Crucial Function of Caveolin-1 in Deoxynivalenol-Induced Enterotoxicity by Activating ROS-Dependent NLRP3 Inflammasome-Mediated Pyroptosis

Subacute ruminal acidosis induces pyroptosis via the mitophagy-mediated NLRP3 inflammasome activation in the livers of dairy cows fed a high-grain diet

High-grain (HG) feeding can trigger subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA) and subsequent liver tissue injury. This study investigated pyroptosis and NLRP3 inflammasome activation in SARA-induced liver injury, and the role of mitophagy during this process. Twelve mid-lactating Holstein cows equipped with rumen fistulas were randomly divided into 2 groups: a low-grain (LG) diet group (grain:forage = 4:6) and a HG diet group (grain:forage = 6:4). Each group had 6 cows. The experiment lasted for 3 wk. The ruminal fluid was collected through the rumen fistula on experimental d 20 and 21, and the pH immediately measured. At the end of the experiment, all animals were slaughtered, and peripheral blood and liver tissue were collected. The ruminal pH was lower in the HG group than that in the LG group at all time points. In addition, the ruminal pH in the HG group was lower than 5.6 at 3 consecutive time points after feeding (4, 6, and 8 h on d 20; 2, 4, and 6 h on d 21), indicating that HG feeding induced SARA. The content of lipopolysaccharide, IL-1β, and apoptosis-related cysteine protease 1 (caspase-1) and the activity of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase in the blood plasma of the HG group were all significantly increased. Hepatic caspase-1 activity was increased in the livers of the HG group. The increased expression levels of pyroptosis- and NLRP3 inflammasome-related genes IL1B, IL18, gasdermin D (GSDMD), apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a card (ASC), NLR family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3), and caspase-1 (CASP1) in liver tissue of the HG group were detected. Furthermore, western blot analysis showed that HG feeding led to increased expression of pyroptosis- and NLRP3 inflammasome-related proteins GSDMD N-terminal (GSDMD-NT), IL-1β, IL-18, cleaved-caspase-1, ASC, NLRP3, and cleaved-caspase-11 and upregulated expression of mitophagy-related proteins microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 II (MAP1LC3-II), beclin 1 (BECN1), Parkin, and PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1) in liver tissue. Collectively, our results revealed that SARA caused increased mitophagy and activated the NLRP3 inflammasome, causing pyroptosis and subsequent liver injury in dairy cows fed a HG diet.

PANoptosis-related genes function as efficient prognostic biomarkers in colon adenocarcinoma

Background

PANoptosis is a newly discovered cell death type, and tightly associated with immune system activities. To date, the mechanism, regulation and application of PANoptosis in tumor is largely unknown. Our aim is to explore the prognostic value of PANoptosis-related genes in colon adenocarcinoma (COAD).

Methods

Analyzing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas-COAD (TCGA-COAD) involving 458 COAD cases, we concentrated on five PANoptosis pathways from the Molecular Signatures Database (MSigDB) and a comprehensive set of immune-related genes. Our approach involved identifying distinct genetic COAD subtype clusters and developing a prognostic model based on these parameters.

Results

The research successfully identified two genetic subtype clusters in COAD, marked by distinct profiles in PANoptosis pathways and immune-related gene expression. A prognostic model, incorporating these findings, demonstrated significant predictive power for survival outcomes, underscoring the interplay between PANoptosis and immune responses in COAD.

Conclusion

This study enhances our understanding of COAD's genetic framework, emphasizing the synergy between cell death pathways and the immune system. The development of a prognostic model based on these insights offers a promising tool for personalized treatment strategies. Future research should focus on validating and refining this model in clinical settings to optimize therapeutic interventions in COAD.

Perfluorooctane sulfonate causes pyroptosis and lipid metabolism disorders through ROS-mediated NLRP3 inflammasome activation in grass carp hepatocyte

The surfactant perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) is widely produced worldwide. It is a persistent organic pollutant in the aquatic environment and poses a serious threat to aquatic organisms, as PFOS exposure can cause liver injury in a wide range of organisms. However, it is unclear whether PFOS exposure-induced hepatocellular injury in fish is associated with ROS-mediated activation of NLRP3 inflammasome. In this study, various PFOS concentrations were applied to L8824 cells, a cell line of grass carp hepatocytes. The detrimental impacts of PFOS on oxidative stress, pyroptosis, lipid metabolism, and the discharge of inflammatory factors were examined. MCC950 and N-acetylcysteine were employed to hinder the PFOS-stimulated activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome and the excessive generation of reactive oxygen species in L8824 cells, respectively. This study demonstrated that treatment with PFOS resulted in oxidative stress and activation of NLRP3 inflammasome in L8824 cells. This led to increased expression levels of indicators related to pyroptosis, accompanied by the upregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokine expression as well as downregulation of anti-inflammatory factors. In addition, following PFOS exposure, the expression levels of genes related to lipid synthesis were upregulated and lipid catabolism-related genes were downregulated. Surprisingly, both N-acetylcysteine and MCC950 interventions significantly reduced PFOS-induced L8824 cell pyroptosis and lipid metabolism disorders. In conclusion, this research demonstrated that PFOS drives NLRP3 inflammasome activation through oxidative stress induced by reactive oxygen species overload. This in turn leads to pyroptosis and lipid metabolism disorders.

Pyroptotic cell death: an emerging therapeutic opportunity for radiotherapy

Pyroptotic cell death, an inflammatory form of programmed cell death (PCD), is emerging as a potential therapeutic opportunity for radiotherapy (RT). RT is commonly used for cancer treatment, but its effectiveness can be limited by tumor resistance and adverse effects on healthy tissues. Pyroptosis, characterized by cell swelling, membrane rupture, and release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, has been shown to enhance the immune response against cancer cells. By inducing pyroptotic cell death in tumor cells, RT has the potential to enhance treatment outcomes by stimulating anti-tumor immune responses and improving the overall efficacy of RT. Furthermore, the release of danger signals from pyroptotic cells can promote the recruitment and activation of immune cells, leading to a systemic immune response that may target distant metastases. Although further research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms and optimize the use of pyroptotic cell death in RT, it holds promise as a novel therapeutic strategy for improving cancer treatment outcomes. This review aims to synthesize recent research on the regulatory mechanisms underlying radiation-induced pyroptosis and to elucidate the potential significance of this process in RT. The insights gained from this analysis may inform strategies to enhance the efficacy of RT for tumors.

Chlorogenic acid attenuates deoxynivalenol-induced apoptosis and pyroptosis in human keratinocytes via activating Nrf2/HO-1 and inhibiting MAPK/NF-κB/NLRP3 pathways

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a common mycotoxic contaminant, frequently found in food and feed, causing a severe threat to human and animal health. Because of the widespread contamination of DON, humans involved in agricultural practices may be directly exposed to DON through the skin route. Chlorogenic acid (CGA) is a phenolic acid, which has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. However, it is still unclear whether CGA can protect against DON-induced skin damage. Here, the effect of CGA on mitigating damage to human keratinocytes (HaCaT) triggered by DON, as well as its underlying mechanisms were investigated. Results demonstrated that DON exposure significantly decreased cell viability, and induced excessive mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mtROS) generation, mitochondrial damage, oxidative stress, cell apoptosis and pyroptosis. However, CGA pretreatment for 2 h significantly increased cell viability and reversed DON-induced oxidative stress by improving antioxidant enzyme activities such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT), reducing mtROS generation and enhancing mitochondrial function through activating Nrf2/HO-1 pathway. Moreover, CGA significantly increased the Bcl-2 protein expression, decreased the protein expressions of Bax and cleaved Caspase-3, and suppressed the phosphorylated of ERK, JNK, NF-κB. Further experiments revealed that CGA could also inhibit the pyroptosis-related protein expressions including NLRP3, cleaved Caspase-1, GSDMD-N, cleaved IL-1β and IL-18. In conclusion, our results suggest that CGA could attenuate DON-induced oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis by activating the Nrf2/HO-1 pathway and inhibiting MAPK/NF-κB/NLRP3 pathway. CGA might be a novel promising therapeutic agent for alleviating the dermal damage triggered by DON.

Tanshinone IIA protects intestinal epithelial cells from deoxynivalenol-induced pyroptosis

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is the most common mycotoxin in food and feed, which can cause undesirable effects, including diarrhea, emesis, weight loss, and growth delay in livestock. Intestinal epithelial cells were the main target of DON, which can cause oxidative stress and inflammatory injury. Tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA) is fat-soluble diterpene quinone, which is the most abundant active ingredient in salvia miltiorrhiza plant with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory characteristics. However, it is not clear whether Tan IIA can protect against or inhibit intestinal oxidative stress and inflammatory injury under DON exposure. This study aimed to explore the protective effect of Tan IIA on DON-induced toxicity in porcine jejunum epithelial cells (IPEC-J2). Cells were exposed to 0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 µM DON and/or 45 µg/mL TAN ⅡA to detect oxidative stress indicators. inflammatory cytokines, NF-κB expression, NLRP3 inflammasome and pyroptosis-related factors. In this study, DON exposure caused IPEC-J2 cells oxidative stress by elevating ROS and 8-OHdG content, inhibited GSH-Px activity. Furthermore, DON increased pro-inflammatory factor (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-18 and IL-6) expression and decreased the anti-inflammatory factor (IL-10) expression, causing inflammatory response via triggering NF-κB pathway. Interestingly, above changes were alleviated after Tan IIA treatment. In addition, Tan IIA relieved DON-induced pyroptosis by suppressing the expression of pyroptosis-related factors (NLRP3, Caspase-1, GSDMD, IL-1β, and IL-18). In general, our data suggested that Tan IIA can ameliorate DON-induced intestinal epithelial cells injury associated with suppressing the pyroptosis signaling pathway. Our findings pointed that Tan IIA could be used as the potential therapeutic drugs on DON-induced enterotoxicity.

Real-life exposure to Fusarium toxins deoxynivalenol and zearalenone triggers apoptosis and activates NLRP3 inflammasome in bovine primary theca cells

Cattle are deemed less susceptible to mycotoxins due to the limited internal exposure resulting from rumen microbiota activity. However, the significant amounts of Fusarium mycotoxins deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEN) frequently detected in bovine follicular fluid samples suggest that they could affect ovarian function. Both mycotoxins trigger several patterns of cell death and activate the NLRP3 inflammasome in the intestine. In vitro studies have reported a number of adverse effects on bovine oocytes. However, the biological relevance of such findings with regard to realistic concentrations of DON and ZEN in bovine follicular fluid is still not clear. Hence, it is important to better characterize the effects of dietary exposure to DON and ZEN on the bovine ovary. Using bovine primary theca cells, this study investigated the effects of real-life patterns for bovine ovary exposure to DON and ZEN, but also DON metabolite DOM-1, on cell death and NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Exposure to DON starting from 0.1 μM significantly decreased theca cell viability. The kinetics of phosphatidylserine translocation and loss of membrane integrity showed that ZEN and DON, but not DOM-1, induce an apoptotic phenotype. qPCR analysis of the expression of NLRP3, PYCARD, IL-1β, IL-18, and GSDMD in primary theca cells at concentrations of mycotoxin previously reported in cow follicular fluid clearly indicated that DON and DOM-1 individually and in mixture, but not ZEN, activate NLRP3 inflammasome. Altogether, these results suggest that real-life dietary exposure of cattle to DON may induce inflammatory disorders in the ovary.

