线粒体DNA靶向治疗

线粒体(mitochondrion)是真核生物细胞中的一种非常重要的细胞器,含有独立于细胞核染色体外的遗传物质,通过氧化磷酸化产生ATP,是细胞的能量工厂,与细胞分化、信号转导、代谢稳态等过程密切联系。线粒体功能的紊乱与癌症、神经退行性疾病、糖尿病等许多疾病的发生、发展及治疗息息相关。线粒体在细胞命运中扮演的关键角色,使对线粒体这一特殊细胞器的探索成为生命科学研究热点之一。人线粒体DNA(mitochondrial DNA, mtDNA)是一相对保守且仅16 kb的环状双链DNA分子,只含37个基因,但这些基因都是维持线粒体功能稳定必不可少的部分。随着对线粒体功能认识的不断深入,研究人员发现mtDNA突变,会导致活性氧自由基过量产生,从而引起细胞衰老,甚至引发诸多疾病,例如遗传性视神经病变、线粒体脑肌病伴高乳酸血症和卒中样发作综合征等。但是,目前针对这些线粒体基因疾病尚无非常有效的治疗手段。为了进一步了解这一关键细胞器,研究人员开发了一些有效的方法来突破线粒体的复杂屏障。本文将重点介绍并讨论近几年靶向mtDNA的研究进展,主要从药物修饰、材料递送、基因编辑等方面进行了总结,希望能为推动线粒体的研究提供一些新的思路。     

Concurrent exposure to a dectin-1 agonist suppresses the Th2 response to epicutaneously introduced antigen in mice

Background

Epicutaneous sensitization with protein allergen that induces predominant Th2 responses is an important sensitization route in atopic dermatitis. Fungal components have been shown to modulate Th cell differentiation. However, the effects of fungal components on epicutaneous sensitization are unclear.

Results

In this study, we showed that co-administration of curdlan, a dectin-1 agonist, during epicutaneous ovalbumin sensitization of BALB/c mice decreased the IL-5 and IL-13 levels in supernatants of lymph node cell ovalbumin reactivation cultures. Mechanistically, curdlan co-administration decreased IL-4 and IL-1β expressions in draining lymph nodes. Curdlan co-administration also lower the migration of langerin⁺ CD103^- epidermal Langerhans cells into draining lymph nodes at 96 hours post-sensitization which might be attributed to decreased expressions of IL-18 and IL-1β in patched skin. Moreover, adoptive transfer of CFSE-labeled transgenic CD4 T cells confirmed that curdlan co-administration decreased the proliferation and IL-4-production of ovalbumin -specific T cells primed by epidermal Langerhans cells.

Conclusions

These results indicated that concurrent exposure to a dectin-1 agonist suppresses the epicutaneously induced Th2 response by modulating the cytokine expression profiles in draining LNs and the migration of epidermal Langerhans cells. These results highlight the effects of fungal components on epicutaneous allergen sensitization in atopic diseases.     

不同地区田间草地贪夜蛾卵巢的结构和发育

【目的】探明田间草地贪夜蛾Spodoptera frugiperda卵巢的发育状态及其变化,为草地贪夜蛾种群的发生和迁飞动态提供精准监测依据。【方法】采用雌性生殖系统解剖法,比较不同日龄和地区的田间草地贪夜蛾雌蛾卵巢的形态差异,分析卵巢成熟状态与雌蛾交配的关系。【结果】草地贪夜蛾雌蛾生殖系统包含卵巢、输卵管、交配囊、导精管、受精囊、附腺和产卵器。根据形态特征可以将田间草地贪夜蛾卵细胞分为卵黄发生前期、卵黄期和成熟期3个时期。田间雌蛾1日龄卵巢中发育最快的卵仅处于卵黄期中期,卵巢管柄为空;3日龄卵巢出现分化,一部分卵巢仍然和1日龄相似,另一部分卵巢中存在成熟卵;这种卵巢发育分化到羽化后11 d时仍然存在。云南江城、弥勒,广西田阳以及浙江瑞安和镇海等地的田间雌蛾,到死亡时分别有61.5%, 51.7%, 41.7%, 42.1%和35.5%卵巢发育不成熟。室内饲养第1代雌蛾中,有39.6%的个体到死亡时卵巢未发育成熟,和田间雌蛾比例相似。交配雌蛾卵巢可以是发育成熟和未成熟的,但是未成熟卵巢的比例仅为18.0%±5.0%。【结论】结果提示同一代次的田间草地贪夜蛾可能同时存在迁飞和非迁飞个体,其比例随地理位置和季节发生变化。本研究的结果在一定程度上解释了单纯依据化学农药难以防治草地贪夜蛾的原因,也为田间草地贪夜蛾的迁飞监测和绿色防控提供了一定依据。     

Joint analysis of single-cell and bulk tissue sequencing data to infer intratumor heterogeneity

Many computational methods have been developed to discern intratumor heterogeneity (ITH) using DNA sequence data from bulk tumor samples. These methods share an assumption that two mutations arise from the same subclone if they have similar mutant allele-frequencies (MAFs), and thus it is difficult or impossible to distinguish two subclones with similar MAFs. Single-cell DNA sequencing (scDNA-seq) data can be very informative for ITH inference. However, due to the difficulty of DNA amplification, scDNA-seq data are often very noisy. A promising new study design is to collect both bulk and single-cell DNA-seq data and jointly analyze them to mitigate the limitations of each data type. To address the analytic challenges of this new study design, we propose a computational method named BaSiC (B ulk tumor a nd Si ngle C ell), to discern ITH by jointly analyzing DNA-seq data from bulk tumor and single cells. We demonstrate that BaSiC has comparable or better performance than the methods using either data type. We further evaluate BaSiC using bulk tumor and single-cell DNA-seq data from a breast cancer patient and several leukemia patients.     

A Bayesian multi-risks survival (MRS) model in the presence of double censorings

Semi-competing risks data include the time to a nonterminating event and the time to a terminating event, while competing risks data include the time to more than one terminating event. Our work is motivated by a prostate cancer study, which has one nonterminating event and two terminating events with both semi-competing risks and competing risks present as well as two censoring times. In this paper, we propose a new multi-risks survival (MRS) model for this type of data. In addition, the proposed MRS model can accommodate noninformative right-censoring times for nonterminating and terminating events. Properties of the proposed MRS model are examined in detail. Theoretical and empirical results show that the estimates of the cumulative incidence function for a nonterminating event may be biased if the information on a terminating event is ignored. A Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling algorithm is also developed. Our methodology is further assessed using simulations and also an analysis of the real data from a prostate cancer study. As a result, a prostate-specific antigen velocity greater than 2.0 ng/mL per year and higher biopsy Gleason scores are positively associated with a shorter time to death due to prostate cancer.     

Synthesis and antitumor activity of 1,3,4-oxadiazole possessing 1,4-benzodioxan moiety as a novel class of potent methionine aminopeptidase type II inhibitors

A series of 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives containing 1,4-benzodioxan moiety (7a–7q) have been designed, synthesized and evaluated for their antitumor activity. Most of the synthesized compounds were proved to have potent antitumor activity and low toxicity. Among them, compound 7a showed the most potent biological activity against Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial cells, which was comparable to the positive control. The results of apoptosis and flow cytometry (FCM) demonstrated that compound 7a induce cell apoptosis by the inhibition of MetAP2 pathway. Molecular docking was performed to position compound 7a into MetAP2 binding site in order to explore the potential target.     

饲料中添加壳聚糖季铵盐对凡纳滨对虾生长及非特异免疫的影响

实验研究壳聚糖季铵盐对凡纳滨对虾生长性能及非特异性免疫能力的影响。在饲料中分别添加0、0.05%、0.10%、0.15%和0.20%的壳聚糖季铵盐, 制成5组等氮等能饲料。将900尾[初体质量(3.820.34) g]健康的凡纳滨对虾随机分成5组(45尾4平行), 养殖时间56d。结果表明:饲料中添加壳聚糖季铵盐显著影响凡纳滨对虾的生长, 0.15%实验组凡纳滨对虾的增重率和特定生长率最佳(P0.05)。饲料中添加壳聚糖季铵盐0.1%、0.15%和0.20%能显著提高凡纳滨对虾血清溶菌酶和碱性磷酸酶及酚氧化酶的活性(P0.05)。饲料中添加壳聚糖季铵盐可显著提高凡纳滨对虾抗副溶血弧菌感染的能力(P0.05), 0.15%组的保护效果最好, 其相对免疫保护率为33.24%。壳聚糖季铵盐能显著提高凡纳滨对虾的生长性能和抗病能力, 本实验条件下适宜的添加量为0.15%。     

miR-29a attenuates cardiac hypertrophy through inhibition of PPARδ expression

Although cardiac hypertrophy is widely recognized as a risk factor that leads to cardiac dysfunction and, ultimately, heart failure, the complex mechanisms underlying cardiac hypertrophy remain incompletely characterized. The nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor δ (PPARδ) is involved in the regulation of cardiac lipid metabolism. Here, we describe a novel PPARδ-dependent molecular cascade involving microRNA-29a (miR-29a) and atrial natriuretic factor (ANF), which is reactivated in cardiac hypertrophy. In addition, we identify a novel role of miR-29a, in which it has a cardioprotective function in isoproterenol hydrochloride-induced cardiac hypertrophy by targeting PPARδ and downregulating ANF. Finally, we provide evidence that miR-29a reduces the isoproterenol hydrochloride-induced cardiac hypertrophy response, thereby underlining the potential clinical relevance of miR-29a in which it may serve as a potent therapeutic target for heart hypertrophy treatment.     

Activation of 5'-AMP-activated kinase is mediated through c-Src and phosphoinositide 3-kinase activity during hypoxia-reoxygenation of bovine aortic endothelial cells. Role of peroxynitrite

AMP-activated kinase (AMPK) is a fuel-sensing enzyme present in most mammalian tissue. In response to a decrease in the energy state of a cell AMPK is phosphorylated and activated by still poorly characterized upstream events. Exposure of bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAEC) to chemically synthesized ONOO- acutely and significantly increased phosphorylation of c-Src, PDK1, AMPK, and its downstream target, acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), without affecting cellular AMP. This novel pathway for AMPK activation was confirmed by the use of pharmacological inhibitors and dominant-negative mutants. Exposure of BAEC to hypoxia-reoxygenation (H/R) caused a biphasic increase in AMPK and ACC phosphorylation, which was prevented by adenoviral overexpression of superoxide dismutase (SOD) or inhibition of nitric-oxide synthase (NOS) implicating a role of ONOO- formed during H/R. Furthermore, dominant-negative mutants of c-Src or kinase-defective PDK1 also blocked H/R-induced AMPK activation indicating that, as with addition of exogenous ONOO-, both c-Src and PI 3-kinase are upstream of AMPK. Moreover, H/R, like ONOO-, significantly increased co-immunoprecipitation of AMPK with c-Src, suggesting that ONOO- favors physical association of AMPK with upstream kinases. Taken together, our results indicate a novel pathway by which H/R via ONOO- activates AMPK in a c-Src-mediated, PI 3-kinase-dependent manner, and suggest that ONOO--induced activation of AMPK might thereby regulate metabolic enzymes, such as ACC.