Preparation and tumor-targeting evaluation of BS-CyP albumin nanoparticles modified with hyaluronic acid based on boron neutron capture therapy.

Radiation therapy has been widely used in the clinical treatment of tumors. Due to the low radiation absorption of tumors, a high dose of ionizing radiation is often required during radiotherapy, which causes serious damage to normal tissues near tumors. Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is more targeted than conventional radiotherapy. To improve the therapeutic effect of cancer, albumin was selected as the drug carrier to wrap the fluorescent tracer boron drug BS-CyP and prepare the nanoparticles. Then, we developed a novel tumor-targeting nano-boron drug by using hyaluronic acid to modify the nanoparticles. We found that BS-CyP albumin nanoparticles modified with hyaluronic acid effectively delayed drug release and enhanced the aggregation, in tumors, showing good safety with no obvious toxicity to cells and mice. This study confirmed the advantages of boron drugs modified with hyaluronic acid targeting tumors and may provide a reference for BNCT.

Cilia-localized GID/CTLH ubiquitin ligase complex regulates protein homeostasis of sonic hedgehog signaling components.

Cilia are evolutionarily conserved organelles that orchestrate a variety of signal transduction pathways, such as sonic hedgehog (SHH) signaling, during embryonic development. Our recent studies have shown that loss of GID ubiquitin ligase function results in aberrant AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activation and elongated primary cilia, which suggests a functional connection to cilia. Here, we reveal that the GID complex is an integral part of the cilium required for primary cilia-dependent signal transduction and the maintenance of ciliary protein homeostasis. We show that GID complex subunits localize to cilia in both Xenopus laevis and NIH3T3 cells. Furthermore, we report SHH signaling pathway defects that are independent of AMPK and mechanistic target of rapamycin (MTOR) activation. Despite correct localization of SHH signaling components at the primary cilium and functional GLI3 processing, we find a prominent reduction of some SHH signaling components in the cilium and a significant decrease in SHH target gene expression. Since our data reveal a critical function of the GID complex at the primary cilium, and because suppression of GID function in X. laevis results in ciliopathy-like phenotypes, we suggest that GID subunits are candidate genes for human ciliopathies that coincide with defects in SHH signal transduction.

Deletion at an 1q24 locus reveals a critical role of long noncoding RNA DNM3OS in skeletal development.

BACKGROUND: Skeletal development and maintenance are complex processes known to be coordinated by multiple genetic and epigenetic signaling pathways. However, the role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), a class of crucial epigenetic regulatory molecules, has been under explored in skeletal biology. RESULTS: Here we report a young patient with short stature, hypothalamic dysfunction and mild macrocephaly, who carries a maternally inherited 690 kb deletion at Chr.1q24.2 encompassing a noncoding RNA gene, DNM3OS, embedded on the opposite strand in an intron of the DYNAMIN 3 (DNM3) gene. We show that lncRNA DNM3OS sustains the proliferation of chondrocytes independent of two co-cistronic microRNAs miR-199a and miR-214. We further show that nerve growth factor (NGF), a known factor of chondrocyte growth, is a key target of DNM3OS-mediated control of chondrocyte proliferation. CONCLUSIONS: This work demonstrates that DNM3OS is essential for preventing premature differentiation of chondrocytes required for bone growth through endochondral ossification.

The GID ubiquitin ligase complex is a regulator of AMPK activity and organismal lifespan.

The AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) regulates cellular energy homeostasis by sensing the metabolic status of the cell. AMPK is regulated by phosphorylation and dephosphorylation as a result of changing AMP/ATP levels and by removal of inhibitory ubiquitin residues by USP10. In this context, we identified the GID-complex, an evolutionarily conserved ubiquitin-ligase-complex (E3), as a negative regulator of AMPK activity. Our data show that the GID-complex targets AMPK for ubiquitination thereby altering its activity. Cells depleted of GID-subunits mimic a state of starvation as shown by increased AMPK activity and macroautophagic/autophagic flux as well as reduced MTOR activation. Consistently, gid-genes knockdown in C. elegans results in increased organismal lifespan. This study may contribute to understand metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and morbid obesity and implements alternative therapeutic approaches to alter AMPK activity. ABBREVIATIONS: ACTB: actin, beta; ADP: adenosine diphosphate; AMP: adenosine monophosphate; AMPK: AMP-activated protein kinase; ARMC8: armadillo repeat containing 8; ATP: adenosine triphosphate; BafA1: bafilomycin A1; BCAA: branched chain amino acid; BICC1: BicC family RNA binding protein 1; BSA: bovine serum albumin; CAMKK2 kinase: calcium/calmodulin dependent protein kinase kinase 2, beta; CHX: cycloheximide; DMEM: Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium; E1: ubiquitin-activating enzyme; E2: ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme; E3: ubiquitin ligase; ECAR: extracellular acidification rate; FACS: fluorescent associated cell sorter; FBP1: fructose-bisphosphatase 1; FCCP: carbonyl cyanide-4 (trifluoromethoxy) phenylhydrazone; G6P: glucose-6-phosphate; GDP: guanosine diphosphate; GFP: green fluorescent protein; GID: glucose induced degradation deficient; GMP: guanosine monophosphate; GTP: guanosine triphosphate; HBP1: high mobility group box transcription factor 1; HPRT: hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyl transferase; KO: knock out; LE: long exposure; MAEA: macrophage erythroblast attacher; MAP1LC3B/LC3B: microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 beta; MKLN1: muskelin 1; mRNA: messenger RNA; MTOR: mechanistic target of rapamycin; NES: normalized enrichment score; OCR: oxygen consumption rate; PBS: phosphate buffered saline; PCK1: phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase 1, cytosolic; PCR: polymerase chain reaction; PFA: paraformaldehyde; RANBP9: RAN binding protein 9; RING: really interesting new gene; RMND5: required for meiotic nuclear division5 homolog; RPS6: ribosomal protein S6; RPTOR: regulatory associated protein of MTOR, complex 1; SE: short exposure; SEM: standard error of the mean; SQSTM1/p62: sequestosome 1; TSC2: tuberous sclerosis complex 2; TUBA4A: tubulin; TUBE: tandem ubiquitin binding entities; Ub: ubiquitin; UPS: ubiquitin proteasome system; WDR26: WD repeat domain 26; WT: wild type.

