Autophagy contributes to the selective degradation of liquid droplets, including the P-Granule, Ape1-complex and p62/SQSTM1-body, although the molecular mechanisms and physiological relevance of selective degradation remain unclear. In this report, we describe the properties of endogenous p62-bodies, the effect of autophagosome biogenesis on these bodies, and the in vivo significance of their turnover. p62-bodies are low-liquidity gels containing ubiquitin and core autophagy-related proteins. Multiple autophagosomes form on the p62-gels, and the interaction of autophagosome-localizing Atg8-proteins with p62 directs autophagosome formation toward the p62-gel. Keap1 also reversibly translocates to the p62-gels in a p62-binding dependent fashion to activate the transcription factor Nrf2. Mice deficient for Atg8-interaction-dependent selective autophagy show that impaired turnover of p62-gels leads to Nrf2 hyperactivation in vivo. These results indicate that p62-gels are not simple substrates for autophagy but serve as platforms for both autophagosome formation and anti-oxidative stress.

Gängige Oligosaccharide und Aldehyd‐gebundene, von Enzymmodifikationen abgeleitete Glycoproteine können durch ein Glycoblotting abgefangen werden, das auf Oxylamino‐haltigen Polymeren basiert. Die Kombination dieses Glycoblottings mit MALDI‐TOF/TOF‐Massenspektrometrie führte zu einer Hochdurchsatz‐Analysemethode.

Sialic acids occur widely as glycoconjugates at the nonreducing ends of glycans. Glycosphingolipids (GSLs) include a large number of sialyl-linked glycan isomers with α2,3-, α2,6-, and α2,8-linked polysialic acids. Thus, it is difficult to distinguish structural isomers with the same mass by mass spectrometry. The sialic acid linkage specific alkylamidation (SALSA) method has been developed for discriminating between α2,3and α2,6-linked isomers, but sequential amidation of linkage-specific sialic acids is generally complicated and time-consuming. Moreover, analysis of GSLglycans containing α2,8-linked polysialic acids using solidphase SALSA has not been reported. Herein, we report a novel SALSA method focused on ring-opening aminolysis (aminolysis-SALSA), which shortens the reaction time and simplifies the experimental procedures. We demonstrate that aminolysis-SALSA can successfully distinguish serum GSL-glycan isomers by mass spectrometry. In addition, ring-opening aminolysis can easily be applied to amine and hydrazine derivatives.

The altered N-glycosylation of glycoproteins has been suggested to play an important role in the behavior of malignant cells. Using glycomics technology, we attempted to determine the specific and detailed N-glycan profile for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and investigate the prognostic capabilities. From 1999 to 2011, 369 patients underwent primary curative hepatectomy in our facility and were followed up for a median of 60.7 months. As normal controls, 26 living Japanese related liver transplantation donors were selected not infected by hepatitis B and C virus. Their mean age was 40.0 and 15 (57.7%) were male. We used a glycoblotting method to purify N-glycans from preoperative blood samples from this cohort (10 lL serum) which were then identified and quantified using mass spectrometry (MS). Correlations between the N-glycan levels and the clinicopathologic characteristics and outcomes for these patients were evaluated. Our analysis of the relative areas of all the sugar peaks identified by MS, totaling 67 N-glycans, revealed that a proportion had higher relative areas in the HCC cases compared with the normal controls. Fourteen of these molecules had an area under the curve of greater than 0.80. Analysis of the correlation between these 14 N-glycans and surgical outcomes by univariate and multivariate analysis identified G2890 (m/z value, 2890.052) as a significant recurrence factor and G3560 (m/z value, 3560.295) as a significant prognostic factor. G2890 and G3560 were found to be strongly correlated with tumor number, size, and vascular invasion. Conclusion: Quantitative glycoblotting based on whole serum N-glycan profiling is an effective approach to screening for new biomarkers. The G2890 and G3560 N-glycans determined by tumor glycomics appear to be promising biomarkers for malignant behavior in HCCs. (HEPATOLOGY 2013;57:2314-2325 H epatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common and fatal malignancy with a worldwide occurrence.1 Liver resection has shown the highest level of control among the local treatments for HCC and is associated with a good survival rate.2,3 However, the recurrence rates for HCC are still high even when a curative hepatectomy is performed. 4 Many factors associated with the prognosis and recurrence of HCC have now been reported. Vascular invasion of the portal vein and/or hepatic vein and tumor differentiation are important factors affecting survival and recurrence in HCC cases after a hepatectomy. 5,6 However, microvascular invasion and differentiation can only be detected by pathological examination just after a hepatectomy, and cannot be diagnosed preoperatively, and thus cannot be identified preoperatively either. Hence, the serum biomarkers alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and protein induced by vitamin K absence-II (PIVKA-II) are used as prognostic markers 7,8 and also as surrogate markers for microvascular invasion and tumor differentiation.9,10 AFP is associated with grade differentiation, 11 whereas PIVKA-II is related to vascularAbbreviations: AFP, alpha-fetoprotein; AFP-L3, lens cul...

The lowest electronically excited state of small Na(H 2 O) n clusters have been investigated experimentally and theoretically. The excitation energy as determined by the depletion spectroscopy method drops from 16950 cm −1 for the sodium atom down to 9670 cm −1 when only three water molecules are attached to the Na atom. For larger clusters the absorption band shifts back towards higher energies and reaches 10880 cm −1 for n = 12. The experimental data are compared to quantum chemical calculations at the MP2 and MRSDCI levels. We found that the observed size-dependence of the transition energy is well reproduced by the interior structure where the sodium atom is surrounded by water molecules. The analysis of the radial charge distribution of the unpaired electron in these interior structures gives a new insight into the formation of the "solvated" electron.

Vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) technique successfully revealed the absolute configuration of the biased helix of perfluoroalkyl chains in solution with the aid of theoretical calculations, which was supported by an X-ray crystallographic study.

Common oligosaccharides and aldehyde‐attached glycoproteins derived from enzymatic modifications can be captured by glycoblotting based on oxylamino‐containing polymers. The combination of this glycoblotting and MALDI‐TOF/TOF mass spectrometry enabled a high‐throughput analytical method to be developed.

As a part of synthetic studies on MMP (matrix metalloproteinase)/ADAM (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase) inhibitors, we have preliminarily communicated that azasugar-based compound 1a exhibited a potential inhibitory activity on some metalloprotease-catalyzed proteolytic reactions. To find promising candidates for the topical treatment of psoriasis, we investigated stability in aqueous solution of compound 1a and its derivative 1b and then optimized the P1' substuent (2-5). In the present study, we synthesized novel derivatives of compound 1a and evaluated their inhibitory activity toward MMP-1, -3, and -9, TACE, and HB-EGF shedding, from a viewpoint of versatility of azasugars as a functional scaffold. As a result, it was found that compound 1b demonstrated desirable inhibitory activity as an antipsoriatic agent, and some of the derivatives showed selective inhibitory activity. In addition, it was found that compound 1b exhibited a significant therapeutic effect on a mouse TPA-induced epidermal hyperplasia model. Therefore, compound 1b could become a promising candidate as a practical antipsoriatic agent.