Project description:The regulation of endometrial inflammation has important consequences for the resumption of bovine fertility post-partum. All cows experience bacterial influx into the uterus after calving; however a significant proportion fail to clear infection leading to the development of cytological endometritis (CE) and compromised fertility. We hypothesised that early immunological changes could not only act as potential prognostic biomarkers for the subsequent development of disease but also shed light on the pathogenesis of endometritis in the post-partum dairy cow. Here, next-generation sequencing from endometrial biopsies taken at 7 days post-partum (DPP) identified significant expression of inflammatory genes in all cows. Despite the common inflammatory profile and enrichment of the Toll-like receptor, NF?B and TNF signalling pathways, 73 genes and 31 miRNAs differentiated between healthy cows (HC, n=9) and cows which subsequently developed CE at 7 DPP (n=6, FDR<0.1). In healthy cows, 4197 differentially expressed genes between 7 and 21 DPP whereas only 31 genes were differentially expressed in samples from cows with CE. At 21 DPP, a further 1167 genes were differentially expressed between HC cows and cows diagnosed with CE (FDR<0.1). These changes in host gene expression reflected culture-independent microbiological analysis which showed significant differences in uterine bacterial profiles between groups. Inflammatory activity was not confined to the uterus; decreased circulating granulocytes and increased Acute Phase Protein (SAA and HP) plasma expression levels were detected at 7 DPP in cows that developed CE. In conclusion, our data suggests that the major inflammatory cascade activated early post-partum is resolved thereby restoring homeostasis in healthy cows by 21 DPP, but this transition fails to occur in cows which develop CE. Despite a common inflammatory profile, differential expression of specific immune genes may identify cows at risk of prolonged inflammation and the development of CE post-partum. Sixteen Holstein Friesian cows, of mixed parity, within the same university dairy herd were sampled 7 and 21 days postpartum (DPP) in the morning after milking, over an eight week period.

Project description:The regulation of endometrial inflammation has important consequences for the resumption of bovine fertility post-partum. All cows experience bacterial influx into the uterus after calving; however a significant proportion fail to clear infection leading to the development of cytological endometritis (CE) and compromised fertility. We hypothesised that early immunological changes could not only act as potential prognostic biomarkers for the subsequent development of disease but also shed light on the pathogenesis of endometritis in the post-partum dairy cow. Here, next-generation sequencing from endometrial biopsies taken at 7 days post-partum (DPP) identified significant expression of inflammatory genes in all cows. Despite the common inflammatory profile and enrichment of the Toll-like receptor, NFκB and TNF signalling pathways, 73 genes and 31 miRNAs differentiated between healthy cows (HC, n=9) and cows which subsequently developed CE at 7 DPP (n=6, FDR<0.1). In healthy cows, 4197 differentially expressed genes between 7 and 21 DPP whereas only 31 genes were differentially expressed in samples from cows with CE. At 21 DPP, a further 1167 genes were differentially expressed between HC cows and cows diagnosed with CE (FDR<0.1). These changes in host gene expression reflected culture-independent microbiological analysis which showed significant differences in uterine bacterial profiles between groups. Inflammatory activity was not confined to the uterus; decreased circulating granulocytes and increased Acute Phase Protein (SAA and HP) plasma expression levels were detected at 7 DPP in cows that developed CE. In conclusion, our data suggests that the major inflammatory cascade activated early post-partum is resolved thereby restoring homeostasis in healthy cows by 21 DPP, but this transition fails to occur in cows which develop CE. Despite a common inflammatory profile, differential expression of specific immune genes may identify cows at risk of prolonged inflammation and the development of CE post-partum. Sixteen Holstein Friesian cows, of mixed parity, within the same university dairy herd were sampled 7 and 21 days postpartum (DPP) in the morning after milking, over an eight week period.

