PubMed

TKTL1 modulates the response of paclitaxel-resistant human ovarian cancer cells to paclitaxel. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2018 Jun 07;: Authors: Zheng X, Li H Abstract Transketolase-like 1 (TKTL1) plays an important role in the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) branch. The main obstacle of ovarian cancer treatment is chemotherapeutic resistance. We investigated whether inhibiting TKTL1 in OC3/TAX300 cells could re-sensitize paclitaxel-resistant cells to paclitaxel and proposed a mechanism of action. Western blotting revealed that TKTL1 expression levels in OC3/Tax300 cells were significantly higher than those in OC3 cells. Inhibition of TKTL1 significantly decreased the cellular proliferation rate and IC50 for paclitaxel. Metabolomics revealed that NADPH levels were reduced in the si-TKTL1 group, whereas NADP+ was increased compared with the level in the negative si-TKTL1 group. A 2.2-fold increase in the ROS level and an obvious increase in the cell apoptosis rate were observed in the si-TKTL1+paclitaxel group compared with those in the negative si-TKTL1+paclitaxel and OC3/Tax300 + paclitaxel groups. Western blotting revealed that Bax and Caspase 3 proteins were up-regulated, whereas Bcl-2 expression was down-regulated. Quantitative RT-PCR revealed no changes in gst-π or mrp1 gene expression in the three groups, whereas GSH levels were reduced in the si-TKTL1 group as verified by metabolomics. TKTL1 inhibition also reduced tumor growth in vivo. Collectively, TKTL1 down-regulation sensitized paclitaxel-resistant OC3/Tax300 ovarian cancer cells to paclitaxel. PMID: 29885837 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Related Articles Metabolomics and cytotoxicity of monomethylhydrazine (MMH) and (E)-1,1,4,4-tetramethyl-2-tetrazene (TMTZ), two liquid propellants. Toxicol In Vitro. 2018 Jun 06;: Authors: Guyot L, Machon C, Honorat M, Manship B, Bouard C, Vigneron A, Puisieux A, Labarthe E, Jacob G, Dhenain A, Guitton J, Payen L Abstract Hydrazine-based liquid propellants are routinely used for space rocket propulsion, in particular monomethylhydrazine (MMH), although such compounds are highly hazardous. For several years, great efforts were devoted to developing a less hazardous molecule. To explore the toxicological effects of an alternative compound, namely (E)-1,1,4,4-tetramethyl-2-tetrazene (TMTZ), we exposed various cellular animal and human models to this compound and to the reference compound MMH. We observed no cytotoxic effects following exposure to TMTZ in animal, as well as human models. However, although the three animal models were unaffected by MMH, exposure of the human hepatic HepaRG cell model revealed that apoptotic cytotoxic effects were only detectable in proliferative human hepatic HepaRG cells and not in differentiated cells, although major biochemical modifications were uncovered in the latter. The present findings indicate that the metabolic mechanisms of MMH toxicity is close to those described for hydrazine with numerous biochemical alterations induced by mitochondrial disruption, production of radical species, and aminotransferase inhibition. The alternative TMTZ molecule had little impact on cellular viability and proliferation of rodent and human dermic and hepatic cell models. TMTZ did not produce any metabolomic effects and appears to be a promising putative industrial alternative to MMH. PMID: 29885439 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Related Articles New Frontiers of Metallomics: Elemental and Species-Specific Analysis and Imaging of Single Cells. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2018;1055:245-270 Authors: Jiménez-Lamana J, Szpunar J, Łobinski R Abstract Single cells represent the basic building units of life, and thus their study is one the most important areas of research. However, classical analysis of biological cells eludes the investigation of cell-to-cell differences to obtain information about the intracellular distribution since it only provides information by averaging over a huge number of cells. For this reason, chemical analysis of single cells is an expanding area of research nowadays. In this context, metallomics research is going down to the single-cell level, where high-resolution high-sensitive analytical techniques are required. In this chapter, we present the latest developments and applications in the fields of single-cell inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SC-ICP-MS), mass cytometry, laser ablation (LA)-ICP-MS, nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (nanoSIMS), and synchrotron X-ray fluorescence microscopy (SXRF) for single-cell analysis. Moreover, the capabilities and limitations of the current analytical techniques to unravel single-cell metabolomics as well as future perspectives in this field will be discussed. PMID: 29884968 [PubMed - in process]

