Enhancer and super-enhancer landscape in polycystic kidney disease.

Widespread aberrant gene expression is a pathological hallmark of polycystic kidney disease (PKD). Numerous pathogenic signaling cascades, including c-Myc, Fos, and Jun, are transactivated. However, the underlying epigenetic regulators are poorly defined.

Perinatal Outcomes in Premature Placental Calcification and the Association of a Color Doppler Study: Report from a Tertiary Care Hospital in Eastern India.

Placental calcification, identified before the 36th week of gestational age, is known as premature placental calcification (PPC). PPC could be a clue for the poor fetal outcome. However, its association with adverse perinatal outcomes is yet to be confirmed.

Interstitial microRNA miR-214 attenuates inflammation and polycystic kidney disease progression.

Renal cysts are the defining feature of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD); however, the substantial interstitial inflammation is an often-overlooked aspect of this disorder. Recent studies suggest that immune cells in the cyst microenvironment affect ADPKD progression. Here we report that microRNAs (miRNAs) are new molecular signals in this crosstalk.

Molecular Docking Studies of a Cyclic Octapeptide-Cyclosaplin from Sandalwood.

Natural products from plants, such as chemopreventive agents, attract huge attention because of their low toxicity and high specificity. The rational drug design in combination with structure-based modeling and rapid screening methods offer significant potential for identifying and developing lead anticancer molecules. Thus, the molecular docking method plays an important role in screening a large set of molecules based on their free binding energies and proposes structural hypotheses of how the molecules can inhibit the target.

Manipulation of renal gene expression using oligonucleotides.

Oligonucleotides are small molecules 8-50 nucleotides in length that bind via Watson-Crick base pairing to enhance or repress the expression of target RNA. The use of oligonucleotides to manipulate gene expression in the kidney could be a valuable tool to further understand kidney pathophysiology and can serve as an important complement to genetic studies. This chapter serves as a primer on the use of oligonucleotides in the kidney.

Disrupted apolipoprotein L1-miR193a axis dedifferentiates podocytes through autophagy blockade in an APOL1 risk milieu.

We hypothesized that a functional apolipoprotein LI (APOL1)-miR193a axis (inverse relationship) preserves, but disruption alters, the podocyte molecular phenotype through the modulation of autophagy flux. Podocyte-expressing APOL1G0 (G0-podocytes) showed downregulation but podocyte-expressing APOL1G1 (G1-podocytes) and APOL1G2 (G2-podocytes) displayed enhanced miR193a expression. G0-, G1-, and G2-podocytes showed enhanced expression of light chain (LC) 3-II and beclin-1, but a disparate expression of p62 (low in wild-type but high in risk alleles).

Evaluation of Cyclosaplin Efficacy Using a Silk Based 3D Tumor Model.

Development of novel anti-cancer peptides requires a rapid screening process which can be accelerated by using appropriate in vitro tumor models. Breast carcinoma tissue is a three-dimensional (3D) microenvironment, which contains a hypoxic center surrounded by dense proliferative tissue. Biochemical clues provided by such a 3D cell mass cannot be recapitulated in conventional 2D culture systems.

Grem2 mediates podocyte apoptosis in high glucose milieu.

Background: Increased DAN protein (Grem1, Grem2, Grem3, Cerberus, NBL1, SOST, and USAG1) levels are often associated with severe disease-states in adult kidneys. Grem1, SOST, and USAG1 have been demonstrated to be upregulated and play a critical role in the progression of diabetic nephropathy (DN); however, the expression and the role of other DAN family members in DN have not been reported yet. In this study, we investigated the expression and the role of Grem2 in the development of renal lesions in mice with type 2 DN.

Nicotine enhances mesangial cell proliferation and fibronectin production in high glucose milieu via activation of Wnt/β-catenin pathway.

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a major complication of diabetes mellitus. Clinic reports indicate cigarette smoking is an independent risk factor for chronic kidney disease including DN; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not clear. Recent studies have demonstrated that nicotine, one of the active compounds in cigarette smoke, contributes to the pathogenesis of the cigarette smoking-accelerated chronic kidney disease.

Modulation of apolipoprotein L1-microRNA-193a axis prevents podocyte dedifferentiation in high-glucose milieu.

The loss of podocyte (PD) molecular phenotype is an important feature of diabetic podocytopathy. We hypothesized that high glucose (HG) induces dedifferentiation in differentiated podocytes (DPDs) through alterations in the apolipoprotein (APO) L1-microRNA (miR) 193a axis. HG-induced DPD dedifferentiation manifested in the form of downregulation of Wilms' tumor 1 (WT1) and upregulation of paired box 2 (PAX2) expression.

Imiquimod-induced psoriasis-like inflammation in differentiated Human keratinocytes: Its evaluation using curcumin.

Psoriasis is considered to be a systemic disease of immune dysfunction. It is still unclear what triggers the inflammatory cascade associated with psoriasis but recent evidences suggest the vital role of IL-23/IL-17A cytokine axis in etiology of psoriasis. Several studies have been conducted in psoriatic-like animal models but ethical issues and complexity surrounding it halts the screening of new anti-psoriatic drug candidates.

Silk fibroin-Thelebolan matrix: A promising chemopreventive scaffold for soft tissue cancer.

Research of improved functional bio-mimetic matrix for regenerative medicine is currently one of the rapidly growing fields in tissue engineering and medical sciences. This study reports a novel bio-polymeric matrix, which is fabricated using silk protein fibroin from Bombyx mori silkworm and fungal exopolysaccharide Thelebolan from Antarctic fungus Thelebolus sp. IITKGP-BT12 by solvent evaporation and freeze drying method.

Effect of disease risk variants on gene product.

Gene sequence mutations may alter mRNA transcription, transcript stability, protein translation, protein stability and protein folding. Apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1) has two sets of sequence variants that are risk factors for kidney disease development, APOL1G1 (substitution mutation) and APOL1G2 (deletion mutation). Our present study focuses on the impact of these variants on mRNA transcription and translation.

Protective Effects of Triphala on Dermal Fibroblasts and Human Keratinocytes.

Human skin is body's vital organ constantly exposed to abiotic oxidative stress. This can have deleterious effects on skin such as darkening, skin damage, and aging. Plant-derived products having skin-protective effects are well-known traditionally.

Isolation and characterization of extracellular polysaccharide Thelebolan produced by a newly isolated psychrophilic Antarctic fungus Thelebolus.

The present investigation is on a newly isolated psychrophilic Antarctic filamentous Ascomycetous fungus that has been identified as Thelebolus sp. and given the designation of Thelebolus sp. IITKGP-BT12.

Identification and structural characterization of a new pro-apoptotic cyclic octapeptide cyclosaplin from somatic seedlings of Santalum album L.

Small cyclic peptides exhibiting potent biological activity have great potential for anticancer therapy. An antiproliferative cyclic octapeptide, cyclosaplin was purified from somatic seedlings of Santalum album L. (sandalwood) using gel filtration and RP-HPLC separation process.