Project description:Innate immunity provides the first line of defense through key mechanisms, including pyrogen and cytokine production and cell death. While elevated body temperature during infection is beneficial, heat stress (HS) can lead to inflammation and pathology. Links between HS, cytokine release, and inflammation have been observed, but fundamental innate immune mechanisms driving pathology during HS remain unclear. Here, we use diverse genetic approaches to elucidate innate immune pathways in HS. Our results show that bacteria and LPS robustly increase inflammatory cell death, PANoptosis, during HS. NINJ1 is the key executioner of this cell death to release inflammatory molecules, independent of other pore-forming executioners. In an in vivo HS model, mortality is reduced by deleting NINJ1 and fully rescued by deleting key PANoptosis molecules. Our findings suggest that therapeutic strategies blocking NINJ1 or its upstream regulators to prevent PANoptosis may reduce the release of inflammatory mediators and benefit patients experiencing HS.
Project description:Cell death provides host defense and maintains homeostasis. Zα-containing molecules are essential for these processes. ZBP1 activates inflammatory cell death, PANoptosis, while ADAR1 serves as an RNA editor to maintain homeostasis. Here, we identify and characterize ADAR1’s interaction with ZBP1, defining its role in cell death regulation and tumorigenesis. Combining IFNs and nuclear export inhibitors (NEIs) activates ZBP1–dependent PANoptosis. ADAR1 suppresses PANoptosis by interacting with the Zα2 domain of ZBP1 to limit ZBP1 and RIPK3 interactions. Adar1fl/flLysMcre mice are resistant to development of colorectal cancer and melanoma, but deletion of the ZBP1 Zα2 domain restores tumorigenesis in these mice. In addition, treating wildtype mice with IFN-γ and the NEI KPT-330 regresses melanoma in a ZBP1–dependent manner. Our findings suggest that ADAR1 suppresses ZBP1–mediated PANoptosis, promoting tumorigenesis. Defining the functions of ADAR1 and ZBP1 in cell death is fundamental to inform therapeutic strategies for cancer and other diseases.
Project description:An unmet challenge in managing breast cancer is treatment failure due to resistance to apoptosis-inducing chemotherapies. Thus, it is important to identify novel non-apoptotic therapeutic agents. Several non-apoptotic programmed cell death pathways utilize specific cellular signaling events to trigger lytic and pro-inflammatory cell death. PANoptosis, which encompasses pyroptosis, apoptosis and necroptosis, is of paramount importance in the regulation of cell death and immune responses. Our study illustrates that ophiobolin A (OpA) is an anti-cancer agent that triggers lytic cell death in breast cancer cells, including triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), via a mechanism dependent on RIPK1. This study reveals that OpA induces typical pyroptosis-like characteristics, including cellular swelling, plasma membrane rupture, GSDMD cleavage and release of cytokines in breast cancer cells. The involvement of caspase 3, RIPK1, and GSDMD suggests that PANoptosis is activated upon OpA treatment in breast cancer. The induction of pro-inflammatory cell death suggests potential applications for OpA in cancer treatment.
Project description:Proctor2005 - Actions of chaperones and their
role in ageing
This model is described in the article:
Modelling the actions of
chaperones and their role in ageing.
Proctor CJ, Soti C, Boys RJ,
Gillespie CS, Shanley DP, Wilkinson DJ, Kirkwood TB.
Mech. Ageing Dev. 2005 Jan; 126(1):
119-131
Abstract:
Many molecular chaperones are also known as heat shock
proteins because they are synthesised in increased amounts
after brief exposure of cells to elevated temperatures. They
have many cellular functions and are involved in the folding of
nascent proteins, the re-folding of denatured proteins, the
prevention of protein aggregation, and assisting the targeting
of proteins for degradation by the proteasome and lysosomes.
They also have a role in apoptosis and are involved in
modulating signals for immune and inflammatory responses.
Stress-induced transcription of heat shock proteins requires
the activation of heat shock factor (HSF). Under normal
conditions, HSF is bound to heat shock proteins resulting in
feedback repression. During stress, cellular proteins undergo
denaturation and sequester heat shock proteins bound to HSF,
which is then able to become transcriptionally active. The
induction of heat shock proteins is impaired with age and there
is also a decline in chaperone function. Aberrant/damaged
proteins accumulate with age and are implicated in several
important age-related conditions (e.g. Alzheimer's disease,
Parkinson's disease, and cataract). Therefore, the balance
between damaged proteins and available free chaperones may be
greatly disturbed during ageing. We have developed a
mathematical model to describe the heat shock system. The aim
of the model is two-fold: to explore the heat shock system and
its implications in ageing; and to demonstrate how to build a
model of a biological system using our simulation system
(biology of ageing e-science integration and simulation
(BASIS)).
This model is hosted on
BioModels Database
and identified by:
BIOMD0000000091.
To cite BioModels Database, please use:
BioModels Database:
An enhanced, curated and annotated resource for published
quantitative kinetic models.
To the extent possible under law, all copyright and related or
neighbouring rights to this encoded model have been dedicated to
the public domain worldwide. Please refer to
CC0
Public Domain Dedication for more information.
Project description:Heat is a cardinal feature of inflammation that affects enzymes and molecular complexes, yet the effects on immune cells remain uncertain. We show heat broadly increased inflammatory activity of CD4+ T cell subsets and decreased Treg suppressive function. Heat-exposed Th1 cells, however, selectively developed mitochondrial stress with elevated reactive oxygen species and DNA damage driven by dependence on electron transport chain complex 1 (ETC1), which rapidly decreased activity. While Tp53 and Sting eliminated damaged Th1 cells, those that adapted showed improved long-term activity. Th1 cells with DNA damage and ETC1 signatures were also detected in Crohn’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis. Fever-relevant heat thus selectively induces mitochondrial stress in Th1 cells that drives apoptosis or adaptation to maintain genomic integrity and improve T cell function.
Project description:During heat stress cyto-protective genes including heat shock proteins are transcriptionally up-regulated and post-transcriptional splicing is inhibited. In contrast, co-transcriptional mRNA-splicing is maintained. These factors closely resemble the proteotoxic stress response during tumor development. The bromodomain protein BRD4 has been identified as an integral member of the oxidative stress as well as of the inflammatory response. Furthermore, there is evidence for BRD4's role in splicing regulation; Using RNA-Seq analyses we indeed found a significant increase in splicing inhibition, in particular intron retentions, during heat treatment in BRD4-deficient cells, but not under normal conditions. Subsequent experiments revealed that heat stress leads to the recruitment of BRD4 to nuclear stress bodies, to the interaction with the heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) and to the transcriptional up-regulation of non-coding Sat III RNA transcripts. These findings implicate BRD4 as a central regulator of splicing during heat stress. Since BRD4 is a potent target for anti-cancer therapies, our data linking BRD4 to the splicing machinery and the heat stress response - give additional insight into the mode of action of BRD4 inhibitors. WI38 cells have been treated by heatshock and anti BRD4 siRNA and combination.
Project description:During heat stress cyto-protective genes including heat shock proteins are transcriptionally up-regulated and post-transcriptional splicing is inhibited. In contrast, co-transcriptional mRNA-splicing is maintained. These factors closely resemble the proteotoxic stress response during tumor development. The bromodomain protein BRD4 has been identified as an integral member of the oxidative stress as well as of the inflammatory response. Furthermore, there is evidence for BRD4's role in splicing regulation; Using RNA-Seq analyses we indeed found a significant increase in splicing inhibition, in particular intron retentions, during heat treatment in BRD4-deficient cells, but not under normal conditions. Subsequent experiments revealed that heat stress leads to the recruitment of BRD4 to nuclear stress bodies, to the interaction with the heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) and to the transcriptional up-regulation of non-coding Sat III RNA transcripts. These findings implicate BRD4 as a central regulator of splicing during heat stress. Since BRD4 is a potent target for anti-cancer therapies, our data linking BRD4 to the splicing machinery and the heat stress response - give additional insight into the mode of action of BRD4 inhibitors.
Project description:Over the past several decades, corals worldwide have been affected by global warming, experiencing severe bleaching events that have often lead to coral death. The symbiotic Red Sea coral Stylophora pistillata is considered an opportunistic ‘r’ strategist, thriving in relatively unstable and unpredictable environments, and it is considered a stress-tolerant species. This study aimed to examine S. pistillata gene expression and to clarify the cellular pathways that are active during short-term heat stress caused by an increase from 24°C to 34°C over a 10-day period. Total RNA was extracted from heat-stressed coral fragments, labeled and hybridized against a designated S. pistillata custom microarray containing approximately 12,000 genes. Our results show that the heat stress reaction was sighted from 32°C and intensified significantly after 34°C treatment. Protein interaction networks of up- and down-regulated genes were constructed. The main clustering groups of up-regulated genes were ER stress and ER protein folding, cell cycle, ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis, cell death and cell death regulation and cellular stress response genes. These genes were enriched in cellular pathways related to the unfolded protein response (UPR) in the ER, ER-associated degradation (ERAD) and ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis. An analysis of the down-regulated genes yielded different clusters of genes related to extracellular matrix and actin organization, collagen, negative regulation of cell death and the Notch and Wnt signaling pathways. Genes encoding redox regulation proteins and molecular chaperones may be considered accurate “early warning genes”, while genes related to sensing and repairing DNA damage are severe heat-related genes. Here, we suggest that during short-term heat stress, S. pistillata might divert cellular energy into mechanisms such as UPR and ERAD at the expense of growth and biomineralization processes in an effort to recover from the stress.