AFF4 regulates osteogenic differentiation of human dental follicle cells / 国际口腔科学杂志·英文版

As a member of the AFF (AF4/FMR2) family, AFF4 is a transcription elongation factor that is a component of the super elongation complex. AFF4 serves as a scaffolding protein that connects transcription factors and promotes gene transcription through elongation and chromatin remodelling. Here, we investigated the effect of AFF4 on human dental follicle cells (DFCs) in osteogenic differentiation. In this study, we found that small interfering RNA-mediated depletion of AFF4 resulted in decreased alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and impaired mineralization. In addition, the expression of osteogenic-related genes (DLX5, SP7, RUNX2 and BGLAP) was significantly downregulated. In contrast, lentivirus-mediated overexpression of AFF4 significantly enhanced the osteogenic potential of human DFCs. Mechanistically, we found that both the mRNA and protein levels of ALKBH1, a critical regulator of epigenetics, changed in accordance with AFF4 expression levels. Overexpression of ALKBH1 in AFF4-depleted DFCs partially rescued the impairment of osteogenic differentiation. Our data indicated that AFF4 promoted the osteogenic differentiation of DFCs by upregulating the transcription of ALKBH1.

Association of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein with the increments of BMI and WC in junior high school students / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To observe the short-term changes of Body Mass Index (BMI) and Waist Circumference (WC) in junior high school students in Harbin, and to explore its association with the changes of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in the same period. Furthermore, to analyze the value of hs-CRP to predict the BMI and WC changes in children and adolescents.@*Methods@#Convenient sampling method was used,and the students in grades 6 and 7 in junior high school in Harbin were selected by stratified clicstering. Physical examination and serum hs-CRP were performed for two consecutive years. According to the results of the two surveys, the subjects were divided into control group (normal → normal), case group (abnormal → abnormal), improved group (abnormal → normal) and progression group (normal → abnormal). The multinomial logistic regression was used to analyze the predictive value of hs-CRP changes for BMI and WC changes.@*Results@#The rate of overweight and obesity among samples from junior high school was 30.6%. The increment of BMI in female was more obvious than that in male(U=17 358.0，P<0.05). Both increments in BMI and WC were positively correlated with increments in hs-CRP(P<0.05). The risk of occurrence of "BMI always abnormal" and "WC always abnormal" increased sequentially in hs-CRP "normal → abnormal", "abnormal → normal" and "abnormal → abnormal", were 3.45 times, 5.98 times and 38.84 times of "BMI is always normal", respectively; and were 3.45 times, 4.26 times and 28.50 times of "WC is always normal", respectively. The risk of "BMI improvement" was 7.70 times more than that of BMI "always normal" when hs-CRP "abnormal → normal".@*Conclusion@#The prevalence of overweight and obesity in junior high school students in Harbin is high. The BMI increases faster in female from junior high school. The trends of change of BMI and WC are consistent with the trend of change of hs-CRP. The “hs-CRP change” has a good predictive value for BMI and WC development.