Induced pluripotent stem cells formed by the introduction of only three factors, Oct4/Sox2/Klf4 (3-gene iPSCs), may provide a safer option for stem cell-based therapy than iPSCs conventionally introduced with four-gene iPSCs. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) plays an important role during brown fat development. However, the potential roles of PGC-1α in re...

Background Despite enormous progress in the understanding of human reproductive physiology, the underlying cause of male infertility remains undefined in about 50.0% of cases, which are referred to as idiopathic infertility and already affects about 5.0-7.0% of the general male population. Interlukin- 1 is a regulator that plays an important role in maintaining a safe environment for testes and...

Mitochondrial dysfunction and respiratory function changes have been consistently associated with the initiation progression of cancer. The purpose this study was to retrospectively investigate expression mitochondrial tumor-suppressor DNA-repair proteins in patients oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) evaluate relationship between their prognosis. We enrolled 197 OSCC who underwent surgical re...

The transcription factor HIF-1α activity is increased in adipose tissue to contribute to chronic inflammation in obesity. However, its upstream and downstream events remain to be characterized in adipose tissue in obesity. We addressed this issue by investigating adipocyte HIF-1α activity in response to obesity-associated factors, such as adipogenesis, insulin, and hypoxia. In adipose tissue, b...

We assessed the role of PGC-1α (PPARγ coactivator-1 alpha) in glucose-induced proliferation, migration, and inflammatory gene expression of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). We carried out phagocytosis studies to assess the role of PGC-1α in transdifferentiation of VSMCs by flow cytometry. We found that high glucose stimulated proliferation, migration and inflammatory gene expression of VSM...

There is still relatively limited information about mechanisms of gene expression in enterocytes and mechanisms by which gene expression is regulated during enterocyte differentiation. Using the human intestinal epithelial cell line Caco-2, which spontaneously differentiates from a cryptlike to a villouslike enterocyte, we have previously shown that there is a marked increase in transcription o...

This paper reviews the current understanding of the molecular basis of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α)-mediated pathway and discusses the role of PGC-1α in skeletal muscle atrophy caused by immobilization. PGC-1α is the master transcription regulator that stimulates mitochondrial biogenesis, by upregulating nuclear respiratory factors (NRF-1, 2) and mito...

The etiopathogenesis of sporadic Parkinson's disease (PD) remains elusive although mitochondrial dysfunction has long been implicated. Recent evidence revealed reduced expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1 α (PGC-1α) and downstream regulated nuclear encoded respiratory complex genes in affected brain tissue from PD patients. We sought to determine whether ...