Oxygen levels and the regulation of cell adhesion in the nervous system: a control point for morphogenesis in development, disease and evolution?

Hypoxia Induces Extensive Protein and Proteolytic Remodeling of the Cell Surface in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) Cell Lines

The tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a crucial role in cancer progression. Hypoxia is a hallmark of the TME and induces a cascade of molecular events that affect cellular processes involved in metabolism, metastasis, and proteolysis. In pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), tumor tissues are extremely hypoxic. Here, we leveraged mass spectrometry technologies to examine hypoxia-induced alterations in the abundance and proteolytic modifications to cell surface and secreted proteins. Across four PDAC cell lines, we discovered extensive proteolytic remodeling of cell surface proteins involved in cellular adhesion and motility. Looking outward at the surrounding secreted space, we identified hypoxia-regulated secreted and proteolytically shed proteins involved in regulating the humoral immune and inflammatory response, and an upregulation of proteins involved in metabolic processing and tissue development. Combining cell surface N-terminomics and secretomics to evaluate the cellular response to hypoxia enabled us to identify significantly altered candidate proteins which may serve as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets in PDAC. Furthermore, this approach provides a blueprint for studying dysregulated extracellular proteolysis in other cancers and inflammatory diseases.

Multisite and multitimepoint proteomics reveal that patent foramen ovale closure improves migraine and epilepsy by reducing right-to-left shunt-induced hypoxia

Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is a congenital defect in the partition between two atria, which may cause right-to-left shunt (RLS), leading to neurological chronic diseases with episodic manifestations (NCDEMs), such as migraine and epilepsy. However, whether PFO closure was effective in improving NCDEMs and the mechanism were unclear. Twenty-eight patients with migraine or epilepsy who underwent PFO closure were recruited. Notably, approximately half of patients received 50% or more reduction in seizure or headache attacks. Meanwhile, the postoperative blood oxygen partial pressure and oxygen saturation were elevated after PFO closure. Multisite (peripheral, right, and left atrial) and multitimepoint (before and after surgery) plasma proteomics from patients showed that the levels of free hemoglobin and cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) were significantly increased after PFO closure, which may be related to the relief of the hypoxic state. Furtherly, the omics data from multiple brain regions of mice revealed that a large number of proteins were differentially expressed in the occipital region in response to PFO, including redox molecules and CAMs, suggesting PFO-caused hypoxia may have great impacts on occipital region. Collectively, PFO may cause NCDEMs due to RLS-induced hypoxia, and PFO closure could prevent RLS to improve migraine and epilepsy.

Physical Properties of Implanted Porous Bioscaffolds Regulate Skin Repair: Focusing on Mechanical and Structural Features

Porous bioscaffolds are applied to facilitate skin repair since the early 1990s, but a perfect regeneration outcome has yet to be achieved. Until now, most efforts have focused on modulating the chemical properties of bioscaffolds, while physical properties are traditionally overlooked. Recent advances in mechanobiology and mechanotherapy have highlighted the importance of biomaterials' physical properties in the regulation of cellular behaviors and regenerative processes. In skin repair, the mechanical and structural features of porous bioscaffolds are two major physical properties that determine therapeutic efficacy. Here, first an overview of natural skin repair with an emphasis on the major biophysically sensitive cell types involved in this multistage process is provided, followed by an introduction of the four roles of bioscaffolds as skin implants. Then, how the mechanical and structural features of bioscaffolds influence these four roles is discussed. The mechanical and structural features of porous bioscaffolds should be tailored to balance the acceleration of wound closure and functional improvements of the repaired skin. This study emphasizes that decoupling and precise control of the mechanical and structural features of bioscaffolds are significant aspects that should be considered in future biomaterial optimization, which can build a foundation to ultimately achieve perfect skin regeneration outcomes.

Cooperation of HIF- and NCAM-mediated mechanisms in cell viability of hippocampal cultures after oxygen-glucose deprivation

Neurodegenerative diseases of different genesis are the result of cellular damages including those caused by oxygen and glucose deficit. Neuronal survival or death in brain pathologies depends on a variety of interrelated molecular mechanisms. A key role in modulation of neuron viability belongs to HIF (hypoxia-inducible factor) and NCAM (neural cell adhesion molecules) signaling pathways. In this work, we used organotypic and dissociated hippocampal cultures to analyze cell viability and HIF-1α immunopositive (HIF-1α⁺ ) signal after 30 min oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) followed by 24 h of reoxygenation in the presence of FGL (synthetic NCAM-derived mimetic peptide). According to LDH- and MTS-assay of cell viability, FGL showed a neuroprotective effect, which was attributed to the association with FGFR. We showed that these effects correlated with changes of the HIF-1α⁺ level suggesting the communications of HIF and NCAM signaling pathways. These data extend our knowledge of neurodegeneration mechanisms and open additional potential for the development of neuroprotection strategies.