Project description:Molecular mechanisms of cell cycle exit are poorly understood. A group of genes required for cell cycle exit and maintenance of cell quiescence in human fibroblasts following serum deprivation has been recently identified. Studies on lymphocytes following growth factor deprivation-induced cell cycle exit have predominantly focused on the initiation of apoptosis. A set of genes involved in lymphocyte quiescence have also been identified among genes highly expressed in resting lymphocytes and down-regulated after cell activation. In our study, proliferating IL-2-dependent human T cells were forced to exit cell cycle by growth factor withdrawal, and their gene expression profiles were examined. The differential gene expression analysis was performed in primary and immortalized IL-2-dependent T lymphocytes. Cell samples were collected directly from the IL-2-containing cultures and 8-hrs following IL-2 withdrawal, before apoptosis could be evidenced by the Annexin-V staining. The three primary T lymphoblast cell populations were obtained from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) stimulated for 24h by wheat germ agglutinin and cultured in the presence of IL-2 up to 4-8 population doublings. As shown by the cell surface analysis, these populations were composed of T cells exclusively. Samples of these cell populations were subsequently analyzed as biological replicates. Two spontaneously immortalized IL-2-dependent T cell lines were derived from normal spleen and from PBMC derived from Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome patient. Gene expression was assessed by the Affymetrix microarray HG-U133 2.0 Plus that detects 38,500 genes. The expression of a selected number of genes was verified by the qRT-PCR method. We have identified a set of 53 genes that we called a â??T lymphocyte cell cycle exit signatureâ??, comprised of 13 up-regulated and 40 down-regulated genes. Genes linked to transcription, cell cycle, cell growth, proliferation and differentiation, cell adhesion and immune functions were found to be overrepresented among the differentially expressed, before and after IL-2 deprivation. Among those, PIM1, BCL2, IL-8, HBEGF, DUSP6, OSM, CISH, SOCS2, SOCS3, LIF and IL13 were down-regulated and RPS24, SQSTM1, TMEM1, LRRC8D, ECOP, YY1AP1, C1orf63, ASAH1, SLC25A46 and MIA3 were up-regulated. Identification of genes involved in cell cycle exit and quiescence, may provide new insights into the mechanisms of tissue repair and regeneration as well as of cancer development. Experiment Overall Design: Cell sources and cell sample preparation. Experiment Overall Design: Samples of three primary, IL-2-dependent T lymphoblast cell lines, derived from three healthy donors (j, 43, 6) were collected from IL-2-containing culture and 8-hrs following IL-2 withdrawal (three pairs, each sample was analyzed once = 6 samples). Experiment Overall Design: The two spontaneously immortalized IL-2-dependent T cell lines were derived from normal spleen (line5) and from PBMC derived from a Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome patient (S9). Samples of the two immortalized cell lines were collected in three biological replicates each, from the cultures with and without IL-2 (2 x 2 x 3 = 12 samples).
Project description:Molecular mechanisms of cell cycle exit are poorly understood. A group of genes required for cell cycle exit and maintenance of cell quiescence in human fibroblasts following serum deprivation has been recently identified. Studies on lymphocytes following growth factor deprivation-induced cell cycle exit have predominantly focused on the initiation of apoptosis. A set of genes involved in lymphocyte quiescence have also been identified among genes highly expressed in resting lymphocytes and down-regulated after cell activation. In our study, proliferating IL-2-dependent human T cells were forced to exit cell cycle by growth factor withdrawal, and their gene expression profiles were examined. The differential gene expression analysis was performed in primary and immortalized IL-2-dependent T lymphocytes. Cell samples were collected directly from the IL-2-containing cultures and 8-hrs following IL-2 withdrawal, before apoptosis could be evidenced by the Annexin-V staining. The three primary T lymphoblast cell populations were obtained from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) stimulated for 24h by wheat germ agglutinin and cultured in the presence of IL-2 up to 4-8 population doublings. As shown by the cell surface analysis, these populations were composed of T cells exclusively. Samples of these cell populations were subsequently analyzed as biological replicates. Two spontaneously immortalized IL-2-dependent T cell lines were derived from normal spleen and from PBMC derived from Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome patient. Gene expression was assessed by the Affymetrix microarray HG-U133 2.0 Plus that detects 38,500 genes. The expression of a selected number of genes was verified by the qRT-PCR method. We have identified a set of 53 genes that we called a “T lymphocyte cell cycle exit signature”, comprised of 13 up-regulated and 40 down-regulated genes. Genes linked to transcription, cell cycle, cell growth, proliferation and differentiation, cell adhesion and immune functions were found to be overrepresented among the differentially expressed, before and after IL-2 deprivation. Among those, PIM1, BCL2, IL-8, HBEGF, DUSP6, OSM, CISH, SOCS2, SOCS3, LIF and IL13 were down-regulated and RPS24, SQSTM1, TMEM1, LRRC8D, ECOP, YY1AP1, C1orf63, ASAH1, SLC25A46 and MIA3 were up-regulated. Identification of genes involved in cell cycle exit and quiescence, may provide new insights into the mechanisms of tissue repair and regeneration as well as of cancer development.
