OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) on airway hyperresponsiveness and airway inflammation in mice with asthma and possible mechanisms.

METHODSA total of 36 mice were randomly divided into four groups: control, asthma, HSF1 small interfering RNA negative control (siHSF1-NC), and siHSF1 intervention (n=9 each). Ovalbumin (OVA) sensitization and challenge were performed to induce asthma in the latter three groups. The mice in the siHSF1-NC and siHSF1 groups were treated with siHSF1-NC and siHSF1, respectively. A spirometer was used to measure airway responsiveness at 24 hours after the last challenge. The direct count method was used to calculate the number of eosinophils. ELISA was used to measure the serum level of OVA-specific IgE and levels of interleukin-4 (IL-4), interleukin-5 (IL-5), interleukin-13 (IL-13), and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) in lung tissues and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). Quantitative real-time PCR was used to measure the mRNA expression of HSF1 in asthmatic mice. Western blot was used to measure the protein expression of HSF1, high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), and phosphorylated c-Jun N-terminal kinase (p-JNK).

RESULTSThe asthma group had significant increases in the mRNA and protein expression of HSF1 compared with the control group (P<0.05). The siHSF1 group had significantly reduced mRNA and protein expression of HSF1 compared with the siHSF1-NC group (P<0.05). The knockdown of HSF1 increased airway wall thickness, airway hyperresponsiveness, OVA-specific IgE content, and the number of eosinophils (P<0.05). Compared with the siHSF1-NC group, the siHSF1 group had significantly increased levels of IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13 and significantly reduced expression of IFN-γ in lung tissues and BALF (P<0.05), as well as significantly increased expression of HMGB1 and p-JNK (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSKnockdown of HSF1 aggravates airway hyperresponsiveness and airway inflammation in asthmatic mice, and its possible mechanism may involve the negative regulation of HMGB1 and JNK.

Animals ; Asthma ; etiology ; Bronchial Hyperreactivity ; etiology ; immunology ; Cytokines ; biosynthesis ; DNA-Binding Proteins ; analysis ; physiology ; Eosinophils ; physiology ; Female ; HMGB1 Protein ; analysis ; Heat Shock Transcription Factors ; Immunoglobulin E ; blood ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Transcription Factors ; analysis ; physiology

PURPOSE: In the gastric mucosa of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)-infected patients with gastritis or adenocarcinoma, proliferation of gastric epithelial cells is increased. Hyperproliferation is related to induction of oncogenes, such as β-catenin and c-myc. Even though transcription factors NF-κB and AP-1 are activated in H. pylori-infected cells, whether NF-κB or AP-1 regulates the expression of β-catenein or c-myc in H. pylori-infected cells has not been clarified. The present study was undertaken to investigate whether H. pylori-induced activation of NF-κB and AP-1 mediates the expression of oncogenes and hyperproliferation of gastric epithelial cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Gastric epithelial AGS cells were transiently transfected with mutant genes for IκBα (MAD3) and c-Jun (TAM67) or treated with a specific NF-κB inhibitor caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) or a selective AP-1 inhibitor SR-11302 to suppress activation of NF-κB or AP-1, respecively. As reference cells, the control vector pcDNA was transfected to the cells. Wild-type cells or transfected cells were cultured with or without H. pylori. RESULTS: H. pylori induced activation of NF-κB and AP-1, cell proliferation, and expression of oncogenes (β-catenein, c-myc) in AGS cells, which was inhibited by transfection of MAD3 and TAM67. Wild-type cells and the cells transfected with pcDNA showed similar activities of NF-κB and AP-1, proliferation, and oncogene expression regardless of treatment with H. pylori. Both CAPE and SR-11302 inhibited cell proliferation and expression of oncogenes in H. pylori-infected cells. CONCLUSION: H. pylori-induced activation of NF-κB and AP-1 regulates transcription of oncogenes and mediates hyperproliferation in gastric epithelial cells.
Blotting, Western ; Caffeic Acids ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; DNA, Bacterial/analysis/genetics ; DNA-Binding Proteins/*metabolism ; Epithelial Cells/*metabolism ; Gastric Mucosa/*metabolism/pathology ; Gastritis/pathology ; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial ; Helicobacter Infections/metabolism/pathology/physiopathology ; Helicobacter pylori/pathogenicity/physiology ; Humans ; NF-kappa B/antagonists & inhibitors/*biosynthesis/metabolism ; Peptide Fragments ; Phenylethyl Alcohol/analogs & derivatives ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-jun ; Repressor Proteins ; Transcription Factor AP-1/*biosynthesis ; Transcription Factors/*metabolism ; beta Catenin/*metabolism

The host takes use of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) to defend against pathogen invasion or cellular damage. Among microorganism-associated molecular patterns detected by host PRRs, nucleic acids derived from bacteria or viruses are tightly supervised, providing a fundamental mechanism of host defense. Pathogenic DNAs are supposed to be detected by DNA sensors that induce the activation of NFκB or TBK1-IRF3 pathway. DNA sensor cGAS is widely expressed in innate immune cells and is a key sensor of invading DNAs in several cell types. cGAS binds to DNA, followed by a conformational change that allows the synthesis of cyclic guanosine monophosphate-adenosine monophosphate (cGAMP) from adenosine triphosphate and guanosine triphosphate. cGAMP is a strong activator of STING that can activate IRF3 and subsequent type I interferon production. Here we describe recent progresses in DNA sensors especially cGAS in the innate immune responses against pathogenic DNAs.
DNA, Bacterial ; immunology ; metabolism ; DNA, Viral ; immunology ; metabolism ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Host-Pathogen Interactions ; Humans ; Immunity, Innate ; Interferon Regulatory Factor-3 ; genetics ; immunology ; Interferon Type I ; biosynthesis ; immunology ; Membrane Proteins ; genetics ; immunology ; Models, Molecular ; NF-kappa B ; genetics ; immunology ; Nucleotides, Cyclic ; biosynthesis ; immunology ; Nucleotidyltransferases ; genetics ; immunology ; Protein Binding ; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases ; genetics ; immunology ; Signal Transduction

The Escherichia coli fadR protein product, a paradigm/prototypical FadR regulator, positively regulates fabA and fabB, the two critical genes for unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) biosynthesis. However the scenario in the other Ɣ-proteobacteria, such as Shewanella with the marine origin, is unusual in that Rodionov and coworkers predicted that only fabA (not fabB) has a binding site for FadR protein. It raised the possibility of fad regulon contraction. Here we report that this is the case. Sequence alignment of the FadR homologs revealed that the N-terminal DNA-binding domain exhibited remarkable similarity, whereas the ligand-accepting motif at C-terminus is relatively-less conserved. The FadR homologue of S. oneidensis (referred to FadR_she) was over-expressed and purified to homogeneity. Integrative evidence obtained by FPLC (fast protein liquid chromatography) and chemical cross-linking analyses elucidated that FadR_she protein can dimerize in solution, whose identity was determined by MALDI-TOF-MS. In vitro data from electrophoretic mobility shift assays suggested that FadR_she is almost functionally-exchangeable/equivalent to E. coli FadR (FadR_ec) in the ability of binding the E. coli fabA (and fabB) promoters. In an agreement with that of E. coli fabA, S. oneidensis fabA promoter bound both FadR_she and FadR_ec, and was disassociated specifically with the FadR regulatory protein upon the addition of long-chain acyl-CoA thioesters. To monitor in vivo effect exerted by FadR on Shewanella fabA expression, the native promoter of S. oneidensis fabA was fused to a LacZ reporter gene to engineer a chromosome fabA-lacZ transcriptional fusion in E. coli. As anticipated, the removal of fadR gene gave about 2-fold decrement of Shewanella fabA expression by β-gal activity, which is almost identical to the inhibitory level by the addition of oleate. Therefore, we concluded that fabA is contracted to be the only one member of fad regulon in the context of fatty acid synthesis in the marine bacteria Shewanella genus.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Bacterial Proteins ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Base Sequence ; Binding Sites ; DNA, Bacterial ; metabolism ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Fatty Acid Synthase, Type II ; genetics ; metabolism ; Fatty Acids ; biosynthesis ; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial ; drug effects ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Oleic Acid ; pharmacology ; Protein Binding ; drug effects ; Regulon ; genetics ; Repressor Proteins ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Shewanella ; genetics ; metabolism

OBJECTIVE: To study the expression of excision repair cross-complementing 1 (ERCC1) and the treatment of cisplatin-based chemotherapy in local advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). METHOD: The expression of ERCC1 protein in 107 cases with NPC and in 48 normal nasopharyngeal tissues adjacent to the cancer was detected by immunohistochemical method. RESULT: High expression of ERCC1 was observed in 52 cases with NPC, and 18 cases normal nasopharyngeal tissues, there was no statistically significant differences between them. The expression of ERCC1 protein was significant correlated with patient total TNM stage, but not significantly correlated with age, gender, histological type, T stage and N stage. The recent treatment efficiency in Low ER-CCl expression cases was higher than high expression cases. There was statistically significant difference between them. In 97 follow-up cases, 2 cases died, 5 cases with liver and lung metastasis, there was no statistically significant difference between them. CONCLUSION ERCC1 expression maybe regarded as indicator platinum based chemotherapy sensitivity prediction in nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and also helpful for formulating individualized treatment. The immunohistochemical detection is also simple and effective detection method for ERCC1 expression.
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; therapeutic use ; Carcinoma ; Cisplatin ; therapeutic use ; DNA-Binding Proteins ; biosynthesis ; Endonucleases ; biosynthesis ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; secondary ; Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; pathology

Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; DNA-Binding Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Humans ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Muramidase ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Peptides, Cyclic ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Pichia ; metabolism ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification

OBJECTIVETo investigate trichorhinophalangeal syndrome 1 gene (TRPS-1) expression patterns in different subtypes of breast cancer and its correlations with other genes and survival using microarray data sets.

METHODSThe transcripts of TRPS-1 and its role in survival in breast cancer were analyzed using published microarray data sets#x02014;Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) cohort and Wang cohort.

RESULTSTRPS-1 expression was lower in basal-like breast cancer. The mRNA levels of TRPS-1 negatively correlated with Slug (Pearson correlation coefficient=-0.1366, P=0.0189 in NKI data set and Pearson correlation coefficient=-0.1571, P=0.0078 in Wang data set), FOXC1 (Pearson correlation coefficient=-0.1211, P=0.0376 in NKI data set and Pearson correlation coefficient=-0.1709, P=0.0037 in Wang data set), and CXCL1 (Pearson correlation coefficient=-0.1197, P=0.0399 in NKI data set and Pearson correlation coefficient=-0.3436, P<0.0001 in Wang data set), but positively correlated with BRCA1 (Pearson correlation coefficient=0.1728, P=0.0029 in NKI data set and Pearson correlation coefficient=0.1805, P=0.0022 in Wang data set). Low TRPS-1 expression associated with poor overall survival (hazard ratio 1.79, 95% CI of ratio 0.9894 to 3.238, P=0.054) and relapse-free survival (hazard ratio 1.913, 95% CI of ratio 1.159 to 3.156, P<0.05). The low TRPS-1 mRNA levels predicted poor outcome in breast cancer patients by the 70-gene signature.

CONCLUSIONThe strong expression of TRPS-1 may serve as a good prognostic marker in breast cancer.

Adult ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; biosynthesis ; Breast Neoplasms ; metabolism ; mortality ; pathology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cohort Studies ; DNA-Binding Proteins ; biosynthesis ; Disease-Free Survival ; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Proteins ; biosynthesis ; RNA, Messenger ; biosynthesis ; RNA, Neoplasm ; biosynthesis ; Survival Rate ; Transcription Factors ; biosynthesis

In addition to DNA repair pathways, cells utilize translesion DNA synthesis (TLS) to bypass DNA lesions during replication. During TLS, Y-family DNA polymerase (Polη, Polκ, Polı and Rev1) inserts specific nucleotide opposite preferred DNA lesions, and then Polζ consisting of two subunits, Rev3 and Rev7, carries out primer extension. Here, we report the complex structures of Rev3-Rev7-Rev1(CTD) and Rev3-Rev7-Rev1(CTD)-Polκ(RIR). These two structures demonstrate that Rev1(CTD) contains separate binding sites for Polκ and Rev7. Our BIAcore experiments provide additional support for the notion that the interaction between Rev3 and Rev7 increases the affinity of Rev7 and Rev1. We also verified through FRET experiment that Rev1, Rev3, Rev7 and Polκ form a stable quaternary complex in vivo, thereby suggesting an efficient switching mechanism where the "inserter" polymerase can be immediately replaced by an "extender" polymerase within the same quaternary complex.
Binding Sites ; Crystallography, X-Ray ; DNA Repair ; DNA-Binding Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer ; Humans ; Mad2 Proteins ; Nuclear Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Nucleotidyltransferases ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Protein Binding ; Protein Structure, Quaternary ; Protein Structure, Tertiary ; Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; chemistry ; genetics

This study was aimed to identify pET21b-HPV16E2/BL21(DE3) strain and to optimize the expression of human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) E2 protein by orthogonal analysis. Four influence factors on two levels were selected to increase the target protein quantity. The four factors were induction time, induction temperature, inductor concentration and cell density. The quantity of HPV16 E2 protein was used as the evaluation parameter. Induced by IPTG, HPV16 E2 protein was analyzed by SDS-PAGE and Western Blot. Target protein was analyzed by GIS imaging system to quantify the protein level. SPSS13. 0 software was applied to analyze the result. Data showed that the expression strain pET211rHPV16 E2/BL21(DE3) was identified correctly. HPV16 E2 protein expressed mainly at insoluble form. The 42KD protein band was identified by SDS-PAGE and Western blot. Orthogonal test was applied on influence factor analysis and expression optimization successfully. Main influence factors were inductor concentration and induction temperature. The optimimum condition of maximum expression quantity was 37 degrees C, 7h, 1.0 mmol/L IPTG and OD600 1.0. In this experiment, orthogonal test could not only be used to analyze the influential factors and promote the target protein expression, but also be used to provide a better experiment method for molecular biological study.
DNA-Binding Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Genetic Vectors ; genetics ; Human papillomavirus 16 ; metabolism ; Humans ; Oncogene Proteins, Viral ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Papillomavirus Infections ; virology ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics

Secondary metabolites of filamentous fungi are important sources of new drugs, and their biosynthetic processes are regulated by numerous factors. Recent studies indicate that many filamentous fungal secondary metabolites are regulated by epigenetic modifications, which not only affect the titers of secondary metabolites, but also activate the cryptic gene clusters. This review summarizes recent advances of epigenetic application in filamentous fungal secondary metabolite biosynthesis, especially the types of fungal epigenetic modification and epigenetic remodeling of the fungal secondary metabolism. The application of epigenetic theory in filamentous fungi is becoming a new strategy for fungal strain improvement and a powerful method to obtain novel natural products.
Acetylation ; DNA Methylation ; DNA-Binding Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Epigenesis, Genetic ; Epigenomics ; methods ; Fungal Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Fungi ; genetics ; metabolism ; Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal ; Histones ; metabolism ; Metabolic Networks and Pathways ; genetics