Publications by authors named "Clair G"

The lung is a vital organ that undergoes extensive morphological and functional changes during postnatal development. To disambiguate how different cell populations contribute to organ development, we performed proteomic and transcriptomic analyses of four sorted cell populations from the lung of human subjects aged 0 to 8 years-old with a focus on early life. The cell populations analyzed included epithelial, endothelial, mesenchymal, and immune cells.

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  • - Linked glycosylation is a key modification of proteins that impacts lung function by helping proteins fold and facilitating communication between cells, making it crucial for understanding respiratory health.
  • - The study utilized advanced techniques like MALDI mass spectrometry imaging and co-detection by indexing to identify specific glycan structures in various lung regions, showing their unique locations around different cell types.
  • - Results indicated that certain glycan types are concentrated around specific cells and areas in the lungs, hinting that these glycan structures may have distinct roles in cellular function and responses, which could inform future lung research.
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  • The SFTPC gene mutation (SFTPCI73T) is a major cause of interstitial lung disease, leading to limited treatment options.
  • Research shows that EMC3 is crucial for maintaining surfactant balance in alveolar type 2 cells and influences the metabolism of the SFTPCI73T mutation.
  • Findings indicate that deleting Emc3 can improve lung structure and function in mice with the SFTPCI73T mutation, revealing new therapeutic targets, particularly involving Valosin Containing Protein (VCP) for treatment.
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  • Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease, and mass spectrometry (MS) is being used to find new biomarkers and understand the disease's mechanisms better.
  • The combination of MS and machine learning has led to the identification of multi-molecular biomarker panels and the discovery of relevant pathways and therapeutic targets.
  • Despite progress, challenges like understanding tissue environments and the impact of external factors persist, but advancements in MS technologies, like ultra-fast separations and single-cell analysis, may help overcome these obstacles.
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Unlabelled: Exercise is firmly established as a key contributor to overall well-being and is frequently employed as a therapeutic approach to mitigate various health conditions. One pivotal aspect of the impact of exercise lies in the systemic transcriptional response, which underpins its beneficial adaptations. While extensive research has been devoted to understanding the transcriptional response to exercise, our knowledge of the protein constituents of nuclear processes that accompany gene expression in skeletal muscle remains largely elusive.

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Unlabelled: The distal bronchioles in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) exhibit histopathological abnormalities such as bronchiolization, peribronchiolar fibrosis and honeycomb cysts that contribute to the overall architectural remodeling of lung tissue seen in the disease. Here we describe an additional histopathologic finding of epithelial desquamation in patients with IPF, wherein epithelial cells detach from the basement membrane of the distal bronchioles. To understand the mechanism driving this pathology, we performed spatial transcriptomics of the epithelial cells and spatial proteomics of the basement membrane of the distal bronchioles from IPF patients and patients with no prior history of lung disease.

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Introduction: Primary laryngeal mucosal melanoma is a rare tumour with a poor prognosis. Its often difficult diagnosis should rule out laryngeal metastatic localization of cutaneous melanoma.

Case Presentation: We report a case of primary laryngeal mucosal melanoma diagnosed in a 65-year-old man, treated 6 years previously with radio-chemotherapy and surgery for squamous cell carcinoma of the right lateral oropharyngeal region.

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We conducted a comprehensive comparative analysis of extracellular vesicles (EVs) from two strains, Neff (environmental) and T4 (clinical). Morphological analysis via transmission electron microscopy revealed slightly larger Neff EVs (average = 194.5 nm) compared to more polydisperse T4 EVs (average = 168.

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  • Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a serious lung disease marked by excessive collagen buildup, leading to respiratory failure, with no existing treatments to effectively reverse fibrosis despite some therapies that slow progression.* -
  • The study used single-cell RNA sequencing and various models to investigate the role of O-linked N-Acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) transferase (OGT) in regulating collagen production and fibrosis in IPF, finding it elevated in IPF patients and crucial in modulating Smad3 activation.* -
  • Results suggest that inhibiting OGT can reduce collagen accumulation in IPF, making it a promising target for therapies aimed at both fibrosis resolution and other related diseases characterized by excessive extracellular
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Here, we used digital spatial profiling (DSP) to describe the glomerular transcriptomic signatures that may characterize the complex molecular mechanisms underlying progressive kidney disease in Alport syndrome, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, and membranous nephropathy. Our results revealed significant transcriptional heterogeneity among diseased glomeruli, and this analysis showed that histologically similar glomeruli manifested different transcriptional profiles. Using glomerular pathology scores to establish an axis of progression, we identified molecular pathways with progressively decreased expression in response to increasing pathology scores, including signal recognition particle-dependent cotranslational protein targeting to membrane and selenocysteine synthesis pathways.

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Objective: Analysis of rechallenge with nivolumab as 5th-line therapy for locally and nodally failed laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma following conventional therapeutic modalities: radiotherapy, surgery and chemotherapy.

Observation: A 70-year-old male, with local and nodal progression of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma after treatment with chemoradiotherapy and surgery, was initially treated for recurrence with carboplatin, 5-fluorouracile (FU) and cetuximab, followed by second-line nivolumab, and then two lines of conventional chemotherapy with paclitaxel and cetuximab followed by carboplatin and cetuximab. He underwent rechallenge with nivolumab in 5th line, achieving 12months' response, ongoing at the time of writing, and 42.

