Oncostatin M-dependent Mcl-1 induction mediated by JAK1/2-STAT1/3 and CREB contributes to bioenergetic improvements and protective effects against mitochondrial dysfunction in cortical neurons

The clinical relevance of OSM in inflammatory diseases: a comprehensive review

Oncostatin M (OSM) is a pleiotropic cytokine involved in a variety of inflammatory responses such as wound healing, liver regeneration, and bone remodeling. As a member of the interleukin-6 (IL-6) family of cytokines, OSM binds the shared receptor gp130, recruits either OSMRβ or LIFRβ, and activates a variety of signaling pathways including the JAK/STAT, MAPK, JNK, and PI3K/AKT pathways. Since its discovery in 1986, OSM has been identified as a significant contributor to a multitude of inflammatory diseases, including arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, lung and skin disease, cardiovascular disease, and most recently, COVID-19. Additionally, OSM has also been extensively studied in the context of several cancer types including breast, cervical, ovarian, testicular, colon and gastrointestinal, brain,lung, skin, as well as other cancers. While OSM has been recognized as a significant contributor for each of these diseases, and studies have shown OSM inhibition is effective at treating or reducing symptoms, very few therapeutics have succeeded into clinical trials, and none have yet been approved by the FDA for treatment. In this review, we outline the role OSM plays in a variety of inflammatory diseases, including cancer, and outline the previous and current strategies for developing an inhibitor for OSM signaling.

Secretoglobin 3A2 protects lung from developing cigarette smoke-induced pulmonary emphysema

Secretoglobin (SCGB) 3A2 is a bioactive molecule exhibiting various functions such as improving allergic airway inflammation and pulmonary fibrosis and promoting bronchial branching and proliferation during lung development. To determine if and how SCGB3A2 is involved in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a multifactorial disease with both airway and emphysematous lesions, a COPD mouse model was created by exposing Scgb3a2-deficient (KO), Scgb3a2-lung-specific overexpressing (TG), and wild type (WT) mice to cigarette smoke (CS) for 6 months. The KO mice showed loss of lung structure under control condition, and CS exposure resulted in more expansion of airspace and destruction of alveolar wall than WT mouse lungs. In contrast, TG mouse lungs showed no significant changes after CS exposure. SCGB3A2 increased the expression and phosphorylation of signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT)1 and STAT3, and the expression of α1-antitrypsin (A1AT) in mouse lung fibroblast-derived MLg cells and mouse lung epithelial-derived MLE-15 cells. In MLg cells, A1AT expression was decreased in Stat3-knockdown cells, and increased upon Stat3 overexpression. STAT3 formed a homodimer when cells were stimulated with SCGB3A2. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and reporter assays demonstrated that STAT3 binds to specific binding sites on the Serpina1a gene encoding A1AT and upregulates its transcription in lung tissues of mice. Furthermore, nuclear localization of phosphorylated STAT3 upon SCGB3A2 stimulation was detected by immunocytochemistry. These findings demonstrate that SCGB3A2 protects the lungs from the development of CS-induced emphysema by regulating A1AT expression through STAT3 signaling.

Transcriptome and Translatome Regulation of Pathogenesis in Alzheimer's Disease Model Mice

BACKGROUND

Defining cellular mechanisms that drive Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis and progression will be aided by studies defining how gene expression patterns change during pre-symptomatic AD and ensuing periods of declining cognition. Previous studies have emphasized changes in transcriptome, but not translatome regulation, leaving the ultimate results of gene expression alterations relatively unexplored in the context of AD.

OBJECTIVE

To identify genes whose expression might be regulated at the transcriptome and translatome levels in AD, we analyzed gene expression in cerebral cortex of two AD model mouse strains, CVN (APPSwDI;NOS2 -/- ) and Tg2576 (APPSw), and their companion wild type (WT) strains at 6 months of age by tandem RNA-Seq and Ribo-Seq (ribosome profiling).

METHODS

Identical starting pools of bulk RNA were used for RNA-Seq and Ribo-Seq. Differential gene expression analysis was performed at the transcriptome, translatome, and translational efficiency levels. Regulated genes were functionally evaluated by gene ontology tools.

RESULTS

Compared to WT mice, AD model mice had similar levels of transcriptome regulation, but differences in translatome regulation. A microglial signature associated with early stages of Aβ accumulation was upregulated at both levels in CVN mice. Although the two mice strains did not share many regulated genes, they showed common regulated pathways related to AβPP metabolism associated with neurotoxicity and neuroprotection.

