1 423 145 ANRIL REGULATES MULTIPLE MOLECULES OF PATHOGENETIC SIGNIFICANCE IN DIABETIC NEPHROPATHY. BACKGROUND: HYPERGLYCEMIA-INDUCED TRANSCRIPTIONAL ALTERATIONS LEAD TO ABERRANT SYNTHESIS OF A LARGE NUMBER OF PATHOGENETIC MOLECULES LEADING TO FUNCTIONAL AND STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO MULTIPLE END ORGANS INCLUDING THE KIDNEYS. DIABETIC NEPHROPATHY (DN) REMAINS A MAJOR CAUSE OF END STAGE RENAL DISEASE. MULTIPLE EPIGENETIC MECHANISMS, INCLUDING ALTERATION OF LONG NON-CODING RNAS (LNCRNAS) MAY PLAY A SIGNIFICANT ROLE MEDIATING THE CELLULAR TRANSCRIPTIONAL ACTIVITIES. WE HAVE PREVIOUSLY SHOWN THAT LNCRNA ANRIL MAY MEDIATE DIABETES ASSOCIATED MOLECULAR, FUNCTIONAL AND STRUCTURAL ABNORMALITIES IN DN. HERE WE EXPLORED DOWNSTREAM MECHANISMS OF ANRIL ALTERATION IN DN. METHODS: WE USED RENAL CORTICAL TISSUES FROM ANRIL KNOCKOUT (KO) MICE AND WILD TYPE (WT) MICE, WITH OR WITHOUT STREPTOZOTOCIN (STZ) INDUCED DIABETES FOR RNA SEQUENCING. THE DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED GENES WERE IDENTIFIED USING EDGER AND DESEQ2 COMPUTATIONAL METHODS. KEGG AND REACTOME PATHWAY ANALYSES AND NETWORK ANALYSES USING STRING AND IPA WERE SUBSEQUENTLY PERFORMED. RESULTS: DIABETIC ANIMALS SHOWED HYPERGLYCEMIA, REDUCED BODY WEIGHT GAIN, POLYURIA AND INCREASED URINARY ALBUMIN. BOTH ALBUMINURIA AND POLYURIA WERE CORRECTED IN THE KO DIABETIC MICE. RNA ANALYSES SHOWED DIABETES INDUCED ALTERATIONS OF A LARGE NUMBER OF TRANSCRIPTS IN THE WILD TYPE (WT) ANIMALS. ANRIL KNOCKOUT (KO) PREVENTED A LARGE NUMBER OF SUCH ALTERATIONS. THE ALTERED TRANSCRIPTS INCLUDE METABOLIC PATHWAYS, APOPTOSIS, EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX PROTEIN SYNTHESIS AND DEGRADATION, NFKB RELATED PATHWAYS, AGE-RAGE INTERACTION PATHWAYS ETC. ANRIL KO PREVENTED MAJORITY OF THESE PATHWAYS. CONCLUSION: THESE FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT AS ANRIL REGULATES A LARGE NUMBER OF MOLECULES OF PATHOGENETIC SIGNIFICANCE, IT MAY POTENTIALLY BE A DRUG TARGET FOR DN AND OTHER CHRONIC DIABETIC COMPLICATIONS. 2022 2 6431 37 THE USE OF TARGETED NEXT GENERATION SEQUENCING TO EXPLORE CANDIDATE REGULATORS OF TGF-BETA1'S IMPACT ON KIDNEY CELLS. AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: TRANSFORMING GROWTH FACTOR-BETA (TGF-BETA1) PLAYS AN IMPORTANT REGULATORY ROLE IN THE PROGRESSION OF CHRONIC KIDNEY FAILURE. FURTHER, DAMAGE TO KIDNEY GLOMERULAR MESANGIAL CELLS IS CENTRAL TO THE PROGRESSION OF DIABETIC NEPHROPATHY. THE AIM OF THIS STUDY WAS TO EXPLORE THE GENETIC ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN MRNA, MICRORNA, AND EPIGENETICS IN MESANGIAL CELLS IN RESPONSE TO TGF-BETA1. METHODS: THE REGULATORY EFFECTS OF TGF-BETA1 ON MESANGIAL CELLS WERE INVESTIGATED AT DIFFERENT MOLECULAR LEVELS BY TREATING MESANGIAL CELLS WITH TGF-BETA1 FOR 3 DAYS FOLLOWED BY GENOME-WIDE MIRNA, RNA, DNA METHYLATION, AND H3K27ME3 EXPRESSION PROFILING USING NEXT GENERATION SEQUENCING (NGS). RESULTS: OUR RESULTS PROVIDE THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE, COMPUTATIONALLY INTEGRATED REPORT OF RNA-SEQ, MIRNA-SEQ, AND EPIGENOMIC ANALYSES ACROSS ALL GENETIC VARIATIONS, CONFIRMING THE OCCURRENCE OF DNA METHYLATION AND H3K27ME3 IN RESPONSE TO TGF-BETA1. OUR FINDINGS SHOW THAT THE EXPRESSION OF KLF7 AND GJA4 ARE INVOLVED IN TGF-BETA1 REGULATED DNA METHYLATION. OUR DATA ALSO PROVIDE EVIDENCE OF THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN EPIGENETIC CHANGES AND THE EXPRESSION OF GENES CLOSELY RELATED TO TGF-BETA1 REGULATION. CONCLUSION: THIS STUDY HAS ADVANCED OUR CURRENT KNOWLEDGE OF MECHANISMS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE EXPRESSION OF TGF-BETA1-REGULATED GENES INVOLVED IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF KIDNEY DISEASE. THE MOLECULAR UNDERPINNINGS OF TGF-BETA1 STIMULATION OF KIDNEY CELLS WAS DETERMINED, THEREBY PROVIDING A ROBUST PLATFORM FOR FURTHER TARGET EXPLORATION. 2018 3 1897 45 ENDOTHELIN-1 REGULATION IS ENTANGLED IN A COMPLEX WEB OF EPIGENETIC MECHANISMS IN DIABETES. ENDOTHELIAL CELLS (ECS) ARE PRIMARY TARGETS OF GLUCOSE-INDUCED TISSUE DAMAGE. AS A RESULT OF HYPERGLYCEMIA, ENDOTHELIN-1 (ET-1) IS UPREGULATED IN ORGANS AFFECTED BY CHRONIC DIABETIC COMPLICATIONS. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PRESENT STUDY WAS TO IDENTIFY NOVEL TRANSCRIPTIONAL MECHANISMS THAT INFLUENCE ET-1 REGULATION IN DIABETES. WE CARRIED OUT THE INVESTIGATION IN MICROVASCULAR ECS USING MULTIPLE APPROACHES. ECS WERE INCUBATED WITH 5 MM GLUCOSE (NG) OR 25 MM GLUCOSE (HG) AND ANALYSES FOR DNA METHYLATION, HISTONE METHYLATION, OR LONG NON-CODING RNA- MEDIATED REGULATION OF ET-1 MRNA WERE THEN PERFORMED. DNA METHYLATION ARRAY ANALYSES DEMONSTRATED THE PRESENCE OF HYPOMETHYLATION IN THE PROXIMAL PROMOTER AND 5' UTR/FIRST EXON REGIONS OF EDN1 FOLLOWING HG CULTURE. FURTHER, GLOBALLY BLOCKING DNA METHYLATION OR HISTONE METHYLATION SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED ET-1 MRNA EXPRESSIONS IN BOTH NG AND HG-TREATED HRECS. WHILE, KNOCKING DOWN THE PATHOGENETIC LNCRNAS ANRIL, MALAT1, AND ZFAS1 SUBSEQUENTLY PREVENTED THE GLUCOSE-INDUCED UPREGULATION OF ET-1 TRANSCRIPTS. BASED ON OUR PAST AND PRESENT FINDINGS, WE PRESENT A NOVEL PARADIGM THAT REVEALS A COMPLEX WEB OF EPIGENETIC MECHANISMS REGULATING GLUCOSE-INDUCED TRANSCRIPTION OF ET-1. IMPROVING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF SUCH PROCESSES MAY LEAD TO BETTER TARGETED THERAPIES. 2018 4 2873 34 FUNCTIONAL METHYLOME ANALYSIS OF HUMAN DIABETIC KIDNEY DISEASE. IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES MELLITUS, POOR METABOLIC CONTROL HAS A LONG-LASTING IMPACT ON KIDNEY DISEASE DEVELOPMENT. EPIGENETIC CHANGES, INCLUDING CYTOSINE METHYLATION, HAVE BEEN PROPOSED AS POTENTIAL MEDIATORS OF THE LONG-LASTING EFFECT OF ADVERSE METABOLIC EVENTS. OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRESENCE AND CONTRIBUTION OF METHYLATION CHANGES TO DISEASE DEVELOPMENT IS LIMITED BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF COMPREHENSIVE BASE-RESOLUTION METHYLOME INFORMATION OF HUMAN KIDNEY TISSUE SAMPLES AND SITE-SPECIFIC METHYLATION EDITING. BASE RESOLUTION, WHOLE-GENOME BISULFITE SEQUENCING METHYLOME MAPS OF HUMAN DIABETIC KIDNEY DISEASE (DKD) TUBULE SAMPLES, AND ASSOCIATED GENE EXPRESSION MEASURED BY RNA SEQUENCING HIGHLIGHTED WIDESPREAD METHYLATION CHANGES IN DKD. PATHWAY ANALYSIS HIGHLIGHTED COORDINATED (METHYLATION AND GENE EXPRESSION) CHANGES IN IMMUNE SIGNALING, INCLUDING TUMOR NECROSIS FACTOR ALPHA (TNF). CHANGES IN TNF METHYLATION CORRELATED WITH KIDNEY FUNCTION DECLINE. DCAS9-TET1-BASED LOWERING OF THE CYTOSINE METHYLATION LEVEL OF THE TNF DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED REGION RESULTED IN AN INCREASE IN THE TNF TRANSCRIPT LEVEL, INDICATING THAT METHYLATION OF THIS LOCUS PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN CONTROLLING TNF EXPRESSION. INCREASING THE TNF LEVEL IN DIABETIC MICE INCREASED DISEASE SEVERITY, SUCH AS ALBUMINURIA. IN SUMMARY, OUR RESULTS INDICATE WIDESPREAD METHYLATION DIFFERENCES IN DKD KIDNEYS AND HIGHLIGHTS EPIGENETIC CHANGES IN THE TNF LOCUS AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEPHROPATHY IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES MELLITUS. 2019 5 1269 38 CYTOSINE METHYLATION CHANGES IN ENHANCER REGIONS OF CORE PRO-FIBROTIC GENES CHARACTERIZE KIDNEY FIBROSIS DEVELOPMENT. BACKGROUND: ONE IN ELEVEN PEOPLE IS AFFECTED BY CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE, A CONDITION CHARACTERIZED BY KIDNEY FIBROSIS AND PROGRESSIVE LOSS OF KIDNEY FUNCTION. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES INDICATE THAT ADVERSE INTRAUTERINE AND POSTNATAL ENVIRONMENTS HAVE A LONG-LASTING ROLE IN CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE DEVELOPMENT. EPIGENETIC INFORMATION REPRESENTS A PLAUSIBLE CARRIER FOR MEDIATING THIS PROGRAMMING EFFECT. HERE WE DEMONSTRATE THAT GENOME-WIDE CYTOSINE METHYLATION PATTERNS OF HEALTHY AND CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE TUBULE SAMPLES OBTAINED FROM PATIENTS SHOW SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES. RESULTS: WE IDENTIFY DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED REGIONS AND VALIDATE THESE IN A LARGE REPLICATION DATASET. THE DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED REGIONS ARE RARELY OBSERVED ON PROMOTERS, BUT MOSTLY OVERLAP WITH PUTATIVE ENHANCER REGIONS, AND THEY ARE ENRICHED IN CONSENSUS BINDING SEQUENCES FOR IMPORTANT RENAL TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS. THIS INDICATES THEIR IMPORTANCE IN GENE EXPRESSION REGULATION. A CORE SET OF GENES THAT ARE KNOWN TO BE RELATED TO KIDNEY FIBROSIS, INCLUDING GENES ENCODING COLLAGENS, SHOW CYTOSINE METHYLATION CHANGES CORRELATING WITH DOWNSTREAM TRANSCRIPT LEVELS. CONCLUSIONS: OUR REPORT RAISES THE POSSIBILITY THAT EPIGENETIC DYSREGULATION PLAYS A ROLE IN CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE DEVELOPMENT VIA INFLUENCING CORE PRO-FIBROTIC PATHWAYS AND CAN AID THE DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL BIOMARKERS AND FUTURE THERAPEUTICS. 