Project description:Mesenchymal populations include a fraction of cells exhibiting multipotency as well as others with limited differentiation range. It has been assumed that the mesenchymal cellular cascade is topped by a multipotent cell, which gives rise to progeny with diminishing differentiation potentials. Here we show that cultured mesenchymal cells, a priori exhibiting a limited differentiation potential, may gain new capacities and become multipotent following single cell isolation. These fate changes were accompanied by up-regulation of differentiation promoting genes, many of which also became H4K20me1 methylated. Early events in the process included TGFβ and Wnt modulation, and down-regulation of hypoxia signaling. Indeed, hypoxic conditions inhibited the observed cell changes. Overall, cell isolation from neighboring partners caused major molecular changes and particularly, a newly established epigenetic state. It is suggested that MSCs behave non-deterministically and non-hierarchically and should therefore be defined primarily by their capacity to undergo fate changes triggered by environmental cues. MSC 21 population and one of its derived clones (4L.1.4) were grown to confuence, and IP of fragmented DNA using an antibody directed against H4K20ME1, or non-immune serum (control) was done. Pulled DNA was then sequenced.
Project description:Mesenchymal populations include a fraction of cells exhibiting multipotency as well as others with limited differentiation range. It has been assumed that the mesenchymal cellular cascade is topped by a multipotent cell, which gives rise to progeny with diminishing differentiation potentials. Here we show that cultured mesenchymal cells, a priori exhibiting a limited differentiation potential, may gain new capacities and become multipotent following single cell isolation. These fate changes were accompanied by up-regulation of differentiation promoting genes, many of which also became H4K20me1 methylated. Early events in the process included TGFβ and Wnt modulation, and down-regulation of hypoxia signaling. Indeed, hypoxic conditions inhibited the observed cell changes. Overall, cell isolation from neighboring partners caused major molecular changes and particularly, a newly established epigenetic state. It is suggested that MSCs behave non-deterministically and non-hierarchically and should therefore be defined primarily by their capacity to undergo fate changes triggered by environmental cues. The gene expression profile of dense and sparse MSC cultures in three sequential days after seeding was compared
Project description:Mesenchymal populations include a fraction of cells exhibiting multipotency as well as others with limited differentiation range. It has been assumed that the mesenchymal cellular cascade is topped by a multipotent cell, which gives rise to progeny with diminishing differentiation potentials. Here we show that cultured mesenchymal cells, a priori exhibiting a limited differentiation potential, may gain new capacities and become multipotent following single cell isolation. These fate changes were accompanied by up-regulation of differentiation promoting genes, many of which also became H4K20me1 methylated. Early events in the process included TGFβ and Wnt modulation, and down-regulation of hypoxia signaling. Indeed, hypoxic conditions inhibited the observed cell changes. Overall, cell isolation from neighboring partners caused major molecular changes and particularly, a newly established epigenetic state. It is suggested that MSCs behave non-deterministically and non-hierarchically and should therefore be defined primarily by their capacity to undergo fate changes triggered by environmental cues. The gene expression profile of MSC population was compared with one of its derived single cell clones
Project description:Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are used extensively in clinical trials; however, the potential for malignant transformation of MSCs has been raised. We examined the genomic stability versus the tumor forming capacity of multiple mouse MSCs. Murine MSCs have been shown to be less stable and more prone to malignant transformation than their human counterparts. A large series of independently isolated MSC populations exhibited low tumorigenic potential under syngeneic conditions, which increased in immune-compromised animals. Unexpectedly, higher ploidy correlated with reduced tumor forming capacity. Furthermore, in both cultured MSCs and primary hepatocytes, polyploidization was associated with a dramatic decrease in the expression of the long non-coding RNA H19. Direct knockdown of H19 expression in diploid cells resulted in acquisition of polyploid cell traits. Moreover, artificial tetraploidization of diploid cancer cells led to a reduction of H19 levels, as well as to an attenuation of the tumorigenic potential. Polyploidy might therefore serve as a protective mechanism aimed at reducing malignant transformation through the involvement of the H19 regulatory long non-coding RNA. Overall, six different samples are compared, three diploid biological replicate diploid MSCs, and three tetraploid biological replicate MSCs.
Project description:A comparison of the performance when using X!Tandem with a 1) large, exhaustive, reference database; and 2) small, specialized, database.
