hTERT/cdk4 immortalized myogenic human cell lines represent an important tool for skeletal muscle research, being used as therapeutically-pertinent models of various neuromuscular disorders and in numerous fundamental studies of muscle cell function. However, the cell cycle is linked to other cellular processes such as integrin regulation, the PI3K/Akt pathway, and microtubule stability, raising the question as to whether transgenic modification of the cell cycle results in secondary effects that could undermine the validity of these cell models. Here we subjected healthy and disease lines to intensive transcriptomic analysis, comparing immortalized lines with their parent primary populations in both differentiated and undifferentiated states, and testing their myogenic character by comparison with non-myogenic (CD56-negative) cells. We found that immortalization has no measurable effect on the myogenic cascade or on any other cellular processes, and that it was protective against the systems level effects of senescence that are observed at higher division counts of primary cells.
Skeletal muscle characteristics are preserved in hTERT/cdk4 human myogenic cell lines.
Specimen part, Disease, Disease stage
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Depletion of DNMT1 in differentiated human cells highlights key classes of sensitive genes and an interplay with polycomb repression.
Sex, Specimen part, Time
View SamplesDNA methylation plays a vital role in the cell, but loss-of-function mutations of the maintenance methyltransferase DNMT1 in normal human cells are lethal, precluding target identification, and existing hypomorphic lines are tumour cells. We generated instead a hypomorphic series in normal hTERT-immortalised fibroblasts using stably integrated short hairpin RNA. Approx 2/3 of sites showed demethylation as expected, with 1/3 showing hypermethylation, and targets were shared between the three independently-derived lines. Enrichment analysis indicated significant losses at promoters and gene bodies with four gene classes most affected: 1)protocadherins, which are key to neural cell identity; 2)genes involved in fat homeostasis/body mass determination; 3)olfactory receptors and 4) cancer/testis antigen (CTA) genes. Overall effects on transcription were relatively small in these fibroblasts, but CTA genes showed robust derepression. Comparison with siRNA-treated cells indicated that shRNA lines show substantial remethylation over time. Regions showing persistent hypomethylation in the shRNA lines were associated with polycomb repression, and were derepressed on addition of an EZH2 inhibitor. Persistent hypermethylation in shRNA lines was in contrast associated with poised promoters. Our results suggest polycomb marking blocks remethylation and indicate the sensitivity of key neural, adipose, and cancer-associated genes to chronic depletion of maintenance methylation activity.
Depletion of DNMT1 in differentiated human cells highlights key classes of sensitive genes and an interplay with polycomb repression.
Sex, Specimen part, Time
View SamplesFrom the parental breast cancer cell line MCF7 (weakly invasive), we progressively selected hyperinvasive subclones. We compared the gene expression between the parental MCF7-I0 and the hyper-invasive cells MCF7-I6.
No associated publication
Specimen part, Cell line
View SamplesConsider the problem of designing a panel of complex biomarkers to predict a patient's health or disease state when one can pair his or her current test sample, called a target sample, with the patient's previously acquired healthy sample, called a reference sample. As contrasted to a population averaged reference, this reference sample is individualized. Automated predictor algorithms that compare and contrast the paired samples to each other could result in a new generation of test panels that compare to a person's healthy reference to enhance predictive accuracy. This study develops such an individualized predictor and illustrates the added value of including the healthy reference for design of predictive gene expression panels. The objective is to predict each subject's state of infection, e.g., neither exposed nor infected, exposed but not infected, pre-acute phase of infection, acute phase of infection, post-acute phase of infection. Using gene microarray data collected in a large-scale serially sampled respiratory virus challenge study, we quantify the diagnostic advantage of pairing a person's baseline reference with his or her target sample.
An individualized predictor of health and disease using paired reference and target samples.
Specimen part, Subject, Time
View SamplesAfrican-American individuals of the GENOA cohort
Genetic Architecture of Gene Expression in European and African Americans: An eQTL Mapping Study in GENOA.
Sex, Age, Specimen part
View SamplesThe NIH Roadmap Epigenomics Mapping Consortium aims to produce a public resource of epigenomic maps for stem cells and primary ex vivo tissues selected to represent the normal counterparts of tissues and organ systems frequently involved in human disease.
The NIH Roadmap Epigenomics Mapping Consortium.
Sex, Specimen part, Disease, Subject
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Innate immune activity is detected prior to seroconversion in children with HLA-conferred type 1 diabetes susceptibility.
Sex, Specimen part
View SamplesA cardinal symptom of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is the disruption of circadian patterns. Yet, to date, there is no direct evidence of circadian clock dysregulation in the brains of MDD patients. Circadian rhythmicity of gene expression has been observed in animals and peripheral human tissues, but its presence and variability in the human brain was difficult to characterize. Here we applied time-of-death analysis to gene expression data from high-quality postmortem brains, examining 24-hour cyclic patterns in six cortical and limbic regions of 55 subjects with no history of psychiatric or neurological illnesses ('Controls') and 34 MDD patients. Our dataset covered ~12,000 transcripts in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (AnCg), hippocampus (HC), amygdala (AMY), nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and cerebellum (CB). Several hundred transcripts in each region showed 24-hour cyclic patterns in Controls, and >100 transcripts exhibited consistent rhythmicity and phase-synchrony across regions. Among the top ranked rhythmic genes were the canonical clock genes BMAL1(ARNTL), PER1-2-3, NR1D1(REV-ERB), DBP, BHLHE40(DEC1), and BHLHE41(DEC2). The phasing of known circadian genes was consistent with data derived from other diurnal mammals. Cyclic patterns were much weaker in MDD brains, due to shifted peak timing and potentially disrupted phase relationships between individual circadian genes. This is the first transcriptome-wide analysis of cyclic patterns in the human brain and demonstrates a rhythmic rise and fall of gene expression in regions outside of the suprachiasmatic nucleus in control subjects. The description of its breakdown in MDD suggest novel molecular targets for treatment of mood disorders.
Circadian patterns of gene expression in the human brain and disruption in major depressive disorder.
Subject
View SamplesWith aging, significant changes in circadian rhythms occur, including a shift in phase toward a morning chronotype and a loss of rhythmicity in circulating hormones. However, the effects of aging on molecular rhythms in the human brain have remained elusive. Here we employed a previously-described time-of-death analyses to identify transcripts throughout the genome that have a significant circadian rhythm in expression in the human prefrontal cortex (Brodmanns areas (BA) 11 and 47). Expression levels were determined by microarray analysis in 146 individuals. Rhythmicity in expression was found in ~10% of detected transcripts (p<0.05). Using a meta-analysis across the two brain areas, we identified a core set of 235 genes (q<0.05) with significant circadian rhythms of expression. These 235 genes showed 92% concordance in the phase of expression between the two areas. In addition to the canonical core circadian genes, a number of other genes were found to exhibit rhythmic expression in the brain. Notably, we identified more than one thousand genes (1186 in BA11; 1591 in BA47) that exhibited age-dependent rhythmicity or alterations in rhythmicity patterns with aging. Interestingly, a set of transcripts gained rhythmicity in older individuals, which may represent a compensatory mechanism due to a loss of canonical clock function. Thus, we confirm that rhythmic gene expression can be reliably measured in human brain and identified for the first time significant changes in molecular rhythms with aging that may contribute to altered cognition, sleep and mood in later life.
Effects of aging on circadian patterns of gene expression in the human prefrontal cortex.
Sex, Age, Specimen part, Race
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