Novel structural co-expression analysis linking the NPM1-associated ribosomal biogenesis network to chronic myelogenous leukemia.

Co-expression analysis reveals useful dysregulation patterns of gene cooperativeness for understanding cancer biology and identifying new targets for treatment. We developed a structural strategy to identify co-expressed gene networks that are important for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). This strategy compared the distributions of expressional correlations between CML and normal states, and it identified a data-driven threshold to classify strongly co-expressed networks that had the best coherence with CML. Using this strategy, we found a transcriptome-wide reduction of co-expression connectivity in CML, reflecting potentially loosened molecular regulation. Conversely, when we focused on nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1) associated networks, NPM1 established more co-expression linkages with BCR-ABL pathways and ribosomal protein networks in CML than normal. This finding implicates a new role of NPM1 in conveying tumorigenic signals from the BCR-ABL oncoprotein to ribosome biogenesis, affecting cellular growth. Transcription factors may be regulators of the differential co-expression patterns between CML and normal.

Coexpression Pattern Analysis of NPM1-Associated Genes in Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia.

BACKGROUND: Nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1) plays an important role in ribosomal synthesis and malignancies, but NPM1 mutations occur rarely in the blast-crisis and chronic-phase chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) patients. The NPM1-associated gene set (GCM_NPM1), in total 116 genes including NPM1, was chosen as the candidate gene set for the coexpression analysis. We wonder if NPM1-associated genes can affect the ribosomal synthesis and translation process in CML. RESULTS: We presented a distribution-based approach for gene pair classification by identifying a disease-specific cutoff point that classified the coexpressed gene pairs into strong and weak coexpression structures. The differences in the coexpression patterns between the normal and the CML groups were reflected from the overall structure by performing two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Our developed method effectively identified the coexpression pattern differences from the overall structure: P value = 1.71 × 10(-22) < 0.05 for the maximum deviation D = 0.109. Moreover, we found that genes involved in the ribosomal synthesis and translation process tended to be coexpressed in the CML group. CONCLUSION: Our developed method can identify the coexpression difference between two different groups. Dysregulation of ribosomal synthesis and translation process may be related to the CML disease. Our significant findings may provide useful information for the novel CML mechanism exploration and cancer treatment.

Autophagic adaptation is associated with exercise-induced fibre-type shifting in skeletal muscle.

AIM: Acute exercise is known to activate autophagy in skeletal muscle. However, little is known about how basal autophagy in skeletal muscle adapts to chronic exercise. In the current study we aim to, firstly, examine whether long-term habitual exercise alters the basal autophagic signalling in plantaris muscle and, secondly, examine the association between autophagy and fibre-type shifting. METHODS: Adult female Sprague-Dawley rats aged 2 months were randomly assigned to control and exercise groups. Animals in exercise group were kept in cages equipped with free access running wheels to perform habitual exercise for 5 months. Animals in the control group were caged in the absence of running wheels. Animals were sacrificed after the 5-month experimental period. Plantaris muscle tissues were harvested for analysis. RESULTS: We showed that long-term habitual exercise enhanced basal autophagy, but without altering expressions of autophagy proteins in plantaris muscle. Interestingly, sirtuin protein, a possible regulator of autophagy, was upregulated in plantaris muscle. Furthermore, we suspected that different types of muscle fibre adapted to chronic exercise in different ways. Long-term habitual exercise resulted in fibre-type shifting from type IIX to IIA in both gastrocnemius muscle and plantaris muscle. Intriguingly, our analysis demonstrated that LC3-II protein abundance is positively correlated with the proportion of type IIA fibre whereas it was negatively correlated with the proportion of type IIX fibre in plantaris muscle. PGC-1α protein abundance was positively associated with the proportion of type IIA fibre and LC3-II in plantaris muscle. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that basal autophagy is enhanced in plantaris muscle after long-term habitual exercise and associated with fibre-type shifting.

Gene network exploration of crosstalk between apoptosis and autophagy in chronic myelogenous leukemia.

