P135 MAJOR GENE REGULATORS AFFECTED IN COLON AND BLOOD OF DEXTRAN SODIUM SULFATE ACUTE COLITIS MURINE MODEL

Abstract Background Dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) ulcerative colitis (UC) murine models have long been used for in vivo studies. DSS is a negatively charged polysaccharide with colitogenic properties. Although the mechanisms by which DSS induces intestinal inflammation are not fully understood, there are several good reasons why the DSS chemical colitis model for investigating the immunopathogenesis mechanism of UC is widely used. These include strong phenotypic clinical manifestations which emulate numerous clinical and histopathological features of human UC, ease of use, low mortality rate and high reproducibility. Here, by using high-throughput RNA sequencing analysis we set to investigate the major predicted gene regulators (GRs) affected by differentially expressed genes in the DSS treated UC model in order to obtain regulatory insights into the pathogenic mechanisms of UC development. Methods A DSS-induced mouse model of UC was established. Total RNA from colon tissue and blood of 3 healthy and 3 DSS-treated mice was extracted and sequenced by Illumina HiSeq 4000. Gene expression levels were obtained by mapping and quantification to the annotated mouse genome. Subsequently, differential gene expression analysis between DSS-treated and control mice both in colon and blood was performed. Ingenuity pathway analysis software (IPA®, Qiagen) was used to predict/identify major GRs affected by significantly differentially expressed genes (SDEGs, FC > |2|, p ≤0.05) in both colon and blood. Results Our analysis revealed how many and which major GRs are affected in DSS-treated mice and also the direction of change as compared to healthy (untreated) mice. In colon, 595 activated and 198 inhibited major GRs (p-value of overlap ≤0.05) in relation to ∼ 3180 SDEGs were identified, while in blood, we identified 205 activated and 62 inhibited GRs (in relation to ∼650 SDEGs). Colon and blood share 181 activated and 41 inhibited GRs. Identified GRs include transcription regulators, cytokines, transmembrane receptors and enzymes that mainly contribute to the development of inflammatory/immune responses. In colon and blood, the top 10 activated and inhibited regulators with the highest positive and negative activation z-score with target molecules as well as expression in the datasets are indicated in Figure 1a and 1b, respectively. Conclusion In this study, we analyzed linkage of GRs to SDEGs through coordinated expression and identified potential major regulators that have significant effect on UC pathogenic-related gene expression. These GRs seem to be the key regulators of transcriptomic changes induced by inflammation. These findings expand our molecular understanding of putative new targets that may be important in the pathophysiology of UC and provide biological insights into the observed expression changes between the UC and healthy controls.

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HIF-Mediated and Non-HIF-Mediated Differential Gene Expressions in Sickle Cell Reticulocyte and Their Impact on Clinical Manifestations

Blood ◽

10.1182/blood-2021-153079 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 138 (Supplement 1) ◽

pp. 950-950

Author(s):

Xu Zhang ◽

Jihyun Song ◽

Binal N. Shah ◽

Jin Han ◽

Taif Hassan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Differentially Expressed Genes ◽

