Aquaporin-5 facilitates liver regeneration following hepatectomy via ROS/GSDMD pathway.

During the proliferative phase of liver regeneration, insufficient regulation of hepatocyte hydrogen peroxide (HO) overproduction can result in oxidative stress and hepatocyte death. This study aims to investigate the influence of Aquaporin 5 (Aqp5) on liver regeneration by evaluating its role in reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and NLRP3-GSDMD-mediated pyroptosis. A 70 % partial hepatectomy (PHx) model was established in Aqp5 mice to evaluate the pathological changes in the liver.

Design and evaluation of novel interferon lambda analogs with enhanced antiviral activity and improved drug attributes.

Type III interferons (IFNs) (also called IFN-λ: IFN-λ1, IFN-λ2, IFN-λ3, and IFN-λ4) are critical players in the defense against viral infection of mucosal epithelial cells, where the activity of type I IFNs is weak, and unlike type I IFNs that are associated with severe and diverse side effects, type III IFNs cause minimal side effects due to the highly restricted expression of their receptors, and thus appear to be promising agents for the treatment and prevention of respiratory and gastrointestinal viral infection. However, the antiviral potency of natural type III IFNs is weak compared to type I and, although IFN-λ3 possesses the highest bioactivity among the type III IFNs, IFN-λ1, instead of IFN-λ3, is being developed as a therapeutic drug due to the difficulty to express IFN-λ3 in the prokaryotic expression system. Here, to develop optimal IFN-λ molecules with improved drug attributes, we designed a series of IFN-λ analogs by replacing critical amino acids of IFN-λ1 with the IFN-λ3 counterparts, and vice versa.