BACKGROUND: Gene expression levels change to adapt the stress, such as starvation, toxin, and radiation. The changes are signals transmitted through molecular interactions, eventually leading to two cellular fates, apoptosis and autophagy. Due to genetic variations, the signals may not be effectively transmitted to modulate apoptotic and autophagic responses. Such aberrant modulation may lead to carcinogenesis and drug resistance. The balance between apoptosis and autophagy becomes very crucial in coping with the stress. Though there have been evidences illustrating the apoptosis-autophagy interplay, the underlying mechanism and the participation of the regulators including transcription factors (TFs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) remain unclear. RESULTS: Gene network is a graphical illustration for exploring the functional linkages and the potential coordinate regulations of genes. Microarray dataset for the study of chronic myeloid leukemia was obtained from Gene Expression Omnibus. The expression profiles of those genes related to apoptosis and autophagy, including MCL1, BCL2, ATG, beclin-1, BAX, BAK, E2F, cMYC, PI3K, AKT, BAD, and LC3, were extracted from the dataset to construct the gene networks. CONCLUSION: The network analysis of these genes explored the underlying mechanisms and the roles of TFs and miRNAs for the crosstalk between apoptosis and autophagy.

Autophagic Adaptations to Long-term Habitual Exercise in Cardiac Muscle.

Autophagy has been shown to be responsive to physical exercise. However, the effects of prolonged habitual exercise on autophagy in cardiac muscle remain unknown. The present study aimed to examine whether long-term habitual exercise alters the basal autophagic signalling in cardiac muscle. Female Sprague-Dawley rats aged 2 months were randomly assigned to control and exercise groups. Animals in exercise group were kept in cages with free access exercise wheels to perform habitual exercise for 5 months. Animals in the control group were placed in cages without exercise wheels. Ventricular muscle tissues were harvested for analysis after 5 months. Phosphorylation statuses of upstream autophagic regulatory proteins and protein expressions of downstream autophagic facts remained unchanged in the cardiac muscle of exercise animals when compared to control animals. Intriguingly, the protein abundance of microtubule-associated protein-1 light chain -3 II (LC3-II), heat shock protein 72 (HSP72) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator (PGC-1α) were significantly increased in cardiac muscle of exercise rats relative to control rats. 5 months of habitual exercise causes the adaptive increase in LC3-II reserve without altering autophagic flux, which probably contributes to the elevation of cellular autophagic capacity and efficiency of cardiac muscle.

Exploring microRNA-mediated alteration of EGFR signaling pathway in non-small cell lung cancer using an mRNA:miRNA regression model supported by target prediction databases.

EGFR signaling pathway and microRNAs (miRNAs) are two important factors for development and treatment in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Microarray analysis enables the genome-wide expression profiling. However, the information from microarray data may not be fully deciphered through the existing approaches. In this study we present an mRNA:miRNA stepwise regression model supported by miRNA target prediction databases. This model is applied to explore the roles of miRNAs in the EGFR signaling pathway. The results show that miR-145 is positively associated with epidermal growth factor (EGF) in the pre-surgery NSCLC group and miR-199a-5p is positively associated with EGF in the post-surgery NSCLC group. Surprisingly, miR-495 is positively associated with protein tyrosine kinase 2 (PTK2) in both groups. The coefficient of determination (R(2)) and leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) demonstrate good performance of our regression model, indicating that it can identify the miRNA roles as oncomirs and tumor suppressor mirs in NSCLC.

Novel approach for coexpression analysis of E2F1-3 and MYC target genes in chronic myelogenous leukemia.

BACKGROUND: Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is characterized by tremendous amount of immature myeloid cells in the blood circulation. E2F1-3 and MYC are important transcription factors that form positive feedback loops by reciprocal regulation in their own transcription processes. Since genes regulated by E2F1-3 or MYC are related to cell proliferation and apoptosis, we wonder if there exists difference in the coexpression patterns of genes regulated concurrently by E2F1-3 and MYC between the normal and the CML states. RESULTS: We proposed a method to explore the difference in the coexpression patterns of those candidate target genes between the normal and the CML groups. A disease-specific cutoff point for coexpression levels that classified the coexpressed gene pairs into strong and weak coexpression classes was identified. Our developed method effectively identified the coexpression pattern differences from the overall structure. Moreover, we found that genes related to the cell adhesion and angiogenesis properties were more likely to be coexpressed in the normal group when compared to the CML group. CONCLUSION: Our findings may be helpful in exploring the underlying mechanisms of CML and provide useful information in cancer treatment.

