Project description:Zeb1, a zinc finger E-box binding homeobox epithelial-mesenchymal (EMT) transcription factor, confers properties of ‘stemness’, such as self-renewal, in cancer. Yet little is known about the function of Zeb1 in adult stem cells. Here, we used the hematopoietic system, as a well-established paradigm of stem cell biology, to evaluate Zeb1 mediated regulation of adult stem cells. We employed a conditional genetic approach using the Mx1-Cre system to specifically knockout (KO) Zeb1 in adult hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and their downstream progeny. Acute genetic deletion of Zeb1 led to rapid onset thymic atrophy and apoptosis driven loss of thymocytes and T cells. A profound cell-autonomous self-renewal defect and multi-lineage differentiation block was observed in Zeb1 KO HSCs. Loss of Zeb1 in HSCs activated transcriptional programs of deregulated HSC maintenance and multi-lineage differentiation genes, and of cell polarity, consisting of cytoskeleton, lipid metabolism/lipid membrane and cell adhesion related genes. Notably, Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) expression was prodigiously upregulated in Zeb1 KO HSCs, which correlated with their enhanced cell survival capacity and diminished differentiation in transplantation. Thus, Zeb1 acts as a crucial transcriptional regulator in hematopoiesis, co-ordinating HSC self-renewal and multi-lineage differentiation fates, in part, via EpCAM repression.
Project description:Zeb1, a zinc finger E-box binding homeobox epithelial-mesenchymal (EMT) transcription factor, confers properties of ‘stemness’, such as self-renewal, in cancer. Yet little is known about the function of Zeb1 in adult stem cells. Here, we used the hematopoietic system, as a well-established paradigm of stem cell biology, to evaluate Zeb1 mediated regulation of adult stem cells. We employed a conditional genetic approach using the Mx1-Cre system to specifically knockout (KO) Zeb1 in adult hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and their downstream progeny. Acute genetic deletion of Zeb1 led to rapid onset thymic atrophy and apoptosis driven loss of thymocytes and T cells. A profound cell-autonomous self-renewal defect and multi-lineage differentiation block was observed in Zeb1 KO HSCs. Loss of Zeb1 in HSCs activated transcriptional programs of deregulated HSC maintenance and multi-lineage differentiation genes, and of cell polarity, consisting of cytoskeleton, lipid metabolism/lipid membrane and cell adhesion related genes. Notably, Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) expression was prodigiously upregulated in Zeb1 KO HSCs, which correlated with their enhanced cell survival capacity and diminished differentiation in transplantation. Thus, Zeb1 acts as a crucial transcriptional regulator in hematopoiesis, co-ordinating HSC self-renewal and multi-lineage differentiation fates, in part, via EpCAM repression.
Project description:Zeb1, a zinc finger E-box binding homeobox epithelial-mesenchymal (EMT) transcription factor, confers properties of ‘stemness’, such as self-renewal, in cancer. Yet little is known about the function of Zeb1 in adult stem cells. Here, we used the hematopoietic system, as a well-established paradigm of stem cell biology, to evaluate Zeb1 mediated regulation of adult stem cells. We employed a conditional genetic approach using the Mx1-Cre system to specifically knockout (KO) Zeb1 in adult hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and their downstream progeny. Acute genetic deletion of Zeb1 led to rapid onset thymic atrophy and apoptosis driven loss of thymocytes and T cells. A profound cell-autonomous self-renewal defect and multi-lineage differentiation block was observed in Zeb1 KO HSCs. Loss of Zeb1 in HSCs activated transcriptional programs of deregulated HSC maintenance and multi-lineage differentiation genes, and of cell polarity, consisting of cytoskeleton, lipid metabolism/lipid membrane and cell adhesion related genes. Notably, Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) expression was prodigiously upregulated in Zeb1 KO HSCs, which correlated with their enhanced cell survival capacity and diminished differentiation in transplantation. Thus, Zeb1 acts as a crucial transcriptional regulator in hematopoiesis, co-ordinating HSC self-renewal and multi-lineage differentiation fates, in part, via EpCAM repression.
Project description:Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has been used for study the transcriptomic and genomic change after Chd8 dletion. The goals of this study are to compare NGS-derived LSK transcriptome profiling (RNA-seq), ATAC and H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 Cut&Run data to find downstream targets of CHD8 and its impact on chromatin state.
Project description:Purpose: Compared the differences in the transcriptome of T cells versus EpCAM CAR-T cells and EpCAM CAR-T cells versus rapamycin-pretreated EpCAM CAR-T cells.Methods: Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has revolutionized the systems-based analysis of cellular pathways. The goals of this study are to compare NGS-derived transcriptome profiling (RNA-seq) between T cells and EpCAM CAR-T cells,and between EpCAM CAR-T cells and rapamycin-pretreated EpCAM CAR-T cells. Results: RNA-seq showed that CAR-T cells significantly upregulated the expression of exhaustion markers compared to T cells. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) analysis showed that CAR-T cells cells were enriched for signatures of apoptosis. Compared with T cells, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomessignaling(KEGG) pathway analysis showed that the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway was significantly enriched. Likewise, GSEA showed that the mTOR signaling pathway was significantly upregulated in CAR-T cells. Next, we analyzed the RNA-seq data between CAR-T cells and rapamycin-pretreated CAR-T cells. RNA-seq showed that rapamycin-treated CAR T down-regulated the expression of exhaustion markers compared with untreated CAR-T cells. GSEA analysis showed that the apoptosis-related gene set was enriched in untreated CAR-T cells.Conclusions:In vitro culture promotes the terminal differentiation of CAR-T cells.CAR-T cells present a highly activated mTOR phenotype. Rapamycin pretreatment prevents CAR-T cells terminal differentiation.
Project description:We performed next-generation RNA sequencing for HCC827 human lung adenocarcinoma cells that are stably transfected with pcDNA3.1-ZEB1 or an empty pcDNA3.1 vector plasmid, in triplicate for each of the two HCC827 cell transfectants. The goal of this experiment is to identify putative downstream mediators of ZEB1 in human lung cancer cells. By successfully acquiring about 25 million reads for each sample, we identified more than 1,700 transcripts that are significantly regulated by ZEB1 (increased or decreased by ZEB1; p < 0.05). Among these genes, 87 of them are predicted direct targets for microRNA-200c, a well-established transcription target of ZEB1. Our results will be useful for further identification of genes that mediate the biological functions of ZEB1 in human lung cancer cells.