Pretreatment NLR and percentages of lymphocyte and neutrophil are independent prognostic factors and may serve as clinically convenient and useful biomarkers for survival of patients with NPC.

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Dynamic nuclear Ca 2+ signals play pivotal roles in diverse cellular functions including gene transcription, cell growth, differentiation, and apoptosis. Here we report a novel nuclear Ca 2+ regulatory mechanism mediated by inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors (IP 3 Rs) around the nucleus in developing cardiac myocytes. Activation of IP 3 Rs by α 1 -adrenergic receptor (α 1 AR) stimulation or by IP 3 application (in saponin-permeabilized cells) increases Ca 2+ spark frequency preferentially in the region around the nucleus in neonatal rat ventricular myocytes. A nuclear enrichment of IP 3 R distribution supports the higher responsiveness of Ca 2+ release in this particular region. Strikingly, we observed "nuclear Ca 2+ waves" that engulf the entire nucleus without spreading into the bulk cytosol. α 1 AR stimulation enhances the occurrence of nuclear Ca 2+ waves and confers them the ability to trigger cytosolic Ca 2+ waves via IP 3 R-dependent pathways. This finding accounts, at least partly, for a profound frequency-dependent modulation of global Ca 2+ oscillations during α 1 AR stimulation. Thus, IP 3 R-mediated Ca 2+ waves traveling in the nuclear region provide active, autonomous regulation of nuclear Ca 2+ signaling, which provides for not only the local signal transduction, but also a pacemaker to drive global Ca 2+ transient in the context of α 1 AR stimulation in developing cardiac myocytes.

Rationale Failing cardiomyocytes exhibit decreased efficiency of excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling. The down-regulation of junctophilin-2 (JP2), a protein anchoring the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) to T-tubules (TTs), has been identified as a major mechanism underlying the defective E-C coupling. However, the regulatory mechanism of JP2 remains unknown. Objective To determine whether microRNAs regulate JP2 expression. Methods and Results Bioinformatic analysis predicted two potential binding sites of miR-24 in the 3′-untranslated regions of JP2 mRNA. Luciferase assays confirmed that miR-24 suppressed JP2 expression by binding to either of these sites. In the aortic stenosis model, miR-24 was up-regulated in failing cardiomyocytes. Adenovirus-directed over-expression of miR-24 in cardiomyocytes decreased JP2 expression and reduced Ca2+ transient amplitude and E-C coupling gain. Conclusions MiR-24-mediated suppression of JP2 expression provides a novel molecular mechanism for E-C coupling regulation in heart cells, and suggests a new target against heart failure.

Pretreatment with 0.5 mM salicylic acid (SA) for 3 days significantly enhanced the growth and tolerance to subsequent drought stress (PEG-6000, 15%) in wheat seedlings, manifesting as increased shoot and root dry weights, and decreased lipid peroxidation. Total proteins from wheat leaves exposed to (i) 0.5 mM SA pretreatment, (ii) drought stress, and (iii) 0.5 mM SA treatment plus drought-stress treatments were analyzed using a proteomics method. Eighty-two stress-responsive protein spots showed significant changes, of which 76 were successfully identified by MALDI-TOF-TOF. Analysis of protein expression patterns revealed that proteins associated with signal transduction, stress defense, photosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, protein metabolism, and energy production could by involved in SA-induced growth and drought tolerance in wheat seedlings. Furthermore, the SA-responsive protein interaction network revealed 35 key proteins, suggesting that these proteins are critical for SA-induced tolerance.

Pressure overload–induced hypertrophy is a key step leading to heart failure. The Ca2+-induced Ca2+ release (CICR) process that governs cardiac contractility is defective in hypertrophy/heart failure, but the molecular mechanisms remain elusive. To examine the intermolecular aspects of CICR during hypertrophy, we utilized loose-patch confocal imaging to visualize the signaling between a single L-type Ca2+ channel (LCC) and ryanodine receptors (RyRs) in aortic stenosis rat models of compensated (CHT) and decompensated (DHT) hypertrophy. We found that the LCC-RyR intermolecular coupling showed a 49% prolongation in coupling latency, a 47% decrease in chance of hit, and a 72% increase in chance of miss in DHT, demonstrating a state of “intermolecular failure.” Unexpectedly, these modifications also occurred robustly in CHT due at least partially to decreased expression of junctophilin, indicating that intermolecular failure occurs prior to cellular manifestations. As a result, cell-wide Ca2+ release, visualized as “Ca2+ spikes,” became desynchronized, which contrasted sharply with unaltered spike integrals and whole-cell Ca2+ transients in CHT. These data suggested that, within a certain limit, termed the “stability margin,” mild intermolecular failure does not damage the cellular integrity of excitation-contraction coupling. Only when the modification steps beyond the stability margin does global failure occur. The discovery of “hidden” intermolecular failure in CHT has important clinical implications.

Recent studies have shown that myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R)-induced necrosis can be controlled by multiple genes. In this study, we observed that both strands (5p and 3p) of miR-223 were remarkably dysregulated in mouse hearts upon I/R. Precursor miR-223 (pre-miR-223) transgenic mouse hearts exhibited better recovery of contractile performance over reperfusion period and lesser degree of myocardial necrosis than wild type hearts upon ex vivo and in vivo myocardial ischemia. Conversely, pre-miR-223 knock-out (KO) mouse hearts displayed opposite effects. Furthermore, we found that the RIP1/RIP3/MLKL necroptotic pathway and inflammatory response were suppressed in transgenic hearts, whereas they were activated in pre-miR-223 KO hearts upon I/R compared with wild type controls. Accordingly, treatment of pre-miR-223 KO mice with necrostatin-1s, a potent necroptosis inhibitor, significantly decreased I/R-triggered cardiac necroptosis, infarction size, and dysfunction. Mechanistically, we identified two critical cell death receptors, TNFR1 and DR6, as direct targets of miR-223-5p, whereas miR-223-3p directly suppressed the expression of NLRP3 and IκB kinase α, two important mediators known to be involved in I/R-induced inflammation and cell necroptosis. Our findings indicate that miR-223-5p/-3p duplex works together and cooperatively inhibits I/R-induced cardiac necroptosis at multiple layers. Thus, pre-miR-223 may constitute a new therapeutic agent for the treatment of ischemic heart disease.

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