INTRODUCTION Increased activity of osteoclasts is responsible for bone loss and joint destruction in rheumatoid arthritis. For osteoclast development and bone resorption activity, cytoskeletal organization must be properly regulated. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous small noncoding RNAs that suppress expression of their target genes. This study was conducted to identify crucial miRNAs to contr...

Bacteria secrete enzymes into the extracellular space to hydrolyze macromolecules into constituents that can be imported for microbial nutrition. In bacterial communities, these enzymes and their resultant products can be modeled as community property. Our goal was to investigate the impact of individual community member absence on the resulting community production of exoenzymes (extracellular...

Interstitial fibrosis is one of the most deleterious events during the progression of renal deterioration after renal mass reduction. In vivo, hydroxymethylglutaryl CoA reductase inhibitors (HRI) were shown to reduce progression of glomerulosclerosis, but the mechanisms are still unclear. The present study investigates, in vivo, whether lovastatin, a potent HRI, was able to modulate the plasmin...

Osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) represents a debilitating complication following glucocorticoid (GC)-based therapy. Synovial-derived mesenchymal stem cells (SMSCs) can exert protective effect in the animal model of GC-induced ONFH by inducing cell proliferation and preventing cell apoptosis. Recent studies indicate the transplanted cells exert therapeutic effects primarily via a paracr...

Prolonged healing and scar formation are two major challenges in the treatment of soft tissue trauma. Adipose mesenchymal stem cells (ASCs) play an important role in tissue regeneration, and recent studies have suggested that exosomes secreted by stem cells may contribute to paracrine signaling. In this study, we investigated the roles of ASCs-derived exosomes (ASCs-Exos) in cutaneous wound hea...

Proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-1, TNF, IL-6, and IL-8 are produced by leukocytes in response to bacteria or bacterial components. A great deal has been learned during the past few years about the synthesis and release of proinflammatory cytokines by leukocytes; however, relatively little is known about the intracellular events that lead to leukocyte proinflammatory cytokine gene transcrip...

PURPOSE To understand the involvement of isoprenylated small guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) in lovastatin-induced cataractogenesis, Rho- and Rac-mediated cell adhesion and actin cytoskeletal reorganization were investigated in lovastatin-treated lens epithelial cells. METHODS The effects of lovastatin on F-actin reorganization (phalloidin staining), focal adhesion formation (paxillin or ...