Project description:Lgr5-EGFP-IRES-Cre-ERT2 mice were exposed to azoxymethane/dextrane sodium sulfate (AOM/DSS) which induces inflammation-driven colon tumors. Tumors were then flow-sorted into fractions of epithelial cells that expressed high or low levels of Lgr5. To exclude that transcriptional differences between Lgr5 high and low mouse colon tumor cells were imposed by distinct patterns of chromosomal aberrations in the two cell fractions, we also performed array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) from these tumors. All eight analyzed tumors were chromosomally stable, and thus, no difference between Lgr5 high and low cells could be detected. AOM/DSS-induced mouse colon tumors were flow-sorted into Lgr5 high and low cells before aCGH was performed. Biological replicates: 8. Two CGH array platforms.
Project description:To further elucidate the role of the intestinal stem cell marker Leucine-rich-repeat-containing G-protein-coupled receptor 5 (LGR5) in colorectal cancer (CRC), we exposed Lgr5-EGFP-IRES-Cre-ERT2 mice to azoxymethane/dextrane sodium sulfate (AOM/DSS) which induces inflammation-driven colon tumors. Tumors were then flow-sorted into fractions of epithelial cells that expressed high or low levels of Lgr5 and were characterized using gene expression profiling. In the AOM/DSS-induced mouse colon tumors Lgr5 high cells showed higher levels of several stem cell-associated genes and higher Wnt signaling than Lgr5 low tumor cells and Lgr5 high normal colon epithelial cells. To further elucidate the role of the intestinal stem cell marker Leucine-rich-repeat-containing G-protein-coupled receptor 5 (LGR5) in colorectal cancer (CRC), we transduced SW480 CRC cells with lentiviral shRNA constructs to silence LGR5 expression. This resulted in a depletion of spheres but did not affect adherently growing cells. Spheres expressed higher levels of several stem cell-associated genes than adherent cells. Notch signaling was down-regulated upon LGR5 silencing. This was confirmed by immunohistochemistry against cleaved NOTCH1. Normal mouse colons and AOM/DSS-induced mouse colon tumors were flow-sorted into Lgr5 high and low cells before gene expression was measured. Fifteen independent experiments were performed using seven individual mice for normal colons and eight for tumors. Appropriate LGR5 status was confirmed by real-time qRT-PCR before measuring silencing induced gene expression. Three independent experiments were performed for each cell fraction using separately cultured cells for each experiment.
Project description:The experiment shows the aging related expression changes in Paneth and Lgr5Hi cells between young and old mice. These expression changes are related to the role of stem cell niche in aging and regeneration of intestinal epithelium.
Project description:Langerhans cells (LC) in skin help initiate the immune response to locally presented antigens. We performed high-resolution single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNAseq) analysis for antigen presenting cells including LC in normal mouse skin, and in mouse skin expressing the human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 E7 oncogene. Ear skin was collected from normal and trangenic mice. Dissociated CD45+ cells were processed for scRNA-seq using the 10X Genomics Chromium 3' gene expression kit (v2).
Project description:The experiment shows the expression changes between Lgr5Hi and Lgr5Lo cells in young and old mice. These expression changes are related to the stem cell niche signalling in intestinal epithelium.
Project description:Purpose: In all vertebrates, the thymus is necessary and sufficient for production of classic adaptive T cells. The key components of the thymus are cortical and medullary thymic epithelial cells (cTECs and mTECs). Despite the capital role of TECs, our understanding of TEC biology is quite rudimentary. For instance, we ignore what might be the extent of divergence in the functional program of these two TECs populations. It also remains unclear why the number of TECs decreases rapidly with age, thereby leading to progressive thymic insufficiency. Methods: Systems level understanding of cell function begins with gene expression profiling, and the transcriptome is currently the only '-ome' that can be reliably tackled in its entirety in freshly harvested primary cells. In order to gain novel insights into TEC biology, we therefore decided to analyse the whole transcriptome of cTECs, mTECs and skin epithelial cells. We elected to analyse gene expression using RNA-seq rather microarrays because RNA-seq has higher sensitivity and dynamic range coupled to lower technical variations. Results: Our deep sequencing approach provides a unique perspective into the transcriptome of TECs. Consistent with their ability to express ectopic genes, we found that mTECs expressed more genes than other cell populations. Out of a total of 15,069 genes expressed in TECs, 25% were differentially expressed by at least 5-fold in cTECs vs. mTECs. Genes expressed at higher levels in cTECs than mTECs regulate numerous cell functions including cell differentiation, cell movement and microtubule dynamics. Almost all positive regulators of the cell cycle were overexpressed in skin ECs relative to TECs. Conclusions: Our RNA-seq data provide novel insights into the transcriptional landscape of TECs, highlight substantial divergences in the transcriptome of TEC subsets and suggest that cell cycle progression is differentially regulated in TECS and skinECs. We believe that our work will therefore represent a valuable resource and will be of great interest to readers working in biological sciences, particularly in the areas of immunology and systems biology. The mRNA profiles of cTEC, mTEC (from 14 thymi of 7-days old C57BL/6 mice) and skinEC (from the trunk and dorsum of seven newborn mice) were generated by RNA-sequencing using Illumina HiSeq2000.
