Inhibition of oxidative stress-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition in retinal pigment epithelial cells of age-related macular degeneration model by suppressing ERK activation.

INTRODUCTION: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells is related to the pathogenesis of various retinopathies including age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Oxidative stress is the major factor that induces degeneration of RPE cells associated with the etiology of AMD. OBJECTIVES: Sodium iodate (NaIO3) generates intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and is widely used to establish a model of AMD due to the selective induction of retinal degeneration. This study was performed to clarify the effects of multiple NaIO3-stimulated signaling pathways on EMT in RPE cells. METHODS: The EMT characteristics in NaIO3-treated human ARPE-19 cells and RPE cells of the mouse eyes were analyzed. Multiple oxidative stress-induced modulators were investigated and the effects of pre-treatment with Ca2+ chelator, extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) inhibitor, or epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor on NaIO3-induced EMT were determined. The efficacy of post-treatment with ERK inhibitor on the regulation of NaIO3-induced signaling pathways was dissected and its role in retinal thickness and morphology was evaluated by using histological cross-sections and spectral domain optical coherence tomography. RESULTS: We found that NaIO3 induced EMT in ARPE-19 cells and in RPE cells of the mouse eyes. The intracellular ROS, Ca2+, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress marker, phospho-ERK, and phospho-EGFR were increased in NaIO3-stimulated cells. Our results showed that pre-treatment with Ca2+ chelator, ERK inhibitor, or EGFR inhibitor decreased NaIO3-induced EMT, interestingly, the inhibition of ERK displayed the most prominent effect. Furthermore, post-treatment with FR180204, a specific ERK inhibitor, reduced intracellular ROS and Ca2+ levels, downregulated phospho-EGFR and ER stress marker, attenuated EMT of RPE cells, and prevented structural disorder of the retina induced by NaIO3. CONCLUSIONS: ERK is a crucial regulator of multiple NaIO3-induced signaling pathways that coordinate EMT program in RPE cells. Inhibition of ERK may be a potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of AMD.

Recognizing the Differentiation Degree of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Retinal Pigment Epithelium Cells Using Machine Learning and Deep Learning-Based Approaches.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can be differentiated into mesenchymal stem cells (iPSC-MSCs), retinal ganglion cells (iPSC-RGCs), and retinal pigmental epithelium cells (iPSC-RPEs) to meet the demand of regeneration medicine. Since the production of iPSCs and iPSC-derived cell lineages generally requires massive and time-consuming laboratory work, artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted approach that can facilitate the cell classification and recognize the cell differentiation degree is of critical demand. In this study, we propose the multi-slice tensor model, a modified convolutional neural network (CNN) designed to classify iPSC-derived cells and evaluate the differentiation efficiency of iPSC-RPEs. We removed the fully connected layers and projected the features using principle component analysis (PCA), and subsequently classified iPSC-RPEs according to various differentiation degree. With the assistance of the support vector machine (SVM), this model further showed capabilities to classify iPSCs, iPSC-MSCs, iPSC-RPEs, and iPSC-RGCs with an accuracy of 97.8%. In addition, the proposed model accurately recognized the differentiation of iPSC-RPEs and showed the potential to identify the candidate cells with ideal features and simultaneously exclude cells with immature/abnormal phenotypes. This rapid screening/classification system may facilitate the translation of iPSC-based technologies into clinical uses, such as cell transplantation therapy.

Nanoparticles-mediated CRISPR-Cas9 gene therapy in inherited retinal diseases: applications, challenges, and emerging opportunities.

Inherited Retinal Diseases (IRDs) are considered one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide. However, the majority of them still lack a safe and effective treatment due to their complexity and genetic heterogeneity. Recently, gene therapy is gaining importance as an efficient strategy to address IRDs which were previously considered incurable. The development of the clustered regularly-interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) system has strongly empowered the field of gene therapy. However, successful gene modifications rely on the efficient delivery of CRISPR-Cas9 components into the complex three-dimensional (3D) architecture of the human retinal tissue. Intriguing findings in the field of nanoparticles (NPs) meet all the criteria required for CRISPR-Cas9 delivery and have made a great contribution toward its therapeutic applications. In addition, exploiting induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology and in vitro 3D retinal organoids paved the way for prospective clinical trials of the CRISPR-Cas9 system in treating IRDs. This review highlights important advances in NP-based gene therapy, the CRISPR-Cas9 system, and iPSC-derived retinal organoids with a focus on IRDs. Collectively, these studies establish a multidisciplinary approach by integrating nanomedicine and stem cell technologies and demonstrate the utility of retina organoids in developing effective therapies for IRDs.

