The transcriptional signature of mucosa of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) in remission reveals long-lasting changes in the epithelial barrier which persist once the inflammatory response has resolved. In order to investigate if these changes are caused by primary defects in the epithelial cells, we generated in vitro epithelial organoid cultures (EpOCs) from colon samples of non-IBD controls and UC patients.
Alterations in the epithelial stem cell compartment could contribute to permanent changes in the mucosa of patients with ulcerative colitis.
Age, Specimen part
View SamplesSenescence is a cellular phenotype present in health and disease, characterized by a stable cell cycle arrest and an inflammatory response, denominated senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). The SASP is important in influencing the behaviour of neighbouring cells and altering the microenvironment; yet, this role has been mainly attributed to soluble factors. Here, we show that both the soluble factors in addition to small extracellular vesicles (sEV) are capable of transmitting paracrine senescence to nearby cells. Analysis of individual cells internalizing sEV, using a Cre-reporter system, show a positive correlation between sEV uptake and senescence activation. Interestingly, we find an increase in the number of multivesicular bodies during senescence in vivo. sEV protein characterization by mass spectrometry (MS) followed by a functional siRNA screen identify the Interferon Induced Transmembrane Protein 3 (IFITM3) as partially responsible for transmitting senescence to normal cells. Altogether, we found that sEV contribute to paracrine senescence. Overall design: SASP related mRNA transcripts in HFFF2 treated with sEV from iRAS cells in comparison with HFFF2 treated with sEV from iC cells
Small Extracellular Vesicles Are Key Regulators of Non-cell Autonomous Intercellular Communication in Senescence via the Interferon Protein IFITM3.
Disease, Subject
View SamplesSalp15, a salivary protein of Ixodes ticks, inhibits the activation of naïve CD4 T cells. Treatment with Salp15 results in immunomodulation in different murine models in which these cells participate. The fate of the CD4 T cells activated in the presence of the immunosuppressor or its long-term effects on these cells are however, unknown. We now show that Salp15 binding to CD4 is persistent and induces a long-lasting immunomodulatory effect. The activity of Salp15 results in sustained diminished antibody production against specific and unrelated antigens. Transcriptionally, the salivary protein provokes a sharp acute effect that includes known activation factors, such as Il2, Cd44, or Il2ra, and that fades over time. The long-term effects exerted by Salp15 do not involve the induction of either anergy traits nor increased populations of regulatory T cells. Similarly, the treatment with the immunomodulatory protein does not result in B cell anergy or the generation of myeloid suppressor cells. However, the immunomodulatory protein induces the increased expression of the ectoenzyme, CD73, in regulatory T cells. Our results suggest that the specific regulation of CD73, a known modulator of adenosine levels, by Salp15 results in long-term cross-antigenic immunomodulatory effects. Overall design: Genome-wide changes in gene Expression in mouse CD4 T cells activated with anti-CD3/CD28 in the presence of 25 ug/mL of the tick salivary protein, Salp15 or its inactive control (Salp15deltaP11) were generated by RNAseq.
The immunosuppressive effect of the tick protein, Salp15, is long-lasting and persists in a murine model of hematopoietic transplant.
Age, Specimen part, Cell line, Treatment, Subject, Time
View SamplesMicroglia play important roles in developmental and homeostatic brain function, and influence the establishment and progression of many neurological disorders. Here, we demonstrate that renewable human iPSCs can be efficiently differentiated to microglial-like cells (iMGL) to study neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer''s disease (AD). We find that iMGLs develop in vitro similarly to microglia in vivo and whole transcriptome analysis demonstrates that they are highly similar to adult and fetal human microglia. Functional assessment of iMGLs reveal that they secrete cytokines in response to inflammatory stimuli, migrate and undergo calcium transients, and robustly phagocytose CNS substrates. We also show novel use of iMGLs to examine the effects of fibrillar Aß and brain-derived tau oligomers on AD-related gene expression and to interrogate mechanisms involved in synaptic pruning. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that iMGLs can be used in high-throughput studies of microglial function, providing important new insight into human neurological disease. Overall design: Human cells were collected and analyzed for gene expression using RNA-seq.
