scholarly journals Molecular mechanisms of diabetic retinopathy: Potential therapeutic targets

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 135 ◽  
Author(s):  
AzzaB El-Remessy ◽  
Maha Coucha ◽  
SallyL Elshaer ◽  
WaelS Eldahshan ◽  
BarbaraA Mysona
2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sher Zaman Safi ◽  
Rajes Qvist ◽  
Selva Kumar ◽  
Kalaivani Batumalaie ◽  
Ikram Shah Bin Ismail

The growing number of people with diabetes worldwide suggests that diabetic retinopathy (DR) and diabetic macular edema (DME) will continue to be sight threatening factors. The pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy is a widespread cause of visual impairment in the world and a range of hyperglycemia-linked pathways have been implicated in the initiation and progression of this condition. Despite understanding the polyol pathway flux, activation of protein kinase C (KPC) isoforms, increased hexosamine pathway flux, and increased advanced glycation end-product (AGE) formation, pathogenic mechanisms underlying diabetes induced vision loss are not fully understood. The purpose of this paper is to review molecular mechanisms that regulate cell survival and apoptosis of retinal cells and discuss new and exciting therapeutic targets with comparison to the old and inefficient preventive strategies. This review highlights the recent advancements in understanding hyperglycemia-induced biochemical and molecular alterations, systemic metabolic factors, and aberrant activation of signaling cascades that ultimately lead to activation of a number of transcription factors causing functional and structural damage to retinal cells. It also reviews the established interventions and emerging molecular targets to avert diabetic retinopathy and its associated risk factors.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kolja Becker ◽  
Holger Klein ◽  
Eric Simon ◽  
Coralie Viollet ◽  
Christian Haslinger ◽  
...  

AbstractDiabetic Retinopathy (DR) is among the major global causes for vision loss. With the rise in diabetes prevalence, an increase in DR incidence is expected. Current understanding of both the molecular etiology and pathways involved in the initiation and progression of DR is limited. Via RNA-Sequencing, we analyzed mRNA and miRNA expression profiles of 80 human post-mortem retinal samples from 43 patients diagnosed with various stages of DR. We found differentially expressed transcripts to be predominantly associated with late stage DR and pathways such as hippo and gap junction signaling. A multivariate regression model identified transcripts with progressive changes throughout disease stages, which in turn displayed significant overlap with sphingolipid and cGMP–PKG signaling. Combined analysis of miRNA and mRNA expression further uncovered disease-relevant miRNA/mRNA associations as potential mechanisms of post-transcriptional regulation. Finally, integrating human retinal single cell RNA-Sequencing data revealed a continuous loss of retinal ganglion cells, and Müller cell mediated changes in histidine and β-alanine signaling. While previously considered primarily a vascular disease, attention in DR has shifted to additional mechanisms and cell-types. Our findings offer an unprecedented and unbiased insight into molecular pathways and cell-specific changes in the development of DR, and provide potential avenues for future therapeutic intervention.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingxu Zhang ◽  
Jiawei Yang ◽  
Xiulan Zhao ◽  
Ying Zhao ◽  
Siquan Zhu

AbstractDiabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of irreversible blindness globally. Qidengmingmu Capsule (QC) is a Chinese patent medicine used to treat DR, but the molecular mechanism of the treatment remains unknown. In this study, we identified and validated potential molecular mechanisms involved in the treatment of DR with QC via network pharmacology and molecular docking methods. The results of Ingredient-DR Target Network showed that 134 common targets and 20 active ingredients of QC were involved. According to the results of enrichment analysis, 2307 biological processes and 40 pathways were related to the treatment effects. Most of these processes and pathways were important for cell survival and were associated with many key factors in DR, such as vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGFA), hypoxia-inducible factor-1A (HIF-1Α), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα). Based on the results of the PPI network and KEGG enrichment analyses, we selected AKT1, HIF-1α, VEGFA, TNFα and their corresponding active ingredients for molecular docking. According to the molecular docking results, several key targets of DR (including AKT1, HIF-1α, VEGFA, and TNFα) can form stable bonds with the corresponding active ingredients of QC. In conclusion, through network pharmacology methods, we found that potential biological mechanisms involved in the alleviation of DR by QC are related to multiple biological processes and signaling pathways. The molecular docking results also provide us with sound directions for further experiments.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Zhong ◽  
Xiangcheng Xiao

