Project description:This study explored how chronic stress influences the activity of signaling pathways that regulate inflammation in the human monocyte transcriptome. The sample consisted of 33 adults caring for a family member with glioblastoma, a terminal brain cancer, and 47 control subjects whose lives were free of major stressors. The subjects were assessed on four occasions across an eight-month period. Relative to controls, caregivers’ monocytes showed increased expression of genes bearing response elements for nuclear-factor kappa B, a key pro-inflammatory transcription factor in monocytes. Simultaneously, caregivers showed reduced expression of genes with response elements for the glucocorticoid receptor, a transcription factor that conveys anti-inflammatory signals to monocytes. These transcriptional disparities were not attributable to demographic or behavioral confounds. They also were not attributable to differences in diurnal cortisol output, or the abundance of glucocorticoid receptor expressed by monocytes. In ex vivo studies of monocytes stimulated with the bacterial product lipopolysaccharide, caregivers showed increased production of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6, and were less sensitive to cortisol-mediated inhibition of this response. These findings suggest a scenario wherein chronic stressors engender functional changes that hamper monocytes’ capacity to transduce cortisol’s anti-inflammatory signals. These changes occur in parallel with, and perhaps enable, greater inflammatory signaling via nuclear-factor kappa B. The resulting inflammatory milieu could serve as a pathogenic mechanism through which chronic stressors like caregiving accentuate vulnerability to later health problems. series type: Risk prediction Individual differences in basal leukocyte gene expression profiles as a function of chronic caregiving stress Characteristics included in statistical analyses of gene expression data are provided in each sample records. Please note that educational attainment is scored as following; 0=less than high school, 1=high school diploma or equivalent, 2=associate's degree, 3=bachelor's degree, 4=masters degree, 5=doctoral degree
Project description:Gene expression profiling of immortalized human mesenchymal stem cells with hTERT/E6/E7 transfected MSCs. hTERT may change gene expression in MSCs. Goal was to determine the gene expressions of immortalized MSCs.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of human mesenchymal stem cells comparing normoxic MSCs cells with hypoxic MSCs cells. Hypoxia may inhibit senescence of MSCs during expansion. Goal was to determine the effects of hypoxia on global MSCs gene expression.
Project description:Kynureninase is a member of a large family of catalytically diverse but structurally homologous pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) dependent enzymes known as the aspartate aminotransferase superfamily or alpha-family. The Homo sapiens and other eukaryotic constitutive kynureninases preferentially catalyze the hydrolytic cleavage of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine to produce 3-hydroxyanthranilate and l-alanine, while l-kynurenine is the substrate of many prokaryotic inducible kynureninases. The human enzyme was cloned with an N-terminal hexahistidine tag, expressed, and purified from a bacterial expression system using Ni metal ion affinity chromatography. Kinetic characterization of the recombinant enzyme reveals classic Michaelis-Menten behavior, with a Km of 28.3 +/- 1.9 microM and a specific activity of 1.75 micromol min-1 mg-1 for 3-hydroxy-dl-kynurenine. Crystals of recombinant kynureninase that diffracted to 2.0 A were obtained, and the atomic structure of the PLP-bound holoenzyme was determined by molecular replacement using the Pseudomonas fluorescens kynureninase structure (PDB entry 1qz9) as the phasing model. A structural superposition with the P. fluorescens kynureninase revealed that these two structures resemble the "open" and "closed" conformations of aspartate aminotransferase. The comparison illustrates the dynamic nature of these proteins' small domains and reveals a role for Arg-434 similar to its role in other AAT alpha-family members. Docking of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine into the human kynureninase active site suggests that Asn-333 and His-102 are involved in substrate binding and molecular discrimination between inducible and constitutive kynureninase substrates.
Project description:Gene expression profiling of immortalized human mesenchymal stem cells with hTERT/E6/E7 transfected MSCs. hTERT may change gene expression in MSCs. Goal was to determine the gene expressions of immortalized MSCs. One-condition experment, gene expression of 3A6