Antecedent gastrointestinal infections are thought to trigger intestinal dysmotility. Janova et al. show how T cells responding to a viral infection have adverse consequences for intestinal motility. The cover art shows the myenteric plexus of the middle region of the small intestine stained for West Nile virus (red) and glial marker S100B (green).
Estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer commonly disseminates to bone marrow, where interactions with mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) shape disease trajectory. We modeled these interactions with tumor-MSC co-cultures and used an integrated transcriptome-proteome-network-analyses workflow to identify a comprehensive catalog of contact-induced changes. Conditioned media from MSCs failed to recapitulate genes and proteins, some borrowed and others tumor-intrinsic, induced in cancer cells by direct contact. Protein-protein interaction networks revealed the rich connectome between ‘borrowed’ and ‘intrinsic’ components. Bioinformatics prioritized one of the ‘borrowed’ components, CCDC88A/GIV, a multi-modular metastasis-related protein that has recently been implicated in driving a hallmark of cancer, growth signaling autonomy. MSCs transferred GIV protein to ER+ breast cancer cells (that lack GIV) through tunnelling nanotubes via connexin (Cx)43-facilitated intercellular transport. Reinstating GIV alone in GIV-negative breast cancer cells reproduced approximately 20% of both the ‘borrowed’ and the ‘intrinsic’ gene induction patterns from contact co-cultures; conferred resistance to anti-estrogen drugs; and enhanced tumor dissemination. Findings provide a multiomic insight into MSC→tumor cell intercellular transport and validate how transport of one such candidate, GIV, from the haves (MSCs) to have-nots (ER+ breast cancer) orchestrates aggressive disease states.
Saptarshi Sinha, Brennan W. Callow, Alex P. Farfel, Suchismita Roy, Siyi Chen, Maria Masotti, Shrila Rajendran, Johanna M. Buschhaus, Celia R. Espinoza, Kathryn E. Luker, Pradipta Ghosh, Gary D. Luker
Endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) plays crucial roles in maintaining regulatory T cells (Treg) stability and function, yet the underlying mechanism remains largely unexplored. Here we demonstrate that ERS-related protein transmembrane p24 trafficking protein 4 (TMED4) Treg-specific knockout (Tmed4ΔTreg) mice contain more Treg cells with impaired Foxp3 stability, Treg signature and suppressive activity, which leads to T cell hyperactivation, exacerbated inflammatory phenotype and boosted anti-tumor immunity in mice. Mechanistically, loss of Tmed4 causes defects in ERS and nuclear factor erythroid 2–related factor 2 (NRF2)-related antioxidant response, which results in excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) that reduces Foxp3 stability and suppressive function of Treg cells in an IRE1α-XBP1 axis-dependent manner. The abnormalities can be effectively rescued by ROS scavenger, NRF2 inducer or forcible expression of IRE1α. Moreover, TMED4 suppresses IRE1α proteosome degradation via the ER-associated degradation (ERAD) system including BIP. Our study reveals that TMED4 maintains Treg cell stability and suppressive function through IRE1α-dependent ROS and the NRF2-related antioxidant response.
Zhenyan Jiang, Huizi Wang, Xiaoxia Wang, Hongrui Duo, Yuexiao Tao, Jia Li, Xin Li, Jiamin Liu, Jun Ni, Emily Jiatong Wu, Hongrui Xiang, Chenyang Guan, Xinyu Wang, Kun Zhang, Peng Zhang, Zhaoyuan Hou, Yong Liu, Zhengting Wang, Bing Su, Bo Li, Youjin Hao, Bin Li, Xuefeng Wu
Andrés R. Muñoz-Rojas, Adam C. Wang, Lisa E. Pomeranz, Elizabeth L. Reizis, Heather W. Stout-Delgado, Ileana C. Miranda, Krishnan Rajagopalan, Tadiwanashe Gwatiringa, Roger R. Fan, Ahmad A. Huda, Neha Maskey, Roseline P. Olumuyide, Aryan S. Patel, Jeffrey M. Friedman, Diane Mathis, Kartik N. Rajagopalan
Myocardial infarction (MI) is characterized by massive cardiomyocytes death and cardiac dysfunction, and effective therapies to achieve cardioprotection are sorely needed. Here we reported that flavin containing monooxygenase 2 (FMO2) level was markedly increased in cardiomyocytes both in ex vivo and in vivo models of ischemia injury. Genetic deletion of FMO2 resulted in reduced cardiomyocyte survival and enhanced cardiac dysfunction, whereas cardiomyocyte-specific FMO2 overexpression exerted a protective effect in infarcted rat hearts. Mechanistically, FMO2 inhibited the activation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-induced apoptotic proteins, including caspase 12 and C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), by down-regulating unfolded protein response (UPR) pathway. Furthermore, we identified FMO2 as a chaperone that catalyzed disulfide-bond formation in unfolded/misfolded proteins through its GVSG motif. GVSG-mutated FMO2 failed to catalyze disulfide-bond formation and lost its protection against ER stress and cardiomyocyte death. Finally, we demonstrated the protective effect of FMO2 in human induced pluripotent stem cell–derived cardiomyocyte (hiPSC-CM) model. Collectively, this study highlights FMO2 as a key modulator of oxidative protein folding in cardiomyocytes and underscores its therapeutic potential for treating ischemic heart disease.