Genetics behind Cerebral Disease with Ocular Comorbidity: Finding Parallels between the Brain and Eye Molecular Pathology.

Cerebral visual impairments (CVIs) is an umbrella term that categorizes miscellaneous visual defects with parallel genetic brain disorders. While the manifestations of CVIs are diverse and ambiguous, molecular diagnostics stand out as a powerful approach for understanding pathomechanisms in CVIs. Nevertheless, the characterization of CVI disease cohorts has been fragmented and lacks integration. By revisiting the genome-wide and phenome-wide association studies (GWAS and PheWAS), we clustered a handful of renowned CVIs into five ontology groups, namely ciliopathies (Joubert syndrome, Bardet-Biedl syndrome, Alstrom syndrome), demyelination diseases (multiple sclerosis, Alexander disease, Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease), transcriptional deregulation diseases (Mowat-Wilson disease, Pitt-Hopkins disease, Rett syndrome, Cockayne syndrome, X-linked alpha-thalassaemia mental retardation), compromised peroxisome disorders (Zellweger spectrum disorder, Refsum disease), and channelopathies (neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder), and reviewed several mutation hotspots currently found to be associated with the CVIs. Moreover, we discussed the common manifestations in the brain and the eye, and collated animal study findings to discuss plausible gene editing strategies for future CVI correction.

Circular RNAs Modulate Cancer Hallmark and Molecular Pathways to Support Cancer Progression and Metastasis.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are noncoding products of backsplicing of pre-mRNAs which have been established to possess potent biological functions. Dysregulated circRNA expression has been linked to diseases including different types of cancer. Cancer progression is known to result from the dysregulation of several molecular mechanisms responsible for the maintenance of cellular and tissue homeostasis. The dysregulation of these processes is defined as cancer hallmarks, and the molecular pathways implicated in them are regarded as the targets of therapeutic interference. In this review, we summarize the literature on the investigation of circRNAs implicated in cancer hallmark molecular signaling. First, we present general information on the properties of circRNAs, such as their biogenesis and degradation mechanisms, as well as their basic molecular functions. Subsequently, we summarize the roles of circRNAs in the framework of each cancer hallmark and finally discuss the potential as therapeutic targets.

Generation of human induced pluripotent stem cells from cystic fibrosis patient carrying nonsense mutation (p.S308X) in CFTR gene.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease affects CFTR channel synthesis. While 90 percent of the CF patients now benefit from small molecule target therapies, this treatment has yet to extend to those bearing nonsense mutations. Studies of these rare mutations using cell lines with native pathological signatures of the disease may lead to breakthroughs in therapeutic development. Here, we report the generation of CF patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) carrying a nonsense mutation at position 308 (S308X). The pluripotency and genomic profile of the iPSC line was validated as a resource that can enable future research for CF.

Oncogenic circRNA C190 Promotes Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer via Modulation of the EGFR/ERK Pathway.

