Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease characterized by the destruction of pancreatic insulin-producing ß cells. CD4+ T cells are integral to the pathogenesis of T1D, but biomarkers that define their pathogenic status in T1D are lacking. miRNAs have essential functions in a wide range of tissues/organs, including the immune system. We reasoned that CD4+ T cells from individuals at high risk for T1D (pre-T1D) might be distinguished by an miRNA signature. We sorted CD4+ T cells from 9 healthy and 7 pre-T1D individuals into 6 subsets, namely naïve, resting regulatory (rTreg), activated regulatory (aTreg), transitional memory (Ttm), central memory (Tcm) and effector memory (Tem) cells, and then compared miRNA profiles between these subsets and between pre-T1D and healthy individuals by deep sequencing. Differential expression of miRNAs was detected in each of the CD4+ T cell subsets. For example, expression of miRNAs that induce apoptosis (miR-15a) or FOXP3 instability (miR-31) was increased in rTreg and aTreg cells, respectively, in pre-T1D individuals, whereas miR-150 was increased in Tem cells of pre-T1D individuals. Importantly, increased miR-150 expression could be detected by qRT-PCR in total CD4+ T and PBMCs of pre-T1D individuals. Consistent with it being a marker of pathogenic CD4+ T cells, we showed that miR-150 regulates IFN-? production in mouse CD4+ T cells. Thus, comprehensive profiling identifies miRNA profiles that not only distinguish CD4+ T cell subsets but also discriminate individuals with preclinical T1D. The ability to detect differentially expressed miRNAs in total CD4+ T cells or PBMCs should facilitate clinical application of miRNAs as biomarkers. Overall design: CD4+T cells from healthy and individuals at high risk for autoimmune type 1 diabetes were sorted into 6 subsets, which resulted in 80 samples, 38 for healthy and 42 for high risk individuals. Each sample was barcoded and miRNA libraries were constructed and subsequently subjected to deep-sequencing on the Illumina GAII or HiSeq platform. The Fastq files are have deconvoluted and stripped of the barcode adaptor sequences.
MicroRNAs in CD4(+) T cell subsets are markers of disease risk and T cell dysfunction in individuals at risk for type 1 diabetes.
Subject
View SamplesDifferentiation of naïve CD4+ T cells into effector (Th1, Th2 and Th17) and induced regulatory (iTreg) T cells requires lineage-specifying transcription factors and epigenetic modifications that allow appropriate repression or activation of gene transcription. The epigenetic silencing of cytokine genes is associated with the repressive H3K27 trimethylation mark, mediated by Ezh2 or Ezh1 methyltransferase components of the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2). EZH2 over-expression and activating mutations are implicated in tumorigenesis and correlate with poor prognosis in several tumor types 35. This spurred the development of EZH2 inhibitors which, by inducing tumor cell growth arrest and cell death, show therapeutic promise in cancer. A role for Ezh2 in suppressing Th1 and Th2 cytokine production and survival has recently been reported. It is not entirely clear whether Ezh2-PRC2 plays a role in H3K27me3 in cytokine loci in naïve CD4+ T cells and whether H3K27me3 has a non-redundant role in T helper cell lineage differentiation and survival. Here, we investigate the effects of T cell-specific Ezh2 deletion to determine the role that Ezh2-PRC2 plays in regulating the fate of differentiating naïve CD4+ T cells. Loss of Ezh2 altered the expression of 1328 genes in Th0 and 1979 genes in iTreg cells. Gene expression changes were positively correlated in both cell types, indicating that Ezh2 targets similar genes in these cells. As expected, Ifng was one of the genes most increased in expression by following loss of Ezh2. In addition, expression of Tbx21 homolog Eomes, a transcription factor that regulates IFNG production, was also significantly increased. We then performed H3K27me3 ChIP-seq on Ezh2fl/fl and Ezh2fl/fl.CD4Cre Th0 cells. Consistent with cellular phenotype and RNA-seq data, we observed a loss of the H3K27me3 at Eomes, Il4 and Il10 loci . Very low levels of H3K27me3 marks were present at Ifng and Tbx21 loci in differentiated Ezh2fl/fl Th0 cells, suggesting that upon differentiation, upregulation or activation of transcription factors accounts for IFNG overproduction. A significant loss of H3K27me3 was observed >2kb upstream of Gata3 locus , however this did not result in increased transcription . Of the 22381 genes tested for changes in H3K27me3, 1360 showed a statistically significant decrease in Ezh2fl/fl.CD4Cre Th0 cells, compared to wildtype. Furthermore, 404 of these genes also showed a concomitant gain in expression in Ezh2fl/fl.CD4Cre Th0 cells, suggesting that these loci are likely direct Ezh2-PRC2 targets. Overall design: There are 3 biological replicates each of Ezh2fl/fl.CD4Cre and Ezh2fl/fl in both Th0 and iTreg cells for the RNA-seq experiment. There are 2 biological replicates each of Ezh2fl/fl.CD4Cre and Ezh2fl/fl in Th0 cells for the ChIP-seq experiment.
