Ssion of IL-6 receptor on NPCs (less than 1 of LIF receptor mRNA values, data not shown). In conclusion, we have demonstrated that TNF-a activates STAT3 and promotes astrogliogenesis through the autocrine secretion of LIF. This study provides a novel mechanism by which pro-inflammatory cytokines affect neurogenesis and regulate the fate of NPCs. This information is important for developing transplantation therapies or promoting activation of endogenous NPCs for repair in neurodegenerative diseases with brain inflammation.AcknowledgmentsWe kindly acknowledge Dr. Tsuneya Ikezu and Ms. Li Wu who provided technical support for this work. Dr. Yunlong Huang, Mrs. Kristin Leland Wavrin and Ms. Danielle F. Tate provided valuable comments and suggestions about the manuscript.Author ContributionsConceived and designed the experiments: HP. Performed the experiments: HP XL QC YW BJ LS. Analyzed the data: HP XL QC. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: HP JZ. Wrote the paper: HP XL.
Cataract is a leading cause of blindness, accounting for 50 of blindness worldwide [1]. The cumulative incidence of cataract is strongly age-related and ranges from 2 at ages 45?4 years to 45 at ages 75?5 [1], with nuclear cataracts accounting for 30 of all age-related cataracts [2]. Surgical removal of the cataractous lens remains the only therapy, yet the National Eye Institute has estimated that a ten-year delay in the onset of cataract would result in a 50 reduction in the prevalence of cataract [3]. Both lens nuclear opacity and nuclear cataract surgery are associated with increased mortality according to the Beaver Dam Eye 1407003 subdued during normal aging, it is a major cause or consequence of nuclear cataracts, the most common types of age-related cataracts, whereby the loss of glutathione (GSH) and formation of disulfides are considered to be the key factors in oxidative stress and nuclear cataractogenesis [7]. To protect from oxidation the lens has evolved as an anaerobic system with millimolar concentrations of both glutathione (GSH) and ascorbic acid. However, both protective systems are impaired during aging whereby GSH level significantly declines in the lens nucleus [8,9]. This is in part attributed to lowered c-glutamylcysteine ligase (Gcl) activity [10] and a barrier to GSH diffusion toward the nucleus [9]. As a result ascorbic acid is increasingly oxidized throughout life leading to accelerated accumulation of crystallin-bound advanced glycation end products (AGEs) that contribute to cataractogenesis.Ssion of IL-6 receptor on NPCs (less than 1 of LIF receptor mRNA values, data not shown). In conclusion, we have demonstrated that TNF-a activates STAT3 and promotes astrogliogenesis through the autocrine secretion of LIF. This study provides a novel mechanism by which pro-inflammatory cytokines affect neurogenesis and regulate the fate of NPCs. This information is important for developing transplantation therapies or promoting activation of endogenous NPCs for repair in neurodegenerative diseases with brain inflammation.AcknowledgmentsWe kindly acknowledge Dr. Tsuneya Ikezu and Ms. Li Wu who provided technical support for this work. Dr. Yunlong Huang, Mrs. Kristin Leland Wavrin and Ms. Danielle F. Tate provided valuable comments and suggestions about the manuscript.Author ContributionsConceived and designed the experiments: HP. Performed the experiments: HP XL QC YW BJ LS. Analyzed the data: HP XL QC. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: HP JZ. Wrote the paper: HP XL.
Cataract is a leading cause of blindness, accounting for 50 of blindness worldwide [1]. The cumulative incidence of cataract is strongly age-related and ranges from 2 at ages 45?4 years to 45 at ages 75?5 [1], with nuclear cataracts accounting for 30 of all age-related cataracts [2]. Surgical removal of the cataractous lens remains the only therapy, yet the National Eye Institute has estimated that a ten-year delay in the onset of cataract would result in a 50 reduction in the prevalence of cataract [3]. Both lens nuclear opacity and nuclear cataract surgery are associated with increased mortality according to the Beaver Dam Eye 1480666 Study [1] and the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) [4]. Thus, understanding the pathogenesis of age-related nuclear cataracts remains an important goal of vision research that may also provide clues on broader mechanisms of aging. Age-related cataract is strongly related to the accumulation of damage to its long-lived proteins, the crystallins. Major age-related lens protein modifications include deamidation, deamination, racemization, accumulation of truncation products, accumulation of UV active, fluorescent, and non-UV active protein adducts and crosslinks from glycation, ascorbylation and lipoxidation reactions [5]. Collectively, these modifications contribute toward decreasing protein stability, partly by impairing the chaperone function of acrystallins, the levels of which decrease with age due to insolubilization [6]. Overall, the aging human lens is constantly exposed to chemical and physical stresses. However, while oxidative damage is 1407003 subdued during normal aging, it is a major cause or consequence of nuclear cataracts, the most common types of age-related cataracts, whereby the loss of glutathione (GSH) and formation of disulfides are considered to be the key factors in oxidative stress and nuclear cataractogenesis [7]. To protect from oxidation the lens has evolved as an anaerobic system with millimolar concentrations of both glutathione (GSH) and ascorbic acid. However, both protective systems are impaired during aging whereby GSH level significantly declines in the lens nucleus [8,9]. This is in part attributed to lowered c-glutamylcysteine ligase (Gcl) activity [10] and a barrier to GSH diffusion toward the nucleus [9]. As a result ascorbic acid is increasingly oxidized throughout life leading to accelerated accumulation of crystallin-bound advanced glycation end products (AGEs) that contribute to cataractogenesis.
