Urine-Derived Stem Cells Reverse Bleomycin­Induced Experimental Pulmonary Fibrosis by Inhibition of the TGF-ß1-Smad2/3 Pathway.

BACKGROUND: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is characterized by progressive lung interstitial lesions with the disease pathophysiology incompletely understood, which is a serious and fatal disorder with limited treatment options. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have exhibited promising therapeutic capability for IPF. While most types of MSCs are obtained invasively, urine-derived stem cells (USCs) can be gained in a safe, noninvasive, and inexpensive procedure, which are readily available and reported to exhibit no risk of teratoma formation or oncogenic potential in vivo, sounding alternative to other MSCs. This study aims to investigate the therapeutic effect and mechanism of USCs on IPF, using a bleomycin (BLM)-induced IPF model in mice. METHODS: Cell surface marker examination by flow cytometry analysis and cell differentiation culture were used to characterize USCs obtained from healthy individuals. BLM was instilled endotracheally in adult C57BL/6 mice, followed by USCs or human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) treatment by tail vein injection on day 14. Mice were euthanized on day 14 before administration or day 21 for the evaluation of pulmonary histopathology and hydroxyproline (HYP) content. Inflammatory factors of the lung, including transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß1, TNF-α, IL-6, MMP2 were analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Additionally, immunohistochemistry (IHC) and western blotting (WB) were applied to evaluate the expression of α-SMA and activation of TGF-ß1-Smad2/3 in lung. RESULTS: USCs highly expressed CD29 and CD90, showing negative expression of hematopoietic stem cell markers (CD45, CD34) and could differentiate into, at least, bone and fat in vitro. In mice challenged with BLM, septal thickening and prominent fibrosis were observed on day 14, with higher HYP content and mRNA levels of TGF-ß1, TNF-α and IL-6 exhibited, compared to untreated mice. USCs could migrate to lung and accumulate there in mouse model after intravenous injection. Transplantation of USCs into BLM-induced mice improved their pulmonary histopathology, decreasing Ashcroft score, Szapiel score, HYP content and mRNA levels of TGF-ß1 and MMP2 of lung, similar to the effects of BMSCs. IHC and WB further revealed that USCs could inhibit activation of the TGF­ß1-Smad2/3 pathway of lung in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: Transplantation of USCs effectively reverses pulmonary fibrotic phenotype in an experimental IPF model, inhibiting the TGF-ß1-Smad2/3 pathway, a key driver of fibrosis. These results suggest the therapeutic application of USCs for IPF, instead of other types of MSCs obtained invasively.

Electro-scalp acupuncture regulates the expression of CYP27a1/b1, CYP24a and related inflammatory cytokines in ischemic cortex of rats with middle cerebral artery occlusion. / ç”µå¤´é’ˆè°ƒæŽ§å¤§è„‘ä¸­åŠ¨è„‰æ “å¡žå¤§é¼ ç¼ºè¡€å¤§è„‘çš®å±‚åŒºCYP27a1/b1、CYP24aåŠç›¸å ³ç‚Žæ€§ç»†èƒžå› å­è¡¨è¾¾çš„ç ”ç©¶.

