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Biomedical subjects

Yue Feng

Publications and source records attributed to Yue Feng.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Emergence of two novel HIV-1 Circulating Recombinant Forms (CRF190_0708 and CRF191_0708): molecular characterization and clinical insights from a five-year study in Yunnan, China.

BACKGROUND: To characterize HIV-1 molecular epidemiology and identify novel circulating recombinant forms (CRFs) among antiretroviral therapy (ART)-naïve heterosexuals in Yunnan, China, and evaluate their clinical impact. METHODS: This study examined 636 HIV-1 pol sequences to analyze genetic diversity, pretreatment drug resistance (PDR), and transmission networks. Near full-length genomes were obtained to identify and characterize novel recombinants, with their evolutionary history inferred by Bayesian analysis. Co-receptor tropism was predicted, and the five-year clinical outcomes (including immune reconstitution and virologic response) of patients infected with the novel CRFs were compared. RESULTS: The most prevalent type identified was CRF08_BC, accounting for 50.16% of cases. The prevalence of drug resistance was 5.97% (38/636), with the K103N mutation being the most common. An analysis of transmission networks revealed that 52.2% (272/521) of clusters were associated with CRF07_BC and CRF08_BC. Two novel second-generation CRFs were identified: CRF190_0708, with an estimated time to the most recent common ancestor (tMRCA) of 1998.9, and CRF191_0708, with a more recent tMRCA ranging from 2009.5 to 2011.6. During the five-year follow-up period, viral rebound was observed in 7 patients in the CRF190_0708 group and in 1 patient in the CRF191_0708 group. Drug-resistance mutations (M184V and K103N) were detected in a subset of rebound cases in the CRF190_0708 group. CONCLUSIONS: This study identifies two novel HIV-1 recombinants, CRF190_0708 and CRF191_0708, highlighting ongoing viral evolution in Yunnan. Preliminary findings suggest possible clinical differences, warranting further investigation. Continued molecular surveillance is needed. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The clinical study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov under the identifier NCT03852849. The date of registration was March 22, 2019.

Adult↗

Deep learning-based multimodal pathogenomics integration for precision cancer prognosis.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have revealed valuable prognostic insights in haematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained histological sections and transcriptomic profiles, suggesting potential applications in machine learning. However, existing methods lack sufficient intra- and inter-modal interactions, and face challenges in clinical validation due to incomplete multimodal data. METHODS: We proposed PathoGems (PathoGenomics-based integrative survival prediction), a weakly-supervised, interpretable multimodal learning framework that integrates histology and genomic profiles for precise cancer prognosis prediction. To evaluate the robustness of PathoGems, we initially curated a dataset of 1965 cases across four cohorts from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), including breast, colorectal, glioblastoma, and esophageal cancers. For external validation, PathoGems was further evaluated on four independent cohorts, consisting of 76 breast cancer and 41 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cases from Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, as well as 102 colorectal cancer and 58 glioblastoma cases from the Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC). RESULTS: PathoGems effectively stratified patients into favorable and unfavorable risk groups, revealing significant differences in histological patterns, genomic features, and overall survival (log-rank test, p&#x2009;<&#x2009;0.05). Moreover, the model&#x2019;s predictions are further supported by visualization and transcriptomic analysis, enhancing interpretability and reliability. CONCLUSIONS: By fusing histological and clinicogenomic multimodal models, PathoGems will provide a solid foundation for developing an innovative tool that aids clinicians in making informed decisions and selection personalized treatment strategies for cancer patients.

Humans↗

A comparative study highlights superiority of LSTM in crop genomic prediction.

We systematically evaluated three key determinants affecting prediction accuracy and the algorithm performance differences based on fifteen state-of-the-art GP methods, and found LSTM suitable for capturing additive and epistatic effects. Genomic prediction (GP) has been developed as an important method supporting crop breeding. By utilizing the phenotype values result from GP, breeders could make decisions in the seedling stage that consequently benefit for cost saving. In recent years, machine learning emerged as an efficient technology to solve modeling problems in many fields, including crop breeding. However, numerous modeling approaches have hindered the application of GP since breeders struggle to choose. Therefore, a comprehensively methodological research with guiding significance is extremely necessary. In the present study, we systematically evaluated three key determinants affecting prediction accuracy and the algorithm performance differences based on fifteen state-of-the-art GP methods. As for genomic feature processing, we found feature selection (SNP filtering approach) performed better than feature extraction (PCA method). Specifically, the feature relationship dependent methods (GBLUP, RNN, and LSTM) as well as DNN architecture showed superior performance with feature selection. Marker density analysis showed positive correlation with prediction accuracy in a limited threshold. Comparison on effect of population size demonstrated a positive correlation between trait genetic complexity and the optimal population size required. By testing fifteen modeling methods, we found LSTM network displayed superior performance, achieving the highest average STScore (0.967) across six datasets. Further research using all cell states or the latest cell states of LSTM inputs demonstrated its architecture particularly adept with capturing additive and epistatic QTL effects among SNPs. In conclusion, our findings provide basic principles for implementing GP in breeding project to maximize prediction accuracy while maintaining cost-effectiveness.

