Project description:Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system with marked heterogeneity in several aspects including pathological processes. Four histopathological patterns of MS have been described. Pattern II is characterized by antibody and complement deposition. MS is considered a prototypic T cell-mediated disease, but until now the study of pathogenic T cells has encountered major challenges, most importantly the limited access of brain-infiltrating T cells. Here, we used next generation sequencing to identify clonally expanded T cells in demyelinating pattern II brain autopsy lesions and subsequently isolated these as T cell clones from autologous cerebrospinal fluid. The functional characterization shows that T cells releasing Th2 cytokines and able to provide B cell help dominate the T cell infiltrate in pattern II brain lesions. Our data provide the first functional evidence for a role of Th2/Tc2 cells in pattern II MS. Two stimulated CD4+ Th2 brain infiltrating T cell clones compared with stimulated circulaiting memory CD4+ T cells and two stimulated CD8+ T cell clones (one Tc1 and one Tc2) compared with each other.
Project description:The Mdm2 oncoprotein ubiquitinates and antagonizes p53 but may also carry out p53-independent functions. Here we report that Mdm2 is required for the efficient generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from murine embryonic fibroblasts, in the absence of p53. Similarly, Mdm2 depletion in the context of p53 deficiency also promoted the differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells and diminished clonogenic survival of cancer cells. Most of the Mdm2-controlled genes also responded to the inactivation of the Polycomb Repressor Complex 2 (PRC2) and its catalytic component EZH2. Mdm2 physically associated with EZH2 on chromatin, enhancing the trimethylation of Histone 3 at lysine 27 and the ubiquitination of Histone 2A at lysine 119 (H2AK119) at its target genes. Removing Mdm2 simultaneously with the H2AK119 E3 ligase Ring1B/RNF2 further induced these genes and synthetically arrested cell proliferation. In conclusion, Mdm2 supports the Polycomb-mediated repression of lineage specific genes independent of p53. microarray analysis in HCT116 p53-/-cells
Project description:The Mdm2 oncoprotein ubiquitinates and antagonizes p53 but may also carry out p53-independent functions. Here we report that Mdm2 is required for the efficient generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from murine embryonic fibroblasts, in the absence of p53. Similarly, Mdm2 depletion in the context of p53 deficiency also promoted the differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells and diminished clonogenic survival of cancer cells. Most of the Mdm2-controlled genes also responded to the inactivation of the Polycomb Repressor Complex 2 (PRC2) and its catalytic component EZH2. Mdm2 physically associated with EZH2 on chromatin, enhancing the trimethylation of Histone 3 at lysine 27 and the ubiquitination of Histone 2A at lysine 119 (H2AK119) at its target genes. Removing Mdm2 simultaneously with the H2AK119 E3 ligase Ring1B/RNF2 further induced these genes and synthetically arrested cell proliferation. In conclusion, Mdm2 supports the Polycomb-mediated repression of lineage specific genes independent of p53. microarray analysis in osteoblasts differentiated from human mesenchymal stem cells after siRNA kd
Project description:Heterozygous loss-of function mutations in CHD7 (chromodomain helicase DNA-binding protein 7) lead to CHARGE syndrome, a complex developmental disorder affecting craniofacial structures, peripheral nerves and several organ systems like eyes, ears, nose and heart. Recently, it was demonstrated that CHD7 is essential for the formation of multipotent migratory neural crest cells, which migrate from the neural tube to many regions of the embryo, where they differentiate into various tissues including craniofacial and heart structures. So far only few CHD7 target genes involved in neural crest cell development have been identified and the role of CHD7 in neural crest cell guidance and the regulation of mesenchymal-epithelial transition is unknown. Therefore, we undertook a genome-wide microarray expression analysis on wild-type and CHD7 deficient (Chd7Whi/+ and Chd7Whi/Whi) mouse embryos at day 9.5, the time point of neural crest cell migration. We identified 98 genes showing greater than two fold differences in expression (log2 fold-change) and a P-value to false discovery rate (FDR) < 0.05 between wild-type and Chd7Whi/Whi embryos. Interestingly, many misregulated genes are involved in neural crest cell and axon guidance like semaphorins and ephrin receptors. By performing knockdown experiments for Chd7 and one of its target genes, namely semaphorin3a in Xenopus laevis embryos, we could show abnormalities in the migration of neural crest cells in vivo. Additionally, we detected non-synonymous SEMA3A variations in 3 out of 45 CHD7 negative CHARGE patients suggesting a role for SEMA3A in the pathogenesis of CHARGE syndrome. To identify genes that are affected by the absence of functional Chd7 at the time point of neural crest cell migration, the expression profiles of E9.5 wild-type, Chd7Whi/+ and Chd7Whi/Whi female mouse embryos were compared by whole-genome microarray analysis. Mouse embryos of the same sex were used to avoid sex-dependent gene expression effects. We performed microarray analysis by using the Agilent-026655 Whole Mouse Genome Microarray 4x44K v2 (Agilent) on four biological replicates from each group.
Project description:Background: The oxidative DNA demethylase ALKBH3 targets single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) in order to perform DNA alkylation damage repair. ALKBH3 becomes up-regulated during tumorigenesis and is necessary for proliferation. However, the underlying molecular mechanism remains to be understood. Methods: To further elucidate the function of ALKBH3 in cancer, we performed ChIP-seq to investigate the genomic binding pattern of endogenous ALKBH3 in PC3 prostate cancer cells coupled with microarray experiments to examine the expression effects of ALKBH3 depletion. Results: We demonstrate that ALKBH3 binds to transcription associated locations, such as places of promoter-proximal paused RNA polymerase II and enhancers. Strikingly, ALKBH3 strongly binds to the transcription initiation sites of a small number of highly active gene promoters. These promoters are characterized by high levels of transcriptional regulators, including transcription factors, the Mediator complex, cohesin, histone modifiers and active histone marks. Gene expression analysis showed that ALKBH3 does not directly influence the transcription of its target genes, but its depletion induces an up-regulation of ALKBH3 non-bound inflammatory genes. Conclusions: The genomic binding pattern of ALKBH3 revealed a putative novel hyperactive promoter type. Further, we propose that ALKBH3 is an intrinsic DNA repair protein that suppresses transcription associated DNA damage at highly expressed genes and thereby plays a role to maintain genomic integrity in ALKBH3-overexpressing cancer cells. These results raise the possibility that ALKBH3 may be a potential target for inhibiting cancer progression. PC3 cells were infected with ALKBH3 shRNA or Control shRNA for 48 hours and selected with puromycine. Cells were collected after 48h or 96h past selection.
Project description:miR-101 is a tumor suppressive microRNA. Besides EZH2, a well known EZH2 target, miR-101 should have other targets, which might also contribute to its tumor suppressive function. Thus, we performed array hybridization to determine changes in gene expression upon miR-101 overexpression in U2OS cells. U2OS were transfected with synthetic miRNA negative control (NC) or miR-101 for 48hrs, and then harvested for RNA preparation. Three independent experiments were performed. One NC sample were repeated twice for the microarray.
Project description:To investigate which genes are up- or down-regulated by aptf-1 transcription factor in C. elegans, aptf-1(gk794) mutants pretzel-stage embryos were used to performe whole genome microarray expression profiling using the C. elegans (V2) Gene Expression Microarray, 4x44K from Agilent Technologies. Approximately 3000 pretzel-stage embryos were used per sample. As a control we have used N2 C. elegans wild type strain. Mutant condition (aptf-1(gk794)) and control (N2) were done in four replicates.
Project description:To investigate which genes are up- or down-regulated during L4 sleep in C. elegans mutant aptf-1(gk794) we performed whole genome microarray expression profiling using the C. elegans (V2) Gene Expression Microarray, 4x44K from Agilent Technologies. Approximately 200 sleeping L4 worms were used per sample. As a control we have used N2 C. elegans wild type strain. Mutant condition (aptf-1(gk794)) and control (N2) were done in four replicates.