技术资料

Metabolic labeling with stable isotopes is a prominent technique for comparative quantitative proteomics,and stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) is the most commonly used approach. SILAC is,however,traditionally limited to simple tissue culture regimens and only rarely employed in the context of complex culturing conditions as those required for human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Classic hESC culture is based on the use of mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) as a feeder layer,and as a result,possible xenogeneic contamination,contribution of unlabeled amino acids by the feeders,interlaboratory variability of MEF preparation,and the overall complexity of the culture system are all of concern in conjunction with SILAC. We demonstrate a feeder-free SILAC culture system based on a customized version of a commonly used,chemically defined hESC medium developed by Ludwig et al. and commercially available as mTeSR1 [mTeSR1 is a trade mark of WiCell (Madison,WI) licensed to STEMCELL Technologies (Vancouver,Canada)]. This medium,together with adjustments to the culturing protocol,facilitates reproducible labeling that is easily scalable to the protein amounts required by proteomic work flows. It greatly enhances the usability of quantitative proteomics as a tool for the study of mechanisms underlying hESCs differentiation and self-renewal. Associated data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange with the identifier PXD000151. View Publication

PURPOSE FK506-binding protein like (FKBPL) and its peptide derivative,AD-01,have already shown tumor growth inhibition and CD44-dependent antiangiogenic activity. Here,we explore the ability of AD-01 to target CD44-positive breast cancer stem cells (BCSC). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Mammosphere assays and flow cytometry were used to analyze the effect of FKBPL overexpression/knockdown and AD-01 treatment ± other anticancer agents on BCSCs using breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7/MDA-231/ZR-75),primary patient samples,and xenografts. Delays in tumor initiation were evaluated in vivo. The anti-stem cell mechanisms were determined using clonogenic assays,quantitative PCR (qPCR),and immunofluorescence. RESULTS AD-01 treatment was highly effective at inhibiting the BCSC population by reducing mammosphere-forming efficiency and ESA(+)/CD44(+)/CD24(-) or aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH)(+) cell subpopulations in vitro and tumor initiation in vivo. The ability of AD-01 to inhibit the self-renewal capacity of BCSCs was confirmed; mammospheres were completely eradicated by the third generation. The mechanism seems to be due to AD-01-mediated BCSC differentiation shown by a significant decrease in the number of holoclones and an associated increase in meroclones/paraclones; the stem cell markers,Nanog,Oct4,and Sox2,were also significantly reduced. Furthermore,we showed additive inhibitory effects when AD-01 was combined with the Notch inhibitor,DAPT. AD-01 was also able to abrogate a chemo- and radiotherapy-induced enrichment in BCSCs. Finally,FKBPL knockdown led to an increase in Nanog/Oct4/Sox2 and an increase in BCSCs,highlighting a role for endogenous FKBPL in stem cell signaling. CONCLUSIONS AD-01 has dual antiangiogenic and anti-BCSC activity,which will be advantageous as this agent enters clinical trial. View Publication

Mammosphere and breast tumoursphere culture have gained popularity as in vitro assays for propagating and analysing normal and cancer stem cells. Whether the spheres derived from different sources or parent cultures themselves are indeed single entities enriched in stem/progenitor cells compared to other culture formats has not been fully determined. We surveyed sphere-forming capacity across 26 breast cell lines,immunophenotyped spheres from six luminal- and basal-like lines by immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry and compared clonogenicity between sphere,adherent and matrigel culture formats using in vitro functional assays. Analyses revealed morphological and molecular intra- and inter-sphere heterogeneity,consistent with adherent parental cell line phenotypes. Flow cytometry showed sphere culture does not universally enrich for markers previously associated with stem cell phenotypes,although we found some cell-line specific changes between sphere and adherent formats. Sphere-forming efficiency was significantly lower than adherent or matrigel clonogenicity and constant over serial passage. Surprisingly,self-renewal capacity of sphere-derived cells was similar/lower than other culture formats. We observed significant correlation between long-term-proliferating-cell symmetric division rates in sphere and adherent cultures,suggesting functional overlap between the compartments sustaining them. Experiments with normal primary human mammary epithelia,including sorted luminal (MUC1(+)) and basal/myoepithelial (CD10(+)) cells revealed distinct luminal-like,basal-like and mesenchymal entities amongst primary mammospheres. Morphological and colony-forming-cell assay data suggested mammosphere culture may enrich for a luminal progenitor phenotype,or induce reversion/relaxation of the basal/mesenchymal in vitro selection occurring with adherent culture. Overall,cell line tumourspheres and primary mammospheres are not homogenous entities enriched for stem cells,suggesting a more cautious approach to interpreting data from these assays and careful consideration of its limitations. Sphere culture may represent an alternative 3-dimensional culture system which rather than universally 'enriching' for stem cells,has utility as one of a suite of functional assays that provide a read-out of progenitor activity. View Publication

