Project description:<p>To understand the genetic mechanisms driving variant and IGHV4-34 expressing hairy-cell leukemia, we performed whole exome sequencing of tumor/normal pairs from ten patients.</p>
Project description:<p>To understand the genetic mechanisms driving variant and IGHV4-34 expressing hairy-cell leukemia, we performed whole exome sequencing of tumor/normal pairs from ten patients.</p>
Project description:This single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) dataset profiles human HCL cells from two patients with Hairy Cell Leukemia (HCL) and varient subtype of HCL (HCLv), both expressing unmutated IGHV4-34. scRNA-seq was performed on isolated CD19⁺ and CD3⁺cells from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) (n=2). The dataset enables the characterization of expressed mutation and transcriptional profiles of human HCL cells and supports investigations into cellular lineage and pathways associated with pathologic activation leading to HCL and variant form of HCL (HCLv).
Project description:Preventing autoantibody secretion by rendering self-reactive B cells functionally silent through clonal anergy has long posed the question of why fill the circulating B cell repertoire with cells that cannot secrete antibody? Here we address this question from the perspective of B cells that comprise 5-10% of the human circulating repertoire, expressing self-reactive surface immunoglobulins employing the IGHV4-34 heavy chain variable element. Using gene targeting to construct mice expressing a representative human IGHV4-34 antibody on the surface of many B cells, we show these cells are prevented from autoantibody secretion by B cell clonal anergy marked by downregulation of surface IgM, induction of tolerance-response mRNAs, and exclusion from the marginal zone and B1 cell subsets. This functionally tolerant state is overridden when the IGHV4-34 B cells cross-react with a virus, which stimulates the self-reactive B cells to hypermutate in germinal centres. Within 16 days of infection, 99% of daughter cells have acquired one of five heavy chain mutations that diminish binding to self but preserve virus binding, and 33% had combined 2 or 3 of these mutations to become genetically self-tolerant and virus specific. These results demonstrate, from the perspective of a pathologically important human autoantibody class and the world’s most successful virus vaccine, how human antibody specificity is sculpted in the progeny of anergic B cells to yield antibodies that bind a virus but not self.
Project description:Kynureninase is a member of a large family of catalytically diverse but structurally homologous pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) dependent enzymes known as the aspartate aminotransferase superfamily or alpha-family. The Homo sapiens and other eukaryotic constitutive kynureninases preferentially catalyze the hydrolytic cleavage of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine to produce 3-hydroxyanthranilate and l-alanine, while l-kynurenine is the substrate of many prokaryotic inducible kynureninases. The human enzyme was cloned with an N-terminal hexahistidine tag, expressed, and purified from a bacterial expression system using Ni metal ion affinity chromatography. Kinetic characterization of the recombinant enzyme reveals classic Michaelis-Menten behavior, with a Km of 28.3 +/- 1.9 microM and a specific activity of 1.75 micromol min-1 mg-1 for 3-hydroxy-dl-kynurenine. Crystals of recombinant kynureninase that diffracted to 2.0 A were obtained, and the atomic structure of the PLP-bound holoenzyme was determined by molecular replacement using the Pseudomonas fluorescens kynureninase structure (PDB entry 1qz9) as the phasing model. A structural superposition with the P. fluorescens kynureninase revealed that these two structures resemble the "open" and "closed" conformations of aspartate aminotransferase. The comparison illustrates the dynamic nature of these proteins' small domains and reveals a role for Arg-434 similar to its role in other AAT alpha-family members. Docking of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine into the human kynureninase active site suggests that Asn-333 and His-102 are involved in substrate binding and molecular discrimination between inducible and constitutive kynureninase substrates.
Project description:As the evolution of miRNA genes has been found to be one of the important factors in formation of the modern type of man, we performed a comparative analysis of the evolution of miRNA genes in two archaic hominines, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens denisova, and elucidated the expression of their target mRNAs in bain.A comparative analysis of the genomes of primates, including species in the genus Homo, identified a group of miRNA genes having fixed substitutions with important implications for the evolution of Homo sapiens neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens denisova. The mRNAs targeted by miRNAs with mutations specific for Homo sapiens denisova exhibited enhanced expression during postnatal brain development in modern humans. By contrast, the expression of mRNAs targeted by miRNAs bearing variations specific for Homo sapiens neanderthalensis was shown to be enhanced in prenatal brain development.Our results highlight the importance of changes in miRNA gene sequences in the course of Homo sapiens denisova and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis evolution. The genetic alterations of miRNAs regulating the spatiotemporal expression of multiple genes in the prenatal and postnatal brain may contribute to the progressive evolution of brain function, which is consistent with the observations of fine technical and typological properties of tools and decorative items reported from archaeological Denisovan sites. The data also suggest that differential spatial-temporal regulation of gene products promoted by the subspecies-specific mutations in the miRNA genes might have occurred in the brains of Homo sapiens denisova and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, potentially contributing to the cultural differences between these two archaic hominines.