New insights into the pathogenesis of Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome.

Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome (HPS) is characterized by defects of multiple tissue-specific lysosome-related organelles (LROs), typically manifesting with oculocutaneous albinism or ocular albinism, bleeding tendency, and in some cases with pulmonary fibrosis, inflammatory bowel disease or immunodeficiency, neuropsychological disorders. Eleven HPS subtypes in humans and at least 15 subtypes in mice have been molecularly identified. Current understanding of the underlying mechanisms of HPS is focusing on the defective biogenesis of LROs. Compelling evidences have shown that HPS protein-associated complexes (HPACs) function in cargo transport, cargo recycling, and cargo removal to maintain LRO homeostasis. Further investigation on the molecular and cellular mechanism of LRO biogenesis and secretion will be helpful for better understanding of its pathogenesis and for the precise intervention of HPS.

Neuroprotection of paclitaxel against cerebral ischemia/reperfusion-induced brain injury through JNK3 signaling pathway.

In this study, we investigated the neuroprotective effects of paclitaxel in transient cerebral ischemia and possible regulatory mechanism of these neuroprotection. Our data showed that paclitaxel can down-regulate the increased MLK3, JNK3, c-Jun, Bcl-2, and caspase-3 phosphorylation induced by ischemia injury. Cresyl violet staining and immunohistochemistry results demonstrated that paclitaxel had neuroprotective effect against ischemia/reperfusion-induced neuronal cell death. These results indicated that paclitaxel has neuroprotection in ischemic injury through JNK3 signaling pathway and provided a novel possible drug in therapeutics of brain ischemia.