Tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) is a pervasive flame retardant that has been identified as a chemical of concern given its health effects and therefore its use has since been tightly regulated. Tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP), an analogue of TCEP, is believed to be its replacement. However, compared to TCEP, little is known of the toxicological impacts of TCIPP. We used RNA sequencing as unbiased and sensitive tool to identify and compare effects on a transcriptome level of TCEP and TCIPP in the human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line, HepG2. We identified that compared to other flame retardants, TCEP and TCIPP had little cytotoxicity. Treatment with sub-cytotoxic concentrations of the two compounds revealed that both chemicals elicited similar effects; both compounds were found to affect genes involved in immune responses and steroid hormone biosynthesis, while also affecting xenobiotic metabolism pathways in a similar manner. Specifically for effects on immune responses, both compounds were shown to alter the expression of the receptor of the potent and pleiotropic complement component, C5a. Additionally, expression of genes encoding for effector proteins involved in the complement cascade along with other potent inflammatory regulators were found altered in response to TCEP and TCIPP, further emphasizing their potential effects on immune function. Taken together, given that TCIPP elicited similar effects compared to TCEP, and at lower concentrations, the potential health effects of TCIPP need to be further studied for a complete risk assessment of the compound. Overall design: HepG2 cells were treated with low (25 uM) or high (250 uM) concentrations of tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), low (2.5 uM) or high (25 uM) concentrations of tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP). For control purposes, cells were exposed to 0.1% DMSO alone. Treatment lasted for 72 hours. Treatments were done in triplicate for each condition involving separate cell seeding, cell growth, treatments and RNA extractions per triplicate. RNA was isolated with Trizol (Invitrogen, USA) and RNeasy Kit (Qiagen, GER). Libraries were prepared with the TruSeq Stranded mRNA Sample Preparation Kit (Illumina, USA). 50bp long paired-ends reads were sequenced using the HiSeq(R) 1500 platform (Illumina, USA). Alignment, mapping and annotation of sequenced reads were performed using the CLC Genomics Workbench (CLC Bio, Aarhus, Denmark). Samples were normalized by quantile normalization before being mapped and annotated using the human reference hg19 genome.
A toxicogenomics approach to screen chlorinated flame retardants tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate and tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate for potential health effects.
Specimen part, Cell line, Treatment, Subject
View SamplesTris (2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBOEP) is a compound produced at high volume that is used as both a flame retardant and a plasticizer. It is persistent and bioaccumulative, yet little is known of its toxicological modes of action. Such insight may aid risk assessment in a weight-of-evidence approach supplementing current testing strategies. We used an RNA sequencing approach as an unbiased and sensitive tool to explore potential negative health effects of sub-cytotoxic concentrations of TBOEP on the transcriptome of the human liver hepatocellular carcinoma cell line, HepG2, with the lowest concentration used potentially holding relevance to human physiological levels. Over-representation and gene set enrichment analysis corresponded well and revealed that TBOEP treatments resulted in an upregulation of genes involved in protein and energy metabolism, along with DNA replication. Such increases in cell and macromolecule metabolism could explain the increase in mitochondrial activity at lower TBOEP concentrations. In addition, TBOEP affected a wide variety of biological processes, the most notable one being the general stress response, wound healing. Finally, TBOEP showed effects on steroid hormone biosynthesis and activation, regulation, and potentiation of immune responses, in agreement with other studies. As such, this study is the first study investigating genome-wide changes in gene transcription in response to TBOEP in human cells. Overall design: HepG2 cells were treated with low (2.5 uM) or high (125 uM) concentrations of Tris (2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBOEP) in 0.1% DMSO. For control purposes cells were exposed to 0.1% DMSO alone. Treatment lasted for 72 hours. All treatments were conducted in triplicates, involving separate seeding of cells. RNA was isolated with Trizol (Invitrogen, USA) and RNeasy Kit (Qiagen, GER). Libraries were prepared with the TruSeq Stranded mRNA Sample Preparation Kit (Illumina, USA). 50bp long paired-ends reads were sequenced using the HiSeq(R) 1500 platform (Illumina, USA). Alignement to the UCSC hg19 assembly of the human genome, mapping and annotation was performed with CLC Genomics Workbench (CLC Bio, DEN). Samples were normalised by quantile normalisation. Differential expression p-values were generated using Baggerly''s test statistic. These p-values were subsequently corrected with the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure to limit the false discovery rate (FDR) to 5% of the significant genes .
Toxicogenomics of the flame retardant tris (2-butoxyethyl) phosphate in HepG2 cells using RNA-seq.
Cell line, Treatment, Subject
View SamplesRecent research has shown that peripheral treatment with amylin reduces Alzheimers disease (AD) pathology in the brain and improves learning and memory in AD mouse models. To understand the mechanism underlying this novel treatment for AD, we interrogated the transcriptome for changes in cortical gene expression in amyloid precursor protein (APP) transgenic mice treated with amylin compared to a vehicle treated group and wild type (WT) mice. Using weighted gene co-expression network analysis, we discovered that amylin treatment influenced two gene modules linked to AD pathology: 1) a module related to proinflammation and transport/vesicle process that included a hub gene of Cd68, and 2) a module related to mitochondria function that included a hub gene of Atp5b. Amylin treatment restored the expression of most genes in the APP cortex toward levels observed in the WT cortex including 23 key hub genes in these two modules. In cultured activated microglia cell line BV-2, we validated that Cd68 expression was attenuated by amylin through binding to the amylin receptor. Using publically-available transcriptomic human data, we found that the expression levels of the orthologues of these hub genes, including Cd68 and Atp5b, strongly correlated with the neurofibrillary tangle burden in the AD brain and with Mini-Mental Status Exam scores. Our study is the first to show the transcriptome-wide targets of amylin treatment, and further supports the potential use of amylin-type peptides to treat AD.
Amylin Treatment Reduces Neuroinflammation and Ameliorates Abnormal Patterns of Gene Expression in the Cerebral Cortex of an Alzheimer's Disease Mouse Model.
Specimen part
View SamplesGLP-1 agonists are potent glucose-lowering agents, however, their effect on adolescent organisms needs to be clarified
Effects of the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist liraglutide in juvenile transgenic pigs modeling a pre-diabetic condition.
Age, Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesHuman epidermal keratinocytes were treated with 25 ng.ml EphB2 or EFNA4, both as-Fc conjugates (Sigma).
Eph-2B, acting as an extracellular ligand, induces differentiation markers in epidermal keratinocytes.
Time
View SamplesBoth ephrins and their receptors are membrane bound, restricting their interactions to the sites of direct cell-to-cell interfaces. They are widely expressed, often co-expressed and regulate developmental processes, cell adhesion, motility, survival, proliferation, and differentiation. Both tumor suppressor and oncogene activities are ascribed to EFNs and Ephs in various contexts. A major conundrum regarding the EFN/Eph system concerns their large number and functional redundancy, given the promiscuous cross-activation of ligands and receptors and the overlapping intracellular signaling pathways. To address this issue, we treated human epidermal keratinocytes with 5 EFNAs individually and defined the transcriptional responses in the cells. We found that a large set of genes is coregulated by all EFNAs. However, while the responses to EFNA3, EFNA 4 and EFNA 5 are identical, the responses to EFNA1 and EFNA2 are characteristic and distinctive. All EFNAs induce epidermal differentiation markers and suppress cell adhesion genes, especially integrins. Ontological analysis shows that all EFNAs induce cornification and keratin genes, while suppressing wound-healing associated, signaling, receptor and ECM associated genes. Transcriptional targets of AP1 are selectively suppressed by EFNAs. EFNA1 and EFNA2, but not the EFNA3, EFNA4, EFNA5 cluster, regulate the members of the ubiquitin-associated proteolysis genes. EFNA1 specifically induces collagen production. Our results demonstrate that the EFN-Eph interactions in the epidermis, while promiscuous, are not redundant but specific. This suggests that different members of the EFN/Eph system have specific, clearly demarcated functions.
