Integrating transcriptomics and proteomics to analyze the immune microenvironment of cytomegalovirus associated ulcerative colitis and identify relevant biomarkers.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, significant morbidity and mortality in patients with severe inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) have drawn considerable attention to the status of CMV infection in the intestinal mucosa of IBD patients and its role in disease progression. However, there is currently no high-throughput sequencing data for ulcerative colitis patients with CMV infection (CMV + UC), and the immune microenvironment in CMV + UC patients have yet to be explored. METHOD: The xCell algorithm was used for evaluate the immune microenvironment of CMV + UC patients. Then, WGCNA analysis was explored to obtain the co-expression modules between abnormal immune cells and gene level or protein level. Next, three machine learning approach include Random Forest, SVM-rfe, and Lasso were used to filter candidate biomarkers. Finally, Best Subset Selection algorithms was performed to construct the diagnostic model. RESULTS: In this study, we performed transcriptomic and proteomic sequencing on CMV + UC patients to establish a comprehensive immune microenvironment profile and found 11 specific abnormal immune cells in CMV + UC group. After using multi-omics integration algorithms, we identified seven co-expression gene modules and five co-expression protein modules. Subsequently, we utilized various machine learning algorithms to identify key biomarkers with diagnostic efficacy and constructed an early diagnostic model. We identified a total of eight biomarkers (PPP1R12B, CIRBP, CSNK2A2, DNAJB11, PIK3R4, RRBP1, STX5, TMEM214) that play crucial roles in the immune microenvironment of CMV + UC and exhibit superior diagnostic performance for CMV + UC. CONCLUSION: This 8 biomarkers model offers a new paradigm for the diagnosis and treatment of IBD patients post-CMV infection. Further research into this model will be significant for understanding the changes in the host immune microenvironment following CMV infection.

Sequential gastrodin release PU/n-HA composite scaffolds reprogram macrophages for improved osteogenesis and angiogenesis.

Wound healing is a highly orchestrated process involving a variety of cells, including immune cells. Developing immunomodulatory biomaterials for regenerative engineering applications, such as bone regeneration, is an appealing strategy. Herein, inspired by the immunomodulatory effects of gastrodin (a bioactive component in traditional Chinese herbal medicine), a series of new immunomodulatory gastrodin-comprising biodegradable polyurethane (gastrodin-PU) and nano-hydroxyapatite (n-HA) (gastrodin-PU/n-HA) composites were developed. RAW 264.7 macrophages, rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (rBMSCs), and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were cultured with gastrodin-PU/n-HA containing different concentrations of gastrodin (0.5%, 1%, and 2%) to decipher their immunomodulatory effects on osteogenesis and angiogenesis in vitro. Results demonstrated that, compared with PU/n-HA, gastrodin-PU/n-HA induced macrophage polarization toward the M2 phenotype, as evidenced by the higher expression level of pro-regenerative cytokines (CD206, Arg-1) and the lower expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (iNOS). The expression levels of osteogenesis-related factors (BMP-2 and ALP) in the rBMSCs and angiogenesis-related factors (VEGF and BFGF) in the HUVECs were significantly up-regulated in gastrodin-PU/n-HA/macrophage-conditioned medium. The immunomodulatory effects of gastrodin-PU/n-HA to reprogram macrophages from a pro-inflammatory (M1) phenotype to an anti-inflammatory and pro-healing (M2) phenotype were validated in a rat subcutaneous implantation model. And the 2% gastrodin-PU/n-HA significantly decreased fibrous capsule formation and enhanced angiogenesis. Additionally, 2% gastrodin-PU/n-HA scaffolds implanted in the rat femoral condyle defect model showed accelerated osteogenesis and angiogenesis. Thus, the novel gastrodin-PU/n-HA scaffold may represent a new and promising immunomodulatory biomaterial for bone repair and regeneration.

Research progress in the risk factors and screening assessment of dysphagia in the elderly.