Lung cancers are the leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, and the majority of lung cancers are non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). Overexpressed or activated EGFR has been associated with a poor prognosis in NSCLC. We previously identified a circular noncoding RNA, hsa_circ_0000190 (C190), as a negative prognostic biomarker of lung cancer. Here, we attempted to dissect the mechanistic function of C190 and test the potential of C190 as a therapeutic target in NSCLC. C190 was upregulated in both NSCLC clinical samples and cell lines. Activation of the EGFR pathway increased C190 expression through a MAPK/ERK-dependent mechanism. Transient and stable overexpression of C190 induced ERK1/2 phosphorylation, proliferation, and migration in vitro and xenograft tumor growth in vivo. RNA sequencing and Expression2Kinases (X2K) analysis indicated that kinases associated with cell-cycle and global translation are involved in C190-activated networks, including CDKs and p70S6K, which were further validated by immunoblotting. CRISPR/Cas13a-mediated knockdown of C190 decreased proliferation and migration of NSCLC cells in vitro and suppressed tumor growth in vivo. TargetScan and CircInteractome databases predicted that C190 targets CDKs by sponging miR-142-5p. Analysis of clinical lung cancer samples showed that C190, CDK1, and CDK6 expressions were significantly higher in advanced-stage lung cancer than in early-stage lung cancer. In summary, C190 is directly involved in EGFR-MAPK-ERK signaling and may serve as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of NSCLC. SIGNIFICANCE: The circRNA C190 is identified as a mediator of multiple pro-oncogenic signaling pathways in lung cancer and can be targeted to suppress tumor progression.

Genome-Wide Polygenic Risk Score for Predicting High Risk Glaucoma Individuals of Han Chinese Ancestry.

Glaucoma is a progressive and irreversible blindness-causing disease. However, the underlying genetic factors and molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. Previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have made tremendous progress on the SNP-based disease association and characterization. However, most of them were conducted for Europeans. Since differential genetic characteristics among ethnic groups were evident in glaucoma, it is worthwhile to complete its genetic landscape from the larger cohorts of Asian individuals. Here, we present a GWAS based on the Taiwan Biobank. Among 1013 glaucoma patients and 36,562 controls, we identified a total of 138 independent glaucoma-associated SNPs at the significance level of p < 1 × 10-5. After clumping genetically linked SNPs (LD clumping), 134 independent SNPs with p < 10-4 were recruited to construct a Polygenic Risk Score (PRS). The model achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.8387 (95% CI = [0.8269-0.8506]), and those within the top PRS quantile had a 45.48-fold increased risk of glaucoma compared with those within the lowest quantile. The PRS model was validated with an independent cohort that achieved an AUC of 0.7283, thereby showing the effectiveness of our polygenic risk score in predicting individuals in the Han Chinese population with higher glaucoma risks.

RNA Modifications and Epigenetics in Modulation of Lung Cancer and Pulmonary Diseases.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, and its tumorigenesis involves the accumulation of genetic and epigenetic events in the respiratory epithelium. Epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, RNA modification, and histone modifications, have been widely reported to play an important role in lung cancer development and in other pulmonary diseases. Whereas the functionality of DNA and chromatin modifications referred to as epigenetics is widely characterized, various modifications of RNA nucleotides have recently come into prominence as functionally important. N6-methyladosine (m6A) is the most prevalent internal modification in mRNAs, and its machinery of writers, erasers, and readers is well-characterized. However, several other nucleotide modifications of mRNAs and various noncoding RNAs have also been shown to play an important role in the regulation of biological processes and pathology. Such epitranscriptomic modifications play an important role in regulating various aspects of RNA metabolism, including transcription, translation, splicing, and stability. The dysregulation of epitranscriptomic machinery has been implicated in the pathological processes associated with carcinogenesis including uncontrolled cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition. In recent years, with the advancement of RNA sequencing technology, high-resolution maps of different modifications in various tissues, organs, or disease models are being constantly reported at a dramatic speed. This facilitates further understanding of the relationship between disease development and epitranscriptomics, shedding light on new therapeutic possibilities. In this review, we summarize the basic information on RNA modifications, including m6A, m1A, m5C, m7G, pseudouridine, and A-to-I editing. We then demonstrate their relation to different kinds of lung diseases, especially lung cancer. By comparing the different roles RNA modifications play in the development processes of different diseases, this review may provide some new insights and offer a better understanding of RNA epigenetics and its involvement in pulmonary diseases.

Dual DNA Transfection Using 1,6-Hexanedithiol-Conjugated Maleimide-Functionalized PU-PEI600 For Gene Correction in a Patient iPSC-Derived Fabry Cardiomyopathy Model.