Research Funding ◽

Clinical Manifestations ◽

Hemoglobin Concentration ◽

Differentially Expressed ◽

Erythroid Progenitors ◽

Advisory Committees ◽

Deconvolution Analysis ◽

Stress Erythropoiesis

Abstract Reticulocytosis in sickle cell disease (SCD) is driven by tissue hypoxia from hemolytic anemia and vascular occlusion. Gene expression changes caused by hypoxia and other factors during reticulocytosis may impact SCD outcomes. We detected 1226 differentially expressed genes in SCD reticulocyte transcriptome compared to normal Black controls. To assess the role of hypoxia-mediating HIFs from other regulation of changes of the SCD reticulocyte transcriptome, we compared differential expression in SCD to that in Chuvash erythrocytosis (CE), a disorder characterized by constitutive upregulation of HIFs in normoxia. Of the SCD differentially expressed genes, 28% were shared between CE and SCD and thus classified as HIF-mediated. The HIF-mediated changes were generally in genes promoting erythroid maturation. We found that genes encoding the response to endoplasmic reticulum stress generally lacked HIF mediation. We then investigated the clinical correlation of erythroid gene expression for the 1226 differentially expressed genes detected in SCD reticulocytes, using clinical measures and gene expression data previously profiled in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 157 SCD patients at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Normal PBMCs contain only a small number of erythroid progenitors, but in SCD or CE PBMCs the erythroid transcriptome is enriched due to elevated circulating erythroid progenitors from heightened erythropoiesis (PMID: 32399971). We applied deconvolution analysis to assess the clinical correlation of erythroid gene expression, using a 16-gene expression signature of erythroid progenitors previously identified in SCD PBMCs. Deconvolution analysis uses the proportion of cell/tissue or specific marker genes (here the erythroid specific 16-gene signature) to dissect gene expression variation in biological samples with cell/tissue type heterogeneity. We correlated, in the 157 UIC patients, erythroid gene expression with i) degree of anemia as indicated by hemoglobin concentration, ii) vaso-occlusive severe pain episodes per year, and iii) degree of hemolysis measured by a hemolysis index. The analysis identified 231 genes associated with at least one of the complications. Increased expression of 40 erythroid specific genes, including 15 HIF-mediated genes, was associated with all three complications. These 40 genes are all upregulated in SCD reticulocytes and correlated with low hemoglobin concentration, frequent severe pain episodes, and high hemolysis index, suggesting that these manifestations may share a relationship to stress erythropoiesis-driven transcriptional activity. Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) contain genetic polymorphisms that associate with gene expression level, which can be viewed as a natural experiment to investigate the causal relations between gene expression change and phenotypic outcomes. To assess the causal effect of erythroid gene expression, we tested association between erythroid eQTL and the clinical manifestations in 906 SCD patients from the Walk-PHaSST and PUSH cohorts. We first mapped erythroid eQTL in the 157 UIC patients, who were previously genotyped by array, applying deconvolution algorithm on the same PBMC data for the 1226 differential genes in SCD reticulocytes, and detected 54 distinct eQTL for 30 genes at 5% false discovery rate. After adjusting for multiple comparisons, we found that the C allele of rs16911905, located in the β-globin cluster and associated with increased erythroid expression of HBD (encodes δ-globin of hemoglobin A 2), significantly correlated with lower hemoglobin concentration (β=-0.064, 95% CI -0.092 - -0.036, P=6.7×10 -6). The C allele was also associated with higher hemolytic rate (P=0.031), less frequent pain episodes (P=0.045), and increased erythroid expression of HBB here encoding sickle β-globin (P=5.1x10 -5). The association of the C allele with lower hemoglobin concentration was then validated in 242 patients from the UIC cohort (β=-0.071, 95% CI -0.13 - -0.011, P=0.023), as was the trend of association with higher hemolytic rate (P=0.0031) and less pain episodes (P=0.034). Our findings reveal HIF- and non-HIF-mediated genes in SCD stress erythropoiesis, and identify novel clinical associations for a HBD eQTL. Our study highlights the correlation of altered erythroid gene expression with SCD hemolytic and vaso-occlusive manifestations. Disclosures Saraf: Global Blood Therapeutics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Novartis: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Pfizer: Research Funding. Gordeuk: Modus Therapeutics: Consultancy; Novartis: Research Funding; Incyte: Research Funding; Emmaus: Consultancy, Research Funding; Global Blood Therapeutics: Consultancy, Research Funding; CSL Behring: Consultancy.

