This SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Inhibitors of the Histone Methyltransferases EZH2/1 Induce a Potent Antiviral State and Suppress Infection by Diverse Viral Pathogens.
Specimen part, Cell line, Treatment, Time
View SamplesEpigenetic regulation is based upon a network of complexes that modulate the chromatin character and structure of the genome to impact gene expression, cell fate, and development. Thus, epigenetic modulators represent novel therapeutic targets to treat a range of diseases including malignancies. Infectious pathogens such as herpesviruses are also regulated by cellular epigenetic machinery, and epigenetic therapeutics represent a novel approach to control infection, persistence, and the resulting recurrent disease. The histone methyltransferases EZH2 and EZH1 (EZH2/1) are epigenetic repressors that suppress gene transcription via propagation of repressive H3K27me3 enriched chromatin domains. However, while EZH2/1 are implicated in repression of herpesviral gene expression, inhibitors of these enzymes suppressed HSV primary infection in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, these compounds blocked lytic viral replication following induction of HSV reactivation in latently infected sensory ganglia. Suppression correlated with the induction of multiple inflammatory, stress, and anti-pathogen pathways as well as enhanced recruitment of immune cells to in vivo infection sites. Importantly, EZH2/1 inhibitors induced a cellular antiviral state that also suppressed infection with DNA (hCMV, Adenovirus) and RNA (Zika virus) viruses. Thus, EZH2/1 inhibitors have considerable potential as general antivirals through activation of cellular antiviral and immune responses.
Inhibitors of the Histone Methyltransferases EZH2/1 Induce a Potent Antiviral State and Suppress Infection by Diverse Viral Pathogens.
Cell line, Treatment, Time
View SamplesHere we studied the effects of anticonvulsant drug exposure in a human embryonic stem cell (hESC) based neuro- developmental toxicity test (hESTn). During neural differentiation the cells were exposed, for either 1 or 7 days, to non-cytotoxic concentration ranges of valproic acid (VPA) or carbamazepine (CBZ), anti-epileptic drugs known to cause neurodevelopmental toxicity.
Gene Expression Regulation and Pathway Analysis After Valproic Acid and Carbamazepine Exposure in a Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Based Neurodevelopmental Toxicity Assay.
Time
View SamplesPsoriasis is a chronic, debilitating, immune-mediated inflammatory skin disease. As IFN- is involved in many cellular processes, including activation of T cells and dendritic cells (DCs), antigen processing and presentation, cell adhesion and trafficking, and cytokine and chemokine production, IFN--producing Th1 cells were proposed to be integral to the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Recently, IFN- was shown to enhance IL-23 and IL-1 production by DCs and subsequently induce Th17 cells, important contributors to the inflammatory cascade in psoriasis lesions. To determine if IFN- indeed induces the pathways leading to the development of psoriasis lesions, a single intradermal injection of IFN- was administered to an area of clinically normal, non-lesional skin of psoriasis patients and biopsies were collected 24 hours later. Although there were no visible changes in the skin, IFN- induced molecular and histological features characteristic of psoriasis lesions. IFN- increased a number of differentially expressed genes in the skin, including many chemokines concomitant with an influx of T cells and inflammatory DCs. Furthermore, inflammatory DC products TNF, iNOS, IL-23, and TRAIL were present in IFN--treated skin. Thus, IFN-, which is significantly elevated in non-lesional skin compared to healthy skin, appears to be a key pathogenic cytokine that can induce the inflammatory cascade in psoriasis.
A single intradermal injection of IFN-γ induces an inflammatory state in both non-lesional psoriatic and healthy skin.
Disease, Disease stage
View SamplesCharacterization of bacterial behavior in the microgravity environment of spaceflight is of importance towards risk assessment and prevention of infectious disease during long-term missions. Further, this research field unveils new insights into connections between low fluid-shear regions encountered by pathogens during their natural infection process in vivo, and bacterial virulence. This study is the first to characterize the global transcriptomic and proteomic response of an opportunistic pathogen that is actually found in the space habitat, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Overall, P. aeruginosa responded to spaceflight conditions through differential regulation of 167 genes and 28 proteins, with Hfq identified as a global transcriptional regulator in the response to this environment. Since Hfq was also induced in spaceflight-grown Salmonella typhimurium, Hfq represents the first spaceflight-induced regulator across the bacterial species border. The major P. aeruginosa virulence-related genes induced in spaceflight conditions were the lecA and lecB lectins and the rhamnosyltransferase (rhlA), involved in the production of rhamnolipids. The transcriptional response of spaceflight-grown P. aeruginosa was compared with our previous data of this organism grown in microgravity-analogue conditions using the rotating wall vessel (RWV) bioreactor technology. Interesting similarities were observed, among others with regard to Hfq regulation and oxygen utilization. While LSMMG-grown P. aeruginosa mainly induced genes involved in microaerophilic metabolism, P. aeruginosa cultured in spaceflight adopted an anaerobic mode of growth, in which denitrification was presumably most prominent. Differences in hardware between spaceflight and LSMMG experiments, in combination with more pronounced low fluid shear and mixing in spaceflight when compared to LSMMG conditions, were hypothesized to be at the origin of these observations. Collectively, our data suggest that spaceflight conditions could induce the transition of P. aeruginosa from an opportunistic organism to potential pathogen, results that are of importance for infectious disease risk assessment and prevention, both during spaceflight missions and in the clinic.
Transcriptional and proteomic responses of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 to spaceflight conditions involve Hfq regulation and reveal a role for oxygen.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesBackground: Previous work has identified CD11c+CD1c- dendritic cells (DCs) as the major inflammatory dermal DC population in psoriasis vulgaris and CD1c+ DCs as the resident cutaneous DC population. Objective: To further define molecular differences between these two myeloid dermal DC populations. Methods: Inflammatory and resident DCs were single-cell sorted from psoriasis lesional skin biopsies, and gene array expression profiling was performed. Results were confirmed with RT-PCR, flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, and double label immunofluorescence. Pooled human keratinocytes were cultured for functional studies. Results: TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), Toll-like receptors (TLRs) 1 and 2, S100A12/EN-RAGE, CD32, and many other inflammatory products were selectively expressed in inflammatory DCs than in resident DCs. Flow cytometry and immunofluorescence confirmed higher protein expression on CD1c- versus CD1c+ DCs. TRAIL receptor, death receptor 4 (DR4), was expressed on basal keratinocytes and blood vessels, and in vitro culture of keratinocytes with rh-TRAIL induced CCL20 leukocyte chemokine. Conclusion: CD11c+CD1c- inflammatory DCs in psoriatic lesional skin express a wide range of inflammatory molecules compared to skin resident CD1c+ DCs. Some molecules made by inflammatory DCs, including TRAIL, could have direct effects on keratinocytes or other skin cell types to promote disease pathogenesis.
Identification of TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand and other molecules that distinguish inflammatory from resident dendritic cells in patients with psoriasis.
Subject
View SamplesOur group recently described a population of antigen presenting cells that appear to be critical in psoriasis pathogenesis, termed inflammatory myeloid dendritic cells (CD11c+ BDCA1-). Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells type-1 (TREM-1) signaling was a major canonical pathway in the published transcriptome of these cells. TREM-1 is a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily, active through the DAP12 signaling pathway, with an unknown ligand. Activation through TREM-1 induces inflammatory cytokines including IL-8, MCP/CCL2 and TNF. We now show that TREM-1 was expressed in the skin of healthy and psoriatic patients, and there was increased soluble TREM-1 in the circulation of psoriasis patients. In psoriasis lesions, TREM-1 was co-localized with dendritic cells as well as CD31+ endothelial cells. TREM-1 expression was reduced with successful NB-UVB, etanercept and anti-IL-17 treatments. An in vitro model of PGN-activated monocytes as inflammatory myeloid DCs was developed to study TREM-1 blockade, and treatment with a TREM-1 blocking chimera decreased allogeneic Th17 activation, as well as IL-17 production. Furthermore, TREM-1 blockade of ex vivo psoriatic dendritic cells in an alloMLR also showed a decrease in IL-17. Together, these data suggest that the TREM-1 signaling pathway offers a novel therapeutic target to prevent the effects of inflammatory myeloid DCs in psoriasis.
TREM-1 as a potential therapeutic target in psoriasis.
Specimen part
View SamplesImmunosurveillance of secondary lymphoid organs (SLO) is performed by central memory T cells that recirculate through blood. Resident memory T cells (TRM) remain parked in nonlymphoid tissues and often stably express CD69. We recently identified TRM within SLO, and this study addresses knowledge gaps in their origin and phenotype. Parabiosis of dirty mice revealed that CD69 expression is insufficient to infer stable residence. Using selective depletion strategies, parabiosis, imaging, tissue grafting, and photoactivatable T cells, we report that restimulation of TRM within the skin or mucosa results in a substantial increase in TRM that patrol all regions of draining lymph nodes. SLO TRM were derived from nonlymphoid tissue residents. Transcriptional profiling and flow cytometry revealed a refined phenotype shared between both nonlymphoid and SLO TRM. These data demonstrate the nonlymphoid origin of SLO TRM and suggest vaccination strategies by which memory CD8 T cell immunosurveillance can be regionalized to specific lymph nodes.
T Cells in Nonlymphoid Tissues Give Rise to Lymph-Node-Resident Memory T Cells.
Specimen part
View SamplesTo understand the development of new psoriasis lesions, we studied a group of moderate-to-severe psoriasis patients who experienced a relapse after ceasing efalizumab (anti-CD11a, Raptiva, Genentech). There were increased CD3+ T cells, neutrophils, CD11c+ and CD83+ myeloid DCs, but no increase in CD1c+ resident myeloid DCs. In relapsed lesions, there were many CD11c+CD1c-, inflammatory myeloid DCs identified by TNFSF10/TRAIL, TNF, and iNOS. CD11c+ cells in relapsed lesions co-expressed CD14 and CD16 in situ. Efalizumab induced an improvement in many psoriasis genes, and during relapse, the majority of these genes reversed back to a lesional state. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) of the transcriptome of relapsed tissue showed that many of the gene sets known to be present in psoriasis were also highly enriched in relapse. Hence, on ceasing efalizumab, T cells and myeloid cells rapidly enter the skin to cause classic psoriasis.
Post-therapeutic relapse of psoriasis after CD11a blockade is associated with T cells and inflammatory myeloid DCs.
Specimen part, Disease, Disease stage, Treatment, Subject, Time
View SamplesIn this study, we shought to identify the cytokines produced by skin-resident T cells in normal skin, localize the receptors for these cytokines, and examine how these cytokines alter gene expression profiles of the cells bearing cognate receptors.
Th17 cytokines interleukin (IL)-17 and IL-22 modulate distinct inflammatory and keratinocyte-response pathways.
No sample metadata fields
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