Project description:Abnormal increases in cell size are associated with senescence and cell cycle exit. The mechanisms by which overgrowth primes cells to withdraw from the cell cycle remain unknown. We address this question using CDK4/6 inhibitors, which arrest cells in G0/G1 and are licensed to treat advanced HR+/HER2- breast cancer. We demonstrate that CDK4/6-inhibited cells overgrow during G0/G1, causing p38/p53/p21-dependent cell cycle withdrawal. Cell cycle withdrawal is triggered by biphasic p21 induction. The first p21 wave is caused by osmotic stress, leading to p38- and size-dependent accumulation of p21. CDK4/6 inhibitor washout results in some cells entering S-phase. Overgrown cells experience replication stress, resulting in a second p21 wave that promotes cell cycle withdrawal from G2 or the subsequent G1. We propose that the levels of p21 integrate signals from overgrowth-triggered stresses to determine cell fate. This model explains how hypertrophy can drive senescence and why CDK4/6 inhibitors have long-lasting effects in patients.
Project description:Differentiation of multipotent stem cells into mature cells is fundamental for development and homeostasis of mammalian tissues, and requires the coordinated induction of lineage-specific transcriptional programs and cell cycle withdrawal. To understand the underlying regulatory mechanisms of this fundamental process, we investigated how the tissue-specific transcription factors, CEBPA and CEBPE, coordinate cell cycle exit and lineage-specification in vivo during granulocytic differentiation. We demonstrate that CEBPA promotes lineage-specification by launching an enhancer-primed differentiation program and direct activation of CEBPE expression. Subsequently, CEBPE confers promoter-driven cell cycle exit by sequential repression of MYC target gene expression at the G1/S transition and E2F-meditated G2/M gene expression, as well as by the up-regulation of Cdk1/2/4 inhibitors. Following cell cycle exit, CEBPE unleashes the CEBPA-primed differentiation program to generate mature granulocytes. These findings highlight how tissue-specific transcription factors coordinate cell cycle exit with differentiation through the use of distinct gene regulatory elements.
Project description:Treatment of hematological malignancies by adoptive transfer of activated natural killer (NK) cells is limited by poor post-infusion persistence. We compared the ability of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and IL-15 to sustain human NK cell functions following cytokine withdrawal to model post-infusion performance. In contrasts to IL-2, IL-15 mediated stronger signaling through the IL-2/15 receptor complex and provided functional advantages. Genome-wide analysis of cytosolic and polysome-associated mRNA revealed cytokine dependent differential mRNA levels and translation during cytokine activation but also that most gene expression differences were primed by IL-15 and only manifested after cytokine withdrawal. IL-15 augmented mTOR signaling, which correlated with increased expression of genes related to cell metabolism and respiration. Consistently, mTOR inhibition abrogated IL-15-induced functional advantages. Moreover, mTOR-independent STAT-5 signaling contributed to improved NK cell function during cytokine activation but not following cytokine withdrawal. The superior performance of IL-15 stimulated NK cells was also observed using a clinically applicable protocol for NK cell expansion. Finally, expression of IL-15 correlated with cytolytic immune functions in patients with B cell lymphoma and favorable clinical outcome. These findings highlight the importance of mTOR regulated metabolic processes for immune cell functions and argue for implementation of IL-15 in adoptive NK cell cancer therapy. Freshly isolated NK cells from 6 donors were activated with IL-2 or IL-15 for 48 hours, followed by cytokine withdrawal for 24 hours, resulting in four RNA samples per donor. From each sample, both the cytosolic as well as the polysomal fraction were collected. Donor 3 contains activation and post withdrawal data from two different donors due to poor RNA-quality obtained for some samples which did not allow for processing of the complete set of 6 donors (resulting in a total of 40 samples).
Project description:Comprehensive proteome analysis of rare cell phenotypes remains a significant challenge. We report a method for low cell number mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics using protease digestion of mildly formaldehyde-fixed cells in cellulo, which we call the ‘in-cell digest’. We combined this with AMPL (Averaged MS1 Precursor Library Matching) to make a major advance in the proteome coverage obtained from low cell numbers compared with previous methods. ~4,500 proteins were quantitated from 2,000 human lymphoblasts. ~2,500 proteins or >55% coverage was obtained using 200 lymphoblasts, i.e. an order of magnitude fewer cells. We applied the workflow to measure the proteomes of 16 cell cycle states (8 interphase, 8 mitotic) isolated from an asynchronous human lymphoblast culture (TK6), avoiding synchronisation. We identified 119 high confidence cell cycle-regulated proteins in 8 replicates. These proteins, including well-characterized and novel cell cycle-regulated factors, segregated into five clusters that differed in mitotic abundance patterns and regulatory short linear sequence motifs. We identified predictive protein signatures that accurately classified cell cycle states. These signatures enabled classification of an unexpected cell subset having 4N DNA content and low cyclin B levels as similar to early G0/G1 and telophase cells. These cells also exhibited low levels of APC/C substrates and evidence of a DNA damage response, consistent with a DNA damage-induced senescent state. This study demonstrates an advance in sensitivity in MS-based proteomics using the streamlined in-cell digest workflow. This is a powerful approach to obtain molecular definitions of important, rare cell phenotypes.