Project description:Coronary artery disease (CAD) remains the leading global cause of death, with macrophages playing a central role in driving inflammation through cytokines, chemokines, and other mediators. Using gene expression meta-analysis and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) of human CAD datasets, we identified 26 lncRNA–mRNA modules and prioritized SPANXA2-OT1 as a key inflammation regulator. Conservation analysis revealed SPANXA2-OT1 to be primate-specific, necessitating human macrophage models derived from PBMCs. IL-1β stimulation induced cytoplasmic SPANXA2-OT1, and antisense oligonucleotide-mediated silencing reduced chemotaxis signatures, validated by RNA-seq and proteomics. Mechanistically, SPANXA2-OT1 directly bound miR-338, as shown by luciferase assays, thereby regulating IL-8 and related chemokines critical for monocyte recruitment. CRISPR/Cas9 deletion of exon 3 further confirmed reduced IL-8 expression and impaired macrophage chemotaxis. Collectively, these findings establish SPANXA2-OT1 as a human-specific regulator of macrophage-driven inflammation in CAD and highlight its promise as a translational biomarker and therapeutic target.
Project description:DNMT3a is a de novo DNA methyltransferase expressed robustly after T cell activation that regulates plasticity of CD4+ T cell cytokine expression. Here we show that DNMT3a is critical for directing early CD8+ T cell effector and memory fate decisions. While effector function of DNMT3a knockout T cells is normal, they develop more memory precursor and fewer terminal effector cells in a T cell intrinsic manner compared to wild-type animals. Rather than increasing plasticity of differentiated effector CD8+ T cells, loss of DNMT3a biases differentiation of early effector cells into memory precursor cells. This is attributed in part to ineffective repression of Tcf1 expression in knockout T cells, as DNMT3a localizes to the Tcf7 promoter and catalyzes its de novo methylation in early effector WT CD8+ T cells. This data identifies DNMT3a as a crucial regulator of CD8+ early effector cell differentiation and effector versus memory fate decisions. Examination of global genomic DNA methylation by MBD-seq in naïve CD8 T cells and CD8 T cells 8 days post Vaccinia-Ova infection, comparing OT1 TCR-Tg CD8 T cells isolated from WT and T cell conditional DNMT3a KO mice.
Project description:B7S1 negatively regulates T cells and its expression correlates with poor prognosis of cancer patients. In order to understand how B7S1 signaling contributes to dysfunction of CD8+ T cell in the TME, we conducted transcriptional analysis of OVA-specific CD8+ TILs and different TIL subsets from E.G7-bearing WT and B7S1 KO mice (Day 21).
Project description:Coronary artery disease (CAD) remains the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Macrophages play a crucial role in recruiting immune cells and regulating the inflammatory milieu through the release of a diverse array of cytokines, chemokines, and other immune mediators in CAD. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) interact with DNA, RNA, miRNA, and proteins, making them attractive therapeutic targets for regulating gene expression. Methods and Results: Gene-expression meta-analysis and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) of human CAD datasets identified 26 lncRNA-mRNA co-expression modules. Network prioritization of top co-expression modules identified SPANXA2-OT1 as a potential key candidate. Conservation analysis revealed that SPANXA2-OT1 is human specific and conserved only in primates. We validated the candidate coding-noncoding RNA regulatory triad in human primary macrophages derived from healthy human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). IL-1β induced the expression of SPANXA2-OT1. RNA in situ hybridization localized SPANXA2-OT1 mRNA in cytoplasm of macrophages. Loss-of-function experiments using antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) against SPANXA2-OT1 demonstrated decreased monocyte/macrophage chemotaxis signature after SPANXA2-OT1 silencing, as demonstrated by unbiased global proteomics and RNAseq data. Luciferase assay established that SPANXA2-OT1 binds to miR-338 through its miRNA response elements. Gain-of-function (miR-338 mimic) and loss-of-function (SPANXA2-OT1 ASO) experiments revealed that SPANXA2-OT1-miR-338 axis regulates the expression of monocyte chemotactic genes (e.g., IL-8) that may contribute to the pathophysiology of CAD. CRISPR/Cas9 mediated deletion of the SPANXA2-OT1 functional domain (exon 3, which harbors the miR-338 binding site) in human primary macrophages resulted in decreased IL-8 expression, alteration of the chemokine profile, and decreased macrophage chemotaxis. Conclusion: Our results indicate that the lncRNA SPANXA2-OT1 regulates chemokine signatures and macrophage chemotaxis. One such mechanism involves SPANXA2-OT1 binding to miR-338, making it unavailable to regulate IL-8 expression. Our findings may provide a molecular basis for the future identification of novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets for CAD.