Project description:The goal of this experiment is to study the transcriptomic similarity and differences between ESC-derived cultured basal cells and their primary counterparts in the same culture condition.
Project description:Background. The human airway epithelium consists of 4 major cell types: ciliated, secretory, columnar and basal cells. During natural turnover and in response to injury, the airway basal cells function as stem / progenitor cells for the other airway cell types. The objective of this study is to better understand basal cell biology by defining the subset of expressed genes that characterize the signature of human airway epithelial basal cells. Methodology / Principal Findings. Microarrays were used to assess the transcriptome of basal cells purified from the airway epithelium of healthy nonsmokers obtained by bronchial brushings in comparison to the transcriptome of the complete differentiated airway epithelium. This analysis identified the “human airway basal cell signature” as 1,161 unique genes with >5-fold higher expression level in basal cells compared to the differentiated epithelium. The basal cell signature was suppressed when the basal cells differentiated into a ciliated airway epithelium in vitro. The human airway basal cell signature displayed extensive overlap with genes expressed in basal cells from other human tissues and murine airway basal cells. Consistent with self-modulation as well as signaling to other airway cell types, the airway basal cell signature was characterized by genes encoding extracellular matrix components, and growth factors and growth factor receptors, including genes related to EGFR and VEGFR signaling. However, while human airway basal cells share similarity with basal-like cells of other organs, the human airway basal cell signature has features not previously associated with this cell type, including a unique pattern of genes encoding extracellular matrix components, integrins, G protein-coupled receptors, neuroactive ligands and receptors, and ion channels. Conclusion / Significance. The human airway epithelial basal cells signature identified in the present study provides novel insights into the ontogeny, molecular phenotype and biology of the stem / progenitor cells of the human airway epithelium. This study was designed to distinguish the transcriptome of the airway epithelium basal cell from that of differentiated airway epithelium. A basal cell signature was derived and analyzed for functional significance. The signature was also evaluated as basal cells differentiated into ciliated epithelium in vitro.
Project description:Background. The human airway epithelium consists of 4 major cell types: ciliated, secretory, columnar and basal cells. During natural turnover and in response to injury, the airway basal cells function as stem / progenitor cells for the other airway cell types. The objective of this study is to better understand basal cell biology by defining the subset of expressed genes that characterize the signature of human airway epithelial basal cells. Methodology / Principal Findings. Microarrays were used to assess the transcriptome of basal cells purified from the airway epithelium of healthy nonsmokers obtained by bronchial brushings in comparison to the transcriptome of the complete differentiated airway epithelium. This analysis identified the “human airway basal cell signature” as 1,161 unique genes with >5-fold higher expression level in basal cells compared to the differentiated epithelium. The basal cell signature was suppressed when the basal cells differentiated into a ciliated airway epithelium in vitro. The human airway basal cell signature displayed extensive overlap with genes expressed in basal cells from other human tissues and murine airway basal cells. Consistent with self-modulation as well as signaling to other airway cell types, the airway basal cell signature was characterized by genes encoding extracellular matrix components, and growth factors and growth factor receptors, including genes related to EGFR and VEGFR signaling. However, while human airway basal cells share similarity with basal-like cells of other organs, the human airway basal cell signature has features not previously associated with this cell type, including a unique pattern of genes encoding extracellular matrix components, integrins, G protein-coupled receptors, neuroactive ligands and receptors, and ion channels. Conclusion / Significance. The human airway epithelial basal cells signature identified in the present study provides novel insights into the ontogeny, molecular phenotype and biology of the stem / progenitor cells of the human airway epithelium.
