Publications by authors named "Meike J Saul"

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane structures enclosed by a lipid bilayer that are released into the extracellular space by all types of cells. EVs are involved in many physiological processes by transporting biologically active substances. Interest in EVs for diagnostic biomarker research and therapeutic drug delivery applications has increased in recent years.

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Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor in childhood and arises from neural crest cells of the developing sympathetic nervous system. Prostaglandin E (PGE) has been identified as a key pro-inflammatory mediator of the tumor microenvironment (TME) that promotes neuroblastoma progression. We report that the interaction between the microRNA miR-574-5p and CUG-binding protein 1 (CUGBP1) induces the expression of microsomal prostaglandin E synthase 1 (mPGES-1) in neuroblastoma cells, which contributes to PGE biosynthesis.

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Small extracellular vesicles (sEV) hold enormous potential as biomarkers, drug carriers, and therapeutic agents. However, due to previous limitations in the phenotypic characterization of sEV at the single vesicle level, knowledge of cell type-specific sEV signatures remains sparse. With the introduction of next-generation sEV analysis devices, such as the single-particle interferometric reflectance imaging sensor (SP-IRIS)-based ExoView R100 platform, single sEV analyses are now possible.

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Intercellular communication plays an essential role in lung cancer (LC). One of the major players in cell-cell-communication is small extracellular vesicles (sEV). SEV trigger various biological responses by transporting cellular cargo to target cells.

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Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by synovial inflammation and joint destruction. Cell-derived small extracellular vesicles (sEV) mediate cell-to-cell communication in the synovial microenvironment by carrying microRNAs (miRs), a class of small non-coding RNAs. Herein, we report that sEV from synovial fluid promote osteoclast differentiation which is attributed to high levels of extracellular miR-574-5p.

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MicroRNAs (miRs) are one of the most important post-transcriptional repressors of gene expression. However, miR-574-5p has recently been shown to positively regulate the expression of microsomal prostaglandin E-synthase-1 (mPGES-1), a key enzyme in the prostaglandin E (PGE) biosynthesis, by acting as decoy to the RNA-binding protein CUG-RNA binding protein 1 (CUGBP1) in human lung cancer. miR-574-5p exhibits oncogenic properties and promotes lung tumor growth via induction of mPGES-1-derived PGE synthesis.

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Extracellular microRNAs (miRs) have been proposed as important blood-based biomarkers for several diseases. Contrary to proteins and other RNA classes, miRs are stable and easily detectable in body fluids. In this respect, miRs represent a perfect candidate for minimal invasive biomarkers which can hopefully become a complement for invasive histological examinations of tumor tissue.

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Over the last years, many microRNAs (miRNAs) have been identified that regulate the formation of bioactive lipid mediators such as prostanoids and leukotrienes. Many of these miRNAs are involved in complex regulatory circuits necessary for the fine-tuning of biological functions including inflammatory processes or cell growth. A better understanding of these networks will contribute to the development of novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of inflammatory diseases and cancer.

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MicroRNAs (miRs) are small noncoding RNAs which control the expression of target genes by either translational repression or RNA degradation, known as canonical miR functions. The recent discovery that miR-328 has a noncanonical function and can activate gene expression by antagonizing the activity of heterogeneous ribonuclear protein E2 (hnRNP E2) opens an unexplored and exciting field of gene expression regulation. The global importance of such noncanonical miR function is not yet known.

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MicroRNAs (miRs) are important posttranscriptional regulators of gene expression. Besides their well-characterized inhibitory effects on mRNA stability and translation, miRs can also activate gene expression. In this study, we identified a novel noncanonical function of miR-574-5p.

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Article Synopsis
  • There's been a lot of new research on tiny structures called extracellular vesicles (EVs) that cells release, which help us understand how cells work and what goes wrong in diseases.
  • Scientists have had a hard time studying these EVs because they come in different types and can be tough to separate and analyze properly.
  • The International Society for Extracellular Vesicles updated their guidelines, called MISEV2018, to help researchers share clear information about how to study EVs and ensure their findings are accurate and reliable.
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5-Lipoxygenase (5-LO) catalyzes the initial two steps of the conversion of arachidonic acid to leukotrienes which represent a group of pro-inflammatory lipid mediators involved in immune defense reactions as well as inflammation, allergy and cancer. Transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ) and calcitriol strongly upregulate 5-LO expression during myeloid cell differentiation and MLL-AF4 has been shown to strongly activate the 5-LO promoter. Here, we investigated the role of TGFβ/SMAD signalling in 5-LO promoter activation.

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Human 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO-WT) initiates the leukotriene (LT) biosynthesis. LTs play an important role in diseases like asthma, atherosclerosis and in many types of cancer. In this study, we investigated the 5-LO isoforms 5-LO∆13, 5-LO∆4 and 5-LOp12, lacking the exons 13, 4 or a part of exon 12, respectively.

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Leukotrienes (LTs) are inflammatory mediators that play a pivotal role in many diseases like asthma bronchiale, atherosclerosis and in various types of cancer. The key enzyme for generation of LTs is the 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO). Here, we present a novel putative protein isoform of human 5-LO that lacks exon 4, termed 5-LOΔ4, identified in cells of lymphoid origin, namely the Burkitt lymphoma cell lines Raji and BL41 as well as primary B and T cells.

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UPF1 is a key player in nonsense mediated mRNA decay (NMD) but also involved in posttranscriptional gene regulation. In this study we found that UPF1 regulates the expression of genes with functions in inflammation and myeloid cell differentiation via hnRNP E2. The majority of the UPF1-regulated genes identified in monocytic cells contain a binding site for hnRNP E2 within 5' UTR located introns with hnRNP E2 acting here as splicing regulator.

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