Aggravation of post-ischemic liver injury by overexpression of insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3

Genetic Regulation of Liver Metabolites and Transcripts Linking to Biochemical-Clinical Parameters

Given the central metabolic role of the liver, hepatic metabolites and transcripts reflect the organismal physiological state. Biochemical-clinical plasma biomarkers, hepatic metabolites, transcripts, and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotypes of some 300 pigs were integrated by weighted correlation networks and genome-wide association analyses. Network-based approaches of transcriptomic and metabolomics data revealed linked of transcripts and metabolites of the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP). This finding was evidenced by using a NADP/NADPH assay and HDAC4 and G6PD transcript quantification with the latter coding for first limiting enzyme of this pathway and by RNAi knockdown experiments of HDAC4. Other transcripts including ARG2 and SLC22A7 showed link to amino acids and biomarkers. The amino acid metabolites were linked with transcripts of immune or acute phase response signaling, whereas the carbohydrate metabolites were highly enrich in cholesterol biosynthesis transcripts. Genome-wide association analyses revealed 180 metabolic quantitative trait loci (mQTL) (p < 10^-4). Trans-4-hydroxy-L-proline (p = 6 × 10^-9), being strongly correlated with plasma creatinine (CREA), showed strongest association with SNPs on chromosome 6 that had pleiotropic effects on PRODH2 expression as revealed by multivariate analysis. Consideration of shared marker association with biomarkers, metabolites, and transcripts revealed 144 SNPs associated with 44 metabolites and 69 transcripts that are correlated with each other, representing 176 mQTL and expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL). This is the first work to report genetic variants associated with liver metabolite and transcript levels as well as blood biochemical-clinical parameters in a healthy porcine model. The identified associations provide links between variation at the genome, transcriptome, and metabolome level molecules with clinically relevant phenotypes. This approach has the potential to detect novel biomarkers displaying individual variation and promoting predictive biology in medicine and animal breeding.

Sirtuin 2 aggravates postischemic liver injury by deacetylating mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-1

Sirtuin 2 (Sirt2) is known to negatively regulate anoxia-reoxygenation injury in myoblasts. Because protein levels of Sirt2 are increased in ischemia-reperfusion (I/R)-injured liver tissues, we examined whether Sirt2 is protective or detrimental against hepatic I/R injury. We overexpressed Sirt2 in the liver of C57BL/6 mice using a Sirt2 adenovirus. Wild-type and Sirt2 knockout mice were subjected to a partial (70%) hepatic ischemia for 45 minutes, followed by various periods of reperfusion. In another set of experiments, wild-type mice were pretreated intraperitoneally with AGK2, a Sirt2 inhibitor. Isolated hepatocytes and Kupffer cells from wild-type and Sirt2 knockout mice were subjected to hypoxia-reoxygenation injury to determine the in vitro effects of Sirt2. Mice subjected to I/R injury showed typical patterns of hepatocellular damage. Prior injection with Sirt2 adenovirus aggravated liver injury, as demonstrated by increases in serum aminotransferases, prothrombin time, proinflammatory cytokines, hepatocellular necrosis and apoptosis, and neutrophil infiltration relative to control virus-injected mice. Pretreatment with AGK2 resulted in significant improvements in serum aminotransferase levels and histopathologic findings. Similarly, experiments with Sirt2 knockout mice also revealed reduced hepatocellular injury. The molecular mechanism of Sirt2's involvement in this aggravation of hepatic I/R injury includes the deacetylation and inhibition of mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-1 and consequent activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases.

CONCLUSION

Sirt2 is an aggravating factor during hepatic I/R injury. (Hepatology 2017;65:225-236).

The protein kinase 2 inhibitor tetrabromobenzotriazole protects against renal ischemia reperfusion injury

Protein kinase 2 (CK2) activation was reported to enhance reactive oxygen species production and activate the nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) pathway. Because oxidative stress and inflammation are critical events for tissue destruction during ischemia reperfusion (I/R), we sought to determine whether CK2 was important in the renal response to I/R. Mice underwent 25 min of renal ischemia and were then reperfused. We confirmed an increased expression of CK2α during the reperfusion period, while expression of CK2β remained consistent. We administered tetrabromobenzotriazole (TBBt), a selective CK2α inhibitor before inducing I/R injury. Mice subjected to I/R injury showed typical patterns of acute kidney injury; blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine levels, tubular necrosis and apoptosis, inflammatory cell infiltration and proinflammatory cytokine production, and oxidative stress were markedly increased when compared to sham mice. However, pretreatment with TBBt abolished these changes and improved renal function and architecture. Similar renoprotective effects of CK2α inhibition were observed for emodin. Renoprotective effects of CK2α inhibition were associated with suppression of NF-κB and mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways. Taken together, these results suggest that CK2α mediates proapoptotic and proinflammatory signaling, thus the CK2α inhibitor may be used to prevent renal I/R injuries observed in clinical settings.