Related Articles Advanced Nuclear and Related Techniques for Metallomics and Nanometallomics. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2018;1055:213-243 Authors: Li YF, Zhao J, Gao Y, Chen C, Chai Z Abstract Metallomics, focusing on the global and systematic understanding of the metal uptake, trafficking, role, and excretion in biological systems, has attracted more and more attention. Metal-related nanomaterials, including metallic and metal-containing nanomaterials, have unique properties compared to their macroscale counterparts and therefore require special attention. The absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion (ADME) behavior of metal-related nanomaterials in the biological systems is influenced by their physicochemical properties, the exposure route, and the microenvironment of the deposition site. Nanomaterials not only may interact directly or indirectly with genes, proteins, and other molecules to bring genotoxicity, immunotoxicity, DNA damage, and cytotoxicity but may also stimulate the immune responses, circumvent tumor resistance, and inhibit tumor metastasis. Because of their advantages of absolute quantification, high sensitivity, excellent accuracy and precision, low matrix effects, and nondestructiveness, nuclear and related analytical techniques have been playing important roles in the study of metallomics and nanometallomics. In this chapter, we present a comprehensive overview of nuclear and related analytical techniques applied to the quantification of metallome and nanometallome, the biodistribution, bioaccumulation, and transformation of metallome and nanometallome in vivo, and the structural analysis. Besides, metallomics and nanometallomics need to cooperate with other -omics, like genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, to obtain the knowledge of underlying mechanisms and therefore to improve the application performance and to reduce the potential risk of metallome and nanometallome. PMID: 29884967 [PubMed - in process]

Related Articles Environmental Metallomics. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2018;1055:39-66 Authors: Rodríguez-Moro G, Ramírez-Acosta S, Arias-Borrego A, García-Barrera T, Gómez-Ariza JL Abstract Metallomics is the new paradigm about the metallobiomolecules related to living organisms, considering the interactions between toxic and essential metals, transport through biological fluids, passing across biological membranes and interfaces, synergic and antagonist actions among metal species, and alterations in metabolic pathways triggered by overexpression or inhibition of these metallobiomolecules. These challenging studies require the development of new analytical approaches in order to get suitable information of these species close to their native environment which has promoted the application of new tools based in mass spectrometry under the double focus of elemental (ICP-MS) and molecular (Qq-TOF-MS) mass spectrometry, generally arranged with chromatography in multidimensional platforms. The driving force for the design of these new analytical instrumental arrangements is the analyst imagination who adapts the new metallomic methodology to the new problems. In this work the most recent metallomic approaches proposed have been considered, deepening their application to the most frequent problems related to metal toxicity in environmental issues, such as exposure experiments of mice to toxic metals, interactions and homeostasis of metals, metal imaging, metabolic alterations caused by metallobiomolecules over- or down-expressed, and more interestingly real-life consequences of metal species expression in environmental field studies. In this way, the application of two-dimensional chromatographic approaches with ICP-MS detection, the use of multidimensional chromatography-column-switching-ICP-MS devices, metal imaging with LA-ICP-MS, combined application of metallomics and metabolomics for environmental toxicological appraisal, and the application of these metallomic techniques in environmental field studies have been reviewed. PMID: 29884961 [PubMed - in process]

