Abstract 312: Transcriptional and Posttranscriptional Circuitry in the Brain After Transient and Permanent Ischemia

2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatiha Tabet ◽  
Sandy Lee ◽  
Luisa F Cuesta Torres ◽  
Michael G Levin ◽  
Grant R Drummond ◽  
...  

Background: Stroke is a major neurovascular disease and a leading cause of mortality and long-term disability. Within cells of the brain, short non-encoding microRNAs (miRNAs) serve to modulate gene expression and likely contribute to most, neurological processes. However, miRNA changes in the brain tissue in response to stroke have not been reported. Aim: To investigate the functional roles of brain miRNAs and gene regulatory networks in stroke injury. Methods: Adult (8-12 weeks old) male C57Bl/6 mice underwent intraluminal filament-induced middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion. Permanent ischemia (ischemia no reperfusion, InoR; n=8) was achieved by occlusion for 24 h, and ischemia with reperfusion (IR; n=8) was completed after 30 min of MCA followed by 23.5 h of reperfusion. Sham-operated mice (n=8) were used as controls. Total RNA was isolated from mouse brains and gene arrays (Affymetrix) and miRNA arrays (TaqMan OpenArray microRNA) were performed. Validation studies were performed using RT-PCR and TaqMan Individual Assays. Results: Relative to the sham-operated mice, InoR significantly altered (p≤0.05; fold-change≥1.5) the levels of 471 genes (mRNA) in the brain. By contrast, IR resulted in only 114 significant changes in gene expression after 24 h. Brain miRNAs were also very sensitive to both ischemia and reperfusion. 28 miRNAs (11 down, 17 up) were significantly altered by InoR compared to the sham procedure. Likewise, 12 miRNAs (3 down, 9 up) were significantly altered with reperfusion compared to the sham procedure. Interestingly, we found 10 miRNAs to be significantly altered (5 up, 5 down) with ischemia (InoR/Sham), but were also significantly corrected towards normal Sham levels by 23.5 h reperfusion (IR/InoR). Validation studies confirmed that levels of multiple miRNAs were significantly altered with InoR. Reperfusion increased the levels of all these miRNAs. 48% (327/680) of the mRNAs that were altered were predicted targets of significantly altered miRNAs, and our results showed inverse directional changes. Conclusion: Results from our study show the role of miRNAs and post-transcriptional circuits in both adaptive and maladaptive responses to ischemic stroke and reperfusion.

2004 ◽  
pp. 406-412
Author(s):  
Paul Okunieff ◽  
Michael C. Schell ◽  
Russell Ruo ◽  
E. Ronald Hale ◽  
Walter G. O'Dell ◽  
...  

✓ The role of radiosurgery in the treatment of patients with advanced-stage metastatic disease is currently under debate. Previous randomized studies have not consistently supported the use of radiosurgery to treat patients with numbers of brain metastases. In negative-results studies, however, intracranial tumor control was high but extracranial disease progressed; thus, patient survival was not greatly affected, although neurocognitive function was generally maintained until death. Because the future promises improved systemic (extracranial) therapy, the successful control of brain disease is that much more crucial. Thus, for selected patients with multiple metastases to the brain who remain in good neurological condition, aggressive lesion-targeting radiosurgery should be very useful. Although a major limitation to success of this therapy is the lack of control of extracranial disease in most patients, it is clear that well-designed, aggressive treatment substantially decreases the progression of brain metastases and also improves neurocognitive survival. The authors present the management and a methodology for rational treatment of a patient with breast cancer who has harbored 24 brain metastases during a 3-year period.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavel V. Mazin ◽  
Philipp Khaitovich ◽  
Margarida Cardoso-Moreira ◽  
Henrik Kaessmann

AbstractAlternative splicing (AS) is pervasive in mammalian genomes, yet cross-species comparisons have been largely restricted to adult tissues and the functionality of most AS events remains unclear. We assessed AS patterns across pre- and postnatal development of seven organs in six mammals and a bird. Our analyses revealed that developmentally dynamic AS events, which are especially prevalent in the brain, are substantially more conserved than nondynamic ones. Cassette exons with increasing inclusion frequencies during development show the strongest signals of conserved and regulated AS. Newly emerged cassette exons are typically incorporated late in testis development, but those retained during evolution are predominantly brain specific. Our work suggests that an intricate interplay of programs controlling gene expression levels and AS is fundamental to organ development, especially for the brain and heart. In these regulatory networks, AS affords substantial functional diversification of genes through the generation of tissue- and time-specific isoforms from broadly expressed genes.


Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 767
Author(s):  
Courtney Davis ◽  
Sean I. Savitz ◽  
Nikunj Satani

Ischemic stroke is a debilitating disease and one of the leading causes of long-term disability. During the early phase after ischemic stroke, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) exhibits increased permeability and disruption, leading to an influx of immune cells and inflammatory molecules that exacerbate the damage to the brain tissue. Mesenchymal stem cells have been investigated as a promising therapy to improve the recovery after ischemic stroke. The therapeutic effects imparted by MSCs are mostly paracrine. Recently, the role of extracellular vesicles released by these MSCs have been studied as possible carriers of information to the brain. This review focuses on the potential of MSC derived EVs to repair the components of the neurovascular unit (NVU) controlling the BBB, in order to promote overall recovery from stroke. Here, we review the techniques for increasing the effectiveness of MSC-based therapeutics, such as improved homing capabilities, bioengineering protein expression, modified culture conditions, and customizing the contents of EVs. Combining multiple techniques targeting NVU repair may provide the basis for improved future stroke treatment paradigms.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 767-768
Author(s):  
Vijay Varma ◽  
Youjin Wang ◽  
Yang An ◽  
Sudhir Varma ◽  
Murat Bilgel ◽  
...  

Abstract While Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) may be accelerated by hypercholesterolemia, the mechanisms underlying this association is unclear. Using a novel, 3-step study design we examined the role of cholesterol catabolism in dementia by testing whether 1) the synthesis of the primary cholesterol breakdown products (bile acids (BA)) were associated with neuroimaging markers of dementia; 2) pharmacological modulation of BAs alters dementia risk; and 3) brain BA concentrations and gene expression were associated with AD. We found that higher serum concentrations of BAs are associated with lower brain amyloid deposition, slower WML accumulation, and slower brain atrophy in males. Opposite effects were observed in females. Modulation of BA levels alters risk of incident VaD in males. Altered brain BA signaling at the metabolite and gene expression levels occurs in AD. Dysregulation of peripheral cholesterol catabolism and BA synthesis may impact dementia pathogenesis through signaling pathways in the brain.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mika J. Välimäki ◽  
Robert S. Leigh ◽  
Sini M. Kinnunen ◽  
Alexander R. March ◽  
Ana Hernández de Sande ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundPharmacological modulation of cell fate decisions and developmental gene regulatory networks holds promise for the treatment of heart failure. Compounds that target tissue-specific transcription factors could overcome non-specific effects of small molecules and lead to the regeneration of heart muscle following myocardial infarction. Due to cellular heterogeneity in the heart, the activation of gene programs representing specific atrial and ventricular cardiomyocyte subtypes would be highly desirable. Chemical compounds that modulate atrial and ventricular cell fate could be used to improve subtype-specific differentiation of endogenous or exogenously delivered progenitor cells in order to promote cardiac regeneration.MethodsTranscription factor GATA4-targeted compounds that have previously shown in vivo efficacy in cardiac injury models were tested for stage-specific activation of atrial and ventricular reporter genes in differentiating pluripotent stem cells using a dual reporter assay. Chemically induced gene expression changes were characterized by qRT-PCR, global run-on sequencing (GRO-seq) and immunoblotting, and the network of cooperative proteins of GATA4 and NKX2-5 were further explored by the examination of the GATA4 and NKX2-5 interactome by BioID. Reporter gene assays were conducted to examine combinatorial effects of GATA-targeted compounds and bromodomain and extraterminal domain (BET) inhibition on chamber-specific gene expression.ResultsGATA4-targeted compounds 3i-1000 and 3i-1103 were identified as differential modulators of atrial and ventricular gene expression. More detailed structure-function analysis revealed a distinct subclass of GATA4/NKX2-5 inhibitory compounds with an acetyl lysine-like domain that contributed to ventricular cells (%Myl2-eGFP+). Additionally, BioID analysis indicated broad interaction between GATA4 and BET family of proteins, such as BRD4. This indicated the involvement of epigenetic modulators in the regulation of GATA-dependent transcription. In this line, reporter gene assays with combinatorial treatment of 3i-1000 and the BET bromodomain inhibitor (+)-JQ1 demonstrated the cooperative role of GATA4 and BRD4 in the modulation of chamber-specific cardiac gene expression.ConclusionsCollectively, these results indicate the potential for therapeutic alteration of cell fate decisions and pathological gene regulatory networks by GATA4-targeted compounds modulating chamber-specific transcriptional programs in multipotent cardiac progenitor cells and cardiomyocytes. The compound scaffolds described within this study could be used to develop regenerative strategies for myocardial regeneration.


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