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RNA Sequencing revealed differentially expressed genes functionally associated with immunity and tumor suppression during latent phase infection of a vv + MDV in chickens

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-019-50561-x ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Kunzhe Dong ◽

Shuang Chang ◽

Qingmei Xie ◽

Peng Zhao ◽

Huanmin Zhang

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Rna Sequencing ◽

Differentially Expressed Genes ◽

Host Defense ◽

Tumor Suppression ◽

Genetic Resistance ◽

Early Mortality ◽

Differentially Expressed ◽

Sequencing Analysis ◽

Latent Phase

Abstract Very virulent plus Marek’s disease (MD) virus (vv + MDV) induces tumors in relatively resistant lines of chickens and early mortality in highly susceptible lines of chickens. The vv + MDV also triggers a series of cellular responses in both types of chickens. We challenged birds sampled from a highly inbred chicken line (line 63) that is relatively resistant to MD and from another inbred line (line 72) that is highly susceptible to MD with a vv + MDV. RNA-sequencing analysis was performed with samples extracted from spleen tissues taken at 10-day and 21-day post infection (dpi). A total of 64 and 106 differentially expressed genes was identified in response to the vv + MDV challenge at latent phase in the resistant and susceptible lines of chickens, respectively. Direct comparisons between samples of the two lines identified 90 and 126 differentially expressed genes for control and MDV challenged groups, respectively. The differentially expressed gene profiles illustrated that intensive defense responses were significantly induced by vv + MDV at 10 dpi and 21 dpi but with slight changes in the resistant line. In contrast, vv + MDV induced a measurable suppression of gene expression associated with host defense at 10 dpi but followed by an apparent activation of the defense response at 21 dpi in the susceptible line of chickens. The observed difference in gene expression between the two genetic lines of chickens in response to MDV challenge during the latent phase provided a piece of indirect evidence that time points for MDV reactivation differ between the genetic lines of chickens with different levels of genetic resistance to MD. Early MDV reactivation might be necessary and potent to host defense system readiness for damage control of tumorigenesis and disease progression, which consequently results in measurable differences in phenotypic characteristics including early mortality (8 to 20 dpi) and tumor incidence between the resistant and susceptible lines of chickens. Combining differential gene expression patterns with reported GO function terms and quantitative trait loci, a total of 27 top genes was selected as highly promising candidate genes for genetic resistance to MD. These genes are functionally involved with virus process (F13A1 and HSP90AB1), immunity (ABCB1LB, RGS5, C10ORF58, OSF-2, MMP7, CXCL12, GAL1, GAL2, GAL7, HVCN1, PDE4D, IL4I1, PARP9, EOMES, MPEG1, PDK4, CCLI10, K60 and FST), and tumor suppression (ADAMTS2, LXN, ARRDC3, WNT7A, CLDN1 and HPGD). It is anticipated that these findings will facilitate advancement in the fundamental understanding on mechanisms of genetic resistance to MD. In addition, such advancement may also provide insights on tumor virus-induced tumorigenesis in general and help the research community recognize MD study may serve as a good model for oncology study involving tumor viruses.

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Transcriptomics Analysis of Lens from Patients with Posterior Subcapsular Congenital Cataract

Genes ◽

10.3390/genes12121904 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (12) ◽

pp. 1904

Author(s):

Xiaolei Lin ◽

Hongzhe Li ◽

Tianke Yang ◽

Xin Liu ◽

Fan Fan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Epithelial Cells ◽

Differentially Expressed Genes ◽

Congenital Cataract ◽

Fold Change ◽

Differentially Expressed ◽

P Value ◽

Sequencing Analysis ◽

Log2 Fold Change ◽

Upregulated Genes ◽

Cataract Patients

To gain insight into the aetiology of posterior subcapsular congenital cataract from the perspective of transcriptional changes, we conducted an mRNA sequencing analysis of the lenses in posterior subcapsular congenital cataract patients and in normal children. There were 1,533 differentially expressed genes from 19,072 genes in the lens epithelial cells of the posterior subcapsular congenital cataract patients compared to in the normal controls at a cut-off criteria of |log2 fold change| of >1 and a p-value of <0.05, including 847 downregulated genes and 686 upregulated genes. To further narrow down the DEGs, we utilised the stricter criteria of |log2 fold change| of >1 and an FDR value of <0.05, and we identified 551 DEGs, including 97 upregulated genes and 454 downregulated genes. This study also identified 1,263 differentially expressed genes of the 18,755 genes in lens cortex and nuclear fibres, including 646 downregulated genes and 617 upregulated genes. The downregulated genes in epithelial cells were significantly enriched in the structural constituent of lenses, lens development and lens fibre cell differentiation. After filtering the DEGs using the databases iSyTE and Cat-Map, several high-priority candidate genes related to posterior subcapsular congenital cataract such as GRIFIN, HTRA1 and DAPL1 were identified. The findings of our study may provide a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of posterior subcapsular congenital cataract and help in the prevention and treatment of this disease.

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Sclerosing Sialadenitis Is Associated With Salivary Gland Hypofunction and a Unique Gene Expression Profile in Sjögren’s Syndrome

Frontiers in Immunology ◽

10.3389/fimmu.2021.699722 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Hongen Yin ◽

Thomas J. F. Pranzatelli ◽

Benjamin N. French ◽

Nan Zhang ◽

Blake M. Warner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Salivary Gland ◽

Differentially Expressed Genes ◽

Interstitial Fibrosis ◽

Sjogren’S Syndrome ◽

Sjogren's Syndrome ◽

Differentially Expressed ◽

Sequencing Analysis ◽

Novel Method ◽

Sjögren‘S Syndrome

PurposeTo develop a novel method to quantify the amount of fibrosis in the salivary gland and to investigate the relationship between fibrosis and specific symptoms associated with Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) using this method.Materials and MethodsParaffin-embedded labial salivary gland (LSG) slides from 20 female SS patients and their clinical and LSG pathology data were obtained from the Sjögren’s International Collaborative Clinical Alliance. Relative interstitial fibrosis area (RIFA) in Masson’s trichrome-stained LSG sections was quantified from digitally scanned slides and used for correlation analysis. Gene expression levels were assessed by microarray analysis. Core promoter accessibility for RIFA-correlated genes was determined using DNase I hypersensitive sites sequencing analysis.ResultsRIFA was significantly correlated with unstimulated whole saliva flow rate in SS patients. Sixteen genes were significantly and positively correlated with RIFA. In a separate analysis, a group of differentially expressed genes was identified by comparing severe and moderate fibrosis groups. This combined set of genes was distinct from differentially expressed genes identified in lung epithelium from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients compared with controls. Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis of salivary glands suggested most of the RIFA-correlated genes are expressed by fibroblasts in the gland and are in a permissive chromatin state.ConclusionRIFA quantification is a novel method for assessing interstitial fibrosis and the impact of fibrosis on SS symptoms. Loss of gland function may be associated with salivary gland fibrosis, which is likely to be driven by a unique set of genes that are mainly expressed by fibroblasts.

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Abstract TP166: Age-Associated Transcriptomic Alterations in Patients With Ischemic Stroke

Stroke ◽

10.1161/str.51.suppl_1.tp166 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 51 (Suppl_1) ◽

Author(s):