CONCLUSION

This work represents the first genome-wide study of brain translatome regulation in animal models of AD and provides evidence of a tight and early translatome regulation of gene expression controlling the balance between neuroprotective and neurodegenerative processes in brain.

Mitochondrial Kinases and the Role of Mitochondrial Protein Phosphorylation in Health and Disease

The major role of mitochondria is to provide cells with energy, but no less important are their roles in responding to various stress factors and the metabolic changes and pathological processes that might occur inside and outside the cells. The post-translational modification of proteins is a fast and efficient way for cells to adapt to ever changing conditions. Phosphorylation is a post-translational modification that signals these changes and propagates these signals throughout the whole cell, but it also changes the structure, function and interaction of individual proteins. In this review, we summarize the influence of kinases, the proteins responsible for phosphorylation, on mitochondrial biogenesis under various cellular conditions. We focus on their role in keeping mitochondria fully functional in healthy cells and also on the changes in mitochondrial structure and function that occur in pathological processes arising from the phosphorylation of mitochondrial proteins.

Noncanonical Cell Fate Regulation by Bcl-2 Proteins

Bcl-2 proteins are widely known as key controllers of mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization, arguably the most important step of intrinsic apoptosis. Accumulating evidence indicate that most, if not all, members of the Bcl-2 protein family also mediate a number of apoptosis-unrelated functions. Intriguingly, many of these functions ultimately impinge on cell fate decisions via apoptosis-dependent or -independent mechanisms, delineating a complex network through which Bcl-2 family members regulate cell survival and death. Here, we critically discuss the mechanisms through which Bcl-2 proteins influence cell fate as they regulate autophagy, cellular senescence, inflammation, bioenergetic metabolism, Ca²⁺ fluxes, and redox homeostasis.

Oncostatin M, an Underestimated Player in the Central Nervous System

For a long time, the central nervous system (CNS) was believed to be an immune privileged organ. In the last decades, it became apparent that the immune system interacts with the CNS not only in pathological, but also in homeostatic situations. It is now clear that immune cells infiltrate the healthy CNS as part of immune surveillance and that immune cells communicate through cytokines with CNS resident cells. In pathological conditions, an enhanced infiltration of immune cells takes place to fight the pathogen. A well-known family of cytokines is the interleukin (IL)-6 cytokine family. All members are important in cell communication and cell signaling in the immune system. One of these members is oncostatin M (OSM), for which the receptor is expressed on several cells of the CNS. However, the biological function of OSM in the CNS is not studied in detail. Here, we briefly describe the general aspects related to OSM biology, including signaling and receptor binding. Thereafter, the current understanding of OSM during CNS homeostasis and pathology is summarized.

Phosphoregulation on mitochondria: Integration of cell and organelle responses

Mitochondria are highly integrated organelles that are crucial to cell adaptation and mitigating adverse physiology. Recent studies demonstrate that fundamental signal transduction pathways incorporate mitochondrial substrates into their biological programs. Reversible phosphorylation is emerging as a useful mechanism to modulate mitochondrial function in accordance with cellular changes. Critical serine/threonine protein kinases, such as the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), protein kinase A (PKA), PTEN-induced kinase-1 (PINK1), and AMP-dependent protein kinase (AMPK), readily translocate to the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM), the interface of mitochondria-cell communication. OMM protein kinases phosphorylate diverse mitochondrial substrates that have discrete effects on organelle dynamics, protein import, respiratory complex activity, antioxidant capacity, and apoptosis. OMM phosphorylation events can be tempered through the actions of local protein phosphatases, such as mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-1 (MKP-1) and protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), to regulate the extent and duration of signaling. The central mediators of OMM signal transduction are the scaffold proteins because the relative abundance of these accessory proteins determines the magnitude and duration of a signaling event on the mitochondrial surface, which dictates the biological outcome of a local signal transduction pathway. The concentrations of scaffold proteins, such as A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs) and Sab (or SH3 binding protein 5-SH3BP5), have been shown to influence neuronal survival and vulnerability, respectively, in models of Parkinson's disease (PD), highlighting the importance of OMM signaling to health and disease. Despite recent progress, much remains to be discovered concerning the mechanisms of OMM signaling. Nonetheless, enhancing beneficial OMM signaling events and inhibiting detrimental protein-protein interactions on the mitochondrial surface may represent highly selective approaches to restore mitochondrial health and homeostasis and mitigate organelle dysfunction in conditions such as PD.

