Fibrosis is a leading cause of deaths in industrialized countries and has no effective therapy. We demonstrated that blockade of OX40L prevented inflammation-driven fibrosis affecting the skin and the lungs and promotes regression of established dermal fibrosis in different murine models.
OX40L blockade protects against inflammation-driven fibrosis.
Sex, Age, Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesCardiac-specific PPARalpha transgenic (Tg-PPARalpha) mice show mild cardiac hypertrophy and systolic dysfunction. The failing heart phenotypes observed in Tg-PPARalpha are exacerbated by crossing with cardiac-specific Sirt1 transgenic (Tg-Sirt1) mice, whereas Tg-Sirt1 mice themselves do not show any cardiac hypertrophy or systolic dysfunction. To investigate the mechanism leading to the failing heart phenotypes in TgPPARalpha/Tg-Sirt1 bigenic mice, microarray analyses were performed. The microarray analyses revealed that many ERR target genes were downregulated in Tg-PPARalpha and in Tg-Sirt1, and they were further downregulated in the Tg-PPARalpha/Tg-Sirt1 bigenic mice.
PPARα-Sirt1 complex mediates cardiac hypertrophy and failure through suppression of the ERR transcriptional pathway.
Sex, Specimen part
View SamplesWe harvested the heart from transgenic mice with cardiac specific overexpression of Sirt1 (Tg-Sirt1) and non-transgenic (NTg) control littermate at 3 months of age and then microarray analyses were conducted.
Sirt1 regulates aging and resistance to oxidative stress in the heart.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesMuscle atrophy F-box (MAFbx) is an E3 ubiquitin ligase which plays a critical role in mediating skeletal muscle atrophy. We investigated the effect of MAFbx KO in cardiac hypertrophy in response to pressure overload. A DNA microarray analysis was conducted using total RNA prepared from wild type and MAFbx KO mouse hearts subject to transverse aortic constriction (TAC). Results provide insight into the molecular mechanism to mediate the effect of MAFbx upon pathological hypertrophy.
Endogenous muscle atrophy F-box mediates pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy through regulation of nuclear factor-kappaB.
Specimen part
View SamplesStable knockdown of NET1, a RhoGEF, was achieved in AGS Gastric Cancer cells. This gene is known to be overexpressed in the disease.
A functional and transcriptomic analysis of NET1 bioactivity in gastric cancer.
Cell line
View SamplesWe used microarrays to detail genome-wide gene expression underlying cardiac myocyte pathologies and identified candidate genes and specific pathways affecting cardiac myopathies
Reduced phosphoinositide 3-kinase (p110alpha) activation increases the susceptibility to atrial fibrillation.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesThe regeneration of diseased hyaline cartilage remains a great challenge, mainly because degeneration activities after major injury or due to age-related processes overwhelm the self-renewal capacity of the tissue. We show that repair tissue from human articular cartilage of late stages of osteoarthritis harbor a unique progenitor cell population, termed chondrogenic progenitor cells exhibiting stem cell characteristics, such as multipotency, lack of immune system activation and, in particular, migratory activity. The isolated CPC exhibit a high chondrogenic potential and were able to populate diseased tissue in vivo. Moreover, down-regulation of the osteogenic transcription factor runx-2 enhanced the expression of the chondrogenic transcription factor sox-9 and consequently the matrix synthesis potential of chondrogenic progenitor cells. Our results, while offering new insight into the biology of progenitor cells from diseased cartilage tissue, might assist future strategies to treat late stages of osteoarthritis.
Migratory chondrogenic progenitor cells from repair tissue during the later stages of human osteoarthritis.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesRobust identification of placental PPARg target genes via mutliple PPARg-dependence criteria.
Placental PPARγ regulates spatiotemporally diverse genes and a unique metabolic network.
