Obesity is associated with 14 types of cancers, with specific lipids contributing to each hallmark of cancer.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to ravage the world, with many hospitals overwhelmed by the large number of patients presenting during major outbreaks. A rapid triage for COVID-19 patient requiring hospitalization and intensive care is urgently needed. Age and comorbidities have been associated with a higher risk of severe COVID-19 but are not sufficient to triage patients. Here, we investigated the potential of attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy as a rapid blood test for classification of COVID-19 disease severity using a cohort of 160 COVID-19 patients. A simple plasma processing and ATR-FTIR data acquisition procedure was established using 75% ethanol for viral inactivation. Next, partial least-squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) models were developed and tested using data from 130 and 30 patients, respectively. Addition of the ATR-FTIR spectra to the clinical parameters (age, sex, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension) increased the area under the ROC curve (C-statistics) for both the training and test data sets, from 69.3% (95% CI 59.8–78.9%) to 85.7% (78.6–92.8%) and 77.8% (61.3–94.4%) to 85.1% (71.3–98.8%), respectively. The independent test set achieved 69.2% specificity (42.4–87.3%) and 94.1% sensitivity (73.0–99.0%). Diabetes mellitus was the strongest predictor in the model, followed by FTIR regions 1020–1090 and 1588–1592 cm –1 . In summary, this study demonstrates the potential of ATR-FTIR spectroscopy as a rapid, low-cost COVID-19 severity triage tool to facilitate COVID-19 patient management during an outbreak.

Background Caveolae proteins play diverse roles in cancer development and progression. In prostate cancer, non‐caveolar caveolin‐1 (CAV1) promotes metastasis, while CAVIN1 attenuates CAV1‐induced metastasis. Here, we unveil a novel mechanism linking CAV1 to selective loading of exosomes with metastasis‐promoting microRNAs. Results We identify hnRNPK as a CAV1‐regulated microRNA binding protein. In the absence of CAVIN1, non‐caveolar CAV1 drives localisation of hnRPNK to multi‐vesicular bodies (MVBs), recruiting AsUGnA motif‐containing miRNAs and causing their release within exosomes. This process is dependent on the lipid environment of membranes as shown by cholesterol depletion using methyl‐β‐cyclodextrin or by treatment with n‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Consistent with a role in bone metastasis, knockdown of hnRNPK in prostate cancer PC3 cells abolished the ability of PC3 extracellular vesicles (EV) to induce osteoclastogenesis, and biofluid EV hnRNPK is elevated in metastatic prostate and colorectal cancer. Conclusions Taken together, these results support a novel pan‐cancer mechanism for CAV1‐driven exosomal release of hnRNPK and associated miRNA in metastasis, which is modulated by the membrane lipid environment.

During chronic liver injury hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), the principal source of extracellular matrix in the fibrotic liver, transdifferentiate into pro-fibrotic myofibroblast-like cells - a process potentially regulated by microRNAs (miRNAs). Recently, we found serum miRNA-25-3p (miR-25) levels were upregulated in children with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) without liver disease, compared to children with CF-associated liver disease and healthy individuals. Here we examine the role of miR-25 in HSC biology. MiR-25 was detected in the human HSC cell line LX-2 and in primary murine HSCs, and increased with culture-induced activation. Transient overexpression of miR-25 inhibited TGF-β and its type 1 receptor (TGFBR1) mRNA expression, TGF-β-induced Smad2 phosphorylation and subsequent collagen1α1 induction in LX-2 cells. Pull-down experiments with biotinylated miR-25 revealed Notch signaling (co-)activators ADAM-17 and FKBP14 as miR-25 targets in HSCs. NanoString analysis confirmed miR-25 regulation of Notch- and Wnt-signaling pathways. Expression of Notch signaling pathway components and endogenous Notch1 signaling was downregulated in miR-25 overexpressing LX-2 cells, as were components of Wnt signaling such as Wnt5a. We propose that miR-25 acts as a negative feedback anti-fibrotic control during HSC activation by reducing the reactivity of HSCs to TGF-β-induced collagen expression and modulating the cross-talk between Notch, Wnt and TGF-β signaling.

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Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy provides a (bio)chemical snapshot of the sample, and was recently used in proof-of-concept cohort studies for COVID-19 saliva screening. However, the biological basis of the proposed technology has not been established. To investigate underlying pathophysiology, we conducted controlled infection experiments on Vero E6 cells in vitro and K18-hACE2 mice in vivo. Potentially infectious culture supernatant or mouse oral lavage samples were treated with ethanol or 75% (v/v) Trizol for attenuated total reflectance (ATR)-FTIR spectroscopy and proteomics, or RT-PCR, respectively. Controlled infection with UV-inactivated SARS-CoV-2 elicited strong biochemical changes in culture supernatant/oral lavage despite a lack of viral replication, determined by RT-PCR or a cell culture infectious dose 50% assay. Nevertheless, SARS-CoV-2 infection induced additional FTIR signals over UV-inactivated SARS-CoV-2 infection in both cell and mouse models, which correspond to aggregated proteins and RNA. Proteomics of mouse oral lavage revealed increased secretion of kallikreins and immune modulatory proteins. Next, we collected saliva from a cohort of human participants (n = 104) and developed a predictive model for COVID-19 using partial least squares discriminant analysis. While high sensitivity of 93.48% was achieved through leave-one-out cross-validation, COVID-19 patients testing negative on follow-up on the day of saliva sampling using RT-PCR was poorly predicted in this model. Importantly, COVID-19 vaccination did not lead to the misclassification of COVID-19 negatives. Finally, meta-analysis revealed that SARS-CoV-2 induced increases in the amide II band in all arms of this study and in recently published cohort studies, indicative of altered β-sheet structures in secreted proteins. In conclusion, this study reveals a consistent secretory pathophysiological response to SARS-CoV-2, as well as a simple, robust method for COVID-19 saliva screening using ATR-FTIR.

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