iPSC-Derived Human Microglia-like Cells to Study Neurological Diseases.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesAberrant expression of cancer genes and non-canonical RNA species is a hallmark of cancer. However, the mechanisms driving such atypical gene expression programs are incompletely understood. Here, our transcriptional profiling of a cohort of 50 primary clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) reveals that transcription read-through beyond the termination site is a source of transcriptome diversity in cancer cells. Amongst the genes most frequently mutated in ccRCC, we identified SETD2 inactivation as a potent enhancer of transcription read-through. We further show that invasion of neighbouring genes and generation of RNA chimeras are functional outcomes of transcription read-through. We identified the BCL2 oncogene as one of such invaded genes and detected a novel chimera, the CTSC-RAB38, in 20% of ccRCC samples. Collectively, our data highlight a novel link between transcription read-through and aberrant expression of oncogenes and chimeric transcripts that is prevalent in cancer. Overall design: RNA-seq of SETD2 mutant and wild-type ccRCC cell lines.
Pervasive transcription read-through promotes aberrant expression of oncogenes and RNA chimeras in renal carcinoma.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesBackground: Identifying individuals at heightened cardiovascular risk is a priority for reducing the global burden of cardiovascular disease. Aspirin is widely used to prevent cardiovascular events, though with variable results. Therefore, we hypothesized that aspirin exposure would reveal novel biological pathways relevant to the development of cardiovascular events. Methods: We administered aspirin, followed by peripheral blood RNA microarray profiling, in a discovery cohort of healthy volunteers (n = 50, HV1), followed by two validation cohorts of healthy volunteers (n = 53, HV2) or outpatient cardiology (OPC, n = 25) patients, in conjunction with platelet function testing with the platelet functions score (PFS, HV1 and HV2) or the VerifyNow Asprin (VN, OPC) test. Sets of coexpressed genes, or Factors were identified via Bayesian sparse factor analysis and associated with platelet function in HV1 and validated in HV2 and OPC. Validated factors were associated with death/MI in observational (n = 191) and case:control (n = 447) patient cohorts with available RNA data collected at the time of cardiac catheterization. Results: Factor analysis yielded 20 Factors, of which one, Factor 14, contained 60 genes and was associated with PFS in HV1 (r = -0.31, p-value = 0.03). Factor 14 was associated with platelet function with the same strength and direction in HV2 (r = -0.34, p-value = 0.02) and OPC (one-sided p-value for aspirin resistant vs. aspirin sensitive = 0.046), thus validating the association. Factor 14 was associated with death/MI in the two patient cohorts, odds ratio (OR) = 1.2, 95% CI [1.02-1.4], p-value = 0.01 and hazard ratio = 1.5, [1.2-1.9], p = 0.001, respectively, independent of known cardiovascular risk factors (combined OR = 1.2, CI = [1.02, 1.4], p = 0.03). Factor 14 and the expression of the Factor 14 transcript most highly correlative of PFS, ITGA2B, improved reclassification compared to traditional risk factors (category-free net reclassification index = 31% and 37%, p 0.0002 for both). Conclusions: By challenging humans subjects with aspirin, a medication used for cardiovascular risk reduction, we elucidated genes and pathways that may underlie platelet function and mechanisms responsible for cardiovascular death/MI.
Aspirin insensitive thrombophilia: transcript profiling of blood identifies platelet abnormalities and HLA restriction.
Specimen part
View SamplesDuring embryogenesis, cell specification and tissue formation is directed by the concentration and temporal presentation of morphogens, and similarly, pluripotent embryonic stem cells differentiate in vitro into various phenotypes in response to morphogen treatment. Embryonic stem cells are commonly differentiated as three dimensional spheroids called embryoid bodies (EBs); however, differentiation within EBs is typically heterogeneous and disordered. Here we show that spatiotemporal control of microenvironmental cues embedded directly within EBs enhances the homogeneity, synchrony and organization of differentiation. Degradable polymer microspheres releasing retinoic acid within EBs induce the formation of cystic spheroids closely resembling the early streak mouse embryo, with an exterior of visceral endoderm enveloping an epiblast layer. These results demonstrate that controlled morphogen presentation to stem cells more efficiently directs cell differentiation and tissue formation, thereby improving developmental biology models and enabling the development of regenerative medicine therapies and cell diagnostics.
