Project description:Lyme disease is a tick-borne bacterial illness that occurs in areas of North America, Europe, and Asia. Early infection typically presents as generalized symptoms with an erythema migrans (EM) skin lesion. Dissemination of the pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi can result in multiple EM skin lesions or in extracutaneous manifestations such as Lyme neuroborreliosis. Metabolic biosignatures of patients with early Lyme disease can potentially provide diagnostic targets as well as highlight metabolic pathways that contribute to pathogenesis. Sera from well-characterized patients diagnosed with either early localized Lyme disease (ELL) or early disseminated Lyme disease (EDL), plus healthy controls (HC), from the United States were analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Comparative analyses were performed between ELL, or EDL, or ELL combined with EDL, and the HC to develop biosignatures present in early Lyme disease. A direct comparison between ELL and EDL was also performed to develop a biosignature for stages of early Lyme disease. Metabolic pathway analysis and chemical identification of metabolites with LC-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) demonstrated alterations of eicosanoid, bile acid, sphingolipid, glycerophospholipid, and acylcarnitine metabolic pathways during early Lyme disease. These metabolic alterations were confirmed using a separate set of serum samples for validation. The findings demonstrated that infection of humans with B. burgdorferi alters defined metabolic pathways that are associated with inflammatory responses, liver function, lipid metabolism, and mitochondrial function. Additionally, the data provide evidence that metabolic pathways can be used to mark the progression of early Lyme disease.
Project description:The pathogen and host factors that contribute to the establishment of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) persistence are currently not understood. Using primary bovine soft palate multilayers in combination with RNA sequencing, we analyzed the transcriptional responses during acute and persistent FMDV infection.
Project description:We addressed the integrated analysis of mRNA and miRNA expression levels of Tg6799 AD model mice at 4 month and 8 months of age. Total 8 gene cluster modules for co-expression network were predicted from transcriptome data and 6 modules were show relation with AD or aging. We constructed early stage AD network using data integration between mRNA and miRNA profiles and predicted miRNAs strongly involved in module regulation. We found that ARRDC3 showed AD mutation dependent changes of expression and was related metabolic dysfunction in early stage AD. These results demonstrate that candidate genes on the simultaneous profiling of mRNA and miRNA expressions in genome wide can be used for the understanding of non-coding RNA related gene expression in early stage AD. We suggested that our results could be future candidate to be developed as early biomarkers in progressive AD pathology. This result can be used for the further application in neurodegenerative diseases. Tg6799 transgenic mice were purchased from The Jackson Laboratory (USA) and were housed under a 12h light-dark cycle with free access to food and water. Female Tg6799 mice are maintained until 4 months and 8 months of age (for littermate control: LM and mutant subjects: MT). RNA samples were isolated from hippocampus of mice using TRI-Reagent (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Gene expression was analyzed with GeneChip® Mouse Genome 430 2.0 Arrays (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA), which is comprised of over 45,000 probe sets representing approximately 28,700 well-characterized mouse genes. The Ion Total RNA-Seq Kit v2 (Lifetechnologies, USA) was used for the preparation of micro RNA libraries according to the manufacturer's instructions. Total numbers of subject used are as followed: 1) LM 4 months : MT 4 months : LM 8 months : MT 8 months (2:4:2:4) for screening mRMA and miRNA, 2) LM 4 months : MT 4 months : LM 8 months : MT 8 months (4:4:4:4) for expression verification.
Project description:In order to determine whether dis-regulation of a genetic pathway could explain the increased apoptosis of parp-2-/- double positive thymocytes, the gene expression profiles in double positive thymocytes derived from wild-type and parp-2-/- mice were analysed using Affymetrix oligonucleotide chips (mouse genome 430 2.0).
Project description:Graft-versus-host-disease (GvHD) is the main complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Here we report studies of a patient with chronic GVHD (cGVHD) carrying persistent CD4+ T cell clonal expansion which harbored somatic mTOR, NFKB2, and TLR2 mutations. Functional analysis of the discovered mTOR mutation indicated a gain-of-function alteration and activation of both mTORC1 and mTORC2 signaling pathways leading to increased cell proliferation and decreased apoptosis. Single-cell RNA sequencing and real-time impedance measurements supported increased cytotoxicity of mutated CD4+ T cells. High throughput drug-sensitivity testing suggested mutations induce resistance to mTOR inhibitors but increase sensitivity for HSP90 inhibitors. Our findings suggest that somatic mutations may contribute to aberrant T cell proliferations and participate in the persistent immune activation in cGVHD paving the way for novel targeted therapies.
Project description:Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) is formed by heterogeneous ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament. The patho-mechanism of OPLL is still largely unknown. MicroRNAs are small nucleatides that function as regulators of gene expression in almost any biological process. However, few microRNAs are reported to have a role in the pathological process of OPLL. Therefore, we performed high-throughput microRNA sequencing and transcriptome sequencing of primary OPLL and PLL cells in order to decipher the interacting network of microRNAs in OPLL. MRNA and microRNA profiles were done using primary culture cells of human ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) tissue and normal posterior longitudinal ligament (PLL) tissue.
Project description:Based on available metabolomic studies, influenza infection affects a variety of cellular metabolic pathways to ensure an optimal environment for its replication and production of viral particles. Following infection, glucose uptake and aerobic glycolysis increase in infected cells continually, which results in higher glucose consumption. The pentose phosphate shunt, as another glucose-consuming pathway, is enhanced by influenza infection to help produce more nucleotides, especially ATP. Regarding lipid species, following infection, levels of triglycerides, phospholipids, and several lipid derivatives undergo perturbations, some of which are associated with inflammatory responses. Also, mitochondrial fatty acid β-oxidation decreases significantly simultaneously with an increase in biosynthesis of fatty acids and membrane lipids. Moreover, essential amino acids are demonstrated to decline in infected tissues due to the production of large amounts of viral and cellular proteins. Immune responses against influenza infection, on the other hand, could significantly affect metabolic pathways. Mainly, interferon (IFN) production following viral infection affects cell function via alteration in amino acid synthesis, membrane composition, and lipid metabolism. Understanding metabolic alterations required for influenza virus replication has revealed novel therapeutic methods based on targeted inhibition of these cellular metabolic pathways.
Project description:Fungal communities (mycobiome) have an important role in sustaining the resilience of complex microbial communities and maintenance of homeostasis. The mycobiome remains relatively unexplored compared to the bacteriome despite increasing evidence highlighting their contribution to host-microbiome interactions in health and disease. Despite being a small proportion of the total species, fungi constitute a large proportion of the biomass within the human microbiome and thus serve as a potential target for metabolic reprogramming in pathogenesis and disease mechanism. Metabolites produced by fungi shape host niches, induce immune tolerance and changes in their levels prelude changes associated with metabolic diseases and cancer. Given the complexity of microbial interactions, studying the metabolic interplay of the mycobiome with both host and microbiome is a demanding but crucial task. However, genome-scale modelling and synthetic biology can provide an integrative platform that allows elucidation of the multifaceted interactions between mycobiome, microbiome and host. The inferences gained from understanding mycobiome interplay with other organisms can delineate the key role of the mycobiome in pathophysiology and reveal its role in human disease.
Project description:With the aim of understanding miRNA roles during the Aujeszkys disease virus [ADV] (also known as suid herpesvirus type 1 [SuHV-1]) infection, the expression profiles of host and viral miRNAs were determined through deep sequencing in SuHV-1 infected porcine cell line (PK-15) and in an animal experimental SuHV-1 infection with virulent (NIA-3) and attenuated (Begonia) strains.