Deficient O-GlcNAc Glycosylation Impairs Regulatory T Cell Differentiation and Notch Signaling in Autoimmune Hepatitis

Post-translational modifications such as glycosylation play an important role in the functions of homeostatic proteins, and are critical driving factors of several diseases; however, the role of glycosylation in autoimmune hepatitis is poorly understood. Here, we established an O-GlcNAc glycosylation-deficient rat model by knocking out the Eogt gene by TALEN-mediated gene targeting. O-GlcNAc glycosylation deficiency overtly aggravated liver injury in concanavalin-A induced autoimmune hepatitis, and delayed self-recovery of the liver. Furthermore, flow cytometry analysis revealed increased CD4+ T cell infiltration in the liver of rats with O-GlcNAc glycosylation deficiency, and normal differentiation of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in the liver to inhibit T cell infiltration could not be activated. Moreover, in vitro experiments showed that O-GlcNAc glycosylation deficiency impaired Treg differentiation to inhibit the Notch signaling pathway in CD4+ T cells. These finding indicate that O-GlcNAc glycosylation plays a critical role in the activation of Notch signaling, which could promote Treg differentiation in the liver to inhibit T cell infiltration and control disease development in autoimmune hepatitis. Therefore, this study reveals a regulatory role for glycosylation in the pathogenesis of autoimmune hepatitis, and highlights glycosylation as a potential treatment target

GaN-Based Resonant-Cavity Light-Emitting Diodes Grown on Si

GaN-on-Si resonant-cavity light-emitting diodes (RCLEDs) have been successfully fabricated through wafer bonding and Si substrate removal. By combining the chemical mechanical polishing technique, we obtained a roughness of about 0.24 nm for a scan area of 5 μm × 5 μm. The double-sided dielectric distributed Bragg reflectors could form a high-quality optical resonant cavity, and the cavity modes exhibited a linewidth of 1 nm at the peak wavelength of around 405 nm, corresponding to a quality factor of 405. High data transmission in free space with an opening in the eye diagram was exhibited at 150 Mbps, which is limited by the detection system. These results showed that GaN-based RCLEDs grown on Si are promising as a low-cost emitter for visible light communications in future

Room-Temperature Electrically Injected AlGaN-Based near-Ultraviolet Laser Grown on Si

This letter reports a successful fabrication of room-temperature electrically injected AlGaN-based near-ultraviolet laser diode grown on Si. An Al-composition step down-graded AlN/AlGaN multilayer buffer was carefully engineered to not only tackle the huge difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion between AlGaN template and Si substrate, but also reduce the threading dislocation density caused by the large lattice mismatch. On top of the crack-free n-AlGaN template, high quality InGaN/AlGaN quantum wells were grown, sandwiched by waveguide and optical cladding layers, for the fabrication of edge-emitting laser diode. A dramatic narrowing of the electroluminescence spectral line-width, an elongated far-field pattern, and a clear discontinuity in the slope of light output power plotted as a function of the injection current provide an unambiguous evidence of lasing