Deoxynivalenol: Emerging Toxic Mechanisms and Control Strategies, Current and Future Perspectives

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is the most frequently present mycotoxin contaminant in food and feed, causing a variety of toxic effects in humans and animals. Currently, a series of mechanisms involved in DON toxicity have been identified. In addition to the activation of oxidative stress and the MAPK signaling pathway, DON can activate hypoxia-inducible factor-1α, which further regulates reactive oxygen species production and cancer cell apoptosis. Noncoding RNA and signaling pathways including Wnt/β-catenin, FOXO, and TLR4/NF-κB also participate in DON toxicity. The intestinal microbiota and the brain-gut axis play a crucial role in DON-induced growth inhibition. In view of the synergistic toxic effect of DON and other mycotoxins, strategies to detect DON and control it biologically and the development of enzymes for the biodegradation of various mycotoxins and their introduction in the market are the current and future research hotspots.

Dietary disodium fumarate supplementation alleviates subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA)-induced liver damage by inhibiting pyroptosis via mitophagy-NLRP3 inflammasome pathway in lactating Hu sheep

Liver damage is common in ruminants with subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA). Disodium fumarate (DF) could regulate rumen microbial community and neutralize ruminal organic acids. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of dietary DF supplementation on SARA-induced liver damage and investigate the underlying mechanism. The results showed that feeding a high-concentrate diet induced decreased rumen fluid pH and increased ruminal LPS. The rumen fluid pH in the HC group was less than 5.6 at 4 time points, indicating that SARA was successfully induced. The histopathological analysis showed that in the HC group, hemorrhage and inflammatory cell infiltration were observed in liver tissue. Using ELISA kits and biochemical analyzer, we identified that the contents of interleukin 1beta (IL-1β), interleukin 18 (IL-18), caspase-1, and the activity of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in hepatic vein were elevated in the HC group. However, DF supplementation increased rumen fluid pH value, decreased ruminal LPS, attenuated hemorrhage and inflammatory cell infiltration in the liver tissue, and decreased contents of IL-1β, IL-18, caspase-1, AST, and ALT in the hepatic vein. Real-time PCR and western blot analysis displayed that SARA-induced increased expression of pyroptosis-related proteins (GSDMD-NT) was attenuated in the HCDF group. Meanwhile, SARA induced increased expression of mitophagy and inflammasome-related proteins (MAP1LC3-II, PINK1, Parkin, cleaved-caspase-11, cleaved-caspase-1, NLRP3, and ASC) and elevated expression of inflammasome-related genes (NLRP3, CASP1, and ASC), which was reversed by DF supplementation. Moreover, SARA activated toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)-nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway and inhibited the entry of forkhead box A2 (FOXA2) into the nucleus, which was reversed by DF supplementation. Collectively, our data suggest that dietary DF supplementation inhibited hepatocyte pyroptosis by regulating the mitophagy-NLRP3 inflammasome pathway and the NF-κB signaling pathway, thus alleviating SARA-induced liver damage in Hu sheep.

Pyroptosis-Mediated Damage Mechanism by Deoxynivalenol in Porcine Small Intestinal Epithelial Cells

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is known as a vomitoxin, which frequently contaminates feedstuffs, such as corn, wheat, and barley. Intake of DON-contaminated feed has been known to cause undesirable effects, including diarrhea, emesis, reduced feed intake, nutrient malabsorption, weight loss, and delay in growth, in livestock. However, the molecular mechanism of DON-induced damage of the intestinal epithelium requires further investigation. Treatment with DON triggered ROS in IPEC-J2 cells and increased the mRNA and protein expression levels of thioredoxin interacting protein (TXNIP). To investigate the activation of the inflammasome, we confirmed the mRNA and protein expression levels of the NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3), apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain (ASC), and caspase-1 (CASP-1). Moreover, we confirmed that caspase mediates the mature form of interleukin-18, and the cleaved form of Gasdermin D (GSDMD) was increased. Based on these results, our study suggests that DON can induce damage through oxidative stress and pyroptosis in the epithelial cells of the porcine small intestine via NLRP3 inflammasome.