Mcclureweber3032
Antiproliferative therapies are crucially important for improving the success rate of the glaucoma filtration surgeries. In this study, we investigated the potential efficacy of Forkhead Domain Inhibitory-6 (FDI-6) in inhibiting post-trabeculectomy subconjunctival fibrosis. In vitro, the effect of FDI-6 (10 μM) on fibrotic response and its underlying mechanism were investigated in rabbit tenon's fibroblasts (RTFs) treated with or without transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1, 20 ng/mL). In vivo, FDI-6 (40 μM) was injected subconjunctivally to a rabbit trabeculectomy model. Intraocular pressure (IOP) changes were monitored within the 14-day period post-surgery. Bleb morphology and subepithelial fibrosis at the operating area were evaluated with slit lamp and confocal microscopic examinations and with histologic examinations. The results showed that, in cell culture studies, FDI-6 suppressed the proliferation, migration, collagen gel contraction and the expression levels of fibronectin (FN) and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) in RTFs with TGF-β treatment by down-regulating the TGF-β1/Smad2/3 signaling pathway. In animal studies, the IOPs of the FDI-6-treated group were significantly lower than those of the saline-treated group after trabeculectomy. The FDI-6-treated eyes showed a better bleb appearance with fewer blood vessels compared to the saline-treated eyes. The analysis of confocal microscopy in vivo and histopathology revealed that subconjunctival fibrosis after trabeculectomy was significantly attenuated in the FDI-6-treated group compared to the controls. In conclusion, our studies indicate that FDI-6 exerts an inhibitory effect on subconjunctival fibrosis caused by trabeculectomy, holding potentials as a new antiproliferative agent used in anti-glaucoma filtration surgeries in the future.Senile cataract is a common age-related disease in ophthalmology. Hsa_circ_0004058 has been reported to be down-regulated in the lens epithelial cells of senile cataract patients, suggesting that hsa_circ_0004058 is associated with senile cataract. However, the underlying mechanism is still unknown. This study attempted to determine the functional role of hsa_circ_0004058 in senile cataract. We treated human lens epithelial cells (SRA01/04) with H2O2 as senile cataract model, and found that cell viability and autophagy of SRA01/04 cells were severely decreased by H2O2 treatment. Hsa_circ_0004058 was notably down-regulated in H2O2-treated SRA01/04 cells. Moreover, hsa_circ_0004058 overexpression reduced apoptotic cells and the expression of Cleaved-caspase-3 and Bax, and enhanced Bcl-2 expression in H2O2-treated SRA01/04 cells. However, hsa_circ_0004058 silencing caused the opposite results. Hsa_circ_0004058 up-regulation accelerated the expression of autophagy-related proteins LC3-II/LC3-I and Beclin-1 in H2O2-treated SRA01/04 cells, which was partly abolished by 3-Methyladenine (autophagy inhibitor). Additionally, hsa_circ_0004058 functioned as a competing endogenous RNA to competitive binding miR-186, and thus accelerated the expression of its down-stream target, ATG7. Hsa_circ_0004058 promoted autophagy of SRA01/04 cells by regulating miR-186/ATG7 axis. In conclusion, these data demonstrates that hsa_circ_0004058 inhibits apoptosis of SRA01/04 cells by promoting autophagy, which attributes to regulate miR-186/ATG7 axis. Thus, hsa_circ_0004058 may be a potential target for senile cataract treatment.Kainate receptors (KARs) are glutamate-gated cation channels with diverse roles in the central nervous system. Bi-allelic loss of function of the KAR-encoding gene GRIK2 causes a nonsyndromic neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) with intellectual disability and developmental delay as core features. The extent to which mono-allelic variants in GRIK2 also underlie NDDs is less understood because only a single individual has been reported previously. Here, we describe an additional eleven individuals with heterozygous de novo variants in GRIK2 causative for neurodevelopmental deficits that include intellectual disability. Five children harbored recurrent de novo variants (three encoding p.Thr660Lys and two p.Thr660Arg), and four children and one adult were homozygous for a previously reported variant (c.1969G>A [p.Ala657Thr]). Individuals with shared variants had some overlapping behavioral and neurological dysfunction, suggesting that the GRIK2 variants are likely pathogenic. Analogous mutations introduced into recombinant GluK2 KAR subunits at sites within the M3 transmembrane domain (encoding p.Ala657Thr, p.Thr660Lys, and p.Thr660Arg) and the M3-S2 linker domain (encoding p.Ile668Thr) had complex effects on functional properties and membrane localization of homomeric and heteromeric KARs. Both p.Thr660Lys and p.Thr660Arg mutant KARs exhibited markedly slowed gating kinetics, similar to p.Ala657Thr-containing receptors. Moreover, we observed emerging genotype-phenotype correlations, including the presence of severe epilepsy in individuals with the p.Thr660Lys variant and hypomyelination in individuals with either the p.Thr660Lys or p.Thr660Arg variant. Collectively, these results demonstrate that human GRIK2 variants predicted to alter channel function are causative for early childhood development disorders and further emphasize the importance of clarifying the role of KARs in early nervous system development.Cancer genomes accumulate a large number of somatic mutations resulting from a combination of stochastic errors in DNA processing, cancer-related aberrations of the DNA repair machinery, or carcinogenic exposures; each mutagenic process leaves a characteristic mutational signature. A key challenge is understanding the interactions between signatures, particularly as DNA repair deficiencies often modify the effects of other mutagens. Here, we introduce RepairSig, a computational method that explicitly models additive primary mutagenic