TY - JOUR AB - Increased levels of the chemokine CCL2 in cancer patients are associated with poor prognosis. Experimental evidence suggests that CCL2 correlates with inflammatory monocyte recruitment and induction of vascular activation, but the functionality remains open. Here, we show that endothelial Ccr2 facilitates pulmonary metastasis using an endothelial-specific Ccr2-deficient mouse model (Ccr2ecKO). Similar levels of circulating monocytes and equal leukocyte recruitment to metastatic lesions of Ccr2ecKO and Ccr2fl/fl littermates were observed. The absence of endothelial Ccr2 strongly reduced pulmonary metastasis, while the primary tumor growth was unaffected. Despite a comparable cytokine milieu in Ccr2ecKO and Ccr2fl/fl littermates the absence of vascular permeability induction was observed only in Ccr2ecKO mice. CCL2 stimulation of pulmonary endothelial cells resulted in increased phosphorylation of MLC2, endothelial cell retraction, and vascular leakiness that was blocked by an addition of a CCR2 inhibitor. These data demonstrate that endothelial CCR2 expression is required for tumor cell extravasation and pulmonary metastasis. Implications: The findings provide mechanistic insight into how CCL2–CCR2 signaling in endothelial cells promotes their activation through myosin light chain phosphorylation, resulting in endothelial retraction and enhanced tumor cell migration and metastasis. AU - Roblek, Marko AU - Protsyuk, Darya AU - Becker, Paul F. AU - Stefanescu, Cristina AU - Gorzelanny, Christian AU - Glaus Garzon, Jesus F. AU - Knopfova, Lucia AU - Heikenwalder, Mathias AU - Luckow, Bruno AU - Schneider, Stefan W. AU - Borsig, Lubor ID - 6190 IS - 3 JF - Molecular Cancer Research SN - 15417786 TI - CCL2 is a vascular permeability factor inducing CCR2-dependent endothelial retraction during lung metastasis VL - 17 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Great care is needed when interpreting claims about the genetic basis of human variation based on data from genome-wide association studies. AU - Barton, Nicholas H AU - Hermisson, Joachim AU - Nordborg, Magnus ID - 6230 JF - eLife TI - Why structure matters VL - 8 ER - TY - JOUR AB - The boundary behaviour of solutions of stochastic PDEs with Dirichlet boundary conditions can be surprisingly—and in a sense, arbitrarily—bad: as shown by Krylov[ SIAM J. Math. Anal.34(2003) 1167–1182], for any α>0 one can find a simple 1-dimensional constant coefficient linear equation whose solution at the boundary is not α-Hölder continuous.We obtain a positive counterpart of this: under some mild regularity assumptions on the coefficients, solutions of semilinear SPDEs on C1 domains are proved to be α-Hölder continuous up to the boundary with some α>0. AU - Gerencser, Mate ID - 6232 IS - 2 JF - Annals of Probability SN - 00911798 TI - Boundary regularity of stochastic PDEs VL - 47 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Gravitropism is an adaptive response that orients plant growth parallel to the gravity vector. Asymmetric distribution of the phytohormone auxin is a necessary prerequisite to the tropic bending both in roots and shoots. During hypocotyl gravitropic response, the PIN3 auxin transporter polarizes within gravity-sensing cells to redirect intercellular auxin fluxes. First gravity-induced PIN3 polarization to the bottom cell mem- branes leads to the auxin accumulation at the lower side of the organ, initiating bending and, later, auxin feedback-mediated repolarization restores symmetric auxin distribution to terminate bending. Here, we per- formed a forward genetic screen to identify regulators of both PIN3 polarization events during gravitropic response. We searched for mutants with defective PIN3 polarizations based on easy-to-score morphological outputs of decreased or increased gravity-induced hypocotyl bending. We identified the number of hypocotyl reduced bending (hrb) and hypocotyl hyperbending (hhb) mutants, revealing that reduced bending corre- lated typically with defective gravity-induced PIN3 relocation whereas all analyzed hhb mutants showed defects in the second, auxin-mediated PIN3 relocation. Next-generation sequencing-aided mutation map- ping identified several candidate genes, including SCARECROW and ACTIN2, revealing roles of endodermis specification and actin cytoskeleton in the respective gravity- and auxin-induced PIN polarization events. The hypocotyl gravitropism screen thus promises to provide novel insights into mechanisms underlying cell polarity and plant adaptive development. AU - Rakusová, Hana AU - Han, Huibin AU - Valošek, Petr AU - Friml, Jiří ID - 6262 IS - 6 JF - The Plant Journal SN - 0960-7412 TI - Genetic screen for factors mediating PIN polarization in gravistimulated Arabidopsis thaliana hypocotyls VL - 98 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Cell-cell and cell-glycocalyx interactions under flow are important for the behaviour of circulating cells in blood and lymphatic vessels. However, such interactions are not well understood due in part to a lack of tools to study them in defined environments. Here, we develop a versatile in vitro platform for the study of cell-glycocalyx interactions in well-defined physical and chemical settings under flow. Our approach is demonstrated with the interaction between hyaluronan (HA, a key component of the endothelial glycocalyx) and its cell receptor CD44. We generate HA brushes in situ within a microfluidic device, and demonstrate the tuning of their physical (thickness and softness) and chemical (density of CD44 binding sites) properties using characterisation with reflection interference contrast microscopy (RICM) and application of polymer theory. We highlight the interactions of HA brushes with CD44-displaying beads and cells under flow. Observations of CD44+ beads on a HA brush with RICM enabled the 3-dimensional trajectories to be generated, and revealed interactions in the form of stop and go phases with reduced rolling velocity and reduced distance between the bead and the HA brush, compared to uncoated beads. Combined RICM and bright-field microscopy of CD44+ AKR1 T-lymphocytes revealed complementary information about the dynamics of cell rolling and cell morphology, and highlighted the formation of tethers and slings, as they interacted with a HA brush under flow. This platform can readily incorporate more complex models of the glycocalyx, and should permit the study of how mechanical and biochemical factors are orchestrated to enable highly selective blood cell-vessel wall interactions under flow. AU - Davies, Heather S. AU - Baranova, Natalia S. AU - El Amri, Nouha AU - Coche-Guérente, Liliane AU - Verdier, Claude AU - Bureau, Lionel AU - Richter, Ralf P. AU - Débarre, Delphine ID - 6297 JF - Matrix Biology SN - 0945-053X TI - An integrated assay to probe endothelial glycocalyx-blood cell interactions under flow in mechanically and biochemically well-defined environments VL - 78-79 ER - TY - JOUR AB - An asymptotic formula is established for the number of rational points of bounded anticanonical height which lie on a certain Zariskiopen subset of an arbitrary smooth biquadratic hypersurface in sufficiently many variables. The proof uses the Hardy–Littlewood circle method. AU - Browning, Timothy D AU - Hu, L.Q. ID - 6310 JF - Advances in Mathematics SN - 00018708 TI - Counting rational points on biquadratic hypersurfaces VL - 349 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Nitrate regulation of root stem cell activity is auxin-dependent. AU - Wang, Y AU - Gong, Z AU - Friml, Jiří AU - Zhang, J ID - 6261 IS - 1 JF - Plant Physiology SN - 0032-0889 TI - Nitrate modulates the differentiation of root distal stem cells VL - 180 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Chronic overuse of common pharmaceuticals, e.g. acetaminophen (paracetamol), often leads to the development of acute liver failure (ALF). This study aimed to elucidate the effect of cultured mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) proteome on the onset of liver damage and regeneration dynamics in animals with ALF induced by acetaminophen, to test the liver protective efficacy of MSCs proteome depending on the oxygen tension in cell culture, and to blueprint protein components responsible for the effect. Protein compositions prepared from MSCs cultured in mild hypoxic (5% and 10% O2) and normal (21% O2) conditions were used to treat ALF induced in mice by injection of acetaminophen. To test the effect of reduced oxygen tension in cell culture on resulting MSCs proteome content we applied a combination of high performance liquid chromatography and mass-spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) for the identification of proteins in lysates of MSCs cultured at different O2 levels. The treatment of acetaminophen-administered animals with proteins released from cultured MSCs resulted in the inhibition of inflammatory reactions in damaged liver; the area of hepatocyte necrosis being reduced in the first 24 h. Compositions obtained from MSCs cultured at lower O2 level were shown to be more potent than a composition prepared from normoxic cells. A