Publications by authors named "Zhongyu Xie"

Osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis and treatment of bone-related conditions such as osteoporosis and bone regeneration. While the WW domain-containing coiled-coil adaptor (WAC) protein is primarily associated with transcriptional regulation and autophagy, its involvement in MSC osteogenesis remains unclear. Here, the data reveal that the levels of WAC are diminished in both osteoporosis patients and osteoporosis mouse models.

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Article Synopsis
  • Iron deficiency can cause organ damage and has been linked to dysfunction in bone metabolism, though the exact mechanisms are still being researched.
  • A study identified the enzyme KDM4D as crucial for activating quiescent mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), showing that iron deficiency reduces its activity, leading to increased suppression of a gene (PIK3R3).
  • Iron-deficient mice showed poor activation of MSCs and lower bone mass, indicating that adjusting the PI3K-Akt-Foxo1 pathway might help counteract bone loss caused by iron deficiency.
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Titanium (Ti) and its alloys have been widely employed in the treatment of orthopedics and other hard tissue diseases. However, Ti-based implants are bioinert and suffer from bacterial infections and poor osseointegration in clinical applications. Herein, we successfully modified Ti with a porous -halaminated spermidine-containing polymeric coating (Ti-SPD-Cl) through alkali-heat treatment, surface grafting and chlorination, and it has both excellent antibacterial and osteogenic abilities to significantly enhance osseointegration.

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Stem cells remain quiescent in vivo and become activated in response to external stimuli. However, the mechanism regulating the quiescence-activation balance of bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) is still unclear. Herein, we demonstrated that CYP7B1 was the common critical molecule that promoted activation and impeded quiescence of BM-MSCs under inflammatory stimulation.

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Articular cartilage has an appropriate multilayer structure and superior tribological properties and provides a structural paradigm for design of lubricating materials. However, mimicking articular cartilage traits on prosthetic materials with durable lubrication remains a huge challenge. Herein, an ingenious three-in-one strategy is developed for constructing an articular cartilage-like bilayer hydrogel coating on the surface of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (BH-UPE), which makes full use of conceptions of interfacial interlinking, high-entanglement crosslinking, and interface-modulated polymerization.

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Regular quiescence and activation are important for the function of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSC), multipotent stem cells that are widely used in the clinic due to their capabilities in tissue repair and inflammatory disease treatment. TNF-α is previously reported to regulate BMMSC functions, including multilineage differentiation and immunoregulation. The present study demonstrates that TNF-α impedes quiescence and promotes the activation of BMMSC in vitro and in vivo.

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Article Synopsis
  • Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can differentiate into various cell types, but in osteoporosis, this process shifts towards fat cell (adipocyte) formation due to the role of the FOXO3 gene.* -
  • The study used RNA sequencing and other methods to show that FOXO3 not only drives the expression of key fat cell transcription factors but is also involved in a positive feedback loop that enhances its own expression.* -
  • By activating the PI3K-AKT pathway, FOXO3 promotes autophagy, which is linked to MSCs turning into adipocytes, suggesting that targeting FOXO3 could be a potential treatment strategy for osteoporosis.*
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Iron deficiency (ID) is a widespread condition concomitant with disease and results in systemic dysfunction of target tissues including skeletal muscle. Activated by ID, ferritinophagy is a recently found type of selective autophagy, which plays an important role in various physiological and pathological conditions. In this study, we demonstrated that ID-mediated ferritinophagy impeded myogenic differentiation.

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Sustained inflammatory invasion leads to joint damage and progressive disability in several autoimmune rheumatic diseases. In recent decades, targeting M1 macrophage polarization has been suggested as a promising therapeutic strategy for autoimmune arthritis. P300/CBP-associated factor (PCAF) is a histone acetyltransferase (HAT) that exhibits a strong positive relationship with the proinflammatory microenvironment.

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Improving health and delaying aging is the focus of medical research. Previous studies have shown that mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) senescence is closely related to organic aging and the development of aging-related diseases such as osteoarthritis (OA). m6A is a common RNA modification that plays an important role in regulating cell biological functions, and ALKBH5 is one of the key m6A demethylases.

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Glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (GIOP), one of the most common and serious adverse effects associated with glucocorticoid administration, manifests as decreased bone formation and increased bone resorption, eventually culminating in bone loss. Galangin (GAL) is a flavonoid extracted from the medicinal herbal galangal that possesses a variety of pharmacological activities and can inhibit osteoclastogenesis. However, the effects of GAL on GIOP remain unclear.

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As the major cell precursors in osteogenesis, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are indispensable for bone homeostasis and development. However, the primary mechanisms regulating osteogenic differentiation are controversial. Composed of multiple constituent enhancers, super enhancers (SEs) are powerful cis-regulatory elements that identify genes that ensure sequential differentiation.

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Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a common rheumatic disorder distinguished by chronic inflammation and heterotopic ossification at local entheses sites. Currently available medications, including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and TNF inhibitors, are limited by side effects, high costs and unclear inhibitory effects on heterotopic ossification. Herein, we developed manganese ferrite nanoparticles modified by the aptamer CH6 (CH6-MF NPs) that can efficiently scavenge ROS and actively deliver siRNA into hMSCs and osteoblasts in vivo for effective AS treatment.

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During the aging process, the reduced osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) results in decreased bone formation, which contributes to senile osteoporosis. Previous studies have confirmed that interrupted circadian rhythm plays an indispensable role in age-related disease. However, the mechanism underlying the impaired osteogenic differentiation of BM-MSCs during aging and its relationship with interrupted circadian rhythm remains unclear.

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Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) possess strong immunoregulatory functions, one aspect of which is recruiting monocytes from peripheral vessels to local tissue by secreting monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP1). However, the regulatory mechanisms of MCP1 secretion in MSCs are still unclear. Recently, the N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification was reported to be involved in the functional regulation of MSCs.

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Article Synopsis
  • Myogenic differentiation is crucial for muscle regeneration and atrophy, and this study investigates the role of crotonylation, a posttranslational modification, in this process.
  • Using C2C12 cells and mouse models, researchers discovered that crotonylation levels decline during muscle differentiation and identified specific interactions involving the protein AKT1 that impact its function.
  • The findings suggest that reducing AKT1 crotonylation enhances its phosphorylation, promoting muscle differentiation, which could provide insights into muscle injury repair and conditions like sarcopenia.
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Background: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) exhibit two bidirectional immunomodulatory abilities: proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory regulatory effects. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have important functions in the immune system. Previously, we performed high-throughput sequencing comparing lncRNA expression profiles between MSCs cocultured with or without CD14+ monocytes and screened out a new lncRNA termed lncRNA MCP1 regulatory factor (MRF).

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Osteoporosis, a systemic bone disease that is characterized by a reduction in bone mass and destruction of bone microstructure, is becoming a serious problem worldwide. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) can differentiate into bone-forming osteoblasts, and play an important role in maintaining homeostasis of bone metabolism, thus being a potential therapeutic target for osteoporosis. Although the phytochemical alpinetin (APT) has been reported to possess a variety of pharmacological activities, it is still unclear whether APT can influence the osteogenic differentiation of on BMSCs and if it can improve osteoporosis.

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Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and the second most common cancer overall. Although advancements in the early diagnosis and therapy of breast cancer have occurred in recent years, the prognosis of breast cancer bone metastasis remains poor and this type of cancer is rarely cured. The gut microbiota is indispensable for internal homeostasis and regulates various biological processes.

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