Project description:Hypoxia can result in tissue dysfunction, metabolic alterations, and structural damage within the pulmonary tissue, thereby impacting lung ventilation and air exchange. The identification of Hypoxia-inducible factor (Hif) 1α as a pivotal mediator in the inflammatory cascade subsequent to hypoxia induction has been established. However, the mechanism remains elusive. To delve deeper into this phenomenon, we have developed a murine model of sustained hypoxia and utilized nanocarriers for the delivery of lentivirus Hif-1α for knockdown purposes. Our findings suggest that under conditions of sustained hypoxia, knockdown of Hif-1α effectively ameliorated SpO2 levels and attenuated lung injury in our murine model. We observed that Hif-1α-mediated Histone Lactylation was evident in the lungs exposed to sustained hypoxia. Through RNA-seq and ChIP-seq profiling, we determined that upregulation of Hif-1α expression in sustained hypoxic lung tissue is essential for inducing lactylation enrichment of inflammatory response genes. Furthermore, knockdown of Hif-1α returned to normal inflammatory cytokines (e.g. TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β). Analysis of plasma metabolites from individuals experiencing restrictive/ obstructive lung disease revealed a significant enrichment of the Warburg effect within the sustained hypoxic group. Thus, our study provides compelling evidence supporting the notion that targeting Hif-1α-mediated histone lactylation may represent a promising therapeutic strategy for managing sustained hypoxia-induced lung injury.
Project description:Hypoxia can result in tissue dysfunction, metabolic alterations, and structural damage within the pulmonary tissue, thereby impacting lung ventilation and air exchange. The identification of Hypoxia-inducible factor (Hif) 1α as a pivotal mediator in the inflammatory cascade subsequent to hypoxia induction has been established. However, the mechanism remains elusive. To delve deeper into this phenomenon, we have developed a murine model of sustained hypoxia and utilized nanocarriers for the delivery of lentivirus Hif-1α for knockdown purposes. Our findings suggest that under conditions of sustained hypoxia, knockdown of Hif-1α effectively ameliorated SpO2 levels and attenuated lung injury in our murine model. We observed that Hif-1α-mediated Histone Lactylation was evident in the lungs exposed to sustained hypoxia. Through RNA-seq and ChIP-seq profiling, we determined that upregulation of Hif-1α expression in sustained hypoxic lung tissue is essential for inducing lactylation enrichment of inflammatory response genes. Furthermore, knockdown of Hif-1α returned to normal inflammatory cytokines (e.g. TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β). Analysis of plasma metabolites from individuals experiencing restrictive/ obstructive lung disease revealed a significant enrichment of the Warburg effect within the sustained hypoxic group. Thus, our study provides compelling evidence supporting the notion that targeting Hif-1α-mediated histone lactylation may represent a promising therapeutic strategy for managing sustained hypoxia-induced lung injury.
Project description:The recently identified histone modification lysine lactylation can be stimulated by L-lactate and glycolysis. Although the chemical group added upon lysine lactylation was originally proposed to be the L-enantiomer of lactate (KL-la), two isomeric modifications, lysine D-lactylation (KD-la), and N-ε-(carboxyethyl) lysine (Kce), also exist in cells, with their precursors being metabolites of glycolysis. The dynamic regulation and differences among these three modifications in response to hypoxia have not been investigated previously. In this study, we demonstrate that intracellular KL-la, but not KD-la or Kce, is upregulated in response to hypoxia. Depletion of glyoxalase enzymes, GLO1 and GLO2, had minimal impact on KD_x001E_la, Kce, or hypoxia-induced KL-la. Conversely, blocking glycolytic flux to L-lactate under hypoxic conditions by knocking out LDHA/B completely abolished the induction of KL-la, but increased KD-la and Kce. We further observed a correlation between the level of KL-la and HIF-1α expression under hypoxic conditions and when small molecules were used to stabilize HIF-1α in the normoxia condition. Our result demonstrated that there is a strong correlation between HIF-1α and KL-la in lung cancer tissues, and that patient samples with higher grade tend to have higher KL-la levels. Using a proteomics approach, we quantified 66 KL-la sites that were upregulated by hypoxia and demonstrated that p300/CBP contributes to hypoxia-induced KL-la. Collectively, our study demonstrates that KL-la, rather than KD-la or Kce, is the prevailing lysine lactylation in response to hypoxia. Our results therefore demonstrate a link between KL-la and the hypoxia-induced adaptation of tumor cells.
