AutoantibodySpecific Signalling throughout Pemphigus
No differences in microhardness indicated similar bone quality at the tissue level between the mutant and wildtype bones. Procollagen 1 N-terminal propeptide and osteocalcin were elevated in serum, and osteoblast number per bone perimeter and osteoid width per bone perimeter were elevated in tibias from the mutant mice. see more In contrast to mutations that constitutively activate GC-B, we report that mutations that enhance GC-B activity only in the presence of its natural ligand, increase bone mass, bone strength, and the number of active osteoblasts at the bone surface. Lipid mediators such as eicosanoids maintain various physiological processes, and their alterations are involved in the development of numerous cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, the reliable assessment of their profile could be helpful in diagnosis as well as in eicosanoid biomarker-based treatment. Hence, the presented study aimed to develop and validate a new rapid, specific and sensitive LC-MS/MS method for quantification of arachidonic acid-derived eicosanoids in plasma, including lipid mediators generated via COX-, LOX- and CYP450-dependent pathways. The developed method features high sensitivity because the lower limit of quantification ranged from 0.05 to 0.50 ng mL-1 as well as the accuracy and precision estimated within 88.88-111.25% and 1.03-11.82%, respectively. An application of a simple and fast liquid-liquid extraction procedure for sample cleaning resulted in a highly satisfactory recovery of the analytes (>88.30%). Additionally, the method was validated using artificial plasma, an approach that enabled the elimination of the matrix effect caused by an endogenous concentration of studied lipid mediators. Importantly, the presented LC-MS/MS method allowed for simultaneous quantitative and qualitative [quan/qual] analysis of the selected eicosanoids, leading to an additional improvement of the method specificity. Moreover, the validated method was successfully applied for eicosanoid profiling in rat, mouse and human plasma samples, clearly demonstrating the heterogeneity of the profile of studied lipid mediators in those species. β-Lactams are the most widely used antibiotics in treating bacterial infections. However, they are rarely applied in infections caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus, as the bacterium is intrinsically resistant to penicillins by expressing β-lactamase. Here we report structural characterization of the CARB β-lactamase from V. parahaemolyticus (CARB-20). CARB-20 is a class A β-lactamase, belonging to subclass A1 (containing 70STFKAL75, 130SDNTAANL137, 164RXEXXLN170, 231VGDKTG236, etc.), group LSBL2 (with the disulfide bridge C77-C123, motif 231IADRSGAG238 and R244). CARB-20 adopts a typical subclass A1 β-lactamase fold consisting of two domains. Its active site is constituted by four conserved motifs, similar to that of known subclass A1 β-lactamases. Analysis of the active site structure reveals its substrate preference for penicillin, ampicillin and carbenicillin but not for latterly developed cephalosporins. Meanwhile, β-lactamase inhibitors such as clavulanate and sulbactam can well fit into the active site, supporting β-lactams combined with β-lactamase inhibitors as a potential approach for treating infection of V. parahaemolyticus. The residues around the active site show certain variations, which can be useful for specific inhibitor design. In the directed evolution experiment, CARB-20 exhibited plasticity in developing significant resistance to inhibitors by accumulated residue substitutions. Therefore, careful monitoring of enzyme mutations is necessary for successfully applying β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combination therapy. Taken together, our results open up an avenue of inhibitor design targeting vibrio β-lactamases, facilitating the application of β-lactams in treating vibrio infections. The promotion of senescence in cancer cells by dietary (poly)phenols gained attention as a promising chemopreventive strategy against colorectal (CRC) and other cancers. Urolithins (Uros) are ellagitannins and ellagic acid-derived gut microbiota metabolites that reach high concentrations in the human colon. They were postulated to be as potential anticancer agents in different CRC models, but their role as promoters of cellular senescence has never been comprehensively evaluated. We evaluated long-term senescent-mediated chemoprevention of physiologically relevant doses of different Uros and representative mixtures of human urolithin metabotypes in human CRC (HCT-116, Caco-2, and HT-29) and non-tumorigenic (CCD18-Co) cell lines. Our results show that Uro-A (but not Uro-C, IsoUro-A, or Uro-B) leads to a dose-dependent anti-clonogenic effect through the increase of the senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity, rather than by reversible cell cycle arrest and(or) apoptosis which require much higher concentrations. Senescence was accompanied by an elevated p53 and p21Cip1/Waf1 expression in HCT-116 cells (p53-wild type), but not in other CRC lines with p53 mutated or non-tumorigenic cells, which suggests that long-term senescence-mediated chemoprevention is a p53-dependent manner. Moreover, the ATP-binding cassette transporters and the phase-II metabolism of Uros limited the induction of senescence, which anticipates lower effects of conjugated Uros against systemic cancers. Conventional toxicological risk assessment methods mainly working on single chemicals that fail to adequately address the simultaneous exposure and their potential toxicity in humans. We herein investigated the toxic heavy metals lead (Pb), arsenic (As), and methylmercury (MeHg) and their binary mixtures role in neurodegenerative diseases. To characterize the toxicity of metal mixtures at the molecular level, we established a non-animal omics-based organ relevant cell model system. The obtained experimental data was refined by using the statistical and downstream functional analysis. The protein expression information substantiates the previous findings of single metal (Pb, As, and MeHg) induced alterations to mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, mRNA splicing, and ubiquitin system dysfunction relation to neurodegenerative diseases. The functional downstream analysis of single and binary mixtures protein data is presented in a comparative manner. The heavy metals mixtures' outcome showed significant differences in the protein expression compared to single metals that indicate metal mixtures exposure is more hazardous than single metal exposure.