Bone marrow hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are crucial to maintain lifelong production of all blood cells. Although HSCs divide infrequently, it is thought that the entire HSC pool turns over every few weeks, suggesting that HSCs regularly enter and exit cell cycle. Here, we combine flow cytometry with label-retaining assays (BrdU and histone H2B-GFP) to identify a population of dormant mouse HSCs (d-HSCs) within the lin(-)Sca1+cKit+CD150+CD48(-)CD34(-) population. Computational modeling suggests that d-HSCs divide about every 145 days, or five times per lifetime. d-HSCs harbor the vast majority of multilineage long-term self-renewal activity. While they form a silent reservoir of the most potent HSCs during homeostasis, they are efficiently activated to self-renew in response to bone marrow injury or G-CSF stimulation. After re-establishment of homeostasis, activated HSCs return to dormancy, suggesting that HSCs are not stochastically entering the cell cycle but reversibly switch from dormancy to self-renewal under conditions of hematopoietic stress
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Specimen part, Time
View SamplesMaintenance of the blood system is dependent on dormant haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) with long-term self-renewal capacity. Upon injury these cells are induced to proliferate in order to quickly re-establish homeostasis. The signalling molecules promoting the exit of HSCs out of the dormant stage remain largely unknown. Here we show that in response to treatment of mice with interferon-alpha (IFN), HSCs efficiently exit G0 and enter an active cell cycle. HSCs respond to IFN treatment by increased phosphorylation of STAT1 and PKB/Akt, expression of IFN target genes and up-regulation of stem cell antigen-1 (Sca-1). HSCs lacking either the interferon-/ receptor (IFNAR), STAT1 or Sca-1 are insensitive to IFN stimulation, demonstrating that STAT1 and Sca-1 mediate IFN induced HSC proliferation. Although dormant HSCs are resistant to the anti-proliferative chemotherapeutic agent 5-FU1, HSCs pre-treated (primed) with IFN and thus induced to proliferate are efficiently eliminated by 5-FU exposure in vivo. Conversely, HSCs chronically activated by IFN are functionally compromised and are rapidly out competed by non-activatable IFNAR-/- cells in competitive repopulation assays. In summary, while chronic activation of the IFN pathway in HSCs impairs their function, acute IFN treatment promotes the proliferation of dormant HSCs in vivo. These data may help to clarify the so far unexplained clinical effects of IFN on leukemic cells and raise the possibility for novel applications of type I interferons to target cancer stem cells.
No associated publication
Specimen part, Time
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Stress signaling in breast cancer cells induces matrix components that promote chemoresistant metastasis.
Specimen part, Cell line, Treatment
View SamplesIn advanced malignancies, cancer cells have acquired capabilities to resist a variety of stress-inducing insults. We show that c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) stress signaling is highly active in cancer cells from patients with late stage breast cancer and promotes tumor growth and metastasis in mouse models. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that JNK activity induces genes associated with extracellular matrix (ECM), wound healing and mammary stem cells. The ECM proteins and niche components osteopontin (SPP1) and tenascin C (TNC) are induced by JNK signaling and promote metastatic colonization of the lungs. Notably, treatment with chemotherapeutic drugs induces JNK activity in breast cancer cells, reinforcing the production of SPP1 and TNC. Inhibition of JNK or reduction of SPP1 or TNC expression sensitizes primary tumors and metastases in mice to chemotherapy.
Stress signaling in breast cancer cells induces matrix components that promote chemoresistant metastasis.
Specimen part, Cell line, Treatment
View SamplesIn advanced malignancies, cancer cells have acquired capabilities to resist a variety of stress-inducing insults. We show that c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) stress signaling is highly active in cancer cells from patients with late stage breast cancer and promotes tumor growth and metastasis in mouse models. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that JNK activity induces genes associated with extracellular matrix (ECM), wound healing and mammary stem cells. The ECM proteins and niche components osteopontin (SPP1) and tenascin C (TNC) are induced by JNK signaling and promote metastatic colonization of the lungs. Notably, treatment with chemotherapeutic drugs induces JNK activity in breast cancer cells, reinforcing the production of SPP1 and TNC. Inhibition of JNK or reduction of SPP1 or TNC expression sensitizes primary tumors and metastases in mice to chemotherapy.
Stress signaling in breast cancer cells induces matrix components that promote chemoresistant metastasis.
Specimen part, Cell line
View SamplesIn advanced malignancies, cancer cells have acquired capabilities to resist a variety of stress-inducing insults. We show that c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) stress signaling is highly active in cancer cells from patients with late stage breast cancer and promotes tumor growth and metastasis in mouse models. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that JNK activity induces genes associated with extracellular matrix (ECM), wound healing and mammary stem cells. The ECM proteins and niche components osteopontin (SPP1) and tenascin C (TNC) are induced by JNK signaling and promote metastatic colonization of the lungs. Notably, treatment with chemotherapeutic drugs induces JNK activity in breast cancer cells, reinforcing the production of SPP1 and TNC. Inhibition of JNK or reduction of SPP1 or TNC expression sensitizes primary tumors and metastases in mice to chemotherapy.
Stress signaling in breast cancer cells induces matrix components that promote chemoresistant metastasis.
Specimen part, Cell line, Treatment
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Chd7 is indispensable for mammalian brain development through activation of a neuronal differentiation programme.
Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesRecent studies suggest that malignant melanoma heterogeneity includes subpopulations of cells with features of multipotent neural crest (NC) cells. Zebrafish and mouse models have shown that reactivation of neural crest-specific pathways determines the invasiveness of melanoma cells. In this study, we show that the neural crest-associated transcription factor FOXD1 plays a key role in invasion and migration capacity of metastatic melanomas both in vivo and in vitro. Gene expression profiling analysis identified on one hand, an upregulation of FOXD1 in NC and melanoma cells, and on the other hand, a downregulation of several genes related to cell invasion in FOXD1 knockdown cells, including MMP9 and RAC1B. Furthermore, we demonstrate that knockdown of RAC1B a tumor-specific isoform of RAC1, significantly impaired cell migration and invasion in melanoma and could abrogate enhanced invasiveness induced by FOXD1 overexpression. We conclude that FOXD1 may influence invasion and migration via indirect regulation of MMP9 and RAC1B alternative splicing in melanoma cells.
No associated publication
Specimen part, Cell line, Treatment
View SamplesRenal dendritic cells play key roles in renal homeostasis and during kidney allograft rejection. Microarray analysis aims to evaluate whether dendritic cells modulate their gene expression profile in relation to their distribution in the different renal compartments (with varying biophysical characteristics), under homeostatic conditions and during acute renal allograft rejection (3 days post-transplantation).
No associated publication
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View SamplesAdaptive resistance to targeted therapy such as BRAF inhibitors represents in melanoma a major drawback to this otherwise powerful treatment. Some of the underlying molecular mechanisms have recently been described: hyperactivation of the BRAF-MAPK pathway, of the AKT pathway, of the TGF/EGFR/PDGFRB pathway, or the low MITF/AXL ratio. Nevertheless, the phenomenon of early resistance is still not clearly understood. In this report, we show that knockdown of neural crest-associated gene ID3 increases the melanoma sensitivity to vemurafenib short-term treatment. In addition, we observe an ID3-mediated regulation of cell migration and of the expression of resistance-associated genes such as SOX10 and MITF. In sum, these data suggest ID3 as a new key actor of melanoma adaptive resistance to vemurafenib and as a potential drug target. Molecular mechanisms that are responsible for the development of human skin epithelial cells are not completely understood so far. As a consequence, the efficiency to establish a pure skin epithelial cell population from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) remains poor. Using an approach including RNA interference and high-throughput imaging of early epithelial cells, we could identify candidate kinases which are involved in skin epithelial differentiation. Among them, we found HIPK4 to be an important inhibitor of this process. Indeed, its silencing increased the amount of generated skin epithelial precursors, increased the amount of generated keratinocytes and improved growth and differentiation of organotypic cultures, allowing for the formation of a denser basal layer and stratification with the expression of several keratins. Our data bring substantial input in the regulation of human skin epithelial differentiation and for improving differentiation protocols from pluripotent stem cells.
New role of ID3 in melanoma adaptive drug-resistance.
Cell line, Treatment
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