The role of CEMIP in cancers and its transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation

CEMIP is a protein known for inducing cell migration and binding to hyaluronic acid. Functioning as a hyaluronidase, CEMIP primarily facilitates the breakdown of the extracellular matrix component, hyaluronic acid, thereby regulating various signaling pathways. Recent evidence has highlighted the significant role of CEMIP in different cancers, associating it with diverse pathological states. While identified as a biomarker for several diseases, CEMIP's mechanism in cancer seems distinct. Accumulating data suggests that CEMIP expression is triggered by chemical modifications to itself and other influencing factors. Transcriptionally, chemical alterations to the CEMIP promoter and involvement of transcription factors such as AP-1, HIF, and NF-κB regulate CEMIP levels. Similarly, specific miRNAs have been found to post-transcriptionally regulate CEMIP. This review provides a comprehensive summary of CEMIP's role in various cancers and explores how both transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms control its expression.

Recent trends in miRNA therapeutics and the application of plant miRNA for prevention and treatment of human diseases

Background

Researchers now have a new avenue to investigate when it comes to miRNA-based therapeutics. miRNAs have the potential to be valuable biomarkers for disease detection. Variations in miRNA levels may be able to predict changes in normal physiological processes. At the epigenetic level, miRNA has been identified as a promising candidate for distinguishing and treating various diseases and defects.

Main body

In recent pharmacology, plants miRNA-based drugs have demonstrated a potential role in drug therapeutics. The purpose of this review paper is to discuss miRNA-based therapeutics, the role of miRNA in pharmacoepigenetics modulations, plant miRNA inter-kingdom regulation, and the therapeutic value and application of plant miRNA for cross-kingdom approaches. Target prediction and complementarity with host genes, as well as cross-kingdom gene interactions with plant miRNAs, are also revealed by bioinformatics research. We also show how plant miRNA can be transmitted from one species to another by crossing kingdom boundaries in this review. Despite several unidentified barriers to plant miRNA cross-transfer, plant miRNA-based gene regulation in trans-kingdom gene regulation may soon be valued as a possible approach in plant-based drug therapeutics.

Conclusion

This review summarised the biochemical synthesis of miRNAs, pharmacoepigenetics, drug therapeutics and miRNA transkingdom transfer.

Post-transcriptional regulation activity through alternative splicing involved in the effects of Aloe vera on the Wnt/β-catenin and Notch pathways in colorectal cancer cells

Aloe vera (L.) Burm.f. is widely used as laxative drugs, cosmetics, and functional food due to a variety of therapeutic effects. However, several studies indicated a colonic carcinogenic activity of Aloe vera. But the underline mechanism has not been well clarified. This study aimed to explore the potential mechanism at the post-transcriptional level. Identification of Differential Expressed Alternative Splicing (DEAS) genes and events and the corresponding functional enrichment analyses were conducted on RKO cells after treated with Aloe vera aqueous extract and its two active components, aloin and aloesin. And RT-qPCR was conducted for validation. Results indicated that they induced 2200, 2342 and 2133 DEAS events, respectively. The GO enrichment and the COG classification results of DEAS genes showed that they were associated with transcription, as well as functions like signal transduction mechanisms. Moreover, DEAS genes related to the two colorectal cancerous pathways, Wnt and Notch pathways, were annotated. In conclusion, aloe extract, aloin and aloesin significantly regulated the DEAS profile of RKO cells. The colonic carcinogenicity of Aloe vera may due to its post-transcriptional regulatory activity through Alternative Splicing (AS) on genes, especially on Wnt-related and Notch-related key genes.

MicroRNA-guided regulation of heat stress response in wheat

Background

With rising global temperature, understanding plants’ adaptation to heat stress has implications in plant breeding. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding, regulatory RNAs guiding gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. In this study, small RNAs and the degradome (parallel analysis of RNA ends) of leaf tissues collected from control and heat-stressed wheat plants immediately at the end of the stress period and 1 and 4 days later were analysed.

Results

Sequencing of 24 small RNA libraries produced 55.2 M reads while 404 M reads were obtained from the corresponding 24 PARE libraries. From these, 202 miRNAs were ascertained, of which mature miRNA evidence was obtained for 104 and 36 were found to be differentially expressed after heat stress. The PARE analysis identified 589 transcripts targeted by 84 of the ascertained miRNAs. PARE sequencing validated the targets of the conserved members of miRNA156, miR166 and miR393 families as squamosa promoter-binding-like, homeobox leucine-zipper and transport inhibitor responsive proteins, respectively. Heat stress responsive miRNA targeted superoxide dismutases and an array of homeobox leucine-zipper proteins, F-box proteins and protein kinases. Query of miRNA targets to interactome databases revealed a predominant association of stress responses such as signalling, antioxidant activity and ubiquitination to superoxide dismutases, F-box proteins, pentatricopeptide repeat-containing proteins and mitochondrial transcription termination factor-like proteins.

Conclusion

The interlaced data set generated in this study identified and validated heat stress regulated miRNAs and their target genes associated with thermotolerance. Such accurate identification and validation of miRNAs and their target genes are essential to develop novel regulatory gene-based breeding strategies.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-019-5799-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Diverse regulatory manners of human telomerase reverse transcriptase

Human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) is the core subunit of human telomerase and plays important roles in human cancers. Aberrant expression of hTERT is closely associated with tumorigenesis, cancer cell stemness maintaining, cell proliferation, apoptosis inhibition, senescence evasion and metastasis. The molecular basis of hTERT regulation is highly complicated and consists of various layers. A deep and full-scale comprehension of the regulatory mechanisms of hTERT is pivotal in understanding the pathogenesis and searching for therapeutic approaches. In this review, we summarize the recent advances regarding the diverse regulatory mechanisms of hTERT, including the transcriptional (promoter mutation, promoter region methylation and histone acetylation), post-transcriptional (mRNA alternative splicing and non-coding RNAs) and post-translational levels (phosphorylation and ubiquitination), which may provide novel perspectives for further translational diagnosis or therapeutic strategies targeting hTERT.

