Evaluation of the apparent diffusion coefficient in patients with recurrent glioblastoma under treatment with bevacizumab with radiographic pseudores…

2017

Abstract Background Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology Criteria (RANO), are used to asses response to first-line treatment of glioblastoma (GBM). Differentiation between response and pseudoresponse under treatment with Bevacizumab (BVZ) remains challenging. This study evaluates ADC changes in patients with radiographic pseudoresponse under treatment with (BVZ). Methods Patients (n = 40) with recurrent GBM under-treatment with BVZ underwent MRI before, two and four months after treatment with BVZ. In patients with radiological pseudoresponse (n = 11), ADC analyses were performed. Areas with decreasing T1 contrast enhancement (CE) and FLAIR signal decrease were manually selected and compar…

iSEE: Interactive SummarizedExperiment Explorer

2018

Data exploration is critical to the comprehension of large biological data sets generated by high-throughput assays such as sequencing. However, most existing tools for interactive visualisation are limited to specific assays or analyses. Here, we present the iSEE (Interactive SummarizedExperiment Explorer) software package, which provides a general visual interface for exploring data in a SummarizedExperiment object. iSEE is directly compatible with many existing R/Bioconductor packages for analysing high-throughput biological data, and provides useful features such as simultaneous examination of (meta)data and analysis results, dynamic linking between plots and code tracking for reproduci…

ERK3/MAPK6 controls IL-8 production and chemotaxis

2020

ERK3 is a ubiquitously expressed member of the atypical mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and the physiological significance of its short half-life remains unclear. By employing gastrointestinal 3D organoids, we detect that ERK3 protein levels steadily decrease during epithelial differentiation. ERK3 is not required for 3D growth of human gastric epithelium. However, ERK3 is stabilized and activated in tumorigenic cells, but deteriorates over time in primary cells in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). ERK3 is necessary for production of several cellular factors including interleukin-8 (IL-8), in both, normal and tumorigenic cells. Particularly, ERK3 is critical for AP-1 signaling…

Microglia are unique tissue phagocytes with high self-renewing capacity

2014

Myeloid cell-synthesized coagulation Factor X dampens anti-tumor immunity

2019

Immune evasion in the tumor microenvironment (TME) is a crucial barrier for effective cancer therapy, and plasticity of innate immune cells may contribute to failures of targeted immunotherapies. Here, we show that rivaroxaban, a direct inhibitor of activated coagulation factor X (FX), promotes antitumor immunity by enhancing infiltration of dendritic cells and cytotoxic T cells at the tumor site. Profiling FX expression in the TME identifies monocytes and macrophages as crucial sources of extravascular FX. By generating mice with immune cells lacking the ability to produce FX, we show that myeloid cell-derived FX plays a pivotal role in promoting tumor immune evasion. In mouse models of ca…

TAF-ChIP: An ultra-low input approach for genome wide chromatin immunoprecipitation assay

2018

Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) followed by next generation sequencing is an invaluable and powerful technique to understand transcriptional regulation. However, ChIP is currently limited by the requirement of large amount of starting material. This renders studying rare cell populations very challenging, or even impossible. Here, we present a tagmentation-assisted fragmentation ChIP (TAF-ChIP) and sequencing method to generate high-quality datasets from low cell numbers. The method relies on Tn5 transposon activity to fragment the chromatin that is immunoprecipitated, thus circumventing the need for sonication or MNAse digestion to fragment. Furthermore, Tn5 adds the sequencing adapto…

Development of Applications for Interactive and Reproducible Research: a Case Study

2016

For a proper understanding of the organization and regulation of gene expression, the computational analysis is an essential component of the scientific workflow, and this is particularly true in the fields of biostatistics and bioinformatics. Interactivity and reproducibility are two highly relevant features to consider when adopting or designing a tool, and often they can not be provided simultaneously.In this work, we address the issue of developing a framework that can provide interactive analysis, in order to allow experimentalists to fully exploit advanced software tools, as well as reproducibility as an internal validation of the analysis steps, by providing the underlying code and d…

TAF-ChIP: an ultra-low input approach for genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation assay

2019

The authors present a novel method for obtaining chromatin profiles from low cell numbers without prior nuclei isolation. The method is successfully implemented in generating epigenetic profile from 100 cells with high signal-to-noise ratio.

Targeting prohibitins with chemical ligands inhibits KRAS-mediated lung tumours.

