Publications by authors named "Jianshui Zhang"

HIV-associated epidemic Kaposi sarcoma (EpKS) remains one of the most prevalent cancers in sub-Saharan Africa despite the widespread uptake of anti-retroviral therapy and HIV-1 suppression. In an effort to define potential therapeutic targets against KS tumors, we analyzed previously published KS bulk tumor transcriptomics to identify cell surface biomarkers. In addition to upregulated gene expression (>6-fold) in the EpKS tumor microenvironment, biomarkers were selected for correlation with KSHV latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA) expression.

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Proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) is an attractive technology in drug discovery. Canonically, targets act as a basic starting point in the most previous PROTAC design. Here, we designed degraders considering from the view of clinical benefits.

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Humanized bone marrow-liver-thymic (hu-BLT) mice develop a functional immune system in periphery, nevertheless, have a limited reconstitution of human myeloid cells, especially microglia, in CNS. Further, whether bone marrow derived hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) can enter the brain and differentiate into microglia in adults remains controversial. To close these gaps, in this study we unambiguously demonstrated that human microglia in CNS were extensively reconstituted in adult NOG mice with human interleukin-34 transgene (hIL34 Tg) from circulating CD34+ HSPCs, nonetheless not in hu-BLT NOG mice, providing strong evidence that human CD34+ HSPCs can enter adult brain and differentiate into microglia in CNS in the presence of hIL34.

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Purpose: To compare the use of intraoperative ultrasound with X-ray fluoroscopy during sacral neuromodulation lead electrode placement in patients with neurogenic bladder secondary to spinal cord disease.

Methods: We reviewed the medical records of 52 patients who underwent sacral neuromodulation (SNM) lead electrode implantation under fluoroscopy or ultrasound guidance from July 2016 to July 2019. The operating time, number of electrode contacts with stimulus responses, minimum voltage that causes a stimulus response, and rate of standard lead electrode placement were used to assess the differences between the two methods.

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EML4-ALK and NPM-ALK fusion proteins possess constitutively activated ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase) activity, which in turn leads to the development of non-small cell lung cancer and anaplastic large-cell lymphomas (ALCLs). FDA-approved ALK inhibitor drugs cause significant cancer regression. However, drug resistance eventually occurs and it becomes a big obstacle in clinic.

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The activation of microglia in response to intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke is one of the principal components of the progression of this disease. It results in the formation of pro-inflammatory cytokines that lead to neuronal death, a structural deterioration that, in turn interferes with functional recovery. Metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) is highly expressed in reactive microglia and is involved in the pathological processes of brain disorders, but its role in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) remains unknown.

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Neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) persist in the mammalian subventricular zone throughout life, where they can be activated in response to physiological and pathophysiological stimuli. A recent study indicates metabotropic glutamate receptor 4 (mGluR4) is involved in regulating NSPCs behaviors. Therefore, defining mGluR4 function in NSPCs is necessary for determining novel strategies to enhance the intrinsic potential for brain regeneration after injuries.

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Article Synopsis
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We previously showed that rhesus macaques neonatally infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) do not develop SIV encephalitis (SIVE) and maintain low brain viral loads despite having similar plasma viral loads compared to SIV-infected adults. We hypothesize that differences in myeloid cell populations that are the known target of SIV and HIV in the brain contribute to the lack of neonatal susceptibility to lentivirus-induced encephalitis. Using immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence microscopy, we examined the frontal cortices from uninfected and SIV-infected infant and adult macaques (n = 8/ea) as well as adults with SIVE (n = 4) to determine differences in myeloid cell populations.

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Article Synopsis
  • African green monkeys (AGMs) can carry the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) without developing AIDS, unlike rhesus macaques (RMs) who are susceptible to it.
  • Researchers used a new method called Conserved Gene Signature Analysis (CGSA) to compare gene expression in both species during acute SIV infection.
  • AGMs show strong regenerative wound healing mechanisms and have a unique immune response that helps maintain mucosal integrity, preventing the inflammation that leads to immune system exhaustion seen in RMs.
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Humanized mice (hu-mice) that feature a functional human immune system have fundamentally changed the study of human pathogens and disease. They can be used to model diseases that are otherwise difficult or impossible to study in humans or other animal models. The gut microbiome can have a profound impact on human health and disease.

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Tripartite motif 32 (TRIM32) is a member of TRIM family that plays a potential role in neural regeneration. However, the biological function of TRIM32 in cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury has not been investigated. In the present study, we evaluated the expression level of TRIM32 in hippocampal neurons following oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGD/R).

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Angiogenesis is induced immediately after cerebral ischemia and plays a pivotal role in the strategy against ischemic injury. We hypothesized that the coordinated interaction between microvessels and neurons was altered immediately after stroke, and microvessels and neurons would show the temporal specificity of angiogenic gene profiles after cerebral ischemia. Microvessels and neurons were harvested in the ischemic penumbra of rat brain using the PixCell II laser capture microdissection (LCM) instrument.

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Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress caused by β-amyloid protein (Aβ) may play an important role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease (AD). Our previous data have indicated that tanshinone IIA (tan IIA) protected primary neurons from Aβ induced neurotoxicity. To further explore the neuroprotection of tan IIA, here we study the effects of tan IIA on the ER stress response in oligomeric Aβ (oAβ)-induced SH-SY5Y cell injury.

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Background: MicroRNAs play crucial roles in tumorigenesis and tumor progression. miR-770 has been reported to be downregulated in several cancers and affects cancer cell proliferation, apoptosis, metastasis and drug resistance. However, the role and underlying molecular mechanism of miR-770 in human glioma remain unknown and need to be further elucidated.

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Brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) play vital roles in cerebral ischemia, during which many signal pathways mediate BMECs apoptosis. In this study, we explored the potential role of Wnt3α/β-catenin signal in BMECs apoptosis induced by ischemia. Here, we found that oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) could induce apoptosis of BMECs with Wnt3a mRNA expression decrease.

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Abnormal hippocampal neurogenesis after acute seizures has been well addressed. However, whether newly generated cells continued to be disturbed even they were born in the chronic stage after pilocarpine-induce status epilepticus has remained elusive. Labeling dividing progenitors and their progeny with retroviral vector expressing green fluorescent protein or proliferation marker 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine at 3 months post pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus in mice, a spot of newly born neurons exhibiting hilar ectopic location (4.

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MicroRNA-25 (miR-25) has been reported to be a major miRNA marker in neural cells and is strongly expressed in ischemic brain tissues. However, the precise mechanism and effect of miR-25 in cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury needs further investigations. In the present study, the oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) model was constructed in human SH-SY5Y and IMR-32 cells to mimic I/R injury and to evaluate the role of miR-25 in regulating OGD/reperfusion (OGDR)-induced cell apoptosis.

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Emerging evidence has linked chronic temporal lobe epilepsy to dramatically reduced neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus. However, the profile of different components of neurogenesis in the chronically epileptic hippocampus is still unclear, especially the incorporation of newly generated cells. To address the issue, newly generated cells in the sub-granular zone of the dentate gyrus were labeled by the proliferation marker bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) or retroviral vector expressing green fluorescent protein 2 months after pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus.

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Promoting both endogenous and exogenous neural stem cells' (NSCs) survival in the hostile host environments is essential to cell replacement therapy for central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Type 4 metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR4), one of the members of mGluRs, has been shown to protect neurons from acute and chronic excitotoxic insults in various brain damages. The present study investigated the preventive effects of mGluR4 on NSC injury induced by oxidative stress.

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Mounting evidence suggests that the pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are caused by the intraneuronal accumulation of beta-amyloid protein (Aβ). Reuptake of extracellular Aβ is believed to contribute significantly to the intraneuronal Aβ pool in the early stages of AD. Published reports have claimed that the low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1) mediates Aβ1-42 uptake and lysosomal trafficking in GT1-7 neuronal cells and mouse embryonic fibroblast non-neuronal cells.

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Hippocampus has attracted the attention of the neuroscientists for its involvement in a wide spectrum of higher-order brain functions and pathological conditions, especially its persistent neurogenesis in subgranular zone (SGZ). The development of hippocampus was intensively investigated on animals such as rodents. However, in prenatal human hippocampus, little information on the distribution of neural stem/progenitor cells, newly generated neurons and mature neurons is available and the timetable of a series of neurogenesis event is even more obscure.

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Metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) regulate neurogenesis in the mammalian central nervous system during development and throughout adulthood. However, the mechanisms remain unknown. The present study was aimed at investigating the effect of mGluR5 on the differentiation of rat neural progenitor cells (NPCs) into neurons as well as the underlying molecular mechanisms.

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Objective: To explore the effects of salidroside (sal) on the expressions of Bcl-2, Bax and caspases-3 proteins in cultured rat subventricular zone (SVZ) neural stem cells (NSCs) exposed to hypoxia injury.

Methods: Primarily cultured SVZ NSCs from adult SD rats were incubated with salidroside (120 and 240 µmol/L) for 24 h prior to exposure to hypoxia. The cell viability was assessed with MTT assay, and the cell apoptosis was analyzed using TUNEL staining and flow cytometry.

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We have previously reported that 5 copies of the hypoxia response element (HRE) can conditionally regulate brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene expression under hypoxic/ischemic conditions in mice. In the present study, we investigated the controlled expression of neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) by HRE under hypoxic conditions and determined the protective effects of conditionally expressed NT-3 on hypoxia-induced apoptosis in PC12 cells. Five copies of the HRE (5HRE) and the simian virus 40 minimal promoter (SV40mp) were employed to construct a cassette, and transfer of therapeutic gene, NT-3, into PC12 cells was achieved using a retroviral vector.

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