Evidence for the Presence of Long-Lived Plasma Cells in Nasal Polyps

Ya-Na Zhang,Jia Song,Guan-Ting Zhai,Hai Wang,Ren-Zhong Luo,Jing-Xian Li,Bo Liao,Jin Ma,Heng Wang,Xiang Lu,Da-Bo Liu,Zheng Liu 대한천식알레르기학회 2020 Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Research Vol.12 No.2

Purpose: Plasma cells and immunoglobulins (Igs) play a pivotal role in the induction and maintenance of chronic inflammation in nasal polyps. During secondary immune responses, plasma cell survival and Ig production are regulated by the local environment. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the presence of long-lived plasma cells (LLPCs) and specific survival niches for LLPCs in human nasal polyps. Methods: Nasal mucosal samples were cultured with an air-liquid interface system and the Ig levels in culture supernatants were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The characteristics of LLPCs in nasal polyps were determined by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. The expression of neurotrophins as well as their receptors was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, and Western blotting. Results: The numbers of CD138+ total plasma cells and BCL2+ plasma cells were increased in both eosinophilic and non-eosinophilic nasal polyps compared with those in normal tissues. The production of IgG, IgA, and IgE was detected in culture supernatants even after a 32-day culture of nasal polyps. Although the total numbers of plasma cells were decreased in nasal polyps after culture, the numbers of BCL2+ plasma cells remained stable. The expression of nerve growth factor (NGF) as well as tropomyosin receptor kinase (Trk) A, a high-affinity receptor for NGF, was upregulated in both eosinophilic and non-eosinophilic nasal polyps. In addition, BCL2+ plasma cell numbers were positively correlated with NGF and TrkA mRNA expression in nasal mucosal tissues. Polyp plasma cells had the expression of TrkA. Conclusions: Human nasal polyps harbor a population of LLPCs and NGF may be involved in their prolonged survival. LLPCs may be a novel therapeutic target for suppressing the local Ig production in nasal polyps.

Effects of tryptophan and phenylalanine on tryptophol production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae revealed by transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses

Gong Xiaowei,Luo Huajun,Hong Liu,Wu Jun,Wu Heng,Song Chunxia,Zhao Wei,Han Yi,Dao Ya,Zhang Xia,Zhu Donglai,Luo Yiyong 한국미생물학회 2022 The journal of microbiology Vol.60 No.8

Tryptophol (TOL) is a metabolic derivative of tryptophan (Trp) and shows pleiotropic effects in humans, plants and microbes. In this study, the effect of Trp and phenylalanine (Phe) on TOL production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae was determined, and a systematic interpretation of TOL accumulation was offered by transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses. Trp significantly promoted TOL production, but the output plateaued (231.02−266.31 mg/L) at Trp concentrations ≥ 0.6 g/L. In contrast, Phe reduced the stimulatory effect of Trp, which was strongly dependent on the Phe concentration. An integrated genomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic analysis revealed that the effect of Trp and Phe on TOL production was mainly related to the transamination and decarboxylation of the Ehrlich pathway. Additionally, other genes, including thiamine regulon genes (this), the allantoin catabolic genes dal1, dal2, dal4, and the transcriptional activator gene aro80, may play important roles. These findings were partly supported by the fact that the thi4 gene was involved in TOL production, as shown by heterologous expression analysis. To the best of our knowledge, this novel biological function of thi4 in S. cerevisiae is reported here for the first time. Overall, our findings provide insights into the mechanism of TOL production, which will contribute to TOL production using metabolic engineering strategies.

