Characterization and Functional Prediction of Bacteria in Ovarian Tissues

The theory of a "sterile" female upper reproductive tract has been encountering increasing opposition due to advancements in bacterial detection. However, ...

First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University

Epigenetic heritability is an important issue in the field of genetics and also in the development of many human diseases. In this study, we created a transgenic rat model and investigated the transgenerational methylation patterns in these animals. The transgene DNA fragment was unmethylated before it was injected into the pronucleus, so it is a good model to study the inheritance of DNA methylation patterns. We performed bisulfite sequencing on 23 CpG dinucleotides on the transgene across three generations in two tissues. We observed that the transgene was heavily methylated in the liver (87.53%) from the founder generation, whereas its methylation rate was much lower in the kidney (70.47%). Spearman correlation analysis showed that there was a strong correlation on the methylation status between different generations in the same tissue, which was observed in both liver and kidney, and among all individuals in this pedigree. This study provided some evidence that DNA methylation patterns acquired in the founder animal can be passed to the offspring.

A preliminary exploration on DNA methylation of transgene across generations in transgenic rats.

Enormously growing genomic datasets present a new challenge on missing data imputation, a notoriously resource-demanding task. Haplotype imputation requires ethnicity-matched references. However, to date, haplotype references are not available for the majority of populations in the world. We explored to use existing unphased genotype datasets as references; if it succeeds, it will cover almost all of the populations in the world. The results showed that our HiFi software successfully yields 99.43% accuracy with unphased genotype references. Our method provides a cost-effective solution to breakthrough the bottleneck of limited reference availability for haplotype imputation in the big data era.

High-accuracy haplotype imputation using unphased genotype data as the references.

Primary vulvar cancer is a rare disease with an incidence of 2-3 per 100,000 women. The vast majority of vulvar carcinomas are of the squamous cell type (90%). Primary vulvar adenocarcinomas rank among the rare gynecological malignancies. We herein present a case of a vulvar mass near the vaginal orifice, the biopsy of which revealed a mucinous adenocarcinoma. Local excision was performed, followed by postoperative chemotherapy. The patient was asymptomatic and developed no recurrence during the 2 years of follow-up after surgery and chemotherapy. We consider local excision, with or without chemotherapy, to be an effective therapeutic approach to this type of tumor. However, further studies are required to support our conclusions for early-stage vulvar mucinous adenocarcinoma.

Primary mucinous adenocarcinoma of the vulva: A case report and review of the literature.

Endometrial cancer is the most common malignancy of the female reproductive system. The three common spread patterns of endometrial cancer are local invasion, lymphatic spread and hematogenous spread. Vaginal metastasis occurs by submucosal lymphatic or vascular metastases in ~10% of patients with clinical stage I disease. Vaginal implantation metastasis of endometrial cancer is extremely rare. Here we present a case of endometrial carcinoma (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage IA) spread to the vagina by implantation metastasis as opposed to any of the methods mentioned above. This conclusion was confirmed mainly from pathological examination. This case highlights the occurrence of vaginal implantation metastasis of endometrial carcinoma. Certain changes may be applied during surgery to prevent implantation metastasis in patients with endometrial cancer.

Vaginal implantation metastasis of endometrial carcinoma: A case report.

Haplotype is fundamental genetic information; it provides essential information for deciphering the functional and etiological roles of genetic variants. As haplotype information is closely related to the functional and etiological impact of genetic variants, it is widely anticipated that haplotype information will be extremely valuable in a wide spectra of applications, including academic research, clinical diagnosis of genetic disease and in the pharmaceutical industry. Haplotyping is essential for LD (linkage disequilibrium) mapping, functional studies on cis-interactions, big data imputation, association studies, population studies, and evolutionary studies. Unfortunately, current sequencing technologies and genotyping arrays do not routinely deliver this information for each individual, but yield only unphased genotypes. Here, we describe a high-throughput and cost-effective experimental protocol to obtain high-resolution chromosomal haplotypes of each individual diploid (including human) genome by the single-chromosome microdissection and sequencing approach.

Chromosome-Range Whole-Genome High-Throughput Experimental Haplotyping by Single-Chromosome Microdissection.

Accurate data imputation requires ethnicity-matched reference panels. However, recent admixtures have created mosaic human genomes, different chromosomal segments have different ethnic backgrounds, so it is impossible for a single-ethnicity reference panel to be the matched for data imputation. In this study, we explored a novel strategy for imputation. We created individualized mosaic reference panel for each person according to his/her ethnic backgrounds at each genomic locus. We examined on datasets with 70% missing values on haplotypes and 50% missing values on genotypes. Results showed that the imputation with mosaic references steadily yielded high imputation accuracy and outperforms the other strategies. With the mosaic reference panels, the imputation accuracy was 98.8±0.1% (CEU), 98.7±0.1% (YRI), 98.5±0.1% (CHB), 98.6±0.1% (ASW), 97.3±0.1% (MKK) and 98.2±0.1% (MXL). Mosaic reference panel will be one option for future missing value imputation in big data era.

Accurate haplotype imputation with individualized ancestry-adjusted reference panels.

Fibroblast growth factor 19 (FGF19) has emerged as a crucial cytoprotective regulator that antagonizes cell apoptosis and oxidative stress under adverse conditions. However, whether FGF19 plays a cytoprotective role in preventing myocardial damage during myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury remains unknown. In this study, we aimed to investigate the potential role of FGF19 in regulating hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R)-induced injury of cardiomyocytes in vitro. We found that FGF19 expression was upregulated in response to H/R treatment in cardiomyocytes. Silencing of FGF19 significantly inhibited viability and increased apoptosis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in cardiomyocytes with H/R treatment. In contrast, overexpression of FGF19 improved viability and inhibited apoptosis and ROS generation induced by H/R treatment, showing a cardioprotective effect. Moreover, we found that FGF19 regulated the phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) and the nuclear translocation of nuclear factor-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2). In addition, FGF19 promoted the activation of Nrf2-mediated antioxidant response element (ARE) antioxidant signaling. Notably, treatment with a GSK-3β inhibitor significantly abrogated the adverse effects of FGF19 silencing on H/R-induced injury, whereas silencing of Nrf2 partially blocked the FGF19-mediated cardioprotective effect against H/R-induced injury in cardiomyocytes. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that FGF19 alleviates H/R-induced apoptosis and oxidative stress in cardiomyocytes by inhibiting GSK-3β activity and promoting the activation of Nrf2/ARE signaling, providing a potential therapeutic target for prevention of myocardial injury.

Overexpression of FGF19 alleviates hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced injury of cardiomyocytes by regulating GSK-3β/Nrf2/ARE signaling.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are an important part in the field of "liquid biopsy." However, major questions remain to be answered whether the mutations in the CTCs represent the mutations in primary tumor tissue and metastatic tumors. We compared the genetic mutations between CTCs and their matched tumors, and extracted data on the heterogeneity of the mutational status in CTCs and the change in mutations of CTCs before and during treatment. For mutations detected in single genes, we calculated the concordance of the mutations between the CTCs and primary tumor tissue. For mutations detected in multiple genes, we calculated the concordance of the mutations between the CTCs and primary/metastatic tumor tissue. The heterogeneity of the mutational status is clearly present in CTCs. For mutations detected in a single gene, the overall concordance of mutations is 53.05%. For mutations detected in multiple genes, the concordance of mutations is extremely different. The heterogeneity of the mutational status existed in single CTCs, and the mutational status of CTCs was discordant with that of tumor tissue.

The Discordance of Gene Mutations between Circulating Tumor Cells and Primary/Metastatic Tumor.

With the improvement of bacterial detection, the theory of the sterile female upper reproductive tract has been frequently challenged in recent years. However, thus far, no researchers have used ovaries as study targets.

The differential distribution of bacteria between cancerous and noncancerous ovarian tissues in situ.

Successful treatment of resistant hypertension accompanied by elevated human C-reactive protein (hCRP) remains a key challenge in reducing the burden of cardiovascular diseases. It is still unclear whether clinically relevant high-level hCRP is merely a marker or a key driver of hypertension. Here, we investigated the role and mechanism of clinically relevant high level of hCRP in hypertension. Elevated blood pressure was observed in all three hCRP overexpression models, including adeno-associated virus 9 (AAV9)-transfected mice, AAV9-transfected rats and hCRP transgenic (hCRPtg) rats. hCRPtg rats expressing clinically relevant high-level hCRP developed spontaneous hypertension, cardiac hypertrophy, myocardial fibrosis and impaired endothelium-dependent relaxation. Mechanistically, studies in endothelial nitric oxide (NO) synthase (eNOS) knockout mice transfected with AAV9-hCRP and phosphoproteomics analysis of hCRP-treated endothelial cells revealed that hCRP inhibited AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)-eNOS phosphorylation pathway. Further, activation of AMPK by metformin normalized endothelial-dependent vasodilation and decreased the blood pressure of hCRPtg rats. Our results show that clinically relevant high-level hCRP induces hypertension and endothelial dysfunction by inhibiting AMPK-eNOS signaling, and highlight hCRP is not only an inflammatory biomarker but also a driver of hypertension. Treatment with metformin or a synthetic AMPK activator may be a potential strategy for vaso-dysfunction and hypertension in patients with high hCRP levels.

Clinically relevant high levels of human C-reactive protein induces endothelial dysfunction and hypertension by inhibiting the AMPK-eNOS axis.

Neuroinflammation is the most common cause of neurological diseases. Exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs-exos) have been reported to reduce inflammation and neuronal injury. Its underlying mechanism remains poorly unknown. In this study, identification of bone marrow MSCs-derived exosomes (BMSCs-exos) was conducted by nanosight tracking analysis, transmission electron microscope, and western blot assay. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) was used to analyze microglial M1/M2 polarization and detect levels of inflammatory factors. Cell viability was determined by Cell Counting Kit (CCK)-8 assay. Cell apoptosis was assessed by flow cytometry, caspase-3 activity assay, and DNA fragmentation assay. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to detect gene expression. Luciferase reporter and RNA pull-down assays were exploited to validate the interaction between genes. BMSCs-exos promoted M2 polarization while inhibited M1 polarization in LPS-stimulated BV-2 cells. BMSCs-exos inhibited the secretion of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α, while increased the levels of IL-10. BMSCs-exos resisted the cytotoxicity and apoptosis induced by LPS in HT22 cells. BMSCs-exosomal long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) H19 enhanced the anti-inflammatory ability of BMSCs-exos in BV-2 microglia following LPS stimulation, and strengthened the neuroprotective effect of BMSCs-exos on HT22 cells in the presence of LPS. Moreover, H19 functioned as a sponge for miR-29b-3p. miR-29b-3p mimics abolished the effects of BMSCs-exosomal H19 on M1/M2 polarization and inflammation in LPS-stimulated BV-2 cells. The neuroprotective function of BMSCs-exosomal H19 was attenuated by miR-29b-3p mimics in LPS-stimulated HT22 cells. BMSCs-exosomal H19 modulates LPS-stimulated microglial M1/M2 polarization and alleviates inflammation-mediated neurotoxicity by sponging miR-29b-3p.

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells-secreted exosomal H19 modulates lipopolysaccharides-stimulated microglial M1/M2 polarization and alleviates inflammation-mediated neurotoxicity.

Qing Song

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology

First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University

Characterization and Functional Prediction of Bacteria in Ovarian Tissues

Qing Song

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology

First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University

Characterization and Functional Prediction of Bacteria in Ovarian Tissues

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology