PBMC from house dust mite (HDM) sensitized atopics were cultured in the presence or absence of HDM extract for 24 hours.
Distinguishing benign from pathologic TH2 immunity in atopic children.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesThe double-stranded RNA binding protein Staufen2 (Stau2) is asymmetrically localized and segregated during asymmetric cell divisions in the developing mouse cortex and promotes intermediate progenitor cell fate.
Asymmetric segregation of the double-stranded RNA binding protein Staufen2 during mammalian neural stem cell divisions promotes lineage progression.
Specimen part
View SamplesChronic kidney disease (CKD) is the gradual, asymptomatic loss of kidney function and current tests only identify it when significant loss has already happened. Using RNA sequencing in a mouse model of folic acid (FA) induced nephropathy, here we report the identification of 10 genes that track kidney fibrosis development, the common pathological finding in CKD patients. The gene expression of all 10 candidates was confirmed to be significantly high (~ 10-150 fold) in three well-established and mechanistically distinct mouse models of kidney fibrosis. Protein expression was also high in the FA model as well as patients with biopsy-proven kidney fibrosis. The specificity of these 10 candidates for kidney fibrosis was demonstrated by showing a very modest (~ 2-5 fold) increase in the mouse models of acute kidney injury as well as following liver fibrosis in mice and humans. Using targeted selected reaction monitoring mass spectrometry (SRM-MS) we found that 3 out of 10, cadherin 11 (CDH11), mannose receptor C1 (MRC1), phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP), are detectable in human urine. Furthermore, the levels of CDH11 and MRC1 are able to distinguish patients with chronic kidney disease from healthy individuals (n = 78, p<0.01). In summary, we report the identification of CDH11 and MRC1 as novel non-invasive biomarkers of CKD. Overall design: mRNA sequencing of mouse kidney before and at various time points (1,2,3,7 & 14 days) after intraperitoneal treatment with folic acid.
RNA Sequencing Identifies Novel Translational Biomarkers of Kidney Fibrosis.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesFibrocytes (fibroblastic leukocytes) are recently identified as unique hematopoietic cells with features of both macrophages and fibroblasts. Fibrocytes are known to contribute to the remodeling or fibrosis of various injured tissues. However, their role in viral infection is not fully understood. Here we show that differentiated fibrocytes are phenotypically distinguishable from macrophages but can be infected with HIV-1. Importantly, fibrocytes exhibited persistently infected cell-like phenotypes, the degree of which was more apparent than macrophages. The infected fibrocytes produced replication-competent HIV-1, but expressed HIV-1 mRNA at low levels and strongly resisted HIV-1-induced cell death, which enabled them to support an extremely long-term HIV-1 production at low but steady levels. More importantly, our results suggested that fibrocytes were susceptible to HIV-1 regardless of their differentiation state, in contrast to the fact that monocytes become susceptible to HIV-1 after the differentiation into macrophages. Our findings indicate that fibrocytes are the previously unreported HIV-1 host cells, and suggest the importance of considering fibrocytes as one of long-lived persistently infected cells for curing HIV-1.
Fibrocytes Differ from Macrophages but Can Be Infected with HIV-1.
Specimen part, Time
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
The atypical mitogen-activated protein kinase ERK3 is essential for establishment of epithelial architecture.
Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesEstablishment and maintenance of epithelial architecture are essential for embryonic development and adult physiology. Here, we show that ERK3, a poorly characterized atypical MAPK, regulates epithelial architecture in vertebrates. In Xenopus embryonic epidermal epithelia, ERK3 knockdown impairs adherens and tight junction protein distribution, as well as tight junction barrier function, resulting in epidermal breakdown. Moreover, in human breast epithelial cancer cells, inhibition of ERK3 expression induces thickened epithelia with aberrant adherens and tight junctions. Microarray results suggest an involvement of TFAP2A, a transcription factor important for epithelial gene expression, in ERK3-dependent gene expression changes. TFAP2A knockdown phenocopies ERK3 knockdown in both Xenopus embryos and human cells, and ERK3 is required for full activation of TFAP2A-dependent transcription. Our findings thus reveal that ERK3 regulates epithelial architecture, possibly in cooperation with TFAP2A.
The atypical mitogen-activated protein kinase ERK3 is essential for establishment of epithelial architecture.
Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesEstablishment and maintenance of epithelial architecture are essential for embryonic development and adult physiology. Here, we show that ERK3, a poorly characterized atypical MAPK, regulates epithelial architecture in vertebrates. In Xenopus embryonic epidermal epithelia, ERK3 knockdown impairs adherens and tight junction protein distribution, as well as tight junction barrier function, resulting in epidermal breakdown. Moreover, in human breast epithelial cancer cells, inhibition of ERK3 expression induces thickened epithelia with aberrant adherens and tight junctions. Microarray results suggest an involvement of TFAP2A, a transcription factor important for epithelial gene expression, in ERK3-dependent gene expression changes. TFAP2A knockdown phenocopies ERK3 knockdown in both Xenopus embryos and human cells, and ERK3 is required for full activation of TFAP2A-dependent transcription. Our findings thus reveal that ERK3 regulates epithelial architecture, possibly in cooperation with TFAP2A.
