The liver is one of most important organs in our bodies. It performs many essential functions including metabolism, synthesis, secretion, detoxification, and storage. Hepatocytes are the principal cell type in the liver and are involved in multiple liver-specific functions. There have been several efforts to develop in vitro culture systems capable of maintaining hepatocyte-specific phenotype over long time periods. In hepatic tissue engineering, two commonly used culture systems are the collagen sandwich and monolayers of cells. In this study, genome-wide gene expression profiles of primary hepatocytes were measured over an 8-day period for each cell culture system using Affymetrix GeneChips and analyzed via Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA), which is a powerful method to elicit biologically meaningful information from microarray data at the level of gene sets. Results indicate that the gene expression in hepatocytes in collagen sandwich cultures gradually diverges from that in monolayer cultures. Gene sets up-regulated in collagen sandwich cultures include those associated with liver metabolic and synthetic functions. These functions are associated with lipid, amino acid, carbohydrate, and alcohol metabolism and bile acid synthesis. Nuclear receptors are up-regulated in collagen sandwiches 24 hours after seeding. Signals transmitted from these receptors may cause the up-regulation of other processes in subsequent days. Cytochrome-P450 monooxygenase expression was initially down-regulated but exhibited up-regulation after 72 hours. Our results provide a baseline for further explorations into the systems biology of engineered liver mimics as well as 2D and 3D co-cultures of primary hepatocytes and non-parenchymal cells.
A comparative study of genome-wide transcriptional profiles of primary hepatocytes in collagen sandwich and monolayer cultures.
Specimen part
View SamplesRNA prepared from specialized replum cells within siliques provided targets for profiling the Arabidopsis genome during replum cell development.
Laser capture microdissection of plant cells from tape-transferred paraffin sections promotes recovery of structurally intact RNA for global gene profiling.
Specimen part
View SamplesNitrogen mustard (NM) is a vesicant known to target the lung, causing acute injury which progresses to fibrosis. Evidence suggests that activated macrophages contribute to the pathologic response to NM. In these studies, we analyzed the role of lung lipids generated following NM exposure on macrophage activation and phenotype. Treatment of rats with NM (0.125 mg/kg, i.t.) resulted in a time-related increase in enlarged vacuolated macrophages in the lung. At 28 d post exposure, macrophages stained positively for Oil Red O, a marker of neutral lipids. This was correlated with an accumulation of oxidized phospholipids in lung macrophages and epithelial cells, and an increase in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) phospholipids. RNA-sequencing analysis revealed that lipid handling pathways under control of the transcription factors LXR, FXR and PPAR-? were significantly altered following NM exposure. Whereas at 1-3 d post NM, FXR and the downstream oxidized low density lipoprotein receptor, Cd36, were increased, Lxr and the lipid extrusion pump targets, Abca1 and Abcg1 were reduced. Treatment of naïve lung macrophages with lipid enriched fractions of BAL collected 3 d after NM resulted in upregulation of Nos2, Apoe and Ptgs2, markers of pro-inflammatory activation, while lipid-enriched BAL collected 28 d post NM upregulated expression of the anti-inflammatory markers, Il10, Cd163, and Cx3cr1, and induced the formation of lipid-laden foamy macrophages. These data suggest that NM-induced alterations in lipid handling and metabolism drive macrophage foam cell formation, potentially contributing to the development of pulmonary fibrosis. Overall design: Alveolar macrophages were collected by gentile message from male wistar rats 1 d or 28 d after intratracheal exposure to NM and from rats intratracheally exposed to PBS. There were three biological replicates per exposure group.
Regulation of Macrophage Foam Cell Formation During Nitrogen Mustard (NM)-Induced Pulmonary Fibrosis by Lung Lipids.
Sex, Specimen part, Cell line, Subject
View SamplesTo facilitate a better understanding of the molecular heterogeneity of breast cancer and to uncover gene-survival associations that segregate with distinct molecular subtypes, we recently compiled a meta-analytical database of over 2,000 human breast tumor expression profiles variously annotated for clinical and pathological variables and derived from various institutions worldwide. This database was utilized for the breast tumor study cited below: Nagalla, et. al., Genome Biology, 2013. While the majority of the tumor expression profiles included in this database derived from publicly accessible microarray repositories, a number of the samples had not been previously published. Here, we describe the origin of these samples and provide their associated clinical and pathological annotations with the hope that other investigators will be able to utilize these data in their own research.
Interactions between immunity, proliferation and molecular subtype in breast cancer prognosis.
