Skin inflammation induced by lupus serum was inhibited in IL-1R deficient mice.

Skin inflammation induced by lupus serum is a useful tool to investigate the pathogenesis of lupus skin injury. IL-1 is a proinflammatory cytokine, and its role in lupus skin lesion is still unclear. We determined the role of IL-1 in lupus skin injury by using gene deficient mice. We found that skin inflammation induced by lupus serum was significantly reduced in IL-1R deficient mice and caspase-1 deficient mice. IL-1R deficiency did not affect the expression of FcγRI (CD64), FcγRII (CD32) and MHC class II (CD74) induced by lupus serum. IL-1R deficiency reduced the lipid raft clustering, and decreased expression of MCP-1 and TNFα in monocytes. Keratinocyte proliferation induced by lupus serum was significantly decreased in TNFα deficient mice. Our findings indicate that IL-1 plays an important role in skin lesions of SLE. This study suggests that IL-1 is a therapeutic target in skin lesions of SLE.

Application of serum peptidomics for Parkinson's disease in SNCA-A30P mice.

Intraneuronal inclusions of alpha-synuclein (α-synuclein, α-syn) are commonly found in the brain of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). The pathogenesis of the abundant α-syn protein in the blood has been extensively studied to understand its properties better. In recent years, peptidome analysis has received increasing attention. In this study, we identified and analyzed serum peptides from wild-type (WT) and the (Thy-1)-h[A30P] alpha-synuclein transgenic mice (SNCA-A30P mice) using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). One thousand eight hundred fifty-six peptides from 771 proteins were analyzed. Among them, 151 peptides from 107 proteins were significantly differentially expressed. The glycoprotein VI platelet pathway (GP6) was the pathway's most significant differentially expressed signaling pathway. Cleavage sites of the differentially expressed peptides may reflect protease distribution and activity. We selected the most significantly differentially expressed peptide, VGGDPI, and found that it contained cathepsin K (Ctsk) and trypsin-1 cleavage sites, suggesting that Ctsk and trypsin-1 may be key peptidases in PD. α-syn is a protein associated with the pathogenesis of PD. mutations in several genes, including SNCA, which encodes α-syn, are associated with the development of PD. Bioinformatics analysis of the physiological pathways related to SNCA genes and apoptosis genes found the five most markedly up-regulated proteins: formin homology 2 domain-containing 1 (FHOD1), insulin receptor substrate 1(IRS1), TRPM8 channel-associated factor 1 (TCAF1), glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), and interleukin-16 (IL-16). Therefore, the differentially expressed peptides in the five precursor protein domains may be potential bioactive peptides associated with α-syn and apoptosis. This study provides a validated peptidomics profile of SNCA-A30P mice and identifies potentially bioactive peptides linked to α-syn and apoptosis.

CCDC176 stabilizes microtubule doublets 1 and 9 to ensure proper sperm movement.

The molecular mechanism underlying asymmetric axonemal complexes in sperm flagella is still largely unknown. Here, we showed that the knockout of the coiled-coil domain-containing 176 (CCDC176) in mice led to male infertility due to decreased sperm motility. Ccdc176 knockout specifically destabilized microtubule doublets (MTDs) 1 and 9 during sperm maturation in the corpus epididymis. Single-sperm immunofluorescence showed that most CCDC176 was distributed along the axoneme, and further super-resolution imaging revealed that CCDC176 is asymmetrically localized in the sperm axoneme. CCDC176 could cooperate with microtubule and radial spoke proteins to stabilize MTDs 1 and 9, and its knockout results in the destabilization of some proteins in sperm flagella. Furthermore, as predicted by the sperm multibody dynamics (MBD) model, we found that MTDs 1 and 9 jutted out from the sperm flagellum annulus region in Ccdc176-/- spermatozoa, and these flagellar defects alter sperm flagellar beat patterns and swimming paths, potentially owing to the reduction and disequilibration of bending torque on the central pair. These results demonstrate that CCDC176 specifically stabilizes MTDs 1 and 9 in the sperm flagellum to ensure proper sperm movement for fertilization.

Corrigendum: The Role of Estrogen Membrane Receptor (G Protein-Coupled Estrogen Receptor 1) in Skin Inflammation Induced by Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Serum IgG.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2017.01723.].

The Role of Estrogen Membrane Receptor (G Protein-Coupled Estrogen Receptor 1) in Skin Inflammation Induced by Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Serum IgG.

Skin injury is the second most common clinical manifestation in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Estrogen may affect the onset and development of SLE through its receptor. In this study, we investigated the role of estrogen membrane receptor G protein-coupled estrogen receptor 1 (GPER1) in skin injury of SLE. We found that skin injury induced by SLE serum was more severe in female mice and required monocytes. Estrogen promoted activation of monocytes induced by lupus IgG through the membrane receptor GPER1 which was located in lipid rafts. Blockade of GPER1 and lipid rafts reduced skin inflammation induced by SLE serum. The results we obtained suggest that GPER1 plays an important role in the pathogenesis of skin inflammation induced by lupus IgG and might be a therapeutic target in skin lesions of patients with SLE.