CircCDK14 ameliorates interleukin-1β-induced chondrocyte damage by the miR-1183/KLF5 pathway in osteoarthritis.

Background: The pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA), an endemic and debilitating disease, remains unclear. The study aimed to reveal the role of circular RNA cyclin dependent kinase 14 (circCDK14) in OA development and the underlying mechanism.

Methods: Human chondrocytes were stimulated by 10 ng/mL interleukin-1β (IL-1β) to mimic OA cell model.

Targeting enhancer reprogramming to mitigate MEK inhibitor resistance in preclinical models of advanced ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer is characterized by aberrant activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), highlighting the importance of targeting the MAPK pathway as an attractive therapeutic strategy. However, the clinical efficacy of MEK inhibitors is limited by intrinsic or acquired drug resistance. Here, we established patient-derived ovarian cancer models resistant to MEK inhibitors and demonstrated that resistance to the clinically approved MEK inhibitor trametinib was associated with enhancer reprogramming.

Positive feedback between retinoic acid and 2-phospho-L-ascorbic acid trisodium salt during somatic cell reprogramming.

Retinoic acid (RA) and 2-phospho-L-ascorbic acid trisodium salt (AscPNa) promote the reprogramming of mouse embryonic fibroblasts to induced pluripotent stem cells. In the current studies, the lower abilities of RA and AscPNa to promote reprogramming in the presence of each other suggested that they may share downstream pathways at least partially. The hypothesis was further supported by the RNA-seq analysis which demonstrated a high-level overlap between RA-activated and AscPNa activated genes during reprogramming.

Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Metabolic Switching in Cancer: Lessons From Somatic Cell Reprogramming.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and its critical roles during cancer progression have long been recognized and extensively reviewed. Recent studies on the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have established the connections among EMT, energy metabolism, DNA methylation, and histone modification. Since energy metabolism, DNA methylation, and histone modification are important for cancer development and there are common characteristics between cancer cells and stem cells, it is reasonable to identify mechanisms that have been established during both reprogramming and cancer progression.

Morphine and Naloxone Facilitate Neural Stem Cells Proliferation via a TET1-Dependent and Receptor-Independent Pathway.

Normally, opioids function in a receptor-dependent manner. They bind to opioid receptors, activate or inhibit receptor activation, and subsequently modulate downstream signal transduction. However, the complex functions of opioids and the low expression of opioid receptors and their endogenous peptide agonists in neural stem cells (NSCs) suggest that some opioids may also modulate NSCs via a receptor-independent pathway.

Naloxone regulates the differentiation of neural stem cells via a receptor-independent pathway.

The abilities of opioids to activate downstream signaling pathways normally depend on the binding between opioids and their receptors. However, opioids may also function in a receptor-independent manner, especially in neural stem cells (NSCs) in which the expression of opioid receptors and endogenous opioid agonists is low. When two opioids, morphine and naloxone, were used during the early stage of NSC differentiation, increased neurogenesis was observed.

Metabolic switch and epithelial-mesenchymal transition cooperate to regulate pluripotency.

Both metabolic switch from oxidative phosphorylation to glycolysis (OGS) and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) promote cellular reprogramming at early stages. However, their connections have not been elucidated. Here, when a chemically defined medium was used to induce early EMT during mouse reprogramming, a facilitated OGS was also observed at the same time.

Analysis of interleukin-17 and interleukin-23 for estimating disease activity and predicting the response to treatment in active lupus nephritis patients.

Renal biopsy is a "gold standard" for establishing the diagnosis and assessing prognosis and monitoring therapy in lupus nephritis (LN) patients, but it is an invasive and inconvenient procedure. Evidences showed that interleukin-17(IL-17) and interleukin-23(IL-23) may be as alternative biomarkers for diagnosing LN, monitoring LN activity and predicting the response to treatment of LN. To analyze the roles of IL-17 and IL-23 in evaluation activity of LN and predicting active LN response to immunosuppressive treatment, by comparison between IL-17, IL-23 and clinical data of LN.

Regulated expression of PTPRJ by COX-2/PGE2 axis in endothelial cells.

Background: This study was designed to examine a novel role of COX-2/PGE2 signaling as a regulator of PTPRJ expression in endothelial cells.

Methods: A bioinformatics analysis of a whole genome array was carried out to search for regulators of PTPRJ expression in endothelial cells. PTPRJ expression was also measured in endothelial cells derived from a balloon injury-induced neointimal hyperplasia model in male New Zealand Rabbits.

Endoscopic management of early-stage chronic pancreatitis based on M-ANNHEIM classification system: a prospective study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the M-ANNHEIM classification system to categorize patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP).

Methods: All symptomatic patients recruited from the gastroenterology outpatient clinic of Changhai Hospital (n = 89) were routinely evaluated by magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography and contrast-enhanced computed tomography. M-ANNHEIM clinical staging was used to categorize patients.

Comprehensive screening for PRSS1, SPINK1, CFTR, CTRC and CLDN2 gene mutations in Chinese paediatric patients with idiopathic chronic pancreatitis: a cohort study.

Objective: Genetic alterations may contribute to chronic pancreatitis (CP) in Chinese young patients. This study was designed to investigate mutations of cationic trypsinogen (PRSS1), pancreatic secretory trypsin inhibitor or serine protease inhibitor Kazal type 1 (SPINK1), cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), chymotrypsin C (CTRC) and CLDN2 genes and the copy number variations (CNVs) of PRSS1 and asses associations with the development of idiopathic CP (ICP) in Chinese children.

Design: Retrospective.

[Correlation analysis of tissue factor promotor polymorphism -1208I/D and venous thromboembolism].

The study was aimed to investigate the correlation of tissue factor promotor polymorphism -1208I/D with the venous thromboembolism in patients. Tissue factor promotor polymorphism -1208 was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA sequencing in 96 cases of DVT, 14 cases of PE and 59 nonthrombosis normal individuals. The results showed that the allele containing a 18-bp nucleotides insertion at -1208.

[Determination of heavy metals for RoHS compliance by ICP-OES spectrometry coupled with microwave extraction system].

The harm of heavy metals contained in electronic and electrical equipment (EEE) on environment is of high concern by human. Aiming to handle the great challenge of RoHS compliance, the determinations of trace or ultratrace chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb) by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) was performed in the present paper, wherein, microwave extraction technology was used to prepare the sample solutions. In addition, the precision, recovery, repeatability and interference issues of this method were also discussed.