Project description:Whole-genome expression studies in peripheral tissues of patients affected by schizophrenia (SCZ) can provide new insights into the molecular basis of the disorder and innovative biomarkers that may be of great usefulness in the clinical practice. Recent evidence suggests that skin fibroblasts could represent a non-neural peripheral model useful to investigate molecular alterations in psychiatric disorders. A microarray expression study was conducted comparing transcriptomic profiles of skin fibroblasts from SCZ patients and controls. Fibroblasts can be more advantageous to discover mental disorder aetiological mechanisms since they seem more similar to neurons and less affected by the environmental confounders. Transcriptomic profiles of human skin fibroblasts obtained from 20 schizophrenia patients were compared to 20 controls
Project description:Orangutans are an endangered species whose natural habitats are restricted to the Southeast Asian islands of Borneo and Sumatra. For potential species conservation and functional genomics studies, we derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from cryopreserved skin fibroblasts obtained from captive orangutans. We report the gene expression profiles of iPSCs and skin fibroblasts derived from orangtuans. The overall goal was to evaluate gene expression biomarkers of pluripotency in iPSCs and skin fibroblasts derived from PBD-ZSD patients and healthy controls. Dermal fibroblast cultures from 2 orangutans were reprogrammed into iPSCs by transfection with retroviruses designed to express the human OCT4, SOX2, KLF4 and c-MYC cDNA. Fibroblasts and iPSCs were cultured in 1:1 ratio of DMEM:F12 medium supplemented with 20% KOSR (knock-out serum replacement) at 37°C with 5% CO2 until confluence for RNA extraction. The overall goal was to evaluate gene expression biomarkers of pluripotency in iPSCs and original fibroblast cultures.
Project description:Monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) oleic acid (OA) has been reported to reverse saturated fatty acid palmitic acid (PA)-induced hepatic insulin resistance (IR). However, the detailed molecular mechanism remains elusive. In addition, previous research also showed that -3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), exerted opposite effects to PA in muscle IR, but whether it plays the same role in hepatic IR and the possible mechanism involved needs to be further explored. Here, we confirmed that EPA reversed PA-induced IR in HepG2 cells and compared the proteome change after different free fatty acids (FFAs) treatments. For MUFA, 234 proteins were identified as differentially expressed proteins, and their functions were mainly related to response to stress and endogenous stimuli, lipid metabolic process and protein binding. For PUFA, the PA-induced expression change of 1326 proteins could be reversed by EPA and 415 of them were mitochondrial proteins, which covered most of the functional proteins in oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA). Mechanism study revealed that c-Jun and ROS played a role in OA- and EPA-reversed PA-induced IR, respectively. EPA or OA alleviated PA-induced abnormal ATP production, ROS generation, and calcium content. Importantly, H2O2-activated production of ROS increased the expression of c-Jun, further resulting in IR of HepG2 cells. Besides, we provided more feasible candidates as potential c-Jun-targeted “responders” for FFAs treatments. Taken together, we demonstrated that ROS/c-Jun is a common pathway to different FFAs-regulated IR in HepG2 cells.
Project description:An attempt to analyse a large proportion of the human proteome of cultured Human H4 neuroglioma cells during conditions simulating starvation. Comparisons were made under conditions of ATG5 knock-down and control (Luc) knock-down. Whole proteome crude extracts were prepared and comparisons made using SILAC in both 'forward' and 'reverse' label arrangements.
Project description:HHV-6A is a human herpesvirus that integrates into human sub telomeric regions to acquire latency. This latent virus frequently reactivates causing numerous diseases. The project was aimed to understand changes in host cell prteomics upon virus reactivation, which might helpin understanding the pathophysiology of virus reactivation.
Project description:Artificial visible light is everywhere in our modern life. Our mode of social communication confronts us with screens of all kinds and their use is on the rise. People are therefore increasingly exposed to artificial visible light of which effects on skin are still largely poorly known. The purpose of this study was to model the artificial visible light emitted by electronic devices and subsequently assess the effect of such a light in normal human fibroblasts.