Transcriptomic Profiling of Small Molecule Atf6 Modulators in the Retina
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE289701 | GEO | 2025/08/19
REPOSITORIES: GEO
Similar Datasets
Project description:Pathological retinal neovascularization is a common mechanism for leading causes of vision loss including retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), diabetic retinopathy, and wet age-related macular degeneration. The Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) is an intracellular signal transduction mechanism controlled by the ER-resident proteins ATF6, IRE1, and PERK. In response to endoplasmic reticulum stress, UPR activates downstream transcriptional and translational programs that upregulate many proteins, including key angiogenesis factors like VEGF and HIF1a. This suggests an important role for UPR in developmental and pathologic retinal angiogenesis, but it is unclear which UPR regulatory genes are most important in these processes. Here, we focused on the role of Activating Transcription Factor 6 (ATF6) in pathologic and developmental retinal angiogenesis. We induced pathologic retinal neovascularization in Atf6-/- mice using the oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) model of ROP and examined functional, histologic, and molecular consequences in the retina. we found significantly preserved visual function, accompanied by decreased retinal neovascularization, endothelial cell proliferation, and UPR and angiogenesis transcriptional programs in Atf6-/- mice after OIR. When we chemically blocked ATF6 signaling by intraocular injection of the small molecule Ceapin-A7, we also saw suppression of UPR and angiogenesis gene expression. Last, we examined very young Atf6-/- mice when the inner retinal vasculature is developing and found a significant defect in pruning and blood vessel extension to the periphery at P7, but this delay was transient and Atf6-/- blood vessels fully recovered at older ages of development. Together, our results demonstrate ATF6’s critical role in developmental and pathological angiogenesis and highlight its potential as a therapeutic target to mitigate pathological retinal neovascularization.
2025-08-14 | GSE292097 | GEO
Project description:The Unfolded Protein Response is a conserved intracellular signal transduction mechanism that maintains endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis and may contribute to the pathogenesis and progression of human diseases associated with ER stress. Genetic mutations in the UPR regulator, ATF6, lead to vision loss in heritable retinal diseases. Our prior studies found that disease mutations disrupt ATF6 function, but the pathomechanism by which loss of ATF6 activity causes vision loss in people is unknown. To investigate this, we developed retinal organoids from patient iPSCs carrying ATF6 disease mutations and from hESCs bearing CRISPR-edited ATF6 null alleles. Unexpectedly, we found that retinal organoids lacking functional ATF6 failed to form cone photoreceptors while rod photoreceptors were unaffected. We used adaptive optics imaging of the retinas in patients with ATF6 mutations and saw pronounced loss of cones and preservation of rods that closely mirrored our in vitro organoid phenotypes. Last, we found that a small molecule proteostasis agonist partially restored cone photoreceptor outer segment formation and gene expression in ATF6 mutant retinal organoids. Our results reveal a surprising and novel function for ATF6 in human cone photoreceptor development. Our findings identify a potential therapeutic strategy for patients based on small molecule reprogramming of the proteostasis network in the retina. Our study suggests that the UPR guides intrinsic developmental processes in specialized metazoan cell types in addition to its role in responding to extrinsic pathologic events.
2021-06-25 | GSE153302 | GEO
Project description:ATF6 encodes a transcription factor that is activated during the Unfolded Protein Response to protect cells from ER stress. Loss of ATF6α and its paralog ATF6β, results in embryonic lethality, notochord dysgenesis, and in people, loss of ATF6α specifically, results in malformed neuroretina and congenital vision loss. These phenotypes implicate an essential role for ATF6 during vertebrate development. We investigated the function of ATF6 in development using human stem cells undergoing differentiation into multipotent germ layers, nascent tissues, and organs. We artificially activated ATF6 in stem cells with a recently identified small molecule ATF6 agonist, and we inhibited ATF6 using iPSCs from patients harboring ATF6 mutations. We discovered that ATF6 suppresses pluripotency, enhances differentiation, and surprisingly, guides stem cells toward mesodermal cell fates. Our findings reveal a novel role for ATF6 during differentiation and identify a new strategy to robustly create mesodermal tissues through modulation of the ATF6 arm of the UPR.
