[Deficiency of cathepsin K improves ischemic angiogenesis in high-fat diet fed mice].

The present study aims to investigate the effect of cathepsin K (CatK) on ischemic angiogenesis in high-fat diet fed mice. The mice were subjected to unilateral hindlimb ischemic surgery, and the ischemic blood flow was measured with a laser Doppler blood flow imager. Immunohistochemical staining was used to observe the quantity of new capillaries in the ischemic lower extremity, and Western blot was used to detect the expression of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1), p-Akt, Akt and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Firstly, the effect of high-fat diet on ischemic angiogenesis was observed in wild-type mice, which were randomly divided into control group and high-fat diet group and were fed with normal diet or 60% high-fat diet respectively for 16 weeks. The results showed the body weight and the plasma CatK concentration of the high-fat diet group was significantly increased compared with the control group (P < 0.05), and the blood flow recovery of the high-fat diet group was significantly lower than control group (P < 0.05). Then, wild-type and CatK knock out (CatK-/-) mice were both fed with high-fat diet to further observe the effect and mechanism of CatK on ischemic angiogenesis under high-fat diet. The results showed that the blood flow recovery in the CatK-/- group was significantly greater than the wild-type group, and the number of CD31 positive cells was significantly increased (P < 0.05). At the same time, the protein expression levels of IRS-1, p-Akt and VEGF in the ischemic skeletal muscle were significantly increased in the CatK-/- group compared with the wild-type group (P < 0.05). These results suggest that the deficiency of CatK improves ischemic angiogenesis in high-fat diet fed mice through IRS-1-Akt-VEGF signaling pathway.

Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli infection causes infiltration of heterophilic granulocytes of chick tracheal by the complement and coagulation cascades pathway.

BACKGROUND: Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) causes tracheal damage and heterophilic granulocytic infiltration and inflammation in infected chicks. In this study, we infected chick tracheal tissue with strain AE17 and produced pathological sections with proteomic sequencing. We compared the results of pathological sections from the APEC-infected group with those from the PBS control group; the pathological sections from the experimental group showed hemorrhage, fibrinization, and infiltration of heterophilic granulocytes in the tracheal tissue. In order to explore the effect on proteomics on inflammation and to further search for the caus. RESULTS: The tandem mass tag-based (TMT) sequencing analysis showed 224 upregulated and 140 downregulated proteins after infection with the AE17 strain. Based on the results of KEGG in Complement and coagulation cascades, differential protein expression in the Protein export pathway was upregulated. CONCLUSIONS: With these results, we found that chemokines produced by the Complement and coagulation cascades pathway may cause infiltration of heterophilic granulocytes involved in inflammation, as well as antimicrobial factors produced by the complement system to fight the infection together.These results suggest that APEC causes the infiltration of heterophilic granulocytes through the involvement of the complement system with serine protease inhibitors.

The Ability of Clinically Relevant Chemotherapeutics to Induce Immunogenic Cell Death in Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Immunogenic cell death (ICD) is a crucial mechanism for triggering the adaptive immune response in cancer patients. Damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) are critical factors in the detection of ICD. Chemotherapeutic drugs can cause ICD and the release of DAMPs. The aim of this study was to assess the potential for paclitaxel and platinum-based chemotherapy regimens to induce ICD in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cell lines. In addition, we examined the immunostimulatory effects of clinically relevant chemotherapeutic regimens utilized in the treatment of SCC. METHODS: We screened for differentially expressed ICD markers in the supernatants of three SCC cell lines following treatment with various chemotherapeutic agents. The ICD markers included Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP), Calreticulin (CRT), Annexin A1 (ANXA 1), High Mobility Group Protein B1 (HMGB1), and Heat Shock Protein 70 (HSP70). A vaccination assay was also employed in C57BL/6J mice to validate our in vitro findings. Lastly, the levels of CRT and HMGB1 were evaluated in Serum samples from SCC patients. RESULTS: Addition of the chemotherapy drugs cisplatin (DDP), carboplatin (CBP), nedaplatin (NDP), oxaliplatin (OXA) and docetaxel (DOC) increased the release of ICD markers in two of the SCC cell lines. Furthermore, mice that received vaccinations with cervical cancer cells treated with DDP, CBP, NDP, OXA, or DOC remained tumor-free. Although CBP induced the release of ICD-associated molecules in vitro, it did not prevent tumor growth at the vaccination site in 40% of mice. In addition, both in vitro and in vivo results showed that paclitaxel (TAX) and LBP did not induce ICD in SCC cells. CONCLUSION: The present findings suggest that chemotherapeutic agents can induce an adjuvant effect leading to the extracellular release of DAMPs. Of the agents tested here, DDP, CBP, NDP, OXA and DOC had the ability to act as inducers of ICD.

Predictive Value of C-Reactive Protein/Albumin Ratio for Acute Kidney Injury in Patients with Acute Pancreatitis.

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the predictive efficacy of the C-reactive protein/albumin ratio (CAR), a cost-effective, easily accessible, and reproducible biomarker obtained from standard blood tests, in forecasting acute kidney injury (AKI) among patients undergoing acute pancreatitis (AP). Considering that changes in the CAR are associated with AKI incidence in AP cases, this work aims to explore whether CAR can be used as the innovative, inflammation-based diagnostic marker for AKI in AP patients. Methods: The current retrospective cohort study consecutively enrolled AP patients admitted to First College of Clinical Medical Science of China Three Gorges University during the period from January 2019 to October 2023. Data were extracted systematically in electronic medical records from these hospitalized individuals, including baseline demographic and clinical characteristics. To ascertain the association of the CAR level with the development of AKI, we carried out multivariate logistic regression, adjusting for potential confounders. These confounders were initially identified through univariate regression. Furthermore, the potential effect modifiers in the relationship between CAR and AKI occurrence were explored by stratified logistic regression. Results: Totally, 1514 AP were recruited, including 257 (16.9%) with AKI. CAR was positively correlated with AKI. When adjusting for potential confounders, the AKI risk in patients in the upper CAR tertile (2.628-22.994) increased by 83% relative to those in lower tertile (0.05-0.289) (OR 1.83, 95% CI 1.13-2.96, P = 0.013). The AKI risk tended to increase according to the increasing CAR tertile (P for trend = 0.013). No significant interactions were observed among subgroups based on age, sex, BMI, admission to ICU, hypertension, DM, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, severity of AP, etiology of AP, demand for CRRT, mechanical ventilation, and blood transfusion (all P > 0.05). Conclusion: A higher CAR is significantly related to the higher AKI incidence in AP patients in the Chinese population.

GLUL stabilizes N-Cadherin by antagonizing ß-Catenin to inhibit the progresses of gastric cancer.

Glutamate-ammonia ligase (GLUL, also known as glutamine synthetase) is a crucial enzyme that catalyzes ammonium and glutamate into glutamine in the ATP-dependent condensation. Although GLUL plays a critical role in multiple cancers, the expression and function of GLUL in gastric cancer remain unclear. In the present study, we have found that the expression level of GLUL was significantly lower in gastric cancer tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues, and correlated with N stage and TNM stage, and low GLUL expression predicted poor survival for gastric cancer patients. Knockdown of GLUL promoted the growth, migration, invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer cells in vitro and in vivo, and vice versa, which was independent of its enzyme activity. Mechanistically, GLUL competed with ß-Catenin to bind to N-Cadherin, increased the stability of N-Cadherin and decreased the stability of ß-Catenin by alerting their ubiquitination. Furthermore, there were lower N-Cadherin and higher ß-Catenin expression levels in gastric cancer tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. GLUL protein expression was correlated with that of N-Cadherin, and could be the independent prognostic factor in gastric cancer. Our findings reveal that GLUL stabilizes N-Cadherin by antagonizing ß-Catenin to inhibit the progress of gastric cancer.

Dinuclear complexes formed with the triazacyclononane derivative ENOTA4-: high-pressure 17O NMR evidence of an associative water exchange on [MnII2(ENOTA)(H2O)2].

Mn2+ has five unpaired d-electrons, a long electronic relaxation time, and labile water exchange, all of which make it an attractive candidate for contrast agent application in medical magnetic resonance imaging. In the quest for stable and nonlabile Mn2+ complexes, we explored a novel dimeric triazacyclononane-based ligand bearing carboxylate functional groups, H4ENOTA. The protonation constants of the ligand and the stability constants of the complexes formed with some endogenously important metals (Ca2+, Cu2+, Zn2+), as well as with Mn2+ and Ce3+, have been assessed by NMR methods, potentiometry, and UV-vis spectrophotometry. Overall, the thermodynamic stability of the complexes is lower as compared to that of the corresponding NOTA analogues (H3NOTA, 1,4,7-triaazacyclononane-1,4,7-triacetic acid). The crystal structure of Mn2(ENOTA)(H2O) x 5H2O contains two six-coordinated Mn2+, in addition to the three amine nitrogens and the two oxygens from the pendent monodentate carboxylate groups, and one water (Mn2) or one bridging carboxylate oxygen (Mn1) completes the coordination sphere of the metal ion. In an aqueous solution, this bridging carboxylate is replaced by a water molecule, as evidenced by the 17O chemical shifts and proton relaxivity data that point to monohydration for both metal ions in the dinuclear complex. A variable-temperature and -pressure 17O NMR study has been performed on [Mn2(ENOTA)(H2O)2] to assess the rate and, for the first time on a Mn2+ chelate, also the mechanism of the water exchange. The inner sphere water is slightly more labile in [Mn2(ENOTA)(H2O)2] (k298ex = 5.5 x 107 s-1) than in the aqua ion (2.1 x 107 s-1, Merbach, A. E.; et al. Inorg. Chem. 1980, 19, 3696). The water exchange proceeds via an almost limiting associative mechanism, as evidenced by the large negative activation volume (deltaV = -10.7 cm3 mol-1). The proton relaxivities measured on [Mn2(ENOTA)(H2O)2] show a low-field dispersion at approximately 0.1 MHz arising from a contact interaction between the MnII electron spin and the water proton nuclear spins.