Ghrelin promotes cardiomyocyte differentiation of adipose tissue­derived mesenchymal stem cells by DDX17­mediated regulation of the SFRP4/Wnt/ß­catenin axis.

Adipose tissue­derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs) differentiate into cardiomyocytes and may be an ideal cell source for myocardial regenerative medicine. Ghrelin is a gastric­secreted peptide hormone involved in the multilineage differentiation of MSCs. To the best of our knowledge, however, the role and potential downstream regulatory mechanism of ghrelin in cardiomyocyte differentiation of ADMSCs is still unknown. The mRNA and protein levels were measured by reverse transcription­quantitative PCR and western blotting. Immunofluorescence staining was used to show the expression and cellular localization of cardiomyocyte markers and ß­catenin. RNA sequencing was used to explore the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) that regulated by ghrelin. The present study found that ghrelin promoted cardiomyocyte differentiation of ADMSCs in a concentration­dependent manner, as shown by increased levels of cardiomyocyte markers GATA binding protein 4, α­myosin heavy chain (α­MHC), ISL LIM homeobox 1, NK2 homeobox 5 and troponin T2, cardiac type. Ghrelin increased ß­catenin accumulation in nucleus and decreased the protein expression of secreted frizzled­related protein 4 (SFRP4), an inhibitor of Wnt signaling. RNA sequencing was used to determine the DEGs regulated by ghrelin. Functional enrichment showed that DEGs were more enriched in cardiomyocyte differentiation­associated terms and Wnt pathways. Dead­box helicase 17 (DDX17), an upregulated DEG, showed enhanced mRNA and protein expression levels following ghrelin addition. Overexpression of DDX17 promoted protein expression of cardiac­specific markers and ß­catenin and enhanced the fluorescence intensity of α­MHC and ß­catenin. DDX17 upregulation inhibited protein expression of SFRP4. Rescue assay confirmed that the addition of SFRP4 partially reversed ghrelin­enhanced protein levels of cardiac­specific markers and the fluorescence intensity of α­MHC. In conclusion, ghrelin promoted cardiomyocyte differentiation of ADMSCs by DDX17­mediated regulation of the SFRP4/Wnt/ß­catenin axis.

LNX2 involves in the role of ghrelin to promote the neuronal differentiation of adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells.

Adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) have promising effects on nerve repair due to the differentiation ability to neural cells. Ghrelin has been shown to promote the neural differentiation of ADSCs. This work was designed to explore its underlying mechanism. Herein, we found high expression of LNX2 in ADSCs after neuronal differentiation. Knockdown of LNX2 might block neuronal differentiation of ADSCs, as evidenced by the decreased number of neural-like cells and dendrites per cell, and the reduced expressions of neural markers (including ß-Tubulin III, Nestin, and MAP2). We also demonstrated that LNX2 silencing suppressed the nuclear translocation of ß-catenin in differentiated ADSCs. Luciferase reporter assay indicated that LNX2 inhibited wnt/ß-catenin pathway by reducing its transcriptional activity. In addition, results showed that LNX2 expression was increased by ghrelin, and its inhibition diminished the effects of ghrelin on neuronal differentiation. Altogether, the results suggest that LNX2 is involved in the role of ghrelin to facilitate neuronal differentiation of ADSCs.

[Correlation of Thrombosis and Prothrombotic State with Coagulation Factor V Gene Polymorphism and APCR. HHcy].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the correlation of patients with thrombosis or prothrombotic status with hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy), activated protein C-resistance(APCR) and gene polymorphism of coagulation factor V. METHODS: Three hundred healthy voluteers were selected as controls, 223 cases of thrombosis (80 cases of cerebral infarction of CT, the MI of 82 cases of myocardial infarction, venous thrombosis of VTE 61 cases), 270 cases of patients with prothrombotic state (76 cases of pregnancy disease of PIH, 62 cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 60 cases of diabetes(DM) and 72 cases of cancer) were enrolled in this study. The plasma APCR and hyperhomocysteinemia were detected by APTT coagulation method and cycling enzyme method respectively, and restriction fragment length polymorphism(RFLP) were was used to detect the gene polymorphism of FV G1691-A, G1091-C and A1090-G in the patient and control groups. RESULTS: APCR positive rate was 62.29% and 7.33%, and the positive hyperhomocysteinemia accounted for 68.42% and 10.00% respectively in the group of the patients with venous thrombosis and the normal control group. 3 cases of heterozygous FV gene mutations were found in the APCR-positive patients with venous thrombosis. CONCLUSION: HHcy possitive rate of patients with venous thrombosis is signiticantly higher than that in control, the HHcy is one of the important causes resulting in thrombosis, the patients with venous thrombosis have proved to be with APCR, and the possitive APCR may be related with the coagulation factor V gene polymorphism.

[Relationship between glucose metabolic disorders and expression of insulin receptor in posthepatitic cirrhosis hepatocyte and HBV DNA in pancreatic cells].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate relationship between glucose metabolic disorders and expression of insulin receptor (IR) and tyrosine protein kinase (TPK) in posthepatitic cirrhosis hepatocyte and HBV DNA expression in pancreatic cells. METHODS: To detect HBV DNA in paraffin-embedded pancreatic and hepatic tissues from 12 posthepatitic cirrhosis patients with positive serum HBV markers by using in situ hybridization (ISH) with a digoxigenin labelled probe. The amount of IR and TPK have been evaluated by immunohistochemical quantitative analysis using image analyzer in hepatocyte of 12 patients positive for HBV markers with posthepatitic cirrhosis in serum. Immunofluorescent histochemical double staining technique was used. HBsAg and IR were observed under confocal laser scanning microscope. RESULTS: Eleven of 12 cirrhosis patients? hepatocytes were HBV DNA positive, including 7 patients (7/7) with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and 4 patients (4/5) with normal glucose tolerance (NGT). Eight of 12 pancreatic cells were HBV DNA positive, including 7 patients (7/7) with IGT, but only one patient (1/5) with NGT-HBV DNA was found positive in pancreatic cells in significantly more subjects in IGT group than in NGT group (P less than 0.01).IR and TPK amount in hepatocyte of IGT was significantly less than that of NGT patients with posthepatitic cirrhosis (P less than 0.01). IR amount was closely related to the TPK in cirrhosis hepatocyte r=0.82597(P less than 0.01). HBV DNA was mainly localized in the nuclei of hepatocyte and pancreatic acinar and islet cells. Immunofluorescent histochemical double-staining showed that HBsAg was partly localized in the IR positive areas of hepatocytes and pancreatic islet cells. CONCLUSION: HBV can invade acinar cells of pancreas and islet cells, which might be a direct cause of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus-like the disorder and insulin absence after HBV infection. Decrease of IR and TPK might be main cause of noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus-like disorder after having hepatitis or posthepatitic cirrhosis.