The in vitro test battery of the European research consortium ESNATS (novel stem cell-based test systems) has been used to screen for potential human developmental toxicants. As part of this effort, the migration of neural crest (MINC) assay has been used to evaluate chemical effects on neural crest function. It identified some drug-like compounds in addition to known environmental toxicants. The hits included the HSP90 inhibitor geldanamycin, the chemotherapeutic arsenic trioxide, the flame-retardant PBDE-99, the pesticide triadimefon and the histone deacetylase inhibitors valproic acid and trichostatin A. Transcriptome changes triggered by these substances in human neural crest cells were recorded and analysed here to answer three questions: (1) can toxicants be individually identified based on their transcript profile; (2) how can the toxicity pattern reflected by transcript changes be compacted/ dimensionality-reduced for practical regulatory use; (3) how can a reduced set of biomarkers be selected for large-scale follow up? Transcript profiling allowed clear separation of different toxicants and the identification of toxicant types in a blinded test study. We also developed a diagrammatic system to visualize and compare toxicity patterns of a group of chemicals by giving a quantitative overview of altered superordinate biological processes (e.g. activation of KEGG pathways or overrepresentation of gene ontology terms). The transcript data were mined for potential markers of toxicity, and 39 transcripts were selected to either indicate general developmental toxicity or distinguish compounds with different modes-of-action in read-across. In summary, we found inclusion of transcriptome data to largely increase the information from the MINC phenotypic test.
Identification of transcriptome signatures and biomarkers specific for potential developmental toxicants inhibiting human neural crest cell migration.
Sex, Specimen part
View SamplesEDI3 was shown to be relevant in cell migration, adhesion and spreading. Gene expression analysis was performed to determine the effect of EDI3 silencing in MCF7 cells in order to gain insight into potential underlying mechanisms.
EDI3 links choline metabolism to integrin expression, cell adhesion and spreading.
Specimen part, Cell line
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
A molecular signature of proteinuria in glomerulonephritis.
Specimen part
View SamplesProteinuria is the most important predictor of outcome in glomerulonephritis and experimental data suggest that the tubular cell response to proteinuria is an important determinant of progressive fibrosis in the kidney. However, it is unclear whether proteinuria is a marker of disease severity or has a direct effect on tubular cells in the kidneys of patients with glomerulonephritis. Accordingly we studied an in vitro model of proteinuria, and identified 231 albumin-regulated genes differentially expressed by primary human kidney tubular epithelial cells exposed to albumin. We translated these findings to human disease by studying mRNA levels of these genes in the tubulo-interstitial compartment of kidney biopsies from patients with IgA nephropathy using microarrays. Biopsies from patients with IgAN (n=25) could be distinguished from those of control subjects (n=6) based solely upon the expression of these 231 albumin-regulated genes. The expression of an 11-transcript subset related to the degree of proteinuria, and this 11-mRNA subset was also sufficient to distinguish biopsies of subjects with IgAN from control biopsies. We tested if these findings could be extrapolated to other proteinuric diseases beyond IgAN and found that the all forms of primary glomerulonephritis (n=33) can be distinguished from controls (n=21) based solely on the expression levels of these 11 genes derived from our in vitro proteinuria model. Pathway analysis suggests common regulatory elements shared by these 11 transcripts. In conclusion, we have identified an albumin-regulated 11-gene signature shared between all forms of primary glomerulonephritis. Our findings support the hypothesis that albuminuria may directly promote injury in the tubulo-interstitial compartment of the kidney in patients with glomerulonephritis.
A molecular signature of proteinuria in glomerulonephritis.
Specimen part
View SamplesProteinuria is the most important predictor of outcome in glomerulonephritis and experimental data suggest that the tubular cell response to proteinuria is an important determinant of progressive fibrosis in the kidney. However, it is unclear whether proteinuria is a marker of disease severity or has a direct effect on tubular cells in the kidneys of patients with glomerulonephritis. Accordingly we studied an in vitro model of proteinuria, and identified 231 albumin-regulated genes differentially expressed by primary human kidney tubular epithelial cells exposed to albumin. We translated these findings to human disease by studying mRNA levels of these genes in the tubulo-interstitial compartment of kidney biopsies from patients with IgA nephropathy using microarrays. Biopsies from patients with IgAN (n=25) could be distinguished from those of control subjects (n=6) based solely upon the expression of these 231 albumin-regulated genes. The expression of an 11-transcript subset related to the degree of proteinuria, and this 11-mRNA subset was also sufficient to distinguish biopsies of subjects with IgAN from control biopsies. We tested if these findings could be extrapolated to other proteinuric diseases beyond IgAN and found that the all forms of primary glomerulonephritis (n=33) can be distinguished from controls (n=21) based solely on the expression levels of these 11 genes derived from our in vitro proteinuria model. Pathway analysis suggests common regulatory elements shared by these 11 transcripts. In conclusion, we have identified an albumin-regulated 11-gene signature shared between all forms of primary glomerulonephritis. Our findings support the hypothesis that albuminuria may directly promote injury in the tubulo-interstitial compartment of the kidney in patients with glomerulonephritis.
A molecular signature of proteinuria in glomerulonephritis.
Specimen part
View SamplesTGR5 (Gpbar1) is a G protein-coupled receptor responsive to bile acids (BAs), which is expressed in different non-parenchymal cells of the liver, including biliary epithelial cells, liver-resident macrophages, sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) and activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). Mice with targeted deletion of TGR5 are more susceptible towards cholestatic liver injury induced by cholic acid-feeding and bile duct ligation, resulting in a reduced proliferative response and increased liver injury. Conjugated lithocholic acid (LCA) represents the most potent TGR5 BA ligand and LCA-feeding has been used as a model to rapidly induce severe cholestatic liver injury in mice. Thus, TGR5 knockout (KO) mice and wildtype littermates were fed a diet supplemented with 1%LCA for 84 hours. Liver injury and gene expression changes induced by the LCA-diet revealed an enrichment of pathways associated with inflammation, proliferation and matrix remodelling. Knockout of TGR5 in mice caused upregulation of endothelin-1 (ET-1) expression in the livers. Analysis of TGR5-dependent ET-1 signalling in isolated LSECs and HSCs demonstrated that TGR5 activation reduces ET-1 expression and secretion from LSECs and triggers internalization of the ET-1 receptor in HSCs dampening ET-1 responsiveness. Thus, we identified two independent mechanisms by which TGR5 inhibits ET-1 signalling and modulates portal pressure.
The G Protein-Coupled Bile Acid Receptor TGR5 (Gpbar1) Modulates Endothelin-1 Signaling in Liver.
Sex
View SamplesRNA-seq analysis was performed between WT and alphaT-cat KO mouse cerebella aiming to discover gene transcripts altered by the loss of alphaT-cat These altered gene transcripts could be associated with several neurologic disease-relevant pathways Overall design: Total RNA extracted of cerebellar tissue (n=3) from the brains of WT ad alphaT-cat KO mice
αT-catenin in restricted brain cell types and its potential connection to autism.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesEstrogen receptor (ER) expression and proliferative activity are established prognostic factors in breast cancer. In a search for additional prognostic motives we analyzed the gene expression patterns of 200 tumors of patients who were not treated by systemic therapy after surgery using a discovery approach. After performing hierarchical cluster analysis, we identified co-regulated genes related to the biological process of proliferation, steroid hormone receptor expression, as well as B cell and T cell infiltration. We calculated metagenes as surrogate for all genes contained within a particular cluster and visualized the relative expression in relation to time to metastasis with principal component analysis. Distinct patterns led to the hypothesis of a prognostic role of the immune system in tumors with high expression of proliferation associated genes. In multivariate Cox regression analysis the proliferation metagene showed a significant association with metastasis-free survival of the whole discovery cohort (Hazard Ratio (HR) 2.20, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.40-3.46). The B cell metagene showed additional independent prognostic information in carcinomas with high proliferative activity (HR 0.66, 95% CI 0.46 - 0.97). A prognostic influence of the B-cell metagene was independently confirmed by multivariate analysis in a first validation cohort enriched for high grade tumors (n=286, HR 0.78, 95% CI 0.62-0.98), and a second validation cohort enriched for younger patients (n=302, HR 0.83, 95% CI 0.7-0.97). Thus, we could demonstrate in three cohorts of untreated node-negative breast cancer patients, that the humoral immune system plays a pivotal role for metastasis-free survival of carcinomas of the breast.
The humoral immune system has a key prognostic impact in node-negative breast cancer.
Disease stage
View SamplesThis study attemps to study the global effects of Serum Amyloid A (SAA) on human endothelial gene expression profile in different time points.
Celecoxib inhibits serum amyloid a-induced matrix metalloproteinase-10 expression in human endothelial cells.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesWe examined the effects of high-fat diet on feeding behaviour, body weight regulation and common biomarkers associated with weight gain in the C57BL/6J mice over a period of 10 weeks, making measurements at weeks 2, 4 and 10. We examined the transcriptomic profile of hepatic genes involved in the major lipid metabolic pathways, validating the key genes with quantitative real-time reverse-transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) and their gene products with western blots.
Sequential responses to high-fat and high-calorie feeding in an obese mouse model.
No sample metadata fields
View Samples