With the aging of the population, the incidence of dysphagia has gradually increased and become a major clinical and public health issue. Early screening of dysphagia in high-risk populations is crucial to identify the risk factors of dysphagia and carry out effective interventions and health management in advance. In this study, the current epidemiology, hazards, risk factors, preventive, and therapeutic measures of dysphagia were comprehensively reviewed, and a literature review of screening instruments commonly used globally was conducted, focusing on their intended populations, main indicators, descriptions, and characteristics. According to analysis and research in the current study, previous studies of dysphagia were predominantly conducted in inpatients, and there are few investigations and screenings on the incidence and influencing factors of dysphagia in the community-dwelling elderly and of dysphagia developing in the natural aging process. Moreover, there are no unified, simple, economical, practical, safe, and easy-to-administer screening tools and evaluation standards for dysphagia in the elderly. It is imperative to focus on dysphagia in the community-dwelling elderly, develop unified screening and assessment tools, and establish an early warning model of risks and a dietary structure model for dysphagia in the community-dwelling elderly.

Research progress on transcranial magnetic stimulation for post-stroke dysphagia.

Dysphagia is one of the most common manifestations of stroke, which can affect as many as 50-81% of acute stroke patients. Despite the development of diverse treatment approaches, the precise mechanisms underlying therapeutic efficacy remain controversial. Earlier studies have revealed that the onset of dysphagia is associated with neurological damage. Neuroplasticity-based transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a recently introduced technique, is widely used in the treatment of post-stroke dysphagia (PSD) by increasing changes in neurological pathways through synaptogenesis, reorganization, network strengthening, and inhibition. The main objective of this review is to discuss the effectiveness, mechanisms, potential limitations, and prospects of TMS for clinical application in PSD rehabilitation, with a view to provide a reference for future research and clinical practice.

lncRNA TM4SF1-AS1 predicts dismal outcomes and promotes cholangiocarcinoma progression via modulating miR-744-3p.

BACKGROUND: Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is of great malignancy and high mortality. Identification of effective biomarkers could improve the monitoring of CCA development and attenuate patients' outcomes. OBJECTIVE: The potential of lncRNA TM4SF1-AS1 (TM4SF1-AS1) serving biomarker of CCA was estimated and the underlying mechanism was also investigated. METHODS: A total of 107 pairs of tumor and paracancer tissues were collected from CCA patients. The expression levels of TM4SF1-AS1 and miR-744-3p were analyzed in CCA by PCR, and their clinical significance was estimated by a series of statistical analyses. CCK8 and Transwell assays were used to assess the development-related cellular processes of CCA. The interaction between TM4SF1-AS1 and miR-774-3p was evaluated by cell transfection and dual-luciferase reporter assay. RESULTS: The elevated expression of TM4SF1-AS1 and the declined expression of miR-744-3p were observed in CCA. Both TM4SF1-AS1 and miR-744-3p were found to possess a close association with the malignant progression and poor prognosis of CCA patients. TM4SF1-AS1 was suggested to act as a tumor promoter of CCA, where miR-744-3p was found to mediate the function of TM4SF1-AS1. CONCLUSION: Both TM4SF1-AS1 and miR-744-3p were identified as prognostic biomarkers of CCA. TM4SF1-AS1 served as tumor promoter of CCA via modulating miR-744-3p.

CircRNA Circ-CCND1 Aggravates Hepatocellular Carcinoma Tumorigenesis by Regulating the miR-497-5p/HMGA2 Axis.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are key regulators in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumorigenesis and development, yet it is unclear whether circ-CCND1 participates in regulating HCC progression. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed for detecting the expressions of circ-CCND1, microRNA (miR) -497-5p, and high mobility group AT-hook 2 (HMGA2) mRNA in HCC tissues and cell lines. Subcellular fractionation assay was used to analyze the localization of circ-CCND1 in HCC cell lines. Loss-of-function experiments were conducted to examine the effects of circ-CCND1 on HCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Dual-luciferase reporter gene assay was employed for detecting the targeting relationships of circ-CCND1 and miR-497-5p, as well as miR-497-5p and HMGA2, respectively. Western blot was used to detect the regulatory functions of circ-CCND1 and miR-497-5p on HMGA1 expression at protein level. Circ-CCND1 and HMGA2 expressions in HCC were significantly up-regulated and miR-497-5p expression was markedly decreased. High circ-CCND1 expression was associated with relatively large tumor size and lymph node metastasis in HCC patients. In addition, circ-CCND1 was mainly distributed in the cytoplasm of HCC cells. Functionally, knockdown of circ-CCND1 remarkably suppressed HCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Mechanistically, miR-497-5p was a direct target of circ-CCND1 and miR-497-5p specifically modulated HMGA2 expression. Furthermore, miR-497-5p inhibitors and or HMGA2 overexpression partially counteracted the suppressing effect induced by si-circ-CCND1 on the malignant phenotype of HCC cells. Circ-CCND1 plays a cancer-promoting role in HCC by modulating the miR-497-5p/HMGA2 axis. Therefore, targeting circ-CCND1 is likely to be a promising therapeutic strategy for HCC.

