Eos Negatively Regulates Human γ-globin Gene Transcription during Erythroid Differentiation

BACKGROUND: Human globin gene expression is precisely regulated by a complicated network of transcription factors and chromatin modifying activities during development and erythropoiesis. Eos (Ikaros family zinc finger 4, IKZF4), a member of the zinc finger transcription factor Ikaros family, plays a pivotal role as a repressor of gene expression. The aim of this study was to examine the role of Eos in globin gene regulation. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Western blot and quantitative real-time PCR detected a gradual decrease in Eos expression during erythroid differentiation of hemin-induced K562 cells and Epo-induced CD34+ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HPCs). DNA transfection and lentivirus-mediated gene transfer demonstrated that the enforced expression of Eos significantly represses the expression of γ-globin, but not other globin genes, in K562 cells and CD34+ HPCs. Consistent with a direct role of Eos in globin gene regulation, chromatin immunoprecipitaion and dual-luciferase reporter assays identified three discrete sites located in the DNase I hypersensitivity site 3 (HS3) of the β-globin locus control region (LCR), the promoter regions of the Gγ- and Aγ- globin genes, as functional binding sites of Eos protein. A chromosome conformation capture (3C) assay indicated that Eos may repress the interaction between the LCR and the γ-globin gene promoter. In addition, erythroid differentiation was inhibited by enforced expression of Eos in K562 cells and CD34+ HPCs. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results demonstrate that Eos plays an important role in the transcriptional regulation of the γ-globin gene during erythroid differentiation

A hidden markov model for haplotype inference for present-absent data of clustered genes using identified haplotypes and haplotype patterns

The majority of killer cell immunoglobin-like receptor (KIR) genes are detected as either present or absent using locus-specific genotyping technology. Ambiguity arises from the presence of a specific KIR gene since the exact copy number (one or two) of that gene is unknown. Therefore, haplotype inference for these genes is becoming more challenging due to such large portion of missing information. Meantime, many haplotypes and partial haplotype patterns have been previously identified due to tight linkage disequilibrium (LD) among these clustered genes thus can be incorporated to facilitate haplotype inference. In this paper, we developed a hidden Markov model (HMM) based method that can incorporate identified haplotypes or partial haplotype patterns for haplotype inference from present-absent data of clustered genes (e.g., KIR genes). We compared its performance with an expectation maximization (EM) based method previously developed in terms of haplotype assignments and haplotype frequency estimation through extensive simulations for KIR genes. The simulation results showed that the new HMM based method outperformed the previous method when some incorrect haplotypes were included as identified haplotypes and/or the standard deviation of haplotype frequencies were small. We also compared the performance of our method with two methods that do not use previously identified haplotypes and haplotype patterns, including an EM based method, HPALORE, and a HMM based method, MaCH. Our simulation results showed that the incorporation of identified haplotypes and partial haplotype patterns can improve accuracy for haplotype inference. The new software package HaploHMM is available and can be downloaded at http://www.soph.uab.edu/ssg/files/People/KZhang/HaploHMM/haplohmm-index.html

Novel targeting of PEGylated liposomes for codelivery of TGF-β1 siRNA and four antitubercular drugs to human macrophages for the treatment of mycobacterial infection: a quantitative proteomic study

Tuberculosis (TB) is still a major public health issue in developing countries, and its chemotherapy is compromised by poor drug compliance and severe side effects. This study aimed to synthesize and characterize new multimodal PEGylated liposomes encapsulated with clinically commonly used anti-TB drugs with linkage to small interfering RNA (siRNA) against transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1). The novel NP-siRNA liposomes could target THP-1-derived human macrophages that were the host cells of mycobacterium infection. The biological effects of the NP-siRNA liposomes were evaluated on cell cycle distribution, apoptosis, autophagy, and the gene silencing efficiency of TGF-β1 siRNA in human macrophages. We also explored the proteomic responses to the newly synthesized NP-siRNA liposomes using the stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture approach. The results showed that the multifunctional PEGylated liposomes were successfully synthesized and chemically characterized with a mean size of 265.1 nm. The novel NP-siRNA liposomes functionalized with the anti-TB drugs and TGF-β1 siRNA were endocytosed efficiently by human macrophages as visualized by transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Furthermore, the liposomes showed a low cytotoxicity toward human macrophages. There was no significant effect on cell cycle distribution and apoptosis in THP-1-derived macrophages after drug exposure at concentrations ranging from 2.5 to 62.5 μg/mL. Notably, there was a 6.4-fold increase in the autophagy of human macrophages when treated with the NP-siRNA liposomes at 62.5 μg/mL. In addition, the TGF-β1 and nuclear factor-κB expression levels were downregulated by the NP-siRNA liposomes in THP-1-derived macrophages. The Ingenuity Pathway Analysis data showed that there were over 40 signaling pathways involved in the proteomic responses to NP-siRNA liposome exposure in human macrophages, with 160 proteins mapped. The top five canonical signaling pathways were eukaryotic initiation factor 2 signaling, actin cytoskeleton signaling, remodeling of epithelial adherens junctions, epithelial adherens junction signaling, and Rho GDP-dissociation inhibitor signaling pathways. Collectively, the novel synthetic targeting liposomes represent a promising delivery system for anti-TB drugs to human macrophages with good selectivity and minimal cytotoxicity

Clinical Effect and Mechanism of Yisui Shengxue Granules in Thalassemia Patients with Mild, Moderate, or Severe Anemia

Yisui Shengxue granules, which is a Chinese traditional medicine, can increase hemoglobin, red blood cells, and Ret of thalassemia patients with mild, moderate, and severe anemia and thus relieve clinical anemia symptoms. Studies on mechanism found that Yisui Shengxue granules can increase the proliferation ability of hematopoietic stem cells. Emodin promoted colony forming of hematopoietic stem cells. Yisui Shengxue granules can increase the activity of GSH-PX in bone marrow blood and decreased the severity of inclusion bodies on the cytomembrane of RBCs. YSSXG attenuated anemia symptoms in patients with thalassemia mostly by increasing the proliferation of hematopoietic stem cells and decreasing the hemolysis of RBCs