Nrf2 (NF-E2-related factor-2) transcription factor regulates oxidative/xenobiotic stress response and also represses inflammation. However, the mechanisms how Nrf2 alleviates inflammation are still unclear. Here, we demonstrate that Nrf2 interferes with lipopolysaccharide-induced transcriptional upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines, including IL-6 and IL-1β. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-seq and ChIP-qPCR analyses revealed that Nrf2 binds to the proximity of these genes in macrophages and inhibits RNA Pol II recruitment. Further, we found that Nrf2-mediated inhibition is independent of the Nrf2-binding motif and reactive oxygen species level. Murine inflammatory models further demonstrated that Nrf2 interferes with IL6 induction and inflammatory phenotypes in vivo. Thus, contrary to the widely accepted view that Nrf2 suppresses inflammation through redox control, we demonstrate here that Nrf2 opposes transcriptional upregulation of proinflammatory cytokine genes. This study identifies Nrf2 as the upstream regulator of cytokine production and establishes a molecular basis for an Nrf2-mediated anti-inflammation approach.

OBJECTIVE.The purpose of this study is to evaluate the correlation between the intranodu-

Evaluation of intranodular blood supply was valuable in predicting the prognosis in borderline lesions, except when only arterial blood supply was evaluated.

No abstract

To study the genetic background of Japanese Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) patients, we analyzed qualitative and quantitative changes in the disease-causing genes mainly by denaturing high performance liquid chromatography and multiplex ligation-dependent probe analysis in 227 patients with demyelinating CMT and 127 patients with axonal CMT. In demyelinating CMT, we identified 53 patients with PMP22 duplication, 10 patients with PMP22 mutations, 20 patients with MPZ mutations, eight patients with NEFL mutations, 19 patients with GJB1 mutations, one patient with EGR2 mutation, five patients with PRX mutations and no mutations in 111 patients. In axonal CMT, we found 14 patients with MFN2 mutations, one patient with GARS mutation, five patients with MPZ mutations, one patient with GDAP1 mutation, six patients with GJB1 mutations and no mutations in 100 patients. Most of the patients carrying PMP22, MPZ, NEFL, PRX and MFN2 mutations showed early onset, whereas half of the patients carrying PMP22 duplication and all patients with GJB1 or MPZ mutations showing axonal phenotype were adult onset. Our data showed that a low prevalence of PMP22 duplication and high frequency of an unknown cause are features of Japanese CMT. Low prevalence of PMP22 duplication is likely associated with the mild symptoms due to genetic and/or epigenetic modifying factors.