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- 2019
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)
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- Chen, Jie, et al.
(author)
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Bidirectional Mendelian Randomisation Analysis Provides Evidence for the Causal Involvement of Dysregulation of CXCL9, CCL11 and CASP8 in the Pathogenesis of Ulcerative Colitis
- 2023
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In: Journal of Crohn's & Colitis. - : Oxford University Press. - 1873-9946 .- 1876-4479. ; 17:5, s. 777-785
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background and Aims Systemic inflammation is well recognised to be associated with ulcerative colitis [UC], but whether these effects are causal or consequential remains unclear. We aimed to define potential causal relationship of cytokine dysregulation with different tiers of evidence. Methods We first synthesised serum proteomic profiling data from two multicentred observational studies, in which a panel of systemic inflammatory proteins was analysed to examine their associations with UC risk. To further dissect observed associations, we then performed a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomisation [TSMR] analysis from both forward and reverse directions using five genome-wide association study [GWAS] summary level data for serum proteomic profiles and the largest GWAS of 28 738 European-ancestry individuals for UC risk. Results Pooled analysis of serum proteomic data identified 14 proteins to be associated with the risk of UC. Forward MR analysis using only cis-acting protein quantitative trait loci [cis-pQTLs] or trans-pQTLs further validated causal associations of two chemokines and the increased risk of UC: C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 9 [CXCL9] [OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.08, 1.95, p = 0.012] and C-C motif chemokine ligand 11 [CCL11] [OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.09, 1.18, p = 3.89 x 10(-10)]. Using both cis- and trans-acting pQTLs, an association of caspase-8 [CASP8] [OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.03, 1.05, p = 7.63 x 10(-19)] was additionally identified. Reverse MR did not find any influence of genetic predisposition to UC on any of these three inflammation proteins. Conclusion Pre-existing elevated levels of CXCL9, CCL11 and CASP8 may play a role in the pathogenesis of UC.
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- Chen, Jian, et al.
(author)
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Zika virus infects renal proximal tubular epithelial cells with prolonged persistency and cytopathic effects
- 2017
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In: Emerging Microbes & Infections. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 2222-1751. ; 6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Zika virus (ZIKV) infection can cause fetal developmental abnormalities and Guillain-Barre syndrome in adults. Although progress has been made in understanding the link between ZIKV infection and microcephaly, the pathology of ZIKV, particularly the viral reservoirs in human, remains poorly understood. Several studies have shown that compared to serum samples, patients' urine samples often have a longer duration of ZIKV persistency and higher viral load. This finding suggests that an independent viral reservoir may exist in the human urinary system. Despite the clinical observations, the host cells of ZIKV in the human urinary system are poorly characterized. In this study, we demonstrate that ZIKV can infect renal proximal tubular epithelial cells (RPTEpiCs) in immunodeficient mice in vivo and in both immortalized and primary human renal proximal tubular epithelial cells (hRPTEpiCs) in vitro. Importantly, ZIKV infection in mouse kidneys caused caspase-3-mediated apoptosis of renal cells. Similarly, in vitro infection of immortalized and primary hRPTEpiCs resulted in notable cytopathic effects. Consistent with the clinical observations, we found that ZIKV infection can persist with prolonged duration in hRPTEpiCs. RNA-Seq analyses of infected hRPTEpiCs revealed a large number of transcriptional changes in response to ZIKV infection, including type I interferon signaling genes and anti-viral response genes. Our results suggest that hRPTEpiCs are a potential reservoir of ZIKV in the human urinary system, providing a possible explanation for the prolonged persistency of ZIKV in patients' urine.
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- Chen, Shouzhi, et al.
(author)
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Vegetation phenology and its ecohydrological implications from individual to global scales
- 2022
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In: Geography and Sustainability. - : Elsevier BV. - 2096-7438 .- 2666-6839. ; 3:4, s. 334-338
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Earth is experiencing unprecedented climate change. Vegetation phenology has already showed strong response to the global warming, which alters mass and energy fluxes on terrestrial ecosystems. With technology and method developments in remote sensing, computer science and citizen science, many recent phenology-related studies have been focused on macrophenology. In this perspective, we 1) reviewed the responses of vegetation phenology to climate change and its impacts on carbon cycling, and reported that the effect of shifted phenology on the terrestrial carbon fluxes is substantially different between spring and autumn; 2) elaborated how vegetation phenology affects ecohydrological processes at different scales, and further listed the key issues for each scale, i.e., focusing on seasonal effect, local feedbacks and regional vapor transport for individual, watershed and global respectively); 3) envisioned the potentials to improve current hydrological models by coupling vegetation phenology-related processes, in combining with machine learning, deep learning and scale transformation methods. We propose that comprehensive understanding of climate-macrophenology-hydrology interactions are essential and urgently needed for enhancing our understanding of the ecosystem response and its role in hydrological cycle under future climate change.
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- Li, Xuping, et al.
(author)
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A three-dimensional ratiometric sensing strategy on unimolecular fluorescence-thermally activated delayed fluorescence dual emission
- 2019
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In: Nature Communications. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 2041-1723. ; 10
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Visualized sensing through fluorescence signals is a powerful method for chemical and physical detection. However, the utilization of fluorescent molecular probes still suffers from lack of precise signal self-calibration in practical use. Here we show that fluorescence and thermally activated delayed fluorescence can be simultaneously produced at the single-molecular level. The thermally activated delayed fluorescence serves as a sensing signal with its wavelength and lifetime both altered correlating to polarity, whereas the fluorescence always remains unchanged as an internal reference. Upon the establishment of a three-dimensional working curve upon the ratiometric wavelength and photoluminescence lifetime vs. polarity, disturbance factors during a relevant sensing process can be largely minimized by such a multiple self-calibration. This strategy was further applied into a precise detection of the microenvironmental polarity variation in complex phospholipid systems, towards providing new insights for convenient and accurate diagnosis of membrane lesions.
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- Liu, Kaifei, et al.
(author)
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Regulatory role of Golgi brefeldin A resistance factor-1 in amyloid precursor protein trafficking, cleavage and Aβ formation
- 2019
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In: Journal of Cellular Biochemistry. - Hoboken : John Wiley & Sons. - 0730-2312 .- 1097-4644. ; 120:9, s. 15604-15615
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- β-amyloid peptide (Aβ) deposition derived from sequential cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) through the amyloidogenic pathway is an important characteristic feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD). During this process, cellular trafficking plays a crucial role. A large Sec7-domain containing ADP-ribosylation factor guanine nucleotide exchange factor (ARF-GEF), Golgi brefeldin A resistance factor 1 (GBF1) has been reported to initiate the ADP-ribosylation factor (Arf) activation cascade at trans-Golgi network, which plays a crucial function at the endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi interface. In this study, we investigated the role of GBF1 in APP transmembrane transport and Aβ formation. Using APP/PS1 (presenilin 1) overexpressing transgenic mice, we demonstrate that GBF1 has upregulated the expression of APP, indicating a role for GBF1 in APP physiological process. Knocking down of GBF1 using small interfering has significantly increased the intracellular but not the surface expression of APP. In contrast, overexpression of wild-type (WT) and guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) in the activated form but not the GEF deficient mutation induced continuous activation of GBF1, which subsequently increased the surface level of APP. Interestingly, inhibition of GBF1 by c(BFA) also impaired APP trafficking and induced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in SH-SY5Y cells. Our results thus for identified the role of GBF1 in APP trafficking and cleavage, and provide evidence for GBF1 as a possible therapeutic target in AD. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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- Liu, Yanrong, et al.