Specific and shared targets of ephrin A signaling in epidermal keratinocytes.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesEpidermis, a continuously self-renewing and differentiating organ, produces a protective stratum corneum that shields us from external chemical, physical and microbial threats. Epidermal differentiation is a multi-step process regulated by influences, some unknown, others insufficiently explored. Detachment of keratinocytes from the basement membrane is one such pro-differentiation stimulus. Here, we define the transcriptional changes during differentiation, especially those caused by detachment from the substratum. Using comprehensive transcriptional profiling, we revisited the effects of detachment as a differentiation signal to keratinocytes. We identified the genes regulated by detachment, the corresponding ontological categories and, using metaanalysis, compared the genes and categories to those regulated by other pro-differentiating stimuli. We identified 762 genes overexpressed in suspended keratinocyte, including known and novel differentiation markers, and 1427 in attached cells, including basal layer markers. Detachment induced epidermis development, cornification and desmosomal genes, but also innate immunity, proliferation inhibitors, transcription regulators and MAPKs; conversely the attached cells overexpressed cell cycle, anchoring, motility, splicing and mitochondrial genes, and both positive and negative regulators of apoptosis. Metaanalysis identified which detachment-regulated categories overlap with those induced by suprabasal location in vivo, by reaching confluency in vitro, and by inhibition of JUN kinases. Attached and in vivo basal cells shared overexpression of mitochondrial components. Interestingly, melanosome trafficking components were also overexpressed in the attached and in vivo basal keratinocytes. Reaching confluency did not affect adhesion and ECM proteins. Lipid metabolism and steroid metabolism were induced by confluency and by JNK inhibition, respectively. These results suggest that specific pro-differentiation signals induce specific features of the keratinization process, which are in vivo orchestrated into harmonious epidermal homeostasis.
Keratinocyte detachment-differentiation connection revisited, or anoikis-pityriasi nexus redux.
Specimen part
View SamplesDuchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is caused by mutations in the X-linked dystrophin (DMD) gene. The absence of dystrophin protein leads to progressive muscle weakness and wasting, disability and death. To establish a tailored large animal model of DMD, we deleted DMD exon 52 in male pig cells by gene targeting and generated offspring by nuclear transfer. DMD pigs exhibit absence of dystrophin in skeletal muscles, increased serum creatine kinase levels, progressive dystrophic changes of skeletal muscles, impaired mobility, muscle weakness, and a maximum life span of 3 months due to respiratory impairment. To address the accelerated development of muscular dystrophy in DMD pigs as compared to human patients, we performed a genome-wide transcriptome study of M. biceps femoris samples from 2-day-old and 3-month-old DMD and age-matched wild-type pigs. The transcriptome changes in 3-month-old DMD pigs were in good accordance with the findings of gene expression profiles in human DMD, reflecting the processes of degeneration, regeneration, inflammation, fibrosis, and impaired metabolic activity. The transcriptome profile of 2-day-old DMD pigs pointed towards increased protein and DNA catabolism, reduced extracellular matrix formation and cell proliferation and showed similarities with transcriptome changes induced by exercise injury in muscle. Our transcriptome studies provide new insights into congenital changes associated with dystrophin deficiency and secondary complications arising during postnatal development. Thus the DMD pig is a useful model to determine the hierarchy of physiological derangements in dystrophin-deficient muscle.
Dystrophin-deficient pigs provide new insights into the hierarchy of physiological derangements of dystrophic muscle.
Age, Specimen part
View SamplesCultured keratinocytes treated with TNFa in the presence or absence of NFkB inhibitor; time course 1, 4, 24 & 48 hrs.
Pathway-specific profiling identifies the NF-kappa B-dependent tumor necrosis factor alpha-regulated genes in epidermal keratinocytes.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesCultured epidermal keratinocytes treated with OsM 1, 4, 24 & 48hrs, and Skinethic epidermal substitutes treated 1, 4, 24, 48h & 7days, each with untreated control
Transcriptional responses of human epidermal keratinocytes to Oncostatin-M.
No sample metadata fields
View Samples