Age-related hearing loss (AHL) is the progressive loss of auditory function with aging. The DBA/2J (DBA) mice have been used as a model of AHL and undergoes progressive, age-related hearing loss by 12 weeks of age. Here we analyzed cochlear gene expression of 7-week-old and 36-week-old DBA mice using microarrays. Auditory brainstem response (ABR) analysis confrimed that severe age-related hearing loss occured in 36-week-old mice, whereas moderate hearing loss occured in 7-week-old mice. Comprehensive gene expression analysis identified genes correlated with AHL and revealeed that 15 mitochondrial process categories, including mitochondrial electron transport chain, oxidative phosphorylation, respiratory chain complex I, respiratory chain complex IV, and respiratory chain complex V, were statistically associated with AHL-correlated genes in the cochlea of 36-week-old DBA mice, and that 25 genes encoding components of the mitochondrial respiratory chain (respiratory chain complex I, IV, and V) were significantly down-regulated in the cochlea. These observations provide evidence that AHL is associated with down-regulation of genes involved in the mitochondrial respiratory chain in the cochlea of DBA mice, and suggest that mitochondrial respiratory chain dysfunction may be a key feature of AHL in mammalian cochlea.
Genes encoding mitochondrial respiratory chain components are profoundly down-regulated with aging in the cochlea of DBA/2J mice.
Sex, Specimen part
View SamplesFK1706 potentiated nerve growth factor-induced neurite outgrowth, putatively mediated via FKBP-52 and the Ras/Raf/MAPK signaling pathway. It also improved mechanical allodynia accompanied by the recovery of intraepidermal nerve fiber density in a painful diabetic neuropathy in rats.
FK1706, a novel non-immunosuppressive immunophilin ligand, modifies gene expression in the dorsal root ganglia during painful diabetic neuropathy.
Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesType 1 regulatory T (Tr1) cells are one of the regulatory T cell subsets that are characterized by the production of high amount of IL-10 and lack of FOXP3 expression. Lymphocyte-activation gene 3 (LAG3) is a CD4 homologue molecule and we have previously reported that LAG3 is expressed on IL-10 producing regulatory T cells. However, naturally occurring Tr1 cells in human secondary lymphoid tissue have not been detected. We identified CD4+CD25-LAG3+ T cells in human tonsil.
Identification of tonsillar CD4<sup>+</sup>CD25<sup>-</sup>LAG3<sup>+</sup> T cells as naturally occurring IL-10-producing regulatory T cells in human lymphoid tissue.
Specimen part
View SamplesPresbycusis is characterized by an age-related progressive decline of auditory function, and arises mainly from the degeneration of hair cells or spiral ganglion (SG) cells in the cochlea. Here we show that caloric restriction suppresses apoptotic cell death in the mouse cochlea and prevents late onset of presbycusis. Caloric restricted mice, which maintained body weight at the same level as that of young control (YC) mice, retained normal hearing and showed no cochlear degeneration. CR mice also showed significantly fewer TUNEL-positive staining cells and fewer cleaved caspase-3-positive staining cells relative to middle-age control (MC) mice. Microarray analysis revealed that CR down-regulated the expression of 28 proapoptotic genes, including Bak and Bim. Taken together, our findings suggest that loss of critical cells through apoptosis is an important mechanism of presbycusis in mammals, and that CR or staying lean can retard this process by suppressing apoptosis in the inner ear tissue.
Caloric restriction suppresses apoptotic cell death in the mammalian cochlea and leads to prevention of presbycusis.
Sex, Age, Specimen part
View SamplesPatients who cleared HCV viremia early during therapy tended to show favorable outcomes, whereas patients who needed a longer period to clear HCV had poorer outcomes. We explored the mechanisms of treatment resistance by comparing hepatic gene expression before and during treatment
Differential interferon signaling in liver lobule and portal area cells under treatment for chronic hepatitis C.
Specimen part, Time
View SamplesThere is a gradient of -catenin expression along the colonic crypt axis with the highest levels at the crypt bottom. However, it remains unclear whether different levels of canonical Wnt signaling exert distinct roles in the colonic epithelium. In the present study, we first showed that the canonical Wnt signaling is active in the proliferative compartment of normal colonic crypts by separating actively proliferating progenitor cells from non-proliferating cells in the colon using transgenic mice expressing a histone H2B-green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion protein under the control of a tetracycline responsive regulatory element. Subsequently, we investigated the dose-dependent effect of canonical Wnt activation on colonic epithelial differentiation by controlling the expression levels of stabilized -catenin using a doxycycline-inducible transgenic system in mice. We show that elevated levels of Wnt signaling induce the amplification of Lgr5+ cells, which is accompanied by crypt fission and a reduction in cell proliferation among progenitor cells. In contrast, lower levels of -catenin induction enhanced cell proliferation rates of epithelial progenitors without affecting crypt fission rates. Notably, slow-cycling cells produced by -catenin activation exhibit activation of Notch signaling and the treatment of -catenin expressing mice with a Notch inhibitor turned such slow-cycling cells into actively proliferating cells. Our results indicate that the activation of the canonical Wnt signaling pathway is sufficient for de novo crypt formation, and suggest that different levels of canonical Wnt activations, in cooperation with Notch signaling, establish a hierarchy of slower-cycling stem cells and faster-cycling progenitor cells characteristic for the colonic epithelium.
Dose-dependent roles for canonical Wnt signalling in de novo crypt formation and cell cycle properties of the colonic epithelium.
Sex, Specimen part
View SamplesOct3/4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc re-wire somatic cells to achieve induced pluripotency (iPS cells). However, subtle differences in reprogramming methodology may confound comparative studies of reprogramming-induced gene expression changes. We specifically focused on the design of polycistronic reprogramming constructs, which encode all four factors linked with 2A peptides. Notably, publically available cassettes were found to employ one of two Klf4 variants (Klf4S and Klf4L; GenBank Accession Nos: AAC52939.1 and AAC04892.1), differing only by nine N-terminal amino acids. In a polycistronic context, these two variants generated dissimilar protein stoichiometry, where Klf4L vectors produced more Klf4 protein than those encoding Klf4S.
KLF4 N-terminal variance modulates induced reprogramming to pluripotency.
Sex, Specimen part
View SamplesMitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations may contribute to aging and age-related disorders. Previously, we created mice expressing a proofreading-deficient version of the mtDNA polymerase gamma (Polg) which accumulate age-related mtDNA mutations and display premature aging. Here we performed microarray gene expression profiling to identify mtDNA mutation-responsive genes in the cochlea of aged mitochondrial mutator mice. Age-related accumulation of mtDNA mutations was associated with transcriptional alternations consistent with reduced inner ear function, mitochondrial dysfunction, neurodegeneration, and reduced cell structural modulation. Hearing assessment and histopathological results confirmed that aged PolgD257A/D257A (D257A) mice exhibited moderate hearing loss and severe cochlear degenerations. Age-related accumulation of mtDNA mutations also resulted in alternations in gene expression consistent with induction of apoptosis, proteolysis, stress response, and reduced DNA repair. TUNEL (Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling) assay confirmed that the cochleae from aged D257A mice showed significantly more TUNEL positive cells compared to wild-type (WT) mice. The levels of cleaved caspase-3 were also found to increase in the cochleae of aged D257A mice. These observations provide evidence that age-related accumulation of mtDNA mutations is associated with apoptotic cell death in aged cochlea. Our results provide the first global view of molecular events associated with mtDNA mutations in postmitotic tissue, and suggest that apoptosis is the major mechanism of mtDNA mediated cell death in the development of age-related hearing disorder.
The role of mtDNA mutations in the pathogenesis of age-related hearing loss in mice carrying a mutator DNA polymerase gamma.
Sex, Age, Specimen part
View SamplesWe report that Zic family (Zic1/2/3) and orphan nuclear receptors family (Esrrb and Nr5a2) transcription factors (TFs) synergistically enhance the reprogramming efficiency when transduced with Oct4, Sox2 and Klf4 (OSK) into murine fibroblasts. To identify the molecular mechanisms underlying this synergy, we analyzed global gene expression at 6 days after introduction of reprogramming factors. As a result, we found that primary targets of these TFs are different when either of TFs was introduced with OSK, but a significant portion of genes including pluripotency makers such as Dppa2 was synergistically upregulated. Further analysis revealed that metabolic pathways are the important targets of these TFs for efficient reprogramming.
Hybrid Cellular Metabolism Coordinated by Zic3 and Esrrb Synergistically Enhances Induction of Naive Pluripotency.
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View SamplesIL28B genotype was shown to be associated with treatment outcome of antiviral thearpy for HCV infection. We tried to clarify the molecular feature that was asocciated with IL2B genotype by comparing Hepatic gene expression of HCV related Hepatocellular carcinoma and non-cancerous tissue with Il28B rs8099917 TT genotype and TG/GG genotype.
Association of interleukin-28B genotype and hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence in patients with chronic hepatitis C.
Specimen part
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