Gina Sykes ◽

Yusra Batool ◽

Joseph Kamtchum Tatuene ◽

Sarah Zehnder ◽

Glen C Jickling

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Functional Analysis ◽

Ischemic Stroke ◽

Immune System ◽

B Cell ◽

Differentially Expressed Genes ◽

Hemorrhagic Transformation ◽

Differentially Expressed ◽

P Value ◽

Humoral Immune

Introduction: Immune system dysregulation occurs with age. This includes an increase in inflammation, and immunosenescence, the inability to efficiently respond to new immune challenges. These changes are evident in various diseases but have yet to be evaluated in a population with ischemic stroke. Age is an important factor in stroke, contributing to stroke risk, outcome and risk of hemorrhagic transformation. This study aimed to assess the changes that occur with age in the leukocyte gene expression of patients with ischemic stroke. Methods: Two cohorts of acute ischemic stroke patients were analyzed; cohort 1 (n=94) and cohort 2 (n=79). RNA was isolated from PAXgene tubes and processed on Affymetrix microarrays. Differentially expressed genes associated with age quartiles were identified by ANCOVA, adjusted for sex and batch. Functional analysis identified age-associated pathways. Differentially expressed genes were compared with previous non-stroke aging studies in whole blood. Results: There were 61 and 442 age-associated genes in cohorts 1 and 2 respectively (FDR-corrected p<0.05, partial correlation coefficient ≥ |0.3|). Nineteen genes, including CR2, CCR6 and CXCR5 , were found in common and decreased with age among both cohorts (max-log10(p value) = 17). Functional analysis of the 61 and 442 genes revealed with advancing age there is a change in the humoral immune system, including antibody production and B cell proliferation. When compared to aging gene expression studies in controls, 52% of age-associated genes in cohort 1 and 31% of cohort 2 age-associated genes overlapped with those found in controls, and 16 of the 19 common genes to both cohorts overlapped in controls (max-log10(p value) = 15). Conclusion: In patients with acute stroke there is a change in leukocyte gene expression with advancing age. Changes included a shift in humoral immune response with a potentially impaired B cell response. While many of the age-associated alterations in gene expression present in stroke are similar to non-stroke controls, these changes warrant further investigation for their impact on stroke outcome and risk.

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A Distinct Expression of Various Gene Subsets in CD34+ Cells Obtained From Patients with Early and Advanced Myelodysplastic Syndrome.

Blood ◽

10.1182/blood.v114.22.3795.3795 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 114 (22) ◽

pp. 3795-3795

Author(s):

Monika Belickova ◽

Jaroslav Cermak ◽

Alzbeta Vasikova ◽

Eva Budinska

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Cell Cycle ◽

Differentially Expressed Genes ◽

Conflicts Of Interest ◽

Expression Profiles ◽

Differentially Expressed ◽

Abnormal Development ◽

Statistical Hypothesis ◽

P Value ◽

Cd34 Cells

Abstract Abstract 3795 Poster Board III-731 Gene expression profiles of CD34+ cells were compared between a cohort of 51 patients with MDS or AML from MDS and 7 healthy controls. The patients were classified according to the WHO criteria as follows: 5q- syndrome (n=7), RA (n=3), RARS (n=2), RCMD (n=10), RAEB-1 (n=7), RAEB-2 (n=15), and AML with MLD (multilineage dysplasia) (n=7). HumanRef-8 v2 Expression Bead Chips (Illumina) were used to generate expression profiles of the samples for >22,000 transcripts. The raw data were normalized data with the R software, lumi package. Normalized data were filtered by detection p-value <0.01, resulting in total number of 9811genes. To identify differentially expressed genes we performed two parallel statistical hypothesis testings: Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) together with Tukey test and empirical bayesian thresholding correction for multiple testing problem; and Significance Analysis of Microarrays (SAM). The results were confirmed by real-time quantitative PCR for six genes (TaqMan Gene Expression Assays). Hierarchical clustering of significantly differentially expressed genes clearly separated patients and controls, 5q-syndrome and RAEB-1 as a separate entities confirming usefulness of WHO classification subgroups. The most up-regulated genes in all patients included HBG2, HBG1, CYBRD1, HSPA1B, ANGPT1, and MYC. We assume that expression changes in globin genes, both fetal and adult globins (HBG2, HBG1 and HBA1, HBB) may play role not only in dysregulation of erythropoiesis but also in the disease progression or leukemic transformation of MDS. Among the most down-regulated genes, 13 genes related to B-lymphopoiesis (e.g. POU2AF1, VPREB1, VPREB3, CD79A, EBF1, LEF1, BCL3, IRF8 & IRF4) were detected, suggesting the abnormal development of B-cell progenitors in all MDS patients. Some of these genes (e.g. VPREB3, LEF1) showed decreasing trend in expression level from early to advanced MDS with the lowest expression in AML with MLD. Patients with advanced MDS had significantly decreased expression of genes involved in in the mitotic cell cycle, DNA replication, and chromosome segregation compared to early MDS where these gene subsets were up-regulated. The DAVID database also identified de-regulation in the cell cycle pathway through its 7 genes (CDC25C, CDC7, CDC20, ORC1L, CCNB2, BUB1, & CCNA2). On the other hand, advanced MDS patients showed significant up-regulation of proto-oncogenes (BMI1, MERTK) and genes related to angiogenesis (ANGPT1), anti-apoptosis (VNN1). The results confirm on molecular basis that increased cell proliferation and resistance to apoptosis together with a loss of cell cycle control, damaged DNA repair and altered immune response may play an important role in the expansion of malignant clone in MDS patients. The study was supported by Grant NR-9235 obtained from the Ministry of Health, Czech Republic. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

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Spermatozoa induce transcriptomic alterations in bovine oviductal epithelial cells prior to initial contact

Journal of Cell Communication and Signaling ◽

10.1007/s12079-020-00575-2 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 14 (4) ◽

pp. 439-451

Author(s):

Qurat Ul Ain Reshi ◽

Janeli Viil ◽

James Ord ◽

Freddy Lättekivi ◽

Kasun Godakumara ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Epithelial Cells ◽

Differentially Expressed Genes ◽

Culture System ◽

Contact System ◽

Physical Contact ◽

Differentially Expressed ◽

Sequencing Analysis ◽

Transcriptional Responses ◽

Culture Model

Abstract The capability of spermatozoa to directly influence maternal gene expression is already established. Indeed, some of the changes induced by spermatozoa may have a direct functional importance in the pre-conceptional period. Although the mechanisms underlying these sperm-maternal interactions are not well characterized, it is possible that they could involve ligands that are released from the spermatozoa. This study therefore aimed to test whether physical contact between bovine spermatozoa and bovine oviductal epithelial cells (BOECs) is a prerequisite for spermatozoa-induced gene expression changes. We used two co-culture models: a contact co-culture model in which spermatozoa interact directly with BOECs, and a non-contact co-culture model in which an insert with the pore size of 0.4 μm was placed between spermatozoa and BOECs. Messenger RNA sequencing analysis of BOECs by RNA-seq revealed ten differentially expressed genes in contact system and 108 differentially expressed genes in the non-contact system after 10 h of co-culture. Retinol metabolism pathway and ovarian steroidogenesis pathway were significantly enriched in the non-contact co-culture system. Q-PCR analysis revealed that transcriptional responses can be rapid, with increased expression of four genes (DHRS3, CYP1B1, PTGS2, and ATF3) detectable within just 90 min of co-incubation, but with expression levels highly dependent on the type of co-culture system. The findings from our study demonstrate that direct contact with spermatozoa is not necessary to induce changes in gene expression of oviductal epithelial cells, suggesting that spermatozoa may be able to signal to maternal tissues in advance of their arrival.

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Transcriptome Sequencing of the Spleen Reveals Antiviral Response Genes in Chickens Infected with CAstV

Viruses ◽

10.3390/v13122374 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (12) ◽

pp. 2374

Author(s):

Joanna Sajewicz-Krukowska ◽

Jan Paweł Jastrzębski ◽

Maciej Grzybek ◽

Katarzyna Domańska-Blicharz ◽

Karolina Tarasiuk ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Differentially Expressed Genes ◽

