8-Oxoguanine DNA glycosylase modulates the cell transformation process in pulmonary fibrosis by inhibiting Smad2/3 and interacting with Smad7.

The DNA repair enzyme 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase-1 (OGG1) is involved in early embryonic development, as well as in multiple conditions, including cardiac fibrosis, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases. But, function of OGG1 in pulmonary fibrosis was not entirely clear. In this study, we identified a novel function of OGG1 in the cell transformation process in pulmonary fibrosis.

Tetraspanin 1 inhibits TNFα-induced apoptosis via NF-κB signaling pathway in alveolar epithelial cells.

Objective: Tetraspanin family plays an important role in the pathogenesis of cancer, but its role in lung fibrosis is unknown. To determine whether tetraspanin 1 (TSPAN1), a member of the family, may be involved in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis.

Methods: TNFα -stimulated human alveolar epithelial (A549) and alveolar epithelial type II cell (AT2) were treated in vitro.

Vascular Cognitive Impairment and the Gut Microbiota.

Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI), the second most common cause of dementia in elderly people, is a term that refers to all forms of cognitive disorders that can be attributed to cerebrovascular disease such as manifestations of discrete infarctions, brain hemorrhages, and white matter lesions. The gut microbiota (GM) has emerged recently as an essential player in the development of VCI. The GM may affect the brain's physiological, behavioral, and cognitive functions through the brain-gut axis via neural, immune, endocrine, and metabolic pathways.

Effects of interleukin 18 on injury and activation of human proximal tubular epithelial cells.

Background/aims: Injury and activation of tubular proximal epithelial cells (TEC) play central roles in renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis (TIF), but its mechanisms remain obscure. Interleukin 18 (IL-18) is overproduced during chronic kidney diseases (CKD), but how IL-18 affects the biological behaviour of TEC is not clear. The aim of the present study is to reveal the role of IL-18 in renal TIF.