Li Fanghong

Bio: Li Fanghong is an academic researcher from Guangdong University of Technology. The author has contributed to research in topics: Cancer & Adipokine. The author has an hindex of 11, co-authored 44 publications receiving 806 citations. Previous affiliations of Li Fanghong include South China University of Technology & University of Pittsburgh.

Induction of leptin resistance through direct interaction of C-reactive protein with leptin.

Abstract: The mechanisms underlying leptin resistance are still being defined. We report here the presence in human blood of several serum leptin-interacting proteins (SLIPs), isolated by leptin-affinity chromatography and identified by mass spectrometry and immunochemical analysis. We confirmed that one of the major SLIPs is C-reactive protein (CRP). In vitro, human CRP directly inhibits the binding of leptin to its receptors and blocks its ability to signal in cultured cells. In vivo, infusion of human CRP into ob/ob mice blocked the effects of leptin upon satiety and weight reduction. In mice that express a transgene encoding human CRP, the actions of human leptin were completely blunted. We also found that physiological concentrations of leptin can stimulate expression of CRP in human primary hepatocytes. Recently, human CRP has been correlated with increased adiposity and plasma leptin. Thus, our results suggest a potential mechanism contributing to leptin resistance, by which circulating CRP binds to leptin and attenuates its physiological functions.

Human adiponectin inhibits cell growth and induces apoptosis in human endometrial carcinoma cells, HEC-1-A and RL95 2.

Abstract: Obesity is one of the well-established risk factors for endometrial cancer. Recent clinical studies have demonstrated that circulating adiponectin concentrations are inversely correlated with the incidence of endometrial carcinoma. Such epidemiological findings are consistent with the paradoxical observations that adiponectin levels are reduced in obesity. This study investigated the direct effects of adiponectin on two endometrial carcinoma cell lines, HEC-1-A and RL95-2. These cell lines express both variants of adiponectin receptors, adipo-R1 and adipo-R2. Adiponectin treatment leads to suppression of cell proliferation in both cell types, which is primarily due to the significant increase of cell populations at G(1)/G(0)-phase and to the induction of apoptosis. The inhibition of growth in these two cell lines appears to be mediated by different signaling pathways. Although adiponectin treatment markedly increases the phosphorylation (Thr172) of AMP-activated protein kinase alpha in both HEC-1-A and RL95-2 within 30 min, prolonged exposure (48 h) leads to inactivation of Akt as well as reduction of cyclin D1 protein expression in HEC-1-A cells. In contrast, similar treatment of RL95-2 cells with adiponectin, while having no effects on Akt activity and cyclin D1 expression, causes a decrease in cyclin E2 expression and the activity of mitogen-activated kinase (p42/44). We conclude that adiponectin exerts direct anti-proliferative effects on HEC-1-A and RL95-2 cells by inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Depending on the genotypes of the endometrial cancer cells, the inhibitory effects of adiponectin are associated with the reduction of different pro-growth regulators of cell cycle and signaling proteins. Our study thus provides a cellular mechanism underlying the linkages between endometrial cancer and obesity.

Therapeutic Potential of ω-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Human Autoimmune Diseases.

Abstract: The recognition of ω-3 polyunsaturated acids (PUFAs) as essential fatty acids to normal growth and health was realized more than 80 years ago. However, the awareness of the long-term nutritional intake of ω-3 PUFAs in lowering the risk of a variety of chronic human diseases has grown exponentially only since the 1980s (1, 2). Despite the overwhelming epidemiological evidence, many attempts of using fish-oil supplementation to intervene human diseases have generated conflicting and often ambiguous outcomes; null or weak supporting conclusions were sometimes derived in the subsequent META analysis. Different dosages, as well as the sources of fish-oil, may have contributed to the conflicting outcomes of intervention carried out at different clinics. However, over the past decade, mounting evidence generated from genetic mouse models and clinical studies has shed new light on the functions and the underlying mechanisms of ω-3 PUFAs and their metabolites in the prevention and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes. In this review, we have summarized the current understanding of the effects as well as the underlying mechanisms of ω-3 PUFAs on autoimmune diseases.

ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids ameliorate type 1 diabetes and autoimmunity

Abstract: Despite the benefit of insulin, blockade of autoimmune attack and regeneration of pancreatic islets are ultimate goals for the complete cure of type 1 diabetes (T1D). Long-term consumption of ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) is known to suppress inflammatory processes, making these fatty acids candidates for the prevention and amelioration of autoimmune diseases. Here, we explored the preventative and therapeutic effects of ω-3 PUFAs on T1D. In NOD mice, dietary intervention with ω-3 PUFAs sharply reduced the incidence of T1D, modulated the differentiation of Th cells and Tregs, and decreased the levels of IFN-γ, IL-17, IL-6, and TNF-α. ω-3 PUFAs exerted similar effects on the differentiation of CD4+ T cells isolated from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The regulation of CD4+ T cell differentiation was mediated at least in part through ω-3 PUFA eicosanoid derivatives and by mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) inhibition. Importantly, therapeutic intervention in NOD mice through nutritional supplementation or lentivirus-mediated expression of an ω-3 fatty acid desaturase, mfat-1, normalized blood glucose and insulin levels for at least 182 days, blocked the development of autoimmunity, prevented lymphocyte infiltration into regenerated islets, and sharply elevated the expression of the β cell markers pancreatic and duodenal homeobox 1 (Pdx1) and paired box 4 (Pax4). The findings suggest that ω-3 PUFAs could potentially serve as a therapeutic modality for T1D.

Annexin II stimulates RANKL expression through MAPK.

Abstract: We report that AX-II, in addition to inducing GM-CSF expression, also increases membrane-bound RANKL synthesis by marrow stromal cells and does so through a previously unreported MAPK-dependent pathway. Thus, both GM-CSF and RANKL are required for AX-II stimulation of OCL formation. Introduction: Annexin II (AX-II) is an autocrine/paracrine factor secreted by osteoclasts (OCLs) that stimulates human OCL formation and bone resorption in vitro by inducing bone marrow stromal cells and activated CD4+ T cells to produce granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). GM-CSF in turn increases OCL precursor proliferation and further enhances OCL formation. However, the induction of GM-CSF by AX-II cannot fully explain its effects on OCL formation. In this study, we tested the capacity of AX-II to induce the expression of RANKL and the corresponding signaling pathways AX-II employs in human marrow stromal cells to induce RANKL. We also showed that both GM-CSF and RANKL are required for OCL formation induced by AX-II. Materials and Methods: Real-time RT-PCR and Western blot analysis were used to detect RANKL and osteoprotegerin (OPG) mRNA and protein expression in unfractionated human bone marrow mononuclear cells stimulated with AX-II. Soluble RANKL in the conditioned medium was analyzed by ELISA. Activation of the MAPK pathway by AX-II was tested by Western blot. The effects of OPG and anti-GM-CSF on AX-II-induced OCL formation were also examined. Results and Conclusion: In addition to upregulating GM-CSF mRNA, AX-II increased RANKL mRNA expression dose-dependently in unfractionated human bone marrow mononuclear cells and modestly increased soluble RANKL in unfractionated human bone marrow mononuclear cell conditioned medium. However, AX-II markedly increased membrane-bound RANKL on human bone marrow stromal cells. Treatment of marrow stromal cells with AX-II activated MAP-kinase (ERKs) and PD 98059 abolished the effect but did not block the increase in GM-CSF. Interestingly, OPG, a natural decoy receptor for RANKL, or anti-GM-CSF partially inhibited OCL formation by AX-II in human bone marrow cells, and the combination of OPG and anti-GM-CSF completely blocked AX-II-induced OCL formation. These data show that AX-II stimulates both the proliferation and differentiation of OCL precursors through production of GM-CSF and RANKL respectively.

