A subset of methylated CpG sites differentiate psoriatic from normal skin.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory immune-mediated disorder affecting the skin and other organs including joints. Over 1,300 transcripts are altered in psoriatic involved skin compared with normal skin. However, to our knowledge, global epigenetic profiling of psoriatic skin is previously unreported. Here, we describe a genome-wide study of altered CpG methylation in psoriatic skin. We determined the methylation levels at 27,578 CpG sites in skin samples from individuals with psoriasis (12 involved, 8 uninvolved) and 10 unaffected individuals. CpG methylation of involved skin differed from normal skin at 1,108 sites. Twelve mapped to the epidermal differentiation complex, upstream or within genes that are highly upregulated in psoriasis. Hierarchical clustering of 50 of the top differentially methylated (DM) sites separated psoriatic from normal skin samples with uninvolved skin exhibiting intermediate methylation. CpG sites where methylation was correlated with gene expression are reported. Sites with inverse correlations between methylation and nearby gene expression include those of KYNU, OAS2, S100A12, and SERPINB3, whose strong transcriptional upregulation is an important discriminator of psoriasis. Pyrosequencing of bisulfite-treated DNA from skin biopsies at three DM loci confirmed earlier findings and revealed reversion of methylation levels toward the non-psoriatic state after 1 month of anti-TNF-α therapy

Cytotoxicity Study of Cyclopentapeptide Analogues of Marine Natural Product Galaxamide towards Human Breast Cancer Cells

Herein, we report the cytotoxicity of cyclopentapeptide analogues of marine natural product galaxamide towards breast carcinoma cells and the underlying mechanisms. We examined the effect of the novel galaxamide analogues on cancer cell proliferation by MTT assay and also further examined the most active compound for morphological changes using Hoechst33342 staining technique, induction of apoptosis, cell cycle phases, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation using flow cytometry in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells in vitro. Galaxamide and its analogues effectively induced toxicity in human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2, human breast carcinoma MCF-7, human epitheloid cervix carcinoma HeLa, and human breast carcinoma MB-MDA-231 cell lines. Amongst them, compound 3 exhibited excellent toxicity towards MCF-7 cells. This galaxamide analogue significantly induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner in MCF-7 cells involves cell cycle arrest in the G1 phase, a reduction of MMP, and a marked increase in generation of ROS. Particularly, compound 3 of galaxamide analogues might be a potential candidate for the treatment of breast cancer

Mitochondrial DNA Leakage Caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae Hydrogen Peroxide Promotes Type I IFN Expression in Lung Cells

Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pn), the bacterial pathogen responsible for invasive pneumococcal diseases, is capable of producing substantial amounts of hydrogen peroxide. However, the impact of S. pn-secreted hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on the host immune processes is not completely understood. Here, we demonstrated that S. pn-secreted H2O2 caused mitochondrial damage and severe histopathological damage in mouse lung tissue. Additionally, S. pn-secreted H2O2 caused not only oxidative damage to mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (mtDNA), but also a reduction in the mtDNA content in alveolar epithelia cells. This resulted in the release of mtDNA into the cytoplasm, which subsequently induced type I interferons (IFN-I) expression. We also determined that stimulator of interferon genes (STING) signaling was probably involved in S. pn H2O2-inducing IFN-I expression in response to mtDNA damaged by S. pn-secreted H2O2. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that H2O2 produced by S. pn resulted in mtDNA leakage from damaged mitochondria and IFN-I production in alveolar epithelia cells, and STING may be required in this process, and this is a novel mitochondrial damage mechanism by which S. pn potentiates the IFN-I cascade in S. pn infection

Protective Regulatory T Cell Immune Response Induced by Intranasal Immunization With the Live-Attenuated Pneumococcal Vaccine SPY1 via the Transforming Growth Factor-β1-Smad2/3 Pathway

Vaccine effectiveness is mainly determined by the mechanism mediating protection, emphasizing the importance of unraveling the protective mechanism for novel pneumococcal vaccine development. We previously demonstrated that the regulatory T cell (Treg) immune response has a protective effect against pneumococcal infection elicited by the live-attenuated pneumococcal vaccine SPY1. However, the mechanism underlying this protective effect remains unclear. In this study, a short synthetic peptide (P17) was used to downregulate Tregs during immunization and subsequent challenges in a mouse model. In immunized mice, increase in immune cytokines (IL-12p70, IL-4, IL-5, and IL-17A) induced by SPY1 were further upregulated by P17 treatment, whereas the decrease in the infection-associated inflammatory cytokine TNF-α by SPY1 was reversed. P17 also inhibited the increase in the immunosuppressive cytokine IL-10 and inflammatory mediator IL-6 in immunized mice. More severe pulmonary injuries and more dramatic inflammatory responses with worse survival in P17-treated immunized mice indicated the indispensable role of the Treg immune response in protection against pneumococcal infection by maintaining a balance among acquired immune responses stimulated by SPY1. Further studies revealed that the significant elevation of active transforming growth factor β (TGF-β)1 by SPY1 vaccination activated FOXP3, leading to increased frequencies of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ T cells. Moreover, SPY1 vaccination elevated the levels of Smad2/3 and phosphor-Smad2/3 and downregulated the negative regulatory factor Smad7 in a time-dependent manner during pneumococcal infection, and these changes were reversed by P17 treatment. These results illustrate that SPY1-stimulated TGF-β1 induced the generation of SPY1-specific Tregs via the Smad2/3 signaling pathway. In addition, SPY1-specific Tregs may participate in protection via the enhanced expression of PD-1 and CTLA-4. The data presented here extend our understanding of how the SPY1-induced acquired Treg immune response contributes to protection elicited by live-attenuated vaccines and may be helpful for the evaluation of live vaccines and other mucosal vaccine candidates

Ciliary parathyroid hormone signaling activates transforming growth factor-β to maintain intervertebral disc homeostasis during aging

© 2018 The Author(s). Degenerative disc disease (DDD) is associated with intervertebral disc degeneration of spinal instability. Here, we report that the cilia of nucleus pulposus (NP) cells mediate mechanotransduction to maintain anabolic activity in the discs. We found that mechanical stress promotes transport of parathyroid hormone 1 receptor (PTH1R) to the cilia and enhances parathyroid hormone (PTH) signaling in NP cells. PTH induces transcription of integrin αvβ6 to activate the transforming growth factor (TGF)-β-connective tissue growth factor (CCN2)-matrix proteins signaling cascade. Intermittent injection of PTH (iPTH) effectively attenuates disc degeneration of aged mice by direct signaling through NP cells, specifically improving intervertebral disc height and volume by increasing levels of TGF-β activity, CCN2, and aggrecan. PTH1R is expressed in both mouse and human NP cells. Importantly, knockout PTH1R or cilia in the NP cells results in significant disc degeneration and blunts the effect of PTH on attenuation of aged discs. Thus, mechanical stress-induced transport of PTH1R to the cilia enhances PTH signaling, which helps maintain intervertebral disc homeostasis, particularly during aging, indicating therapeutic potential of iPTH for DDD

A Genome-Wide Association Study of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Identifies New Disease Loci