OBJECTIVES: To observe the effect of electro-scalp acupuncture (ESA) on the expression of cytochrome P450a1/b1 (CYP27a1/b1), cytochrome P45024a (CYP24a), signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)4, STAT6, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1ß and IL-4 in ischemic cerebral cortex of rats with acute ischemic stroke, so as to explore its mechanism in alleviating inflammatory reaction of ischemic stroke. METHODS: Sixty SD rats were randomly divided into sham-operation, model, vitamin D3 and ESA groups, with 15 rats in each group. The middle cerebral artery occlusion rat model was established with thread ligation according to Zea-Longa's method. Rats in the vitamin D3 group were given 1, 25-VitD3 solution (3 ng·100 g-1·d-1) by gavage, once daily for 7 days. Rats in the ESA group were treated at bilateral anterior parietotemporal slash (MS6) with ESA (2 Hz/100 Hz, 1 mA), 30 min a day for 7 days. Before and after interventions, the neurological deficit score and neurobehavioral score were evaluated. TTC staining was used to detect the volume of cerebral infarction in rats. The positive expressions of CYP24a, CYP27a1 and CYP27b1 in the cerebral cortex of ischemic area were detected by immunofluorescence. The mRNA expressions of STAT4 and STAT6 in the cerebral cortex of ischemic area were detected by quantitative real-time PCR. The protein expression levels of TNF-α, IL-1ß and IL-4 in the cerebral cortex of ischemic area were detected by Western blot. RESULTS: Compared with the sham-operation group, the neurological deficit score, neurobehavioral score, the percentage of cerebral infarction volume, the positive expression level of CYP24a and mRNA expression level of STAT4, protein expression levels of TNF-α and IL-1ß in cerebral cortex were increased (P<0.01), while the positive expression levels of CYP27a1/b1 and STAT6 mRNA, protein expression level of IL-4 were decreased (P<0.01) in the model group. After the treatment and compared with the model group, the neurological deficit score, neurobehavioral score, the percentage of cerebral infarction volume, the positive expression level of CYP24a and mRNA expression level of STAT4, protein expression levels of TNF-α and IL-1ß in cerebral cortex were decreased (P<0.01), while the positive expression levels of CYP27a1/b1 and STAT6 mRNA expression level, protein expression level of IL-4 were increased (P<0.01) in the ESA and vitamin D3 groups. CONCLUSIONS: ESA can alleviate the inflammatory response in ischemic stroke, which maybe related to its function in regulating the balance between CYP27a1/b1 and CYP24a, converting vitamin D into active vitamin D3, inhibiting vitamin D3 degradation, and regulating Th1/Th2 balance.

[Study on alleviating neuroinflammatory injury in ischemic stroke rats by electrical stimulation with scalp acupuncture based on IFN-γ mediated JAK/STAT1 signaling pathway].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the molecular mechanism of electrical stimulation with scalp acupuncture (ESA) in alleviating neuroinflammatory injury in ischemic stroke rats based on interferon γ (IFN-γ)-mediated Janus kinase/signal transduction and transcriptional activator 1 (JAK/STAT1) signaling pathway. METHODS: Fifty-six SD rats aged 7 weeks were randomly divided into normal, model, ESA and inhibitor groups, with 14 rats in each group. The middle cerebral artery embolization rat model was established by means of thread embolization. Rats in the inhibitor group were intraperitoneally injected with the inhibitor PJ34 (5 mg/mL, 25 mg/kg) once a day for 7 days. Rats in the ESA group were treated at bilateral anterior parietotemporal slash (MS6) with ESA (2 Hz/100 Hz, 1 mA), 30 min a day for 7 days. Before and after interventions, the neurological deficit score and neurobehavioral score were evaluated. The percentage of cerebral infarction volume was detected by TTC staining. The positive expressions of interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10 in cerebral cortex were detected by immunohistochemistry. The protein expression levels of IFN-γ, JAK1, JAK2 and phosphorylated (p)-STAT1 in rats cerebral cortex were detected by Western blot. RESULTS: Compared with the normal group, the neurological deficit score, neurobehavioral score, the percentage of cerebral infarction volume, the expression levels of IL-6, IFN-γ, JAK1, JAK2 and p-STAT1 in cerebral cortex were increased (P<0.01), while the expression level of IL-10 was decreased (P<0.01) in the model group. Compared with the model group, the neurological deficit score and neurobehavioral score after treatment were significantly decreased (P<0.01), the percentage of cerebral infarction volume was decreased (P<0.01), the expression levels of IL-6, IFN-γ, JAK1, JAK2 and p-STAT1 in cerebral cortex were decreased (P<0.01), while the expression level of IL-10 was increased (P<0.01) in the ESA and inhibitor groups. ESA was superior to inhibitors in improving neurological deficit score and down-regulating p-STAT1 expression (P<0.05, P<0.01), and was inferior to inhibitor in reducing the percentage of cerebral infarction volume as well as down-regulating IFN-γ and JAK1 (P<0.01, P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Down-regulating the expression of IFN-γ and inhibiting the activity of JAK/STAT1 signaling pathway may be one of the mechanisms by which ESA alleviates neuroinflammatory injury in ischemic stroke rats.

