Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have an increased incidence in modern society. Although increasing evidence has supported the close linkage between these two disorders, the interrelational mechanisms remain to be fully elucidated. Objective: The primary purpose of this study is to explore the shared pathophysiological mechanisms of AD and T2DM. Methods: We downloaded the microarray data of AD and T2DM from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and constructed co-expression networks by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) to identify gene network modules related to AD and T2DM. Then, gene ontology (GO) and pathway enrichment analysis were performed on the common genes existing in the AD and T2DM related modules by clusterProfiler and DOSE package. Finally, we utilized the STRING database to construct the protein-protein interaction network and found out the hub genes in the network. Results: Our findings indicated that seven and four modules were the most significant with AD and T2DM, respectively. Functional enrichment analysis showed that AD and T2DM common genes were mainly enriched in signaling pathways such as circadian entrainment, phagosome, glutathione metabolism and synaptic vesicle cycle. Protein-protein interaction network construction identified 10 hub genes (CALM1, LRRK2, RBX1, SLC6A1, TXN, SNRPF, GJA1, VWF, LPL, AGT) in AD and T2DM shared genes. Conclusions: Our work identified common pathogenesis of AD and T2DM. These shared pathways might provide a novel idea for further mechanistic studies and hub genes that may serve as novel therapeutic targets for diagnosis and treatment of AD and T2DM.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive malignant brain tumor with high morbidity and mortality. Human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), the catalytic subunit of human telomerase, is overexpressed in most cancers including GBM. It is well known that hTERT can compensate telomere shortening to immortalize cells. However, in addition to the canonical function, hTERT has the roles beyond canonical telomere maintenance. To further understand the effects of hTERT on glioblastoma progression, we investigated the role of hTERT in regulating autophagy—a conserved pathway, by which cells deliver cellular organic material and impaired organelles to the lysosomes for degradation and recycle these cargos to produce energy under a stressful condition. Our results showed that downregulation of hTERT impaired autophagy levels by suppressing BECN1/beclin-1 and induced an increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which resulted in cell death ultimately. On the contrary, overexpression of BECN1 or treating cells with the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) could restore the survival of hTERT knockdown cells. Our study will provide an additional basis of telomerase-targeting therapy for future clinical anticancer treatment.

Background Emerging evidence shows the gastrointestinal microbiome might play an important role in the carcinogenesis of gastric cancer. While Helicobactor pylori has been reported to be a specific risk factor of gastric cancer, it is still controversial whether significant difference of non- H. pylori microbiota exists between gastric cancer patients and healthy control.Results In this study, we employed multiple bioinformatic databases to excavate the potential correlation between gastrointestinal microbiome and gastric cancer. The databases involved in this investigation include HMDB, STITCH, OMIM, GWAS Catalog, WebGestalt, Toppgene, GeneMANIA. In addition, the network diagrams were built by use of Cytoscape software. Notably, our results showed that 33 common genes participate in both gastrointestinal microbiome and gastric cancer. The further analysis of these common genes suggested that there was a wide array of interactions and pathways in which the correlation between gastrointestinal microbiome and gastric cancer is involved.Conclusions Our present study gives a bioinformatic insight into possible pathways in which the gastrointestinal microbiome play roles in gastric cancer. Future efforts are necessary to be paid to elicit the exact mechanisms as well as potential therapeutic targets of gastric cancer.

Background: Emerging evidence shows the gastrointestinal microbiome might play an important role in the carcinogenesis of gastric cancer. While Helicobactor pylori has been reported to be a specific risk factor of gastric cancer, it is still controversial whether significant difference of non- H. pylori microbiota exists between gastric cancer patients and healthy control.Results: In this study, we employed multiple bioinformatic databases to excavate the potential correlation between gastrointestinal microbiome and gastric cancer. The databases involved in this investigation include HMDB, STITCH, OMIM, GWAS Catalog, WebGestalt, Toppgene, GeneMANIA. In addition, the network diagrams were built by use of Cytoscape software. Notably, our results showed that 33 common genes participate in both gastrointestinal microbiome and gastric cancer. The further analysis of these common genes suggested that there was a wide array of interactions and pathways in which the correlation between gastrointestinal microbiome and gastric cancer is involved.Conclusions: Our present study gives a bioinformatic insight into possible pathways in which the gastrointestinal microbiome play roles in gastric cancer. Future efforts are necessary to be paid to elicit the exact mechanisms as well as potential therapeutic targets of gastric cancer.