Publications by authors named "Weiche Wu"

Article Synopsis
  • Chemotherapy combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is used to boost immunotherapy effectiveness, but certain tumors, especially triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), often remain unresponsive.
  • The study identifies IRE1α, an ER stress sensor, as a key factor that limits the immune-boosting effects of taxane chemotherapy in these tumors by silencing double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) and preventing a type of inflammatory cell death called pyroptosis.
  • Inhibiting IRE1α allows taxane to produce more dsRNA, which activates immune responses, transforming PD-L1-negative TNBC tumors into ones that are sensitive to immunotherapy.
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Background: Patients with adrenal Cushing's syndrome (ACS) typically present with central obesity, hirsutism, hypertension, or glucose intolerance, which can be easily identified by a clinical physician. However, recognizing those with subclinical CS or those with less common symptoms and signs is challenging to the subspecialist, which can lead to delayed diagnosis and treatment. We report a case who presented with repeated vertebral fractures in 6 months.

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Purpose: This study aimed to compare the oncological outcomes of patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) without clinical lymph node metastasis (cN0) undergoing lymph node dissection (LND) during radical nephroureterectomy (NU).

Methods: From the updated data of the Taiwan UTUC Collaboration Group, a total of 2726 UTUC patients were identified. We only include patients with ≥ pT2 stage and enrolled 658 patients.

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The clinical efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) is unclear. We aimed to assess the therapeutic outcomes of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with advanced UTUC (pT3-T4) after radical nephroureterectomy (RNU). We retrospectively reviewed the data of 2108 patients from the Taiwan UTUC Collaboration Group between 1988 and 2018.

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Background: Taiwan is one of the endemic regions where upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) accounts for approximately a third of all urothelial tumors. Owing to its high prevalence, extensive experience has been accumulated in minimally invasive radical nephroureterectomy (RNU). Although a variety of predictive factors have been explored in numerous studies, most of them were on a single-center or limited institutional basis and data from a domestic cohort are lacking.

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Despite unprecedented responses of some cancers to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapies, the application of checkpoint inhibitors in pancreatic cancer has been unsuccessful. Glucocorticoids and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) signaling are long thought to suppress immunity by acting on immune cells. Here we demonstrate a previously undescribed tumor cell-intrinsic role for GR in activating PD-L1 expression and repressing the major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) expression in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells through transcriptional regulation.

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Article Synopsis
  • Laparoscopic radical nephroureterectomy (LNU) is becoming a standard treatment for localized upper tract urothelial cancer (UTUC), with hand-assisted LNU potentially offering quicker surgery times than pure LNU.
  • A study analyzed data from 629 patients in Taiwan treated with either hand-assisted (515 patients) or pure LNU (114 patients), comparing various survival outcomes between the two methods.
  • The findings indicated that while both approaches had similar all-cause and cancer-specific mortality rates, the pure laparoscopic method showed a significantly lower chance of intra-vesical recurrence and better bladder recurrence-free survival compared to the hand-assisted approach.
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Purpose: This study aimed to compare the oncological outcomes and surgical complications of patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) treated with different minimally invasive techniques for nephroureterectomy.

Methods: From the updated data of the Taiwan UTUC Collaboration Group, a total of 3,333 UTUC patients were identified. After excluding ineligible cases, we retrospectively included 1,340 patients from 15 institutions who received hand-assisted laparoscopic nephroureterectomy (HALNU), laparoscopic nephroureterectomy (LNU) or robotic nephroureterectomy (RNU) between 2001 and 2021.

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Cellular long-chain fatty acids' (LCFAs) uptake is a crucial physiological process that regulates cellular energy homeostasis. AMPK has been shown to modulate LCFAs uptake in several kinds of cells, but whether it exerts an impact on intestinal LCFAs uptake is not quite clear. In the current study, we found that AMPK reinforced LCFAs uptake in intestinal epithelial cells (IECs).

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Dysregulated activation of inflammation is associated with the development and progression of many diseases. Generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) has been shown to promote an inflammatory response. Cathelicidin peptides not only defend against the invasion of various microbes but also play an important role in regulating immune responses.

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Metformin not only regulates energy metabolism but also participates in many cellular processes. In this study, we investigated the effect of metformin on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced intestinal barrier damage. We found that LPS treatment decreased the expression of tight junction proteins and caused a proinflammatory response and oxidative stress in the intestine.

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Betaine, a neutral zwitterionic compound, could regulate intramuscular fat (IMF) deposition and meat quality. However, the efficacy is controversial. Moreover, the regulatory mechanism of betaine on lipid metabolism in skeletal muscle cells remains unclear.

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Excessive intramyocellular triacylglycerols (IMTGs, muscle lipids) are associated with the abnormal energy metabolism and insulin resistance of skeletal muscle. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), a crucial cellular energy sensor, consists of α, β and γ subunits. Researchers have not clearly determined whether Prkaa1 (also known as AMPKα1) affects IMTG accumulation in skeletal muscle.

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The cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-protein kinase A (PKA) signaling pathway plays important role in regulating energy homeostasis. Many of the effects of the cAMP-PKA signaling is mediated through the cAMP responsive element binding protein (CREB) and its coactivator CREB-regulated transcription coactivators (CRTCs). CRTC3 is a member of CRTCs family proteins and plays important roles in glucose and energy metabolism.

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Skeletal muscle plays important roles in whole-body energy homeostasis. Excessive skeletal muscle lipid accumulation is associated with some metabolic diseases such as obesity and Type 2 Diabetes. The energy sensor AMPK (AMP-activated protein kinase) is a key regulator of skeletal muscle lipid metabolism, but the precise regulatory mechanism remains to be elucidated.

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Liver kinase B1 (Lkb1), also named as Serine/Threonine protein kinase 11 (STK11), is a serine/threonine kinase that plays crucial roles in various cellular processes including cell survival, cell division, cellular polarity, cell growth, cell differentiation, and cell metabolism. In metabolic tissues, Lkb1 regulates glucose homeostasis and energy metabolism through phosphorylating and activating the AMPK subfamily proteins. In skeletal muscle, Lkb1 affects muscle development and postnatal growth, lipid and fatty acid oxidation, glucose metabolism, and insulin sensitivity.

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Adult skeletal muscle stem cells, also called satellite cells, are indispensable for the growth, maintenance, and regeneration of the postnatal skeletal muscle. Satellite cells, predominantly quiescent in mature resting muscles, are activated after skeletal muscle injury or degeneration. Notch1 signaling is an evolutionarily conserved pathway that plays crucial roles in satellite cells homeostasis and postnatal skeletal myogenesis and regeneration.

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Adipose tissues, composed with mature adipocytes and preadipocytic stromal/stem cells, play crucial roles in whole body energy metabolism and regenerative medicine. Mature adipocytes are derived and differentiated from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) or preadipocytes. This differentiation process, also called adipogenesis, is regulated by several signaling pathways and transcription factors.

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Adipose tissues play important roles in whole body energy homeostasis and lifer span. Understanding the mechanisms of controlling adipose tissues development is significant for providing useful information to treat the worldwide epidemic of obesity and its associated metabolic diseases. Several different Cre transgenes have been generated and used for determining the origin of adipose tissues and the function of individual gene in regulating adipose growth and development.

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Objective: The detachment of fiber posts from root canals is primarily caused by the loss of adhesion between dentin and cement; therefore, the purpose of this study was to formulate a novel resin cement that improves the bond strength of fiber posts to the dentin-cement interface.

Methods: Three concentrations (30, 35, and 40wt.%) of bis[2-(methacryloyloxy)-ethyl] phosphate (2MP) were prepared as dentin bonding agent components.

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The current study was conducted to determine whether betaine could improve fatty acid oxidation, mitochondrial function and N6-methyladenosine (m(6)A) mRNA methylation in adipose tissue in high-fat-induced mice and how AMP-activated protein kinase α1 subunit (AMPKα1) was involved. AMPKα1 knockout mice and wild-type mice were fed either a low-fat diet, high-fat diet or high-fat diet supplemented with betaine in the drinking water for 8weeks. Our results showed that mitochondrial genes (PGC1α) and β-oxidation-related genes (CPT1a) at protein level were increased in wild-type mice supplemented with betaine when compared with those in mice with high-fat diet.

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n-3 Long-chain PUFA up-regulate intestinal lipid metabolism. However, whether these metabolic effects of PUFA on intestine are mediated by AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) remains to be elucidated. To determine the effects of α-linolenic acid (ALA) on intestinal fatty acid (FA) metabolism and whether these effects were affected by AMPK deletion, mice deficient in the catalytic subunit of AMPKα1 or AMPKα2 and wild-type (WT) mice were fed either a high-fat diet (HF) or HF supplemented with ALA (HF-A).

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Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is now the most common cause of chronic liver disease among children and adolescents in the developed world. Betaine, as a methyl donor, recently has been demonstrated to exert its hepatoprotective effects through rectifying the genomic DNA hypomethylation state. However, whether betaine supplementation affects N6-methyladenosine (m(6)A) mRNA methylation in NAFLD is still unknown.

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Background: n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 LC PUFA) increases β-oxidation and limits lipid accumulation in adipocytes. The current study was conducted to determine whether their precursor alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) could also exert the above effects and how AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) was involved.

Methods: AMPKα1(-/-), AMPKα2(-/-) mice and wild-type (WT) mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) or HFD with ALA.

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