Lysyl Oxidase 3 Is a Dual-Specificity Enzyme Involved in STAT3 Deacetylation and Deacetylimination Modulation.

In mammalian cells, histone deacetylase (HDAC) and Sirtuin (SIRT) are two families responsible for removing acetyl groups from acetylated proteins. Here, we describe protein deacetylation coupled with deacetylimination as a function of lysyl oxidase (LOX) family members. LOX-like 3 (Loxl3) associates with Stat3 in the nucleus to deacetylate and deacetyliminate Stat3 on multiple acetyl-lysine sites. Surprisingly, Loxl3 N-terminal scavenger receptor cysteine-rich (SRCR) repeats, rather than the C-terminal oxidase catalytic domain, represent the major deacetylase/deacetyliminase activity. Loxl3-mediated deacetylation/deacetylimination disrupts Stat3 dimerization, abolishes Stat3 transcription activity, and restricts cell proliferation. In Loxl3-/- mice, Stat3 is constitutively acetylated and naive CD4+ T cells are potentiated in Th17/Treg cell differentiation. When overexpressed, the SRCR repeats from other LOX family members can catalyze protein deacetylation/deacetylimination. Thus, our findings delineate a hitherto-unknown mechanism of protein deacetylation and deacetylimination catalyzed by lysyl oxidases.

IgA nephropathy: gut microbiome regulates the production of hypoglycosilated IgA1 via the TLR4 signaling pathway.

BACKGROUND: Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) is a major cause of primary glomerulonephritis characterized by mesangial deposits of galactose-deficient IgA1 (Gd-IgA1). Toll-like receptors (TLRs), particularly TLR4, are involved in the pathogenesis of IgAN. The role of gut microbiota on IgAN patients was recently investigated. However, whether gut microbial modifications of Gd-IgA1 through TLR4 play a role in IgAN remains unclear. METHODS: We recruited subjects into four groups, including 48 patients with untreated IgAN, 22 treated IgAN patients (IgANIT), 22 primary membranous nephropathy and 31 healthy controls (HCs). Fecal samples were collected to analyze changes in gut microbiome. Gd-IgA1 levels, expression of TLR4, B-cell stimulators and intestinal barrier function were evaluated in all subjects. C57BL/6 mice were treated with a broad-spectrum antibiotic cocktail to deplete the gut microbiota and then gavaged with fecal microbiota transplanted from clinical subjects of every group. Gd-IgA1 and TLR4 pathway were detected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from IgAN and HCs co-incubated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and TLR4 inhibitor. RESULTS: Compared with the other three groups, different compositions and decreased diversity demonstrated gut dysbiosis in the untreated IgAN group, especially the enrichment of Escherichia-Shigella. Elevated Gd-IgA1 levels were found in untreated IgAN patients and correlated with gut dysbiosis, TLR4, B-cell stimulators, indexes of intestinal barrier damage and proinflammatory cytokines. In vivo, mice colonized with gut microbiota from IgAN and IgANIT patients mimicked the IgAN phenotype with the activation of TLR4/MyD88/nuclear factor-κB pathway and B-cell stimulators in the intestine, and had with enhanced proinflammatory cytokines. In vitro, LPS activated TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB pathway, B-cell stimulators and proinflammatory cytokines in PBMCs of IgAN patients. This process may induce the overproduction of Gd-IgA1, which was inhibited by TLR4 inhibitors. CONCLUSIONS: Our results illustrated that the gut-kidney axis is involved in the pathogenesis of IgAN. Gut dysbiosis could stimulate the overproduction of Gd-IgA1 via TLR4 signaling pathway production and B-cell stimulators.

Full-resolution and full-dynamic-range coded aperture compressive temporal imaging.

Coded aperture compressive temporal imaging (CACTI) aims to capture a sequence of video frames in a single shot, using an off-the-shelf 2D sensor. This approach effectively increases the frame rate of the sensor while reducing data throughput requirements. However, previous CACTI systems have encountered challenges such as limited spatial resolution and a narrow dynamic range, primarily resulting from suboptimal optical modulation and sampling schemes. In this Letter, we present a highly efficient CACTI system that addresses these challenges by employing precise one-to-one pixel mapping between the sensor and modulator, while using structural gray scale masks instead of binary masks. Moreover, we develop a hybrid convolutional-Transformer deep network for accurate reconstruction of the captured frames. Both simulated and real data experiments demonstrate the superiority of our proposed system over previous approaches, exhibiting significant improvements in terms of spatial resolution and dynamic range.