Ultraviolet-C (UVC) ray acts as a synchronizing cue for circadian rhythm control in murine fibroblast

Ultraviolet-C (UVC) electromagnetic radiation is the most damaging type of the UV radiation and causes many cellular and physiological responses. UVC has been using for sterilization and disinfection, and the risk of exposure to the UVC is increasing. Here, we determined the effect of the UVC on the cellular circadian clock system. UVC irradiation synchronized the biological clock system and induced time-dependent expression of clock genes including Clock, Cry1, and Per1. The rhythmic expression of clock genes is also followed by time-dependent mRNA degradation or non-canonical translation initiation of clock genes. Furthermore, we show a translocation of PERIOD1 (PER1) protein after UVC irradiation, which mediates the rhythmic feedback loop of clock genes. Our results suggest that UVC can synchronize the circadian clock system, and induces rhythmic expression of clock genes via time-dependent transcription, post-transcription, and post-translational modification.

Modulation of the Proliferation/Apoptosis Balance of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells in Atherosclerosis by lncRNA-MEG3 via Regulation of miR-26a/Smad1 Axis

The balance between proliferation and apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) plays a critical role in the initiation of atherosclerosis. LncRNA-MEG3 is involved in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis through regulation of endothelial cell proliferation and migration. Its effect on the dysfunction of VSMCs and the corresponding mechanisms are actively researched. In this study, we observed that downregulated lncRNA-MEG3 expression was inversely correlated with the microRNA-26a level in coronary artery disease tissues. The overexpression of lncRNA-MEG3 could inhibit VSMCs proliferation while facilitating apoptosis. Moreover, alteration in the miR-26a/Smad1 axis could antagonize this effect. Bioinformatic analysis indicated that lncRNA-MEG3 could interact with miR-26a via complementary binding sites. The enforced expression of lncRNA-MEG3 could reduce the level of miR-26a in VSMCs, while the expression of Smad1 increases. Further, the direct binding between lncRNA-MEG3 and miR-26a was confirmed via dual-luciferase reporter assay, which indicated that lnc-MEG3 could sponge miR-26a as a competing endogenous RNA. In summary, we propose that lncRNA-MEG3 modulates the proliferation/apoptosis balance of VSMCs in atherosclerosis by regulating the miR-26a/Smad1 axis.

Engineering riboswitch in L. major: From prediction to conceptualization

Post-transcriptional gene regulation is a vital process to regulate expression of the key genes in the eukaryotic cell. Such processes are essential for pathogens which reside inside the host cell. One such pathogen is Leishmania major, which causes cutaneous leishmaniasis. The parasite lives inside the macrophages of mammalian host (mostly human). Inside the macrophage, Leishmania genes show complex host-pathogen interaction regulating a plethora of gene expression. Till date, most of the studies have shown this kind of regulation with respect to the host macrophages. Here, based on an extensive in silico analysis, we have hypothesized a novel Theophylline binding riboswitch mediated post-transcriptional regulation of a gene i.e. RNA Polymerase III subunit1 (Lmjf_09_1060), an essential gene for the parasite's survival both in its promastigote as well as in its amastigote form. Later, we have conceptualized the working of the identified putative Theophylline binding riboswitch cassette in in vitro using E. coli based reporter assay, wherein, a reporter gene (eGFP) is used instead of RNA Polymerase III subunit1 gene and apparently have shown the downregulation of the reporter gene (eGFP) expression under the influence of in silico identified Theophylline binding riboswitch.

MicroRNA in prostate cancer

In the United States of America male prostate cancer (PCa) is the most dominant malignancy and the second highest cause of cancer-related mortality risk compared to lung and colon cancers. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of endogenously expressed small, non-coding, single-stranded RNA which function as regulators of gene expression. They influence various physiological and pathophysiological processes. In this review, we focus on the regulation of miRNAs in prostate cancer and their mechanisms which contribute to prostate carcinogenesis. The relation of miRNAs with androgen signaling is highlighted and the prospects of miRNAs for clinical therapies are discussed.

Partitioning of the nuclear and mitochondrial tRNA 3'-end processing activities between two different proteins in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

tRNase Z is an essential endonuclease responsible for tRNA 3'-end maturation. tRNase Z exists in a short form (tRNase Z(S)) and a long form (tRNase Z(L)). Prokaryotes have only tRNase Z(S), whereas eukaryotes can have both forms of tRNase Z. Most eukaryotes characterized thus far, including Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, and humans, contain only one tRNase Z(L) gene encoding both nuclear and mitochondrial forms of tRNase Z(L). In contrast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe contains two essential tRNase Z(L) genes (trz1 and trz2) encoding two tRNase Z(L) proteins, which are targeted to the nucleus and mitochondria, respectively. Trz1 protein levels are notably higher than Trz2 protein levels. Here, using temperature-sensitive mutants of trz1 and trz2, we provide in vivo evidence that trz1 and trz2 are involved in nuclear and mitochondrial tRNA 3'-end processing, respectively. In addition, trz2 is also involved in generation of the 5'-ends of other mitochondrial RNAs, whose 5'-ends coincide with the 3'-end of tRNA. Thus, our results provide a rare example showing partitioning of the nuclear and mitochondrial tRNase Z(L) activities between two different proteins in S. pombe. The evolution of two tRNase Z(L) genes and their differential expression in fission yeast may avoid toxic off-target effects.