Abstract-Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1; CCL2)-mediated inflammation plays a critical role in the development of ischemic heart disease (IHD). However, the gene expression changes caused by signal transduction, triggered by MCP-1 binding to its receptor CCR2, and their possible role in the development of IHD are not understood. We present evidence that MCP-1 binding to CCR2 induces a novel transcription factor (MCP-induced protein [MCPIP]) that causes cell death. Gene microarray analysis showed that when expressed in hiuman embryonic kidney 293 cells, MCPIP induced apoptotic gene families before causing cell death. Mutagenesis studies showed that the structural features required for transcription factor-like activity were also required for causing cell death. Activation of caspase-3 was detected after MCPIP transfection and Z-VAD-fmk partially inhibited cell death. Cardiomyocyte-targeted expression of MCP-1 in mice caused death by heart failure at 6 months of age. MCPIP expression increased in parallel with the development of ventricular dysfunction. In situ hybridization showed the presence of MCPIP transcripts in the cardiomyocytes and immunohistochemistry showed that MCPIP was associated with the cardiomyocyte nuclei of apoptotic cardiomyocytes. CCR2 expression in cardiomyocytes increased with the development of IHD. MCPIP production induced by MCP-1 binding to CCR2 in the cardiomyocytes is probably involved in the development of IHD in this murine model. MCPIP transcript levels were much higher in the explanted human hearts with IHD than with nonischemic heart disease. These results provide a molecular insight into how chronic inflammation and exposure to MCP-1 contributes to heart failure and suggest that MCPIP could be a potential target for therapeutic intervention. nflammation is an important component of cardiovascular pathology associated with a number of types of heart diseases. However, the mechanism by which inflammation contributes to the development of cardiac dysfunction is poorly understood. 1-4 The recruitment and activation of monocytes/macrophages through monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1; CCL2) are thought to be important events that contribute to the initiation and pathophysiology of cardiovascular diseases. 5-7 MCP-1 is the main chemotactic factor for the migration of monocytes/macrophages and the pathogenesis of chronic inflammation. 8,9 Eliminating MCP-1 function or blockade of MCP-1/CCR2 pathway has been shown to decrease neointimal hyperplasia after injury and atherogenesis in mice 10 -14 and attenuate postischemic myocardial remodeling and heart failure. 15 In an attempt to mimic the inflammatory component implicated in the development of cardiovascular diseases, transgenic mice that express MCP-1 specifically in the heart were generated. Cardiactargeted expression of MCP-1 results in monocyte/macrophage infiltration into the heart, and the mice experience a thrombotic occlusive arteriolar vasculopathy that results in ischemia, interstitial fibrosis, ventricular cha...

SUMMARY We discovered a high-level amplicon involving the chr19q13.41 microRNA (miRNA) cluster (C19MC) in 11/45(~25%) primary CNS-PNET which results in striking over-expression of miR-517c and 520g. Constitutive expression of miR-517c or 520g promotes in vitro and in vivo oncogenicity, modulates cell survival and robustly enhances growth of untransformed human neural stem cells (hNSCs) in part by upregulating WNT pathway signaling and restricting differentiation of hNSCs. Remarkably, the C19MC amplicon, which is very rare in other brain tumors (1/263), identify an aggressive sub-group of CNS-PNET with distinct gene expression profiles, characteristic histology and dismal survival. Our data implicate miR-517c and 520g as oncogenes and promising biological markers for CNS-PNET and provide important insights into oncogenic properties of the C19MC locus.

Aim The present study aimed to assess the benefits of two-stent techniques for patients with DEFINITION criteria-defined complex coronary bifurcation lesions. Methods and results In total, 653 patients with complex bifurcation lesions at 49 international centres were randomly assigned to undergo the systematic two-stent technique (two-stent group) or provisional stenting (provisional group). The primary endpoint was the composite of target lesion failure (TLF) at the 1-year follow-up, including cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction (TVMI), and clinically driven target lesion revascularization (TLR). The safety endpoint was definite or probable stent thrombosis. At the 1-year follow-up, TLF occurred in 37 (11.4%) and 20 (6.1%) patients in the provisional and two-stent groups, respectively [77.8%: double-kissing crush; hazard ratio (HR) 0.52, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.30–0.90; P = 0.019], largely driven by increased TVMI (7.1%, HR 0.43, 95% CI 0.20–0.90; P = 0.025) and clinically driven TLR (5.5%, HR 0.43, 95% CI 0.19–1.00; P = 0.049) in the provisional group. At the 1 year after indexed procedures, the incidence of cardiac death was 2.5% in the provisional group, non-significant to 2.1% in the two-stent group (HR 0.86, 95% CI 0.31–2.37; P = 0.772). Conclusion For DEFINITION criteria-defined complex coronary bifurcation lesions, the systematic two-stent approach was associated with a significant improvement in clinical outcomes compared with the provisional stenting approach. Further study is urgently warranted to identify the mechanisms contributing to the increased rate of TVMI after provisional stenting. Study registration http://www.clinicaltrials.com; Identifier: NCT02284750.

