The molecular biology of metastatic potential in melanoma has been studied many times previously and changes in the expression of many genes have been linked to metastatic behaviour. What is lacking is a systematic characterization of the regulatory relationships between genes whose expression is related to metastatic potential. Such a characterization would produce a molecular taxonomy for melanoma which could feasibly be used to identify epigenetic mechanisms behind changes in metastatic behaviour. To achieve this we carried out three separate DNA microarray analyses on a total of 86 cultures of melanoma. Significantly, multiple testing correlation revealed that previous reports describing correlations of gene expression with activating mutations in BRAF or NRAS were incorrect and that no gene expression patterns correlate with the mutation status of these MAPK pathway components. Instead, we identified three different sample cohorts (A, B and C) and found that these cohorts represent melanoma groups of differing metastatic potential. Cohorts A and B were susceptible to TGFbeta-mediated inhibition of proliferation and had low motility. Cohort C was resistant to TGFb and demonstrated high motility. Meta-analysis of the data against previous studies linking gene expression and phenotype confirmed that cohorts A and C represent transcription signatures of weakly and strongly metastatic melanomas, respectively. Gene expression co-regulation suggested that signalling via TGFbeta-type and Wnt pathways underwent considerable change between cohorts. These results suggest a model for the transition from weakly to strongly metastatic melanomas in which TGFbeta-type signalling upregulates genes expressing vasculogenic/extracellular matrix remodeling factors and Wnt signal inhibitors, coinciding with a downregulation of genes downstream of Wnt signalling.
Metastatic potential of melanomas defined by specific gene expression profiles with no BRAF signature.
Sex, Age, Specimen part
View SamplesThe molecular biology of metastatic potential in melanoma has been studied many times previously and changes in the expression of many genes have been linked to metastatic behaviour. What is lacking is a systematic characterization of the regulatory relationships between genes whose expression is related to metastatic potential. Such a characterization would produce a molecular taxonomy for melanoma which could feasibly be used to identify epigenetic mechanisms behind changes in metastatic behaviour. To achieve this we carried out three separate DNA microarray analyses on a total of 86 cultures of melanoma. Significantly, multiple testing correlation revealed that previous reports describing correlations of gene expression with activating mutations in BRAF or NRAS were incorrect and that no gene expression patterns correlate with the mutation status of these MAPK pathway components. Instead, we identified three different sample cohorts (A, B and C) and found that these cohorts represent melanoma groups of differing metastatic potential. Cohorts A and B were susceptible to TGFbeta-mediated inhibition of proliferation and had low motility. Cohort C was resistant to TGFb and demonstrated high motility. Meta-analysis of the data against previous studies linking gene expression and phenotype confirmed that cohorts A and C represent transcription signatures of weakly and strongly metastatic melanomas, respectively. Gene expression co-regulation suggested that signalling via TGFbeta-type and Wnt pathways underwent considerable change between cohorts. These results suggest a model for the transition from weakly to strongly metastatic melanomas in which TGFbeta-type signalling upregulates genes expressing vasculogenic/extracellular matrix remodeling factors and Wnt signal inhibitors, coinciding with a downregulation of genes downstream of Wnt signalling.
Metastatic potential of melanomas defined by specific gene expression profiles with no BRAF signature.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesDeeper understanding of antibiotic-induced physiological responses is critical to identifying means for enhancing our current antibiotic arsenal. Bactericidal antibiotics with diverse targets have been hypothesized to kill bacteria, in part, by inducing production of damaging reactive species. This notion has been supported by many groups, but recently challenged. Here we robustly test the hypothesis using biochemical, enzymatic and biophysical assays along with genetic and phenotypic experiments. We first used a novel intracellular hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) sensor, together with a chemically diverse panel of fluorescent dyes sensitive to an array of reactive species, to demonstrate that antibiotics broadly induce redox stress. Subsequent gene expression analyses reveal that complex antibiotic-induced oxidative stress responses are distinct from canonical responses generated by supra-physiological levels of H2O2. We next developed a method to dynamically quantify cellular respiration and found that bactericidal antibiotics elevate oxygen consumption, indicating significant alterations to bacterial redox physiology. We further show that catalase or DNA mismatch repair enzyme overexpression, as well as antioxidant pre-treatment limit antibiotic lethality, indicating that reactive oxygen species causatively contribute to antibiotic killing. Critically, the killing efficacy of antibiotics was diminished under strict anaerobic conditions, but could be enhanced by exposure to molecular oxygen or addition of alternative electron acceptors, suggesting that environmental factors play a role in killing cells physiologically primed for death. This work provides direct evidence that bactericidal antibiotics, downstream of their target-specific interactions, induce complex redox alterations that contribute to cellular damage and death, thus supporting an evolving, expanded model of antibiotic lethality.
Antibiotics induce redox-related physiological alterations as part of their lethality.