A genome-wide association study was performed to identify genetic factors involved in susceptibility to psoriasis (PS) and psoriatic arthritis (PSA), inflammatory diseases of the skin and joints in humans. 223 PS cases (including 91 with PSA) were genotyped with 311,398 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and results were compared with those from 519 Northern European controls. Replications were performed with an independent cohort of 577 PS cases and 737 controls from the U.S., and 576 PSA patients and 480 controls from the U.K.. Strongest associations were with the class I region of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). The most highly associated SNP was rs10484554, which lies 34.7 kb upstream from HLA-C (P = 7.8×10−11, GWA scan; P = 1.8×10−30, replication; P = 1.8×10−39, combined; U.K. PSA: P = 6.9×10−11). However, rs2395029 encoding the G2V polymorphism within the class I gene HCP5 (combined P = 2.13×10−26 in U.S. cases) yielded the highest ORs with both PS and PSA (4.1 and 3.2 respectively). This variant is associated with low viral set point following HIV infection and its effect is independent of rs10484554. We replicated the previously reported association with interleukin 23 receptor and interleukin 12B (IL12B) polymorphisms in PS and PSA cohorts (IL23R: rs11209026, U.S. PS, P = 1.4×10−4; U.K. PSA: P = 8.0×10−4; IL12B:rs6887695, U.S. PS, P = 5×10−5 and U.K. PSA, P = 1.3×10−3) and detected an independent association in the IL23R region with a SNP 4 kb upstream from IL12RB2 (P = 0.001). Novel associations replicated in the U.S. PS cohort included the region harboring lipoma HMGIC fusion partner (LHFP) and conserved oligomeric golgi complex component 6 (COG6) genes on chromosome 13q13 (combined P = 2×10−6 for rs7993214; OR = 0.71), the late cornified envelope gene cluster (LCE) from the Epidermal Differentiation Complex (PSORS4) (combined P = 6.2×10−5 for rs6701216; OR 1.45) and a region of LD at 15q21 (combined P = 2.9×10−5 for rs3803369; OR = 1.43). This region is of interest because it harbors ubiquitin-specific protease-8 whose processed pseudogene lies upstream from HLA-C. This region of 15q21 also harbors the gene for SPPL2A (signal peptide peptidase like 2a) which activates tumor necrosis factor alpha by cleavage, triggering the expression of IL12 in human dendritic cells. We also identified a novel PSA (and potentially PS) locus on chromosome 4q27. This region harbors the interleukin 2 (IL2) and interleukin 21 (IL21) genes and was recently shown to be associated with four autoimmune diseases (Celiac disease, Type 1 diabetes, Grave's disease and Rheumatoid Arthritis)

Real-time Monitoring for the Next Core-Collapse Supernova in JUNO

Core-collapse supernova (CCSN) is one of the most energetic astrophysical events in the Universe. The early and prompt detection of neutrinos before (pre-SN) and during the SN burst is a unique opportunity to realize the multi-messenger observation of the CCSN events. In this work, we describe the monitoring concept and present the sensitivity of the system to the pre-SN and SN neutrinos at the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), which is a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector under construction in South China. The real-time monitoring system is designed with both the prompt monitors on the electronic board and online monitors at the data acquisition stage, in order to ensure both the alert speed and alert coverage of progenitor stars. By assuming a false alert rate of 1 per year, this monitoring system can be sensitive to the pre-SN neutrinos up to the distance of about 1.6 (0.9) kpc and SN neutrinos up to about 370 (360) kpc for a progenitor mass of 30$M_{\odot}$ for the case of normal (inverted) mass ordering. The pointing ability of the CCSN is evaluated by using the accumulated event anisotropy of the inverse beta decay interactions from pre-SN or SN neutrinos, which, along with the early alert, can play important roles for the followup multi-messenger observations of the next Galactic or nearby extragalactic CCSN.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figure

Scheduling Heterogeneous Wireless Systems for Efficient Spectrum Access

The spectrum scarcity problem emerged in recent years, due to unbalanced utilization of RF (radio frequency) bands in the current state of wireless spectrum allocations. Spectrum access scheduling addresses challenges arising from spectrum sharing by interleaving the channel access among multiple wireless systems in a TDMA fashion. Different from cognitive radio approaches which are opportunistic and non-collaborative in general, spectrum access scheduling proactively structures and interleaves the channel access pattern of heterogeneous wireless systems, using collaborative designs by implementing a crucial architectural component – the base stations on software defined radios (SDRs). We discuss our system design choices for spectrum sharing from multiple perspectives, then present the mechanisms for spectrum sharing and coexistence of GPRS+WiMAX and GPRS+WiFi as use cases, respectively. Simulations were carried out to prove that spectrum access scheduling is an alternative, feasible and promising approach to the spectrum scarcity problem