Metabolic and sympathovagal effects of bolus insulin glulisine versus basal insulin glargine therapy in people with type 2 diabetes: A randomized controlled study

AIMS/INTRODUCTION

This study compares the effects of two different insulin regimens - basal versus bolus insulin - on metabolic and cardiovascular autonomic function in Japanese participants with type 2 diabetes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Participants were randomly assigned to groups for therapy with insulin glulisine (IGlu) or insulin glargine (IGla). The primary efficacy end-point was glycemic variability, including M-values, mean of glucose levels, and a blood glucose profile of seven time points before and after the intervention. The secondary end-points included pleiotropic effects, including endothelial and cardiac autonomic nerve functions.

RESULTS

Blood glucose levels at all time points significantly decreased in both groups. Post-lunch, post-dinner, and bedtime blood glucose levels were significantly lower in the IGlu group than in the IGla group. Nadir fasting blood glucose levels at the end-point were significantly lower in the IGla group than in the IGlu group. The M-value and mean blood glucose levels were significantly decreased from baseline in both groups, although the former was significantly lower in the IGlu group than in the IGla group. IGla, but not IGlu, was found to elevate 24-h parasympathetic tone, especially during night-time, and it decreased 24-h sympathetic nerve activity, especially at dawn.

CONCLUSIONS

Both IGlu and IGla regimens reduced glucose variability, with IGlu bringing a greater reduction in M-value. IGla, but not IGlu, increased parasympathetic tone during night-time and decreased sympathetic nerve activity at dawn. These findings shed light on the previously unrecognized role of night-time basal insulin supplementation on sympathovagal activity in type 2 diabetes patients.

Pleiotropic Effects of Heparins: From Clinical Applications to Molecular Mechanisms in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major health problem worldwide and most cases are incurable because of late presentation. It is the most common primary neoplasm of the liver and often arises in the context of a chronic liver disease that impairs coagulation. Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is a common complication of HCC that is associated with a poor prognosis. Heparin derivatives are widely used in the management of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Among them low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) favorably influences the survival in patients with advanced cancer, including HCC. Due to their pleiotropic function, heparins affect tumorigenesis in many ways and may promote or hamper tumorigenic transformation depending on the cancer type and cancer stage along with their structural properties and concentration. Thus, their application as an antithrombotic along with the conventional therapy regime should be carefully planned to develop the best management strategies. In this review, we first will briefly review clinical applications of heparin derivatives in the management of cancer with a particular focus on HCC. We then summarize the state of knowledge whereby heparin can crosstalk with molecules playing a role in hepatocarcinogenesis. Lastly, we highlight new experimental and clinical research conducted with the aim of moving towards personalized therapy in cancer patients at risk of thromboembolism.

Induction of oxidative stress by bisphenol A and its pleiotropic effects

Bisphenol A (BPA) has become a target of intense public scrutiny since concerns about its association with human diseases such as obesity, diabetes, reproductive disorders, and cancer have emerged. BPA is a highly prevalent chemical in consumer products, and human exposure is thought to be ubiquitous. Numerous studies have demonstrated its endocrine disrupting properties and attributed exposure with cytotoxic, genotoxic, and carcinogenic effects; however, the results of these studies are still highly debated and a consensus about BPA's safety and its role in human disease has not been reached. One of the contributing factors is a lack of molecular mechanisms or modes of action that explain the diverse and pleiotropic effects observed after BPA exposure. The increase in BPA research seen over the last ten years has resulted in more studies that examine molecular mechanisms and revealed links between BPA-induced oxidative stress and human disease. Here, a review of the current literature examining BPA exposure and the induction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) or oxidative stress will be provided to examine the landscape of the current BPA literature and provide a framework for understanding how induction of oxidative stress by BPA may contribute to the pleiotropic effects observed after exposure. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 58:60-71, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The De-Etiolated 1 Homolog of Arabidopsis Modulates the ABA Signaling Pathway and ABA Biosynthesis in Rice

