Stem Cell Reports
November 2023
In early vertebrate development, organizer regions-groups of cells that signal to and thereby influence neighboring cells by secreted morphogens-play pivotal roles in the establishment and maintenance of cell identities within defined tissue territories. The midbrain-hindbrain organizer drives regionalization of neural tissue into midbrain and hindbrain territories with fibroblast growth factor 8 (FGF8) acting as a key morphogen. This organizer has been extensively studied in chicken, mouse, and zebrafish.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRett syndrome is a human intellectual disability disorder that is associated with mutations in the X-linked gene. The epigenetic reader MeCP2 binds to methylated cytosines on the DNA and regulates chromatin organization. We have shown previously that Rett syndrome missense mutations are impaired in chromatin binding and heterochromatin reorganization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMutations in genes encoding components of BAF (BRG1/BRM-associated factor) chromatin remodeling complexes cause neurodevelopmental disorders and tumors. The mechanisms leading to the development of these two disease entities alone or in combination remain unclear. We generated mice with a heterozygous nervous system-specific partial loss-of-function mutation in a BAF core component gene, Smarcb1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCytosine modifications diversify and structure the genome thereby controlling proper development and differentiation. Here, we focus on the interplay of the 5-methylcytosine reader Mbd1 and modifier Tet1 by analyzing their dynamic subcellular localization and the formation of the Tet oxidation product 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in mammalian cells. Our results demonstrate that Mbd1 enhances Tet1-mediated 5-methylcytosine oxidation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBmi1 was originally identified as a gene that contributes to the development of mouse lymphoma by inhibiting MYC-induced apoptosis through repression of Ink4a and Arf. It codes for the Polycomb group protein BMI-1 and acts primarily as a transcriptional repressor via chromatin modifications. Although it binds to a large number of genomic regions, the direct BMI-1 target genes described so far do not explain the full spectrum of BMI-1-mediated effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochem Biophys Res Commun
September 2016
Podocalyxin (PODXL) is a highly glycosylated and sialylated transmembrane protein that is up-regulated in various types of tumors and whose expression levels positively correlate with tumor grade. We previously found Podxl to be highly expressed in murine tumorigenic neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPs). Here we investigated the effects of elevated Podxl levels in these cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTrue tendon regeneration in human patients remains a vision of musculoskeletal therapies. In comparison to other mesenchymal lineages the biology of tenogenic differentiation is barely understood. Specifically, easy and efficient protocols are lacking that might enable tendon cell and tissue differentiation based on adult (stem) cell sources.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrecise regulation of β-cell function is crucial for maintaining blood glucose homeostasis. Pax6 is an essential regulator of β-cell-specific factors like insulin and Glut2. Studies in the developing eye suggest that Pax6 interacts with Mitf to regulate pigment cell differentiation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrimary astrocytomas of grade 3 or 4 according to the classification system of the World Health Organization (high-grade astrocytomas or HGAs) are preponderant among adults and are almost invariably fatal despite the use of multimodal therapy. Here we show that the juvenile brain has an endogenous defense mechanism against HGAs. Neural precursor cells (NPCs) migrate to HGAs, reduce glioma expansion and prolong survival time by releasing endovanilloids that activate the vanilloid receptor (transient receptor potential vanilloid subfamily member-1 or TRPV1) on HGA cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough brain tumors are classified and treated based upon their histology, the molecular factors involved in the development of various tumor types remain unknown. In this study, we show that the type and order of genetic events directs the development of gliomas, central nervous system primitive neuroectodermal tumors, and atypical teratoid/rhabdoid-like tumors from postnatal mouse neural stem/progenitor cells (NSC/NPC). We found that the overexpression of specific genes led to the development of these three different brain tumors from NSC/NPCs, and manipulation of the order of genetic events was able to convert one established tumor type into another.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIschemic stroke causes transient increase of neural stem and progenitor cell (NSPC) proliferation in the subventricular zone (SVZ), and migration of newly formed neuroblasts toward the damaged area where they mature to striatal neurons. The molecular mechanisms regulating this plastic response, probably involved in structural reorganization and functional recovery, are poorly understood. The adaptor protein LNK suppresses hematopoietic stem cell self-renewal, but its presence and role in the brain are poorly understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRett syndrome (RTT) is caused by loss-of-function mutations in the X-linked gene MECP2 coding for methyl CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2). This protein can act as transcriptional repressor, and we showed in a previous study that glucocorticoid-inducible genes are up-regulated in an RTT mouse model and that these genes are direct MeCP2 targets. Here, we report that pharmacological intervention with the glucocorticoid system has an impact on the symptoms and lifespan in an RTT mouse model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn contrast to ependymal cells located above the subventricular zone (SVZ) of the adult lateral ventricle wall (LVW), adult spinal cord (SC) ependymal cells possess certain neural stem cell characteristics. The molecular basis of this difference is unknown. In this study, antibodies against multiple cell surface markers were applied to isolate pure populations of SC and LVW ependymal cells, which allowed a direct comparison of their in vitro behavior and in vivo gene expression profile.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe potential of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) to differentiate into functional bone forming cells provides an important tool for bone regeneration. The identification of factors capable of promoting osteoblast differentiation in MSCs is therefore critical to enhance the osteogenic potential of MSCs. Using microarray analysis combined with biochemical and molecular approach, we found that FGF18, a member of the FGF family, is upregulated during osteoblast differentiation induced by dexamethasone in murine MSCs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe prediction of transcription factor binding sites in genomic sequences is in principle very useful to identify upstream regulatory factors. However, when applying this concept to genomes of multicellular organisms such as mammals, one has to deal with a large number of false positive predictions since many transcription factor genes are only expressed in specific tissues or cell types. We developed TS-REX, a database/software system that supports the analysis of tissue and cell type-specific transcription factor-gene networks based on expressed sequence tag abundance of transcription factor-encoding genes in UniGene EST libraries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: As type 2 diabetes mellitus progresses, oral hypoglycaemic agents often fail to maintain blood glucose control and insulin is needed. We investigated whether the addition of once-daily insulin glargine is non-inferior to three-times daily prandial insulin lispro in overall glycaemic control in adults with inadequately controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus taking oral hypoglycaemic agents.
