Project description:We identified diffuse lesions made of BRAF V600E-mutant CD34-immunopositive stellar cells in human samples resected to cure drug-resistant focal epilepsy. We performed single-nuclei RNAseq 5' 10X on three human brain samples (two BRAF mutant samples and one BRAF wildtype sample as control) in order to identify the molecular phenotype of CD34+ cells.
Project description:CpG methylation analysis of MeDIP DNA using Agilent Human DNA methylation Microarray slides (G4495A, AMADID 023795) Using methylated DNA immunoprecipitation microarray (MeDIP-chip) and Agilent Human DNA methylation Microarray slides (G4495A, AMADID 023795) we report genomic methylation signatures of tissues resected from Mesial temporal epilepsy (MTLE) and Focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) type II patients undergoing surgery. Control samples were obtained from the non-epileptic post mortem cases without any brain pathology
Project description:Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) is the most common type of focal seizure disorder. In MTLE, seizures typically originate from a sclerotic hippocampus. Approximately one-third of patients do not respond to anti-seizure drugs and have few effective therapeutic options. Surgery to resect or ablate the affected temporal lobe is one such option, but it is not indicated or adequate for all individuals and can have adverse effects. Here, we report the development of an alternative cell therapy strategy for drug-resistant MTLE. The cell therapeutic is derived from a clinical-grade human embryonic stem cell line, and composed of cryopreserved post-mitotic medial ganglionic eminence (MGE)-type GABAergic inhibitory neurons of a predominantly pallial interneuron lineage. Single-dose intrahippocampal delivery of cryopreserved human pallial interneurons in a chronic mouse model of drug-resistant MTLE resulted in consistent and stable suppression of mesiotemporal seizures, with most animals becoming seizure-free. The grafted human interneurons distributed locally, matured, and persisted in the sclerotic hippocampus throughout the 8.5-month study. Pathological hallmarks of MTLE, such as hippocampal granule cell dispersion and sclerosis, were significantly reduced, and epileptic animal survival rates increased, after administration of the human interneurons. Suppression of seizure activity and amelioration of neuropathology were dose-dependent and suggested a broad therapeutic dosing range. No ectopic tissue or teratoma formation was detected after cell transplantation. Furthermore, behavioral abnormalities were not observed at any dose on a battery of assays. These findings support further development of human pallial MGE-type GABAergic interneuron cell therapy for the treatment of drug-resistant focal epilepsies.
Project description:Focal cortical dysplasia (FCD), a focal brain malformation, is the most common cause of intractable epilepsy. One of the related disorders is tuberous sclerosis (TS). The dysplasia appears to result from a defect in cortical development, however, this disorder is heterogeneous, and FCD seizure therapy is non-specific and failure-prone. As a final recourse, patients may undergo multiple surgical resections to control seizures. Thus, there is a clinical need to characterize this disorder with respect to structural, molecular, and electrophysiological profiles, which will lead to development of animal models and pilot therapies that we will then apply to humans.
Project description:Analysis of biopsy hippocampal tissue of patients with pharmacoresistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) undergoing neurosurgical removal of the epileptogenic focus for seizure control. Chronic TLE goes along with focal hyperexcitability. Results provide insight into molecular mechanisms that may play a role in seizure propensity 150 human hippocampus samples
Project description:Genome wide DNA methylation profiling of glioma patient surgical samples and corresponding xenotransplants and cell lines. The Illumina Infinium 450k Human DNA methylation Beadchip and the Illumina EPIC Beadchip were used to obtain DNA methylation profiles. Samples include 22 patient surgical samples, 26 xenografted patient tumors, and 6 cell lines derived there-of.
Project description:Surgical samples have long been used as important subjects for cancer research. In accordance with an increase of neoadjuvant therapy, biopsy samples have recently become imperative for cancer transcriptome. On the other hand, both biopsy and surgical samples are available for expression profiling for predicting clinical outcome by adjuvant therapy; however, it is still unclear whether surgical sample expression profiles are useful for the prediction by the use of biopsy samples because little has been done about comparative gene expression profiling between the two kinds of samples. When gene expression profiles were compared between biopsy and surgical samples, artificially induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (aiEMT) was found in the surgical samples. This study will evoke the fundamental misinterpretation including underestimation of the prognostic evaluation power of markers by overestimation of EMT in past cancer research, and will furnish some advice for the near future as follows: 1) Understanding how long the tissues were under an ischemic condition; 2) Prevalence of biopsy samples for in vivo expression profiling with low biases on basic and clinical research; and 3) Checking cancer cell contents and normal- or necrotic-tissue contamination in biopsy samples for prevalence.
Project description:Surgical samples have long been used as important subjects for cancer research. In accordance with an increase of neoadjuvant therapy, biopsy samples have recently become imperative for cancer transcriptome. On the other hand, both biopsy and surgical samples are available for expression profiling for predicting clinical outcome by adjuvant therapy; however, it is still unclear whether surgical sample expression profiles are useful for the prediction by the use of biopsy samples because little has been done about comparative gene expression profiling between the two kinds of samples. When gene expression profiles were compared between biopsy and surgical samples, artificially induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (aiEMT) was found in the surgical samples. This study will evoke the fundamental misinterpretation including underestimation of the prognostic evaluation power of markers by overestimation of EMT in past cancer research, and will furnish some advice for the near future as follows: 1) Understanding how long the tissues were under an ischemic condition; 2) Prevalence of biopsy samples for in vivo expression profiling with low biases on basic and clinical research; and 3) Checking cancer cell contents and normal- or necrotic-tissue contamination in biopsy samples for prevalence.
Project description:The role of human glia in many neurological disorders is still poorly understood due to the lack of tools that reliably isolate specific glial subpopulations from bulk tissue, directly from their native niche. To better understand the contributions of glial pathology in human epilepsy, we developed and validated a novel sorting strategy that simultaneously isolates nuclei populations of astrocytes (PAX6+), oligodendroglial progenitors (OPCs) (OLIG2+) and neurons (NEUN+) from non-pathological fresh-frozen human postmortem temporal neocortex brain tissue (TL Control) and then employed it, in combination with single cell RNA-seq, to characterize the cell-type specific transcriptome alterations in epilepsy temporal neocortex derived from fresh surgical material in patients with medically refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE).