Obesity, the most common nutritional disorder in industrialized countries, is associated with an increased mortality and morbidity of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Obesity is primarily considered to ...be a disorder of energy balance, and it has recently been suggested that some forms of obesity are associated with chronic low-grade inflammation. The present paper focuses on the current status of our knowledge regarding chronic inflammation, a link between obesity and CVDs, including heart diseases, vascular disease and atherosclerosis. The paper discusses the methods of body fat evaluation in humans, the endocrinology and distribution of adipose tissue in the genders, the pathophysiology of obesity, the relationship among obesity, inflammation, and CVD, and the adipose tissue-derived cytokines known to affect inflammation. Due to space limitations, this paper focuses on C-reactive protein, serum amyloid A, leptin, adiponectin, resistin, visfatin, chemerin, omentin, vaspin, apelin, and retinol binding protein 4 as adipokines.
The ischaemia‐reperfusion (I/R)–induced skin lesion has been identified as primary cause of pressure ulcers. To date, attempts to prevent pressure ulcers have not produced a significant improvement. ...Quercetin, one of the most widely distributed flavonoids in fruits and vegetables, exhibits its antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory properties against many diseases, including ischaemic heart disease, atherosclerosis and renal injury. In vitro wound scratch assay was first used to assess the function of quercetin in wounding cell model. Next, animal pressure ulcers model was established with two cycles of I/R. The impact of quercetin in the wound recovery, immune cell infiltration and pro‐inflammatory cytokines production was investigated in this model. Mechanistic regulation of quercetin at the wound site was also studied. Quercetin accelerated wound closure in cell scratch assay. Dose‐response study suggested 1 μmol/L quercetin for in vivo study. In I/R injury model, quercetin treatment significantly accelerated wound closure, reduced immune cell infiltration and pro‐inflammatory cytokines production. Signalling study showed quercetin treatment inhibited MAPK but not NFĸB activation. Quercetin treatment improved the wound healing process in I/R lesions by suppressing MAPK pathway. Our results supported that quercetin could be a potential therapeutic agent for pressure ulcers.
HOTAIR, a long intervening non-coding RNA (lincRNA), associates with the Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) and is reported to reprogram chromatin organization and promote tumor progression. ...However, little is known about the roles of this gene in the development of chemoresistance phenotype of lung adenocarcinoma (LAD). Thus, we investigated the involvement of HOTAIR in the resistance of LAD cells to cisplatin. In this study, we show that HOTAIR expression was significantly upregulated in cisplatin-resistant A549/DDP cells compared with in parental A549 cells. Knockdown of HOTAIR by RNA interference could resensitize the responses of A549/DDP cells to cisplatin both in vitro and in vivo. In contrast, overexpression of HOTAIR could decrease the sensitivity of A549 and SPC-A1 cells to cisplatin. We also found that the siRNA/HOTAIR1-mediated chemosensivity enhancement was associated with inhibition of cell proliferation, induction of G0/G1 cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis enhancement through regulation of p21(WAF1/CIP1) (p21) expression. Also, pcDNA/p21or siRNA/p21 could mimic the effects of siRNA/HOTAIR1 or pcDNA/HOTAIR on the sensitivity of LAD cells to cisplatin. Importantly, siRNA/p21 or pcDNA/p21 could partially rescue the effects of siRNA/HOTAIR1 or pcDNA/HOTAIR on both p21 expression and cisplatin sensitivity in LAD cells. Further, HOTAIR was observed to be significantly downregulated in cisplatin-responding LAD tissues, and its expression was inversely correlated with p21 mRNA expression. Taken together, our findings suggest that upregulation of HOTAIR contributes to the cisplatin resistance of LAD cells, at least in part, through the regulation of p21 expression.
CircRNAs are a novel class of RNA molecules with a unique closed continuous loop structure. CircRNAs are abundant in eukaryotic cells, have unique stability and tissue specificity, and can play a ...biological regulatory role at various levels, such as transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. Numerous studies have indicated that circRNAs serve a crucial purpose in cancer biology. CircRNAs regulate tumor behavioral phenotypes such as proliferation and migration through various molecular mechanisms, such as miRNA sponging, transcriptional regulation, and protein interaction. Recently, several reports have demonstrated that they are also deeply involved in resistance to anticancer drugs, from traditional chemotherapeutic drugs to targeted and immunotherapeutic drugs. This review is the first to summarize the latest research on circRNAs in anticancer drug resistance based on drug classification and to discuss their potential clinical applications.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis （ALS） is a complex neu- rodegenerative disease with cellular and molecular mechanisms yet to be fully described. Mutations in a number of genes including SOD1 and FUS ...are associated with familial ALS. Here we report the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells （iPSCs） from fibroblasts of familial ALS patients bearing SOD1＋1A27~c and FUS＋/GISe6A mutations, respectively. We further gener- ated gene corrected ALS iPSCs using CRISPR/Cas9 system. Genome-wide RNA sequencing （RNA-seq） analysis of motor neurons derived from SOD1＋~A272c and corrected iPSCs revealed 899 aberrant transcripts. Our work may shed light on discovery of early biomarkers and pathways dysregulated in ALS, as well as provide a basis for novel therapeutic strategies to treat ALS.
Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been identified as oncogenes or tumor suppressors that are involved in tumorigenesis and chemotherapy drug resistance. Maternally expressed gene 3 (MEG3) is an ...imprinted gene located at 14q32 that encodes an lncRNA, and decreased MEG3 expression plays an important role in multiple cancers. However, its biological role in the development of the chemoresistance phenotype of human lung adenocarcinoma (LAD) is unknown. This study aimed to observe the expression of MEG3 in LAD and to evaluate its biological role and clinical significance in the resistance of LAD cells to cisplatin. MEG3 expression was markedly decreased in cisplatin-resistant A549/DDP cells compared with parental A549 cells as shown by an lncRNA microarray. MEG3 overexpression in A549/DDP cells increased their chemosensitivity to cisplatin both in vitro and in vivo by inhibiting cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis. By contrast, MEG3 knockdown in A549 cells decreased the chemosensitivity. Moreover, MEG3 was decreased in cisplatin-insensitive LAD tissues while p53 protein levels were decreased and Bcl-xl protein levels increased. Furthermore, patients with lower levels of MEG3 expression showed worse responses to cisplatin-based chemotherapy. These findings demonstrate that MEG3 is significantly downregulated in LAD and partially regulates the cisplatin resistance of LAD cells through the control of p53 and Bcl-xl expression. Thus, MEG3 may represent a new marker of poor response to cisplatin and could be a potential therapeutic target for LAD chemotherapy.
Obesity, characterized by excessive body fat accumulation, is associated with various chronic health conditions. Body fat plays a crucial role in health outcomes, and nutrient intake is a ...contributing factor. Menopause further influences body fat, but the precise relationships between nutrients and fat mass distribution in pre- and post-menopausal women are unclear.
Data from 4751 adult women aged ≥18 years old (3855 pre-menopausal, 896 post-menopausal) with completed information were obtained from the National Health and Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2011 to 2018. Multivariate linear regression models were used to examine the associations between protein, carbohydrate, fat intake and total percent fat (TPF), android percent fat (APF), gynoid percent fat (GPF), android to gynoid ratio (A/G), subcutaneous adipose tissue mass (SAT), visceral adipose tissue mass (VAT). Subgroup analyses, stratified by menopausal status, were also conducted. Additionally, we employed smoothing curve fitting techniques to investigate potential non-linear relationships between fat mass distribution and nutrient intake.
Compared with pre-menopausal women, post-menopausal women had higher body fat, BMI, and metabolic indicators but lower nutrient intake (All p<0.05). In the overall analysis, we found significant correlations between nutrient intake and fat mass. Specifically, protein intake was negatively correlated with TPF (β = -0.017, 95% CI: -0.030, -0.005), APF (β = -0.028, 95% CI: -0.044, -0.012), GPF (β = -0.019, 95% CI: -0.030, -0.008), while fat intake showed positive correlations with these measures (SAT: β = 2.769, 95% CI: 0.860, 4.678). Carbohydrate intake exhibited mixed associations. Notably, body fat mass-nutrient intake correlations differed by menopausal status. Generally speaking, protein intake showed negative correlations with body fat distribution in pre-menopausal women but positive correlations in post-menopausal women. Carbohydrate intake revealed significant negative associations with abdominal and visceral fat in post-menopausal women, while fat intake was consistently positive across all fat distribution indices, especially impacting visceral fat in post-menopausal women.
Dietary intake plays a crucial role in body fat distribution, with menopausal status significantly influencing the impact of nutrients on specific fat distribution metrics. The study emphasizes the need for dietary guidelines to consider the nutritional needs and health challenges unique to women at different life stages, particularly concerning menopausal status, to effectively manage obesity.
Distant spreading of metastatic tumor cells is still the leading cause of tumor death. Metastatic spreading is a complex process, in which epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is the primary and ...key event to promote it. Presently, extensive reviews have given insights on the occurrence of EMT at the primary tumor site that depends on invasive properties of tumor cells and the tumor-associated microenvironment. However, essential roles of circulation environment involved in tumor cell EMT is not well summarized. As a main constituent of the blood, platelet is increasingly found to work as an important activator to induce EMT. Therefore, this review aims to emphasize the novel role of platelet in EMT through signal communications between platelets and circulation tumor cells, and illustrate potent interventions aiming at their communications. It may give a complementary view of EMT in addition to the tissue microenvironment, help for better understand the hematogenous metastasis, and also illustrate theoretical and practical basis for the targeted inhibition. Video abstract.
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•Lycopene production was significantly improved through optimizing pathway and chassis metabolism.•GGPP was the rate-controlling metabolite for lycopene production.•Expanding GGPP ...pool and MVA pathway significantly increased the flow of lycopene synthesis.•Citric acid fed-batch fermentation greatly improved the titer of lycopene.•Constitutive promoter was more efficient for balancing the expression of lycopene biosynthesis pathway.
Lycopene, a tetraterpenoid containing 13 double bonds, has important pharmaceutical and industrial application values. However, unstable supply of raw for extracted from natural host and residue of chemical reagents in chemically synthesized products have limited the quality of lycopene. Engineering microorganism is thus regarded as an alternative and attractive route for lycopene production. To improve the ability of engineered yeast to synthesize lycopene, here we have optimized the lycopene biosynthesis pathway and chassis metabolism. The results have verified that S. cerevisiae CEN.PK2-1C was more suitable for lycopene production because of its strong ability of synthesizing precursors of terpenoids. Compared to use inducible promoter, the use of constitutive promoter controlling pathway expression was more efficient for balancing lycopene synthesis and chassis metabolism. GGPP was identified the rate-controlling metabolite. Through expanding GGPP pool and MVA pathway, lycopene production was thus significantly increased. By citric acid fed-batch fermentation, the yield of lycopene finally reached 115.64 mg/L, 2689-folds of initial engineered yeast. These results indicated that co-optimization of heterologous pathway and chassis metabolism is a good strategy for enforcing microbial overproduction of natural products.
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