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Background: Diarrhea is one of the most common diseases in pig industry, which seriously threatens the health of piglets and causes huge economic losses. Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) F4 is regarded as the most important cause of diarrhea in piglets. Some pigs are naturally resistant to those diarrheas caused by ETEC-F4, because they have no F4 receptors (F4R) on their small intestine epithelial cells that allow F4 fimbriae adhesion. Circular RNA (circRNA) has been shown to play an important regulatory role in the pathogenesis of disease. We hypothesized that circRNAs may also regulate the adhesion of piglet small intestinal epithelial cells to ETEC F4 fimbriae. However, the circRNA expression profiles of piglets with different Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli F4 fimbriae (ETEC-F4ac) adhesion phenotypes are still unclear, and the intermediate regulatory mechanisms need to be explored. Hence, the present study assessed the circRNA expression profiling in small intestine epithelial cells of eight male piglets with different ETEC-F4 adhesion phenotypes and ITGB5 genotypes to unravel their regulatory function in susceptibility to ETEC-F4ac diarrhea. Piglets were divided into two groups: non-adhesive group (n = 4) with CC genotype and adhesive group (n = 4) with TT genotype. Results: The RNA-seq data analysis identified 13,199 circRNAs from eight samples, most of which were exon-derived. In the small intestine epithelial cells, 305 were differentially expressed (DE) circRNAs between the adhesive and non-adhesive groups; of which 46 circRNAs were upregulated, and 259 were downregulated. Gene ontology and KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that most significantly enriched DE circRNAs' host genes were linked to cytoskeletal components, protein phosphorylation, cell adhesion, ion transport and pathways (such as adherens junction, gap junction) associated with ETEC diarrhea. The circRNA-miRNA-mRNA interaction network was also constructed to elucidate their underlying regulatory relationships. Our results identified several candidate circRNAs that affects susceptibility to ETEC diarrhea. Among them, circ-SORBS1 can adsorb ssc-miR-345-3p to regulate the expression of its host gene SORBS1, thus improving cell adhesion. Conclusion: Our results provided insights into the regulation function of circRNAs in susceptibility to ETEC diarrhea of piglets, and enhanced our understanding of the role of circRNAs in regulating ETEC diarrhea, and reveal the great potential of circRNA as a diagnostic marker for susceptibility of ETEC diarrhea in piglets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play crucial roles in gene regulation at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. LncRNAs are belonging to a large class of transcripts with ≥200 nt in length which do not code for proteins, have been widely investigated in various physiological and pathological contexts by high-throughput sequencing techniques and bioinformatics analysis. However, little is known about the regulatory mechanisms by which lncRNAs regulate genes that are associated with Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli F4 fimbriae (ETEC-F4ac) adhesion phenotype in small intestine epithelial cells of Large White piglets. To address this, we used RNA sequencing to profile lncRNAs and mRNAs of small intestine epithelial cells in Large White piglets differing in their ETEC-F4 adhesion phenotypes and ITGB5 genotypes. Eight male piglets were used in this study and were divided into two groups on the basis of their adhesion phenotype and ITGB5 genotypes, a candidate gene for F4ac receptor. Non-adhesive group (n = 4) with CC genotype and adhesive group (n = 4) with TT genotype. Results: In total, 78 differentially expressed lncRNAs (DE-lncRNA) and 223 differentially expressed mRNAs (log2 |FC| > 1, P < 0.05) were identified in the comparison of non-adhesive vs. adhesive small intestine epithelial cells. Furthermore, cis- and trans-regulatory target genes of DE-lncRNAs were identified, then interaction networks of lncRNAs and their cis- and trans-target differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were constructed separately. A total of 194 cis-targets were involved in the lncRNAs-cis genes interaction network and 61 trans-targets, were involved in lncRNA-trans gene interaction network that we constructed. We determined that cis-target genes were involved in alcoholism, systemic lupus erythematosus, viral carcinogenesis and malaria. Whereas trans-target DEGs were engaged in three important pathways related to the ETEC-F4 adhesion phenotype namely cGMP-PKG signaling pathway, focal adhesion, and adherens junction. The trans-target DEGs which directly involved in these pathways are KCNMB1 in cGMP-PKG signaling pathway, GRB2 in focal adhesion pathway and ACTN4 in focal adhesion and adherens junction pathways. Conclusion: The findings of the current study provides an insight into biological functions and epigenetic regulatory mechanism of lncRNAs on porcine small intestine epithelial cells adhesion to ETEC-F4-ac and piglets’ diarrhea susceptibility/resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aims to investigate the chlamydia pneumoniae infection (PC) in patients with coronary heart disease.Methods: A total of 92 patients with coronary heart disease, who were treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), were selected as the case group. In addition, 50 healthy people were enrolled as the control group. The incidences of CP infection and serum Chlamydia pneumoniae IgA antibody (CP-IgA), high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were compared in these two groups. The classification of coronary artery lesion, the incidence of perioperative cardiovascular events, and adverse prognosis events within six months after procedure were compared.Results: The incidence of CP infection in the case group was higher (42.4% vs. 0%, P < 0.05). Furthermore, 17 patients were at grade I, 39 patients were at grade II, and 36 patients were at grade III. The incidences for these three kinds of patients were 17.6, 30.8, and 66.7%. The incidence of CP infection at grade III was higher than that of grade I or II (P < 0.05). Serum CP-IgA, hs-CRP and IL-6 levels increased with the severity of the coronary artery disease (P < 0.05), and the serum hs-CRP and IL-6 levels of patients with perioperative cardiovascular events were higher (P < 0.05). Moreover, the serum CP-IgA levels of the patients with adverse prognosis events were also higher (P < 0.05).Conclusions: Patients with coronary heart disease have a high CP infection rate. The degree of infection is relevant to the severity of the coronary artery lesions and postoperative prognosis of patients, suggesting that CP infection may be an important factor affecting the incidence and prognosis of coronary heart disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]