Project description:We analyzed over 40,000 cells from nine pediatric MPAL BM samples to generate a single-cell transcriptomic landscape of B/Myeloid (B/My) and T/Myeloid (T/My) MPAL blasts and associated microenvironment cells. Cell clusters were identified using principal component analysis and uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP). Supervised differentially expressed gene (DEG) analysis was performed to identify B/My and T/My MPAL blast-specific signatures. MPAL sample transcriptome profiles were compared with normal BM stem and immune cells to identify MPAL-specific dysregulation. We have for the first time described the single-cell transcriptomic landscape of pediatric MPAL and have demonstrated that B/My and T/My MPAL have unique scRNA-seq profiles distinct from each other with expected overlap with AML and their respective ALL subtype.
Project description:Array analysis of My-bi and Ly-bi HSC identifies candidate molecules for myeloid-bias. Collectively the data show that HSC in adults are largely epigenetically fixed in differentiation and self-renewal behavior. A direct examination of the epigenetic mechanisms that imprint HSC is difficult. However, an indirect way of assessing the effects of epigenetic imprinting is to look for the expressed gene programs of different types of HSC. Therefore, we performed an array analysis in collaboration with Dr. Michael Cooke. My-bi and Ly-bi HSC were identified in clonally repopulated hosts. The analysis returned 218 differentially expressed genes (M-bM-^IM-% Log2 M-bM-^IM-%2, p< 0.05) of which 36 were found to be overexpressed in My-bi HSC and the rest was overexpressed in Ly-bi HSC (Appendix A). There was no difference in expression levels for genes known to be involved in fate decisions during differentiation. This agrees well with our data that lineage bias is a stable function of a HSC, and does not reflect a differentiated type of cell. Gene expression profiles of myeloid-biased (My-bi) and lymphoid-biased (Ly-bi) stem cells were analyzed. Clonally repopulated hosts were generated by limiting dilution of bone marrow into ablated hosts and lineage bias was determined. Single My-bi (Tenor) and Ly-bi (Mort) repopulated hosts were sacrificed and Donor type HSC were enriched for Sca-1+, Lin- cells. Two technical replicates of RNA extract were run from each clone.
Project description:Activation of YAP is frequently observed in cancer and is associated with poor outcomes, making it an attractive target for therapeutic intervention. Previous studies have mainly focused on blocking the interaction of YAP with TEAD transcription factors. Here we took a different approach by interfering with the binding of YAP to the transcription factor B-MYB using MY-COMP, a fragment of B-MYB containing the YAP binding domain fused to a nuclear localization signal. We found that expression of MY-COMP inhibited the binding of B-MYB to YAP, resulting in growth defects, nuclear abnormalities and polyploidization in HeLa cells. Additionally, MY-COMP interfered with normal cell cycle progression of YAP-dependent uveal melanoma cells, but its effects were much weaker in YAP-independent cutaneous melanoma cell lines. MY-COMP antagonized the YAP-dependent expression of MMB-regulated cell cycle genes, providing an explanation for the observed phenotypes. We identified NIMA-related kinase (NEK2) as a candidate target downstream of YAP and B-MYB, contributing to the transformation of YAP-dependent uveal tumor cell lines. Overall, our findings suggest that targeting selected YAP-MMB regulated genes such as NEK2 or inhibiting the WW-domains of YAP to suppress YAP-regulated cell cycle genes could provide a novel mechanism to antagonize the pro-tumorigenic functions of YAP.