Background: The first step in SARS-CoV-2 infection is binding of the virus to angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) on the airway epithelium. Asthma affects over 300 million people world-wide, many of whom may encounter SARS-CoV-2. Epidemiologic data suggests that asthmatics who get infected may be at increased risk of more severe disease. Our objective was to assess whether maintenance inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), a major treatment for asthma, is associated with airway ACE2 expression in asthmatics.
Up-regulation of ACE2, the SARS-CoV-2 receptor, in asthmatics on maintenance inhaled corticosteroids.
Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesCystatin A (gene: CSTA), is up-regulated in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and dysplastic vs normal human bronchial epithelium. In the context that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a small airway epithelium (SAE) disorder, is independently associated with NSCLC (especially squamous cell carcinoma, SCC), but only occurs in a subset of smokers, we hypothesized that genetic variation, smoking and COPD modulate CSTA gene expression levels in SAE, with further up-regulation in SCC. Gene expression was assessed by microarray in SAE of 178 individuals [healthy nonsmokers (n=60), healthy smokers (n=82), and COPD smokers (n=36)], with corresponding large airway epithelium (LAE) data in a subset (n=52). Blood DNA was genotyped by SNP microarray. Twelve SNPs upstream of the CSTA gene were all significantly associated with CSTA SAE gene expression (p<0.04 to 5 x 10-4). CSTA gene expression levels in SAE were higher in COPD smokers (28.4 2.0) than healthy smokers (19.9 1.4, p<10-3), who in turn had higher levels than nonsmokers (16.1 1.1, p<0.04). CSTA LAE gene expression was also smoking-responsive (p<10-3). Using comparable publicly available NSCLC expression data, CSTA was up-regulated in SCC vs LAE (p<10-2) and down-regulated in adenocarcinoma vs SAE (p<10-7). All phenotypes were associated with significantly different proportional gene expression of CSTA to cathepsins. The data demonstrate that regulation of CSTA expression in human airway epithelium is influenced by genetic variability, smoking, and COPD, and is further up-regulated in SCC, all of which should be taken into account when considering the role of CSTA in NSCLC pathogenesis.
Modulation of cystatin A expression in human airway epithelium related to genotype, smoking, COPD, and lung cancer.
Race
View SamplesMotivation: Identification of eQTL, the genetic loci that contribute to heritable variation in gene expression, can be obstructed by factors that produce variation in expression profiles if these factors are unmeasured or hidden from direct analysis.
HEFT: eQTL analysis of many thousands of expressed genes while simultaneously controlling for hidden factors.
Disease, Race
View SamplesGamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a multifunctional mediator that functions as a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system and a trophic factor during nervous system development, affecting proliferation, differentiation and cell death [1-3].GABA is synthesized from glutamate, catalyzed by GAD65 and GAD67, glutamic acid decarboxylase {Tillakaratne, Medina-Kauwe, et al. 1995 21 /id}{Owens & Kriegstein 2002 3 /id}{Watanabe, Maemura, et al. 2002 73 /id}. In the CNS transporters and catabolic enzymes work in a coordinated fashion to control the availability of GABA {Tillakaratne, Medina-Kauwe, et al. 1995 21 /id}{Owens & Kriegstein 2002 3 /id}{Watanabe, Maemura, et al. 2002 73 /id} It is now recognized that GABA also functions in a variety of organs outside of the CNS [1,3,4]. In the lung, a series of recent studies suggest that the GABAergic signaling system plays a role in the control of asthma related-airway constriction and mucin secretion [5-9]. In the context that goblet cell hyperplasia and mucin overproduction is associated with cigarette smoking [10-12], we hypothesized that components of the GABAergic system may also be altered in the airway epithelium of cigarette smokers. To assess this hypothesis, we evaluated the expression of the entire GABAergic system in the large and small airway epithelium of healthy nonsmokers and healthy smokers. The data demonstrates there is expression of genes for a complete GABAergic system in the airway epithelium. Interestingly, the expression of GAD67 was markedly modified by smoking, with increased expression in healthy smokers compared to healthy nonsmokers at the mRNA and protein levels. In the context that mucus overproduction is commonly associated with cigarette smoking, GAD67 may be a pharmacologic target for treatment of smoking-related disorders.
Smoking-mediated up-regulation of GAD67 expression in the human airway epithelium.
