Adipose tissue inflammation and atherosclerosis are the main mechanisms behind type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease respectively, the major risks associated with the metabolic syndrome. Studies considering more than single factors behind the complexity of the metabolic syndrome are valuable to achieve a better and wider understanding of the metabolic syndrome. In this study common dysregulated pathways between adipose tissue inflammation and atherosclerosis were identified using two different bioinformatic tools to perform pathway analysis. First, we run a gene set enrichment analysis utilizing with data from two microarray experiments done with gonadal white adipose tissue and atherosclerotic aorta. Once the common dysregulated pathways between both tissues were identify, the inflammatory response and the oxidative phosphorylation pathways from the Hallmark geneset were selected to conduct a deeper checkup at the single gene level of these pathways. Second, we carried out a pathway analysis validation with the Panther software combining the microarray data with a published type 2 diabetes mellitus metanalysis and cardiovascular disease metanalysis which included human data. In conclusion, this study provides worthwhile data pointing out and describing several dysregulated and common pathways in adipose tissue inflammation and atherosclerotic aorta with a potential implication in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis.
Common dysregulated pathways in obese adipose tissue and atherosclerosis.
Specimen part
View SamplesRNA sequencing was performed on uninjured, and injured (FSP1, and aSMA expressing) fibroblasts from mice hearts. Fibrosis accompanying wound healing can drive the failure of many different organs. Activated fibroblasts are the principal determinants of post-injury pathological fibrosis as well as physiological repair, making them a difficult therapeutic target. Fibroblasts are a heterogeneous cell population lacking unique functional classification. We demonstrated that FSP1 and aSMA expressing cells are distinct, post-injury fibroblasts in the heart, kidney, and skin and exhibit unique temporal expression patterns. Using mice that express GFP under the FSP1 or aSMA promoters, we isolated these fibroblasts from mouse hearts after myocardial infarction. Protein and transcript arrays, cellular assays as well as in vivo granulation tissue formation were used to determine their functional role(s) in healing and fibrosis. Whereas aSMA+ fibroblasts predominated in producing matrix proteins, FSP1+ fibroblasts significantly promoted angiogenesis. These studies have the potential to shift our focus towards viewing fibroblasts not only molecularly but also as functionally heterogeneous and provide a new paradigm with which to approach treatment for organ fibrosis. Overall design: Fibroblasts were isolated from uninjured BL6 mice for control. FSP1 and aSMA expressing fibroblasts were isolated from transgenic mice that express GFP under FSP1 or aSMA promoter. GFP positive cells were freshly sorted 10 days following myocardial infarction from mice ventricles. RNA was prepared using Ambion RNAqueous kit and submitted for RNA sequencing.
Identification of a pro-angiogenic functional role for FSP1-positive fibroblast subtype in wound healing.
Age, Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesObesity is strongly associated with the metabolic syndrome, a compilation of risk factors that predispose individuals to the development of cardiometabolic disease (CMD), i.e. cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Controlling or preventing the worldwide epidemic of metabolic syndrome requires novel interventions to address this substantial health challenge. The objective of this study was the identification of potential new targets for the simultaneous prevention and treatment of insulin resistance and atherosclerosis, conditions that underlie T2DM and CVD, respectively. Therefore, we used an unbiased bioinformatics approach to identify molecules that are upregulated in both conditions by combining data from two microarray experiments and two meta-analyses. In the microarray experiments we compared gene expression in white adipose tissue (WAT) of obese mice as well as aortae of obese and atherosclerotic mice to respective lean controls. Furthermore, we performed a meta-analysis of published microarrays investigating atherosclerotic vessels and included a published meta-analysis on T2DM into our analyses. We obtained a pool of thirty-four genes that were upregulated in 3 out of the 4 underlying databases. These included well-known as well as novel crucial molecules for treatment of T2DM and CVD. Macrophage metalloelastase 12 (MMP12) was found highly ranked in all analyses and, therefore, chosen for further validation. Analyses of visceral and subcutaneous white adipose tissue from obese compared to lean mice and humans convincingly confirmed the up-regulation of MMP12 in obesity at mRNA, protein and, of note, activity levels. In conclusion, by this unbiased approach an interesting pool of potential molecular targets or biomarkers for treatment and prevention of CMD was identified with MMP12 being confirmed on multiple levels.
Identification of matrix metalloproteinase-12 as a candidate molecule for prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic disease.
Specimen part
View SamplesChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a heterogenous respiratory disease mainly caused by smoking. Respiratory infections constitute a major risk factor for acute worsening of COPD symptoms or COPD exacerbation. Mitochondrial functionality, which is crucial for the execution of physiologic functions of metabolically active cells, is impaired in airway epithelial cells (AECs) of COPD patients as well as smokers. However, the potential contribution of mitochondrial dysfunction in AECs to progression of COPD, infection-triggered exacerbations in AECs and a potential mechanistic link between mitochondrial and epithelial barrier dysfunction is unknown to date. In this study, we used an in vitro COPD exacerbation model based on AECs exposed to cigarette smoke extract (CSE) followed by infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae (Sp). The levels of oxidative stress, as an indicator of mitochondrial stress were quantified upon CSE and Sp. The expression of proteins associated with mitophagy, mitochondrial content and biogenesis as well as mitochondrial fission and fusion was quantified upon CSE and Sp. Transcriptional AEC profiling was performed to identify the potential changes in innate immune pathways and correlate them with mitochondrial function. We found that CSE exposure substantially altered mitochondrial function in AECs by suppressing mitochondrial complex protein levels, reducing mitochondrial membrane potential and increasing mitochondrial stress and mitophagy. Moreover, CSE-induced mitochondrial dysfunction correlated with reduced enrichment of genes involved in apical junctions and innate immune responses to Sp, particularly type I interferon responses. Together, our results demonstrated that CSE-induced mitochondrial dysfunction may contribute to impaired innate immune responses to Sp and may thus trigger COPD exacerbation.