Ampicillin exacerbates acetaminophen-induced acute liver injury by inducing intestinal microbiota imbalance and butyrate reduction.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Antibiotics (ATBx) and acetaminophen (APAP) are widely used worldwide. APAP is the most common cause of acute liver injury (ALI) and might be used in combination with ATBx in clinics. However, the impact of ATBx on APAP-induced ALI has rarely been studied. METHODS: First, we compared the effects of seven ATBx on APAP-induced ALI. Then, we analysed faecal, serum and liver samples to investigate the impact of the gut microbiota on this process. Finally, we assessed the role of short-chain fatty acids in this process. RESULTS: In this work, we found that the ALI was significantly aggravated in the mice treated with ampicillin (Amp) instead of other ATBx. Amp exposure reduced the diversity and altered the composition of gut microbiota. The altered gut microbiota aggravated APAP-induced ALF, which was proven by faecal microbiota transplantation from ATBx-treated mice. Metagenomic analysis showed a significantly decreased Lactobacillus abundance in Amp-treated mice. Gavage with Lactobacillus, especially Lactobacillus rhamnosus, significantly reversed the severer ALF induced by APAP and Amp. Moreover, Lactobacillus supplementation increased butyrate-producing clostridia and lowered butyrate levels in Amp-treated mice. In accordance, butyrate supplementation could also alleviate Amp-aggravated ALI. In addition, inhibition of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 counteracted the protective effect of butyrate on aggravated ALI induced by Amp and APAP. CONCLUSION: Together, this study revealed a potential health impact of Amp that may exacerbate liver damage when co-exposed to excess APAP.

Host ALDH2 deficiency aggravates nonalcoholic steatohepatitis through gut-liver axis.

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is the major cause of liver dysfunction. Animal and population studies have shown that mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) is implicated in fatty liver disease. However, the role of ALDH2 in NASH and the underlying mechanisms remains unclear. To address this issue, ALDH2 knockout (ALDH2-/-) mice and wild-type littermate mice were fed a methionine-and choline-deficient (MCD) diet to induce a NASH model. Fecal, serum, and liver samples were collected and analyzed to investigate the impact of the gut microbiota and bile acids on this process. We found that MCD-fed ALDH2-/- mice exhibited increased serum pro-inflammation cytokines, hepatic inflammation and fat accumulation than their wild-type littermates. MCD-fed ALDH2-/- mice exhibited worsened MCD-induced intestinal inflammation and barrier damage, and gut microbiota disorder. Furthermore, mice receiving microbiota from MCD-fed ALDH2-/- mice had increased severity of NASH compared to those receiving microbiota from MCD-fed wild-type mice. Notably, the intestinal Lactobacillus was significantly reduced in MCD-fed ALDH2-/- mice, and gavage with Lactobacillus cocktail significantly improved MCD-induced NASH. Finally, we found that ALDH2-/- mice had reduced levels of bile salt hydrolase and specific bile acids, especially lithocholic acid (LCA), accompanied by downregulated expression of the intestinal FXR-FGF15 pathway. Supplementation of LCA in ALDH2-/- mice upregulated intestinal FXR-FGF15 pathway and alleviated NASH. In summary, ALDH2 plays a critical role in the development of NASH through modulation of gut microbiota and bile acid. The findings suggest that supplementing with Lactobacillus or LCA could be a promising therapeutic approach for treating NASH exacerbated by ALDH2 deficiency.

An Energy-Restricted Diet Including Yogurt, Fruit, and Vegetables Alleviates High-Fat Diet-Induced Metabolic Syndrome in Mice by Modulating the Gut Microbiota.

