AbstractLong-cantilever transmission towers are drawing more and more attention in ultrahigh-voltage (UHV) transmission projects. To meet the requirements of high-voltage safety clearance, the ...structural characteristics of long-cantilever transmission towers are significantly different from traditional ones. Aiming to ensure the safety of long-cantilever transmission towers during service, this paper investigates their static and dynamic characteristics under various extreme loading conditions based on full-scale tests and numerical simulation. With the strain data tested in seven typical cases, the bending moments and axial forces of the main members were back-calculated and the initial imperfections were calculated based on these results. Using a stochastic subspace identification algorithm, the evolution of the modal parameters during the full-scale test was revealed. The damage position of the main members was identified according to the mode shape changes, and the dynamic collapse process was analyzed via the measured dynamic responses and recorded videos. Numerical simulation was conducted in ANSYS using the calculated initial imperfections, and the results were in good agreement with the full-scale test. The results show that torsion action was not dominant for this tower and the failure mode was still the bending failure at the tower body. The proposed imperfection quantification method makes up for the deficiency of the empirical values, and using experimental results to guide numerical simulation proves practical. The modal parameters vary greatly under different loading conditions, which can be attributed to the damage after each loading case.
Rationale: Evident immunosuppression has been commonly seen among septic patients, and it is demonstrated to be a major driver of morbidity. Nevertheless, a comprehensive view of the host immune ...response to sepsis is lacking as the majority of studies on immunosuppression have focused on a specific type of immune cells.Methods: We applied multi-compartment, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to dissect heterogeneity within immune cell subsets during sepsis progression on cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) mouse model. Flow cytometry and multiplex immunofluorescence tissue staining were adopted to identify the presence of 'mature DCs enriched in immunoregulatory molecules' (mregDC) upon septic challenge. To explore the function of mregDC, sorted mregDC were co-cultured with naïve CD4+ T cells. Intracellular signaling pathways that drove mregDC program were determined by integrating scRNA-seq and bulk-seq data, combined with inhibitory experiments.Results: ScRNA-seq analysis revealed that sepsis induction was associated with substantial alterations and heterogeneity of canonical immune cell types, including T, B, natural killer (NK), and myeloid cells, across three immune-relevant tissue sites. We found a unique subcluster of conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) that was characterized by specific expression of maturation- and migration-related genes, along with upregulation of immunoregulatory molecules, corresponding to the previously described 'mregDCs' in cancer. Flow cytometry and in stiu immunofluorescence staining confirmed the presence of sepsis-induced mregDC at protein level. Functional experiments showed that sepsis-induced mregDCs potently activated naive CD4+ T cells, while promoted CD4+ T cell conversion to regulatory T cells. Further observations indicated that the mregDC program was initiated via TNFRSF-NF-κB- and IFNGR2-JAK-STAT3-dependent pathways within 24 h of septic challenge. Additionally, we confirmed the detection of mregDC in human sepsis using publicly available data from a recently published single-cell study of COVID-19 patients.Conclusions: Our study generates a comprehensive single-cell immune landscape for polymicrobial sepsis, in which we identify the significant alterations and heterogeneity in immune cell subsets that take place during sepsis. Moreover, we find a conserved and potentially targetable immunoregulatory program within DCs that associates with hyperinflammation and organ dysfunction early following sepsis induction.
Increasing evidence has revealed the roles of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) as tumor biomarkers. Here, we introduce an immune-associated nine-lncRNA signature for predicting distant metastasis in ...locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (LA-NPC). The nine lncRNAs are identified through microarray profiling, followed by RT-qPCR validation and selection using a machine learning method in the training cohort (n = 177). This nine-lncRNA signature classifies patients into high and low risk groups, which have significantly different distant metastasis-free survival. Validations in the Guangzhou internal (n = 177) and Guilin external (n = 150) cohorts yield similar results, confirming that the signature is an independent risk factor for distant metastasis and outperforms anatomy-based metrics in identifying patients with high metastatic risk. Integrative analyses show that this nine-lncRNA signature correlates with immune activity and lymphocyte infiltration, which is validated by digital pathology. Our results suggest that the immune-associated nine-lncRNA signature can serve as a promising biomarker for metastasis prediction in LA-NPC.
Since numerous RNAs and RBPs prevalently localize to active chromatin regions, many RNA‐binding proteins (RBPs) may be potential transcriptional regulators. RBPs are generally thought to regulate ...transcription via noncoding RNAs. Here, we describe a distinct, dual mechanism of transcriptional regulation by the previously uncharacterized tRNA‐modifying enzyme, hTrmt13. On one hand, hTrmt13 acts in the cytoplasm to catalyze 2'‐O‐methylation of tRNAs, thus regulating translation in a manner depending on its tRNA‐modification activity. On the other hand, nucleus‐localized hTrmt13 directly binds DNA as a transcriptional co‐activator of key epithelial–mesenchymal transition factors, thereby promoting cell migration independent of tRNA‐modification activity. These dual functions of hTrmt13 are mutually exclusive, as it can bind either DNA or tRNA through its CHHC zinc finger domain. Finally, we find that hTrmt13 expression is tightly associated with poor prognosis and survival in diverse cancer patients. Our discovery of the noncatalytic roles of an RNA‐modifying enzyme provides a new perspective for understanding epitranscriptomic regulation.
