Diterpenoids with Potent Anti-Psoriasis Activity from L.

Psoriasis, an immune-mediated inflammatory skin disorder, seriously affects the quality of life of nearly four percent of the world population. L. is the monarch constituent of Chinese ZeQi powder preparation for psoriasis, so it is necessary to illustrate its active ingredients.

LncRNAs in the Domain Are Essential for Mid-Embryonic Heart Development.

The domain is important for normal embryonic growth and development. The heart is the earliest developing and functioning organ of the embryo. In this study, we constructed a transcriptional termination model by inserting termination sequences and clarified that the lack of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) expression in the domain caused the death of maternal insertion mutant (MKI) and homozygous mutant (HOMO) mice starting from E13.

DKK1-SE recruits AP1 to activate the target gene DKK1 thereby promoting pancreatic cancer progression.

Super-enhancers are a class of DNA cis-regulatory elements that can regulate cell identity, cell fate, stem cell pluripotency, and even tumorigenesis. Increasing evidence shows that epigenetic modifications play an important role in the pathogenesis of various types of cancer. However, the current research is far from enough to reveal the complex mechanism behind it.

Medicine Targeting Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition to Treat Airway Remodeling and Pulmonary Fibrosis Progression.

. Dysregulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in the airway epithelium is associated with airway remodeling and the progression of pulmonary fibrosis. Many treatments have been shown to inhibit airway remodeling and pulmonary fibrosis progression in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by regulating EMT and have few side effects.

N-acetylcytidine of Nop2 mRNA is required for the transition of morula-to-blastocyst.

N-acetyltransferase 10 (NAT10)-mediated N-acetylcytidine (acC) modification is crucial for mRNA stability and translation efficiency, yet the underlying function in mammalian preimplantation embryos remains unclear. Here, we characterized the acC modification landscape in mouse early embryos and found that the majority of embryos deficient in acC writer-NAT10 failed to develop into normal blastocysts. Through single-cell sequencing, RNA-seq, acetylated RNA immunoprecipitation combined with PCR (acRIP-PCR), and embryonic phenotype monitoring, Nop2 was screened as a target gene of Nat10.

Lycopene alleviates food allergy by modulating the PI3K/AKT pathway in peanut-sensitized BALB/c mice.

Food allergies, which lead to life-threatening acute symptoms, are considered an important public health problem. Therefore, it is essential to develop efficient preventive and treatment measures. We developed a crude peanut protein extract (PPE)-induced allergy mouse model to investigate the effects of lycopene on peanut allergy.

-DMR as the Secondary Regulatory Region Regulates the Expression of MicroRNAs While It Does Not Affect Embryonic Development in Mice.

-DMR is the first maternal methylated DMR to be discovered in the imprinted domain. The deletion of -DMR enhances the migration and invasion of MLTC-1 depending on the CTCF binding sites. However, the biological function of -DMR during mouse development remains unknown.

Deletion of -DMR Enhances Migration and Invasion of MLTC-1 Depending on the CTCF Binding Sites.

The imprinted domain on mouse chromosome 12 contains three well-characterized paternally methylated differentially methylated regions (DMRs): IG-DMR, -DMR, and -DMR. These DMRs control the expression of many genes involved in embryonic development, inherited diseases, and human cancer in this domain. The first maternal methylation DMR discovered in this domain was the -DMR, the targets and biological function of which are still unknown.

Z-DNA is remodelled by ZBTB43 in prospermatogonia to safeguard the germline genome and epigenome.

Mutagenic purine-pyrimidine repeats can adopt the left-handed Z-DNA conformation. DNA breaks at potential Z-DNA sites can lead to somatic mutations in cancer or to germline mutations that are transmitted to the next generation. It is not known whether any mechanism exists in the germ line to control Z-DNA structure and DNA breaks at purine-pyrimidine repeats.

Food Allergy-Induced Autism-Like Behavior is Associated with Gut Microbiota and Brain mTOR Signaling.

Purpose: Food allergy-induced autism-like behavior has been increasing for decades, but the causal drivers of this association are unclear. We sought to test the association of gut microbiota and mammalian/mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling with cow's milk allergy (CMA)-induced autism pathogenesis.

Methods: Mice were sensitized intragastrically with whey protein containing cholera toxin before sensitization on intraperitoneal injection with whey-containing alum, followed by intragastric allergen challenge to induce experimental CMA.

m6A methylated EphA2 and VEGFA through IGF2BP2/3 regulation promotes vasculogenic mimicry in colorectal cancer via PI3K/AKT and ERK1/2 signaling.

