In the present in vitro study, interactions between P. aeruginosa (sessile biofilms as well as planktonic cells) and PMNs were analyzed by means of DNA microarray based transcriptomics. We found that the P. aeruginosa wild type biofilms, in contrast to planktonic cultures and quorum sensing (QS) deficient strains, respond to PMN exposure in a rather aggressive manner. The response does not involve protective mechanisms such as those involved in oxidative stress. Rather it is dominated by QS controlled virulence determinants such as those encoded by pqs, phz, rhlAB, all of which are designed to cripple Eukaryotic cells including PMNs and macrophages. Our comparative analysis supports the view that QS plays a major role in mechanisms by which P. aeruginosa evades host defense systems.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa recognizes and responds aggressively to the presence of polymorphonuclear leukocytes.
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View SamplesCase story. A patient with massive infiltration of the visceral adipose tissue depot by BAT in a patient with a catecholamine secreting paraganglioma. BAT tissue was identified by protein expression of UCP1 (western blotting and immunostaining)
Chronic adrenergic stimulation induces brown adipose tissue differentiation in visceral adipose tissue.
Specimen part
View SamplesThe endocytic receptor megalin constitutes the main pathway for clearance of plasma proteins from the glomerular filtrate in the proximal tubules. However, little is know about the mechanisms that control receptor activity. A widely discussed hypothesis states that the intracellular domain (ICD) of megalin, released upon ligand binding, acts as a transcription regulator to suppress receptor expression - a mechanism proposed to safeguard the proximal tubules from protein overload. Here, we have put this hypothesis to the test by generating a mouse model co-expressing the soluble ICD and the full-length receptor. Despite pronounced expression in the proximal tubules, the ICD failed to exert any effects on renal proximal tubular function such as megalin expression, protein retrieval, or renal gene transcription. Thus, our data argue that the ICD does not play a role in regulation of megalin activity in vivo in the proximal tubules.
The soluble intracellular domain of megalin does not affect renal proximal tubular function in vivo.
Sex, Age, Specimen part
View SamplesThe ts-p53 E285K protein is a rare p53 mutant with temperature-sensitive (ts) loss of function characteristics. In cancer cells, which express ts-p53 E285K intriniscally, endogenous wild type p53 activity is reconstituted by appropriate cultivation temperature (permissive condition). At non-appropriate cultivation temperature (restrictive condition) this p53 mutant is inactive. The present study took advantage of this mechanism and employed IPH-926 lobular breast cancer cells and BT-474 ductal breast cancer cells, which both harbor endogenous ts-p53 E285K, for the transcriptional profiling of p53-responsive genes. This new approach eliminated the need for genetic modification or cytotoxic stimulation to achive a p53 response in the cells being investigated .
IPH-926 lobular breast cancer cells harbor a p53 mutant with temperature-sensitive functional activity and allow for profiling of p53-responsive genes.
Specimen part, Cell line, Treatment
View SamplesHuman solid tumors contain rare cancer side population (SP) cells, which expel the fluorescencent dye H33342 and display cancer stem cell characteristics. Transcriptional profiling of cancer SP cells isolated by H33342 fluorescence analysis is a newly emerging approach to discover cancer stem cell markers and aberrant differentiation pathways. Using Affymetrix expression microarrays this study investigated differential gene expression between SP and non-SP (NSP) cells isolated from the CAL-51 human mammary carcinoma cell line.
Down-regulation of the fetal stem cell factor SOX17 by H33342: a mechanism responsible for differential gene expression in breast cancer side population cells.
Specimen part
View SamplesFew families of signaling factors have been implicated in the control of development. Here we identify the neuropeptides nociceptin and somatostatin, a neurotransmitter and neuroendocrine hormone, as a class of developmental signals in chick and zebrafish. We show that signals from the anterior mesendoderm are required for the formation of anterior placode progenitors with one of the signals being somatostatin. Somatostatin controls ectodermal expression of nociceptin and both peptides regulate Pax6 in lens and olfactory progenitors. Consequently, loss of somatostatin and nociceptin signaling leads to severe reduction of lens formation. Our findings not only uncover these neuropeptides as developmental signals, but also identify a long-sought-after mechanism that initiates Pax6 in placode progenitors and may explain the ancient evolutionary origin of neuropeptides, pre-dating a complex nervous system.
Neuropeptides: developmental signals in placode progenitor formation.
