Project description:We collected ovarian follicle fluids from 68 patients and assigned them to good group or bad group according to their oocyte quality. The exosomes were isolated and characterized. Exosomal microRNAs were extracted, the library was constructed and sequenced by Illumina hiseq platform. The exosomal microRNA expression was analyzed and profiled, the target genes were predicted, GO terms were enriched by GOSeq and KEGG pathway was analyzed using miranda.A total of 47 differential microRNAs was expressed significantly between good and bad group, of which 9 microRNAs were known microRNAs and 7 of them was upregulated in the bad group. In-silico analysis indicated that several of these exosomal microRNAs were involved in pathways implicated in oocyte quality.Our study suggests that exosomal microRNAs in ovarian follicle fluid are critical in maintaining the oocyte quality. Our study greatly improve our understanding of exosomal microRNAs in human ovarian follicular fluid, paving the way for further investigation on the microRNA functions in the ovarian microenvironment and the mechanism behind it.
Project description:The indoor atmosphere is an ecological unit that impacts on public health. To investigate the composition of organisms in this space, we applied culture-independent approaches to microbes harvested from the air of two densely populated urban buildings, from which we analyzed 80 megabases genomic DNA sequence and 6000 16S rDNA clones. The air microbiota is primarily bacteria, including potential opportunistic pathogens commonly isolated from human-inhabited environments such as hospitals, but none of the data contain matches to virulent pathogens or bioterror agents. Comparison of air samples with each other and nearby environments suggested that the indoor air microbes are not random transients from surrounding outdoor environments, but rather originate from indoor niches. Sequence annotation by gene function revealed specific adaptive capabilities enriched in the air environment, including genes potentially involved in resistance to desiccation and oxidative damage. This baseline index of air microbiota will be valuable for improving designs of surveillance for natural or man-made release of virulent pathogens.
Project description:To fully apprehend the complex mechanisms responsible for intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration, one needs to gain a deeper understanding of what characterizes a good and bad intervertebral disc. Using a quantitative proteomic approach, we compared methodically the differences existing between a mouse model known as good healer LG/J to another mouse model characterize as bad healer SM/J. A total of 5245 proteins were identified. By assessing the overlap of the NP LG/J and SM/J proteomic signature with a list of over 1000 matrisomal proteins generated by Naba and co-workers (33), we provide a first comprehensive comparison of NP IVD matrix composition in a good and bad condition and identify potential changes that are fundamental for maintenance of a healthy disc.
Project description:With the aim to identify rare genetic variation involved in stroke recovery, this is a pilot study on extreme phenotypes of good and bad recovery.
Exome sequencing was performed on 41 and 49 samples in the bad and good recovery subset, respectively.
Rare Variant association Analysis was performed on the exome sequencing results.
Project description:Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a heterogeneous cancer in which differences in survival rates might be related to a variety in gene expression profiles. Although the molecular biology of PDAC begins to be revealed, genes or pathways that specifically drive tumour progression or metastasis are not well understood. Therefore, we performed microarray analyses on whole-tumour samples of 2 human PDAC subpopulations with similar clinicopathological features, but extremely distinct survival rates after potentially curative surgery, i.e., good outcome (OS and DFSM-bM-^@M-^I>M-bM-^@M-^I50M-bM-^@M-^Imonths) versus bad outcome (OSM-bM-^@M-^I<M-bM-^@M-^I19M-bM-^@M-^Imonths and DFSM-bM-^@M-^I<M-bM-^@M-^I7M-bM-^@M-^Imonths). Additionally, liver- and peritoneal metastases were analysed and compared to primary cancer tissue. The integrin and ephrin receptor families were upregulated in all PDAC samples, irrespective of outcome, supporting an important role of the interaction between pancreatic cancer cells and the surrounding desmoplastic reaction in tumorigenesis and cancer progression. Moreover, some components, such as ITGB1 and EPHA2, were upregulated in PDAC samples with a poor outcome, Additionally, overexpression of the non-canonical Wnt/M-NM-2-catenin pathway and EMT genes in PDAC samples with bad versus good outcome suggests their contribution to the invasiveness of pancreatic cancer, with M-NM-2-catenin being also highly upregulated in metastatic tissue. Thus, we conclude that components of the integrin and ephrin pathways and EMT-related genes might serve as molecular markers in pancreatic cancer as their expression seems to be related with prognosis. Microarray analysis was performed on 'Good' and 'Bad' patient samples (samples with similar pathological characteristics were chosen based on the definition of the 2 diverse survival outcome groups and the required RIN values above 7.1), on surrounding non-tumoural pancreatic control samples, liver metastasis (LM) and peritoneal metastasis (PM). Comparisons between good vs. control, bad vs. control, good vs. bad, and primary pancreatic cancer versus metastasis were performed.
Project description:The objective of the present study was to investigate gene expression profiles of human Cumulus cells isolated from oocytes at metaphase II stage, under controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) cycle and to evaluate the relationship of embryo quality with molecular signatures in Cumulus cells. This study has been performed by microarray analysis in order to identify potential biomarkers related to oocyte developmental potential. For each patient, the CCs were classified into two groups (good quality embryo group and bad quality embryo group) and pooled. From the total of 14 samples, total RNA was purified. After removal of rRNA, each sample was amplified and transcribed into fluorescent cRNA along the entire length of the transcripts without 3’ bias utilizing a random priming method. The amplified and labelled cRNA were pooled as good quality and bad quality group followed by hybridization, scanning and data analysis.Three independent repetitions were carried out, thus a total of 6 chips were employed in this study.
Project description:Gut microbiome research is rapidly moving towards the functional characterization of the microbiota by means of shotgun meta-omics. Here, we selected a cohort of healthy subjects from an indigenous and monitored Sardinian population to analyze their gut microbiota using both shotgun metagenomics and shotgun metaproteomics. We found a considerable divergence between genetic potential and functional activity of the human healthy gut microbiota, in spite of a quite comparable taxonomic structure revealed by the two approaches. Investigation of inter-individual variability of taxonomic features revealed Bacteroides and Akkermansia as remarkably conserved and variable in abundance within the population, respectively. Firmicutes-driven butyrogenesis (mainly due to Faecalibacterium spp.) was shown to be the functional activity with the higher expression rate and the lower inter-individual variability in the study cohort, highlighting the key importance of the biosynthesis of this microbial by-product for the gut homeostasis. The taxon-specific contribution to functional activities and metabolic tasks was also examined, giving insights into the peculiar role of several gut microbiota members in carbohydrate metabolism (including polysaccharide degradation, glycan transport, glycolysis and short-chain fatty acid production). In conclusion, our results provide useful indications regarding the main functions actively exerted by the gut microbiota members of a healthy human cohort, and support metaproteomics as a valuable approach to investigate the functional role of the gut microbiota in health and disease.