技术资料

Understanding the root causes of autoimmune diseases is hampered by the inability to access relevant human tissues and identify the time of disease onset. To examine the interaction of immune cells and their cellular targets in type 1 diabetes,we differentiated human induced pluripotent stem cells into pancreatic endocrine cells,including $\beta$ cells. Here,we describe an in vitro platform that models features of human type 1 diabetes using stress-induced patient-derived endocrine cells and autologous immune cells. We demonstrate a cell-type-specific response by autologous immune cells against induced pluripotent stem cell-derived $\beta$ cells,along with a reduced effect on $\alpha$ cells. This approach represents a path to developing disease models that use patient-derived cells to predict the outcome of an autoimmune response. View Publication

Supercentenarians (≥110-year-old,SC) are a uniquely informative population not only because they surpass centenarians in age,but because they appear to age more slowly with fewer incidences of chronic age-related disease than centenarians. We reprogramed donor B-lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCL) derived from a 114-year-old (SC),a 43-year-old healthy disease-free control (HDC) and an 8-year-old with a rapid aging disease (Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS)) and compared SC-iPSC to HDC-iPSC and HGPS-iPSCs. Reprogramming to pluripotency was confirmed by pluripotency marker expression and differentiation to 3 germ-layers. Each iPSC clone differentiated efficiently to mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPC) as determined by surface marker expression and RNAseq analysis. We identified supercentenarian and HGPS associated gene expression patterns in the differentiated MPC lines that were not evident in the parental iPSC lines. Importantly,telomere length resetting occurred in iPSC from all donors albeit at a lower incidence in supercentenarian iPSCs. These data indicate the potential to use reprogramming to reset both developmental state and cellular age in the oldest of the old." We anticipate that supercentenarian iPSC and their differentiated derivatives will be valuable tools for studying the underlying mechanisms of extreme longevity and disease resistance." View Publication

Several phase 1/2 clinical trials showed that low-dose interleukin-2 (IL-2) treatment is a safe and effective strategy for the treatment of chronic graft-versus-host disease,hepatitis C virus-induced vasculitis,and type 1 diabetes. Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory condition of the colon that lacks satisfactory treatment. In this study,we aimed to determine the effects of low-dose IL-2 as a therapeutic for UC on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis. Methods: Mice with DSS-induced colitis were intraperitoneally injected with low-dose IL-2. Survival,body weight,disease activity index,colon length,histopathological score,myeloperoxidase activity and inflammatory cytokine levels as well as intestinal barrier integrity were examined. Differential gene expression after low-dose IL-2 treatment was analyzed by RNA-sequencing. Results: Low-dose IL-2 significantly improved the symptoms of DSS-induced colitis in mice and attenuated pro-inflammatory cytokine production and immune cell infiltration. The most effective dose range of IL-2 was 16K-32K IU/day. Importantly,low-dose IL-2 was effective in ameliorating the disruption of epithelial barrier integrity in DSS-induced colitis tissues by restoring tight junction proteins and mucin production and suppressing apoptosis. The colon tissue of DSS-induced mice exposed to low-dose IL-2 mimic gene expression patterns in the colons of control mice. Furthermore,we identified the crucial role of the PI3K-AKT pathway in exerting the therapeutic effect of low-dose IL-2. Conclusions: The results of our study suggest that low-dose IL-2 has therapeutic effects on DSS-induced colitis and potential clinical value in treating UC. View Publication

Control of established chronic lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection requires the production of neutralizing antibodies,but it remains unknown how the ensemble of antibodies evolves during ongoing infection. Here,we analyze the evolution of antibody responses during acute or chronic LCMV infection,combining quantitative functional assays and time-resolved antibody repertoire sequencing. We establish that antibody responses initially converge in both infection types on a functional and repertoire level,but diverge later during chronic infection,showing increased clonal diversity,the appearance of mouse-specific persistent clones,and distinct phylogenetic signatures. Chronic infection is characterized by a longer-lasting germinal center reaction and a continuous differentiation of plasma cells,resulting in the emergence of higher-affinity plasma cells exhibiting increased antibody secretion rates. Taken together,our findings reveal the emergence of a personalized antibody response in chronic infection and support the concept that maintaining B cell diversity throughout chronic LCMV infection correlates with the development of infection-resolving antibodies. View Publication