DEETIOLATED1 (DET1) plays a critical role in developmental and environmental responses in many plants. To date, the functions of OsDET1 in rice (Oryza sativa) have been largely unknown. OsDET1 is an ortholog of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) DET1 Here, we found that OsDET1 is essential for maintaining normal rice development. The repression of OsDET1 had detrimental effects on plant development, and leaded to contradictory phenotypes related to abscisic acid (ABA) in OsDET1 interference (RNAi) plants. We found that OsDET1 is involved in modulating ABA signaling in rice. OsDET1 RNAi plants exhibited an ABA hypersensitivity phenotype. Using yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays, we determined that OsDET1 interacts physically with DAMAGED-SPECIFIC DNA-BINDING PROTEIN1 (OsDDB1) and CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC10 (COP10); DET1- and DDB1-ASSOCIATED1 binds to the ABA receptors OsPYL5 and OsDDB1. We found that the degradation of OsPYL5 was delayed in OsDET1 RNAi plants. These findings suggest that OsDET1 deficiency disturbs the COP10-DET1-DDB1 complex, which is responsible for ABA receptor (OsPYL) degradation, eventually leading to ABA sensitivity in rice. Additionally, OsDET1 also modulated ABA biosynthesis, as ABA biosynthesis was inhibited in OsDET1 RNAi plants and promoted in OsDET1-overexpressing transgenic plants. In conclusion, our data suggest that OsDET1 plays an important role in maintaining normal development in rice and mediates the cross talk between ABA biosynthesis and ABA signaling pathways in rice.

The pleiotropic effects of the seed germination inhibitor germostatin

Seed dormancy and germination are the most important adaptive traits of seed plants, which control the germination in a proper space and time. Internal genetic factors together with environmental cues govern seed dormancy and germination. Abscisic acid (ABA), a key phytohormone induces seed dormancy and inhibits seed germination through its molecular genetic signaling network responding the seed inherent physiological and environmental factors. Recently, auxin has been shown to be another phytohormone that induces seed dormancy. We have recently shown that germonstatin (GS), a small synthetic molecule identified by high through-put chemical genetic screenings, inhibits seed germination through up-regulating auxin signaling and inducing auxin biosynthesis. GERMOSTATIN RESISTANCE LOCUS 1 (GSR1) encodes a plant homeodomain (PHD) finger protein and is responsible for GS seed germination inhibition. Its knockdown mutant gsr1 displays decreased dormancy. In this report, we show that GS is not an ABA analog and provided 2 other GS-resistant mutants related to the chemical's function in seed germination inhibition other than gsr1, suggesting that GS may have pleiotropic effects through targeting different pathway governing seed germination.

Mutations in Plastidial 5-Aminolevulinic Acid Biosynthesis Genes Suppress a Pleiotropic Defect in Shoot Development of a Mitochondrial GABA Shunt Mutant in Arabidopsis

Plant developmental processes are co-ordinated with the status of cell metabolism, not only in mitochondria but also in plastids. In Arabidopsis thaliana, succinic semialdehyde (SSA), a GABA shunt metabolite, links the specific mitochondrial metabolic pathway to shoot development. To understand the mechanism of SSA-mediated development, we isolated a succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase (ssadh) suppressor mutant, affected in its ability to catalyze SSA to succinic acid. We found that pleiotropic developmental phenotypes of ssadh are suppressed by a mutation in GLUTAMATE-1-SEMIALDEHYDE 2, 1-AMINOMUTASE 2 (GSA2), which encodes a plastidial enzyme converting glutatamate-1-semialdehyde to 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA). In addition, a mutation in either HEMA1 or GSA1, two other enzymes for 5-ALA synthesis, also suppressed ssadh fully and partially, respectively. Furthermore, exogenous application of 5-ALA and SSA disturbed leaf development. These results suggest that metabolism in both mitochondria and plastids affect shoot development.

Transcriptome analysis of methyl jasmonate-elicited Panax ginseng adventitious roots to discover putative ginsenoside biosynthesis and transport genes

The Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer belonging to the Araliaceae has long been used as an herbal medicine. Although public databases are presently available for this family, no methyl jasmonate (MeJA) elicited transcriptomic information was previously reported on this species, with the exception of a few expressed sequence tags (ESTs) using the traditional Sanger method. Here, approximately 53 million clean reads of adventitious root transcriptome were separately filtered via Illumina HiSeq™2000 from two samples treated with MeJA (Pg-MeJA) and equal volumes of solvent, ethanol (Pg-Con). Jointly, a total of 71,095 all-unigenes from both samples were assembled and annotated, and based on sequence similarity search with known proteins, a total of 56,668 unigenes was obtained. Out of these annotated unigenes, 54,920 were assigned to the NCBI non-redundant protein (Nr) database, 35,448 to the Swiss-prot database, 43,051 to gene ontology (GO), and 19,986 to clusters of orthologous groups (COG). Searching in the Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway database indicated that 32,200 unigenes were mapped to 128 KEGG pathways. Moreover, we obtained several genes showing a wide range of expression levels. We also identified a total of 749 ginsenoside biosynthetic enzyme genes and 12 promising pleiotropic drug resistance (PDR) genes related to ginsenoside transport.

Estradiol negatively modulates the pleiotropic actions of orphanin FQ/nociceptin at proopiomelanocortin synapses

Orphanin FQ/nociceptin (OFQ/N) inhibits the activity of proopiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons located in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (ARH) that regulate female sexual behavior and energy balance. We tested the hypothesis that estradiol modulates the ability of OFQ/N to pre- and postsynaptically decrease the excitability of these cells. To this end, whole-cell patch-clamp recordings were performed in hypothalamic slices prepared from ovariectomized rats, including some that were injected with the retrograde tracer Fluorogold in the medial preoptic nucleus (MPN) to label the POMC neurons regulating sexual receptivity. OFQ/N (1 µM) evoked a robust outward current in ARH neurons from vehicle-treated animals that was blocked by the opioid receptor-like (ORL)1 receptor antagonist UFP-101 (100 nM) and the G protein-gated, inwardly rectifying K⁺ (GIRK-1) channel blocker tertiapin (10 nM). OFQ/N also produced a decrease in the frequency of glutamatergic, miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs), which was also antagonized by UFP-101. Estradiol benzoate (2 µg) increased basal mEPSC frequency and markedly diminished both the OFQ/N-induced activation of postsynaptic GIRK-1 channel currents and the presynaptic inhibition of glutamatergic neurotransmission. These effects were observed in identified POMC neurons, including eight that projected to the MPN. Taken together, these data reveal that estradiol attenuates the pleiotropic inhibitory actions of OFQ/N on POMC neurons: presynaptically through reducing the OFQ/N inhibition of glutamate release and postsynaptically by reducing ORL1 signaling through GIRK channels. As such, they impart critical insight into a mechanism for estradiol to increase the activity of POMC neurons that inhibit sexual receptivity.

The actin-regulating kinase homologue MoArk1 plays a pleiotropic function in Magnaporthe oryzae

Endocytosis is an essential cellular process in eukaryotic cells that involves concordant functions of clathrin and adaptor proteins, various protein and lipid kinases, phosphatases and the actin cytoskeleton. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Ark1p is a member of the serine/threonine protein kinase (SPK) family that affects profoundly the organization of the cortical actin cytoskeleton. To study the function of MoArk1, an Ark1p homologue identified in Magnaporthe oryzae, we disrupted the MoARK1 gene and characterized the ΔMoark1 mutant strain. The ΔMoark1 mutant exhibited various defects ranging from mycelial growth and conidial formation to appressorium-mediated host infection. The ΔMoark1 mutant also exhibited decreased appressorium turgor pressure and attenuated virulence on rice and barley. In addition, the ΔMoark1 mutant displayed defects in endocytosis and formation of the Spitzenkörper, and was hyposensitive to exogenous oxidative stress. Moreover, a MoArk1-green fluorescent protein (MoArk1-GFP) fusion protein showed an actin-like localization pattern by localizing to the apical regions of hyphae. This pattern of localization appeared to be regulated by the N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) proteins MoSec22 and MoVam7. Finally, detailed analysis revealed that the proline-rich region within the MoArk1 serine/threonine kinase (S_TKc) domain was critical for endocytosis, subcellular localization and pathogenicity. These results collectively suggest that MoArk1 exhibits conserved functions in endocytosis and actin cytoskeleton organization, which may underlie growth, cell wall integrity and virulence of the fungus.

Constitutive expression of a miR319 gene alters plant development and enhances salt and drought tolerance in transgenic creeping bentgrass

MicroRNA319 (miR319) is one of the first characterized and conserved microRNA families in plants and has been demonstrated to target TCP (for TEOSINTE BRANCHED/CYCLOIDEA/PROLIFERATING CELL FACTORS [PCF]) genes encoding plant-specific transcription factors. MiR319 expression is regulated by environmental stimuli, suggesting its involvement in plant stress response, although experimental evidence is lacking and the underlying mechanism remains elusive. This study investigates the role that miR319 plays in the plant response to abiotic stress using transgenic creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera) overexpressing a rice (Oryza sativa) miR319 gene, Osa-miR319a. We found that transgenic plants overexpressing Osa-miR319a displayed morphological changes and exhibited enhanced drought and salt tolerance associated with increased leaf wax content and water retention but reduced sodium uptake. Gene expression analysis indicated that at least four putative miR319 target genes, AsPCF5, AsPCF6, AsPCF8, and AsTCP14, and a homolog of the rice NAC domain gene AsNAC60 were down-regulated in transgenic plants. Our results demonstrate that miR319 controls plant responses to drought and salinity stress. The enhanced abiotic stress tolerance in transgenic plants is related to significant down-regulation of miR319 target genes, implying their potential for use in the development of novel molecular strategies to genetically engineer crop species for enhanced resistance to environmental stress.

Gene expression analysis of the pleiotropic effects of TGF-β1 in an in vitro model of flexor tendon healing

Flexor tendon injuries are among the most challenging problems for hand surgeons and tissue engineers alike. Not only do flexor tendon injuries heal with poor mechanical strength, they can also form debilitating adhesions that may permanently impair hand function. While TGF-β1 is a necessary factor for regaining tendon strength, it is associated with scar and adhesion formation in the flexor tendons and other tissues as well as fibrotic diseases. The pleiotropic effects of TGF-β1 on tendon cells and tissue have not been characterized in detail. The goal of the present study was to identify the targets through which the effects of TGF-β1 on tendon healing could be altered. To accomplish this, we treated flexor tendon tenocytes cultured in pinned collagen gels with 1, 10 or 100 ng/mL of TGF-β1 and measured gel contraction and gene expression using RT-PCR up to 48 hours after treatment. Specifically, we studied the effects of TGF-β1 on the expression of collagens, fibronectin, proteoglycans, MMPs, MMP inhibitors, and the neotendon transcription factors, Scleraxis and Mohawk. Area contraction of the gels was not dose-dependent with the TGF-β1 concentrations tested. We observed dose-dependent downregulation of MMP-16 (MT3-MMP) and decorin, and upregulation of biglycan, collagen V, collagen XII, PAI-1, Scleraxis, and Mohawk by TGF-β1. Inter-gene analyses were also performed to further characterize the expression of ECM and MMP genes in the tenocyte-seeded collagen gels. These analyses illustrate that TGF-β1 tilts the balance of gene expression in favor of ECM synthesis rather than the matrix-remodeling MMPs, a possible means by which TGF-β1 promotes adhesion formation.

Upregulation of protein phosphatase 2A and NR3A-pleiotropic effect of simvastatin on ischemic stroke rats

Ca(2+) influxes are regulated by the functional state of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs). Dephosphorylation of NMDARs subunits decreases Ca(2+) influxes. NR3, a novel subunit of NMDARs, also decreases Ca(2+) influxes by forming new NMDARs with NR1 and NR2. It is meaningful to uncover whether protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) and NR3A play a role in the protective effect of Simvastatin on ischemic stroke. In the present study, the Sprague-Dawley rats were pretreated with Simvastatin for 7 days before middle cerebral artery occlusion was performed to mimic ischemic stroke. The results showed that Simvastatin decreased brain ischemic infarct area significantly while increasing the expression levels of PP2A and NR3A, thus dephosphorylating the serine sites of NR1 (ser896 and ser897) along with increased enzymatic activities of PP2A. The protein levels of NR3A decreased as the enzymatic activities of PP2A were inhibited by okadaic acid. The results indicated that Simvastatin could protect the cerebrum from ischemic injury through a signaling mechanism involving elevated levels of PP2A and NR3A, and that PP2A might involve in the regulatory mechanism of NR3A expression.

Beneficial 'unintended effects' of a cereal cystatin in transgenic lines of potato, Solanum tuberosum

BACKGROUND

Studies reported unintended pleiotropic effects for a number of pesticidal proteins ectopically expressed in transgenic crops, but the nature and significance of such effects in planta remain poorly understood. Here we assessed the effects of corn cystatin II (CCII), a potent inhibitor of C1A cysteine (Cys) proteases considered for insect and pathogen control, on the leaf proteome and pathogen resistance status of potato lines constitutively expressing this protein.

RESULTS

The leaf proteome of lines accumulating CCII at different levels was resolved by 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis and compared with the leaf proteome of a control (parental) line. Out of ca. 700 proteins monitored on 2-D gels, 23 were significantly up- or downregulated in CCII-expressing leaves, including 14 proteins detected de novo or up-regulated by more than five-fold compared to the control. Most up-regulated proteins were abiotic or biotic stress-responsive proteins, including different secretory peroxidases, wound inducible protease inhibitors and pathogenesis-related proteins. Accordingly, infection of leaf tissues by the fungal necrotroph Botryris cinerea was prevented in CCII-expressing plants, despite a null impact of CCII on growth of this pathogen and the absence of extracellular Cys protease targets for the inhibitor.

CONCLUSIONS

These data point to the onset of pleiotropic effects altering the leaf proteome in transgenic plants expressing recombinant protease inhibitors. They also show the potential of these proteins as ectopic modulators of stress responses in planta, useful to engineer biotic or abiotic stress tolerance in crop plants of economic significance.

LAL regulators SCO0877 and SCO7173 as pleiotropic modulators of phosphate starvation response and actinorhodin biosynthesis in Streptomyces coelicolor

LAL regulators (Large ATP-binding regulators of the LuxR family) constitute a poorly studied family of transcriptional regulators. Several regulators of this class have been identified in antibiotic and other secondary metabolite gene clusters from actinomycetes, thus they have been considered pathway-specific regulators. In this study we have obtained two disruption mutants of LAL genes from S. coelicolor (Δ0877 and Δ7173). Both mutants were deficient in the production of the polyketide antibiotic actinorhodin, and antibiotic production was restored upon gene complementation of the mutants. The use of whole-genome DNA microarrays and quantitative PCRs enabled the analysis of the transcriptome of both mutants in comparison with the wild type. Our results indicate that the LAL regulators under study act globally affecting various cellular processes, and amongst them the phosphate starvation response and the biosynthesis of the blue-pigmented antibiotic actinorhodin. Both regulators act as negative modulators of the expression of the two-component phoRP system and as positive regulators of actinorhodin biosynthesis. To our knowledge this is the first characterization of LAL regulators with wide implications in Streptomyces metabolism.