Engineering topics

Zhao, Min

Publications and source records attributed to Zhao, Min.

3 records

DOE OSTI2021

Transcription factor FOXC1 positively regulates SFRP1 expression in androgenetic alopecia

Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is the most common type of hair loss dysfunction. Secreted frizzled related protein 1 (SFRP1) is found to be associated with hair loss, but its role in AGA and the regulation mechanism of its transcription level is unclear. The aim of our study is to explore the expression of SFRP1 in AGA samples and its transcriptional mechanism. Male frontal and occipital scalp hair follicles from AGA patients were collected, and human dermal papilla cells (DPCs) were isolated and cultured. SFRP1 gene was cloned and constructed into recombinant plasmids to perform dual-luciferase reporter assay. Transcription factor binding sites were predicted through the Jaspar website and further confirmed by the chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay. Expression of genes in DPCs was determined by immunofluorescence (IF) staining, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blotting. Our findings showed that SFRP1 was highly expressed in DPCs of AGA patients. The core promoter region of SFRP1 was from −100 to +50 bp and was found to be positively regulated by forkhead box C1 (FOXC1), a transcription factor related to hair growth, both at mRNA and protein level in DPCs. Our study suggests that FOXC1 plays an important role in regulating SFRP1 transcription, which may provide new insights into the development of therapeutic strategies for the treatment of AGA.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2020

A harmonized global nighttime light dataset 1992–2018

Nighttime light (NTL) data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP)/Operational Linescan System (OLS) and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite provide a great opportunity for monitoring human activities from regional to global scales. Despite the valuable records of nightscape from DMSP (1992–2013) and VIIRS (2012–2018), the potential of the historical archive of NTL observations has not been fully explored because of the severe inconsistency between DMSP and VIIRS. In this study, we generated an integrated and consistent NTL dataset at the global scale by harmonizing the inter-calibrated NTL observations from the DMSP data and the simulated DMSP-like NTL observations from the VIIRS data. The generated global DMSP NTL time-series data (1992–2018) show consistent temporal trends. This temporally extended DMSP NTL dataset provides valuable support for various studies related to human activities such as electricity consumption and urban extent dynamics.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2020

Electric Fields at Breast Cancer and Cancer Cell Collective Galvanotaxis

Cancer growth interferes with local ionic environments, membrane potentials, and transepithelial potentials, resulting in small electrical changes in the tumor microenvironment. Electrical fields (EFs) have significant effects on cancer cell migration (galvanotaxis/electrotaxis), however, their role as a regulator of cancer progression and metastasis is poorly understood. Here, we employed unique probe systems to characterize the electrical properties of cancer cells and their migratory ability under an EF. Subcutaneous tumors were established from a triple-negative murine breast cancer cell line (4T1), electric currents and potentials of tumors were measured using vibrating probe and glass microelectrodes, respectively. Steady outward and inward currents could be detected at different positions on the tumor surface and magnitudes of the electric currents on the tumor surface strongly correlated with tumor weights. Potential measurements also showed the non-homogeneous intratumor electric potentials. Cancer cell migration was then surveyed in the presence of EFs in vitro. Parental 4T1 cells and metastatic sublines in isolation showed random migration in EFs of physiological strength, whereas cells in monolayer migrated collectively to the anode. Our data contribute to an improved understanding of breast cancer metastasis, providing new evidence in support of an electrical mechanism that promotes this phenomenon.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