Multiple regression analysis of mRNA-miRNA associations in colorectal cancer pathway.

BACKGROUND: MicroRNA (miRNA) is a short and endogenous RNA molecule that regulates posttranscriptional gene expression. It is an important factor for tumorigenesis of colorectal cancer (CRC), and a potential biomarker for diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy of CRC. Our objective is to identify the related miRNAs and their associations with genes frequently involved in CRC microsatellite instability (MSI) and chromosomal instability (CIN) signaling pathways. RESULTS: A regression model was adopted to identify the significantly associated miRNAs targeting a set of candidate genes frequently involved in colorectal cancer MSI and CIN pathways. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to construct the model and find the significant mRNA-miRNA associations. We identified three significantly associated mRNA-miRNA pairs: BCL2 was positively associated with miR-16 and SMAD4 was positively associated with miR-567 in the CRC tissue, while MSH6 was positively associated with miR-142-5p in the normal tissue. As for the whole model, BCL2 and SMAD4 models were not significant, and MSH6 model was significant. The significant associations were different in the normal and the CRC tissues. CONCLUSION: Our results have laid down a solid foundation in exploration of novel CRC mechanisms, and identification of miRNA roles as oncomirs or tumor suppressor mirs in CRC.

Acylated and unacylated ghrelin inhibit doxorubicin-induced apoptosis in skeletal muscle.

AIM: Doxorubicin, a potent chemotherapeutic drug, has been demonstrated previously as an inducer of apoptosis in muscle cells. Extensive induction of apoptosis may cause excessive loss of muscle cells and subsequent functional decline in skeletal muscle. This study examined the effects of acylated ghrelin, a potential agent for treating cancer cachexia, on inhibiting apoptotic signalling in doxorubicin-treated skeletal muscle. Unacylated ghrelin, a form of ghrelin that does not bind to GHSR-1a, is also employed in this study to examine the GHSR-1a signalling dependency of the effects of ghrelin. METHODS: Adult C57BL/6 mice were randomly assigned to saline control (CON), doxorubicin (DOX), doxorubicin with treatment of acylated ghrelin (DOX+Acylated Ghrelin) and doxorubicin with treatment of unacylated ghrelin (DOX+Unacylated Ghrelin). Mice in all groups that involved DOX were intraperitoneally injected with 15 mg of doxorubicin per kg body weight, whereas mice in CON group received saline as placebo. Gastrocnemius muscle tissues were harvested after the experimental period for analysis. RESULTS: The elevation of apoptotic DNA fragmentation and number of TUNEL-positive nuclei were accompanied with the upregulation of Bax in muscle after exposure to doxorubicin, but all these changes were neither seen in the muscle treated with acylated ghrelin nor unacylated ghrelin after doxorubicin exposure. Protein abundances of autophagic markers including LC3 II-to-LC3 I ratio, Atg12-5 complex, Atg5 and Beclin-1 were not altered by doxorubicin but were upregulated by the treatment of either acylated or unacyated ghrelin. Histological analysis revealed that the amount of centronucleated myofibres was elevated in doxorubicin-treated muscle while muscle of others groups showed normal histology. CONCLUSIONS: Collectively, our data demonstrated that acylated ghrelin administration suppresses the doxorubicin-induced activation of apoptosis and enhances the cellular signalling of autophagy. The treatment of unacylated ghrelin has similar effects as acylated ghrelin on apoptotic and autophagic signalling, suggesting that the effects of ghrelin are probably mediated through a signalling pathway that is independent of GHSR-1a. These findings were consistent with the hypothesis that acylated ghrelin inhibits doxorubicin-induced upregulation of apoptosis in skeletal muscle while treatment of unacylated ghrelin can achieve similar effects as the treatment of acylated ghrelin. The inhibition of apoptosis and enhancement of autophagy induced by acylated and unacylated ghrelin might exert myoprotective effects on doxorubicin-induced toxicity in skeletal muscle.

The effects of whole-body vibration therapy on bone turnover, muscle strength, motor function, and spasticity in chronic stroke: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Whole-body vibration (WBV) has been used in older adults to improve bone health and neuromuscular function, and may have potential applications for stroke patients. AIM: To investigate the effects of WBV on bone turnover, leg muscle strength, motor function, and spasticity among chronic stroke patients. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial (RCT). SETTING: Community. POPULATION: Eighty-two chronic stroke patients. METHODS: The experimental group underwent exercise training with WBV stimulation for a maximum of 15 minutes, 3 days per week for 8 weeks. The controls received the same exercises without WBV. Participants were evaluated for isokinetic knee muscle strength, serum levels of bone formation and resorption markers, spasticity and motor function of the paretic leg at baseline, immediately after the 8-week training period, and 1-month follow-up. RESULTS: Intention-to-treat analysis revealed no significant changes in levels of bone turnover markers and motor function of the paretic leg over time in both groups. Muscle strength outcomes showed no significant group×time interaction, with similar significant improvements found in both groups. Spasticity of the paretic knee was significantly reduced in the experimental group (P=0.005), but not in controls (P=0.465). No serious adverse events were reported. CONCLUSION: The WBV protocol used in this study did not induce additional effects on bone turnover, knee muscle strength and paretic leg motor function among chronic stroke patients. WBV may have potential to modulate spasticity, but this requires further investigation. CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT: More study on WBV is required before it can be recommended as an adjunct treatment in rehabilitation of chronic stroke patients.

Common polymorphisms in TLR4 gene associated with susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis in the Sudanese.

SETTING: Host genetic risk factors influence susceptibility to tuberculosis (TB). There is ample evidence supporting the involvement of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in mycobacterial infection. OBJECTIVE: To study the relationship between the TLR4 gene and TB susceptibility in the Sudanese population. DESIGN: A case-control study was conducted among 207 patients with pulmonary TB and 395 healthy controls. Ten tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the TLR4 gene were genotyped using restriction digestion or hybridisation assays, and analysed. RESULTS: The genotypes were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. After controlling for sex using the Mantel-Haenszel test, four SNPs showed significant differences between cases and controls, even after correction of multiple comparisons by Bonferroni procedure. The Mantel-Haenszel estimates of allelic odds ratios for the high-risk alleles were 1.67 for rs1927911 (P = 0.0001), 1.85 for rs5030725 (P = 0.0008), 2.14 for rs7869402 (P = 1.87e-07) and 2.31 for rs1927906 (P = 1.23e-10). Haplotype analysis showed that rs1927911 and rs5030725 were in one haplotype block, and rs7869402 and rs1927906 were in another haplotype block. Conditional haplotype analysis suggested the presence of one causal variant downstream of a recombination hot spot at the 3' region of the TLR4 gene. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to show that common TLR4 polymorphisms are associated with TB susceptibility in the Sudanese population.

TP53 regulates human AlkB homologue 2 expression in glioma resistance to Photofrin-mediated photodynamic therapy.

BACKGROUND: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising adjuvant therapy in cancer treatment. However, cancers resistant to PDT, mediated through the efflux of photosensitisers by means of P-glycoprotein or ATP-binding cassette transporter proteins, have been reported. The DNA repair has also been suggested to be responsible for PDT resistance, but little is known about the repair pathways and mechanisms involved. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the possible function of six major DNA repair mechanisms in glioma cells resistant to Photofrin-mediated PDT (Ph-PDT). METHODS: The U87 glioma cells relatively resistant to Ph-PDT were obtained by recovering the viable cells 3 h after PDT treatment. The mRNA and protein expression levels of DNA repair genes were evaluated by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blotting, respectively. Small-interfering RNA and chromatin-immunoprecipitation assays were used to further examine the relationship between AlkB, an alkylation repair homologue 2 (Escherichia coli) (ALKBH2) and Ph-PDT responsiveness, and transcription factors involved in ALKBH2 transcription. RESULTS: The ALKBH2 of DNA damage reversal was significantly increased at both mRNA and protein levels from 30 min to 48 h post-treatment with Ph-PDT. Conversely, down-regulating ALKBH2 expression enhances Ph-PDT efficiency. Furthermore, our data clearly show for the first time that tumour protein (TP53) is directly involved by binding to the promoter of ALKBH2 in mediating Ph-PDT resistance. CONCLUSION: C The DNA damage reversal mechanisms may have important functions in Ph-PDT resistance through the activation of ALKBH2 by TP53.

