scholarly journals Gastroesophageal reflux activates the NF-κB pathway and impairs esophageal barrier function in mice

2013 ◽  
Vol 305 (1) ◽  
pp. G58-G65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Fang ◽  
Hao Chen ◽  
Yuhui Hu ◽  
Zorka Djukic ◽  
Whitney Tevebaugh ◽  
...  

The barrier function of the esophageal epithelium is a major defense against gastroesophageal reflux disease. Previous studies have shown that reflux damage is reflected in a decrease in transepithelial electrical resistance associated with tight junction alterations in the esophageal epithelium. To develop novel therapies, it is critical to understand the molecular mechanisms whereby contact with a refluxate impairs esophageal barrier function. In this study, surgical models of duodenal and mixed reflux were developed in mice. Mouse esophageal epithelium was analyzed by gene microarray. Gene set enrichment analysis showed upregulation of inflammation-related gene sets and the NF-κB pathway due to reflux. Significance analysis of microarrays revealed upregulation of NF-κB target genes. Overexpression of NF-κB subunits (p50 and p65) and NF-κB target genes (matrix metalloproteinases-3 and -9, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8) confirmed activation of the NF-κB pathway in the esophageal epithelium. In addition, real-time PCR, Western blotting, and immunohistochemical staining also showed downregulation and mislocalization of claudins-1 and -4. In a second animal experiment, treatment with an NF-κB inhibitor, BAY 11-7085 (20 mg·kg−1·day−1 ip for 10 days), counteracted the effects of duodenal and mixed reflux on epithelial resistance and NF-κB-regulated cytokines. We conclude that gastroesophageal reflux activates the NF-κB pathway and impairs esophageal barrier function in mice and that targeting the NF-κB pathway may strengthen esophageal barrier function against reflux.

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 1580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyoung Min Moon ◽  
Kyueng-Whan Min ◽  
Mi-Hye Kim ◽  
Dong-Hoon Kim ◽  
Byoung Kwan Son ◽  
...  

Ninety percent of patients with scrub typhus (SC) with vasculitis-like syndrome recover after mild symptoms; however, 10% can suffer serious complications, such as acute respiratory failure (ARF) and admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). Predictors for the progression of SC have not yet been established, and conventional scoring systems for ICU patients are insufficient to predict severity. We aimed to identify simple and robust indicators to predict aggressive behaviors of SC. We evaluated 91 patients with SC and 81 non-SC patients who were admitted to the ICU, and 32 cases from the public functional genomics data repository for gene expression analysis. We analyzed the relationships between several predictors and clinicopathological characteristics in patients with SC. We performed gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) to identify SC-specific gene sets. The acid-base imbalance (ABI), measured 24 h before serious complications, was higher in patients with SC than in non-SC patients. A high ABI was associated with an increased incidence of ARF, leading to mechanical ventilation and worse survival. GSEA revealed that SC correlated to gene sets reflecting inflammation/apoptotic response and airway inflammation. ABI can be used to indicate ARF in patients with SC and assist with early detection.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Fang ◽  
Brian Richardson ◽  
Cheryl M. Cameron ◽  
Jean-Eudes Dazard ◽  
Mark J. Cameron

Abstract Background In this study, we demonstrate that our modified Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) method, drug perturbation GSEA (dpGSEA), can detect phenotypically relevant drug targets through a unique transcriptomic enrichment that emphasizes biological directionality of drug-derived gene sets. Results We detail our dpGSEA method and show its effectiveness in detecting specific perturbation of drugs in independent public datasets by confirming fluvastatin, paclitaxel, and rosiglitazone perturbation in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumor cells. In drug discovery experiments, we found that dpGSEA was able to detect phenotypically relevant drug targets in previously published differentially expressed genes of CD4+T regulatory cells from immune responders and non-responders to antiviral therapy in HIV-infected individuals, such as those involved with virion replication, cell cycle dysfunction, and mitochondrial dysfunction. dpGSEA is publicly available at https://github.com/sxf296/drug_targeting. Conclusions dpGSEA is an approach that uniquely enriches on drug-defined gene sets while considering directionality of gene modulation. We recommend dpGSEA as an exploratory tool to screen for possible drug targeting molecules.


Author(s):  
Konstantina Charmpi ◽  
Bernard Ycart

AbstractGene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) is a basic tool for genomic data treatment. Its test statistic is based on a cumulated weight function, and its distribution under the null hypothesis is evaluated by Monte-Carlo simulation. Here, it is proposed to subtract to the cumulated weight function its asymptotic expectation, then scale it. Under the null hypothesis, the convergence in distribution of the new test statistic is proved, using the theory of empirical processes. The limiting distribution needs to be computed only once, and can then be used for many different gene sets. This results in large savings in computing time. The test defined in this way has been called Weighted Kolmogorov Smirnov (WKS) test. Using expression data from the GEO repository, tested against the MSig Database C2, a comparison between the classical GSEA test and the new procedure has been conducted. Our conclusion is that, beyond its mathematical and algorithmic advantages, the WKS test could be more informative in many cases, than the classical GSEA test.


2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (2_suppl) ◽  
pp. 298-298
Author(s):  
Kathryn M Wilson ◽  
Travis Gerke ◽  
Ericka Ebot ◽  
Jennifer A Sinnott ◽  
Jennifer R. Rider ◽  
...  

298 Background: We previously found that vasectomy was associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer, and particularly, risk of lethal prostate cancer in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS). However, the possible biological basis for this finding is unclear. In this study, we explored possible biological mechanisms by assessing differences in gene expression in the prostate tissue of men with and without a history of vasectomy prostate cancer diagnosis. Methods: Within the HPFS, vasectomy data and gene expression data (20,254 genes) was available from archival tumor tissue from 263 cases, 124 of whom also had data for adjacent normal tissue. To relate expression of individual genes to vasectomy we used linear regression adjusting for age and year at diagnosis. We ran gene set enrichment analysis to identify pathways of genes associated with vasectomy. Results: Among 263 cases, 67 (25%) reported a vasectomy prior to cancer diagnosis. Mean age at diagnosis was 66 years among men without and 65 years among men with vasectomy. Median time between vasectomy and prostate cancer diagnosis was 25 years. Gene expression in tumor tissue was not associated with vasectomy status. In adjacent normal tissue, three individual genes were associated with vasectomy with Bonferroni-corrected p-values of < 0.10: RAPGEF6, OR4C3, and SLC35F4. Gene set enrichment analysis found five pathways upregulated and seven pathways downregulated in men with vasectomy compared to those without in normal prostate tissue with a FDR < 0.05. Upregulated pathways included several immune-related gene sets and G-protein-coupled receptor gene sets. Conclusions: We identified significant differences in gene expression profiles in normal prostate tissue according to vasectomy status among men treated for prostate cancer. The fact that such differences existed several decades after vasectomy provides support for the idea that vasectomy may play a role in the etiology of prostate cancer.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rani K. Powers ◽  
Anthony Sun ◽  
James C. Costello

AbstractSummaryGSEA-InContext Explorer is a Shiny app that allows users to perform two methods of gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). The first, GSEAPreranked, applies the GSEA algorithm in which statistical significance is estimated from a null distribution of enrichment scores generated for randomly permuted gene sets. The second, GSEA-InContext, incorporates a user-defined set of background experiments to define the null distribution and calculate statistical significance. GSEA-InContext Explorer allows the user to build custom background sets from a compendium of over 5,700 curated experiments, run both GSEAPreranked and GSEA-InContext on their own uploaded experiment, and explore the results using an interactive interface. This tool will allow researchers to visualize gene sets that are commonly enriched across experiments and identify gene sets that are uniquely significant in their experiment, thus complementing current methods for interpreting gene set enrichment results.Availability and implementationThe code for GSEA-InContext Explorer is available at: https://github.com/CostelloLab/GSEA-InContext_Explorer and the interactive tool is at: http://gsea-incontext_explorer.ngrok.io


