Project description:Cellular binary fate decisions require the progeny to silence genes associated with the alternative fate. The major subsets of alpha:beta T cells have been extensively studied as a model system for fate decisions. While the transcription factor RUNX3 is required for the initiation of Cd4 silencing in CD8 T cell progenitors, it is not required to maintain the silencing of Cd4 and other helper T lineage genes. The other runt domain containing protein, RUNX1, silences Cd4 in an earlier T cell progenitor, but this silencing is reversed whereas the gene silencing after RUNX3 expression is not reverse. Therefore, we hypothesized that RUNX3 and not RUNX1 recruits other factors that maintains the silencing of helper T lineage genes in CD8 T cells. To this end, we performed a proteomics screen of RUNX1 and RUNX3 to determine candidate silencing factors.
Project description:Immune deficiency is common in cancer, but the biological basis for this and ways to reverse it remains elusive. Here we present a mouse model of B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) that recapitulates changes in the non-malignant circulating T cells seen in patients with this illness.1 To validate this model, we examined changes in T cell gene expression, protein expression and function in Em-TCL1 transgenic mice as they developed CLL 2,3 and demonstrate that development of CLL in these transgenic mice is associated with changes in impaired T cell function and in gene expression in CD4 and CD8 T cells similar to those observed in patients with this disease. Infusion of CLL cells into non-leukemia bearing Em-TCL1 mice rapidly induces these changes, demonstrating a causal relationship between leukemia and the induction of T cell changes. This model allows dissection of the molecular changes induced in CD4 and CD8 T cells by interaction with leukemia cells and further supports the concept that cancer results in complex abnormalities in the immune microenvironment. Gene expression profiling was performed to determine whether Em-TCL1 murine model of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) mimics T cell defects induced by CLL cells in patients with CLL. Experiment Overall Design: CD4 T cells and CD8 T cells were obtained from spleens of B6C3 and Em-TCL1 transgenic murine model of CLL or from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of previously untreated patients with CLL and healthy individuals (Pubmed ID: 15965501). Gene expression profiling was performed using total RNA and the data were analysed to compare gene expression profile of CLL to healthy within or between the species.
Project description:We collected whole genome testis expression data from hybrid zone mice. We integrated GWAS mapping of testis expression traits and low testis weight to gain insight into the genetic basis of hybrid male sterility.
Project description:Immune deficiency is common in cancer, but the biological basis for this and ways to reverse it remains elusive. Here we present a mouse model of B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) that recapitulates changes in the non-malignant circulating T cells seen in patients with this illness.1 To validate this model, we examined changes in T cell gene expression, protein expression and function in Em-TCL1 transgenic mice as they developed CLL 2,3 and demonstrate that development of CLL in these transgenic mice is associated with changes in impaired T cell function and in gene expression in CD4 and CD8 T cells similar to those observed in patients with this disease. Infusion of CLL cells into non-leukemia bearing Em-TCL1 mice rapidly induces these changes, demonstrating a causal relationship between leukemia and the induction of T cell changes. This model allows dissection of the molecular changes induced in CD4 and CD8 T cells by interaction with leukemia cells and further supports the concept that cancer results in complex abnormalities in the immune microenvironment. Gene expression profiling was performed to determine whether Em-TCL1 murine model of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) mimics T cell defects induced by CLL cells in patients with CLL. Keywords: comparative gene expression profiling analysis.