The Relationship Between the Effectiveness of Blood Pressure Control and Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase Concentration, Adipose Tissue Hormone Concentration and Endothelium Function in Hypertensives.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between the effectiveness of blood pressure (BP) control and telomerase reverse transcriptase concentration (TERT), the concentration of adipose tissue hormones and endothelium function in hypertensive patients. METHODS: The study group included 94 people with arterial hypertension. Two subgroups were distinguished according to effective BP control during 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM): Group A - effective BP control (n=49) and Group B - ineffective BP control (n=45). Telomerase reverse transcriptase concentration, blood visfatin concentration and blood adipsin concentration were determined. The function of the endothelium was measured with the flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) method. RESULTS: Telomerase reverse transcriptase concentration, blood visfatin concentration and FMD were higher in Group A compared with Group B. Ineffective BP control was an independent risk factor for lower TERT, lower blood visfatin concentration and lower FMD. Diuretics, ß-blockers and angiotensin receptor blockers were independent protective factors for lower TERT. Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) were independent protective factors for lower blood visfatin concentration. Calcium channel blockers were independent protective factors for lower FMD. CONCLUSIONS: Ineffective BP control, assessed by ABPM, was associated with decreased TERT, worse metabolic profile of adipose tissue and impaired endothelial function in hypertensives.

CALINCA-A Novel Pipeline for the Identification of lncRNAs in Podocyte Disease.

Diseases of the renal filtration unit-the glomerulus-are the most common cause of chronic kidney disease. Podocytes are the pivotal cell type for the function of this filter and focal-segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) is a classic example of a podocytopathy leading to proteinuria and glomerular scarring. Currently, no targeted treatment of FSGS is available. This lack of therapeutic strategies is explained by a limited understanding of the defects in podocyte cell biology leading to FSGS. To date, most studies in the field have focused on protein-coding genes and their gene products. However, more than 80% of all transcripts produced by mammalian cells are actually non-coding. Here, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a relatively novel class of transcripts and have not been systematically studied in FSGS to date. The appropriate tools to facilitate lncRNA research for the renal scientific community are urgently required due to a row of challenges compared to classical analysis pipelines optimized for coding RNA expression analysis. Here, we present the bioinformatic pipeline CALINCA as a solution for this problem. CALINCA automatically analyzes datasets from murine FSGS models and quantifies both annotated and de novo assembled lncRNAs. In addition, the tool provides in-depth information on podocyte specificity of these lncRNAs, as well as evolutionary conservation and expression in human datasets making this pipeline a crucial basis to lncRNA studies in FSGS.

Blood Circulating miRNAs as Cancer Biomarkers for Diagnosis and Surgical Treatment Response.

miRNAs can function as potential oncogenes or tumor suppressors. Altered expression of these molecules was correlated with the occurrence of many cancer diseases and therefore they are considered a molecular tool for non-invasive cancer diagnosis and prognosis. We searched for analyses concerning expression of blood circulating miRNA in cancer patients. The studies comprised of at least two miRNA expression measurements: before and after the surgical therapy were considered. We summarized latest reports on evaluation of the efficiency of anticancer therapy through observation of changes in expression of miRNA circulating in blood of patients treated with surgery alone. Twenty one research studies were identified. Thirty one different miRNAs were pointed out as potential both diagnostic and treatment response biomarkers since their deregulated expression before therapy returned to normal after receiving the treatment. Published data revealed a potential of circulating miRNA to become a tool giving a clinical follow up information on the efficiency of applied therapy. However, more observational studies on post-operative circulating miRNA expression changes are necessary.