Phosphorylation of DYNLT1 at Serine 82 Regulates Microtubule Stability and Mitochondrial Permeabilization in Hypoxia

Xue Xu,Yue-sheng Huang,Qiong Zhang,Jiong-yu Hu,Dong-xia Zhang2,Xu-pin Jiang,jie-zhi Jia,Jing-ci Zhu 한국분자세포생물학회 2013 Molecules and cells Vol.36 No.4

Hypoxia-induced microtubule disruption and mitochondrial permeability transition (mPT) are crucial events leading to fatal cell damage and recent studies showed that microtubules (MTs) are involved in the modulation of mitochondrial function. Dynein light chain Tctex-type 1 (DYNLT1) is thought to be associated with MTs and mitochondria. Previously we demonstrated that DYNLT1 knockdown aggravates hypoxia-induced mitochondrial permeabilization, which indicates a role of DYNLT1 in hypoxic cytoprotection. But the underlying regulatory mechanism of DYNLT1 remains illusive. Here we aimed to investigate the phosphorylation alteration of DYNLT1 at serine 82 (S82) in hypoxia (1% O2). We therefore constructed recombinant adenoviruses to generate S82E and S82A mutants, used to transfect H9c2 and HeLa cell lines. Development of hypoxia-induced mPT (MMP examining, Cyt c release and mPT pore opening assay), hypoxic energy metabolism (cellular viability and ATP quantification), and stability of MTs were examined. Our results showed that phosph-S82 (S82-P) expression was increased in early hypoxia; S82E mutation (phosphomimic) aggravated mitochondrial damage, ele-vated the free tubulin in cytoplasm and decreased the cellular viability; S82A mutation (dephosphomimic) seemed to diminish the hypoxia-induced injury. These data suggest that DYNLT1 phosphorylation at S82 is involved in MTs and mitochondria regulation, and their interaction and cooperation contribute to the cellular hypoxic tolerance. Thus, we provide new insights into a DYNLT1 mechanism in stabilizing MTs and mitochondria, and propose a potential therapeutic target for hypoxia cytoprotective studies.

Treatment Efficacy and Prognostic Factors for Huge HCC Based on Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer Staging

Zhang, Zhi-Ming,Zhang, Yu-Mei,Gao, Sheng,Yuan, Wei-Ping,Zhao, Yin-Nong,Xiang, Bang-De,Wu, Fei-Xiang,Wu, Guo-Bin,Liu, Jian-Yong Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.20

Objective: To explore the most appropriate treatment for patients with hepatocellular cancer (HCC) >10 cm by using the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) classification. Materials and Methods: A total of 124 HCC patients undergoing surgery were selected. Disease-free survival (DFS), overall survival (OS) and prognostic factors were respectively assessed. Results: This study showed that the cumulative 1-, 3-, 5-year survival rates were 79.7%, 59.8% and 41.6% in BCLC-A patients, 76.2%, 9.5% and 0% in BCLC-B patients and 44.9%, 0% and 0% in BCLC-C patients, respectively. The 1-, 3-, 5-year DFS rates were 49%, 24.5% and 9.1% in BCLC-A patients, 7.5%, 0% and 0% in BCLC-B patients, respectively. No BCLC-C patients survived 1 year after surgery. Multivariate analysis indicated that hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), vascular invasion, intra-hepatic metastasis, curative resection, tumor rupture and pathologic differentiation were independent prognostic factors. Conclusions: Surgery is effective and safe for patients with HCC >10 cm with sufficient hepatic reserve.

Conceptual Graph Matching Method for Reading Comprehension Tests

Zhang, Zhi-Chang,Zhang, Yu,Liu, Ting,Li, Sheng The Korea Institute of Information and Commucation 2009 Journal of information and communication convergen Vol.7 No.4

Reading comprehension (RC) systems are to understand a given text and return answers in response to questions about the text. Many previous studies extract sentences that are the most similar to questions as answers. However, texts for RC tests are generally short and facts about an event or entity are often expressed in multiple sentences. The answers for some questions might be indirectly presented in the sentences having few overlapping words with the questions. This paper proposes a conceptual graph matching method towards RC tests to extract answer strings. The method first represents the text and questions as conceptual graphs, and then extracts subgraphs for every candidate answer concept from the text graph. All candidate answer concepts will be scored and ranked according to the matching similarity between their sub-graphs and question graph. The top one will be returned as answer seed to form a concise answer string. Since the sub-graphs for candidate answer concepts are not restricted to only covering a single sentence, our approach improved the performance of answer extraction on the Remedia test data.

Revision of the spider genus Taira (Araneae, Amaurobiidae, Amaurobiinae)

Zhi-Sheng Zhang,Ming-Sheng Zhu,Da-Xiang Song 한국거미연구소 2008 한국거미 Vol.24 No.2

The cribellate amaurobiid genus Taira, which is suggested to be most similar to the genus Amaurobius and someother related genera, is revised based on genital characters. Eight species, one from Japan and seven from China, areincluded. Five new species from China are described: T. cangshan, T. concava, T. latilabiata, T. obtusa, and T. sulciformis.Titanoeca decorata Yin & Bao 2001 is newly transferred to this genus and its male is described for the first time. Tairalunaris Wang & Ran 2004 is newly synonymized with T. liboensis Zhu, Chen & Zhang 2004.

Effects of photoperiod on nutrient digestibility, hair follicle activity and cashmere quality in Inner Mongolia white cashmere goats

Chong Zhi Zhang,Hai Zhou Sun,Sheng Li Li,Dan Sang,Chun Hua Zhang,Lu Jin,Marco Antonini,Cun Fa Zhao 아세아·태평양축산학회 2019 Animal Bioscience Vol.32 No.4

Objective: This study investigated the effects of photoperiod on nutrient digestibility, hair follicle (HF) activity and cashmere quality in Inner Mongolia white cashmere goats. Methods: Twenty-four female (non-pregnant) Inner Mongolia white cashmere goats aged 1 to 1.5 years old with similar live weights (mean, 20.36±2.63 kg) were randomly allocated into two groups: a natural daily photoperiod group (NDPP group:10 to 16 h light, n = 12) and a short daily photoperiod group (SDPP group: 7 h light:17 h dark, n = 12). All the goats were housed in individual pens and fed the same diets from May 15 to October 15, 2015. The digestibility of crude protein (CP), dry matter (DM), and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) were measured in different months, along with secondary hair follicle (SHF) activity, concentration of melatonin (MEL), and cashmere quality. Results: Although there was no significant difference in the live weights of goats between the SDPP and NDPP groups (p>0.05), the CP digestibility of goats in the SDPP group was significantly increased compared to the NDPP group in July, September, and October (p<0.05). For the DM and NDF digestibility of goats, a significant increase (p<0.05) was found during in September in the SDPP group. Furthermore, compared to the NDPP group, the SHF activity in July, the MEL concentration in July, and the cashmere fiber length and fiber weight in October were significantly increased in the SDPP group (p<0.05). Conclusion: The cashmere production of Inner Mongolia white cashmere goats was increased without obvious deleterious effects on the cashmere fibers in the SDPP group (metabolizable energy, 8.34 MJ/kg; CP, 11.16%; short daily photoperiod, 7 h light:17 h dark).

Gene cloning and expression analysis of trehalose-6-phosphate synthase, glycogen synthase and glycogen phosphorylase reveal the glycometabolism in the diapause process of Aphidius gifuensis

Hong Zhi Zhang,Meng Qing Wang,Ying Qiang Xie,Mei Xiang,Ping Li,Yu Yan Li,Li Sheng Zhang 한국응용곤충학회 2020 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.23 No.3

Aphidius gifuensis is an important biological control agent of aphid. It stores sugar as energy reserves before the onset of diapause, a form of dormancy that occurs when environmental conditions become unfavorable for development. In this study, cDNA of three relevant enzymes, trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (TPS), glycogen synthase (GYS) and glycogen phosphorylase (GP) were cloned, and their expression profiles in the preparation and maintenance of diapause, and post-diapause development were analyzed. The results showed that AgTPS, AgGYS and AgGP encoded proteins consisting of 807, 690 and 844 amino acids respectively. The expression profiles of three genes were significantly affected by diapause-inducing condition. The increase of transcription of AgGYS and AgGP were followed by the up-regulate of AgTPS expression in the preparation of diapause, expression of all three genes were inhibited while diapause is maintained, and expression of AgGYS was upregulated when diapause was terminated. These results suggested that trehalose is accumulated before initiation of diapause and glycogen may play an important role in post-diapause development.

Astilbin alleviates sepsis-induced acute lung injury by inhibiting the expression of macrophage inhibitory factor in rats

Hong-bo Zhang,Li-chao Sun,Li-da Zhi,Qian-kuan Wen,Zhi-wei Qi,Sheng-tao Yan,Wen Li,Guo-qiang Zhang 대한약학회 2017 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.40 No.10

Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory responsesyndrome caused by severe infections. Astilbin is a dihydroflavonolderivative found in many medicinal and foodplants with multiple pharmacological functions. To investigatethe effects of astilbin on sepsis-induced acute lunginjury (ALI), cecal ligation and puncture was performed onrats to establish a sepsis-induced ALI model; these ratswere then treated with astilbin at different concentrations. Lung injury scores, including lung wet/dry ratio, proteinleakage, myeloperoxidase activity, and inflammatory cellinfiltration were determined to evaluate the effects ofastilbin on sepsis-induced ALI. We found that astilbintreatment significantly attenuates sepsis-induced lunginjury and improves survival rate, lung injury scores, lungwet/dry ratio, protein leakage, myeloperoxidase activity,and inflammatory cell infiltration. Astilbin treatment alsodramatically decreased the production of inflammatorycytokines and chemokines in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Further, astilbin treatment inhibited the expression andproduction of macrophage inhibitory factor (MIF), whichinhibits the inflammatory response. Collectively, these datasuggest that astilbin has a protective effect against sepsisinducedALI by inhibiting MIF-mediated inflammatoryresponses. This study provides a molecular basis for astilbinas a new medical treatment for sepsis-induced ALI.

Fibulin-5 is a Prognostic Marker that Contributes to Proliferation and Invasion of Human Glioma Cells

Sheng, Xu-Dong,Chen, Hu,Wang, Hui,Ding, Zhi-Bin,Xu, Gang-Zhu,Zhang, Jun-Feng,Lu, Wen-Chao,Wu, Tao,Zhao, Ling Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.2

Fibulin-5 has recently been considered as a potential tumor suppressor in human cancers. Several studies have shown that it is down-regulated in a variety of tumor types and inhibits tumor growth and metastasis. This study was aimed to investigate the clinical significance of fibulin-5 in glioma and its role in cell proliferation and invasion. We found that the expression of fibulin-5 in glioma tissues was significantly lower than those in normal brain (NB) tissues. Negative expression was significantly correlated with advanced clinical stage (grade III+IV). Furthermore, Fibulin-5 negative expression was correlated with a shorter overall survival of glioma patients. Multivariate Cox repression analysis indicated that fibulin-5 was an independent factor for predicting overall survival of glioma patients. Overexpression obviously inhibited cell proliferation in U251 and U87 cells. Furthermore, it significantly reduced the number of migrating and invading glioma cells. In conclusion, impaired expression of fibulin-5 is correlated with the advanced tumor stage in glioma. Otherwise, Fibulin-5 is an independent prognostic marker for predicting overall survival of glioma patients. Mechanistically, it may function as a tumor suppressor via inhibiting cell proliferation and invasion in gliomas.

Clinical Character of Pediatric Head and Neck Rhabdomysarcomas: A 7-Year Retrospective Study

Zhang, Wei-Ling,Zhang, Yi,Huang, Dong-Sheng,Guo, Fang,Han, Tao,Hong, Liang,Hu, Hui-Min,Zhi, Tian Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.7

Objective: The rhabdomysarcoma (RMS) is most common soft tissue carcinoma in children, mostly found in the head and neck with high degree of malignancy. The current study aimed to summarize clinical data and evaluate treatment outcome of cases in a single hospital. Methods: Forty-one (24 male, 17 female) children with newly diagnosed RMS in Beijing Tong Ren Hospital were enrolled between November, 2004 and May, 2011. The. Students' t and Chi tests were then performed on retrospectively reviewed clinical data, followed by survival analysis based on the Kaplan Meier method using SPSS 17.0 software. Results: Of all cases, 32 were treated by common chemotherapy, and 3 cases with stage III RMS received high-dose chemotherapy and auto-peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (APBSCT). Side-effects in the former were: I grade for 62.5% (20/32), II grade for 28.1% (9/32), III grade account for 9.275% (3/32). Side-effects of 3 cases with APBSCT: 2 were I grade, 1 was III grade. The median follow-up time of 41 RMS cases was 41 months. Four cases were lost to follow-up, 7 cases recurred, and 5 cases died of cerebral metastasis, witha total survival rate was 86.5% (32/37). CR rate was 67.6% (25/37), PR was 18.9% (7/37). Conclusion: Multidiscipline treatment including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery and auto-PBSCT is highly recommended for pediatric patients with head and neck RMS.

Expression and Characterization of a Novel Nitrilase from Hyperthermophilic Bacterium Thermotoga maritima MSB8

Zhi Chen,Huayou Chen,Zhong Ni,Rui Tian,Tianxi Zhang,Jinru Jia,Shengli Yang 한국미생물 · 생명공학회 2015 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.25 No.10