Non-viral gene delivery holds promises for treating inherited diseases. However, the limited cloning capacity of plasmids may hinder the co-delivery of distinct genes to the transfected cells. Previously, the conjugation of maleimide-functionalized polyurethane grafted with small molecular weight polyethylenimine (PU-PEI600-Mal) using 1,6-hexanedithiol (HDT) could promote the co-delivery and extensive co-expression of two different plasmids in target cells. Herein, we designed HDT-conjugated PU-PEI600-Mal for the simultaneous delivery of CRISPR/Cas9 components to achieve efficient gene correction in the induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived model of Fabry cardiomyopathy (FC) harboring GLA IVS4 + 919 G > A mutation. This FC in vitro model recapitulated several clinical FC features, including cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and lysosomal globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) deposition. As evidenced by the expression of two reporter genes, GFP and mCherry, the addition of HDT conjugated two distinct PU-PEI600-Mal/DNA complexes and promoted the co-delivery of sgRNA/Cas9 and homology-directed repair DNA template into target cells to achieve an effective gene correction of IVS4 + 919 G > A mutation. PU-PEI600-Mal/DNA with or without HDT-mediated conjugation consistently showed neither the cytotoxicity nor an adverse effect on cardiac induction of transfected FC-iPSCs. After the gene correction and cardiac induction, disease features, including cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, the mis-regulated gene expressions, and Gb3 deposition, were remarkably rescued in the FC-iPSC-differentiated cardiomyocytes. Collectively, HDT-conjugated PU-PEI600-Mal-mediated dual DNA transfection system can be an ideal approach to improve the concurrent transfection of non-viral-based gene editing system in inherited diseases with specific mutations.

Frontier review of the roles of exosomes in osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative disease; however, its exact pathophysiology and early diagnosis are still a challenge. Growing attention to the exosomes may inspire innovations that would make the current management of OA more effective. The exosomes in synovial fluid are relatively stable, and they can be easily isolated by the relatively noninvasive procedure of liquid biopsy to provide diagnostic and monitoring value. Some miRNAs (miR-504, miR-146a, miR-26a, miR-200c, and miR-210) have been known to be secreted in exosomes of OA patients. On the other hand, intraarticular injection of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is becoming a popular therapy for OA patients. PRP is also a source of exosomes and their numerous contents. It is evident from the literature that PRP-derived exosomes can induce chondrogenic gene expression in OA chondrocytes. Here, we review the latest findings on the roles of exosomes in OA with the emphasis on PRP-derived exosomes and their potential applications for treating OA.

Application of artificial intelligence-driven endoscopic screening and diagnosis of gastric cancer.

The landscape of gastrointestinal endoscopy continues to evolve as new technologies and techniques become available. The advent of image-enhanced and magnifying endoscopies has highlighted the step toward perfecting endoscopic screening and diagnosis of gastric lesions. Simultaneously, with the development of convolutional neural network, artificial intelligence (AI) has made unprecedented breakthroughs in medical imaging, including the ongoing trials of computer-aided detection of colorectal polyps and gastrointestinal bleeding. In the past demi-decade, applications of AI systems in gastric cancer have also emerged. With AI's efficient computational power and learning capacities, endoscopists can improve their diagnostic accuracies and avoid the missing or mischaracterization of gastric neoplastic changes. So far, several AI systems that incorporated both traditional and novel endoscopy technologies have been developed for various purposes, with most systems achieving an accuracy of more than 80%. However, their feasibility, effectiveness, and safety in clinical practice remain to be seen as there have been no clinical trials yet. Nonetheless, AI-assisted endoscopies shed light on more accurate and sensitive ways for early detection, treatment guidance and prognosis prediction of gastric lesions. This review summarizes the current status of various AI applications in gastric cancer and pinpoints directions for future research and clinical practice implementation from a clinical perspective.