Related Articles Effects of mobile phone exposure on metabolomics in the male and female reproductive systems. Environ Res. 2018 May 16;: Authors: Altun G, Deniz ÖG, Yurt KK, Davis D, Kaplan S Abstract With current advances in technology, a number of epidemiological and experimental studies have reported a broad range of adverse effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF) on human health. Multiple cellular mechanisms have been proposed as direct causes or contributors to these biological effects. EMF-induced alterations in cellular levels can activate voltage-gated calcium channels and lead to the formation of free radicals, protein misfolding and DNA damage. Because rapidly dividing germ cells go through meiosis and mitosis, they are more sensitive to EMF in contrast to other slower-growing cell types. In this review, possible mechanistic pathways of the effects of EMF exposure on fertilization, oogenesis and spermatogenesis are discussed. In addition, the present review also evaluates metabolomic effects of GSM-modulated EMFs on the male and female reproductive systems in recent human and animal studies. In this context, experimental and epidemiological studies which examine the impact of mobile phone radiation on the processes of oogenesis and spermatogenesis are examined in line with current approaches. PMID: 29884548 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Related Articles Protein Kinase C-β Dictates B Cell Fate by Regulating Mitochondrial Remodeling, Metabolic Reprogramming, and Heme Biosynthesis. Immunity. 2018 May 25;: Authors: Tsui C, Martinez-Martin N, Gaya M, Maldonado P, Llorian M, Legrave NM, Rossi M, MacRae JI, Cameron AJ, Parker PJ, Leitges M, Bruckbauer A, Batista FD Abstract PKCβ-null (Prkcb-/-) mice are severely immunodeficient. Here we show that mice whose B cells lack PKCβ failed to form germinal centers and plasma cells, which undermined affinity maturation and antibody production in response to immunization. Moreover, these mice failed to develop plasma cells in response to viral infection. At the cellular level, we have shown that Prkcb-/- B cells exhibited defective antigen polarization and mTORC1 signaling. While altered antigen polarization impaired antigen presentation and likely restricted the potential of GC development, defective mTORC1 signaling impaired metabolic reprogramming, mitochondrial remodeling, and heme biosynthesis in these cells, which altogether overwhelmingly opposed plasma cell differentiation. Taken together, our study reveals mechanistic insights into the function of PKCβ as a key regulator of B cell polarity and metabolic reprogramming that instructs B cell fate. PMID: 29884460 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Related Articles Characteristic features of the unique house sake yeast strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae Km67 used for industrial sake brewing. J Biosci Bioeng. 2018 Jun 05;: Authors: Takao Y, Takahashi T, Yamada T, Goshima T, Isogai A, Sueno K, Fujii T, Akao T Abstract For several decades, almost all sake has been brewed with sake yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae Kyokai no. 7 (K7) group strains. Although the widespread use of these strains has contributed to sake quality improvement, it may have lessened the diversity of sake gustatory properties brought about by house sake yeast (indigenous yeast of sake brewery). Sake yeast S. cerevisiae strain Km67 derives from the house yeast strain of Kiku-masamune Sake Brewing Co., Ltd., and it has been playing a central role in industrial sake brewing for decades. By using DNA sequencing, we revealed that strain Km67 does not possess specific loss-of-function mutations of stress response-related genes, which are characteristic of K7 group strains. Km67 had higher stress tolerance than K7 group strains likely because of the more efficient function of the stress response and heat shock elements in this strain. Sensory evaluation and taste sensor analysis demonstrated that sake brewed with Km67 had characteristically thicker body than sake brewed with K7 group strains. Chemical analysis suggested that unique sensory properties of the sake brewed with Km67 were due to high citramalic acid concentration. Taken together, these results revealed that strain Km67 differs from K7 group strains by genetic background and confers unique chemical composition and taste qualities upon sake it generates. It is expected that sake quality and gustatory properties will be diversified by utilizing house yeast such as strain Km67. PMID: 29884321 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Related Articles Utility of metabolic profiling of serum in the diagnosis of pregnancy complications. Placenta. 