Project description:The recently developed COXEN method (PMID: 17666531) has been used to successfully extrapolate gene signatures of drug sensitivity across different tumor histotypes. We wanted to explore the utility of COXEN to predict chemosensitivity in canine cancer, specifically if we could extrapolate gene signatures identified in human datasets over to canine osteosarcoma tumors. This dataset of canine osteosarcoma tumor samples has available clinical outcome data after patients had infected limbs amputated and were treated with doxorubicin and/or carboplatin. We performed microarray analysis on this panel of tumor samples for validating our COXEN prediction models for doxorubicin or carboplatin sensitivity. Chemotherapy naive primary tumors were collected at the time of amputation and archived at the Flint Animal Cancer Center. RNA was extracted from 33 frozen archived tumor samples, followed by microarray analysis. The gene expression data was RMA preprocessed, scaled and were used as a independent test set to evaluate developed prediction models of sensitivity to doxorubicin or carboplatin. Drug predictions were than compared to clinical outcome in these patients that received doxorubicin and/or carboplatin.
Project description:Cancer cell line panels that incorporate genomic and pharmacologic screening data have become powerful tools for investigating the relationship between gene expression and drug response in human cancer research. Similar cell line panels of such a scale as the NCI60, CCLE, or GDSC do not currently exist in canine cancer research. Here we have assembled a canine cancer cell line panel of 29 cell lines representing multiple tumor types that have undergone gene expression profiling and have begun to be used for pharmacologic screening. RNA was extracted from drug naïve canine cancer cell lines and subjected to microarray analysis.
Project description:Some dogs respond well to amputation and chemotherapy and are disease free longer than the median 200 days whereas others experience rapid lung metastasis. Microarrays were used to compare primary tumors of dogs with a disease free interval (DFI) >300 days (n=7) to those with a DFI<100 days (n=8). Chemotherapy naïve primary tumors were collected at the time of amputation and archived at the Animal Cancer Center. Arrays were performed on a total of 15 dogs.
Project description:Acute compartment syndrome (ACS) is a disease in which local circulation is affected due to increased pressure within the compartment. We previously found in patients with calf fractures, the pressure of fascial compartment could be sharply reduced upon the appearance of tension blisters. Deep fascia, as the important structure for compartment, might play key role in this process. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine the differences in gene profile in deep fascia tissue in fracture patients of the calf with or without tension blisters, and to explore the role of fascia in pressure improvement in ACS. Patients with lower leg fracture were enrolled and divided into without tension blister control group (CON group, n=10), and with tension blister group (TB group, n=10). Deep fascia tissues were collected and LC-MS/MS label-free quantitative proteomics were performed. Genes involved in fascia structure and fibroblast function were further validated by Western blot. The differentially expressed proteins were found to be mainly enriched in pathways related to protein synthesis and processing, stress fiber assembly, cell-substrate adhesion, leukocyte mediated cytotoxicity, and cellular response to stress. Compared with the CON group, the expression of Peroxidasin homolog (PXDN), which promotes the function of fibroblasts, and Leukocyte differentiation antigen 74 (CD74), which enhances the proliferation of fibroblasts, were significantly upregulated, while the expression of Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP9), which is involved in collagen hydrolysis, and Neutrophil elastase (ELANE), which is involved in elastin hydrolysis, were significantly reduced in the TB group (p all <0.05), indicating fascia tissue underwent microenvironment reconstruction during ACS.In summary, the ACS accompanied by blisters is associated with the enhanced function and proliferation of fibroblasts and reduced hydrolysis of collagen and elastin. The adaptive alterations in the stiffness and elasticity of the deep fascia might be crucial for pressure release of ACS.
Project description:Sprague-Dawley rats were placed on an ethanol-containing or pair-fed Lieber and DeCarli diets for 4 wks prior to surgical fracture. Following insertion of a medullary pin, a closed mid-diaphyseal fracture was induced using a Bonnarens and Einhorn fracture device. At 3 days post-fracture, the region of the fracture calluses were harvested from the right hind-limb. RNA was extracted and microarray analysis was conducted against the entire rat genome to study the effects of alcohol-consumption on the fracture healing. The experiments were on four rat subjects, i.e., pair-fed rats with subsequent surgical fracture or no surgical fracture, and alcohol-fed rats with subsequent surgical fracture or no surgical fracture. Each rat subject described above has three replicates so 6 kinds of pairing can be made and each pairing has a dye-swap replicate (thus, a total 12 array experiments). The focus of this study is on the pair-fed fracture subject vs. alcohol-fed fracture subject.
Project description:Parental dietary conditions can influence the metabolic traits of offspring. In mice, paternal consumption of low protein diet alters cholesterol and lipid metabolism of progeny. Here, we examine RNA species expressed in male reproductive tissues of mice. Protein restriction leads to altered levels of multiple small RNAs in mature sperm, as well as throughout the male reproductive tract, with decreased levels of let-7 family members and increased levels of 5â?? fragments of tRNA-Gly isoacceptors. Intriguingly, tRNA fragments are scarce in the testis, but their levels increase in sperm during posttesticular maturation in the epididymis. We find that epididymosomes â?? extracellular vesicles which fuse with sperm during epididymal transit â?? exhibit RNA payloads closely matching those of mature sperm, and can deliver tRNA fragments to immature sperm in vitro both in mouse and in bull. Finally, we show that tRNA-Gly-GCC fragments play a role in repressing genes associated with the endogenous retroelement MERVL, both in ES cells and in preimplantation embryos. Our results shed light on small RNA biogenesis during post-testicular sperm maturation, and link tRNA fragments to regulation of endogenous retroelements active in the early embryo. E14 mESCs were transfected with LNA-containing oligos antisense to tRF-GG or GFP-esiRNA as control, then either total RNA was isolated or 80S ribosomes were isolated from Rnase-digested whole cell lysate, and footprints between 26-32nt were collected for ribosome profiling library construction using a kit-free protocol based on Heyer et al. 2015 NAR.
