Project description:The set of expressed microRNAs in a given cell type, or “miRNome”, can be explored under many different aspects. Many studies report modulations of the miRNome in a wide variety of cancers. Papillary thyroid cancer is the most prevalent type of endocrine cancer. The presence of nodal metastases increases the risk of recurrence and mortality. In our study, we performed microRNA deep sequencing (miRSeq) of 3 PTC, their matching normal tissues and nodal metastases and designed a new bioinformatic framework to analyze variations of the different aspects of the miRNome: expression profile, isomiRs and non-templated additions distributions, mutation or A-to-I RNA-editing. Furthermore, we validated our results using qRT-PCR on independent samples from 14 patients and using the collection of miRSeq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (up to 495 miRseq of PTC). We gave a particular attention to cell content and contamination. We showed that microRNA expression profiles of thyrocytes are altered during tumorigenesis. These alterations involve known up regulations of microRNAs such as miR-146b-5p or miR-22-3p but also down regulations such as miR-7-5p, miR-7-2-5p, miR-1179 or miR-204-5p. Furthermore, some expression modulations were increased following the nodal metastatic process such as miR-7-2-3p or miR-138-1-3p. However, we did not find variations in the other aspects of the miRNome analyzed. We used our bioinformatic frameworks on the largest PTC miRSeq data collection available, to our knowledge. It allowed us, in one study on the different aspects of the miRNome, to find modulated microRNAs that could act as biomarkers of PTC.
Project description:The biology underlying nodal metastasis is poorly understood. Transcriptome profiling has helped to characterize both primary tumors seeding nodal metastasis and the metastasis themselves. The interpretation of these data, however, is not without ambiguities. Here we profiled the transcriptomes of 17 papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) nodal metastases, associated primary tumors and primary tumors from N0 patients. We also included patient-matched normal thyroid and lymph node samples as controls to address some limits of previous studies. We found that the transcriptomes of patient-matched primary tumors and metastases were more similar than of unrelated metastases/primary pairs, a result also reported in other organ systems, and that part of this similarity reflected patient background. We found that the comparison of patient-matched primary tumors and metastases was heavily confounded by the presence of lymphoid tissues in the metastasis samples. An original data adjustment procedure was developed to circumvent this problem. It revealed a differential expression of stroma-related gene expression signatures also regulated in other organ systems. The comparison of N0 vs. N+ primary tumors uncovered a signal irreproducible across independent PTC datasets. This signal was also detectable when comparing the normal thyroid tissues adjacent to N0 and N+ tumors, suggesting a cohort specific bias also likely to be present in previous studies with similar statistical power. Classification of N0 vs. N+ yielded an accuracy of 63%, but additional statistical controls not presented in previous studies, revealed that this is likely to occur by chance alone. To address this issue, we used large datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas and showed that N0 vs. N+ classification rates could not be reached randomly for most cancers. Yet, it was significant, but of limited accuracy (<70%) for thyroid, breast and head and neck cancers. We profiled the transcriptomes of 11 primary PTCs with no detectable nodal invasion, 17 primary PTCs with nodal invasion and 17 patient-matched nodal metastases. We also profiled a number of control samples. These included 24 patient-matched normal thyroid tissues (11 from N0, 13 from N+ patients), and 4 normal lymph nodes; technical and biological replicates including additional nodal metastasis for 3 patients, adjacent blocks for 5 primary tumors, 4 normal thyroid tissues and 1 nodal metastasis.
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:Gene methylation profiling of immortalized human mesenchymal stem cells comparing HPV E6/E7-transfected MSCs cells with human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT)- and HPV E6/E7-transfected MSCs. hTERT may increase gene methylation in MSCs. Goal was to determine the effects of different transfected genes on global gene methylation in MSCs.
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: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. Two-condition experiment, Normoxic MSCs vs. Hypoxic MSCs.
Project description:As the evolution of miRNA genes has been found to be one of the important factors in formation of the modern type of man, we performed a comparative analysis of the evolution of miRNA genes in two archaic hominines, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens denisova, and elucidated the expression of their target mRNAs in bain.A comparative analysis of the genomes of primates, including species in the genus Homo, identified a group of miRNA genes having fixed substitutions with important implications for the evolution of Homo sapiens neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens denisova. The mRNAs targeted by miRNAs with mutations specific for Homo sapiens denisova exhibited enhanced expression during postnatal brain development in modern humans. By contrast, the expression of mRNAs targeted by miRNAs bearing variations specific for Homo sapiens neanderthalensis was shown to be enhanced in prenatal brain development.Our results highlight the importance of changes in miRNA gene sequences in the course of Homo sapiens denisova and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis evolution. The genetic alterations of miRNAs regulating the spatiotemporal expression of multiple genes in the prenatal and postnatal brain may contribute to the progressive evolution of brain function, which is consistent with the observations of fine technical and typological properties of tools and decorative items reported from archaeological Denisovan sites. The data also suggest that differential spatial-temporal regulation of gene products promoted by the subspecies-specific mutations in the miRNA genes might have occurred in the brains of Homo sapiens denisova and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, potentially contributing to the cultural differences between these two archaic hominines.
Project description:PurposeWe investigated the evidence of recent positive selection in the human phototransduction system at single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and gene level.MethodsSNP genotyping data from the International HapMap Project for European, Eastern Asian, and African populations was used to discover differences in haplotype length and allele frequency between these populations. Numeric selection metrics were computed for each SNP and aggregated into gene-level metrics to measure evidence of recent positive selection. The level of recent positive selection in phototransduction genes was evaluated and compared to a set of genes shown previously to be under recent selection, and a set of highly conserved genes as positive and negative controls, respectively.ResultsSix of 20 phototransduction genes evaluated had gene-level selection metrics above the 90th percentile: RGS9, GNB1, RHO, PDE6G, GNAT1, and SLC24A1. The selection signal across these genes was found to be of similar magnitude to the positive control genes and much greater than the negative control genes.ConclusionsThere is evidence for selective pressure in the genes involved in retinal phototransduction, and traces of this selective pressure can be demonstrated using SNP-level and gene-level metrics of allelic variation. We hypothesize that the selective pressure on these genes was related to their role in low light vision and retinal adaptation to ambient light changes. Uncovering the underlying genetics of evolutionary adaptations in phototransduction not only allows greater understanding of vision and visual diseases, but also the development of patient-specific diagnostic and intervention strategies.
Project description:Cortical thickness has been investigated since the beginning of the 20th century, but we do not know how similar the cortical thickness profiles among humans are. In this study, the local similarity of cortical thickness profiles was investigated using sliding window methods. Here, we show that approximately 5% of the cortical thickness profiles are similarly expressed among humans while 45% of the cortical thickness profiles show a high level of heterogeneity. Therefore, heterogeneity is the rule, not the exception. Cortical thickness profiles of somatosensory homunculi and the anterior insula are consistent among humans, while the cortical thickness profiles of the motor homunculus are more variable. Cortical thickness profiles of homunculi that code for muscle position and skin stimulation are highly similar among humans despite large differences in sex, education, and age. This finding suggests that the structure of these cortices remains well preserved over a lifetime. Our observations possibly relativize opinions on cortical plasticity.