2018 Jun;66:65-73 Authors: Powell KL, Carrozzi A, Stephens AS, Tasevski V, Morris JM, Ashton AW, Dona AC Abstract INTRODUCTION: Currently there are no clinical screening tests available to identify pregnancies at risk of developing preeclampsia (PET) and/or intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), both of which are associated with abnormal placentation. Metabolic profiling is now a stable analytical platform used in many laboratories and has successfully been used to identify biomarkers associated with various pathological states. METHODS: We used nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) to metabolically profile serum samples collected from 143 pregnant women at 26-41 weeks gestation with pregnancy outcomes of PET, IUGR, PET IUGR or small for gestational age (SGA) that were age-matched to normal pre/term pregnancies. RESULTS: Spectral analysis found no difference in the measured metabolites from normal term, pre-term and SGA samples, and of 25 identified metabolites, only glutamate was marginally different between groups. Of the identified metabolites, 3-methylhistidine, creatinine, acetyl groups and acetate, were determined to be independent predictors of PET and produced area under the curves (AUC) = 0.938 and 0.936 for the discovery and validation sets. Only 3-hydroxybutyrate was determined to be an independent predictor of IUGR, however the model had low predictive power (AUC = 0.623 and 0.581 for the discovery and validation sets). CONCLUSIONS: A sub-panel of metabolites had strong predictive power for identifying PET samples in a validation dataset, however prediction of IUGR was more difficult using the identified metabolites. NMR based metabolomics can identify metabolites strongly associated with disease and has the potential to be useful in developing early clinical screening tests for at risk pregnancies. PMID: 29884304 [PubMed - in process]

Glucose-derived acetate and ACSS2 as key players in cisplatin resistance in bladder cancer. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2018 Jun 05;: Authors: Wen H, Lee S, Zhu WG, Lee OJ, Yun SJ, Kim J, Park S Abstract Cisplatin is an important chemotherapeutic agent against metastatic bladder cancer, but resistance often limits its usage. With the recent recognition of lipid metabolic alterations in bladder cancers, we studied the metabolic implications of cisplatin resistance using cisplatin-sensitive (T24S) and resistant (T24R) bladder cancer cells. Real-time live metabolomics revealed that T24R cells consume more glucose, leading to higher production of glucose-derived acetate and fatty acids. Along with the activation of general metabolic regulators, enzymes involved in acetate usage (ACSS2) and fatty acid synthesis (ACC) and a precursor for fatty acid synthesis (acetyl-CoA) were elevated in T24R cells. Consistently, metabolic analysis with 13C isotope revealed that T24R cells preferred glucose to acetate as the exogenous carbon source for the increased fatty acid synthesis, contrary to T24S cells. In addition, ACSS2, rather than the well-established ACLY, was the key enzyme that supplies acetyl-CoA in T24R cells through glucose-derived endogenous acetate. The relevance of ACSS2 in cisplatin resistance was further confirmed by the abrogation of resistance by an ACSS2 inhibitor and, finally, by the higher expression of ACSS2 in the patient tissues with cisplatin resistance. Our results may help improve the treatment options for chemoresistant bladder cancer patients and provide possible vulnerability targets to overcome the resistance. PMID: 29883801 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Selenium at the Redox Interface of the Genome, Metabolome and Exposome. Free Radic Biol Med. 2018 Jun 05;: Authors: Fernandes J, Hu X, Ryan Smith M, Go YM, Jones DP Abstract Selenium (Se) is a redox-active environmental mineral that is converted to only a small number of metabolites and required for a relatively small number of mammalian enzymes. Despite this, dietary and environmental Se has extensive impact on every layer of omics space. This highlights a need for global network response structures to provide reference for targeted, hypothesis-driven Se research. In this review, we survey the Se research literature from the perspective of the responsive physical and chemical barrier between an organism (functional genome) and its environment (exposome), which we have previously termed the redox interface. Recent advances in metabolomics allow molecular phenotyping of the integrated genome-metabolome-exposome structure. Use of metabolomics with transcriptomics to map functional network responses to supplemental Se in mice revealed complex network responses linked to dyslipidemia and weight gain. Central metabolic hubs in the network structure in liver were not directly linked to transcripts for selenoproteins but were, instead, linked to transcripts for glucose transport and fatty acid β-oxidation. The experimental results confirm the survey of research literature in showing that Se interacts with the functional genome through a complex network response structure. The results imply that systematic application of data-driven integrated omics methods to models with controlled Se exposure could disentangle health benefits and risks from Se exposures and also serve more broadly as an experimental paradigm for exposome research. PMID: 29883789 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Isotope Labeling-assisted Evaluation of Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic Liquid Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometry for Metabolomics Profiling. Anal Chem. 2018 Jun 08;: Authors: Xie B, Wang Y, Jones DR, Dey KK, Wang X, Li Y, Cho JH, Shaw TI, Tan H, Peng J Abstract High throughput untargeted metabolomics usually relies on complementary liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) methods to expand the coverage of diverse metabolites, but the integration of those methods is not fully characterized. We systematically investigated the performance of hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC)-MS and nano-flow reverse phase liquid chromatography (nRPLC)-MS under 8 LC-MS settings, varying stationary phases (HILIC and C18), mobile phases (acidic and basic pH), and MS ionization modes (positive and negative). Whereas nRPLC-MS optimization was previously reported, we found in HILIC-MS (2.1 mm x 150 mm) that the optimal performance was achieved in a 60 min gradient with 100 µl/min flow rate by loading metabolite extracts from 2 mg of cell/tissue samples. Since peak features were highly compromised by contaminants, we used stable isotope labeled yeast to enhance formula identification for comparing different LC-MS conditions. The 8 LC-MS settings enabled the detection of a total of 1,050 formulas, among which 78%, 73%, and 62% formulas were recovered by the best combination of 4, 3, and 2 LC-MS settings, respectively. Moreover, these yeast samples were harvested in the presence or absence of nitrogen starvation, enabling quantitative comparisons of altered formulas and metabolite structures, followed by validation with selected synthetic metabolites. The results revealed that nitrogen starvation downregulated amino acid components but upregulated uridine-related metabolism. In summary, this study introduces a thorough evaluation of hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity-based LC-MS, and provides information for selecting complementary settings to balance throughput and efficiency during metabolomics experiments. PMID: 29883117 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Obesity treatment by epigallocatechin-3-gallate-regulated bile acid signaling and its enriched Akkermansia muciniphila. FASEB J. 2018 Jun 08;:fj201800370R Authors: Sheng L, Jena PK, Liu HX, Hu Y, Nagar N, Bronner DN, Settles ML, Bäumler AJ, Wan YY Abstract Dysregulated bile acid (BA) synthesis is accompanied by dysbiosis, leading to compromised metabolism. This study analyzes the effect of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) on diet-induced obesity through regulation of BA signaling and gut microbiota. The data revealed that EGCG effectively reduced diet-increased obesity, visceral fat, and insulin resistance. Gene profiling data showed that EGCG had a significant impact on regulating genes implicated in fatty acid uptake, adipogenesis, and metabolism in the adipose tissue. In addition, metabolomics analysis revealed that EGCG altered the lipid and sugar metabolic pathways. In the intestine, EGCG reduced the FXR agonist chenodeoxycholic acid, as well as the FXR-regulated pathway, suggesting intestinal FXR deactivation. However, in the liver, EGCG increased the concentration of FXR and TGR-5 agonists and their regulated signaling. Furthermore, our data suggested that EGCG activated Takeda G protein receptor (TGR)-5 based on increased GLP-1 release and elevated serum PYY level. EGCG and antibiotics had distinct antibacterial effects. They also differentially altered body weight and BA composition. EGCG, but not antibiotics, increased Verrucomicrobiaceae, under which EGCG promoted intestinal bloom of Akkermansia muciniphila. Excitingly, A. muciniphila was as effective as EGCG in treating diet-induced obesity. Together, EGCG shifts gut microbiota and regulates BA signaling thereby having a metabolic beneficial effect.