2017

KRAS is one of the most frequently mutated oncogenes in human non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs). RAS proteins trigger multiple effector signalling pathways including the highly conserved RAF-MAPK pathway. CRAF, a direct RAS effector protein, is required for KRAS-mediated tumourigenesis. Thus, the molecular mechanisms driving the activation of CRAF are intensively studied. Prohibitin 1 (PHB1) is an evolutionarily conserved adaptor protein and interaction of CRAF with PHB1 at the plasma membrane is essential for CRAF activation. Here, we demonstrate that PHB1 is highly expressed in NSCLC patients and correlates with poor survival. Targeting of PHB1 with two chemical ligands (rocaglamide an…

Integrated longitudinal immunophenotypic, transcriptional, and repertoire analyses delineate immune responses in patients with COVID-19

2021

To understand how a protective immune response against SARS-CoV-2 develops over time, we integrated phenotypic, transcriptional and repertoire analyses on PBMCs from mild and severe COVID-19 patients during and after infection, and compared them to healthy donors (HD). A type I IFN-response signature marked all the immune populations from severe patients during the infection. Humoral immunity was dominated by IgG production primarily against the RBD and N proteins, with neutralizing antibody titers increasing post infection and with disease severity. Memory B cells, including an atypical FCRL5+ T-BET+ memory subset, increased during the infection, especially in patients with mild disease. A…

Vessel shape alterations of the vertebrobasilar arteries in Mucopolysaccharidosis type IVa (Morquio A) patients.

2017

Main symptom of mucopolysaccharidosis type IVa (MPS IVa) is progressive systemic skeletal dysplasia. This is routinely monitored by cerebral and spinal MRI. The vascular system is generally not in the primary focus of interest. In our population of MPS IVa patients we observed vessel shape alterations of the vertebrobasilar arteries, which has not been described before.MRI-datasets of 26 patients with MPS IVa acquired between 2008 and 2015 were eligible for retrospective analysis of the vertebrobasilar arteries. The vessel length and angle of the basilar artery (BA) and both vertebral arteries (VA) were analyzed. A deflection angle between 90° and 130° in the vessel course was defined as to…

GeneTonic: an R/Bioconductor package for streamlining the interpretation of RNA-seq data

2021

AbstractBackgroundThe interpretation of results from transcriptome profiling experiments via RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) can be a complex task, where the essential information is distributed among different tabular and list formats - normalized expression values, results from differential expression analysis, and results from functional enrichment analyses. A number of tools and databases are widely used for the purpose of identification of relevant functional patterns, yet often their contextualization within the data and results at hand is not straightforward, especially if these analytic components are not combined together efficiently.ResultsWe developed the GeneTonic software package, whi…

Identification of an Immunogenic Medulloblastoma-Specific Fusion Involving EPC2 and GULP1

2021

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in children. Immunotherapy is yet to demonstrate dramatic results in medulloblastoma, one reason being the low rate of mutations creating new antigens in this entity. In tumors with low mutational burden, gene fusions may represent a source of tumor-specific neoantigens. Here, we reviewed the landscape of fusions in medulloblastoma and analyzed their predicted immunogenicity. Furthermore, we described a new in-frame fusion protein identified by RNA-Seq. The fusion involved two genes on chromosome 2 coding for the enhancer of polycomb homolog 2 (EPC2) and GULP PTB domain containing engulfment adaptor 1 (GULP1) respectively. By qRT-PCR …

Genotoxicity testing: Comparison of the γH2AX focus assay with the alkaline and neutral comet assays

2017

Genotoxicity testing relies on the quantitative measurement of adverse effects, such as chromosome aberrations, micronuclei, and mutations, resulting from primary DNA damage. Ideally, assays will detect DNA damage and cellular responses with high sensitivity, reliability, and throughput. Several novel genotoxicity assays may fulfill these requirements, including the comet assay and the more recently developed γH2AX assay. Although they are thought to be specific for genotoxicants, a systematic comparison of the assays has not yet been undertaken. In the present study, we compare the γH2AX focus assay with the alkaline and neutral versions of the comet assay, as to their sensitivities and li…

TREND-DB—a transcriptome-wide atlas of the dynamic landscape of alternative polyadenylation

2020

AbstractAlternative polyadenylation (APA) profoundly expands the transcriptome complexity. Perturbations of APA can disrupt biological processes, ultimately resulting in devastating disorders. A major challenge in identifying mechanisms and consequences of APA (and its perturbations) lies in the complexity of RNA 3’end processing, involving poorly conserved RNA motifs and multi-component complexes consisting of far more than 50 proteins. This is further complicated in that RNA 3’end maturation is closely linked to transcription, RNA processing, and even epigenetic (histone/DNA/RNA) modifications. Here we present TREND-DB (http://shiny.imbei.uni-mainz.de:3838/trend-db), a resource cataloging…

PCF11 links alternative polyadenylation to formation and spontaneous regression of neuroblastoma

