Kyushu University

About: Kyushu University is a education organization based out in Fukuoka, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Catalysis. The organization has 68284 authors who have published 135190 publications receiving 3055928 citations. The organization is also known as: Kyūshū Daigaku.

Receptor interacting protein kinases mediate retinal detachment-induced photoreceptor necrosis and compensate for inhibition of apoptosis

Abstract: Apoptosis has been shown to be a significant form of cell loss in many diseases. Detachment of photoreceptors from the retinal pigment epithelium, as seen in various retinal disorders, causes photoreceptor loss and subsequent vision decline. Although caspase-dependent apoptotic pathways are activated after retinal detachment, caspase inhibition by the pan-caspase inhibitor Z-VAD fails to prevent photoreceptor death; thus, we investigated other pathways leading to cell loss. Here, we show that receptor interacting protein (RIP) kinase-mediated necrosis is a significant mode of photoreceptor cell loss in an experimental model of retinal detachment and when caspases are inhibited, RIP-mediated necrosis becomes the predominant form of death. RIP3 expression, a key activator of RIP1 kinase, increased more than 10-fold after retinal detachment. Morphological assessment of detached retinas treated with Z-VAD showed decreased apoptosis but significantly increased necrotic photoreceptor death. RIP1 kinase inhibitor necrostatin-1 or Rip3 deficiency substantially prevented those necrotic changes and reduced oxidative stress and mitochondrial release of apoptosis-inducing factor. Thus, RIP kinase-mediated programmed necrosis is a redundant mechanism of photoreceptor death in addition to apoptosis, and simultaneous inhibition of RIP kinases and caspases is essential for effective neuroprotection and may be a novel therapeutic strategy for treatment of retinal disorders.

Smoke exposure, histologic type and geography-related differences in the methylation profiles of non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract: Aberrant methylation of several known or putative tumor suppressor genes occurs frequently during the pathogenesis of lung cancers. There are major smoke exposure, histology, geography and gender-related changes in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We investigated smoking-related, histologic, geographic and gender differences in the methylation profiles of resected NSCLCs. We examined 514 cases of NSCLC and 84 corresponding nonmalignant lung tissues from 4 countries (USA, Australia, Japan and Taiwan) for the methylation status of 7 genes known to be frequently methylated in lung cancers [p16, RASSF1A (RAS association domain family 1), APC, RARbeta, CDH13, MGMT and GSTP1]. Multivariate analyses were used for data analysis. Adenocarcinoma was the major histologic type in women and never smokers; analyses that involved smoke exposure and gender were limited to this histology. Our major findings are a) methylation status of any single gene was largely independent of methylation status of other genes; b) the rates of methylation of p16 and APC and the mean Methylation Index (MI), a reflection of the overall methylation status, were significantly higher in ever smokers than in never smokers; c) the mean MI of tumors arising in former smokers was significantly lower than the mean of current smokers; d) the methylation rates of APC, CDH13 and RARbeta were significantly higher in adenocarcinomas than in squamous cell carcinomas; e) methylation rates of MGMT and GSTP1 were significantly higher in the USA and Australian cases than in those from Japan and Taiwan; and (f) no significant gender-related differences in methylation patterns were noted. Our findings demonstrate important smoke exposure, histologic type and geography-related differences in the methylation profiles of NSCLC tumors.

A Coordination Gelator That Shows a Reversible Chromatic Change and Sol−Gel Phase-Transition Behavior upon Oxidative/Reductive Stimuli

Abstract: A novel coordination gelator exhibits reversible chromatic and sol−gel phase-transition phenomena triggered by thermal and chemical stimuli.