comparative characterization of protein pattern and identification of individual components done by a cytokine assay and proteomics analysis of protein compositions revealed that even moderate hypoxia produces discrete changes in the expression of various subsets of proteins responsible for intracellular respiration and cell signaling. The application of proteins prepared from MSCs grown in vitro at reduced oxygen tension significantly accelerates healing process in damaged liver tissue. The proteomics data obtained for different preparations offer new information about the potential candidates in the MSCs protein repertoire sensitive to oxygen tension in culture medium, which can be involved in the generalized mechanisms the cells use to respond to acute liver failure. AU - Temnov, Andrey Alexandrovich AU - Rogov, Konstantin Arkadevich AU - Sklifas, Alla Nikolaevna AU - Klychnikova, Elena Valerievna AU - Hartl, Markus AU - Djinovic-Carugo, Kristina AU - Charnagalov, Alexej ID - 6352 JF - Molecular Biology Reports SN - 03014851 TI - Protective properties of the cultured stem cell proteome studied in an animal model of acetaminophen-induced acute liver failure ER - TY - JOUR AB - High-speed optical telecommunication is enabled by wavelength-division multiplexing, whereby hundreds of individually stabilized lasers encode information within a single-mode optical fibre. Higher bandwidths require higher total optical power, but the power sent into the fibre is limited by optical nonlinearities within the fibre, and energy consumption by the light sources starts to become a substantial cost factor1. Optical frequency combs have been suggested to remedy this problem by generating numerous discrete, equidistant laser lines within a monolithic device; however, at present their stability and coherence allow them to operate only within small parameter ranges2,3,4. Here we show that a broadband frequency comb realized through the electro-optic effect within a high-quality whispering-gallery-mode resonator can operate at low microwave and optical powers. Unlike the usual third-order Kerr nonlinear optical frequency combs, our combs rely on the second-order nonlinear effect, which is much more efficient. Our result uses a fixed microwave signal that is mixed with an optical-pump signal to generate a coherent frequency comb with a precisely determined carrier separation. The resonant enhancement enables us to work with microwave powers that are three orders of magnitude lower than those in commercially available devices. We emphasize the practical relevance of our results to high rates of data communication. To circumvent the limitations imposed by nonlinear effects in optical communication fibres, one has to solve two problems: to provide a compact and fully integrated, yet high-quality and coherent, frequency comb generator; and to calculate nonlinear signal propagation in real time5. We report a solution to the first problem. AU - Rueda Sanchez, Alfredo R AU - Sedlmeir, Florian AU - Kumari, Madhuri AU - Leuchs, Gerd AU - Schwefel, Harald G.L. ID - 6348 IS - 7752 JF - Nature SN - 00280836 TI - Resonant electro-optic frequency comb VL - 568 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Hippocampal activity patterns representing movement trajectories are reactivated in immobility and sleep periods, a process associated with memory recall, consolidation, and decision making. It is thought that only fixed, behaviorally relevant patterns can be reactivated, which are stored across hippocampal synaptic connections. To test whether some generalized rules govern reactivation, we examined trajectory reactivation following non-stereotypical exploration of familiar open-field environments. We found that random trajectories of varying lengths and timescales were reactivated, resembling that of Brownian motion of particles. The animals’ behavioral trajectory did not follow Brownian diffusion demonstrating that the exact behavioral experience is not reactivated. Therefore, hippocampal circuits are able to generate random trajectories of any recently active map by following diffusion dynamics. This ability of hippocampal circuits to generate representations of all behavioral outcome combinations, experienced or not, may underlie a wide variety of hippocampal-dependent cognitive functions such as learning, generalization, and planning. AU - Stella, Federico AU - Baracskay, Peter AU - O'Neill, Joseph AU - Csicsvari, Jozsef L ID - 6338 JF - Neuron TI - Hippocampal reactivation of random trajectories resembling Brownian diffusion VL - 102 ER -