Human macrophages are specialised hosts for HIV-1, dengue virus, Leishmania and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Yet macrophage research is hampered by lack of appropriate cell models for modelling ...infection by these human pathogens, because available myeloid cell lines are, by definition, not terminally differentiated like tissue macrophages. We describe here a method for deriving monocytes and macrophages from human Pluripotent Stem Cells which improves on previously published protocols in that it uses entirely defined, feeder- and serum-free culture conditions and produces very consistent, pure, high yields across both human Embryonic Stem Cell (hESC) and multiple human induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (hiPSC) lines over time periods of up to one year. Cumulatively, up to ∼3×10(7) monocytes can be harvested per 6-well plate. The monocytes produced are most closely similar to the major blood monocyte (CD14(+), CD16(low), CD163(+)). Differentiation with M-CSF produces macrophages that are highly phagocytic, HIV-1-infectable, and upon activation produce a pro-inflammatory cytokine profile similar to blood monocyte-derived macrophages. Macrophages are notoriously hard to genetically manipulate, as they recognise foreign nucleic acids; the lentivector system described here overcomes this, as pluripotent stem cells can be relatively simply genetically manipulated for efficient transgene expression in the differentiated cells, surmounting issues of transgene silencing. Overall, the method we describe here is an efficient, effective, scalable system for the reproducible production and genetic modification of human macrophages, facilitating the interrogation of human macrophage biology.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Macrophages are components of the innate immune system with key roles in tissue inflammation and repair. It is now evident that macrophages also support organogenesis, but few studies have ...characterized their identity, ontogeny and function during heart development. Here, we show that the distribution and prevalence of resident macrophages in the subepicardial compartment of the developing heart coincides with the emergence of new lymphatics, and that macrophages interact closely with the nascent lymphatic capillaries. Consequently, global macrophage deficiency led to extensive vessel disruption, with mutant hearts exhibiting shortened and mis-patterned lymphatics. The origin of cardiac macrophages was linked to the yolk sac and foetal liver. Moreover, the
myeloid lineage was found to play essential functions in the remodelling of the lymphatic endothelium. Mechanistically, macrophage hyaluronan was required for lymphatic sprouting by mediating direct macrophage-lymphatic endothelial cell interactions. Together, these findings reveal insight into the role of macrophages as indispensable mediators of lymphatic growth during the development of the mammalian cardiac vasculature.
Mutations in LRRK2 are the most common cause of autosomal dominant Parkinson's disease, and the relevance of LRRK2 to the sporadic form of the disease is becoming ever more apparent. It is therefore ...essential that studies are conducted to improve our understanding of the cellular role of this protein. Here we use multiple models and techniques to identify the pathways through which LRRK2 mutations may lead to the development of Parkinson's disease.
A novel integrated transcriptomics and proteomics approach was used to identify pathways that were significantly altered in iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons carrying the LRRK2-G2019S mutation. Western blotting, immunostaining and functional assays including FM1-43 analysis of synaptic vesicle endocytosis were performed to confirm these findings in iPSC-derived dopaminergic neuronal cultures carrying either the LRRK2-G2019S or the LRRK2-R1441C mutation, and LRRK2 BAC transgenic rats, and post-mortem human brain tissue from LRRK2-G2019S patients.
Our integrated -omics analysis revealed highly significant dysregulation of the endocytic pathway in iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons carrying the LRRK2-G2019S mutation. Western blot analysis confirmed that key endocytic proteins including endophilin I-III, dynamin-1, and various RAB proteins were downregulated in these cultures and in cultures carrying the LRRK2-R1441C mutation, compared with controls. We also found changes in expression of 25 RAB proteins. Changes in endocytic protein expression led to a functional impairment in clathrin-mediated synaptic vesicle endocytosis. Further to this, we found that the endocytic pathway was also perturbed in striatal tissue of aged LRRK2 BAC transgenic rats overexpressing either the LRRK2 wildtype, LRRK2-R1441C or LRRK2-G2019S transgenes. Finally, we found that clathrin heavy chain and endophilin I-III levels are increased in human post-mortem tissue from LRRK2-G2019S patients compared with controls.