[Effects of electro-scalp acupuncture on inflammatory response and microglial polarization in the ischemic cortex of rats with ischemic stroke].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of electro-scalp acupuncture （ESA） on the expression of microglial markers CD206 and CD32, as well as interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1ß, and IL-10 in the ischemic cortex of rats with ischemic stroke, and to explore the mechanisms of ESA on alleviating inflammatory damage of ischemic stroke. METHODS: Sixty 7-week-old male SD rats were randomly selected, with 15 rats assigned to a sham surgery group. The remaining rats were treated with suture method to establish rat model of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). The rats with successful model were randomly divided into a model group, a VitD3 group, and an ESA group, with 15 rats in each group. In the ESA group, ESA was performed bilaterally at the "top-temporal anterior oblique line" with disperse-dense wave, a frequency of 2 Hz/100 Hz, and an intensity of 1 mA. Each session lasted for 30 min, once daily, for a total of 7 days. The VitD3 group were treated with intragastric administration of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25-VitD3) solution (3 ng/100 g), once daily for 7 days. The neurological deficit scores and neurobehavioral scores were assessed before and after the intervention. After the intervention, the brain infarct volume was evaluated using 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining. Immunofluorescence double staining was performed to detect the protein expression of CD32 and CD206 in the ischemic cortex. Western blot analysis was conducted to measure the protein expression of IL-6, IL-1ß, and IL-10 in the ischemic cortex. RESULTS: Compared with the sham surgery group, the model group showed increased neurological deficit scores and neurobehavioral scores (P<0.01), increased brain infarct volume (P<0.01), increased protein expression of CD32, IL-6, and IL-1ß in the ischemic cortex (P<0.01), and decreased protein expression of CD206 and IL-10 in the ischemic cortex (P<0.01). Compared with the model group, both the ESA group and the VitD3 group showed decreased neurological deficit scores and neurobehavioral scores (P<0.01), reduced brain infarct volume (P<0.01), decreased protein expression of CD32, IL-6, and IL-1ß in the ischemic cortex (P<0.01), and increased protein expression of CD206 and IL-10 in the ischemic cortex (P<0.01). Compared with the VitD3 group, the ESA group had lower neurological deficit score (P<0.05), larger brain infarct volume (P< 0.05), and lower protein expression of CD32, CD206, IL-1ß, and IL-10 in the ischemic cortex (P<0.01, P<0.05). CONCLUSION: ESA could improve neurological function in MCAO rats, and its mechanism may be related to promoting microglial M1-to-M2 polarization and alleviating inflammatory damage.

Network Pharmacology and Molecular Docking Analysis on Molecular Mechanism of Qingzi Zhitong Decoction in the Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a disease with complex pathological mechanisms. We explored the potential molecular mechanisms behind the therapeutic functions of Qingzi Zhitong decoction (QZZTD) in the treatment of UC by network pharmacology and molecular docking. QZZTD is a formula of Chinese traditional medicine consisting of 10 herbs. The potential active ingredients of QZZTD and their target genes were obtained from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform database, and UC-related target genes were obtained from GeneCards and OMIM databases. A total of 138 co-identified target genes were obtained by plotting the intersection target Venn diagram, and then the STRING database and Cytoscape software were used to establish protein-protein interaction networks and herb-ingredient-target networks. Four key active compounds and nine key proteins were identified. Then, Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analyses showed that the biological functions of potential target genes were associated with DNA transcription, signaling receptor and ligand activity, cytokine activity, cellular autophagy, and antioxidant pathways, with related pathways involving the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-Akt signaling pathway, advanced glycosylation end product (AGE)-RAGE signaling pathway, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling pathway, and IL-17 signaling pathway. Moreover, the binding activities of key target genes and essential active compounds of Chinese herbal medicines in QZZTD were further validated by molecular docking. This demonstrated that quercetin, luteolin, hyndarin, and beta-sitosterol had good binding to eight key proteins, and Akt1 was the target protein with the best binding activity, suggesting that Akt1 could be the essential mediator responsible for signaling transduction after QZZTD administration. The rat experiment verified that QZZTD inhibited PI3K-Akt pathway activation and reduced inflammation in UC. In conclusion, our study suggested four potential key active components, including quercetin, were identified in QZZTD, which could interact with Akt1 and modulate the activation of the PI3K-Akt pathway. The other three pathways may also be involved in the signaling transduction induced by QZZTD in the treatment of UC.