Lymphocyte activation is regulated by costimulatory and inhibitory receptors,of which both B and T lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA) and CD160 engage herpesvirus entry mediator (HVEM). Notably,it remains unclear how HVEM functions with each of its ligands during immune responses. In this study,we show that HVEM specifically activates CD160 on effector NK cells challenged with virus-infected cells. Human CD56(dim) NK cells were costimulated specifically by HVEM but not by other receptors that share the HVEM ligands LIGHT,Lymphotoxin-α,or BTLA. HVEM enhanced human NK cell activation by type I IFN and IL-2,resulting in increased IFN-γ and TNF-α secretion,and tumor cell-expressed HVEM activated CD160 in a human NK cell line,causing rapid hyperphosphorylation of serine kinases ERK1/2 and AKT and enhanced cytolysis of target cells. In contrast,HVEM activation of BTLA reduced cytolysis of target cells. Together,our results demonstrate that HVEM functions as a regulator of immune function that activates NK cells via CD160 and limits lymphocyte-induced inflammation via association with BTLA. View Publication

Autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is caused by mutations in either PKD1 or PKD2 and is characterized by the development of multiple bilateral renal cysts that replace normal kidney tissue. Here,we used Pkd1 mutant mouse models to demonstrate that the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-dependent (NAD-dependent) protein deacetylase sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) is involved in the pathophysiology of ADPKD. SIRT1 was upregulated through c-MYC in embryonic and postnatal Pkd1-mutant mouse renal epithelial cells and tissues and could be induced by TNF-α,which is present in cyst fluid during cyst development. Double conditional knockouts of Pkd1 and Sirt1 demonstrated delayed renal cyst formation in postnatal mouse kidneys compared with mice with single conditional knockout of Pkd1. Furthermore,treatment with a pan-sirtuin inhibitor (nicotinamide) or a SIRT1-specific inhibitor (EX-527) delayed cyst growth in Pkd1 knockout mouse embryonic kidneys,Pkd1 conditional knockout postnatal kidneys,and Pkd1 hypomorphic kidneys. Increased SIRT1 expression in Pkd1 mutant renal epithelial cells regulated cystic epithelial cell proliferation through deacetylation and phosphorylation of Rb and regulated cystic epithelial cell death through deacetylation of p53. This newly identified role of SIRT1 signaling in cystic renal epithelial cells provides the opportunity to develop unique therapeutic strategies for ADPKD. View Publication

Hydrogel-encapsulating culture systems for ovarian follicles support the in vitro growth of secondary follicles from various species including mouse,non-primate human,and human; however,the growth of early stage follicles (primary and primordial) has been limited. While encapsulation maintains the structure of early stage follicles,feeder cell populations,such as mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs),are required to stimulate growth and development. Hence,in this report,we investigated feeder-free culture environments for early stage follicle development. Mouse ovarian follicles were encapsulated within alginate hydrogels and cultured in various growth medium formulations. Initial studies employed embryonic stem cell medium formulations as a tool to identify factors that influence the survival,growth,and meiotic competence of early stage follicles. The medium formulation that maximized survival and growth was identified as $$MEM/F12 supplemented with fetuin,insulin,transferrin,selenium,and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). This medium stimulated the growth of late primary (average initial diameter of 80 µm) and early secondary (average initial diameter of 90 µm) follicles,which developed antral cavities and increased to terminal diameters exceeding 300 µm in 14 days. Survival ranged from 18% for 80 µm follicles to 36% for 90 µm follicles. Furthermore,80% of the oocytes from surviving follicles with an initial diameter of 90-100 µm underwent germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD),and the percentage of metaphase II (MII) eggs was 50%. Follicle/oocyte growth and GVBD/MII rates were not significantly different from MEF co-culture. Survival was reduced relative to MEF co-culture,yet substantially increased relative to the control medium that had been previously used for secondary follicles. Continued development of culture medium could enable mechanistic studies of early stage folliculogenesis and emerging strategies for fertility preservation. View Publication

Neural progenitor cells (NPCs) derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have great potential in cell therapy,drug screening and toxicity testing of neural degenerative diseases. However,the molecular regulation of their proliferation and apoptosis,which needs to be revealed before clinical application,is largely unknown. MicroRNA miR-195 is known to be expressed in the brain and is involved in a variety of proapoptosis or antiapoptosis processes in cancer cells. Here,we defined the proapoptotic role of miR-195 in NPCs derived from two independent hESC lines (human embryonic stem cell-derived neural progenitor cells,hESC-NPCs). Overexpression of miR-195 in hESC-NPCs induced extensive apoptotic cell death. Consistently,global transcriptional microarray analyses indicated that miR-195 primarily regulated genes associated with apoptosis in hESC-NPCs. Mechanistically,a small GTP-binding protein ADP-ribosylation factor-like protein 2 (ARL2) was identified as a direct target of miR-195. Silencing ARL2 in hESC-NPCs provoked an apoptotic phenotype resembling that of miR-195 overexpression,revealing for the first time an essential role of ARL2 for the survival of human NPCs. Moreover,forced expression of ALR2 could abolish the cell number reduction caused by miR-195 overexpression. Interestingly,we found that paraquat,a neurotoxin,not only induced apoptosis but also increased miR-195 and reduced ARL2 expression in hESC-NPCs,indicating the possible involvement of miR-195 and ARL2 in neurotoxin-induced NPC apoptosis. Notably,inhibition of miR-195 family members could block neurotoxin-induced NPC apoptosis. Collectively,miR-195 regulates cell apoptosis in a context-dependent manner through directly targeting ARL2. The finding of the critical role of ARL2 for the survival of human NPCs and association of miR-195 and ARL2 with neurotoxin-induced apoptosis have important implications for understanding molecular mechanisms that control NPC survival and would facilitate our manipulation of the neurological pathogenesis. View Publication

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Here,we show for the first time,that the familial breast/ovarian cancer susceptibility gene BRCA1 activates the Notch pathway in breast cells by transcriptional upregulation of Notch ligands and receptors in both normal and cancer cells. We demonstrate through chromatin immunoprecipitation assays that BRCA1 is localized to a conserved intronic enhancer region within the Notch ligand Jagged-1 (JAG1) gene,an event requiring $$Np63. We propose that this BRCA1/$$Np63-mediated induction of JAG1 may be important the regulation of breast stem/precursor cells,as knockdown of all three proteins resulted in increased tumoursphere growth and increased activity of stem cell markers such as Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1). Knockdown of Notch1 and JAG1 phenocopied BRCA1 knockdown resulting in the loss of Estrogen Receptor-$$ (ER-$$) expression and other luminal markers. A Notch mimetic peptide could activate an ER-$$ promoter reporter in a BRCA1-dependent manner,whereas Notch inhibition using a $$-secretase inhibitor reversed this process. We demonstrate that inhibition of Notch signalling resulted in decreased sensitivity to the anti-estrogen drug Tamoxifen but increased expression of markers associated with basal-like breast cancer. Together,these findings suggest that BRCA1 transcriptional upregulation of Notch signalling is a key event in the normal differentiation process in breast tissue. View Publication

The SRY-related HMG-box family of transcription factors member SOX2 regulates stemness and pluripotency in embryonic stem cells and plays important roles during early embryogenesis. More recently,SOX2 expression was documented in several tumor types including ovarian carcinoma,suggesting an involvement of SOX2 in regulation of cancer stem cells (CSC). Intriguingly,however,studies exploring the predictive value of SOX2 protein expression with respect to histopathologic and clinical parameters report contradictory results in individual tumors,indicating that SOX2 may play tumor-specific roles. In this report,we analyze the functional relevance of SOX2 expression in human ovarian carcinoma. We report that in human serous ovarian carcinoma (SOC) cells,SOX2 expression increases the expression of CSC markers,the potential to form tumor spheres,and the in vivo tumor-initiating capacity,while leaving cellular proliferation unaltered. Moreover,SOX2-expressing cells display enhanced apoptosis resistance in response to conventional chemotherapies and TRAIL. Hence,our data show that SOX2 associates with stem cell state in ovarian carcinoma and induction of SOX2 imposes CSC properties on SOC cells. We propose the existence of SOX2-expressing ovarian CSCs as a mechanism of tumor aggressiveness and therapy resistance in human SOC. View Publication

Cell fate can be reprogrammed by modifying intrinsic and extrinsic cues. Here we show that two small molecules (forskolin and dorsomorphin) enable the transcription factor Neurogenin 2 (NGN2) to convert human fetal lung fibroblasts into cholinergic neurons with high purity (textgreater90%) and efficiency (up to 99% of NGN2-expressing cells). The conversion is direct without passing through a proliferative progenitor state. These human induced cholinergic neurons (hiCN) show mature electrophysiological properties and exhibit motor neuron-like features,including morphology,gene expression and the formation of functional neuromuscular junctions. Inclusion of an additional transcription factor,SOX11,also efficiently converts postnatal and adult skin fibroblasts from healthy and diseased human patients to cholinergic neurons. Taken together,this study identifies a simple and highly efficient strategy for reprogramming human fibroblasts to subtype-specific neurons. These findings offer a unique venue for investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying cellular plasticity and human neurodegenerative diseases. View Publication

Sprouty (Spry) genes encode negative regulators of receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) signaling,which plays important roles in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). SPRY2 and SPRY4 are the two most highly expressed Sprouty family members in hESCs,suggesting that they may influence self-renewal. To test this hypothesis,we performed siRNA-mediated knock down (KD) studies. SPRY2 KD resulted in increased cell death and decreased proliferation,whereas SPRY4 KD enhanced survival. In both cases,after KD the cells were able to differentiate into cells of the three germ layers,although after SPRY2 KD there was a tendency toward increased ectodermal differentiation. SPRY2 KD cells displayed impaired mitochondrial fusion and cell membrane damage,explaining in part the increased cell death. These data indicate that Sprouty genes regulate pathways involved in proliferation and cell death in hESCs. View Publication