Journal: Journal of Translational Medicine
Article Title: Piezo1 mediates hypoxia-induced endometriosis fibrosis via the mtDNA -dependent cGAS-STING pathway
doi: 10.1186/s12967-026-08255-2
Figure Lengend Snippet: Hypoxic activation of the cGAS-STING pathway relies on mtDNA leakage. (A) Mitochondrial morphological alterations in HESCs under varying durations of hypoxia, shown by immunofluorescence (Scale bar: 20 μm). (B) JC-1 staining of mitochondrial membrane potential in HESCs following hypoxic treatment (Scale bar: 25 μm). (C , D) Quantitative flow cytometric analysis of JC-1 staining, showing changes in mitochondrial membrane potential in HESCs under varying durations of hypoxia. (E) Immunofluorescence co-staining for TOM20 (mitochondria) and dsDNA was performed to visualize mtDNA leakage in control versus hypoxic HESCs. Shown are representative images (Scale bar:20 μm). (F) qRT-PCR analysis of cytosolic mtDNA in control and hypoxic HESCs. (G–I) Western blotting and qRT-PCR analysis was performed to detect the expression levels of HIF-1α, cGAS and STING in the NC, EtBr, Hypoxia and Hypoxia-EtBr groups, along with quantitative analysis. (J , K) Western blotting analysis of TBK1 and IRF3 phosphorylation in HESCs from the NC, EtBr, Hypoxia, and Hypoxia-EtBr groups, along with quantitative analysis. (L , M) Mitochondrial ROS levels assessed by MitoSOX staining in HESCs from Normal, Hypoxia, Hypoxia-EtBr and Hypoxia-NAC groups. Shown are representative images and quantification (Scale bar: 20 μm). (N , O) Immunofluorescence showing α-SMA expression in HESCs from the Normal, Hypoxia, Hypoxia-EtBr and Hypoxia-NAC groups. Representative images and quantification are shown (Scale bar: 100 μm). *P<0.05; **P<0.01; ***P<0.001; ****P<0.0001
Article Snippet: At 60-70% confluency, cells were treated for 24 h with the specified compounds: the Piezo1 agonist Yoda1 (5 μM; MCE, HY-18723); the Piezo1 inhibitor GsMTx4 (5 μM; MCE, HY-P1410); Ethidium bromide (0.2 μg/ml; Macklin, 1239-45-8) to deplete mitochondrial DNA; the calcium chelator BAPTA-AM (4 μM; MCE, HY-100168); the cGAS inhibitor RU.521(2.5μM, MCE, HY-114180 ); the STING inhibitor C-176 (2.5 μM; MCE, HY-112906); the anti-IL6 antibody (2.5 μg/ml, Sigma-Aldrich, I7901); or the ROS inhibitor NAC (2.0mM, MCE, HY-B0215).
Techniques: Activation Assay, Immunofluorescence, Staining, Membrane, Control, Quantitative RT-PCR, Western Blot, Expressing, Phospho-proteomics