Hypoxia Induces Saturated Fatty Acids Accumulation and Reduces Unsaturated Fatty Acids Independently of Reverse Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle in L6 Myotubes

Design, synthesis and mechanistic anticancer activity of new acetylated 5-aminosalicylate-thiazolinone hybrid derivatives

The development of hybrid compounds has been widely considered as a promising strategy to circumvent the difficulties that emerge in cancer treatment. The well-established strategy of adding acetyl groups to certain drugs has been demonstrated to enhance their therapeutic efficacy. Based on our previous work, an approach of accommodating two chemical entities into a single structure was implemented to synthesize new acetylated hybrids (HH32 and HH33) from 5-aminosalicylic acid and 4-thiazolinone derivatives. These acetylated hybrids showed potential anticancer activities and distinct metabolomic profile with antiproliferative properties. The in-silico molecular docking predicts a strong binding of HH32 and HH33 to cell cycle regulators, and transcriptomic analysis revealed DNA repair and cell cycle as the main targets of HH33 compounds. These findings were validated using in vitro models. In conclusion, the pleiotropic biological effects of HH32 and HH33 compounds on cancer cells demonstrated a new avenue to develop more potent cancer therapies.

Urinary metabolite signatures reflect the altered host metabolism in severe obstructive sleep apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common sleep-related breathing disorder. The onset and progression of OSA are often linked with severe cardiovascular and metabolic comorbidities. At the same time, given the increasing prevalence of OSA, novel methods to screen OSA and its follow-up are needed. Untargeted metabolic profiling of OSA patients and healthy controls was planned to capture a snapshot of urinary metabolites and potential biomarkers using the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method.Polysomnography (PSG) confirmed severe OSA patients with AHI index ≥ 30 were considered for urine sample collection. The sample size was constituted of OSA (n = 36) and healthy controls (n = 36). Metabolite extraction and derivatization were performed and metabolomic analysis was performed by using GC-MS.The obtained data set was statistically analyzed using univariate and multivariate analysis. The Orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) was performed to screen differential metabolites between OSA patients and healthy controls.The metabolomic analysis revealed a total of 142 significantly altered metabolites of interest.Biomarker analysis allows for the creation of a list of putative urinary biomarkers including GABA, malic acid, glutamic acid, epichoric acid etc., with an accuracy of 99.8 % to 100 % for OSA screening. Subsequently, pathway analysis revealed that related biochemical pathways like the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA), glutamate/glutamine, amino acid and fatty acid metabolism, that are significantly interlinked with these metabolic biomarkers can play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of OSA. This study paves the way to undertake mass screening in a larger population to identify specific and reliable biomarkers.

Muscle Lipid Oxidation Is Not Affected by Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Diabetes and Healthy Subjects

The molecular mechanisms linking obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) remain unclear. This study investigated the effect of OSA on skeletal muscle lipid oxidation in nondiabetic controls and in type 2 diabetes (T2DM) patients. Forty-four participants matched for age and adiposity were enrolled: nondiabetic controls (control, n = 14), nondiabetic patients with severe OSA (OSA, n = 9), T2DM patients with no OSA (T2DM, n = 10), and T2DM patients with severe OSA (T2DM + OSA, n = 11). A skeletal muscle biopsy was performed; gene and protein expressions were determined and lipid oxidation was analyzed. An intravenous glucose tolerance test was performed to investigate glucose homeostasis. No differences in lipid oxidation (178.2 ± 57.1, 161.7 ± 22.4, 169.3 ± 50.9, and 140.0 ± 24.1 pmol/min/mg for control, OSA, T2DM, and T2DM+OSA, respectively; p > 0.05) or gene and protein expressions were observed between the groups. The disposition index, acute insulin response to glucose, insulin resistance, plasma insulin, glucose, and HBA1C progressively worsened in the following order: control, OSA, T2DM, and T2DM + OSA (p for trend <0.05). No association was observed between the muscle lipid oxidation and the glucose metabolism variables. We conclude that severe OSA is not associated with reduced muscle lipid oxidation and that metabolic derangements in OSA are not mediated through impaired muscle lipid oxidation.