Article
Cell Biology
Jin Lei, Ming-Hui Zhou, Fu-Chi Zhang, Kang Wu, Sheng-Wen Liu, Hong-Quan Niu
Summary: Members of the IRF gene family, including IRF1, IRF2, IRF5, IRF8, and IRF9, are significantly upregulated in glioma and associated with advanced tumor grades and poorer outcomes. Low mutation rates but genetic alterations in IRFs are linked to more favorable patient survival. Functional analysis reveals IRFs involvement in glioma pathology mainly through inflammation- and immunity-related pathways, with correlations identified between IRFs and immune cell infiltration in glioma tissues. These findings suggest that IRF family members may serve as prognostic biomarkers and indicators of immune status in glioma patients.
Article
Virology
Sanja Matic, Dragan Milovanovic, Zeljko Mijailovic, Predrag Djurdjevic, Predrag Sazdanovic, Srdjan Stefanovic, Danijela Todorovic, Suzana Popovic, Katarina Vitosevic, Vladimir Vukicevic, Milena Vukic, Nenad Vukovic, Nevena Milivojevic, Marko Zivanovic, Vladimir Jakovljevic, Nenad Filipovic, Natasa Djordjevic, Dejan Baskic
Summary: This study found that genetic polymorphisms in the IFNL4 gene may affect the risk of COVID-19 patients developing pneumonia, especially in females.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL VIROLOGY
(2023)
Review
Genetics & Heredity
Michelle Mohlenberg, Thomas R. O'Brien, Rune Hartmann
Summary: The genetic variation within the interferon lambda locus has a significant impact on the treatment and clearance of hepatitis C virus (HCV). This review summarizes the genetic data of IFNL3/IFNL4 loci and discusses the causality. It also explores the relationship between genetic variation at the IFNL4 loci and HCV virus evolution, as well as the influence of the IFNL4 gene on liver inflammation and fibrosis.
GENES AND IMMUNITY
(2022)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Alma Andersson, Joakim Lundeberg
Summary: In this study, a novel method was proposed to analyze spatial transcriptomics data, which simulated the diffusion of individual transcripts to extract genes with spatial patterns, generating satisfactory results on synthetic and real data. Compared to existing methods, this approach seemed to be less influenced by gene expression levels and showed better time performance when run with multiple cores.
Article
Immunology
Michelle Z. Fang, Sarah S. Jackson, Ruth M. Pfeiffer, Eun-Young Kim, Sabrina Chen, Shehnaz K. Hussain, Lisa P. Jacobson, Jeremy Martinson, Ludmila Prokunina-Olsson, Chloe L. Thio, Priya Duggal, Steven Wolinsky, Thomas R. O'Brien
Summary: This study examined the association between IFNL4 genotype and the incidence of opportunistic infections (OIs) and cancers. The analysis of 2310 men with HIV showed no significant association between IFNL4 genotype and the incidence of Kaposi sarcoma, cytomegalovirus infection, herpes simplex virus infection, or any other OI/cancer.
CLINICAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Henriette Huschka, Sabine Mihm
Summary: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly lethal malignancy with diverse etiologies. This study validated the activation of the hepatic IFNL4 gene in HCV-infected liver, showing a positive relationship between ISG activation and the number of functional IFNL4 transcripts in patients with HCV infection as a risk factor. The data supports the concept of IFNL4-dependent, HCV-driven activation of hepatic ISGs in HCC patients.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Agathe Nouvel, Jonas Laget, Flore Duranton, Jeremy Leroy, Caroline Desmetz, Marie-Dominique Servais, Nathalie de Preville, Florence Galtier, David Nocca, Nicolas Builles, Sandra Rebuffat, Anne-Dominique Lajoix
Summary: This study evaluated the impact of different disruption techniques and homogenizing buffers on the purity and quality markers of RNA in human metabolic tissues, highlighting how these factors can affect RNA analysis and quantification by RT-qPCR.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Anushka Gupta, Farnaz Shamsi, Nicolas Altemose, Gabriel F. Dorlhiac, Aaron M. Cypess, Andrew P. White, Nir Yosef, Mary Elizabeth Patti, Yu-Hua Tseng, Aaron Streets
Summary: Single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) is applicable for characterizing cellular diversity in adipose tissue, but it has inherent biases and limitations compared to whole-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq).