Project description:Comparative gene expression analysis (PIQOR Immunology) Human Vg9Vd2 T cells amplified (soluble phosphoantigen) from ex vivo fresh PBMC of healthy human donors 3 weeks of culture in the presence of either IL-2 or IL-2+IL-21 Total RNA extracted from resting purified gamma delta T cells PIQOR microarrays PIQOR Human Immunology Service Topic-defined microarrays (Miletnyi Biotec) Comparison IL-2+IL-21 (Cy5) versus IL-2(Cy3) T7-amplified RNA
Project description:Inter-tissue communication is a fundamental feature of systemic metabolic regulation and the liver is central to this process. We have identified sparc-related modular calcium-binding protein 1 (SMOC1) as a glucose-responsive hepatokine and potent regulator of glucose homeostasis. Acute administration of recombinant SMOC1 improves glycemic control and insulin sensitivity, independent of changes in insulin secretion. SMOC1 exerts its favourable glycemic effects by inhibiting cAMP-PKA-CREB signaling in the liver, leading to decreased gluconeogenic gene expression and suppression of hepatic glucose output. Over expression of SMOC1 in the liver or once-weekly injections of a stabilized SMOC1-FC fusion protein induces durable improvements in glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in db/db mice, without significant adverse effects on adiposity, liver histopathology or inflammation. Furthermore, SMOC1 correlates with systemic insulin sensitivity and is decreased in obese, insulin resistant humans. Together, these findings identify SMOC1 as a potential pharmacological target for the management of glycemic control in type 2 diabetes.
Project description:Helicobacter pylori, a gastroenteric pathogen believed to have co-evolved with humans for 100.000 years, has a high genetic variability that motivates the study of different H. pylori populations and the diseases caused by them in order to find determinants for disease evolution. In this study we utilized both genomic and proteomic tools to compare a H. pylori strain (Nic25_A) from Nicaragua isolated from a patient with intestinal metaplasia with the P12 strain from Europe isolated from a patient with duodenal ulcer. Differences in the protein expression levels between the two strains were determined by both label-free quantification (MaxQuant) and labelling methods (tandem mass tags, TMT), utilizing a lipid-based protein immobilization (LPI™) technique to target surface protein peptides. Using the MaxQuant software, we found 52 proteins significantly differing between the two strains (up-or-down regulated by a factor of 1.5) and with TMT we were able to find 18 proteins with different expression levels between the strains. The P12 (duodenal ulcer) strain had higher expression of genes belonging to the cagPAI operon, while Nic25_A (intestinal metaplasia) had higher expression of the acid response regulator ArsR, as well as proteins regulated by ArsR; KatA, AmiE, and proteins involved in urease production. The results show that differences in protein expression can be detected by proteomic approaches in H. pylori strains of different pathogenicity, which might have implications for studies of disease progression.
Project description:Rationale: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and candidate gene studies have identified a number of loci linked to susceptibility of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a smoking-related disorder that originates in the airway epithelium. Objectives: Since airway basal cell (BC) stem/progenitor cells exhibit the earliest abnormalities associated with smoking (hyperplasia, squamous metaplasia), we hypothesized that smoker BC have a dysregulated transcriptome linked, in part, to known GWAS/candidate gene loci. Methods: Massive parallel RNA sequencing was used to compare the transcriptome of BC purified from the airway epithelium of healthy nonsmokers (n=10) and smokers (n=7). The chromosomal location of the differentially expressed genes was compared to loci identified by GWAS and candidate gene studies to confer risk for COPD. Measurements and Main Results: Smoker BC have 676 known genes differentially expressed compared to nonsmoker BC, dominated by smoking up-regulation. Strikingly, 166 (25%) of these genes are located on chromosome 19, with 13 localized to 19q13.2 (p<10-4 compared to chance), including TGFB1, LTBP4, EGLN2 and NFKBIB, genes associated with risk for COPD. Conclusions: These observations provide the first direct link of known genetic risks for smoking-related lung disease with the specific population of lung cells that undergoes the earliest changes associated with smoking. The human airway basal cell transcriptome of 7 smokers versus 10 nonsmokers was compared using massive parallel RNA sequencing (Illumina HiSeq 2000).
Project description:DNA methylation and the Polycomb Repression System are epigenetic mechanisms that play important roles in maintaining transcriptional repression. Recent evidence suggests that DNA methylation can attenuate the binding of Polycomb protein components to chromatin and thus plays a role in determining their genomic targeting. However, whether this role of DNA methylation is important in the context of transcriptional regulation is unclear. By genome-wide mapping of the Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2)-signature histone mark, H3K27me3, in severely DNA hypomethylated mouse somatic cells, we show that hypomethylation leads to widespread H3K27me3 redistribution, in a manner that reflects the local DNA methylation status in wild-type cells. Unexpectedly, we observe striking loss of H3K27me3 and PRC2 from Polycomb-target gene promoters in DNA hypomethylated cells, including Hox gene clusters. Importantly, we show that many of these genes become ectopically expressed in DNA hypomethylated cells, consistent with loss of Polycomb-mediated repression. An intact DNA methylome is required for appropriate Polycomb-mediated gene repression by constraining PRC2 targeting. These observations identify a previously unappreciated role for DNA methylation in gene regulation and therefore influence our understanding of how this epigenetic mechanism contributes to normal development and disease. comparison of Dnmt1+/+ vs Dnmt1-/- mouse embryonic fibroblasts