2013 6 141 36 ABERRANT DNA METHYLATION OF MTOR PATHWAY GENES PROMOTES INFLAMMATORY ACTIVATION OF IMMUNE CELLS IN DIABETIC KIDNEY DISEASE. DNA METHYLATION HAS BEEN IMPLICATED IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF DIABETIC KIDNEY DISEASE (DKD), BUT THE UNDERLYING MECHANISMS REMAIN UNCLEAR. IN THIS STUDY, WE TESTED THE HYPOTHESIS THAT ABERRANT DNA METHYLATION IN PERIPHERAL IMMUNE CELLS CONTRIBUTES TO DKD PROGRESSION. WE SHOWED THAT LEVELS OF DNA METHYLTRANSFERASE 1 (DNMT1), A KEY ENZYME FOR DNA METHYLATION, WERE INCREASED ALONG WITH INFLAMMATORY ACTIVITY OF PERIPHERAL BLOOD MONONUCLEAR CELLS IN DKD PATIENTS. INHIBITION OF DNMT1 WITH 5-AZA-2'-DEOXYCYTIDINE (5-AZA) MARKEDLY INCREASED THE PROPORTION OF CD4(+)CD25(+) REGULATORY T CELLS IN PERIPHERAL BLOOD MONONUCLEAR CELLS IN CULTURE AND IN DIABETIC ANIMALS. ADOPTIVE TRANSFER OF IMMUNE CELLS FROM 5-AZA-TREATED ANIMALS SHOWED BENEFICIAL EFFECTS ON THE HOST IMMUNE SYSTEM, RESULTING IN A SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT OF DKD. USING GENOME-WIDE DNA METHYLATION ASSAYS, WE IDENTIFIED THE DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED CYTOSINES IN THE PROMOTER REGIONS OF MAMMALIAN TARGET OF RAPAMYCIN (MTOR) REGULATORS IN PERIPHERAL BLOOD MONONUCLEAR CELLS OF DIABETIC PATIENTS. FURTHER, MRNA ARRAYS CONFIRMED THE CONSISTENT INDUCTION OF GENES EXPRESSED IN THE MTOR PATHWAY. IMPORTANTLY, DOWN-REGULATION OF DNMT1 EXPRESSION VIA RNA INTERFERENCE RESULTED IN PROMINENT CYTOSINE DEMETHYLATION OF MTOR NEGATIVE REGULATORS AND SUBSEQUENT DECREASE OF MTOR ACTIVITY. LASTLY, MODULATION OF MTOR RESULTED IN CHANGES IN THE EFFECT OF 5-AZA ON DIABETIC IMMUNE CELLS. THUS, UP-REGULATION OF DNMT1 IN DIABETIC IMMUNE CELLS INDUCES ABERRANT CYTOSINE METHYLATION OF THE UPSTREAM REGULATORS OF MTOR, LEADING TO PATHOGENIC ACTIVATION OF THE MTOR PATHWAY AND CONSEQUENT INFLAMMATION IN DIABETIC KIDNEYS. HENCE, THIS STUDY HIGHLIGHTS THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL OF TARGETING EPIGENETIC EVENTS IN IMMUNE SYSTEM FOR TREATING DKD. 2019 7 2909 39 GENE EXPRESSION PROFILING IN FIBROMYALGIA INDICATES AN AUTOIMMUNE ORIGIN OF THE DISEASE AND OPENS NEW AVENUES FOR TARGETED THERAPY. FIBROMYALGIA IS A CHRONIC DISORDER CHARACTERIZED BY WIDESPREAD PAIN AND BY SEVERAL NON-PAIN SYMPTOMS. AUTOIMMUNITY, SMALL FIBER NEUROPATHY AND NEUROINFLAMMATION HAVE BEEN SUGGESTED TO BE INVOLVED IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF THE DISEASE. WE HAVE INVESTIGATED THE GENE EXPRESSION PROFILE IN PERIPHERAL BLOOD MONONUCLEAR CELLS OBTAINED FROM TEN PATIENTS AND TEN HEALTHY SUBJECTS. OF THE 545,500 TRANSCRIPTS ANALYZED, 1673 RESULTED MODULATED IN FIBROMYALGIC PATIENTS. THE MAJORITY OF THESE GENES ARE INVOLVED IN BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES AND PATHWAYS LINKED TO THE CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS OF THE DISEASE. MOREOVER, GENES INVOLVED IN IMMUNOLOGICAL PATHWAYS CONNECTED TO INTERLEUKIN-17 AND TO TYPE I INTERFERON SIGNATURES WERE ALSO MODULATED, SUGGESTING THAT AUTOIMMUNITY PLAYS A ROLE IN THE DISEASE. WE THEN AIMED AT IDENTIFYING DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED LONG NON-CODING RNAS (LNCRNAS) FUNCTIONALLY CONNECTED TO MODULATED GENES BOTH DIRECTLY AND VIA MICRORNA TARGETING. ONLY TWO LNCRNAS OF THE 298 FOUND MODULATED IN PATIENTS, WERE ABLE TO TARGET THE MOST HIGHLY CONNECTED GENES IN THE FIBROMYALGIA INTERACTOME, SUGGESTING THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN CRUCIAL GENE REGULATION. OUR GENE EXPRESSION DATA WERE CONFIRMED BY REAL TIME PCR, BY AUTOANTIBODY TESTING, DETECTION OF SOLUBLE MEDIATORS AND TH-17 POLARIZATION IN A VALIDATION COHORT OF 50 PATIENTS. OUR RESULTS INDICATE THAT GENETIC AND EPIGENETIC MECHANISMS AS WELL AS AUTOIMMUNITY PLAY A PIVOTAL ROLE IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF FIBROMYALGIA. 2020 8 6564 35 TRANSIENT EXPOSURE TO ELEVATED GLUCOSE LEVELS CAUSES PERSISTENT CHANGES IN DERMAL MICROVASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL CELL RESPONSES TO INJURY. BACKGROUND: THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO DETERMINE WHETHER ELEVATED GLUCOSE CAN INDUCE A DERMAL MICROVASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL CELL METABOLIC MEMORY, THUS AFFECTING ANGIOGENESIS IN THE REPAIR PROCESS OF MAMMALIAN CUTANEOUS WOUND. WE HYPOTHESIZED THAT TRANSIENT ELEVATED GLUCOSE LEVELS CAUSE SUSTAINED ALTERATION OF ENDOTHELIAL CELL RESPONSES TO INJURY AND PERSISTENT EPIGENETIC CHANGES IN GENE EXPRESSION. METHODS: HUMAN DERMAL MICROVASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL CELLS WERE EXPOSED TO EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS WITH OR WITHOUT 30 MM D-GLUCOSE. THE CONTROL GROUP WAS MAINTAINED AT 5 MM D-GLUCOSE; WHILE IN THE TRANSIENT GLUCOSE GROUP, AFTER BEING EXPOSED TO 30 MM D-GLUCOSE FOR TWO DAYS, THEN BEING PUT UNDER THE CONTROL CONDITIONS DURING THE EXPERIMENT. BESIDES, IN THE