Project description:Hypoxia promotes tumorigenesis and lactate accumulation in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Lactate can induce histone lysine lactylation (Kla, a recently-identified histone marks) to regulate transcription. However, the functional consequence of histone Kla under hypoxia in ESCC remains to be explored. Here, we reveal that hypoxia facilitates histone H3K9la to enhance LAMC2 transcription for proliferation of ESCC. We found that global level of Kla was elevated under hypoxia, and thus identified the landscape of histone Kla in ESCC by quantitative proteomics. Furthermore, we show a significant increase of H3K9la level induced by hypoxia. Next, MNseq ChIP-seq and RNA-seq analysis suggest that H3K9la is enriched at the promoter of cell junction genes. Finally, we demonstrate that the histone H3K9la facilitates the expression of LAMC2 for ESCC invasion by in vivo and in vitro experiments. Briefly, our study reveal a vital role of histone Kla triggered by hypoxia in cancer.
Project description:Injured peripheral neurons successfully activate a pro-regenerative transcriptional program to enable axon regeneration and functional recovery. How transcriptional regulators coordinate the expression of such programs remains unclear. Here we show that hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) controls multiple injury-induced genes in sensory neurons and contribute to the pre-conditioning lesion effect. Knockdown of HIF-1α in vitro or conditional knockout in vivo impairs sensory axon regeneration. The HIF-1α target gene Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A (VEGFA) is expressed in injured neurons and contributes to stimulate axon regeneration. Induction of HIF-1α using hypoxia enhances axon regeneration in vitro and in vivo in sensory neurons. Hypoxia also stimulates motor neuron regeneration and accelerates neuromuscular junction reinnervation. This study demonstrates that HIF-1α represents a critical transcriptional regulator in regenerating neurons and suggests hypoxia as a tool to stimulate axon regeneration.
Project description:Hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) is a central transcriptional regulator of genes associated with adaptive responses to hypoxia. NPM1 is a histone chaperone found to associate with HIF-1α in a phosphorylation dependent manner and increase its activty. The aim of this study was to find if HIF-1α and NPM1 regualate gene expression under hypoxia. Transcriptome analysis using Quant-RNA-seq after HIF-1α or NPM1 silencing under hypoxia reveals a significant number of genes, the hypoxic expression of which depends on both proteins.
Project description:Ammonia is a toxic by-product of metabolism that causes cellular stress. Although a number of proteins are involved in adaptive stress response, specific factors that counteract ammonia-induced cellular stress and regulate cell metabolism that facilitate survival against toxicity have yet to be identified. We demonstrated that hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) is stabilised and activated by ammonia stress. HIF-1α activated by ammonium chloride compromises ammonia-induced apoptosis. Furthermore, we identified glutamine synthetase (GS) as a key driver of cancer cell proliferation and glutamine-dependent metabolism under ammonia stress in ovarian cancer stem-like cells expressing CD90. Interestingly, activated HIF-1α counteracts glutamine synthetase function in glutamine metabolism by facilitating glycolysis and elevating glucose dependency. Our studies reveal the hitherto unknown functions of HIF-1α in biphasic ammonia stress management in cancer stem-like cells. GS facilitates proliferation and HIF-1α contributes to metabolic remodelling in cellular energy usage resulting in attenuated proliferation but conversely promoting cell survival.
Project description:Background: Intestine epithelial hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) plays a critical role in maintaining gut barrier function. The aim of this study was to determine genetic activation of intestinal HIF-1α ameliorates western diet-induced metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). Methods: Male and/or female intestinal epithelial-specific Hif1α overexpression mice (Hif1α LSL/LSL;VilERcre) and wild-type littermates (Hif1α LSL/LSL) were fed with regular chow diet, high fructose (HFr) or high-fat (60% Kcal) high-fructose diet (HFHFr) for 8 weeks. Metabolic phenotypes were profiled. Results: Male Hif1α LSL/LSL;VilERcre mice exhibited markedly improved glucose tolerance compared to Hif1α LSL/LSL mice in response to HFr diet. Eight weeks HFHFr feeding led to obesity in both Hif1α LSL/LSL;VilERcre and Hif1α LSL/LSL mice. However, male Hif1α LSL/LSL;VilERcre mice exhibited markedly attenuated hepatic steatosis along with reduced liver size and liver weight compared to male Hif1α LSL/LSL mice. Moreover, HFHFr-induced systemic inflammatory responses were mitigated in male Hif1α LSL/LSL;VilERcre mice compared to male Hif1α LSL/LSL mice and those responses were not evident in female mice. Ileum RNA-seq analysis revealed that glycolysis/gluconeogenesis was up in male Hif1α LSL/LSL;VilERcre mice accompanied by increased epithelial cell proliferation. Conclusion: Our data provide evidence that genetic activation of intestinal HIF-1α markedly ameliorates western diet-induced MASLD in a sex-dependent manner. The underlying mechanism is likely attributed to HIF-1α activation induced upregulation of glycolysis, which, in turn, leading to enhanced epithelial cell proliferation and augmented gut barrier function.