👤 A Lombardi

Physical activity triggers complex molecular responses in skeletal muscle, with increasing evidence showing systemic signaling roles for muscle-derived microRNAs (myomiRs). Among these, miR-206 has attracted attention for its dual function: promoting muscle regeneration but potentially harming the central nervous system (CNS). This review examines how miR-206 expression is regulated during exercise and its effects on muscle biology-such as fiber-type specification, mitochondrial changes, and neuromuscular junction (NMJ) repair. It also explores the paradoxical effects of high miR-206 levels in the CNS, where it targets brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), reducing neuroplasticity and increasing vulnerability to neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. The review highlights disease-specific aspects, showing miR-206 as harmful in Alzheimer's, stroke, and depression, but potentially protective in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We discuss its potential as a biomarker and therapeutic target, stressing tissue-specific regulation approaches. Overall, miR-206 plays a key role in muscle-brain communication, with important implications for exercise, aging, and CNS disorders. Show less

Regorafenib is an oral multi-tyrosine kinase (RTK) inhibitor. It exhibits high selectivity for VEGFR1/2/3, while also inhibiting PDGFRβ, FGFR1, and oncogenic signaling cascades involving c-RAF/RAF1 and BRAF. These pathways are highly expressed in meningiomas, particularly in high-grade meningiomas. The MIRAGE trial (NCT06275919) is a multicenter, open-label, controlled, randomized phase 2 clinical trial evaluating grade 2/3 meningioma patients who have progressed following surgery and radiotherapy. A total of 94 participants are being randomized (1:1) to receive either regorafenib (160 mg orally for 3 weeks on, 1 week off) or local standard-of-care therapies (e.g., bevacizumab, hydroxyurea, somatostatin analogs). Major inclusion criteria include histological confirmation of grade 2 or grade 3 meningioma according to the WHO 2021 classification, radiologically documented progression according to RANO criteria with at least 1 measurable lesion (minimum 10 × 10 mm) on baseline MRI, ineligibility for further surgery and/or radiotherapy, and a WHO performance status of 0-1. The primary endpoint is 6-month progression-free survival (6m-PFS) and secondary endpoints include overall survival (OS), objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), safety, and health-related quality of life. Exploratory analysis will also be performed. MIRAGE, initiated in September 2024, is an academic trial promoted by the Istituto Oncologico Veneto, IOV-IRCCS, and will recruit patients across 15 neuro-oncology centers in Italy with an estimated study duration of 18 months. MIRAGE is a phase 2 trial designed to determine the role of regorafenib in prolonging the PFS of grade 2-3 meningioma patients ineligible for further surgery and/or radiotherapy. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06275919. Registered before start of inclusion, 7 February 2024. EuCT no. 2024-510954-28. Show less

This brief report details the initial findings from a Phase 1b/2 trial of TN-201, an adeno-associated virus serotype 9 (AAV9) gene therapy for MYBPC3-associated hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a condition with significant morbidity, increased risk of mortality, and no approved therapy for the majority of patients. TN-201 was well tolerated, and changes to the management of potential immune responses resulted in a shorter period of immunosuppression. These results show consistent transduction and expression of TN-201 in cardiomyocytes, corresponding with increases in MyBP-C levels, reductions or stabilization of cardiac biomarkers, and reductions in key measures of left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy. Show less

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) affects approximately 600,000 people in the United States. Loss-of-function mutations in Myosin Binding Protein C3, MYBPC3, are the most common genetic cause of HCM, with the majority of mutations resulting in haploinsufficiency. To restore cardiac MYBPC3, we use an adeno-associated virus (AAV9) vector and engineer an optimized expression cassette with a minimal promoter and cis-regulatory elements (TN-201) to enhance packaging efficiency and cardiomyocyte expression. Rather than simply preventing cardiac dysfunction preclinically, we demonstrate in a symptomatic MYBPC3-deficient murine model the ability of AAV gene therapy to reverse cardiac hypertrophy and systolic dysfunction, improve diastolic dysfunction, and prolong survival. Dose-ranging efficacy studies exhibit restoration of wild-type MYBPC3 protein levels and saturation of cardiac improvement at the clinically relevant dose of 3E13 vg/kg, outperforming a previously published construct. These findings suggest that TN-201 may offer therapeutic benefits in MYBPC3-associated cardiomyopathy, pending further validation in clinical settings. Show less

Head and neck cancers (HNCs) are the sixth most commonly diagnosed cancer and the eighth leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, with squamous cell carcinoma being the most prevalent type. The global incidence of HNCs is steadily increasing, projected to rise by approximately 30% per year by 2030, a trend observed in both developed and undeveloped countries. This study involved serum proteomic profiling to identify predictive clinical biomarkers in cancer patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Fifteen HNC patients at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Radiotherapy (RT) center in Addis Ababa were enrolled. Serum samples were collected before and after RT, and patients were classified as responders (R) or non-responders (NR). Protein concentrations in the serum were determined using the Bradford assay, followed by nano-HPLC-MS/MS for protein profiling. Progenesis QI for proteomics identified 55 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) between R and NR, with a significance of Show less

Clinical conditions correlated with elevated triglyceride levels are well-known: coronary heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. Underlying genetic and phenotypic mechanisms are not fully understood, partially due to lack of coordinated genotypic-phenotypic data. Here we use a subset of the Healthy Nevada Project, a population of 9,183 sequenced participants with longitudinal electronic health records to examine consequences of altered triglyceride levels. Specifically, Healthy Nevada Project participants sequenced by the Helix Exome+ platform were cross-referenced to their electronic medical records to identify: (1) rare and common single-variant genome-wide associations; (2) gene-based associations using a Sequence Kernel Association Test; (3) phenome-wide associations with triglyceride levels; and (4) pleiotropic variants linked to triglyceride levels. The study identified 549 significant single-variant associations ( Show less

Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a critical cellular process that has been well characterized during embryonic development and cancer metastasis and it also is implicated in several physiological and pathological events including embryonic stem cell differentiation. During early stages of differentiation, human embryonic stem cells pass through EMT where deeper morphological, molecular and biochemical changes occur. Though initially considered as a decision between two states, EMT process is now regarded as a fluid transition where cells exist on a spectrum of intermediate states. In this work, using a CRISPR interference system in human embryonic stem cells, we describe a molecular characterization of the effects of downregulation of E-cadherin, one of the main initiation events of EMT, as a unique start signal. Our results suggest that the decrease and delocalization of E-cadherin causes an incomplete EMT where cells retain their undifferentiated state while expressing several characteristics of a mesenchymal-like phenotype. Namely, we found that E-cadherin downregulation induces SNAI1 and SNAI2 upregulation, promotes MALAT1 and LINC-ROR downregulation, modulates the expression of tight junction occludin 1 and gap junction connexin 43, increases human embryonic stem cells migratory capacity and delocalize β-catenin. Altogether, we believe our results provide a useful tool to model the molecular events of an unstable intermediate state and further identify multiple layers of molecular changes that occur during partial EMT. Show less

Plasma level of high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), a heritable trait, is an important determinant of susceptibility to atherosclerosis. Non-synonymous and regulatory single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes implicated in HDL-C synthesis and metabolism are likely to influence plasma HDL-C, apolipoprotein A-I (apo A-I) levels and severity of coronary atherosclerosis. We genotyped 784 unrelated Caucasian individuals from two sets of populations (Lipoprotein and Coronary Atherosclerosis Study- LCAS, N = 333 and TexGen, N = 451) for 94 SNPs in 42 candidate genes by 5' nuclease assays. We tested the distribution of the phenotypes by the Shapiro-Wilk normality test. We used Box-Cox regression to analyze associations of the non-normally distributed phenotypes (plasma HDL-C and apo A-I levels) with the genotypes. We included sex, age, body mass index (BMI), diabetes mellitus (DM), and cigarette smoking as covariates. We calculated the q values as indicators of the false positive discovery rate (FDR). Plasma HDL-C levels were associated with sex (higher in females), BMI (inversely), smoking (lower in smokers), DM (lower in those with DM) and SNPs in APOA5, APOC2, CETP, LPL and LIPC (each q Show less

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a disease of mutant sarcomeric proteins (except for phenocopy). Cardiac hypertrophy is the clinical diagnostic hallmark of HCM and a major determinant of morbidity and mortality in various cardiovascular diseases. However, there is remarkable variability in expression of hypertrophy, even among HCM patients with identical causal mutations. We hypothesized modifier genes are partly responsible for the variation in hypertrophic expressivity. To map the modifier loci, we typed 811 short-tandem repeat markers ( approximately 5 cMdense) in 100 members of an HCM family including 36 with the InsG791 mutation in MYBPC3. We performed oligogenic simultaneous segregation and linkage analyses using Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods and detected linkage on 3q26.2 (180 cM), 10p13 (41 cM), 17q24 (108 cM) with log of the posterior placement probability ratio (LOP) of 3.51, 4.86 and 4.17, respectively, and suggestive linkage (LOP of 2.40) on 16q12.2 (73 cM). The effect sizes varied according to the modifier locus, age and sex. It ranged from approximately 8 g shift in left ventricular mass for 10p13 locus heterozygosity for the common allele to approximately 90 g shift for 3q26.2 locus homozygosity for the uncommon allele. Refining the 10p13 locus restricted the candidate modifier genes to ITGA8, C10orf97 (CARP) and PTER. ITGA8 and CARP are biologically plausible candidates as they are implicated in cardiac fibrosis and apoptosis, respectively. Since cardiac hypertrophy is a major determinant of total and cardiovascular mortality and morbidity, regardless of the etiology, identification of the specific modifier genes could have significant prognostic and therapeutic implications for various cardiovascular diseases. Show less

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a genetic disorder caused by mutations in sarcomeric proteins (excluding phenocopy). The causal genes in approximately one-third of the cases remain unknown. We identified a family comprised of 6 clinically affected members. The phenotype was characterized by early onset of symptoms, pronounced cardiac hypertrophy, and cardiac arrhythmias. We excluded MYH7, MYBPC3, TNNT2, and ACTC1 as the causal gene either by direct sequencing or by haplotype analysis. To map the putative candidate sarcomeric gene, we perforbold locus-specific haplotyping to detect cosegregation of the locus haplotype with the phenotype, followed by mutation screening. We genotyped 5 short-tandem-repeat markers that spanned a 4.4-centimorgan region on 4q26-q27 locus and encompassed myozenin 2 (MYOZ2), a Z-disk protein. The maximum logarithm of odds score was 2.03 (P=0.005). All affected members shared a common haplotype, implicating MYOZ2 as the causal gene. To detect the causal mutation, we sequenced all exons and exon-intron boundaries of MYOZ2 in 10 family members and identified a T-->C missense mutation corresponding to S48P substitution, which cosegregated with inheritance of HCM (N=6). It was absent in 4 clinically normal family members and in 658 additional normal individuals. To determine frequency of the MYOZ2 mutations in HCM, we sequenced MYOZ2 in 516 HCM probands and detected another missense mutation (I246M). It was absent in 2 normal family members and 517 controls. Both mutations affect highly conserved amino acids. We conclude MYOZ2 is a novel causal gene for human HCM. Show less