Project description:Cultured epidermal keratinocyte controls used for IFNg, TNFa and IL1 treatment. Interferon (IFN)-gamma, is a multifunctional, immunomodulatory cytokine with cell type-specific antiviral activities, particularly important in skin, where it is implicated in many diseases ranging from warts to psoriasis and cancer. Since epidermis is our first line of defence against many viruses, we investigated the molecular processes regulated by IFN-gamma in keratinocytes using DNA microarrays. We identified the IFN-gamma-regulated keratinocyte-specific genes in keratinocytes, IFN-gamma-induced tight junction proteins, presumably to deny viruses paracellular routes of infection. Furthermore, differing from published data, we find that IFN-gamma suppressed the expression of keratinocytes differentiation markers including desmosomal proteins, cornified envelope components and suprabasal cytokeratins. Inhibition of differentiation may interfere with the epidermal tropism of viruses that require differentiating cells for growth, for example, papillomaviruses. As in other cell types, IFN-gamma induced HLA, cell adhesion and proteasome proteins, facilitating leukocyte attraction and antigen-presentation by keratinocytes. IFN-gamma also induced chemokine/cytokines specific for mononuclear cells. IFN-gamma suppressed the expression of over 100 genes responsible for cell cycle, DNA replication and RNA metabolism, thereby shutting down many nuclear processes and denying viruses a healthy cell in which to replicate. Thus, uniquely in keratinocytes, IFN-gamma initiates a well-organized molecular programme boosting host antiviral defences, obstructing viral entry, suppressing cell proliferation and impeding differentiation.
Project description:The psoKC (psoriatic keratinocyte) model is represnting the behavour of keratinocytes in the later or chronic stage of psoriasis in response to the main cytokines that constitute the characteristic cytokine milieu, namely IFNg and TNFa (mainly derived by Th1 cells), and IL-17 and IL-22 (mainly derived by Th17 cells).
Additionally, the model explores the role of exogenous PGE2 through the activation of EP4 receptor signaling. The response to the aforementioned stimuli was not only limited to the cell fate decisions of keratinocytes (proliferation, apoptosis or differentiation) but also include their effect on the psoriatic environment with respect to the secretion of ligands and intercellular-acting stimuli.
Project description:Interleukin-1 is a proinflammatory and immunomodulatory cytokine that plays a crucial role in inflammatory diseases of the skin, including bacterial infections, bullous diseases, UV damage and especially psoriasis. To characterize the molecular effects of IL-1 in epidermis, we defined the transcriptional changes in human epidermal keratinocytes 1, 4, 24, and 48 h after treatment with IL-1a. IL-1 significantly regulated 388 genes, including genes associated with proteolysis, adhesion, signal transduction, proliferation, and epidermal differentiation. IL-1 induces many genes that have antimicrobial function. Secreted cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, and their receptors are the prominent targets of IL-1 regulation, including IL-8, IL-19, elafin, C3, and S100A proteins, which implicates IL-1 in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases. IL-1 induced not only proliferation-associated genes but also differentiation marker genes such as transglutaminase-1 and involucrin, which suggests that IL-1 plays an important role in the aberrant proliferation and differentiation seen in psoriasis. Correlation of IL-1 regulated genes with the TNFa and IFNg regulated ones showed more similarities between IL-1 and TNFa than IL-1 and IFNg, whereas Oncostatin-M affected a largely unrelated set of genes. IL-1 regulates many genes previously shown to be specifically over-expressed in psoriasis. In summary, IL-1 regulates a characteristic set of genes that define its specific contribution to inflammation and aberrant differentiation in skin diseases. Experiment Overall Design: keratinocytes were treated with 25 ng/ml IL-1 and transcriptomes compared to untreated controls at 1, 4, 24 and 48 h post treatment.
Project description:Ventoclax-based combinations are a new standard of care for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who are not eligible for intensive chemotherapy, but not all patients respond to these treatments, and those who do may relapse. MDM2 inhibitors are promising therapeutics for treating TP53 wild-type tumors, including most de novo AML cases, but clinical trials have shown modest and variable clinical activity. Functional genomic data suggest that venetoclax and the MDM2 inhibitor, idasanutlin, may be ineffective against monocytic leukemia (FAB M4/M5) or leukemia cells with a high immune signature. We hypothesize upregulated myeloid transcription factors and enrichment of certain environmental cues that confer intrinsic and extrinsic drug resistance to these cells. We show that monocytic leukemia cells express a high level of CEBPB and CEBPB overexpression confers drug resistance to a broad range of BH3 mimetics, venetoclax combinations, and MDM2 inhibitors by downregulating CASP3, CASP6, BCL2, and p53 pathway targets, while upregulating MCL1, BCL2A1, and the NFKB/IL1/TNFA pathway. Moreover, leukemia monocytes can extrinsically protect leukemia blasts from venetoclax and MDM2 inhibition by secreting elevated IL1 and TNFA, which drive myelo/monocytic differentiation and upregulate inflammatory cytokines and receptors, including IL1/TNFA pathway in an autoregulatory loop. Remarkably, IL1A/IL1B and TNFA uniquely upregulate CEBPB expression in M4/M5 cells and protect them from apoptosis induced by venetoclax and MDM2 inhibitors. Conversely, TNFA treatment enhances extrinsic apoptosis in M0/M1 leukemia cells. Inhibitors of IRAK or MAPK14 (p38), which block IL1/TNFA signaling, showed synergistic cytotoxicity in M4/M5 AML when combined with venetoclax and idasanutlin. In summary, we described a targetable, positive feedback loop between CEBPB and IL1/TNFA in monocytic leukemia that drives intrinsic and extrinsic drug resistance to BCL2 and MDM2 inhibitors, offering promising therapeutic strategies to enhance treatment efficacy for monocytic leukemia.
Project description:Interleukin-1 is a proinflammatory and immunomodulatory cytokine that plays a crucial role in inflammatory diseases of the skin, including bacterial infections, bullous diseases, UV damage and especially psoriasis. To characterize the molecular effects of IL-1 in epidermis, we defined the transcriptional changes in human epidermal keratinocytes 1, 4, 24, and 48 h after treatment with IL-1a. IL-1 significantly regulated 388 genes, including genes associated with proteolysis, adhesion, signal transduction, proliferation, and epidermal differentiation. IL-1 induces many genes that have antimicrobial function. Secreted cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, and their receptors are the prominent targets of IL-1 regulation, including IL-8, IL-19, elafin, C3, and S100A proteins, which implicates IL-1 in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases. IL-1 induced not only proliferation-associated genes but also differentiation marker genes such as transglutaminase-1 and involucrin, which suggests that IL-1 plays an important role in the aberrant proliferation and differentiation seen in psoriasis. Correlation of IL-1 regulated genes with the TNFa and IFNg regulated ones showed more similarities between IL-1 and TNFa than IL-1 and IFNg, whereas Oncostatin-M affected a largely unrelated set of genes. IL-1 regulates many genes previously shown to be specifically over-expressed in psoriasis. In summary, IL-1 regulates a characteristic set of genes that define its specific contribution to inflammation and aberrant differentiation in skin diseases. Keywords: Time course