Chronic alcohol consumption can lead to alchohol-related brain damage (ARBD). Despite the well known acute effects of alcohol the mechanism responsible for chronic brain damage is largely unknown. Pathologically the major change is the loss of white matter while neuronal loss is mild and restricted to a few areas such as the prefrontal cortex. In order to improve our understanding of ARBD pathogenesis we used microarrays to explore the white matter transcriptome of alcoholics and controls.
Comorbidities, confounders, and the white matter transcriptome in chronic alcoholism.
Specimen part, Disease, Disease stage
View SamplesDamage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) molecules S100A8 and S100A9 with well-known functions in inflammation, tumor growth and metastasis. It has been found to have promote tumor cell proliferation activity at low concentration . However, the mechanism underlying this remains unclear. In the current study, we performed genome expression profiling analysis using the Affymetrix genome wide microarray system to identify broad scale changes in gene expression associated with S100a8 or S100a9 recombinant protein stimulation in murine colon carcinoma cell line CT26.WT.
Inflammation-induced S100A8 activates Id3 and promotes colorectal tumorigenesis.
Cell line
View SamplesThe intestinal epithelium constitutes a crucial defense to the potentially life-threatening effects of gut microbiota. However, due to a complex underlying vasculature, hypoperfusion and resultant tissue ischemia pose a particular risk to function and integrity of the epithelium. The small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) conjugation pathway critically regulates adaptive responses to metabolic stress and is of particular significance in the gut, as inducible knockout of the SUMO-conjugating enzyme Ubc9 results in rapid intestinal epithelial disintegration. Here we analyzed the pattern of individual SUMO isoforms in intestinal epithelium and investigated their roles in intestinal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) damage. Immunostaining revealed that epithelial SUMO2/3 expression was almost exclusively limited to crypt epithelial nuclei in unchallenged mice. However, intestinal I/R or overexpression of Ubc9 caused a remarkable enhancement of epithelial SUMO2/3 staining along the crypt-villus axis. Unexpectedly, a similar pattern was found in SUMO1 knockout mice. Ubc9 transgenic mice, but also SUMO1 knockout mice were protected from I/R injury as evidenced by better preserved barrier function and blunted inflammatory responses. PCR array analysis of microdissected villus-tip epithelia revealed a specific epithelial contribution to reduced inflammatory responses in Ubc9 transgenic mice, as key chemotactic signaling molecules such as IL17A were significantly downregulated. Together, our data indicate a critical role particularly of the SUMO2/3 isoforms in modulating responses to I/R and provide the first evidence that SUMO1 deletion activates a compensatory process that protects from ischemic damage.
Ubc9 overexpression and SUMO1 deficiency blunt inflammation after intestinal ischemia/reperfusion.
Treatment
View SamplesCellular differentiation requires both activation of target cell programs and repression of non-target cell programs. Transcriptional repressors such as RE1-silencing transcription factor (REST) and Hairy/Enhancer of Split (Hes) repress neuronal genes in non-neuronal cells. However, it is unknown whether transcriptional repressors of non-neuronal genes in neuronal precursors are required to specify neuronal fate during development. The Myt1 family of zinc finger transcription factors contributes to fibroblast to neuron reprogramming in vitro by repressing Notch signaling. Here, we show that ztf-11 (Zinc-finger Transcription Factor-11), the sole Caenorhabditis elegans Myt1 homolog, is required for neurogenesis in multiple neuronal lineages, including an in vivo developmental epithelial-to-neuronal transdifferentiation event. ztf-11 is exclusively expressed in all neuronal precursors with remarkable specificity at single cell resolution. Loss of ztf-11 leads to upregulation of non-neuronal genes and reduced neurogenesis. Ectopic expression of ztf-11 in epidermal lineages is sufficient to produce additional neurons. Our genetic and genomic experiments show that ZTF-11 indeed functions as a transcriptional repressor to suppress the activation of non-neuronal genes in neurons; however, it does not function via repression of Notch signaling. Instead, ZTF-11 binds to the MuvBco-repressor complex, which we show is also required for neurogenesis. These results dovetail with ability of Myt1l (Myt1-like) to drive neuronal transdifferentiation in vitro in vertebrate systems. Together, we identified an evolutionarily conserved mechanism to specify neuronal cell fate by repressing non-neuronal genes. Overall design: 4 biological replicates each under 2 experemental conditions (ztf-11 KD and negative control) were used for total of 8 samples
A Myt1 family transcription factor defines neuronal fate by repressing non-neuronal genes.
