Central FGF21 production regulates memory but not peripheral metabolism.

Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is a liver-derived endocrine hormone that functions to regulate energy homeostasis and macronutrient intake. Recently, FGF21 was reported to be produced and secreted from hypothalamic tanycytes, to regulate peripheral lipid metabolism; however, rigorous investigation of FGF21 expression in the brain has yet to be accomplished. Using a mouse model that drives CRE recombinase in FGF21-expressing cells, we demonstrate that FGF21 is not expressed in the hypothalamus, but instead is produced from the retrosplenial cortex (RSC), an essential brain region for spatial learning and memory. Furthermore, we find that central FGF21 produced in the RSC enhances spatial memory but does not regulate energy homeostasis or sugar intake. Finally, our data demonstrate that administration of FGF21 prolongs the duration of long-term potentiation in the hippocampus and enhances activation of hippocampal neurons. Thus, endogenous and pharmacological FGF21 appear to function in the hippocampus to enhance spatial memory.

A novel group of genes that cause endocrine resistance in breast cancer identified by dynamic gene expression analysis.

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common type of cancer diagnosed in women. Among female cancer deaths, BC is the second leading cause of death worldwide. For estrogen receptor-positive (ER-positive) breast cancers, endocrine therapy is an effective therapeutic approach. However, in many cases, an ER-positive tumor becomes unresponsive to endocrine therapy, and tumor regrowth occurs after treatment. While some genetic mutations contribute to resistance in some patients, the underlying causes of resistance to endocrine therapy are mostly undetermined. In this study, we utilized a recently developed statistical approach to investigate the dynamic behavior of gene expression during the development of endocrine resistance and identified a novel group of genes whose time course expression significantly change during cell modelling of endocrine resistant BC development. Expression of a subset of these genes was also differentially expressed in microarray analysis of endocrine-resistant and endocrine-sensitive tumor samples. Surprisingly, a subset of those genes was also differentially genes expressed in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) as compared with ER-positive BC. The findings suggest shared genetic mechanisms may underlie the development of endocrine resistant BC and TNBC. Our findings identify 34 novel genes for further study as potential therapeutic targets for treatment of endocrine-resistant BC and TNBC.

A Novel Mouse Model to Analyze Non-Genomic ERα Physiological Actions.

Nongenomic effects of estrogen receptor α (ERα) signaling have been described for decades. Several distinct animal models have been generated previously to analyze the nongenomic ERα signaling (eg, membrane-only ER, and ERαC451A). However, the mechanisms and physiological processes resulting solely from nongenomic signaling are still poorly understood. Herein, we describe a novel mouse model for analyzing nongenomic ERα actions named H2NES knock-in (KI). H2NES ERα possesses a nuclear export signal (NES) in the hinge region of ERα protein resulting in exclusive cytoplasmic localization that involves only the nongenomic action but not nuclear genomic actions. We generated H2NESKI mice by homologous recombination method and have characterized the phenotypes. H2NESKI homozygote mice possess almost identical phenotypes with ERα null mice except for the vascular activity on reendothelialization. We conclude that ERα-mediated nongenomic estrogenic signaling alone is insufficient to control most estrogen-mediated endocrine physiological responses; however, there could be some physiological responses that are nongenomic action dominant. H2NESKI mice have been deposited in the repository at Jax (stock no. 032176). These mice should be useful for analyzing nongenomic estrogenic responses and could expand analysis along with other ERα mutant mice lacking membrane-bound ERα. We expect the H2NESKI mouse model to aid our understanding of ERα-mediated nongenomic physiological responses and serve as an in vivo model for evaluating the nongenomic action of various estrogenic agents.

27-Hydroxycholesterol regulates human SLC22A12 gene expression through estrogen receptor action.

