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您选择的条件: Liu, Ying
  • Aberrantly upregulated TRAP1 is required for tumorigenesis of breast cancer

    分类: 生物学 >> 生物物理学 >> 肿瘤学 提交时间: 2016-05-15

    摘要: Tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated protein 1 (TRAP1) is abnormally expressed in many cancers. In this study, we showed that TRAP1 is aberrantly upregulated in breast tumors compared to control tissues. TRAP1 knockdown downregulates mitochondrial aerobic respiratory, sensitizes cells to lethal stimuli, and inhibited tumor growth in MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 breast cancer cells in vivo. TRAP1 overexpression, however, enhances the capacity to cope with stress conditions. These evidences suggested that TRAP1 is required for tumorigenesis. We also found that TRAP1 regulates the mitochondrial morphology. Relatively lower TRAP1 levels are associated with the rod-shaped mitochondrial phenotype in invasive and metastatic MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells; on the contrary, higher TRAP1 levels are associated with the tubular network-shaped mitochondrial phenotype in non-invasive MCF-7 cells. Interestingly, the expression of TRAP1 in human breast cancer specimens inversely correlates with tumor grade. Overexpression of TRAP1 in MDA-MB-231 cells causes mitochondrial fusion, triggers mitochondria to form tubular networks, and suppresses cell migration and invasion in vitro and in vivo. These data link TRAP1-regulated mitochondrial dynamics and function with tumorigenesis of breast cancer and suggested that TRAP1 may therefore be a potential target for breast cancer drug development.

  • Ribosylation triggering Alzheimer's disease-like Tau hyperphosphorylation via activation of CaMKII

    分类: 生物学 >> 生物物理学 >> 细胞生物学 提交时间: 2016-05-12

    摘要: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is regarded as one of the serious risk factors for age-related cognitive impairment; however, a causal link between these two diseases has so far not been established. It was recently discovered that, apart from high D-glucose levels, T2DM patients also display abnormally high concentrations of uric D-ribose. Here, we show for the first time that the administration of D-ribose, the most active glycator among monosaccharides, produces high levels of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and, importantly, triggers hyperphosphorylation of Tau in the brain of C57BL/6 mouse and neuroblastoma N2a cells. However, the administration of D-glucose showed no significant changes in Tau phosphorylation under the same experimental conditions. Crucially, suppression of AGE formation using an AGEs inhibitor (aminoguanidine) effectively prevents hyperphosphorylation of Tau protein. Further study shows AGEs resulted from ribosylation activate calcium-/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase type II (CaMKII), a key kinase responsible for Tau hyperphosphorylation. These data suggest that there is indeed a mechanistic link between ribosylation and Tau hyperphosphorylation. Targeting ribosylation by inhibiting AGE formation may be a promising therapeutic strategy to prevent Alzheimer's disease-like Tau hyperphosphorylation and diabetic encephalopathies.

  • Gavage of D-Ribose induces A beta-like deposits, Tau hyperphosphorylation as well as memory loss and anxiety-like behavior in mice

    分类: 生物学 >> 生物物理学 >> 肿瘤学 提交时间: 2016-05-11

    摘要: In addition to D-Glucose, D-Ribose is also abnormally elevated in the urine of type 2 diabetic patients, establishing a positive correlation between the concentration of uric D-Ribose and the severity of diabetes. Intraperitoneal injection of D-Ribose causes memory loss and brain inflammation in mice. To simulate a chronic progression of age-related cognitive impairment, we orally administered D-Ribose by gavage at both a low and high dose to 8 week-old male C57BL/6J mice daily for a total of 6 months, followed by behavioral, histological and biochemical analysis. We found that long-term oral administration of D-Ribose impairs spatial learning and memory, accompanied by anxiety-like behavior. Tau was hyperphosphorylated at AT8, S396, S214 and T181 in the brain. A beta-like deposition was also found in the hippocampus for the high dose group. D-Glucose-gavaged mice did not show significant memory loss and anxiety-like behavior under the same experimental conditions. These results demonstrate that a long-term oral administration of D-Ribose not only induces memory loss with anxiety-like behavior, but also elevates A beta-like deposition and Tau hyperphosphorylation, presenting D-Ribose-gavaged mouse as a model for agerelated cognitive impairment and diabetic encephalopathy.

  • Dorsoventral patterning of the Xenopus eye involves differential temporal changes in the response of optic stalk and retinal progenitors to Hh signalling

    分类: 生物学 >> 生物物理学 >> 衰老生物学 提交时间: 2016-05-11

    摘要: Background: Hedgehog (Hh) signals are instrumental to the dorsoventral patterning of the vertebrate eye, promoting optic stalk and ventral retinal fates and repressing dorsal retinal identity. There has been limited analysis, however, of the critical window during which Hh molecules control eye polarity and of the temporal changes in the responsiveness of eye cells to these signals. Results: In this study, we used pharmacological and molecular tools to perform stage-specific manipulations of Hh signalling in the developing Xenopus eye. In gain-of-function experiments, most of the eye was sensitive to ventralization when the Hh pathway was activated starting from gastrula/neurula stages. During optic vesicle stages, the dorsal eye became resistant to Hh-dependent ventralization, but this pathway could partially upregulate optic stalk markers within the retina. In loss-of-function assays, inhibition of Hh signalling starting from neurula stages caused expansion of the dorsal retina at the expense of the ventral retina and the optic stalk, while the effects of Hh inhibition during optic vesicle stages were limited to the reduction of optic stalk size. Conclusions: Our results suggest the existence of two competence windows during which the Hh pathway differentially controls patterning of the eye region. In the first window, between the neural plate and the optic vesicle stages, Hh signalling exerts a global influence on eye dorsoventral polarity, contributing to the specification of optic stalk, ventral retina and dorsal retinal domains. In the second window, between optic vesicle and optic cup stages, this pathway plays a more limited role in the maintenance of the optic stalk domain. We speculate that this temporal regulation is important to coordinate dorsoventral patterning with morphogenesis and differentiation processes during eye development.