BACKGROUND: The importance of the composition of an energy-restricted diet in the treatment of metabolic syndrome (MetS) is unknown. OBJECTIVES: In this study we aimed to investigate the benefits of a novel dietary treatment (50% calorie restriction diet composed of yogurt, fruit, and vegetables [CR-YD]) in mice with MetS. METHODS: Forty 7-wk-old male C57BL/6 J mice were randomly assigned to 4 groups (n = 10/group) that were fed for 14 wk ad libitum with a normal diet (ND; 10%:70%:20% energy from fat: carbohydrate: protein) or for 12 wk with a high-fat diet (HFD; 60:20:20) or the HFD followed by 2 wk of feeding with a 50% calorie-restricted HFD (CR-HFD) or YD (CR-YD, 21.2%:65.4%:13.4% energy). Body weight, fat deposition, hepatic steatosis, serum concentrations of inflammatory biomarkers, and glucose homeostasis were assessed. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) was used to validate the roles of gut microbiota in MetS. RESULTS: The HFD group had 50% greater body weight and 475% greater fat deposition than the ND group (P < 0.05). Compared with the HFD group, the CR-HFD and CR-YD groups had 22% and 31% lower body weight and 49% and 75% less fat deposition, respectively (P < 0.05). Compared with the CR-HFD group, the CR-YD group had 11% lower body weight, 96% less fat deposition, 500% less hepatic steatosis, 75% lower glucose, and 450% more hepatic Akkermansia bacteria (P < 0.05). The CR-YD group also had 50% lower histopathology scores and 1.35-fold higher levels of Claudin4 than the CR-HFD group (P < 0.05). The HFD + CR-YD fecal group had 10.6% lower body weight, 119% lower steatosis, and 17.9% lower glucose (P < 0.05) than the HFD + CR-HFD fecal group. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with CR alone, the CR-YD diet has a better therapeutic effect in mice with HFD-induced MetS.

Fatty liver is a sensitive early warning for hypertension and its complication in the Chinese population.

OBJECTIVE: The patient of hypertension and its complication increase fast in the past years. Obesity is thought to be a risk factor for hypertension, and BMI (body mass index) is widely used to evaluate the obesity and hypertension risk. However, the abdominal obesity and visceral fat accumulation are more obvious in the East Asian population. The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive value of fatty liver for hypertension in the Chinese population. METHOD: We compared the predictive value of BMI and fatty liver for the hypertension and its complication in 1386 patients with hypertension in Shanghai China. RESULTS: In the analysis of 1386 patients with hypertension in Shanghai China, we found that the prevalence and risk of hypertension and its complications were higher in the fatty liver group than that in the group of BMI≥24. Furthermore, the areas under the ROC curve of fatty liver for hypertension and its complications were superior to that of BMI. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that fatty liver is a more sensitive early warning for hypertension and its complication than BMI in Chinese population.

Non-Local Temporal Difference Network for Temporal Action Detection.

As an important part of video understanding, temporal action detection (TAD) has wide application scenarios. It aims to simultaneously predict the boundary position and class label of every action instance in an untrimmed video. Most of the existing temporal action detection methods adopt a stacked convolutional block strategy to model long temporal structures. However, most of the information between adjacent frames is redundant, and distant information is weakened after multiple convolution operations. In addition, the durations of action instances vary widely, making it difficult for single-scale modeling to fit complex video structures. To address this issue, we propose a non-local temporal difference network (NTD), including a chunk convolution (CC) module, a multiple temporal coordination (MTC) module, and a temporal difference (TD) module. The TD module adaptively enhances the motion information and boundary features with temporal attention weights. The CC module evenly divides the input sequence into N chunks, using multiple independent convolution blocks to simultaneously extract features from neighboring chunks. Therefore, it realizes the information delivered from distant frames while avoiding trapping into the local convolution. The MTC module designs a cascade residual architecture, which realizes the multiscale temporal feature aggregation without introducing additional parameters. The NTD achieves a state-of-the-art performance on two large-scale datasets, 36.2% mAP@avg and 71.6% mAP@0.5 on ActivityNet-v1.3 and THUMOS-14, respectively.

Calorie restriction conferred improvement effect on long-term rehabilitation of ischemic stroke via gut microbiota.

Calorie restriction can modulate the gut microbiota and protect against many diseases including ischemic stroke. However, the role of calorie-restriction-induced microbiota alteration remained unknown in ischemic stroke rehabilitation. Here we conducted 30% reduction of caloric intake on mice for four weeks, to evaluate its role on ischemic stroke rehabilitation. Significantly, this calorie restriction led to better long-term rehabilitation in comparison of normal control. Notably, the transplantation of gut microbiome from calorie-restriction-treated mice to post-stroke mice was eligible to obtain better long-term rehabilitation of stroke mice. Bifidobacterium identified by 16 S ribosomal RNA sequencing were enriched in those of calorie-restriction mice. Then we administrated Bifidobacterium to stroke mice and found Bifidobacterium treatment could successfully improve the long-term rehabilitation of cerebral ischemia mice. Furthermore, the metabolomics analysis revealed a panel of upshifting metabolites, suggesting that calorie restriction greatly altered the gut microbiota composition and its metabolism. Hence, we discovered the novel effect of CR on long-term rehabilitation of ischemic stroke and the underlying role of gut microbiota, which might provide novel thoughts for the clinical post-stroke rehabilitation.

EFTUD2 gene deficiency disrupts osteoblast maturation and inhibits chondrocyte differentiation via activation of the p53 signaling pathway.

BACKGROUND: Mandibulofacial dysostosis with microcephaly (MFDM) is characteristic of multiple skeletal anomalies comprising craniofacial anomalies/dysplasia, microcephaly, dysplastic ears, choanal atresia, and short stature. Heterozygous loss of function variants of EFTUD2 was previously reported in MFDM; however, the mechanism underlying EFTUD2-associated skeletal dysplasia remains unclear. RESULTS: We identified a novel frameshift variant of EFTUD2 (c.1030_1031delTG, p.Trp344fs*2) in an MFDM Chinese patient with craniofacial dysmorphism including ear canal structures and microcephaly, mild intellectual disability, and developmental delay. We generated a zebrafish model of eftud2 deficiency, and a consistent phenotype consisting of mandibular bone dysplasia and otolith loss was observed. We also showed that EFTUD2 deficiency significantly inhibited proliferation, differentiation, and maturation in human calvarial osteoblast (HCO) and human articular chondrocyte (HC-a) cells. RNA-Seq analysis uncovered activated TP53 signaling with increased phosphorylation of the TP53 protein and upregulation of five TP53 downstream target genes (FAS, STEAP3, CASP3, P21, and SESN1) both in HCO and in eftud2-/- zebrafish. Additionally, inhibition of p53 by morpholino significantly reduced the mortality of eftud2-/- larvae. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm a novel de novo variant of the EFTUD2 gene and suggest that EFTUD2 may participate in the maturation and differentiation of osteoblasts and chondrocytes, possibly via activation of the TP53 signaling pathway. Thus, mutations in this gene may lead to skeletal anomalies in vertebrates.

JMJD5 cleaves monomethylated histone H3 N-tail under DNA damaging stress.

The histone H3 N-terminal protein domain (N-tail) is regulated by multiple posttranslational modifications, including methylation, acetylation, phosphorylation, and by proteolytic cleavage. However, the mechanism underlying H3 N-tail proteolytic cleavage is largely elusive. Here, we report that JMJD5, a Jumonji C (JmjC) domain-containing protein, is a Cathepsin L-type protease that mediates histone H3 N-tail proteolytic cleavage under stress conditions that cause a DNA damage response. JMJD5 clips the H3 N-tail at the carboxyl side of monomethyl-lysine (Kme1) residues. In vitro H3 peptide digestion reveals that JMJD5 exclusively cleaves Kme1 H3 peptides, while little or no cleavage effect of JMJD5 on dimethyl-lysine (Kme2), trimethyl-lysine (Kme3), or unmethyl-lysine (Kme0) H3 peptides is observed. Although H3 Kme1 peptides of K4, K9, K27, and K36 can all be cleaved by JMJD5 in vitro, K9 of H3 is the major cleavage site in vivo, and H3.3 is the major H3 target of JMJD5 cleavage. Cleavage is enhanced at gene promoters bound and repressed by JMJD5 suggesting a role for H3 N-tail cleavage in gene expression regulation.

A real-world study of socioeconomic factors with survival in adults aged 18-64 years with renal cell carcinoma.

Aim: To evaluate the impact of socioeconomic factors (SEFs) on survival of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients. Materials & methods: RCC patients diagnosed between 2007 and 2015 were collected from the SEER database. The crude and multivariate Cox regression analysis was used to identify the independent prognostic factors and quantity the mortality risks for overall survival (OS). Results: Three SEFs including marital status, insurance status and median household income were identified as prognostic factors for OS. SEF-stage was built based on the three SEFs. Moreover, the SEF-stage 1 had superior OS than SEF-stage 2 within the respective American Joint Committee on Cancer stages. Conclusion: The SEF-stage was an independently prognostic factor for OS in RCC. Incorporation of SEF-stage into the American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system might be beneficial for better survival prediction and clinical management. However, further studies were needed to validate these findings in other populations.

Annonaceous acetogenin mimic AA005 suppresses human colon cancer cell growth in vivo through downregulation of Mcl-1.

