Project description:Using LC-MS/MS, we analyzed ECM-enriched samples obtained from 1) human triple-negative breast cancer samples and matched adjacent normal mammary gland tissues, and 2) disease-free omentum from patient with non-metastatic ovarian cancer and high-grade- serous-ovarian- cancer-derived omental metastasis samples. We conducted the LC-MS/MS analysis on peptides obtained after solubilizing ECM-enriched samples using different methods (crude ECM extract, urea-soluble extract, urea-insoluble extract) and submitted to basic-reversed- phase separation or not.
Project description:We investigated the effects of the crude extract of a South African medicinal plant, Cotyledon orbiculata, on cell survival of colon (HCT116) cancer cell lines. Using RNASeq, we discovered that the extract interfered with mRNA regulatory pathways. Here, we found that the extract of Cotyledon orbiculata, a South African medicinal plant, had an anti-proliferative effect in cancer cells, mediated by apoptosis induced by alternative splicing of hnRNPA2B1 and BCL2L1.
Project description:Peanut-responsive T cells from peanut allergic subjects were identified and selected based on CD154 expression after stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells with crude peanut extract for 18h. As controls, polyclonally activated CD4+ T cells from peanut allergic subjects were selected. Additional controls included CD4+CD25+CD127- Tregs from peanut allergic or healthy controls. Single cells were obtained using the C1 system from Fluidigm, and a barcoded library constructed. Sequencing (Illumina) was performed using 100 nt paired end reads. Data on a total of 431 cells was available. The goal of the study was to understand the heterogeneity of the peanut-specific T cell response.
Project description:Worldwide, more than 1 billion people are affected by infestations with soil-transmitted helminths and also in veterinary medicine helminthiases are a severe thread to livestock due to emerging resistances against the common anthelmintics. Proanthocyanidins have been increasingly investigated for their anthelmintic properties, however, except for an interaction with certain proteins of the nematodes, not much is known about their mode of action. To investigate the anthelmintic activity on a molecular level, a transcriptome analysis was performed in Caenorhabditis elegans after treatment with purified and fully characterized oligomeric procyanidins (OPC). The OPCs had previously been obtained from a hydro-ethanolic (1:1) extract from the leaves of Combretum mucronatum, a plant which is traditionally used in West Africa for the treatment of helminthiasis, therefore, also the crude extract was included in the study. Significant changes in differential gene expression were observed mainly for proteins related to the intestine, many of which were located extracellularly or within cellular membranes. Among the up-regulated genes, several hitherto undescribed orthologues of structural proteins in humans were identified, but also genes that are potentially involved in the worms’ defense against tannins. For example, T22D1.2, an orthologue of human basic salivary proline-rich protein (PRB) 2, and numr-1 (nuclear localized metal responsive) were found to be strongly up-regulated. Down-regulated genes were mainly associated with lysosomal activity, glycoside hydrolysis or the worms’ innate immune response. No major differences were found between the groups treated with purified OPCs versus the crude extract. Investigations using GFP reporter gene constructs of T22D1.2 and numr-1 corroborated the intestine as the predominant site of the anthelmintic activity.
Project description:Corynebacterium glutamicum strain ATCC 21831 is a producer of L-arginine that was created by random mutagenesis. It is resistant to the arginine structural analogue canavanine. In order to identify potential bottlenecks in the biosynthetic pathway that leads to this industrially important amino acid, relative metabolite abundances of biosynthetic intermediates were determined in comparison to the type strain ATCC 13032. An extract of U13C-labeled biomass was used as internal standard, to correct for different ionization efficiencies. Metabolites were identified using the ALLocator web platform.
Project description:Crude CHCl3-MeOH extract and n-hexane, CHCl3, and EtOAc fractions from leaves of Melicope pteleifolia collected in Vietnam. Subfractions obtained from n-hexane fraction are also included.