Author(s):  
Ishtiaque Ahammad

Cocaine addiction is a global health problem that causes substantial damage to the health of addicted individuals around the world. Dopamine synthesizing neurons in the brain play a vital role in the addiction to cocaine. But the underlying molecular mechanisms that help cocaine exert its addictive effect have not been very well understood. Bioinformatics can be a useful tool in the attempt to broaden our understanding in this area. In the present study, Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was carried out on the upregulated genes from a dataset of Dopamine synthesizing neurons of post-mortem human brain of cocaine addicts. As a result of this analysis, 3 miRNAs have been identified as having significant influence on transcription of the upregulated genes. These 3 miRNAs hold therapeutic potential for the treatment of cocaine addiction.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaomei Lei ◽  
Zhijun Feng ◽  
Xiaojun Wang ◽  
Xiaodong He

Abstract Background. Exploring alterations in the host transcriptome following SARS-CoV-2 infection is not only highly warranted to help us understand molecular mechanisms of the disease, but also provide new prospective for screening effective antiviral drugs, finding new therapeutic targets, and evaluating the risk of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) early.Methods. We downloaded three gene expression matrix files from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, and extracted the gene expression data of the SARS-CoV-2 infection and non-infection in human samples and different cell line samples, and then performed gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), respectively. Thereafter, we integrated the results of GSEA and obtained co-enriched gene sets and co-core genes in three various microarray data. Finally, we also constructed a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and molecular modules for co-core genes and performed Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis for the genes from modules to clarify their possible biological processes and underlying signaling pathway. Results. A total of 11 co-enriched gene sets were identified from the three various microarray data. Among them, 10 gene sets were activated, and involved in immune response and inflammatory reaction. 1 gene set was suppressed, and participated in cell cycle. The analysis of molecular modules showed that 2 modules might play a vital role in the pathogenic process of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The KEGG enrichment analysis showed that genes from module one enriched in signaling pathways related to inflammation, but genes from module two enriched in signaling of cell cycle and DNA replication. Particularly, necroptosis signaling, a newly identified type of programmed cell death that differed from apoptosis, was also determined in our findings. Additionally, for patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection, genes from module one showed a relatively high-level expression while genes from module two showed low-level. Conclusions. We identified two molecular modules were used to assess severity and predict the prognosis of the patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. In addition, these results provide a unique opportunity to explore more molecular pathways as new potential targets on therapy in COVID 19.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
L Hille ◽  
T.G Nuehrenberg ◽  
L Hein ◽  
F.J Neumann ◽  
D Trenk

Abstract Background The youngest circulating platelets – so called reticulated platelets (RP) – represent a highly prothrombotic platelet subpopulation. Previous studies showed that patients with chronic coronary syndrome (CCS) as well as patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) have higher amounts of RP compared to healthy subjects. It has been suggested that intrinsic properties of RP impact on cardiovascular risk. However, it is unknown if transcriptomic alterations contribute to the prothrombotic properties of RP. Purpose This study sought to investigate differences in the transcriptomic landscape of sorted RP versus non-RP, i.e. young and old platelets, in healthy subjects, CCS- and STEMI-patients. Methods Blood samples were obtained from healthy subjects as well as from patients with CCS/STEMI (n=8 each) the day after PCI. After staining with SYTO 13, platelets from each donor were sorted into a RP and a non-RP fraction based on their RNA-content. Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) was applied to generate sequencing reads for sorted RP and non-RP from the 3 cohorts. Data was analyzed by use of the Freiburg bioinformatics platform “Galaxy”. Results Investigation of transcriptomic alterations in non-RP versus RP by differential gene expression analysis revealed a total number of 2,476 transcripts that were differentially expressed in platelets from healthy donors, 2,075 in CCS-patients and 1,852 in STEMI patients, respectively (adj. p&lt;0.05 in all analyses). Comparison of these transcripts revealed a large overlap of 500 mRNAs which were downregulated and 660 mRNAs which were upregulated in RP in all 3 cohorts. However, there are also distinct groups of transcripts that are differentially expressed in only one of the 3 cohorts. Gene ontology (GO)-analysis of the 500 uniformly enriched transcripts in RP yielded 38 overrepresented GO-terms. A large group was related to cytoskeleton and shape change. Furthermore, GO-terms associated to the platelet activation cascade were overrepresented. Upregulated transcripts included well-known examples like GP6 and GP9, P-selectin, integrin β3, integrin a-IIb, and tubulin α4a. GO-analysis of enriched transcripts in non-RP showed a large group associated to mitosis and cell nucleus/DNA which is surprising since platelets neither contain DNA nor a nucleus. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) determined higher normalized enrichment scores for several gene sets associated to platelet degranulation, aggregation and activation in the STEMI-cohort. Gene sets affecting cell adhesion and platelet calcium homeostasis were overexpressed in particular in CCS-patients. Conclusion NGS-results indicate a highly prothrombotic transcriptome of RP from each cohort with high amounts of differentially expressed transcripts overlapping. However, GSEA identified gene sets that are particularly overexpressed in CCS- or STEMI-patients which might contribute to platelet hyperreactivity in these cohorts. Gene set enrichment analysis Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): PharmCompNet Baden-Wuerttemberg: Kompetenznetzwerk Pharmakologie Baden-Wuerttemberg - Wirkstoffnetzwerke als Grundlagen der individualisierten Arzneistofftherapie


