Journal: Nature Communications

Article Title: Diabetes reshapes pancreatic cancer-associated endothelial niche by accelerating senescence

doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-63801-8

Figure Lengend Snippet: a Venn diagram for intersection analysis. b Dot plot showing INHBB expression in the pancreatic cancer microenvironment. c Scatter plots showing the correlation between INHBB expression and the endothelial senescence scores. d Violin plot showing INHBB expression in TECs from nondiabetic and diabetic tumors. e Bar graphs showing INHBB mRNA expression in TECs isolated from KPC tumors and different senescent endothelial cell models. f , g Representative images ( f ) and quantification ( g ) of INHBB protein expression in chow and HFD + STZ tumors. h Bar graphs showing the Activin B concentration in tumor homogenates. i , j Representative images ( i ) and quantification ( j ) of immunofluorescence staining for INHBB (red) and CD31 (green) in chow, HFD + STZ, and HFD + STZ + ABT263 tumors. k Box plot showing INHBB expression in pancreatic tumors ( n = 179 patients) and normal pancreas ( n = 171 patients). The data are presented as medians and quartiles; the box bounds represent the upper and lower quartiles. l Kaplan‒Meier survival curves for overall survival ( n = 761 with low and n = 428 with high INHBB expression) and disease-free survival ( n = 117 with low and n = 161 with high INHBB expression) in pancreatic cancer patients. m Gene set enrichment analysis for the Activin receptor signaling pathway. n Line graph showing OD values from CCK-8 assays for Activin B- or vehicle-treated Pan02 cells. o , p Representative images ( o ) and quantification ( p ) of migrated Pan02 cells treated with Activin B or vehicle. q Phosphorylated and total Smad2 levels in Activin B- or vehicle-treated Pan02 cells. NC negative control, TEC tumor endothelial cell, OD optical density. The bars represent the means ± SDs. a – d , m n = 3 mice per group for bulk RNA-seq; n = 14 patients in the control group and n = 10 patients in the diabetic group for scRNA-Seq; n = 2 mice in the chow group and n = 4 mice in the HFD + STZ group for scRNA-seq. e – j , n = 4–6 mice per group. e , n – q n = 3–6 biologically independent samples per group. P -values were determined by the Spearman test ( c ), Mann‒Whitney test ( d ), two-tailed unpaired t -test ( e , g , h , p ), log-rank test ( l ), one-way ( j ) and two-way ANOVA ( n ). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

Article Snippet: To assess the therapeutic effects of INHBB receptor inhibition on diabetic tumors, tumor-bearing chow and HFD + STZ mice (KPC and Pan02 models) received weekly subcutaneous injections of 20 mg/kg bimagrumab (HY-P99355, BYM338, MedChemExpress) or the IgG1λ1 isotype control (HY-P99992; MedChemExpress) on days 7 and 14 after injection.

Techniques: Expressing, Isolation, Concentration Assay, Immunofluorescence, Staining, CCK-8 Assay, Negative Control, RNA Sequencing, Control, Two Tailed Test

Journal: Nature Communications

Article Title: Diabetes reshapes pancreatic cancer-associated endothelial niche by accelerating senescence

doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-63801-8

Figure Lengend Snippet: a Correlation scatter plots showing the correlation between INHBB expression and the Notch signaling score in tumor endothelial cells based on scRNA-seq data of PDAC patients ( n = 14 patients in the control group and n = 10 patients in the diabetic group) and tumor-bearing mice ( n = 2 mice in the chow group and n = 4 mice in the HFD + STZ group). b Bar graphs showing INHBB expression in Notch-activated HUVECs and TECs according to the bulk RNA-seq data in the GEO database ( GSE163568 , GSE40403 , and GSE111127 ; n = 3 biologically independent samples per group). c Bar graphs showing the mRNA expression of HES1 and INHBB in Notch-activated HUVECs treated with recombinant DLL4-Fc protein ( n = 3 biologically independent samples per group). d Bar graph showing the mRNA expression of INHBB in proliferating and senescent HUVECs treated with DMSO or 10 μM DAPT ( n = 3 biologically independent samples per group). e , f Representative images ( e ) and quantification ( f ) of INHBB protein expression in senescent HUVECs treated with DMSO or 10 μM DAPT detected by Western blotting ( n = 3 biologically independent samples per group). g Tumor samples from CDH5-Cre ERT -negative; RBPJ flox/flox mice (WT, n = 7 mice), CDH5-Cre ERT ; RBPJ flox/flox mice (RBPJ ECKO , n = 9 mice) and recombinant Activin B coinjected RBPJ ECKO mice ( n = 7 mice). h Bar graph showing tumor volumes in the WT ( n = 7 mice), RBPJ ECKO ( n = 9 mice), and RBPJ ECKO +Activin B ( n = 7 mice) groups. i Table for tumor formation ratios in the WT ( n = 7 mice), RBPJ ECKO ( n = 9 mice), and RBPJ ECKO +Activin B groups ( n = 7 mice). j , k Representative images ( j ) and quantification ( k ) of SA-β-Gal staining (blue) in tumor tissues collected from WT and RBPJ ECKO mice ( n = 3 mice per group). l , m Representative images ( l ) and quantification ( m ) of INHBB staining (red) in tumor tissues collected from WT and RBPJ ECKO mice ( n = 3 mice per group). The bars represent the means ± SDs. P -values were determined by the Spearman test ( a ), two-tailed unpaired t -test ( b , c , f , k , m ), two-way ANOVA ( d ), one-way ANOVA ( h ) and chi-square test ( i ). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

Article Snippet: To assess the therapeutic effects of INHBB receptor inhibition on diabetic tumors, tumor-bearing chow and HFD + STZ mice (KPC and Pan02 models) received weekly subcutaneous injections of 20 mg/kg bimagrumab (HY-P99355, BYM338, MedChemExpress) or the IgG1λ1 isotype control (HY-P99992; MedChemExpress) on days 7 and 14 after injection.

Techniques: Expressing, Control, RNA Sequencing, Recombinant, Western Blot, Staining, Two Tailed Test

Journal: Biology of Reproduction

Article Title: Maternal/zygotic knockout and droplet digital polymerase chain reaction analysis question the role of activin A in preimplantation mouse embryo development ^†

doi: 10.1093/biolre/ioaf189

Figure Lengend Snippet: Mouse preimplantation embryos lack zygotically produced activin A. The results of ddPCR analysis of Inhba and Inhbb mRNA levels in wild-type MII oocytes, zygotes, 2-cell, 4-cell, 8-cell, morula-, and blastocyst-stage embryos (pooled samples of 26 to 70 embryos per stage; see Methods section) and a positive control—wild-type ESCs. The graphs illustrate the fluorescent amplitude observed for individual transcripts: the reference housekeeping gene Actb (β-actin gene) and Inhba (activin A gene) or Inhbb (activin B gene). Dots in the upper cluster represent positive droplets in which amplification of the target fragment occurred, while dots in the lower cluster correspond to the negative droplets without a PCR product of: (A) Inhba in ESCs, oocytes, zygotes, and embryos developed in vivo; (B) Inhba in ESCs and embryos developed in vitro; (C) Inhbb in ESCs, oocytes, zygotes, and embryos developed in vivo; (D) Inhbb in ESCs and embryos developed in vitro.

Article Snippet: Droplet digital polymerase chain reaction was performed in 20 μl reactions containing 10 μl ddPCR Supermix for Probes (Bio-Rad), 1 μl of specific TaqMan probes for β-actin (Mm01205647_g1), activin A (Mm00434339_m1) or activin B (Mm03023992_m1) (Applied Biosystem), 3 μl of PCR-grade water and 6 μl of cDNA.

Techniques: Produced, Positive Control, Amplification, In Vivo, In Vitro