This SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Identification of the genes regulated by Wnt-4, a critical signal for commitment of the ovary.
Sex, Specimen part
View SamplesWnt-4 signaling is critical for embryonic female sexual development. When Wnt-4 gene is deleted during embryonic development, the knock-out females present a partial sex reversal.
Identification of the genes regulated by Wnt-4, a critical signal for commitment of the ovary.
Specimen part
View SamplesWnt-4 signaling is critical for embryonic female sexual development. When Wnt-4 gene is deleted during embryonic development, the knock-out females present a partial sex reversal.
Identification of the genes regulated by Wnt-4, a critical signal for commitment of the ovary.
Sex, Specimen part
View SamplesThe search for developmental mechanisms driving vertebrate organogenesis has paved the way toward a deeper understanding of birth defects. During embryogenesis, parts of the heart and craniofacial muscles arise from pharyngeal mesoderm (PM) progenitors. Here, we reveal a hierarchical regulatory network of a set of transcription factors expressed in the PM that initiates heart and craniofacial organogenesis. Genetic perturbation of this network in mice resulted in heart and craniofacial muscle defects, revealing robust cross-regulation between its members. We identified Lhx2 as a novel player during cardiac and pharyngeal muscle development. Lhx2 and Tcf21 genetically interact with Tbx1, the major determinant in the etiology of DiGeorge/velo-cardio-facial/22q11.2 deletion syndrome. Furthermore, knockout of these genes in the mouse recapitulates specific cardiac features of this syndrome. We suggest that PM-derived cardiogenesis and myogenesis are network properties rather than properties specific to individual PM members. These findings shed new light on the developmental underpinnings of congenital defects.
Pharyngeal mesoderm regulatory network controls cardiac and head muscle morphogenesis.
Specimen part
View SamplesThis work is part of the paper: Generation of a murine hepatic angiosarcoma cell line and reproducible mouse tumor model, Rothweiler S et al, Laboratory Investigation, 2014
Generation of a murine hepatic angiosarcoma cell line and reproducible mouse tumor model.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a heterogeneous disease, and despite considerable research efforts, no molecular classification of HCC has been introduced in clinical practice. The existing molecular classification systems were established using resected tumors, which introduces a selection bias towards patients without liver cirrhosis and with early stage HCCs. So far, these classification systems have not been validated in liver biopsy specimens from tumors diagnosed at intermediate and late stages. We generated and analyzed expression profiles from 60 HCC biopsies from an unselected patient population with all tumor stages. Unbiased clustering identified 3 HCC classes. Class membership correlated with survival, tumor size, and with Edmondson and BCLC stage. Most biopsy specimens could be assigned to the classes of published classification systems, demonstrating that gene expression profiles obtained from patients with early stage disease are preserved in all stages of HCC. When a reference set of healthy liver samples was integrated in the analysis, we observed that the differentially regulated genes up- or down-regulated in a given class relative to other classes were actually dysregulated in the same direction in all HCCs, with quantitative rather than qualitative differences between the molecular subclasses. With the exception of a subset of samples with a definitive -catenin gene signature, biological pathway analysis could not identify class specific pathways reflecting the activation of distinct oncogenic programs. Our results suggest that gene expression profiling of HCC biopsies has limited potential to direct therapies that target specific driver pathways, but can identify subgroups of patients with different prognosis.
Gene expression analysis of biopsy samples reveals critical limitations of transcriptome-based molecular classifications of hepatocellular carcinoma.
Specimen part, Disease, Disease stage
View SamplesSquamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the second most common cancer worldwide and accounts for approximately 30% of all keratinocyte cancers. The vast majority of cutaneous SCCs of the head and neck (cSCCHN) are readily curable with surgery and/or radiotherapy unless high-risk features are present. Perineural invasion (PNI) is recognized as one of these high-risk features. The molecular changes during clinical PNI in cSCCHN have not been previously investigated. In this study, we assessed the global gene expression differences between cSCCHN with or without incidental or clinical PNI. The results of the analysis showed signatures of gene expression representative of activation of p53 in tumors with PNI compared to tumors without, amongst other alterations. Immunohistochemical staining of p53 showed cSCCHN with clinical PNI to be more likely to exhibit a diffuse over-expression pattern, with no tumors showing normal p53 staining. DNA sequencing of cSCCHN samples with clinical PNI showed no difference in mutation number or position with samples without PNI, however a significant difference was observed in regulators of p53 degradation, stability and activity. Our results therefore suggest that cSCCHN with clinical PNI may be more likely to contain alterations in the p53 pathway, compared to cSCCHN without PNI.
Expression profiling of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma with perineural invasion implicates the p53 pathway in the process.
Disease, Disease stage
View SamplesThe transcription factor STAT3 is constitutively activated in tumors of different origin but the molecular bases for STAT3 addiction of tumor cells have not yet been clearly identified. We generated knock/in mice carrying the constitutively active Stat3 allele, Stat3C, and showed that Stat3C could enhance Neu oncogenic power, triggering the production of earlier onset, more invasive mammary tumors. Tumor-derived cell lines displayed higher migration and invasion and disrupted distribution of cell-cell junction markers. The tensin family member Cten (C-Terminal Tensin-like), known to mediate EGF-induced migration and highly expressed in inflammatory breast cancer, was up-regulated in both Neu;Stat3C cells and tumors. Both Cten expression and enhanced migration were strictly dependent on Stat3, and Cten silencing normalized cell migration and rescued cell-cell contact defects. Importantly, the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 could mediate Cten induction in MCF10 cells, in an exquisitely Stat3-dependent way. This model allowed us to shed some light on the oncogenic role of Stat3 in the breast, suggesting moreover a mechanism through which inflammatory signals can cooperate with EGF receptors in inflammatory breast cancer.
Constitutively active Stat3 enhances neu-mediated migration and metastasis in mammary tumors via upregulation of Cten.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesREtr causes genomic instability in U937 cells. Activated forms of c-KIT, like c-KIT(N822K), rescues the Retr induced genomic instability by increasing the rate of DNA repair by homologous recombination
Activating c-KIT mutations confer oncogenic cooperativity and rescue RUNX1/ETO-induced DNA damage and apoptosis in human primary CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors.
Cell line
View SamplesMucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are abundant in humans and recognize conserved bacterial antigens derived from riboflavin precursors, presented by the non-polymorphic MHC class I-like molecule MR1. Here, we show via transcriptomic analysis that human MAIT cells are remarkably oligoclonal in both blood and liver, display high inter-individual homology, and exhibit a restricted length CDR3ß domain of the TCRVß chain. We extend this analysis to a second sub-population of MAIT cells expressing a semi-invariant TCR conserved between individuals. Overall design: Study of CDR3 regions of TCRalpha and beta sequences
Parallel T-cell cloning and deep sequencing of human MAIT cells reveal stable oligoclonal TCRβ repertoire.
No sample metadata fields
View Samples