Project description:In the context of artemisinin resistance, the objective of the project was to evaluate the role of apicoplast and mitochondrion pathways during the parasite quiescent state induced by dihydroartemisinin (DHA) treatment. We performed gene expression profiling analysis using data obtained from RNA-seq of artemisinin-resistant parasites in two conditions: DHA treatment or DMSO treatment (as control condition) at the ring stage (obtained by D-sorbitol synchronization).
Project description:Control of malaria is threatened by emerging parasite resistance to artemisinin drug (ART) therapies. The molecular details of how Plasmodium malaria parasites response to ART and how this relates to resistance is not clear. To determine how parasites respond to ART by altering gene expression, we performed a transcriptomic study of dihydroartemisinin (DHA) response in P. falciparum K1 strain and in P. berghei ANKA strain. Microarray data from DHA-treated P. falciparum trophozoite stage parasites were compared with data from other ART treatments. Genes with consistent changes in expression were identified, which includes notably down-regulation of cytosolic ribosomal protein genes. RNA-seq data revealed a similar pattern of transcriptomic change, although the pattern was much clearer in that more than one-third of P. falciparum trophozoite genes are differentially expressed with greater statistical support for down-regulation of ribosomal protein genes. The poor overlap of differentially-expressed genes between microarray and RNA-seq and less-well defined patterns for the former suggests that the accuracy of microarray is limited by technological bias. The trophozoite response to DHA is overall âring-likeâ and less âtrophozoite-likeâ, which is consistent with previous findings that Plasmodium can enter a quiescent ring-like state to resist ART. RNA-seq data from DHA-treated P. falciparum rings reveal a more muted response, although there is considerable overlap of differentially expressed genes with DHA-treated trophozoites. In contrast, P. falciparum schizonts are unresponsive to DHA, suggesting that the protective response acts mainly to arrest parasite development through the G2/M checkpoint. The transcriptional response of P. berghei to DHA treatment in vivo in infected mice is strikingly similar to the P. falciparum in vitro ring and trophozoite responses, in which ribosomal protein genes are notably down-regulated. These results suggest Plasmodium species respond to DHA in the same way. This knowledge could be applied to outwit the parasite to deliver more effective artemisinin therapies, and maybe hinder the development of drug resistance. Two condition drug-treatment experiment, Dihydroartemisinin vs. Vehicle control treatment with matched reference untreated controls. Biological replicates: 5 independently grown and harvested experimental culture replicates. One replicate of treatment/reference time-point per array.
Project description:Docetaxel chemotherapy in metastatic prostate cancer offers only a modest survival benefit due to emerging resistance. To identify candidate therapeutic gene targets, we applied a murine prostate cancer orthograft model that recapitulates clinical invasive prostate cancer in a genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 screen under docetaxel treatment pressure.
Project description:We establish a method to reprogram bulk multiple myeloma (MM) cancer cells into MM cancer stem cells (MMSCs) via heterochromatin modulation, which allows us to obtain sufficient functional MMSCs in an efficient manner. Characterization of these induced MMSCs demonstrates that the reprogrammed MMSCs possess the properties of cancer stem cells both phenotypically and functionally. To leverage this model therapeutically, we screened a panel of compounds, and identified dihydroartemisinin (DHA) as a potent anti-MMSCs drug both in vitro and in vivo. DHA induces anti-proliferation effects on MMSCs via nuclear lamina perturbation and chromatin structure alteration. Hi-C analysis reveals that DHA modulates chromatin architecture mainly at the compartmental level and TADs (topologically associating domains) level. The potent anti-MMSCs efficacy and the novel molecular insights establish the therapeutic rationale for DHA in overcoming therapy resistance caused by cancer stem cells.
Project description:Genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 knockout screen using TKOv1 sgRNA library performed in isogenic RBM10-proficient and RBM10-deficient HCC827 cells.
Project description:Genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 knockout screen using TKOv1 sgRNA library was performed in isogenic RBM10-proficient and RBM10-deficient HCC827 cells.
Project description:To search for factors regulating paternally imprinted genes (PEGs), we performed a genome-wide loss-of-function CRISPR/Cas9 screen in haploid parthenogenetic ESCs. This by staining a pooled CRISPR library with a PEG10 antibody and next FACS-sorted for cells that presented de-novo PEG10 expression.