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Wlodarczyk J, Leng A, Abadchi SN, Shababi N, Mokhtari-Esbuie F, Gheshlaghi S, Ravari MR, Pippenger EK, Afrasiabi A, Ha J, Abraham JM, Harmon JW. Transfection of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α mRNA upregulates the expression of genes encoding angiogenic growth factors. Sci Rep 2024; 14:6738. [PMID: 38509125 PMCID: PMC10954730 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-54941-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2023] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1α (HIF-1α) has presented a new direction for ischemic preconditioning of surgical flaps to promote their survival. In a previous study, we demonstrated the effectiveness of HIF-1a DNA plasmids in this application. In this study, to avoid complications associated with plasmid use, we sought to express HIF-1α through mRNA transfection and determine its biological activity by measuring the upregulation of downstream angiogenic genes. We transfected six different HIF-1a mRNAs-one predominant, three variant, and two novel mutant isoforms-into primary human dermal fibroblasts using Lipofectamine, and assessed mRNA levels using RT-qPCR. At all time points examined after transfection (3, 6, and 10 h), the levels of HIF-1α transcript were significantly higher in all HIF-1α transfected cells relative to the control (all p < 0.05, unpaired Student's T-test). Importantly, the expression of HIF-1α transcription response genes (VEGF, ANG-1, PGF, FLT1, and EDN1) was significantly higher in the cells transfected with all isoforms than with the control at six and/or ten hours post-transfection. All isoforms were transfected successfully into human fibroblast cells, resulting in the rapid upregulation of all five downstream angiogenic targets tested. These findings support the potential use of HIF-1α mRNA for protecting ischemic dermal flaps.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jakub Wlodarczyk
- Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 4940 Eastern Avenue, 1550 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA
- Department of General and Oncological Surgery, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
| | - Albert Leng
- Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 4940 Eastern Avenue, 1550 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA
| | - Sanaz Nourmohammadi Abadchi
- Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 4940 Eastern Avenue, 1550 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA
| | - Niloufar Shababi
- Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 4940 Eastern Avenue, 1550 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA
| | - Farzad Mokhtari-Esbuie
- Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 4940 Eastern Avenue, 1550 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA
| | - Shayan Gheshlaghi
- Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 4940 Eastern Avenue, 1550 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA
| | - Mohsen Rouhani Ravari
- Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 4940 Eastern Avenue, 1550 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA
- Department of Surgery, University of Chicago Medicine, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA
| | - Emma K Pippenger
- Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 4940 Eastern Avenue, 1550 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA
| | - Ali Afrasiabi
- Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 4940 Eastern Avenue, 1550 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA
| | - Jinny Ha
- Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA
| | - John M Abraham
- Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 4940 Eastern Avenue, 1550 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA
| | - John W Harmon
- Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 4940 Eastern Avenue, 1550 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA.
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Miyahara K, Hino M, Yu Z, Ono C, Nagaoka A, Hatano M, Shishido R, Yabe H, Tomita H, Kunii Y. The influence of tissue pH and RNA integrity number on gene expression of human postmortem brain. Front Psychiatry 2023; 14:1156524. [PMID: 37520228 PMCID: PMC10379646 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1156524] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2023] [Accepted: 06/26/2023] [Indexed: 08/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Evaluating and controlling confounders are necessary when investigating molecular pathogenesis using human postmortem brain tissue. Particularly, tissue pH and RNA integrity number (RIN) are valuable indicators for controlling confounders. However, the influences of these indicators on the expression of each gene in postmortem brain have not been fully investigated. Therefore, we aimed to assess these effects on gene expressions of human brain samples. Methods We isolated total RNA from occipital lobes of 13 patients with schizophrenia and measured the RIN and tissue pH. Gene expression was analyzed and gene sets affected by tissue pH and RIN were identified. Moreover, we examined the functions of these genes by enrichment analysis and upstream regulator analysis. Results We identified 2,043 genes (24.7%) whose expressions were highly correlated with pH; 3,004 genes (36.3%) whose expressions were highly correlated with RIN; and 1,293 genes (15.6%) whose expressions were highly correlated with both pH and RIN. Genes commonly affected by tissue pH and RIN were highly associated with energy production and the immune system. In addition, genes uniquely affected by tissue pH were highly associated with the cell cycle, whereas those uniquely affected by RIN were highly associated with RNA processing. Conclusion The current study elucidated the influence of pH and RIN on gene expression profiling and identified gene sets whose expressions were affected by tissue pH or RIN. These findings would be helpful in the control of confounders for future postmortem brain studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kazusa Miyahara
