Insulin action on protein synthesis and its association with eIF5A expression and hypusination

The hormone insulin plays a central role in the metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins. In relation to protein metabolism, insulin stimulates amino acid uptake and activates protein synthesis in responsive cells by modulation of signal transduction pathways, such as associated to Akt/PkB, mTOR, S6Ks, 4E-BP1, and several translation initiation/elongation factors. In this context, there is no information on direct cellular treatment with insulin and effects on eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A (eIF5A) regulation. The eIF5A protein contains an exclusive amino acid residue denominated hypusine, which is essential for its activity and synthesized by posttranslational modification of a specific lysine residue using spermidine as substrate. The eIF5A protein is involved in cellular proliferation and differentiation processes, as observed for satellite cells derived from rat muscles, revealing that eIF5A has an important role in muscle regeneration. The aim of this study was to determine whether eIF5A expression and hypusination are influenced by direct treatment of insulin on L6 myoblast cells. We observed that insulin increased the content of eIF5A transcripts. This effect occurred in cells treated or depleted of fetal bovine serum, revealing a positive insulin effect independent of other serum components. In addition, it was observed that hypusination follows the maintenance of eIF5A protein content in the serum depleted cells and treated with insulin. These results demonstrate that eIF5A is modulated by insulin, contributing the protein synthesis machinery control, as observed by puromycin incorporation in nascent proteins461587596FAPESP – Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa Do Estado De São Paulo2010/18095-0; 2013/20504-3; 2013/23620-4; 2014/27154-0; 2017/21914-

Influence of Cardiorespiratory Fitness on PPARG mRNA Expression Using Monozygotic Twin Case Control

The influence of cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max) on anthropometric variables and PPARG mRNA expression was investigated. Monozygotic twin pairs aged 11-18 years were grouped into discordant (D) and concordant (C) high and low VO2max groups. VO2max was determined by progressive maximal exercise test on treadmill with gas exchange analysis. Body mass (BM), BMI, waist circumference (WC), triceps (TR), and subscapular (SB) skinfold thicknesses were measured. Twins from the discordant group had differences in VO2max values (D-high = 45.9 +/- 10.0 versus D-low = 32.4 +/- 10.6mL.kg(-1).min(-1), P = 0.025), while no differences were found in the concordant group (C-high = 42.4 +/- 9.2 versus C-low = 38.8 +/- 9.8mL.kg(-1).min(-1), P = 0.952). In discordant group, VO2max was negatively correlated with TR + SB (r = -0.540, P = 0.021) and positively correlated with PPARG expression in leukocytes (r = 0.952, P = 0.001). Moreover, PPARG expression was directly correlated with BM (e = -0.714, P = 0.047) and height (r = -0.762, P = 0.028). In concordant twins, VO2max was inversely correlated with BM (r = -0.290, P = 0.027), BMI (r = -0.472,P = 0.001), WC (r = -0.426, P = 0.001), and TR + SB (r = -0.739, P = 0.001). Twins D-high had 1.78-fold greater PPARG expression when compared with twins D-low (P = 0.048). In conclusion, the cardiorespiratory fitness may modulate PPARG expression in childhood and adolescence, independently of the genetic background.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Polyurethane fibrous membranes tailored by rotary jet spinning for tissue engineering applications

Polymeric membranes have gained popularity as fibrous structures for tissue regeneration. This research focuses on the rotary jet spinning (RJS) process combined with a polymer as a strategy for designing membranes. To this end, RJS-polyurethane (RJS-PU) membranes with different microstructures were produced. Considering the effects of solution properties on fiber production, the viscosity of PU solutions was evaluated. Membrane morphology was studied based on scanning electron microscopy and 2D fast Fourier transform analysis. The chemical and thermal properties were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis, respectively. 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide and Live/Dead cell assays were performed to determine the material cytotoxicity by assessment of the profile of proliferation and cell viability. The results indicated that the combination of PU and RJS was an effective one for the production of fibrous structures for tissue engineering applications, demonstrating good compatibility with the cultured osteoblastic cell line13711FAPESP – Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa Do Estado De São Paulo2017/13273‐6; 2008/57860‐

Increased clopidogrel response is associated with ABCC3 expression: A pilot study