Our study demonstrates extensive alterations across the endocytic pathway associated with LRRK2 mutations in iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons and BAC transgenic rats, as well as in post-mortem brain tissue from PD patients carrying a LRRK2 mutation. In particular, we find evidence of disrupted clathrin-mediated endocytosis and suggest that LRRK2-mediated PD pathogenesis may arise through dysregulation of this process.
•iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons from LRRK2 patients show extensive endocytic changes.•Integrated proteomic and transcriptomic approach reveals dysregulation of 25 RABs.•Functional impairment of clathrin mediated endocytosis in LRRK2 iPSC-dopaminergic neurons.•Aged LRRK2 rats also show similar perturbations of key endocytic proteins.•LRRK2 human post-mortem tissue shows upregulation of clathrin and endophilin.
Non-neuronal cell types such as astrocytes can contribute to Parkinson's disease (PD) pathology. The G2019S mutation in leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) is one of the most common known causes of ...familial PD. To characterize its effect on astrocytes, we developed a protocol to produce midbrain-patterned astrocytes from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from PD LRRK2 G2019S patients and healthy controls. RNA sequencing analysis revealed the downregulation of genes involved in the extracellular matrix in PD cases. In particular, transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFB1), which has been shown to inhibit microglial inflammatory response in a rat model of PD, and matrix metallopeptidase 2 (MMP2), which has been shown to degrade α-synuclein aggregates, were found to be down-regulated in LRRK2 G2019S astrocytes. Our findings suggest that midbrain astrocytes carrying the LRRK2 G2019S mutation may have reduced neuroprotective capacity and may contribute to the development of PD pathology.
•Genome-wide RNA sequencing profiling of LRRK2 G2019S iPSC-derived astrocytes.•The extracellular matrix is perturbed in LRRK2 G2019S iPSC-astrocytes.•MMP2 and TGFB1 are down-regulated in the presence of the LRRK2 G2019S mutation.•Reduced neuroprotective potential of astrocytes may contribute to PD pathology.
Macrophages are key target cells of Zika virus (ZIKV) infection, implicated as a viral reservoir seeding sanctuary sites such as the central nervous system and testes. This rests on the apparent ...ability of macrophages to sustain ZIKV replication without experiencing cytopathic effects. ZIKV infection of macrophages triggers an innate immune response involving type I interferons (IFN-I), key antiviral cytokines that play a complex role in ZIKV pathogenesis in animal models. To investigate the functional role of the IFN-I response we generated human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived macrophages from a patient with complete deficiency of
, the high affinity IFN-I receptor subunit. Accompanying the profound defect of IFN-I signalling in
deficient iPS-macrophages we observed significantly enhanced ZIKV replication and cell death, revealing the inherent cytopathicity of ZIKV towards macrophages. These observations were recapitulated by genetic and pharmacological ablation of IFN-I signalling in control iPS-macrophages and extended to a model of iPS-microglia. Thus, the capacity of macrophages to support noncytolytic ZIKV replication depends on an equilibrium set by IFN-I, suggesting that innate antiviral responses might counterintuitively promote ZIKV persistence
the maintenance of tissue viral reservoirs relevant to pathogenesis.
Despite the many advantages of Caenorhabditis elegans, biochemical approaches to study tissue-specific gene expression in post-embryonic stages are challenging. Here, we report a novel experimental ...approach for efficient determination of tissue-specific transcriptomes involving the rapid release and purification of nuclei from major tissues of post-embryonic animals by fluorescence-activated nuclei sorting (FANS), followed by deep sequencing of linearly amplified 3'-end regions of transcripts (3'-end-seq). We employed these approaches to compile the transcriptome of the developed C. elegans intestine and used this to analyse tissue-specific cleavage and polyadenylation. In agreement with intestinal-specific gene expression, highly expressed genes have enriched GATA-elements in their promoter regions and their functional properties are associated with processes that are characteristic for the intestine. We systematically mapped pre-mRNA cleavage and polyadenylation sites, or polyA sites, including more than 3000 sites that have previously not been identified. The detailed analysis of the 3'-ends of the nuclear mRNA revealed widespread alternative polyA site use (APA) in intestinally expressed genes. Importantly, we found that intestinal polyA sites that undergo APA tend to have U-rich and/or A-rich upstream auxiliary elements that may contribute to the regulation of 3'-end formation in the intestine.
Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is an inherited disorder of phagocytes in which NADPH oxidase is defective in generating reactive oxygen species. In this study, we reprogrammed three normal ...unrelated patient's fibroblasts (p47phox and gp91phox) to pluripotency by lentiviral transduction with defined pluripotency factors. These induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) share the morphological features of human embryonic stem cells, express the key pluripotency factors, and possess high telomerase activity. Furthermore, all the iPSC lines formed embryoid bodies in vitro containing cells originating from all three germ layers and were capable of teratoma formation in vivo. They were isogenic with the original patient fibroblasts, exhibited normal karyotype, and retained the p47phox or gp91phox mutations found in the patient fibroblasts. We further demonstrated that these iPSC could be differentiated into monocytes and macrophages with a similar cytokine profile to blood‐derived macrophages under resting conditions. Most importantly, CGD‐patient‐specific iPSC‐derived macrophages showed normal phagocytic properties but lacked reactive oxygen species production, which correlates with clinical diagnosis of CGD in the patients. Together these results suggest that CGD‐patient‐specific iPSC lines represent an important tool for modeling CGD disease phenotypes, screening candidate drugs, and the development of gene therapy. STEM CELLS 2012; 30:599–611
Cognitive decline is among the most feared aspects of ageing. We have generated induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from 24 people from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936, whose cognitive ability was ...tested in childhood and in older age. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were reprogrammed using non-integrating oriP/EBNA1 backbone plasmids expressing six iPSC reprogramming factors (OCT3/4 (POU5F1), SOX2, KLF4, L-Myc, shp53, Lin28, SV40LT). All lines demonstrated STR matched karyotype and pluripotency was validated by multiple methods. These iPSC lines are a valuable resource to study molecular mechanisms underlying individual differences in cognitive ageing and resilience to age-related neurodegenerative diseases.
Radical S‐adenosylmethionine (SAM) domain‐containing protein 2 (RSAD2; viperin) is a key enzyme in innate immune responses that is highly expressed in response to viral infection and inflammatory ...stimuli in many cell types. Recently, it was found that RSAD2 catalyses transformation of cytidine triphosphate (CTP) to its analogue 3′‐deoxy‐3′,4′‐didehydro‐CTP (ddhCTP). The cellular function of this metabolite is unknown. Here, we analysed the extra‐ and intracellular metabolite levels in human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)‐derived macrophages using high‐resolution LC‐MS/MS. The results together with biochemical assays and molecular docking simulations revealed that ddhCTP inhibits the NAD+‐dependent activity of enzymes including that of the housekeeping enzyme glyceraldehyde 3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). We propose that ddhCTP regulates cellular metabolism in response to inflammatory stimuli such as viral infection, pointing to a broader function of RSAD2 than previously thought.
An expanded hexanucleotide repeat in a noncoding region of the C9orf72 gene is a major cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), accounting for up to 40% of familial cases and 7% of sporadic ALS ...in European populations. We have generated induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from fibroblasts of patients carrying C9orf72 hexanucleotide expansions, differentiated these to functional motor and cortical neurons, and performed an extensive phenotypic characterization. In C9orf72 iPSC‐derived motor neurons, decreased cell survival is correlated with dysfunction in Ca2+ homeostasis, reduced levels of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl‐2, increased endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and reduced mitochondrial membrane potential. Furthermore, C9orf72 motor neurons, and also cortical neurons, show evidence of abnormal protein aggregation and stress granule formation. This study is an extensive characterization of iPSC‐derived motor neurons as cellular models of ALS carrying C9orf72 hexanucleotide repeats, which describes a novel pathogenic link between C9orf72 mutations, dysregulation of calcium signaling, and altered proteostasis and provides a potential pharmacological target for the treatment of ALS and the related neurodegenerative disease frontotemporal dementia. Stem Cells 2016;34:2063–2078
This study presents a comprehensive characterization of cellular pathways that are contributing to cell death in iPSC‐derived motor and cortical neurons from ALS/FTD patients carrying pathogenic hexanucleotide repeats in the C9orf72 gene. The apoptotic pathway that we identified in the C9orf72 neurons involves ER calcium elevation and stress, followed by mitochondrial alterations, the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria and cleavage of caspase‐3. Aggregates positive for p62 were detected in these neurons along with high frequency of stress granules, indicating altered proteostatis in the C9orf72 motor and cortical neurons.