Prohibitins are pleiotropic proteins, whose multiple roles are emerging as key elements in the regulation of cell survival and proliferation. Indeed, prohibitins interact with several intracellular ...proteins strategically involved in the regulation of cell cycle progression in response to extracellular growth signals. Prohibitins also have regulatory functions in mitochondrial fusion and cristae morphogenesis, phenomena related to the ability of self-renewing embryonic stem cells to undergo differentiation, during which mitochondria develop numerous cristae, increase in number, and generate an extensive reticular network. We recently identified a
Prohibitin 2
homolog (
DjPhb2
) that is expressed in adult stem cells (neoblasts) of planarians, a well-known model system for in vivo studies on stem cells and tissue regeneration. Here, we show that in
DjPhb2
silenced planarians, most proliferating cells disappear, with the exception of a subpopulation of neoblasts localized along the dorsal body midline. Neoblast depletion impairs regeneration and, finally, leads animals to death. Our in vivo findings demonstrate that prohibitin 2 plays an important role in regulating stem cell biology, being involved in both the control of cell cycle progression and mitochondrial cristae morphogenesis.
Despite increasing amounts of experimental evidence depicting the involvement of non-coding RNAs in cancer, the study of BRAFV600E-regulated genes has thus far focused mainly on protein-coding ones. ...Here, we identify and study the microRNAs that BRAFV600E regulates through the ERK pathway.By performing small RNA sequencing on A375 melanoma cells and a vemurafenib-resistant clone that was taken as negative control, we discover miR-204 and miR-211 as the miRNAs most induced by vemurafenib. We also demonstrate that, although belonging to the same family, these two miRNAs have distinctive features. miR-204 is under the control of STAT3 and its expression is induced in amelanotic melanoma cells, where it acts as an effector of vemurafenib's anti-motility activity by targeting AP1S2. Conversely, miR-211, a known transcriptional target of MITF, is induced in melanotic melanoma cells, where it targets EDEM1 and consequently impairs the degradation of TYROSINASE (TYR) through the ER-associated degradation (ERAD) pathway. In doing so, miR-211 serves as an effector of vemurafenib's pro-pigmentation activity. We also show that such an increase in pigmentation in turn represents an adaptive response that needs to be overcome using appropriate inhibitors in order to increase the efficacy of vemurafenib.In summary, we unveil the distinct and context-dependent activities exerted by miR-204 family members in melanoma cells. Our work challenges the widely accepted "same miRNA family = same function" rule and provides a rationale for a novel treatment strategy for melanotic melanomas that is based on the combination of ERK pathway inhibitors with pigmentation inhibitors.
Planarians are a model system for studying adult stem cells, as they possess the neoblasts, a population of pluripotent adult stem cells able to give rise to both somatic and germ cells. Although ...over the last years several efforts have been made to shed light on neoblast biology, only recent evidence indicate that this population of cells is heterogeneous. In this study we irradiated planarians with different non-lethal X-ray doses (1–5 Gy) and we identified subpopulations of neoblasts with diverse levels of tolerance to X-rays. We demonstrated that a dramatic reduction of neoblasts occurred soon after non-lethal irradiations and that de-novo proliferation of some radioresistant cells re-established the primary neoblast number. In particular, a strong proliferation activity occurred at the ventral side of irradiated animals close to the nervous system. The produced cells migrated towards the dorsal parenchyma and, together with some dorsal radioresistant cells, reconstituted the entire neoblast population demonstrating the extreme plasticity of this adult stem cell system.
Patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome exhibit accelerated vascular aging and renal damage. Aim of the study was to investigate whether vascular dysfunction is a feature of obstructive sleep ...apnea syndrome per se or instead related to the presence of traditional cardiovascular risk factors.
Forty patients with moderate-severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (20 with, 20 without traditional risk factors) and 20 matched healthy controls were enrolled. Renal vasodilating capacity, endothelium-dependent vasodilation in the brachial artery, carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity and carotid stiffness were measured. Oxidative stress, endothelial biomarkers and leukocyte adhesion molecule levels were also evaluated.
Apneic patients without traditional cardiovascular risk factors presented reduced endothelium-dependent vasodilation (3.7±2.1 versus 6.1±3.0%, P<0.05), increased serum E-selectin (49.8±11.5 versus 38.9±17.9 ng/ml, P<0.05), and impaired renal vasodilating capacity (6.0±4.3 versus 10.4±6.1%, P<0.05), as compared to healthy controls. Endothelial NO synthase expression was reduced (0.0133 versus 0.0221×10 copies/μg RNA, P<0.05), whereas oxidative stress parameters and leukocyte adhesion molecules were similar to controls. Patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and traditional risk factors also exhibit increased aortic and carotid stiffness, increased renal resistive index and intima-media thickness, and reduced expression of the endothelial progenitor cell marker CD34: however, these parameters were similar to those of healthy controls in patients with isolated obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.
Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is characterized by endothelial dysfunction and activation and impaired renal vasodilating capacity even in the absence of traditional cardiovascular risk factors, possibly due to reduced endothelial NO synthase expression.
Planarians (Platyhelminthes) possess an abundant population of adult stem cells, the neoblasts, capable to give rise to both somatic and germ cells. Although neoblasts share similar morphological ...features, several pieces of evidence suggest that they constitute a heterogeneous population of cells with distinct ultrastructural and molecular features. We found that in planarians treated with low X-ray doses (5 Gy), only a few neoblasts survive. Among these cells, those located close to the nervous system activate an intense proliferation program and migrate to reconstitute the whole complex neoblast population. This phenomenon is inhibited by the substance P receptor antagonist spantide, and accompanied by the up-regulation of a number of genes implicated in neuronal signalling and plasticity, suggesting that signals of neural origin modulate neoblast proliferation and/or migration. Here, we review these findings and the literature available on the influence of the nervous system on stem cell activity, both in planarians and vertebrates, and we propose 5 Gy-treated planarians as a unique model system to study the influence of neural signalling on stem cell biology.
Planarians are well-known for their exceptional regenerative abilities. This investigation focuses on the involvement of a Y-box protein, defined by the presence of a cold-shock domain, in ...regeneration-specific processes. Previous studies have shown that developmentally expressed Y-box proteins bind to mRNA molecules and regulate the timing of their translation. We have isolated and characterized a planarian Y-box gene, DjY1, which is specifically expressed at the site of regeneration, the blastema. DjY1 transcripts appear rapidly at the site of cutting and increase in number as the blastema grows. The timing and level of expression is similar irrespective of the orientation of the cut: in anterior, posterior, and lateral regenerative tissue. As regeneration nears completion, there is a general decrease in transcript level except in structures which are still differentiating, specifically in the auricles where new DjY1 transcripts are produced. A similarly modulated temporal pattern of expression throughout regeneration is seen in assaying the DjY1 protein. Within the population of blastemal cells, a subset of differentiating cells is specifically immunostained using antibodies to DjY1. The DjY1 protein contains a cold-shock domain and RG-repeat motifs, both of which are associated with RNA-binding properties:in vitrobinding studies using recombinant DjY1 show that the preferred template is single-stranded RNA of heterogeneous sequence. These data provide the first direct evidence that a Y-box protein is involved in the regeneration process in planarians and implicate DjY1 in the translational regulation of differentiation-specific mRNAs.
Retinoblastoma-associated proteins 46 and 48 (RbAp46 and RbAp48) are factors that are components of different chromatin-modelling complexes, such as polycomb repressive complex 2, the activity of ...which is related to epigenetic gene regulation in stem cells. To date, no direct findings are available on the in vivo role of RbAp48 in stem-cell biology. We recently identified DjRbAp48 -- a planarian (Dugesia japonica) homologue of human RBAP48 -- expression of which is restricted to the neoblasts, the adult stem cells of planarians. In vivo silencing of DjRbAp48 induces lethality and inability to regenerate, even though neoblasts proliferate and accumulate after wounding. Despite a partial reduction in neoblast number, we were always able to detect a significant number of these cells in DjRbAp48 RNAi animals. Parallel to the decrease in neoblasts, a reduction in the number of differentiated cells and the presence of apoptotic-like neoblasts were detectable in RNAi animals. These findings suggest that DjRbAp48 is not involved in neoblast maintenance, but rather in the regulation of differentiation of stem-cell progeny. We discuss our data, taking into account the possibility that DjRbAp48 might control the expression of genes necessary for cell differentiation by influencing chromatin architecture.
Adenine nucleotide translocases (ANTs) are multitask proteins involved in several aspects of cell metabolism, as well as in the regulation of cell death/survival processes. We investigated the role ...played by ANT isoforms 1 and 2 in the growth of a human glioblastoma cell line (ADF cells). The silencing of ANT2 isoform, by small interfering RNA, did not produce significant changes in ADF cell viability. By contrast, the silencing of ANT1 isoform strongly reduced ADF cell viability by inducing a non-apoptotic cell death process resembling paraptosis. We demonstrated that cell death induced by ANT1 depletion cannot be ascribed to the loss of the ATP/ADP exchange function of this protein. By contrast, our findings indicate that ANT1-silenced cells experience oxidative stress, thus allowing us to hypothesize that the effect of ANT1-silencing on ADF is mediated by the loss of the ANT1 uncoupling function. Several studies ascribe a pro-apoptotic role to ANT1 as a result of the observation that ANT1 overexpression sensitizes cells to mitochondrial depolarization or to apoptotic stimuli. In the present study, we demonstrate that, despite its pro-apoptotic function at a high expression level, the reduction of ANT1 density below a physiological baseline impairs fundamental functions of this protein in ADF cells, leading them to undertake a cell death process.
Y-box proteins are conserved regulatory factors that play a key role in coordinating gene activity with protein synthesis by influencing both the transcription and translation of specific subsets of ...genes. We report the identification of a novel Y-box gene, DeY1, whose transcripts are found in the testes of sexual planarians. DeY1 is expressed in spermatogonia, spermatocytes and spermatids, while no expression is detected in spermatozoa. No DeY1 transcripts are found in the blastema during regeneration. The subcellular distribution of DeY1 protein was analyzed by electron microscope immunocytochemistry. Immunolabelling was found in the nucleus of spermatogonia, in both the nucleus and the cytoplasm of spermatocytes, and in the cytoplasm of spermatids.
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