Methods: In the 44-week, parallel, open study that was undertaken in 69 study sites across Europe and Australia, 418 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus that was inadequately controlled by oral hypoglycaemic agents were randomly assigned to either insulin glargine taken once daily at the same time every day or to insulin lispro administered three times per day.
Human brain tumor stem cells have been enriched using antibodies against the surface protein CD133. An antibody recognizing CD133 also served to isolate normal neural stem cells from fetal human brain, suggesting a possible lineage relationship between normal neural and brain tumor stem cells. Whether CD133-positive brain tumor stem cells can be derived from CD133-positive neural stem or progenitor cells still requires direct experimental evidence, and an important step toward such investigations is the identification and characterization of normal CD133-presenting cells in neurogenic regions of the embryonic and adult brain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecent ChIP experiments of human and mouse embryonic stem cells have elucidated the architecture of the transcriptional regulatory circuitry responsible for cell determination, which involves the transcription factors OCT4, SOX2, and NANOG. In addition to regulating each other through feedback loops, these genes also regulate downstream target genes involved in the maintenance and differentiation of embryonic stem cells. A search for the OCT4-SOX2-NANOG network motif in other species reveals that it is unique to mammals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurite outgrowth (e.g. axonal or dendrite outgrowth) of neurons is necessary for the development and functioning of the central nervous system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDifferent causes, such as maternal diabetes, cloning by nuclear transfer, interspecific hybridization, and deletion of some genes such as Esx1, Ipl, or Cdkn1c, may underlie placental overgrowth. In a previous study, we carried out comparative gene expression analysis in three models of placental hyperplasias, cloning, interspecies hybridization (IHPD), and Esx1 deletion. This study identified a large number of genes that exhibited differential expression between normal and enlarged placentas; however, it remained unclear how altered expression of any specific gene was related to any specific placental phenotype.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRett syndrome (RTT) is a severe form of mental retardation, which is caused by spontaneous mutations in the X-linked gene MECP2. How the loss of MeCP2 function leads to RTT is currently unknown. Mice lacking the Mecp2 gene initially show normal postnatal development but later acquire neurological phenotypes, including heightened anxiety, that resemble RTT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe recently established that two midgestation-derived stromal clones--UG26-1B6, urogenital ridge-derived, and EL08-1D2, embryonic liver-derived--support the maintenance of murine adult bone marrow and human cord blood hematopoietic repopulating stem cells (HSCs). In this study, we investigate whether direct HSC-stroma contact is required for this stem cell maintenance. Adult bone marrow ckit+ Ly-6C- side population (K6-SP) cells and stromal cells were cocultured under contact or noncontact conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEpigenetics is a term that has changed its meaning with the increasing biological knowledge on developmental processes. However, its current application to stem cell biology is often imprecise and is conceptually problematic. This article addresses two different subjects, the definition of epigenetics and chromatin states of stem and differentiated cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecently BRCA1 has been implicated in the regulation of gene expression from the X chromosome. In this study the influence of BRCA1 on expression of X chromosome genes was investigated. Complementary DNA microarrays were used to compare the expression levels of X chromosome genes in 18 BRCA1-associated ovarian cancers to those of the 13 "BRCA1-like" and 14 "BRCA2-like" sporadic tumors (as defined by previously reported expression profiling).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe molecular changes underlying neural progenitor differentiation are essentially unknown. We applied cDNA microarrays with 13,627 clones to measure dynamic gene expression changes during the in vitro differentiation of neural progenitor cells that were isolated from the subventricular zone of postnatal day 7 mice and grown in vitro as neurospheres. In two experimental series in which we withdrew epidermal growth factor and added the neurotrophins Neurotrophin-4 or BDNF, four time points were investigated: undifferentiated cells grown as neurospheres, and cells 24, 48, and 96 hr after differentiation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF