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Bing Feng,1,* Xinling Meng,2,* Hui Zhou,1,* Liechun Chen,3 Chun Zou,3 Lucong Liang,3 Youshi Meng,3,4 Ning Xu,3,4 Hao Wang,3,4 Donghua Zou3,4 1Department of Neurology, The People’s Hospital of Guiping, Guigang, Guangxi, 537200, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Endocrinology, The People’s Hospital of Guiping, Guigang, Guangxi, 537200, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Neurology, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, 530022, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Neurology, The First People’s Hospital of Nanning, Nanning, Guangxi, 530022, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Hao Wang; Donghua ZouThe Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, 89 Qixing Road, Nanning, Guangxi, 530022, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 7712636189Email bswanghao2010@163.com; danvor0922@hotmail.comObjective: Ischemic stroke (IS) is a major cause of severe disability. This study aimed to identify potential biomarkers closely related to IS diagnosis and treatment.Methods: Profiles of gene expression were obtained from datasets GSE16561, GSE22255, GSE112801 and GSE110993. Differentially expressed mRNAs between IS and controls were then subjected to weighted gene co-expression network analysis as well as multiscale embedded gene co-expression network analysis. The intersection of the two sets of module genes was subjected to analyses of functional enrichment and of microRNAs (miRNAs) regulation. Then, the area under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC) was calculated to assess the ability of genes to discriminate IS patients from controls. IS diagnostic signatures were constructed using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression.Results: A total of 234 common co-expression network genes were found to be potentially associated with IS. Enrichment analysis found that these genes were mainly associated with inflammation and immune response. The aberrantly expressed miRNAs (hsa-miR-651-5p, hsa-miR-138-5p, hsa-miR-9-3p and hsa-miR-374a-3p) in IS had regulatory effects on IS-related genes and were involved in brain-related diseases. We used the criterion AUC > 0.7 to screen out 23 hub genes from IS-related genes in the GSE16561 and GSE22255 datasets. We obtained an 8-gene signature (ADCY4, DUSP1, ATP5F1, DCTN5, EIF3G, ELAVL1, EXOSC7 and PPIE) from the training set of GSE16561 dataset, which we confirmed in the validation set of GSE16561 dataset and in the GSE22255 dataset. The genes in this signature were highly accurate for diagnosing IS. In addition, the 8-gene signature significantly correlated with infiltration by immune cells.Conclusion: These findings provide new clues to molecular mechanisms and treatment targets in IS. The genes in the signature may be candidate markers and potential gene targets for treatments.Keywords: ischemic stroke, bioinformatics analysis, miRNAs, immune inflammatory response, candidate markers

UNLABELLED: Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is a rare segmental premature aging disorder that recapitulates some biological and physical aspects of physiological aging. The disease is caused by a sporadic dominant mutation in the LMNA gene that leads to the expression of progerin, a mutant form of lamin A that lacks 50 amino acids and retains a toxic farnesyl modification in its carboxy-terminus. However, the mechanisms underlying cellular damage and senescence and accelerated aging in HGPS are incompletely understood. Here, we analyzed fibroblasts from healthy subjects and HGPS patients using SILAC (stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture). We found in HGPS cells a marked downregulation of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation proteins accompanied by mitochondrial dysfunction, a process thought to provoke broad organ decline during normal aging. We also found mitochondrial dysfunction in fibroblasts from adult progeroid mice expressing progerin (Lmna(G609G/G609G) knock-in mice) or prelamin A (Zmpste24-null mice). Analysis of tissues from these mouse models revealed that the damaging effect of these proteins on mitochondrial function is time- and dose-dependent. Mitochondrial alterations were not observed in the brain, a tissue with extremely low progerin expression that seems to be unaffected in HGPS. Remarkably, mitochondrial function was restored in progeroid mouse fibroblasts treated with the isoprenylation inhibitors FTI-277 or pravastatin plus zoledronate, which are being tested in HGPS clinical trials. Our results suggest that mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to premature organ decline and aging in HGPS. Beyond its effects on progeria, prelamin A and progerin may also contribute to mitochondrial dysfunction and organ damage during normal aging, since these proteins are expressed in cells and tissues from non-HGPS individuals, most prominently at advanced ages. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Mutations in LMNA or defective processing of prelamin A causes premature aging disorders, including Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS). Most HGPS patients carry in heterozygosis a de-novo point mutation (c.1824C>T: GGC>GGT; p.G608G) which causes the expression of the lamin A mutant protein called progerin. Despite the importance of progerin and prelamin A in accelerated aging, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. To tackle this question, we compared the proteome of skin-derived dermal fibroblast from HGPS patients and age-matched controls using quantitative stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture (SILAC). Our results show a pronounced down-regulation of several components of the mitochondrial ATPase complex accompanied by up-regulation of some glycolytic enzymes. Accordingly, functional studies demonstrated mitochondrial dysfunction in HGPS fibroblasts. Moreover, our expression and functional studies using cellular and animal models confirmed that mitochondrial dysfunction is a feature of progeria which develops in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Finally, we demonstrate improved mitochondrial function in progeroid mouse cells treated with a combination of statins and aminobisphosphonates, two drugs that are being evaluated in ongoing HGPS clinical trials. Although further studies are needed to unravel the mechanisms through which progerin and prelamin A provoke mitochondrial abnormalities, our findings may pave the way to improved treatments of HGPS. These studies may also improve our knowledge of the mechanisms leading to mitochondrial dysfunction during normal aging, since both progerin and prelamin A have been found to accumulate during normal aging. Work in the author's laboratories is supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competiveness (MINECO) (SAF2010-16044; SAF2011-23089, SAF2009-08007, CSD2007-00020, CTQ2010-18644), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) (RD06/0014/ 0021, RD12/0042/0028), the Progeria Research Foundation (Innovator Award PRF 2012-42), and Comunidad de Madrid (S2011/BMD-2402). P.C.-S. was financially supported by an FPU scholarship from the Spanish Ministry of Education. The Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) is supported by MINECO and Pro-CNIC Foundation, and the Instituto Universitario de Oncología by Obra Social Cajastur. Sí