Treatment
View SamplesDevelopment of systems allowing the maintenance of native properties of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) is a critical challenge for studying physiological functions of skeletal progenitors, as well as towards cellular therapy and regenerative medicine applications. Conventional stem cell culture in monolayer on plastic dishes (2D) is associated with progressive loss of functionality, likely due to the absence of a biomimetic microenvironment and the selection of adherent populations. Here we demonstrate that 2D MSC expansion can be entirely bypassed by culturing freshly isolated bone marrow cells within the pores of 3D scaffolds in a perfusion-based bioreactor system, followed by enzymatic digestion for cell retrieval. The 3D-perfusion system supported MSC growth while maintaining cells of the hematopoietic lineage, and thus generated a cellular environment mimicking some features of the bone marrow stroma. As compared to 2D-expansion, sorted CD45- cells derived from 3D-perfusion culture after the same time (3 weeks) or a similar extent of proliferation (7-8 doublings) maintained a 4.3-fold higher clonogenicity and exhibited a superior differentiation capacity towards all typical mesenchymal lineages, with similar immunomodulatory function in vitro. Transcriptomic analysis performed on MSC from 5 donors validated the robustness of the process and indicated a reduced inter-donor variability as well as a significant upregulation of multipotency-related gene clusters following 3D-perfusion as compared to 2D expansion. The described system offers a model to study how factors of a 3D engineered niche may regulate MSC function and, by streamlining conventional labor-intensive processes, is prone to automation and scalability within closed bioreactor systems.
Expansion of human mesenchymal stromal cells from fresh bone marrow in a 3D scaffold-based system under direct perfusion.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesThe transcription factor NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) induces cytoprotective genes, but has also been linked to the regulation of hepatic energy metabolism. In order to assess the pharmacological potential of hepatic Nrf2 activation in metabolic disease, Nrf2 was activated over 8 weeks in mice on Western diet using two different siRNAs against kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1), the inhibitory protein of Nrf2. Whole genome expression analysis followed by pathway analysis demonstrated that the suppression of Keap1 expression induced genes that are involved in anti-oxidative stress defense and biotransformation, pathways proving the activation of Nrf2 by the siRNAs against Keap1. The expression of neither fatty acid- nor carbohydrate-handling proteins was regulated by the suppression of Keap1. Metabolic profiling of the animals did also not show effects on plasma and hepatic lipids, energy expenditure or glucose tolerance by the activation of Nrf2. The data indicate that hepatic Nrf2 is not a major regulator of intermediary metabolism in mice.
Chronic Activation of Hepatic Nrf2 Has No Major Effect on Fatty Acid and Glucose Metabolism in Adult Mice.
Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesNonsense-mediated RNA decay (NMD) is a highly conserved pathway that selectively degrades specific subsets of RNA transcripts. Here, we provide evidence that NMD regulates early human developmental cell fate. We found that NMD factors tend to be expressed at higher levels in human pluripotent cells than differentiated cells, raising the possibility that NMD must be downregulated to permit differentiation. Loss- and gain-of-function experiments in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) demonstrated that, indeed, NMD downregulation is essential for efficient generation of definitive endoderm. RNA-seq analysis identified NMD target transcripts induced when NMD is suppressed in hESCs, including many encoding signaling components. This led us to test the role of TGF-b and BMP signaling, which we found NMD acts through to influence definitive endoderm vs. mesoderm fate. Our results suggest that selective RNA decay is critical for specifying the developmental fate of specific human embryonic cell lineages. Overall design: Examination of differential gene expression in hESCs upon loss of UPF1.
Nonsense-Mediated RNA Decay Influences Human Embryonic Stem Cell Fate.
Specimen part, Cell line, Subject
View SamplesWe report the differential gene expression differences between control and Ovol2-deficent newborn keratinocytes Overall design: Two control and two Ovol2-deficent samples were isolated
An Ovol2-Zeb1 transcriptional circuit regulates epithelial directional migration and proliferation.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesIntroduction: Sepsis is a complex immunological response to infection characterized by early hyperinflammation followed by severe and protracted immunosuppression, suggesting that a multi-marker approach has the greatest clinical utility for early detection, within a clinical environment focused on SIRS differentiation. Pre-clinical research using an equine sepsis model identified a panel of gene expression biomarkers that define the early aberrant immune activation. Thus, the primary objective was to apply these gene expression biomarkers to distinguish patients with sepsis from those who had undergone major open surgery and had clinical outcomes consistent with systemic inflammation due to physical trauma and wound healing.
Development and validation of a novel molecular biomarker diagnostic test for the early detection of sepsis.
Specimen part
View SamplesThe study was designed to identify differential expressed genes between human oral cavity carcinoma cell lines with and without LDBI knockout Overall design: Three parental human oral cavity carcinoma cell lines were used as control, LDB1 was knocked out in the three parent cell lines to create KO cell lines.
LIM-Only Protein 4 (LMO4) and LIM Domain Binding Protein 1 (LDB1) Promote Growth and Metastasis of Human Head and Neck Cancer (LMO4 and LDB1 in Head and Neck Cancer).
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesAn unexplored consequence of epigenetic alterations associated with cancer is the ectopic expression of tissue-restricted genes. Here, a new strategy was developed to decipher genome-wide expression data in search for these off-context gene activations, which consisted first, in identifying a large number of tissue-specific genes normally epigenetically silenced in most somatic cells and second, in using them as cancer biomarkers on an on/off basis. Applying this concept to analyze whole-genome transcriptome data in lung cancer, we discovered a specific group of 26 genes whose expression was a strong and independent predictor of poor prognosis in our cohort of 293 lung tumours, as well as in two independent external populations. In addition, these 26 classifying genes enabled us to isolate a homogenous group of metastatic-prone highly aggressive tumours, whose characteristic gene expression profile revealed a high proliferative potential combined to a significant decrease in immune and signaling functions. This work illustrates a new approach for a personalized management of cancer, with applications to any cancer type.
Ectopic activation of germline and placental genes identifies aggressive metastasis-prone lung cancers.
Sex, Specimen part
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