Endothelial secretion of von Willebrand factor (VWF) from intracellular organelles known as Weibel-Palade bodies (WPBs) is required for platelet adhesion to the injured vessel wall. Here, we demonstrate that WPBs are in some cases found near or within autophagosomes and that endothelial autophagosomes contain abundant VWF protein. Pharmacological inhibitors of autophagy, or knockdown of the essential autophagy genes Atg5 or Atg7, inhibits the in vitro secretion of VWF. Furthermore, while mice with an endothelial specific deletion of Atg7 have normal vessel architecture and capillary density, these animals exhibit impaired epinephrine-stimulated VWF release, reduced levels of high molecular weight VWF multimers and a corresponding elevation of their bleeding times. Endothelial deletion of Atg5 or pharmacological inhibition of autophagic flux results in a similar in vivo alteration of hemostasis. Thus, autophagy regulates endothelial VWF secretion and transient pharmacological inhibition of autophagic flux may be a useful strategy to prevent thrombotic events.

Diabetic nephropathy is a major cause of end-stage kidney disease, and overactivity of the endocannabinoid/cannabinoid 1 receptor (CB 1 R) system contributes to diabetes and its complications. Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats develop type 2 diabetic nephropathy with albuminuria, reduced glomerular filtration, activation of the reninangiotensin system (RAS), oxidative/nitrative stress, podocyte loss, and increased CB 1 R expression in glomeruli. Peripheral CB 1 R blockade initiated in the prediabetic stage prevented these changes or reversed them when animals with fully developed diabetic nephropathy were treated. Treatment of diabetic ZDF rats with losartan, an angiotensin II receptor-1 (Agtr1) antagonist, attenuated the development of nephropathy and down-regulated renal cortical CB 1 R expression, without affecting the marked hyperglycemia. In cultured human podocytes, CB 1 R and desmin gene expression were increased and podocin and nephrin content were decreased by either the CB 1 R agonist arachydonoyl-2′-chloroethylamide, angiotensin II, or high glucose, and the effects of all three were antagonized by CB 1 R blockade or siRNA-mediated knockdown of CNR1 (the cannabinoid type 1 receptor gene). We conclude that increased CB 1 R signaling in podocytes contributes to the development of diabetic nephropathy and represents a common pathway through which both hyperglycemia and increased RAS activity exert their deleterious effects, highlighting the therapeutic potential of peripheral CB 1 R blockade.iabetic nephropathy, a highly prevalent and serious complication of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus and a leading cause of renal failure, is characterized by albuminuria, decreased glomerular filtration rate (GFR), mesangial expansion, thickening of the glomerular basement membrane, and glomerular sclerosis (1). Multiple mechanisms have been implicated in the development of diabetic nephropathy, including activation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) (2), increase in oxidative (3) and nitrosative/nitrative stress (4), as well as an increase in local inflammation (5).The endocannabinoid system plays a well-documented role in obesity and its metabolic complications, including insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Globally acting cannabinoid 1 receptor (CB 1 R) antagonists/inverse agonists improve obesity-related insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, fatty liver, and β-cell loss, and attenuate obesity-related inflammatory changes both in preclinical models of diet-induced or genetic obesity and in clinical trials in overweight subjects with metabolic syndrome (reviewed in refs. 6 and 7). Global CB 1 R blockade also has beneficial effects in mouse models of type 1 and type 2 diabetic nephropathy (8-11). However, the therapeutic development of this class of compounds has been halted because of adverse neuropsychiatric side effects in a small proportion of treated subjects (12). Recent studies in rodent models have demonstrated that peripherally restricted CB 1 R antagonists are as effective as globally acti...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs which play numerous important roles in physiology and human diseases. During animal development, many miRNAs are expressed continuously from early embryos throughout adults, yet it is unclear whether these miRNAs are actually required at all the stages of development. Current techniques of manipulating microRNA function lack the required spatial and temporal resolution to adequately address the functionality of a given microRNA at a specific time or at single-cell resolution. To examine stage- or cell-specific function of miRNA during development and to achieve precise control of miRNA activity, we have developed photo-activatable antisense oligonucleotides against miRNAs. These caged oligonucleotides can be activated with 365 nm light with extraordinarily high efficiency to release potent antisense reagents to inhibit miRNAs. Initial application of these caged antimirs in a model organism (C. elegans) revealed that the activity of a miRNA (lsy-6) is required specifically around the comma stage during embryonic development to control a left/right asymmetric differentiation program in the C.elegans nervous system. This suggests that a transient input of lsy-6 during development is sufficient to specify the neuronal cell fate. The modular design and the facile assembly of these caged antisense oligonucleotides should facilitate their applications in detailed functional analyses of miRNAs and their target genes.

The long noncoding RNA HOXA11-AS displays abnormal expression in numerous human diseases. However, its function and biological mechanisms remain unclear in preeclampsia (PE). In this study, we report that HOXA11-AS is significantly downregulated in preeclamptic placental tissues and could contribute to the occurrence and development of PE. Silencing of HOXA11-AS expression could significantly suppress trophoblast cell growth and migration, whereas HOXA11-AS overexpression facilitated cell growth in the HTR-8/SVneo, JEG3, and JAR cell lines. RNA-seq analysis also indicated that HOXA11-AS silencing preferentially regulated numerous genes associated with cell proliferation and cell migration. Mechanistic analyses showed that HOXA11-AS could recruit Ezh2 and Lsd1 protein and regulate RND3 mRNA expression in the nucleus. In the cytoplasm, HOXA11-AS modulates HOXA7 expression by sponged miR-15b-5p, affecting trophoblast cell proliferation. Together, these data confirm that aberrant expression of HOXA11-AS is involved in the occurrence and development of PE and may act as a prospective diagnosis and therapeutic target in PE.

The testis produces male gametes in the germinal epithelium through the development of spermatogonia and spermatocytes into spermatids and immature spermatozoa with the support of Sertoli cells. The flow of spermatozoa into the epididymis is aided by testicular secretions. In the epididymal lumen, spermatozoa and testicular secretions combine with epididymal secretions that promote sperm maturation and storage. We refer to the combined secretions in the epididymis as the sperm-milieu. With two-dimensional-PAGE matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight MS analysis of healthy testes from fertile accident victims, 725 unique proteins were identified from 1920 two-dimensional-gel spots, and a corresponding antibody library was established. This revealed the presence of 240 proteins in the sperm-milieu by Western blotting and the localization of 167 proteins in mature spermatozoa by ICC. These proteins, and those from the epididymal proteome (Li et al. 2010), form the proteomes of the sperm-milieu and the spermatozoa, comprising 525 and 319 proteins, respectively. Individual mapping of the 319 sperm-located proteins to various testicular cell types by immunohistochemistry suggested that 47% were intrinsic sperm proteins (from their presence in spermatids) and 23% were extrinsic sperm proteins, originating from the epididymis and acquired during maturation (from their absence from the germinal epithelium and presence in the epididymal tissue and spermmilieu). Whereas 408 of 525 proteins in the sperm-milieu proteome were previously identified as abundant epididymal proteins, the remaining 22%, detected by the use of new testicular antibodies, were more likely to be minor proteins common to the testicular proteome, rather than proteins of testicular origin added to spermatozoa during maturation in the epididymis. The characterization of the sperm-milieu proteome and testicular mapping of the sperm-located proteins presented here provide the molecular basis for further studies on the production and maturation of spermatozoa. This could be the basis of develop-