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GSE84392
Mus musculus
5 Downloadable Samples
Description
The intermediate filament protein Nestin serves as a biomarker for stem cells and has been used to identify subsets of cancer stem-like cells. However, the mechanistic contributions of Nestin to cancer pathogenesis are not understood. Here we report that Nestin binds the hedgehog pathway transcription factor Gli3 to mediate the development of medulloblastomas of the hedgehog subtype. In a mouse model system, Nestin levels increased progressively during medulloblastoma formation resulting in enhanced tumor growth. Conversely, loss of Nestin dramatically inhibited proliferation and promoted differentiation. Mechanistic investigations revealed that the tumor-promoting effects of Nestin were mediated by binding to Gli3, a zinc finger transcription factor that negatively regulates hedgehog signaling. Nestin binding to Gli3 blocked Gli3 phosphorylation and its subsequent proteolytic processing, thereby abrogating its ability to negatively regulate the hedgehog pathway. Our findings show how Nestin drives hedgehog pathway-driven cancers and uncover in Gli3 a therapeutic target to treat these malignancies.
Publication Title
Nestin Mediates Hedgehog Pathway Tumorigenesis.
Sample Metadata Fields
Specimen part
View Samples- Mus musculus
- 12 Downloadable Samples
Description
The main cell of origin of the Sonic hedgehog (SHH) subgroup of medulloblastoma (MB) is granule cell precursors (GCPs), a SHH-dependent transient amplifying population in the developing cerebellum. SHH-MBs can be further subdivided based on molecular and clinical parameters, as well as location since SHH-MBs occur preferentially in the lateral cerebellum (hemispheres). Our analysis of adult patient data suggests that tumors with Smoothened (SMO) mutations form more specifically in the hemispheres than those with Patched 1 (PTCH1) mutations. Using sporadic mouse models of SHH-MB with the two mutations commonly seen in adult MB, constitutive activation of Smo (SmoM2) or loss-of-Ptch1, we found that regardless of timing of induction or type of mutation, tumors developed primarily in the hemispheres with SmoM2-mutants indeed showing a stronger specificity. We further uncovered that GCPs in the hemispheres are more susceptible to high level SHH signaling compared to GCPs in the medial cerebellum (vermis), as more SmoM2 or Ptch1-mutant hemisphere cells remain undifferentiated and show increased tumorigenicity when transplanted. Finally, we identified location-specific GCP gene expression profiles, and found that deletion of the genes most highly expressed in the hemispheres (Nr2f2) or vermis (Engrailed1) showed opposing effects on GCP differentiation. Our studies thus provide new insights into intrinsic differences within GCPs that impact on SHH-MB progression.
Publication Title
Lateral cerebellum is preferentially sensitive to high sonic hedgehog signaling and medulloblastoma formation.
Sample Metadata Fields
Specimen part
View Samples- Mus musculus
- 17 Downloadable Samples
Description
Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common malignant brain tumor in children. Patients whose tumors exhibit overexpression or amplification of the MYC oncogene (c-MYC) usually have an extremely poor prognosis, but there are no animal models of this subtype of the disease. Here we show that cerebellar stem cells expressing Myc and mutant Trp53 (p53) generate aggressive tumors following orthotopic transplantation. These tumors consist of large, pleiomorphic cells and resemble human MYC-driven MB at a molecular level. Notably, antagonists of PI3K/mTOR signaling, but not Hedgehog signaling, inhibit growth of tumor cells. These findings suggest that cerebellar stem cells can give rise to MYC-driven MB, and identify a novel model that can be used to test therapies for this devastating disease.
Publication Title
An animal model of MYC-driven medulloblastoma.
Sample Metadata Fields
Specimen part
View Samples- Mus musculus
- 1 Downloadable Sample
Description
This array set was used to identify the genes that are highly expressed in the mouse suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). Because pharmacological inhibition of Gai/o activity with pertussis toxin hampers intercellular synchronization and causes dampened rhythms of the entire SCN, we hypothesized that member(s) of the Regulator of G protein Signaling (RGS) family might contribute to synchronized cellular oscillations in the SCN. To test this hypothesis, we surveyed all known mouse Rgs genes for their expression by using GeneChip and selected the genes that are highly expressed in the SCN for further analysis.
Publication Title
Circadian regulation of intracellular G-protein signalling mediates intercellular synchrony and rhythmicity in the suprachiasmatic nucleus.
Sample Metadata Fields
Sex, Age, Specimen part, Disease, Treatment, Time
View Samples- Mus musculus
- 1 Downloadable Sample
Description
Chronic opiate use produces molecular and cellular adaptations in the nervous system, leading to tolerance, physical dependence and addiction. Genome-wide comparison of morphine-induced changes in brain transcription of mouse strains with different opioid-related phenotypes provides an opportunity to discover the relationship between gene expression and behavioral response to the drug.
Publication Title
Morphine effects on striatal transcriptome in mice.
Sample Metadata Fields
No sample metadata fields
View Samples- Mus musculus
- 10 Downloadable Samples
Description
We propose comparing liver gene expression of WT and female ERKO mice early in the high-fat feeding period to animals fed a regular chow diet. Analyzing liver tissue before the fatty liver disease phenotype becomes severe will allow identification of target genes which may be causal.
Publication Title
Hormone signaling and fatty liver in females: analysis of estrogen receptor α mutant mice.