Specimen part
View SamplesPurpose: Syncytiotrophoblast (STB) is a multi-nucleated, terminally differentiated syncytium that covers the surface of the villous placenta and forms the major interface with maternal blood. It releases placental hormones and plays a primary role in exchange of gases, nutrients and waste products. Alterations in STB development and turnover have been implicated in placental diseases, including preeclampsia (PE). In vitro cell models are badly needed to study STB development and physiology due to inaccessibility to placental tissues during gestation. To establish in vitro STB model system, we generate STB and its mononucleated precursors from human embryonic stem cells (hESC) and profile for RNA content by RNAseq. Methods: H1 Human ESC (WA01) were treated with BMP4, the ALK4/5/7 inhibitor (A83-01), and the FGF2 signaling inhibitor (PD173074) (BAP) to direct them to the trophoblast lineage and provided both STB and extravillous trophoblast. Syncytial areas emerged at day 8 BAP treatment ranged in diameter from ~40 µm to > 100 µm. The intact syncytial areas were isolated by sieving successively through 70 µm and 40 µm mesh cell strainers. The captured cells are recovered by inverting the strainer and rinsing with culture medium to separate large (>70 µm) and middle size cell sheets (40-70 µm). The fraction that passes through both sieves represents cells of smallest diameter (< 40 µm), presumably cytotrophoblast. Total 12 RNA samples from triplicate three size-fractioned BAP treated and three untreated hESC cultured in a FGF2 supplemented medium in parallel were analyzed. Results: The larger > 70 µm areas stained positively for STB markers while ultrastructural analysis clearly revealed multi-nuclear cells with an extensive cytoplasm containing many prominent secretion granules. The larger STB areas also had a larger DNA content that > 70 µm fraction contained 37 times more nuclear content and 40-70 µm fraction did 16 times more. Compared to the < 40 µm cell fraction, these larger cells over-expressed a full repertoire of genes characteristic of STB, e.g. CGA, CGB, PGF, ERVW1, GCM1. The smallest cell fraction had a DNA content consistent with mononuclear diploid cells, contained few secretory granules, and were only weakly positive for STB markers. Conclusion: The data are consistent with the > 70 µm cells being mature STB, while the intermediate fraction may represent a precursor population. Human ESC directed along the trophoblast lineage by BAP treatment offers a useful model for following STB formation in vitro and suggest that this protocol may have utility in studying the basis of certain placental diseases, especially preeclampsia, where placental tissue isolated at term or after pregnancy terminations can only offer limited information. Overall design: Three size fraction mRNA profiles of syncytial areas emerged at day 8 BAP treatment of hESC were generated by deep sequencing along with untreated hESC, in triplicate, using Illumina HiSeq 2500.
Comparison of syncytiotrophoblast generated from human embryonic stem cells and from term placentas.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesAnaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) has among the worst prognosis of any solid malignancy. The low incidence of the disease has in part precluded systematic clinical trials and tissue collection, and there has been little progress in developing effective therapies. BRAF and TP53 mutations co-occur in a high proportion of ATC, particularly those associated with a precursor papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). In order to develop an adult-onset model of BRAF-mutant anaplastic thyroid carcinoma, we generated a novel thyroid-specific CreER transgenic mouse. We utilize a Cre-regulated BrafV600E mouse and a conditional Trp53 allelic series to demonstrate that p53 constrains progression from papillary to anaplastic thyroid carcinoma. Gene expression and immunohistochemical analyses of murine tumors identified the cardinal features of human ATC including loss of differentiation, local invasion, distant metastasis and rapid lethality. We employed small animal ultrasound imaging to monitor autochthonous tumors, and show that treatment with the selective BRAF inhibitor PLX4720 improved survival, but did not lead to tumor regression or suppress signaling through the MAPK pathway. Combination of PLX4720 and the MEK inhibitor PD0325901 more completely suppressed MAPK pathway activation in mouse and human ATC cell lines, and improved the structural response and survival of ATC-bearing animals. This model expands the limited repertoire of autochthonous models of clinically aggressive thyroid cancer, and these data suggest that small molecule MAPK pathway inhibitors hold clinical promise in the treatment of advanced thyroid carcinoma.
p53 constrains progression to anaplastic thyroid carcinoma in a Braf-mutant mouse model of papillary thyroid cancer.
Specimen part
View Samples