Homogeneous and organized differentiation within embryoid bodies induced by microsphere-mediated delivery of small molecules.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesA mRNA expression study has been performed 20-25 minutes postmortem obtained samples from Longissimus dorsi muscle of 59 Duroc x LD/LW pigs to search for gene sequences related to meat quality (pH24, pH45, Lab colour coordinates, curing yield and exudation at three different times) or to meat composition (intramuscular fat, content of several fatty acid (C16:0, C18:0, C18:1 and C18:2), ratio of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, and protein and humidity contents) traits in order to find targets for selection. Gene ontology analysis, biological pathways and gene networks studies all show, that many more differentially expressed genes (506 vs 279) are related to meat quality (Group P, or perimortem characters) than to meat composition traits (Group L, or whole life traits). The difference between the number of GO terms annotated, biological pathways and gene networks in groups P and L is notable due to the differences in the complexity of the generation process of P-traits and the involvement of other tissues or organs in the generation of variability of L-traits. Also, interactions between a list of differentially expressed genes were found in ECM-receptor interaction, TGF-beta signaling pathway, fatty acid elongation in mitochondria and adipocytokine signalling pathway indicating that a substantial fraction of the gene networks could be associated with interactions between differential expressed genes related to traits under study. A high number of the most overexpressed genes are related to muscle development and functionality and repair mechanisms; they could be good candidates for breeding programs whose main goal is to enhance meat quality.
Early postmortem gene expression and its relationship to composition and quality traits in pig Longissimus dorsi muscle.
Age, Specimen part
View SamplesMethods of reprogramming somatic cells to an induced pluripotent state (iPSC) have enabled the direct modeling of human disease and ultimately promise to revolutionize regenerative medicine. iPSCs offer an invaluable source of patient-specific pluripotent stem cells for disease modeling, drug screening, toxicology tests and importantly for regenerative medicine, and already have been employed to unmask novel insights into human diseases. While iPSCs can be consistently generated through overexpression of the four Yamanaka Factors OCT4, SOX2, KLF4 and c-MYC (OSKM), reprogrammed cells present worrisome differences with embryonic stem cells in transcriptional and epigenetic profiles, as well as developmental potential and difficulties in cell culturing. A thorough mechanistic understanding of the reprogramming process is critical to overcoming these barriers to the clinical use of iPSC. We have recently published a novel factor combination based on molecules specifically enriched in the metaphase II human oocyte. We have shown that just the overexpression of histone-remodeling chaperone ASF1A and OCT4 in hADFs previously exposed to the oocyte-specific paracrine growth factor GDF9 can reprogram hADFs into pluripotent cells (AO9-iPSCs). Our study contributes to the understanding of the molecular pathways governing somatic cell reprogramming. Here we want to go deeper in the reprogramming mechanisms by understanding the importance of somatic cell origin, and analyzing (and establishing comparison with) the transcriptional and epigenetic characteristics of AO9-iPSCs. As the intrinsic histone chaperone activity of ASF1A and our data indicate, these cells could be closer to the embryonic pluripotent state, with less epigenetic memory, better culture properties and differentiation potential.
Analysis of Menstrual Blood Stromal Cells Reveals SOX15 Triggers Oocyte-Based Human Cell Reprogramming.
Sex, Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesHuman umbilical cord Whartons jelly stem cells (WHJSC) are gaining attention as a possible clinical source of mesenchymal stem cells for use in cell therapy and tissue engineering due to their high accessibility, expansion potential and plasticity. However, the cell viability changes that are associated to sequential cell passage of these cells are not known. In this analysis, we have identified the gene expression changes that are associated to cell passage in WHJSC.
Evaluation of the cell viability of human Wharton's jelly stem cells for use in cell therapy.
Specimen part
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