Cigarette Smoke Extract Disturbs Mitochondria-Regulated Airway Epithelial Cell Responses to Pneumococci.
Specimen part, Cell line, Treatment
View SamplesHepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. The current standard therapy for chronic hepatitis C (CHC) consists of a combination of pegylated IFN alpha (pegIFN-alpha) and ribavirin. It achieves a sustained viral clearance in only 5060% of patients. To learn more about molecular mechanisms underlying treatment failure, we investigated IFN-induced signaling in paired liver biopsies collected from CHC patients before and after administration of pegIFN-alpha. In patients with a rapid virological response to treatment, pegIFN-alpha induced a strong up-regulation of IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs). As shown previously, nonresponders had high expression levels of ISGs before therapy. Analysis of posttreatment biopsies of these patients revealed that pegIFN-alpha did not induce expression of ISGs above the pretreatment levels. In accordance with ISG expression data, phosphorylation, DNA binding, and nuclear localization of STAT1 indicated that the IFN signaling pathway in nonresponsive patients is preactivated and refractory to further stimulation. Some features characteristic of nonresponders were more accentuated in patients infected with HCV genotypes 1 and 4 compared with genotypes 2 and 3, providing a possible explanation for the poor response of the former group to therapy. Taken together with previous findings, our data support the concept that activation of the endogenous IFN system in CHC not only is ineffective in clearing the infection but also may impede the response to therapy, most likely by inducing a refractory state of the IFN signaling pathway.
Interferon signaling and treatment outcome in chronic hepatitis C.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesWe used microarray analysis to examine which genes are differentially expressed in mice that received a combination of fish oil and indomethacin.
Fish oil and indomethacin in combination potently reduce dyslipidemia and hepatic steatosis in LDLR(-/-) mice.
Specimen part, Compound
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Genomic analysis of hepatoblastoma identifies distinct molecular and prognostic subgroups.
Sex, Age, Specimen part, Race
View SamplesHepatoblastoma (HB) is the most common liver cancer in children, but few pre-treatment tumors have been molecularly profiled. Consequently, there are no validated prognostic or therapeutic biomarkers for HB patients. We report on molecular analysis of 88 clinically-annotated HB tumors. This analysis pointed to three risk-stratifying molecular subtypeslow, intermediate and high riskthat are characterized by differential activation of hepatic progenitor cell markers and metabolic pathways. High-risk tumors are characterized by high NFE2L2 activity and LIN28B, HMGA2, SALL4 and AFP expression, low let-7 expression and HNF1A activity, and high coordinated expression of oncofetal proteins and stem cell markers. Tests on a 35 HB validation set supported these genes as prognostic biomarkers.
Genomic analysis of hepatoblastoma identifies distinct molecular and prognostic subgroups.
Sex, Specimen part, Race
View SamplesAlthough new therapies have doubled the survival of multiple myeloma (MM) patients, this remains an incurable disease. It has been postulated that the so-called MM Cancer Stem Cells (MM-CSC) would be responsible for tumor initiation and relapse but their unequivocal identification remains unclear. Here, we investigated in a panel of MM cell lines the presence of CD20+ cells harboring a MM-CSC phenotype. Among the multiple cell lines investigated, only a small population of CD20dim+ cells (0.3%) in the RPMI-8226 cell line was found. CD20dim+ RPMI-8226 cells expressed the plasma cell markers CD38 and CD138 and were CD19-CD27-. Additionally, CD20dim+ RPMI-8226 cells did not exhibit stem-cell markers as shown by gene expression profiling and the aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) assay. Moreover, we demonstrated that CD20dim+ RPMI-8226 cells are not essential for CB17-SCID mice engraftment and show lower self-renewal potential than the CD20- RPMI-8226 cells. These results do not support CD20+ expression for the identification of MM-CSC.
CD20 positive cells are undetectable in the majority of multiple myeloma cell lines and are not associated with a cancer stem cell phenotype.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesMouse ES cells were stably transduced with a lentivirus expressing either wild-type KBP or the stable mutant KBP(KK/RR) and maintained in self-renewing growth conditions. RNA-seq was performed to assess mRNA expression differences caused by the stabilization of KBP. Overall design: 6 samples [a triplicate set for ES cells expressing wild-type KBP and a triplicate set expressing KBP(KK/RR)] were analyzed.
The TDH-GCN5L1-Fbxo15-KBP axis limits mitochondrial biogenesis in mouse embryonic stem cells.
Specimen part, Subject
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