Project description:Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) is a zoonotic pathogen that causes human diarrhea worldwide. Chickens are a natural reservoir of C. jejuni. Understanding the host response to C. jejuni infection at the molecular level will lay the foundation to control human campylobacterosis by reducing food contamination. Two distinct genetic lines, resistant (line A) and susceptible (line B) to C. jejuni colonization, were utilized to profile the host response to C. jejuni infection using an Agilent chicken 44K microarray. Day-old chickens were challenged orally with C. jejuni and spleens collected for total RNA 7 days post-challenge. Twenty infected samples with highest (a) or lowest bacterial number (b) in cecal content and twenty non-infected (c) in each line were randomly pooled into four biological replicates. The pair comparisons among these three groups within each line were analyzed. The signal intensity of each gene was normalized using LOWESS method. A mixed model was used to identify differentially expressed genes by SAS (P < 0.001). This was opposite to previous cecal tonsil microarray result. There were 468, 743, and 939 genes differentially expressed between groups a and c, groups a and b, and groups b and c in line A, respectively, and 201, 37, 126 genes in line B, respectively. More differentially expressed genes in spleen in line A than in line B were found. The results indicated that significantly different response to C. jejuni infection occurred between resistant and susceptible chicken lines, and the effects of interaction between genetics and tissue should be considered. Chickens in two broiler lines were inoculated with 10^5 cfu C. jejuni on one day after hatch. The cecal content and cecal tonsil was collected and bacterial number in cecal content was counted on day 7 after inoculation. Twenty samples were separated into 3 groups (high burden, low burden, and control) based on bacterial burden of cecal content in each line, 5 samples were mixed randomly into one pool. A dual color, balanced design was carried on for all samples. Three comparisons were used in each line, non-infected/susceptible, susceptible/resistant, resistant/non-infected, totally, four biological replicates in each line. A Dye swap was used in each pair of comparisons including AN/AS, AS/AR, AR/AN; BN/BS, BS/BR, and BR/BN. Background subtracted signal intensity were collected from 24 arrays and normalized for data analysis.

Project description:The breast tumor microenvironment plays an active role in tumorigenesis. Molecular alterations, including epigenetic modifications to DNA, and changes in RNA and protein expression have been identified in tumor-associated stroma; however, there is considerable debate as to whether the stroma is characterized by genomic instability or whether detection of chromosomal alterations in the breast stroma is a reflection of technological artifact rather than the true genomic content of the tumor microenvironment. Methods: Surgically-removed breast stroma specimens from 112 women undergoing reductive mammoplasty (n=15), prophylactic mastectomy (N=6) or mastectomy for a diagnosis of breast disease (n=92) were frozen in optimal cutting temperature medium. Allelic imbalance (AI) analysis was performed in 484 stromal specimens from 98 women using a panel of 52 microsatellite markers; SNP data was generated from a subset of 86 stromal specimens using 250K SNP arrays (Affymetrix). Copy number alterations were identified using Partek Genomics Suite. Results: AI was not detected in 92% (444/484) of stroma specimens. When compared to previously generated AI data from 77 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded stroma specimens (Ellsworth et al., Ann Surg Oncol 2004), 32 (42%) of which harbored at least one detectable AI event, the frequency of AI in the FFPE specimens (4.62%) was significantly higher (P<0.0001) than that found in frozen specimens (0.45%). Of the stroma specimens assayed using SNP arrays 95% (82/86) had no detectable alterations and the 11 copy number changes were small and not shared between specimens. Conclusions: The data presented here support a model in which the tumor microenvironment is genetically stable. The direct comparison of copy number alterations between FFPE and frozen research-grade specimens using identical methodologies suggests that past reports of significant AI in breast stroma, both adjacent to and distant from the tumor, reflects artifact in the archival specimens caused by formalin-fixation, paraffin-embedding and tissue storage. 250K STY data was generated for 86 breast stromal specimens. The tissue specimens were analyzed by paired analysis to the SNP data from matched genomic (blood) DNAs

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Dysregulation of Endometrial Inflammation Precedes the Development of Cytological Endometritis

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