The cellular transformation induced by viral tyrosine protein kinases may result from the excessive phosphorylation of the normal polypeptide substrates of endogenous cellular tyrosine kinases, from the phosphorylation of proteins that are not normal substrates of cellular tyrosine protein kinases in uninfected cells, or from the phosphorylation of proteins of each type. To differentiate between these possibilities, antibodies to phosphotyrosine were used with immunoblotting to compare the substrates of p60v-src, the transforming tyrosine protein kinase of Rous sarcoma virus (RSV), with those of cellular tyrosine protein kinases. Specifically, the substrates of p60v-src were compared with those of (1) p60c-src, (2) the tyrosine protein kinases activated by the binding of platelet-derived growth factor and (3) normal cellular tyrosine protein kinases in fibroblasts treated with sodium orthovanadate, an inhibitor of phosphatases. Comparison of the patterns observed on the immunoblots with the pattern of phosphotyrosine-containing proteins isolated by immunoaffinity chromatography with antiphosphotyrosine antibodies demonstrated that the proteins detected by Western blotting did indeed contain phosphotyrosine. Cells transformed by a variant of c-src activated by a single point mutation had an almost identical pattern of tyrosine protein phosphorylation as cells transformed by v-src. The several mutations and carboxyl-terminal substitution that differentiate p60v-src from p60c-src appear therefore to affect the enzymatic activity, but not the polypeptide substrate specificity, of the viral protein. In cells transformed by v-src, 27 of the 35 phosphotyrosine-containing proteins were also phosphorylated on tyrosine in normal uninfected fibroblasts treated with sodium orthovanadate. The phosphorylation of the large majority of the substrates of p60v-src can therefore occur in uninfected cells. Nine of the substrates of p60v-src were also phosphorylated by the viral tyrosine protein kinases encoded by the oncogenes, v-abl, v-fps, v-fes, and v-fgr. Together these data are consistent with the idea that viral tyrosine protein kinases induce transformation largely by intervening in cellular regulatory pathways that are normally controlled by tyrosine protein phosphorylation.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a highly heterogeneous nephrosis that occurs when the structure and function of the kidney is damaged. Gene expression studies have been widely used to elucidate various biological processes; however, the gene expression profile of CKD is currently unclear. The present study aimed to identify diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets using renal biopsy sample data from patients with CKD. Gene expression data from 30 patients with CKD and 21 living donors were analyzed by weighted gene co‑expression network analysis (WGCNA), in order to identify gene networks and profiles for CKD, as well as its specific characteristics, and to potentially uncover diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for patients with CKD. In addition, functional enrichment analysis was performed on co‑expressed genes to determine modules of interest. Four co‑expression modules were constructed from the WGCNA. The number of genes in the constructed modules ranged from 269 genes in the Turquoise module to 60 genes in the Yellow module. All four co‑expression modules were correlated with CKD clinical traits (P<0.05). For example, the Turquoise module, which mostly contained genes that were upregulated in CKD, was positively correlated with CKD clinical traits, whereas the Blue, Brown and Yellow modules were negatively correlated with clinical traits. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that the Turquoise module was mainly enriched in genes associated with the 'defense response', 'mitotic cell cycle' and 'collagen catabolic process' Gene Ontology (GO) terms, implying that genes involved in cell cycle arrest and fibrogenesis were upregulated in CKD. Conversely, the Yellow module was mainly enriched in genes associated with 'glomerulus development' and 'kidney development' GO terms, indicating that genes associated with renal development and damage repair were downregulated in CKD. The hub genes in the modules were acetyl‑CoA carboxylase α, cyclin‑dependent kinase 1, Wilm's tumour 1, NPHS2 stomatin family member, podocin, JunB proto‑oncogene, AP‑1 transcription factor subunit, activating transcription factor 3, forkhead box O1 and v‑abl Abelson murine leukemia viral oncogene homolog 1, which were confirmed to be significantly differentially expressed in CKD biopsies. Combining the eight hub genes enabled a high capacity for discrimination between patients with CKD and healthy subjects, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 1.00. In conclusion, this study provided a framework for co‑expression modules of renal biopsy samples from patients with CKD and living donors, and identified several potential diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for CKD.

Lung epithelial cells constitute the first defense line of host against the inhaled Aspergillus fumigatus; however, the transcriptional response of human alveolar type II epithelial cells was still unclear. Here we used RNA-Seq technology to assess the transcriptome profiles of A549 cells following direct interaction with conidia of A. fumigatus. The total number of identified genes was 19118. Compared with uninfected A549 cells, 459 genes were differentially expressed in cells co-incubated with conidia for 8 h, including 302 up-regulated genes and 157 down-regulated genes. GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that most of the up-regulated genes were related to immune response, chemotaxis and inflammatory response and enriched in cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, JAK-STAT and MAPK signaling pathways. The down-regulated genes were mainly enriched for terms associated with development, hemopoiesis and ion transport. Among them, EGR4 and HIST1H4J gene had the maximum of fold change in up-regulated and down-regulated genes, respectively. Fourteen up-regulated genes and three down-regulated genes were further validated and significant increase on expression of IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α in A549 cells were confirmed by qRT-PCR during the interaction of A549 cells with A. fumigatus. Besides, western blot showed that expression of two proteins (ARC, EGR1) significantly increased in A549 cells during interaction with A. fumigatus conidia for 8h. Interference of endogenous expression of ARC or EGR1 protein in A549 cells reduced the internalization of A. fumigatus. These results provided important insights into dynamic changes of gene expression in lung epithelial cells, especially its strong immunological response against A. fumigatus infection.