Project description:Liver biopsy samples were obtained from 64 infants with biliary atresia at the time of intraoperative cholangiogram. Liver biopsy samples were obtained from 14 age-matched infants with other causes of intrahepatic cholestasis, and from 7 deceased-donor children. GeneChip® Human Gene 1.0 ST Array (Affymetrix, CA) were used to screen mRNAs whose expression was specifically regulated in the livers from patients with biliary atresia. Gene expression profiling: Liver biopsy samples obtained from infantas with other causes of intrahepatic cholestasis were served as diseased control. Liver tissue obtained from deceased-donor children were served as normal control. A molecular signataure of biliary atresia at the time of diagnosis was identified by comparing hepatic gene expression profile from biliary atresia to those from diseased and normal controls. This dataset is part of the TransQST collection.
Project description:<p>Maternal seeding of the microbiome in neonates promotes a long-lasting biological footprint, but how it impacts disease susceptibility in early life remains unknown. We hypothesized that feeding butyrate to pregnant mice influences the newborn’s susceptibility to biliary atresia, a severe cholangiopathy of neonates. Here, we show that butyrate administration to mothers renders newborn mice resistant to inflammation and injury of bile ducts and improves survival. The prevention of hepatic immune cell activation and survival trait is linked to fecal signatures of Bacteroidetes and Clostridia and increases glutamate/glutamine and hypoxanthine in stool metabolites of newborn mice. In human neonates with biliary atresia, the fecal microbiome signature of these bacteria is under-represented, with suppression of glutamate/glutamine and increased hypoxanthine pathways. The direct administration of butyrate or glutamine to newborn mice attenuates the disease phenotype, but only glutamine renders bile duct epithelial cells resistant to cytotoxicity by natural killer cells. Thus, maternal intake of butyrate influences the fecal microbial population and metabolites in newborn mice and the phenotypic expression of experimental biliary atresia, with glutamine promoting survival of bile duct epithelial cells.</p>
Project description:Gene expression profile of biliary atresia at time of Kasai portoenterostomy was evaluated by comparing gene expression profile in biliary atresia and controls (choledochocyst).
Project description:BACKGROUND: Young age at portoenterostomy has been linked to improved outcome in biliary atresia, but pre-existing biological factors may influence the rate of disease progression. In this study, we aimed to determine whether molecular profiling of the liver identifies stages of disease at diagnosis. METHODS: We examined liver biopsies from 47 infants with biliary atresia enrolled in a prospective observational study. Biopsies were scored for inflammation and fibrosis, used for gene expression profiles, and tested for association with indicators of disease severity, response to surgery, and survival at 2 years. RESULTS: Fourteen of 47 livers displayed prominent features of inflammation (N=9) or fibrosis (N=5), with the remainder showing similar levels of both simultaneously. Differential profiling of gene expression of the 14 livers displayed a unique molecular signature containing 150 gene probes. Applying prediction analysis models, the probes classified 29 of the remaining 33 livers into inflammation or fibrosis. Molecular classification into the two groups was validated by the findings of increased hepatic population of lymphocyte subsets or tissue accumulation of matrix substrates. The groups had no association with traditional markers of liver injury or function, response to surgery, or complications of cirrhosis. However, infants with an inflammation signature were younger, while those with a fibrosis signature had decreased transplant-free survival. CONCLUSION: Molecular profiling at diagnosis of biliary atresia uncovers a signature of inflammation or fibrosis in most livers. This signature may relate to staging of disease at diagnosis and has implications to clinical outcomes. Clinical and laboratory data and liver biopies were obtained from 47 infants at diagnosis of biliary atresia and every 3-6 month intervals until 2 years of age as part of a prospective, observational study of the Biliary Atresia Research Consortium. Liver biopsies underwent histological scoring and those specimens classified as inflammation or fibrosis were used to generate a group-specific gene expression profile. The profile was used to assign a molecular stages of inflammation or fibrosis to the entire cohort. Molecular groups were tested for biological plausibility using immunostaining to quantify hepatic inflammatory cells, and quantitative PCR to reproduce the expression of gene groups and the expression of collagen genes. They were also tested for clinical relevance by testing of association with indicators of liver function, complications of disease, and clinical outcome. This dataset is part of the TransQST collection.
Project description:We report label-free quantification of xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes (XME), transporters, redox enzymes, proteases and nucleases in 25 human liver microsomal samples, taken from patients with biliary atresia. Nearly 3500 proteins were identified and quantified. These data can be used in physiologically based pharmacokinetic models to predict appropriate drug doses drugs used in biliary atresia patients.
Project description:Introgressed variants from other species can be an important source of genetic variation because they may arise rapidly, can include multiple mutations on a single haplotype, and have often been pretested by selection in the species of origin. Although introgressed alleles are generally deleterious, several studies have reported introgression as the source of adaptive alleles-including the rodenticide-resistant variant of Vkorc1 that introgressed from Mus spretus into European populations of Mus musculus domesticus. Here, we conducted bidirectional genome scans to characterize introgressed regions into one wild population of M. spretus from Spain and three wild populations of M. m. domesticus from France, Germany, and Iran. Despite the fact that these species show considerable intrinsic postzygotic reproductive isolation, introgression was observed in all individuals, including in the M. musculus reference genome (GRCm38). Mus spretus individuals had a greater proportion of introgression compared with M. m. domesticus, and within M. m. domesticus, the proportion of introgression decreased with geographic distance from the area of sympatry. Introgression was observed on all autosomes for both species, but not on the X-chromosome in M. m. domesticus, consistent with known X-linked hybrid sterility and inviability genes that have been mapped to the M. spretus X-chromosome. Tract lengths were generally short with a few outliers of up to 2.7 Mb. Interestingly, the longest introgressed tracts were in olfactory receptor regions, and introgressed tracts were significantly enriched for olfactory receptor genes in both species, suggesting that introgression may be a source of functional novelty even between species with high barriers to gene flow.
Project description:The aim of the study was to investigate whether the trefoil peptide genes, in concerted action with a miRNA regulatory network, were contributing to nutritional maintrenance. Using a Tff2 knock-out mouse model, 48 specific miRNAs were noted to be significantly deregulated when compared to the wild type strain.
Project description:The aim of the study was to investigate whether the trefoil peptide genes, in concerted action with a miRNA regulatory network, were contributing to nutritional maintrenance. Using a Tff3 knock-out mouse model, 21 specific miRNAs were noted to be significantly deregulated when compared to the wild type strain.