Project description:RNA-Seq of human endothelial cells treated with acriflavine (ACF) with or without hypoxia revealed massive changes on gene expression. These were non-randomly and potentially due to DNA topoisomerase inhibition rather than HIF inhibition. Surprisingly, in contrast to protein-coding genes, RNA-Seq yielded that an exceeding number of lncRNAs is upregulated.
Project description:RNA-Seq of human endothelial cells treated with ACF revealed massive changes on gene expression. These were non-randomly and strongly conserved to murine lung endothelial cells potentially due to DNA topoisomerase inhibition rather than HIF inhibition. Surprisingly, in contrast to protein-coding genes, RNA-Seq yielded that an exceeding number of lncRNAs is upregulated, e.g. FENDRR, H19, HIF1α-AS1 and FLJ31356, whereas BOLA3-AS1 and MEG3 were strongly downregulated. ATAC-Seq demonstrated that ACF leads to strong changes on chromatin accessibility on lncRNA promoters.
Project description:RNA-Seq of human endothelial cells treated with ACF revealed massive changes on gene expression. These were non-randomly and strongly conserved to murine lung endothelial cells potentially due to DNA topoisomerase inhibition rather than HIF inhibition. Surprisingly, in contrast to protein-coding genes, RNA-Seq yielded that an exceeding number of lncRNAs is upregulated, e.g. FENDRR, H19, HIF1α-AS1 and FLJ31356, whereas BOLA3-AS1 and MEG3 were strongly downregulated. ATAC-Seq demonstrated that ACF leads to strong changes on chromatin accessibility on lncRNA promoters.
Project description:The transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF1) is an important driver of cancer and is therefore an attractive drug target. Acriflavine (ACF) has been suggested to inhibit HIF1, but its mechanism of action is unknown. Here we investigated the interaction of ACF with DNA and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and its function in human endothelial cells. ACF promoted apoptosis and reduced proliferation, network formation, and angiogenic capacity. It also induced changes in gene expression, as determined by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), which could not be attributed to specific inhibition of HIF1. A similar response was observed in murine lung endothelial cells. Although ACF increased and decreased a similar number of protein-coding genes, lncRNAs were preferentially upregulated under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. An assay for transposase accessibility with subsequent DNA sequencing (ATAC-seq) demonstrated that ACF induced strong changes in chromatin accessibility at lncRNA promoters. Immunofluorescence showed displacement of DNA:RNA hybrids. Such effects might be due to ACF-mediated topoisomerase inhibition, which was indeed the case, as reflected by DNA unwinding assays. Comparison with other acridine derivatives and topoisomerase inhibitors suggested that the specific function of ACF is an effect of acridinium-class compounds. This study demonstrates that ACF inhibits topoisomerases rather than HIF specifically and that it elicits a unique expression response of lncRNAs.
Project description:Purpose: The dermatophyte Trichophyton rubrum is an anthropophilic filamentous fungus that infects keratinized tissues and is the most common etiologic agent isolated in cases of human dermatophytoses. To better understand the molecular effects of stress responses and fungal adaptability, we evaluated the effects of acriflavine, a cytoxic drug, on T. rubrum transcriptome in a time-course assay using high-throughput RNA-seq technology. Results: RNA-seq generated approximately 200 million short reads that were mapped to the Broad Institute’s Dermatophyte Comparative Database before differential gene expression analysis. A subset of 490 genes modulated in response to stress caused T. rubrum exposure to acriflavine were identified. These genes are involved in various cellular processes such as oxidation-reduction reactions, transmembrane transport, metal ion binding, and pathogenicity. The genes involved in pathogenicity were down-regulated, suggesting that this drug interferes with virulence factors that allow the establishment and maintenance of host infection. Conclusion: The results obtained in this large-scale analysis provide insights into the molecular events underlying the stress responses of T. rubrum Acriflavine.
Project description:We have established a neuroblastoma model resistant in vivo to the topoisomerase I inhibitor irinotecan (CPT-11, Camptothecin-11, CAMPTOSAR®) in order to study resistance to these agents acquired in a therapeutic setting. Common mechanisms of resistance were not involved in this model and we thus explored the gene expression signature associated with resistance by comparing the transcriptomes of sensitive, resistant, and reverted tumours using high-throughput DNA microarrays.