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Akane Yoshikawa ◽  
Itaru Kushima ◽  
Mitsuhiro Miyashita ◽  
Kazuya Toriumi ◽  
Kazuhiro Suzuki ◽  
...  

AbstractPreviously, we identified a subpopulation of schizophrenia (SCZ) showing increased levels of plasma pentosidine, a marker of glycation and oxidative stress. However, its causative genetic factors remain largely unknown. Recently, it has been suggested that dysregulated posttranslational modification by copy number variable microRNAs (CNV-miRNAs) may contribute to the etiology of SCZ. Here, an integrative genome-wide CNV-miRNA analysis was performed to investigate the etiology of SCZ with accumulated plasma pentosidine (PEN-SCZ). The number of CNV-miRNAs and the gene ontology (GO) in the context of miRNAs within CNVs were compared between PEN-SCZ and non-PEN-SCZ groups. Gene set enrichment analysis of miRNA target genes was further performed to evaluate the pathways affected in PEN-SCZ. We show that miRNAs were significantly enriched within CNVs in the PEN-SCZ versus non-PEN-SCZ groups (p = 0.032). Of note, as per GO analysis, the dysregulated neurodevelopmental events in the two groups may have different origins. Additionally, gene set enrichment analysis of miRNA target genes revealed that miRNAs involved in glycation/oxidative stress and synaptic neurotransmission, especially glutamate/GABA receptor signaling, were possibly affected in PEN-SCZ. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first genome-wide CNV-miRNA study suggesting the role of CNV-miRNAs in the etiology of PEN-SCZ, through effects on genes related to glycation/oxidative stress and synaptic function. Our findings provide supportive evidence that glycation/oxidative stress possibly caused by genetic defects related to the posttranscriptional modification may lead to synaptic dysfunction. Therefore, targeting miRNAs may be one of the promising approaches for the treatment of PEN-SCZ.


2013 ◽  
pp. 570-585
Author(s):  
Jian Yu ◽  
Jun Wu ◽  
Miaoxin Li ◽  
Yajun Yi ◽  
Yu Shyr ◽  
...  

Integrative analysis of microarray data has been proven as a more reliable approach to deciphering molecular mechanisms underlying biological studies. Traditional integration such as meta-analysis is usually gene-centered. Recently, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) has been widely applied to bring gene-level interpretation to pathway-level. GSEA is an algorithm focusing on whether an a priori defined set of genes shows statistically significant differences between two biological states. However, GSEA does not support integrating multiple microarray datasets generated from different studies. To overcome this, the improved version of GSEA, ASSESS, is more applicable, after necessary modifications. By making proper combined use of meta-analysis, GSEA, and modified ASSESS, this chapter reports two workflow pipelines to extract consistent expression pattern change at pathway-level, from multiple microarray datasets generated by the same or different microarray production platforms, respectively. Such strategies amplify the advantage and overcome the disadvantage than if using each method individually, and may achieve a more comprehensive interpretation towards a biological theme based on an increased sample size. With further network analysis, it may also allow an overview of cross-talking pathways based on statistical integration of multiple gene expression studies. A web server where one of the pipelines is implemented is available at: http://lifecenter.sgst.cn/mgsea//home.htm.


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