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Stress‐induced hair loss is a prevalent health concern, with mechanisms that remain unclear, and effective treatment options are not yet available. In this study, we investigated whether stress‐induced hair loss was related to an imbalanced immune microenvironment. Screening the skin‐infiltrated immune cells in a stressed mouse model, we discovered a significant increase in macrophages upon stress induction. Clearance of macrophages rescues mice from stress‐induced hair shedding and depletion of hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) in the skin, demonstrating the role of macrophages in triggering hair loss in response to stress. Further flow cytometry analysis revealed a significant increase in M1 phenotype macrophages in mice under stressed conditions. In searching for humoral factors mediating stress‐induced macrophage polarization, we found that the hormone Norepinephrine (NE) was elevated in the blood of stressed mice. In addition, in‐vivo and in‐vitro studies confirm that NE can induce macrophage polarization toward M1 through the β‐adrenergic receptor, Adrb2. Transcriptome, enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and western blot analyses reveal that the NLRP3/caspase‐1 inflammasome signaling and its downstream effector interleukin 18 (IL‐18) and interleukin 1 beta (IL‐1β) were significantly upregulated in the NE‐treated macrophages. However, inhibition of the NE receptor Adrb2 with ICI118551 reversed the upregulation of NLRP3/caspase‐1, IL‐18, and IL‐1β. Indeed, IL‐18 and IL‐1β treatments lead to apoptosis of HFSCs. More importantly, blocking IL‐18 and IL‐1β signals reversed HFSCs depletion in skin organoid models and attenuated stress‐induced hair shedding in mice. Taken together, this study demonstrates the role of the neural (stress)‐endocrine (NE)‐immune (M1 macrophages) axis in stress‐induced hair shedding and suggestes that IL‐18 or IL‐1β may be promising therapeutic targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The treatment of cancer may differ on the basis of whether it is detected early or late, which determines whether the disease has spread, as well as treatment choices. Therefore, early detection is crucial in cancer therapy to increase overall patient survival and lessen the financial burden. Syntaxin-6 is a direct target of P53 and has been proven to be an oncogene in several types of cancer. In this research, we comprehensively analyzed the carcinogenic role of STX6 in pan-cancer, and we found that STX6 may also play an essential role in the tumor microenvironment, and that knocking down STX6 could enhance the effect of anti-PD-1. Syntaxin-6 (STX6), a vesicular transport protein, is a direct target of the tumor suppressor gene P53, supporting cancer growth dependent on P53. However, STX6's function in the tumor microenvironment has yet to be reported. In this research, we comprehensively explored the role of the oncogene STX6 in pan-cancer by combining data from several databases, including the Cancer Genome Atlas, CPTAC, cBioPortal, and TIMER. Then, we verified the carcinogenic effect of STX6 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and colorectal cancer (CRC) through a series of experiments in vitro and in vivo. Bioinformatics analysis demonstrated that STX6 is an oncogene for several cancers and is mainly involved in the cell cycle, epithelial–mesenchymal transition, oxidative phosphorylation, and tumor immune modulation, especially for tumor-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and NKT cells. Additionally, a high level of STX6 could indicate patients' resistance to immunotherapy. Our own data indicated that the STX6 level was upregulated in HCC and CRC. Knockdown of the STX6 levels could arrest the cell cycle and restrain cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. RNA-seq indicated that STX6 was significantly involved in pathways for cancer, such as the MAPK signal pathway. In a mouse model, knockdown of STX6 inhibited tumor growth and potentiated anti-PD-1 efficacy. In light of the essential roles STX6 plays in carcinogenesis and cancer immunology, it has the potential to be a predictive biomarker and a target for cancer immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The absence of non-invasive biomarkers for the early diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) has contributed to poor prognosis. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as promising candidates for cancer monitoring using liquid biopsy. However, the complexity of EVs isolation procedures and the absence of clear targets for detecting serum-derived EVs have hindered the clinical application of EVs in early CRC diagnosis., Methods: In the discovery phase, we conducted a comprehensive 4D-DIA proteomic analysis of serum-derived EVs samples from 37 individuals, performing an initial screening of EVs surface proteins. In the technical validation phase, we developed an extraction-free CRC-EVArray microarray to assess the expression of these potential EVs surface proteins in a multi-centre study comprising 404 individuals. In the application phase, the authors evaluated the diagnostic efficacy of the CRC-EVArray model based on machine-learning algorithms., Results: Through 4D-DIA proteomic analysis, the authors identified seven potential EVs surface proteins showing significantly differential expression in CRC patients compared to healthy controls. Utilizing our developed high-throughput CRC-EVArray microarray, we further confirmed the differential expression of three EVs surface proteins, FIBG, PDGF-β and TGF-β, in a large sample population. Moreover, we established an optimal CRC-EVArray model using the NNET algorithm, demonstrating superior diagnostic efficacy with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.882 in the train set and 0.937 in the test set. Additionally, we predicted the functions and potential origins of these EVs-derived proteins through a series of multi-omics approaches., Conclusions: Our systematic exploration of surface protein expression profiles on serum-derived EVs has identified FIBG, PDGF-β, and TGF-β as novel diagnostic biomarkers for CRC. The development of CRC-EVArray diagnostic model based on these findings provided an effective tool for the large-scale CRC screening, thus facilitating its translation into clinical practice., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)