RNA sequencing reveals differential MYC-driven gene expression as a driver of a divergent cholangiocyte response to stress
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ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens
PROVIDER: GSE296039 | GEO | 2025/07/30
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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Project description:Background and aims: Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a heterogeneous group of malignancies with features of biliary tract differentiation. Incidence is increasing worldwide and these cancers collectively represent the second most common primary liver tumour. CCAs are characterized by genetic and epigenetic alterations that determine their pathogenesis. Hypermethylation of the SOX17 promoter was recently reported in human CCA tumours. SOX17 seems to be a key transcription factor for biliary embryogenesis. Here, we evaluated the role of SOX17 in cholangiocyte differentiation and in cholangiocarcinogenesis. Methods: SOX17 expression and function was evaluated during the differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) into cholangiocytes, in the dedifferentiation of normal human cholangiocytes (NHC) and in cholangiocarcinogenesis. Lentiviruses overexpressing or knocking-down SOX17 (Lent-SOX17 and Lent-shRNA-SOX17, respectively) were used. Gene expression arrays were performed. Results: SOX17 expression is highly induced in the later stages of cholangiocyte differentiation from iPSC, and mediates the acquisition of the biliary markers cytokeratin (CK) 7 and 19, as well as fibronectin. In addition, SOX17 becomes progressively downregulated in NHC over serial cell passages in vitro and this event is associated with cellular senescence; however, experimental SOX17 knocking-down in differentiated NHC decreased the expression of both CK7 and 19 without affecting cellular senescence. SOX17 expression is reduced in CCA cells compared to NHC, as well as in human CCA tissue compared to human gallbladder tissue or NHC. In a murine xenograft model, overexpression of SOX17 in CCA cells decreased their tumorigenic capacity related to increased oxidative stress and apoptosis. Interestingly, overexpression of SOX17 in NHC did not affect their survival. Moreover, SOX17 overexpression inhibited the Wnt/β-catenin-dependent proliferation in CCA cells and was associated with upregulation of biliary epithelial markers and restoration of the primary cilium length. Both Wnt3a and TGFβ1 decreased SOX17 expression in NHC in a DNMT1-dependent manner. Inhibition of DNMT1 in CCA cells with siRNAs or pharmacological drugs upregulated SOX17 expression. Conclusion: SOX17 regulates the cholangiocyte phenotype and becomes epigenetically downregulated in CCA. SOX17 acts as a tumour suppressor in CCA, and restoration of its expression may have important therapeutic value.
2017-08-31 | GSE77984 | GEO
Project description:Background and aims: Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) is the main mediator of interleukin-6 type cytokine signaling required for hepatocyte proliferation and hepatoprotection but its role in sclerosing cholangitis and other cholestatic liver diseases remains unresolved. Methods: We investigated the role of Stat3 in inflammation-induced cholestatic liver injury and used mice lacking the multidrug resistance gene 2 (mdr2-/-) as a model for SC. Results: We demonstrate that conditional inactivation of stat3 in hepatocytes and cholangiocytes (stat3 delta hc) of mdr2-/- mice strongly aggravated bile acid-induced liver injury and fibrosis. A similar phenotype was observed in mdr2-/- mice lacking IL-6 production. Biochemical and molecular characterization suggested that Stat3 exerts hepatoprotective functions in both, hepatocytes and cholangiocytes. Loss of Stat3 in cholangiocytes led to increased expression of TNFα which might reduce the barrier function of bile ducts. Loss of Stat3 in hepatocytes led to upregulation of bile acid biosynthesis genes and downregulation of hepatoprotective epidermal growth factor receptor and insulin-like growth factor 1 signaling pathways. Consistently, stat3deltahc mice were more sensitive to cholic acid-induced liver damage than control mice. Conclusions: Our data suggest that Stat3 prevents cholestasis and liver damage in sclerosing cholangitis via regulation of pivotal functions in hepatocytes and cholangiocytes. Affymetrix microarray analyses was performed to identify metabolic and molecular pathways in stat3Dhc mdr2-/- mice that lead to cholestasis and bile acid-induced liver injury. To avoid false positive results that are due to differential cellular composition, we defined the onset of fibrosis and expression of fibrogenic factors in stat3Dhc mdr2-/- mice.