Plant Breeding↗

Methylation Signatures Identify Two Distinct Clusters of Uterine Leiomyosarcoma With Unique Histologic and Clinical Behaviors.

Uterine leiomyosarcoma (uLMS) is a rare and deadly gynecologic malignancy. uLMS is histologically heterogeneous and presents with a wide spectrum of tumor differentiation, with a broad range of genomic DNA instability, which can make the diagnosis and prognosis of uLMS challenging. Methylation has emerged as a useful molecular tool in tumor classification and diagnosis in certain neoplasms. We initiated this study to investigate the role of global methylation in the differential diagnosis of uLMS from its mimics in correlation with pathologic characteristics and clinical outcomes. In this study, we performed array-based global methylation profiling analysis in a total of 71 uLMS and compared the methylation signatures of uLMS with several other uterine mesenchymal tumors and soft tissue leiomyosarcoma. We found that uLMS demonstrated distinct methylation patterns differing from all other tumor types. Notably, methylation profiling defines 2 distinct subgroups of uLMS with differing copy number alterations, resulting in unique histologic and clinical behaviors, further emphasized by differences in methylation pathway analysis. This study is the first to report methylation profiling as a useful diagnostic tool in differentiating uLMS from mimics and defines 2 subtypes of uLMS based on methylation signatures.

Humans↗

Discovery of N-[(1S,2S)-3-(4-Chlorophenyl)-2- (3-cyanophenyl)-1-methylpropyl]-2-methyl-2- {[5-(trifluoromethyl)pyridin-2-yl]oxy}propanamide (MK-0364), a novel, acyclic cannabinoid-1 receptor inverse agonist for the treatment of obesity.

The discovery of novel acyclic amide cannabinoid-1 receptor inverse agonists is described. They are potent, selective, orally bioavailable, and active in rodent models of food intake and body weight reduction. A major focus of the optimization process was to increase in vivo efficacy and to reduce the potential for formation of reactive metabolites. These efforts led to the identification of compound 48 for development as a clinical candidate for the treatment of obesity.

Animals↗

Rescuing qkV dysmyelination by a single isoform of the selective RNA-binding protein QKI.

Alternative splicing of the qkI transcript generates multiple isoforms of the selective RNA-binding protein QKI, which play key roles in controlling the homeostasis of their mRNA targets. QKI deficiency in oligodendrocytes of homozygous quakingviable (qkV/qkV) mutant mice results in severe hypomyelination, indicating the essential function of QKI in myelinogenesis. However, the molecular mechanisms by which QKI controls myelination remain elusive. We report here that QKI-6 is the most abundant isoform in brain and is preferentially reduced in the qkV/qkV mutant during normal myelinogenesis. To test whether QKI-6 is the predominant isoform responsible for advancing CNS myelination, we developed transgenic mice that express Flag-QKI-6 specifically in the oligodendroglia lineage, driven by the proteolipid protein (PLP) promoter. When introduced into the qkV/qkV mutant, the QKI-6 transgene rescues the severe tremor and hypomyelination phenotype. Electron microscopic studies further revealed that the Flag-QKI-6 transgene is sufficient for restoring compact myelin formation with normal lamellar periodicity and thickness. Interestingly, Flag-QKI-6 preferentially associates with the mRNA encoding the myelin basic protein (MBP) and rescues MBP expression from the beginning of myelinogenesis. In contrast, Flag-QKI-6 binds the PLP mRNA with lower efficiency and has a minimal impact on PLP expression until much later, when the expression level of QKI-6 in the transgenic animal significantly exceeds what is needed for normal myelination. Together, our results demonstrate that QKI-6 is the major isoform responsible for CNS myelination, which preferentially promotes MBP expression in oligodendrocytes.

Animals↗

QKI binds MAP1B mRNA and enhances MAP1B expression during oligodendrocyte development.

