Worldwide, more than 1 billion people are affected by infestations with soil-transmitted helminths and also in veterinary medicine helminthiases are a severe thread to livestock due to emerging resistances against the common anthelmintics. Proanthocyanidins have been increasingly investigated for their anthelmintic properties, however, except for an interaction with certain proteins of the nematodes, not much is known about their mode of action. To investigate the anthelmintic activity on a molecular level, a transcriptome analysis was performed in Caenorhabditis elegans after treatment with purified and fully characterized oligomeric procyanidins (OPC). The OPCs had previously been obtained from a hydro-ethanolic (1:1) extract from the leaves of Combretum mucronatum, a plant which is traditionally used in West Africa for the treatment of helminthiasis, therefore, also the crude extract was included in the study. Significant changes in differential gene expression were observed mainly for proteins related to the intestine, many of which were located extracellularly or within cellular membranes. Among the up-regulated genes, several hitherto undescribed orthologues of structural proteins in humans were identified, but also genes that are potentially involved in the worms defense against tannins. For example, T22D1.2, an orthologue of human basic salivary proline-rich protein (PRB) 2, and numr-1 (nuclear localized metal responsive) were found to be strongly up-regulated. Down-regulated genes were mainly associated with lysosomal activity, glycoside hydrolysis or the worms innate immune response. No major differences were found between the groups treated with purified OPCs versus the crude extract. Investigations using GFP reporter gene constructs of T22D1.2 and numr-1 corroborated the intestine as the predominant site of the anthelmintic activity.
Transcriptome analysis reveals molecular anthelmintic effects of procyanidins in C. elegans.
Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesDesmin is a cytoskeletal protein in muscle involved in integrating cellular space and transmitting forces. In this study we sought to determine the effects of desmin deletion on skeletal muscle at the transcriptional level across many pathways of muscle physiology.
Skeletal muscle fibrosis develops in response to desmin deletion.
Specimen part
View SamplesThe prostate stroma is a key mediator of epithelial differentiation and development, and potentially plays a role in the initiation and progression of prostate cancer. Isolation and characterization of viable populations of the constituent cell types of prostate tumors could provide valuable insight into the biology of cancer. The CD90+ stromal fibromuscular cells from tumor specimens were isolated by cell-sorting and analyzed by DNA microarray. Dataset analysis was used to compare gene expression between normal and tumor-associated reactive stromal cells. Reactive stroma is characterized by smooth muscle differentiation, prostate down-regulation of SPOCK3, MSMB, CXCL13, and PAGE4, bladder down-regulation of TRPA1, HSD17B2, IL24, and SALL1, and an up-regulation of CXC-chemokines. This study identified a group of differentially expressed genes in CD90+ reactive stromal cells that are potentially involved in organ development and smooth muscle cell differentiation.
Gene expression down-regulation in CD90+ prostate tumor-associated stromal cells involves potential organ-specific genes.
Specimen part
View SamplesDesmin is a cytoskeletal protein in muscle involved in integrating cellular space and transmitting forces. In this study we sought to determine the combinatory effects of desmin deletion, aging and eccentric exercise on skeletal muscle at the transcriptional level across many pathways of muscle physiology.
Role of the cytoskeleton in muscle transcriptional responses to altered use.
Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesCerebral palsy is primarily an upper motor neuron disease that results in a spectrum of progressive movement disorders. Secondary to the neurological lesion, muscles from patients with cerebral palsy are often spastic and form debilitating contractures that limit range of motion and joint function. With no genetic component, the pathology of skeletal muscle in cerebral palsy is a response to aberrant neurological input in ways that are not fully understood. This study was designed to gain further understanding of the skeletal muscle response to cerebral palsy using microarrays and correlating the transcriptional data with functional measures. Hamstring biopsies from gracilis and semitendinosus muscles were obtained from a cohort of patients with cerebral palsy (n=10) and typically developing patients (n=10) undergoing surgery. Affymetrix HG-U133A 2.0 chips (n=40) were used and expression data was verified for 6 transcripts using quantitative real-time PCR, as well as for two genes not on the microarray. Chips were clustered based on their expression and those from patients with cerebral palsy clustered separately. Significant genes were determined conservatively based on the overlap of three summarization algorithms (n=1,398). Significantly altered genes were analyzed for over-representation among gene ontologies, transcription factors, pathways, microRNA and muscle specific networks. These results centered on an increase in extracellular matrix expression in cerebral palsy as well as a decrease in metabolism and ubiquitin ligase activity. The increase in extracellular matrix products was correlated with mechanical measures demonstrating the importance in disability. These data lay a framework for further studies and novel therapies.
