Lnc-216 regulates the miR-143-5p /MMP2 signaling axis aggravates retinal endothelial cell dysfunction.

PURPOSE: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a serious retinal vascular disease that affects many individuals in their prime working years. The present research aimed at whether and how LOC681216 (LNC-216) is involved in retinal vascular dysfunction under diabetic conditions. METHODS: Rat retinal microvascular endothelial cells (RRMECs) treated with high glucose (HG) were used for functional analysis. Gene expression analysis was conducted using the Clariom D Affymetrix platform. The wound healing, transwell, and vascular tube formation assays were used to identify the migration, invasion, and tube formation capability of RRMECs. The dual-luciferase reporter confirmed the binding interaction between miR-143-5p and LNC-216 or matrix metallopeptidase 2 (MMP2). RESULTS: Lnc-216 was upregulated in RRMECs treated with HG. Lnc-216 knockdown markedly suppressed the tube formation, cell migration, and wound healing of cultured RRMECs under HG conditions. Mechanistically, Lnc-216 acted as a miR-143-5p sponge to affect the biological activity of miR-143-5p, which led to increased expression of matrix metallopeptidase 2 (MMP2). CONCLUSIONS: Lnc-216 attenuates diabetic retinal vascular dysfunction through the miR-143-5p/MMP2 axis, providing a potential therapeutic strategy for DR.

Abnormal lens thickening in a child with Weill-Marchesani syndrome 4: A 3-year follow-up case report.

Background: Weill-Marchesani syndrome 4 (WMS4) is caused by ADAMTS17 gene variant and clinical abnormalities including lenticular myopia, ectopia lentis, glaucoma, microspherophakia, brachydactyly, and short stature. Due to free of heart defects and joint stiffness compared with other WMS forms, WMS4 has an insidious onset and is often misdiagnosed as high myopia. We combined multiple imaging biometry and whole-exome sequencing to diagnose a case of WMS4 with a 3-year follow-up. Case presentation: An 8-year-old boy presented to our ophthalmology department with progressive myopia for 1 year. He had high myopia in both eyes with normal funds, intraocular pressure, and axial length. Ocular examination revealed thicker lenses (right 4.38 mm, left 4.31 mm) with a smaller equatorial diameter (right 7.33 mm and left 7.17 mm) compared to normal children of the same age. Finger length measurement indicates brachydactyly. Whole-exome sequencing identified compound heterozygous missense variants c.2984G > A (p.Arg995Gln) and c.2254A > G (p.Ile752Val) in the ADAMTS17 gene. During the 3 years of follow-up, the thickness of lenses increased significantly (right 4.49 mm, left 4.48 mm), but the equatorial diameter of the lenses had no significant change (right 7.32 mm, left 7.21 mm). As the equivalent lens power increased, the patient's myopia spherical refractive error rose accordingly. Although the anterior chamber angle remained open during follow-up, the intraocular pressure increased to right 20.4 mmHg and left 19.6 mmHg, Iridodonesis and short stature were present. Conclusion: This case report highlights the abnormal thickening of the lens in WMS4 compared to the physiological thinning process during childhood. Comprehensive clinical examinations and genetic testing may improve diagnosis, which allows early therapeutic interventions for complications and better visual outcomes for the patient.

Transfer-Free Quasi-Suspended Graphene Grown on a Si Wafer.

The direct growth of graphene affording wafer-scale uniformity on insulators is paramount to electronic and optoelectronic applications; however, it remains a challenge to date, because it entails an entirely different growth mode than that over metals. Herein, the metal-catalyst-free growth of quasi-suspended graphene on a Si wafer is demonstrated using an interface-decoupling chemical vapor deposition strategy. The employment of lower-than-conventional H2 dosage and concurrent introduction of methanol during growth can effectively weaken the interaction between the synthesized graphene and the underlying substrate. The growth mode can be thus fine-tuned, producing a predominantly monolayer graphene film with wafer-level homogeneity. Graphene thus grown on a 4 inch Si wafer enables the transfer-free fabrication of high-performance graphene-based field-effect transistor arrays that exhibit almost no shift in the charge neutral point, indicating a quasi-suspended feature of the graphene. Moreover, a carrier mobility up to 15 000 cm2 V-1 s-1 can be attained. This study is anticipated to offer meaningful insights into the synthesis of wafer-scale high-quality graphene on dielectrics for practical graphene devices.

HBV integrated genomic characterization revealed hepatocyte genomic alterations in HBV-related hepatocellular carcinomas.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most lethal malignancies that is closely associated with the Hepatitis B virus (HBV). HBV integration into host genomes can induce instability and the aberrant expression of human genomic DNA. To directly assess HBV integration breakpoints at whole genome level, four small sequencing libraries were constructed and the HBV integration profiles of four patients with HCC were characterized. In total, the current study identified 11,800,974, 11,216,998, 11,026,546 and 11,607,842 clean reads for patients 1-3 and 4, respectively, of which 92.82, 95.95, 97.21 and 97.29% were properly aligned to the hybrid reference genome. In addition, 220 HBV integration events were detected from the tumor tissues of four patients with HCC and an average of 55 breakpoints per sample was calculated. The results indicated that HBV integration events may be implicated in HCC physiologies and diseases. The results acquired may also provide insight into the pathogenesis of HCC, which may be valuable for future HCC therapy.

Correction: Characteristic analysis of TCR ß-chain CDR3 repertoire for preand post-liver transplantation.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.26138.].

Characteristic analysis of TCR ß-chain CDR3 repertoire for pre- and post-liver transplantation.

Liver cirrhosis of hepatitis B is an immune-related disease in which liver cells die during the body's immune system activation to clear the virus, and the progress is closely related to T lymphocytes. T lymphocyte cells recognise antigens, specifically by major histocompatibility complex (MHC), through a membrane protein T cell receptor (TCR). Here, we used high throughput immune repertoire sequencing technique to study the characteristics and diversity of the TCR repertoire between patients who underwent liver transplantation and healthy controls (NC). We sequenced the TCR ß-chain complementary-determining region 3 (CDR3) repertoire in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 6 liver transplantation patients before transplantation (Pre) and on the first (Post1) and seventh days (Post7) after transplantation along with 6 NC. We observed that the distributions of CDR3, VD indel, and DJ indel lengths were similar among the Pre, Post1, Post7 and NC groups. We found that the TCR repertoire diversity of transplantation groups was relatively lower compared to NC group. The Pre-group had more highly expanded T cell clones compared to Post1, Post7 and NC groups, and the diversity of the T cell repertoire of the Post7 group was significantly decreased compared to the Pre, Post1 and NC groups. In addition, we found our results also show that various TRBV expression increased and some public sequences at different time points after liver transplantation, and the expression levels of 3 TRBV segments and 2 TRBJ segments were also significantly different in Pre, Post1, Post7 and NC groups. Moreover, 1 aa sequence shared by all liver transplantation patients and 2 aa sequences shared by at least two groups, which may serve as biomarkers to monitor the immune status of liver transplant patients.