Background:The role of cannabinoid receptor type 2 (Cnr2) in regulating immune function had been widely investigated, but the mechanism is not fully understood. Results: Cnr2 activation down-regulates 5-lipoxygenase (Alox5) expression by suppressing the JNK/c-Jun activation. Conclusion: The Cnr2-JNK-Alox5 axis modulates leukocyte inflammatory migration. Significance: Linking two important regulators in leukocyte inflammatory migration and providing a potential therapeutic strategy for treating human inflammation-associated diseases.

BackgroundDNA methyltransferase 1 (Dnmt1) regulates expression of many critical genes through maintaining parental DNA methylation patterns on daughter DNA strands during mitosis. It is essential for embryonic development and diverse biological processes, including maintenance of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). However, the precise molecular mechanism of how Dnmt1 is involved in HSPC maintenance remains unexplored.MethodsAn N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU)-based genetic screening was performed to identify putative mutants with defects in definitive HSPCs during hematopoiesis in zebrafish. The expression of hematopoietic markers was analyzed via whole mount in situ hybridization assay (WISH). Positional cloning approach was carried out to identify the gene responsible for the defective definitive hematopoiesis in the mutants. Analyses of the mechanism were conducted by morpholino-mediated gene knockdown, mRNA injection rescue assays, anti-phosphorylated histone H3 (pH3) immunostaining and TUNEL assay, quantitative real-time PCR, and bisulfite sequencing analysis.ResultsA heritable mutant line with impaired HSPCs of definitive hematopoiesis was identified. Positional cloning demonstrated that a stop codon mutation was introduced in dnmt1 which resulted in a predicted truncated Dnmt1 lacking the DNA methylation catalytic domain. Molecular analysis revealed that expression of CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein alpha (C/ebpa) was upregulated, which correlated with hypomethylation of CpG islands in the regulation regions of cebpa gene in Dnmt1 deficient HSPCs. Overexpression of a transcriptional repressive SUMO-C/ebpa fusion protein could rescue hematological defects in the dnmt1 mutants. Finally, dnmt1 and cebpa double null embryos exhibited no obvious abnormal hematopoiesis indicated that the HSPC defects triggered by dnmt1 mutation were C/ebpa dependent.ConclusionsDnmt1 is required for HSPC maintenance via cebpa regulation during definitive hematopoiesis in zebrafish.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13045-015-0115-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.