The whole transcriptome analysis and the circRNA-lncRNA network construction in arsenic trioxide-treated mice myocardium

The role of exosome-shuttled miRNAs in heavy metal-induced peripheral tissues and neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's disease

Heavy metal-induced neuroinflammation is a significant pathophysiologic mechanism in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Microglia-mediated neuroinflammation plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of AD. Multiple miRNAs are differentially expressed in peripheral tissues after heavy metal exposure, and increasing evidence suggests that they are involved in AD progression by regulating microglial homeostasis. Exosomes, which are capable of loading miRNAs and crossing the bloodbrain barrier, serve as mediators of communication between peripheral tissues and the brain. In this review, we summarize the current evidence on the link between miRNAs in peripheral tissues and neuroinflammation in AD after heavy metal exposure and propose a role for miRNAs in the microglial neurodegenerative phenotype (MGnD) of AD. This study will help to elucidate the link between peripheral tissue damage and MGnD-mediated neuroinflammation in AD after heavy metal exposure. Additionally, we summarize the regulatory effects of natural compounds on peripheral tissue-derived miRNAs, which could be potential therapeutic targets for natural compounds to regulate peripheral tissue-derived exosomal miRNAs to ameliorate heavy metal-induced MGnD-mediated neuroinflammation in patients with AD after heavy metal exposure.

The Role of microRNAs in Arsenic-Induced Human Diseases: A Review

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are noncoding RNAs with 20-22 nucleotides, which are encoded by endogenous genes and are capable of targeting the majority of human mRNAs. Arsenic is regarded as a human carcinogen, which can lead to many adverse health effects including diabetes, skin lesions, kidney disease, neurological impairment, male reproductive injury, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) such as cardiac arrhythmias, ischemic heart failure, and endothelial dysfunction. miRNAs can act as tumor suppressors and oncogenes via directly targeting oncogenes or tumor suppressors. Recently, miRNA dysregulation was considered to be an important mechanism of arsenic-induced human diseases and a potential biomarker to predict the diseases caused by arsenic exposure. Endogenic miRNAs such as miR-21, the miR-200 family, miR-155, and the let-7 family are involved in arsenic-induced human disease by inducing translational repression or RNA degradation and influencing multiple pathways, including mTOR/Arg 1, HIF-1α/VEGF, AKT, c-Myc, MAPK, Wnt, and PI3K pathways. Additionally, exogenous miRNAs derived from plants, such as miR-34a, miR-159, miR-2911, miR-159a, miR-156c, miR-168, etc., among others, can be transported from blood to specific tissue/organ systems in vivo. These exogenous miRNAs might be critical players in the treatment of human diseases by regulating host gene expression. This review summarizes the regulatory mechanisms of miRNAs in arsenic-induced human diseases, including cancers, CVD, and other human diseases. These special miRNAs could serve as potential biomarkers in the management and treatment of human diseases linked to arsenic exposure. Finally, the protective action of exogenous miRNAs, including antitumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-CVD, antioxidant stress, and antivirus are described.

Open a new epoch of arsenic trioxide investigation: ATOdb

Arsenic trioxide (ATO) is a great discovery in the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), which has been used in an increasing number of malignant diseases. Systematic integrative analysis will help to precisely understand the mechanism of ATO and find new combined drugs. Therefore, we developed a one-stop comprehensive database of ATO named ATOdb by manually compiling a wealth of experimentally supported ATO-related data from 3479 articles, and integrated analysis tools. The current version of ATOdb contains 8373 associations among 2300 ATO targets, 80 conditions and 262 combined drugs. Each entry in ATOdb contains detailed information on ATO targets, therapeutic/side effects, systems, cell names, cell types, regulations, detection methods, brief descriptions, references, etc. Furthermore, ATOdb also provides data visualization and analysis results such as the drug similarities, protein-protein interactions, and miRNA-mRNA relationships. An easy-to-use web interface was deployed in ATOdb for users to easily browse, search and download the data. In conclusion, ATOdb will serve as a valuable resource for in-depth study of the mechanism of ATO, discovery of new drug combination strategies, promotion of rational drug use and individualized treatments. ATOdb is freely available at http://bio-bigdata.hrbmu.edu.cn/ATOdb/index.jsp.

An overview of arsenic trioxide-involved combined treatment algorithms for leukemia: basic concepts and clinical implications

Arsenic trioxide is a first-line treatment drug for acute promyelocytic leukemia, which is also effective for other kinds of leukemia. Its side effects, however, limit its clinical application, especially for patients with complex leukemia symptoms. Combination therapy can effectively alleviate these problems. This review summarizes the research progress on the combination of arsenic trioxide with anticancer drugs, vitamin and vitamin analogs, plant products, and other kinds of drugs in the treatment of leukemia. Additionally, the new progress in arsenic trioxide-induced cardiotoxicity was summarized. This review aims to provide new insights for the rational clinical application of arsenic trioxide.

Riboflavin mediates m6A modification targeted by miR408, promoting early somatic embryogenesis in longan

Plant somatic embryogenesis (SE) is an in vitro biological process wherein bipolar structures are induced to form somatic cells and regenerate into whole plants. MicroRNA (miRNA) is an essential player in plant SE. However, the mechanism of microRNA408 (miR408) in SE remains elusive. Here, we used stable transgenic technology in longan (Dimocarpus longan) embryogenic calli to verify the mechanism by which miR408 promotes cell division and differentiation of longan early SE. dlo-miR408-3p regulated riboflavin biosynthesis by targeting nudix hydrolase 23 (DlNUDT23), a previously unidentified gene mediating N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification and influencing RNA homeostasis and cell cycle gene expression during longan early SE. We showed that DlMIR408 overexpression (DlMIR408-OE) promoted 21-nt miRNA biosynthesis. In DlMIR408-OE cell lines, dlo-miR408-3p targeted and downregulated DlNUDT23, promoted riboflavin biosynthesis, decreased flavin mononucleotide (FMN) accumulation, promoted m6A level, and influenced miRNA homeostasis. DNA replication, glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchor biosynthesis, the pentose phosphate pathway, and taurine and hypotaurine metabolism were also closely associated with riboflavin metabolism. In a riboflavin feeding assay, dlo-miR408-3p and pre-miR408 were upregulated and DlNUDT23 was downregulated, increasing the m6A level and cell division and differentiation in longan globular embryos. When riboflavin biosynthesis was inhibited, dlo-miR408-3p was downregulated and DlNUDT23 was upregulated, which decreased m6A modification and inhibited cell division but did not inhibit cell differentiation. FMN artificial demethylated m6A modification affected the homeostasis of precursor miRNA and miRNA. Our results revealed a mechanism underlying dlo-miR408-3p-activated riboflavin biosynthesis in which DlNUDT23 is targeted, m6A modification is dynamically mediated, and cell division is affected, promoting early SE in plants.

Unveiling the prominent roles of circular RNAs ubiquitin binding associated protein 2 in cancers

Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a novel type of covalently closed non-coding RNAs, are widely expressed in eukaryotes and viruses. Accumulating evidence has shown that circRNAs play key roles in the pathophysiological changes process of human diseases and can affect cancer development and progression through regulating target genes expression, linear RNA transcription and protein generation. Recent studies had found that circRNA-UBAP2 (ubiquitin binding associated protein 2) was aberrantly expressed in various human tumors and could affect tumor cells proliferation, migration, invasion, cell cycle, anti-apoptosis, radioresistance, chemoresistance and other malignant biological behavioral progress. Mechanistic studies further revealed that circUBAP2 could affect the occurrence and development of human tumors through multiple different molecular regulatory pathways in vivo and in vitro. In addition, the abnormal expression of circUBAP2 was significantly correlated with the clinicopathological characteristics of malignant tumors and had potential value as biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of cancer patients, which deserved further study. This review had summarized and discussed the oncogenic roles and clinical performances of circUBAP2 in various human malignancies with a focus on biological functions and molecular mechanisms, which could help to elevate the understanding to the roles of circRNAs and continue subsequent studies on circUBAP2.

Emerging roles of circular RNAs in cancer therapy-induced cardiotoxicity

Cancer therapy-induced cardiotoxicity (CTIC) is an important cause of death in cancer survivors which often results in the withdrawal or discontinuation of drugs. The underlying mechanisms of CTIC remain unclear. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of non-coding regulatory RNA molecules which have emerged in recent years. They are generated by back splicing and have powerful biological functions, including transcription and splicing, isolating or building macromolecular scaffolds to interfere with microRNA activity and signaling pathways, and acting as templates for translation. Moreover, circRNAs demonstrate high abundance and significant stability. CircRNAs can be used as novel biomarkers because they often function in a cell-type and tissue-specific manner. CircRNAs have attracted increasing attention in cardiovascular disease research, and recent studies exploring the role of circRNAs in CTIC have had promising results. This review will summarize the current understanding of circRNAs' biogenesis, regulation and function. Their clinical potential as biomarkers, therapeutic agents and drug targets will also be explored.