The polycomb repressive complex 2 governs life and death of peripheral T cells.
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View SamplesWe treated 6-8 week old mice that had floxed alleles of both Apc and Pten (for both alleles in each case) that also carry an Ovgp1-iCre-ERT2 transgene, with one of two treatments; a third group received neither treatment. The Ovgp1-iCre-ERT2 expresses Cre recombinase fused to a tamoxifen-inducible fragment of the estrogen receptor, in tissues where the Ovgp1 gene (oviductal glycoprotein 1) is expressed, which is almost exclusively in mouse oviductal epithelium (equivalent to human fallopian tube epithelium = FTE). Treating the mice with tamoxifen permits the Cre recombinase to enter the cell nucleus and inactivate the Apc and Pten genes. Six of the mice were treated with intraperitoneal injection of tamoxifen (0.1g/kg of body weight) dissolved in corn oil on days 1 and 3 and developed oviductal tumors (OdT) yielding 6 of the samples. Four mice (yielding 5 samples) were instead injected with 50 million plaque-forming units of replication-incompetent AdCre into both ovarian bursal cavities on day 1, which inactivated Apc and Pten in the ovarian surface epithelium (OSE), and lead to ovarian tumors (OT). Ovaries were also harvested from four untreated 6-8 week old mice with the same genotype, with two ovaries from each mouse comprising one control sample. RNA was purified from tumor or normal tissue, and targets for Affymetrix arrays synthesized from the mRNAs. We used Affymetrix Mouse Gene 2.1 ST arrays, which hold 41345 probe-sets, but we largely analyzed just those 25216 probe-sets that were mapped to Entrez gene IDs. Raw data was processed with Robust Multi-array Average algorithm (RMA). Data is log2-transformed transcript abundance estimates. We fit a one-way ANOVA model to the three groups of samples. We supply a supplementary excel workbook that holds the same data as the data matrix file, but also holds the probe-set annotation at the time we analyzed the data, and some simple statistical calculations, which select subsets of the probe-sets as differentially expressed. Consumers should consider obtaining more up-to-date probe-set annotation for the array platform. We also provide supplementary excel files that show our simple analysis of GSE6008, which consists of 99 human ovarian tumor samples of 4 types, and 4 normal ovary samples, where we fit an ANOVA model to the 5 groups. In yet another supplementary file we show the correlation between each human tumor and mouse tumor, where we correlate the difference in log2-transformed values of each tumor from the average of the normals for the same species, for just those genes that were 1-to-1 best homologs according to build 68 of NCBI's Homologene, in order to see how much the human tumors resemble the mouse tumors.
Impact of oviductal versus ovarian epithelial cell of origin on ovarian endometrioid carcinoma phenotype in the mouse.
Sex
View SamplesWe have identified the causal genes, which is MYB36, of ionome mutants.
The MYB36 transcription factor orchestrates Casparian strip formation.
