2-Iodohexadecanal inhibits thyroid cell growth in part through the induction of let-7f microRNA

2-iodohexadecanal induces autophagy during goiter involution

BACKGROUND

Iodine plays an important role in thyroid physiology and biochemistry. The thyroid is capable of producing different iodolipids such as 2-iodohexadecanal (2-IHDA). Data from different laboratories have shown that 2-IHDA inhibits several thyroid parameters and it has been postulated as intermediary on the action of iodide function.

OBJECTIVE

To explore different mechanisms involved during the involution of the hyperplastic thyroid gland of Wistar rats towards normality induced by 2-IHDA.

METHODS

Goiter was induced by the administration of MMI for 10 days, then the treatment was discontinued and Wistar rats were injected with 2-IHDA or KI.

RESULTS

During involution, 2-IHDA treatment reduced PCNA expression compared to spontaneous involution. KI treatment caused an increase of Caspase-3 activity and TUNEL-positive cells. In contrast, 2-IHDA failed to alter this value but induced an increase of LC3B expression. KI but not 2-IHDA led to an increase in peroxides levels, catalase and glutathione peroxidase activity.

CONCLUSIONS

We demonstrated that 2-IHDA, in contrast to iodide, did not lead to an increase in oxidative stress or apoptosis induction, indicating that the involution triggered by 2-IHDA in Wistar rats, is primarily due to the inhibition of cell proliferation and the induction of autophagy.

Non-coding RNAs in Various Stages of Liver Disease Leading to Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Differential Expression of miRNAs, piRNAs, lncRNAs, circRNAs, and sno/mt-RNAs

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was the fifth leading cause of cancer death in men and eighth leading cause of death in women in the United States in 2017. In our study, we sought to identify sncRNAs in various stages of development of HCC. We obtained publicly available small RNA-seq data derived from patients with cirrhosis (n = 14), low-grade dysplastic nodules (LGDN, n = 9), high grade dysplastic nodules (HGDN, n = 6), early hepatocellular carcinoma (eHCC, n = 6), and advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC, n = 20), along with healthy liver tissue samples (n = 9). All samples were analyzed for various types of non-coding RNAs using PartekFlow software. We remapped small RNA-seq to miRBase to obtain differential expressions of miRNAs and found 87 in cirrhosis, 106 in LGDN, 59 in HGDN, 80 in eHCC, and 133 in HCC. Pathway analysis of miRNAs obtained from diseased samples compared to normal samples showed signaling pathways in the microRNA dependent EMT, CD44, and others. Additionally, we analyzed the data sets for piRNAs, lncRNAs, circRNAs, and sno/mt-RNAs. We validated the in silico data using human HCC samples with NanoString miRNA global expression. Our results suggest that publically available data is a valuable resource for sncRNA identification in HCC progression (FDR set to <0.05 for all samples) and that a data mining approach is useful for biomarker development.

Circulating MicroRNAs in Graves' Disease in Relation to Clinical Activity

BACKGROUND

Understanding the roles of circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) can provide important and novel information regarding disease pathogenesis and a patient's clinical condition. Circulating miRNAs, such as exosomal miRNA, may regulate various bioactivities related to intercellular communication. However, the circulation of miRNAs in Graves' disease (GD) in relation to disease activity has never been elucidated. This study aimed to identify circulating miRNAs in GD in relation to disease activity and whether their exosomes play a role in the pathogenesis of GD.

METHODS

Circulating miRNAs were measured in serum obtained from seven intractable GD patients, seven GD patients in remission, and seven healthy controls using the miScript miRNA PCR Array. Altered miRNAs selected from array data were validated in 65 subjects. To investigate exosome biology, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were incubated with exosomes isolated from the subjects' sera. mRNAs were quantified for cytokines using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction.

RESULTS

Circulating miR-23b-5p and miR-92a-39 were increased in GD patients in remission compared with intractable GD patients (p < 0.05). On the other hand, let-7g-3p and miR-339-5p were decreased in GD patients in remission compared with intractable GD patients (p < 0.05). Exosomes from intractable GD patients stimulated mRNA expression for IL-1β and TNF-α compared with GD patients in remission or healthy controls.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates that different levels of circulating miRNAs are associated with intractable GD. Moreover, serum exosomes of patients with intractable GD may activate immune cells, which may play an important role in GD pathogenesis.