FTO is Associated with Patient Prognosis and Immune Infiltrates in Gastric Cancer and Regulates TGF-ß Expression.

AIMS: This study aimed to examine the associations of FTO expression with prognosis, tumor microenvironment (TME), immune cell infiltration, immune checkpoint genes, and relevant signaling pathways in GC. Furthermore, the relationship between FTO and TGF-ß was studied in GC. METHODS: The mRNA expression and clinical survival data of GC samples were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas Stomach Adenocarcinoma (TCGA-STAD). TIMER2, TNM plot, and GEPIA database were used to analyze FTO expression. The associations of FTO with prognosis and clinicopathologic features were assessed using the Kaplan-Meier plotter and UALCAN database, respectively. The R software was employed to analyze its related signaling pathways and the associations with TME, immune cell infiltration, and immune checkpoint genes. GEPIA and ENCORI were used to examine the association of FTO with TGF-ß expression. The SRAMP website was utilized to predict m6A modification of TGF-ß. IHC, Western blot, and qPCR were used to analyze the expression levels of FTO and TGF-ß in clinical gastric cancer tissue samples or gastric cancer cell lines. In addition, a m6A RNA methylation assay kit was used to determine m6A levels in gastric cancer cells. RESULTS: FTO mRNA and protein levels were significantly elevated in GC compared to normal gastric tissues. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis suggested that upregulated FTO was associated with a worse prognosis in GC. Upregulated FTO was markedly correlated with differentiation degree, lymph node metastasis, and clinical TNM stage. GO and KEGG pathway analyses revealed that FTO-associated molecules were enriched in neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, calcium signaling, PI3k-Akt signaling, cAMP signaling pathways, and TGF-ß signaling pathways, among others. The TME score was remarkably higher in the high-FTO group than in the low-FTO group. Furthermore, FTO expression had positive correlations with different types of immune cells and immune checkpoint genes. Moreover, FTO may regulate TGF-ß in an m6A RNA modification manner in GC. CONCLUSION: FTO may become an independent predictive prognostic biomarker correlating with TME, immune cell infiltration, and immune checkpoint genes in gastric cancer and might influence GC progression by regulating TGF-ß expression.

Macrophage-derived GSDMD promotes abdominal aortic aneurysm and aortic smooth muscle cells pyroptosis.

Macrophage is a vital factor in determining the fate of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). The crosstalk between macrophage and other cells plays a crucial role in the development of aneurysm. Gasdermin D (GSDMD) is a vital executive protein of pyroptosis, which is a novel programmed cell death associated with inflammation. In this study, we identified aortic macrophage as the main expressing cell of GSDMD in AAA. Using Gsdmd-/-ApoE-/- mouse and AAV-F4/80-shGSDMD, we demonstrated the potential role of macrophage-derived GSDMD in AAA and aortic pyroptosis induced by Ang II in vivo. In vitro experiments showed that GSDMD promotes the pyroptosis of mouse primary peritoneal macrophages (MPMs), murine aortic vascular smooth muscle cells (MOVAS) and primary smooth muscle cells. Mechanistically, a mouse cytokine antibody array showed that Gsdmd-/- inhibited LPS + nigericin (LN)- induced secretion of multiple cytokines from MPMs. Furthermore, GSDMD is involved in the crosstalk between MPMs and MOVAS via cytokine secretion. This study provides a novel fundamental insight into macrophage-derived GSDMD in AAA and showed that GSDMD could be a promising therapeutic target for AAA.

FSO2 Radical-Initiated Tandem Addition Reaction of Two Different Olefins: A Facile Access to Multifunctional Aliphatic Sulfonyl Fluorides.

Multicomponent reactions represent a powerful method for building complex molecules from structurally simple starting materials. Herein, we report a novel three-component radical-polar crossover reaction involving a tandem addition reaction of two different olefins, which is initiated by the selective addition of fluorosulfonyl radicals to alkyl alkenes. This tandem process provides facile and effective access to multiple functionalized aliphatic sulfonyl fluoride molecules. Further transformation of the products is also demonstrated.

Introducing A New Class of Sulfonyl Fluoride Hubs via Radical Chloro-Fluorosulfonylation of Alkynes.

Sulfonyl fluorides have widespread applications in many important fields, including ligation chemistry, chemical biology, and drug discovery. Therefore, new methods to increase the synthetic efficiency and expand the available structures of sulfonyl fluorides are highly in demand. Here, we introduce a new and powerful class of sulfonyl fluoride hubs, ß-chloro alkenylsulfonyl fluorides (BCASF), which can be constructed via radical chloro-fluorosulfonyl difunctionalization of alkynes under photoredox conditions. BCASF molecules exhibit versatile reactivities and well undergo a series of transformations at the chloride site while keeping the sulfonyl fluoride group intact, including reduction, Suzuki coupling, Sonogashira coupling, as well as nucleophilic substitution with various nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur nucleophiles. By using BCASF as a synthetic hub, a wide range of sulfonyl fluorides becomes readily accessible, such as cis alkenylsulfonyl fluorides, dienylsulfonyl fluorides, and ynenylsulfonyl fluorides, which are challenging or even not possible to synthesize before with the known methods. Moreover, further application of BCASF to the late-stage modification of peptides and drugs is also demonstrated.

Hypoxia induces senescence of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells via altered gut microbiota.

Systemic chronic hypoxia is a feature of many diseases and may influence the communication between bone marrow (BM) and gut microbiota. Here we analyse patients with cyanotic congenital heart disease (CCHD) who are experiencing chronic hypoxia and characterize the association between bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and gut microbiome under systemic hypoxia. We observe premature senescence of BMSCs and abnormal D-galactose accumulation in patients with CCHD. The hypoxia that these patients experience results in an altered diversity of gut microbial communities, with a remarkable decrease in the number of Lactobacilli and a noticeable reduction in the amount of enzyme-degraded D-galactose. Replenishing chronic hypoxic rats with Lactobacillus reduced the accumulation of D-galactose and restored the deficient BMSCs. Together, our findings show that chronic hypoxia predisposes BMSCs to premature senescence, which may be due to gut dysbiosis and thus induced D-galactose accumulation.