To identify new genetic risk factors for cervical cancer, we conducted a genome-wide association study in the Han Chinese population. The initial discovery set included 1,364 individuals with cervical cancer (cases) and 3,028 female controls, and we selected a 'stringently matched samples' subset (829 cases and 990 controls) from the discovery set on the basis of principal component analysis; the follow-up stages included two independent sample sets (1,824 cases and 3,808 controls for follow-up 1 and 2,343 cases and 3,388 controls for follow-up 2). We identified strong evidence of associations between cervical cancer and two new loci: 4q12 (rs13117307, Pcombined, stringently matched=9.69×10(-9), per-allele odds ratio (OR)stringently matched=1.26) and 17q12 (rs8067378, Pcombined, stringently matched=2.00×10(-8), per-allele ORstringently matched=1.18). We additionally replicated an association between HLA-DPB1 and HLA-DPB2 (HLA-DPB1/2) at 6p21.32 and cervical cancer (rs4282438, Pcombined, stringently matched=4.52×10(-27), per-allele ORstringently matched=0.75). Our findings provide new insights into the genetic etiology of cervical cancer.

Although smooth muscle hypertrophy is present in asthmatic airways, little is known about the biochemical pathways regulating airway smooth muscle protein synthesis, cell size, or accumulation of contractile apparatus proteins. We sought to develop a model of airway smooth muscle hypertrophy in primary cells using a physiologically relevant stimulus. We hypothesized that transforming growth factor (TGF)-␤ induces hypertrophy in primary bronchial smooth muscle cells. Primary human bronchial smooth muscle cells isolated from unacceptable lung donor tissue were studied. Cells were seeded on uncoated plastic dishes at 50% confluence and TGF-␤ was added. Experiments were performed in the absence of serum. TGF-␤ increased cell size and total protein synthesis, expression of ␣-smooth muscle actin and smooth muscle myosin heavy chain, formation of actomyosin filaments, and cell shortening to acetylcholine. Further, TGF-␤ increased airway smooth muscle ␣-actin synthesis in the presence of the transcriptional inhibitor actinomycin D, evidence that translational control is a physiologically important element of the observed hypertrophy. TGF-␤ induced the phosphorylation of eukaryotic translation initiation factor-4E-binding protein, a signaling event specifically involved in translational control. Finally, two inhibitors of 4E-binding protein phosphorylation, the phosphoinositol 3-kinase inhibitor LY294002 and a phosphorylation site mutant of 4E-binding protein-1 that dominantly inhibits eukaryotic initiation factor-4E, each blocked TGF-␤-induced ␣-actin expression and cell enlargement. We conclude that TGF-␤ induces hypertrophy of primary bronchial smooth muscle cells. Further, phosphorylation of 4E-binding protein is required for the observed hypertrophy.Keywords: 4E-binding protein; ␣-smooth muscle actin; eukaryotic initiation factor-4E; mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR); phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase Increased airway smooth muscle mass is present in asthma. Ebina and coworkers (1) found two asthmatic subtypes, one with airway smooth muscle hypertrophy throughout the airways and another with hyperplasia in central bronchi. Benayoun and colleagues (2) found that patients with severe asthma had increased airway smooth muscle cell diameter and expression of ␣-smooth muscle actin and myosin light chain kinase (MLCK). On the other hand, Woodruff and coworkers (3) found that patients with mild asthma show no increase in cell size, though cell number was 2-fold higher. While smooth muscle mass increased by 50-83%, contractile protein mRNA expression was not changed, suggesting the importance of post-transcriptional mechanisms.(Received in original form May 2, 2005 and in final form October 4, 2005) These studies were supported by National Institutes of Health grants HL54685 and HL63314 (M.B.H), and DK42876 and DK057020 (K.N.B.).