Project description:Aims: Cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) play a crucial role in cardiac remodelling, which is a common cause of heart failure (HF). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transition remain largely unknown. Foxm1 is well known in various cardiopulmonary pathologies. However, Foxm1-driven CF activation in the progression of cardiac remodelling to HF remains to be investigated. Methods: Changes in Foxm1 expression were assessed in samples from patients with HF and mice with transverse aortic constriction (TAC)-induced cardiac remodelling. Pharmacologic antagonist FDI-6 was used to explore the effects of Foxm1 inhibition on post-TAC outcomes. Tcf21-Cre and PostnMCM were used to evaluate Foxm1 loss- and gain-of-function in CFs and myofibroblasts, respectively. Cardiac function and remodelling were examined by echocardiography and histological analysis. Foxm1 downstream target genes were identified by mass spectrometry (MS) and transcriptomic analysis. Post-translational regulation was evaluated by in vitro chromatin immunoprecipitation, co-immunoprecipitation, and ubiquitination assays. Pharmacological inhibition of Usp10 or knockout of p38γ in vivo verified the signalling pathway by which Foxm1 regulated cardiac remodelling. Results: Foxm1 was upregulated in human HF samples as well as in the mouse cardiac remodelling model. CFs were the primary cell type responsible for Foxm1 upregulation. Foxm1 pharmacological inhibition or genetic knockout in CFs or myofibroblasts significantly attenuated TAC-induced cardiac remodelling and HF. Conversely, conditional overexpression of Foxm1 in CFs or myofibroblasts resulted in more severe pathological cardiac remodelling and dysfunction. Combined RNA-sequencing and MS analysis revealed that Foxm1 promoted Usp10 expression by binding to its promoter. Usp10 interacted with p38γ, resulting in p38γ deubiquitination and thus inﬂuencing the downstream p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling pathway. Pharmacological inhibition of Usp10 or genetic knockout of p38γ ameliorated the exacerbated TAC-induced cardiac remodelling in mice with myofibroblast-specific Foxm1 overexpression. Conclusion: Our findings reveal an essential role of Foxm1 in CF activation during cardiac remodelling. These results suggest that targeting the Foxm1/Usp10/p38γ MAPK axis may represent a new potential therapeutic strategy against pathological cardiac remodelling and HF.

Project description:In order to successfully survive in and to colonize the gastrointestinal tract, bacteria need to develop strategies to overcome bile acid stress. The most prominent bile acids are the primary bile acids cholic acid (CA) and chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) as well as the secondary bile acid deoxycholic acid (DCA). In this study, we investigated the stress response of E. faecalis and E. faecium to sublethal concentrations of these three bile acids on the proteome level using DIA-MS. As both species showed similar IC50 for DCA and CDCA in growth experiments and both were highly resistant towards CA, we assumed similar changes to their protein expression profiles. Moreover, we investigated proteomic differences of E. faecalis grown under aerobic or microaerophilic conditions. Our findings showed similarities, but also species-specific variations in the response to the different bile acids, which reveal potential differences in the adaptation process. DCA and CDCA had a strong effect on down-expression of proteins involved in translation, transcription and replication in E. faecalis, but to a lesser extent in E. faecium. Proteins commonly significantly altered in their expression in all bile acid treated samples were identified for both species and represent a “general bile acid response”. Among these, ABC-transporters, multi-drug transporters and proteins related to cell wall biogenesis were up-expressed in both species and thus seem to play an essential role in bile acid resistance. Specific for all E. faecalis samples was the up-expression of several subunits of a V-type ATPase and the down-expression of proteins involved in pyruvate-, citrate- and folate metabolism. Most of the differentially expressed proteins were also identified when E. faecalis was incubated with low levels of DCA at microaerophilic conditions in comparison to aerobic conditions, indicating that adaptations to bile acids and to a microaerophilic atmosphere can occur simultaneously.

Project description:BACKGROUND: While many authorities theorize that cancer vaccines are too weak to be widely effective, there are quite a few reports with clearly demonstrated, significant clinical benefit in some patients. The literature of cellular cancer immunotherapies shows that 53% (78/147) of phase II studies showed evidence of clinical activity. While not all reached their primary endpoints, 75% (12/16) of phase III studies had positive data. SV-BR-1-GM, derived from a patient with grade 2 (moderately differentiated) breast cancer, is a GM-CSF-secreting breast cancer cell line with properties of antigen-presenting cells we established. METHODS: We report detailed molecular and clinical findings from an open-label phase I, single-arm pilot study in breast (3 subjects) and ovarian (1 subject) cancer with irradiated SV-BR-1-GM cells (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT00095862). Inoculations of SV-BR-1-GM were preceded by low-dose cyclophosphamide and followed by injections of interferon-alpha2b into the SV-BR-1-GM inoculation sites. We assessed both cellular (delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reactions) and humoral (anti-SV-BR-1 antibody) immune responses and conducted molecular analyses on patient blood cells and SV-BR-1-GM cells. RESULTS: Treatment was generally safe and well tolerated. Immune responses were elicited universally. Overall survival was more than 33 months for three of the four patients. As previously reported, one patient (Subject A002, with grade 2 breast cancer) had regression of metastases in lung, breast and soft tissue within 2 months of treatment initiation. At later relapse, with multiple metastases including several in the brain, rapid tumor response was again seen, including complete regression of CNS metastases. Consistent with a role of Class II HLA in contributing to SV-BR-1-GM’s mechanism of action, Subject A002 allele-matched SV-BR-1-GM at the HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DRB3 loci. Only the HLA-DRB1 alleles were clearly expressed in SV-BR-1-GM cells. However, interferon-gamma (possibly also present in situ) upregulated both HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DRB3 to substantial levels. Gene expression data supports the hypothesis that SV-BR-1-GM cells have retained some of the original breast cancer’s grade 2 character. CONCLUSIONS: We describe a whole-cell immunotherapy regimen with remarkable rapidity of response and a speedy rescue response, including complete resolution of CNS metastases after relapse. Class II HLA matches might be critical for SV-BR-1-GM’s therapeutic potential.

Dataset Information

Combining Precursor and Fragment Information for Improved Detection of Differential Abundance in Data Independent Acquisition

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Combining Precursor and Fragment Information for Improved Detection of Differential Abundance in Data Independent Acquisition.

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