Maternal diet is associated with the development of metabolism-related and other non-communicable diseases in offspring. Underlying mechanisms, functional profiles, and molecular markers are only starting to be revealed. Here, we explored the physiological and molecular impact of maternal Western-style diet on the liver of male and female offspring. C57BL/6 dams were exposed to either a low fat/low cholesterol diet (LFD) or a Western-style high fat/high cholesterol diet (WSD) for six weeks before mating, as well as during gestation and lactation. Dams and offspring were sacrificed at postnatal day 14, and body, liver, and blood parameters were assessed. The impact of maternal WSD on the pups' liver gene expression was characterised by whole-transcriptome microarray analysis. Exclusively male offspring had significantly higher body weight upon maternal WSD. In offspring of both sexes of WSD dams, liver and blood parameters, as well as hepatic gene expression profiles were changed. In total, 686 and 604 genes were differentially expressed in liver (p0.01) of males and females, respectively. Only 10% of these significantly changed genes overlapped in both sexes. In males, in particular alterations of gene expression with respect to developmental functions and processes were observed, such as Wnt/beta-catenin signalling. In females, mainly genes important for lipid metabolism, including cholesterol synthesis, were changed. We conclude that maternal WSD affects physiological parameters and induces substantial changes in the molecular profile of the liver in two-week-old pups. Remarkably, the observed biological responses of the offspring reveal pronounced sex-specificity.
Maternal Western-style high fat diet induces sex-specific physiological and molecular changes in two-week-old mouse offspring.
Sex, Age, Specimen part
View SamplesThere is increasing appreciation for sexually dimorphic effects, but the molecular mechanisms underlying these effects are only partially understood. In the present study, we explored transcriptomics and epigenetic differences in the small intestine and colon of prepubescent male and female mice. In addition, the microbiota composition of the colonic luminal content has been examined. At postnatal day 14, male and female C57BL/6 mice were sacrificed and the small intestine, colon and content of luminal colon were isolated. Gene expression of both segments of the intestine was analysed by microarray analysis. DNA methylation of the promoter regions of selected sexually dimorphic genes was examined by pyrosequencing. Composition of the microbiota was explored by deep sequencing. Sexually dimorphic genes were observed in both segments of the intestine of 2-week-old mouse pups, with a stronger effect in the small intestine. Amongst the total of 349 genes displaying a sexually dimorphic effect in the small intestine and/or colon, several candidates exhibited a previously established function in the intestine (i.e. Nts, Nucb2, Alox5ap and Retnl). In addition, differential expression of genes linked to intestinal bowel disease (i.e. Ccr3, Ccl11 and Tnfr) and colorectal cancer development (i.e. Wt1 and Mmp25) was observed between males and females. Amongst the genes displaying significant sexually dimorphic expression, nine genes were histone-modifying enzymes, suggesting that epigenetic mechanisms might be a potential underlying regulatory mechanism. However, our results reveal no significant changes in DNA methylation of analysed CpGs within the selected differentially expressed genes. With respect to the bacterial community composition in the colon, a dominant effect of litter origin was found but no significant sex effect was detected. However, a sex effect on the dominance of specific taxa was observed. This study reveals molecular dissimilarities between males and females in the small intestine and colon of prepubescent mice, which might underlie differences in physiological functioning and in disease predisposition in the two sexes.
Sexually dimorphic characteristics of the small intestine and colon of prepubescent C57BL/6 mice.
Sex, Age, Specimen part
View SamplesDuring the last few decades, the long-lasting consequences of nutritional programming during the early phase of life have become increasingly evident, but the effects of maternal nutrition on the developing intestine are currently still relatively underexplored. In this study, we investigated in mice the effects of a maternal Western-style (WS) high fat/cholesterol diet, given during the perinatal period, on gene expression and microbiota composition of two-week-old offspring. Microarray analysis revealed that a perinatal WS diet caused significant changes in gene expression in the small intestine and colon of the suckling offspring. A strong sexually dimorphic effect was observed in the affected genes. However, pathway analysis of the differentially expressed genes displayed that in both sexes metabolic and immune functions were strongly affected. Integration of the microbiota and gene expression data applying a multivariate correlation analyses revealed that Bacteroidaceae, Porphyromonadaceae and Lachnospiraceae were the bacterial families that most strongly correlated with gene expression in the colon and not with the bacterial families displaying the most pronounced change due to perinatal exposure to a WS diet. Amongst the genes demonstrating a strong correlation with one or more bacterial families were genes of key importance for intestinal development or functioning (i.e., Pitx2 and Ace2). In conclusion, our data demonstrate a strong programming effect of a maternal WS diet on the development of the intestine in the offspring.