Sex, Age
View SamplesBackground: Information on the carcinogenic potential of chemicals is only availably for High Production Volume products. There is however, a pressing need for alternative methods allowing for the chronic toxicity of substances, including carcinogenicity, to be detected earlier and more reliably. Here we applied advanced genomics to a cellular transformation assay to identify gene signatures useful for the prediction of risk for carcinogenicity. Methods: Genome wide gene expression analysis and qRT-PCR were applied to untransformed and transformed Balb/c 3T3 cells that exposed to 2, 4-diaminotoluene (DAT), benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), 2-Acetylaminoflourene (AAF) and 3-methycholanthrene (MCA) for 24h and 120h, at different concentrations, respectively. Furthermore, various bioinformatics tools were used to identify gene signatures predicting for the carcinogenic risk. Results: Bioinformatics analysis revealed distinct datasets for the individual chemicals tested while the number of significantly regulated genes increased with ascending treatment concentration of the cell cultures. Filtering of the data revealed a common gene signature that comprised of 13 genes whose regulation in cancer tissue has already been established. Strikingly, this gene signature was already identified prior to cell transformation therefore confirming the predictive power of this gene signature in identifying carcinogenic risks of chemicals. Comparison of fold changes determined by microarray analysis and qRT-PCR were in good agreement. Conclusion: Our data describes selective and commonly regulated carcinogenic pathways observed in an easy to use in vitro carcinogenicity assay. Here we defined a set of genes which can serve as a simply assay to predict the risk for carcinogenicity by use of an alternative in vitro testing strategy.
Toxicogenomics applied to in vitro carcinogenicity testing with Balb/c 3T3 cells revealed a gene signature predictive of chemical carcinogens.
Cell line, Treatment, Time
View SamplesBackground: When exposed to specific stimuli, macrophages exhibit distinct activation programs, M1 and M2 polarization, that define macrophage function as inflammatory/immune effectors or anti-inflammatory/tissue remodeling cells, respectively. Due to their position on the lung epithelial surface, alveolar macrophages (AM) directly interact with environmental stimuli such as cigarette smoke, the major risk factor for the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Based on the current paradigm that, in response to smoking, AM contribute to both inflammatory and tissue remodeling processes in the lung relevant to the pathogenesis of COPD, we hypothesized that chronic exposure to cigarette smoking activates both the M1 and M2 polarization programs in AM. Methods and Findings: To assess this hypothesis, global transcriptional profiling with TaqMan confirmation and flow cytometry analysis was carried out on AM obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage of 24 healthy nonsmokers, 34 healthy smokers and 12 smokers with COPD to assess the expression of 41 M1 genes and 32 M2 genes in each group. Contrary to our expectations, while there was up-regulation of some genes typical for M2-related phenotypes, AM of healthy smokers exhibited substantial suppression of M1-related inflammatory/immune genes. These M1- and M2-related changes progressed with the development of smoking-induced lung disease, with AM of smokers with COPD exhibiting further down-regulation of M1-related genes accompanied with further up-regulation of some M2-related genes. Conclusion: The data demonstrates that the modifications of the AM transcriptome associated with smoking result in a unique phenotype characterized by reprogramming of AM towards M1-deactivated partially M2-polarized macrophages and suggests that, while AM likely contribute to smoking-induced tissue remodeling, the role of AM in the early pathogenesis of smoking-induced COPD in humans is not inflammatory. This concept is a departure from the conventional concept that AM-mediated inflammation participates in the early derangements of the lung induced by smoking, and suggests a novel paradigm for conceptualizing COPD and developing new approaches to prevent the development of smoking-induced lung disease.
Smoking-dependent reprogramming of alveolar macrophage polarization: implication for pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Sex, Age
View SamplesWhile the survival rate of HIV-infected individuals has dramatically improved with the development of highly active anti-retroviral therapy, HIV-infected individuals have an increased risk for chronic disorders, including the development of COPD, manifesting as emphysema. The mechanisms of HIV-associated emphysema are not understood. Based on the knowledge that human airway basal cells (BC) function as stem/progenitor cells capable of differentiation into specialized ciliated and secretory cells during natural turnover and repair in response to injury, we hypothesized that HIV interacts with, and consequently induces pathologic programming of the BC that contributes to the development of emphysema. Overall design: Studies were designed to assess: (1) if HIV binds to, infects and/or replicates in BC; (2) identify which BC receptor(s) are responsible for HIV capture; and (3) the reprogramming of BC biology upon HIV exposure. Infectious HIVNL4-3 was used for all studies. Soluble heparan sulfate and heparinase III were used to prevent HIV/BC interactions. BC phenotypes after HIV exposure were assessed by TaqMan quantitative PCR, ELISA, phospho-MAPK array, protease array, cell invasion assay, and zymography.
HIV Reprograms Human Airway Basal Stem/Progenitor Cells to Acquire a Tissue-Destructive Phenotype.
