Metabolomic and transcriptomic analysis reveals endogenous substrates and metabolic adaptation in rats lacking Abcg2 and Abcb1a transporters.

Abcg2/Bcrp and Abcb1a/Pgp are xenobiotic efflux transporters limiting substrate permeability in the gastrointestinal system and brain, and increasing renal and hepatic drug clearance. The systemic impact of Bcrp and Pgp ablation on metabolic homeostasis of endogenous substrates is incompletely understood. We performed untargeted metabolomics of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma, transcriptomics of brain, liver and kidney from male Sprague Dawley rats (WT) and Bcrp/Pgp double knock-out (dKO) rats, and integrated metabolomic/transcriptomic analysis to identify putative substrates and perturbations in canonical metabolic pathways.

Children Born Preterm: How Are We Educating Providers?

Background: Prematurity affects 10% of American children. Despite excellent survival rates, children born preterm have potential long-term physical, psychological, neurodevelopmental, and behavioral impairments. Nurse practitioners are essential health care providers in primary and specialty settings.

Cigarette smoking is associated with an altered vaginal tract metabolomic profile.

Cigarette smoking has been associated with both the diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis (BV) and a vaginal microbiota lacking protective Lactobacillus spp. As the mechanism linking smoking with vaginal microbiota and BV is unclear, we sought to compare the vaginal metabolomes of smokers and non-smokers (17 smokers/19 non-smokers). Metabolomic profiles were determined by gas and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry in a cross-sectional study.

EGR1 regulates cellular metabolism and survival in endocrine resistant breast cancer.

About 70% of all breast cancers are estrogen receptor alpha positive (ER+; ESR1). Many are treated with antiestrogens. Unfortunately, and acquired resistance to antiestrogens is common but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear.

Replicatively senescent human fibroblasts reveal a distinct intracellular metabolic profile with alterations in NAD+ and nicotinamide metabolism.

Cellular senescence occurs by proliferative exhaustion (PEsen) or following multiple cellular stresses but had not previously been subject to detailed metabolomic analysis. Therefore, we compared PEsen fibroblasts with proliferating and transiently growth arrested controls using a combination of different mass spectroscopy techniques. PEsen cells showed many specific alterations in both the NAD+ de novo and salvage pathways including striking accumulations of nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) and nicotinamide riboside (NR) in the amidated salvage pathway despite no increase in nicotinamide phosphoribosyl transferase or in the NR transport protein, CD73.

Oxidative Stress and Metabolic Perturbations in Wooden Breast Disorder in Chickens.

This study was conducted to characterize metabolic features of the breast muscle (pectoralis major) in chickens affected with the Wooden Breast myopathy. Live birds from two purebred chicken lines and one crossbred commercial broiler population were clinically examined by manual palpation of the breast muscle (pectoralis major) at 47-48 days of age. Metabolite abundance was determined by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) using breast muscle tissue samples from 16 affected and 16 unaffected chickens.

Transmissible microbial and metabolomic remodeling by soluble dietary fiber improves metabolic homeostasis.

Dietary fibers are increasingly appreciated as beneficial nutritional components. However, a requisite role of gut microbiota in fiber function and the overall impact of fibers on metabolomic flux remain unclear. We herein showed enhancing effects of a soluble resistant maltodextrin (RM) on glucose homeostasis in mouse metabolic disease models.

Women at extreme risk for obesity-related carcinogenesis: Baseline endometrial pathology and impact of bariatric surgery on weight, metabolic profiles and quality of life.

Objectives: The study objectives were to determine baseline endometrial histology in morbidly obese women undergoing bariatric surgery and to assess the surgical intervention's impact on serum metabolic parameters, quality of life (QOL), and weight.

Methods: Women undergoing bariatric surgery were enrolled. Demographic and clinicopathologic data, serum, and endometrium (if no prior hysterectomy) were collected preoperatively and serum collected postoperatively.

Senescent human fibroblasts show increased glycolysis and redox homeostasis with extracellular metabolomes that overlap with those of irreparable DNA damage, aging, and disease.