WHOLE PROCESS OF THE EXPERIMENT, THE CHRONIC GLUCOSE GROUP WAS KEPT IN THE CONDITION WITH 30 MM D-GLUCOSE. PROLIFERATION, MIGRATION, TUBE FORMATION, GENE EXPRESSION AND HISTONE METHYLATION WERE ASSESSED FOR INDIVIDUAL CONDITIONS. RESULTS: TRANSIENT ELEVATED GLUCOSE CAUSED SUSTAINED EFFECTS ON ENDOTHELIAL CELL MIGRATION, TUBE FORMATION AND TIMP3 GENE EXPRESSION. THE EFFECTS ON TIMP3 EXPRESSION WERE ASSOCIATED WITH PERSISTENT CHANGES IN HISTONE MODIFICATION AT THE 5' END OF THE TIMP3 GENE, SUGGESTING AN EPIGENETIC EFFECT. CONCLUSIONS: HYPERGLYCEMIA INDUCED METABOLIC MEMORY COULD PROMOTE THE REGULATION OF TIMP3, AND IT CAN BE USED AS A POSSIBLE INNOVATIVE MOLECULAR TARGET FOR THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTION IN THE TREATMENT OF CHRONIC NON-HEALING DIABETIC WOUNDS. 2021 9 1794 36 EFFECT OF DIABETES STATUS AND HYPERGLYCEMIA ON GLOBAL DNA METHYLATION AND HYDROXYMETHYLATION. TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS (T2DM) IS CHARACTERIZED BY OXIDATIVE STRESS THAT COULD LEAD TO CHRONIC MICRO- AND MACROVASCULAR COMPLICATIONS. WE HYPOTHESIZED THAT SOME OF THE TARGET ORGAN DAMAGE IS MEDIATED BY OXIDATIVE ALTERATIONS IN EPIGENETIC MECHANISMS INVOLVING DNA METHYLATION (5MC) AND DNA HYDROXYMETHYLATION (5HMC). WE ANALYZED GLOBAL DNA METHYLATION AND HYDROXYMETHYLATION IN PERIPHERAL BLOOD CELLS IN WELL-CONTROLLED AND POORLY CONTROLLED PATIENTS WITH T2DM AND COMPARED THEM WITH HEALTHY CONTROLS. WE ALSO ANALYZED MICROARRAYS OF DNA METHYLATION AND GENE EXPRESSION OF OTHER IMPORTANT TISSUES IN THE CONTEXT OF DIABETES FROM THE GEO DATABASE REPOSITORY AND THEN COMPARED THESE RESULTS WITH OUR EXPERIMENTAL GENE EXPRESSION DATA. DNA METHYLATION AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, DNA HYDROXYMETHYLATION LEVELS WERE INCREASED IN POORLY CONTROLLED PATIENTS COMPARED TO WELL-CONTROLLED AND HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS. BOTH 5MC AND 5HMC MEASUREMENTS WERE CORRELATED WITH THE PERCENTAGE OF GLYCATED HEMOGLOBIN, INDICATING A DIRECT IMPACT OF HYPERGLYCEMIA ON CHANGES OVER THE EPIGENOME. THE ANALYSIS OF METHYLATION MICROARRAYS WAS CONCORDANT, AND 5MC LEVELS WERE INCREASED IN THE PERIPHERAL BLOOD OF T2DM PATIENTS. HOWEVER, THE DNA METHYLATION LEVELS WERE THE OPPOSITE OF THOSE IN OTHER TISSUES, SUCH AS THE PANCREAS, ADIPOSE TISSUE AND SKELETAL MUSCLE. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT A PROCESS OF DNA OXIDATION ASSOCIATED WITH HYPERGLYCEMIA MAY EXPLAIN THE DNA DEMETHYLATION IN WHICH THE ACTIVITY OF TEN-ELEVEN TRANSLOCATION (TET) PROTEINS IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO COMPLETE THE PROCESS. HIGH LEVELS OF GLUCOSE LEAD TO CELLULAR OXIDATION, WHICH TRIGGERS THE PROCESS OF DNA DEMETHYLATION AIDED BY TET ENZYMES, RESULTING IN EPIGENETIC DYSREGULATION OF THE DAMAGED TISSUES. 2017 10 1131 42 COMPREHENSIVE CIRCULAR RNA EXPRESSION PROFILING WITH ASSOCIATED CERNA NETWORK REVEALS THEIR THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL IN CHOLESTEATOMA. CHOLESTEATOMA IS A CHRONIC DISEASE THAT PATHOLOGICALLY DISPLAYS A BENIGN TUMOR WITH EXCESSIVE SQUAMOUS EPITHELIAL CELL PROLIFERATION IN THE MIDDLE EAR. CLINICALLY, HOWEVER, IT CAN MANIFEST MALIGNANT BEHAVIOR BY DESTROYING ADJACENT TISSUES AND ORGANS. ALTHOUGH PREVIOUS STUDIES HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT THE PATHOGENESIS OF CHOLESTEATOMA IS CORRELATED WITH EPIGENETIC DYSREGULATION, THE EXACT MECHANISM REMAINS UNCLEAR. CIRCULAR RNAS (CIRCRNAS) HAVE BEEN REVEALED AS BEING ABUNDANTLY EXPRESSED IN VARIOUS ORGANISMS AND HAVE BEEN FOUND TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE REGULATION OF MANY DISEASES. TO DATE, NO REPORTS HAVE ELUCIDATED THEIR EXPRESSION PROFILES AND FUNCTIONS IN CHOLESTEATOMA. IN THE PRESENT STUDY, THE CIRCRNA EXPRESSION PROFILE IN CHOLESTEATOMA WAS EXPLORED FOR THE FIRST TIME BY USING MICROARRAY ANALYSIS. WE OBTAINED A TOTAL OF 355 SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED CIRCRNAS IN CHOLESTEATOMA, AMONG WHICH 101 WERE IDENTIFIED TO BE UPREGULATED AND 254 DOWNREGULATED. BY CONSTRUCTING CIRCRNA?LNCRNA?MIRNA?MRNA COMPETING ENDOGENOUS RNA (CERNA) NETWORK, IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT CIRCRNAS MAY FUNCTION AS CERNAS AND CONTRIBUTE TO THE FORMATION OF CHOLESTEATOMA. THESE RESULTS PROVIDE NOVEL INSIGHT INTO THE PATHOGENESIS OF CHOLESTEATOMA AND SUGGEST CIRCRNAS AS POTENTIAL PROMISING THERAPEUTIC TARGETS FOR CHOLESTEATOMA. 2020 11 857 38 CHROMATIN ARCHITECTURE REVEALS CELL TYPE-SPECIFIC TARGET GENES FOR KIDNEY DISEASE RISK VARIANTS. BACKGROUND: CELL TYPE-SPECIFIC TRANSCRIPTIONAL PROGRAMMING RESULTS FROM THE COMBINATORIAL INTERPLAY BETWEEN THE REPERTOIRE OF ACTIVE REGULATORY ELEMENTS. DISEASE-ASSOCIATED VARIANTS DISRUPT SUCH PROGRAMMING, LEADING TO ALTERED EXPRESSION OF DOWNSTREAM REGULATED GENES AND THE ONSET OF PATHOLOGICAL STATES. HOWEVER, DUE TO THE NON-LINEAR REGULATORY PROPERTIES OF NON-CODING ELEMENTS SUCH AS ENHANCERS, WHICH CAN ACTIVATE TRANSCRIPTION AT LONG DISTANCES AND IN A NON-DIRECTIONAL WAY, THE IDENTIFICATION OF CAUSAL VARIANTS AND THEIR TARGET GENES REMAINS CHALLENGING. HERE, WE PROVIDE A MULTI-OMICS ANALYSIS TO IDENTIFY REGULATORY ELEMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH FUNCTIONAL KIDNEY DISEASE VARIANTS, AND DOWNSTREAM REGULATED GENES. RESULTS: IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE GENETIC RISK OF KIDNEY DISEASES, WE GENERATED A COMPREHENSIVE DATASET OF THE CHROMATIN LANDSCAPE OF HUMAN KIDNEY TUBULE CELLS, INCLUDING TRANSCRIPTION-CENTERED 3D CHROMATIN ORGANIZATION, HISTONE MODIFICATIONS DISTRIBUTION AND TRANSCRIPTOME WITH HICHIP, CHIP-SEQ AND RNA-SEQ. WE IDENTIFIED GENOME-WIDE FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS AND THOUSANDS OF INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE DISTAL ELEMENTS AND TARGET GENES. THE RESULTS REVEALED THAT RISK VARIANTS FOR RENAL TUMOR AND CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE WERE ENRICHED IN KIDNEY TUBULE CELLS. WE FURTHER PINPOINTED THE TARGET GENES FOR THE VARIANTS AND VALIDATED TWO TARGET GENES BY CRISPR/CAS9 GENOME EDITING TECHNIQUES IN ZEBRAFISH, DEMONSTRATING THAT SLC34A1 AND MTX1 WERE INDISPENSABLE GENES TO MAINTAIN KIDNEY FUNCTION. CONCLUSIONS: OUR RESULTS PROVIDE A VALUABLE MULTI-OMICS RESOURCE ON THE CHROMATIN LANDSCAPE OF HUMAN KIDNEY TUBULE CELLS AND ESTABLISH A BIOINFORMATIC PIPELINE IN DISSECTING FUNCTIONS OF KIDNEY DISEASE-ASSOCIATED VARIANTS BASED ON CELL TYPE-SPECIFIC EPIGENOME. 2021 12 1336 25 DESCRIBING A TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR DEPENDENT REGULATION OF THE MICRORNA TRANSCRIPTOME. WHILE THE TRANSCRIPTION REGULATION OF PROTEIN CODING GENES WAS EXTENSIVELY STUDIED, LITTLE IS KNOWN ON HOW TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS ARE INVOLVED IN TRANSCRIPTION OF NON-CODING RNAS, SPECIFICALLY OF MICRORNAS. HERE, WE PROPOSE A STRATEGY TO STUDY THE POTENTIAL ROLE OF TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR IN REGULATING TRANSCRIPTION OF MICRORNAS USING PUBLICALLY AVAILABLE DATA, COMPUTATIONAL RESOURCES AND HIGH THROUGHPUT DATA. WE USE THE H3K4ME3 EPIGENETIC SIGNATURE TO IDENTIFY MICRORNA PROMOTERS AND CHROMATIN IMMUNOPRECIPITATION (CHIP)-SEQUENCING DATA FROM THE ENCODE PROJECT TO IDENTIFY MICRORNA PROMOTERS THAT ARE ENRICHED WITH TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR BINDING SITES. BY TRANSFECTING CELLS OF INTEREST WITH SHRNA TARGETING A TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR OF INTEREST AND SUBJECTING THE CELLS TO MICRORNA ARRAY, WE STUDY THE EFFECT OF THIS TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR ON THE MICRORNA TRANSCRIPTOME. AS AN ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE WE USE OUR STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF STAT3 ON THE MICRORNA TRANSCRIPTOME OF CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA (CLL) CELLS. 2016 13 4292 42 MICRORNA PROFILES OF MATERNAL AND NEONATAL ENDOTHELIAL PROGENITOR CELLS IN PREECLAMPSIA. PREECLAMPSIA IS ASSOCIATED WITH AN INCREASED CARDIOVASCULAR MORBIDITY OF MOTHER AND OFFSPRING, THUS CONTRIBUTING TO A SUBSTANTIAL BURDEN IN WOMEN AND CHILDREN'S HEALTH. IT HAS BEEN PROVEN THAT ENDOTHELIAL PROGENITOR CELL (EPC) NUMBERS AND FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS ARE IMPAIRED IN CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE AND PREECLAMPSIA, ALTHOUGH CAUSATIVE FACTORS FOR THE LATTER HAVE REMAINED ELUSIVE. MICRORNA (MIRNA) MODIFICATIONS ARE A POTENTIAL MECHANISM THROUGH WHICH EXPOSURE TO AN ALTERED ENVIRONMENT TRANSLATES INTO THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRONIC DISEASE. IN THIS STUDY, WE EXAMINED WHETHER DEVELOPMENT OF PREECLAMPSIA CORRESPONDS TO ALTERATIONS OF MIRNAS IN MATERNAL- AND CORD-BLOOD-DERIVED EPC. TO TEST THIS END, WE ANALYZED MATERNAL AND NEONATAL MIRNAS VIA RNA SEQUENCING FROM ENDOTHELIAL CELLS OF PREECLAMPTIC AND HEALTHY CONTROLS IN DIFFERENT CELL CULTURE PASSAGES. WE WERE ABLE TO DEMONSTRATE DIFFERENTIALLY REPRESENTED MIRNAS IN ALL GROUPS. HSA-MIR-1270 SHOWED SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT LEVELS IN CORD BLOOD EPC FROM PREECLAMPSIA VERSUS CONTROL AND WAS NEGATIVELY CORRELATED WITH MRNA LEVELS OF ITS PREDICTED TARGETS ANGPTL7 AND TFRC. TRANSFECTION WITH AN HSA-MIR-1270 INHIBITOR DECREASED THE TUBE FORMATION CAPACITY AND CHEMOTACTIC MOTILITY