processes; non-additive secondary processes, which interact with the primary processes; and a mutation opportunity, that is, the distribution of sites across the genome that are vulnerable to damage or preferentially repaired. We demonstrate that RepairSig accurately recapitulates experimentally identified signatures, identifies autonomous signatures of deficient DNA repair processes, and explains mismatch repair deficiency in breast cancer by de novo inference of both primary and secondary signatures from patient data. RepairSig is freely available for download at https//github.com/ncbi/RepairSig.Transcription initiation by RNA polymerase II (RNA Pol II) requires preinitiation complex (PIC) assembly at gene promoters. In the dynamic nucleus, where thousands of promoters are broadly distributed in chromatin, it is unclear how multiple individual components converge on any target to establish the PIC. Here we use live-cell, single-molecule tracking in S. Cenicriviroc datasheet cerevisiae to visualize constrained exploration of the nucleoplasm by PIC components and Mediator's key role in guiding this process. On chromatin, TFIID/TATA-binding protein (TBP), Mediator, and RNA Pol II instruct assembly of a short-lived PIC, which occurs infrequently but efficiently within a few seconds on average. Moreover, PIC exclusion by nucleosome encroachment underscores regulated promoter accessibility by chromatin remodeling. Thus, coordinated nuclear exploration and recruitment to accessible targets underlies dynamic PIC establishment in yeast. Our study provides a global spatiotemporal model for transcription initiation in live cells.Epigenetic inheritance of heterochromatin requires DNA-sequence-independent propagation mechanisms, coupling to RNAi, or input from DNA sequence, but how DNA contributes to inheritance is not understood. Here, we identify a DNA element (termed "maintainer") that is sufficient for epigenetic inheritance of pre-existing histone H3 lysine 9 methylation (H3K9me) and heterochromatin in Schizosaccharomyces pombe but cannot establish de novo gene silencing in wild-type cells. This maintainer is a composite DNA element with binding sites for the Atf1/Pcr1 and Deb1 transcription factors and the origin recognition complex (ORC), located within a 130-bp region, and can be converted to a silencer in cells with lower rates of H3K9me turnover, suggesting that it participates in recruiting the H3K9 methyltransferase Clr4/Suv39h. These results suggest that, in the absence of RNAi, histone H3K9me is only heritable when it can collaborate with maintainer-associated DNA-binding proteins that help recruit the enzyme responsible for its epigenetic deposition.The mechanistic understanding of nascent RNAs in transcriptional control remains limited. Here, by a high sensitivity method methylation-inscribed nascent transcripts sequencing (MINT-seq), we characterized the landscapes of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) on nascent RNAs. We uncover heavy but selective m6A deposition on nascent RNAs produced by transcription regulatory elements, including promoter upstream antisense RNAs and enhancer RNAs (eRNAs), which positively correlates with their length, inclusion of m6A motif, and RNA abundances. m6A-eRNAs mark highly active enhancers, where they recruit nuclear m6A reader YTHDC1 to phase separate into liquid-like condensates, in a manner dependent on its C terminus intrinsically disordered region and arginine residues. The m6A-eRNA/YTHDC1 condensate co-mixes with and facilitates the formation of BRD4 coactivator condensate. Consequently, YTHDC1 depletion diminished BRD4 condensate and its recruitment to enhancers, resulting in inhibited enhancer and gene activation. We propose that chemical modifications of eRNAs together with reader proteins play broad roles in enhancer activation and gene transcriptional control.KRAS mutant cancer, characterized by the activation of a plethora of phosphorylation signaling pathways, remains a major challenge for cancer therapy. Despite recent advancements, a comprehensive profile of the proteome and phosphoproteome is lacking. This study provides a proteomic and phosphoproteomic landscape of 43 KRAS mutant cancer cell lines across different tissue origins. By integrating transcriptomics, proteomics, and phosphoproteomics, we identify three subsets with distinct biological, clinical, and therapeutic characteristics. The integrative analysis of phosphoproteome and drug sensitivity information facilitates the identification of a set of drug combinations with therapeutic potentials. Among them, we demonstrate that the combination of DOT1L and SHP2 inhibitors is an effective treatment specific for subset 2 of KRAS mutant cancers, corresponding to a set of TCGA clinical tumors with the poorest prognosis. Together, this study provides a resource to better understand KRAS mutant cancer heterogeneity and identify new therapeutic possibilities.Polyamines, small organic polycations, are essential for cell viability, and their physiological levels are homeostatically maintained by post-transcriptional regulation of key biosynthetic enzymes. In addition to de novo synthesis, cells can also take up polyamines; however, identifying cellular polyamine transporters has been challenging. Here we show that the S. cerevisiae HOL1 mRNA is under translational control by polyamines, and we reveal that the encoded membrane transporter Hol1 is a high-affinity polyamine transporter and is required for yeast growth under limiting polyamine conditions. Moreover, we show that polyamine inhibition of the translation factor eIF5A impairs translation termination at a Pro-Ser-stop motif in a conserved upstream open reading frame on the HOL1 mRNA to repress Hol1 synthesis under conditions of elevated polyamines. Our findings reveal that polyamine transport, like polyamine biosynthesis, is under translational autoregulation by polyamines in yeast, highlighting the extensive control cells impose on polyamine levels.