Multiple signaling pathways, structural proteins and transcription factors are involved in regulation of endothelial barrier function. The Forkhead protein FOXF1 is a key transcriptional regulator of lung embryonic development, and we use a conditional knockout approach to examine the role of FOXF1 in adult lung homeostasis and lung injury and repair. Tamoxifen-regulated deletion of both Foxf1 alleles in endothelial cells of adult mice (Pdgfb-iCreER/Foxf1 caused lung inflammation and edema, leading to respiratory insuffency and uniform mortality. Deletion of a single foxf1 allele was sufficient to increase susceptibility of heterozygous mice to acute lung injury. FOXF1 abundance was decreased in pulmonary endothelial cells of human patients with acute lung injury. Gene expression analysis of pulmonary endothelial cells of FOXF1 deletion indicated reduced expression for genes critical for maintance and regulation of adherens junctions. FOXF1 knockdown in vitro and in vivo disrupted adherens junctions, increased lung endothelial permeability, and the abundance of mRNA and protein for sphingosine 1 phosphate receptor 1 (S1PR1), a key regulator of endothelial barrier function. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and luciferase reporter assay demonstrated that FOXF1 directly bound to and induced the tanscriptional activity of the S1pr1 promoter. Pharmacological administratiion of S1P to injured pdgfb-iCreER/Foxf1 mice restored endothelial barrier function, decreased lung edema and improved survival. Thus, FOXF1 promotes normal lung homeostasis and lung repair, at least in part, by enhancing endothelial barrier function through transcriptional activation of the S1P/S1PR1/ signaling pathway. Overall design: RNA was isolated and pooled from the lungs of multiple mice with either the Foxf1 floxed alleles alone or Pdgfb-iCreER Foxf1 floxed mice.
FOXF1 maintains endothelial barrier function and prevents edema after lung injury.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesMyotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is a dominantly inherited disease that affects multiple organ systems. Cardiac dysfunction is the second leading cause of death in DM1. We quantified gene expression in heart tissue from a heart-specific DM1 mouse model (EpA960/MCM) which inducibly expresses human DMPK exon 15 containing 960 CUG expanded repeats and that reproduced Celf1 up regulation. To assess if, in addition to splicing and miRNA defects, CUGexp RNA also perturbed the steady state mRNA levels of genes, we carried out a microarray study on wildtype E14, adult, MCM controls and DM1 mouse hearts. As anticipated we noted a large number of genes to be developmentally regulated in wildtype hearts, however, within 72h of induction of CUGexp RNA there appeared to be a coordinate adult-to-embryonic shift in steady state levels of many genes.
The Mef2 transcription network is disrupted in myotonic dystrophy heart tissue, dramatically altering miRNA and mRNA expression.
Specimen part, Time
View SamplesHepatic fibrosis is the common end stage to a variety of chronic liver injuries and is characterized by an excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM), which disrupts the liver architecture and impairs liver function. The fibrous lesions are produced by myofibroblasts, which differentiate from hepatic stellate cells (HSC). The myofibroblasts transcriptional networks remain poorly characterized. Previous studies have shown that the Forkhead box F1 (FOXF1) transcription factor is expressed in HSCs and stimulates their activation during acute liver injury; however, the role of FOXF1 in the progression of hepatic fibrosis is unknown. In the present study, we generated aSMACreER;Foxf1fl/fl mice to conditionally inactivate Foxf1 in myofibroblasts during carbon tetrachloride-mediated liver fibrosis. Foxf1 deletion increased collagen depositions and disrupted liver architecture. Timp2 expression was significantly increased in Foxf1-deficient mice while MMP9 activity was reduced. RNA sequencing of purified liver myofibroblasts demonstrated that FOXF1 inhibits expression of pro-fibrotic genes, Col1a2, Col5a2, and Mmp2 in fibrotic livers and binds to active repressors located in promotors and introns of these genes. Overexpression of FOXF1 inhibits Col1a2, Col5a2, and MMP2 in primary murine HSCs in vitro. Altogether, FOXF1 prevents aberrant ECM depositions during hepatic fibrosis by repressing pro-fibrotic gene transcription in myofibroblasts and HSCs. Overall design: RNAseq on isolated hepatic stromal cells from Foxf1 fl/fl and aSMACreER;Foxf1 fl/fl mice after 5 weeks of carbon tetrachloride-induced liver injury.
The Forkhead box F1 transcription factor inhibits collagen deposition and accumulation of myofibroblasts during liver fibrosis.
Specimen part, Cell line, Subject
View Samplesp21 (CDKN1A) expression from an IPTG-inducible promoter in HT1080 p21-9 cells was previously shown to inhibit a set of genes, many of which are involved in cell cycle progression, and to upregulate another set of genes, some of which have been implicated in cancer and age-related diseases. We have now developed Senexin A, a small-molecule inhibitor of p21-induced transcription, which we found to be a selective inhibitor of CDK8 and CDK19. Here we tested the effect of Senexin A on the induction and inhibition of transcription by p21.
Cyclin-dependent kinase 8 mediates chemotherapy-induced tumor-promoting paracrine activities.
Specimen part
View SamplesAlternative cleavage and polyadenylation (APA) results in mRNA isoforms containing different 3' untranslated regions (3'UTRs) and/or coding sequences. How core cleavage and polyadenylation (C/P) factors regulate APA is not well understood. Using siRNA knockdown coupled with deep sequencing, we found that several C/P factors can play significant roles in 3'UTR-APA. Whereas Pcf11 and Fip1 enhance usage of proximal poly(A) sites (pAs), CFI-25/68, PABPN1, and PABPC1 promote usage of distal pAs. Strong cis element biases were found for pAs regulated by CFI or Fip1, and the distance between pAs plays an important role in APA regulation. In addition, intronic pAs are substantially regulated by splicing factors, with U1 mostly influencing C/P events in 5' introns and U2 impacting those in efficiently spliced introns. Furthermore, PABPN1 regulates expression of transcripts with pAs near the transcription start site, a property possibly related to its role in RNA degradation. Finally, we found that groups of APA events regulated by C/P factors are also modulated in cell differentiation and development with distinct trends. Together, our results indicate that the abundance of different C/P factors and splicing factors plays diverse roles in APA, and is relevant to APA regulation in biological conditions. Overall design: knockdown experiments of 23 C/P factors, 3 splicing factors and U1D in mouse C2C12 myoblast cells
Systematic profiling of poly(A)+ transcripts modulated by core 3' end processing and splicing factors reveals regulatory rules of alternative cleavage and polyadenylation.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesTranscription factor FoxM1 is expressed in proliferating cells, and its expression is critical for cell proliferation in embryos and tumors. FoxM1 regulates a multi-gene transcriptional network for cell cycle regulation.
Forkhead box M1 transcriptional factor is required for smooth muscle cells during embryonic development of blood vessels and esophagus.
Specimen part
View SamplesThe age groups were used to investigate how gene expression differences between the brachial and the femoral artery effect the heterogeneous atherosclerotic disease initiation and progression.
Gene expression differences in healthy brachial and femoral arteries of Rapacz familial hypercholesterolemic swine.
Age, Specimen part
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
EZH2 inhibition in multiple myeloma downregulates myeloma associated oncogenes and upregulates microRNAs with potential tumor suppressor functions.
Cell line
View SamplesClass IIa histone deacetylases (HDACs) are signal-responsive regulators of gene expression involved in vascular homeostasis. To investigate the differential role of class IIa HDACs for the regulation of angiogenesis, we used siRNA to specifically suppress the individual HDAC isoenzymes. Among the HDAC isoforms tested, silencing of HDAC5 exhibited a unique pro-angiogenic effect evidenced by increased endothelial cell migration, sprouting and tube formation. Consistently, overexpression of HDAC5 decreased sprout formation, indicating that HDAC5 is a negative regulator of angiogenesis. The anti-angiogenic activity of HDAC5 was independent of MEF2 binding and its deacetylase activity, but required a nuclear localization indicating that HDAC5 might affect the transcriptional regulation of gene expression. To identify putative HDAC5 targets, we performed microarray expression analysis. Silencing of HDAC5 increased the expression of fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) and angiogenic guidance factors including Slit2. Antagonization of FGF2 or Slit2 reduced sprout induction in response to HDAC5 siRNA. ChIP assays demonstrate that HDAC5 binds to the promoter of FGF2 and Slit2. In summary, HDAC5 represses angiogenic genes, like FGF2 and Slit2, which causally contribute to capillary-like sprouting of endothelial cells. The de-repression of angiogenic genes by HDAC5 inactivation may provide a useful therapeutic target for induction of angiogenesis.
HDAC5 is a repressor of angiogenesis and determines the angiogenic gene expression pattern of endothelial cells.
Specimen part
View SamplesMultiple Myeloma (MM) is a plasma cell tumor localized to the bone marrow (BM). Despite current progress in improving patient outcome, MM remains largely incurable. Disease clonal and interpatient heterogeneity has hampered identification of a common underlying mechanism for disease establishment and have slowed the development of novel targeted therapies. Epigenetic aberrations are now emerging as increasingly important in tumorigenesis, thus selective targeting of crucial epigenetic enzymes may provide new therapeutic potential in cancer including MM. Recently, we and others suggested the histone methyltransferase enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2), to be a potential therapeutic target in MM. Now we show that pharmacological inhibition of EZH2 suppresses the MM cell growth through downregulation of MM-associated oncogenes; IRF-4, XBP-1, PRDM1/BLIMP-1and c-MYC. We also show that downregulation of these genes is mediated via reactivated expression of microRNAs with tumor suppressor functions; primarily miR125a-3p and miR320c. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) we demonstrate that miR125a-3p and miR320c are targets of EZH2 and H3K27me3 in MM cell lines and primary MM cells. Our results further highlight the importance of polycomb-mediated silencing in MM to include microRNAs with tumor suppressor activity. This novel role further strengthens the oncogenic features of EZH2 and its potential as a therapeutic target in MM.
EZH2 inhibition in multiple myeloma downregulates myeloma associated oncogenes and upregulates microRNAs with potential tumor suppressor functions.
Cell line
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