Publications by authors named "Hong Long Ji"

The aging population has led to a significant increase in neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer's disease (AD), which adversely affects the quality of life and longevity of the elderly. Abnormal plasmalogen metabolism plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of AD. This study focused ontmem189, a key gene involved in plasmalogen synthesis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Deficiency of surfactant protein-C (SPC) increases susceptibility to lung infections and injury, and suppressed expression of SPC has been associated with the severity of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Alveolar type 2 epithelial cells (AT2) are critical for maintenance and repair of the lung. However, the role of the SPC in the regulation of AT2 cell lineage and the underlying mechanisms are not completely understood.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Alveolar type 2 epithelial (AT2) cells synthesize surfactant protein C (SPC) and repair an injured alveolar epithelium. A mutated surfactant protein C gene ( Gene ID: 6440) in newborns has been associated with respiratory distress syndrome and pulmonary fibrosis. However, the underlying mechanisms causing gene mutations to regulate AT2 lineage remain unclear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a heterogeneous group of pre-leukemic hematopoietic disorders characterized by cytopenia in peripheral blood due to ineffective hematopoiesis and normo- or hypercellularity and morphologic dysplasia in bone marrow (BM). An inflammatory BM microenvironment and programmed cell death of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) are thought to be the major causes of ineffective hematopoiesis in MDS. Pyroptosis, apoptosis and necroptosis (collectively, PANoptosis) are observed in BM tissues of MDS patients, suggesting an important role of PANoptosis in MDS pathogenesis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a fatal pulmonary disorder characterized by severe hypoxia and inflammation. ARDS is commonly triggered by systemic and pulmonary infections, with bacteria and viruses. Notable pathogens include , , , coronaviruses, influenza viruses, and herpesviruses.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sarcoidosis is a chronic granulomatous disorder characterized by unknown etiology, undetermined mechanisms, and non-specific therapies except TNF blockade. To improve our understanding of the pathogenicity and to predict the outcomes of the disease, the identification of new biomarkers and molecular endotypes is sorely needed. In this study, we systematically evaluate the biomarkers identified through Omics and non-Omics approaches in sarcoidosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Lymphoid-primed multipotent progenitor (LMPP)-like and granulocyte-monocyte progenitor (GMP)-like leukemia stem cells (LSCs) co-exist in the blood of most patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Complete elimination of both types of LSCs is required to cure AML. Using an MLL-AF9-induced murine AML model, we studied the role of hematopoietic cytokines in the survival of LMPP- and GMP-like LSCs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: In patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) associated with sepsis, lung recovery is considerably delayed, and mortality is much high. More insight into the process of lung regeneration in ARDS patients is needed. Exosomes are important cargos for intercellular communication by serving as autocrine and/or paracrine.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Lung diseases rank third in terms of mortality and represent a significant economic burden globally. Scientists have been conducting research to better understand respiratory diseases and find treatments for them. An ideal in vitro model must mimic the in vivo organ structure, physiology, and pathology.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Acute lung injury is characterized by overwhelmingly elevated PAI-1 in both lung edema fluid and the circulating system. The role of increased PAI-1, encoded by Serpine1 gene, in the regeneration of injured lung epithelium has not been understood completely. This study aimed to investigate the role of Serpine1 in the regulation of alveolar type 2 epithelial cell (AT2) fate in a humanized mouse line carrying diseased mutants (Serpine1).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Acute lung injury is characterized by overwhelmingly elevated PAI-1 in both lung edema fluid and the circulating system. The role of increased PAI-1, encoded by Serpine1 gene, in the regeneration of injured lung epithelium has not been understood completely. This study aimed to investigate the role of Serpine1 in the regulation of alveolar type 2 epithelial cell (AT2) fate in a humanized mouse line carrying diseased mutants (Serpine1Tg).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Emerging evidence suggests that Gram-negative bacteria release bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) and that these play an important role in the pathogenesis of bacterial infection-mediated inflammatory responses and organ damage. Despite the fact that scattered reports have shown that OMVs released from Gram-negative bacteria may function via the TLR2/4-signaling pathway or induce pyroptosis in macrophages, our study reveals a more complex role of OMVs in the development of inflammatory lung responses and macrophage pro-inflammatory activation. We first confirmed that various types of Gram-negative bacteria release similar OMVs which prompt pro-inflammatory activation in both bone marrow-derived macrophages and lung alveolar macrophages.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Metaproteomics based on high-throughput tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) plays a crucial role in characterizing microbiome functions. The acquired MS/MS data is searched against a protein sequence database to identify peptides, which are then used to infer a list of proteins present in a metaproteome sample. While the problem of protein inference has been well-studied for proteomics of single organisms, it remains a major challenge for metaproteomics of complex microbial communities because of the large number of degenerate peptides shared among homologous proteins in different organisms.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Failure to regenerate injured alveoli functionally and promptly causes a high incidence of fatality in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). How elevated plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) regulates the lineage of alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells for re-alveolarization has not been studied. This study aimed to examine the role of PAI-1-Wnt5a-β catenin cascades in AT2 fate.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The cGMP-dependent type 2 protein kinase, encoded by the prkg2 gene, is highly expressed in alveolar type 2 epithelial (AT2) cells. It is unclear whether prkg2 regulates AT2 cell homeostasis and re-alveolarization of injured lungs. This study aimed to investigate the role of prkg2 in the regulation of the fate of AT2 in vitro.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * Research indicates that autophagy, a cellular process for degrading and recycling components, is crucial for the maturation of LBs, with LBs developing from autophagic vacuoles during early development.
  • * Disruptions in autophagic activity, whether through genetic knockouts or targeted reductions in AT2 cells, lead to problems in LB maturation and surfactant protein B production, highlighting the importance of autophagy for maintaining lung health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The aim of this study was to estimate the seroprevalence of immunoglobulin M (IgM) and G (IgG) antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in asymptomatic people in Wuhan. This was a cross-sectional study, which enrolled 18,712 asymptomatic participants from 154 work units in Wuhan. Pearson Chi-square test, -test, and Mann-Whitney test were used to compare the standardized seroprevalence of IgG and IgM for age and gender between different groups.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Dynamic D-dimer level is a key biomarker for the severity and mortality of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). How aberrant fibrinolysis influences the clinical progression of COVID-19 presents a clinicopathological dilemma challenging intensivists.

Methods: We performed meta-analysis and meta regression to analyze the associations of plasma D-dimer with 106 clinical variables to identify a panoramic view of the derangements of fibrinolysis in 14,862 patients of 42 studies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Rapid spread of COVID-19 has caused an unprecedented pandemic worldwide, and an inserted furin site in SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (S) may account for increased transmissibility. Plasmin, and other host proteases, may cleave the furin site of SARS-CoV-2 S protein and γ subunits of epithelial sodium channels (γ ENaC), resulting in an increment in virus infectivity and channel activity. As for the importance of ENaC in the regulation of airway surface and alveolar fluid homeostasis, whether SARS-CoV-2 will share and strengthen the cleavage network with ENaC proteins at the single-cell level is urgently worthy of consideration.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF