scholarly journals RNA-Seq Data-Mining Allows the Discovery of Two Long Non-Coding RNA Biomarkers of Viral Infection in Humans

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 2748 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Barral-Arca ◽  
Alberto Gómez-Carballa ◽  
Miriam Cebey-López ◽  
María José Currás-Tuala ◽  
Sara Pischedda ◽  
...  

There is a growing interest in unraveling gene expression mechanisms leading to viral host invasion and infection progression. Current findings reveal that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are implicated in the regulation of the immune system by influencing gene expression through a wide range of mechanisms. By mining whole-transcriptome shotgun sequencing (RNA-seq) data using machine learning approaches, we detected two lncRNAs (ENSG00000254680 and ENSG00000273149) that are downregulated in a wide range of viral infections and different cell types, including blood monocluclear cells, umbilical vein endothelial cells, and dermal fibroblasts. The efficiency of these two lncRNAs was positively validated in different viral phenotypic scenarios. These two lncRNAs showed a strong downregulation in virus-infected patients when compared to healthy control transcriptomes, indicating that these biomarkers are promising targets for infection diagnosis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the very first study using host lncRNAs biomarkers for the diagnosis of human viral infections.

Author(s):  
D.J.P. Ferguson ◽  
A.R. Berendt ◽  
J. Tansey ◽  
K. Marsh ◽  
C.I. Newbold

In human malaria, the most serious clinical manifestation is cerebral malaria (CM) due to infection with Plasmodium falciparum. The pathology of CM is thought to relate to the fact that red blood cells containing mature forms of the parasite (PRBC) cytoadhere or sequester to post capillary venules of various tissues including the brain. This in vivo phenomenon has been studied in vitro by examining the cytoadherence of PRBCs to various cell types and purified proteins. To date, three Ijiost receptor molecules have been identified; CD36, ICAM-1 and thrombospondin. The specific changes in the PRBC membrane which mediate cytoadherence are less well understood, but they include the sub-membranous deposition of electron-dense material resulting in surface deformations called knobs. Knobs were thought to be essential for cytoadherence, lput recent work has shown that certain knob-negative (K-) lines can cytoadhere. In the present study, we have used electron microscopy to re-examine the interactions between K+ PRBCs and both C32 amelanotic melanoma cells and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC).We confirm previous data demonstrating that C32 cells possess numerous microvilli which adhere to the PRBC, mainly via the knobs (Fig. 1). In contrast, the HUVEC were relatively smooth and the PRBCs appeared partially flattened onto the cell surface (Fig. 2). Furthermore, many of the PRBCs exhibited an invagination of the limiting membrane in the attachment zone, often containing a cytoplasmic process from the endothelial cell (Fig. 2).


1987 ◽  
Author(s):  
K T Preissner ◽  
E Anders ◽  
G Müller-Berghaus

The interaction of the complement inhibitor S protein, which is identical to the serum spreading factor, vitronectin, with cultured human endothelial cells of macro- and microvas- cular origin was investigated. Purified S protein, coated for 2 h on polystyrene petri dishes, induced concentration- and time-dependent attachment and spreading of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) as well as human omental tissqe microvasular endothelial cells (HOTMEC) at 37°C. With 3 × 105 cells/ml (final concentration) more than 50% of the cells attached within 2 h incubation at 0.3 - 3 μg/ml S protein. The effect of S protein was specific, since only monospecific antibodies against S protein prevented attachment of cells, while antibodies against fibronectin, fibrinogen or von Wille-brand factor were uneffective. The pentapeptide Gly-Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser, which contains the cell-attachment site of these adhesive proteins including S protein, inhibited the activity of S protein to promote attachment of endothelial cells in a concentration-dependent fashion; at 200 μM peptide, less than 10% of the cells became attached. Direct binding of S protein to HUVEC and HOTMEC was studied with cells in suspension at a concentration of 1 × 106 cells/ml in the presence of 1% (w/v) human serum albumin and 1 mM CaCl2 and was maximal after 120 min. Both cell types bound S protein in a concentration-dependent fashion with an estimated dissociation constant KD=0.2pM. More than 80% of bound radiolabelled S protein was displaced by unlabelled S protein, whereas binding was reduced to about 50% by the addition in excess of either fibronectin, fibrinogen, von Willebrand factor or the pentapeptide. These findings provide evidence for the specific association of S protein with endothelial cells, ultimately leading to attachment and spreading of cells. Although the promotion of attachment was highly specific for S protein, other adhesive proteins than S protein, also known to associate with endothelial cells, may in part compete with direct S protein binding.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Alvarez ◽  
Elior Rahmani ◽  
Brandon Jew ◽  
Kristina M. Garske ◽  
Zong Miao ◽  
...  

AbstractSingle-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) measures gene expression in individual nuclei instead of cells, allowing for unbiased cell type characterization in solid tissues. Contrary to single-cell RNA seq (scRNA-seq), we observe that snRNA-seq is commonly subject to contamination by high amounts of extranuclear background RNA, which can lead to identification of spurious cell types in downstream clustering analyses if overlooked. We present a novel approach to remove debris-contaminated droplets in snRNA-seq experiments, called Debris Identification using Expectation Maximization (DIEM). Our likelihood-based approach models the gene expression distribution of debris and cell types, which are estimated using EM. We evaluated DIEM using three snRNA-seq data sets: 1) human differentiating preadipocytes in vitro, 2) fresh mouse brain tissue, and 3) human frozen adipose tissue (AT) from six individuals. All three data sets showed various degrees of extranuclear RNA contamination. We observed that existing methods fail to account for contaminated droplets and led to spurious cell types. When compared to filtering using these state of the art methods, DIEM better removed droplets containing high levels of extranuclear RNA and led to higher quality clusters. Although DIEM was designed for snRNA-seq data, we also successfully applied DIEM to single-cell data. To conclude, our novel method DIEM removes debris-contaminated droplets from single-cell-based data fast and effectively, leading to cleaner downstream analysis. Our code is freely available for use at https://github.com/marcalva/diem.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
SK Reilly ◽  
SJ Gosai ◽  
A Gutierrez ◽  
JC Ulirsch ◽  
M Kanai ◽  
...  

AbstractCRISPR screens for cis-regulatory elements (CREs) have shown unprecedented power to endogenously characterize the non-coding genome. To characterize CREs we developed HCR-FlowFISH (Hybridization Chain Reaction Fluorescent In-Situ Hybridization coupled with Flow Cytometry), which directly quantifies native transcripts within their endogenous loci following CRISPR perturbations of regulatory elements, eliminating the need for restrictive phenotypic assays such as growth or transcript-tagging. HCR-FlowFISH accurately quantifies gene expression across a wide range of transcript levels and cell types. We also developed CASA (CRISPR Activity Screen Analysis), a hierarchical Bayesian model to identify and quantify CRE activity. Using >270,000 perturbations, we identified CREs for GATA1, HDAC6, ERP29, LMO2, MEF2C, CD164, NMU, FEN1 and the FADS gene cluster. Our methods detect subtle gene expression changes and identify CREs regulating multiple genes, sometimes at different magnitudes and directions. We demonstrate the power of HCR-FlowFISH to parse genome-wide association signals by nominating causal variants and target genes.


Reproduction ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 141 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle L Mujoomdar ◽  
Laura M Hogan ◽  
Albert F Parlow ◽  
Mark W Nachtigal

Bioactivation of precursor proteins by members of the proprotein convertase (PC) family is essential for normal reproduction. ThePcsk6gene is a member of the PC family that is expressed in numerous ovarian cell types including granulosa cells and oocytes. We hypothesized that loss of PCSK6 would produce adverse effects in the mouse ovary. Mice incapable of expressing PCSK6 (Pcsk6tm1Rob) were obtained, and reproductive parameters (serum hormones, whelping interval, estrus cyclicity, and fertility) were compared toPcsk6+/+mice. WhilePcsk6tm1Robfemale mice are fertile, they manifest reduced reproductive capacity at an accelerated rate relative toPcsk6+/+mice. Reproductive senescence is typically reached by 9 months of age and is correlated with loss of estrus cyclicity, elevated serum FSH levels, and gross alterations in ovarian morphology. A wide range of ovarian morphologies were identified encompassing mild, such as an apparent reduction in follicle number, to moderate – ovarian atrophy with a complete absence of follicles – to severe, manifesting as normal ovarian structures replaced by benign ovarian tumors, including tubulostromal adenomas. Targeted gene expression profiling highlighted changes in RNA expression of molecules involved in processes such as steroidogenesis, gonadotropin signaling, transcriptional regulation, autocrine/paracrine signaling, cholesterol handling, and proprotein bioactivation. These results show that PCSK6 activity plays a role in maintaining normal cellular and tissue homeostasis in the ovary.


2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (21) ◽  
pp. 11822-11832 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajas V. Warke ◽  
Kris Xhaja ◽  
Katherine J. Martin ◽  
Marcia F. Fournier ◽  
Sunil K. Shaw ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Endothelial cells are permissive to dengue virus (DV) infection in vitro, although their importance as targets of DV infection in vivo remains a subject of debate. To analyze the virus-host interaction, we studied the effect of DV infection on gene expression in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) by using differential display reverse transcription-PCR (DD-RTPCR), quantitative RT-PCR, and Affymetrix oligonucleotide microarrays. DD identified eight differentially expressed cDNAs, including inhibitor of apoptosis-1, 2′-5′ oligoadenylate synthetase (OAS), a 2′-5′ OAS-like (OASL) gene, galectin-9, myxovirus protein A (MxA), regulator of G-protein signaling, endothelial and smooth muscle cell-derived neuropilin-like protein, and phospholipid scramblase 1. Microarray analysis of 22,000 human genes confirmed these findings and identified an additional 269 genes that were induced and 126 that were repressed more than fourfold after DV infection. Broad functional responses that were activated included the stress, defense, immune, cell adhesion, wounding, inflammatory, and antiviral pathways. These changes in gene expression were seen after infection of HUVECs with either laboratory-adapted virus or with virus isolated directly from plasma of DV-infected patients. Tumor necrosis factor alpha, OASL, and MxA and h-IAP1 genes were induced within the first 8 to 12 h after infection, suggesting a direct effect of DV infection. These global analyses of DV effects on cellular gene expression identify potentially novel mechanisms involved in dengue disease manifestations such as hemostatic disturbance.


2002 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 369-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Makarand V. Risbud ◽  
Erdal Karamuk ◽  
René Moser ◽  
Joerg Mayer

Three-dimensional (3-D) scaffolds offer an exciting possibility to develop cocultures of various cell types. Here we report chitosan–collagen hydrogel-coated fabric scaffolds with defined mesh size and fiber diameter for 3-D culture of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). These scaffolds did not require pre-coating with fibronectin and they supported proper HUVEC attachment and growth. Scaffolds preserved endothelial cell-specific cobblestone morphology and cells were growing in compartments defined by the textile mesh. HUVECs on the scaffold maintained the property of contact inhibition and did not exhibit overgrowth until the end of in vitro culture (day 6). MTT assay showed that cells had preserved mitochondrial functionality. It was also noted that cell number on the chitosan-coated scaffold was lower than that of collagen-coated scaffolds. Calcein AM and ethidium homodimer (EtD-1) dual staining demonstrated presence of viable and metabolically active cells, indicating growth supportive properties of the scaffolds. Actin labeling revealed absence of actin stress fibers and uniform distribution of F-actin in the cells, indicating their proper attachment to the scaffold matrix. Confocal microscopic studies showed that HUVECs growing on the scaffold had preserved functionality as seen by expression of von Willebrand (vW) factor. Observations also revealed that functional HUVECs were growing at various depths in the hydrogel matrix, thus demonstrating the potential of these scaffolds to support 3-D growth of cells. We foresee the application of this scaffold system in the design of liver bioreactors wherein hepatocytes could be cocultured in parallel with endothelial cells to enhance and preserve liver-specific functions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikhail Pomaznoy ◽  
Ashu Sethi ◽  
Jason Greenbaum ◽  
Bjoern Peters

Abstract RNA-seq methods are widely utilized for transcriptomic profiling of biological samples. However, there are known caveats of this technology which can skew the gene expression estimates. Specifically, if the library preparation protocol does not retain RNA strand information then some genes can be erroneously quantitated. Although strand-specific protocols have been established, a significant portion of RNA-seq data is generated in non-strand-specific manner. We used a comprehensive stranded RNA-seq dataset of 15 blood cell types to identify genes for which expression would be erroneously estimated if strand information was not available. We found that about 10% of all genes and 2.5% of protein coding genes have a two-fold or higher difference in estimated expression when strand information of the reads was ignored. We used parameters of read alignments of these genes to construct a machine learning model that can identify which genes in an unstranded dataset might have incorrect expression estimates and which ones do not. We also show that differential expression analysis of genes with biased expression estimates in unstranded read data can be recovered by limiting the reads considered to those which span exonic boundaries. The resulting approach is implemented as a package available at https://github.com/mikpom/uslcount.


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