The atypical mitogen-activated protein kinase ERK3 is essential for establishment of epithelial architecture.
Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesSox9 acts together with Sox5 or Sox6 as a master regulator for chondrocyte differentiation; however, how these transcription factors functionally interact and collaborate to regulate chondrogenesis remains unclear. Here we show that the protein kinase MLTK plays an essential role in the onset of chondrogenesis through triggering the induction of Sox6 by Sox9. Knockdown of MLTK in Xenopus embryos results in drastic loss of craniofacial cartilages without defects in neural crest formation. We also find that Sox6 is specifically induced during craniofacial chondrogenesis and this induction is inhibited by MLTK knockdown. Remarkably, Sox6-knockdown embryos display essentially the same phenotype as the MLTK-knockdown embryos; the drastic loss of cartilages and the marked down-regulation of genes involved in chondrogenesis. Microarray analysis reveals a remarkable similarity between Sox6-depleted and MLTK-depleted embryos in their gene expression pattern. Moreover, we find that ectopic expression of MLTK can induce Sox6 expression in a Sox9-dependent manner. These results identify a novel, key regulator for chondrogenesis.
The protein kinase MLTK regulates chondrogenesis by inducing the transcription factor Sox6.
Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesChronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a biologically and clinically heterogeneous disease. The somatic hypermutation status of the immunoglobulin heavy chain variable (IGHV) genes has been identified as one of the most robust prognostic markers in CLL. Patients with unmutated IGHV status (U-CLL) typically experience an inferior outcome compared to those whose clones express mutated IGHV genes (M-CLL). We conducted a genome-wide DNA methylation analysis in CD19+ B-cells from a group of 43 CLL patients using reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS). Using base-pair resolution methylation sequencing, 2323 differentially methylated regions between CLL and normal B-cells (CLL-specific DMRs) and 569 between M-CLL and U-CLL samples (IGHV-specific DMRs) were identified in the CLL genomes. The IGHV-specific DMRs are mostly unique when compared to the CLL-specific DMRs. Less than 10% of the IGHV-specific DMRs are located in promoter regions; however, more than half of these overlap with known DNase I hypersensitive sites, enhancer regions marked by histone modification (H3K4Me1 and H3K27Ac), and transcription factor binding sites in the ENCODE datasets, which indicates that these DMRs contain regulatory sequences. Distinctive DNA methylation patterns were observed in M-CLL and U-CLL samples. Overall, U-CLL was found to contain 50% more hypermethylated regions than M-CLL samples. The hypermethylated loci observed in the U-CLL samples also appear to be hypermethylated in normal naïve B-cells as compared memory B-cells, suggesting that M-CLL and U-CLL differ in differentiation status corresponding to normal B-cell differentiation stages. RNA-seq analysis performed using matched samples (n=34), in which both DNA methylation and gene expression data were available, demonstrated excellent correlation between DNA methylation and gene expression. Several genes whose expression status was previously shown to be associated with CLL prognosis such as ZAP70, CRY1, LDOC1, SEPT10, LAG3, and LPL were differentially methylated in the promoter regions between M-CLL and U-CLL samples indicating that DNA methylation plays an important role in defining the gene expression patterns of these prognostic genes. We further validated 9 genes with IGHV-specific DMRs in the promoter regions using bisulfite pyrosequencing, and the results demonstrated excellent correlation between differential methylation and IGHV mutation status. These novel differentially methylated genes could be developed into biomarkers for CLL prognosis. In addition, DNA hypomethylation was observed in a significant number of genes involved in lymphocyte activation such as PDCD1, NFAT1, and CD5. DNA hypomethylation was observed in the proximal promoter and far up-stream enhancer regions of CD5, an important cell surface marker that uniquely identifies CLL. Overall, the DNA methylation landscape in CLL patients indicates that CLL B cells possess an active B-cell phenotype; at the same time, U-CLL and M-CLL are faithfully committed to their lineage resembling either naïve or memory B-cells. In summary, this comprehensive DNA methylation analysis has identified a large number of novel epigenetic changes in CLL patients. The results from this study will further advance our understanding of the epigenetic contribution to molecular subtypes in CLL. Overall design: To perform a transcriptome analysis in CLL, we generated sequencing libraries from total RNA isolated from purified B-cells of CLL patients and healthy donnors. The RNA-seq libraries were sequenced using Illumina HiSeq2000 sequencer with a read length of 100bp. 11 CLL B-cell samples, 3 normal control samples including one each of normal CD19+ B cells were studied. We generated 20-30 million Illumina sequencing reads for each sample.
Hypomethylation coordinates antagonistically with hypermethylation in cancer development: a case study of leukemia.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesL-Ser deficiency leads to growth arrest, tissue malformation and embryonic lethality in mice. However, the molecular mechanism by which L-Ser deficiency impairs basic cellular function remains largely unexplored.
Microarray data on altered transcriptional program of Phgdh-deficient mouse embryonic fibroblasts caused by ʟ-serine depletion.
Specimen part
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