Aim: Differentiation of cardiac fibroblasts (Fb) into myofibroblasts (MyoFb) is responsible for connective tissue buildup in myocardial remodeling. We examined reversibility of MyoFb differentiation. Methods and Results: Adult rat cardiac Fb were cultured on a plastic substratum providing mechanical stress, with conditions to obtain different Fb phenotypes. Fb spontaneously differentiated to proliferating MyoFb (p-MyoFb) with stress fiber formation decorated with alpha-smooth muscle actin (-SMA). Transforming growth factor-1 (TGF-1) promoted terminal differentiation into -SMA positive MyoFb showing near absence of proliferation i.e. non-p-MyoFb (2-fold increase in cell number after 12 days vs 11-fold for p-MyoFb). SD-208, a TGF--receptor-I kinase blocker, inhibited p-MyoFb differentiation as shown by stress fiber absence, low levels of -SMA protein expression, and high levels of proliferation (32-fold increase after 12 days). Fb seeded in collagen matrices induced no contraction, whereas p-MyoFb and non-p-MyoFb induced 2.5- and 4-fold contraction. Fb produced low levels of collagen and secreted high levels of IL-10. Non-p-MyoFb showed high collagen production and high MCP-1 and TIMP-1 secretion. Transcriptome analysis indicated differential gene expression between all phenotypes. Dedifferentiation of p-MyoFb, but not of non-p-MyoFb, was induced by SD-208 despite maintained stress, shown by stress fiber de-polymerization in 30% of p-MyoFb vs in 8% of non-p-MyoFb. Stress fiber de-polymerization could be induced by mechanical strain release in p-MyoFb and non-p-MyoFb (2 day culture in unrestrained 3-D collagen matrices). Only p-MyoFb showed true dedifferentiation after long-term 3-D culture. Conclusions: Both reduction in mechanical strain and TGF--receptor-I kinase inhibition can reverse p-MyoFb differentiation but not in non-p-MyoFb.
Reversible and irreversible differentiation of cardiac fibroblasts.
Sex, Specimen part
View SamplesExpression profiles of anti-TNF responders were compared to profiles of anti-TNF non-responders in order to identify an expression signature for anti-TNF response
Validation study of existing gene expression signatures for anti-TNF treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Specimen part, Disease, Disease stage, Treatment
View SamplesSingle cell sequencing of microglia and perivascular macrophages was performed on brain tissue from different brain regions to obtain single cell expression profiles dependent on celltype and regional location. Overall design: 425 cells from mouse (CD-1) brains at different postnatal ages as well as embryonic day E11.5-E18.5.
Spatial and temporal heterogeneity of mouse and human microglia at single-cell resolution.
Subject
View SamplesMicroglia play critical roles in neural development and homeostasis. They are also implicated in neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). However, little is known about the presence of spatially and temporally restricted subclasses of microglia during CNS development and disease. Here, we combined massively parallel single-cell analysis, single-molecule FISH, advanced immunohistochemistry and computational modelling to comprehensively characterize novel microglia subclasses, which were transcriptionally different from perivascular macrophages, in up to six different CNS regions during development and diseases. Single-cell analysis revealed specific time- and region-dependent microglia subtypes during homeostasis. In contrast, demyelinating and neurodegenerative diseases evoked context-dependent microglia subtypes with distinct molecular hallmarks and diverse cellular kinetics. Finally, diverse microglia subsets were also identified in normal and diseased human brains. Our data provide new insights into the CNS endogenous immune system during development, health and perturbations. Overall design: CD45+ cells isolated from healthy and MS-affected human brains were FACS-sorted in 384-well plates and used for scRNAseq. The patients were aged between 22 and 25 years. Data comprises 5 healthy and 5 MS patients. CEL-Seq2 protocol was used for single cell sequencing (Hashimshony et al. 2016).
Spatial and temporal heterogeneity of mouse and human microglia at single-cell resolution.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
An integrative multi-dimensional genetic and epigenetic strategy to identify aberrant genes and pathways in cancer.
Cell line
View Samples10 Breast cancer cell lines profiled on the Affymetrix U133 Plus 2.0 platform used in conjunction with matched DNA copy number and DNA methylation data for integrative analysis.
An integrative multi-dimensional genetic and epigenetic strategy to identify aberrant genes and pathways in cancer.
Cell line
View SamplesEarly diagnosis of transthyretin (TTR) amyloid diseases remains challenging because of variable disease penetrance. Currently, patients must have an amyloid positive tissue biopsy to be eligible for disease modifying therapies. Early diagnosis is often difficult because the patient exhibits apparent symptoms of polyneuropathy or cardiomyopathy, but has a negative amyloid biopsy. Thus, there is a pressing need for more objective, quantitative diagnostics and biomarkers of TTR-aggregation-associated polyneuropathy and cardiomyopathy. This is especially true in the context of clinical trials demonstrating significant disease modifying effects, e.g. when the TTR tetramer stabilizer tafamidis was administered to familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP) patients early in the disease course. When asked if the findings of the tafamidis registration trial were sufficiently robust to provide substantial evidence of efficacy for a surrogate endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict a clinical benefit the advisory committee said yes, but the FDA rejected the tetramer stabilization surrogate biomarker required for orphan tafamidis approvalhence, acceptable biomarkers are badly needed. Herein, we explored whether peripheral blood cell mRNA expression profiles could differentiate symptomatic from asymptomatic V30M FAP patients, and if such a profile would normalize upon tafamidis treatment. We demonstrate that blood cell gene expression patterns reveal sex-independent as well as male and female specific inflammatory signatures in symptomatic FAP patients, but not in asymptomatic carriers, that normalize in FAP patients 6 months after tafamidis treatment. Thus these signatures have potential both as an early diagnostic and as a surrogate biomarker for measuring response to treatment in FAP patients.
Peripheral Blood Cell Gene Expression Diagnostic for Identifying Symptomatic Transthyretin Amyloidosis Patients: Male and Female Specific Signatures.
Age, Specimen part
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Translational control of the oogenic program by components of OMA ribonucleoprotein particles in Caenorhabditis elegans.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesThe oocytes of most animals arrest at diplotene or diakinesis, but resume meiosis (meiotic maturation) in response to hormones. In C. elegans, maturation of the 1 oocyte requires the presence of sperm, Gas-adenylate cyclase-PKA signaling in the gonadal sheath cells, and germline function of two Tis11-like CCCH zinc-finger proteins, OMA-1 and OMA-2 (OMA proteins). Prior studies indicate that the OMA proteins redundantly repress the translation of specific mRNAs in oocytes (zif-1, mom-2, nos-2, glp-1) and early embryos (mei-1).
Translational control of the oogenic program by components of OMA ribonucleoprotein particles in Caenorhabditis elegans.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesThe oocytes of most animals arrest at diplotene or diakinesis, but resume meiosis (meiotic maturation) in response to hormones. In C. elegans, maturation of the –1 oocyte requires the presence of sperm, Gas-adenylate cyclase-PKA signaling in the gonadal sheath cells, and germline function of two Tis11-like CCCH zinc-finger proteins, OMA-1 and OMA-2 (OMA proteins). Prior studies indicate that the OMA proteins redundantly repress the translation of specific mRNAs in oocytes (zif-1, mom-2, nos-2, glp-1) and early embryos (mei-1). We purified OMA-1-containing ribonucleoprotein particles (RNPs) and identified mRNAs that associate with OMA-1 in oocytes using microarrays. We examined the relative abundances of mRNAs in OMA-1 RNPs using high-throughput RNA sequencing. Previously identified targets of OMA-dependent translational repression in oocytes were found to be both enriched (>2-fold relative to input RNA) and abundant in purified OMA-1 RNPs. Furthermore, we verified that some of the newly identified mRNAs that share these characteristics are translationally repressed by OMA-1/2 in oocytes through sequences in their 3’UTRs. Although meiotic maturation is stimulated by sperm, we found that the mRNAs copurifying with OMA-1 are not significantly different in the presence and absence of sperm, suggesting that sperm-dependent signaling does not modify the suite of mRNAs stably associated with OMA-1. Further, several tested OMA-1-associated mRNAs were shown to be translationally repressed in both the presence and absence of sperm. Overall design: C. elegans mRNAs that co-purify with OMA-1 were identified by deep-sequencing using the Illumina HiSeq 2000
Translational control of the oogenic program by components of OMA ribonucleoprotein particles in Caenorhabditis elegans.
Subject
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