Associations between sleep loss and increased risk of obesity and diabetes

Abstract: During the past few decades, sleep curtailment has become a very common in industrialized countries. This trend for shorter sleep duration has developed over the same time period as the dramatic increase in the prevalence of obesity and diabetes. Evidence is rapidly accumulating to indicate that chronic partial sleep loss may increase the risk of obesity and diabetes. Laboratory studies in healthy volunteers have shown that experimental sleep restriction is associated with an adverse impact on glucose homeostasis. Insulin sensitivity decreases rapidly and markedly without adequate compensation in beta cell function, resulting in an elevated risk of diabetes. Prospective epidemiologic studies in both children and adults are consistent with a causative role of short sleep in the increased risk of diabetes. Sleep curtailment is also associated with a dysregulation of the neuroendocrine control of appetite, with a reduction of the satiety factor, leptin, and an increase in the hunger-promoting hormone, ghrelin. Thus, sleep loss may alter the ability of leptin and ghrelin to accurately signal caloric need, acting in concert to produce an internal misperception of insufficient energy availability. The adverse impact of sleep deprivation on appetite regulation is likely to be driven by increased activity in neuronal populations expressing the excitatory peptides orexins that promote both waking and feeding. Consistent with the laboratory evidence, multiple epidemiologic studies have shown an association between short sleep and higher body mass index after controlling for a variety of possible confounders.

Inflammatory mechanisms in the regulation of insulin resistance.

Abstract: Insulin resistance (IR) plays a key role in the pathophysiology of obesity-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. It has been demonstrated that IR is associated with a state of chronic low-grade inflammation, and several mediators released from various cell types, including immune cells and adipocytes, have been identified as being involved in the development of IR. Among those are several pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, and various adipocytokines. Furthermore, several transcription factors and kinases such as c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and inhibitor of kappa B kinase-β (IKKβ), a kinase located proximal of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), participate in this process. Hepatocyte-specific overexpression of NF-κB is associated with IR and can mimic all features of fatty liver disease. Whereas the evidence for an important role of many pro-inflammatory pathways in IR in in vitro and animal studies is overwhelming, data from interventional studies in humans to prove this concept are still minor. As a complex network of inflammatory cytokines, adipocytokines, transcription factors, receptor molecules, and acute-phase reactants are involved in the development of IR, new therapeutic approaches in IR-related diseases will be based on a better understanding of their complex interactions.

Central obesity and increased risk of dementia more than three decades later

Abstract: Background: Numerous reports show that a centralized distribution of adiposity is a more dangerous risk factor for cardiovascular disease and diabetes than total body obesity. No studies have evaluated whether the same pattern exists with dementia. The objective was to evaluate the association between midlife central obesity and risk of dementia three decades later. Methods: A longitudinal analysis was conducted of 6,583 members of Kaiser Permanente of Northern California who had their sagittal abdominal diameter (SAD) measured in 1964 to 1973. Diagnoses of dementia were from medical records an average of 36 years later, January 1, 1994, to June 16, 2006. Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for age, sex, race, education, marital status, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, stroke, heart disease, and medical utilization were conducted. Results: A total of 1,049 participants (15.9%) were diagnosed with dementia. Compared with those in the lowest quintile of SAD, those in the highest had nearly a threefold increased risk of dementia (hazard ratio, 2.72; 95% CI, 2.33–3.33), and this was only mildly attenuated after adding body mass index (BMI) to the model (hazard ratio, 1.92; 95% CI, 1.58 –2.35). Those with high SAD (25 cm) and normal BMI had an increased risk (hazard ratio, 1.89; 95% CI, 0.98 – 3.81) vs those with low SAD (25 cm) and normal BMI (18.5–24.9 kg/m 2 ), whereas those both obese (BMI 30 kg/m 2 ) and with high SAD had the highest risk of dementia (HR, 3.60; 95% CI,