Junyong Han

The effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines varies among individuals. During the COVID-19 global pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 infection showed significant Th1 characteristics, suggesting that the immune disorder and production of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies may be related to Th1/Th2 bias. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying Th1/Th2 bias effects on host immune responses to viruses remain unclear. In this study, the top three subjects with the highest and lowest changes in anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies after receiving three doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination were selected and defined as the elevated group (E) and the control group (C), respectively. Peripheral blood was collected, single-cell sequencing was performed before and after the third dose of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, and the changes in T cell clusters were analyzed. Compared with the C group, the Treg pre-vaccination proportion was lower in E, while the post-vaccination proportion was higher, suggesting that Tregs may be crucial in this process. Differential analysis results of Tregs between the two groups revealed that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were significantly enriched in the IL4 pathway. Correlation analysis between DEGs and serum antibody showed that the expression of NR4A2, SOCS1, and SOCS3 in Tregs was significantly correlated with serum antibodies, suggesting that the immune response in E group changed to Th2 bias, thereby promoting host humoral immune responses. On the other hand, antibody-related genes SOCS1 and NR4A2, as well as lnc-RNA MALAT1 and NEAT1, were highly expressed in the CD4-MALAT1 subclusters. In summary, our study revealed that Th2 bias promotes humoral immune responses in humans by increasing SOCS1 in T cells after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Moreover, NR4A2, SOCS1, MALAT1, and NEAT1 were identified as the potential key biomarkers or treatment targets for enhanced SARS-CoV-2 antibody production by influencing the Th1/Th2 balance in T cells. Our findings have important implications for population stratification and tailored therapeutics for more effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a predominant subtype of esophageal cancer (EC) and has a poor prognosis due to its aggressive nature. Accordingly, it is necessary to find novel prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for ESCC. Lysine-specific histone demethylase 1 (LSD1) plays a core role in the regulation of ESCC oncogenesis. However, the detailed mechanism of LSD1-regulated ESCC growth has not been elucidated. This study aims to explore molecular mechanism underlying the LSD1-regulated ESCC’s oncogenesis. After LSD1 silencing, we detected differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in human ESCC cell line, TE-1, by transcriptome sequencing. Subsequently, we investigated expression pattern of the selected molecules in the ESCC tissues and cell lines by qRT-PCR and Western blotting. Furthermore, we explored the roles of selected molecules in ESCC using gene silencing and overexpression assays. Transcriptome sequencing showed that the expression of dual specificity phosphatase 4 (DUSP4) in TE-1 was significantly attenuated after the LSD1 silencing. In addition, the DUSP4 mRNA expression level was significantly higher in the ESCC tissues, especially in those derived from patients with invasion or metastasis. Moreover, the DUSP4 expression was positively associated with the LSD1 expression in the ESCC tissues. DUSP4 overexpression promoted proliferation, invasion, and migration of the ESCC cells, while DUSP4 silencing had an opposite effect. DUSP4 overexpression also enhanced tumorigenicity of the ESCC cells in vivo, while DUSP4 silencing inhibited tumor growth. Importantly, inhibition of cell proliferation, invasion, and migration by the LSD1 inhibitor (ZY0511) was reversed by DUSP4 overexpression. Conclusively, we found that LSD1 promotes ESCC’s oncogenesis by upregulating DUSP4, the potential therapeutic and diagnostic target in ESCC.