Microtubule-associated protein 1B (MAP1B) is essential for neural development. Besides the abundant expression in neurons, MAP1B recently was found in myelinating oligodendroglia. Moreover, MAP1B deficiency causes delayed myelin development, suggesting the functional importance of MAP1B in oligodendroglia. However, molecular mechanisms that control MAP1B expression in oligodendroglia remain elusive. We report here that MAP1B mRNA is markedly up-regulated in the oligodendroglia cell line CG4 upon induced differentiation, leading to elevated MAP1B protein production. A coordinated regulation of homeoprotein transcription factors was observed during CG4 cell differentiation, which recapitulates the regulation in neurons that promotes MAP1B transcription. Hence, transcriptional regulation of MAP1B appears to be a common mechanism in both neurons and oligodendroglia. In addition, we found posttranscriptional regulation of MAP1B mRNA by the selective RNA-binding protein QKI in oligodendroglia. The 3'UTR of MAP1B mRNA interacts with QKI, and oligodendroglia-specific QKI-deficiency in the quakingviable mutant mice resulted in reduced MAP1B mRNA expression. Moreover, RNAi-mediated QKI-knockdown caused destabilization of the MAP1B mRNA in CG4 cells. Furthermore, forced expression of exogenous QKI was sufficient for promoting MAP1B expression. Because QKI is absent in neurons, QKI-dependent stabilization of MAP1B mRNA provides a novel mechanism for advancing MAP1B expression specifically in oligodendroglia during brain development.

Animals↗

A novel fluorescent probe that is brain permeable and selectively binds to myelin.

Myelin is a multilayered glial cell membrane that forms segmented sheaths around large-caliber axons of both the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS). Myelin covering insures rapid and efficient transmission of nerve impulses. Direct visual assessment of local changes of myelin content in vivo could greatly facilitate diagnosis and therapeutic treatments of myelin-related diseases. Current histologic probes for the visualization of myelin are based on antibodies or charged histochemical reagents that do not enter the brain. We have developed a series of chemical compounds including (E,E)-1,4-bis(4'-aminostyryl)-2-dimethoxy-benzene termed BDB and the subject of this report, which readily penetrates the blood-brain barrier and selectively binds to the myelin sheath in brain. BDB selectively stains intact myelinated regions in wild-type mouse brain, which allows for delineation of cuprizone-induced demyelinating lesions in mouse brain. BDB can be injected IV into the brain and selectively detect demyelinating lesions in cuprizone-treated mice in situ. These studies justified further investigation of BDB as a potential myelin-imaging probe to monitor myelin pathology in vivo.

Aniline Compounds↗

Microtubule stability and MAP1B upregulation control neuritogenesis in CAD cells.

AIM: To study the role of microtubule dynamics and microtubule associated protein 1B (MAP1B) in regulation of the neurite extension in CAD catecholaminergic neuronal cell line. METHODS: The neuritogenesis of the CAD cells was abolished by inhibiting microtubule polymerization with nocodazole and by blocking microtubule depolymerization with taxol. MAP1B and tubulin protein expression was detected by Western blot. Immunofluorescent staining of tubulins was observed by fluorescent and confocal microscopy. RESULTS: Microtubule dynamics was essential for CAD neurite extension. Dosage analysis revealed that neurite extension was much more sensitive to nocodazole than to taxol, suggesting a functional requirement for highly active microtubule assembly. A remarkable upregulation of MAP1B protein was detected during neurite extension accompanied with increased microtubule stability. CONCLUSION: Upregulation of MAP1B leads to the stabilization of newly formed microtubules in the developing neurites, which in turn promotes neurite extension.

Animals↗

Chronic inhibition of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 with a sitagliptin analog preserves pancreatic beta-cell mass and function in a rodent model of type 2 diabetes.

Inhibitors of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4), a key regulator of the actions of incretin hormones, exert antihyperglycemic effects in type 2 diabetic patients. A major unanswered question concerns the potential ability of DPP-4 inhibition to have beneficial disease-modifying effects, specifically to attenuate loss of pancreatic beta-cell mass and function. Here, we investigated the effects of a potent and selective DPP-4 inhibitor, an analog of sitagliptin (des-fluoro-sitagliptin), on glycemic control and pancreatic beta-cell mass and function in a mouse model with defects in insulin sensitivity and secretion, namely high-fat diet (HFD) streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice. Significant and dose-dependent correction of postprandial and fasting hyperglycemia, HbA(1c), and plasma triglyceride and free fatty acid levels were observed in HFD/STZ mice following 2-3 months of chronic therapy. Treatment with des-fluoro-sitagliptin dose dependently increased the number of insulin-positive beta-cells in islets, leading to the normalization of beta-cell mass and beta-cell-to-alpha-cell ratio. In addition, treatment of mice with des-fluoro-sitagliptin, but not glipizide, significantly increased islet insulin content and improved glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in isolated islets. These findings suggest that DPP-4 inhibitors may offer long-lasting efficacy in the treatment of type 2 diabetes by modifying the courses of the disease.

Animals↗

Blockers of the delayed-rectifier potassium current in pancreatic beta-cells enhance glucose-dependent insulin secretion.

Delayed-rectifier K+ currents (I(DR)) in pancreatic beta-cells are thought to contribute to action potential repolarization and thereby modulate insulin secretion. The voltage-gated K+ channel, K(V)2.1, is expressed in beta-cells, and the biophysical characteristics of heterologously expressed channels are similar to those of I(DR) in rodent beta-cells. A novel peptidyl inhibitor of K(V)2.1/K(V)2.2 channels, guangxitoxin (GxTX)-1 (half-maximal concentration approximately 1 nmol/l), has been purified, characterized, and used to probe the contribution of these channels to beta-cell physiology. In mouse beta-cells, GxTX-1 inhibits 90% of I(DR) and, as for K(V)2.1, shifts the voltage dependence of channel activation to more depolarized potentials, a characteristic of gating-modifier peptides. GxTX-1 broadens the beta-cell action potential, enhances glucose-stimulated intracellular calcium oscillations, and enhances insulin secretion from mouse pancreatic islets in a glucose-dependent manner. These data point to a mechanism for specific enhancement of glucose-dependent insulin secretion by applying blockers of the beta-cell I(DR), which may provide advantages over currently used therapies for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Antiobesity effect of a melanin-concentrating hormone 1 receptor antagonist in diet-induced obese mice.

Melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) is a cyclic orexigenic peptide expressed in the lateral hypothalamus, which plays an important role in regulating energy balance. To elucidate the physiological role of MCH in obesity development, the present study examined the effect of a selective MCH1 receptor (MCH1R) antagonist in the diet-induced obesity mouse model. The MCH1R antagonist has high affinity and selectivity for MCH-1R and potently inhibits intracerebroventricularly injected MCH-induced food intake in Sprague Dawley rats. Chronic intracerebroventricular infusion of the MCH1R antagonist (7.5 microg/d) completely suppressed body weight gain in diet-induced obese mice during the treatment periods and significantly decreased cumulative food intake, by 14%. Carcass analysis showed that the MCH1R antagonist resulted in a selective decrease of body fat in the diet-induced obese mice. In addition, the MCH1R antagonist ameliorated the obesity-related hypercholesterolemia, hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia, and hyperleptinemia. These results indicate that MCH has a major role in the development of diet-induced obesity in mice and that a MCH1R antagonist might be a useful candidate as an antiobesity agent.

Animals↗

Fragile X protein functions with lgl and the par complex in flies and mice.

Fragile X syndrome, the most common form of inherited mental retardation, is caused by loss of function for the Fragile X Mental Retardation 1 gene (FMR1). FMR1 protein (FMRP) has specific mRNA targets and is thought to be involved in their transport to subsynaptic sites as well as translation regulation. We report a saturating genetic screen of the Drosophila autosomal genome to identify functional partners of dFmr1. We recovered 19 mutations in the tumor suppressor lethal (2) giant larvae (dlgl) gene and 90 mutations at other loci. dlgl encodes a cytoskeletal protein involved in cellular polarity and cytoplasmic transport and is regulated by the PAR complex through phosphorylation. We provide direct evidence for a Fmrp/Lgl/mRNA complex, which functions in neural development in flies and is developmentally regulated in mice. Our data suggest that Lgl may regulate Fmrp/mRNA sorting, transport, and anchoring via the PAR complex.

Alcohol Oxidoreductases↗

Developmental abnormalities of myelin basic protein expression in fyn knock-out brain reveal a role of Fyn in posttranscriptional regulation.

Fyn protein-tyrosine kinase (PTK), a member of the Src-PTK family, is essential for myelin development in the central nervous system (CNS). The absence of Fyn activity results in defects in the morphogenesis of oligodendrocyte precursors (OPCs) and CNS hypomyelination. However, molecular mechanisms for Fyn to control CNS myelinogenesis remain elusive. Here we show that Fyn-PTK is significantly up-regulated in early OPC differentiation, concentrated in the compact myelin, and declines during myelin development. Despite the high levels of Fyn-PTK expression during early OPC differentiation, Fyn deficiency does not affect the expression of mRNAs that encode myelin structural proteins, including that for the myelin basic protein (MBP), until postnatal day 13 (P13). However, the accumulation rate of MBP mRNA is significantly attenuated during the most active period of myelinogenesis (P13 and P20). Interestingly, the absence of Fyn causes a preferential reduction of the exon-2 containing MBP mRNA isoforms derived from alternative splicing, providing the first evidence that Fyn is required for posttranscriptional regulation of MBP. Consistent with this idea, Fyn phosphorylates the selective RNA-binding protein QKI, which likely modulates the activity of QKI in binding and stabilizing the MBP mRNA. Furthermore, Fyn deficiency exerts an opposing influence on MBP isoform patterning in comparison to that by QKI deficiency. These observations collectively suggest that Fyn plays critical roles in promoting accelerated MBP expression during myelinogenesis in a MBP isoform-preferential manner, and QKI may act in the same pathway downstream of Fyn for MBP mRNA homeostasis.

