Background How high-salt intake leads to the occurrence of many cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis is a fundamental question in pathology. Here we postulated that high-salt-induced NFAT5 controls the inflammasome activation by directly regulating NLRP3, which mediates the expression of inflammatory- and adhesion-related genes in vascular endothelium, resulting in the formation of atherosclerosis. Methods Atherosclerosis-prone apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE−/−) mice which accumulate cholesterol ester-enriched particles in the blood due to poor lipoprotein clearance capacity were used as the atherosclerosis model in vivo. Cultured endothelial cells (ECs) and monocytes under high-salt condition were used to explore the atheroprone role of the activation of NFAT5-NLRP3 inflammasome in vascular endothelium in vitro. Bioinformatic analysis and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay were used to identify the DNA binding sites of NFAT5 on promoters of NLRP3 and IL-1β. Results We first observe that high-salt intake promotes atherosclerosis formation in the aortas of ApoE −/− mice, through inducing the expression of NFAT5, NLRP3, and IL-1β in endothelium. Overexpression of NFAT5 activates NLRP3-inflammasome and increases the secretion of IL-1β in ECs partly via ROS. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assay demonstrates that NFAT5 directly binds to the promoter regions of NLRP3 and IL-1β in endothelial cells subjected to the high-salt environment. Conclusions Our study identifies NFAT5 as a new and essential transcription factor that is required for the early activation of NLRP3-inflammasome-mediated endothelium innate immunity, contributing to the formation of atherosclerosis under hypertonic stress induction. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12964-019-0406-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The dried body of Mylabris cichorii is well-known Chinese traditional medicine. The sesquiterpenoid cantharidin, which is secreted mostly by adult male beetles, has recently been used as an anti-cancer drug. However, little is known about the mechanisms of cantharidin biosynthesis. Furthermore, there is currently no genomic or transcriptomic information for M. cichorii. In this study, we performed de novo assembly transcriptome of M. cichorii using the Illumina Hiseq2000. A single run produced 9.19 Gb of clean nucleotides comprising 29,247 sequences, including 23,739 annotated sequences (about 81%). We also constructed two expression profile libraries (20–25 day-old adult males and 20–25 day-old adult females) and discovered 2,465 significantly differentially-expressed genes. Putative genes and pathways involved in the biosynthesis of cantharidin were then characterized. We also found that cantharidin biosynthesis in M. cichorii might only occur via the mevalonate (MVA) pathway, not via the methylerythritol 4-phosphate/deoxyxylulose 5-phosphate (MEP/DOXP) pathway or a mixture of these. Besides, we considered that cantharidin biosynthesis might be related to the juvenile hormone (JH) biosynthesis or degradation. The results of transcriptome and expression profiling analysis provide a comprehensive sequence resource for M. cichorii that could facilitate the in-depth study of candidate genes and pathways involved in cantharidin biosynthesis, and may thus help to improve our understanding of the mechanisms of cantharidin biosynthesis in blister beetles.

Cantharidin, a defensive terpene compound synthesized by the meloid beetle (Coleoptera, Meloidae), is an important anticancer agent. However, there has been little study done on how this compound synthesized by the beetle. In this paper, a farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase (FPPS) gene, designated McFPPS, was isolated from Mylabris cichorii by reverse transcription PCR based on conserved domains in other organisms. Multiple alignment analysis showed that the deduced amino acids shared >70% homology with FPPSs from other species and contained typically seven conservative regions. Gene expression profile analysis revealed that McFPPS was expressed throughout the tested growth stages of M. cichorii adults, whereas the transcripts accumulated to the highest level at 20 days in male adults while the highest expression level appeared at 15 days in females. Tissue expression pattern analysis showed that McFPPS was expressed constitutively in all tested tissues and a relatively higher expression level in the alimentary canal of males, but no significant tissue difference in the females. For the first time, a RNA interference strategy was employed to induce a greater suppression of McFPPS mRNA, and thus a sharp decrease in the expression levels of downstream genes and the concentration of product. All these results indicated that McFPPS may be directly involved or play an essential role in the biosynthesis of cantharidin.

Vasculogenesis (de novo formation of vessels) induced by endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) is requisite for vascularized bone regeneration. However, there exist few available options for promoting vasculogenesis within artificial bone grafts except for exogenous EPC transplantation, which suffers from the source of EPC, safety, cost, and time concerns in clinical applications. This study aimed at endogenous EPC recruitment for vascularized bone regeneration by using a bioinspired EPCinduced graft. The EPC-induced graft was created by immobilizing two bioactive peptides, WKYMVm and YIGSR, on the surface of poly(εcaprolactone) (PCL)/poliglecaprone (PGC) nanofibrous scaffolds via a polyglycolic acid (PGA)-binding peptide sequence. Remarkable immobilization efficacy of WKYMVm and YIGSR peptides and their sustained release (over 14 days) from scaffolds were observed. In vivo and in vitro studies showed robust recruitment of EPCs, which subsequently contributed to early vasculogenesis and ultimate bone regeneration. The dual-peptide-functionalized nanofibrous scaffolds proposed in this study provide a promising therapeutic strategy for vasculogenesis in bone defect repair.

The extracellular matrix (ECM), comprising of hundreds of proteins, mainly collagen, provides physical, mechanical support for various cells and guides cell behavior as an interactive scaffold. However, deposition of ECM, especially collagen content, is seriously impaired in diabetic wounds, which cause inferior mechanical properties of the wound and further delay chronic wound healing. Thus, it is critical to develop ECM/collagen alternatives to remodel the mechanical properties of diabetic wounds and thus accelerate diabetic wound healing. Here, we firstly prepared mechanic-driven biodegradable PGA/SF nanofibrous scaffolds containing DFO for diabetic wound healing. In our study, the results in vitro showed that the PGA/SF-DFO scaffolds had porous three-dimensional nanofibrous structures, excellent mechanical properties, biodegradability, and biocompatibility, which would provide beneficial microenvironments for cell adhesion, growth, and migration as an ECM/collagen alternative. Furthermore, the data in vivo showed PGA/SF-DFO scaffolds can adhere well to the wound and have excellent biodegradability, which is helpful to avoid secondary damage by omitting the removal process of scaffolds. The finite element analysis results showed that the application of silk fibroin-based scaffolds could significantly reduce the maximum stress around the wound. Besides, PGA/SF-DFO scaffolds induced collagen deposition, re-vascularization, recovered impaired mechanical properties up to about 70%, and ultimately accelerated diabetic wound healing within 14 days. Thus, our work provides a promising therapeutic strategy for clinically chronic wound healing.