Project description:Humans with obesity and diet-induced obese mice (DIO) have high leptin levels and fail to respond to the exogenous hormone suggesting that obesity is caused by leptin resistance, the pathogenesis of which is unknown. We found that leptin treatment reduced plasma levels of leucine and methionine, mTOR-activating ligands, leading us to hypothesize that chronic mTOR activation might inhibit leptin signaling. Rapamycin, an mTOR inhibitor, reduced fat mass and increased leptin sensitivity in DIO mice but not in mice with defects in leptin signaling. Rapamycin restored leptin’s actions on POMC neurons and failed to reduce the weight of mice with defects in melanocortin signaling. mTOR activation in POMC neurons caused leptin resistance while POMC specific mutations in mTOR activators decreased weight gain of DIO mice. Thus, increased mTOR activity in POMC neurons is necessary and sufficient for the development of leptin resistance in DIO mice establishing a key pathogenic mechanism leading to obesity.
Project description:Obesity represents a risk factor for breast cancer development and therapy resistance, but the molecular players underling these links are unclear. Here, we identify a role for the obesity-cytokine leptin in sustaining aromatase inhibitor (AI) resistant growth and progression in breast cancer. Using as a cellular model MCF-7 breast cancer cells surviving long-term to the AI treatment Anastrozole (AnaR) and Ana-sensitive counterparts, we found that AnaR cells expressed higher levels of leptin and its receptors (ObR) along with a constitutive activation of downstream effectors. Accordingly, leptin signaling inhibition reduced only AnaR cell growth and motility, highlighting the existence of an autocrine loop in mechanisms governing drug-resistant phenotype. In agreement with ObR overexpression, increasing doses of leptin were able to stimulate at a greater extent growth and migration in AnaR than sensitive cells. Moreover, leptin contributed to an enhanced crosstalk between AnaR cells and macrophages within tumor microenvironment. Indeed, AnaR through leptin secretion modulated macrophage profiles and increased macrophage motility through CXCR4 signaling, as evidenced by RNA-sequencing, realtime-PCR and immunoblotting. Reciprocally, activated macrophages increased AnaR cell growth and motility in coculture systems.
Project description:Antifungal drug susceptibility, molecular basis of resistance to echinocandins and molecular epidemiology of fluconazole resistance among clinical Candida glabrata isolates in Kuwait
Project description:The relationship between loss of hypothalamic function and onset of diabetes mellitus remains elusive. Therefore, we generated a targeted oxidative-stress murine model utilizing conditional knockout of selenocysteine-tRNA (Trsp) using rat insulin promoter-driven-Cre (RIP-Cre). These Trsp-knockout (TrspRIPKO) mice exhibit deletion of Trsp in both hypothalamic cells and pancreatic β-cells leading to increased hypothalamic oxidative stress and severe insulin resistance. Leptin signals were suppressed and numbers of proopiomelanocortin-positive neurons in the hypothalamus were decreased. In contrast, a Trsp-knockout mouse (TrspIns1KO) expressing Cre specifically in pancreatic β-cells, but not in the hypothalamus, did not display insulin and leptin resistance, demonstrating a critical role of the hypothalamus in the onset of diabetes mellitus. Nrf2 (NF-E2-related-factor-2) regulates antioxidant gene expression. Gene-driven increase in Nrf2 signaling suppressed hypothalamic oxidative stress and improved insulin and leptin resistance in TrspRIPKO mice. Thus, Nrf2 harbors the potential to prevent the onset of diabetic mellitus by reducing hypothalamic oxidative damage.
Project description:The relationship between loss of hypothalamic function and onset of diabetes mellitus remains elusive. Therefore, we generated a targeted oxidative-stress murine model utilizing conditional knockout of selenocysteine-tRNA (Trsp) using rat insulin promoter-driven-Cre (RIP-Cre). These Trsp-knockout (TrspRIPKO) mice exhibit deletion of Trsp in both hypothalamic cells and pancreatic β-cells leading to increased hypothalamic oxidative stress and severe insulin resistance. Leptin signals were suppressed and numbers of proopiomelanocortin-positive neurons in the hypothalamus were decreased. In contrast, a Trsp-knockout mouse (TrspIns1KO) expressing Cre specifically in pancreatic β-cells, but not in the hypothalamus, did not display insulin and leptin resistance, demonstrating a critical role of the hypothalamus in the onset of diabetes mellitus. Nrf2 (NF-E2-related-factor-2) regulates antioxidant gene expression. Gene-driven increase in Nrf2 signaling suppressed hypothalamic oxidative stress and improved insulin and leptin resistance in TrspRIPKO mice. Thus, Nrf2 harbors the potential to prevent the onset of diabetic mellitus by reducing hypothalamic oxidative damage.