MiR-425 expression profiling in acute myeloid leukemia might guide the treatment choice between allogeneic transplantation and chemotherapy
JOURNAL OF TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE
Authors: Yang, Chen; Shao, Tingting; Zhang, Huihui; Zhang, Ninghan; Shi, Xiaoying; Liu, Xuejiao; Yao, Yao; Xu, Linyan; Zhu, Shengyun; Cao, Jiang; Cheng, Hai; Yan, Zhiling; Li, Zhenyu; Niu, Mingshan; Xu, Kailin
Abstract
Background: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a highly heterogeneous disease. MicroRNAs function as important biomarkers in the clinical prognosis of AML. Methods: This study identified miR-425 as a prognostic factor in AML by screening the TCGA dataset. A total of 162 patients with AML were enrolled for the study and divided into chemotherapy and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) groups. Results: In the chemotherapy group, patients with high miR-425 expression had significantly longer overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) compared with patients with low miR-425 expression. In multivariate analyses, high miR-425 expression remained independently predictive of a better OS (HR = 0.502, P = 0.005) and EFS (HR = 0.432, P = 0.001) compared with patients with low miR-425 expression. Then, all patients were divided into two groups based on the median expression levels of miR-425. Notably, the patients undergoing allo-HSCT had significantly better OS (HR = 0.302, P < 0.0001) and EFS (HR = 0.379, P < 0.0001) compared with patients treated with chemotherapy in the low-miR-425-expression group. Mechanistically, high miR-425 expression levels were associated with a profile significantly involved in regulating cellular metabolism. Among these genes, MAP3K5, SMAD2, and SMAD5 were predicted targets of miR-425. Conclusions: The expression of miR-425 may be useful in identifying patients in need of strategies to select the optimal therapy between chemotherapy and allo-HSCT treatment regimens. Patients with low miR-425 expression may consider early allo-HSCT.
Neuronal Activity, TGF beta-Signaling and Unpredictable Chronic Stress Modulate Transcription of Gadd45 Family Members and DNA Methylation in the Hippocampus
CEREBRAL CORTEX
Authors: Grassi, Daniela; Franz, Henriette; Vezzali, Riccardo; Bovio, Patrick; Heidrich, Stefanie; Dehghanian, Fariba; Lagunas, Natalia; Belzung, Catherine; Krieglstein, Kerstin; Vogel, Tanja
Abstract
Neuronal activity is altered in several neurological and psychiatric diseases. Upon depolarization not only neurotransmitters are released but also cytokines and other activators of signaling cascades. Unraveling their complex implication in transcriptional control in receiving cells will contribute to understand specific central nervous system (CNS) pathologies and will be of therapeutically interest. In this study we depolarized mature hippocampal neurons in vitro using KCl and revealed increased release not only of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) but also of transforming growth factor beta (TGFB). Neuronal activity together with BDNF and TGFB controls transcription of DNA modifying enzymes specifically members of the DNA-damage-inducible (Gadd) family, Gadd45a, Gadd45b, and Gadd45g. MeDIP followed by massive parallel sequencing and transcriptome analyses revealed less DNA methylation upon KCl treatment. Psychiatric disorder-related genes, namely Tshz1, Foxn3, Jarid2, Per1, Map3k5, and Arc are transcriptionally activated and demethylated upon neuronal activation. To analyze whether misexpression of Gadd45 family members are associated with psychiatric diseases, we applied unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS) as established model for depression to mice. UCMS led to reduced expression of Gadd45 family members. Taken together, our data demonstrate that Gadd45 family members are new putative targets for UCMS treatments.