Regulatory Effect of miR497-5p-CCNE1 Axis in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells and Its Predictive Value for Early Diagnosis.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the regulatory role of miR497-5p-CCNE1 axis in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells and its predictive value for early diagnosis. METHODS: Cancer tissue and adjacent tissue samples were collected from 86 patients with TNBC.RT-PCR was used to detect the expression of miR497-5p and CCNE1 (target gene) mRNA, determined by biological prediction in tissue and TNBC cells. ROC was used to analyze the diagnostic value of miR497-5p in TNBC. MTT, invasion, and flow cytometry were used to detect the proliferation, invasion, cycle, apoptosis rate, and expression of related proteins of TNBC cells with overexpression of miR497-5p or knockdown of CCNE1. RESULTS: RT-qPCR results showed that miR497-5p levels were significantly downregulated in TNBC tissue and cells, while CCNE1 expression was significantly upregulated, and miR497-5p expression was negatively correlated with that of CCNE1 (P<0.001). ROC analysis showed that the AUC of miR497-5p for TNBC was >0.9, which had better diagnostic value. The cell tests revealed that miR497-5p played a role in tumor inhibition, including inhibiting proliferation and invasion of TNBC cells, blocking the cell cycle, and promoting apoptosis. Bioinformatic prediction and subsequent experiments revealed that CCNE1 was the direct target of miR497-5p. Furthermore, after knocking down the expression of CCNE1 in TNBC cells, the proliferation and invasion of TNBC cells were significantly inhibited, the cell cycle blocked, and the apoptosis rate significantly increased (P<0.001), and expression of the proapoptosis-related proteins Bax and caspase 3 (cleaved) were upregulated, while expression of the antiapoptosis-related protein BCL2 was downregulated (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: miR497-5p inhibited the proliferation and invasion of TNBC cells by targeting CCNE1, blocked the cell cycle and promoted the apoptosis of TNBC cells, and had better diagnostic value for TNBC. miR497-5p can be used as a new potential target for the treatment of TNBC.

PeNGaRoo, a combined gradient boosting and ensemble learning framework for predicting non-classical secreted proteins.

MOTIVATION: Gram-positive bacteria have developed secretion systems to transport proteins across their cell wall, a process that plays an important role during host infection. These secretion mechanisms have also been harnessed for therapeutic purposes in many biotechnology applications. Accordingly, the identification of features that select a protein for efficient secretion from these microorganisms has become an important task. Among all the secreted proteins, 'non-classical' secreted proteins are difficult to identify as they lack discernable signal peptide sequences and can make use of diverse secretion pathways. Currently, several computational methods have been developed to facilitate the discovery of such non-classical secreted proteins; however, the existing methods are based on either simulated or limited experimental datasets. In addition, they often employ basic features to train the models in a simple and coarse-grained manner. The availability of more experimentally validated datasets, advanced feature engineering techniques and novel machine learning approaches creates new opportunities for the development of improved predictors of 'non-classical' secreted proteins from sequence data. RESULTS: In this work, we first constructed a high-quality dataset of experimentally verified 'non-classical' secreted proteins, which we then used to create benchmark datasets. Using these benchmark datasets, we comprehensively analyzed a wide range of features and assessed their individual performance. Subsequently, we developed a two-layer Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM) ensemble model that integrates several single feature-based models into an overall prediction framework. At this stage, LightGBM, a gradient boosting machine, was used as a machine learning approach and the necessary parameter optimization was performed by a particle swarm optimization strategy. All single feature-based LightGBM models were then integrated into a unified ensemble model to further improve the predictive performance. Consequently, the final ensemble model achieved a superior performance with an accuracy of 0.900, an F-value of 0.903, Matthew's correlation coefficient of 0.803 and an area under the curve value of 0.963, and outperforming previous state-of-the-art predictors on the independent test. Based on our proposed optimal ensemble model, we further developed an accessible online predictor, PeNGaRoo, to serve users' demands. We believe this online web server, together with our proposed methodology, will expedite the discovery of non-classically secreted effector proteins in Gram-positive bacteria and further inspire the development of next-generation predictors. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: http://pengaroo.erc.monash.edu/. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Long non-coding RNA p10247, high expressed in breast cancer (lncRNA-BCHE), is correlated with metastasis.