BUT DID NOT CHANGE PROLIFERATION IN VITRO. TARGET PREDICTIONS AND GENE SET ENRICHMENT ANALYSES IDENTIFIED ALTERNATIVE SPLICING AS A SIGNIFICANTLY ENRICHED PATHWAY FOR HSA-MIR-1270. THE TOP MIRNAS IN THREE OTHER GROUPS WERE PREDICTED TO TARGET TRANSCRIPTIONAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL PATHWAYS. HERE, WE SHOWED FOR THE FIRST TIME SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT LEVELS OF MIRNAS AND DIFFERENTLY REPRESENTED MRNA LEVELS OF PREDICTED TARGET GENES IN EPC DERIVED FROM PREECLAMPSIA. UNDERSTANDING THE EFFECTS OF PREECLAMPSIA ON THE EPIGENETIC MECHANISMS OF EPC WILL BE CRUCIAL AND MAY PROVIDE INITIAL INSIGHTS FOR FURTHER EVALUATION OF THE BENEFITS OF THERAPIES TARGETING THIS CELL POPULATION. 2021 14 1508 38 DNA METHYLATION AND MRNA AND MICRORNA EXPRESSION OF SLE CD4+ T CELLS CORRELATE WITH DISEASE PHENOTYPE. SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS (SLE) IS AN AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE WELL KNOWN FOR ITS CLINICAL HETEROGENEITY, AND ITS ETIOLOGY SECONDARY TO A CROSS-TALK INVOLVING GENETIC PREDISPOSITION AND ENVIRONMENTAL STIMULI. ALTHOUGH GENOME-WIDE ANALYSIS HAS CONTRIBUTED GREATLY TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE GENETIC BASIS OF SLE, THERE IS INCREASING EVIDENCE FOR A ROLE OF EPIGENETICS. INDEED, RECENT DATA HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT IN PATIENTS WITH SLE, THERE ARE STRIKING ALTERATIONS OF DNA METHYLATION, HISTONE MODIFICATIONS, AND DEREGULATED MICRORNA EXPRESSION, THE SUM OF WHICH CONTRIBUTE TO OVER-EXPRESSION OF SELECT AUTOIMMUNE-RELATED GENES AND LOSS OF TOLERANCE. TO ADDRESS THIS ISSUE AT THE LEVEL OF CLINICAL PHENOTYPE, WE PERFORMED DNA METHYLATION, MRNA AND MICRORNA EXPRESSION SCREENING USING HIGH-THROUGHPUT SEQUENCING OF PURIFIED CD4+ T CELLS FROM PATIENTS WITH SLE, COMPARED TO AGE AND SEX MATCHED CONTROLS. IN PARTICULAR, WE STUDIED 42 PATIENTS WITH SLE AND DIVIDED THIS GROUP INTO THREE CLINICAL PHENOTYPES: A) THE PRESENCE OF SKIN LESIONS WITHOUT SIGNS OF SYSTEMIC PATHOLOGY; B) SKIN LESIONS BUT ALSO CHRONIC RENAL PATHOLOGY; AND C) SKIN LESIONS, CHRONIC RENAL PATHOLOGY AND POLYARTICULAR DISEASE. INTERESTINGLY, AND AS EXPECTED, SEQUENCING DATA REVEALED CHANGES IN DNA METHYLATION IN SLE COMPARED TO CONTROLS. HOWEVER, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, ALTHOUGH THERE WERE COMMON METHYLATION CHANGES FOUND IN ALL GROUPS OF SLE COMPARED TO CONTROLS, THERE WAS SPECIFIC DNA METHYLATION CHANGES THAT CORRELATED WITH CLINICAL PHENOTYPE. THESE INCLUDED CHANGES IN THE NOVEL KEY TARGET GENES NLRP2, CD300LB AND S1PR3, AS WELL AS CHANGES IN THE CRITICAL PATHWAYS, INCLUDING THE ADHERENS JUNCTION AND LEUKOCYTE TRANSENDOTHELIAL MIGRATION. WE ALSO NOTED THAT A SIGNIFICANT PROPORTION OF GENES UNDERGOING DNA METHYLATION CHANGES WERE INVERSELY CORRELATED WITH GENE EXPRESSION AND THAT MIRNA SCREENING REVEALED THE EXISTENCE OF SUBSETS WITH CHANGES IN EXPRESSION. INTEGRATED ANALYSIS OF THIS DATA HIGHLIGHTS SPECIFIC SETS OF MIRNAS CONTROLLED BY DNA METHYLATION, AND GENES THAT ARE ALTERED BY METHYLATION AND TARGETED BY MIRNAS. IN CONCLUSION, OUR FINDINGS SUGGEST SELECT EPIGENETIC MECHANISMS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO CLINICAL PHENOTYPES AND FURTHER SHED LIGHT ON A NEW VENUE FOR BASIC SLE RESEARCH. 2014 15 5305 38 PROTEOMICS ANALYSIS OF HUMAN OBESITY REVEALS THE EPIGENETIC FACTOR HDAC4 AS A POTENTIAL TARGET FOR OBESITY. SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE AND EXCESSIVE ENERGY INTAKE ARE PROMINENT CONTRIBUTORS TO OBESITY; A MAJOR RISK FACTORS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF INSULIN RESISTANCE, TYPE 2 DIABETES AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES. ELUCIDATING THE MOLECULAR MECHANISMS UNDERLYING THESE CHRONIC CONDITIONS IS OF RELEVANT IMPORTANCE AS IT MIGHT LEAD TO THE IDENTIFICATION OF NOVEL ANTI-OBESITY TARGETS. THE PURPOSE OF THE CURRENT STUDY IS TO INVESTIGATE DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED PROTEINS BETWEEN LEAN AND OBESE SUBJECTS THROUGH A SHOT-GUN QUANTITATIVE PROTEOMICS APPROACH USING PERIPHERAL BLOOD MONONUCLEAR CELLS (PBMCS) EXTRACTS AS WELL AS POTENTIAL MODULATION OF THOSE PROTEINS BY PHYSICAL EXERCISE. USING THIS APPROACH, A TOTAL OF 47 PROTEINS SHOWED AT LEAST 1.5 FOLD CHANGE BETWEEN LEAN AND OBESE SUBJECTS. IN OBESE, THE PROTEOMIC PROFILING BEFORE AND AFTER 3 MONTHS OF PHYSICAL EXERCISE SHOWED DIFFERENTIAL EXPRESSION OF 38 PROTEINS. THROMBOSPONDIN 1 (TSP1) WAS AMONG THE PROTEINS THAT WERE UPREGULATED IN OBESE SUBJECTS AND THEN DECREASED BY PHYSICAL EXERCISE. CONVERSELY, THE HISTONE DEACETYLASE 4 (HDAC4) WAS DOWNREGULATED IN OBESE SUBJECTS AND THEN INDUCED BY PHYSICAL EXERCISE. THE PROTEOMIC DATA WAS FURTHER VALIDATED BY QRT-PCR, WESTERN BLOT AND IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY IN BOTH PBMCS AND ADIPOSE TISSUE. WE ALSO SHOWED THAT HDAC4 LEVELS CORRELATED POSITIVELY WITH MAXIMUM OXYGEN CONSUMPTION (VO2 MAX) BUT NEGATIVELY WITH BODY MASS INDEX, PERCENT BODY FAT, AND THE INFLAMMATORY CHEMOKINE RANTES. IN FUNCTIONAL ASSAYS, OUR DATA INDICATED THAT ECTOPIC EXPRESSION OF HDAC4 SIGNIFICANTLY IMPAIRED TNF-ALPHA-DEPENDENT ACTIVATION OF NF-KAPPAB, ESTABLISHING THUS A LINK BETWEEN HDAC4 AND REGULATION OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM. TOGETHER, THE EXPRESSION PATTERN OF HDAC4 IN OBESE SUBJECTS BEFORE AND AFTER PHYSICAL EXERCISE, ITS CORRELATION WITH VARIOUS PHYSICAL, CLINICAL AND METABOLIC PARAMETERS ALONG WITH ITS INHIBITORY EFFECT ON NF-KAPPAB ARE SUGGESTIVE OF A PROTECTIVE ROLE OF HDAC4 AGAINST OBESITY. HDAC4 COULD THEREFORE REPRESENT A POTENTIAL THERAPEUTIC TARGET FOR THE CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT OF OBESITY AND PRESUMABLY INSULIN RESISTANCE. 2013 16 3 41 "EPIGENOME-WIDE METHYLATION PROFILE OF CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE-DERIVED ARTERIAL DNA UNCOVERS NOVEL PATHWAYS IN DISEASE-ASSOCIATED CARDIOVASCULAR PATHOLOGY.". CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE (CKD) RELATED CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE (CVD) IS CHARACTERIZED BY VASCULAR REMODELLING WITH WELL-ESTABLISHED STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL CHANGES IN THE VASCULAR WALL SUCH AS ARTERIAL STIFFNESS, MATRIX DEPOSITION, AND CALCIFICATION. THESE PHENOTYPIC CHANGES RESEMBLE PATHOLOGY SEEN IN AGEING, AND ARE LIKELY TO BE MEDIATED BY SUSTAINED ALTERATIONS IN GENE EXPRESSION, WHICH MAY BE CAUSED BY EPIGENETIC CHANGES SUCH AS TISSUE-SPECIFIC DNA METHYLATION. WE AIMED TO INVESTIGATE TISSUE SPECIFIC CHANGES IN DNA METHYLATION THAT OCCUR IN CKD-RELATED CVD. GENOME-WIDE DNA METHYLATION CHANGES WERE EXAMINED IN BISULPHITE CONVERTED GENOMIC DNA ISOLATED FROM THE VASCULAR MEDIA OF CKD AND HEALTHY ARTERIES. METHYLATION-SPECIFIC PCR WAS USED TO VALIDATE THE ARRAY DATA, AND THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN DNA METHYLATION AND GENE AND PROTEIN EXPRESSION WAS EXAMINED. THE DNA METHYLATION AGE WAS COMPARED TO THE CHRONOLOGICAL AGE IN BOTH CASES AND CONTROLS. THREE HUNDRED AND NINETEEN DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED REGIONS (DMR) WERE IDENTIFIED SPREAD ACROSS THE GENOME. PATHWAY ANALYSIS REVEALED THAT DMRS ASSOCIATED WITH GENES WERE INVOLVED IN EMBRYONIC AND VASCULAR DEVELOPMENT, AND SIGNALLING PATHWAYS SUCH AS TGFBETA AND FGF. EXPRESSION OF TOP DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED GENE HOXA5 SHOWED A SIGNIFICANT NEGATIVE CORRELATION WITH DNA METHYLATION. INTERESTINGLY, DNA METHYLATION AGE AND CHRONOLOGICAL AGE WERE HIGHLY CORRELATED, BUT THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF ACCELERATED AGE-RELATED DNA METHYLATION IN THE ARTERIES OF CKD PATIENTS. IN CONCLUSION, WE DEMONSTRATED THAT DIFFERENTIAL DNA METHYLATION IN THE ARTERIAL TISSUE OF CKD PATIENTS REPRESENTS A POTENTIAL MEDIATOR OF ARTERIAL PATHOLOGY AND MAY BE USED TO UNCOVER NOVEL PATHWAYS IN THE GENESIS OF CKD-ASSOCIATED COMPLICATIONS. 2021 17 3156 36 GLYCEMIC MEMORIES AND THE EPIGENETIC COMPONENT OF DIABETIC NEPHROPATHY. A STRONG CASE FOR THE DEREGULATION OF EPIGENETIC CHROMATIN MODIFICATIONS IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND PROGRESSION OF VARIOUS CHRONIC COMPLICATIONS OF DIABETES HAS EMERGED FROM RECENT EXPERIMENTAL OBSERVATIONS. CLINICAL TRIALS OF TYPE 1 AND TYPE 2 DIABETES PATIENTS HIGHLIGHT THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY AND INTENSIVE TREATMENT AND THE PROLONGED DAMAGE OF HYPERGLYCEMIA ON ORGANS SUCH AS THE KIDNEY. THE FUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE REGULATION OF CHROMATIN ARCHITECTURE AND PERSISTENT GENE EXPRESSION CHANGES CONFERRED BY PRIOR HYPERGLYCEMIA REPRESENTS AN IMPORTANT AVENUE OF INVESTIGATION FOR EXPLAINING DIABETIC NEPHROPATHY. WHILE SEVERAL STUDIES IMPLICATE EPIGENETIC CHANGES AT THE CHROMATIN TEMPLATE IN THE DEREGULATED GENE EXPRESSION ASSOCIATED WITH DIABETIC NEPHROPATHY, THE MOLECULAR DETERMINANTS OF METABOLIC MEMORY IN RENAL CELLS REMAIN POORLY UNDERSTOOD. THERE IS NOW STRONG EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIMENTAL ANIMALS AND CELL CULTURE OF PERSISTENT GLUCOSE-DRIVEN CHANGES IN VASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL GENE EXPRESSION THAT MAY ALSO HAVE RELEVANCE FOR THE MICROVASCULATURE OF THE KIDNEY. EXPLORATION OF EPIGENETIC MECHANISMS UNDERLYING THE HYPERGLYCEMIC CUE MEDIATING PERSISTENT TRANSCRIPTIONAL CHANGES IN RENAL CELLS HOLDS NOVEL THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL FOR DIABETIC NEPHROPATHY. 