Project description:To characterize the primary and recall responses to EV71 vaccines, PBMC from 19 recipients before and after vaccination with EV71 vaccine are collected and their gene expression signatures after stimulation with EV71 antigen were compared. Four-condition experiment,pre-vaccination PBMCs (stimulation vs. no stimulation with EV71 antigen) vs. post-vaccination PBMCs (stimulation vs. no stimulation with EV71 antigen)
Project description:As part of our study in understanding the role of SP140 in inflammatory pathways in macrophages, we inhibited SP140 mRNA using siRNA. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were obtained from whole blood of healthy donors (from Sanquin Institute Amsterdam or from GSK Stevenage Blood Donation Unit) by Ficoll density gradient (Invitrogen). CD14+ monocytes were positively selected from PBMCs using CD14 Microbeads according to the manufacturer’s instructions (Miltenyi Biotec). CD14+ cells were differentiated with 20 ng/mL of macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) (R&D systems) for 3 days followed by 3 days of polarization into classically activated (inflammatory) M1 macrophages (100 ng/mL IFN-γ; R&D systems). M1 macrophages were transfected with siGENOME human smartpool SP140 siRNA or non-targeting scrambled siRNA for 48h with DharmaFECT™ transfection reagents according to manufacturer’s protocol (Dharmacon). The cells were left unstimulated or stimulated with 100 ng/mL LPS (E. coli 0111:B4; Sigma) for 4h (for qPCR) or 24h (for Elisa). The cells were lysed (ISOLATE II RNA Lysis Buffer RLY-Bioline) for RNA extraction.150 ng total RNA was labelled using the cRNA labelling kit for Illumina BeadArrays (Ambion) and hybridized with Ref8v3 BeadArrays (Illumina). Arrays were scanned on a BeadArray 500GX scanner and data were normalized using quantile normalization with background subtraction (GenomeStudio software; Illumina). This submission only contains processed data
Project description:Beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) is a ketone body synthesized during fasting or strenuous exercise. Our previous study demonstrated that a cyclic ketogenic diet (KD), which induces BHB levels similar to fasting every other week, reduces midlife mortality and improves memory in aging mice. BHB actively regulates gene expression and inflammatory activation through non-energetic signaling pathways. Neither of these activities has been well-characterized in the brain and they may represent mechanisms by which BHB affects brain function during aging. First, we analyzed hepatic gene expression in an aging KD-treated mouse cohort using bulk RNA-seq. In addition to the downregulation of TOR pathway activity, cyclic KD reduces inflammatory gene expression in the liver. We observed via flow cytometry that KD also modulates age-related systemic T cell functions. Next, we investigated whether BHB affects brain cells transcriptionallyin vitro. Gene expression analysis in primary human brain cells (microglia, astrocytes, neurons) using RNA-seq shows that BHB causes a mild level of inflammation in all three cell types. However, BHB inhibits the more pronounced LPS-induced inflammatory gene activation in microglia. Furthermore, we confirmed that BHB similarly reduces LPS-induced inflammation in primary mouse microglia and bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs). BHB is recognized as an inhibitor of histone deacetylase (HDAC), an inhibitor of NLRP3 inflammasome, and an agonist of the GPCR Hcar2. Nevertheless, in microglia, BHB's anti-inflammatory effects are independent of these known mechanisms. Finally, we examined the brain gene expression of 12-month-old male mice fed with one-week and one-year cyclic KD. While a one-week KD increases inflammatory signaling, a one-year cyclic KD reduces neuroinflammation induced by aging. In summary, our findings demonstrate that BHB mitigates the microglial response to inflammatory stimuli, like LPS, possibly leading to decreased chronic inflammation in the brain after long-term KD treatment in aging mice.
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.