Article
Cell Biology
Manjarika De, Anand Bhushan, Sreedhar Chinnaswamy
Summary: Human IFN-lambda 4 is expressed by individuals with the Delta G variant allele at rs368234815 and may influence immune responses through immunomodulation. Studies indicate that IFN-lambda 4 has lower specific activity compared to IFN-lambda 3 in certain environments, potentially playing a role in promoting Th2-biased immune responses.
JOURNAL OF LEUKOCYTE BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bruno Pedraz-Petrozzi, Marta Marszalek-Grabska, Anna Kozub, Klaudia Szalaj, Alicja Trzpil, Anna Stachniuk, Eva Kathrin Lamade, Maria Gilles, Michael Deuschle, Waldemar A. Turski, Emilia Fornal
Summary: Tryptophan breakdown metabolites formed along the kynurenine pathway have a significant impact on pregnancy and fetal development. This study used liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to measure the levels of tryptophan, kynurenine, and kynurenic acid in various biological samples. The method showed good precision and accuracy, with significant differences in the concentrations of these substances in different maternal-fetal compartments. The findings provide insight into the role of the kynurenine pathway in fetal development and may contribute to further research in this field.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Joseph M. M. Collins, Hannah Lester, Samia Shabnaz, Danxin Wang
Summary: CYP2D6 is a highly polymorphic drug-metabolizing enzyme in the liver. Genetic variants of CYP2D6 can be used as biomarkers to predict its activity, but there is still significant inter-person variability in CYP2D6 expression. This study found that certain genetic variants, rs1058164 G and rs16947, are associated with increased formation of specific CYP2D6 splice isoforms and decreased full-length CYP2D6 protein expression, respectively. Furthermore, a model incorporating a 3-SNP-haplotype showed improved predictive value for CYP2D6 protein expression compared to the standard model.
FRONTIERS IN PHARMACOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Simona Cugusi, Richard Mitter, Gavin P. Kelly, Jane Walker, Zhong Han, Paola Pisano, Michael Wierer, Aengus Stewart, Jesper Q. Svejstrup
Summary: The heat shock response not only affects rapid induction of HS genes, but also alters various phases of the transcription cycle and triggers a new RNA splicing mechanism. This leads to the production of new short mRNAs that accumulate in the nucleus, causing significant reconfiguration of the human transcriptome.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Diana Cadena Castaneda, Sonia Jangra, Marina Yurieva, Jan Martinek, Megan Callender, Matthew Coxe, Angela Choi, Juan Garcia-Bernalt Diego, Jianan Lin, Te-Chia Wu, Florentina Marches, Damien Chaussabel, Peter Yu, Andrew Salner, Gabrielle Aucello, Jonathan Koff, Briana Hudson, Sarah E. Church, Kara Gorman, Esperanza Anguiano, Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, Adam Williams, Michael Schotsaert, Karolina Palucka
Summary: The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present significant unfulfilled medical needs, particularly in understanding the early responses from airway epithelial cells. A study using human primary air-liquid interface cultures representing broncho-alveolar epithelia revealed the kinetics and dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 variants infection. The findings showed distinct temporal and spatial immune responses triggered by the virus.
Article
Neurosciences
Jacqueline Heighway, Alicia Sedo, Anjali Garg, Lauren Eldershaw, Victoria Perreau, Geza Berecki, Christopher A. Reid, Steven Petrou, Snezana Maljevic
Summary: Genetic variation in voltage-gated sodium channels plays a significant role in neurodevelopmental disorders. The expression and regulation of gene and transcript variants are conserved across species at similar developmental stages, which has important implications for disease prognosis and therapy development.
NEUROBIOLOGY OF DISEASE
(2022)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Gabriela Samayoa-Reyes, Conner Jackson, Sidney Ogolla, Katherine Sabourin, Adeola Obajemu, Arlene E. Dent, Ludmilla Prokunina-Olsson, Rosemary Rochford
Summary: The study suggests that Kenyan children carrying the IFNL4-rs368234815-dG allele are more susceptible to clinical malaria, with an earlier age of first malaria infection.