Sun Yat-sen University

About: Sun Yat-sen University is a education organization based out in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Cancer. The organization has 115149 authors who have published 113763 publications receiving 2286465 citations. The organization is also known as: Zhongshan University & SYSU.

Endogenous toll-like receptor ligands and their biological significance.

Abstract: Toll-like receptors (TLRs), a family of pattern recognition receptors, recognize and respond to conserved components of microbes and play a crucial role in both innate and adaptive immunity. In addition to binding exogenous ligands derived from pathogens, TLRs interact with endogenous molecules released from damaged tissues or dead cells and regulate many sterile inflammation processes. Putative endogenous TLR ligands include proteins and peptides, polysaccharides and proteoglycan, nucleic acids and phospholipids, which are cellular components, particularly extracellular matrix degradation products. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that endogenous ligand-mediated TLR signalling is involved in pathological conditions such as tissue injury, repair and regeneration; autoimmune diseases and tumorigenesis. The ability of TLRs to recognize endogenous stimulators appears to be essential to their function in regulating non-infectious inflammation. In this review, we summarize current knowledge of endogenous TLR ligands and discuss the biological significance of TLR signalling triggered by endogenous ligands in several sterile inflammation conditions.

METTL3 facilitates tumor progression via an m6A-IGF2BP2-dependent mechanism in colorectal carcinoma

Abstract: Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is one of the most common malignant tumors, and its main cause of death is tumor metastasis. RNA N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is an emerging regulatory mechanism for gene expression and methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3) participates in tumor progression in several cancer types. However, its role in CRC remains unexplored. Western blot, quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) and immunohistochemical (IHC) were used to detect METTL3 expression in cell lines and patient tissues. Methylated RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeRIP-seq) and transcriptomic RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) were used to screen the target genes of METTL3. The biological functions of METTL3 were investigated in vitro and in vivo. RNA pull-down and RNA immunoprecipitation assays were conducted to explore the specific binding of target genes. RNA stability assay was used to detect the half-lives of the downstream genes of METTL3. Using TCGA database, higher METTL3 expression was found in CRC metastatic tissues and was associated with a poor prognosis. MeRIP-seq revealed that SRY (sex determining region Y)-box 2 (SOX2) was the downstream gene of METTL3. METTL3 knockdown in CRC cells drastically inhibited cell self-renewal, stem cell frequency and migration in vitro and suppressed CRC tumorigenesis and metastasis in both cell-based models and PDX models. Mechanistically, methylated SOX2 transcripts, specifically the coding sequence (CDS) regions, were subsequently recognized by the specific m6A “reader”, insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA binding protein 2 (IGF2BP2), to prevent SOX2 mRNA degradation. Further, SOX2 expression positively correlated with METTL3 and IGF2BP2 in CRC tissues. The combined IHC panel, including “writer”, “reader”, and “target”, exhibited a better prognostic value for CRC patients than any of these components individually. Overall, our study revealed that METTL3, acting as an oncogene, maintained SOX2 expression through an m6A-IGF2BP2-dependent mechanism in CRC cells, and indicated a potential biomarker panel for prognostic prediction in CRC.

The Structure-Activity Relationship of the Antioxidant Peptides from Natural Proteins.

Abstract: Peptides derived from dietary proteins, have been reported to display significant antioxidant activity, which may exert notably beneficial effects in promoting human health and in food processing. Recently, much research has focused on the generation, separation, purification and identification of novel peptides from various protein sources. Some researchers have tried to discover the structural characteristics of antioxidant peptides in order to lessen or avoid the tedious and aimless work involving the ongoing generated peptide preparation schemes. This review aims to summarize the current knowledge on the relationship between the structural features of peptides and their antioxidant activities. The relationship between the structure of the precursor proteins and their abilities to release antioxidant fragments will also be summarized and inferred. The preparation methods and antioxidant capacity evaluation assays of peptides and a prediction scheme of quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) will also be pointed out and discussed.

Diet–microbiota interactions and personalized nutrition

Abstract: Conceptual scientific and medical advances have led to a recent realization that there may be no single, one-size-fits-all diet and that differential human responses to dietary inputs may rather be driven by unique and quantifiable host and microbiome features. Integration of these person-specific host and microbiome readouts into actionable modules may complement traditional food measurement approaches in devising diets that are of benefit to the individual. Although many host-derived factors are hardwired and difficult to modulate, the microbiome may be more readily reshaped by environmental factors such as dietary exposures and is increasingly recognized to potentially impact human physiology by participating in digestion, the absorption of nutrients, shaping of the mucosal immune response and the synthesis or modulation of a plethora of potentially bioactive compounds. Thus, diet-induced microbiota alterations may be harnessed in order to induce changes in host physiology, including disease development and progression. However, major limitations in ‘big-data’ processing and analysis still limit our interpretive and translational capabilities concerning these person-specific host, microbiome and diet interactions. In this Review, we describe the latest advances in understanding diet–microbiota interactions, the individuality of gut microbiota composition and how this knowledge could be harnessed for personalized nutrition strategies to improve human health. In this Review, Kolodziejczyk, Zheng and Elinav describe the latest advances in understanding diet–microbiota interactions, the individuality of gut microbiota composition and how this knowledge could be harnessed for personalized nutrition strategies to improve human health.

Roles of p53, Myc and HIF-1 in Regulating Glycolysis — the Seventh Hallmark of Cancer

Abstract: Despite diversity in genetic events in oncogenesis, cancer cells exhibit a common set of functional characteristics. Otto Warburg discovered that cancer cells have consistently higher rates of glycolysis than normal cells. The underlying mechanisms leading to the Warburg phenomenon include mitochondrial changes, upregulation of rate-limiting enzymes/proteins in glycolysis and intracellular pH regulation, hypoxia-induced switch to anaerobic metabolism, and metabolic reprogramming after loss of p53 function. The regulation of energy metabolism can be traced to a “triad” of transcription factors: c-MYC, HIF-1 and p53. Oncogenetic changes involve a nonrandom set of gene deletions, amplifications and mutations, and many oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes cluster along the signaling pathways that regulate c-MYC, HIF-1 and p53. Glycolysis in cancer cells has clinical implications in cancer diagnosis, treatment and interaction with diabetes mellitus. Many drugs targeting energy metabolism are in development. Future advances in technology may bring about transcriptome and metabolome-guided chemotherapy.