Maternal exposure to a Western-style diet causes differences in intestinal microbiota composition and gene expression of suckling mouse pups.
Sex, Age, Specimen part
View SamplesDiffuse infiltrating gliomas are the most common primary brain malignancy found in adults, and Glioblastoma multiforme, the highest grade glioma, is associated with a median survival of 7 months. Transcriptional profiling has been applied to 85 gliomas from 74 patients to elucidate glioma biology, prognosticate survival, and define tumor sub-classes. These studies reveal that transcriptional profiling of gliomas is more accurate at predicting survival than traditional pathologic grading, and that gliomas characteristically express coordinately regulated genes of one of four molecular signatures: neurogenesis, synaptic transmission, mitotic, or extra-cellular matrix. Elucidation of these survival associated molecular signatures will aid in tumor prognostication and define targets for future directed therapy.
Gene expression profiling of gliomas strongly predicts survival.
Sex, Age, Specimen part, Disease stage
View SamplesMigrated from 1.6 id: 1015897590491013 GEDP id: 760 In current clinical practice, histology-based grading of diffuse infiltrative gliomas is the best predictor of patient survival time. Yet histology provides little insight into the underlying biology of gliomas and is limited in its ability to identify and guide new molecularly targeted therapies. We have performed large-scale gene expression analysis using the Affymetrix HG U133 oligonucleotide arrays on 85 diffuse infiltrating gliomas of all histologic types to assess whether a gene expression-based, histology-independent classifier is predictive of survival and to determine whether gene expression signatures provide insight into the biology of gliomas. We found that gene expression-based grouping of tumors is a more powerful survival predictor than histologic grade or age. The poor prognosis samples could be grouped into three different poor prognosis groups, each with distinct molecular signatures. We further describe a list of 44 genes whose expression patterns reliably classify gliomas into previously unrecognized biological and prognostic groups: these genes are outstanding candidates for use in histology-independent classification of high-grade gliomas. The ability of the large scale and 44 gene set expression signatures to group tumors into strong survival groups was validated with an additional external and independent data set from another institution composed of 50 additional gliomas. This demonstrates that large-scale gene expression analysis and subset analysis of gliomas reveals unrecognized heterogeneity of tumors and is efficient at selecting prognosis-related gene expression differences which are able to be applied across institutions.
Gene expression profiling of gliomas strongly predicts survival.
Sex, Age, Specimen part, Disease, Disease stage
View SamplesBackground: Glioblastomas are the most common primary brain tumour in adults. While the prognosis for patients is poor, gene expression profiling has detected signatures that can sub-classify GBMs relative to histopathology and clinical variables. One category of GBM defined by a gene expression signature is termed ProNeural (PN), and has substantially longer patient survival relative to other gene expression-based subtypes of GBMs. Age of onset is a major predictor of the length of patient survival where younger patients survive longer than older patients. The reason for this survival advantage has not been clear.
Gene expression analysis of glioblastomas identifies the major molecular basis for the prognostic benefit of younger age.
Sex, Age
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Genomic landscape of meningiomas.
Sex, Age, Specimen part, Disease stage
View SamplesMeningiomas are one of the most common adult brain tumors. For most patients, surgical excision is curative. However, up to 20% recur. Currently, the molecular determinants predicting recurrence and malignant transformation are lacking. We performed global genetic and genomic analysis of 85 meningioma samples of various grades.
Genomic landscape of meningiomas.
Sex, Age, Specimen part, Disease stage
View SamplesComparison of treatment sensitive GSC clones (TSGC) with treatment resistant GSC clones (TRGC). We used microarrays to identify molecular signatures of TRGC (upregulated genes).
Protective properties of radio-chemoresistant glioblastoma stem cell clones are associated with metabolic adaptation to reduced glucose dependence.
Specimen part
View SamplesWe overexpressed the spliced form of transcription factor XBP1 in mature F442A adipocytes by adenoviral infection. Control virus expressed GFP alone.
The role of adipocyte XBP1 in metabolic regulation during lactation.
Specimen part, Cell line
View Samples