Basophil functional state was determined using the Flow2CAST Basophil Activation Test (BAT). Human basophils were isolated from whole blood of three house dust mite (HDM) responsive donors with reactive basophils and two donors with anergic basophils. Basophil isolation was performed using the EasySep Human Basophil Enrichment kit (Stemcell). Purity of the basophils was determined by flow cytometry and ranged from 96 - 99%. For stimulation, 75,000 basophils were incubated for 4 hr with or without 50 ul of anti-FCERI antibody (Bhlmann Laboratories) in a total volume of 200 ul of Stimulation Buffer provided by the Flow2CAST kit. After incubation, the basophils were collected and re-suspended in TRIzol Reagent (Life Technologies). Total RNA was extracted using double extraction protocol using the guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction (Trizol Invitrogen), followed by a Qiagen RNeasy Micro clean-up procedure. cDNA and ST-ssDNA were prepared, fragmented and labeled according to Nugen WT Ovation Pico RNA Amplification and WT Ovation Exon kit and Encore Biotin protocols. The labeled ssDNA was hybridized on the Affymetrix Human GeneChip 1.0 ST Arrays, which subsequently were processed and stained using GeneChip Fluidics Station 450. The stained GeneChip Arrays were scanned in the Microarray Facility at the Biopolis Shared Facility using a GeneChip Scanner 3000. Quality control for the Arrays was performed using the Affymetrix Expression Console Software.
Systematic characterization of basophil anergy.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesTargets of Retinoic Acid (RA) and 3,4-didehydroretinoic acid (ddRA) were identified in primary human epidermal keratinocytes grown in the presence of atRA or ddRA for 4 and 24 hours.
The effect of two endogenous retinoids on the mRNA expression profile in human primary keratinocytes, focusing on genes causing autosomal recessive congenital ichthyosis.
Treatment
View SamplesPurpose: using RNA-seq as a screening tool to determine candidate genes of interest within a genetically defined neural subpopulation in the zebrafish embryonic spinal cord. Results: The early embryonic spinal cord displays patterns of spontaneous activity that generate the earliest motor behavior in the zebrafish. We show the behavior and the neural activity to be inhibited by environmental levels of light. Since at these young ages the fish is blind, and since restricted illumination patterns on the trunk of the fish can elicit a photo-response, we hypothesized that the photo-inhibition is an intrinsic property of the active central pattern generator network within the spinal cord. We FACS-isolated cells from this network as well as those from a panneuronal population and sequenced mRNAs. Through differential expression analysis we identified vertebrate ancient long opsin a as a candidate and then further validated its function in the circuit through knockdown and rescue experiments. Overall design: RNA sequencing of 2 FACS purified neural populations from zebrafish spinal cord.
A spinal opsin controls early neural activity and drives a behavioral light response.
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View SamplesGlioblastoma multiforme is one of the most devastating cancers and presents unique challenges to therapy due to its aggressive behaviour. Cancer stem cells have been described to be the only cell population with tumorogenic capacity in glioblastoma. Therefore, effective therapeutic strategies targeting these cells may be beneficial. We have established different cultures of glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) derived from surgical specimens and found that, after induction of differentiation, NFB was activated, which allows intermediate tumor precursor cells to remain cycling. We also showed that blockade of NFB signaling in differentiating GSCs by different genetic strategies or treatment with small molecule inhibitors, promoted replication arrest, progression to a mature phenotype, mainly neuronal cells, and senescence. This effect was partly mediated by downregulation of the NFB target gene cyclin D1. Furthermore, intravenous treatment of immunodeficient mice bearing human GSC-derived tumors with a novel small-molecule inhibitor of the NFB pathway induced senescence of tumor cells but no ultraestructural alterations of the brain parenchymal cells were detected. These findings reveal that activation of NFB may keep differentiating GSCs from acquiring a mature postmitotic phenotype, thus allowing cell proliferation, and support the rationale for therapeutic strategies aimed at promoting premature senescence in GSCs undergoing differentiation.
Blockade of the NFκB pathway drives differentiating glioblastoma-initiating cells into senescence both in vitro and in vivo.
Specimen part, Disease
View SamplesThe adaptor protein Lnk is an important negative regulator of HSC homeostasis and self-renewal. This study aims to investigate the role of Lnk in HSC aging. Here we performed expression profiling of bone marrow CD150+CD48-LSK LT-HSCs from young and old WT and Lnk-/- mice. Results identify select Lnk-mediated pathways with potential involvement in HSC self-renewal and aging.
Lnk deficiency partially mitigates hematopoietic stem cell aging.
