Zika virus (ZIKV) is responsible for a major current outbreak in the Americas and has been causally associated with fetal microcephaly as well as Guillain-Barre syndrome in adults. However, the immune responses associated with controlling ZIKV replication remain poorly characterized. Here we report a detailed analysis of innate and adaptive immune responses following ZIKV infection in 16 rhesus monkeys. A robust proinflammatory innate immune response was observed within the first few days of infection, including upregulation of type 1 interferon, which correlated directly with viral loads. Immunomodulatory pathways, including IL-10 and TGF-, were also upregulated. ZIKV-specific neutralizing antibodies emerged rapidly by day 7 and correlated inversely with viral loads, which were undetectable in peripheral blood by day 6-10. In contrast, virus replication persisted in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for at least 21-42 days in 75% (3 of 4) of the monkeys that received the lowest dose of ZIKV tested, and ZIKV-specific antibodies were essentially undetectable in CSF. These data suggest that antibodies play a critical role in the rapid control of acute viremia in the periphery but were largely excluded from the central nervous system, allowing viral persistence at this immuonoprivileged site.
Zika Virus Persistence in the Central Nervous System and Lymph Nodes of Rhesus Monkeys.
Time
View SamplesBackground/Aims: Ribavirin improves treatment response to pegylated-interferon (PEG-IFN) in chronic hepatitis C but the mechanism remains controversial. We studied correlates of response and mechanism of action of ribavirin in treatment of hepatitis C. Methods: 70 treatment-nave patients were randomized to 4 weeks of ribavirin (1000-1200 mg/d) or none, followed by PEG-IFN alfa-2a and ribavirin at standard doses and durations. Patients were randomized to undergo a liver biopsy either 24 hours before, or 6 hours after starting PEG-IFN. Hepatic gene expression was assessed by microarray and interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) expression quantified by the nCounter platform. Temporal changes in ISG expression were assessed by qPCR in peripheral-blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and by serum levels of IP-10. Results: After four weeks of ribavirin monotherapy, HCV levels decreased by 0.50.5 log10 (p=0.009 vs. controls) and ALT by 33% (p<0.001). Ribavirin pretreatment, while modestly augmenting the induction of ISGs by PEG-IFN, did not modify the virological response to subsequent PEG-IFN and ribavirin treatment. However, biochemical, but not virological response to ribavirin monotherapy predicted response to subsequent combination treatment (rapid virological response, 71% in biochemical responders vs. 22% non-responders, p=0.01; early virological response, 100% vs. 68%, p=0.03, sustained virological response 83% vs. 41%, p=0.053). Ribavirin monotherapy lowered serum IP-10 levels but had no effect on ISG expression in PBMC. Conclusion: Ribavirin is a weak antiviral but its clinical effect in combination with PEG-IFN seems to be mediated by a separate, indirect mechanism, which may act to reset the interferon responsiveness in HCV-infected liver. Ribavirin pretreatment does not alter the clinical outcome of subsequent combination therapy.
Effect of ribavirin on viral kinetics and liver gene expression in chronic hepatitis C.
Specimen part, Disease, Disease stage, Treatment
View SamplesDouble-stranded RNA-binding proteins are key elements in the intracellular localization of mRNA and its local translation. Staufen is a double-stranded RNA binding protein involved in the localised translation of specific mRNAs during Drosophila early development and neuronal cell fate. The human homologue Staufen1 forms RNA-containing complexes that include proteins involved in translation and motor proteins to allow their movement within the cell, but the mechanism underlying translation repression in these complexes is poorly understood. Here we show that human Staufen1-containing complexes contain essential elements of the gene silencing apparatus, like Ago1-3 proteins, and we describe a set of miRNAs specifically associated to complexes containing human Staufen1. Among these, miR124 stands out as particularly relevant because it appears enriched in human Staufen1 complexes and is over-expressed upon differentiation of human neuroblastoma cells in vitro. In agreement with these findings, we show that expression of human Staufen1 is essential for proper dendritic arborisation during neuroblastoma cell differentiation, yet it is not necessary for maintenance of the differentiated state, and suggest potential human Staufen1 mRNA targets involved in this process.
Human Staufen1 associates to miRNAs involved in neuronal cell differentiation and is required for correct dendritic formation.
Cell line
View SamplesThis study is part of previous epidemiologic project, including a population-based survey (Sao Paulo Ageing & Health study (SPAH Study). The data from this study was collected between 2015 to 2016 and involved elderly women (ages ≥65 yeas) living in the Butanta district, Sao Paulo. The purpose of the study was identification of association between transcriptome and the osteo metabolism diseases phenotype, like osteoporosis, vertebral fracture and coronary calcification.