-Sheng, L., Jena, P. K., Liu, H.-X., Hu, Y., Nagar, N., Bronner, D. N., Settles, M. L., Bäumler, A. J. Wan, Y.-J. Y. Obesity treatment by epigallocatechin-3-gallate-regulated bile acid signaling and its enriched Akkermansia muciniphila. PMID: 29882708 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Related Articles Genomic variations in the 3'-termini of Rice stripe virus in the rotation between vector insect and host plant. New Phytol. 2018 Jun 08;: Authors: Zhao W, Xu Z, Zhang X, Yang M, Kang L, Liu R, Cui F Abstract A large number of plant RNA viruses circulate between plants and insects. For RNA viruses, host alternations may impose a differential selective pressure on viral populations and induce variations in viral genomes. Here, we report the variations in the 3'-terminal regions of the multiple-segment RNA virus Rice stripe virus (RSV) that were discovered through de novo assembly of the genome using RNA sequencing data from infected host plants and vector insects. The newly assembled RSV genome contained 16- and 15-nt extensions at the 3'-termini of two genome segments compared with the published reference RSV genome. Our study demonstrated that these extensional sequences were consistently observed in two RSV isolates belonging to distinct genetic subtypes in RSV-infected rice, wheat and tobacco. Moreover, the de novo assembled genome of Southern rice black-streaked dwarf virus also contained 3'-terminal extensions in five RNA segments compared with the reference genome. Time course experiments confirmed that the 3'-terminal extensions of RSV were enriched in the vector insects, were gradually eliminated in the host plant and potentially affected viral replication. These findings indicate that variations in the 3'-termini of viral genomes may be different adaptive strategies for plant RNA viruses in insects and plants. PMID: 29882354 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Related Articles Red blood cells metabolome changes upon treatment with different X-ray irradiation doses. Ann Hematol. 2018 Jun 07;: Authors: Baroni F, Marraccini C, Merolle L, Piccagli V, Lambertini D, Iori M, Fasano T, Casali E, Spisni A, Baricchi R, Pertinhez TA Abstract The upholding of red blood cells (RBC) quality and the removal of leukocytes are two essential issues in transfusion therapy. Leukodepletion provides optimum results, nonetheless there are cases where irradiation is recommended for some groups of hematological patients such as the ones with chronic graft-vs-host disease, congenital cellular immunodeficiency, and hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. The European guidelines suggest irradiation doses from 25 to 50 Gray (Gγ). We evaluated the effect of different prescribed doses (15 to 50 Gγ) of X-ray irradiation on fresh leukodepleted RBCs bags using a novel protocol that provides a controlled irradiation. Biochemical assays integrated with RBCs metabolome profile, assessed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, were performed on RBC units supernatant, during 14 days storage. Metabolome analysis evidenced a direct correlation between concentration increase of three metabolites, glycine, glutamine and creatine, and irradiation dose. Higher doses (35 and 50 Gγ) effect on RBC mean corpuscular volume, hemolysis, and ammonia concentration are considerable after 7 and 14 days of storage. Our data show that irradiation with 50 Gγ should be avoided and we suggest that 35 Gγ should be the upper limit. Moreover, we suggest for leukodepleted RBCs units the irradiation with the prescribed dose of 15 Gγ, value at center of bag, and ranging between 13.35-15 Gγ, measured over the entire bag volume, may guarantee the same benefits of a 25 Gγ dose assuring, in addition, a better quality of RBCs. PMID: 29881883 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Related Articles Hepatic iron concentration correlates with insulin sensitivity in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Hepatol Commun. 