(author)
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Cascade utilization of lignocellulosic biomass to high-value products
- 2019
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In: Green Chemistry. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 1463-9262 .- 1463-9270. ; 21:13, s. 3499-3535
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Lignocellulosic biomass is a potential sustainable feedstock to replace fossil fuels. However, the complex structure of biomass makes it difficult to convert into high-value products. Utilization of lignocellulosic biomass in a green and effective way is of great significance for sustainable development. Based on the analysis of different options, we proposed that cascade utilization according to its composition, characteristics, and nature is the best way to utilize the lignocellulosic biomass. To promote the cascade utilization of lignocellulosic biomass, this article provides a review of the latest research results from the aspect of cascade utilization of lignocellulosic biomass covering the whole chain from pretreatment to high-value products, and the research on the non-conventional pretreatments including microwave irradiation, supercritical fluids, ultrasonic irradiation, electric field, hydrodynamic cavitation, and ionic liquids are presented in detail and evaluated by 4 proposed levels, and the newly developed high-value applications were further overviewed for lignin (carbon/graphene/carbon nano-tubes, dye dispersants, bioplastics, and aerogels), cellulose (cellulose-based ionic liquids, functional composites, adsorbent materials, carbon, and aerogels), and hemicellulose (films and pharmaceutical carriers), respectively. Finally, perspectives on the future research on the cascade utilization of lignocellulosic biomass are highlighted.
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- Liu, Yanrong, et al.
(author)
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Preparation of MWCNTs-Graphene-Cellulose Fiber with Ionic Liquids
- 2019
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In: ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2168-0485. ; 7:24, s. 20013-20021
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The conductive multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)-graphene sheets (rGOs)-cellulose fiber was prepared with an eco-friendly wet-spinning method in which ionic liquid (IL) was used as both green solvent and dispersant. It was found that the selected IL 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium diethyl phosphate (EmimDep) shows remarkable capacities for dissolving cellulose and dispersing MWCNTs, and the synergistic effect of MWCNTs, rGOs, and cellulose results in a high electrical conductivity of 1195 S/m of MWCNTs-rGOs-cellulose fibers. Macropores and the double-layer structure of MWCNTs and rGOs can be observed by SEM in the studied fibers, and the number of macropores decreased with increasing rGOs amount, which is consistent with the result of the specific surface area. In addition, the prepared MWCNTs-rGOs-cellulose fibers present a nearly perfect electrical double-layer structure. The MWCNTs-rGOs-cellulose fiber with a mass ratio of 2:3:1 shows the best performance as the electrode candidate, with an electrical conductivity of 1195 S/m, specific capacitance of 597 mF/cm2, and specific surface area of 91 m2/g. Furthermore, the results from the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation evidenced that EmimDep can disperse CNTs effectively at 363.15 K, 1 atm compared to rGOs; the synergy effect of CNT and rGO exhibit great potential to enhance the dispersion than each individual component.
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- Liu, Yanrong, et al.
(author)
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Study on ionic liquid/cellulose/coagulator phase diagram and its application in green spinning process
- 2019
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In: Journal of Molecular Liquids. - : Elsevier. - 0167-7322 .- 1873-3166. ; 289
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this work, the cellulose phase separation behavior was investigated by using ionic liquids (ILs) as novel solvents to acquire a green process for cellulose fiber spinning. The cloud point titration method combined with the turbidity correlation equation was used to obtain the ternary diagram of IL/cellulose/coagulator throughout the whole compositional range. The effects of the type of ILs, the cellulose materials, the kind of coagulators and the regeneration temperatures for cellulose fiber manufacturing process on the phase separation behavior were studied systematically. It was found that the linearized cloud point (LCP) curve correlation fits to experimental data well and can be used to quantify the optimized coagulator, and among the studied cases, the system of [EMIM]DEP, cotton pulp and water with the regeneration temperature at 298.15 K is the best. Meanwhile, COSMO-RS was used to predict the interaction between solvent, cellulose and coagulator, and the comparison with the LCP correlation shows good agreement. The crystal structure of the regenerated cotton pulp was determined with XRD, and the result evidences that the crystal structure of the regenerated cellulose transforms from cellulose I to cellulose II. The crystallinity decreases from 96.0% (raw cotton pulp) to 85.6% after 24 h dissolution in [EMIM]DEP at 363.15 K, and it has a slight deviation from 24 h to 72 h, which illustrates that the spinning process can run continuously at 363.15 K when using [EMIM]DEP as the solvent.
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