RETRACTED: MicroRNA-16-5p/BTG2 axis affects neurological function, autophagy and apoptosis of hippocampal neurons in Alzheimer's disease

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy). This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief as there are concerns about the reliability of the results. Concerns have been raised about the western blot bands in Figures 6 B + D having the same eyebrow shaped phenotype as found in many other publications as detailed here (https://pubpeer.com/publications/B32F93859FBAA13471ED0FFCA5BCB6). The journal requested the corresponding author to comment on these concerns and send the raw data, however the author was not able to provide uncropped images of the original gels. The Editor-in-Chief therefore no longer has confidence in the data and conclusions of this study.

Shared and oppositely regulated transcriptomic signatures in Huntington's disease and brain ischemia confirm known and unveil novel potential neuroprotective genes

Huntington's disease and subcortical vascular dementia display similar dementing features, shaped by different degrees of striatal atrophy, deep white matter degeneration and tau pathology. To investigate the hypothesis that Huntington's disease transcriptomic hallmarks may provide a window into potential protective genes upregulated during brain acute and subacute ischemia, we compared RNA sequencing signatures in the most affected brain areas of 2 widely used experimental mouse models: Huntington's disease, (R6/2, striatum and cortex and Q175, hippocampus) and brain ischemia-subcortical vascular dementia (BCCAS, striatum, cortex and hippocampus). We identified a cluster of 55 shared genes significantly differentially regulated in both models and we screened these in 2 different mouse models of Alzheimer's disease, and 96 early-onset familial and apparently sporadic small vessel ischemic disease patients. Our data support the prevalent role of transcriptional regulation upon genetic coding variability of known neuroprotective genes (Egr2, Fos, Ptgs2, Itga5, Cdkn1a, Gsn, Npas4, Btg2, Cebpb) and provide a list of potential additional ones likely implicated in different dementing disorders and worth further investigation.

Deletion of B-cell translocation gene 2 (BTG2) alters the responses of glial cells in white matter to chronic cerebral hypoperfusion

BACKGROUND

Subcortical ischemic vascular dementia, one of the major subtypes of vascular dementia, is characterized by lacunar infarcts and white matter lesions caused by chronic cerebral hypoperfusion. In this study, we used a mouse model of bilateral common carotid artery stenosis (BCAS) to investigate the role of B-cell translocation gene 2 (BTG2), an antiproliferation gene, in the white matter glial response to chronic cerebral hypoperfusion.

METHODS

Btg2-/- mice and littermate wild-type control mice underwent BCAS or sham operation. Behavior phenotypes were assessed by open-field test and Morris water maze test. Brain tissues were analyzed for the degree of white matter lesions and glial changes. To further confirm the effects of Btg2 deletion on proliferation of glial cells in vitro, BrdU incorporation was investigated in mixed glial cells derived from wild-type and Btg2-/- mice.

RESULTS

Relative to wild-type mice with or without BCAS, BCAS-treated Btg2-/- mice exhibited elevated spontaneous locomotor activity and poorer spatial learning ability. Although the severities of white matter lesions did not significantly differ between wild-type and Btg2-/- mice after BCAS, the immunoreactivities of GFAP, a marker of astrocytes, and Mac2, a marker of activated microglia and macrophages, in the white matter of the optic tract were higher in BCAS-treated Btg2-/- mice than in BCAS-treated wild-type mice. The expression level of Gfap was also significantly elevated in BCAS-treated Btg2-/- mice. In vitro analysis showed that BrdU incorporation in mixed glial cells in response to inflammatory stimulation associated with cerebral hypoperfusion was higher in Btg2-/- mice than in wild-type mice.

CONCLUSION

BTG2 negatively regulates glial cell proliferation in response to cerebral hypoperfusion, resulting in behavioral changes.

Elevation of miR-146a Inhibits BTG2/BAX Expression to Ameliorate Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction Following Probiotics (VSL#3) Treatment

It has been reported that the gut microbiome modulates postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD), and that administration of probiotics (VSL#3) may effectively relieve POCD. In this study, we aimed to identify the underlying mechanism of VSL#3 in POCD. A mouse model of POCD was constructed in adult male C57BL/6 mice, which were then treated with VSL#3. VSL#3 exerted a protective role against POCD and resultant neuronal apoptosis. The expression of miR-146a was found to be downregulated in hippocampal tissues of POCD mice, while VSL#3 could restore its expression. Loss- and gain-function approaches were conducted to determine the roles of microRNA (miR)-146a, B-cell translocation gene 2 (BTG2), and Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) in post-operative effects on cognitive function and neuronal apoptosis. The levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were measured to determine oxidative stress in brain tissue. The dual-luciferase reporter gene assay identified that miR-146a could target BTG2 and negatively regulate its expression. BTG2 knockdown suppressed neuronal apoptosis and contributed to shortened time of latency, prolonged time of mice spent in the target quadrant, and reduced oxidative stress through downregulating Bax expression. Finally, VSL#3 treatment upregulated the expression of miR-146a to block BTG2/Bax axis and consequently inhibited neuronal apoptosis and reduced oxidative stress in POCD mice. Taken together, the study suggested that miR-146a-mediated suppression of BTG2/Bax contributed to the protective role of probiotics treatment against POCD.