Project description:The lymphatic vascular system plays important roles in the maintenance of interstitial fluid pressure, the afferent immune response and the absorption of dietary lipids. However, the molecular mechanisms that control lymphatic vessel network maturation and function remain largely unknown. To identify novel players in lymphatic vessel function, we isolated pure populations of lymphatic and blood vascular endothelial cells from mouse intestine using fluorescence-activated high-speed cell sorting and performed transcriptional profiling. We found that the axonal guidance molecules semaphorin 3A (Sema3A) and Sema3D were specifically expressed by lymphatic vessels. Quantitative PCR of ex vivo isolated cells and immunohistochemical analysis confirmed these results. Importantly, we found that the semaphorin receptor neuropilin-1 (Nrp-1) is expressed on the valves of collecting lymphatic vessels. Treatment of mice in utero (E12.5-E16.5) with an antibody that blocks Sema3A binding to Nrp-1, but not with an antibody that blocks VEGFA binding to Nrp-1, resulted in abnormal development of collecting lymphatic vessels and valves, and aberrant smooth muscle cell coverage. Conversely, Sema3A-deficient mice displayed branching defects of collecting lymphatic vessels as well as impaired valve development. Together, these results reveal an unanticipated role of Sema3A/Nrp-1 signaling in the maturation of the lymphatic vascular network. Colon single-cell suspensions were prepared by a fast protocol that minimizes the RNA degradation. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) was used to sort blood vascular endothelial cells (BEC) and lymphatic endothelial cells (LEC). 4 animal-matched pairs of LEC and BEC were chosen based on the quality of extracted and amplified material to provide homogenous groups of biological replicates. This gave 8 samples to analyze. Samples present LEC and BEC isolated from 4 healthy normal mice. The 4 mice used present the 4 biological replicates.
Project description:Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disorder with systemic inflammation, autoantibody accumulation and organ damage. The abnormalities of double-negative (DN) T cells are considered as an important commander of SLE. Neddylation, an important type of protein post-translational modification (PTM), has been well-proved to regulate T cell-mediated immune response. However, the function of neddylation in SLE remains largely unexplored. Here, we reported that neddylation inactivation with MLN4924 or genetic abrogation of Ube2m in T cells prevented SLE development for decreased DN T cell accumulation. Further investigations revealed that inactivation of neddylation blocked Bim ubiquitination degradation and maintained Bim level in DN T cells, contributing to the apoptosis of the accumulated DN T cells for Fas mutation. Then double knockout (KO) lupus-prone mice (Ube2m-/-Bim-/-lpr) were generated and results showed that loss of Bim interrupted the improvement of DN T cell apoptosis and the consequential relieved lupus symptoms for Ube2m KO. Our findings identified that neddylation inactivation promoted Bim-mediated apoptosis of DN T cells and prevented lupus progress. Clinically, we also found the percentages of DN T cells were improved accompanied with reduced apoptosis of DN T cells in SLE patients. Moreover, the neddylation of Cullin1 was higher while Bim level was decreased in SLE patients compared with healthy control. Meantime, the inhibition of neddylation induced Bim-dependent apoptosis of DN T cells isolated from SLE patients. Together, these findings provide the first evidence of the neddylation role in lupus development, suggesting a novel therapeutic strategy for lupus.
Project description:Specific surface marker for NKX2-1+ VAFECs may be helpful for isolating a homogeneous population of alveolar epithelial progenitor cells and distinguishing the differentiation from a thyroid lineage to a lung lineage. In order to identify specific markers of VAFECs, a microarray analysis was performed to compare the global gene expression patterns between AFECs and VAFECs in 201B7 hiPSCs. We hypothesized that NKX2-1+ cells could be purified by sorting CPM+ VAFECs. After dissociating VAFECs cells on day 14 with Accutase, FACS was performed using anti-EPCAM and anti-CPM antibodies. EPCAM+CPM+ and EPCAM+CPM- cells were then sorted, and the global gene expression patterns of these two populations were examined using a microarray analysis. In addition, MACS was performed to obtain CPM+ cells for comparison. We extracted total RNA from hiPSCs-derived AFECs, VAFECs, EPCAM+CPM+ and EPCAM+CPM- VAFECs and CPM+ VAFECs and hybridized them to Affymetrix microarrays.