Single Cell RNA Sequencing Identifies Subsets of Hepatic Stellate Cells and Myofibroblasts in Liver Fibrosis
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ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE132662 | GEO | 2019/06/14
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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Project description:Direct induction of induced hepatocytes (iHeps) from fibroblasts holds potential as a strategy for regenerative medicine, but until now has only been shown in culture settings. Here, we describe in vivo iHep formation using transcription factor induction and genetic fate tracing in mouse models of chronic liver disease. We show that ectopic expression of the transcription factors FOXA3, GATA4, HNF1A and HNF4A from a polycistronic lentiviral vector converts mouse myofibroblasts into cells with a hepatocyte phenotype. In vivo expression of the same set of transcription factors from a p75 neurotrophin receptor peptide (p75NTRp)-tagged adenovirus enabled the generation of hepatocyte-like cells from myofibroblasts in fibrotic mouse livers and reduced liver fibrosis. We have therefore been able to convert profibrogenic myofibroblasts in the liver into hepatocyte-like cells with positive functional benefits. This direct in vivo reprogramming approach may open new avenues for the treatment of chronic liver disease. Whole Mouse Genome Oligo Microarray v2 (4x44K) (Agilent Technologies) was used to characterize global gene expression profiles of iHeps compared to myofibroblasts and primary mouse hepatocytes. All microarrays were performed at the Research Core Unit Transcriptomics of the Hanover Medical School. Briefly, total RNA was used to prepare the aminoallyl-UTPmodified (aaUTP) cRNAs (Amino Allyl MessageAmp⢠II Kit; #AM1753; Life Technologies) as directed by the company. The aaUTP-cRNAs were labelled with Alexa Fluor 555 Reactive Dye (#A32756; LifeTechnologies). Prior to the reverse transcription reaction, 1μl of a 1:5000 dilution of Agilentâs One-Color spike-in Kit stock solution (#5188-5282, Agilent Technologies) was added to 100ng of total RNA of each analyzed sample. The cRNA fragmentation, hybridization, and washing steps were carried out according to Agilentâs One-Color Microarray-Based Gene Expression Analysis Protocol V5.7 except that 500ng of each labelled cRNA sample were used for hybridization. Slides were scanned on the Agilent Micro Array Scanner G2565 CA (pixel resolution 5 μm, bit depth 20). Data extraction was performed with the Feature Extraction Software V10.7.3.1. 12 samples were analyzed: Pr-mHSC: Primary myofibroblasts derived from hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), 2 replicates; In-vivo iHep: In-vivo myofibroblasts-derived from induced hepatocytes (iHep), 3 replicates; In-vivo eHep: In-vivo endogenous hepatocytes (eHep), 3 replicates; In-vitro iHep: In-vitro myofibroblasts-derived from induced hepatocytes (iHep), 3 replicates; PH24h: Primary hepatocytes (PH) cultured for 24 hours, 1 replicate.
2016-02-22 | E-GEOD-76843 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are the primary cell type responsible for liver fibrosis, the final common pathway leading to cirrhosis and liver failure for nearly every cause of chronic liver disease. Activation of HSCs in response to injury represents the key step in hepatic fibrogenesis, and is characterized by a phenotypic change from a non-fibrogenic, quiescent HSC to a fibrogenic HSC myofibroblast that secretes extracellular matrix proteins responsible for the fibrotic scar. We developed a small molecule screen to identify compounds that revert fibrotic human HSC myofibroblasts to an inactive phenotype through the quantification of lipid droplets with fluorescent microscopy. Conditions were optimized in a 384-well format using culture in Matrigel as a positive control. We screened 1600 compounds and identified 30 small molecules that induce reversion to an inactive phenotype. Among the hits, we identified five tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) and showed that this class of drugs also repressed ACTA2 and COL1A1 while promoting PPAR-gamma expression. RNA sequencing analysis implicated extracellular matrix proteins and the sphingolipid pathway as a target of the TCAs.
2017-03-02 | GSE78853 | GEO
Project description:Activated hepatic stellate cells (HSC) that transdifferentiate to myofibroblasts in the injured liver are responsible for scar formation that leads to fibrosis and eventually cirrhosis. To investigate the gene expression profile during different stages of this process, we performed serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE), representing a quantitative and qualitative description of all expressed genes. Stellate cells were isolated from human livers and cultured. SAGE was performed on RNA isolated from quiescent, activated and transdifferentiated HSC. Comparison of the three resulting transcriptomes showed that less than 5% of all genes changed significantly in expression. Established markers of liver fibrosis showed enhanced expression in accordance with the transdifferentiation process. In addition, induction was seen for several genes not yet recognized to be involved in liver fibrosis, such as insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBP) and antagonists of bone morphogenic proteins: follistatin and gremlin. The induction of these genes was validated in vivo in mice developing liver fibrosis. The expression of IGFBPs and gremlin was measurable in the livers of these mice while it was low or undetectable in control mice without liver fibrosis. Since gremlin modulates the activity of bone morphogenic growth factors, it may represent a novel pathway and a target for therapeutic intervention and together with IGFBPs as a specific marker of liver fibrosis. In conclusion, the comparison of the three transcriptomes of (activated) stellate cells reveals novel genes involved in fibrogenesis and provides an appreciation of the sequence and timing of the fibrotic process in liver. Keywords: cell type comparison Human hepatic stellate cells (HSC) were isolated from wedge sections of normal human liver unsuitable for transplantation or from tumor-free human liver after partial hepatectomy as previously reported. Briefly, after a combined digestion with collagenase/pronase, HSC were separated from other liver nonparenchymal cells by ultracentrifugation over gradients of Larcoll (Sigma). The percentage of HSC in these isolates was > 90% as assessed by transmission microscopy, autofluorescence of vitamin A and immunofluorescence of vimentin. Immediately after isolation RNA was extracted for the construction of the SAGE library of quiescent HSC. To obtain activated stellate cells, these cells were cultured for 15 days on plastic culture dishes in modified Dulbecco's medium supplemented with 0.6 U/ml insulin, 2.0 mmol/L glutamine, 0.1 mmol/L nonessential amino acids, 1.0 mmol/L sodium pyruvate, antibiotic antifungal solution (Gibco) and 20% fetal bovine serum. To obtain fully transdifferentiated hepatic stellate cells, or myofibroblasts, the cells were cultured until they had reached passage 6 to 7. Myofibroblast phenotype was confirmed by detection of vimentin and ?-smooth muscle actin using immunofluorescence with monoclonal antibodies from Dako and Sigma, respectively. Medium was refreshed twice a week and at the indicated period RNA was extracted using Trizol (Quiagen)
2006-07-01 | E-GEOD-5022 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Hepatic stellate cells are the primary cell type responsible for development of fibrosis in chronic liver disease. We used directional RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequencing (ChIP-seq) to identify the lncRNAs expressed in human HSCs. We also identified the lncRNAs that change in expression with differentiation of nonfibrotic quiescent HSCs into fibrotic HSC myofibroblasts and those that are regulated by TGF-beta signaling. ChIP-seq was also performed to identify DNA regions occupied by H3K27ac to define super-enhancers in HSC myofibroblasts. This study identified lncRNAs expressed HSCs that may regulate fibrosis. Analysis of genome-wide lncRNA expression using RNA-seq and ChiP-seq in human HSCs under four different conditions
2016-03-23 | E-GEOD-68108 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Single Cell RNA Sequencing Identifies Subsets of Hepatic Stellate Cells and Myofibroblasts in Liver Fibrosis
| PRJNA548680 | ENA
Project description:Here, we investigate the role of enhancers in myofibroblasts, a cell type that dominates the pathogenesis and progression of tissue fibrosis. We reveal that bromodomain and extra-terminal family members (BETs), an important group of epigenetic readers, are critical for super-enhancer-mediated pro-fibrotic gene expression in hepatic stellate cells (HSCs, lipid-containing liver-specific pericytes), upon activation during liver fibrogenesis give rise to myofibroblasts2-4. We observe significantly enriched localization of BETs to hundreds of super-enhancers associated with genes involved in multiple pro-fibrotic pathways. This unique loading pattern consequentially serves as a molecular mechanism by which BETs modulate pro-fibrotic gene expression in myofibroblasts. Strikingly, suppression of BET-enhancer interaction using small-molecule inhibitors such as JQ1 dramatically blocks activation of HSCs into myofibroblasts and significantly compromises the proliferation of activated HSCs. Identification of BRD2, BRD3, BRD4, PolII, PolIIs2p and PolIIs5p binding sites in human stellate LX2 cells that were treated with DMSO (0.1%) or JQ1 (500nM) for 16 hrs.