Project description:Salamander limb regeneration is dependent upon tissue interactions that are local to the amputation site. Communication among limb epidermis, peripheral nerves, and mesenchyme coordinate cell migration, cell proliferation, and tissue patterning to generate a blastema, a mass of progenitor cells that forms missing limb structures. An outstanding question is how molecular cross-talk between these tissues gives rise to the regeneration blastema. To identify genes associated with epidermis-nerve-mesenchymal interactions during limb regeneration, we examined histological and transcriptional changes during the first week following injury in the wound epidermis and subjacent cells between three injury types; 1) a flank wound on the side of the animal that will not regenerate a limb, 2) a denervated limb that will not regenerate a limb, and 3) an innervated limb that will regenerate a limb. Early, histological and transcriptional changes were highly similar between the three injury types, presumably because a common wound-healing program is employed across anatomical locations. However, we identified transcripts that were enriched in the limb compared to the flank and are associated with vertebrate limb development. Many of these genes were activated before blastema outgrowth and in situ hybridization showed that some of these genes were expressed in specific tissue types including the epidermis, peripheral nerve, and mesenchyme. We also identified a relatively small group of transcripts that were more highly expressed in innervated limbs versus denervated limbs. These transcripts encode for proteins that are associated with myelination of peripheral nerves, epidermal maintenance, and cell proliferation, suggesting that denervation affects myelinating Schwann cells, epidermal cell function, and proliferation of mesenchymal cells. Overall, our study identifies limb-specific and nerve-dependent genes that are upstream of regenerative growth, and thus promising candidates for the regulation of blastema formation. We used microarray analysis to determine the gene expression changes that take place during limb regeneration, flank wound healing, and an denervated amputated limb. Epidermal tissue and cells adhered to the epidermis were collected as samples. Two harvested samples was pooled for each animal. Four biological replicates were collected from uninjured epidermis (D0) and at 1, 3, and 7 days post injury.
Project description:Identifying the genetic program that induces limb regeneration in salamanders is an important resource for regenerative medicine, which currently lacks tools to promote regeneration of functional body structures. The genetic network underlying limb regeneration has been elusive due to the complexity of the injury response that occurs concomitant to blastema formation. Here we performed parallel expression profile time courses of non-regenerative lateral wounds versus amputated limbs in axolotl. We show that limb regeneration occurs in three distinguishable phases--early wound healing followed by a transition phase leading to establishment of the limb development program. By focusing on the transition phase, we identified 93 strictly regeneration-associated genes involved in oxidative stress response, chromatin modification, epithelial development and limb development. The specific expression of the genes was confirmed by in situ hybridization. Regeneration-specific expression databases are critical resources for understanding how regeneration-relevant phenotypes can be induced from adult cells Regeneration of the axolotl forelimb lower arm was compared with the healing of a deep lateral injury in a high density timecourse (uncut, 3h, 6h, 9h, 12h, 24h, 36h, 52h, 72h, 120h, 168h, 288h and 528h after injury). Three independent biological replicates were performed using separate cluches of animals. Amputated and lateral wound samples were made as matched contralateral samples of four pooled animals per timepoint.
Project description:The intent of the experiment was to identify genes that were differentially expressed between dogs affected with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture and breed-matched controls. Anterior cruciate ligament and knee synovial tissue biopsies were collected from 4 ACL rupture affected cases and 4 unaffected control dogs. Cases and controls were matched as closely as possible based on breed, sex, neutered status, age, and weight. Medications that the dogs were taking at the time of sample collection were also considered. We prioritized sample size and quality above all other variables, therefore, two matched pairs of Golden Retrievers were chosen with two matched pairs of Labrador Retrievers for this analysis. Tissues from cases were collected during knee stabilization surgery. Tissues from unaffected control dogs were collected from dogs undergoing pelvic limb amputation or euthanasia for reasons unrelated to this study. Illumina TruSeq RNA libraries were constructed and 150bp paired-end sequencing was performed using the Illumina Hi-Seq 2500 platform. Table 1. Breed, sex, age, and weight of matched case and control pairs chosen for RNA sequencing analysis Cases Matched Controls Breed Sex Age (yr) Weight (kg) Breed Sex Age (yr) Weight (kg) GR1 CM 8.8 30.5 GR2 CM 14.9 N/A GR3 CM 5.6 44.0 GR4 CM 3.9 34.0 LR1 CM 9.7 36.0 LR2 CM 12.7 28.5 LR3 CM 13.3 36.0 LR4 CM 13.5 35.0 GR = Golden Retriever. LR = Labrador Retriever. CM= castrated male. Weight at the time of death was not available for one dog.
Project description:Xenopus laevis tadpoles display a decreasing capacity to regenerate their limbs following injury according to developmental stage. By comparing the regenerative response during the naturally occurring regeneration-competent, -restricted and -incompetent stages, scRNAseq can reveal cell type changes that are required for successful regeneration.