Ethnopharmacological relevance Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as the major histological subtype of primary liver cancer remains one of the most common malignancies worldwide. Due to the complicated molecular pathogenesis of HCC, the option for effective systemic treatment is quite limited. There exists a critical need to explore and evaluate possible alternative strategies for effective control of HCC. With a long history of clinical use, Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) is emerging as a noticeable choice for its multi-level, multi-target and coordinated intervention effects against HCC. With the aids of phytochemistry and molecular biological approaches, in the past decades many CHM-derived compounds have been carefully studied through both preclinical and clinical researches and have shown great potential in novel anti-HCC natural product development. The present review aimed at providing the most recent developments on anti-HCC compounds derived from CHM, especially their underlying pharmacological mechanisms. Materials and methods A systematic search of anti-HCC compounds from CHM was carried out focusing on literatures published both in English (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Medline) and in Chinese academic databases (Wanfang and CNKI database). Results In this review, we tried to give a timely and comprehensive update about the anti-HCC effects and targets of several representative CHM-derived compounds, namely curcumin, resveratrol, silibinin, berberine, quercetin, tanshinone II-A and celastrol. Their mechanisms of anti-HCC behaviors, potential side effects or toxicity and future research directions were discussed. Conclusion Herbal compounds derived from CHM are of much significance in devising new drugs and providing unique ideas for the war against HCC. We propose that these breakthrough findings may have important implications for targeted-HCC therapy and modernization of CHM.

Aims We have previously reported alterations in cardiolipin content and inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) proteomic make-up specifically in interfibrillar mitochondria (IFM) in the type 1 diabetic heart; however, the mechanism underlying this alteration is unknown. The goal of this study was to determine how the cardiolipin biosynthetic pathway and cardiolipin–IMM protein interactions are impacted by type 1 diabetes mellitus. Main methods Male FVB mice were made diabetic by multiple low-dose streptozotocin injections and sacrificed five weeks post-diabetic onset. Messenger RNA was measured and cardiac mitochondrial subpopulations were isolated. Further mitochondrial functional experimentation included evaluating the protein expression of the enzymes directly responsible for cardiolipin biosynthesis, as well as ATP synthase activity. Interactions between cardiolipin and ATP synthase subunits were also examined. Key findings Western blot analysis revealed a significant decrease in cardiolipin synthase (CRLS) protein content in diabetic IFM, with a concomitant decrease in its activity. ATP synthase activity was also significantly decreased. We identified two novel direct interactions between two subunits of the ATP synthase F0 complex (ATP5F1 and ATP5H), both of which were significantly decreased in diabetic IFM. Significance Overall, these results indicate that type 1 diabetes mellitus negatively impacts the cardiolipin biosynthetic pathway specifically at CRLS, contributing to decreased cardiolipin content and loss of interactions with key ATP synthase F0 complex constituents in the IFM.

Objective : This study was undertaken to determine the effect of Whallak-tang on expression of CD/cytokine Genes. Methods : The expression of CD/Cytokine Genes were examined by cDNA microarray using the human mast cell line(HMC-l). Results : The expression of ATP5F1, FLJ20671, unknown, KIAA0342, OAS2, unknown genes were increased in 200~300% range. The expression of unknown, MDS006, IFITM1, MRPL3, ZNF207, FTH1, FBP1, NRGN, NR1H2, KIAA0747 genes were decreased in 0~33% range. Conclusion : These results would provide important basic data on the possibility of the clinical treatment of Whallaktang in musculoskeletal disease.