Highlights d Deviation from normal cell size interferes with cell function and proliferation d DNA becomes limiting for cell function if cells grow too large d Uncoupling of protein synthesis and volume causes cytoplasm dilution in big cells d Excessive cell growth contributes to functional decline in senescence

A study of acute lung injury reveals the involvement of transcription factor HIF1A in lung protection, where normoxic HIF1A stabilization functions to control alveolar epithelial glucose metabolism.

Myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury contributes to adverse cardiovascular outcomes after myocardial ischemia, cardiac surgery or circulatory arrest. Primarily, no blood flow to the heart causes an imbalance between oxygen demand and supply, named ischemia (from the greek isch-, restriction and -haema, blood), resulting in damage or dysfunction of the cardiac tissue. Instinctively, early and fast restoration of blood flow has been established to be the treatment of choice to prevent further tissue injury. Indeed, the use of thrombolytic therapy or primary percutaneous coronary intervention is the most effective strategy for reducing the size of a myocardial infarct and improving the clinical outcome. Unfortunately, restoring blood flow to the ischemic myocardium, named reperfusion, can also induce injury. This phenomenon was therefore termed myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury. Subsequent studies in animal models of acute myocardial infarction suggest that myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury accounts for up to 50% of the final size of a myocardial infarct. Consequently many researchers aim to understand the underlying molecular mechanism of myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury to find therapeutic strategies ultimately reducing the final infarct size. Despite of the identification of numerous therapeutic strategies at the bench, many of them are just in the process of being translated to bedside. In the current review, we will discuss the most striking basic science findings made during the last decades that are currently under clinical evaluation, with the ultimate goal to treat patients who are suffering from myocardial ischemia and reperfusion associated tissue injury.

Background Cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury (I/R) represents a major cause of cardiac tissue injury. Adenosine signaling dampens inflammation during cardiac I/R. Here, we investigated the role of the adenosine A2b-receptor (Adora2b) on inflammatory cells during cardiac I/R. Methods To study Adora2b signaling on inflammatory cells, we transplanted wild-type (WT) bone marrow (BM) into Adora2b−/− mice or Adora2b−/− BM into WT mice. To study the role of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs), neutrophil-depleted WT mice were treated with an Adora2b agonist. Following treatments, mice were exposed to 60 min of myocardial ischemia and 120 min of reperfusion. Infarct sizes and Troponin-I levels were determined by triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining and ELISA, respectively. Results Transplantation of WT-BM into Adora2b−/− mice decreased infarct sizes by 19 ± 4% and Troponin-I by 87.5 ± 25.3 ng/ml (mean ± SD, n = 6). Transplantation of Adora2b−/− BM into WT mice increased infarct sizes by 20 ±3% and Troponin-I levels by 69.7 ± 17.9 ng/ml (mean ± SD, n = 6). Studies on the reperfused myocardium revealed PMNs as dominant cell type. PMN-depletion or Adora2b agonist treatment reduced infarct sizes by 30 ± 11% or 26 ± 13% (mean ± SD, n = 4), however the combination of both did not reveal further cardioprotection. Cytokine profiling showed significantly higher cardiac tumor-necrosis-factor-α levels in Adora2b−/− compared to WT mice (39.3 ± 5.3 vs. 7.5 ± 1.0 pg/mg protein, mean ± SD, n = 4). Pharmacological studies on human activated PMNs revealed an Adora2b dependent tumor-necrosis-factor-α release. Conclusion Adora2b signaling on BM-derived cells such as PMNs represents an endogenous cardioprotective mechanism during cardiac I/R. Our findings suggest that Adora2b agonist treatment during cardiac I/R reduces tumor-necrosis-factor-α release of PMNs, thereby dampening tissue injury.

Various subunits of mammalian SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complexes display loss-of-function mutations characteristic of tumor suppressors in different cancers, but an additional role for SWI/SNF supporting cell survival in distinct cancer contexts is emerging. In particular, genetic dependence on the catalytic subunit BRG1/SMARCA4 has been observed in acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), yet the feasibility of direct therapeutic targeting of SWI/SNF catalytic activity in leukemia remains unknown. Here, we evaluated the activity of dual BRG1/BRM ATPase inhibitors across a genetically diverse panel of cancer cell lines and observed that hematopoietic cancer cell lines were among the most sensitive compared with other lineages. This result was striking in comparison with data from pooled short hairpin RNA screens, which showed that only a subset of leukemia cell lines display sensitivity to BRG1 knockdown. We demonstrate that combined genetic knockdown of BRG1 and BRM is required to recapitulate the effects of dual inhibitors, suggesting that SWI/SNF dependency in human leukemia extends beyond a predominantly BRG1-driven mechanism. Through gene expression and chromatin accessibility studies, we show that the dual inhibitors act at genomic loci associated with oncogenic transcription factors, and observe a downregulation of leukemic pathway genes, including MYC, a well-established target of BRG1 activity in AML. Overall, small-molecule inhibition of BRG1/BRM induced common transcriptional responses across leukemia models resulting in a spectrum of cellular phenotypes. Implications: Our studies reveal the breadth of SWI/SNF dependency in leukemia and support targeting SWI/SNF catalytic function as a potential therapeutic strategy in AML.

The ability to detect activation of signaling pathways based solely on gene expression data represents an important goal in biological research. We tested the sensitivity of singular value decomposition-based regression by focusing on functional interactions between the Ras and transforming growth factor beta signaling pathways. Our findings demonstrate that this approach is sufficiently sensitive to detect the secondary activation of endogenous signaling pathways as it occurs through crosstalk following ectopic activation of a primary pathway.

The ED management of syncope patients in the UK and Republic of Ireland is varied. Only 18% of ED have specific guidelines for managing this difficult condition and only 18% have access to a specialist syncope clinic. A robust consensus UK syncope guideline is clearly required.

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