Project description:Expression data comparing transformed or neoplastic human neural precursors following OTX2 knockdown to transformed human neural precursor cells
Project description:Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common malignant primary pediatric brain tumor and is currently divided into 4 subtypes based on different genomic alterations, gene expression profiles and response to treatment: WNT, Sonic Hedgehog (SHH), Group 3 and Group 4. The extensive heterogeneity has made it difficult to assess the relevance of genes to malignant progression. For example, expression of the transcription factor, OTX2, is frequently dysregulated in multiple MB variants; however, it's role may be subtype specific. Here, we utilized human embryonic stem cell-derived neural precursors to determine the role of OTX2 in MB tumor progression using gain and loss of function studies. We used global gene expression profiling to determine what transcripts and pathways were differentially expressed following knockdown of OTX2 in transformed or neoplastic human embryonic neural precursor cells. OTX2 was knocked down in transformed human embyronic neural precursors (trans-hEN) using Silencer select siRNAs. trans-hEN OTX2 KD and scrambled control trans-hENs were then grown as neurospheres in defined medium and collected at passage 1. RNA was extracted using the Norgen All-in-One kit.
Project description:Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common malignant primary pediatric brain tumor and is currently divided into 4 subtypes based on different genomic alterations, gene expression profiles and response to treatment: WNT, Sonic Hedgehog (SHH), Group 3 and Group 4. The extensive heterogeneity has made it difficult to assess the relevance of genes to malignant progression. For example, expression of the transcription factor, OTX2, is frequently dysregulated in multiple MB variants; however, it's role may be subtype specific. Here, we utilized human embryonic stem cell-derived neural precursors to determine the role of OTX2 in MB tumor progression using gain and loss of function studies. We used global gene expression profiling to determine what transcripts and pathways were differentially expressed following overexpression of OTX2 in human embryonic neural precursor cells. OTX2 was stably overexpressed in human embyronic neural precursors (hEN) by lentiviral transduction. OTX2-hENs and control hENs were then grown as neurospheres in defined medium and collected at passage 2. RNA was extracted using the Norgen All-in-One kit.
Project description:Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common malignant primary pediatric brain tumor and is currently divided into 4 subtypes based on different genomic alterations, gene expression profiles and response to treatment: WNT, Sonic Hedgehog (SHH), Group 3 and Group 4. The extensive heterogeneity has made it difficult to assess the relevance of genes to malignant progression. For example, expression of the transcription factor, OTX2, is frequently dysregulated in multiple MB variants; however, it's role may be subtype specific. Here, we utilized human embryonic stem cell-derived neural precursors to determine the role of OTX2 in MB tumor progression using gain and loss of function studies. We used global gene expression profiling to determine what transcripts and pathways were differentially expressed following knockdown of OTX2 in transformed or neoplastic human embryonic neural precursor cells.
Project description:Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common malignant primary pediatric brain tumor and is currently divided into 4 subtypes based on different genomic alterations, gene expression profiles and response to treatment: WNT, Sonic Hedgehog (SHH), Group 3 and Group 4. The extensive heterogeneity has made it difficult to assess the relevance of genes to malignant progression. For example, expression of the transcription factor, OTX2, is frequently dysregulated in multiple MB variants; however, it's role may be subtype specific. Here, we utilized human embryonic stem cell-derived neural precursors to determine the role of OTX2 in MB tumor progression using gain and loss of function studies. We used global gene expression profiling to determine what transcripts and pathways were differentially expressed following overexpression of OTX2 in human embryonic neural precursor cells.
Project description:Despite the history of Otx2 research over three decades, the role of Otx2 expressed in the brain-forming anterior epiblast during gastrulation stages has not been clarified. We paid attention to the fact epiblast regions exist where Otx2 expression is absent or downregulated, namely the posterior epiblast and tissue belts along the neural plate bending. Developmental events that follow filling these expression gaps with exogenous Otx2 expression would be informative concerning the roles of Otx2 during gastrulation. The effects were pleiotropic: (1) Development of open and flat midbrain and hindbrain, which occurred via unzippering of once closed neural tube; (2) Precocious neural tube development at the cervical level that gave rise to thick and unclosed neural tissue; (3) The absence of the sinus rhomboidalis where NMP stem cells multiply to provide a cell source for the trunk posterior extension, resulting in the trunk posterior extension; (4) Inhibition of somite development. To elucidate principles underlying these developmental abnormalities, the cellular events were analyzed using live imaging of epiblasts, cell states were characterized via transcriptome analysis, and spatial organization of transcription factor expression was determined by immunohistology. Common denominating Otx2 activities that account for these pleiotropic effects were identified: (1) Significant boosts of neuroepithelium development, which even overrides the bipotential nature of NMPs, resulting in the loss of paraxial mesoderm precursor and loss of multiplying NMP stem cell population, and (2) The development of bending-refractory neural tissues. By virtue of these Otx2 functions, Otx2-expressing anterior epiblasts develop into the vast brain tissue in advance of the trunk neurogenesis that occurs in much smaller scale. We did not observe the exogenous Otx2 expression affecting the CNS regional specification.