Project description:Congenital heart disease (CHD) affects nearly 1% of births annually, and neonatal and perinatal outcomes in cases of CHD are strongly impacted by pregnancy outcomes. CHD pregnancies carry increased risk of developing pathologies of abnormal placentation including fetal growth restriction, preeclampsia, preterm birth, and stillbirth. HAND1 is a gene associated with CHD. In this study, we aimed characterize the mechanistic impacts of disrupting HAND1 on human placenta trophoblast cell lines.
Project description:Congenital heart disease (CHD) affects nearly 1% of births annually, and CHD pregnancies carry increased risk of developing pathologies of abnormal placentation. We previously reported significant developmental impacts of disrupting Hand1, a gene associated with CHD, expression in placenta trophoblast and endothelial cells in multiple mouse models. In this study, we aimed to build upon this knowledge and characterize the mechanistic impacts of disrupting HAND1 on human placenta trophoblast and vascular endothelial cell gene expression. HAND1 gene expression was silenced in BeWo cells, a choriocarcinoma model of human cytotrophoblasts, (n = 3-9 passages) and isolated human placental microvascular endothelial cells (HPMVEC; n = 3 passages), with HAND1 siRNA for 96 h. Cells were harvested, mRNA isolated and RNA sequencing performed using the Illumina NextSeq 550 platform. Normalization and differential gene expression analyses were conducted using general linear modeling in edgeR packages. Statistical significance was determined using a log2 fold change of >1.0 or < -1.0 and unadjusted p-value ≤0.05. Panther DB was used for overrepresentation analysis, and String DB for protein association network analysis. There was downregulation of 664 genes, and upregulation of 59 genes in BeWo cells with direct HAND1 knockdown. Overrepresentation analysis identified disruption to pathways including cell differentiation, localization, and cell projection organization. In contrast, only seven genes were changed with direct HAND1 knockdown in HPMVECs. Disruption to HAND1 expression significantly alters gene expression profile in trophoblast but not endothelial cells. This data provides further evidence that future studies on genetic perturbations in CHDs should consider the extra-embryonic tissue in addition to the fetal heart.
Project description:Congenital heart disease (CHD) affects nearly 1% of births annually, and neonatal and perinatal outcomes in cases of CHD are strongly impacted by pregnancy outcomes. CHD pregnancies carry increased risk of developing pathologies of abnormal placentation including fetal growth restriction, preeclampsia, preterm birth, and stillbirth. HAND1 is a gene associated with CHD. In this study, we aimed characterize the mechanistic impacts of disrupting HAND1 on human vascular endothelial cell gene expression.
Project description:The placenta, forming the maternal–fetal interface, is essential for the survival and development of the fetus. It has been shown that the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor Hand1 plays an important role in trophoblast giant cells (TGCs) differentiation during placental development in mice. However, the underlying molecular mechanism remains elusive. We hereby report that Adgrg1 (GPR56), a G protein coupled receptor, was a new transcriptional target of Hand1. Hand1 activated the expression of Adgrg1 by binding to its promoter region during TGCs differentiation. Double in situ hybridization revealed co-expression of Hand1 and Adgrg1 in TGCs, and Adgrg1 was located to Prl2c2+ TGCs in the junctional zone of the placenta. Knockdown of Adgrg1 not only led to increased expression of Prl2c2, but also the improvement of cell migration during TGC differentiation. Moreover, the ligands of Adgrg1, Tgm2 and Col3a1, were expressed in Prl2c2+ TGCs located in the placental junctional zone and maternal spiral arteries, respectively, further providing preconditions for the function of Adgrg1 in TGCs. Collectively, these results demonstrate that Adgrg1 is a new transcriptional target of Hand1, affecting Prl2c2 expression and cell migration during TGCs differentiation. Tgm2 and Col3a1 may be involved in TGC differentiation regulated by Adgrg1 in the manners of autocrine or paracrine. As a transmembrane receptor, Adgrg1 perhaps could act as a potential therapeutic target for placental-associated diseases caused by abnormal trophoblast migration, providing new insights for the preventions and therapies of placenta-related diseases.
Project description:We had previously discovered that the transcription factor OVO-like 1 (OVOL1) was highly induced during trophoblast differentiation. In this study, we used an lentiviral shRNA strategy to decrease OVOL1 expression in BeWo trophoblast cells. Control cells were transduced with shRNAs targeting no known mammalian transcript (shCont). Following stimulation of differentiation (48h exposure to 8-bromo-cyclic adenosine monophosphate), a RNA-seq approach was used to determine global transcript differences in OVOL1-knockdown cells compared to control cells. Trophoblast cells transduced with control shRNAs were used as controls. Cells transduced with shRNAs targeting OVOL1 were used as treatment. All cells received 250 uM 8-bromo-cyclic adenosine monophosphate to stimulate differentiation. Three independent replicates of control and treatment groups were analyzed.
Project description:We had previously discovered that the transcription factor OVO-like 1 (OVOL1) was highly induced during trophoblast differentiation. In this study, we used an lentiviral shRNA strategy to decrease OVOL1 expression in BeWo trophoblast cells. Control cells were transduced with shRNAs targeting no known mammalian transcript (shCont). Following stimulation of differentiation (48h exposure to 8-bromo-cyclic adenosine monophosphate), a RNA-seq approach was used to determine global transcript differences in OVOL1-knockdown cells compared to control cells.
Project description:Aims: To examine the role of the basic Helix-loop-Helix (bHLH) transcription factor HAND1 in embryonic and adult myocardium. Methods and Results: Hand1 is expressed within the cardiomyocytes of the left ventricle (LV) and myocardial cuff between embryonic days (E) 9.5-13.5. Hand gene dosage plays an important role in ventricular morphology and the contribution of Hand1 to congenital heart defects requires further interrogation. Conditional ablation of Hand1 was carried out using either Nkx2.5 knockin Cre (Nkx2.5Cre) or a-myosin heavy chain Cre (aMhc-Cre) driver. Interrogation of transcriptome data via Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) reveals several gene regulatory pathways disrupted including translation and cardiac hypertrophy-related pathways. Embryo and adult hearts were subjected to histological, functional and molecular analyses. Myocardial deletion of Hand1 results in morphological defects that include cardiac conduction system defects, survivable interventricular septal defects (VSDs), and abnormal LV papillary muscles (PM). Resulting Hand1 conditional mutants are born at Mendelian frequencies; but the morphological alterations acquired during cardiac development result in, the mice developing diastolic heart failure. Conclusions: Collectively, these data reveal that Hand1 contributes to the morphogenic patterning and maturation of cardiomyocytes during embryogenesis and although survivable, indicate a role for Hand1 conduction system and papillary morphogenesis.