Macrophages Infected by a Pathogen and a Non-pathogen Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia Reveal Differential Reprogramming Signatures Early in Infection

Despite their high degree of genomic similarity, different spotted fever group (SFG) Rickettsia are often associated with very different clinical presentations. For example, Rickettsia conorii causes Mediterranean spotted fever, a life-threatening disease for humans, whereas Rickettsia montanensis is associated with limited or no pathogenicity to humans. However, the molecular basis responsible for the different pathogenicity attributes are still not understood. Although killing microbes is a critical function of macrophages, the ability to survive and/or proliferate within phagocytic cells seems to be a phenotypic feature of several intracellular pathogens. We have previously shown that R. conorii and R. montanensis exhibit different intracellular fates within macrophage-like cells. By evaluating early macrophage responses upon insult with each of these rickettsial species, herein we demonstrate that infection with R. conorii results in a profound reprogramming of host gene expression profiles. Transcriptional programs generated upon infection with this pathogenic bacteria point toward a sophisticated ability to evade innate immune signals, by modulating the expression of several anti-inflammatory molecules. Moreover, R. conorii induce the expression of several pro-survival genes, which may result in the ability to prolong host cell survival, thus protecting its replicative niche. Remarkably, R. conorii-infection promoted a robust modulation of different transcription factors, suggesting that an early manipulation of the host gene expression machinery may be key to R. conorii proliferation in THP-1 macrophages. This work provides new insights into the early molecular processes hijacked by a pathogenic SFG Rickettsia to establish a replicative niche in macrophages, opening several avenues of research in host-rickettsiae interactions.

Id1 and Sonic Hedgehog Mediate Cell Cycle Reentry and Apoptosis Induced by Amyloid Beta-Peptide in Post-mitotic Cortical Neurons

Amyloid beta-peptide (Aβ), the neurotoxic component of senile plaques in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brains, is known to trigger cell cycle reentry in post-mitotic neurons followed by apoptosis. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Recently, we have reported that Aβs stimulate the expression of inhibitor of differentiation-1 (Id1) to induce sonic hedgehog (SHH) (Hung et al., Mol Neurobiol 53(2):793-809, 2016), and both are mitogens capable of triggering cell cycle progression. In this work, we tested the hypothesis that Aβ-induced Id1 and SHH contribute to cell cycle reentry leading to apoptosis in neurons. We found that Aβ triggered cell cycle progression in the post-mitotic neurons, as indicated by the increased expression of two G1-phase markers including cyclin D1 and phosphorylated retinoblastoma protein (pRb), two G2-phase markers such as proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and incorporation of 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) into newly synthesized DNA, as well as the mitotic marker histone H3 phosphorylated at Ser-10. As expected, Aβ also enhanced caspase-3 cleavage in the cortical neurons. Id1 siRNA, the neutralization antibody against SHH (SHH-Ab), and the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)-4/6 inhibitor PD0332991 all attenuated, in part or in full, the Aβ-induced expression of these cell cycle markers. Indeed, exogenous recombinant Id1 protein and the biologically active N-terminal fragment of SHH (SHH-N) were both sufficient to enhance the expression of cell cycle markers independent of Aβ. Taken together, our results revealed the critical roles of Id1 and SHH mediating Aβ-dependent cell cycle reentry and subsequently caspase-dependent apoptosis in the fully differentiated post-mitotic neurons, at least in vitro.

More Insight into BDNF against Neurodegeneration: Anti-Apoptosis, Anti-Oxidation, and Suppression of Autophagy

