ALBERT

Description: Sepsis has no proven pharmacologic treatment other than appropriate antibiotic agents, fluids, vasopressors as needed, and possibly corticosteroids. It is generally initiated mainly by the simultaneous recognition by various components of the innate immune system of either pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) or damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). In the current study, we employed the murine cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) model for sepsis to evaluate the effect of post-CLP infusion of apoptotic cells (Allocetra-OTS) on a CLP severe sepsis model. Cardiovascular evaluation, acute kidney injury (AKI), acute liver injury (ALI), and hematological and metabolic function were evaluated. Cytokine and chemokine profiles were measured by Multiplex ELISA and mitochondrial function, and glycolysis by Seahorse. The Murine Sepsis Score (MSS) was used for disease severity definition. CLP mice had low blood pressure, poor cardiac output, and lung dysfunction, as well as AKI, ALI, and thrombocytopenia, which correlated with the MSS and corresponded to a cytokine/chemokine storm. Apoptotic cell administration markedly improved the cytokine and chemokine storm and restored the impaired mitochondrial and glycolytic function in white blood cells leading to increased survival, from 6 to 60% (P 

Description: Dia1, which belongs to the diaphanous-related formin family, influences a variety of cellular processes through straight actin elongation activity. Recently, novel DIA1 mutants such as p.R1213X (p.R1204X) and p.A265S, have been reported to cause an autosomal dominant sensorineural hearing loss (DFNA1). Additionally, active DIA1 mutants induce progressive hearing loss in a gain-of-function manner. However, the subcellular localization and pathological function of DIA1(R1213X/R1204X) remains unknown. In the present study, we demonstrated the localization of endogenous Dia1 and the constitutively active DIA1 mutant in the cochlea, using transgenic mice expressing FLAG-tagged DIA1(R1204X) (DIA1-TG). Endogenous Dia1 and the DIA1 mutant were regionally expressed at the organ of Corti and the spiral ganglion from early life; alongside cochlear maturation, they became localized at the apical junctional complexes (AJCs) between hair cells (HCs) and supporting cells (SCs). To investigate HC vulnerability in the DIA1-TG mice, we exposed 4-week-old mice to moderate noise, which induced temporary threshold shifts with cochlear synaptopathy and ultrastructural changes in stereocilia 4 weeks post noise exposure. Furthermore, we established a knock-in (KI) mouse line expressing AcGFP-tagged DIA1(R1213X) (DIA1-KI) and confirmed mutant localization at AJCs and the tips of stereocilia in HCs. In MDCKAcGFP-DIA1(R1213X) cells with stable expression of AcGFP-DIA1(R1213X), AcGFP-DIA1(R1213X) revealed marked localization at microvilli on the apical surface of cells and decreased localization at cell-cell junctions. The DIA1-TG mice demonstrated hazy and ruffled circumferential actin belts at AJCs and abnormal stereocilia accompanied with HC loss at 5 months of age. In conclusion, Dia1 plays a pivotal role in the development and maintenance of AJCs and stereocilia, ensuring cochlear and HC integrity. Subclinical/latent vulnerability of HCs may be the cause of progressive hearing loss in DFNA1 patients, thus suggesting new therapeutic targets for preventing HC degeneration and progressive hearing loss associated with DFNA1.

Description: Breast cancer is considered to be the most prevalent cancer in women worldwide, and metastasis is the primary cause of death. Protease-activated receptor 1 (PAR1) is a GPCR family member involved in the invasive and metastatic processes of cancer cells. However, the functions and underlying mechanisms of PAR1 in breast cancer remain unclear. In this study, we found that PAR1 is highly expressed in high invasive breast cancer cells, and predicts poor prognosis in ER-negative and high-grade breast cancer patients. Mechanistically, Twist transcriptionally induces PAR1 expression, leading to inhibition of Hippo pathway and activation of YAP/TAZ; Inhibition of PAR1 suppresses YAP/TAZ-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), invasion, migration, cancer stem cell (CSC)-like properties, tumor growth and metastasis of breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. These findings suggest that PAR1 acts as a direct transcriptionally target of Twist, can promote EMT, tumorigenicity and metastasis by controlling the Hippo pathway; this may lead to a potential therapeutic target for treating invasive breast cancer.

Description: The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first reported in December 2019. As similar cases rapidly emerged around the world1–3, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, 2020 and pronounced the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic on March 11, 20204. The virus has reached almost all countries of the globe. As of June 3, 2020, the accumulated confirmed cases reached 6,479,405 with more than 383,013 deaths worldwide. The urgent and emergency care of COVID-19 patients calls for effective drugs, in addition to the beneficial effects of remdesivir5, to control the disease and halt the pandemic.

Description: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one of the most frequently observed malignant tumours in the urinary system and targeted drug resistance is quite common in RCC. Long noncoding RNA SNHG12 (lncRNA SNHG12) has emerged as a key molecule in numerous human cancers, but its functions in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) sunitinib resistance remain unclear. In this study, we found SNHG12 was highly expressed in RCC tissues and in sunitinib-resistant RCC cells and was associated with a poor clinical prognosis. SNHG12 promoted RCC proliferation, migration, invasion and sunitinib resistance via CDCA3 in vitro. Mechanically, SNHG12 bound to SP1 and prevented the ubiquitylation-dependent proteolysis of SP1. Stabilised SP1 bound to a specific region in the promoter of CDCA3 and increased CDCA3 expression. Furthermore, in vivo experiments showed that SNHG12 increased tumour growth and that knocking down SNHG12 could reverse RCC sunitinib resistance. Our study revealed that the lncRNA SNHG12/SP1/CDCA3 axis promoted RCC progression and sunitinib resistance, which could provide a new therapeutic target for sunitinib-resistant RCC.