Mastic oil from Pistacia lentiscus variation chia, a blend of bioactive terpenes with recognized medicinal properties, has been recently shown to exert anti-tumor activity. Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) cells are mastic oil-susceptible cells and were used in this work to study the effects of mastic oil at the transcriptomic level.
A transcriptomic computational analysis of mastic oil-treated Lewis lung carcinomas reveals molecular mechanisms targeting tumor cell growth and survival.
Cell line
View SamplesPurpose: The goals of this study are to elucidate dowstream effects of lnc RNA, Neat1 deletion in cerebral frontal cortex of adult mice by comparing Next-generation sequencing -derived cortical transcriptome profiles (RNA-seq) between wild type and Neat1 knockout mice. Methods: Brain mRNA profiles of 2-4 moths-old wild-type (WT) and lnc RNA, Neat1 knockout (Neat1-/-) mice were generated by deep sequencing, using Illumina. Reads were mapped to mm10 reference genome using TopHat (version 2.0.9) and Bowtie (version 2.1.0), with the default parameters. Known iGenomes Ensembl mm10 were quantified by HTSeq (version 0.6.0) in intersection-strict mode. A sample-by-gene read count matrix was generated for all samples by the Ensembl genes. Scaling normalization to remove composition biases in sequencing data was applied to log(CPM) (read Counts Per Million total reads) using the trimmed mean of M-values (TMM) method. Results: RNA-seq showed near-complete depletion of Neat1 RNA levels. 1359 genes were differentially expressed in the frontal cortex of Neat1-/- mice. 25 of these differentially expressed genes withstood multiple testing corrections. Examination of RNA-seq data by principle component analysis showed two principle components that were mutually uncorrelated and orthogonal. Hierarchical cluster tree analysis showed that joined nodes from Neat1-/- samples were distanced from control subset cluster confirming the results of the PCA. Conclusions: Analyses of differentially expressed gene signature from NEAT1-/- mice revealed a significant impact on processes related to oligodendrocyte differentiation and RNA post-transcriptional modification with the underlying mechanisms involving Wnt signaling, cell contact interactions, and regulation of cholesterol/lipid metabolism. Overall design: Cerebral frontal cortex mRNA profiles of 2-4 months old wild type (WT) and Neat1 -/- mice (all females) were generated by deep sequencing (N=5 controls; N=4 Neat1 knockout).
The expression of long noncoding RNA NEAT1 is reduced in schizophrenia and modulates oligodendrocytes transcription.
Sex, Age, Specimen part, Cell line, Subject
View SamplesAlzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, characterized by progressive cognitive impairment and neurodegeneration as a result of abnormal neuronal loss. To elucidate the molecular systems associated with AD, we characterized the gene expression changes associated with multiple clinical and neuropathological traits in 1,053 postmortem brain samples across 19 brain regions from 125 persons dying with varying severities of dementia and variable AD-neuropathology severities.
Integrative network analysis of nineteen brain regions identifies molecular signatures and networks underlying selective regional vulnerability to Alzheimer's disease.
Sex, Age, Specimen part, Race, Subject
View SamplesThe morphogen and mitogen, Sonic Hedgehog, activates a Gli1-dependent transcription program that drives proliferation of granule neuron progenitors (GNPs) within the external germinal layer of the postnatally developing cerebellum. Medulloblastomas with mutations activating the Sonic Hedgehog signaling pathway preferentially arise within the external germinal layer, and the tumor cells closely resemble GNPs. Atoh1/Math1, a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor essential for GNP histogenesis, does not induce medulloblastomas when expressed in primary mouse GNPs that are explanted from the early postnatal cerebellum and transplanted back into the brains of nave mice. However, enforced expression of Atoh1 in primary GNPs enhances the oncogenicity of cells overexpressing Gli1 by almost three orders of magnitude. Unlike Gli1, Atoh1 cannot support GNP proliferation in the absence of Sonic Hedgehog signaling and does not govern expression of canonical cell cycle genes. Instead, Atoh1 maintains GNPs in a Sonic Hedgehog-responsive state by regulating genes that trigger neuronal differentiation, including many expressed in response to bone morphogenic protein-4. Therefore, by targeting multiple genes regulating the differentiation state of GNPs, Atoh1 collaborates with the pro-proliferative Gli1-dependent transcriptional program to influence medulloblastoma development.
Atoh1 inhibits neuronal differentiation and collaborates with Gli1 to generate medulloblastoma-initiating cells.
