ORCID Profile
0000-0001-9557-0038
Current Organisation
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
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Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-10-2023
Publisher: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)
Date: 07-02-2022
DOI: 10.1167/IOVS.63.2.12
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 13-11-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-05-2022
DOI: 10.1002/JCP.30769
Abstract: This study provides comprehensive mechanistic evidence for the role of clusterin, a stress‐response secretory chaperone protein, in the modulation of intraocular pressure (IOP) by regulating the trabecular meshwork (TM) actin cytoskeleton and the extracellular matrix (ECM). The pathological stressors on TM known to elevate IOP significantly lowered clusterin protein levels indicating stress‐related clusterin function loss. Small interfering RNA‐mediated clusterin loss in human TM cells in vitro induced actin polymerization and stabilization via protein kinase D1, serine/threonine‐protein kinase N2 (PRK2), and LIM kinase 1 (LIMK1), and the recruitment and activation of adhesome proteins including paxillin, vinculin, and integrin αV and β5. A complete loss of clusterin as seen in clusterin knockout mice ( Clu ‐/‐ ) led to significant IOP elevation at postnatal Day 70. Contrarily, constitutive clusterin expression using adenovirus (AdCLU) in HTM cells resulted in the loss of actin polymerization via decreased PRK2, and LIMK1 and negative regulation of integrin αV and β5. Furthermore, we found that AdCLU treatment in HTM cells significantly decreased the ECM protein expression and distribution by significantly increasing matrix metalloprotease 2 (MMP2) activity and lowering the levels of pro‐fibrotic proteins such as transforming growth factor‐β2 (TGFβ2), thrombospondin‐1 (TSP‐1), and plasminogen activator inhibitor‐1 (PAI‐1). Finally, we found that HTM cells supplemented with recombinant human clusterin attenuated the pro‐fibrotic effects of TGFβ2. For the first time this study demonstrates the importance of clusterin in the regulation of TM actin cytoskeleton ‐ ECM interactions and the maintenance of IOP, thus making clusterin an interesting target to reverse elevated IOP.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 13-09-2022
DOI: 10.3389/FCELL.2022.874828
Abstract: Trabecular meshwork (TM) tissue is subjected to constant mechanical stress due to the ocular pulse created by the cardiac cycle. This brings about alterations in the membrane lipids and associated cell–cell adhesion and cell–extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions, triggering intracellular signaling responses to counter mechanical insults. A loss of such response can lead to elevated intraocular pressure (IOP), a major risk factor for primary open-angle glaucoma. This study is aimed to understand the changes in signaling responses by TM subjected to mechanical stretch. We utilized multiomics to perform an unbiased mRNA sequencing to identify changes in transcripts, mass spectrometry- (MS-) based quantitative proteomics for protein changes, and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) profiling-based MS and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC-) based MS to characterize the lipid changes. We performed pathway analysis to obtain an integrated map of TM response to mechanical stretch. The human TM cells subjected to mechanical stretch demonstrated an upregulation of protein quality control, oxidative damage response, pro-autophagic signal, induction of anti-apoptotic, and survival signaling. We propose that mechanical stretch-induced lipid signaling via increased ceramide and sphingomyelin potentially contributes to increased TM stiffness through actin-cytoskeleton reorganization and profibrotic response. Interestingly, increased phospholipids and diacylglycerol due to mechanical stretch potentially enable cell membrane remodeling and changes in signaling pathways to alter cellular contractility. Overall, we propose the mechanistic interplay of macromolecules to bring about a concerted cellular response in TM cells to achieve mechanotransduction and IOP regulation when TM cells undergo mechanical stretch.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-10-2016
DOI: 10.1007/S00394-016-1317-7
Abstract: Diabetes and obesity are characterized by glucose intolerance, fat deposition, inflammation, and dyslipidemia. Recent reports postulated that distinct gut microbiota alterations were observed in obese/diabetic subjects and modulating gut microbiota beneficially through specific probiotics could be a potential therapeutic option for type 2 diabetes/obesity. Therefore, we attempted to study the efficacy of probiotics of Indian gut origin (Lactobacillus plantarum MTCC5690 and Lactobacillus fermentum MTCC5689) along with a positive control, Lactobacillus rhamnosus (LGG) on glucose/lipid homeostasis in high-fat-diet-induced diabetic animal model. C57BL/6J male mice were ided into seven groups (n = 6 per group) comprising feeding on: (1) Normal Pellet Diet (NPD), (2) High-Fat Diet (HFD), (3) HFD with LGG, (4) HFD with MTCC5690, (5) HFD with MTCC5689, (6) HFD with metformin, and 7) HFD with vildagliptin for a period of 6 months. Biochemical markers, glucose tolerance, insulin resistance, and GLP-1 and LPS levels were assessed by standard protocols. Gut integrity was measured by intestinal permeability test. Transcriptional levels of tight junction proteins (TJPs) were probed in small intestinal tissues while inflammatory signals and other pathway specific genes were profiled in liver, visceral adipose tissue, and skeletal muscle. Mice fed with HFD became insulin resistant, glucose intolerant, hyperglycemic, and dyslipidemic. Diabetic mice were characterized to exhibit decreased levels of GLP-1, increased gut permeability, increased circulatory levels of LPS, decrease in the gene expression patterns of intestinal tight junction markers (occludin and ZO-1), and increased proinflammatory gene markers (TNFα and IL6) in visceral fat along with decreased mRNA expression of FIAF and adiponectin. Diabetic mice also exhibited increased mRNA expression of ER stress markers in skeletal muscle. In addition, liver from HFD-fed diabetic mice showed increased gene expressions of proinflammation, lipogenesis, and gluconeogenesis. Probiotic interventions (most prominently the MTCC5689) resisted insulin resistance and development of diabetes in mice under HFD feeding and beneficially modulated all the biochemical and molecular alterations in a mechanistic way in several tissues. The metabolic benefits offered by the probiotics were also more or less similar to that of standard drugs such as metformin and vildagliptin. Native probiotic strains MTCC 5690 and MTCC 5689 appear to have potential against insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes with mechanistic, multiple tissue-specific mode of actions.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.SCITOTENV.2019.06.391
Abstract: Senescence is an irreversible process that is a characteristic of age-associated disease like Type 2 diabetes (T2D). Bisphenol-A (BPA), one of the most common endocrine disruptor chemicals, received special attention in the development of insulin resistance and T2D. To understand the role played by BPA in cellular senescence under metabolic stress, zebrafish embryos were exposed to BPA in the absence and presence of hyperglycaemia. Transcriptional levels of the senescence markers p15, p53, Rb1 and β-galactosidase were increased when BPA was combined with metabolic stress. In addition, zebrafish embryos that were exposed to combination of hyperglycaemia and BPA exhibited increased levels of apoptosis. However, cellular senescence remained induced by a combination of hyperglycaemia and BPA exposure even in the absence of a translated p53 protein suggesting that senescence is primarily independent of it but dependent on the p15-Rb1 pathway under our experimental conditions. To confirm that our results hold true in adult mammalian tissues, we validated our embryonic experiments in an adult mammalian metabolic model of skeletal muscle cells. Our work reveals a novel and unique converging role of senescence and apoptosis axis contributing to glucose dyshomeostasis. Thus, we conclude that BPA exposure can exacerbate existing metabolic stress to increase cellular senescence that leads to aggravation of disease phenotype in age-associated diseases like type 2 diabetes.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-04-2019
DOI: 10.1007/S11010-019-03540-9
Abstract: There is a striking interaction of genes and environment in the etiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). While endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) like bisphenol-A (BPA) have received special attention for their mechanistic role in metabolic disruption, there is a lack of clinically relevant data on BPA levels in Asian Indians, a population which is more susceptible to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, we measured systemic levels of BPA in patients with T2DM compared to in iduals with normal glucose tolerance (n = 30 each). Serum BPA levels were estimated using ELISA kit, and biochemical determinations were done by standard protocols. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were used to profile the gene expression alterations with special reference to inflammation, estrogen receptors, and cellular senescence in these subjects. Serum levels of BPA were significantly higher in patients with T2DM compared to control in iduals and positively correlated to poor glycemic control and insulin resistance. Patients with T2DM exhibited significantly elevated mRNA levels of senescence (GLB1, p16, p21, and p53) and inflammatory (IL6 and TNF-α) markers, shortened telomeres as well as elevated levels of estrogen-related receptor gamma (ERRγ), a recently identified receptor for BPA. BPA levels were positively correlated to senescence indicators, inflammatory markers and ERRγ and negatively correlated to telomere length. Our study is the first data in the clinical diabetes setting to demonstrate an association of increased BPA levels with cellular senescence, proinflammation, poor glycemic control, insulin resistance, and shortened telomeres in patients with T2DM.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 24-10-2021
Abstract: The homeostasis of extracellular matrix (ECM) and actin dynamics in the trabecular meshwork (TM) outflow pathway plays a critical role in intraocular pressure (IOP) regulation. We studied the role of cathepsin K (CTSK), a lysosomal cysteine protease and a potent collagenase, on ECM modulation and actin cytoskeleton rearrangements in the TM outflow pathway and the regulation of IOP. Initially, we found that CTSK was negatively regulated by pathological stressors known to elevate IOP. Further, inactivating CTSK using balicatib, a pharmacological cell-permeable inhibitor of CTSK, resulted in IOP elevation due to increased levels and excessive deposition of ECM-like collagen-1A in the TM outflow pathway. The loss of CTSK activity resulted in actin-bundling via fascin and vinculin reorganization and by inhibiting actin depolymerization via phospho-cofilin. Contrarily, constitutive expression of CTSK decreased ECM and increased actin depolymerization by decreasing phospho-cofilin, negatively regulated the availability of active TGFβ2, and reduced the levels of alpha-smooth muscle actin (αSMA), indicating an antifibrotic action of CTSK. In conclusion, these observations, for the first time, demonstrate the significance of CTSK in IOP regulation by maintaining the ECM homeostasis and actin cytoskeleton-mediated contractile properties of the TM outflow pathway.
Location: United States of America
Location: No location found
Start Date: 2020
End Date: 2021
Funder: Indiana University
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