Project description:Long-term peritoneal dialysis is associated with progressive fibrosis of the peritoneum. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of mesothelial cells is an important mechanism involved in peritoneal fibrosis, and TGF-b1 is considered central in this process. We conducted network-based integrated analysis of transcriptomic data to systemically characterize the molecular signature of TGF-b1-stimulated human peritoneal mesothelial cells (HPMCs).
Project description:Fushen Granule (FSG), a Chinese medicinal formular, was clinically used to improve the peritoneal dialysis (PD) efficiency in ESRD patients received PD treatment. However, its mechanisms of anti-fibrotic effect in peritoneal fibrosis (PF) has not been studied yet. In this work, we used TGF-β1-stimulated MeT5A cells to mimic the process of PF in vitro, and Label-free proteomics and bioinformatics analysis were used to explored the underlying targets and pathways of FSG on TGF-β1-treated MeT5A cells
Project description:More than 70% of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) are diagnosed with peritoneal metastasis and ascites, which is the accumulation of intraperitoneal fluid containing non-malignant cells. However, the interactions between EOC and non-malignant cells before the development of peritoneal metastasis remain unclear. This study investigated the mechanism by which EOC cells survive through interactions with the surrounding cells in ascites. Whole EOC spheroids were observed, and their invasion into collagen layers and mesothelial monolayers was examined. RNA sequencing revealed the molecular mechanisms associated with aggressiveness of EOC cells. In malignant ascites, almost 100% of EOC cells were spheroids, 60% of which contained mesothelial cells. EOC cells quickly generated aggregated spheroids with mesothelial cells, and these aggregated cancer-mesothelial spheroids (ACMS) rapidly invaded collagen or mesothelial layers. Mesothelial cells forming ACMS initiated the invasion, with EOC cells following the route created by the mesothelial cells. RNA sequence revealed dramatically RNA expression changes in mesothelial cells, whereas the changes in EOC cells were relatively small. TGF-β1-stimulated mesothelial cells showed increased invadopodia formation along with fascin-1 upregulation. These findings suggest that EOC cells alter gene expression in mesothelial cells through ACMS formation, which explains the rapid spread of EOC in the abdominal cavity.
Project description:To identify the target gene repertoire of miRNAs (i.e. the miRNA-targetome) of unstimulated and TGF-β1-stimulated primary parenchymal lung fibroblasts, Ago2-IP was performed followed by mRNA expression profiling.
Project description:Peritoneal fibrosis is a major complication of long-term peritoneal dialysis (PD), leading to ultrafiltration failure and sometimes life threatening encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis. Fibrosis is driven by activated myofibroblasts that are derived, in part, from mesothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (MMT). We aimed to discover novel mediators of MMT and then experimentally exploit them to prevent peritoneal fibrosis. Using an antibody to HBME-1 and streptavidin nanobead technology, we first pioneered a novel method to purify rat mesothelial cells. After exposing mesothelial cells to transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1), we undertook RNAseq whole transcriptome analyses and outlined, the expression profile of sorted mesothelial cells at pre- and post- MMT.
Project description:We generated single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) datasets of primary cultures of human proximal tubular cells stimulated with TGF-β1 or vehicle. Following TGF-β1 stimulation, hPTC expressed TGF-β1 and its downstream targets. Moreover, TGF-β1-treated hPTC were characterized by a differential expression of pro-fibrotic genes, which we had recently showed to be characteristic of polyploid hPTC and were enriched with hypertrophy, indicative of cell polyploidization.