Personalized cancer therapy is based on a patient's tumor lineage,histopathology,expression analyses,and/or tumor DNA or RNA analysis. Here,we aim to develop an in vitro functional assay of a patient's living cancer cells that could complement these approaches. We present methods for developing cell cultures from tumor biopsies and identify the types of samples and culture conditions associated with higher efficiency of model establishment. Toward the application of patient-derived cell cultures for personalized care,we established an immunofluorescence-based functional assay that quantifies cancer cell responses to targeted therapy in mixed cell cultures. Assaying patient-derived lung cancer cultures with this method showed promise in modeling patient response for diagnostic use. This platform should allow for the development of co-clinical trial studies to prospectively test the value of drug profiling on tumor-biopsy-derived cultures to direct patient care. Kodack et al. report on the development of cancer models from tumor biopsies and technologies toward a functional approach for personalized medicine. They describe the ability to reliably test drug response in patient-derived samples of mixed cell populations. In doing so,they show that patient biopsy cultures may predict patient clinical responses. View Publication

Much of our understanding of chromosome segregation is based on cell culture systems. Here,we examine the importance of the tissue environment for chromosome segregation by comparing chromosome segregation fidelity across several primary cell types in native and nonnative contexts. We discover that epithelial cells have increased chromosome missegregation outside of their native tissues. Using organoid culture systems,we show that tissue architecture,specifically integrin function,is required for accurate chromosome segregation. We find that tissue architecture enhances the correction of merotelic microtubule-kinetochore attachments,and this is especially important for maintaining chromosome stability in the polyploid liver. We propose that disruption of tissue architecture could underlie the widespread chromosome instability across epithelial cancers. Moreover,our findings highlight the extent to which extracellular context can influence intrinsic cellular processes and the limitations of cell culture systems for studying cells that naturally function within a tissue. Tissue architecture and integrin function are critical factors that support chromosome segregation fidelity in epithelial tissues. View Publication

PURPOSE Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer refractory to chemotherapy have limited treatment options. Ensituximab (NEO-102) is a novel chimeric mAb targeting a variant of MUC5AC with specificity to colorectal cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS Single-arm,phase II trial assessed the efficacy and safety of ensituximab in patients with advanced,refractory cancer who expressed MUC5AC antigen in tumor tissue. Ensituximab was administered intravenously every 2 weeks with 3 mg/kg as recommended phase II dose (RP2D). A minimum sample size of 43 patients was required on the basis of the assumption that ensituximab would improve median overall survival (OS) by 7 months using a one-sided significance level of 10{\%} and 80{\%} power. Written informed consent was obtained from all patients. RESULTS Sixty-three patients with advanced,refractory colorectal cancer were enrolled and 53 subjects were treated in phase II arm. Median age was 58 years and 46{\%} of the patients were female. Among 57 evaluable patients,median OS was 6.8 months. No responses were observed,and stable disease was achieved in 21{\%} of the patients. The most common treatment-related adverse events (AE) at RP2D included fatigue (38{\%}),anemia (30{\%}),nausea (15{\%}),vomiting (11{\%}),increased bilirubin (9{\%}),constipation (8{\%}),decreased appetite (6{\%}),and diarrhea (6{\%}). Serious AEs at least possibly related to ensituximab occurred in 4 patients and included anemia,nausea,increased bilirubin,and hypoxia. No patients discontinued treatment due to drug-related AEs. CONCLUSIONS Ensituximab was well tolerated and demonstrated modest antitumor activity in patients with heavily pretreated refractory colorectal cancer. View Publication

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) exhibits differences between Asians and Caucasians in terms of incidence rate,age at onset,immunophenotype,and genetic profile. We performed genome-wide methylation profiling of CLL in an Asian cohort for the first time. Eight Korean patients without somatic immunoglobulin heavy chain gene hypermutations underwent methyl-CpG-binding domain sequencing (MBD-seq),as did five control subjects. Gene Ontology,pathway analysis,and network-based prioritization of differentially methylated genes were also performed. More regions were hypomethylated (2,062 windows) than were hypermethylated (777 windows). Promoters contained the highest proportion of differentially methylated regions (0.08{\%}),while distal intergenic and intron regions contained the largest number of differentially methylated regions. Protein-coding genes were the most abundant,followed by long noncoding and short noncoding genes. The most significantly over-represented signalling pathways in the differentially methylated gene list included immune/cancer-related pathways and B-cell receptor signalling. Among the top 10 hub genes identified via network-based prioritization,four (UBC,GRB2,CREBBP,and GAB2) had no known relevance to CLL,while the other six (STAT3,PTPN6,SYK,STAT5B,XPO1,and ABL1) have previously been linked to CLL in Caucasians. As such,our analysis identified four novel candidate genes of potential significance to Asian patients with CLL. View Publication

