Vascular pericytes, an important cellular component, in the tumor microenvironment, are often associated with tumor vasculatures and their functions in cancer invasion and metastasis are poorly understood. Here we show that PDGF-BB induces pericyte fibroblast transition (designated as PFT), which significantly contributes to tumor invasion and metastasis. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments demonstrate that the PDGF-BB-PDGFR signaling promotes PFT in vitro and in in vivo tumors. Genome-wide expression analysis indicates that PDGF-BB-activated pericytes acquire mesenchymal progenitor features. Pharmacological inhibition and genetic deletion of PDGFR ablate the PDGF-BB-induced PFT. Genetic tracing of pericytes with two independent mouse strains, i.e., TN-AP-CreERT2:R26R-tdTomato and NG2:R26R-tdTomato, shows that PFT cells gains stromal fibroblast and myofibroblast markers in tumors. Importantly, co-implantation of PFT cells with less-invasive tumor cells in mice markedly promotes tumor dissemination and invasion, leading to an increased number of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and metastasis. Our findings reveal a novel mechanism of vascular pericytes in PDGF-BB-promoted cancer invasion and metastasis by inducing PFT and thus targeting PFT may offer a new treatment option of cancer metastasis.
Pericyte-fibroblast transition promotes tumor growth and metastasis.
Specimen part
View SamplesTo identify molecular pathological alterations in AD brains, we performed interspecies comparative microarray analyses using RNAs prepared from postmortem human brain tissues donated for the Hisayama study and hippocampal RNAs from the triple-transgenic mouse model of AD (3xTg-AD)
Altered expression of diabetes-related genes in Alzheimer's disease brains: the Hisayama study.
Sex, Age, Specimen part
View SamplesTo identify molecular pathological alterations in AD brains, we performed interspecies comparative microarray analyses using RNAs prepared from postmortem human brain tissues donated for the Hisayama study and hippocampal RNAs from the triple-transgenic mouse model of AD (3xTg-AD)
Altered expression of diabetes-related genes in Alzheimer's disease brains: the Hisayama study.
Sex, Age, Specimen part
View SamplesGeneChip-based screen for genes induced in the initial phase of neural differentiation from ES cells.
Intrinsic transition of embryonic stem-cell differentiation into neural progenitors.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesRegulation of organ size is important for development and tissue homeostasis. In Drosophila, Hippo signaling controls organ size by regulating the activity of a TEAD transcription factor, Scalloped, through modulation of its coactivator protein Yki. The role of mammalian Tead proteins in growth regulation, however, remains unknown. Here we examined the role of mouse Tead proteins in growth regulation. In NIH3T3 cells, cell density and Hippo signaling regulated the activity of Tead proteins by modulating nuclear localization of a Yki homologue, Yap, and the resulting change in Tead activity altered cell proliferation. Tead2-VP16 mimicked Yap overexpression, including increased cell proliferation, reduced cell death, promotion of EMT, lack of cell contact inhibition, and promotion of tumor formation. Growth promoting activities of various Yap mutants correlated with their Tead-coactivator activities. Tead2-VP16 and Yap regulated largely overlapping sets of genes. However, only a few of the Tead/Yapregulated genes in NIH3T3 cells were affected in Tead1-/-;Tead2-/- or Yap-/- embryos. Most of the previously identified Yap-regulated genes were not affected in NIH3T3 cells or mutant mice. In embryos, levels of nuclear Yap and Tead1 varied depending on cell types. Strong nuclear accumulation of Yap and Tead1 were seen in myocardium, correlating with requirements of Tead1 for proliferation. However, their distribution did not always correlate with proliferation. Taken together, mammalian Tead proteins regulate cell proliferation and contact inhibition as a transcriptional mediator of Hippo signaling, but the mechanisms by which Tead/Yap regulate cell proliferation differ depending on cell types, and Tead, Yap and Hippo signaling may play multiple roles in mouse embryos.
Mammalian Tead proteins regulate cell proliferation and contact inhibition as transcriptional mediators of Hippo signaling.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesHuman embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have the unique property of immortality, ability to infinitely self-renew and survive in vitro. In contrast to tumor-deribed cells, their immortality are free from any genomic abberations. Instead, they depend on the AKAP-Lbc/Rho signaling cascade. To understand the downstream way, we performed RNA-seq analyses between normal and AKAP-Lbc-depleted hESCs using the doxycyclin-inducible gene silensing strategy. Overall design: We use the genetically modified hESCs in which AKAP-13-targeting shRNA is induced by doxycyclin(dox) treatment. To minimize cell loss during treatment, anti-apoptotic factor Bcl-XL is overexpressed. We collected RNA from dox-treated and untreated cells in biological triplicate. We measured gene expression in these 2 sample groups using RNA-seq (illumina HiSeq) .
Rho-Signaling-Directed YAP/TAZ Activity Underlies the Long-Term Survival and Expansion of Human Embryonic Stem Cells.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesGenome instability is a potential limitation to the research and therapeutic application of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Observed genomic variations reflect the combined activities of DNA damage, cellular DNA damage response (DDR), and selection pressure in culture. To understand the contribution of DDR on the distribution of copy number variations (CNVs) in iPSCs, we mapped CNVs of iPSCs with mutations in the central DDR gene ATM onto genome organization landscapes defined by genome-wide replication timing profiles. We show that following reprogramming the early and late replicating genome is differentially affected by CNVs in ATM deficient iPSCs relative to wild type iPSCs. Specifically, the early replicating regions had increased CNV losses during retroviral reprogramming. This differential CNV distribution was not present after later passage or after episomal reprogramming. Comparison of different reprogramming methods in the setting of defective DNA damage response reveals unique vulnerability of early replicating open chromatin to retroviral vectors.
Influence of ATM-Mediated DNA Damage Response on Genomic Variation in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells.
Specimen part
View SamplesCancer cells have wide variety of gene expression profile. The objective of the study is to reveal the cancer-associated gene expression profile.
Gene expression signatures for identifying diffuse-type gastric cancer associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition.
Specimen part
View SamplesEmbryonic stem (ES) cells have a remarkable capacity to self-organize complex, multi-layered optic cups in vitro via a culture technique called SFEBq. During both SFEBq and in vivo optic cup development, Rax (Rx) expressing neural retina epithelial (NRE) tissues utilize Fgf and Wnt/ß-catenin signalling pathways to differentiate into neural retina (NR) and retinal-pigmented epithelial (RPE) tissues, respectively. How these signaling pathways affect gene expression during optic tissue formation has remained largely unknown, especially at the transcriptome scale. Overall design: We generated Day 10 Rx+ optic tissue using SFEBq, exposed these tissues to either Fgf or Wnt/ß-catenin stimulation, and assayed their gene expression at Days 12 and 15 using RNA-Seq. We measured gene expression in these 5 sample groups in biological triplicate using RNA-seq (Illumina HiSeq) .
Comparative, transcriptome analysis of self-organizing optic tissues.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesThe dermal papilla (DP) of the hair follicle plays crucial roles in the hair follcie morphogenesis and cycling. Thus, the elucication of human DP molecular signature is of great interest. DP cell culture by conventional method impairs intrinsic properties of DP cells.
Restoration of the intrinsic properties of human dermal papilla in vitro.
Sex, Age, Specimen part, Treatment
View Samples