Publications by authors named "Tongde Wu"

Primary human bronchial epithelial cultures (HBECs) are used to study airway physiology, disease, and drug development. HBECs often replicate human airway physiology/pathophysiology. Indeed, in the search for cystic fibrosis (CF) transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) therapies, HBECs were seen as the "gold standard" in preclinical studies.

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Methods: Sixteen male mice were randomly divided into 4 groups: control (ordinary feeding), D-gal (D-galactose) group, D-gal + MSC (human umbilical cord Wharton jelly cells), and D-gal + MSC-TNF groups. Except for the control group (fed with same amount of saline solution), other mice received gastric feeding of 250 mg/kg D-galactose every day for 8 weeks. TNF (10 ng/mL for 24 h) cocultured or noncocultured HUCWJCs (5 × 10) were suspended in 0.

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Background: Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) is a leading cause of disability with limited treatment strategies. A better understanding of the mechanism of IDD might enable less invasive and more targeted treatments. This study aimed to identify the circular RNA (circRNA)-microRNA (miRNA)-messenger RNA (mRNA) competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) regulatory mechanisms in IDD.

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Article Synopsis
  • * SPLUNC1 is a protein found in the lungs that inhibits Orai1, thereby reducing SOCE and causing airway smooth muscle relaxation.
  • * The study shows that SPLUNC1 changes the shape of Orai1 and leads to its degradation, suggesting a potential therapeutic use of SPLUNC1 to control SOCE in medical treatments.
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Oxidative stress-induced autophagy dysfunction is involved in the pathogenesis of intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) not only have been regarded as important regulators of IVDD but also reported to be related to autophagy. This research was aimed to explore the role of miR-130b-3p in IVDD and its regulation on autophagy mechanism.

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This study aimed to investigate the role of deubiquitinating enzyme 3 (DUB3) in the regulation of Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Gain- and loss-of-function assay, luciferase reporter assay, co-immunoprecipitation, and intracellular and extracellular deubiquitination assays were conducted in vitro. A tumor xenograft mouse model was established.

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Objective: Energy Expenditure (EE) estimation plays an important role in objectively evaluating physical activity and its impact on human health. EE during activity can be affected by many factors, including activity intensity, individual physical and physiological characteristics, environment, etc. However, current studies only use very limited information, such as heart rate and step count, to estimate EE, which leads to a low estimation accuracy.

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Article Synopsis
  • Orai1 is a calcium channel that plays a key role in regulating inflammation and store-operated calcium entry (SOCE), whereas SPLUNC1 is a gene modifier related to asthma that inhibits Orai1's function.
  • In asthma models, researchers found that inhaling α6 peptidomimetics, derived from SPLUNC1, could lower Orai1 levels and reduce immune cell responses linked to inflammation.
  • The study revealed that α6 effectively decreased eosinophil and neutrophil counts in mice exposed to allergens, suggesting it could be a promising new treatment for asthma.
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Study Design: This was a cross-sectional frequency-matched case-control study.

Background And Aim: The serum lipid profile of lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] level and apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A1 ratio (Apo B/Apo A1) ratio were found to be more representative for serum lipid level and were recognized as the independent risk factors for various diseases. Although the blood levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were found to be associated with symptomatic intervertebral disk herniation (IDH), no studies to date have evaluated the association of Apo AI, Apo B, Lp(a), and Apo B/Apo AI levels with symptomatic IDH.

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Background: Krüppel like factor 10 (KLF10), which is also known as TGF-β Inducible Early Gene-1 (TIEG1), plays a crucial role in regulating cell proliferation, cell apoptosis and inflammatory reaction in human carcinoma cells. Moreover, KLF10 knockout in mice leads to severe defects associated with muscle, skeleton and heart etc. However, the function of KLF10 in intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) has not been reported yet.

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ACTG1 is a member of the actin family but is not a muscle actin gene. The ACTG1 mutation leads to hearing loss in humans, and the knockdown of ACTG1 suppresses the proliferation and migration of tumor cells; however, its role in intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) is yet unclear. Bioinformatics methods revealed that ACTG1 might be a hub gene in IDD.

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Rationale: The popularity of new and emerging tobacco products such as E-cigarettes (E-cigs) is rapidly expanding worldwide. However, uncertainties surrounding the potential health consequences due to the use of such products exist and warrant further study.

Methods: Cultured A549 and Calu-3 airway epithelia were exposed to three out of the eight types of JUUL brand e-liquids ("Mint", "Virginia Tobacco" and "Menthol", all containing 3% nicotine at 1% and 3% (vol/vol) dilutions) and assessed for viability using a resazurin-based assay.

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Bacterial permeability family member A1 (BPIFA1) is one of the most abundant proteins present in normal airway surface liquid (ASL). It is known to be diminished in asthmatic patients' sputum, which causes airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR). What is currently unclear is how environmental factors, such as allergens' impact on BPIFA1's abundance and functions in the context of allergic asthma.

