model were closely correlated with Linoleic acid metabolism, intestinal immune network for IgA production and drug metabolism cytochrome P450.

CONCLUSION

Our study proposed a novel prognostic risk model based on T cell marker genes for LUAD patients. The survival of LUAD patients as well as treatment outcomes may be accurately predicted by the prognostic risk model, and make the high-risk population present different immune cell infiltration and immunosuppression state.

Loss of CASZ1 tumor suppressor linked to oncogenic subversion of neuroblastoma core regulatory circuitry

The neural crest lineage regulatory transcription factors (TFs) form a core regulatory circuitry (CRC) in neuroblastoma (NB) to specify a noradrenergic tumor phenotype. Oncogenic subversion of CRC TFs is well documented, but the role of loss of tumor suppressors plays remains unclear. Zinc-finger TF CASZ1 is a chromosome 1p36 (chr1p36) tumor suppressor. Single-cell RNA sequencing data analyses indicate that CASZ1 is highly expressed in developing chromaffin cells coincident with an expression of NB CRC TFs. In NB tumor cells, the CASZ1 tumor suppressor is silenced while CRC components are highly expressed. We find the NB CRC component HAND2 directly represses CASZ1 expression. ChIP-seq and transcriptomic analyses reveal that restoration of CASZ1 upregulates noradrenergic neuronal genes and represses expression of CRC components by remodeling enhancer activity. Our study identifies that the restored CASZ1 forms a negative feedback regulatory circuit with the established NB CRC to induce noradrenergic neuronal differentiation of NB.

The niche-specialist and age-related oral microbial ecosystem: crosstalk with host immune cells in homeostasis

Although characterization of the baseline oral microbiota has been discussed, the current literature seems insufficient to draw a definitive conclusion on the interactions between the microbes themselves or with the host. This study focuses on the spatial and temporal characteristics of the oral microbial ecosystem in a mouse model and its crosstalk with host immune cells in homeostasis. The V3V4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene of 20 samples from four niches (tongue, buccal mucosa, keratinized gingiva and hard palate) and 10 samples from two life stages (adult and old) were analysed. Flow cytometry (FCM) was used to investigate the resident immune cells. The niche-specialist and age-related communities, characterized based on the microbiota structure, interspecies communications, microbial functions and interactions with immune cells, were addressed. The phylum Firmicutes was the major component in the oral community. The microbial community profiles at the genus level showed that the relative abundances of the genera Bacteroides, Lactobacillus and Porphyromonas were enriched in the gingiva. The abundance of the genera Streptococcus, Faecalibaculum and Veillonella was increased in palatal samples, while the abundance of Neisseria and Bradyrhizobium was enriched in buccal samples. The genera Corynebacterium, Stenotrophomonas, Streptococcus and Fusobacterium were proportionally enriched in old samples, while Prevotella and Lacobacillus were enriched in adult samples. Network analysis showed that the genus Lactobacillus performed as a central node in the buccal module, while in the gingiva module, the central nodes were Nesterenkonia and Hydrogenophilus. FCM showed that the proportion of Th1 cells in the tongue samples (38.18 % [27.03–49.34 %]) (mean [range]) was the highest. The proportion of γδT cells in the buccal mucosa (25.82 % [22.1–29.54 %]) and gingiva (20.42 % [18.31–22.53 %]) samples was higher (P<0.01) than those in the palate (14.18 % [11.69–16.67 %]) and tongue (9.38 % [5.38–13.37 %] samples. The proportion of Th2 (31.3 % [16.16–46.44 %]), Th17 (27.06 % [15.76–38.36 %]) and Treg (29.74 % [15.71–43.77 %]) cells in the old samples was higher than that in the adult samples (P<0.01). Further analysis of the interplays between the microbiomes and immune cells indicated that Th1 cells in the adult group, nd Th2, Th17 and Treg cells in the old group were the main immune factors strongly associated with the oral microbiota. For example, Th2, Th17 and Treg cells showed a significantly positive correlation with age-related microorganisms such as Sphingomonas, Streptococcus and Acinetobacter, while Th1 cells showed a negative correlation. Another positive correlation occurred between Th1 cells and several commensal microbiomes such as Lactobacillus, Jeotgalicoccus and Sporosarcina. Th2, Th17 and Treg cells showed the opposite trend. Together, our findings identify the niche-specialist and age-related characteristics of the oral microbial ecosystem and the potential associations between the microbiomes and the mucosal immune cells, providing critical insights into mucosal microbiology.

Cytotoxicity-Related Gene Expression and Chromatin Accessibility Define a Subset of CD4+ T Cells That Mark Progression to Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes in children is heralded by a preclinical phase defined by circulating autoantibodies to pancreatic islet antigens. How islet autoimmunity is initiated and then progresses to clinical diabetes remains poorly understood. Only one study has reported gene expression in specific immune cells of children at risk associated with progression to islet autoimmunity. We analyzed gene expression with RNA sequencing in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, natural killer (NK) cells, and B cells, and chromatin accessibility by assay for transposase-accessible chromatin sequencing (ATAC-seq) in CD4+ T cells, in five genetically at risk children with islet autoantibodies who progressed to diabetes over a median of 3 years ("progressors") compared with five children matched for sex, age, and HLA-DR who had not progressed ("nonprogressors"). In progressors, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were largely confined to CD4+ T cells and enriched for cytotoxicity-related genes/pathways. Several top-ranked DEGs were validated in a semi-independent cohort of 13 progressors and 11 nonprogressors. Flow cytometry confirmed that progression was associated with expansion of CD4+ cells with a cytotoxic phenotype. By ATAC-seq, progression was associated with reconfiguration of regulatory chromatin regions in CD4+ cells, some linked to differentially expressed cytotoxicity-related genes. Our findings suggest that cytotoxic CD4+ T cells play a role in promoting progression to type 1 diabetes.

Regulation of IL-17A-Producing Cells in Skin Inflammatory Disorders

This review focuses on the IL-17A family of cytokines produced by T lymphocytes and other immune cells and how they are involved in cutaneous pathogenic responses. It will also discuss cutaneous dysbiosis and FOXP3⁺ regulatory T cells in the context of inflammatory conditions linked to IL-17 responses in the skin. Specifically, it will review key literature on chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis and psoriasis.

Genetic Regulation of Biomarkers as Stress Proxies in Dairy Cows

Stress in livestock reduces productivity and is a welfare concern. At a physiological level, stress is associated with the activation of inflammatory responses and increased levels of harmful reactive oxygen species. Biomarkers that are indicative of stress could facilitate the identification of more stress-resilient animals. We examined twenty-one metabolic, immune response, and liver function biomarkers that have been associated with stress in 416 Italian Simmental and 436 Italian Holstein cows which were genotyped for 150K SNPs. Single-SNP and haplotype-based genome-wide association studies were carried out to assess whether the variation in the levels in these biomarkers is under genetic control and to identify the genomic loci involved. Significant associations were found for the plasma levels of ceruloplasmin (Bos taurus chromosome 1-BTA1), paraoxonase (BTA4) and γ-glutamyl transferase (BTA17) in the individual breed analysis that coincided with the position of the genes coding for these proteins, suggesting that their expression is under cis-regulation. A meta-analysis of both breeds identified additional significant associations with paraoxonase on BTA 16 and 26. Finding genetic associations with variations in the levels of these biomarkers suggests that the selection for high or low levels of expression could be achieved rapidly. Whether the level of expression of the biomarkers correlates with the response to stressful situations has yet to be determined.

Network-based approach to identify molecular signatures in the brains of depressed suicides

BACKGROUND

Suicide is a serious and global health problem that has a strong association with major depressive disorder (MDD). Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was performed for the construction of a co-expression network to get important gene modules associated with depressed suicide.

METHODS

Transcriptome sequencing data from dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was used, which included 29 non-psychiatric controls (CON), 21 MDD suicides (MDD-S) and 9 MDD non-suicides (MDD-NS) of medication-free sudden death individuals.

RESULTS

The highest correlation in the module-traits relationship was discovered between the black module and suicide (r = -0.30, p = 0.024) as well as MDD (r = -0.34, p = 0.010).Furthermore, the expression levels of genes decreased progressively across the three groups (CON>MDD-NS>MDD-S). Therefore, the genes in the black module was selected for subsequent analyses. Protein-Protein Interaction Network found that the top 10 hub genes were somehow involved in depressed suicide including JUN, FOS, ATF3, MYC, EGR1, FOSB, DUSP1, NFKBIA, TLR2, NR4A1. Most of the GO terms were enriched in cell death and apoptosis and KEGG was mainly enriched in MAPK pathway. Cell Type-Specific Analysis found these genes were significantly enriched in endothelial and microglia (p<0.000) cell types. In addition, 92 genes in this module had at least one highly significant differentially methylated positions between MDD-S and controls.

CONCLUSION

Cell death and apoptosis may participate in the interplay between depressed suicide and neuro-inflammation system.

Circular RNA circANKRD36 regulates Casz1 by targeting miR-599 to prevent osteoarthritis chondrocyte apoptosis and inflammation

Osteoarthritis (OA) is an ageing‐related disease characterized by articular cartilage degradation and joint inflammation. circRNA has been known to involve in the regulation of multiple inflammatory diseases including OA. However, the mechanism underlying how circRNA regulates OA remains to be elucidated. Here, we report circANKRD36 prevents OA chondrocyte apoptosis and inflammation by targeting miR‐599, which specifically degrades Casz1. We performed circRNA sequencing in normal and OA tissues and found the expression of circANKRD36 is decreased in OA tissues. circANKRD36 is also reduced in IL‐1β–treated human chondrocytes. FACS analysis and Western blot showed that the knockdown of circANKRD36 promotes the apoptosis and inflammation of chondrocytes in IL‐1β stress. We then found miR‐599 to be the target of circANKRD36 and correlate well with circANKRD36 both in vitro and in vivo. By database analysis and luciferase assay, Casz1 was found to be the direct target of miR‐599. Casz1 helps to prevent apoptosis and inflammation of chondrocytes in response to IL‐1β. In conclusion, our results proved circANKRD36 sponge miR‐599 to up‐regulate the expression of Casz1 and thus prevent apoptosis and inflammation in OA.

