Journal: bioRxiv

Article Title: Kinetic proofreading as a mechanism for transcriptional specificity in living human cells

doi: 10.64898/2026.03.17.711757

Figure Lengend Snippet: (A) Schematic for transcriptional regulation by ligand-inducible nuclear receptors. (B) Experimental designs for either 2 or 4h activation of GR, RXR, RARa, and PPARy nuclear receptors using synthetic ligands in human bronchial epithelial cells. (C) Volcano plots showing differentially expressed genes by RNA-seq after activation of nuclear receptors 2h post-treatment (dashed lines indicate adj p-val threshold of 0.05). (D-E) RNA-seq genome browser tracks (D) and read count values (E) at the ERRFI1 and MYH9 loci at the indicated ligand treatments. (F) GR-ChIP and H3K27ac-ChIP genome browser tracks at ERRFI1 in the absence and presence of Dex. (G) Summary of GR transcription factor acting as a specific transcription factor for ERRFI1 and non-specific transcription factor for MYH9 gene.

Article Snippet: Cells were cultured in Airway Epithelial Cell Basal Medium (ATCC, PCS-300-030) supplemented with 1% penicillin/streptomycin and Bronchial Epithelial Cell Growth Kit (ATCC, PCS-300-040) containing HLL Supplement, L-glutamine, Extract P, and Airway Epithelial Cell Supplement (“complete medium”).

Techniques: Activation Assay, RNA Sequencing

Journal: Cell Death Discovery

Article Title: Trifluoperazine causes mast cell apoptosis through a secretory granule-mediated pathway

doi: 10.1038/s41420-026-03122-x

Figure Lengend Snippet: A Human lung smooth muscle cells (HLSMCs), lung fibroblasts (HLFs), and small airway epithelial cells (HSAECs) were treated with TFP at the indicated concentrations for 24 h. Human peripheral blood eosinophils and neutrophils were treated with TFP for 2 h. Cell viability was assessed by staining the cells with Annexin V (AnnV) and DRAQ7. Viable cells, AnnV − DRAQ7 − ; apoptotic cells, AnnV + DRAQ7 − ; necrotic/late apoptotic cells, AnnV + DRAQ7 + . HSAECs, n = 6 from three independent experiments; HLSMCs, eosinophils, neutrophils, n = 4 from four independent experiments; HLFs, n = 3 from one individual experiment representative of three independent experiments (One-way ANOVA for HLSMCs, HLFs; Kruskal-Wallis for HSAECs; Friedman test for eosinophils, neutrophils). B – C Bone marrow-derived MCs (BMMCs) and peritoneal cell-derived MCs (PCMCs) treated under the same conditions as in ( A ) for 24 h. BMMCs, n = 5 from two independent experiments; PCMCs, n = 3 from one individual experiment representative of three independent experiments (One-way ANOVA). Untreated (control) cells were used for statistical comparisons to all other groups in all figures. The bar charts show mean values + SEM or median + interquartile range. * P < 0.05; ** P < 0 .01; **** P < 0.0001. D Effect of TFP on DNA degradation. MCs were preincubated with bafilomycin A1 (Baf A1) (20 nM) for 2 h followed by treatment with TFP (10 μΜ) for 2 h. DNA was extracted from MCs and fragmentation was assessed by agarose gel electrophoresis. St standard marker.

Article Snippet: Primary human small airway epithelial cells (HSAECs) (PCS-301-010) were obtained from ATCC and cultured in Airway Epithelial Cell Basal Medium (ATCC) containing a Bronchial Epithelial Cell Growth Kit (ATCC) and penicillin-streptomycin (100 U/mL, 100 μg/mL).

Techniques: Staining, Derivative Assay, Control, Agarose Gel Electrophoresis, Marker

Journal: bioRxiv

Article Title: Acid stress modulates metabolo-inflammatory pathways in oral epithelial cells

doi: 10.64898/2026.03.16.711383

Figure Lengend Snippet: Schematic representation of the experimental design to investigate the impact of acid stress on oral epithelial cells (OECs) and Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonist stimulation. pH Conditioning : OECs (80% confluence) were cultured in acidified (pH:=:3.0) or complete growth media (pH:=:8.0) for 24h. Morphometric Analysis ( a ): Brightfield micrographs and a machine-learning based image analysis pipeline were used to assess changes in cellular morphology. TLR Agonist Challenge : Cell cultures were subjected to either 100 ng/mL flagellin (TLR5 agonist) or 1 mg/mL Pam3CSK4 (TLR2/1 agonist) for 2-, 6-, or 24h. Molecular profiling ( b ): was conducted on OEC RNA collected after 6h TLR agonist challenge using NanoString® nCounter® technology followed by pathway analysis using the Gene Ontology knowledgebase. A TGF- β ELISA ( c ) was performed on OEC supernatants collected 2-, 6-, and 24h post TLR agonist stimulation. Figure made with Biorender.com

Article Snippet: Low-passage mixed-donor, Primary Human Oral Epithelial Cells (Cat# 36063-01, Celprogen, Inc., Torrance, USA), were thawed from liquid nitrogen, plated on poly-L-lysine-coated T-75 cell culture flasks (Sigma-Aldrich Co., St. Louis, USA; Corning Inc., Durham, USA) and maintained in Human OEC Culture Complete Growth Media (Celprogen, Inc.) containing serum and antibiotics at 37°C and 5% CO 2 for two passages prior to experimentation according to manufacturer recommendations.

Techniques: Cell Culture, Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay