Protocadherin 12 (Pcdh12) is a transmembrane adhesive protein with homophilic adhesive properties and expressed in endothelial cells, the glycogen trophoblast cells of the placenta, and the mesangial cells of kidney glomeruli. Pcdh12-deficient mice are alive although they show alterations in placenta development.
Protocadherin 12 deficiency alters morphogenesis and transcriptional profile of the placenta.
Sex
View SamplesStrigolactones are a novel class of plant hormones produced in roots and regulate shoot and root development. We have previously shown that synthetic strigolactone analogues potently inhibit growth of breast cancer cells and breast cancer stem cells. Here we show that strigolactone analogues inhibit the growth and survival of an array of cancer-derived cell lines representing solid and non-solid cancer cells including: prostate, colon, lung, melanoma, osteosarcoma and leukemic cell lines, while normal cells were minimally affected. Furthermore, we tested the response of patient-matched conditionally reprogrammed normal and prostate cancer cells. The tumor cells exhibited significantly higher sensitivity to the two most potent SL analogues with increased apoptosis compared to their normal counterpart cells. Treatment of cancer cells with strigolactone analogues was hallmarked by increased expression and activity of genes involved in stress signaling, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. All five strigolactone analogues induced G2/M cell cycle arrest, accompanied with a decrease in the expression level of cyclin B1. Apoptosis was marked by increased percentages of cells in the sub-G1 fraction and was confirmed by Annexin V staining. In conditionally reprogramed matched tumor and normal prostate cells, the cleavage of PARP1 confirmed the specific increase in apoptosis of tumor cells. In summary, Strigolactone analogues are promising candidates for anticancer therapy by their ability to specifically induce cell cycle arrest, cellular stress and apoptosis in tumor cells with minimal effects on growth and survival of normal cells.
Strigolactone analogues induce apoptosis through activation of p38 and the stress response pathway in cancer cell lines and in conditionally reprogrammed primary prostate cancer cells.
Cell line, Time
View SamplesSome cancers evade targeted therapies through a mechanism known as lineage plasticity, whereby tumor cells acquire phenotypic characteristics of a cell lineage whose survival no longer depends on the drug target. Here we show, using in vitro and in vivo prostate cancer models, that these tumors can develop resistance to the antiandrogen drug enzalutamide by a phenotypic shift from androgen receptor (AR) dependent luminal epithelial cells to AR independent basal-like cells. This lineage plasticity is enabled by loss of TP53 and RB1 function, is mediated by increased expression of the reprogramming transcription factor SOX2 and can be reversed by restoring TP53 and RB1 function or by inhibiting SOX2 expression. Thus, mutations in tumor suppressor genes can create a state of increased cellular plasticity that, when challenged with antiandrogen therapy, promotes resistance through lineage switching. Overall design: LNCaP/AR prostate cell line was transduced with shNT or shTP53:RB1 hairpins and then RNA was harvested from these cell lines for gene epxression analysis.
SOX2 promotes lineage plasticity and antiandrogen resistance in TP53- and RB1-deficient prostate cancer.
Cell line, Subject
View SamplesMania is a serious neuropsychiatric condition associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Previous studies have suggested that environmental exposures can contribute to mania pathogenesis. We measured dietary exposures in a cohort of individuals with mania and other psychiatric disorders as well as in control individual without a psychiatric disorder. We found that a history of eating nitrated dry cured meat, but not other meat or fish products, was strongly and independently associated with current mania (adjusted odds ratio 3.49, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.24-5.45, p<8.97x 10-8). Lower odds of association were found between eating nitrated dry cured meat and other psychiatric disorders. We further found that the feeding of meat preparations with added nitrate to rats resulted in alterations in behavior and changes in intestinal microbiota. Rats fed diets with added nitrate also showed alterations of brain pathways dysregulated in mania. These findings may lead to new methods for preventing mania and for developing novel therapeutic interventions
Nitrated meat products are associated with mania in humans and altered behavior and brain gene expression in rats.
Sex, Specimen part
View SamplesHuman mucosal surfaces contain a wide range of microorganisms. The biological effects of these organisms are largely unknown. Large-scale metagenomic sequencing is emerging as a method to identify novel microbes. Unexpectedly, we identified DNA sequences homologous to virus ATCV-1, an algal virus not previously known to infect humans, in oropharyngeal samples obtained from healthy adults. The presence of ATCV-1 was associated with a modest but measurable decrease in cognitive functioning. A relationship between ATCV-1 and cognitive functioning was confirmed in a mouse model, which also indicated that exposure to ATCV-1 resulted in changes in gene expression within the brain. Our study indicates that viruses in the environment not thought to infect humans can have biological effects.
Chlorovirus ATCV-1 is part of the human oropharyngeal virome and is associated with changes in cognitive functions in humans and mice.
Treatment
View SamplesmRNA regulation by the circadian protein Nocturnin in A549 cells. Overall design: Total RNA from WT and NOCT KO A549 cells were subject to poly-A pulldown and RNA-seq.
The metabolites NADP<sup>+</sup> and NADPH are the targets of the circadian protein Nocturnin (Curled).
Cell line, Subject
View SamplesTranscriptome analysis of control and MALAT1 lncRNA-depleted RNA samples from human diploid lung fibroblasts [WI38]
Long noncoding RNA MALAT1 controls cell cycle progression by regulating the expression of oncogenic transcription factor B-MYB.
Specimen part, Cell line
View SamplesSmoking represents a major risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but it is difficult to characterize smoke-induced injury responses under physiological breathing conditions in humans. Here we generated small airway-on-a-chip microdevices lined by living human bronchiolar epithelium from normal or COPD patients and connected them to an instrument that 'breathes' whole cigarette smoke in and out of the chips to study smoke-induced pathophysiology in vitro. We used microarrays to detail the global program of gene expression in well-differentiated epithelial cells following smoke exposure to recapitulate clinical pathologies and identify disease-specific responses.
Matched-Comparative Modeling of Normal and Diseased Human Airway Responses Using a Microengineered Breathing Lung Chip.
Specimen part, Disease, Treatment
View SamplesVAChT KDHOM mice have a 70% decrease in the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) and this leads to a systemic decrease in ACh release and cardiac dysfunction.
An analysis of the myocardial transcriptome in a mouse model of cardiac dysfunction with decreased cholinergic neurotransmission.
Sex, Age, Specimen part
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 Samples