The Gid-complex: an emerging player in the ubiquitin ligase league.

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae Gid-complex is a highly evolutionary conserved ubiquitin ligase with at least seven protein subunits. Here, we review our knowledge about the yeast Gid-complex as an important regulator of glucose metabolism, specifically targeting key enzymes of gluconeogenesis for degradation. Furthermore, we summarize existing data about the individual subunits, the topology and possible substrate recognition mechanisms and compare the striking similarities, but also differences, between the yeast complex and its vertebrate counterpart. Present data is summarized to give an overview about cellular processes regulated by the vertebrate GID-complex that range from cell cycle regulation, primary cilia function to the regulation of energy homeostasis. In conclusion, the vertebrate GID-complex evolved as a versatile ubiquitin ligase complex with functions beyond the regulation of glucose metabolism.

DGKδ triggers endoplasmic reticulum release of IFT88-containing vesicles destined for the assembly of primary cilia.

The morphogenic factor Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signals through the primary cilium, which relies on intraflagellar transport to maintain its structural integrity and function. However, the process by which protein and lipid cargos are delivered to the primary cilium from their sites of synthesis still remains poorly characterized. Here, we report that diacylglycerol kinase δ (DGKδ), a residential lipid kinase in the endoplasmic reticulum, triggers the release of IFT88-containing vesicles from the ER exit sites (ERES), thereby setting forth their movement to the primary cilium. Encoded by the gene whose mutations originally implicated the primary cilium as the venue of Shh signaling, IFT88 is known to be part of the complex B that drives the anterograde transport within cilia. We show that IFT88 interacts with DGKδ, and is associated with COPII-coated vesicles at the ERES. Using a combination of RNAi silencing and gene knockout strategies, we further show that DGKδ is required for supporting Shh signaling both in vitro and in vivo, demonstrating the physiological significance of this regulation.

DeSUMOylation of Gli1 by SENP1 Attenuates Sonic Hedgehog Signaling.

The transcriptional output of the Sonic Hedgehog morphogenic pathway is orchestrated by three Krüppel family transcription factors, Gli1 to -3, which undergo extensive posttranslational modifications, including ubiquitination and SUMOylation. Here, we report that the sentrin-specific peptidase SENP1 is the specific deSUMOylation enzyme for Gli1. We show that SUMOylation stabilizes Gli1 by competing with ubiquitination at conserved lysine residues and that SUMOylated Gli1 is enriched in the nucleus, suggesting that SUMOylation is a nuclear localization signal for Gli1. Finally, we show that small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated knockdown of SENP1 augments the ability of Shh to sustain the proliferation of cerebellar granule cell precursors, demonstrating the physiological significance of the negative regulation of Shh signaling by SENP1.

miR-1271 inhibits migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition by targeting ZEB1 and TWIST1 in pancreatic cancer cells.

Pancreatic cancer (PC) remains one of the most lethal types of cancer in adults. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of miR-1271 in regulation of epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) and metastasis of pancreatic cancer cells. miR-1271 was identified to be significantly down-regulated in PC tissues by miRNA array. Also, an increase of EMT-regulators ZEB1 and TWIST1 expression level is accompanied by a decrease of miR-1271. We showed that expression of miR-1271 was significantly down-regulated in PC tissues as compared with that in normal tissues. In addition, our results showed that miR-1271 expression levels were decreased while ZEB1 and TWIST1 expression levels were increased in detected PC cell lines. Moreover, ectopic expression of miR-1271 suppressed and antagomiR-1271 promoted proliferation, migration, and invasion in SW1990 and PANC-1 cells. Bioinformatics coupled with luciferase and Western blot assays also revealed that miR-1271 inhibited expression of ZEB1 and TWIST1, which are master regulators of tumor metastasis. Our study first indicates that miR-1271 functions as a suppressor in regulating of pancreatic cancer EMT by targeting ZEB1 and TWIST1, and it promise as a therapeutic target and prognostic marker for metastatic pancreatic cancer.