Somatic stem cells mediate tissue maintenance for the lifetime of an organism. Despite the well-established longevity that is a prerequisite for such function, accumulating data argue for compromised stem cell function with age. Identifying the mechanisms underlying age-dependent stem cell dysfunction is therefore key to understand the aging process.
Accumulating mitochondrial DNA mutations drive premature hematopoietic aging phenotypes distinct from physiological stem cell aging.
Sex, Age, Specimen part
View SamplesMicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate many basic aspects of cell biology including neuronal plasticity, but little is known of their roles in drug addiction. Extended access to cocaine can trigger the emergence of compulsive drug-seeking behaviors, but molecular mechanisms regulating this process remain unclear. Here we report that microRNA-212 (miR-212) is upregulated in the dorsal striatum of rats with extended access to cocaine. Striatal overexpression of miR-212 decreases, whereas its inhibition increases cocaine intake in rats with extended but not restricted drug access, suggesting that miR-212 serves as a protective factor against the development of compulsive drug seeking. The transcription factor CREB (cAMP response element-binding protein) is considered a core regulator of cocaine reward. We show that miR-212 controls responsiveness to cocaine by dramatically amplifying striatal CREB signaling. This action occurs through miR-212-enhanced Raf-1 activity, resulting in adenylyl cyclase sensitization and increased expression of the essential CREB co-activator TORC (Transducer of Regulated CREB; also known as CRTC). Our findings suggest that striatal miR-212 signaling plays a key role in vulnerability to addiction, and that noncoding RNAs such as the miRNAs may serve as novel targets for the development of anti-addiction therapeutics.
Striatal microRNA controls cocaine intake through CREB signalling.
Sex, Specimen part, Cell line
View SamplesAging of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) leads to several functional changes, including alterations affecting self-renewal and differentiation. While it is well established that many of the age-induced changes are intrinsic to HSCs, less is known about the stability of this state. Here, we entertained the hypothesis that HSC aging is driven by the acquisition of permanent genetic mutations. To examine this issue at a functional level in vivo, we applied induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell reprogramming of aged hematopoietic progenitors and allowed the resulting aged-derived iPS cells to reform hematopoiesis via blastocyst complementation. Next, we functionally characterized iPS-derived HSCs in primary chimeras and following the transplantation of 're-differentiated' HSCs into new hosts; the gold standard to assess HSC function. Our data demonstrate remarkably similar functional properties of iPS-derived and endogenous blastocyst-derived HSCs, despite the extensive chronological and proliferative age of the former. Our results therefore favor a model in which an underlying, but reversible, epigenetic component is a hallmark of HSC aging rather than being driven by an increased DNA mutation burden.
An epigenetic component of hematopoietic stem cell aging amenable to reprogramming into a young state.
Specimen part
View SamplesMicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been implicated in regulating multiple processes during brain development in various species. However, the function of miRNAs in human brain development remains largely unexplored. Here, we provide a comprehensive analysis of miRNA expression of regionalized neural progenitor cells derived from human embryonic stem cells and human fetal brain. We found mir-92b-3p and mir-130b-5p to be specifically associated with neural progenitors and several miRNAs that display both age-specific and region-specific expression patterns. Among these miRNAs, we identified miR-10 to be specifically expressed in the human hindbrain and spinal cord, while absent from rostral regions. We found that miR-10 regulates a large number of genes enriched for functions including transcription, actin cytoskeleton and ephrin receptor signaling. When overexpressed, miR-10 influences caudalization of human neural progenitors cells. Together, these data confirms a role for miRNAs in establishing different human neural progenitor populations. This data set also provides a comprehensive resource for future studies investigating the functional role of different miRNAs in human brain development. Overall design: Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) were transduced with lentiviral vectors expressing either miR10a-GFP or miR10b-GFP. The expression of the vectors is Tet-regulated and they will only be expressed in the presence of Doxycycline. In order to detect direct targets of the miR10a and miR10b, we differentiated the trasduced hESCs for 14 days, and added doxycycline to only half of the groups - resulting in groups that are overexpressing miR10a or miR10b and some groups that are not overexpressing these miRNAs.
Comprehensive analysis of microRNA expression in regionalized human neural progenitor cells reveals microRNA-10 as a caudalizing factor.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesGenome wide RNA-seq from pGM and HSCs in response to expression of the MLL-ENL fusion gene Overall design: Examination of mRNA abundance in two cell types with or without induction of the MLL-ENL fusion gene (following 48h of culture)
Hematopoietic stem cells are intrinsically protected against MLL-ENL-mediated transformation.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesWhile gene expression dynamics have been extensively catalogued during hematopoietic differentiation in the adult, less is known about transcriptome diversity of human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) during development. To characterize transcriptional and post-transcriptional changes in HSCs during development, we leveraged high-throughput genomic approaches to profile miRNAs, lincRNAs, and mRNAs. Our findings indicate that HSCs manifest distinct alternative splicing patterns in key hematopoietic regulators. Detailed analysis of the splicing dynamics and function of one such regulator, HMGA2, identified an alternative isoform that escapes miRNA-mediated targeting. We further identified the splicing kinase CLK3 that, by regulating HMGA2 splicing, preserves HMGA2 function in the setting of an increase in let-7 miRNA levels, delineating how CLK3 and HMGA2 form a functional axis that influences HSC properties during development. Collectively, our study highlights molecular mechanisms by which alternative splicing and miRNA-mediated post-transcriptional regulation impact the molecular identity and stage-specific developmental features of human HSCs. Overall design: RNA-seq of HPC-5F cells transduced with a control (CTRL), HMGA2-L (LONG), HMGA2-S (SHORT) or CLK3 ORF lentiviral over-expression vectors.
A CLK3-HMGA2 Alternative Splicing Axis Impacts Human Hematopoietic Stem Cell Molecular Identity throughout Development.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesDiamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA) is a congenital disorder characterized by the failure of erythroid progenitor differentiation, severely curtailing red blood cell production. Because many DBA patients fail to respond to corticosteroid therapy, there is considerable need for therapeutics for this disorder. Identifying therapeutics for DBA requires circumventing the paucity of primary patient blood stem and progenitor cells. To this end, we adopted a reprogramming strategy to generate expandable hematopoietic progenitor cells from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from DBA patients. Reprogrammed DBA progenitors recapitulate defects in erythroid differentiation which were rescued by gene complementation. Unbiased chemical screens identified SMER28, a small molecule inducer of autophagy, which enhanced erythropoiesis in a range of in vitro and in vivo models of DBA. SMER28 acted through autophagy factor ATG5 to stimulate erythropoiesis and upregulate expression of globin genes. These findings present an unbiased drug screen for hematological disease using iPSCs and identify autophagy as a therapeutic pathway in DBA.
Drug discovery for Diamond-Blackfan anemia using reprogrammed hematopoietic progenitors.
Treatment
View SamplesWe used microarray technology to profile mRNA expression in the skeletal muscle of normal (NGT), glucose intolerant (IGT) and type 2 diabetic (DM) subjects. Groups were classified using WHO criteria and, importantly, the DM group were free of anti hypoglycaemic medication for one week prior to biopsy.
Integration of microRNA changes in vivo identifies novel molecular features of muscle insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes.
Sex, Age
View SamplesAttainment of a brown adipocyte cell phenotype in white adipocytes, with their abundant mitochondria and increased energy expenditure potential, is a legitimate strategy for combating obesity. The unique transcriptional regulators of the primary brown adipocyte phenotype are unknown, limiting our ability to promote brown adipogenesis over white. In the present work, we used microarray analysis strategies to study primary preadipocytes, and we made the striking discovery that brown preadipocytes demonstrate a myogenic transcriptional signature, whereas both brown and white primary preadipocytes demonstrate signatures distinct from those found in immortalized adipogenic models. We found a plausible SIRT1-related transcriptional signature during brown adipocyte differentiation that may contribute to silencing the myogenic signature. In contrast to brown preadipocytes or skeletal muscle cells, white preadipocytes express Tcf21, a transcription factor that has been shown to suppress myogenesis and nuclear receptor activity. In addition, we identified a number of developmental genes that are differentially expressed between brown and white preadipocytes and that have recently been implicated in human obesity. The interlinkage between the myocyte and the brown preadipocyte confirms the distinct origin for brown versus white adipose tissue and also represents a plausible explanation as to why brown adipocytes ultimately specialize in lipid catabolism rather than storage, much like oxidative skeletal muscle tissue.
Myogenic gene expression signature establishes that brown and white adipocytes originate from distinct cell lineages.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesCholestasis may cause cholemic nephropathy that can be modelled in common bile duct ligated (CBDL) mice. We aimed to explore the therapeutic efficacy and mechanisms of norursodeoxycholic acid (norUDCA) in cholemic nephropathy. To determine whether norUrsodeoxycholic acid (norUDCA) prevents cholemic nephropathy in long-term CBDL mice, a norUDCA-enriched diet (0.125% w/v, corresponding to 200 mg/kg/day for a mouse of 25 g body weight eating about 4g daily) or a standard mouse diet (Sniff, Soest, Germany) were started 5 days prior to CBDL and were continued until harvesting 3 weeks thereafter. For transcriptional profiling using microarray technology, we compared sham-operated (SOP) mice and 3-week CBDL mice that were either fed 0.125% norUDCA-enriched or standard mouse diets.
NorUrsodeoxycholic acid ameliorates cholemic nephropathy in bile duct ligated mice.
Specimen part
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