Background: Cases of excessive neutrophil counts in the blood in severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients have drawn significant attention. Neutrophil infiltration was also noted on the pathological findings from autopsies. It is urgent to clarify the pathogenesis of neutrophils leading to severe pneumonia in COVID-19. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 55 COVID-19 patients classified as mild (n = 22), moderate (n = 25), and severe (n = 8) according to the Guidelines released by the National Health Commission of China. Trends relating leukocyte counts and lungs examined by chest CT scan were quantified by Bayesian inference. Transcriptional signatures of host immune cells of four COVID19 patients were analyzed by RNA sequencing of lung specimens and BALF. Results: Neutrophilia occurred in 6 of 8 severe patients at 7-19 days after symptom onset, coinciding with lesion progression. Increasing neutrophil counts paralleled lesion CT values (slope: 0.8 and 0.3-1.2), reflecting neutrophilia-induced lung injury in severe patients. Transcriptome analysis revealed that neutrophil activation was correlated with 17 neutrophil extracellular trap (NET)-associated genes in COVID-19 patients, which was related to innate immunity and interacted with T/NK/B cells, as supported by a protein-protein interaction network analysis. Conclusion: Excessive neutrophils and associated NETs could explain the pathogenesis of lung injury in COVID-19 pneumonia.

Significance Epigenetic changes commonly occur in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and are associated with aberrant gene expression. Most studies have focused on epigenetic gene-silencing events; therefore, the mechanism that promotes gene activation in HCC is not well established. We identify an epigenetic activation mechanism whereby menin promotes Yes-associated protein (Yap1) transcription, which is associated with a poor prognosis for HCC patients. Substantial overexpression of the menin–mixed-lineage leukemia complex is associated with increased histone 3 lysine 4 trimethylation at certain loci of the tumor promoter in HCC. Heterozygous ablation of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 ( Men1) in mice reduces diethylnitrosamine-induced development of HCC. Our findings reveal that menin plays an important epigenetic role in up-regulating Yap1 transcription, leading to liver tumorigenesis.

Alterations of polycomb group (PcG) genes directly modulate the trimethylation of histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27me3) and may thus affect the epigenome of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which is crucial for controlling the HCC cell phenotype. However, the extent of downstream regulation by PcGs in HCC is not well defined. Using cDNA microarray analysis, we found that the target gene network of PcGs contains well-established genes, such as cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors (CDKN2A), and genes that were previously undescribed for their regulation by PcG, including E2F1, NOTCH2, and TP53. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation assays, we demonstrated that EZH2 occupancy coincides with H3K27me3 at E2F1 and NOTCH2 promoters. Interestingly, PcG repress the expression of the typical tumor suppressor TP53 in human HCC cells, and an increased level of PcG was correlated with the downregulation of TP53 in certain HCC specimens. Unexpectedly, we did not find obvious H3K27me3 modification or an EZH2 binding signal at the TP53 promoters, suggesting that PcG regulates TP53 expression in an H3K27me3-independent manner. Finally, the reduced expression of PcGs effectively blocked the aggressive signature of liver cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.Implications: Taken together, our results establish the functional and mechanistic significance of certain gene regulatory networks that are regulated by PcGs in HCC.

Noncanonical nucleic acid structures, such as G-quadruplex (G4) and i-Motif (iM), have attracted increasing research interests because of their unique structural and binding properties, as well as their important biological activities. To date, thousands of small molecules that bind to varying G4/iM structures have been designed, synthesized and tested for diverse chemical and biological uses. Because of the huge potential and increasing research interests on G4-targeting ligands, we launched the first G4 ligand database G4LDB in 2013. Here, we report a new version, termed G4LDB 2.2 (http://www.g4ldb.com), with upgrades in both content and function. Currently, G4LDB2.2 contains >3200 G4/iM ligands, ∼28 500 activity entries and 79 G4–ligand docking models. In addition to G4 ligand library, we have also added a brand new iM ligand library to G4LDB 2.2, providing a comprehensive view of quadruplex nucleic acids. To further enhance user experience, we have also redesigned the user interface and optimized the database structure and retrieval mechanism. With these improvements, we anticipate that G4LDB 2.2 will serve as a comprehensive resource and useful research toolkit for researchers across wide scientific communities and accelerate discovering and validating better binders and drug candidates.