Annonaceous acetogenins are a well-established family of natural products with significant bioactivities, especially high cytotoxic and antitumor activities. AA005 is an annonaceous acetogenin mimic that has shown significant cytotoxicity against a variety of cancer cell lines, but its in vivo antitumor effects have not been demonstrated so far, and its anticancer mechanisms remain ambiguous. In this study, we investigated the effects of AA005 on human colon cancer cell lines in vivo. Human colon carcinoma cell line SW620 xenograft nude mice were treated with AA005 (5 mg/kg/day, i.p.) for 21 days. AA005 administration markedly inhibited the tumor growth via promoting nuclear translocation of apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) and inducing AIF-dependent cell death. Subsequent studies in human colon carcinoma cell lines SW620 and RKO in vitro revealed that after the colon cancer cells exposed to AA005, downregulation of a B-cell lymphoma 2 family protein, myeloid cell leukemia-1 (Mcl-1), was an early event due to the inhibition of Mcl-1 mRNA level and protein synthesis in a time-dependent manner. Intriguingly, knockdown of Mcl-1 using small interfering RNA markedly accelerated the nuclear translocation of AIF and upregulation of receptor interacting protein-1, and enhanced AA005-mediated lethality, whereas ectopic expression of Mcl-1 substantially attenuated AA005-mediated lethality in the colon cancer cells. Finally, silencing Mcl-1 expression markedly enhanced AA005-induced lethality in SW620 xenograft nude mice, demonstrating a pivotal role of Mcl-1 downregulation in mediating the in vivo antitumor effects of AA005. Taken together, this study demonstrates for the first time the anticancer effects of AA005 against human colon cancer cell lines in vivo, which is mediated through the downregulation of Mcl-1.

Longevity-Associated Forkhead Box O3 (FOXO3) Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms are Associated with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Chinese Elderly Women.

BACKGROUND This study aimed to investigate the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of Forkhead box O3 (FOXO3) gene with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). MATERIAL AND METHODS A total of 843 elderly residents from east China were enrolled in this study, which included 426 patients with type 2 diabetes and 417 controls. Four SNPs were analyzed by qPCR. Genotype frequencies of the 4 SNPs in FOXO3 of the patients and controls were analyzed using logistic regression analysis. The association between each SNP and clinical indicators was analyzed by linear regression analysis. RESULTS None of the 4 FOXO3 variants, rs13217795, rs2764264, rs2802292, and rs13220810, were associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes compared to controls. However, rs13217795, rs2764264, and rs2802292 were associated with lower blood glucose levels. Notably, further subgroup analysis indicated that the longevity-associated alleles of FOXO3 SNP (rs13217795, rs2764264, and rs2802292) were associated with lower blood glucose levels in women (TC versus TT, -0.724 mmol/L, P=0.005; CC versus TT, -1.093 mmol/L, P=0.03; TC versus TT, -0.801 mmol/L, P=0.002; CC versus TT, -1.212 mmol/L, P=0.001; TG versus TT, -0.754 mmol/L, P=0.004; and GG versus TT, -1.150 mmol/L, P=0.001) but not in men. CONCLUSIONS The results indicated that longevity-associated FOXO3 variants were correlated with lower blood glucose levels in elderly women with type 2 diabetes in east China.

Use of magnetic resonance imaging combined with gene analysis for the diagnosis of fetal congenital heart disease.

BACKGROUND: Fetal deformity is a disease caused by abnormal chromosome structure, which may be influenced by genetic factors as well as the maternal and external environment. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be used to effectively diagnose fetus deformities. However it has been reported that gene analysis is a more accurate diagnostic method. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of MRI in combination with gene analysis for the diagnosis of fetal congenital heart disease, a form of fetus deformity. METHODS: MRI, array comparative genome hybridization analysis and fluorescence in situ hybridization were used to analyze the effectiveness of the two methods in a total of 78 pregnant women with suspected fetal congenital heart disease. RESULTS: Our findings demonstrated that the combination of MRI and gene analysis resulted in significantly improved diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity and specificity for fetal congenital heart disease compared with either method alone. MRI combined with gene analysis confirmed 42 fetuses with pulmonary stenosis, 24 with aortic stenosis and 12 healthy fetuses, which was significantly improved compared with MRI or gene analysis alone. It was also observed that gene analysis was a more efficient method of diagnosis compared with MRI; however, the combination of the two methods was the most effective. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the results of the present study suggest that MRI combined with gene analysis may be a more effective diagnostic method for fetal congenital heart disease compared with the current protocol.

Alcohol and HBV synergistically promote hepatic steatosis.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Hepatitis virus and alcohol are the main factors leading to liver damage. Synergy between hepatitis B virus (HBV) and alcohol in promoting liver cell damage and disease progression has been reported. However, the interaction of HBV and ethanol in hepatic steatosis development has not been fully elucidated. METHODS: Eight-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were treated with or without HBV, ethanol, or the combination of HBV and ethanol (HBV+EtOH), followed by a three-week high-fat diet (HFD) regimen. Liver histology, serum biomarkers, and liver triglyceride levels were analysed. Furthermore, a meta-analysis of the effects of alcohol and HBV on hepatic steatosis in populations was performed. RESULTS: Hepatic steatosis was significantly more severe in the HBV+EtOH group than in the other groups. The serum alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and liver triglyceride levels in the HBV+EtOH group were also significantly higher than those in the other groups. The HBeAg and HBsAg levels in the HBV+EtOH group were significantly higher than those in the pair-fed HBV-infected mice. In addition, the meta-analysis showed that alcohol consumption increased the risk of hepatic steatosis by 43% in HBV-infected patients (pooled risk ratio (RR)=1.43, P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol and HBV synergistically promote high-fat diet-induced hepatic steatosis in mice. In addition, alcohol consumption increases the risk of hepatic steatosis in HBV-infected patients.

ALDH2 and Cancer Therapy.

Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) is a member of ALDH family. ALDH1 has been widely recognized for its roles in carcinogenesis and cancer therapy; however, investigation for ALDH2 in cancer is seldom mentioned. The ALDH2 point mutation ALDH2*2 is the most frequent human gene variant, and it is present in approximately 560 million East Asians. ALDH2*2 demonstrates its effect on alcohol consumption limiting and alcoholism developing protection, and this variant is recently found to have an important impact on human health. This chapter focuses on its potential effect on cancer therapy, especially for chemotherapeutics with anthracyclines.

Polymorphism of the DNA methyltransferase 1 gene is associated with the susceptibility to essential hypertension in male.

Essential hypertension is a leading global public health issue, billions of people suffered from it every year. Recently, multiple evidence suggests that DNA methylation play an important role in regulating blood pressure. Here, we tested the risk for essential hypertension conferred by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1). Three loci (rs2228611, rs2228612, and rs16999593) were selected to be analyzed in 3410 cases and 1307 normal controls in southern Chinese aged 60 or above. No significant association with essential hypertension was observed for rs2228612 and rs16999593. A higher risk of essential hypertension was found in the minor A allele of rs2228611 in the codominant and recessive model (P < 0.05). After stratified by sex, this association was found in male but not female. Furthermore, this difference was abolished after BMI adjustment in the whole population and reduced in male. In addition, the mutation rate of rs2228611 was higher in the obesity group compared with the normal weight group of male. Intriguingly, rs2228611 was also a risk factor of essential hypertension in normal weight male. These findings indicated that rs2228611 might contribute to male hypertension via BMI-dependent mechanisms in obesity male and BMI-independent mechanisms in normal weight male.

The ALDH2 gene rs671 polymorphism is not associated with essential hypertension.

Essential hypertension (EH) is a worldwide problem. Acetaldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) gene has been suggested to be correlated with EH. However, the results are inconsistent. This study aimed to investigate the associations of ALDH2 rs671 polymorphism with EH in a Chinese Han population in Shanghai. Genotype of ALDH2 rs671 was analyzed in 1923 EH patients and 1115 control subjects. We found no association between ALDH2 rs671 and EH risk or EH-related quantitative blood chemistry values. Furthermore, a meta-analysis was performed and the summary results from 11220 patients and 8339 control subjects were consistent with our findings. These results indicated that rs671 of ALDH2 may not associate with the risk of EH.

Cracking the ANP32 whips: important functions, unequal requirement, and hints at disease implications.

The acidic (leucine-rich) nuclear phosphoprotein 32 kDa (ANP32) family is composed of small, evolutionarily conserved proteins characterized by an N-terminal leucine-rich repeat domain and a C-terminal low-complexity acidic region. The mammalian family members (ANP32A, ANP32B, and ANP32E) are ascribed physiologically diverse functions including chromatin modification and remodelling, apoptotic caspase modulation, protein phosphatase inhibition, as well as regulation of intracellular transport. In addition to reviewing the widespread literature on the topic, we present a concept of the ANP32s as having a whip-like structure. We also present hypotheses that ANP32C and other intronless sequences should not currently be considered bona fide family members, that their disparate necessity in development may be due to compensatory mechanisms, that their contrasting roles in cancer are likely context-dependent, along with an underlying hypothesis that ANP32s represent an important node of physiological regulation by virtue of their diverse biochemical activities.