Musashi-1 Regulates MIF1-Mediated M2 Macrophage Polarization in Promoting Glioblastoma Progression.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most malignant brain tumor which is characterized by high proliferation and migration capacity. The poor survival rate has been attributed to limitations of the current standard therapies. The search for novel biological targets that can effectively hamper tumor progression remains extremely challenging. Previous studies indicated that tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are the abundant elements in the tumor microenvironment that are closely implicated in glioma progression and tumor pathogenesis. M2 type TAMs are immunosuppressive and promote GBM proliferation. RNA-binding protein Musashi-1 (MSI1) has recently been identified as a marker of neural stem/progenitor cells, and its high expression has been shown to correlate with the growth of GBM. Nevertheless, the relationship between MSI1 and TAMs in GBM is still unknown. Thus, in our present study, we aimed to investigate the molecular interplay between MSI1 and TAMs in contributing to GBM tumorigenesis. Our data revealed that the secretion of macrophage inhibitory factor 1 (MIF1) is significantly upregulated by MSI1 overexpression in vitro. Importantly, M2 surface markers of THP-1-derived macrophages were induced by recombinant MIF1 and reduced by using MIF1 inhibitor (S,R)-3-(4-hHydroxyphenyl)-4,5-dihydro-5-isoxazole acetic acid (ISO-1). Furthermore, GBM tumor model data suggested that the tumor growth, MIF1 expression and M2 macrophage population were significantly downregulated when MSI1 expression was silenced in vivo. Collectively, our findings identified a novel role of MSI1 in the secretion of MIF1 and the consequent polarization of macrophages into the M2 phenotype in promoting GBM tumor progression.

An Update on Gene Therapy for Inherited Retinal Dystrophy: Experience in Leber Congenital Amaurosis Clinical Trials.

Inherited retinal dystrophies (IRDs) are a group of rare eye diseases caused by gene mutations that result in the degradation of cone and rod photoreceptors or the retinal pigment epithelium. Retinal degradation progress is often irreversible, with clinical manifestations including color or night blindness, peripheral visual defects and subsequent vision loss. Thus, gene therapies that restore functional retinal proteins by either replenishing unmutated genes or truncating mutated genes are needed. Coincidentally, the eye's accessibility and immune-privileged status along with major advances in gene identification and gene delivery systems heralded gene therapies for IRDs. Among these clinical trials, voretigene neparvovec-rzyl (Luxturna), an adeno-associated virus vector-based gene therapy drug, was approved by the FDA for treating patients with confirmed biallelic RPE65 mutation-associated Leber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA) in 2017. This review includes current IRD gene therapy clinical trials and further summarizes preclinical studies and therapeutic strategies for LCA, including adeno-associated virus-based gene augmentation therapy, 11-cis-retinal replacement, RNA-based antisense oligonucleotide therapy and CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing therapy. Understanding the gene therapy development for LCA may accelerate and predict the potential hurdles of future therapeutics translation. It may also serve as the template for the research and development of treatment for other IRDs.

METTL3-dependent N6-methyladenosine RNA modification mediates the atherogenic inflammatory cascades in vascular endothelium.

Atherosclerosis is characterized by the plaque formation that restricts intraarterial blood flow. The disturbed blood flow with the associated oscillatory stress (OS) at the arterial curvatures and branch points can trigger endothelial activation and is one of the risk factors of atherosclerosis. Many studies reported the mechanotransduction related to OS and atherogenesis; however, the transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulatory mechanisms of atherosclerosis remain unclear. Herein, we investigated the role of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA methylation in mechanotransduction in endothelial cells (ECs) because of its important role in epitranscriptome regulation. We have identified m6A methyltransferase METTL3 as a responsive hub to hemodynamic forces and atherogenic stimuli in ECs. OS led to an up-regulation of METTL3 expression, accompanied by m6A RNA hypermethylation, increased NF-κB p65 Ser536 phosphorylation, and enhanced monocyte adhesion. Knockdown of METTL3 abrogated this OS-induced m6A RNA hypermethylation and other manifestations, while METTL3 overexpression led to changes resembling the OS effects. RNA-sequencing and m6A-enhanced cross-linking and immunoprecipitation (eCLIP) experiments revealed NLRP1 and KLF4 as two hemodynamics-related downstream targets of METTL3-mediated hypermethylation. The METTL3-mediated RNA hypermethylation up-regulated NLRP1 transcript and down-regulated KLF4 transcript through YTHDF1 and YTHDF2 m6A reader proteins, respectively. In the in vivo atherosclerosis model, partial ligation of the carotid artery led to plaque formation and up-regulation of METTL3 and NLRP1, with down-regulation of KLF4; knockdown of METTL3 via repetitive shRNA administration prevented the atherogenic process, NLRP3 up-regulation, and KLF4 down-regulation. Collectively, we have demonstrated that METTL3 serves a central role in the atherogenesis induced by OS and disturbed blood flow.