Synopsis
tRNA methyltransferases regulate translation through tRNA modification, while chromatin‐associated RBPs are thought to regulate transcription primarily though lncRNAs. Here, human tRNA methyltransferase hTrmt13 is found to have an unexpected additional nuclear function in regulating transcription.
Cytoplasmic hTrmt13 regulates protein translation dependent on its tRNA 2’‐O‐methylation activity.
Nuclear hTrmt13 directly binds DNA to promote transcription, independent of its catalytic activity.
Nuclear hTrmt13 promotes cell migration and cancer metastasis by acting as a transcriptional co‐activator.
hTrmt13 regulates gene expression via translation in the cytoplasm, but also by acting in a non‐catalytic manner as a transcriptional coactivator.
Molecular heterogeneity of hepatobiliary tumor including intertumoral and intratumoral disparity always leads to drug resistance. Here, seven hepatobiliary tumor organoids are generated to explore ...heterogeneity and evolution via single‐cell RNA sequencing. HCC272 with high status of epithelia‐mesenchymal transition proves broad‐spectrum drug resistance. By examining the expression pattern of cancer stem cells markers (e.g., PROM1, CD44, and EPCAM), it is found that CD44 positive population may render drug resistance in HCC272. UMAP and pseudo‐time analysis identify the intratumoral heterogeneity and distinct evolutionary trajectories, of which catenin beta‐1 (CTNNB1), glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), and nuclear paraspeckle assembly transcript 1 (NEAT1) advantage expression clusters are commonly shared across hepatobiliary organoids. CellphoneDB analysis further implies that metabolism advantage organoids with enrichment of hypoxia signal upregulate NEAT1 expression in CD44 subgroup and mediate drug resistance that relies on Jak‐STAT pathway. Moreover, metabolism advantage clusters shared in several organoids have similar characteristic genes (GAPDH, NDRG1 (N‐Myc downstream regulated 1), ALDOA, and CA9). The combination of GAPDH and NDRG1 is an independent risk factor and predictor for patient survival. This study delineates heterogeneity of hepatobiliary tumor organoids and proposes that the collaboration of intratumoral heterogenic subpopulations renders malignant phenotypes and drug resistance.
The existence of inter‐ and intratumoral heterogeneity is the main cause for tumor drug resistance. Thus, extensive understanding of the underlying mechanism is necessary for developing potential strategy. This study here, for the first time, provides the new understanding for the role of tumor ecosystem involving cell expansion and drug response by applying scRNA‐seq method with tumor organoids.
NUP155 is reported to be correlated with tumor development. However, the role of NUP155 in tumor physiology and the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) has not been previously examined. This study ...comprehensively investigated the expression, immunological function, and prognostic significance of NUP155 in different cancer types. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that NUP155 was upregulated in 26 types of cancer. Additionally, NUP155 upregulation was strongly correlated with advanced pathological or clinical stages and poor prognosis in several cancers. Furthermore, NUP155 was significantly and positively correlated with DNA methylation, tumor mutational burden, microsatellite instability, and stemness score in most cancers. Additionally, NUP155 was also found to be involved in TIME and closely associated with tumor infiltrating immune cells and immunoregulation-related genes. Functional enrichment analysis revealed a strong correlation between NUP155 and immunomodulatory pathways, especially antigen processing and presentation. The role of NUP155 in breast cancer has not been examined. This study, for the first time, demonstrated that NUP155 was upregulated in breast invasive carcinoma (BRCA) cells and revealed its oncogenic role in BRCA using molecular biology experiments. Thus, our study highlights the potential value of NUP155 as a biomarker in the assessment of prognostic prediction, tumor microenvironment and immunotherapeutic response in pan-cancer.
Graphene oxide (GO) exhibits excellent adsorption ability to remove organic dyes from liquid; therefore, fabricating GO-based adsorbents has attracted increasing interest from researchers. However, ...it is still challenging to prepare the GO-based adsorbents with high structure stability while simultaneously maintaining its high adsorption ability. In this work, a novel one-step fabrication method combining exfoliating and micro-cross-linking simultaneously was proposed to prepare the GO composite aerogel globules, in which GO was exfoliated by carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) in the globule center, whereas the globule was micro-cross-linked by chitosan (CS) on the surface. The results showed that there were strong interactions between components, and the composite aerogel globule exhibited multiscale porous structures on the globule surface and the highly porous structure in the globule center. The composite aerogel exhibited high structure stability in liquid. The adsorption measurements toward methylene blue (MB) showed that the CS-GO/CMC composite aerogel had extremely high adsorption capacity, and the maximum adsorption capacity was 3190 mg/g for the CS-GO/CMC-1/1 composite aerogel, which was the highest adsorption capacity reported in the literature. The adsorption kinetics, adsorption isotherms, and the adsorption thermodynamics were comparatively investigated. The results showed that the adsorption of MB obeyed a pseudo-second-order model and Langmuir adsorption model, and the adsorption was a spontaneous process. Furthermore, the composite aerogel also showed excellent removal ability for Cr(VI), and the adsorption capacity was 127.4 mg/g. The extremely high adsorption abilities toward MB and Cr(VI) and high structural stability in liquid endow the CS-GO/CMC composite aerogel with potential applications in wastewater treatment.
Anterior gradient-2 (AGR2) is a proto-oncogene involved in tumorigenesis and cancer progression. AGR2, predominantly localized in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), is also a secreted protein detected ...in the extracellular compartment in multiple cancers. However, the biological functions of intracellular and extracellular AGR2 remain to be elucidated.
Based on the biochemical structure of AGR2 protein, PANC-1 pancreatic cancer cells stably expressing ER-resident or secreted AGR2 were generated by a lentivirus-mediated stable overexpression system. The capacities of cell proliferation, migration, invasion and survival were assessed in PANC-1 stable cells. Moreover, EGFR expression and activation were determined to explore the possible mechanism of AGR2 roles in pancreatic cancer tumorigenesis.
It was discovered that secreted AGR2, but not ER-resident AGR2, promotes cell proliferation, migration and invasion of PANC-1 cells. Moreover, the data indicated that both the ER-resident and the secreted AGR2 enhance the survival capacity of PANC-1 cells after tunicamycin-induced ER stress and gemcitabine treatment. However, EGFR expression and activation were not found to be involved in AGR2-dependent oncogenic phenotypes in PANC-1 cells.
Secreted AGR2 is predominantly involved in cell proliferation, migration and invasion in PANC-1 pancreatic cancer cells. Both secreted and ER-resident AGR2 contribute to the survival of PANC-1 cells under the challenging conditions. These findings provide insight into how different localizations of AGR2 have contributed to pancreatic cancer growth, metastasis, and drug sensitivity.
Frontier evidence suggests that dysregulation of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNA) is ubiquitous in all human tumors, indicating that lncRNAs might have essential roles in tumorigenesis. Therefore, an ...in-depth study of the roles of lncRNA in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) carcinogenesis might be helpful to provide novel therapeutic targets. Here we report that lncRNA TINCR was significantly upregulated in NPC and was associated positively with poor survival. Silencing TINCR inhibited NPC progression and cisplatin resistance. Mechanistically, TINCR bound ACLY and protected it from ubiquitin degradation to maintain total cellular acetyl-CoA levels. Accumulation of cellular acetyl-CoA promoted
lipid biosynthesis and histone H3K27 acetylation, which ultimately regulated the peptidyl arginine deiminase 1 (PADI1)-MAPK-MMP2/9 pathway. In addition, insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA-binding protein 3 interacted with TINCR and slowed its decay, which partially accounted for TINCR upregulation in NPC. These findings demonstrate that TINCR acts as a crucial driver of NPC progression and chemoresistance and highlights the newly identified TINCR-ACLY-PADI1-MAPK-MMP2/9 axis as a potential therapeutic target in NPC. SIGNIFICANCE: TINCR-mediated regulation of a PADI1-MAPK-MMP2/9 signaling pathway plays a critical role in NPC progression and chemoresistance, marking TINCR as a viable therapeutic target in this disease.
Abstract
Dnmt2, a member of the DNA methyltransferase superfamily, catalyzes the formation of 5-methylcytosine at position 38 in the anticodon loop of tRNAs. Dnmt2 regulates many cellular biological ...processes, especially the production of tRNA-derived fragments and intergenerational transmission of paternal metabolic disorders to offspring. Moreover, Dnmt2 is closely related to human cancers. The tRNA substrates of mammalian Dnmt2s are mainly detected using bisulfite sequencing; however, we lack supporting biochemical data concerning their substrate specificity or recognition mechanism. Here, we deciphered the tRNA substrates of human DNMT2 (hDNMT2) as tRNAAsp(GUC), tRNAGly(GCC) and tRNAVal(AAC). Intriguingly, for tRNAAsp(GUC) and tRNAGly(GCC), G34 is the discriminator element; whereas for tRNAVal(AAC), the inosine modification at position 34 (I34), which is formed by the ADAT2/3 complex, is the prerequisite for hDNMT2 recognition. We showed that the C32U33(G/I)34N35 (C/U)36A37C38 motif in the anticodon loop, U11:A24 in the D stem, and the correct size of the variable loop are required for Dnmt2 recognition of substrate tRNAs. Furthermore, mammalian Dnmt2s possess a conserved tRNA recognition mechanism.