2017-11-14 | GSE106847 | GEO
Project description:The unfolded protein response (UPR) maintains endoplasmic reticulum (ER) homeostasis by sensing protein-folding stress and orchestrating cellular adaptation via the ER-transmembrane proteins IRE1, PERK and ATF6. Malignant cells can co-opt UPR signaling by IRE1 and PERK to sustain tumor growth; however, the importance of ATF6 in cancer remains poorly deciphered. We observed elevated ATF6 transcriptional activity in several cancers including colorectal carcinoma (CRC). Genetic silencing or small molecule inhibition of ATF6 blocked cell cycle progression and reduced viability of several human CRC cell lines in vitro and disrupted tumor progression in vivo. Unexpectedly, ATF6 interference also disabled Myc and Wnt signaling and reduced stemness. ATF6 inhibition attenuated growth of organoids derived from malignant but not normal human intestinal tissue, reducing Wnt-pathway activity and driving cellular differentiation. Wnt-surrogate agonism rescued the growth inhibitory phenotype of ATF6 interference. Our findings identify ATF6 as an unexpected facilitator of oncogenic Wnt signaling in CRC.
2024-08-12 | MSV000095581 | MassIVE
Project description:The unfolded protein response (UPR) maintains endoplasmic reticulum (ER) proteostasis through the activation of transcription factors such as XBP1s and ATF6. The functional consequences of these transcription factors for ER proteostasis remain poorly defined. Here, we describe methodology that enables orthogonal, small molecule-mediated activation of the UPR-associated transcription factors XBP1s and/or ATF6 in the same cell independent of stress. We employ transcriptomics and quantitative proteomics to evaluate ER proteostasis network remodeling owing to the XBP1s and/or ATF6 transcriptional programs. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the three ER proteostasis environments accessible by activating XBP1s and/or ATF6 differentially influence the folding, trafficking, and degradation of destabilized ER client proteins without globally affecting the endogenous proteome. Our data reveal how the ER proteostasis network is remodeled by the XBP1s and/or ATF6 transcriptional programs at the molecular level and demonstrate the potential for selectively restoring aberrant ER proteostasis of pathologic, destabilized proteins through arm-selective UPR-activation. The unfolded protein response adapts endoplasmic reticulum (ER) proteostasis via stress-responsive transcription factors including XBP1s and ATF6. Here, R. Luke Wiseman and colleagues implement technology for the orthogonal, ligand-dependent activation of XBP1s and/or ATF6 in a single cell. They characterize how XBP1s and/or ATF6 activation impacts ER proteostasis pathway composition and function. Adapted ER environments influence the proteostasis of destabilized protein variants without affecting the endogenous proteome. The work informs the development of proteostasis environment-adapting therapeutics for protein misfolding-related diseases. In order to activate both XBP1s and ATF6 in the same cell, we incorporated DHFR.ATF6 and tet-inducible XBP1s into a HEK293T-REx cell line stably expressing the tet-repressor. The HEK293DYG control cell line expresses tet-inducible eGFP and DHFR.YFP and is used as a control to demonstrate that the addition of doxycycline (dox) and trimethoprim (TMP) do not induce UPR genes. HEK293DYG cells were treated for 12 h with vehicle or 1 μg/mL dox and 10 μM TMP in biological triplicate. Cells were harvested and RNA was extracted using the RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen). Genomic DNA was removed by on-column digestion using the RNase-free DNase Set (Qiagen). Data from HEK293DYG cells showed no significant overlap in the ligand-treated transcriptomes obtained from HEK293DAX cells.
2013-04-23 | E-GEOD-44950 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:The unfolded protein response (UPR) maintains endoplasmic reticulum (ER) proteostasis through the activation of transcription factors such as XBP1s and ATF6. The functional consequences of these transcription factors for ER proteostasis remain poorly defined. Here, we describe methodology that enables orthogonal, small molecule-mediated activation of the UPR-associated transcription factors XBP1s and/or ATF6 in the same cell independent of stress. We employ transcriptomics and quantitative proteomics to evaluate ER proteostasis network remodeling owing to the XBP1s and/or ATF6 transcriptional programs. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the three ER proteostasis environments accessible by activating XBP1s and/or ATF6 differentially influence the folding, trafficking, and degradation of destabilized ER client proteins without globally affecting the endogenous proteome. Our data reveal how the ER proteostasis network is remodeled by the XBP1s and/or ATF6 transcriptional programs at the molecular level and demonstrate the potential for selectively restoring aberrant ER proteostasis of pathologic, destabilized proteins through arm-selective UPR-activation. The unfolded protein response adapts endoplasmic reticulum (ER) proteostasis via stress-responsive transcription factors including XBP1s and ATF6. Here, R. Luke Wiseman and colleagues implement technology for the orthogonal, ligand-dependent activation of XBP1s and/or ATF6 in a single cell. They characterize how XBP1s and/or ATF6 activation impacts ER proteostasis pathway composition and function. Adapted ER environments influence the proteostasis of destabilized protein variants without affecting the endogenous proteome. The work informs the development of proteostasis environment-adapting therapeutics for protein misfolding-related diseases. In order to activate both XBP1s and ATF6 in the same cell, we incorporated DHFR.ATF6 and tet-inducible XBP1s into a HEK293T-REx cell line stably expressing the tet-repressor. The HEK293DYG control cell line expresses tet-inducible eGFP and DHFR.YFP and is used as a control to demonstrate that the addition of doxycycline (dox) and trimethoprim (TMP) do not induce UPR genes.
2013-04-23 | GSE44950 | GEO
Project description:The unfolded protein response (UPR) maintains endoplasmic reticulum (ER) proteostasis through the activation of transcription factors such as XBP1s and ATF6. The functional consequences of these transcription factors for ER proteostasis remain poorly defined. Here, we describe methodology that enables orthogonal, small molecule-mediated activation of the UPR-associated transcription factors XBP1s and/or ATF6 in the same cell independent of stress. We employ transcriptomics and quantitative proteomics to evaluate ER proteostasis network remodeling owing to the XBP1s and/or ATF6 transcriptional programs. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the three ER proteostasis environments accessible by activating XBP1s and/or ATF6 differentially influence the folding, trafficking, and degradation of destabilized ER client proteins without globally affecting the endogenous proteome. Our data reveal how the ER proteostasis network is remodeled by the XBP1s and/or ATF6 transcriptional programs at the molecular level and demonstrate the potential for selectively restoring aberrant ER proteostasis of pathologic, destabilized proteins through arm-selective UPR-activation. The unfolded protein response adapts endoplasmic reticulum (ER) proteostasis via stress-responsive transcription factors including XBP1s and ATF6. Here, R. Luke Wiseman and colleagues implement technology for the orthogonal, ligand-dependent activation of XBP1s and/or ATF6 in a single cell. They characterize how XBP1s and/or ATF6 activation impacts ER proteostasis pathway composition and function. Adapted ER environments influence the proteostasis of destabilized protein variants without affecting the endogenous proteome. The work informs the development of proteostasis environment-adapting therapeutics for protein misfolding-related diseases. In order to activate both XBP1s and ATF6 in the same cell, we incorporated DHFR.ATF6 and tet-inducible XBP1s into a HEK293T-REx cell line stably expressing the tet-repressor. Selection of a single colony resulted in the HEK293DAX cell line in which XBP1s is induced by doxycycline and DHFR.ATF6 is activated by trimethoprim (TMP; TMP-dependent DHFR.ATF6 activation in HEK293DAX cells will henceforth be referred to as ATF6 activation for simplicity). HEK293DAX cells were treated for 12 h with vehicle, 1 ?g/mL dox, 10 ?M TMP, or both in biological triplicate. Cells were harvested and RNA was extracted using the RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen). Genomic DNA was removed by on-column digestion using the RNase-free DNase Set (Qiagen). Data from HEK293DYG cells showed no significant overlap in the ligand-treated transcriptomes obtained from the control HEK293DYG cells.