Age, Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesMyc-driven Group 3 medulloblastoma (MB) is the most aggressive tumor among the four subgroups classified by transcriptome, genomic landscape and clinical outcomes. So far in all available mouse Group 3 models, the constitutive ectopic Myc expression was under control of LTR element or other exogenous promoters within the vectors, which were randomly inserted into the genome with multiple copies. Here we are deploying nuclease deficient CRISPR/dCas9-based transactivator that is targeted to promoter DNA sequences by specific guide RNA to force the transcriptional activation of endogenous Myc in p53-/-;cdkn2c-/- neurospheres cells. A combination of three sgRNAs together with dCas9-VP64 induced the highest expression of endogenous Myc. When the targeted cells were transplanted to the cortex of recipients, tumors arose fully recapitulate the Group 3 MB in human. This novel mouse model should significantly strengthen our understanding and treatment of the Myc-driven Group 3 medulloblastoma.
Mouse medulloblastoma driven by CRISPR activation of cellular Myc.
Specimen part
View SamplesAortic valve regurgitation (AR) imposes a severe volume overload to the left ventricle (LV) which results in dilation, eccentric hypertrophy and eventually loss of function. Little is known about the impact of AR on LV gene expression. We therefore conducted a gene expression profiling study in the LV of male Wistar rats with chronic (9 months) and severe AR.
Multiple short-chain dehydrogenases/reductases are regulated in pathological cardiac hypertrophy.
Sex
View SamplesTissue morphogenesis relies on proper differentiation of morphogenetic domains, adopting specific cell behaviours. Yet, how signalling pathways interact to determine and coordinate these domains remains poorly understood. Dorsal closure (DC) of the Drosophila embryo represents a powerful model to study epithelial cell sheet sealing. In this process, JNK (JUN N-terminal Kinase) signalling controls leading edge (LE) differentiation generating local forces and cell shape changes essential for DC. The LE represents a key morphogenetic domain in which, in addition to JNK, a number of signalling pathways converges and interacts (anterior/posterior -AP- determination; segmentation genes, such as Wnt/Wingless; TGF/Decapentaplegic). To better characterize properties of the LE morphogenetic domain, we used microarrays to identify genes whose expression is regulated by the JNK pathway during dorsal closure of the Drosophila embryo.
The Drosophila serine protease homologue Scarface regulates JNK signalling in a negative-feedback loop during epithelial morphogenesis.
Specimen part
View SamplesRNA-seq transcriptome profiling of human induced pluripotent stem cells to characterize gene expression variation across individuals and within multiple iPSC lines from the same individual Overall design: Donor erythroblast or activated T-cells were reprogrammed with a Sendai viral vector coding for reprogramming factors. IPSC lines were propagated for ~9 passages before RNA sequencing
Analysis of Transcriptional Variability in a Large Human iPSC Library Reveals Genetic and Non-genetic Determinants of Heterogeneity.
Sex, Age, Race, Subject
View SamplesWe previoiusly identified WDR11 as a potential tumor suppressor in murine medulloblastoma models. To determine additional genes/pathways affected by WDR11 overexpression.To compare somatic mutations of murine models with human medulloblastoma (MB), we performed whole-exome sequencing of mouse tumors representing three distinct MB subgroups: Wnt, Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) and Group 3 (G3). 64 somatic mutations were identified and validated, including 40 predicted to cause amino acid changes. After filtering and cross-species analysis with 366 human MBs from four independent studies, human orthologs for 16 of the 40 mouse genes were found to harbor non-silent mutations in human MB. Loss-of-function Mll2 mutations detected in one mouse tumor were previously reported in 30 of 366 human MBs. In mice with G3 MB, one mouse that died at least 15 days earlier than the others had four novel candidate genes harboring non-silent somatic mutations, Lrfn2, Smyd1, Ubn2 and Wdr11. To test whether these genes had tumor suppressive activity, we constitutively overexpressed each wild type gene in murine G3 tumorspheres followed by intracranial implantation. Mice harboring mouse G3 MB overexpressing WDR11 showed extended survival compared to the other three genes. Genes in the KEGG WNT signaling pathway, including Ccnd1/2/3, Myc and Tcf7l1, were down-regulated in G3 MB tumorspheres overexpressing WDR11, consistent with reduced tumor progression. In conclusion, we demonstrated that common spontaneous mutations were shared between human and murine models of MB suggesting similar molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis, and identified WDR11 as a protein with tumor suppressive activity in G3 MB. Overall design: Compare differentially expressed genes in WDR11 overexpression group versus control group.
Exome sequencing analysis of murine medulloblastoma models identifies WDR11 as a potential tumor suppressor in Group 3 tumors.
Specimen part, Treatment, Subject
View SamplesZBTB4 is a mammalian transcription factor with Zinc fingers and a BTB/POZ domain, which can bind methylated CpGs, as well as certain unmethylated consensus sequences. ZBTB4 is frequently downregulated in human cancers, but it is unclear whether this is a cause or consequence of transformation. To investigate the role of ZBTB4 in normal and pathological conditions, we generated Zbtb4-/- mice
Loss of the Methyl-CpG-Binding Protein ZBTB4 Alters Mitotic Checkpoint, Increases Aneuploidy, and Promotes Tumorigenesis.
Specimen part
View Samples