Background: The aim of this study was investigate the relationship between ABCB1 and ABCC3 gene expressions in peripheral blood cells (PBC) and the response to clopidogrel in patients with coronary arterial disease (CAD). Methods: Twenty-six male CAD patients (50-70 years) under treatment with clopidogrel (75 mg/day) for at least 5 days were selected. Blood samples were obtained to evaluate platelet reactivity and ABCB1 and ABCC3 mRNA expression. Platelet reactivity was measured in P2Y12 Reaction Units (PRU) using VerifyNow. RNA was extracted from PBC and mRNA levels were measured by qPCR, using GAPD as a reference gene. Results: Platelet response to clopidogrel was categorized in to PRU quartiles. Individuals with PRU values within the first quartile (Q1, <151 units) were considered good responders, while those who had PRU within the fourth quartile (Q4. PRU>260) were considered non-responders. ABCC3 was 1.7 times more expressed in Q4 than in Q1 PRU group (p=0.048). Moreover, CAD patients with low ABCC3 expression (Qe1, <2.5x10(-3)) had higher probability to have a good response to clopidogrel (OR: 18.00, 95%CI: 1.90-169.99, p=0.001). Univariate linear regression analysis demonstrated that low ABCC3 mRNA expression contributed with a reduction of 73 PRU in relation to the patients with expression value higher than 2.5x10(-3) (p=0.027). Neither ABCB1 mRNA levels nor clinical variables studied influenced PRU values. Conclusions: Low ABCC3 mRNA expression in peripheral blood cells is associated with increased clopidogrel response, but further studies are needed to describe the functional relationship of clopidogrel with the ABCC3. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Time course proteomic profiling of human myocardial infarction plasma samples: An approach to new biomarker discovery

Background: The aim of this study was to identify novel candidate biomarker proteins differentially expressed in the plasma of patients with early stage acute myocardial infarction (AMI) using SELDI-TOF-MS as a high throughput screening technology. Methods: Ten individuals with recent acute ischemic-type chest pain (< 12 h duration) and ST-segment elevation AMI (1STEMI) and after a second AMI (2STEMI) were selected. Blood samples were drawn at six times after STEMI diagnosis. The first stage (T(0)) was in Emergency Unit before receiving any medication, the second was just after primary angioplasty (T(2)), and the next four stages occurred at 12 h intervals after T(0). Individuals (n = 7) with similar risk factors for cardiovascular disease and normal ergometric test were selected as a control group (CG). Plasma proteomic profiling analysis was performed using the top-down (i.e. intact proteins) SELDI-TOF-MS, after processing in a Multiple Affinity Removal Spin Cartridge System (Agilent). Results: Compared with the CG, the 1STEMI group exhibited 510 differentially expressed protein peaks in the first 48 h after the AMI (p < 0.05). The 2STEMI group, had similar to 85% fewer differently expressed protein peaks than those without previous history of AMI (76, p < 0.05). Among the 16 differentially-regulated protein peaks common to both STEMI cohorts (compared with the CG at T(0)), 6 peaks were persistently down-regulated at more than one time-stage, and also were inversed correlated with serum protein markers (cTnI, CK and CKMB) during 48 h-period after IAM. Conclusions: Proteomic analysis by SELDI-TOF-MS technology combined with bioinformatics tools demonstrated differential expression during a 48 h time course suggests a potential role of some of these proteins as biomarkers for the very early stages of AMI, as well as for monitoring early cardiac ischemic recovery. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.FAPESP[2006/03487-4]FAPESP, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilCAPES, Brasilia, DF, BrazilCNPq, Brasilia, DF, Brazi

Severe COVID-19 patients exhibit elevated levels of autoantibodies targeting cardiolipin and platelet glycoprotein with age: a systems biology approach

Age is a significant risk factor for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity due to immunosenescence and certain age-dependent medical conditions (e.g., obesity, cardiovascular disorder, and chronic respiratory disease). However, despite the well-known influence of age on autoantibody biology in health and disease, its impact on the risk of developing severe COVID-19 remains poorly explored. Here, we performed a cross-sectional study of autoantibodies directed against 58 targets associated with autoimmune diseases in 159 individuals with different COVID-19 severity (71 mild, 61 moderate, and 27 with severe symptoms) and 73 healthy controls. We found that the natural production of autoantibodies increases with age and is exacerbated by SARS-CoV-2 infection, mostly in severe COVID-19 patients. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that severe COVID-19 patients have a significant age-associated increase of autoantibody levels against 16 targets (e.g., amyloid β peptide, β catenin, cardiolipin, claudin, enteric nerve, fibulin, insulin receptor a, and platelet glycoprotein). Principal component analysis with spectrum decomposition and hierarchical clustering analysis based on these autoantibodies indicated an age-dependent stratification of severe COVID-19 patients. Random forest analysis ranked autoantibodies targeting cardiolipin, claudin, and platelet glycoprotein as the three most crucial autoantibodies for the stratification of severe COVID-19 patients ≥50 years of age. Follow-up analysis using binomial logistic regression found that anti-cardiolipin and anti-platelet glycoprotein autoantibodies significantly increased the likelihood of developing a severe COVID-19 phenotype with aging. These findings provide key insights to explain why aging increases the chance of developing more severe COVID-19 phenotypes