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Detailed and comprehensive geometric data of vertebrae endplates is important and necessary to improve the fidelity of finite element models of the spine, design and ameliorate spinal implants, and understand degenerative changes and biomechanics. In this protocol, a high-speed and highly accurate scanner is employed to convert morphology data of endplate surfaces into a digital point cloud. In the software system, the point cloud is further processed and reconstructed into three dimensions.

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Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a common genetic disease with significantly increased mortality. CF airways exhibit ion transport abnormalities, including hyperactivity of the epithelial Na channel (ENaC). Short-palate lung and nasal epithelial clone 1 (SPLUNC1) is a multifunctional innate defense protein that is secreted into the airway lumen.

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Asthma is a chronic airway disease characterized by inflammation, mucus hypersecretion and abnormal airway smooth muscle (ASM) contraction. Bacterial permeability family member A1, BPIFA1, is a secreted innate defence protein. Here we show that BPIFA1 levels are reduced in sputum samples from asthmatic patients and that BPIFA1 is secreted basolaterally from healthy, but not asthmatic human bronchial epithelial cultures (HBECs), where it suppresses ASM contractility by binding to and inhibiting the Ca influx channel Orai1.

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Activation of the stress-responsive transcription factor NRF2 is the major line of defense to combat oxidative or electrophilic insults. Under basal conditions, NRF2 is continuously ubiquitylated by the KEAP1-CUL3-RBX1 E3 ubiquitin ligase complex and is targeted to the proteasome for degradation (the canonical mechanism). However, the path from the CUL3 complex to ultimate proteasomal degradation was previously unknown.

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Nrf2 (nuclear factor erytheroid-derived-2-like 2) transcriptional programmes are activated by a variety of cellular stress conditions to maintain cellular homoeostasis. Under non-stress conditions, Nrf2 is under tight regulation by the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS). Detailed mechanistic investigations have shown the Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1)-cullin3 (Cul3)-ring-box1 (Rbx1) E3-ligase to be the primary Nrf2 regulatory system.

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Understanding the mode of action (MOA) of many natural products can be puzzling with mechanistic clues that seem to lack a common thread. One such puzzle lies in the evaluation of the antitumor properties of the natural product withaferin A (WFA). A variety of seemingly unrelated pathways have been identified to explain its activity, suggesting a lack of selectivity.

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The ATP-binding cassette (ABC) family of transporters, including ABCC3, is a large family of efflux pumps that plays a pivotal role in the elimination of xenobiotics from the body. ABCC3 has been reported to be induced during hepatic stress conditions and through the progression of some forms of cancer. Several lines of evidence have implicated the transcription factor nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) in this induction.

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Mammosphere culture of breast cancer cell lines is an important approach used for enrichment of cancer stem cells (CSCs), which exhibit high tumorigenicity and chemoresistance features. Evidence shows that CSCs maintain lower ROS levels due to elevated expression of ROS-scavenging molecules and antioxidative enzymes, which favors the survival of the CSCs and their chemoresistance. The transcription factor NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) has emerged as the master regulator of cellular redox homeostasis, by up-regulating antioxidant response element (ARE)-bearing genes products.

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Access to lead compounds with defined molecular targets continues to be a barrier to the translation of natural product resources. As a solution, we developed a system that uses discrete, recombinant proteins as the vehicles for natural product isolation. Here, we describe the use of this functional chromatographic method to identify natural products that bind to the AAA+ chaperone, p97, a promising cancer target.

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Increased endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and reactive oxygen species (ROS) are the salient features of end-stage liver diseases. Using liver tissues from liver cirrhosis patients, we observed up-regulation of the XBP1-Hrd1 arm of the ER stress response pathway and down-regulation of the Nrf2-mediated antioxidant response pathway. We further confirmed this negative regulation of Nrf2 by Hrd1 using Hrd1 conditional knockout mice.

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The basic leucine zipper transcription factor Nrf2 has emerged as a master regulator of intracellular redox homeostasis by controlling the expression of a battery of redox-balancing antioxidants and phase II detoxification enzymes. Under oxidative stress conditions, Nrf2 is induced at the protein level through redox-sensitive modifications on critical cysteine residues in Keap1, a component of an E3 ubiquitin ligase complex that targets Nrf2 for proteasomal degradation. Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) is historically known to function in DNA damage detection and repair; however, recently PARP-1 has been shown to play an important role in other biochemical activities, such as DNA methylation and imprinting, insulator activity, chromosome organization, and transcriptional regulation.

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Nrf2 is a master regulator of the antioxidant response. Under basal conditions, Nrf2 is polyubiquitinated by the Keap1-Cul3 E3 ligase and degraded by the 26S proteasome. In response to Nrf2 inducers there is a switch in polyubiquitination from Nrf2 to Keap1.

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