Genetics Association and Epigenetic Changes in COPD

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have successfully identified susceptibility loci associated with COPD. The genes mapped on these loci, eg The FAM13A gene (family with sequence similarity 13, member A), provide a new approach to understand the COPD pathology. Furthermore, heavy smoking is reported to correlate with altered methylation and epigenetic changes of multiple genes in small airway cells. These changes have been shown to be associated with the severity of COPD. It is likely that smoking-induced changes in epigenetic control of gene expression result in genetically vulnerable individual’s results in reduced tissue repair, tissue damage and persistent inflammation associated with COPD pathophysiology

Altered regulation and expression of genes by BET family of proteins in COPD patients

Correction: PLoS One 2018 12 (4): 0175997Background BET proteins (BRD2, BRD3, BRDT and BRD4) belong to the family of bromodomain containing proteins, which form a class of transcriptional co-regulators. BET proteins bind to acetylated lysine residues in the histones of nucleosomal chromatin and function either as co-activators or co-repressors of gene expression. An imbalance between HAT and HDAC activities resulting in hyperacetylation of histones has been identified in COPD. We hypothesized that pan-BET inhibitor (JQ1) treatment of BET protein interactions with hyperacety-lated sites in the chromatin will regulate excessive activation of pro-inflammatory genes in key inflammatory drivers of alveolar macrophages (AM) in COPD. Methods and findings Transcriptome analysis of AM from COPD patients indicated up-regulation of macrophage M1 type genes upon LPS stimulation. Pan-BET inhibitor JQ1 treatment attenuated expression of multiple genes, including pro-inflammatory cytokines and regulators of innate and adaptive immune cells. We demonstrated for the first time that JQ1 differentially modulated LPS-induced cytokine release from AM or peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of COPD patients compared to PBMC of healthy controls. Using the BET regulated gene signature, we identified a subset of COPD patients, which we propose to benefit from BET inhibition. Conclusions This work demonstrates that the effects of pan-BET inhibition through JQ1 treatment of inflammatory cells differs between COPD patients and healthy controls, and the expression of BET protein regulated genes is altered in COPD. These findings provide evidence of histone hyperacetylation as a mechanism driving chronic inflammatory changes in COPD.Peer reviewe

On the Development of Realistic Cross Layer Communication Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

Traditional protocols in wireless sensor networks follow the strict layering techniques which lead to the degradation in performance of the QoS (Quality of Service) parameters. Battery powered tiny sensor nodes with constraints of energy and guaranteed time require the efficient communication protocols with innovative and optimized approach to attain the objectives of WSN. Especially, these requirements become more stringent with the emergence of novel applications based on WSN. In order to find an optimized solution to this, cross layer-based approach which allows the cooperation, synchronization and communication among the layers, seems to be appropriate. In this paper, a realistic cross-layer protocol has been developed taking into considerations of MAC and Physical layer to further optimize the QoS parameters of already developed Energy Efficient Inter Cluster Coordination Protocol (EEICCP) at the Network layer level. In this paper we endeavor to concentrate on the enhancement of reliability parameter of QoS and results are validated through simulations done in MATLAB

Energy Efficient Chain Based Routing Protocol for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks

To explore the vast ocean, internet of underwater things has become the most attractive area of research. Underwater Smart things are deployed to facilitate the discovery of unexplored regions of ocean. Unique characteristics of underwater wireless sensor networks pose many constraints in transmission of data packets and energy efficient routing is one of them. Motivated by the significance of less costly energy efficient routing protocol, we propose energy efficient chain based routing protocol for underwater wireless sensor networks (E-CBCCP). While keeping in view the complex features of underwater dynamics, dynamic network topology and node mobility, energy of the cluster heads (CHs), relay nodes (RNs) and cluster coordinators (CCOs) has been considered during the transmission of data and role of the CHs, CCOs and RNs is changed after some time duration to maintain the load on the nodes. Distance based communication is based on the location aware nodes and can be used in monitoring domains during steady state but in dynamic state, location free communication is required therefore RN communication is based on hop to hop. Confidence level of the sensor nodes is computed to select the optimal RN and to improve the reliability. New prototype has shown the improvement over CARP a routing protocol in terms of data packets transmission and energy. Simulations in MATLAB validate our methodology which has decreased the communication cost of sensor nodes and hence prolonged the network lifetime