Egg Production ◽

Global Analysis ◽

Antiviral Response ◽

Differentially Expressed ◽

P Value ◽

Rna Seq ◽

Qrt Pcr

Astrovirus infections pose a significant problem in the poultry industry, leading to multiple adverse effects such as a decreased egg production, breeding disorders, poor weight gain, and even increased mortality. The commonly observed chicken astrovirus (CAstV) was recently reported to be responsible for the “white chicks syndrome” associated with an increased embryo/chick mortality. CAstV-mediated pathogenesis in chickens occurs due to complex interactions between the infectious pathogen and the immune system. Many aspects of CAstV–chicken interactions remain unclear, and there is no information available regarding possible changes in gene expression in the chicken spleen in response to CAstV infection. We aim to investigate changes in gene expression triggered by CAstV infection. Ten 21-day-old SPF White Leghorn chickens were divided into two groups of five birds each. One group was inoculated with CAstV, and the other used as the negative control. At 4 days post infection, spleen samples were collected and immediately frozen at −70 °C for RNA isolation. We analyzed the isolated RNA, using RNA-seq to generate transcriptional profiles of the chickens’ spleens and identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The RNA-seq findings were verified by quantitative reverse-transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). A total of 31,959 genes was identified in response to CAstV infection. Eventually, 45 DEGs (p-value < 0.05; log2 fold change > 1) were recognized in the spleen after CAstV infection (26 upregulated DEGs and 19 downregulated DEGs). qRT-PCR performed on four genes (IFIT5, OASL, RASD1, and DDX60) confirmed the RNA-seq results. The most differentially expressed genes encode putative IFN-induced CAstV restriction factors. Most DEGs were associated with the RIG-I-like signaling pathway or more generally with an innate antiviral response (upregulated: BLEC3, CMPK2, IFIT5, OASL, DDX60, and IFI6; downregulated: SPIK5, SELENOP, HSPA2, TMEM158, RASD1, and YWHAB). The study provides a global analysis of host transcriptional changes that occur during CAstV infection in vivo and proves that, in the spleen, CAstV infection in chickens predominantly affects the cell cycle and immune signaling.

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Gene Expression and Epigenetic Analysis in Relapsed/Refractory Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Provides Insights into Evolution of Treatment Resistance to R-CHOP

Blood ◽

10.1182/blood-2020-138645 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 136 (Supplement 1) ◽

pp. 26-26

Author(s):