Specimen part
View SamplesEfficient growth cone regeneration requires protein synthesis in the adult mammalian brain and spinal cord. Recent evidence suggests that the local availability of protein synthesis machinery in adult mammalian axons may be an indicator of their regenerative capacity. Here we investigated the local protein synthesis capacity in matured cortical axons, which have poor regenerative capacity, yet are critical for recovery following injury due to traumatic brain injury and stroke. This work is the first to biochemically isolate and identify mRNA from mammalian cortical axons, making use of a unique microfluidic platform to isolate axons free of other cellular debris. We first sought to identify mRNA in nave axons that makes up the pool of mRNA available for translation initiated following axotomy. Next, we investigated changes in the mRNA population localized to axons 2 days following axotomy and growth cone regeneration.
Axonal mRNA in uninjured and regenerating cortical mammalian axons.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesTHREE INDEPENDENT REPLICATES AND ARE THE CONTROL NON-INFECTED CELLS:
Modulation of NB4 promyelocytic leukemic cell machinery by Anaplasma phagocytophilum.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesRecessive retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is often caused by nonsense mutations that lead to low mRNA levels as a result of nonsense-mediated decay. Some RP genes are expressed at detectable levels in leukocytes as well as in the retina. We designed a microarray-based method to find recessive RP genes based on low lymphoblast mRNA expression levels
Insights from retinitis pigmentosa into the roles of isocitrate dehydrogenases in the Krebs cycle.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesA key requisite for the success of a dendritic cell (DC)-based vaccine in treating malignancies is the capacity of the DCs to attract immune effector cells for further interaction and activation, considering crosstalk with DCs is partially regulated by cell-contact-dependent mechanisms. Although critical for therapeutic efficacy, immune cell recruitment is a largely overlooked aspect regarding optimization of DC therapy. In this paper we examine if the so-called interleukin (IL)-15 DC vaccine provides a favorable chemokine milieu for recruiting T cells, natural killer (NK) cells and gamma delta () T cells, in comparison with the IL-4 DCs used routinely for clinical studies, as well as the underlying mechanisms of immune cell attraction by IL-15 DCs. Chemokine signaling is studied both at the RNA level, using microarray data of mature DCs, and functional level, by means of a transwell chemotaxis assay. Important to note, the classic IL-4 DC vaccine falls short to attract the required immune effector lymphocytes, whereas the IL-15 DCs provide a favorable chemokine milieu for recruiting all cytolytic effector cells. The elevated secretion of the chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 4 (CCL4), also known as macrophage inflammatory protein-1 (MIP-1), by IL-15 DCs underlies the enhanced migratory responsiveness of T cells, NK cells and T cells. Namely, neutralizing its receptor CCR5 resulted in a significant drop in migration of the aforementioned effector cells towards IL-15 DCs. These findings should be kept in mind in the design of future DC-based cancer vaccines.
Desirable cytolytic immune effector cell recruitment by interleukin-15 dendritic cells.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesThe transcriptional response to many widely used drugs and its modulation by genetic variability is poorly understood. Here we present an analysis of RNAseq profiles from heart tissue of 18 inbred mouse strains treated with the ß-blocker atenolol (ATE) and the ß-agonist isoproterenol (ISO). Differential expression analyses revealed a large set of genes responding to ISO (n=1770 at FDR=0.0001) and a comparatively small one responding to ATE (n=23 at FDR=0.0001). At a less stringent definition of differential expression, the transcriptional responses to these two antagonistic drugs are reciprocal for many genes, with an overall anti-correlation of r= -0.3. This trend is also observed at the level of most individual strains even though the power to detect differential expression is significantly reduced. The inversely expressed gene sets are enriched with genes annotated for heart-related functions. Modular analysis revealed gene sets that exhibited coherent transcription profiles across some strains and/or treatments. Correlations between such modules and a broad spectrum of cardiovascular traits are stronger than expected by chance. This provides evidence for the overall importance of transcriptional regulation for these organismal responses and explicits links between co-expressed genes and the traits they are associated with. Gene set enrichment analysis of differentially expressed groups of genes pointed to pathways related to heart development and functionality. Our study provides new insights into the transcriptional response of the heart to perturbations of the ß-adrenergic system, implicating several new genes that had not been associated to this system previously. Overall design: Cardiac mRNA expression profiles of the various inbred mouse strains were examined either under baseline condition (control) or in response to chronic administration of isoproterenol or atenolol at 10 mg/kg per day for 2 weeks. Expression data were produced by RNA-sequencing, in triplicates, using the HiSeq 2000 Illumina platform. Only males, aged ten to twelve weeks on average, were included in the experimental protocol. Mouse ID numbers refer to those described in Berthonneche C. et al. PLoS One. 2009 Aug 12;4(8):e6610 (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006610. PMID: 19672458). Corresponding individual phenotypic values, in particular heart rate, systolic blood pressure, electrocardiogaphic measurements and heart weight are available in dataset "maurer1" of the Mouse Phenome Database (http://phenome.jax.org/). Preparation of the sequencing libraries, RNA-sequencing and RNA expression quantitations were performed by the BGI.
RNAseq analysis of heart tissue from mice treated with atenolol and isoproterenol reveals a reciprocal transcriptional response.
Sex, Specimen part, Treatment, Subject
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