Recent studies have shown that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have key functions during breast cancer development. Considering the complexity of IncRNAs regulatory network, the identification of novel and functional lncRNAs associated with breast cancer is thus very important. By using Agilent LncRNA Human Gene Expression Microarray, we identified a number of lncRNAs that were differentially expressed in breast cancer compared to their corresponding adjacent tissues. According to the microarray, the expression of p10247, henceforth named as lncRNA-BCHE (standing for lncRNA high expressed in breast cancer), was found to be uniformly higher in all the five breast cancer tissues tested, and this was further confirmed in 56 breast cancer tissues by real-time RT-PCR. The function of lncRNA-BCHE in breast cancer cells was tested by knockdown and over-expression experiments in vitro. We also analyzed the public cohorts of breast cancer patients on the Kaplan Meier plotter platform. Clinical analysis revealed that the expression of lncRNA-BCHE was significantly correlated with advanced clinical stage and lymph node metastasis. Our data indicate that lncRNA-BCHE regulates the growth, migration and invasion of breast cancer cells. In addition, we found that these functions are mediated, at least in part, by the regulation of integrin subunit beta 1 (ITGB1) levels. The expression of ITGB1 serves as a negative prognostic factor and metastasis risk predictor in breast cancer, irrespective of subtype and therapeutic regimen. In summary, our results suggest that lncRNA-BCHE is an oncogenic lncRNA enhancing the growth and metastatic potential of breast cancer cells, and a potential predictor of breast cancer metastatic progression.

CXCL6 promotes non-small cell lung cancer cell survival and metastasis via down-regulation of miR-515-5p.

Chemokine plays an important role in lung cancer and CXCL6 is one of chemokine, however, its effect on miRNAs profile and its roles in non-small cell lung cancer cell (NSCLC) is not elucidated. This study is purposed to explore the influence of CXCL6 on miRNA expression profile and found that CXCL6 could reduce the expression of miR-515-5p in NSCLC cells. MiR-515-5p in NSCLC cells could inhibit NSCLC survival and metastasis. MiR-515-5p acted as a tumor suppressor by targeting CXCL6 in NSCLC cells. These data highlighted a novel molecular interaction between miR-515-5p and CXCL6. MiR-515-5p may constitute a potential therapy target for NSCLC.

miR-22 Inhibits CD34+ Cell Expansion Through Decreasing ß-Catenin in Osteoblasts.

The bone marrow (BM) microenvironment, heavily composed of osteoblasts, plays a key role during the normal development of hematopoiesis. Endogenous miR-22 has an important function in the hematopoietic development and osteoblastic differentiation. It is unclear whether miR-22 in osteoblasts from the BM microenvironment also has an important function in the development of hematopoiesis. This study found that the capacity of hTERT-transduced fetal bone marrow osteoblasts (FBMOB-hTERT) cells to expand human cord blood (CB) CD34+ cells and maintain the multipotency of CB CD34+ cells is decreased upon ectopic expression of miR-22. Further experiments revealed that with the existence of CB CD34+ cells, the expression of ß-catenin in FBMOB-hTERT cells is decreased upon ectopic expression of miR-22. The reduced ability of FBMOB-hTERT cells to expand human CB CD34+ cells and maintain the multipotency of CB CD34+ cells upon ectopic miR-22 was partly rescued by overexpression of ß-catenin. The study indicated that the ability of osteoblasts to expand human CB CD34+ cells and maintain the multipotency of CB CD34+ cells is decreased upon ectopic expression of miR-22. The decreased expression of ß-catenin is, at least partly, responsible for the reduced ability of osteoblasts for expanding and supporting CB CD34+ cells upon ectopic expression of miR-22.

Novel anticancer oridonin derivatives possessing a diazen-1-ium-1,2-diolate nitric oxide donor moiety: Design, synthesis, biological evaluation and nitric oxide release studies.

Oridonin (1) is a complex ent-kaurane diterpenoid with unique antitumor profile, which is isolated from Isodon rubescens. In order to develop novel derivatives of oridonin with improved potency, a series of nitric oxide (NO)-releasing oridonin derivatives were synthesized by coupling diazeniumdiolates with oridonin and its semisynthesized analogues. Their in vitro antiproliferative activity, nitric oxide release ability, and preliminary anticancer mechanism were further evaluated. The results displayed that all the target compounds exhibited potent antiproliferative activities, with IC50 values ranging from 1.84 to 17.01µM. Besides, it was observed that in most cases, the antiproliferative activity correlated well with levels of intracellular NO release. More interestingly, preliminary mechanism studies revealed that the most potent compound 14d induced apoptosis and arrested the cell cycle at the S phase in Bel-7402 cells, which is different from parent compound oridonin. Together, the above promising results warrant the further development of oridonin/NO hybrids as potential antitumor leads.

miR-17 promotes expansion and adhesion of human cord blood CD34(+) cells in vitro.

