This SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Loss of Lkb1 and Pten leads to lung squamous cell carcinoma with elevated PD-L1 expression.
Specimen part
View SamplesLung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is a deadly disease for which current treatments are inadequate. We demonstrate that bi-allelic inactivation of Lkb1 and Pten in the mouse lung led to SCC that recapitulated the histology, gene expression and microenvironment found in human disease. Lkb1/Pten-null (LP) tumors expressed the squamous markers Krt5, p63 and Sox2, and transcriptionally resembled the basal subtype of human SCC. In contrast to mouse adenocarcinomas, the LP tumors contained immune populations enriched for tumor-associated neutrophils. Sca1+/Ngfr+ fractions were enriched for tumor propagating cells (TPCs) that could serially transplant the disease in orthotopic assays. TPCs in the LP model and Ngfr+ cells in human SCCs highly expressed Pdl1, suggesting a novel mechanism of immune escape for TPCs.
Loss of Lkb1 and Pten leads to lung squamous cell carcinoma with elevated PD-L1 expression.
Specimen part
View SamplesLung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is a deadly disease for which current treatments are inadequate. We demonstrate that bi-allelic inactivation of Lkb1 and Pten in the mouse lung led to SCC that recapitulated the histology, gene expression and microenvironment found in human disease. Lkb1/Pten-null (LP) tumors expressed the squamous markers Krt5, p63 and Sox2, and transcriptionally resembled the basal subtype of human SCC. In contrast to mouse adenocarcinomas, the LP tumors contained immune populations enriched for tumor-associated neutrophils. Sca1+/Ngfr+ fractions were enriched for tumor propagating cells (TPCs) that could serially transplant the disease in orthotopic assays. TPCs in the LP model and Ngfr+ cells in human SCCs highly expressed Pdl1, suggesting a novel mechanism of immune escape for TPCs.
Loss of Lkb1 and Pten leads to lung squamous cell carcinoma with elevated PD-L1 expression.
Specimen part
View SamplesBackground: Immune checkpoint blockade improves survival in a subset of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but robust biomarkers that predict response to PD-1 pathway inhibitors are lacking. Furthermore, our understanding of the diversity of the NSCLC tumor immune microenvironment remains limited. Methods: We performed comprehensive flow-cytometric immunoprofiling on both tumor and immune cells from 51 NSCLCs and integrated this analysis with clinical and histopathologic characteristics, next generation sequencing, mRNA expression, and PD-L1 immunohistochemistry (IHC). Results: Cytometric profiling identified an immunologically “hot” cluster with abundant CD8+ T cells expressing high levels of the PD-1 and TIM-3, and an immunologically “cold” cluster with lower relative abundance of CD8+ T cells and expression of inhibitory markers. The “hot” cluster was highly enriched for expression of genes associated with T cell trafficking and cytotoxic function, and high PD-L1 expression by IHC. There was no correlation between immunophenotype and KRAS or EGFR mutation, or patient smoking history, but we did observe an enrichment of squamous subtype and tumors with higher mutation burden in the “hot” cluster. Additionally, ~20% of cases had high B cell infiltrates with a subset producing IL-10. Conclusions: Our results support the use of immune-based metrics to study response and resistance to immunotherapy in lung cancer. Background: Immune checkpoint blockade improves survival in a subset of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but robust biomarkers that predict response to PD-1 pathway inhibitors are lacking. Furthermore, our understanding of the diversity of the NSCLC tumor immune microenvironment remains limited. Methods: We performed comprehensive flow-cytometric immunoprofiling on both tumor and immune cells from 51 NSCLCs and integrated this analysis with clinical and histopathologic characteristics, next generation sequencing, mRNA expression, and PD-L1 immunohistochemistry (IHC). Results: Cytometric profiling identified an immunologically “hot” cluster with abundant CD8+ T cells expressing high levels of the PD-1 and TIM-3, and an immunologically “cold” cluster with lower relative abundance of CD8+ T cells and expression of inhibitory markers. The “hot” cluster was highly enriched for expression of genes associated with T cell trafficking and cytotoxic function, and high PD-L1 expression by IHC. There was no correlation between immunophenotype and KRAS or EGFR mutation, or patient smoking history, but we did observe an enrichment of squamous subtype and tumors with higher mutation burden in the “hot” cluster. Additionally, ~20% of cases had high B cell infiltrates with a subset producing IL-10. Conclusions: Our results support the use of immune-based metrics to study response and resistance to immunotherapy in lung cancer. Overall design: Single-cell comparison of normal and tumor infiltrated B-cells.
Multiparametric profiling of non-small-cell lung cancers reveals distinct immunophenotypes.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesImmune checkpoint blockade has shown tremendous anti-tumor potential in the clinic. However, these therapies are only effective in a subset of patients, so identification of additional immunomodulatory molecules that enhance the anti-tumor activity of these treatments may expand their clinical utility. In particular, identifying small molecules that complement existing immunotherapies has been relatively unexplored, so we performed a small molecule screen to identify compounds that can enhance co-inhibitory molecule blockade, to improve the anti-tumor adaptive immune response. Our unbiased screen identified inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 (CDK4/6), including the FDA-approved palbociclib, as a class of small molecule compounds that exhibited significant immunostimulatory activity in vitro. In accordance with our in vitro finding of enhanced NFAT signaling, single-cell RNA-sequencing confirmed that in vivo exposure to CDK4/6 inhibitors enhanced NFAT signaling in tumor infiltrating T cells. Moreover, our results revealed that CDK4/6 inhibition up-regulated activation molecules and down-regulated suppressive molecules in these cells. CDK4/6 inhibition also increased the number of T cells with activated TCR (T cell receptor) signaling, as well as factors that are important for signal transduction downstream of TCR signaling. In summary, the impact of CDK4/6i on cell cycle progression and T cell proliferation are balanced favorably towards increased T cell recruitment and enhanced effector cell function, mediated in part by activation of the NFAT family of transcription factors. Further, our results demonstrate that CDK4/6i enhances PD-1 blockade through increased T-cell effector function and inhibition of immune suppressive cytokine production. While prolonged CDK4/6i treatment could be immunosuppressive due to adverse effects on lymphocyte proliferation, properly timed/sequenced CDK4/6i may potentiate the clinical impact of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies. As palbociclib is FDA-approved and multiple other CDK4/6 inhibitors are in clinical trials, we expect that this hypothesis will undergo rapid testing in humans. Overall design: Single-cell comparison of control and CDK4/6 inhibitor treated tumor infiltrating T cells
CDK4/6 Inhibition Augments Antitumor Immunity by Enhancing T-cell Activation.
Specimen part, Cell line, Subject
View SamplesPlants typically contain two different types of cell walls: a primary wall that is being deposited around all growing cells, and a secondary wall that is produced in cells with specialized functions once they have ceased to grow. In Arabidopsis, VND7 is a transcription factor that is sufficient to activate secondary cell wall synthesis. To artificially turn on the secondary cell wall synthesis, VND7 was fused to the activation domain of the herpes virus VP16 protein and the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) domain. Thus, the transgenic plants harbouring the constructs can then be treated with dexamethasone (DEX), a glucocorticoid derivative, to induce the secondary cell wall formation.
A Transcriptional and Metabolic Framework for Secondary Wall Formation in Arabidopsis.
Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesAlternative polyadenylation has been implicated as an important regulator of gene expression. In some cases, alternative polyadenylation is known to couple with alternative splicing to influence last intron removal. However, it is unknown whether alternative polyadenylation events influence alternative splicing decisions at upstream exons. Knockdown of the polyadenylation factors CFIm25 or CstF64 was used as an approach in identifying alternative polyadenylation and alternative splicing events on a genome-wide scale. Although hundreds of alternative splicing events were found to be differentially spliced in the knockdown of CstF64, genes associated with alternative polyadenylation did not exhibit an increased incidence of alternative splicing. These results demonstrate that the coupling between alternative polyadenylation and alternative splicing is usually limited to defining the last exon. The striking influence of CstF64 knockdown on alternative splicing can be explained through its effects on UTR selection of known splicing regulators such as hnRNP A2/B1, thereby indirectly influencing splice site selection. We conclude that changes in the expression of the polyadenylation factor CstF64 influences alternative splicing through indirect effects. Overall design: HeLa cell line was stably transfected with shRNA plasmids targeting CstF64. Total RNA was isolated from CstF64 KD cells and wild-type control cells using Trizol according to manufacturer’s protocols. Samples were deep sequenced in duplicate using the Illumina GAIIx system.
Coupling between alternative polyadenylation and alternative splicing is limited to terminal introns.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesThe lncRNA LOC100130476 (named as WAKMAR2) was found to be down-regulated in epidermal keratinocytes in human chronic non-healing wounds compared to normal acute wounds and the intact skin. However, its biological role in keratinocytes during wound repair has not been studied.
WAKMAR2, a Long Noncoding RNA Downregulated in Human Chronic Wounds, Modulates Keratinocyte Motility and Production of Inflammatory Chemokines.
Specimen part
View SamplesGene expression in larval, early third instar eye-antenna discs was assessed to reveal an ATF4 contribution to target gene induction following COX7a knockdown. As hypothesised, these COX7a-RNAi induced target genes require the transcription factor ATF4 for induction, irrespective of concomitant Notch pathway activation through Delta over-expression.
ATF4-Induced Warburg Metabolism Drives Over-Proliferation in Drosophila.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesGene expression in larval, early third instar eye-antenna discs was assesed in genotypes with Notch Gain-of-Function (UAS-Delta or UAS-Notch[intra2]) over-expression or mitochondrial COX7a Loss-of-function (UAS-COX7a-RNAi) or a combination of both (UAS-Delta, UAS-COX7a-RNAi). The analysis revealed that, despite a strong genetic interaction between Notch pathway activation and knockdown of COX7a, no transcriptional cooperation or synergy was detectable in early L3 eye-antenna discs. Rather, COX7a knockdown induced a unique transcriptional signature, which further experiments revealed to be mediated by the transcription factor ATF4.
ATF4-Induced Warburg Metabolism Drives Over-Proliferation in Drosophila.
No sample metadata fields
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