Specimen part, Disease, Disease stage, Subject
View SamplesThe aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor that is regulated by environmental toxicants that function as AHR agonists such as 2,3,7,8 tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). L-Type Amino Acid Transporter 1 (LAT1) is a leucine uptake transporter that is overexpressed in cancer. The regulation of LAT1 by AHR in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells (BCCs) was investigated in this report. Ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA) revealed a significant association between TCDD-regulated genes (TRGs) and molecular transport. Overlapping the TCDD-RNA-Seq dataset in this report with a published TCDD-ChIP-seq dataset identified that LAT1 was a direct TCDD/AHR gene target. Short interfering RNA (siRNA)-directed knockdown of AHR confirmed that TCDD-stimulated increases in LAT1 mRNA and protein required AHR. TCDD-stimulated increases in LAT1 mRNA was also inhibited by the AHR antagonist CH-223191. Upregulation of LAT1 by TCDD coincided with increases in leucine uptake by MCF-7 cells in response to TCDD. Chromatin immunoprecipitation-quantitative PCR (ChIP-qPCR) assays revealed increases in AHR, AHR nuclear translocator (ARNT) and p300 binding and histone H3 acetylation at an AHR binding site in the LAT1 gene in response to TCDD. In MDA-MB-231 cells, which exhibit high levels of endogenous AHR activity, the levels of endogenous LAT1 mRNA and protein were reduced in response to knockdown of AHR with AHR-siRNA. The regulation of LAT1 by AHR stimulated MDA-MB-231 proliferation. Collectively, these findings have provided a deeper mechanistic understanding of extrinsic and intrinsic regulation of LAT1 by AHR. Overall design: Expression profiling of four replicates of MCF-7 cells treated with 10nM TCDD were compared to expression profiles of four control replicates of MCF-7 cells treated with DMSO by RNA-Seq
Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) regulation of L-Type Amino Acid Transporter 1 (LAT-1) expression in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells.
Treatment, Subject
View SamplesRNA-Seq on libraries made from serial dilutions of mRNA from Drosophila melanogaster S2 cell and the External RNA Controls Consortium (ERCC) external RNA controls. We evaluated performance of RNA-Seq by serially diluting a complex pool of known synthetic PolyA+ mRNAs from the External RNA Controls Consortium (ERCC) and PolyA+ mRNA from Drosophila S2 cells. ERCC mRNAs were obtained under Phase V testing from the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST). The ERCC pool contained 96 species of mRNA of various lengths and GC content covering a 2^20 concentration range. Libraries were constructed with 100ng to 10pg of input mRNA. Our data shows an outstanding linear fit between RNA-Seq read density and known input amounts. Overall design: We performed RNA-Seq from libraries made with 0.01ng to 100ng mRNA (mixture of mRNA from Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells and ERCC RNA controls). One RNA-Seq library was prepared with 100ng mRNA and six libraries were made with serial dilutions of mRNA using a modified protocol (see Sample ''extraction protocol''). One lane was sequenced for each library and all seven libraries were run on the same flow cell.
Synthetic spike-in standards for RNA-seq experiments.
Cell line, Subject
View SamplesThe toll-like receptors (TLRs) are important components of the respiratory epithelium host innate defense, enabling the airway surface to recognize and respond to a variety of insults in inhaled air. Based on the knowledge that smokers are more susceptible to pulmonary infection and the airway epithelium of smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by bacterial colonization and acute exacerbation of airway infections, we assessed whether smoking alters the expression of TLRs in human small airway epithelium, the primary site of smoking-induced disease. Microarrays were used to survey the TLR family gene expression in small airway (10th-12th order) epithelium from healthy nonsmokers (n=60), healthy smokers (n=73) and smokers with COPD (n=36). Using the criteria of detection call of present in 50%, 6 of 10 TLRs (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8) were expressed. Compared to nonsmokers, the most strikingly changed gene is TLR5, which down-regulated in healthy smokers (1.4-fold decrease, p<10-13) and in smokers with COPD (1.6-fold, p<10-14). TaqMan RT-PCR confirmed these observations. Bronchial biopsies immunofluorescence showed that TLR5 protein was expressed mainly on the apical side of the human airway epithelium and decreased in healthy smokers and smokers with COPD. In vitro studies showed that the level of TLR5 downstream genes, IL-6 and IL-8 were highly induced in TLR5 high-expressing cells compared to TLR5 low-expressing cells after flagellin exposure. In the context that TLR5 functions to recognize pathogens and activate innate immune responses, the smoking-induced down-regulation of TLR5 likely contributes to smoking-related susceptibility to airway infection.
Airway epithelial expression of TLR5 is downregulated in healthy smokers and smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Race
View Samples