Project description:Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the first cause of death in cirrhotic patients. Liver cirrhosis at a high risk of HCC has abnormal S-Adenosylmethionine (SAMe) levels. Catabolism of SAMe is mainly mediated by Glycine N-methyltransferase (GNMT), Lack in GNMT expression leads to epigenetic regulation of critical carcinogenesis pathways and mounting evidence assigns an essential role of GNMT in HCC. Methods: Here we have studied the role of LKB1-AMPK and RAS in the proliferation and transformation of GNMT-deficient HCC. Results. GNMT-deficient HCC was characterized by LKB1-AMPK misconnection, leading to resistance of apoptosis response mediated by a positive regulation of cAMP-PKA-CaMKKM-NM-2 cascade. Additionally, Ras-mediated hyperactivation of LKB1 contributes to the proliferation of GNMT-deficient HCC in an ERK/p90RSK-dependent manner. The observed LKB1-induced Ras activation, was due to the regulation of RASGRP3 expression. Notably, the human HCC tumors with poorer prognosis showed the lowest levels of GNMT, p-AMPKM-NM-1(Thr172) and the highest activation of Ras/LKB1/RASGRP3 axis. The present data suggest a correlation between LKB1 and RAS activity in a context of HCC with low GNMT expression, indicating that activation of the RAS/LKB1/RASGRP3 cascade might possess an important prognostic role in human liver cancer. Furthermore, these findings open the possibility to design new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of liver cancer. HCC induced wild-type or Gnmt knockout mice at 3 weeks old were used for RNA extraction and hybridization on Illumina microarrays. The study comprises three groups of samples: OKER cell line(n=3), GNMT-KO mouse hepatocytes (n=3) ,GNMT-WT mouse hepatocytes(n=3)
Project description:We collected whole genome testis expression data from hybrid zone mice. We integrated GWAS mapping of testis expression traits and low testis weight to gain insight into the genetic basis of hybrid male sterility.
Project description:We report that Gnmt-/- mice have abnormal behavior including spontaneous locomotion activity, PPI, TST and FST. Microarray analysis showed that genes expression profiles in male Gnmt -/- mice Keywords: Gnmt knockout
Project description:We report that Gnmt-/- mice have abnormal behavior including spontaneous locomotion activity, PPI, TST and FST. Microarray analysis showed that genes expression profiles in male Gnmt -/- mice Keywords: Gnmt knockout Cerebral cortex tissues from wild-type or Gnmt knockout mice were used for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. For 4 weeks old mice, total RNA were mixed in equal proportion from 3 mice.
Project description:We report that 7 of 7 female Gnmt-/- mice developed hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of liver cancer, at the mean age of 16.1 months. In contrast, only one-third (2/6) of male Gnmt-/- mice had HCC, the remaining had either premature death or liver necrosis. Microarray analysis showed that genes involved in the following pathways were deregulated in different stages of tumorigenesis: S-adenosylmethionine (SAM)-dependent methyltransferases, metabolism, signal transduction, cell proliferation, cell adhesion and immune responses. This study reveals that GNMT plays an important role in the prevention of hapatotumorigenesis through regulating DNA methylaiton and oxidative stress signaling pathways. We postulate that GNMT is a stress-responsive protein and its expression may account for the gender difference of the susceptibility to liver cancer. Keywords: Gnmt knockout Liver tissues from wild-type or Gnmt knockout mice at young ages, devoloping dysplasia nodules or HCC were used for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. For 11 weeks old mice, total RNA were mixed in equal proportion from 3 mice.
Project description:We collected whole genome testis expression data from hybrid zone mice. We integrated GWAS mapping of testis expression traits and low testis weight to gain insight into the genetic basis of hybrid male sterility. Gene expression was measured in whole testis from males aged 62-86 days. Samples include 190 first generation lab-bred male offspring of wild-caught mice from the Mus musculus musculus - M. m. domesticus hybrid zone.