Project description:Active IFN-g signaling is a common feature of tumors responding to PD-1 checkpoint blockade. IFN-g exhibits both anti- and pro-tumor activities. Here, we demonstrated that IFN-g induced ZEB1 expression and promoted epithelial-to-mesenchymal-transition in lung adenocarcinoma cells. ZEB1 was required for IFN-g-promoted EMT, cell migration, and metastasis. We performed a transcriptome analysis using RNA-seq to comprehensively describe the altered epithelial cell phenotype following IFN-g treatment.
Project description:Tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) deficiency and loss or inhibition of kinase activity in men and mice leads to similar immune compromised phenotypes, predominantly through impairment of interferon (IFN) and interleukin 12 family responses. Here we relate the transcriptome changes to phenotypical changes observed in TYK2-deficient (Tyk2-/-) and TYK2 kinase-inactive (Tyk2K923E) mice in naïve splenic immune cells and upon ex vivo IFN treatment or in vivo tumor transplant infiltration. The TYK2 activities under homeostatic and both challenged conditions are highly cell-type-specific with respect to quantity and quality of transcriptionally dependent genes. The major impact of loss of TYK2 protein or kinase activity in splenic homeostatic macrophages, NK and CD8+ T cells and tumor-derived cytolytic cells is on IFN responses. While reportedly TYK2 deficiency leads to partial impairment of IFN-I responses, we identified cell-type-specific IFN-I-repressed gene sets completely dependent on TYK2 kinase activity. Reported kinase-inactive functions of TYK2 relate to signaling crosstalk, metabolic functions and cell differentiation or maturation. None of these phenotypes relates to respective enriched gene sets in the TYK2 kinase-inactive cell types. Nonetheless, the scaffolding functions of TYK2 are capable to change transcriptional activities at single gene levels and chromatin accessibility at promoter-distal regions upon cytokine treatment most prominently in CD8+ T cells. The cell-type-specific transcriptomic and epigenetic effects of TYK2 shed new light on the biology of this JAK family member and are relevant for current and future treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases with TYK2 inhibitors.
Project description:Transcriptome analysis revealed a robust and multifactorial mode of action of BRO. BRO suppressed RV induced responses, e.g. upregulation of the antiviral interferon (IFN) signaling pathway, while stimulating this pathway under baseline conditions. Suppression of RV-induced cytokine release and downregulation of IFN signaling pathway confirmed that BRO exerts a beneficial anti-inflammatory effect during viral infection.
Project description:Pluripotent stem cells are being actively studied as a cell source for regenerating damaged liver. For long term survival of engrafting cells in the body, not only do the cells have to execute liverspecific function but also withstand the physical strains and invading pathogens. The cellular innate immune system orchestrated by the interferon (IFN) pathway provides the first line of defense against pathogens. The objective of this study is to assess the innate immune function as well as to systematically profile the IFN-induced genes during hepatic differentiation of pluripotent stem cells. To address this objective, we derived endodermal cells (day 5 postdifferentiation), hepatoblast (day 15) and immature hepatocytes (day 21) from human embryonic stem cells (hESC). Day 5, 15 and 21 cells were stimulated with IFN-α and subjected to IFN pathway analysis. Transcriptome analysis was carried out by RNA sequencing. The results showed that the IFN-α treatment activated STAT-JAK pathway in differentiating cells. Transcriptome analysis indicated stage specific expression of classical and non-classical IFNstimulated genes (ISGs). Subsequent validation confirmed the expression of novel ISGs including RASGRP3, CLMP and TRANK1 by differentiated hepatocytes upon IFN treatment. Hepatitis C virus replication in hESC-derived hepatic cells induced the expression of ISGs – LAMP3, ETV7, RASGRP3, and TRANK1. The hESC-derived hepatic cells contain intact innate system and can recognize invading pathogens. Besides assessing the tissue-specific functions for cell therapy applications, it may also be important to test the innate immune function of engrafting cells to ensure adequate defense against infections and improve graft survival.
Project description:All major types of interferon (IFN) efficiently inhibit hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication in vitro and in vivo. Remarkably, HCV replication is not sensitive to IFN? in the hepatoma cell line Huh6, despite an intact signaling pathway. We performed transcriptome analyses between Huh6 and Huh-7 to identify effector genes of the IFN? response and thereby identified the DExD/H box helicase DDX60L as a restriction factor of HCV replication. DDX60L and its homolog DDX60 were both induced upon viral infection and IFN treatment in primary human hepatocytes. However, exclusively DDX60L knockdown increased HCV replication in Huh-7 cells, and rescued HCV replication from type II IFN as well as type I and III IFN treatment, suggesting that DDX60L is an important effector protein of the innate immune response against HCV. DDX60L had no impact on replication of hepatitis A virus (HAV), but severely impaired production of lentiviral vectors, arguing for a potential antiretroviral activity. Detection of endogenous DDX60L protein turned out to be difficult due to instability. DDX60L knockdown did not alter interferon stimulated gene (ISG) induction after IFN treatment, suggesting that it is a direct effector of the innate immune response. It most likely inhibits viral RNA replication, since we found no impact of DDX60L on translation or stability of HCV subgenomic replicons, nor additional impact on entry and assembly of infectious virus. Similar to its homolog DDX60, DDX60L had a moderate impact on retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I)-dependent activation of innate immunity arguing for additional functions in the sensing of viral RNA. Gene Expression was compared between two cell lines, Huh6 and Huh7, under interferon-gamma or interferon-alpha treatment. We intended to identify genes that are more strongly upregulated in Huh-7 than in Huh6 in response to interferon treatment.
Project description:To expand knowledge of the effects of interferon at the proteomic level, we treated HepG2 cells with IFN-alpha and IFN-lambda for 24 hours. HepG2.2.15 cells, a model for HBV infection, were also examined versus controls. MTT assays showed that optimized IFN levels (100 ng/ml) did not induce apoptosis relative to untreated controls. Including controls, more than 6,000 proteins were identified. Five replicates each of IFN-alpha treatment, IFN-lambda treatment, and control were performed, allowing confident identification of differentially expressed proteins. While a number of publications suggest that no interferon effect is evident upon HBV infection, our own results strongly suggest otherwise. Differential alterations of the proteasome were noted when comparing HBV infection against IFN-treatment. We also note that differential effects upon IFN treatment significantly overlapped with transcriptomic datasets when upregulation was examined. However, proteins downregulated upon IFN treatment show little overlap with these transcriptomic datasets.