2013 18 347 37 ALTERED DNA METHYLATION IN KIDNEY DISEASE: USEFUL MARKERS AND THERAPEUTIC TARGETS. RECENT STUDIES HAVE DEMONSTRATED THE ASSOCIATION OF ALTERED EPIGENOMES WITH LIFESTYLE-RELATED DISEASES. EPIGENETIC REGULATION PROMOTES BIOLOGICAL PLASTICITY IN RESPONSE TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES, AND SUCH PLASTICITY MAY CAUSE A 'MEMORY EFFECT', A SUSTAINED EFFECT OF TRANSIENT TREATMENT OR AN INSULT IN THE COURSE OF LIFESTYLE-RELATED DISEASES. WE INVESTIGATED THE SIGNIFICANCE OF EPIGENETIC CHANGES IN SEVERAL GENES REQUIRED FOR RENAL INTEGRITY, INCLUDING THE NEPHRIN GENE IN PODOCYTES, AND THE SUSTAINED ANTI-PROTEINURIC EFFECT, FOCUSING ON THE TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR KRUPPEL-LIKE FACTOR 4 (KLF4). WE FURTHER REPORTED THE ROLE OF THE DNA REPAIR FACTOR LYSINE-ACETYL TRANSFERASE 5 (KAT5), WHICH ACTS COORDINATELY WITH KLF4, IN PODOCYTE INJURY CAUSED BY A HYPERGLYCEMIC STATE THROUGH THE ACCELERATION OF DNA DAMAGE AND EPIGENETIC ALTERATION. IN CONTRAST, KAT5 IN PROXIMAL TUBULAR CELLS PREVENTS ACUTE KIDNEY INJURY VIA GLOMERULAR FILTRATION REGULATION BY AN EPIGENETIC MECHANISM AS WELL AS PROMOTION OF DNA REPAIR, INDICATING THE CELL TYPE-SPECIFIC ACTION AND ROLES OF DNA REPAIR FACTORS. THIS REVIEW SUMMARIZES EPIGENETIC ALTERATIONS IN KIDNEY DISEASES, ESPECIALLY DNA METHYLATION, AND THEIR UTILITY AS MARKERS AND POTENTIAL THERAPEUTIC TARGETS. FOCUSING ON TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS OR DNA DAMAGE REPAIR FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH EPIGENETIC CHANGES MAY BE MEANINGFUL DUE TO THEIR CELL-SPECIFIC EXPRESSION OR ACTION. WE BELIEVE THAT A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF EPIGENETIC ALTERATIONS IN THE KIDNEY WILL LEAD TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL STRATEGY FOR CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE (CKD) TREATMENT. 2022 19 3503 31 IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED GENE-RELATED BIOMARKERS IN ENDOMETRIOSIS. AIM: TO IDENTIFY EPIGENETIC ALTERATIONS OF DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED GENES AND SCREEN OUT TARGETED THERAPEUTIC DRUGS IN ENDOMETRIOSIS. METHODS: BASED ON THE GENE EXPRESSION OMNIBUS DATABASE AND A SERIES OF BIOLOGICAL INFORMATION ANALYSIS TOOLS, SUPPLEMENTED BY VALIDATION OF CLINICAL SAMPLES, ABERRANT DNA METHYLATION-DRIVEN GENES AND THEIR FUNCTIONS WERE EXPLORED, AS WELL AS POSSIBLE TARGETED DRUGS. RESULTS: THIS STUDY SCREENED OUT A RANGE OF DNA METHYLATION-DRIVEN GENES THAT WERE ASSOCIATED WITH POWERFUL PROPERTIES AND CORRESPONDING PATHWAYS. AMONG THEM, BDNF AND CCL2 WERE KEY GENES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENDOMETRIOSIS. FOUR CHEMICAL AGENTS HAVE BEEN FLAGGED AS POTENTIAL TREATMENTS FOR ENDOMETRIOSIS. CONCLUSION: THESE CANDIDATE GENES AND SMALL-MOLECULE AGENTS MAY BE FURTHER EXPLORED AS POTENTIAL TARGETS AND DRUGS FOR ENDOMETRIOSIS DIAGNOSIS AND THERAPY, RESPECTIVELY. 2022 20 6902 36 [THE IMPACT OF CHROMATIN MODIFICATION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRONIC COMPLICATIONS IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES]. DIABETES IS A CHRONIC, METABOLIC DISEASE. OVER 347 MILLION PEOPLE WORLDWIDE HAVE DIABETES. CHRONIC COMPLICATIONS (RETINOPATHY, NEPHROPATHY OR NEUROPATHY) ARE THE MAJOR DANGEROUS OUTCOME OF THIS DISEASE. RECENT STUDIES INDICATE A SIGNIFICANT ROLE OF EPIGENETIC REGULATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRONIC COMPLICATIONS IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES. HYPERGLYCEMIA COULD CAUSE ABNORMAL REGULATION OF THE ACTIVITY OF ENZYMES PARTICIPATING IN THE POST-TRANSLATIONAL HISTONE MODIFICATIONS (PTHMS) AND INITIATION OF CHANGES IN PATTERNS OF DNA METHYLATION. IT LEADS TO MODIFICATION OF CHROMATIN STRUCTURE. THESE EPIGENETIC ABNORMALITIES RESULT IN CHANGES IN THE EXPRESSION OF GENES INVOLVED IN DEVELOPMENT OF CHRONIC INFLAMMATION, SUCH AS NF-KAPPAB (NUCLEAR FACTOR KAPPAB GENE), TNFALPHA (TUMOR NECROSIS FACTOR A GENE), IL6 (INTERLEUKIN 6 GENE) OR MCP1 (MONOCYTE CHEMOATTRACTANT PROTEIN 1 GENE). IT ENHANCES ENDOTHELIAL CELL DYSFUNCTION, WHICH PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN DEVELOPMENT OF CHRONIC, DIABETIC COMPLICATIONS. IN ADDITION, CAUSED BY HYPERGLYCEMIA EPIGENETIC MODIFICATIONS CHANGES IN STRUCTURE OF CHROMATIN EXPLAINS "METABOLIC MEMORY", A PHENOMENON OF PRESENCE OF PATHOLOGICAL PATHWAYS RELATED TO THE PROLONGED HYPERGLYCEMIA IN THE PAST, DESPITE MAINTAINING GOOD METABOLIC CONTROL LATER ON. 2015