Bladder cancer is one of the most malignant tumors closely associated with macrophages. Polyporus polysaccharide (PPS) has shown excellent efficacy in treating bladder cancer with minimal side ...effects. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of PPS in inhibiting bladder cancer remain unclear. In this study, we used macrophages cultured alone or with T24 human bladder cancer cell culture supernatant as study models. We found that PPS enhanced the activities of IFN-γ-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages, as shown by the release of inducible nitric oxide synthase (INOS), secretion of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-6, phagocytosis activity, as well as expression of M1 phenotype indicators, such as CD40, CD284 and CD86. PPS acted upstream in activation cascade of nuclear factor (NF)-κB signaling pathways by interfering with IκB phosphorylation. In addition, PPS regulated NF-κB (P65) signaling by interfering with Toll-like receptor (TLR)-4, INOS and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2. Our results indicate that PPS activates macrophages through TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathways.
Due to the development of the modern scientific technology, autonomous vehicles may realize to connect with each other and share the information collected from each vehicle. An improved forward ...considering car-following model was proposed with mean expected velocity field to describe the autonomous vehicles flow behavior. The new model has three key parameters: adjustable sensitivity, strength factor and mean expected velocity field size. Two lemmas and one theorem were proven as criteria for judging the stability of homogeneousautonomous vehicles flow. Theoretical results show that the greater parameters means larger stability regions. A series of numerical simulations were carried out to check the stability and fundamental diagram of autonomous flow. From the numerical simulation results, the profiles, hysteresis loop and density waves of the autonomous vehicles flow were exhibited. The results show that with increased sensitivity, strength factor or field size the traffic jam was suppressed effectively which are well in accordance with the theoretical results. Moreover, the fundamental diagrams corresponding to three parameters respectively were obtained. It demonstrates that these parameters play almost the same role on traffic flux: i.e. before the critical density the bigger parameter is, the greater flux is and after the critical density, the opposite tendency is. In general, the three parameters have a great influence on the stability and jam state of the autonomous vehicles flow.
•A new car-following model was proposed with mean expected velocity field.•Two lemmas and one theorem were proven as criteria for judging stability.•Stability and fundamental diagram were examined with different parameters.
Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose is one of the leading causes of hepatotoxicity and acute liver failure in the United States. Accumulating evidence suggests that hepatocyte necrosis plays a critical ...role in APAP‐induced liver injury (AILI). However, the mechanisms of APAP‐induced necrosis and liver injury are not fully understood. In this study, we found that p53 up‐regulated modulator of apoptosis (PUMA), a B‐cell lymphoma‐2 (Bcl‐2) homology domain 3 (BH3)‐only Bcl‐2 family member, was markedly induced by APAP in mouse livers and in isolated human and mouse hepatocytes. PUMA deficiency suppressed APAP‐induced mitochondrial dysfunction and release of cell death factors from mitochondria, and protected against APAP‐induced hepatocyte necrosis and liver injury in mice. PUMA induction by APAP was p53 independent, and required receptor‐interacting protein kinase 1 (RIP1) and c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK) by transcriptional activation. Furthermore, a small‐molecule PUMA inhibitor, administered after APAP treatment, mitigated APAP‐induced hepatocyte necrosis and liver injury. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that RIP1/JNK‐dependent PUMA induction mediates AILI by promoting hepatocyte mitochondrial dysfunction and necrosis, and suggest that PUMA inhibition is useful for alleviating acute hepatotoxicity attributed to APAP overdose.
A scheme for high-efficiency transfer of optical vortices is proposed by an inelastic two-wave mixing (ITWM) process in an inverted-Y four-level atomic medium, which is originally prepared in a ...coherent superposition of two ground states. The orbital angular momentum (OAM) information in the incident vortex probe field can be transferred to the generated signal field through the ITWM process. Choosing reasonable experimentally realizable parameters, we find that the presence of the off-resonance control field can greatly improve the conversion efficiency of optical vortices, rather than in the absence of a control field. This is caused by the broken of the destructive interference between two one-photon excitation pathways. Furthermore, we also extend our model to an inelastic multi-wave mixing process and demonstrate that the transfer efficiency between multiple optical vortices strongly depends on the superposition of the ground states. Finally, we explore the composite vortex beam generated by collinear superposition of the incident vortex probe and signal fields. It is obvious that the intensity and phase profiles of the composite vortex can be effectively controlled via adjusting the intensity of the control field. Potential applications of our scheme may exist in OAM-based optical communications and optical information processing.
Bile acid synthesis plays a key role in regulating whole body cholesterol homeostasis. Transcriptional factor EB (TFEB) is a nutrient and stress-sensing transcriptional factor that promotes lysosomal ...biogenesis. Here we report a role of TFEB in regulating hepatic bile acid synthesis. We show that TFEB induces cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) in human hepatocytes and mouse livers and prevents hepatic cholesterol accumulation and hypercholesterolemia in Western diet-fed mice. Furthermore, we find that cholesterol-induced lysosomal stress feed-forward activates TFEB via promoting TFEB nuclear translocation, while bile acid-induced fibroblast growth factor 19 (FGF19), acting via mTOR/ERK signaling and TFEB phosphorylation, feedback inhibits TFEB nuclear translocation in hepatocytes. Consistently, blocking intestinal bile acid uptake by an apical sodium-bile acid transporter (ASBT) inhibitor decreases ileal FGF15, enhances hepatic TFEB nuclear localization and improves cholesterol homeostasis in Western diet-fed mice. This study has identified a TFEB-mediated gut-liver signaling axis that regulates hepatic cholesterol and bile acid homeostasis.
A multicolor room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) supramolecular photo‐switch encryption film is constructed by the coassembly of coumarin‐24‐crown‐8 (C24C8), diarylethene dicationic alkylammonium ...derivative (1), rhodamine B (RhB) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). Benefiting from the tightly binding of C24C8 and secondary alkylammonium ion, 1 formed noncovalent bridged bis(coumarin‐24‐crown‐8), which displayed photo‐switchable RTP with green afterglow (more than 5 s) after coassembly with PVA. Especially doping with RhB gave a photo‐switchable highly efficient phosphorescence‐harvesting system with multicolor through triplet‐to‐singlet Förster‐resonance energy transfer (TS‐FRET). The energy transfer efficiency and antenna effect of C24C8+RhB@PVA film reached 88.3% and 62.6 when the donor/acceptor ratio is 50:1, respectively. Therefore, diarylethene noncovalent bridged bis(coumarin‐24‐crown‐8) supramolecular assembly not only displays a multicolor photoluminescence‐switch, but also presents a phosphorescent photo‐switch with afterglow, which provides a simple and feasible way to construct smart RTP materials through host‐guest strategy.
A photo‐switchable phosphorescence energy transfer system is constructed through the coassembly of host phosphor coumarin‐24‐crown‐8 (C24C8), molecular switch diarylethene dicationic alkylammonium derivative (1), rhodamine B (RhB) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). Both 1⊂C24C8@PVA and 1⊂C24C8+RhB@PVA showed reversibly photoswitchable luminescence with a long lifetime. Finally, the phosphorescent photo‐switch films were used for information encryption with afterglow.
Sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1/p62; hereafter p62) is an autophagy receptor protein for selective autophagy primarily due to its direct interaction with the microtubule light chain 3 protein that ...specifically localizes on autophagosome membranes. As a result, impaired autophagy leads to the accumulation of p62. p62 is also a common component of many human liver disease–related cellular inclusion bodies, such as Mallory-Denk bodies, intracytoplasmic hyaline bodies, α1-antitrypsin aggregates, as well as p62 bodies and condensates. p62 also acts as an intracellular signaling hub, and it involves multiple signaling pathways, including nuclear factor erythroid 2–related factor 2, NF-κB, and the mechanistic target of rapamycin, which are critical for oxidative stress, inflammation, cell survival, metabolism, and liver tumorigenesis. This review discusses the recent insights of p62 in protein quality control, including the role of p62 in the formation and degradation of p62 stress granules and protein aggregates as well as regulation of multiple signaling pathways in the pathogenesis of alcohol-associated liver disease.
Defects in lysosome function and autophagy contribute to the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease. We investigated the mechanisms by which alcohol consumption affects these processes by evaluating ...the functions of transcription factor EB (TFEB), which regulates lysosomal biogenesis.
We performed studies with GFP-LC3 mice, mice with liver-specific deletion of TFEB, mice with disruption of the transcription factor E3 gene (TFE3-knockout mice), mice with disruption of the Tefb and Tfe3 genes (TFEB and TFE3 double-knockout mice), and Tfebflox/flox albumin cre-negative mice (controls). TFEB was overexpressed from adenoviral vectors or knocked down with small interfering RNAs in mouse livers. Mice were placed on diets of regular ethanol feeding plus an acute binge to induce liver damage (ethanol diet); some mice also were given injections of torin-1, an inhibitor of the kinase activity of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR). Liver tissues were collected and analyzed by immunohistochemistry, immunoblots, and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction to monitor lysosome biogenesis. We analyzed levels of TFEB in liver tissues from patients with alcoholic hepatitis and from healthy donors (controls) by immunohistochemistry.
Liver tissues from mice on the ethanol diet had lower levels of total and nuclear TFEB compared with control mice, and hepatocytes had decreased lysosome biogenesis and autophagy. Hepatocytes from mice on the ethanol diet had increased translocation of mTOR into lysosomes, resulting in increased mTOR activation. Administration of torin-1 increased liver levels of TFEB and decreased steatosis and liver injury induced by ethanol. Mice that overexpressed TFEB in the liver developed less severe ethanol-induced liver injury and had increased lysosomal biogenesis and mitochondrial bioenergetics compared with mice carrying a control vector. Mice with knockdown of TFEB and TFEB-TFE3 double-knockout mice developed more severe liver injury in response to the ethanol diet than control mice. Liver tissues from patients with alcohol-induced hepatitis had lower nuclear levels of TFEB than control tissues.
We found that ethanol feeding plus an acute binge decreased hepatic expression of TFEB, which is required for lysosomal biogenesis and autophagy. Strategies to block mTOR activity or increase levels of TFEB might be developed to protect the liver from ethanol-induced damage.
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