Specimen part
View SamplesEpidemiological data show that the immune system may control or promote emergence and growth of a neoplastic lymphomatous clone. Conversely, systemic lymphomas, especially myeloma and CLL, are associated with clinical immunodeficiency. This prospective controlled study demonstrates substantially reduced circulating T helper cells, predominantly naive CD4+ cells, in patients with non-leukemic follicular and extranodal marginal zone lymphomas, but not in monoclonal gammopathy and early CLL. These numerical changes were correlated with a preactivated phenotype, hyperreactivity in vitro, presenescence, and a Th2 shift of peripheral T helper cells. No prominent alterations were found in the regulatory T cell compartment. Gene expression profiling of in vitro-stimulated CD4+ cells revealed an independent second alteration of T helper cell physiology which was most pronounced in early CLL but also detectable in FL/eMZL. This pattern consisted of downregulation of proximal and intermediate T-cell receptor signaling cascades and globally reduced cytokine secretion. Both types of T cell dysfunction may contribute to significant immunodeficiency in non-leukemic indolent B-cell lymphomas as demonstrated by refractoriness to hepatitis B vaccination. The precise definition of systemic T cell dysfunction serves as the basis to study its prognostic impact, its relationship to the established influence of the lymphoma microenvironment, and its therapeutic manipulation
Definition and characterization of the systemic T-cell dysregulation in untreated indolent B-cell lymphoma and very early CLL.
Specimen part, Disease, Disease stage
View SamplesBackground: Maize plants developed typical gray leaf spot disease (GLS) symptoms initiating at the lower leaves and progressing to upper leaves through the season. Leaf material was collected at 77 days after planting, at which stage there were a large number of GLS disease necrotic lesions on lower leaves (8% surface area on average determined by digital image analysis), but very few lesions and only at chlorotic stage on leaves above the ear (average of 0.2% lesion surface area). Method:To collect material that reflected a difference between C.zeina infected B73 leaves and control B73 leaf material, samples were collected from two lower GLS infected leaves (second and third leaf internode below ear) , and two upper leaves with minimal GLS symptoms (second and third internode above ear), respectively. The two lower leaves from each plant were pooled prior to RNA extraction, and the two upper leaves from each plant were pooled prior to RNA extraction. Upper and lower leaf samples from three maize B73 plants were subjected to RNA sequencing individually. The three maize plants were selected randomly as one plant per row from three rows of ten B73 plants each. Result: A systems genetics strategy revealed regions on the maize genome underlying co-expression of genes in susceptible and resistance responses, including a set of 100 genes common to the susceptible response of sub-tropical and temperate maize. Overall design: To collect material that reflected a difference between C.zeina infected B73 leaves and control B73 leaf material, samples were collected from two lower GLS infected leaves (second and third leaf internode below ear) , and two upper leaves with minimal GLS symptoms (second and third internode above ear), respectively. The two lower leaves from each plant were pooled prior to RNA extraction, and the two upper leaves from each plant were pooled prior to RNA extraction. Upper and lower leaf samples from three maize B73 plants were subjected to RNA sequencing individually. The three maize plants were selected randomly as one plant per row from three rows of ten B73 plants each.
Systems genetics reveals a transcriptional network associated with susceptibility in the maize-grey leaf spot pathosystem.
Subject
View SamplesCranial placodes contribute to all sense organs and sensory ganglia in the vertebrate head. Despite their diversity they originate from a common pool of Six1/Eya2+ progenitors. In a molecular screen we identify new factors upstream of the Six1/Eya2 cassette and use these to dissect the transcriptional hierarchy that controls progenitor specification. We find that although two different tissues, the lateral head mesoderm and the prechordal mesendoderm, induce placode progenitors, both initiate a common transcriptional state, but over time gradually impart regional character.
Cell interactions, signals and transcriptional hierarchy governing placode progenitor induction.
Specimen part
View SamplesHematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) primarily reside in the bone marrow where signals generated by stromal cells regulate their self-renewal, proliferation, and trafficking. Endosteal osteoblasts and perivascular stromal cells including endothelial cells3, CXCL12-abundant reticular (CAR) cells, leptin-receptor positive stromal cells, and nestin-GFP positive mesenchymal progenitors have all been implicated in HSC maintenance. However, it is unclear if specific hematopoietic progenitor cell (HPC) subsets reside in distinct niches defined by the surrounding stromal cells and the regulatory molecules they produce. CXCL12 (stromal-derived factor-1, SDF-1) regulates both HSCs and lymphoid progenitors and is expressed by all of these stromal cell populations.
CXCL12 in early mesenchymal progenitors is required for haematopoietic stem-cell maintenance.
Specimen part
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