Project description:The derivation of self-renewing tissue-specific stem cells from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) would shorten the time needed to engineer mature cell types in vitro and would have broad reaching implications for the field of regenerative medicine. Here we report the directed differentiation of human iPSCs into putative airway basal cells (“iBCs”), a population resembling the epithelial stem cell of lung airways. Using a dual fluorescent reporter system (NKX2-1GFP;TP63tdTomato) we track and purify these cells over time, as they first emerge from iPSC-derived foregut endoderm as developmentally immature NKX2-1GFP+ lung progenitors which then augment a TP63 program during subsequent proximal airway epithelial patterning. These cells clonally proliferate, initially as NKX2-1GFP+/ TP63tdTomato+ immature airway progenitors that lack expression of the adult basal cell surface marker, NGFR. However, in response to primary basal cell media, NKX2-1GFP+/ TP63tdTomato+ cells upregulate NGFR and display the molecular and functional phenotype of airway basal stem cells, including the capacity to clonally self-renew or undergo multilineage ciliated and secretory epithelial differentiation in air-liquid interface cultures. iBCs and their differentiated progeny recapitulate several fundamental physiologic features of normal primary airway epithelial cells and model perturbations that characterize acquired and genetic airway diseases. In an asthma model of mucus metaplasia, the inflammatory cytokine IL-13 induced an increase in MUC5AC+ cells similar to primary cells. CFTR-dependent chloride flux in airway epithelium generated from cystic fibrosis iBCs or their syngeneic CFTR-corrected controls exhibited a pattern consistent with the flux measured in primary diseased and normal human airway epithelium, respectively. Finally, multiciliated cells generated from an individual with primary ciliary dyskinesia recapitulated the ciliary beat and ultrastructural defects observed in the donor. Thus, we demonstrate the successful de novo generation of a tissue-resident stem cell-like population in vitro from iPSCs, an approach which should facilitate disease modeling and future regenerative therapies for a variety of diseases affecting the lung airways.Single-cell RNA-Sequencing profiling of human iPSC-derived basal cells, airway epithelium compared to primary human basal cells and airway epithelium.
Project description:Continuous stress caused by smoking induces changes in the cell population of small airway epithelium, with basal cell hyperplasia and goblet cell metaplasia at the expense of ciliated cells, and there is now compiling evidence that basal cells play a key role in the early pathogenesis of Chronic Obtructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). We hypothesized that COPD airway basal cells undergo transcriptomic changes during differentiation that are different from those observed in normal cells and can explain the formation of an abnormal epithelium. We performed microarray analysis of basal cells obtained from healthy non-smoker and COPD subjects and also mucociliary-differentiated cell cultures from the same basal cells. We compared the transcriptome of normal and COPD basal cells, mucociliary-differentiated normal and COPD cell cultures and also of basal cells with corresponding mucociliary-differentiated cultures for both normal and COPD.
Project description:To identify key genes that define surface airway epithelial (SAE) basal cells, we FACS isolated basal, ciliated, and club cell populations as previously reported (Zhao et al., 2014; PMID: 25043474) and performed microarray analysis on isolated mRNA. For fractionating SAE into basal, club, and ciliated populations, cells were stained with EpCAM-PECy7 (eBiosciences), GSIβ4-FITC (Sigma), SSEA1-Alexa Fluor® 647 (BioLegend), and CD24-PE (BD Pharmingen) for 30 minutes on ice as previously described (Zhao et al., 2014), prior to FACS. Basal cells were considered EpCAM+ and GSIβ4+. Secretory cells were considered EpCAM+ and SSEA1+. Ciliated cells were considered EpCAM+, GSIβ4- and CD24+. Primary SAE cells were harvested from C57BL/6 mice and sorted into basal, ciliated, and club cell populations for the purpose of identifying enrichment of transcripts specific to each cell type population.
Project description:Background: We got interested whether genes of airway basal cells are enriched in COPD. Methods: Bronchoscopy with bronchial brushes and bronchoalveolar lavage was performed in 28 patients with COPD and 29 healthy donors and isolated BAL cells.Transcriptome of BAL cells were studied by using Affymetrix Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 array on an Affymetrix platform. Microarray data were normalized data were imported, log2-transformed and quantile normalized using robust multi-array average (RMA). We tested enrichment for airway basal cells by ROMER enrichment analysis. Results: we did not find enrichment of airway basal cell genes in COPD compared to healthy volunteers.