2018

AbstractDiversification at the transcriptome 3’end is an important and evolutionarily conserved layer of gene regulation associated with differentiation and dedifferentiation processes. However the underlying mechanisms and functional consequences are poorly defined. Here, we identify extensive transcriptome-3’end-alterations in neuroblastoma, a tumour entity with a paucity of recurrent somatic mutations and an unusually high frequency of spontaneous regression. Utilising extensive RNAi-screening we reveal the landscape and drivers of transcriptome-3’end-diversification, discovering PCF11 as critical regulator, directing alternative polyadenylation (APA) of hundreds of transcripts including…

Health-Relevant Phenotypes in the Offspring of Mice Given CAR Activators Prior to Pregnancy

2018

Hepatic induction in response to drugs and environmental chemicals affects drug therapies and energy metabolism. We investigated whether the induction is transmitted to the offspring. We injected 3-day- and 6-week-old F0 female mice with TCPOBOP, an activator of the nuclear receptor constitutive androstane receptor (CAR, NR1I3), and mated them 1-6 weeks afterward. We detected in the offspring long-lasting alterations of CAR-mediated drug disposition, energy metabolism, and lipid profile. The transmission to the first filial generation (F1) was mediated by TCPOBOP transfer from the F0 adipose tissue via milk, as revealed by embryo transfer, crossfostering experiments, and liquid chromatograp…

Novel DNA Methylation Sites Influence GPR15 Expression in Relation to Smoking

2018

Smoking is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and has been implicated in the regulation of the G protein-coupled receptor 15 (GPR15) by affecting CpG methylation. The G protein-coupled receptor 15 is involved in angiogenesis and inflammation. An effect on GPR15 gene regulation has been shown for the CpG site CpG3.98251294. We aimed to analyze the effect of smoking on GPR15 expression and methylation sites spanning the GPR15 locus. DNA methylation of nine GPR15 CpG sites was measured in leukocytes from 1291 population-based individuals using the EpiTYPER. Monocytic GPR15 expression was measured by qPCR at baseline and five-years follow up. GPR15 gene expression was upregulated i…

pcaExplorer: an R/Bioconductor package for interacting with RNA-seq principal components

2019

AbstractBackgroundPrincipal component analysis (PCA) is frequently useentirely written ind in genomics applications for quality assessment and exploratory analysis in high-dimensional data, such as RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) gene expression assays. Despite the availability of many software packages developed for this purpose, an interactive and comprehensive interface for performing these operations is lacking.ResultsWe developed the pcaExplorer software package to enhance commonly performed analysis steps with an interactive and user-friendly application, which provides state saving as well as the automated creation of reproducible reports. pcaExplorer is implemented in R using the Shiny fra…

Genetic Cell Ablation Reveals Clusters of Local Self-Renewing Microglia in the Mammalian Central Nervous System

2015

SummaryDuring early embryogenesis, microglia arise from yolk sac progenitors that populate the developing central nervous system (CNS), but how the tissue-resident macrophages are maintained throughout the organism’s lifespan still remains unclear. Here, we describe a system that allows specific, conditional ablation of microglia in adult mice. We found that the microglial compartment was reconstituted within 1 week of depletion. Microglia repopulation relied on CNS-resident cells, independent from bone-marrow-derived precursors. During repopulation, microglia formed clusters of highly proliferative cells that migrated apart once steady state was achieved. Proliferating microglia expressed …

Reciprocal regulation of the Il9 locus by counteracting activities of transcription factors IRF1 and IRF4.

2017

The T helper 9 (Th9) cell transcriptional network is formed by an equilibrium of signals induced by cytokines and antigen presentation. Here we show that, within this network, two interferon regulatory factors (IRF), IRF1 and IRF4, display opposing effects on Th9 differentiation. IRF4 dose-dependently promotes, whereas IRF1 inhibits, IL-9 production. Likewise, IRF1 inhibits IL-9 production by human Th9 cells. IRF1 counteracts IRF4-driven Il9 promoter activity, and IRF1 and IRF4 have opposing function on activating histone modifications, thus modulating RNA polymerase II recruitment. IRF1 occupancy correlates with decreased IRF4 abundance, suggesting an IRF1-IRF4-binding competition at the I…

ideal: an R/Bioconductor package for interactive differential expression analysis

2020

AbstractBackgroundRNA sequencing (RNA-seq) is an ever increasingly popular tool for transcriptome profiling. A key point to make the best use of the available data is to provide software tools that are easy to use but still provide flexibility and transparency in the adopted methods. Despite the availability of many packages focused on detecting differential expression, a method to streamline this type of bioinformatics analysis in a comprehensive, accessible, and reproducible way is lacking.ResultsWe developed the ideal software package, which serves as a web application for interactive and reproducible RNA-seq analysis, while producing a wealth of visualizations to facilitate data interpr…

Author response: ERK3/MAPK6 controls IL-8 production and chemotaxis

2019