Specimen part
View SamplesPPAR is a member of the nuclear receptor family for which agonist ligands have anti-growth effects. However, clinical studies using PPAR ligands as a monotherapy failed to show a beneficial effect. Here we have studied the effects of PPAR activation with chemotherapeutic agents in current use for specific cancers. We observed a striking synergy between rosiglitazone and platinum-based drugs in several different cancers both in vitro and using transplantable and chemically induced spontaneous tumor models. The effect appears to be due in part to PPAR-mediated downregulation of metallothioneins, proteins that have been shown to be involved in resistance to platinum-based therapy. These data strongly suggest combining PPAR agonists and platinum-based drugs for the treatment of certain human cancers
Synergy between PPARgamma ligands and platinum-based drugs in cancer.
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View SamplesThe intestinal epithelium is continuously renewed by a pool of intestinal stem cells expressing Lgr5. We show that deletion of the key autophagy gene Atg7 affects the survival of Lgr5+ intestinal stem cells. Mechanistically, this involves defective DNA repair, oxidative stress, and altered interactions with the microbiota. This study highlights the importance of autophagy in maintaining the integrity of intestinal stem cells.
Essential role for autophagy protein ATG7 in the maintenance of intestinal stem cell integrity.
Specimen part
View SamplesStatus Epilepticus (SE) is an abnormally prolonged seizure that results from either a failure of mechanisms that terminate seizures or from initiating mechanisms that inherently lead to prolonged seizures.
Induction of Type 2 Iodothyronine Deiodinase After Status Epilepticus Modifies Hippocampal Gene Expression in Male Mice.
Specimen part
View SamplesFusarium head blight (FHB) is a major disease of cereal crops caused by the fungus Fusarium graminearum (Fg). FHB affects the flowering heads (or spikes) and developing seeds. This study compare the gene expression profile in wheat spikelets (spk 2) inoculated with either water (mock treatment) or a pathogenic strain of Fusarium graminearum (WT); spikelets 2 were inoculated 24 hrs after a neighbour spikelet (spk 0) was treated with either water or F. graminerum mutant strain Tri6 or NoxAB. Spikelets 2 were sampled 8 and 24 hrs after the second treatment.
Components of priming-induced resistance to Fusarium head blight in wheat revealed by two distinct mutants of Fusarium graminearum.
Specimen part
View SamplesThe metabolic syndrome (MetS) is characterized by the presence of metabolic abnormalities that include abdominal obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, increased blood glucose/insulin resistance, hypertriglyceridemia and increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). The ApoE*3Leiden.human Cholesteryl Ester Transfer Protein (ApoE3L.CETP) mouse model manifests several features of the MetS upon high fat diet (HFD) feeding. Moreover, the physiological changes in the white adipose tissue (WAT) contribute to MetS comorbidities. The aim of this study was to identify transcriptomic signatures in the gonadal WAT of ApoE3L.CETP mice in discrete stages of diet-induced MetS.
Transcriptome analysis of the adipose tissue in a mouse model of metabolic syndrome identifies gene signatures related to disease pathogenesis.
Sex, Age, Specimen part
View SamplesMalformations of cortical development are the underlying eitiology of many cases of Mental Retardation and Epilepsy. Subtle, below the resolution of current MRI, cortical dysplasias are probably involved in many cases of MR, Epilepsy and Autism for which no diagnosis can currently be made. Therefore, understanding the process of cortical development will be vital in diagnosing and eventual treatment of many patients with these conditions. More specifically, the cortex forms from two major populations of neuroblasts which reach their final destination in the cortex by differerent mechanisms. One is radial migration from ventricular neuroblasts to the cortical plate. These cells are excititory projection neurons and glia. The second pathway is from the ventral ganglionic eminences and tangential migration of the interneuronal population of primarily inhibitory neurons. Much less is known about the control of the latter process, and many of these currently undiagnosed subtle malformations may stem from abnormalities of this tangential migration. This project focuses on the understanding the control of the tangentially migrating inhibitory interneurons.
Identification of Arx transcriptional targets in the developing basal forebrain.
No sample metadata fields
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