Under the global pandemic of COVID-19, the use of artificial intelligence to analyze chest X-ray (CXR) image for COVID-19 diagnosis and patient triage is becoming important. Unfortunately, due to the emergent nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, a systematic collection of CXR data set for deep neural network training is difficult. To address this problem, here we propose a patch-based convolutional neural network approach with a relatively small number of trainable parameters for COVID-19 diagnosis. The proposed method is inspired by our statistical analysis of the potential imaging biomarkers of the CXR radiographs. Experimental results show that our method achieves state-of-the-art performance and provides clinically interpretable saliency maps, which are useful for COVID-19 diagnosis and patient triage.

AIMP2/p38 is a scaffolding protein required for the assembly of the macromolecular tRNA synthetase complex. Here, we describe a previously unknown function for AIMP2 as a positive regulator of p53 in response to genotoxic stresses. Depletion of AIMP2 increased resistance to DNA damage-induced apoptosis, and introduction of AIMP2 into AIMP2-deficient cells restored the susceptibility to apoptosis. Upon DNA damage, AIMP2 was phosphorylated, dissociated from the multi-tRNA synthetase complex, and translocated into the nuclei of cells. AIMP2 directly interacts with p53, thereby preventing MDM2-mediated ubiquitination and degradation of p53. Mutations in AIMP2, affecting its interaction with p53, hampered its ability to activate p53. Nutlin-3 recovered the level of p53 and the susceptibility to UV-induced cell death in AIMP2-deficient cells. This work demonstrates that AIMP2, a component of the translational machinery, functions as proapoptotic factor via p53 in response to DNA damage.A minoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) are the enzymes that ligate specific amino acids to tRNAs before protein synthesis. In higher eukaryotic systems, nine different ARSs form an intriguing macromolecular complex with three nonenzymatic factors called ARS-interacting, multifunctional proteins (AIMPs) (1, 2). Many of these complex-forming ARSs, as well as AIMPs, play diverse regulatory roles that are not directly related to protein synthesis (2). Among the three AIMPs, AIMP1 is secreted as a cytokine working in immune, angiogenesis, and wound-healing processes (3-7) and also functions as a hormone controlling glucose homeostasis (8). AIMP3 is a tumor suppressor required for chromosome integrity (9, 10). Although AIMP2 is critical for the assembly of the multi-ARS complex (11), it also suppresses cell proliferation via down-regulation of c-Myc (12). In addition, AIMP2 was shown to be involved in Parkinson's disease, inducing neural cell death (13). However, it is yet to be determined how AIMP2 is involved in the control of cell death. In this work, we investigated the functional significance and molecular behavior of AIMP2 during the control of cell death and the relationship of AIMP2 associated with the multi-ARS complex and its proapoptotic activity. Results AIMP2-Deficient Cells AreResistant to Cell Death. To see the importance of AIMP2 during the control of cell death, we subjected 12.5-d AIMP2 ϩ/ϩ and AIMP2 Ϫ/Ϫ mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) to UV irradiation and compared their apoptotic sensitivity. The apoptotic cells, indicated by the subG1 portion, were increased Ϸ3-fold by UV irradiation in AIMP2 ϩ/ϩ but not in AIMP2 Ϫ/Ϫ cells (Fig. 1A). Transfection of AIMP2 into AIMP2 Ϫ/Ϫ MEFs restored the apoptotic sensitivity to UV irradiation (Fig. 1B). We also compared the apoptotic response of AIMP2 ϩ/ϩ and AIMP2 Ϫ/Ϫ MEFs to UV irradiation by monitoring caspase-3 activation. Procaspase-3 cleavage resulting in caspase-3 generation was observed in AIMP2 ϩ/ϩ but not in AIMP2 Ϫ/Ϫ cells (Fig. 1C). Suppression of AIMP2 via gene-specific siRNA...

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Mammalian methionyl-tRNA synthetase (MRS) plays an essential role in initiating translation by transferring Met to initiator tRNA (tRNA i Met ). MRS also provides a cytosolic anchoring site for aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase-interacting multifunctional protein-3 (AIMP3)/ p18, a potent tumor suppressor that is translocated to the nucleus for DNA repair upon DNA damage. However, the mechanism by which this enzyme mediates these two seemingly unrelated functions is unknown. Here we demonstrate that AIMP3 is released from MRS by UV irradiation-induced stress. Dissociation was induced by phosphorylation of MRS at Ser662 by general control nonrepressed-2 (GCN2) following UV irradiation. Substitution of Ser662 to Asp (S662D) induced a conformational change in MRS and significantly reduced its interaction with AIMP3. This mutant possessed significantly reduced MRS catalytic activity because of loss of tRNA Met binding, resulting in down-regulation of global translation. According to the Met incorporation assay using stable HeLa cells expressing MRS S662A or eukaryotic initiation factor-2 subunit-α (eIF2α) S51A, inactivation of GCN2-induced phosphorylation at eIF2α or MRS augmented the role of the other, suggesting a cross-talk between MRS and eIF2α for efficient translational inhibition. This work reveals a unique mode of regulation of global translation as mediated by aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase, specifically MRS, which we herein identified as a previously unidentified GCN2 substrate. In addition, our research suggests a dual role for MRS: (i) as a coregulator with eIF2α for GCN2-mediated translational inhibition; and (ii) as a coupler of translational inhibition and DNA repair following DNA damage by releasing bound tumor suppressor AIMP3 for its nuclear translocation.T ranslational regulation is a mechanism by which genetic expression can be modulated to cope with various biological conditions. In diseases such as cancer, dysregulation of protein synthesis is frequently observed; therefore, accurate translational control appears to be important for the maintenance of normal growth and proliferation (1, 2). Under stress conditions, global translational control mainly occurs at the point of translational initiation through modification of eukaryotic initiation factors (eIFs). A key regulatory mechanism of this process is phosphorylation of eIF2 subunit-α (eIF2α), which prevents formation of a ternary complex (TC) comprising eIF2, GTP, and Metcharged initiator tRNA (Met-tRNA i Met ), thereby inhibiting further rounds of translation initiation (3).Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) are essential enzymes for protein synthesis, linking codons to their corresponding amino acids (4, 5). A key factor in translation initiation, methionyltRNA synthetase (MRS) produces Met-tRNA i Met , which is indispensable for TC formation. MRS has been also found in the nucleus, where it may play a role in the biogenesis of rRNA (6). Under oxidative stress, MRS charges Met to noncognate tRNAs at a high frequency, resulting in reduced translational fi...

Although human lysyl-tRNA synthetase (KRS), an enzyme for protein synthesis, is often highly expressed in various cancer cells, its pathophysiological implications have not been understood. Here we found that KRS induces cancer cell migration through interaction with the 67-kDa laminin receptor (67LR) that is converted from ribosomal subunit p40. On laminin signal, KRS was phosphorylated at the T52 residue by p38MAPK and dissociated from the cytosolic multi-tRNA synthetase complex for membrane translocation. The importance of T52 phosphorylation for membrane translocation of KRS was confirmed by site-directed mutagenesis. In the membrane, turnover of 67LR was controlled by Nedd4-mediated ubiquitination, and KRS inhibited ubiquitin-dependent degradation of 67LR, thereby enhancing laminin-induced cell migration. This work thus unveiled a unique function of KRS in the control of cell migration and its pathological implication in metastasis.