Project description:Vitreoretinal lymphoma is a rare subtype of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma considered a variant of primary central nervous system lymphoma. Its diagnosis requires examination of vitreous fluid, but cytologic differentiation from uveitis remains difficult. Due to its rarity and difficulty in obtaining diagnostic material, little is known about the genetic profile of the disease.
Project description:FFPE brain biopsy specimens of 64 patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma and 9 patients with secondary central nervous system lymphoma were analyzed in the study. We used the NanoSting nCounter human v3 miRNA assay for characterizing miRNA expression and carried out a detailed differential expression and clustering analysis of samples and miRNAs to look for expression changes associated to primary or secondary origin, cell of origin, mutation status or survival.
Project description:Primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) of the central nervous system (PCNSL) is a rare, extranodal lymphoma. Primary vitreo-retinal lymphoma (PVRL) occurs in 15-25% of PCNSL. CNS involvement also occurs in systemic diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, termed secondary central nervous system lymphoma (SCNSL). Despite intensive treatment, patient outcomes are poor when compared to DLBCL without CNS involvement. How and why lymphoma cells home to the CNS and vitreo-retinal compartment remains unknown. In vivo models to study lymphoma cell tropism are urgently needed. We therefore established and characterized 2 primary and 2 secondary patient-derived CNS lymphoma xenograft mouse models using immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry and nucleic acid sequencing technology. In spleen reimplantation experiments, we characterized the dissemination pattern of orthotopic and heterotopic xenografts and performed RNA sequencing to detect differences on the transcriptome level. Moreover, we found that lymphoma cells in PCNSL xenografts home to the eye after intrasplenal implantation in around 60% of cases, similar to PVRL. This in vivo tumor model preserves key features of this rare lymphoma entity and can be used to explore pathways that are critical for CNS and retinal tropism with the goal to find potential new targets for novel therapeutic approaches .
Project description:Primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) of the central nervous system (PCNSL) is a rare, extranodal lymphoma. Primary vitreo-retinal lymphoma (PVRL) occurs in 15-25% of PCNSL. CNS involvement also occurs in systemic diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, termed secondary central nervous system lymphoma (SCNSL). Despite intensive treatment, patient outcomes are poor when compared to DLBCL without CNS involvement. How and why lymphoma cells home to the CNS and vitreo-retinal compartment remains unknown. In vivo models to study lymphoma cell tropism are urgently needed. We therefore established and characterized 3 primary and 4 secondary patient-derived CNS lymphoma xenograft mouse models using immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry and nucleic acid sequencing technology. In spleen reimplantation experiments, we characterized the dissemination pattern of orthotopic and heterotopic xenografts and performed RNA sequencing to detect differences on the transcriptome level. Moreover, we found that lymphoma cells in PCNSL xenografts home to the eye after intrasplenal implantation in around 60% of cases, similar to PVRL. This in vivo tumor model preserves key features of this rare lymphoma entity and can be used to explore pathways that are critical for CNS and retinal tropism with the goal to find potential new targets for novel therapeutic approaches .
Project description:Sea urchins (echinoids) are common model organisms for research in developmental biology and for their transition from a bilateral larva into their post-metamorphic adult with pentaradial body symmetry. The adult also has a calcareous endoskeleton with a multimetameric pattern of continuously added elements, among them the namesake of this phylum, spines. Nearly all echinoids have both large primary spines, and an associated set of smaller secondary spines.We hypothesize that the secondary spines of the tropical variegated urchin species, Lytechinus variegatus, are morphologically and molecularly distinct structures from primary spines and not just small spines. To test this premise, we examined both spine types using light microscopy, micro-CT imaging, lectin labeling, transcriptomics, and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). Our findings reveal basic similarities between the two types in mineral and cellular anatomy, but with clear differences in growth patterns, genes expressed, and in the location of gene expression within the two types of spines. In particular, secondary spines have non-overlapping, longitudinally concentrated growth bands that lead to a blunt and straight profile, and a distinct transcriptome involving the upregulation in many genes in comparison to the primary spines. Neural, ciliary, and extracellular matrix interacting factors are implicated in the differentially expressed gene (DEG) dataset, including two genes - ONECUT2 and an uncharacterized discoidin- and thrombospondin-containing protein - that show spine type- specific localizations in FISH, and may be of interest to ongoing work in urchin spine patterning.These results demonstrate that primary and secondary spines have overlapping but distinct molecular and biomineralized characteristics, suggesting unique developmental and regenerative mechanisms, and devotion to this spiny dermal phylum.