Sample Metadata Fields
Sex, Specimen part
View Samples- Mus musculus
- 16 Downloadable Samples
Description
STAT5 is critical for differentiation, proliferation and survival of progenitor B cells suggesting a possible role in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). Herein, we show increased expression of activated STAT5 in ALL patients, which correlates with treatment outcome. Mutations in Ebf1 and Pax5, genes critical for B cell development have also been identified in human ALL. To determine whether mutations in Ebf1 or Pax5 synergize with STAT5 activation to induce ALL we crossed mice expressing a constitutively active form of STAT5 (Stat5b-CA) with mice heterozygous for Ebf1 or Pax5. Haploinsufficiency of either Pax5 or Ebf1 synergized with Stat5b-CA to rapidly induce ALL in 100% of the mice. The leukemic cells displayed reduced expression of both Pax5 and Ebf1 but this had little affect on most EBF1 or PAX5 target genes. However, a subset of these genes was deregulated and included a large percentage of potential tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes. Further, most of these genes appear to be jointly regulated by both EBF1 and PAX5. Our findings suggest a model whereby small perturbations in a self-reinforcing network of transcription factors critical for B cell development, specifically PAX5 and EBF1, cooperate with STAT5 activation to initiate ALL.
Publication Title
Ebf1 or Pax5 haploinsufficiency synergizes with STAT5 activation to initiate acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Sample Metadata Fields
No sample metadata fields
View Samples- Mus musculus
- 11 Downloadable Samples
Description
Despite its key role in Alzheimer pathogenesis, the physiological function(s) of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) and of its proteolytic fragments are still poorly understood. The secreted APPs ectodomain has been shown to be involved in neuroprotection and synaptic plasticity. The -secretase generated APP intracellular domain, AICD, functions as a transcriptional regulator in heterologous reporter assays although its role for endogenous gene regulation has remained controversial. Previously, we have generated APPs knockin (KI) mice expressing solely the secreted ectodomain APPs. Here, we generated double mutants (APPs-DM) by crossing APPs-KI mice onto an APLP2-deficient background and show that APPs rescues the postnatal lethality of the majority of APP/APLP2 double knockout mice. Despite normal CNS morphology and unaltered basal synaptic transmission, young APPs-DM mice already showed pronounced hippocampal dysfunction, impaired spatial learning and a deficit in LTP. To gain further mechanistic insight into which domains/proteolytic fragments are crucial for hippocampal APP/APLP2 mediated functions, we performed a DNA microarray transcriptome profiling of prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of adult APLP2-KO (APLP2-/-) and APPs-DM mice (APP/APLP2-/- mice).Interestingly, this analysis failed to reveal major genotype-related transcriptional differences. Expression differences between cortex and hippocampus were, however, readily detectable.
Publication Title
APP and APLP2 are essential at PNS and CNS synapses for transmission, spatial learning and LTP.
Sample Metadata Fields
Sex, Specimen part
View Samples- Mus musculus
- 33 Downloadable Samples
Description
The transcription factor STAT5 plays a critical role in B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). How STAT5 mediates this effect is unclear. Here we demonstrate that STAT5 activation cooperates with defects in the pre-BCR signaling components encoded by Blnk, Btk, Prkcb, Nfkb1, and Ikzf1 to initiate B-ALL. STAT5 antagonizes NF-B and IKAROS by opposing regulation of shared target genes. STAT5 binding was enriched at super-enhancers, which were associated with an opposing network of transcription factors, including PAX5, EBF1, PU.1, IRF4, and IKAROS. Patients with high ratios of active STAT5 to NF-B or IKAROS have more aggressive disease. Our studies illustrate that an imbalance of two opposing transcriptional programs drive B-ALL, and suggest that restoring the balance of these pathways may inhibit B-ALL.
Publication Title
Antagonism of B cell enhancer networks by STAT5 drives leukemia and poor patient survival.
Sample Metadata Fields
No sample metadata fields
View Samples- Mus musculus
- 6 Downloadable Samples
Description
The goal of this study was to identify the molecular characteristics and putative markers distinguishing IL-10eGFP+CD138hi and IL-10eGFP-CD138hi plasmocytes. To this end, IL-10eGFP B-green mice were challenged intravenously with Salmonella typhimurium (strain SL7207, 10e7 CFU), and IL-10eGFP+CD138hi as well as IL-10eGFP-CD138hi plasmocytes were isolated from the spleen on the next day. For this, single cell suspensions were prepared, cells were treated with Fc block (10 g/ml, anti-CD16/CD32, clone 2.4G2), and then stained with an antibody against CD138 conjugated to PE (1/400; from BD Pharmingen) followed by incubation with anti-PE microbeads (Miltenyi Biotech). CD138+ cells were then enriched on Automacs (Miltenyi Biotech) using the program possel_d2. Cells were then stained with anti-CD19-PerCP, anti-CD138-PE, and antibodies against CD11b, CD11c, and TCR conjugated to APC as a dump channel to exclude possible contaminants. DAPI was added to exclude dead cells. Live IL-10eGFP+CD138hi and IL-10eGFP-CD138hi cells were subsequently isolated on a cell sorter. The purity of the samples was always above 98%. This led to the identification of LAG-3 as a cell surface receptor specifically expressed on IL-10eGFP+CD138hi cells but not on IL-10eGFP-CD138hi cells.
Publication Title
LAG-3 Inhibitory Receptor Expression Identifies Immunosuppressive Natural Regulatory Plasma Cells.
Sample Metadata Fields
Sex, Specimen part
View Samples