The role and mechanism of epidermal growth factor receptor in hemodynamic induction of abdominal aortic aneurysm formation.

Background: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a serious threat to human health, and in the event of aneurysm rupture, the rates of disability and mortality are high. At present, the treatment of AAA mainly includes craniotomy and endovascular therapy. With advances in technology, although the safety of the treatment is improving, there is still a risk associated with surgery. Therefore, the exploration of non-invasive treatment options for aneurysms is worthwhile. The etiology of aneurysms must be investigated to identify the target of non-invasive treatment. Methods: In the experimental group, bilateral common carotid arteries were ligated, while in the control group, bilateral common carotid arteries were exposed. After 5 days, the rabbits were sacrificed, and the hearts were perfused with normal saline. Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) of abdominal aorta were isolated by enzyme digestion. Total RNA was extracted from SMC samples and detected using an Agilent Rabbit 4×44K Gene Expression Microarray. Then, some genes were selected and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was conducted to verify the credibility of the chip results. Finally, Gene Ontology (GO) analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis were performed. The transcriptome contained in the identified differentially expressed gene (DEG) was analyzed. Results: Microarray revealed 947 DEGs, of which 617 genes were increased and 330 genes were decreased in the experimental group compared with the control group. The microchips of PTHLH, ENPP1, IGF1, and others were selected to verify the altered genes by PCR. Conclusions: The gene expression of rabbit abdominal aorta SMCs was significantly changed under high blood flow load. Through data analysis, it was found that some specific genes and transcription factors may play an important role in hemodynamically-induced vascular remodeling.

lncRNA JPX modulates malignant progress of osteosarcoma through targeting miR-33a-5p and PNMA1 regulatory loop.

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a common type of bone tumor, present worldwide, that has distal metastasis ability. Although continuous development in cancer therapy has taken place, there are still no effective metastasis-curbing strategies for OS available. Hence, a better understanding of the biological characteristics and molecular mechanisms of OS carcinogenesis is urgently needed. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have captured great interest among cancer scientists with considerable potential implications for cancer treatment. In this study, we found that lncRNA JPX was up-regulated in OS tissues and cells. We subsequently examined the functional role of JPX in OS cells through knocked-down JPX by using siRNA. JPX down-regulation was observed to suppress OS cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Furthermore, it was verified that JPX acts as a sponge for miR-33a-5p, and that JPX regulated OS cell proliferation, migration and invasion through miR-33a-5p. Moreover, down-regulation of miR-33a-5p in OS contributed to PNMA1 upregulation, and PNMA1 depletion inhibited OS cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro. Taken together, our data support an important role of JPX in regulating OS cell proliferation, invasion and migration that highlights JPX may be a potential therapeutic target for OS.

Detection of microRNA-335-5p on an Interdigitated Electrode Surface for Determination of the Severity of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) refers to the enlargement of the lower artery of the abdominal aorta, and identification of an early detection tool is urgently needed for diagnosis. In the current study, an interdigitated electrode (IDE) sensing surface was used to identify miRNA-335-5p, which reflects the formation of AAAs. The uniformity of the silica material was observed by 3D profilometry, and the chemically modified highly conductive surface improved the detection via the I-V mode. The targeted miRNA-335-5p was detected in a dose-dependent manner and based on linear regression and 3σ analyses, the sensitivity was determined to be 1 fM with a biotinylated probe. The high specificity was shown by discriminating the target sequence from noncomplementary and single- and triple-mismatched sequences. These outputs demonstrated the high-performance detection of miRNA-335-5p with good reproducibility for determination of the severity of AAA.