Age, Disease stage
View SamplesRett syndrome (RTT) is an X-linked dominant neurodevelopmental disorder caused by mutations in MECP2, encoding methyl-CpG binding protein 2. MeCP2 is a transcriptional repressor elevated in mature neurons and is predicted to be required for neuronal maturation by regulating multiple target genes. Identifying primary gene targets in either Mecp2-deficient mice or human RTT brain has proven to be difficult, perhaps because of the transient requirement for MeCP2 during neuronal maturation. In order to experimentally control the timing of MeCP2 expression and deficiency during neuronal maturation, human SH-SY5Y cells undergoing mature neuronal differentiation were transfected with methylated MeCP2 oligonucleotide decoy to disrupt the binding of MeCP2 to endogenous targets. Genome-wide expression microarray analysis identified all four known members of the inhibitors of differentiation or inhibitors of DNA binding (ID1, ID2, ID3 and ID4) subfamily of helix-loop-helix (HLH) genes as novel neuronal targets of MeCP2. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis confirmed binding of MeCP2 near or within the promoters of ID1, ID2 and ID3, and quantitative RT-PCR confirmed increased expression of all four Id genes in Mecp2-deficient mouse brain. All four ID proteins were significantly increased in Mecp2-deficient mouse and human RTT brain using immunofluorescence and laser scanning cytometric analyses. Because of their involvement in cell differentiation and neural development, ID genes are ideal primary targets for MeCP2 regulation of neuronal maturation that may explain the molecular pathogenesis of RTT.
Inhibitors of differentiation (ID1, ID2, ID3 and ID4) genes are neuronal targets of MeCP2 that are elevated in Rett syndrome.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesWe have applied a new software to analyse a human naive single-chain antibody (scFv) library, comprehensively revealing the diversity of antibody variable complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) and their families.
A novel DNAseq program for enhanced analysis of Illumina GAII data: a case study on antibody complementarity-determining regions.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesThe zinc finger transcription factor growth-factor-independent-1 (Gfi1) has been involved in various cellular differentiation processes. Gfi1 acts as a transcriptional repressor and splicing control factor upon binding to cognate binding sites in regulatory elements of its target genes. Here, we report that Gfi1-deficient mice develop autoimmunity. Gfi1-deficient peripheral B-cells show a hyperproliferative phenotype, leading to expansion of plasma cells, increased levels of nuclear autoantibodies, and immunoglobulin deposition in brain and kidneys. Dysregulation of multiple transcription factors and cell-cycle control elements may contribute to B-cell dependent autoimmunity. Gfi1 thus emerges as a novel master-regulator restricting autoimmunity.
Transcription factor Gfi1 restricts B cell-mediated autoimmunity.
Specimen part
View SamplesBackground: We hypothesize that important genomic differences between breast cancer subtypes occur early in carcinogenesis. Therefore, gene expression might distinguish histologically normal breast epithelium (NlEpi) from breasts containing estrogen receptor positive (ER+) compared with estrogen receptor negative (ER-) cancers.
Gene expression profiles of estrogen receptor-positive and estrogen receptor-negative breast cancers are detectable in histologically normal breast epithelium.
Specimen part, Disease, Disease stage
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Expression of microRNA and their gene targets are dysregulated in preinvasive breast cancer.
Sex, Age, Specimen part, Disease
View SamplesIntroduction: microRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNAs that negatively regulate gene expression and may play a causal role in invasive breast cancer. Since many genetic aberrations of invasive disease are detectable in earlier stages, we hypothesized that miRNA expression dysregulation and the predicted changes in gene expression would also be found in early breast neoplasias. Methods: Expression profiling of 365 miRNAs by RT-qPCR was combined with laser-capture microdissection to obtain an epithelial specific miRNA expression signature of normal breast epithelium (n=9) and of paired samples of histologically normal epithelium (HN) and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) (n=16). To determine how miRNAs may control the expression of co-dysregulated mRNAs we also performed gene expression microarray analysis in the same paired HN and DCIS samples and integrated this with miRNA-target prediction. We further validated several target pairs by modulating the expression levels of miRNAs in MCF7 cells and measured the expression of target mRNAs and proteins. Results: Thirty-five miRNAs were aberrantly expressed between RM, HN and DCIS. Twenty-nine miRNAs and 420 mRNAs were aberrantly expressed between HN and DCIS. Combining these two datasets with miRNA-target prediction we identified two established target pairs (miR-195:CCND1 and miR-21:NFIB) and tested several novel miRNA:mRNA target pairs. Over-expression of the putative tumor-suppressor miR-125b, under-expressed in DCIS, repressed the expression of MEMO1, which is required for ErbB2-driven cell motility (also a target of miR-125b); and NRIP1/RIP140, which modulates the transcriptional activity of the estrogen receptor. Knockdown of the putative oncogenic miRNAs miR-182 and miR-183, both highly over-expressed in DCIS, increased the expression of CBX7 (which regulates E-cadherin expression), DOK4, NMT2, and EGR1. Augmentation of CBX7 by knockdown of miR-182 expression, in turn, positively regulated the expression of E-cadherin, a key protein involved in maintaining normal epithelial cell morphology which is commonly lost during neoplastic progression. Conclusions: These data provide the first miRNA expression profile of normal breast epithelium and of pre-invasive breast carcinoma. Further, we demonstrate that altered miRNA expression can modulate gene expression changes that characterize these early cancers. We conclude that miRNA dysregulation likely plays a substantial role in early breast cancer development.
Expression of microRNA and their gene targets are dysregulated in preinvasive breast cancer.
Sex, Age, Specimen part, Disease
View Samples