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  • The study explores how SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers a strong but ineffective inflammatory response in severe COVID-19 cases, involving a range of immune cells, even those without the necessary receptors for the virus.
  • It investigates fragmented viral components and their potential to stimulate inflammation through self-organization in the host, finding that these fragments mimic host antimicrobial peptides and are especially prevalent in SARS-CoV-2 compared to less harmful coronaviruses.
  • The research shows that these viral fragments can create complexes with double-stranded RNA, enhancing immune responses in various cell types, and that this process closely mirrors the gene expression patterns observed in COVID-19 patients.
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Human diseases are characterized by intricate cellular dynamics. Single-cell sequencing provides critical insights, yet a persistent gap remains in computational tools for detailed disease progression analysis and targeted in-silico drug interventions. Here, we introduce UNAGI, a deep generative neural network tailored to analyze time-series single-cell transcriptomic data.

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Background: Lysine carbamylation is a biomarker of rheumatoid arthritis and kidney diseases. However, its cellular function is understudied due to the lack of tools for systematic analysis of this post-translational modification (PTM).

Methods: We adapted a method to analyze carbamylated peptides by co-affinity purification with acetylated peptides based on the cross-reactivity of anti-acetyllysine antibodies.

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Chymotrypsin-like elastase 1 (CELA1) is a serine protease that is neutralized by alpha-1antitrypsin (AAT) and prevents emphysema in a murine antisense oligonucleotide model of AAT-deficient emphysema. Mice with genetic ablation of do not have emphysema at baseline but develop emphysema with injury and aging. We tested the role of the gene in emphysema development in this genetic model of -deficiency following tracheal lipopolysaccharide (LPS), 10 months of cigarette smoke exposure, aging, and a low-dose tracheal porcine pancreatic elastase (LD-PPE) model we developed.

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Accurate cell type identification is a key and rate-limiting step in single-cell data analysis. Single-cell references with comprehensive cell types, reproducible and functionally validated cell identities, and common nomenclatures are much needed by the research community for automated cell type annotation, data integration, and data sharing. Here, we develop a computational pipeline utilizing the LungMAP CellCards as a dictionary to consolidate single-cell transcriptomic datasets of 104 human lungs and 17 mouse lung samples to construct LungMAP single-cell reference (CellRef) for both normal human and mouse lungs.

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Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a disease of prematurity related to the arrest of normal lung development. The objective of this study was to better understand how proteome modulation and cell-type shifts are noted in BPD pathology. Pediatric human donors aged 1-3 yr were classified based on history of prematurity and histopathology consistent with "healed" BPD (hBPD, = 3) and "established" BPD (eBPD, = 3) compared with respective full-term born ( = 6) age-matched term controls.

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Lysine carbamylation is a biomarker of rheumatoid arthritis and kidney diseases. However, its cellular function is understudied due to the lack of tools for systematic analysis of this post-translational modification (PTM). We adapted a method to analyze carbamylated peptides by co-affinity purification with acetylated peptides based on the cross-reactivity of anti-acetyllysine antibodies.

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E-cigarette liquids are complex mixtures of chemicals consisting of humectants, such as propylene glycol (PG) and vegetable glycerin (VG), with nicotine or flavorings added. Published literature emphasizes the toxicity of e-cigarette aerosols with flavorings whereas much less attention has been given to the biologic effects of humectants. The purpose of the current study was to provide a comprehensive view of the acute biologic effects of e-cigarette aerosols on rat bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) using mass spectrometry-based global proteomics.

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( ) is a serine protease that is neutralized by α1-antitrypsin (AAT) and prevents emphysema in a murine antisense oligonucleotide model of AAT-deficient emphysema. Mice with genetic ablation of do not have emphysema at baseline but develop emphysema with injury and aging. We tested the role of in emphysema development in this genetic model of -deficiency following tracheal lipopolysacharide (LPS), 8 months of cigarette smoke (CS) exposure, aging, and a low-dose tracheal porcine pancreatic elastase (LD-PPE) model.

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Background: The lung is sensitive to radiation, increasing normal tissue toxicity risks following radiation therapy. Adverse outcomes include pneumonitis and pulmonary fibrosis, which result from dysregulated intercellular communication within the pulmonary microenvironment. Although macrophages are implicated in these pathogenic outcomes, the impact of their microenvironment is not well understood.

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is likely the most common bacterial cause of gastroenteritis worldwide, responsible for millions of cases of inflammatory diarrhea characterized by severe abdominal cramps and blood in the stool. Further, infections are associated with post-infection sequelae in developed countries and malnutrition and growth-stunting in low- and middle-income countries. Despite the increasing prevalence of the disease, campylobacteriosis, and the recognition that this pathogen is a serious health threat, our understanding of pathogenesis remains incomplete.

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There is a growing demand to develop high-throughput and high-sensitivity mass spectrometry methods for single-cell proteomics. The commonly used isobaric labeling-based multiplexed single-cell proteomics approach suffers from distorted protein quantification due to co-isolated interfering ions during MS/MS fragmentation, also known as ratio compression. We reasoned that the use of MS3-based quantification could mitigate ratio compression and provide better quantification.

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Progress in mass spectrometry lipidomics has led to a rapid proliferation of studies across biology and biomedicine. These generate extremely large raw datasets requiring sophisticated solutions to support automated data processing. To address this, numerous software tools have been developed and tailored for specific tasks.

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Human disease states are biomolecularly multifaceted and can span across phenotypic states, therefore it is important to understand diseases on all levels, across cell types, and within and across microanatomical tissue compartments. To obtain an accurate and representative view of the molecular landscape within human lungs, this fragile tissue must be inflated and embedded to maintain spatial fidelity of the location of molecules and minimize molecular degradation for molecular imaging experiments. Here, we evaluated agarose inflation and carboxymethyl cellulose embedding media and determined effective tissue preparation protocols for performing bulk and spatial mass spectrometry-based omics measurements.

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