Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) plays an essential role in the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSC). The role of FAK on proliferation and apoptosis of fibronectin (FN)-stimulated HSC was investigated using short hairpin RNA (shRNA)-mediated gene silencing technology. FAK shRNA decreased the expressions of FAK, p-FAK (Tyr(397)), ERK(1), and p-ERK(1). FAK gene silencing also inhibited HSC proliferation by 11.08% at 12-h, 15.12% at 24-h, and 28.62% at 48-h post-transfection. Flow cytometric analysis (FACS) revealed that the apoptotic rate at 24 h was increased in the FAK shRNA plasmid group compared with the HK group (8.29 ± 0.79% vs 2.70 ± 0.31%, p < 0.01). TUNEL also confirmed the increase in the rate of apoptosis (19.00 ± 0.92% vs 7.63 ± 0.70%, p < 0.01), and studies showed that the caspase-3 expression was increased while the ratio of Bcl-2 to Bax was decreased. Together, these data show that FAK regulates HSC proliferation and induces the apoptosis of HSC via the caspase-3 and Bcl-2/Bax pathway.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0463.2011.02720.x | DOI Listing |
PLoS One
January 2025
Department of Biology, West Virginia State University, Institute, WV, United States of America.
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most prevalent primary malignant brain tumor in adults, exhibits a dismal 6.9% five-year survival rate post-diagnosis. Thymoquinone (TQ), the most abundant bioactive compound in Nigella sativa, has been extensively researched for its anticancer properties across various human cancers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Am Soc Nephrol
January 2025
Research Program for Clinical and Molecular Metabolism, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Background: Deficiency of adiponectin and its downstream signaling may contribute to the pathogenesis of kidney injury in type 2 diabetes. Adiponectin activates intracellular signaling via adiponectin receptors 1 and 2 (AdipoR1 and AdipoR2), but the role of AdipoR-mediated signaling in glomerular injury in type 2 diabetes remains unknown.
Methods: The expression of AdipoR1 in the kidneys of people with type 2 diabetes and the expression of podocyte proteins or injury markers in the kidneys of AdipoR1-knockout (AdipoR1-KO) mice and immortalized AdipoR1-deficient human podocytes were investigated by immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting.
J Am Chem Soc
January 2025
Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1872, United States.
Enthalpy is often the focal point when designing monomers for polymer circularity, but much less is explored on how entropy can be exploited to create polymers with synergistic circularity and properties. Here, we design a series of spiro-lactones (SLs) with closed-chain cycloalk(en)yl substituents at the α,α-position of δ-valerolactone (δVL), which, when combined with the parent δVL and -α,α-dialkyl-substituted δVL with open-chain alkyl groups, provide a desired platform for exploring the circular polymer design by focusing on the entropy change of polymerization. These SLs exhibit finely balanced (de)polymerizability that is regulated chiefly by entropy differentiation, allowing both the facile synthesis of polyester PSLs ( up to 1000 kg mol) in a living fashion and selective depolymerization of the PSLs to completely recover monomers under mild conditions (using a recyclable catalyst at 100 °C).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMechanical forces are critical for virtually all fundamental biological processes, yet quantification of mechanical forces at the molecular scale remains challenging. Here, we present a new strategy using calibrated coiled-coils as genetically encoded, compact, tunable, and modular mechano-sensors to substantially simplify force measurement , via diverse readouts (luminescence, fluorescence and analytical biochemistry) and instrumentation readily available in biology labs. We demonstrate the broad applicability and ease-of-use of these coiled-coil mechano-sensors by measuring forces during cytokinesis (formin Cdc12) and endocytosis (epsin Ent1) in yeast, force distributions in nematode axons (β-spectrin UNC-70), and forces transmitted to the nucleus (mini-nesprin-2G) and within focal adhesions (vinculin) in mammalian cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
January 2025
Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research, Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn, 10-748, Olsztyn, Poland.
Mares with endometrosis exhibit histological changes not only in the endometrium but also in the myometrium that suggest possible functional impairment. The molecular background of these changes is not well understood. We hypothesize that the transcriptomic profile of the mare myometrium varies depending on the degree of endometrosis in mares.
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