Elevation of gene expression of Btg2, Gadd 153, and antioxidant markers in RONS-induced PC12 cells

Background

Free radicals generated in the biological system bring about modifications in biological molecules causing damage to their structure and function. Identifying the damage caused by ROS and RNS is important to predict the pathway of apoptosis due to stress in PC12 cells. The first defense mechanisms against them are antioxidants which act in various pathways through important cellular organelles like the mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum. Specific biomarkers like Gadd153 which is a marker for endoplasmic reticulum stress, Nrf2 which responds to the redox changes and translocates the antioxidant response elements, and Btg2 which is an antioxidant regulator have not been addressed in different stress conditions previously in PC12 cells. Therefore, the study was conducted to analyze the gene expression pattern (SOD, Catalase, Btg2, Gadd153, and Nrf2) and the protein expression pattern (iNOS and MnSOD) of the antioxidant stress markers in differential stress-induced PC12 cells. Peroxynitrite (1 μM), rotenone (1 μM), H2O2(100 mM), and high glucose (33 mM) were used to induce oxidative and nitrosative stress in PC12 cells.

Results

The results obtained suggested that rotenone-induced PC12 cells showed a significant increase in the expression of catalase, Btg2, and Gadd153 compared to the control. Peroxynitrite-induced PC12 cells showed higher expression of Btg2 compared to the control. H2O2 and high glucose showed lesser expression compared to the control in all stress marker genes. In contrast, the Nrf2 gene expression is downregulated in all the stress-induced PC12 cells compared to the control. Further, MnSOD and iNOS protein expression studies suggest that PC12 cells exhibit a selective downregulation. Lower protein expression of MnSOD and iNOS may be resulted due to the mitochondrial dysfunction in peroxynitrite-, high glucose-, and H2O2-treated cells, whereas rotenone-induced cells showed lower expression, which could be the result of a dysfunction of the endoplasmic reticulum.

Conclusion

Different stress inducers like rotenone, peroxynitrite, H2O2, and high glucose increase the NO and ROS. Btg2 and Gadd153 genes were upregulated in the stress-induced cells, whereas the Nrf2 was significantly downregulated in differential stress-induced PC12 cells. Further, antioxidant marker genes were differentially expressed with different stress inducers.

Cilostazol alleviates white matter degeneration caused by chronic cerebral hypoperfusion in mice: Implication of its mechanism from gene expression analysis

Cilostazol is known to alleviate white matter demyelination due to chronic cerebral hypoperfusion in rodent models, although their pharmacological mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the protective effect of cilostazol in relation to gene expression profile. Bilateral common carotid artery stenosis (BCAS) mice were treated with oral administration of cilostazol or placebo starting from a week after the surgery. Demyelination of the cingulum was compared between the 2 groups 2, 6, and 10 weeks after initial drug administration. Also, to examine temporal gene expression change during demyelination, DNA microarray analysis was conducted using samples from the corpus callosum of 2nd and 6th week BCAS mice. For genes that showed more than 2-fold up-regulation, their increase was validated by qPCR. Finally, to determine the effect of cilostazol towards those genes, their expression in the corpus callosum of 6-week placebo-treated and cilostazol-treated BCAS mice was compared by qPCR. Amelioration of myelin loss was observed in cilostazol-treated group, showing significant difference with those observed in placebo group after 10-week treatment. Gene ontology analysis of the 17 up-regulated (FDR<0.01) genes showed that majority of the genes were related to cell development processes. Among the validated genes, expression of Btg2 was significantly promoted in the corpus callosum of BCAS mice by administration of cilostazol. Results of this study suggest that activation of Btg2 may be one of the key pharmacological effects of cilostazol towards the white matter during chronic ischemia.

Convergent and divergent pathways decoding hierarchical additive mechanisms in treating cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury

INTRODUCTION

Cerebral ischemia is considered to be a highly complex disease resulting from the complicated interplay of multiple pathways. Disappointedly, most of the previous studies were limited to a single gene or a single pathway. The extent to which all involved pathways are translated into fusing mechanisms of a combination therapy is of fundamental importance.

AIMS

We report an integrative strategy to reveal the additive mechanism that a combination (BJ) of compound baicalin (BA) and jasminoidin (JA) fights against cerebral ischemia based on variation of pathways and functional communities.

RESULTS

We identified six pathways of BJ group that shared diverse additive index from 0.09 to 1, which assembled broad cross talks from seven pathways of BA and 16 pathways of JA both at horizontal and vertical levels. Besides a total of 60 overlapping functions as a robust integration background among the three groups based on significantly differential subnetworks, additive mechanism with strong confidence by networks altered functions.

CONCLUSIONS

These results provide strong evidence that the additive mechanism is more complex than previously appreciated, and an integrative analysis of pathways may suggest an important paradigm for revealing pharmacological mechanisms underlying drug combinations.

miRNA expression is modulated over time after focal ischaemia: up-regulation of miR-347 promotes neuronal apoptosis

Despite the large number of molecules reported as being over-expressed after ischaemia, little is known regarding their regulation. miRNAs are potent post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression, and reports have shown differentially miRNA expression in response to focal cerebral ischaemia. The present study analysed miRNA expression from acute to late phases of ischaemia to identify specific ischaemia-related miRNAs, elucidate their role, and identify potential targets involved in stroke pathophysiology. Of 112 miRNAs, 32 showed significant changes and different expression profiles. In addition to the previously reported differentially expressed miRNAs, new ischaemia-regulated miRNAs have been found, including miR-347. Forty-seven genes involved in brain functions or related to ischaemia are predicted to be potential targets of the differentially expressed miRNAs after middle cerebral artery occlusion. Analysis of four of these targets (Acsl4, Arf3, Btg2 and Dpysl5) showed them to be differentially regulated by ischaemia at the transcriptional or post-transcriptional level. Acsl4, Bnip3l and Phyhip, potential targets of miR-347, were up-regulated after miR-347 over-expression, inducing neuronal apoptotic death. Our findings suggest that miR-347 plays an important role in regulating neuronal cell death, identify Acsl4 as a new protein requiring study in ischaemia, and provide an important resource for future functional studies of miRNAs after ischaemia.

Regulation of Btg2(/TIS21/PC3) expression via reactive oxygen species-protein kinase C-ΝFκΒ pathway under stress conditions

Human B-cell translocation gene 2 (BTG2), an ortholog of mouse TIS21 (12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate inducible sequence 21) and rat PC3 (Pheochromocytoma Cell 3), is a tumor suppressor gene that belongs to an antiproliferative gene family. Btg2 is involved in a variety of biological processes including cell growth, development, differentiation, senescence, and cell death and its expression is strongly regulated by p53. Recently, we have reported transient induction of Btg2 expression in response to oxidative damage; however, the regulatory mechanism was not explored. In the present study we revealed ΝFκΒ as the upstream mediator involved in Btg2 transcription in response to cell stress challenges such as serum deprivation and oxidative stress i.e. H2O2, TPA or doxorubicin treatments in several cell lines. We observed close interrelation between generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), enhanced IκBα degradation, nuclear translocation of ΝFκΒ (p65/RelA) and the significant increase of Btg2 expression independent of p53 status. ChIP analysis revealed an enrichment of RelA (p65) bound to the κB response element on Btg2 promoter in response to the cell stress challenges. Employing various inhibitors led to cytoplasmic accumulation of IκBα, decreased p65 nuclear translocation along with significant reduction of Btg2 expression. Generation of ROS was the common event mediating ΝFκΒ activation and Btg2 transcription. Furthermore, PKC activation was also found to be a critical factor mediating ROS-mediated signals to NFκB pathway that culminate on Btg2 regulation, and specifically PKC-δ was responsible for this regulation under oxidative stress. However, serum deprivation-associated ROS generation bypassed PKC activation for induction of Btg2 expression via NFκB activation. The present data imply that oxidative stress upregulates Btg2 expression via ROS-PKC-ΝFκΒ cascade, independent of p53 status that in turn could be involved in mediating various biological phenotypes depending on the cellular context.

B-cell translocation gene 2 (BTG2) stimulates cellular antioxidant defenses through the antioxidant transcription factor NFE2L2 in human mammary epithelial cells

The B-cell translocation gene 2, BTG2, a member of the BTG/TOB (B-cell translocation gene/transducers of ErbB2) gene family, has been implicated in cell cycle regulation, normal development, and possibly tumor suppression. Previously, it was shown that BTG2 expression is lost or down-regulated in human breast cancers. We now report that BTG2 protects human mammary epithelial cells from oxidative stress due to hydrogen peroxide and other oxidants. BTG2 protection against oxidative stress is BRCA1-independent but requires the antioxidant transcription factor NFE2L2 and is associated with up-regulation of the expression of antioxidant enzymes, including catalase and superoxide dismutases 1 and 2. BTG2 stimulation of antioxidant gene expression is also NFE2L2-dependent. We further demonstrate that BTG2 is a binding partner for NFE2L2 and increases its transcriptional activity. In addition, BTG2 is detectable at the antioxidant response element (ARE) of several NFE2L2-responsive genes. Finally, we show that the ability of BTG2 to associate with NFE2L2, to protect cells against oxidative stress, and to stimulate antioxidant gene expression requires box B, a short highly conserved amino acid motif characteristic of BTG2/TOB family proteins, but does not require boxes A or C. These findings suggest a novel role for BTG2 as a co-activator for NFE2L2 in up-regulating cellular antioxidant defenses.