Interplay between Cytokine Circuitry and Transcriptional Regulation Shaping Helper T Cell Pathogenicity and Plasticity in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic disorder manifested as Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) characterized by intestinal inflammation and involves a dysregulated immune response against commensal microbiota through the activation of CD4 T helper cells. T helper cell differentiation to effector or regulatory phenotypes is controlled by cytokine networks and transcriptional regulators. Distinct polarized T helper cells are able to alter their phenotypes to adapt to diverse and fluctuating physiological environments. T helper cells exhibit intrinsic instability and flexibility to express cytokines of other lineages or transdifferentiate from one T helper cell type to another in response to various perturbations from physiological cytokine milieu as a means of promoting local immunity in response to injury or ensure tissue homeostasis. Furthermore, functional plasticity and diversity of T helper cells are associated with pathogenicity and are critical for immune homeostasis and prevention of autoimmunity. In this review, we provide deeper insights into the combinatorial extrinsic and intrinsic signals that control plasticity and transdifferentiation of T helper cells and also highlight the potential of exploiting the genetic reprogramming plasticity of T helper cells in the treatment of IBD.

CASZ1 induces skeletal muscle and rhabdomyosarcoma differentiation through a feed-forward loop with MYOD and MYOG

Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (ERMS) is a childhood cancer that expresses myogenic master regulatory factor MYOD but fails to differentiate. Here, we show that the zinc finger transcription factor CASZ1 up-regulates MYOD signature genes and induces skeletal muscle differentiation in normal myoblasts and ERMS. The oncogenic activation of the RAS-MEK pathway suppresses CASZ1 expression in ERMS. ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq and RNA-seq experiments reveal that CASZ1 directly up-regulates skeletal muscle genes and represses non-muscle genes through affecting regional epigenetic modifications, chromatin accessibility and super-enhancer establishment. Next generation sequencing of primary RMS tumors identified a single nucleotide variant in the CASZ1 coding region that potentially contributes to ERMS tumorigenesis. Taken together, loss of CASZ1 activity, due to RAS-MEK signaling or genetic alteration, impairs ERMS differentiation, contributing to RMS tumorigenesis.

The Prognostic Significance of Protein Expression of CASZ1 in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Backgrounds

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common histologic subtype of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and shows a relatively poor prognosis among RCCs. Castor zinc finger 1 (CASZ1) is a transcription factor, prominently known for its tumor suppression role in neuroblastoma and other cancers. However, there has been no research about the prognostic significance of CASZ1 in ccRCC. In this study, we investigated CASZ1 expression in ccRCC and analyzed its prognostic implications.

Methods

A total of 896 ccRCC patients, who underwent surgical resection from 1995 to 2008, were included. We prepared tissue microarray blocks, evaluated CASZ1 nuclear expression by immunohistochemistry, and classified the cases into low or high expression categories.

Results

A low expression of CASZ1 was observed in 320 cases (35.7%) and was significantly associated with large tumor size, high World Health Organization/International Society of Urological Pathology (WHO/ISUP) grade, and high T category and M category. In survival analysis, a low expression of CASZ1 was significantly correlated with unfavorable progression-free survival (PFS) (p < 0.001), overall survival (OS) (p < 0.001), and cancer-specific survival (CSS) (p < 0.001) and was an independent prognostic factor for PFS and CSS in multivariate analysis adjusted for tumor size, WHO/ISUP grade, T category, N category, and M category.

Conclusions

Our study is the first to show the prognostic significance of CASZ1 expression in ccRCC. Our results revealed that low expression of CASZ1 is associated with poor prognosis and may serve as a new prognostic indicator.

Microbiome Dependent Regulation of Tregs and Th17 Cells in Mucosa

Mammals co-exist with resident microbial ecosystem that is composed of an incredible number and diversity of bacteria, viruses and fungi. Owing to direct contact between resident microbes and mucosal surfaces, both parties are in continuous and complex interactions resulting in important functional consequences. These interactions govern immune homeostasis, host response to infection, vaccination and cancer, as well as predisposition to metabolic, inflammatory and neurological disorders. Here, we discuss recent studies on direct and indirect effects of resident microbiota on regulatory T cells (T_regs) and Th17 cells at the cellular and molecular level. We review mechanisms by which commensal microbes influence mucosa in the context of bioactive molecules derived from resident bacteria, immune senescence, chronic inflammation and cancer. Lastly, we discuss potential therapeutic applications of microbiota alterations and microbial derivatives, for improving resilience of mucosal immunity and combating immunopathology.