Cellular senescence can modulate various pathologies and is associated with irreparable DNA double-strand breaks (IrrDSBs). Extracellular senescence metabolomes (ESMs) were generated from fibroblasts rendered senescent by proliferative exhaustion (PEsen) or 20 Gy of γ rays (IrrDSBsen) and compared with those of young proliferating cells, confluent cells, quiescent cells, and cells exposed to repairable levels of DNA damage to identify novel noninvasive markers of senescent cells. ESMs of PEsen and IrrDSBsen overlapped and showed increased levels of citrate, molecules involved in oxidative stress, a sterol, monohydroxylipids, tryptophan metabolism, phospholipid, and nucleotide catabolism, as well as reduced levels of dipeptides containing branched chain amino acids.

Adaptive mitochondrial reprogramming and resistance to PI3K therapy.

Background: Small molecule inhibitors of phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) have been developed as molecular therapy for cancer, but their efficacy in the clinic is modest, hampered by resistance mechanisms.

Methods: We studied the effect of PI3K therapy in patient-derived tumor organotypic cultures (from five patient samples), three glioblastoma (GBM) tumor cell lines, and an intracranial model of glioblastoma in immunocompromised mice (n = 4-5 mice per group). Mechanisms of therapy-induced tumor reprogramming were investigated in a global metabolomics screening, analysis of mitochondrial bioenergetics and cell death, and modulation of protein phosphorylation.

Akt inhibition enhances expansion of potent tumor-specific lymphocytes with memory cell characteristics.

Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) using autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) results in complete regression of advanced cancer in some patients, but the efficacy of this potentially curative therapy may be limited by poor persistence of TIL after adoptive transfer. Pharmacologic inhibition of the serine/threonine kinase Akt has recently been shown to promote immunologic memory in virus-specific murine models, but whether this approach enhances features of memory (e.g.

De novo synthesize of bile acids in pulmonary arterial hypertension lung.

Although multiple, complex molecular studies have been done for understanding the development and progression of pulmonary hypertension (PAH), little is known about the metabolic heterogeneity of PAH. Using a combination of high-throughput liquid-and-gas-chromatography-based mass spectrometry, we found bile acid metabolites, which are normally product derivatives of the liver and gallbladder, were highly increased in the PAH lung. Microarray showed that the gene encoding cytochrome P450 7B1 (CYP7B1), an isozyme for bile acid synthesis, was highly expressed in the PAH lung compared with the control.

Large-scaled metabolic profiling of human dermal fibroblasts derived from pseudoxanthoma elasticum patients and healthy controls.

Mutations in the ABC transporter ABCC6 were recently identified as cause of Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE), a rare genetic disorder characterized by progressive mineralization of elastic fibers. We used an untargeted metabolic approach to identify biochemical differences between human dermal fibroblasts from healthy controls and PXE patients in an attempt to find a link between ABCC6 deficiency, cellular metabolic alterations and disease pathogenesis. 358 compounds were identified by mass spectrometry covering lipids, amino acids, peptides, carbohydrates, nucleotides, vitamins and cofactors, xenobiotics and energy metabolites.

Metabolomic profiles and childhood obesity.

Objective: To identify metabolite patterns associated with childhood obesity, to examine relations of these patterns with measures of adiposity and cardiometabolic risk, and to evaluate associations with maternal peripartum characteristics.

Methods: Untargeted metabolomic profiling was used to quantify metabolites in plasma of 262 children (6-10 years). Principal components analysis was used to consolidate 345 metabolites into 18 factors and identified two that differed between obese (BMI ≥ 95‰; n = 84) and lean children (BMI < 85‰; n = 150).

The glucose transporter Glut1 is selectively essential for CD4 T cell activation and effector function.

CD4 T cell activation leads to proliferation and differentiation into effector (Teff) or regulatory (Treg) cells that mediate or control immunity. While each subset prefers distinct glycolytic or oxidative metabolic programs in vitro, requirements and mechanisms that control T cell glucose uptake and metabolism in vivo are uncertain. Despite expression of multiple glucose transporters, Glut1 deficiency selectively impaired metabolism and function of thymocytes and Teff.

Experience with intensity-modulated radiotherapy in the treatment of head and neck cancer.

Purpose: Studies using intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) in the treatment of head and neck tumors have shown to decrease acute and late radiation toxicity. However, the high conformity of this technique can increase the risk of recurrence due to geographic miss. The aim of this study was to analyze whether the results of IMRT met the theoretical expectations concerning treatment efficacy.

Increased cell surface free thiols identify effector CD8+ T cells undergoing T cell receptor stimulation.

Recognition of peptide Major Histocompatibility Complexes (MHC) by the T cell receptor causes rapid production of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) in naïve CD8(+) T cells. Because ROI such as H2O2 are membrane permeable, mechanisms must exist to prevent overoxidation of surface proteins. In this study we used fluorescently labeled conjugates of maleimide to measure the level of cell surface free thiols (CSFT) during the development, activation and differentiation of CD8(+) T cells.

Landscape of the mitochondrial Hsp90 metabolome in tumours.

Reprogramming of tumour cell metabolism contributes to disease progression and resistance to therapy, but how this process is regulated on the molecular level is unclear. Here we report that heat shock protein 90-directed protein folding in mitochondria controls central metabolic networks in tumour cells, including the electron transport chain, citric acid cycle, fatty acid oxidation, amino acid synthesis and cellular redox status. Specifically, mitochondrial heat shock protein 90, but not cytosolic heat shock protein 90, binds and stabilizes the electron transport chain Complex II subunit succinate dehydrogenase-B, maintaining cellular respiration under low-nutrient conditions, and contributing to hypoxia-inducible factor-1α-mediated tumorigenesis in patients carrying succinate dehydrogenase-B mutations.

Metabolic regulation of T lymphocytes.

T cell activation leads to dramatic shifts in cell metabolism to protect against pathogens and to orchestrate the action of other immune cells. Quiescent T cells require predominantly ATP-generating processes, whereas proliferating effector T cells require high metabolic flux through growth-promoting pathways. Further, functionally distinct T cell subsets require distinct energetic and biosynthetic pathways to support their specific functional needs.

Peroxiredoxin II regulates effector and secondary memory CD8+ T cell responses.

Reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) generated in response to receptor stimulation play an important role in cellular responses. However, the effect of increased H(2)O(2) on an antigen-specific CD8(+) T cell response was unknown. Following T cell receptor (TCR) stimulation, the expression and oxidation of peroxiredoxin II (PrdxII), a critical antioxidant enzyme, increased in CD8(+) T cells.

PET/CT significance for planning radiotherapy of head and neck cancer.

The combination of positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET/CT) offers metabolic mapping in addition to anatomic information of the primary lesion, nodal and distant metastases in patients with head and neck tumors, and may be therefore beneficial for radiotherapy planning. The aim of our study was to evaluate benefits of combined PET and CT imaging for staging and target volume delineation in this group of patients.Fifty three patients (40 men and 13 women) with confirmed advanced, inoperable or non-radically operated head and neck cancer were assessed based on the results of PET/CT as well as standard diagnostic examinations.

Estrogen-related receptor-α is a metabolic regulator of effector T-cell activation and differentiation.

Stimulation of resting CD4(+) T lymphocytes leads to rapid proliferation and differentiation into effector (Teff) or inducible regulatory (Treg) subsets with specific functions to promote or suppress immunity. Importantly, Teff and Treg use distinct metabolic programs to support subset specification, survival, and function. Here, we describe that the orphan nuclear receptor estrogen-related receptor-α (ERRα) regulates metabolic pathways critical for Teff.

The oxysterol, 27-hydroxycholesterol, links cholesterol metabolism to bone homeostasis through its actions on the estrogen and liver X receptors.

Osteoporosis and age-related bone loss are important public health concerns. Therefore, there is a high level of interest in the development of medical interventions and lifestyle changes that reduce the incidence of osteoporosis and age-related bone loss. Decreased bone mineral density is associated with high cholesterol, and patients on statins have increased bone mineral densities, strongly implicating cholesterol as a negative regulator of bone homeostasis.