Qingnian Liu, Jiniu Huang, Hao Ding, Yue Tao, Jinliang Nan, Changchen Xiao, Yingchao Wang, Rongrong Wu, Cheng Ni, Zhiwei Zhong, Wei Zhu, Jinghai Chen, Chenyun Zhang, Xiao He, Danyang Xiong, Xinyang Hu, Jian'an Wang
BACKGROUND. Despite an overall poor prognosis, about 15% of patients with advanced-stage tubo-ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) survive ten or more years after standard treatment. METHODS. We evaluated the tumor microenvironment of this exceptional, understudied group using a large international cohort enriched for long-term survivors (LTS; 10+ years; n = 374) compared to medium-term (MTS; 5–7.99 years; n = 433) and short-term survivors (STS; 2–4.99 years; n = 416). Primary tumor samples were immunostained and scored for intra-epithelial and intra-stromal densities of 10 immune-cell subsets (including T cells, B cells, plasma cells, myeloid cells, PD-1+ cells, and PD-L1+ cells) and epithelial content. RESULTS. Positive associations with LTS compared to STS were seen for 9/10 immune-cell subsets. In particular, the combination of intra-epithelial CD8+ T cells and intra-stromal B cells showed near five-fold increased odds of LTS compared to STS. All of these associations were stronger in tumors with high epithelial content and/or the C4/Differentiated molecular subtype, despite immune-cell densities generally being higher in tumors with low epithelial content and/or the C2/Immunoreactive molecular subtype. CONCLUSIONS. The tumor microenvironment of HGSC long-term survivors is distinguished by the intersection of T and B cell co-infiltration, high epithelial content and C4/Differentiated molecular subtype, features which may inspire new approaches to immunotherapy. FUNDING. Ovarian Cancer Research Program (OCRP) of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP), U.S. Department of Defense (DOD); American Cancer Society; BC Cancer Foundation; Canada's Networks of Centres of Excellence; Canadian Cancer Society; Canadian Institutes of Health Research; Cancer Councils of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania, Cancer Foundation of Western Australia; Cancer Institute NSW; Cancer Research UK; Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft; ELAN Funds of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg; Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation; Genome BC; German Cancer Research Center; German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Programme of Clinical Biomedical Research; Instituto de Salud Carlos III; Mayo Foundation; Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance; Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad; MRC; National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences; National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC); Ovarian Cancer Australia; Peter MacCallum Foundation; Sydney West Translational Cancer Research Centre; Terry Fox Research Institute; The Eve Appeal (The Oak Foundation); UK National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centres at the University of Cambridge; University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; U.S. National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health; VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation; Victorian Cancer Agency.
Brad H. Nelson, Phineas T. Hamilton, Minh Tung Phung, Katy Milne, Bronwyn Harris, Shelby Thornton, Donald L.I. Stevens, Shreena Kalaria, Karanvir Singh, Céline M. Laumont, Elena Moss, Aliya Alimujiang, Nicola S. Meagher, Adelyn Bolithon, Sian Fereday, Catherine J. Kennedy, Joy Hendley, Dinuka Ariyaratne, Kathryn Alsop, Nadia Traficante, Ellen L. Goode, Anthony N. Karnezis, Hui Shen, Jean Richardson, Cindy McKinnon Deurloo, Anne Chase, Bronwyn Grout, Jennifer A. Doherty, Holly R. Harris, Kara L. Cushing-Haugen, Michael S. Anglesio, Karolin Heinze, David Huntsman, Aline Talhouk, Gillian E. Hanley, Jennifer Alsop, Mercedes Jimenez-Linan, Paul D.P. Pharoah, Jessica Boros, Alison H. Brand, Paul R. Harnett, Raghwa Sharma, Jonathan L. Hecht, Naoko Sasamoto, Kathryn L. Terry, Beth Y. Karlan, Jenny Lester, Michael E. Carney, Marc T. Goodman, Brenda Y. Hernandez, Lynne R. Wilkens, Sabine Behrens, Renée Turzanski Fortner, Peter A. Fasching, Christiani Bisinotto, Francisco José Candido dos Reis, Prafull Ghatage, Martin Köbel, Esther Elishaev, Francesmary Modugno, Linda S. Cook, Nhu D. Le, Aleksandra Gentry-Maharaj, Usha Menon, María J. García, Cristina Rodriguez-Antona, Kyo M. Farrington, Linda E. Kelemen, Stefan Kommoss, Annette Staebler, Dale W. Garsed, James D. Brenton, Anna M. Piskorz, David D.L. Bowtell, Anna DeFazio, Susan J. Ramus, Malcolm C. Pike, Celeste Leigh Pearce
JCI celebrates a century of publishing scientific discoveries with a special collection highlighting major innovations in medicine and key contributing mechanistic studies.
Substance use disorders are characterized by heavy, regular use of one or more psychoactive substances, such as alcohol, nicotine, opioids, cannabis, and stimulants, as well as the development of tolerance and loss of control over use, risk-taking behavior, and physiological dependence. Misuse of psychoactive substances constitutes a growing worldwide burden with broad-ranging health consequences. In this review series, curated by Dr. Henry R. Kranzler, reviews will provide detailed updates on studies of the genetics, biology, and evolving treatment of substance use disorders.
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