2010-10-20 | E-GEOD-18759 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Cholestatic liver diseases, such as primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), are characterized by biliary fibroinflammation. Transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ) activated cholangiocytes release signals that recruit immune cells to drive inflammation and activate myofibroblasts to deposit the extracellular matrix (ECM). TGFβ regulates stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) in stimulating lipid signaling. However, the role of SCD or its inhibitor, Aramchol, has not been investigated in biliary fibroinflammation. Here we used human transformed H69 cholangiocytes that were treated with TGFβ (10ng/mL) with and without Aramchol acid (30µM) overnight. RNA-seq analysis showed significant inhibition of TGFβ-induced hepatic fibrosis pathways while upregulating peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) signaling by Aramchol.
2025-07-23 | GSE303012 | GEO
Project description:CCL24 is a profibrotic, proinflammatory chemokine expressed in several chronic fibrotic diseases. In the liver, CCL24 plays a role in fibrosis and inflammation and blocking CCL24 led to reduced liver injury in experimental models. We studied the role of CCL24 in primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and evaluated the potential therapeutic effect of blocking CCL24 in this disease. Mdr2-/- mice demonstrated CCL24 expression in liver macrophages and were used as a relevant experimental PSC model. CCL24 neutralizing monoclonal antibody, CM-101, significantly improved inflammation, fibrosis and cholestasis-related markers in the biliary area. Moreover, using spatial transcriptomics we observed reduced proliferation and senescence of cholangiocytes following CCL24 neutralization. Next, we demonstrated that CCL24 expression was elevated under profibrotic conditions in primary human cholangiocytes and macrophages and it induced proliferation of primary human hepatic stellate cells and cholangiocytes, which was attenuated following CCL24 inhibition. Correspondingly, CCL24 was found to be highly expressed in liver biopsies of PSC patients. CCL24 serum levels correlated with Enhanced Liver Fibrosis score, most notably in patients with high alkaline phosphatase levels. These results suggest that blocking CCL24 may have a therapeutic effect in PSC patients via reduced liver inflammation, fibrosis and cholestasis.
2023-04-30 | GSE228596 | GEO
Project description:Purpose: Cholestatic liver injury is associated with intrahepatic biliary fibrosis, which can progress to cirrhosis. Resident hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) expressing Prominin-1 (Prom1/CD133) become activated and participate in the expansion of cholangiocytes known as the ductular reaction. Previously, we demonstrated that in biliary atresia, Prom1(+) HPCs are present within developing fibrosis and that null mutation of Prom1 significantly abrogates fibrogenesis. Here, we hypothesized that these activated Prom1-expressing HPCs promote fibrogenesis in cholestatic liver injury. Methods: Using Prom1CreERT2-nLacZ/+;Rosa26Lsl-GFP/+ mice, we traced the fate of Prom1-expressing HPCs in the growth of the neonatal and adult livers and in biliary fibrosis induced by bile duct ligation (BDL). Results: Prom1-expressing cell lineage labeling with Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) on postnatal day 1 exhibited an expanded population as well as bipotent differentiation potential towards both hepatocytes and cholangiocytes at postnatal day 35. However, in the adult liver, they lost hepatocyte differentiation potential. Upon cholestatic liver injury, adult Prom1-expressing HPCs gave rise to both PROM1(+) and PROM1(-) cholangiocytes contributing to ductular reaction without hepatocyte or myofibroblast differentiation. RNA-sequencing analysis of GFP(+) Prom1-expressing HPC lineage revealed a persistent cholangiocyte phenotype and evidence of Transforming Growth Factor-b pathway activation. Conclusion: Our data indicate that Prom1-expressing HPCs promote biliary fibrosis by activation of myofibroblasts in cholestatic liver injury.
2020-06-30 | GSE144726 | GEO
Project description:Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), including Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are heterogeneous chronic autoimmune diseases that may share underlying pathogenic mechanisms. Herein, we compared simultaneously analyzed blood transcriptomes from patients with PBC, PSC, and IBD.