Manishkumar S. Patel ◽

Ellen K. Kendall ◽

Sarah Ondrejka ◽

Agrima Mian ◽

Yazeed Sawalha ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

B Cell ◽

Differentially Expressed Genes ◽

Research Funding ◽

B Cell Lymphoma ◽

Cell Receptor ◽

B Cell Receptor ◽

Gene Set Enrichment Analysis ◽

Differentially Expressed ◽

P Value

Background Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is curable in ~60-70% of patients using standard chemoimmunotherapy, but the prognosis is poor for relapsed/refractory (R/R) DLBCL. Therefore, understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms will facilitate early prediction and effective management of resistance to therapy. Recent studies of paired diagnostic-relapse biopsies from patients have relied on a single "omics" approach, examining either gene expression or epigenetic evolution. Here we present a combined analysis of gene expression and DNA methylation profiles of paired diagnostic-relapse DLBCL biopsies to identify changes responsible for relapse after R-CHOP. Methods Biopsies from 23 DLBCL patients were obtained at the time of diagnosis and relapse following frontline R-CHOP chemoimmunotherapy. The cohort had 18 (78.3%) male patients with median age of 62 (range, 35-86) years and median IPI of 2.5 (range, 1-5). The median time from diagnosis to relapse was 7 (range, 0-57) months. DNA and RNA were extracted simultaneously from formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) biopsy samples. DNA methylation levels were measured through Illumina 850k Methylation Array for 22 pairs of diagnostic-relapse biopsies. RNA from diagnostic-relapse paired biopsies from 6 patients was sequenced using Illumina HiSeq4000. Differentially methylated probes were identified using the DMRcate package, and differentially expressed genes were identified using the DESeq2 package. Gene set enrichment analysis was performed using canonical pathway gene sets from MSigDB. Pearson's correlation with a Bonferroni correction to the p-value was used to calculate the correlation between regularized log transformed gene expression counts and methylation beta values. Results In a pairwise comparison of gene expression between diagnostic and R/R biopsy pairs, we found 14 differentially expressed genes (FDR<0.1 & Log2FC>|1|) consistent across all pairs. Compared to gene expression at diagnosis, five genes (CYP1B1, LGR4, ATXN1, CTSC, ZMAT3) were downregulated, and eight genes (ERBB3, CD19, CARD11, MT-RNR2, IGHG3, CCDC88C, ATP2A3, CENPE, and PCNT) were up-regulated in the R/R samples. Many of these genes have been previously implicated in oncogenesis, such as ERBB3, a member of the epidermal growth receptor family. Importantly, some of these genes have known roles in DLBCL biology, such as CD19, a member of the B-cell receptor complex, and CARD11, a gene in which several oncogenic mutations have been identified in DLBCL as a mediator of NF-KB activation. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed overexpression of immune signatures such as cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, chemokine receptor-chemokine binding, and the IL-12-STAT4 pathway at diagnosis. At relapse, cell cycle, B-cell receptor, and NOTCH signaling pathways were overexpressed. Interestingly, in a pairwise comparison of methylation between diagnostic and R/R biopsy pairs, there were no differentially methylated probes (FDR<0.05), suggesting no coordinated epigenetic evolution between diagnostic and R/R pairs. For biopsy pairs that had both gene expression and methylation data (5 pairs), we correlated gene expression and methylation values. We found that none of the differentially expressed genes between the diagnostic and R/R biopsies were significantly correlated with methylation status (adjusted p-value<0.05). Conclusions By analyzing paired diagnostic and relapse DLBCL biopsies, we found that at the time of relapse, there are significant transcriptomic changes but no significant epigenetic changes when compared to diagnostic biopsies. Activation of B-cell receptor and NOTCH signaling, as well as the loss of immune signaling at relapse, cannot be attributed to coordinated epigenetic changes in methylation. As the epigenetic profile of the biopsies did not consistently evolve, these data emphasize the need for better understanding of the baseline methylation profiles at the time of diagnosis, as well as acquired somatic mutations that may contribute to the emergence of therapeutic resistance. Future studies are needed to focus on how activation of signaling pathways triggered by genomic alterations can be targeted in relapsed/refractory DLBCL. Disclosures Hsi: Seattle Genetics: Consultancy, Honoraria; Miltenyi: Consultancy, Honoraria; Abbvie: Research Funding; Eli Lilly: Research Funding; CytomX: Consultancy, Honoraria. Hill:Takeda: Research Funding; Genentech: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Karyopharm: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Abbvie: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Pharmacyclics: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Beigene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; AstraZenica: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Kite, a Gilead Company: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria; BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding.

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DEgenes Hunter - A Flexible R Pipeline for Automated RNA-seq Studies in Organisms without Reference Genome

Genomics and Computational Biology ◽

10.18547/gcb.2017.vol3.iss3.e31 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

pp. 31 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Isabel González Gayte ◽

Rocío Bautista Moreno ◽

Pedro Seoane Zonjic ◽

M. Gonzalo Claros

Keyword(s):

Differentially Expressed Genes ◽

Reference Genome ◽

Real Data ◽

Ease Of Use ◽

Differentially Expressed ◽

P Value ◽

Rna Seq ◽

Functional Interpretation ◽

Differential Gene ◽

Real World Datasets

Differential gene expression based on RNA-seq is widely used. Bioinformatics skills are required since no algorithm is appropriate for all experimental designs. Moreover, when working with organisms without reference genome, functional analysis is less than straightforward in most situations. DEgenes Hunter, an attempt to automate the process, is based on two independent scripts, one for differential expression and one for functional interpretation. Based on replicates, the R script decides which of the edgeR, DEseq2, NOISeq and limma algorithms are appropriate. It performs quality control calculations and provides the prevalent, most reliable, set of differentially expressed genes, and lists all other possible candidates for further functional interpretation. It also provides a combined P-value that allows differentially expressed genes ranking. It has been tested with synthetic and real-world datasets, showing in both cases ease of use and reliable results. With real data, DEgenes Hunter offers straightforward functional interpretation.

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