2018 Jun;2(6):644-653 Authors: Britton L, Bridle K, Reiling J, Santrampurwala N, Wockner L, Ching H, Stuart K, Subramaniam VN, Jeffrey G, St Pierre T, House M, Gummer J, Trengove R, Olynyk J, Crawford D, Adams L Abstract Rodent and cell-culture models support a role for iron-related adipokine dysregulation and insulin resistance in the pathogenesis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD); however, substantial human data are lacking. We examined the relationship between measures of iron status, adipokines, and insulin resistance in patients with NAFLD in the presence and absence of venesection. This study forms part of the Impact of Iron on Insulin Resistance and Liver Histology in Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (IIRON2) study, a prospective randomized controlled trial of venesection for adults with NAFLD. Paired serum samples at baseline and 6 months (end of treatment) in controls (n = 28) and patients who had venesection (n = 23) were assayed for adiponectin, leptin, resistin, retinol binding protein-4, tumor necrosis factor α, and interleukin-6, using a Quantibody, customized, multiplexed enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay array. Hepatic iron concentration (HIC) was determined using MR FerriScan. Unexpectedly, analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between baseline serum adiponectin concentration and HIC, which strengthened after correction for age, sex, and body mass index (rho = 0.36; P = 0.007). In addition, there were significant inverse correlations between HIC and measures of insulin resistance (adipose tissue insulin resistance (Adipo-IR), serum insulin, serum glucose, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance, hemoglobin A1c, and hepatic steatosis), whereas a positive correlation was noted with the insulin sensitivity index. Changes in serum adipokines over 6 months did not differ between the control and venesection groups. Conclusion: HIC positively correlates with serum adiponectin and insulin sensitivity in patients with NAFLD. Further study is required to establish causality and mechanistic explanations for these associations and their relevance in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and NAFLD. (Hepatology Communications 2018;2:644-653). PMID: 29881816 [PubMed]

Related Articles Using Omics to Understand and Treat Pulmonary Vascular Disease. Front Med (Lausanne). 2018;5:157 Authors: Hemnes AR Abstract Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a devastating disease for which there is no cure. Presently this condition is differentiated from other diseases of the pulmonary vasculature by a practitioner's history, physical examination, and clinical studies with clinical markers of disease severity primarily guiding therapeutic choices. New technologies such as next generation DNA sequencing, high throughput RNA sequencing, metabolomics and proteomics have greatly enhanced the amount of data that can be studied efficiently in patients with PAH and other rare diseases. There is emerging data on the use of these "Omics" for pulmonary vascular disease classification and diagnosis and also new work that suggests molecular markers, including Omics, may be used to more efficiently match patients to their own most effective therapies. This review focuses on the state of knowledge on molecular classification and treatment of PAH. Strengths and weaknesses of current Omic technologies are discussed and how these new technologies can be used in the future to improve diagnosis of pulmonary vascular disease, more effectively treat patients with existing and future drugs, and generate new understanding of disease pathogenesis and mechanisms underlying treatment success or failure. Bioinformatic methods to analyze the large volumes of data are developing rapidly, but still present major challenges to interpretation of potential Omic findings in pulmonary vascular disease, with low numbers of patients studied and a potentially high false discovery rate. With more experience, precise and established drug response definitions, this field with move forward and will likely be a major component of the clinical care of PH patients in the future. PMID: 29881726 [PubMed]

