Insulin resistance and β-cell failure are the major defects in type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, the molecular mechanisms linking these two defects remain unknown. Elevated levels of apolipoprotein CIII (apoCIII) are associated not only with insulin resistance but also with cardiovascular disorders and inflammation. We now demonstrate that local apoCIII production is connected to pancreatic islet insulin resistance and β-cell failure. An increase in islet apoCIII causes promotion of a local inflammatory milieu, increased mitochondrial metabolism, deranged regulation of β-cell cytoplasmic free Ca 2+ concentration ([Ca 2+ ] i ) and apoptosis. Decreasing apoCIII in vivo results in improved glucose tolerance, and pancreatic apoCIII knockout islets transplanted into diabetic mice, with high systemic levels of the apolipoprotein, demonstrate a normal [Ca 2+

Detailed characterization of cell type transitions is essential for cell biology in general and particularly for the development of stem cell-based therapies in regenerative medicine. To systematically study such transitions, we introduce a method that simultaneously measures protein expression and thermal stability changes in cells and provide the web-based visualization tool ProteoTracker. We apply our method to study differences between human pluripotent stem cells and several cell types including their parental cell line and differentiated progeny. We detect alterations of protein properties in numerous cellular pathways and components including ribosome biogenesis and demonstrate that modulation of ribosome maturation through SBDS protein can be helpful for manipulating cell stemness in vitro. Using our integrative proteomics approach and the web-based tool, we uncover a molecular basis for the uncoupling of robust transcription from parsimonious translation in stem cells and propose a method for maintaining pluripotency in vitro.

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It has been reported that protein kinase C (PKC) interacts at multiple sites in ␤-cell stimulus-secretion coupling. Nevertheless, there is still controversy concerning the importance of this enzyme in glucose-induced insulin release. The present study was undertaken to clarify whether glucose, directly, or through changes in cytoplasmic free Ca

Cytokine immunotherapy represents an attractive strategy to stimulate robust immune responses for renal injury repair in ischemic acute kidney injury (AKI). However, its clinical application is hindered by its nonspecificity to kidney, short circulation half-life, and severe side effects. An ideal cytokine immunotherapy for AKI requires preferential delivery of cytokines with accurate dosage to the kidney and sustained-release of cytokines to stimulate the immune responses. Herein, we developed a DNA nanoraft cytokine by precisely arranging interleukin-33 (IL-33) nanoarray on rectangle DNA origami, through which IL-33 can be preferentially delivered to the kidney for alleviation of AKI. A nanoraft carrying precisely quantified IL-33 predominantly accumulated in the kidney for up to 48 h. Long-term sustained-release of IL-33 from nanoraft induced rapid expansion of type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC 2s) and regulatory T cells (Tregs) and achieved better treatment efficiency compared to free IL-33 treatment. Thus, our study demonstrates that a nanoraft can serve as a structurally well-defined delivery platform for cytokine immunotherapy in ischemic AKI and other renal diseases.

Glucose stimulation of pancreatic ␤-cells causes oscillatory influx of Ca 2؉ , leading to pulsatile insulin secretion. We have proposed that this is due to oscillations of glycolysis and the ATP/ADP ratio, which modulate the activity of ATP-sensitive K ؉ channels. We show here that dihydroxyacetone, a secretagogue that feeds into glycolysis below the putative oscillator phosphofructokinase, could cause a single initial peak in ] i oscillations with a period of minutes, which correspond to oscillations in insulin secretion (1-3). Similar oscillations in insulin secretion are observed in vivo and are abnormal or diminished in type 2 diabetes (4 -6); loss of oscillations may reduce the effectiveness of insulin (7,8) and thus contribute to the development of the disease. In addition to this K ATP channel-mediated action to raise [Ca 2ϩ ] i , there is also a K ATP channel-independent stimulation of secretion by glucose (9, 10), which may involve the ATP/ADP ratio (9) or lipid signals (11). Because oscillations in insulin secretion can be seen under conditions in which [Ca 2ϩ ] i is not changing, it has been proposed that the underlying oscillator is metabolic rather than ionic (12). In particular, we have proposed that the basis of these oscillations in the pancreatic ␤-cell is the spontaneous oscillations of glycolysis and the ATP/ADP ratio due to pulsed action of the muscle isoform of phosphofructokinase (PFK-M), which is present in ␤-cells (13). As demonstrated previously in muscle extracts, such oscillatory behavior can result from autocatalytic activation of PFK-M by its product, fructose 1,6-bisphosphate (Fru-1,6-P 2 ) (14, 15). The occurrence of glycolytic oscillations in the ␤-cell is supported by observations of similar oscillations in [Ca 2ϩ ] i , glucose 6-phosphate, and the ATP/ADP ratio (16,17), as well as oscillatory release of lactate from perifused islets (18).As a further test of this hypothesized role of glycolytic oscillations, we examined the actions of the trioses dihydroxyacetone (DHA) and glyceraldehyde (GA) that on phosphorylation feed into glycolysis downstream of the phosphofructokinase reaction. The trioses can also serve as secretagogues (19 -21), though they have not been shown to cause oscillations in [Ca 2ϩ ] i or insulin secretion. Of the two, GA is the more potent and the more widely studied. However, there is concern that it may not be a suitable glucose mimic in that it causes strong cellular acidification, most likely because of direct metabolism by glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and perhaps phosphoglycerate kinase to produce glyceric acid (22). We therefore focused on DHA, although some experiments were also performed with GA for comparison. Furthermore, we previously showed in the glycolyzing muscle extract system that the addition of DHA-P could trigger a pulse of PFK activity by

Significance With obesity on the rise, there is a growing appreciation for intracellular lipid droplet (LD) regulation. Here, we show how saturated fatty acids (SFAs) reduce fat storage–inducing transmembrane protein 2 (FIT2)–facilitated, pancreatic β cell LD biogenesis, which in turn induces β cell dysfunction and death, leading to diabetes. This mechanism involves direct acylation of FIT2 cysteine residues, which then marks the FIT2 protein for endoplasmic reticulum (ER)–associated degradation. Loss of β cell FIT2 and LDs reduces insulin secretion, increases intracellular ceramides, stimulates ER stress, and exacerbates diet-induced diabetes in mice. While palmitate and stearate degrade FIT2, unsaturated fatty acids such as palmitoleate and oleate do not, results of which extend to nutrition and diabetes.

CRISPR-based precise gene-editing requires simultaneous delivery of multiple components into living cells, rapidly exceeding the cargo capacity of traditional viral vector systems. This challenge represents a major roadblock to genome engineering applications. Here we exploit the unmatched heterologous DNA cargo capacity of baculovirus to resolve this bottleneck in human cells. By encoding Cas9, sgRNA and Donor DNAs on a single, rapidly assembled baculoviral vector, we achieve with up to 30% efficacy whole-exon replacement in the intronic β-actin (ACTB) locus, including site-specific docking of very large DNA payloads. We use our approach to rescue wild-type podocin expression in steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS) patient derived podocytes. We demonstrate single baculovirus vectored delivery of single and multiplexed prime-editing toolkits, achieving up to 100% cleavage-free DNA search-and-replace interventions without detectable indels. Taken together, we provide a versatile delivery platform for single base to multi-gene level genome interventions, addressing the currently unmet need for a powerful delivery system accommodating current and future CRISPR technologies without the burden of limited cargo capacity.