2013-04-23 | E-GEOD-44949 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Imbalances in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) proteostasis are associated with etiologically-diverse degenerative diseases linked to excessive extracellular protein misfolding and aggregation. Reprogramming of the ER proteostasis environment through genetic activation of the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR)-associated transcription factor ATF6 attenuates secretion and extracellular aggregation of amyloidogenic proteins. Here, we employed a screening approach that included complementary arm-specific UPR reporters and medium-throughput transcriptional profiling to identify non-toxic small molecules that phenocopy the ATF6-mediated reprogramming of the ER proteostasis environment. Comprehensive transcriptome analysis was employed to validate the capacity of three prioritized compounds to remodel the ER proteostasis environment, and to assess the prefential activation of ATF6 transcriptional targets relative to targets of the IRE1/XBP1s and PERK arms of the UPR. HEK293T-Rex and HEK293-DAX cells were treated for 6 hr with vehicle (DMSO), 1 µM Tg, 10 mM TMP (in HEK293DAX), or 10 µM 132, 147 or 263 in biological triplicate at 37 ÌC
2016-07-21 | E-GEOD-84636 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:The unfolded protein response (UPR) maintains endoplasmic reticulum (ER) proteostasis through the activation of transcription factors such as XBP1s and ATF6. The functional consequences of these transcription factors for ER proteostasis remain poorly defined. Here, we describe methodology that enables orthogonal, small molecule-mediated activation of the UPR-associated transcription factors XBP1s and/or ATF6 in the same cell independent of stress. We employ transcriptomics and quantitative proteomics to evaluate ER proteostasis network remodeling owing to the XBP1s and/or ATF6 transcriptional programs. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the three ER proteostasis environments accessible by activating XBP1s and/or ATF6 differentially influence the folding, trafficking, and degradation of destabilized ER client proteins without globally affecting the endogenous proteome. Our data reveal how the ER proteostasis network is remodeled by the XBP1s and/or ATF6 transcriptional programs at the molecular level and demonstrate the potential for selectively restoring aberrant ER proteostasis of pathologic, destabilized proteins through arm-selective UPR-activation. The unfolded protein response adapts endoplasmic reticulum (ER) proteostasis via stress-responsive transcription factors including XBP1s and ATF6. Here, R. Luke Wiseman and colleagues implement technology for the orthogonal, ligand-dependent activation of XBP1s and/or ATF6 in a single cell. They characterize how XBP1s and/or ATF6 activation impacts ER proteostasis pathway composition and function. Adapted ER environments influence the proteostasis of destabilized protein variants without affecting the endogenous proteome. The work informs the development of proteostasis environment-adapting therapeutics for protein misfolding-related diseases. In order to activate both XBP1s and ATF6 in the same cell, we incorporated DHFR.ATF6 and tet-inducible XBP1s into a HEK293T-REx cell line stably expressing the tet-repressor. Selection of a single colony resulted in the HEK293DAX cell line in which XBP1s is induced by doxycycline and DHFR.ATF6 is activated by trimethoprim (TMP; TMP-dependent DHFR.ATF6 activation in HEK293DAX cells will henceforth be referred to as ATF6 activation for simplicity).
2013-04-23 | GSE44949 | GEO
Project description:Imbalances in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) proteostasis are associated with etiologically-diverse degenerative diseases linked to excessive extracellular protein misfolding and aggregation. Reprogramming of the ER proteostasis environment through genetic activation of the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR)-associated transcription factor ATF6 attenuates secretion and extracellular aggregation of amyloidogenic proteins. Here, we employed a screening approach that included complementary arm-specific UPR reporters and medium-throughput transcriptional profiling to identify non-toxic small molecules that phenocopy the ATF6-mediated reprogramming of the ER proteostasis environment. Comprehensive transcriptome analysis was employed to validate the capacity of three prioritized compounds to remodel the ER proteostasis environment, and to assess the prefential activation of ATF6 transcriptional targets relative to targets of the IRE1/XBP1s and PERK arms of the UPR.
2016-07-21 | GSE84636 | GEO