A major goal of systems biology is the development of models that accurately predict responses to perturbation. Constructing such models requires the collection of dense measurements of system states, yet transformation of data into predictive constructs remains a challenge. To begin to model human immunity, we analyzed immune parameters in depth both at baseline and in response to influenza vaccination.
Global analyses of human immune variation reveal baseline predictors of postvaccination responses.
Sex, Age, Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesCorticosteroids have been prescribed for decades to modulate inflammation, yet there is a paucity of data on their effects in humans. We examined the changes in cellular and molecular immune system parameters, or immunome, in 20 volunteers at baseline, and after intravenous hydrocortisone (HC) administered at moderate (250 mg) and low (50 mg) doses, to provide insight into how corticosteroids exert their effects.
Effects of Systemically Administered Hydrocortisone on the Human Immunome.
Sex, Age, Specimen part, Race, Subject, Time
View SamplesGene expression profiles for patients affected with Sporadic and Familial Pulmonary Fibrosis.
No associated publication
Specimen part, Disease
View SamplesLymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is characterized by cystic lung destruction caused by smooth, muscle-like LAM cells which have mutations in the tumor suppressor genes Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) 1 or 2, and the capacity to metastasize. Since chemokines and their receptors function in chemotaxis of metastatic cells, we hypothesized that LAM cells may be recruited by chemokine(s) in the lung. Quantification of 25 chemokines in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from LAM patients and healthy volunteers revealed that concentrations of MCP-1/CCL2, GROa/CXCL1 and ENA-78/CXCL5 were significantly higher in samples from LAM patients than healthy volunteers. In this transcript analysis, expression of chemokine and chemokine receptor mRNA in LAM cells differed from those in melanoma and smooth muscle cells. Subsequent immunohistochemistry of lung sections from 30 LAM patients confirmed protein expression of chemokines and these receptors varied among LAM patient and differed from that seen in breast cancer and melanoma cells. . In vitro, MCP-1/CCL2 induced selective migration of cells showing loss of heterozygosity of TSC2 from a heterogeneous populations of cells grown from explanted LAM lungs. In addition, the frequencies of single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the MCP-1 gene promoter region differed significantly in LAM patients and healthy volunteers (p=0.018), and one polymorphism was associated significantly more frequently with the decline of lung function. These observations are consistent with the notion that chemokines such as MCP-1 may serve to specify site of LAM cell metastasis.
Chemokine-enhanced chemotaxis of lymphangioleiomyomatosis cells with mutations in the tumor suppressor TSC2 gene.
Sex, Specimen part
View SamplesHigh fat diets are known to be a risk factor for prostate cancer. In this study, we investigated the effect of high fat diet on mouse prostate gene expression. C57BL/6J mice were fed either a control or high fat diet for 12 weeks. Microarray analyses were performed on mouse ventral prostate (VP) and dorsolateral prostate (DLP), followed by canonical pathway analysis and regulatory network identification. mRNA changes were confirmed by real time PCR. Approximately 2,125, and 1,194 genes responded significantly to the high fat diet in VP, DLP, respectively. Pathways and networks related to oxidative stress, glutathione metabolism, NRF-mediated oxidative stress response and NF-kappaB were all differentially regulated by high fat diet. GPx3 mRNA levels were decreased by approximately 2-fold by high fat diet in all 3 prostate lobes. In human non-transformed prostate cells (PrSC, PrEC and BPH-1), cholesterol loading decreased GPx3 expression, and increased H2O2 levels of culture medium. Troglitazone increased GPx3 expression in 3 normal prostate cells, and decreased H2O2 levels. In addition, troglitazone attenuated cholesterol-induced H2O2 increase. Tissue from prostate cancer biopsies had decreased GPx3 mRNA and its level was inversely related to the Gleason score.
High fat diet reduces the expression of glutathione peroxidase 3 in mouse prostate.
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View SamplesWe identified GSK3 as a regulator of GBM cell survival using microarray analysis, small molecule and genetic inhibitors of GSK3 activity. Various molecular and genetic approaches were then employed to dissect out the molecular mechanisms responsible for GSK3 inhibition-induced cytotoxicity.
No associated publication
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesPatients with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) develop hamartomas containing biallelic inactivating mutations in either TSC1 or TSC2, resulting in mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) activation. Hamartomas overgrow epithelial and mesenchymal cells in TSC skin. The pathogenetic mechanisms for these changes had not been investigated, and the existence or location of cells with biallelic mutations (two-hit cells) that resulted in mTOR activation was unclear. We compared TSC skin hamartomas (facial angiofibromas and periungual fibromas) to normal-appearing skin of the same patient, and observed more proliferation and mTOR activation in hamartoma epidermis. Two-hit cells were not detected in the epidermis. Fibroblast-like cells in the dermis, however, exhibited allelic deletion of TSC2, in both touch preparations of fresh tumor samples and cells grown from TSC skin tumors, suggesting that increased epidermal proliferation and mTOR activation were not caused by second-hit mutations in the keratinocytes but by mesenchymal-epithelial interactions. Gene expression arrays, used to identify potential paracrine factors released by mesenchymal cells, revealed more epiregulin mRNA in fibroblast-like angiofibroma and periungual fibroma cells than in fibroblasts from normal-appearing skin of the same patient. Elevation of epiregulin mRNA was confirmed using real-time PCR, and increased amounts of epiregulin protein were demonstrated using immunoprecipitation and ELISA. Epiregulin stimulated keratinocyte proliferation and phosphorylation of ribosomal protein S6 in vitro. These results suggest that hamartomatous TSC skin tumors are induced by paracrine factors released by two-hit cells in the dermis, and that proliferation with mTOR activation of the overlying epidermis is an effect of epiregulin.
Mesenchymal-epithelial interactions involving epiregulin in tuberous sclerosis complex hamartomas.
Sex, Specimen part
View SamplesChanges in the transcript profile due to ABCA1 expression in murine liver samples was evaluated in LDL receptor -/- genetic backgrounds.
ABCA1 overexpression in the liver of LDLr-KO mice leads to accumulation of pro-atherogenic lipoproteins and enhanced atherosclerosis.
Sex, Specimen part
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
No associated publication
Specimen part, Disease
View SamplesTo elucidate effects of tumor host interactions in vivo in CLL, purified tumor cells were obtained concurrently from blood, bone marrow and/or lymph node and analyzed by gene expression profiling.
The lymph node microenvironment promotes B-cell receptor signaling, NF-kappaB activation, and tumor proliferation in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Specimen part, Subject
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