Project description:Ten-month-old male beagle canines were purchased from the ANNIMO Science and Technology Ltd (Nanjing, China, Certificate No. SCXK (Su) 2010-0002), and maintained in a specific pathogen-free environment. Canines were randomly assigned to two groups (4 in each group) and received capsules with control filler or Aristolochic Acid I (AAI) filler (3 mg/kg/day, equivalent dose of mouse) for 10 days. Canines were sacrificed at 11 days after initiation of the treatment. Livers were excised immediately after sacrifice. Part of the livers were immediately snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen and kept at -80°C for total RNA isolation and microRNA microarray analysis.
Project description:Adhesion of T. cruzi trypomastigotes to components of the extracellular matrix (ECM) is an important step in mammalian host cell invasion. We have recently described a significant increase in the tyrosine nitration levels of histones H2A and H4 when trypomastigotes are incubated with components of the ECM. In this work, we used chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) with an anti-nitro-tyrosine antibody followed by mass spectrometry to identify nitrated DNA binding proteins in T. cruzi and to detect alterations in nitration levels induced upon parasite incubation with the ECM. Histone H1, H2B, H2A and H3 were detected among the 9 most abundant nitrated DNA binding proteins using this proteomic approach. One nitrated tyrosine residue (Y29) was identified in Histone H2B in the MS/MS spectrum. In addition, we observed a significant increase in the nitration levels of histones H1, H2B, H2A and H4 upon parasite incubation with ECM. Finally, we used ChIP-Seq to map global changes in the DNA binding profile of nitrated proteins. We observed a significant change in the binding pattern of nitrated proteins to DNA after parasite incubation with ECM. This work provides the first global profile of nitrated DNA binding proteins in T. cruzi and additional evidence for modification in the nitration profile of histones upon parasite incubation with ECM. Our data also indicate that the interaction of the parasite with the ECM induces alterations in chromatin structure, possibly affecting nuclear functions.
Project description:Mice were injured and their response in Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSC) were studied over a period of seven days. The injury site was either non-immobilized or immobilized. The aim of the project is to study how immobilization affects stemness and inflammatory cell response after injury by investigating chromatin accessibility differences using ATAC-Seq.
Project description:The B-cell receptor (BCR) plays an important role in pathogenesis and progression of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). We investigated the BCR triggering-dependent microRNA modulation by stimulating CLL cells with immobilized anti-IgM. miRome of immobilized anti-IgM stimulated CLL cells (n=16) identified a substantial upregulation of miR-132 in both unmutated (UM) and mutated (M) IGHV subgroups. A parallel gene expression profile and an in-silico analysis to identify miR-132 target genes¸ allowed us to focus on SIRT1, that encodes for a histone deacetylase targeting several proteins including TP53. We defined a reduction of SIRT1 protein levels upon immobilized anti-IgM stimulation (P=0.001), and a concomitant increase in TP53 acetylation (P=0.0072). The TP53 target gene CDKN1A was consistently up-regulated in immobilized anti-IgM stimulated CLL cells. Of note, the miR-132 constitutive expression levels in CLL cases (n=134) were of similar magnitude of those obtained in in vitro immobilized anti-IgM stimulated CLL cells. Additionally, high miR-132 expression levels retained a favorable prognostic impact in M (P=0.005), but not in UM CLL patients (P=0.968). The described miR-132/SIRT1/TP53 axis, sequentially characterized by BCR triggering, miR-132 up-regulation, SIRT1 down-regulation and TP53 acetylation, should be considered in the light of emerging drugs targeting the BCR pathway in CLL.