The excretion and reabsorption of uric acid both to and from urine are tightly regulated by uric acid transporters. Metabolic syndrome conditions, such as obesity, hypercholesterolemia, and insulin resistance, are believed to regulate the expression of uric acid transporters and decrease the excretion of uric acid. However, the mechanisms driving cholesterol impacts on uric acid transporters have been unknown. Here, we show that cholesterol metabolite 27-hydroxycholesterol (27HC) upregulates the uric acid reabsorption transporter URAT1 encoded by SLC22A12 via estrogen receptors (ER). Transcriptional motif analysis showed that the SLC22A12 gene promoter has more estrogen response elements (EREs) than other uric acid reabsorption transporters such as SLC22A11 and SLC22A13, and 27HC-activated SLC22A12 gene promoter via ER through EREs. Furthermore, 27HC increased SLC22A12 gene expression in human kidney organoids. Our results suggest that in hypercholesterolemic conditions, elevated levels of 27HC derived from cholesterol induce URAT1/SLC22A12 expression to increase uric acid reabsorption, and thereby, could increase serum uric acid levels.

Obesity and Cancer: 27-Hydroxycholesterol, the Missing Link.

Obesity is currently affecting more than 40% of the Americans, and if it progresses with this rate, soon one out of two Americans will be obese. Obesity is an important risk factor for several disorders including cardiovascular disease, the first cause of death in the United States. Cancer follows as the second deadliest disease, and a link between obesity and cancer has been suggested. However, it is very hard to establish an exact connection between obesity and cancers due to the multifactorial nature of obesity. Hypercholesterolemia is a comorbidity of obesity and also linked to several cancers. Recently a cholesterol metabolite 27-hydroxycholesterol (27HC) was found to be an endogenous selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM), which opened new doors toward several interesting studies on the role of this molecule in biological disorders. It is speculated that 27HC might be the missing link in the obesity and cancer chain. Here, we explored the effects of 27-hydroxycholesterol on obesity and cancers with a focus on the SERM capacity of 27HC.

Gene expression dynamic analysis reveals co-activation of Sonic Hedgehog and epidermal growth factor followed by dynamic silencing.

Aberrant activation of the Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) gene is observed in various cancers. Previous studies have shown a "cross-talk" effect between the canonical Hedgehog signaling pathway and the Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) pathway when SHH is active in the presence of EGF. However, the precise mechanism of the cross-talk effect on the entire gene population has not been investigated. Here, we re-analyzed publicly available data to study how SHH and EGF cooperate to affect the dynamic activity of the gene population. We used genome dynamic analysis to explore the expression profiles under different conditions in a human medulloblastoma cell line. Ordinary differential equations, equipped with solid statistical and computational tools, were exploited to extract the information hidden in the dynamic behavior of the gene population. Our results revealed that EGF stimulation plays a dominant role, overshadowing most of the SHH effects. We also identified cross-talk genes that exhibited expression profiles dissimilar to that seen under SHH or EGF stimulation alone. These unique cross-talk patterns were validated in a cell culture model. These cross-talk genes identified here may serve as valuable markers to study or test for EGF co-stimulatory effects in an SHH+ environment. Furthermore, these cross-talk genes may play roles in cancer progression, thus they may be further explored as cancer treatment targets.

27-Hydroxycholesterol Promotes Adiposity and Mimics Adipogenic Diet-Induced Inflammatory Signaling.

27-Hydroxycholesterol (27HC) is an abundant cholesterol metabolite and has detrimental effects on the cardiovascular system, whereas its impact on adiposity is not well known. In this study, we found that elevations in 27HC cause increased body weight gain in mice fed a high-fat/high-cholesterol diet in an estrogen receptor α-dependent manner. Regardless of diet type, body fat mass was increased by 27HC without changes in food intake or fat absorption. 27HC did not alter energy expenditure in mice fed a normal chow diet and increased visceral white adipose mass by inducing hyperplasia but not hypertrophy. Although 27HC did not augment adipocyte terminal differentiation, it increased the adipose cell population that differentiates to mature adipocytes. RNA sequencing analysis revealed that 27HC treatment of mice fed a normal chow diet induces inflammatory gene sets similar to those seen after high-fat/high-cholesterol diet feeding, whereas there was no overlap in inflammatory gene expression among any other 27HC administration/diet change combination. Histological analysis showed that 27HC treatment increased the number of total and M1-type macrophages in white adipose tissues. Thus, 27HC promotes adiposity by directly affecting white adipose tissues and by increasing adipose inflammatory responses. Lowering serum 27HC levels may lead to an approach targeting cholesterol to prevent diet-induced obesity.

