Major Effect of Oxidative Stress on the Male, but Not Female, SP-A1 Type II Cell miRNome
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
Authors: Noutsios, George T.; Thorenoor, Nithyananda; Zhang, Xuesheng; Phelps, David S.; Umstead, Todd M.; Durrani, Faryal; Floros, Joanna
Abstract
Pulmonary surfactant protein A (SP-A) plays an important role in surfactant metabolism and lung innate immunity. In humans there are two proteins, SP-A1 and SP-A2, encoded by SFTPA1 and SFTPA2, respectively, which are produced by the alveolar type II cells (T2C). We sought to investigate the differential influence of SP-A1 and SP-A2 in T2C miRNome under oxidative stress (OxS). SP-A knock out (KO) and hTG male and female mice expressing SP-A1 or SP-A2 as well as gonadectomized (Gx) mice were exposed to O-3-induced oxidative stress (OxS) or filtered air (FA). Expression of miRNAs and mRNAs was measured in the T2C of experimental animals. (a) In SP-A1 males after normalizing to KO males, significant changes were observed in the miRNome in terms of sex-OxS effects, with 24 miRNAs being differentially expressed under OxS. (b) The mRNA targets of the dysregulated miRNAs included Ago2, Ddx20, Plcg2, Irs1, Elf2, Jak2, Map2k4, Bcl2, Ccnd1, and Vhl. We validated the expression levels of these transcripts, and observed that the mRNA levels of all of these targets were unaffected in SP-A1 T2C but six of these were significantly upregulated in the KO (except Bcl2 that was downregulated). (c) Gondadectomy had a major effect on the expression of miRNAs and in three of the mRNA targets (Irs1, Bcl2, and Vhl). Ccnd1 was upregulated in KO regardless of Gx. (d) The targets of the significantly changed miRNAs are involved in several pathways including MAPK signaling pathway, cell cycle, anti-apoptosis, and other. In conclusion, in response to OxS, SP-A1 and male hormones appear to have a major effect in the T2C miRNome.
ZHX2 drives cell growth and migration via activating MEK/ERK signal and induces Sunitinib resistance by regulating the autophagy in clear cell Renal Cell Carcinoma
CELL DEATH & DISEASE
Authors: Zhu, Liangsong; Ding, Rong; Yan, Hao; Zhang, Jin; Lin, Zongming
Abstract
Zinc fingers and homeoboxes 2 (ZHX2) was found as a novel VHL substrate target, and acted as an oncogenic driver in ccRCC. However, the detailed mechanism of ZHX2 in ccRCC development remains elusive, and no research has focused on studying ZHX2 in drug resistance yet. A tissue microarray with 358 ccRCC samples was used to determine the expression of ZHX2 in ccRCC patients. VHL-deficient cell line 786-O and VHL-normal cell line CAKI-1 was used for lineage reprogramming by transfecting with lentivirus. The in vitro and in vivo experiments were performed with these new cell lines to determine the mechanism of ZHX2 in ccRCC development and drug resistance. Immunohistochemistry analysis showed that ZHX2 was not highly expressed in ccRCC tumor tissues, only 33.2% (119/358) patients have high ZHX2 expression. However, high ZHX2 was significantly associated with advanced Fuhrman grade (p=0.004), and proved to be an independent prognosis factor for progression-free survival (p=0.0003), while there is no significant correlation with overall survival. We further discovered that ZHX2 overexpression could increase VEGF secretion and transcriptional activate the MEK/ERK1/2 and promote its downstream targets. We also found ZHX2 overexpression induce Sunitinib resistance though activating autophagy and the combination treatment of Sunitinib and Chloroquine could significantly rescue the phenomenon. In summary, these results indicate that ZHX2 drivers cell growth, migration though increase VEGF expression, and transcriptional activate MEK/ERK1/2 signaling pathway, and could induce Sunitinib resistance by regulating self-protective autophagy, these may provide new insight in advanced ccRCC treatment.