Animals↗

The fragile X protein controls microtubule-associated protein 1B translation and microtubule stability in brain neuron development.

The fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) is a selective RNA-binding protein implicated in regulating translation of its mRNA ligands. The absence of FMRP results in fragile X syndrome, one of the leading causes of inherited mental retardation. Delayed dendritic spine maturation was found in fragile X mental retardation patients as well as in Fmr1 knockout (KO) mice, indicating the functional requirement of FMRP in synaptic development. However, the biochemical link between FMRP deficiency and the neuronal impairment during brain development has not been defined. How FMRP governs normal synapse development in the brain remains elusive. We report here that the developmentally programmed FMRP expression represses the translation of microtubule associated protein 1B (MAP1B) and is required for the accelerated decline of MAP1B during active synaptogenesis in neonatal brain development. The lack of FMRP results in misregulated MAP1B translation and delayed MAP1B decline in the Fmr1 KO brain. Furthermore, the aberrantly elevated MAP1B protein expression leads to abnormally increased microtubule stability in Fmr1 KO neurons. Together, these results indicate that FMRP plays critical roles in controlling cytoskeleton organization during neuronal development, and the abnormal microtubule dynamics is a conceivable underlying factor for the pathogenesis of fragile X mental retardation.

Animals↗

Developmentally-programmed FMRP expression in oligodendrocytes: a potential role of FMRP in regulating translation in oligodendroglia progenitors.

The fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) is a selective RNA-binding protein whose function is implicated in regulating protein synthesis of its mRNA targets. The lack of FMRP leads to abnormal synapse development in the brain and impaired learning/memory. Although FMRP is predominantly expressed in neurons of the adult brain, whether FMRP also functions in glia during early development remains elusive, since expression of FMRP in glia has not been rigorously examined. This is an important question because recent studies revealed important roles of glia in synaptic development. Here we report that in addition to the observed neuronal expression, FMRP expression is detected in oligodendroglia progenitor cells (OPCs), immature oligodendrocytes and oligodendroglia cell lines, where it interacts with a subgroup of oligodendrocyte-specific mRNAs, including the myelin basic protein (MBP) mRNA. FMRP expression gradually declines as oligodendrocytes differentiate in vitro and in the developing brain. The decline of FMRP expression during oligodendrocyte differentiation is associated with a vigorous up-regulation of the MBP protein. In addition, we show that the MBP 3'untranslated region (3'UTR) is necessary and sufficient for binding FMRP, and mediates translation inhibition of a reporter gene by FMRP specifically in oligodendrocytes. These results support the hypothesis that FMRP may participate in regulating translation of its bound mRNAs in oligodendroglia during early brain development.

Brain↗

The quakingviable mutation affects qkI mRNA expression specifically in myelin-producing cells of the nervous system.

The genetic lesion in the quakingviable (qk(v)) mutant mice is a deletion 5' to the qkI gene, resulting in severe hypomyelination. qkI produces several QKI protein isoforms via alternative splicing of the C-terminal coding exons. In the qk(v)/qk(v) brain, immunostaining of QKI proteins is diminished in an isoform-differential manner with undefined mechanisms. We examined the expression of QKI protein isoforms and qkI mRNA isoforms in the qk(v)/qk(v) mutants and the non-phenotypic wt/qk(v) littermates. Our results indicated significant reduction of all qkI mRNA isoforms in the central and peripheral nervous system during active myelination without detectable post-transcriptional abnormalities. In the early stage of myelin development, qkI mRNAs are differentially reduced, which appeared to be responsible for the reduction of the corresponding QKI protein isoforms. The reduced qkI expression was a specific consequence of the qk(v) lesion, not observed in other hypomyelination mutants. Further more, no abnormal qkI expression was found in testis, heart and astroglia of the qk(v)/qk(v) mice, suggesting that the reduction of qkI mRNAs occurred specifically in myelin-producing cells of the nervous system. These observations suggest that diminished qkI expression results from deletion of an enhancer that promotes qkI transcription specifically in myelinating glia during active myelinogenesis.

Animals↗