Specimen part, Cell line, Treatment, Subject
View SamplesIn human breast cancers, a phenotypically distinct minority population of tumorigenic cancer (TG) cells (sometimes referred to as cancer stem cells) drives tumor growth when transplanted into immunodeficient mice. Our objective was to identify a mouse model of breast cancer stem cells that could have relevance to studying human breast cancer. To do so, we utilized breast tumors of the MMTVWnt-1 mice. MMTV-Wnt-1 breast tumors were harvested, dissociated into single cell suspensions, and FACS sorted on Thy1, CD24, and CD45. FACS sorted cells were then injected into recipient background FBV/NJ female mice. Thy1+CD24+ cancer cells, which constitute approximately 1-4% of tumor cells were highly enriched for cells capable of regenerating new tumors when compared to cells of the tumor that did not fit this profile (Not Thy1+CD24+). Resultant tumors were of the same phenotypic diversity as the original tumor and behaved in a similar manner when passaged. Microarray analysis comparing Thy1+CD24+ tumor cells to Not Thy1+CD24+ cells identified a list of differentially expressed genes. Orthologs of these differentially expressed genes predicted survival of human breast cancer patients from two different study groups. These studies suggest that there is a cancer stem cell compartment in the MMTV-Wnt-1 murine breast tumor and that there is a clinical utility of this model for the study of cancer stem cells.
Isolation and molecular characterization of cancer stem cells in MMTV-Wnt-1 murine breast tumors.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesBreast cancers contain a minority population of cancer cells characterized by CD44 expression but low or undetectable levels of CD24 (CD44+CD24-/low) that have higher tumorigenic capacity than other subtypes of cancer cells. METHODS: We compared the gene-expression profile of CD44+CD24-/low tumorigenic breast-cancer cells with that of normal breast epithelium. Differentially expressed genes were used to generate a 186-gene invasiveness gene signature (IGS), which was evaluated for its association with overall survival and metastasis-free survival in patients with breast cancer or other types of cancer. RESULTS: There was a significant association between the IGS and both overall and metastasis-free survival (P<0.001, for both) in patients with breast cancer, which was independent of established clinical and pathological variables. When combined with the prognostic criteria of the National Institutes of Health, the IGS was used to stratify patients with high-risk early breast cancer into prognostic categories (good or poor); among patients with a good prognosis, the 10-year rate of metastasis-free survival was 81%, and among those with a poor prognosis, it was 57%. The IGS was also associated with the prognosis in medulloblastoma (P=0.004), lung cancer (P=0.03), and prostate cancer (P=0.01). The prognostic power of the IGS was increased when combined with the wound-response (WR) signature. CONCLUSIONS: The IGS is strongly associated with metastasis-free survival and overall survival for four different types of tumors. This genetic signature of tumorigenic breast-cancer cells was even more strongly associated with clinical outcomes when combined with the WR signature in breast cancer.
The prognostic role of a gene signature from tumorigenic breast-cancer cells.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesWe sorted approx. 10000 neurons per sample from day one adult worms. We collected two wildtype samples and three thoc-5(wy822) mutant samples. Overall design: RNAseq of FACS-sorted C.elegans neurons from wildtype and thoc-5(wy822) mutant animals.
The THO Complex Coordinates Transcripts for Synapse Development and Dopamine Neuron Survival.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesMicroarray analyses for the identification of differences in gene expression patterns have increased our understanding of the molecular genetic events in colorectal cancer.
A molecular signature for the prediction of recurrence in colorectal cancer.
Sex
View SamplesVarious pluripotent stem (PS) cells can be isolated from early developing embryos in mouse. Among these, two kinds of PS cells were isolated from mouse blastocysts: conventional embryonic stem (ES) cells with domed morphology that are maintained with LIF and BMP for self-renewal, and FAB-ES cells with flat morphology that need bFGF, activinA and BIO for self-renewal. Here, we report a novel PS cell line from rat blastocysts, which is distinguishable from conventional ES cells but is morphologically similar to mouse epiblast stem cell (EpiSC) lines. We used microarrays to detail the global program of gene expression of rES and rPS.
The heterogeneity and dynamic equilibrium of rat embryonic stem cells.
Specimen part
View SamplesIn all primary cells analyzed to date, aneuploidy is associated with poor proliferation. Yet, how abnormal karyotypes affect cancer a disease characterized by both aneuploidy and heightened proliferative capacity is largely unknown. Here, I demonstrate that the transcriptional alterations caused by aneuploidy in primary cells are also present in chromosomally-unstable cancer cell lines, but are not common to all aneuploid cancers. Moreover, chromosomally-unstable cancer lines display increased glycolytic and TCA-cycle flux, as is also observed in primary aneuploid cells. The biological response to aneuploidy is associated with cellular stress and slow proliferation, and a 70-gene signature derived from primary aneuploid cells is a strong predictor of increased survival in several cancers. Inversely, a transcriptional signature derived from clonal aneuploidy in tumors correlates with high mitotic activity and poor prognosis. I speculate that there are two types of aneuploidy in cancer: clonal aneuploidy, which is selected during tumor evolution and is associated with robust growth, and sub-clonal aneuploidy, which is caused by chromosomal instability (CIN) and more closely resembles the stressed state of primary aneuploid cells. Nonetheless, CIN is not benign: a subset of genes upregulated in high-CIN cancers predict aggressive disease in human patients in a proliferation-independent manner.
A transcriptional and metabolic signature of primary aneuploidy is present in chromosomally unstable cancer cells and informs clinical prognosis.
Specimen part
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