INTRODUCTION: We have recently found that miR-17 is necessary in the cell-extrinsic control of cord blood (CB) CD34(+) cell function. Here, we demonstrated that the proper level of miR-17 is also necessary in the cell-intrinsic control of the hematopoietic properties of CB CD34(+) cells. METHODS: The miR-17 overexpression and knockdown models were created using primary CB CD34(+) cells transfected by the indicated vectors. Long-term culture, colony forming, adhesion and trans-well migration assays were carried out to investigate the function of miR-17 on CB CD34(+) cells in vitro. NOD prkdc (scid) Il2rg (null) mice were used in a SCID repopulating cell assay to investigate the function of miR-17 on CB CD34(+) cells in vivo. A two-tailed Student's t-test was used for statistical comparisons. RESULTS: In vitro assays revealed that ectopic expression of miR-17 promoted long-term expansion, especially in the colony-forming of CB CD34(+) cells and CD34(+)CD38(-) cells. Conversely, downregulation of miR-17 inhibited the expansion of CB CD34(+) cells. However, the overexpression of miR-17 in vivo reduced the hematopoietic reconstitution potential of CB CD34(+) cells compared to that of control cells. The increased expression of major adhesion molecules in miR-17 overexpressed CB CD34(+) cells suggests that the adhesion between miR-17 overexpressed CB CD34(+) cells and their niche in vivo is regulated abnormally, which may further lead to the reduced hematopoietic reconstitution capability of 17/OE cells in engrafted mice. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the proper expression of miR-17 is required, at least partly, for normal hematopoietic stem cell-niche interaction and for the regulation of adult hematopoiesis.

Circulating endothelial microparticles involved in lung function decline in a rat exposed in cigarette smoke maybe from apoptotic pulmonary capillary endothelial cells.

BACKGROUND: Plasma levels of endothelial microparticles (EMPs), small membrane vesicles, shed from activated or apoptotic endothelial cells are elevated in patients with COPD and in smokers with normal lung function. Whether plasma EMPs levels are elevated in a rat exposed in cigarette smoke, whether the elevated EMPs derived from pulmonary endothelial cell apoptosis, and the relationship between EMP and lung function are obscure. METHODS: All 60 wister rats were divided into six groups, three groups of ten rats were exposed to cigarette smoke of ten non-filter cigarettes per day, 5 days a week, using a standard smoking machine (Beijing BeiLanBo Company, China) for a period of 2, 4 and 6 months (n=10, respectively). Age-matched three control groups were sham-smoked. Pulmonary function parameters, including the ratio of forced expiratory volume in 0.3 second over forced vital capacity (FEV0.3/FVC) and dynamic compliance (Cdyn), were tested at the end of each period (2, 4, 6 months). Blood samples were collected and platelet-free plasma was isolated. Then CD42b-/CD31+ EMPs were analysed by flow cytometry. In parallel, lungs were removed and Colocalization with terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL), Hoeschts and CD31 was performed to evaluate pulmonary capillaries-specific apoptosis and identify the origins of the EMPs. RESULTS: At 2, 4 and 6 months, in comparison with control groups, rats in cigarette smoke exposed groups had a significant increase in CD42b-/CD31+ EMPs (P<0.001, P<0.001, P<0.001, respectively), and Pulmonary function indicated that FEV0.3/FVC (P<0.05, P<0.01, P<0.01, respectively) and Cdyn (P<0.01, P<0.001, P<0.001 respectively) decreased. At the same time, CD42b-/CD31+ EMP counts were negatively correlated with Cdyn (P<0.05). Moreover, in vivo, TUNEL-positive cells co-localized with CD31 in whole lung tissue demonstrated a sequence of apoptosis signal in the cigarette smoke exposed groups. CONCLUSIONS: CD42b-/CD31+ EMPs may be a potential biomarker for indicating the severity of impairment of pulmonary function in the rats exposed cigarette smoke. The increased EMPs may derive from pulmonary capillaries-specific apoptosis.

MiR-17 partly promotes hematopoietic cell expansion through augmenting HIF-1α in osteoblasts.

BACKGROUND: Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) regulation is highly dependent on interactions with the marrow microenvironment, of which osteogenic cells play a crucial role. While evidence is accumulating for an important role of intrinsic miR-17 in regulating HSCs and HPCs, whether miR-17 signaling pathways are also necessary in the cell-extrinsic control of hematopoiesis hereto remains poorly understood. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using the immortalized clone with the characteristics of osteoblasts, FBMOB-hTERT, in vitro expansion, long-term culture initiating cell (LTC-IC) and non-obese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient disease (NOD/SCID) mice repopulating cell (SRC) assay revealed that the ectopic expression of miR-17 partly promoted the ability of FBMOB-hTERT to support human cord blood (CB) CD34(+) cell expansion and maintain their multipotency. It also seemed that osteoblastic miR-17 was prone to cause a specific expansion of the erythroid lineage. Conversely, deficient expression of miR-17 partly inhibited the hematopoietic supporting ability of FBMOB-hTERT. We further identified that HIF-1α is responsible for, at least in part, the promoted hematopoietic supporting ability of FBMOB-hTERT caused by miR-17. HIF-1α expression is markedly enhanced in miR-17 overexpressed FBMOB-hTERT upon interaction with CB CD34(+) cells compared to other niche associated factors. More interestingly, the specific erythroid lineage expansion of CB CD34(+) cells caused by osteoblastic miR-17 was abrogated by HIF-1α knock down. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Our data demonstrated that CB CD34(+) cell expansion can be partly promoted by osteoblastic miR-17, and in particular, ectopic miR-17 can cause a specific expansion of the erythroid lineage through augmenting HIF-1α in osteoblasts.

Biological effects of decreasing RBM15 on chronic myelogenous leukemia cells.

RNA binding motif protein 15 (RBM15) was originally described as a 5' translocation partner of the MAL gene in t(1;22)(p13;q13)infant acute megakaryocytic leukemia. Although previous investigations have shown that Rbm15 has broad regulatory effects within murine hematopoiesis through modulating Notch-induced transcriptional activation, which plays key roles in leukemogenesis, it is not clear what the functions of RBM15 are in the regulation of hematological malignancies. In the present study, we show that RBM15 expression was significantly increased in patients with blast-crisis chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) compared with chronic-phase or accelerated-phase disease by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay. To further elucidate the role of RBM15 in CML, we introduced RBM15 small interfering RNA (siRNA) using pSUPER into CML cells. Fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS), real-time RT-PCR and Western blot were used to study changes in RBM15 expression levels in transduced cells by comparing with control cells. Decreasing RBM15 levels with RNA interference could inhibit the growth and proliferation, block the cell cycle and induce apoptosis in CML cells. Knockdown of RBM15 may also act to inhibit clonogenicity and induce differentiation of CML cells along the myeloid lineage. Our studies also show that the effects of RBM15 on CML cells may be mediated, at least in part, via its effect on Notch signaling. These findings demonstrate that RBM15 does indeed play a critical role in the survival of CML cells, which may have potential application in designing molecular therapies for CML treatment.

Structural templates predict novel protein interactions and targets from pancreas tumour gene expression data.

MOTIVATION: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) eludes early detection and is characterized by its aggressiveness and resistance to current therapies. A number of gene expression screens have been carried out to identify genes differentially expressed in cancerous tissue. To identify molecular markers and suitable targets, these genes have been mapped to protein interactions to gain an understanding at systems level. RESULTS: Here, we take such a network-centric approach to pancreas cancer by re-constructing networks from known interactions and by predicting novel protein interactions from structural templates. The pathways we find to be largely affected are signal transduction, actin cytoskeleton regulation, cell growth and cell communication. Our analysis indicates that the alteration of the calcium pathway plays an important role in pancreas-specific tumorigenesis. Furthermore, our structural prediction method identifies 40 novel interactions including the tissue factor pathway inhibitor 2 (TFPI2) interacting with the transmembrane protease serine 4 (TMPRSS4). Since TMPRSS4 is involved in metastasis formation, we hypothesize that the upregulation of TMPRSS4 and the downregulation of its predicted inhibitor TFPI2 plays an important role in this process. Moreover, we examine the potential role of BVDU (RP101) as an inhibitor of TMPRSS4. BDVU is known to support apoptosis and prevent the acquisition of chemoresistance. Our results suggest that BVDU might bind to the active site of TMPRSS4, thus reducing its assistance in metastasis. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.