Effect of KNDC1 overexpression on the senescence of human umbilical vein endothelial cells

Downregulation of LncRNA NORAD promotes Ox-LDL-induced vascular endothelial cell injury and atherosclerosis

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in the development of vascular diseases. However, the effect of lncRNA NORAD on atherosclerosis remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the effect NORAD on endothelial cell injury and atherosclerosis. Ox-LDL-treated human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and high-fat-diet (HFD)-fed ApoE^−/− mice were used as in vitro and in vivo models. Results showed that NORAD-knockdown induced cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase, aggravated ox-LDL-induced cell viability reduction, cell apoptosis, and cell senescence along with the increased expression of Bax, P53, P21 and cleaved caspase-3 and the decreased expression of Bcl-2. The effect of NORAD on cell viability was further verified via NORAD-overexpression. NORAD- knockdown increased ox-LDL-induced reactive oxygen species, malondialdehyde, p-IKBα expression levels and NF-κB nuclear translocation. Proinflammatory molecules ICAM, VCAM, and IL-8 were also increased by NORAD- knockdown. Additionally, we identified the strong interaction of NORAD and IL-8 transcription repressor SFPQ in HUVECs. In ApoE^−/− mice, NORAD-knockdown increased the lipid disorder and atherosclerotic lesions. The results have suggested that lncRNA NORAD attenuates endothelial cell senescence, endothelial cell apoptosis, and atherosclerosis via NF-κB and p53–p21 signaling pathways and IL-8, in which NORAD-mediated effect on IL-8 might through the direct interaction with SFPQ.

KNDC1 Is a Predictive Marker of Malignant Transformation in Borderline Ovarian Tumors

BACKGROUND

Few screening markers for malignant transformation in borderline ovarian tumors (BOT) have been clearly established. The kinase noncatalytic C-lobe domain containing 1 (KNDC1), a brain-specific Ras guanine nucleotide exchange factor, negatively regulates dendrite growth. However, the biological role and underlying mechanism of KNDC1 in human cancers, including ovarian cancer (OC), remain unknown.

METHODS

Gene chip screening was used to detect the expression of KNDC1 mRNA in normal ovarian tissues, BOT tissues, and OC tissues. And results were further validated by RT-qPCR, Western blotting and immunohistochemistry. KNDC1 overexpression and knockdown ovarian cancer cells were established to study the possible pathways that KNDC1 was involved. The effects of KNDC1 on the malignant behaviors of ovarian tumors were also investigated both in vitro and in vivo.

RESULTS

We observed that the expression of KNDC1 mRNA and KNDC1 protein in OC was significantly downregulated compared with BOT. Subsequent investigation revealed that knockdown of KNDC1 enhanced the proliferation of ovarian cancer cells in vitro via induction of ERK1/2 phosphorylation, whereas reinforcing the expression of KNDC1 attenuated the ERK1/2 activity. Similarly, knockdown of KNDC1 also promoted cell proliferation in vivo. Survival analysis showed that lower KNDC1 predicted a poor progression-free survival (PFS) for patients.

CONCLUSION

Collectively, we conclude that KNDC1 might function as a tumor suppressor in ovarian tumors, inhibiting the proliferation of ovarian cells by suppressing ERK1/2 activity and hindering the malignant transformation of BOT.

Genome-wide association study of multisite chronic pain in UK Biobank

Chronic pain is highly prevalent worldwide and represents a significant socioeconomic and public health burden. Several aspects of chronic pain, for example back pain and a severity-related phenotype 'chronic pain grade', have been shown previously to be complex heritable traits with a polygenic component. Additional pain-related phenotypes capturing aspects of an individual's overall sensitivity to experiencing and reporting chronic pain have also been suggested as a focus for investigation. We made use of a measure of the number of sites of chronic pain in individuals within the UK general population. This measure, termed Multisite Chronic Pain (MCP), is a complex trait and its genetic architecture has not previously been investigated. To address this, we carried out a large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) of MCP in ~380,000 UK Biobank participants. Our findings were consistent with MCP having a significant polygenic component, with a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) heritability of 10.2%. In total 76 independent lead SNPs at 39 risk loci were associated with MCP. Additional gene-level association analyses identified neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity, nervous system development, cell-cycle progression and apoptosis genes as enriched for genetic association with MCP. Genetic correlations were observed between MCP and a range of psychiatric, autoimmune and anthropometric traits, including major depressive disorder (MDD), asthma and Body Mass Index (BMI). Furthermore, in Mendelian randomisation (MR) analyses a causal effect of MCP on MDD was observed. Additionally, a polygenic risk score (PRS) for MCP was found to significantly predict chronic widespread pain (pain all over the body), indicating the existence of genetic variants contributing to both of these pain phenotypes. Overall, our findings support the proposition that chronic pain involves a strong nervous system component with implications for our understanding of the physiology of chronic pain. These discoveries may also inform the future development of novel treatment approaches.