Project description:This study compared whole transcriptome signatures of 6 immune cell subsets and whole blood from patients with an array of immune-associated diseases. Fresh blood samples were collected from healthy subjects and subjects diagnosed type 1 diabetes, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and sepsis, as well as multiple sclerosis patients before and 24 hours after the first treatment with IFN-beta. At the time of blood draw, an aliquot of whole blood was collected into a Tempus tube (Invitrogen), while the remainder of the primary fresh blood sample was processed to highly pure populations of neutrophils, monocytes, B cells, CD4 T cells, CD8 T cells, and natural killer cells. RNA was extracted from each of these cell subsets, as well as the whole blood samples, and processed into RNA sequencing (RNAseq) libraries (Illumina TruSeq). Sequencing libraries were analyzed on an Illumina HiScan, with a target read depth of ~20M reads. Reads were demultiplexed, mapped to human gene models (ENSEMBL), and tabulated using HTSeq. Read count data were normalized by the TMM procedure (edgeR package). We performed whole genome RNAseq profiling of immune cell subsets and whole blood from subjects with an array of immune-associated diseases.
Project description:Microglia play important roles in developmental and homeostatic brain function, and influence the establishment and progression of many neurological disorders. Here, we demonstrate that renewable human iPSCs can be efficiently differentiated to microglial-like cells (iMGL) to study neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). We find that iMGLs develop in vitro similarly to microglia in vivo and whole transcriptome analysis demonstrates that they are highly similar to adult and fetal human microglia. Functional assessment of iMGLs reveal that they secrete cytokines in response to inflammatory stimuli, migrate and undergo calcium transients, and robustly phagocytose CNS substrates. We also show novel use of iMGLs to examine the effects of fibrillar Aβ and brain-derived tau oligomers on AD-related gene expression and to interrogate mechanisms involved in synaptic pruning. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that iMGLs can be used in high-throughput studies of microglial function, providing important new insight into human neurological disease.
Project description:Although not an affected cell type, skin fibroblasts from individuals with childhood cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (CCALD), an early onset X-linked neurological disorder, show defects in very long chain fatty acid (VLCFA) metabolism that provide the basis for clinical diagnostic tests. We report the gene expression profiles of fibroblasts from childhood cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy patients and healthy controls
Project description:Recent research has revealed a remarkable role for immunosurveillance in healthy and diseased brains, dispelling the notion that this organ is a passive immune-privileged site. Better understanding of how this immunosurveillance operates could improve the treatment of neurological diseases. Here, using a novel genetically engineered mouse model of ZFTA-RELA ependymoma–a childhood brain tumour–we characterised an immune circuit between the tumour and antigen presenting, haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) in the skull bone marrow. The presentation of antigens in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by HSPCs to CD4+ T cells, biased HSPCs lineages toward myelopoiesis and polarised CD4+ T-cells to regulatory T cells (T-regs), culminating in tumour immunotolerance. Remarkably, a single infusion of antibodies directed against cytokines enriched in the CSF of mice bearing ZFTA-RELA ependymomas, choroid plexus carcinomas or Group-3 medulloblastoma–all aggressive childhood brain tumours–disrupted this process and caused profound tumour regression. These data unmask a mechanism by which skull bone marrow-derived HSPCs and CD4+ T cells cooperate to promote the immunotolerance of childhood brain tumours. Antibodies that disrupt this immunosurveillance could prove an effective therapy for these cancers that are less toxic than current treatments.