Functional polymorphisms in the BRCA1 promoter influence transcription and are associated with decreased risk for breast cancer in Chinese women.

BACKGROUND: The BRCA1 gene is an important breast-cancer susceptibility gene. Promoter polymorphisms can alter the binding affinity of transcription factors, changing transcriptional activity and may affect susceptibility to disease. METHODS AND RESULTS: Using direct sequencing of the BRCA1 promoter region, we identified four polymorphisms c.-2804T-->C (rs799908:T-->C), c.-2265C-->T (rs11655505:C-->T), c.-2004A-->G (rs799906:A-->G) and c.-1896(ACA)(1)-->(ACA)(2) (rs8176071:(ACA)(1)-->(ACA)(2)) present in Hong Kong Chinese. Each polymorphism was studied independently and in combination by functional assays. Although all four variants significantly altered promoter activity, the c.-2265T allele had stronger binding than the C allele, and the most common mutant haplotype, which contains the c.-2265T allele, increased promoter activity by 70%. Risk association first tested in Hong Kong Chinese women with breast cancer and age-matched controls and replicated in a large population-based study of Shanghai Chinese, together totalling >3000 participants, showed that carriers of the c.-2265T allele had a reduced risk for breast cancer (combined odd ratio (OR) = 0.80, 95% CI 0.69 to 0.93; p = 0.003) which was more evident among women aged >or=45 years at first diagnosis of breast cancer and without a family history of breast cancer (combined OR = 0.75, 95% CI 0.61 to 0.91; p = 0.004). The most common haplotype containing the c.-2265T allele also showed significant risk association for women aged >or=45 years without a family history of breast cancer (OR = 0.64, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.89; p = 0.008). CONCLUSION: This comprehensive study of BRCA1 promoter polymorphisms found four variants that altered promoter activity and with the most significant contribution from c.-2265C-->T, which could affect susceptibility to breast cancer in the Chinese population. Its significance in other populations remains to be investigated.

Role of polymorphisms of the inflammatory response genes and DC-SIGNR in genetic susceptibility to SARS and other infections.

1. A genetic risk-association study involving more than 1200 subjects showed individuals homozygous for L-SIGN tandem repeats are less susceptible to SARS infection. 2. This was supported by in vitro binding studies that demonstrated homozygous L-SIGN, compared to heterozygous, had higher binding capacity for SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV), with higher proteasome-dependent viral degradation. In contrast, homozygous L-SIGN demonstrated lower binding capacity for HIV1-gp120.3. Genetic-association studies for single nucleotide polymorphisms of the inflammatory response genes, namely TNF-alpha, INF-alpha, INF-beta, INF-gamma, IL1-alpha, IL1-beta, IL-4, IL-6 and iNOS, failed to show a significant association with SARS clinical outcomes or susceptibility.

Rapid detection of pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus by a sensitive and specific duplex PCR-hybridization probes assay using LightCycler.

AIMS: To develop a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) hybridization probe assay for rapid and specific detection of thermostable direct haemolysin-producing Vibrio parahaemolyticus. METHODS AND RESULTS: Primers and hybridization probes were designed to target the toxR and tdh2 genes. Mismatches were introduced in the tdh2 primers for specific amplification of the target. The 3' ends of donor probes for both genes were labelled with fluorescein. The 5' ends of recipient probes for tdh2 and toxR were labelled with LC Red 640 and LC Red 705, respectively. The real-time assay was evaluated against conventional biochemical tests and the KAP-RPLA kit (Kanagawa phenomenon detection kit by reverse passive latex agglutination). toxR and tdh2 were detected in 100% and 91% of clinical V. parahaemolyticus isolates (n = 118), respectively. Specificity and sensitivity of the real-time assay for toxR and tdh2 were 100%, respectively. Dynamic range of detection for toxR was 10(7)-10(1) CFU ml(-1) and that for tdh2 was 10(7)-10(4) CFU ml(-1). CONCLUSIONS: The LightCycler assay described is sensitive and highly specific for detection of pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus in a single reaction tube within 80 min. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The assay developed allows accurate detection of pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus, which is valuable for rapid tracing of infection source during outbreaks.