Bone Morphogenetic Protein 9 Overexpression Reduces Osteosarcoma Cell Migration and Invasion

Zilan Lv,Ya-guang Weng,Dandan Yang,Jie Li,Min Hu,Min Luo,Xiaoqin Zhan,Peipei Song,Chen Liu,Huili Bai,Baolin Li,Yang Yang,Yingying Chen,Qiong Shi 한국분자세포생물학회 2013 Molecules and cells Vol.36 No.2

Transforming growth factor- (TGF-) is known to pro-mote tumor migration and invasion. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are members of the TGF- family expressed in a variety of human carcinoma cell lines. The role of bone morphogenetic protein 9 (BMP9), the most powerful osteogenic factor, in osteosarcoma (OS) progression has not been fully clarified. The expression of BMP9 and its receptors in OS cell lines was analyzed by RT-PCR. We found that BMP9 and its receptors were expressed in OS cell lines. We further investigated the influence of BMP9 on the biological behaviors of OS cells. BMP9 overexpression in the OS cell lines 143B and MG63 inhibited in vitro cell migration and invasion. We further investigated the ex-pression of a panel of cancer-related genes and found that BMP9 overexpression increased the phosphorylation of Smad1/5/8 proteins, increased the expression of ID1, and reduced the expression and activity of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) in OS cells. BMP9 silencing induced the opposite effects. We also found that BMP9 may not affect the chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 12 (CXCL12)/C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) axis to regulate the invasiveness and metastatic capacity of OS cells. Interestingly, CXCR4 was expressed in both 143B and MG63 cells, while CXCL12 was only detected in MG63 cells. Taken together, we hypothesize that BMP9 inhibits the migration and invasiveness of OS cells through a Smad-dependent pathway by downregulating the expression and activity of MMP9.

Suboptimal Relational Tree Configuration and Robust Control Based on the Leader-follower Model for Self-organizing Systems Without GPS Support

Zhi-gang Xiong,Ya-Song Luo,Zhong Liu,Zhi-kun Liu 제어·로봇·시스템학회 2024 International Journal of Control, Automation, and Vol.22 No.4

This paper surveys the formation acquisition and maintenance of multi-agent systems, while the communication graph is obtained without human designations. Given that all agents move along unpredictable paths during formation acquisition, the systems adopt the leader-follower model. For better expression of the graph construction, a relational tree is introduced to describe the follower-leader pairs. Then, a distributed method is proposed for suboptimal relational tree configuration. By utilizing particle swarm optimization (PSO), the search for follower-leader pairs is converted to permutation optimization. Based on principal component analysis (PCA), the entire group is divided into several small groups, and the optimization can be implemented in each group, thus releasing the computation burden. To acquire the formation defined by the suboptimal relational tree, a second nonlinear controller subject to the loss of GPS information is established. The controller takes the reference in the local velocity frame as inputs, and proportional and differential components are introduced to provide a soft control. In addition, adaptive parameters are designed for robust control. By tuning the parameters autonomously, self-organized systems can work well in various scenarios even without manual adjustment of parameters. Mathematical and numerical analyses are conducted to prove the feasibility of the proposed strategy.

Bioconversion of conjugated linoleic acid by Lactobacillus plantarum CGMCC8198 supplemented with Acer truncatum bunge seeds oil

Dong-Ju Chen,Li-Hua Yan,Qian Li,Cai-jiao Zhang,Chuan-Ling Si,Zhong-Yuan Li,Ya-Jian Song,Hao Zhou,Tong-Cun Zhang,Xuegang Luo 한국식품과학회 2017 Food Science and Biotechnology Vol.26 No.6

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) isomers, c9, t11- CLA and t10, c12-CLA, have been proved to exhibit excellent biomedical properties for potential use in anticancer applications and in reducing obesity. Acer truncatum Bunge (ATB), which is rich in unsaturated fatty acids, including oleic acid, linoleic acid, and nervonic acid, is a new resource for edible oil. In the present study, we developed a new method for producing two CLA isomers from ATB-seed oil by fermentation using Lactobacillus plantarum CGMCC8198 (LP8198), a novel probiotics strain. Polymerase chain reaction results showed that there was a conserved linoleate isomerase (LIase) gene in LP8198, and its transcription could be induced by ATBseed oil. Analyses by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry showed that the concentration of c9, t11-CLA and t10, c12-CLA in ATB-seed oil could be increased by about 9- and 2.25-fold, respectively, after being fermented by LP8198.