Thymosin $\beta$4 (T$\beta$4) is a G-actin sequestering protein that contributes to diverse cellular activities,such as migration and angiogenesis. In this study,the beneficial effects of combined cell therapy with T$\beta$4 and human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) in a mouse ischemic hindlimb model were investigated. We observed that exogenous treatment with T$\beta$4 enhanced endogenous TMSB4X mRNA expression and promoted morphological changes (increased cell length) in hASCs. Interestingly,T$\beta$4 induced the active state of hASCs by up-regulating intracellular signaling pathways including the PI3K/AKT/mTOR and MAPK/ERK pathways. Treatment with T$\beta$4 significantly increased cell migration and sprouting from microbeads. Moreover,additional treatment with T$\beta$4 promoted the endothelial differentiation potential of hASCs by up-regulating various angiogenic genes. To evaluate the in vivo effects of the T$\beta$4-hASCs combination on vessel recruitment,dorsal window chambers were transplanted,and the co-treated mice were found to have a significantly increased number of microvessel branches. Transplantation of hASCs in combination with T$\beta$4 was found to improve blood flow and attenuate limb or foot loss post-ischemia compared to transplantation with hASCs alone. Taken together,the therapeutic application of hASCs combined with T$\beta$4 could be effective in enhancing endothelial differentiation and vascularization for treating hindlimb ischemia. View Publication

The process of oligodendrogenesis has been relatively well delineated in the rodent brain. However,it remains unknown whether analogous developmental processes are manifested in the human brain. Here we report oligodendrogenesis in forebrain organoids,generated by using OLIG2-GFP knockin human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) reporter lines. OLIG2/GFP exhibits distinct temporal expression patterns in ventral forebrain organoids (VFOs) versus dorsal forebrain organoids (DFOs). Interestingly,oligodendrogenesis can be induced in both VFOs and DFOs after neuronal maturation. Assembling VFOs and DFOs to generate fused forebrain organoids (FFOs) promotes oligodendroglia maturation. Furthermore,dorsally derived oligodendroglial cells outcompete ventrally derived oligodendroglia and become dominant in FFOs after long-term culture. Thus,our organoid models reveal human oligodendrogenesis with ventral and dorsal origins. These models will serve to study the phenotypic and functional differences between human ventrally and dorsally derived oligodendroglia and to reveal mechanisms of diseases associated with cortical myelin defects. View Publication

Long-term management for leukemia is challenging due to the painful and invasive procedure of bone marrow (BM) biopsy. At present,non-invasive liquid (blood) biopsy is not utilized for leukemia,due to lower counts of leukemia blast cells in the blood. Here,we described a robust system for the simultaneous detection and enrichment of rare blast cells. Enrichment of blast cells was achieved from blood with a one-step microfluidic blast cell biochip (BCB) sorting system,without specific targeting of proteins by antibodies. Non-target cells encountered a differential net force as compared to stiffer blast cells and were removed. The efficiency of the BCB promotes high detection sensitivity (1 in 106 cells) even from patients with minimal residual disease. The procedure was validated using actual blast cells from patients with various types of leukemia. Outcomes were compared to current evaluation standards,such as flow cytometry,using BM aspirates. Blast cell detection efficiency was higher in 55.6{\%} of the patients using the BCB as compared to flow cytometry,despite the lower concentrations of blast cells in liquid biopsy. These studies promote early-stage detection and routine monitoring for minimal residual disease in patients. View Publication

Interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF1) regulates diverse biological functions,including modulation of cellular responses involved in tumorigenesis. Genetic mutations and altered IRF1 function are associated with several cancers. Although the function of IRF1 in the immunobiology of cancer is emerging,IRF1-specific mechanisms regulating tumorigenesis and tissue homeostasis in vivo are not clear. Here,we found that mice lacking IRF1 were hypersusceptible to colorectal tumorigenesis. IRF1 functions in both the myeloid and epithelial compartments to confer protection against AOM/DSS-induced colorectal tumorigenesis. We further found that IRF1 also prevents tumorigenesis in a spontaneous mouse model of colorectal cancer. The attenuated cell death in the colons of Irf1-/- mice was due to defective pyroptosis,apoptosis,and necroptosis (PANoptosis). IRF1 does not regulate inflammation and the inflammasome in the colon. Overall,our study identified IRF1 as an upstream regulator of PANoptosis to induce cell death during colitis-associated tumorigenesis. View Publication