Circular RNA hsa_circ_0000190 Facilitates the Tumorigenesis and Immune Evasion by Upregulating the Expression of Soluble PD-L1 in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer in Taiwan and throughout the world. Immunotherapy has revealed promising and significant efficacy in NSCLC, through immune checkpoint inhibition by blocking programmed cell death protein (PD)-1/PD-1 ligand (PD-L1) signaling pathway to restore patients' T-cell immunity. One novel type of long, non-coding RNAs, circular RNAs (circRNAs), are endogenous, stable, and widely expressed in tissues, saliva, blood, urine, and exosomes. Our previous results revealed that the plasma level of hsa_circ_0000190 can be monitored by liquid-biopsy-based droplet digital PCR and may serve as a valuable blood-based biomarker to monitor the disease progression and the efficacy of immunotherapy. In this study, hsa_circ_0000190 was shown to increase the PD-L1 mRNA-mediated soluble PD-L1 (sPD-L1) expression, consequently interfering with the efficacy of anti-PD-L1 antibody and T-cell activation, which may result in immunotherapy resistance and poor outcome. Our results unraveled that hsa_circ_0000190 facilitated the tumorigenesis and immune evasion of NSCLC by upregulating sPD-L1 expression, potentially developing a different aspect in elucidating the molecular immunopathogenesis of NSCLC. Hsa_circ_0000190 upregulation can be an effective indicator for the progression of NSCLC, and hsa_circ_0000190 downregulation may possess a potential therapeutic value for the treatment of NSCLC in combination with immunotherapy.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness and safety of hydroxychloroquine in treating COVID-19 patients.

BACKGROUND: Since COVID-19 outbreak, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has been tested for effective therapies, and the relevant researches have shown controversial results. METHODS: Systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted after a thorough search of relevant studies from databases. Trials that have evaluated HCQ for COVID-19 treatment were recruited for statistical analysis with fixed- and random-effect models. RESULTS: Nine trials involving 4112 patients were included in present meta-analysis. It was seen that HCQ-azithromycin (HCQ-AZI) combination regimen increased the mortality rate in COVID-19 (odds ratio [OR], 2.34; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.63-3.36) patients; however, it also showed benefits associated with the viral clearance in patients (OR, 27.18; 95% CI, 1.29-574.32). HCQ-alone when used as a therapy in COVID-19 did not reveal significant changes in mortality rate, clinical progression, viral clearance, and cardiac QT prolongation. Subsequent subgroup analysis showed that HCQ treatment could decrease mortality rate and progression to severe illness in severely infected COVID-19 patients (OR, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.13-0.58). A lower risk of mortality rate was also noted in the stratified group of >14 days follow-up period (OR, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.13-0.58) compared to ≤14 days follow-up period group that conversely showed an increased mortality rate (OR, 2.09; 95% CI, 1.41-3.10). CONCLUSION: Our results indicated that HCQ-AZI combination treatment increased mortality rate in patients with COVID-19, but it also showed benefits associated with viral clearance in patients. HCQ-alone used for treatment has revealed benefits in decreasing the mortality rate among severely infected COVID-19 group and showed potential to be used for COVID-19 treatment in long-term follow-up period group. Accordingly, more rigorous, large-scale, and long follow-up period studies in patients with COVID-19 are needed.

Current Genetic Survey and Potential Gene-Targeting Therapeutics for Neuromuscular Diseases.