Resveratrol induces proliferation in preosteoblast cell MC3T3-E1 via GATA-1 activating autophagy.

Resveratrol (RSV) could promote osteogenic activity, but its clinical application has been hampered in view of its poor bioavailability. Therefore, it is desirable to identify with certainty the molecular target of its bone mass boosting function, which is crucial to the design of an effective therapeutic strategy for the optimal treatment of osteoporosis. Emerging evidence has indicated that GATA-1, an important transcription factor in megakaryocyte and erythrocyte differentiation, can directly activate autophagy in erythrocytes, alluding to its impact on bone metabolism. In light of this, we sought to determine whether GATA-1 would be a putative target by which RSV would act on osteoblast proliferation and, if so, to explore the underlying mechanism involved in the process. We examined the cell viability, colony formation, cell cyclin expression, autophagy level, and the expression levels of GATA-1 and adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase α (AMPKα) in osteoblastic cell strain MC3T3-E1. The results showed that RSV promoted the proliferation process in MC3T3-E1 coupled with increased expression of GATA-1 and phosphorylated AMPKα and activated autophagy. When GATA-1 was interfered with siRNA, both autophagy and proliferation were decreased. Administration of the agonist of phosphorylated AMPKα1 (Thr172) promoted the translocation of GATA-1 into the nucleus. Based on the above results, we concluded that RSV induces the proliferation of MC3T3-E1 by increasing GATA-1 expression, which thence activates autophagy; and of note, AMPKα is one of the upstream regulators of GATA-1.

Antibacterial activity of silver nanoparticles target sara through srna-teg49, a key mediator of hfq, in staphylococcus aureus.

UNLABELLED: Attributed to its antimicrobial effect, Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) is widely used in various fields, such as biomedicine, textiles, health care products and food, etc. However, the antibacterial mechanism of AgNPs in staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) by regulating sRNA expression remains largely unknown. OBJECTIVES: This study was performed to investigate the involvement of the antibacterial mechanism of AgNPs through sRNA-TEG49, a key mediator of Hfq, in S. aureus. METHODS: Through the antimicrobial tests of AgNPs, its antibacterial laps and minimum inhibitory concentration was measured. A hierarchical cluster analysis of the differentially expressed sRNA in S. aureus was performed to investigate the relationship between AgNPs and sRNA. Expression of genes was analyzed by real-time PCR. RESULTS: In the present study we found that at the concentrations higher than 1 mg/L, AgNPs could completely restrain bacteria growth, and the antibacterial activity of AgNPs apparently declined at the concentrations lower than 1 mg/L. S. aureus exposure to AgNPs, the expression of sRNA-TEG49, Hfq and sarA was significantly up-regulated in wild-type S. aureus. Moreover, Hfq loss-of-function inhibited the expression of sRNA-TEG49 in mutant-type S. aureus. Furthermore, sRNA-TEG49 loss-of-function associated with down-regulation the expression of sarA in mutant-type S. aureus. CONCLUSIONS: It was reasonable that Hfq regulated a distinct underlying molecular and antibacterial mechanism of AgNPs by forming a positive feedback loop with sRNA-TEG49. These observations suggested that Hfq plays an important role in the antibacterial mechanism of AgNPs by regulating sRNA-TEG49 expression, via its target sarA.

Study on optimisation of extraction process of tanshinone IIA and its mechanism of induction of gastric cancer SGC7901 cell apoptosis.

The objective of this paper was to investigate the extraction process of tanshinone IIA and its mechanism of induction of gastric cancer SGC7901 cell apoptosis. Extraction process of tanshinone IIA was optimised by orthogonal experimental method, and its effect on gastric cancer SGC7901 cell apoptosis was observed using MTT assay and electron microscopy. The optimum extraction process of tanshinone IIA was as follows: addition of a 10-fold amount of 80% ethanol, one-time extraction, and extraction time of 45 minutes. The study concluded that tanshinone IIA can induce apoptosis of gastric cancer SGC7901 cells.