Abstract Background and Aims The exact molecular mechanisms underlying IgA nephropathy (IgAN) remains incompletely defined. Therefore, it is necessary to further elucidate the mechanism of IgA nephropathy and find novel therapeutic targets. Method Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) was applied to kidney biopsies from 4 IgAN and 1 control subjects to define the transcriptomic landscape at the single-cell resolution. Unsupervised clustering analysis of kidney specimens was used to identify distinct cell clusters. Differentially expressed genes and potential signaling pathways involved in IgAN were also identified. Results Our analysis identified 14 cell subsets in kidney biopsies from IgAN patients, and analyzed changing gene expression in distinct renal cell types. We found increased mesangial expression of several novel genes including MALAT1, GADD45B, SOX4 and EDIL3, which were related to proliferation and matrix accumulation and have not been reported in IgAN previously. The overexpressed genes in tubule cells of IgAN were mainly enriched in inflammatory pathways including TNF signaling, IL-17 signaling and NOD-like receptor signaling. Moreover, the receptor-ligand crosstalk analysis revealed potential interactions between mesangial cells and other cells in IgAN. Specifically, IgAN with overt proteinuria displayed elevated genes participating in several signaling pathways which may be involved in pathogenesis of progression of IgAN. Conclusion The comprehensive analysis of kidney biopsy specimen demonstrated different gene expression profile, potential pathologic ligand-receptor crosstalk, signaling pathways in human IgAN. These results offer new insight into pathogenesis and identify new therapeutic targets for patients with IgA nephropathy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Liu ◽  
Xiang Ao ◽  
Guoqiang Ji ◽  
Yuan Zhang ◽  
Wanpeng Yu ◽  
...  

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common malignant tumors of digestive systems worldwide, with high recurrence and mortality. Chemotherapy is still the standard treatment option for GC and can effectively improve the survival and life quality of GC patients. However, with the emergence of drug resistance, the clinical application of chemotherapeutic agents has been seriously restricted in GC patients. Although the mechanisms of drug resistance have been broadly investigated, they are still largely unknown. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a large group of small non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) widely involved in the occurrence and progression of many cancer types, including GC. An increasing amount of evidence suggests that miRNAs may play crucial roles in the development of drug resistance by regulating some drug resistance-related proteins as well as gene expression. Some also exhibit great potential as novel biomarkers for predicting drug response to chemotherapy and therapeutic targets for GC patients. In this review, we systematically summarize recent advances in miRNAs and focus on their molecular mechanisms in the development of drug resistance in GC progression. We also highlight the potential of drug resistance-related miRNAs as biomarkers and therapeutic targets for GC patients.


2022 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang Ma ◽  
Gang Wang ◽  
Hao Fan ◽  
Zengliang Li ◽  
Wangwang Chen ◽  
...  

AbstractGastric cancer (GC) is a global health problem and further studies of its molecular mechanisms are needed to identify effective therapeutic targets. Although some long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been found to be involved in the progression of GC, the molecular mechanisms of many GC-related lncRNAs remain unclear. In this study, a series of in vivo and in vitro assays were performed to study the relationship between FAM225A and GC, which showed that FAM225A levels were correlated with poor prognosis in GC. Higher FAM225A expression tended to be correlated with a more profound lymphatic metastasis rate, larger tumor size, and more advanced tumor stage. FAM225A also promoted gastric cell proliferation, invasion, and migration. Further mechanistic investigation showed that FAM225A acted as a miR-326 sponge to upregulate its direct target PADI2 in GC. Overall, our findings indicated that FAM225A promoted GC development and progression via a competitive endogenous RNA network of FAM225A/miR-326/PADI2 in GC, providing insight into possible therapeutic targets and prognosis of GC.


Hereditas ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 158 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Tang ◽  
Xiaobo Yang ◽  
Huaqing Shu ◽  
Yuan Yu ◽  
Shangwen Pan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Sepsis and septic shock are life-threatening diseases with high mortality rate in intensive care unit (ICU). Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication of sepsis, and its occurrence is a poor prognostic sign to septic patients. We analyzed co-differentially expressed genes (co-DEGs) to explore relationships between septic shock and AKI and reveal potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets of septic-shock-associated AKI (SSAKI). Methods Two gene expression datasets (GSE30718 and GSE57065) were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). The GSE57065 dataset included 28 septic shock patients and 25 healthy volunteers and blood samples were collected within 0.5, 24 and 48 h after shock. Specimens of GSE30718 were collected from 26 patients with AKI and 11 control patents. AKI-DEGs and septic-shock-DEGs were identified using the two datasets. Subsequently, Gene Ontology (GO) functional analysis, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis were performed to elucidate molecular mechanisms of DEGs. We also evaluated co-DEGs and corresponding predicted miRNAs involved in septic shock and AKI. Results We identified 62 DEGs in AKI specimens and 888, 870, and 717 DEGs in septic shock blood samples within 0.5, 24 and 48 h, respectively. The hub genes of EGF and OLFM4 may be involved in AKI and QPCT, CKAP4, PRKCQ, PLAC8, PRC1, BCL9L, ATP11B, KLHL2, LDLRAP1, NDUFAF1, IFIT2, CSF1R, HGF, NRN1, GZMB, and STAT4 may be associated with septic shock. Besides, co-DEGs of VMP1, SLPI, PTX3, TIMP1, OLFM4, LCN2, and S100A9 coupled with corresponding predicted miRNAs, especially miR-29b-3p, miR-152-3p, and miR-223-3p may be regarded as promising targets for the diagnosis and treatment of SSAKI in the future. Conclusions Septic shock and AKI are related and VMP1, SLPI, PTX3, TIMP1, OLFM4, LCN2, and S100A9 genes are significantly associated with novel biomarkers involved in the occurrence and development of SSAKI.


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