Transcriptional abnormalities of hamstring muscle contractures in children with cerebral palsy.
Sex, Age, Disease, Subject
View SamplesWe have generated transgenic mice with tetracycline-regulated conditional expression of a constitutively active allele of FoxO3 under the control of the forebrain-specific CaMKIIa promoter. In adult animals, there was a reduction of brain weight by 30% and an almost complete loss of the dorsal dentate gyrus with normal cortical layering. Interestingly, the adult mice showed motor hyperactivity and a selective loss of long-term memory with normal spatial learning. We observed enhanced apoptosis starting from day E10.5. Performing microarray expression analyses and Q-PCR validation with E12.5 forebrain RNA, we observed an over-representation of thalamic markers and an under-representation of cortical markers in transgenic as compared to control animals. Immunohistochemical data show a loss of progenitors in the lateral ventricles. Up-regulation of Pik3ip1 as a target gene of FoxO3 could be responsible for the observed increase in apoptosis. The obtained forebrain expression signature is reminiscent of a Pax6 knockdown phenotype showing that expression of this FoxO3 allele during development affected neural progenitor survival and overall brain development. Conclusion: Neural progenitors are vulnerable to constitutively active FoxO3-induced apoptosis.
Expression of constitutively active FoxO3 in murine forebrain leads to a loss of neural progenitors.
Specimen part
View SamplesIntroduction:The purpose of this study is to provide athe first global transcriptomic profiling and systems analysis of BoNT-A treated muscle over a one year period. Microarray analysis was performed on rat TA muscle from 4 groups (n=4/group) at 1,4, 12 and 52 weeks after BoNT-A injection and saline injected rats at 12 weeks as control. Fold changes were computed at each time point with respect to control. Results: Dramatic transcriptional adaptation occurs at 1 week with a paradoxical increase in expression of slow and immature isoforms; increased expression of genes in competing pathways of repair and atrophy; impaired mitochondrial biogenesis and increased metal ion imbalance. ECM adaptations occurred at 4weeks to the basal lamina and fibrillar ECM. The muscle transcriptome returned to the unperturbed state 12 weeks post-injection. Conclusion: Transcriptional adaptations resemble denervated muscle albeit some differences. Overall gene expression, across time, correlates with the generally accepted BoNT-A time course.
Systems analysis of transcriptional data provides insights into muscle's biological response to botulinum toxin.
Specimen part
View SamplesThe recruitment of mesenchymal stem cells in order to reconstruct damaged cartilage of osteoarthritis joints is a challenging tissue engineering task. Vision towards this goal is blurred by a lack of knowledge about the underlying differences between chondrocytes and MSC during the chondrogenic cultivation process. The aim of this study was to shed light on the differences between chondrocytes and MSC occurring during chondral differentiation through tissue engineering.
Expression pattern differences between osteoarthritic chondrocytes and mesenchymal stem cells during chondrogenic differentiation.
Specimen part
View SamplesWe have develped a novel method of making siRNAs (named pro-siRNA for prokaryotic siRNA). To evaluate off-targeting of pro-siRNA, we compared the mRNA expression profiles of HeLa-d1EGFP cells transfected with 4 nM EGFP siRNAs and pro-siRNAs by microarray. Overall design: We used microarray to study the off-target effect of siRNAs in the HeLa-d1EGFP cell line. After transfection of siRNAs for 24 hrs, RNA were extracted using Trizol. Deep sequencing libraries were generated using the NEBNext Ultra RNA Library Prep Kit for Illumina (NEB #E7530). HeLa-d1EGFP cells are HeLa cells stably expressing d1EGFP gene. EGFP siRNA is a siRNA made by chemical synthesis. EGFP100 and EGFPFL are pro-siRNAs made from either a 100 bp hairpin or a full length hairpin targeting EGFP coding sequence.
Efficient and specific gene knockdown by small interfering RNAs produced in bacteria.
Specimen part, Cell line, Subject
View SamplesWe have develped a novel method of making siRNAs (named pro-siRNA for prokaryotic siRNA). To evaluate off-targeting of pro-siRNA, we compared mRNA expression profile of HeLa-d1EGFP cells transfected with 4 nM LMNA siRNAs and pro-siRNAs by microarray.
Efficient and specific gene knockdown by small interfering RNAs produced in bacteria.
Cell line
View Samples