Project description:Molecular distinctions between the stasis and telomere attrition senescence barriers in cultured human mammary epithelial cells Normal human epithelial cells in culture have generally shown a limited proliferative potential of ~10-40 population doublings before encountering a stress-associated senescence barrier (stasis) associated with elevated levels of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors p16 and/or p21. We now show that simple changes in media composition can expand the proliferative potential of human mammary epithelial cells (HMEC) initiated as primary cultures to 50-60 population doublings, followed by p16(+), senescence-associated b-galactosidase(+) stasis. We compared the properties of growing and senescent pre-stasis HMEC with growing and senescent post-selection HMEC, i.e., cells grown in a serum-free medium that overcame stasis via silencing of p16 expression and that display senescence associated with telomere dysfunction. Cultured pre-stasis populations contained cells expressing markers associated with luminal and myoepithelial HMEC lineages in vivo, in contrast to the basal-like phenotype of the post-selection HMEC. Gene transcript and protein expression, DNA damage-associated markers, mean TRF length, and genomic stability, differed significantly between HMEC populations at the stasis vs. telomere attrition senescence barriers. Senescent isogenic fibroblasts showed greater similarity to HMEC at stasis than at telomere attrition, although their gene transcript profile was distinct from HMEC at both senescence barriers. These studies support our model of the senescence barriers encountered by cultured HMEC in which the first barrier, stasis, is Rb-mediated and independent of telomere length, while a second barrier (agonescence or crisis) results from telomere attrition leading to telomere dysfunction. Additionally, the ability to maintain long-term growth of genomically stable multi-lineage pre-stasis HMEC populations can greatly enhance experimentation with normal HMEC. 48 samples from Human Mammary Epithelial cells which includes samples from four different individuals at different passage levels which includes prestasis,intermediate,post selection and agonesence stages of cell cycle.

Project description:Cellular senescence is a program of irreversible cell cycle arrest that normal cells undergo in response to progressive shortening of telomeres, changes in telomeric structure, oncogene activation or oxidative stress. The underlying signalling pathways, potentially of major clinicopathological relevance, are unknown. A major stumbling block to studying senescence has been the absence of suitable model systems because of the asynchrony of this process in heterogeneous cell populations. To simplify this process many investigators study oncogene-induced senescence due to expression of activated oncogenes where senescence occurs prematurely without telomere attrition and can be induced acutely in a variety of cell types. We have taken a different approach by making use of the finding that reconstitution of telomerase activity by introduction of the catalytic subunit of human telomerase alone is incapable of immortalising all human somatic cells, but inactivation of the p16-pRB and p53-p21 pathways are required in addition. The ability of SV40 large T antigen to inactivate the p16-pRB and p53-p21 pathways has enabled us to use a thermolabile mutant of LT antigen, in conjunction with hTERT, to develop conditionally immortalised human (HMF3A) fibroblasts that are immortal but undergo an irreversible growth arrest when the thermolabile LT antigen is inactivated leading to activation of pRB and p53. When these cells cease dividing, senescence-associated- b-galactosidase activity is induced and the growth-arrested cells have morphological features and express genes in common with senescent cells. Since these cells growth arrest in a synchronous manner they are an excellent starting point for dissecting the pathways that underlie cellular senescence and act downstream of p16-pRB and p53-p21 pathways. We have combined genome-wide expression profiling with genetic complementation to undertake identification of genes that are differentially expressed when these conditionally immortalised human fibroblasts undergo senescence upon activation of the p16-pRB and p53-p21 tumour suppressor pathways. Genes differentially expressed upon senescence will be identified by comparing arrays from growing versus senescent cells. Changes in gene expression due to the temperature shift will be eliminated by comparing with array data from the non-conditional HMF3S cells grown at 34°C ±0.5°C and 38°C ±0.5°C. To determine if the changes in gene expression upon senescence are specific and reversible, the set of differential genes will then be overlaid with array data from cells in which senescence has been bypassed by inactivation of the p16-pRB and p53-p21 tumour suppressor pathways

Project description:Cellular senescence is a program of irreversible cell cycle arrest that normal cells undergo in response to progressive shortening of telomeres, changes in telomeric structure, oncogene activation or oxidative stress. The underlying signalling pathways, potentially of major clinicopathological relevance, are unknown. A major stumbling block to studying senescence has been the absence of suitable model systems because of the asynchrony of this process in heterogeneous cell populations. To simplify this process many investigators study oncogene-induced senescence due to expression of activated oncogenes where senescence occurs prematurely without telomere attrition and can be induced acutely in a variety of cell types. We have taken a different approach by making use of the finding that reconstitution of telomerase activity by introduction of the catalytic subunit of human telomerase alone is incapable of immortalising all human somatic cells, but inactivation of the p16-pRB and p53-p21 pathways are required in addition. The ability of SV40 large T antigen to inactivate the p16-pRB and p53-p21 pathways has enabled us to use a thermolabile mutant of LT antigen, in conjunction with hTERT, to develop conditionally immortalised human (HMF3A) fibroblasts that are immortal but undergo an irreversible growth arrest when the thermolabile LT antigen is inactivated leading to activation of pRB and p53. When these cells cease dividing, senescence-associated- b-galactosidase activity is induced and the growth-arrested cells have morphological features and express genes in common with senescent cells. Since these cells growth arrest in a synchronous manner they are an excellent starting point for dissecting the pathways that underlie cellular senescence and act downstream of p16-pRB and p53-p21 pathways. We have combined genome-wide expression profiling with genetic complementation to undertake identification of genes that are differentially expressed when these conditionally immortalised human fibroblasts undergo senescence upon activation of the p16-pRB and p53-p21 tumour suppressor pathways.

Project description:Cellular senescence due to telomere dysfunction has been hypothesized to play a role in age-associated diseases including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). It has been postulated that paracrine mediators originating from senescent alveolar epithelia signal to surrounding mesenchymal cells and contribute to disease pathogenesis. However, murine models of telomere-induced alveolar epithelial senescence fail to display the canonical senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) that is observed in senescent human cells. In an effort to understand human-specific responses to telomere dysfunction, we modelled telomere dysfunction-induced senescence in a human alveolar epithelial cell line. We hypothesized that this system would enable us to probe for differences in transcriptional and proteomic senescence pathways in vitro and to identify novel secreted protein (secretome) changes that potentially contribute to the pathogenesis of IPF. Following induction of telomere dysfunction, a robust senescence phenotype was observed. RNA-Seq analysis of the senescent cells revealed the SASP and comparisons to previous murine data highlighted species-specific responses to telomere dysfunction. We then conducted a proteomic analysis of the senescent cells using a novel biotin ligase capable of labeling secreted proteins. Candidate biomarkers selected from our transcriptional and secretome data were then evaluated in IPF and control patient plasma. Four novel proteins were found to be differentially expressed between the patient groups: stanniocalcin-1, contactin-1, tenascin C, and total inhibin. Our data show that human telomere-induced, alveolar epithelial senescence results in a transcriptional SASP that is distinct from that seen in analogous murine cells. Our findings suggest that studies in animal models should be carefully validated given the species-specific responses to telomere dysfunction. We also describe a pragmatic approach for the study of the consequences of telomere-induced alveolar epithelial cell senescence in humans.

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Distinctions between the stasis and telomere attrition senescence barriers in cultured human mammary epithelial cells

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