Estrogen Receptor Beta-Mediated Modulation of Lung Cancer Cell Proliferation by 27-Hydroxycholesterol.

27-hydroxycholesterol (27HC) is an abundant cholesterol metabolite in human circulation and promotes breast cancer cell proliferation. Although lung is one of the organs that contain high levels of 27HC, the role of 27HC in lung is unknown. In this study, we found that 27HC promotes lung cancer cell proliferation in an estrogen receptor ß (ERß)-dependent manner. The expression of 27HC-generating enzyme CYP27A1 is higher in lung cancer cells than in normal lung cells. Treatment with 27HC increased cell proliferation in ERß-positive lung cancer cells, but not in ERα-positive or ER-negative cells. The effect on cell proliferation is specific to 27HC and another oxysterol, 25-hydroxycholesterol that has a similar oxysterol structure with 27HC. Moreover, among ligands for nuclear receptors tested, only estrogen had the proliferative effect, and the effect by 27HC and estrogen was inhibited by ERß-specific, but not ERα-specific, inhibitors. In addition, the effect by 27HC was not affected by membrane-bound estrogen receptor GPR30. Interestingly, despite the high expression of CYP27A1, endogenously produced 27HC was not the major contributor of the 27HC-induced cell proliferation. Using kinase inhibitors, we found that the effect by 27HC was mediated by the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. These results suggest that 27HC promotes lung cancer cell proliferation via ERß and PI3K-Akt signaling. Thus, lowering 27HC levels may lead to a novel approach for the treatment of lung cancer.

A sperm-specific proteome-scale metabolic network model identifies non-glycolytic genes for energy deficiency in asthenozoospermia.

About 15% of couples experience difficulty in conceiving a child, of which half of the cases are thought to be male-related. Asthenozoospermia, or low sperm motility, is one of the frequent types of male infertility. Although energy metabolism is suggested to be central to the etiology of asthenozoospermia, very few attempts have been made to identify its underlying metabolic pathways. Here, we reconstructed SpermNet, the first proteome-scale model of the sperm cell by using whole-proteome data and the mCADRE algorithm. The reconstructed model was then analyzed using the COBRA toolbox. Genes were knocked-out in the model to investigate their effect on ATP production. A total of 78 genes elevated ATP production rate considerably of which most encode components of oxidative phosphorylation, fatty acid oxidation, the Krebs cycle, and members of the solute carrier 25 family. Among them, we identified 11 novel genes which have previously not been associated with sperm cell energy metabolism and may thus be implicated in asthenozoospermia. We further examined the reconstructed model by in silico knock out of currently known asthenozoospermia implicated-genes that were not predicted by our model. The pathways affected by knocking out these genes were also related to energy metabolism, confirming previous findings. Therefore, our model not only predicts the known pathways, it also identifies several non-glycolytic genes for deficient energy metabolism in asthenozoospermia. Finally, this model supports the notion that metabolic pathways besides glycolysis such as oxidative phosphorylation and fatty acid oxidation are essential for sperm energy metabolism and if validated, may form a basis for fertility recovery. ABBREVIATIONS: mCADRE: metabolic context-specificity assessed by deterministic reaction evaluation; ATP: adenosine triphosphate; RNA: ribonucleic acid; FBA: flux balance analysis; FVA: flux variability analysis; DAVID: database for annotation, visualization and integrated discovery; OXPHOS: oxidative phosphorylation; ETC: electron transfer chain; SLC: solute carrier; DLD: dihydrolypoamide dehydrogenase; DLST: dihydrolypoamide S-succinyl transferase; OGDH: oxoglutarate dehydrogenase; CS: citrate synthase; FH: fumarate hydratase; IDH: isocitrate dehydrogenase; SUCLG1: succinate-CoA ligase; SD: succinate dehydrogenase; HADHA: hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase/3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase/enoyl-CoA hydratase, subunit A; HADHB: hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase/3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase/enoyl-CoA hydratase, subunit B; PPA2: pyrophosphatase (inorganic) 2; PPi: inorganic phosphate; GALT: galactose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase.