Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), caused by Leishmania spp protozoan parasites, can provoke overwhelming and protracted epidemics, with high casefatality rates. Despite extensive efforts towards the development of an effective prophylactic vaccine, no promising vaccine is available yet for humans. Multi-epitope peptide based vaccine development is manifesting as the new era of vaccination strategies against VL. Aim of the study was the design of chimeric peptides from immunogenic L. infantum proteins for encapsulation in PLGA nanoparticles (NPs) alone or in combination with MPLA adjuvant, or in PLGA NPs surface modified with an octapeptide mimicking TNF-alpha for DCs targeting, in order to construct a peptide-based nanovaccine. The in vitro evaluation of the above nanoformulations was performed in DCs isolated from HLA-A2.1 transgenic mice. Characterization of DCs transcriptional responses to these vaccine candidates via microarrays could improve our understanding of their mechanisms of action on DCs' functional differentiation and the type of adaptive immunity subsequently induced.
A Poly(Lactic-<i>co</i>-Glycolic) Acid Nanovaccine Based on Chimeric Peptides from Different <i>Leishmania infantum</i> Proteins Induces Dendritic Cells Maturation and Promotes Peptide-Specific IFNγ-Producing CD8<sup>+</sup> T Cells Essential for the Protection against Experimental Visceral Leishmaniasis.
Specimen part
View SamplesVisceral leishmaniasis (VL) caused by Leishmania donovani and L. infantum is a potentially fatal disease. To date there are no registered vaccines for disease prevention despite the fact that several vaccines are in preclinical development. Thus, new strategies are needed to improve vaccine efficacy based on a better understanding of the mechanisms mediating protective immunity and mechanisms of host immune responses subversion by immunopathogenic components of Leishmania. In the present study, determination of the immune mechanisms related to infection or protective immune responses against VL using an experimental nanovaccine as a vaccine model was conducted through microarray analysis.
Transcriptome Analysis Identifies Immune Markers Related to Visceral Leishmaniasis Establishment in the Experimental Model of BALB/c Mice.
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View SamplesMaternal obesity is linked with increased adverse outcomes for mother and fetus. However, the metabolic impact of excessive fat accumulation within the altered hormonal context of pregnancy is not well understood. We used a murine model of obesity, the high fat diet-fed C57BL/6J mouse to determine adipose tissue-mediated molecular mechanisms driving metabolic dysfunction throughout pregnancy. Remarkably, obese mice exhibited a normalization of visceral fat accumulation at late-stage pregnancy (-53%, P<0.001 E18.5) to achieve levels comparable in mass (per gram of body weight) to that of non pregnant, control diet fed mice. Moreover, whilst obese pregnant mice showed a marked glucose intolerance and apparent insulin resistance at mid-stage pregnancy (E14.5), glucose homeostasis converged with that of lean pregnant mice at late-stage pregnancy, suggesting an unexpected amelioration of the worsening metabolic dysfunction in obese pregnant mice.
Pregnancy in obese mice protects selectively against visceral adiposity and is associated with increased adipocyte estrogen signalling.
Specimen part
View SamplesThe meningeal space is occupied by a diverse repertoire of innate and adaptive immune cells. CNS injury elicits a rapid immune response that affects neuronal survival and recovery, but the role of meningeal inflammation in CNS injury remains poorly understood. Here we describe group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) as a novel cell type resident in the healthy meninges that is activated following CNS injury. ILC2s are present throughout the naïve mouse meninges, though are concentrated around the dural sinuses, and have a unique transcriptional profile relative to lung ILC2s. After spinal cord injury, meningeal ILC2s are activated in an IL-33 dependent manner, producing type 2 cytokines. Using RNAseq, we characterized the gene programs that underlie the ILC2 activation state. Finally, addition of wild type lung-derived ILC2s into the meningeal space of IL-33R-/- animals improves recovery following spinal cord injury. These data characterize ILC2s as a novel meningeal cell type that responds to and functionally affects outcome after spinal cord injury, and could lead to new therapeutic insights for CNS injury or other neuroinflammatory conditions. Overall design: ILC2s were isolated from 10 week C57/Bl6 mice with and without spinal cord injury (1 day post injury). 5 mice were pooled per group, with meninges dissected, digested, and FACs sorted (CD45+/DAPI-/Lin–/St2+/Thy1+) directly into RNA lysis buffer.
Characterization of meningeal type 2 innate lymphocytes and their response to CNS injury.
Age, Specimen part, Cell line, Subject
View SamplesThe clinical course of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is heterogeneous. Several prognostic factors have been identified that can stratify patients into groups that differ in their relative tendency for disease progression and/or survival. Here, we pursued a subnetwork-based analysis of gene expression profiles to discriminate between groups of patients with disparate risks for CLL progression.
Subnetwork-based analysis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia identifies pathways that associate with disease progression.
Specimen part
View SamplesWe examined the microRNAs (miRNAs) expressed in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and identified miR-150 as the most abundant, but with leukemia-cell-expression levels that varied among patients. CLL cells that expressed ZAP-70 or that used unmutated IGHV each had a median expression-level of miR-150 that was significantly lower than that of ZAP-70-negative CLL cells or those that used mutated IGHV. In samples stratified for expression of miR-150, CLL cells with low-level miR-150 expressed relatively higher levels of forkhead box P1 (FOXP1) and GRB2-associated binding protein 1 (GAB1), genes with 3 UTRs having evolutionary-conserved binding sites for miR-150. High-level expression of miR-150 could repress expression of these genes, which encode proteins that may enhance B-cell receptor (BCR) signaling, a putative CLL-growth/survival signal. Also, high-level expression of miR-150 levels was a significant independent predictor of longer treatment-free-survival (TFS) or overall survival (OS), whereas an inverse association was observed for high-level expression of GAB1 or FOXP1 for OS. This study demonstrates that expression of miR-150 can influence the relative expression of GAB1 and FOXP1 and the signaling potential of the B-cell receptor (BCR), thereby possibly accounting for the noted association of expression of miR-150 and disease outcome.
miR-150 influences B-cell receptor signaling in chronic lymphocytic leukemia by regulating expression of GAB1 and FOXP1.
Specimen part, Disease stage
View SamplesA distinct type of macrophages helps breast cancer cells to overcome rate-limiting steps in the metastatic process and establish lethal metastatic tumors. Since only a minor population of cancer cells can establish macroscopic metastatic tumors, we hypothesized that this metastatic cancer cell population have higher expression of receptors for macrophage-derived ligands compared to their parental cells.
Mammary Tumor Cells with High Metastatic Potential Are Hypersensitive to Macrophage-Derived HGF.
Specimen part
View SamplesPeripherally derived macrophages infiltrate the brain after bone marrow transplantation and during central nervous system (CNS) inflammation. It was initially suggested that these engrafting cells were newly derived microglia and that irradiation was essential for engraftment to occur. However, it remains unclear whether brain-engrafting macrophages (beMfs) acquire a unique phenotype in the brain, whether long-term engraftment may occur without irradiation, and whether brain function is affected by the engrafted cells. In this study, we demonstrate that chronic, partial microglia depletion is sufficient for beMfs to populate the niche and that the presence of beMfs does not alter behavior. Furthermore, beMfs maintain a unique functional and transcriptional identity as compared with microglia. Overall, this study establishes beMfs as a unique CNS cell type and demonstrates that therapeutic engraftment of beMfs may be possible with irradiation-free conditioning regimens. Overall design: Microglia were isolated from the brains of adult male c57BL/6 mice given bone marrow tranplants (BMT) with or without head shield. All mice received PLX5622 for 2 weeks, then placed and normal chow to recoever. Some mice were then challenged with LPS. Cells were isolated by MACS using CD11b magnetic beads.
Peripherally derived macrophages can engraft the brain independent of irradiation and maintain an identity distinct from microglia.
Age, Specimen part, Cell line, Treatment, Subject
View SamplesSoft tissue sarcomas are a diverse set of fatal human tumors where few agents have demonstrable clinical efficacy, with the standard therapeutic combination of doxorubicin and ifosfamide showing only a 25-30% response rate in large multi-institutional trials. Although liposarcomas are the most common histological form of adult soft tissue sarcomas, research in this area is severely hampered by the lack of experimentally tractable in vitro model systems. To this end, here we describe a novel in vitro model for human pleomorphic liposarcoma. The cell line (LS2) is derived from a pleomorphic liposarcoma that utilizes Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT) mechanism of telomere maintenance, which may be particularly important in modulating the response of this tumor type to DNA damaging agents. We present detailed baseline molecular and genomic data, including genome wide copy number and transcriptome profiles, for this model compared to its parental tumor and a panel of liposarcomas covering multiple histologies. The model has retained essentially all of the detectable alterations in copy number that are seen in the parental tumor, and shows molecular karyotypic and expression profiles consistent with pleomorphic liposarcomas. We also demonstrate the utility of this model, together with two additional human liposarcoma cell lines, to investigate the relationship between topoisomerase 2A expression and the sensitivity of ALT-positive liposarcomas to doxorubicin. This model, together with its associated baseline data, provide a powerful new tool to develop treatments for this clinically poorly-tractable tumor, and to investigate the contribution that ALT makes to modulating sensitivity to DNA damaging chemotherapeutic agents such as doxorubicin.
Doxorubicin resistance in a novel in vitro model of human pleomorphic liposarcoma associated with alternative lengthening of telomeres.
Cell line
View SamplesA gene expression signature purporting to distinguish between telomerase and ALT immortalization has recently been described (Lafferty-Whyte et al., 2009). This was obtained as the intersection of two independent signatures, one obtained from cell lines and the other from a panel of liposarcomas, which utilize different telomere maintenance mechanisms (TMMs). To assess the utility of this signature we used Affymetrix U133plus2.0 arrays to undertake a similar analysis of an independent collection of liposarcomas of defined TMM. In our dataset, the 297 gene signature causes the liposarcomas to cluster not on the basis of TMM, but rather on the basis of tumor histological subtype [Figure 1], consistent with the signatures reported by others (Matushansky et al., 2008).
Validating a gene expression signature proposed to differentiate liposarcomas that use different telomere maintenance mechanisms.
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