Related Articles Untargeted Metabolomic Analysis of Rat Neuroblastoma Cells as a Model System to Study the Biochemical Effects of the Acute Administration of Methamphetamine. Metabolites. 2018 Jun 07;8(2): Authors: Maker GL, Green T, Mullaney I, Trengove RD Abstract Methamphetamine is an illicit psychostimulant drug that is linked to a number of diseases of the nervous system. The downstream biochemical effects of its primary mechanisms are not well understood, and the objective of this study was to investigate whether untargeted metabolomic analysis of an in vitro model could generate data relevant to what is already known about this drug. Rat B50 neuroblastoma cells were treated with 1 mM methamphetamine for 48 h, and both intracellular and extracellular metabolites were profiled using gas chromatography⁻mass spectrometry. Principal component analysis of the data identified 35 metabolites that contributed most to the difference in metabolite profiles. Of these metabolites, the most notable changes were in amino acids, with significant increases observed in glutamate, aspartate and methionine, and decreases in phenylalanine and serine. The data demonstrated that glutamate release and, subsequently, excitotoxicity and oxidative stress were important in the response of the neuronal cell to methamphetamine. Following this, the cells appeared to engage amino acid-based mechanisms to reduce glutamate levels. The potential of untargeted metabolomic analysis has been highlighted, as it has generated biochemically relevant data and identified pathways significantly affected by methamphetamine. This combination of technologies has clear uses as a model for the study of neuronal toxicology. PMID: 29880740 [PubMed]

Related Articles Application of Subwindow Factor Analysis and Mass Spectral information for accurate alignment of non-targeted metabolic profiling. J Chromatogr A. 2018 May 30;: Authors: Yang TB, Yan P, He M, Hong L, Pei R, Zhang ZM, Yi LZ, Yuan XY Abstract The peak shifts may lead to an incorrect statistical result for nontargeted metabolomics profiling, such as classification and discrimination in pattern recognition. In the paper, a more accurate alignment algorithm is developed based on Subwindow Factor Analysis and Mass Spectral information (SFA-MS). Compared with other methods, this new algorithm aligns the peaks more accurately without changing their shapes, especially for the overlapping peak clusters. To begin, the Continuous Wavelet Transform with Haar wavelet as the mother wavelet (Haar CWT) is used to determine the position and width of peaks. On this basis, the candidate drift points are confirmed by Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) cross correlation. Furthermore, the MS fitting degree of the common components between the reference chromatogram and the raw chromatogram is determined by the Subwindow Factor Analysis (SFA). When the MS information between reference and raw peaks is identical, the corresponding moving points are the optimum shifts. It is remarkable that all the peaks are moved through linear interpolation in the non-peak parts, so that the aligned chromatograms remain unchanged. The SFA-MS algorithm was implemented in the Matlab language and is available as an open source package. PMID: 29880218 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Related Articles Novel SWATHTM technology for follicular fluid metabolomics in patients with endometriosis. Pharmazie. 2018 Jun 01;73(6):318-323 Authors: Sun Z, Song J, Zhang X, Wang A, Guo Y, Yang Y, Wang X, Xu K, Deng J Abstract AIM OF THE STUDY: Sequential window acquisition of all theoretical fragment-ion spectra (SWATHTM), a powerful high-resolution mass spectrometric data independent acquisition technique, was used to identify differences that relate certain metabolites to endometriosis (EMT) in follicular fluid collected from EMT patients and a control group. METHODS: A case-control study was conducted to analyze the EMT-related metabolites and the IVF clinical data of 33 subjects. Subjects were divided between the observation group (17 cases, infertility due to EMT) and the control group (16 cases, infertility due to male factor, such as obstructive azoospermia). RESULTS: Analysis revealed three metabolites including phytosphingosine, LysoPC(18:2(9Z,12Z)) and LysoPC(18:0), which were closely related to infertility associated withEMT. In the EMT group, LysoPC(18:2(9Z,12Z)) and LysoPC(18:0) were upregulated, while phytosphingosine was downregulated. CONCLUSIONS: This study employed, for the first time, the SWATHTM data acquisition mode for the metabolomics study of human follicular fluid in patients with EMT. The differential metabolite profiles of follicular fluid were identified and mapped. These differential metabolites are involved in cell proliferation and apoptosis, energy metabolism, inflammatory responses and angiogenesis. The differential metabolite profile may be a new tool for early noninvasive assessment of the developmental potential of oocytes in patients with EMT. PMID: 29880083 [PubMed - in process]