2019-05-01 | GSE119600 | GEO
Project description:Background and aims: Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) is the main mediator of interleukin-6 type cytokine signaling required for hepatocyte proliferation and hepatoprotection but its role in sclerosing cholangitis (SC) and other cholestatic liver diseases remains unresolved. Methods: We investigated the role of Stat3 in inflammation-induced cholestatic liver injury and used mice lacking the multidrug resistance gene 2 (mdr2-/-) as a model for SC. Results: We demonstrate that conditional inactivation of stat3 in hepatocytes and cholangiocytes (stat3Δhc) of mdr2-/- mice strongly aggravated bile acid-induced liver injury and fibrosis. Similarly, stat3Δhc mice are more sensitive to cholic acid feeding than control mice. Global gene expression analysis demonstrated that hepatoprotective signals via epidermal growth factor and insulin-like growth factor 1 are affected upon loss of Stat3. Conclusions: Our data suggest that Stat3 protects cholangiocytes and hepatocytes from bile acid-induced damage thereby preventing liver fibrosis in cholestatic diseases.
2010-10-20 | GSE18759 | GEO
Project description:Cholangiocarcinomas (CCAs) are heterogeneous biliary cancers with dismal prognosis. Their etiologies remain mostly unclear, although primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a well-known risk factor. There is an urgent need of accurate non-invasive biomarkers for early CCA diagnosis and to predict patient´s prognosis, which may improve their clinical management and outcome. Here, by high-throughput proteomic analysis of serum extracellular vesicles (EVs), we identified diagnostic and/or prognostic biomarkers specific for CCAs in patients with PSC, and others common to all CCA subtypes. Bulk RNA tissue transcriptomic data revealed that these biomarkers are predominantly expressed in hepatobiliary tissues, being expressed in different liver cell types. Furthermore, single-cell RNAseq (scRNA-seq) analysis revealed that the expression of these biomarkers was preferentially found in malignant cholangiocytes within CCA tumors. In summary, these results highlight the potential of serum EVs to reflect cancer presence, especially for difficult-to-diagnose malignancies, including CCA."
2023-07-20 | PXD026197 | Pride
Project description:Upon liver injury, altered cholangiocyte functions can lead to a process referred to as ductular reaction (DR), which is an umbrella term harboring not excessive cell proliferation, but also intricate inflammation and fibrogenesis modulation. DR has been considered as an essential hallmark and promising therapeutic target in a variety of liver diseases. However, the potentially broad implications of DR are rarely known due to the lack of effective investigational models. In this study, transcriptomic exploration methods were utilized to determine key factors resulting from injured cholangiocytes and in macrophage alterations, while multiplex immunofluorescent detection together with an in-house optimized image processing approaches were utilized to explore spatial counterparts in situ. Furthermore, co-culture systems (microchambers and liver-on-a-chip) equipped with multiple mouse strain-derived primary liver and circulating immune cells were employed to capitulate multi-cellular interactions upon biliary injury and to study mechanistic influencers. Results illustrated that Orosomucoid 2 (ORM2) was screened out as one of the most strongly induced secretory factors expressed by mouse-derived intrahepatic cholangiocytes under bile duct injury. Furthermore, ORM2-induced monocyte recruitment and potent transcriptome alterations in liver macrophages are associated with an increase of pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion and expression of cell stress-related genes. Furthermore, ORM2-activated macrophages not only exacerbated cell stress and Orm2 expression in both cholangiocytes and hepatocytes, but also promoted fibrogenesis in hepatic stellate cells. In addition, ORM2 regulated liver macrophage functions via an ITPR2-dependent calcium pathway. In conclusion, cholangiocyte-derived ORM2 induces liver macrophage reprogramming via an ITPR2-dependent calcium pathway in response to acute and chronic biliary injury, serving as a promoter of liver disease progression. This study reveals a novel mechanism for cholangiocyte-macrophage crosstalk upon liver injury, which may draw more attention to this cellular duet as a potential therapeutic target.
2025-04-03 | GSE273509 | GEO