Overexpression of SNTG2, TRAF3IP2, and ITGA6 transcripts is associated with osteoporotic vertebral fracture in elderly women from community.
Sex, Age
View SamplesDespite the well-established role of the frontal and posterior peri-sylvian cortices in many facets of human-cognitive specializations, including language, little is known about the developmental patterning of these regions in human brain. We performed a genome-wide analysis of human cerebral patterning during mid-gestation, a critical epoch in cortical regionalization. A total of 345 genes were identified as differentially expressed (DE) between superior temporal gyrus (STG) and the remaining cerebral cortex (CTX). GO categories representing transcription factors were enriched in STG, while cell-adhesion and extracellular matrix molecules, were enriched in the other cortical regions. Q-PCR or in situ hybridization were performed to validate differential expression in a subset of 32 genes, most of which were confirmed. LIM domain binding 1 (LDB1), which we show to be enriched in the STG, is a recently identified interactor of LIM domain only 4 (LMO4), a gene known to be involved in the asymmetric pattering of the peri-sylvian region in the developing human brain. Protocadherin 17 (PCDH17), a neuronal cell adhesion molecule, was highly enriched in focal regions of the human prefrontal cortex. Contactin Associated Protein-Like 2 (CNTNAP2), in which mutations are known to cause autism, epilepsy and language delay, showed a remarkable pattern of anterior enriched expression in cortical regions important for human higher cognition. Importantly, a similar pattern was not observed in the mouse or rat. These data highlight the importance of expression analysis of human brain and the utility of cross-species comparisons of gene expression. Genes identified here provide a foundation for understanding molecular aspects of human-cognitive specializations and disorders that disrupt them.
Genome-wide analyses of human perisylvian cerebral cortical patterning.
Sex, Age
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Cancer exosomes perform cell-independent microRNA biogenesis and promote tumorigenesis.
Specimen part, Cell line
View SamplesProtein synthesis belongs to the most energy consuming processes in the cell. Lowering oxygen tension below normal (hypoxia) causes a rapid inhibition of global mRNA translation due to the decreased availability of energy. Interestingly, subsets of mRNAs pursue active translation under such circumstances. In human fibrosarcoma cells (HT1080) exposed to prolonged hypoxia (36 h, 1% oxygen) we observed that transcripts are either increasingly or decreasingly associated with ribosomes localized at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). In a global setting it turned out that only 31% of transcripts showing elevated total-RNA levels were also increasingly present at the ER in hypoxia. These genes, regulated by its expression as well as its ER-localization, belong to the gene ontologys hypoxia response, glycolysis and HIF-1 transcription factor network supporting the view of active mRNA translation at the ER during hypoxia. Interestingly, a large group of RNAs was found to be unchanged at the expression level, but translocate to the ER in hypoxia. Among these are transcripts encoding translation factors and >180 ncRNAs. In summary, we provide evidence that protein synthesis is favoured at the ER and, thus, partitioning of the transcriptome between cytoplasmic and ER associated ribosomes mediates adaptation of gene expression in hypoxia.
Hypoxia-induced gene expression results from selective mRNA partitioning to the endoplasmic reticulum.
Specimen part, Cell line
View SamplesMitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling regulates differentiation of many cell types. During myogenesis in particular, p38a MAPK (MAPK14) phosphorylates multiple transcriptional regulators to modulate muscle-specific gene expression. Among the p38a MAPK modulated genes is the muscle-specific transcriptional regulator Myogenin (Myog) that is also essential to complete the muscle differentiation program, and while it is known that both p38a MAPK and Myog are critically required for myogenesis, the individual contribution of each of these proteins is poorly defined. Here we show that Myog expression (in the absence of p38a MAPK signaling) is sufficient to establish expression of many late markers of muscle differentiation and to mediate cell migration. However, Myog expression alone did not led to the formation of multinucleated muscle cells, highlighting a critical role for p38a MAPK in myoblast fusion. Using comparative microarray analysis we identified p38a MAPK-dependent genes that are not regulated by Myog
Comparative expression profiling identifies differential roles for Myogenin and p38α MAPK signaling in myogenesis.
Cell line
View SamplesE2 exposure significantly decreased peak viral titer in hNECs from female donors. We used microarray analyses to identify global gene expression patterns between E2 and vehicle exposed hNECs from female donors
Estrogenic compounds reduce influenza A virus replication in primary human nasal epithelial cells derived from female, but not male, donors.
Sex, Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesStem cell development requires selection of specific genetic programs to direct cellular fate. Using microarray technology, we profile expression trends at selected timepoints during stem cell differentiation to characterize these changes.
Genomic chart guiding embryonic stem cell cardiopoiesis.
Specimen part
View Samples