Exploring the epigenetic regulation mechanism of colorectal cancer (CRC) from the perspective of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification may provide a new target for tumor therapy. Analysis using high-throughput RNA-seq profile from TCGA found that the gene expression of Methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3) was significantly upregulated among 20 m6A binding proteins in CRC, which was also validated in CRC cancer tissues and cell lines. Moreover, transcriptome sequencing in METTL3 knockdown cells using CRISPR/Cas9 editing suggested that EphA2 and VEGFA were differential expression, which were enriched in the vasculature development, PI3K/AKT and ERK1/2 signal pathway through the functional enrichment analysis.

Dynamic covalent hydrogel of natural product baicalin with antibacterial activities.

Baicalin has been demonstrated to have multiple pharmacological activities but low solubility. Various baicalin hydrogels have been used to improve its solubility and break its limitation in clinical applications. However, traditional baicalin hydrogels contain numerous ingredients and usually show low baicalin loading capacity.

Mechanistic Studies of Gypenosides in Microglial State Transition and its Implications in Depression-Like Behaviors: Role of TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB Signaling.

Depression is a prevalent psychiatric disorder. Microglial state transition has been found in many neurological disorders including depression. Gypenosides (Gypenosides I-LXXVIII, Gps) are saponin extracts isolated from the traditional Chinese herb (Thunb.

Using a System Pharmacology Method to Search for the Potential Targets and Pathways of Yinqiaosan against COVID-19.

The first reported case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred in Wuhan, Hubei, China. Thereafter, it spread through China and worldwide in only a few months, reaching a pandemic level. It can cause severe respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia and lung failure.

Sinomenine Relieves Airway Remodeling By Inhibiting Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Through Downregulating TGF-β1 and Smad3 Expression and .

Airway remodeling is associated with dysregulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in patients with asthma. Sinomenine (Sin) is an effective, biologically active alkaloid that has been reported to suppress airway remodeling in mice with asthma. However, the molecular mechanisms behind this effect remain unclear.

EphA2 super-enhancer promotes tumor progression by recruiting FOSL2 and TCF7L2 to activate the target gene EphA2.

Super-enhancers or stretch enhancers (SEs) consist of large clusters of active transcription enhancers which promote the expression of critical genes that define cell identity during development and disease. However, the role of many super-enhancers in tumor cells remains unclear. This study aims to explore the function and mechanism of a new super-enhancer in various tumor cells.

A novel LncRNA HITT forms a regulatory loop with HIF-1α to modulate angiogenesis and tumor growth.

Increasing evidence has indicated that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in human diseases, including cancer; however, only a few of them have been experimentally validated and functionally annotated. Here, we identify a novel lncRNA that we term HITT (HIF-1α inhibitor at translation level). HITT is commonly decreased in multiple human cancers.

The saturated fatty acid palmitate induces insulin resistance through Smad3-mediated down-regulation of FNDC5 in myotubes.

Elevated plasma free fatty acid (FFA) levels are associated with insulin resistance and can cause lipotoxicity in skeletal muscles. In response to FFAs, skeletal muscle can secrete a variety of cytokines. Irisin, one such muscle-secreted cytokine, can improve glucose tolerance, glucose uptake, and lipid metabolism.

l-Methionine activates Nrf2-ARE pathway to induce endogenous antioxidant activity for depressing ROS-derived oxidative stress in growing rats.

Background: Methionine is an essential sulfur-containing amino acid. To elucidate the influence of l-methionine on activation of the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2-antioxidant responsive element (Nrf2-ARE) antioxidant pathway to stimulate the endogenous antioxidant activity for depressing reactive oxygen species (ROS)-derived oxidative stress, male Wistar rats were orally administered l-methionine daily for 14 days.

Results: With the intake of l-methionine, Nrf2 was activated by l-methionine through depressing Keap1 and Cul3, resulting in upregulation of ARE-driven antioxidant expression (glutamate cysteine ligase catalytic subunit, glutamate cysteine ligase modulatory subunit, glutathione synthase (GS), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), heme oxygenase 1, NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1, glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione S-transferase (GST), glutathione peroxidase (GPx)) with increasing l-methionine availability.

C/EBPβ mediates palmitate-induced musclin expression via the regulation of PERK/ATF4 pathways in myotubes.

Musclin is a muscle-secreted cytokine that disrupts glucose uptake and glycogen synthesis in type 2 diabetes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanisms responsible for the regulation of musclin gene expression in response to treatment with palmitate. RNA sequencing results showed that biological processes activated by palmitate are mainly enriched in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress.

MicroRNA-3191 promotes migration and invasion by downregulating TGFBR2 in colorectal cancer.

Mutations in transforming growth factor beta receptor II (TGFBR2) are detected in up to 30% of overall colorectal cancer (CRC). Dysregulation of some microRNAs participated in the CRC pathogenesis. In this study, we used the gene ontology analyses, the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analyses and gene set enrichment analysis to indicate that miR-3191 was involved in the regulation of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-BETA) signal pathway in CRC.