Project description:Graves’ ophthalmopathy (GO) is an extrathyroidal complication of Graves’ hyperthyroidism. Orbital fibroblast, an important cell in the pathogenesis of GO, is responsible for GO characteristics during active and inactive stages; however, information on the extensive profiles and the mechanistic regulations behind orbital fibroblast phenotypes are currently limited. The aim of this study was to compare the proteome profile of orbital fibroblasts isolated from inactive GO, active GO and healthy control. The proteome profile was further integrated with global DNA methylation data to identify this epigenetics regulation involved in the pathogenesis of GO. Methods Orbital fibroblasts culture isolated from five inactive GO, four active GO and five controls were cultured for total protein and DNA extraction. The labelled and fractionated proteins were analyzed with a liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometer (LC-MS/MS). On the other hand, the bisulphite-treated DNA was measured with the Illumina Infinium Human Methylation 450K beadchip. Proteome and methylation data were validated by real-time quantitative (RQ)-PCR. Network, pathway and functional analysis were performed by Ingenuity (Qiagen). Results Orbital fibroblasts from active GO displayed overexpression of proteins typically involved with inflammation, cellular proliferation, hyaluronan synthesis and adipogenesis, while several proteins linked to extracellular matrix (ECM) biology and fibrotic disease were overexpressed in orbital fibroblasts from inactive GO. The DNA methylation patterns were similar in healthy control and inactive GO orbital fibroblasts which were distinct from active GO orbital fibroblasts. In orbital fibroblasts from active GO hypermethylated genes link to inflammation while those genes hypomethylated are involved in adipogenesis and autoimmune-related genes. For the network analysis, overlapped between hypermethylated and hypomethylated genes were observed including NF-B, ERK1/2, Alp, RNA polymerase II, Akt and IFNα. In addition, NF-κB, Akt and IFNα were also identified in networks from the differentially expressed proteins. In general, poor correlation between protein expression, DNA methylation and mRNA expression in our study was observed.

Project description:Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) is a common orbital disease that threatens visual function and appearance. Orbital fibroblasts (OFs) are considered key target and effector cells in GO. In addition, hyaluronan (HA) production, inflammation, and orbital fibrosis are intimately linked to the pathogenesis of GO. In this study, we explored the therapeutic effects of dihydroartemisinin (DHA), an antimalarial drug, on GO-derived, primary OFs. CCK8 and EdU assays were applied to evaluate the antiproliferative effect of DHA on OFs. Wound healing assays were conducted to assess OF migration capacity, while qRT-PCR, western blotting, ELISA, and immunofluorescence were used to determine the expression of fibrosis-related and pro-inflammatory markers in these cells. Moreover, RNA sequencing was conducted to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in DHA-treated OFs, and Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis of DEGs was performed to explore potential mechanisms mediating the antifibrotic effect of DHA on GO-derived OFs. Results showed that DHA dose-dependently inhibited OF proliferation and downregulated, at the mRNA and protein levels, TGF-β1-induced expression of fibrosis markers, including alpha smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF). Furthermore, DHA inhibited TGF-β1 induced phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), which suggested that DHA exerted antifibrotic effects via suppression of the ERK and STAT3 signaling pathways. In addition, DHA suppressed the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, including IL-6, IL-8, CXCL-1, MCP-1, and ICAM-1, and attenuated HA production induced by IL-1β in GO-derived OFs. In conclusion, our study provides first-time evidence that DHA may significantly alleviate pathogenic manifestations of GO by inhibiting proliferation, fibrosis- and inflammation-related gene expression, and HA production in OFs. These data suggest that DHA may be a promising candidate drug for treatment of GO.

Project description:Orbital fibrosis is a hallmark of tissue remodeling in thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO). Previous studies have shown that interleukin (IL)-11 plays a pivotal profibrotic role in various inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. However, the expression pattern of IL-11 in patients with TAO and whether IL-11 is mechanistically linked with pathological fibrosis remains unknown. In this study, we investigated IL-11 levels in the serum and orbital connective tissue of patients with TAO, and evaluated the correlation of these levels with the patient’s clinical activity score. We also evaluated the expression pattern of IL-11Rα in orbital connective tissue. Furthermore, we elucidated the regulatory factors, profibrotic function, and downstream signaling pathways for IL-11 in TAO using in vitro studies. Serum and orbital connective tissues IL-11 levels were increased in patients with TAO, as compared with healthy controls. In addition, both levels were positively correlated with disease activity. Single-cell RNA sequencing of orbital connective tissue indicated that IL-11Rα was dominantly expressed in orbital fibroblasts (OFs). RNA sequencing of paired unstimulated and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1-stimulated samples demonstrated that upregulation of IL-11 expression defined the dominant transcriptional response. IL-11 signaling was also confirmed to be downstream of TGF-β1 and IL-1β. Therefore, we deduced that IL-11 protein is secreted in an autocrine loop in TAO. We also indicated that IL-11 mediated the profibrotic phenotype switch by detecting the expression of myofibroblast differentiation markers, including α-smooth muscle actin and collagen type I α1, which could be abrogated by an anti-IL-11 neutralizing antibody. Furthermore, we revealed that extracellular regulated protein kinase may be a crucial factor in the pro-fibrotic, translationally specific signaling activity of IL-11. These data demonstrate that IL-11 plays a crucial role in orbital fibroblast phenotype switching and may be a potential therapeutic target candidate for the treatment of TAO.

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	SRR18517600_1.fastq.gz	Fastqsanger.gz
	SRR18517600_2.fastq.gz	Fastqsanger.gz
	SRR18517601_1.fastq.gz	Fastqsanger.gz
	SRR18517601_2.fastq.gz	Fastqsanger.gz
	SRR18517602_1.fastq.gz	Fastqsanger.gz

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Dihydroartemisinin Exerts Antifibrotic and Anti-inflammatory Effects in Graves’ Ophthalmopathy by Targeting Orbital Fibroblasts

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