In addition to its well-established neurotrophic action, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) also possesses other neuroprotective effects including anti-apoptosis, anti-oxidation, and suppression of autophagy. We have shown before that BDNF triggers multiple mechanisms to confer neuronal resistance against 3-nitropropionic acid (3-NP)-induced mitochondrial dysfunction in primary rat cortical cultures. The beneficial effects of BDNF involve the induction of anti-oxidative thioredoxin with the resultant expression of anti-apoptotic B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) as well as erythropoietin (EPO)-dependent stimulation of sonic hedgehog (SHH). We further revealed that BDNF may bring the expression of sulfiredoxin, an ATP-dependent antioxidant enzyme, to offset mitochondrial inhibition in cortical neurons. Recently, we provided insights into another novel anti-oxidative mechanism of BDNF, which involves the augmentation of sestrin2 expression to endow neuronal resistance against oxidative stress induced by 3-NP; BDNF induction of sestrin2 entails the activation of a pathway involving nitric oxide (NO), cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-dependent protein kinase (PKG), and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB). Apart from anti-apoptosis and anti-oxidation, we demonstrated in our most recent study that BDNF may activate the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) with resultant activation of transcription factor c-Jun, thereby stimulating the expression of p62/sequestosome-1 to suppress heightened autophagy as a result of 3-NP exposure. Together, our results provide in-depth insight into multi-faceted protective mechanisms of BDNF against mitochondrial dysfunction commonly associated with the pathogenesis of many chronic neurodegenerative disorders. Delineation of the protective signaling pathways elicited by BDNF would endow a rationale to develop novel therapeutic regimens to halt or prevent the progression of neurodegeneration.

Resveratrol and STAT inhibitor enhance autophagy in ovarian cancer cells

Autophagic activity reflects cellular response to drug treatment and can be regulated by STAT3 signaling. Resveratrol inhibits STAT3 activation and causes remarkable growth arrest and cell death of ovarian cancer (OC) cells. However, the autophagic status and its relevance with resveratrol’s anti-OC effects remain unclear. We analyzed the states of autophagic activities, the nature of autophagosomes and the levels of autophagy-related proteins (LC-3, Beclin 1 and STAT3) in resveratrol-treated CAOV-3 and OVCAR-3 OC cells using multiple approaches. We elucidated the correlation of STAT3 inhibition with autophagic activity by treating OC cells with an upstream inhibitor of STAT proteins, AG490. Resveratrol efficiently suppressed growth, induced apoptosis and inactivated STAT3 signaling of the two OC cell lines. We found enhanced autophagic activity accompanied with Beclin-1 upregulation and LC3 enzymatic cleavage in resveratrol-treated OC cells. Immunofluorescent (IF) microscopic and IF-based confocal examinations demonstrated the accumulation of cytoplasmic granules co-labeled with LC3 and cytochrome C in resveratrol- or AG490-treated OC cells. Using electron microscopy, we confirmed an increase in autophagosomes and mitochondrial spheroids in either resveratrol- or AG490-treated OC cells. This study demonstrates the abilities of resveratrol to enhance apoptotic and autophagic activities in OC cells, presumably via inactivating STAT3 signaling. Resveratrol or the selective JAK2 inhibitor also leads to mitochondrial turnover, which would be unfavorable for OC cell survival and sensitize OC cells to resveratrol.

Nuclear Factor-kappaB-Dependent Sestrin2 Induction Mediates the Antioxidant Effects of BDNF Against Mitochondrial Inhibition in Rat Cortical Neurons

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), in addition to its neurotrophic action, also possesses antioxidant activities. However, the underlying mechanisms remain to be fully defined. Sestrin2 is a stress-responsive gene implicated in the cellular defense against oxidative stress. Currently, the potential functions of sestrin2 in nervous system, in particular its correlation with neurotrophic factors, have not been well established. In this study, we hypothesized that BDNF may enhance sestrin2 expression to confer neuronal resistance against oxidative stress induced by 3-nitropropionic acid (3-NP), an irreversible mitochondrial complex II inhibitor, and characterized the molecular mechanisms underlying BDNF induction of sestrin2 in primary rat cortical cultures. We found that BDNF-mediated sestrin2 expression in cortical neurons required formation of nitric oxide (NO) with subsequent production of 3',5'-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) and activation of cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG). BDNF induced localization of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) subunits p65 and p50 into neuronal nuclei that required PKG activities. Interestingly, BDNF exposure led to formation of a protein complex containing at least PKG-1 and p65/p50, which bound to sestrin2 promoter with resultant upregulation of its protein products. Finally, BDNF preconditioning mitigated production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as a result of 3-NP exposure; this antioxidative effect of BDNF was dependent upon PKG activity, NF-κB, and sestrin2. Taken together, our results indicated that BDNF enhances sestrin2 expression to confer neuronal resistance against oxidative stress induced by 3-NP through attenuation of ROS formation; furthermore, BDNF induction of sestrin2 requires activation of a pathway involving NO/PKG/NF-κB.