Obesity and its related health complications is a major problem worldwide. Hypothalamus and their signalling molecules play a critical role in the intervening and coordination with energy balance and homeostasis. Genetic factors play a crucial role in determining an individual's predisposition to the weight gain and being obese. In the past few years, several genetic variants were identified as monogenic forms of human obesity having success over common polygenic forms. In the context of molecular genetics, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) approach and their findings signified a number of genetic variants predisposing to obesity. However, the last couple of years, it has also been noticed that alterations in the environmental and epigenetic factors are one of the key causes of obesity. Hence, this review might be helpful in the current scenario of molecular genetics of human obesity, obesity-related health complications (ORHC), and energy homeostasis. Future work based on the clinical discoveries may play a role in the molecular dissection of genetic approaches to find more obesity-susceptible gene loci.

RNA binding proteins (RBPs) have been implicated in cancer development. An integrated bioinformatics analysis of RBPs (n = 1756) in various datasets (n = 11) revealed several genetic and epigenetically altered events among RBPs in glioblastoma (GBM). We identified 13 mutated and 472 differentially regulated RBPs in GBM samples. Mutations in AHNAK predicted poor prognosis. Copy number variation (CNV), DNA methylation and miRNA targeting contributed to RBP differential regulation. Two sets of differentially regulated RBPs that may be implicated in initial astrocytic transformation and glioma progression were identified. We have also identified a four RBP (NOL3, SUCLG1, HERC5 and AFF3) signature, having a unique expression pattern in glioma stem-like cells (GSCs), to be an independent poor prognostic indicator in GBM. RBP risk score derived from the signature also stratified GBM into low-risk and high-risk groups with significant survival difference. Silencing NOL3, SUCLG1 and HERC5 inhibited GSC maintenance. Gene set enrichment analysis of differentially regulated genes between high-risk and low-risk underscored the importance of inflammation, EMT and hypoxia in high-risk GBM. Thus, we provide a comprehensive overview of genetic and epigenetic regulation of RBPs in glioma development and progression.

Abbreviations used: cDNA -complementary DNA; Ct -cycle threshold; dFdCTP -2',2'-difluorodeoxycytidine 5'-triphosphate (gemcitabine triphosphate); DMEM -Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium; DMSO -dimethyl sulfoxide; E26 -avian erythroblastosis virus; Ets-1 -E26 transformation specific sequence-1; FBS -fetal bovine serum; GAPDH -glyceraldehydes-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; MDR1 -multiple drug resistance-1; MMP1 -matrix metalloproteinase-1 (collagenase-1); MMP3 -matrix metallopeptidase-1 (stromelysin-1); MTT -3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide; PDAC -pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; RT-qPCR -reverse transcriptase real-time quantitative PCR; siRNA -small interfering RNA; uPA -urokinase-type plasminogen activator; v-ets -viral transforming gene of E26 course analysis was conducted to determine the change in Ets-1 expression in the parental cells after incubation with gemcitabine. Reverse transcriptase quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) and Western blot analysis revealed a significant increase in Ets-1 expression. All the three parental cells incubated with gemcitabine showed elevated Ets-1 protein expression at 6 h. By 24 h, the expression level had decreased. Using small interfering RNA (siRNA) against Ets-1 in gemcitabine-resistant cells, we demonstrated a reversal in gemcitabine chemosensitivity and also detected a marked reduction in the expression of the Ets-1 target genes MMP1 and uPA. Our novel finding demonstrates the significance of Ets-1 in the development of gemcitabine chemoresistance in pancreatic cancer cells. Based on these results, a new siRNA-based therapeutic strategy targeting the Ets-1 genes can be designed to overcome chemoresistance. Research article Ets-1 EXPRESSION AND GEMCITABINE CHEMORESISTANCE IN PANCREATIC CANCER CELLS

The major part of the genome that was previously called junk DNA has been shown to be dynamically transcribed to produce non-coding RNAs. Among them, the long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) play diverse roles in the cellular context and are therefore involved in various diseases like cancer. LncRNA transcript profiling of glioblastoma (n = 19) and control brain samples (n = 9) identified 2,774 and 5,016 lncRNAs to be upregulated and downregulated in GBMs respectively. Correlation analysis of differentially regulated lncRNAs with mRNA and lncRNA identified several lncRNAs that may potentially regulate many tumor relevant mRNAs and lncRNAs both at nearby locations (cis) and far locations (trans). Integration of our data set with TCGA GBM RNA-Seq data (n = 172) revealed many lncRNAs as a host as well as decoy for many tumor regulated miRNAs. The expression pattern of seven lncRNAs- HOXD-AS2, RP4-792G4.2, CRNDE, ANRIL, RP11-389G6.3, RP11-325122.2 and AC123886.2 was validated by TCGA RNA-Seq data and RT-qPCR. Silencing ANRIL, a GBM upregulated lncRNA, inhibited glioma cell proliferation and colony growth. Cox regression analysis identified several prognostic lncRNAs. An lncRNA risk score derived from five lnRNAs-RP6-99M1.2, SOX21-AS1, CTD-2127H9.1, RP11-375B1.3 and RP3-449M8.9 predicted survival independent of all other markers. Multivariate cox regression analysis involving G-CIMP, IDH1 mutation, MGMT promoter methylation identified lncRNA risk score to be an independent poor predictor of GBM survival. The lncRNA risk score also stratified GBM patients into low and high risk with significant survival difference. Thus our study demonstrates the importance of lncRNA in GBM pathology and underscores the potential possibility of targeting lncRNA for GBM therapy.

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