2015-12-11 | E-GEOD-58680 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and their trans-differentiation towards collagen-secreting myofibroblasts (MFB) promote liver fibrosis progression. During chronic liver disease, resting HSCs become activated by inflammatory and injury signals. However, HSCs/MFB not only produce collagen, but also secrete cytokines, participate in metabolism, and have biomechanical properties. We herein aimed to characterize the heterogeneity of these liver mesenchymal cells by single cell RNA sequencing. In vivo resting HSCs or activated MFB were isolated from C57BL6/J mice challenged by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) intraperitoneally for 3 weeks to induce liver fibrosis and compared to in vitro cultivated MFB. While resting HSCs formed a homogenous population characterized by high platelet derived growth factor receptor β (PDGFRβ) expression, in vivo and in vitro activated MFB split into heterogeneous populations, characterized by α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), collagens, or immunological markers. S100 calcium binding protein A6 (S100A6) was a universal marker of activated MFB on both the gene and protein expression level. Compared to the heterogeneity of in vivo MFB, MFB in vitro sequentially and only transiently expressed marker genes, such as chemokines, during culture activation. Taken together, our data demonstrate the heterogeneity of HSCs and MFB, indicating the existence of functionally relevant subsets in hepatic fibrosis.
| S-EPMC6562512 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Activated hepatic stellate cells (HSC) that transdifferentiate to myofibroblasts in the injured liver are responsible for scar formation that leads to fibrosis and eventually cirrhosis. To investigate the gene expression profile during different stages of this process, we performed serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE), representing a quantitative and qualitative description of all expressed genes. Stellate cells were isolated from human livers and cultured. SAGE was performed on RNA isolated from quiescent, activated and transdifferentiated HSC. Comparison of the three resulting transcriptomes showed that less than 5% of all genes changed significantly in expression. Established markers of liver fibrosis showed enhanced expression in accordance with the transdifferentiation process. In addition, induction was seen for several genes not yet recognized to be involved in liver fibrosis, such as insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBP) and antagonists of bone morphogenic proteins: follistatin and gremlin. The induction of these genes was validated in vivo in mice developing liver fibrosis. The expression of IGFBPs and gremlin was measurable in the livers of these mice while it was low or undetectable in control mice without liver fibrosis. Since gremlin modulates the activity of bone morphogenic growth factors, it may represent a novel pathway and a target for therapeutic intervention and together with IGFBPs as a specific marker of liver fibrosis. In conclusion, the comparison of the three transcriptomes of (activated) stellate cells reveals novel genes involved in fibrogenesis and provides an appreciation of the sequence and timing of the fibrotic process in liver. Keywords: cell type comparison
2006-07-01 | GSE5022 | GEO
Project description:Hepatic fibrosis is the common end stage to a variety of chronic liver injuries and is characterized by an excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM), which disrupts the liver architecture and impairs liver function. The fibrous lesions are produced by myofibroblasts, which differentiate from hepatic stellate cells (HSC). The myofibroblasts transcriptional networks remain poorly characterized. Previous studies have shown that the Forkhead box F1 (FOXF1) transcription factor is expressed in HSCs and stimulates their activation during acute liver injury; however, the role of FOXF1 in the progression of hepatic fibrosis is unknown. In the present study, we generated αSMACreER;Foxf1fl/fl mice to conditionally inactivate Foxf1 in myofibroblasts during carbon tetrachloride-mediated liver fibrosis. Foxf1 deletion increased collagen depositions and disrupted liver architecture. Timp2 expression was significantly increased in Foxf1-deficient mice while MMP9 activity was reduced. RNA sequencing of purified liver myofibroblasts demonstrated that FOXF1 inhibits expression of pro-fibrotic genes, Col1α2, Col5α2, and Mmp2 in fibrotic livers and binds to active repressors located in promotors and introns of these genes. Overexpression of FOXF1 inhibits Col1a2, Col5a2, and MMP2 in primary murine HSCs in vitro. Altogether, FOXF1 prevents aberrant ECM depositions during hepatic fibrosis by repressing pro-fibrotic gene transcription in myofibroblasts and HSCs.
2019-02-05 | GSE123726 | GEO
Project description:Hepatic stellate cells are the primary cell type responsible for development of fibrosis in chronic liver disease. We used directional RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequencing (ChIP-seq) to identify the lncRNAs expressed in human HSCs. We also identified the lncRNAs that change in expression with differentiation of nonfibrotic quiescent HSCs into fibrotic HSC myofibroblasts and those that are regulated by TGF-beta signaling. ChIP-seq was also performed to identify DNA regions occupied by H3K27ac to define super-enhancers in HSC myofibroblasts. This study identified lncRNAs expressed HSCs that may regulate fibrosis.
2016-03-23 | GSE68108 | GEO