- Department of Disaster Psychiatry, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
| | - Mizuki Hino
- Department of Disaster Psychiatry, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, School of Medicine, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan
| | - Zhiqian Yu
- Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
| | - Chiaki Ono
- Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
| | - Atsuko Nagaoka
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, School of Medicine, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan
| | - Masataka Hatano
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, School of Medicine, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan
| | - Risa Shishido
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, School of Medicine, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan
| | - Hirooki Yabe
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, School of Medicine, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan
| | - Hiroaki Tomita
- Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
- Department of Psychiatry, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
| | - Yasuto Kunii
- Department of Disaster Psychiatry, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, School of Medicine, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan
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Samaja M, Ottolenghi S. The Oxygen Cascade from Atmosphere to Mitochondria as a Tool to Understand the (Mal)adaptation to Hypoxia. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24043670. [PMID: 36835089 PMCID: PMC9960749 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24043670] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2023] [Revised: 02/05/2023] [Accepted: 02/09/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Hypoxia is a life-threatening challenge for about 1% of the world population, as well as a contributor to high morbidity and mortality scores in patients affected by various cardiopulmonary, hematological, and circulatory diseases. However, the adaptation to hypoxia represents a failure for a relevant portion of the cases as the pathways of potential adaptation often conflict with well-being and generate diseases that in certain areas of the world still afflict up to one-third of the populations living at altitude. To help understand the mechanisms of adaptation and maladaptation, this review examines the various steps of the oxygen cascade from the atmosphere to the mitochondria distinguishing the patterns related to physiological (i.e., due to altitude) and pathological (i.e., due to a pre-existing disease) hypoxia. The aim is to assess the ability of humans to adapt to hypoxia in a multidisciplinary approach that correlates the function of genes, molecules, and cells with the physiologic and pathological outcomes. We conclude that, in most cases, it is not hypoxia by itself that generates diseases, but rather the attempts to adapt to the hypoxia condition. This underlies the paradigm shift that when adaptation to hypoxia becomes excessive, it translates into maladaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michele Samaja
- MAGI GROUP, San Felice del Benaco, 25010 Brescia, Italy
- Correspondence:
| | - Sara Ottolenghi
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy
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Samaja M. ARS Forum Oxygen Sensing. Antioxid Redox Signal 2022; 37:863-866. [PMID: 35943874 DOI: 10.1089/ars.2022.0099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Molecular oxygen is often represented as a double-edged sword, essential to sustain oxidative phosphorylation that provides the bulk of the cell biological energy, yet toxic. In the current geological era, its proportion in the atmosphere happens to be 20.93%-20.95%, but in past eras, it fluctuated within the 0%-30% range, with different forms of life that could adapt successfully even by using alternative redox sources as hydrogen sulfide. Actually, humans may have lost the ability to adapt to oxygen levels departing consistently from 20.93% to 20.95%. Consequently, either hypoxia or hyperoxia represents potentially lethal situations. Yet, they are more common than suspected. Hypoxia is found in physiological (high altitude, commercial flights, prebirth environment, and physical exercise) and pathological (inflammation, solid cancers, ischemia, as well as in cardiopulmonary, kidney, and neurodegenerative diseases) contexts, whereas hyperoxia, although less frequent, is the most used therapy in pulmonary patients and during anesthesia. The Forum "Oxygen Sensing" contains contributions aimed at clarifying the complex mechanisms underlying the responses to too much and too little oxygen at molecular, cellular, tissue, and body levels, highlighting the oxygen-sensing mechanisms in various districts of the organism. The translational interest of this Forum invests the modulation of the oxygen-sensing activity and sensitivity as a therapeutic perspective in the treatment of several diseases. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 37, 863-866.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michele Samaja
- Department of Health Science, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.,MAGI Group, San Felice del Benaco, Brescia, Italy
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