Neuromuscular diseases (NMDs) belong to a class of functional impairments that cause dysfunctions of the motor neuron-muscle functional axis components. Inherited monogenic neuromuscular disorders encompass both muscular dystrophies and motor neuron diseases. Understanding of their causative genetic defects and pathological genetic mechanisms has led to the unprecedented clinical translation of genetic therapies. Challenged by a broad range of gene defect types, researchers have developed different approaches to tackle mutations by hijacking the cellular gene expression machinery to minimize the mutational damage and produce the functional target proteins. Such manipulations may be directed to any point of the gene expression axis, such as classical gene augmentation, modulating premature termination codon ribosomal bypass, splicing modification of pre-mRNA, etc. With the soar of the CRISPR-based gene editing systems, researchers now gravitate toward genome surgery in tackling NMDs by directly correcting the mutational defects at the genome level and expanding the scope of targetable NMDs. In this article, we will review the current development of gene therapy and focus on NMDs that are available in published reports, including Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD), X-linked myotubular myopathy (XLMTM), Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), and Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy Type 2C (LGMD2C).

Musashi-1 promotes cancer stem cell properties of glioblastoma cells via upregulation of YTHDF1.

BACKGROUND: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most lethal brain tumor characterized by high morbidity and limited treatment options. Tumor malignancy is usually associated with the epigenetic marks, which coordinate gene expression to ascertain relevant phenotypes. One of such marks is m6A modification of RNA, whose functional effects are dependent on the YTH family m6A reader proteins. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, we investigated the expression of five YTH family proteins in different GBM microarray datasets from the Oncomine database, and identified YTHDF1 as the most highly overexpressed member of this family in GBM. By performing the knockdown of YTHDF1 in a GBM cell line, we found that it positively regulates proliferation, chemoresistance and cancer stem cell-like properties. Musashi-1 (MSI1) is a postranscriptional gene expression regulator associated with high oncogenicity in GBM. By knocking down and overexpressing MSI1, we found that it positively regulates YTHDF1 expression. The inhibitory effects imposed on the processes of proliferation and migration by YTHDF1 knockdown were shown to be partially rescued by concomitant overexpression of MSI1. MSI1 and YTHDF1 were shown to be positively correlated in clinical glioma samples, and their concomitant upregulation was associated with decreased survival of glioma patients. We identified the direct regulation of YTHDF1 by MSI1. CONCLUSIONS: Given the fact that both proteins are master regulators of gene expression, and both of them are unfavorable factors in GBM, we suggest that in any future studies aimed to uncover the prognostic value and therapy potential, these two proteins should be considered together.

Plasma Level of Circular RNA hsa_circ_0000190 Correlates with Tumor Progression and Poor Treatment Response in Advanced Lung Cancers.

Lung cancer (LC) causes the majority of cancer-related deaths. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) were reported to play roles in cancers by targeting pro- and anti-oncogenic miRNAs. However, the mechanisms of circRNAs in LC progression and their prognostic value of treatment response remain unclear. By using next generation sequencing (NGS) of LC cell lines' transcriptomes, we identified highly overexpressed hsa_circ_0000190 and hsa_circ_000164 as potential biomarkers. By using the highly sensitive RT-ddPCR method, these circRNAs were shown to be secreted by cell lines and were detected in human blood. Clinical validation by RT-ddPCR was carried out on 272 (231 LC patients and 41 controls) blood samples. Higher hsa_circ_0000190 levels were associated with larger tumor size (p < 0.0001), worse histological type of adenocarcinoma (p = 0.0028), later stage (p < 0.0001), more distant metastatic organs (p = 0.0039), extrathoracic metastasis (p = 0.0004), and poor survival (p = 0.047) and prognosis. Using liquid biopsy-based RT-ddPCR, we discovered the correlation between increased hsa_circ_0000190 plasma level (p < 0.0001) and higher programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) level in tumor (p = 0.0283). Notably, long-term follow-up of the immunotherapy treated cases showed that upregulated plasma hsa_circ_0000190 level correlated with poor response to systemic therapy and immunotherapy (p = 0.0002, 0.0058, respectively). Secretory circRNAs are detectable in blood by LB-based RT-ddPCR and may serve as blood-based biomarkers to monitor disease progression and treatment efficacy.