Profiling the Bisecting N-acetylglucosamine Modification in Amniotic Membrane via Mass Spectrometry.

Bisecting N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), a GlcNAc linked to the core β-mannose residue via a β1,4 linkage, is a special type of N-glycosylation that has been reported to be involved in various biological processes, such as cell adhesion and fetal development. This N-glycan structure is abundant in human trophoblasts, which is postulated to be resistant to natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity, enabling a mother to nourish a fetus without rejection. In this study, we hypothesized that the human amniotic membrane, which serves as the last barrier for the fetus, may also express bisected-type glycans.

Alternative Strategy To Explore Missing Proteins with Low Molecular Weight.

Identifying more missing proteins (MPs) is an important mission of C-HPP. With the number of identified MPs being attenuated year by year (2,949 to 2,129 MPs from 2016 to 2019), we have realized that the difficulty of exploring the remaining MPs is a challenge in technique. Herein, we propose a comprehensive strategy to effectively enrich, separate, and identify proteins with low molecular weights, aiming at the discovery of MPs.

[YAP/TAZ regulates multiple signal pathways in the genesis and development of hepatic fibrosis].

Hepatic fibrosis is a repair response to liver injury, and hepatic stellate cell activation is the center of hepatic fibrosis, which involves Hippo, Notch, Wnt/β-catenin, and TGF-β/Smad signaling pathways. YAP/TAZ is an important nucleus factor for Hippo tumor suppressor pathway and its activity is the key to the growth of whole organs, cell proliferation, and specific amplification of progenitor cells in the process of tissue renewal and regeneration. As the hub of signaling pathways, such as Hippo, Notch, Wnt/β-catenin, TGF-β/Smad signaling, YAP/TAZ regulates the genesis and development of liver fibrosis.