Browsing by Author "Deng, Qing"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Chemically-defined generation of human hemogenic endothelium and definitive hematopoietic progenitor cells
    (Elsevier, 2022) Chang, Yun; Syahirah, Ramizah; Oprescu, Stephanie N.; Wang, Xuepeng; Jung, Juhyung; Cooper, Scott H.; Torregrosa-Allen, Sandra; Elzey, Bennett D.; Hsu, Alan Y.; Randolph, Lauren N.; Sun, Yufei; Kuang, Shihuan; Broxmeyer, Hal E.; Deng, Qing; Lian, Xiaojun; Bao, Xiaoping; Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine
    Human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), which arise from aorta-gonad-mesonephros (AGM), are widely used to treat blood diseases and cancers. However, a technique for their robust generation in vitro is still missing. Here we show temporal manipulation of Wnt signaling is sufficient and essential to induce AGM-like hematopoiesis from human pluripotent stem cells. TGFβ inhibition at the stage of aorta-like SOX17+CD235a- hemogenic endothelium yielded AGM-like hematopoietic progenitors, which closely resembled primary cord blood HSCs at the transcriptional level and contained diverse lineage-primed progenitor populations via single cell RNA-sequencing analysis. Notably, the resulting definitive cells presented lymphoid and myeloid potential in vitro; and could home to a definitive hematopoietic site in zebrafish and rescue bloodless zebrafish after transplantation. Engraftment and multilineage repopulating activities were also observed in mouse recipients. Together, our work provided a chemically-defined and feeder-free culture platform for scalable generation of AGM-like hematopoietic progenitor cells, leading to enhanced production of functional blood and immune cells for various therapeutic applications.
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    Engineering chimeric antigen receptor neutrophils from human pluripotent stem cells for targeted cancer immunotherapy
    (Cell Press, 2022) Chang, Yun; Syahirah, Ramizah; Wang, Xuepeng; Jin, Gyuhyung; Torregrosa-Allen, Sandra; Elzey, Bennett D.; Hummel, Sydney N.; Wang, Tianqi; Li, Can; Lian, Xiaojun; Deng, Qing; Broxmeyer, Hal E.; Bao, Xiaoping; Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine
    Neutrophils, the most abundant white blood cells in circulation, are closely related to cancer development and progression. Healthy primary neutrophils present potent cytotoxicity against various cancer cell lines through direct contact and via generation of reactive oxygen species. However, due to their short half-life and resistance to genetic modification, neutrophils have not yet been engineered with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to enhance their antitumor cytotoxicity for targeted immunotherapy. Here, we genetically engineered human pluripotent stem cells with synthetic CARs and differentiated them into functional neutrophils by implementing a chemically defined platform. The resulting CAR neutrophils present superior and specific cytotoxicity against tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo. Collectively, we established a robust platform for massive production of CAR neutrophils, paving the way to myeloid cell-based therapeutic strategies that would boost current cancer-treatment approaches.
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    Inducible overexpression of zebrafish microRNA-722 suppresses chemotaxis of human neutrophil like cells
    (Elsevier, 2019-08-01) Hsu, Alan Y.; Liu, Sheng; Syahirah, Ramizah; Brasseale, Kent A.; Wan, Jun; Deng, Qing; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Neutrophil migration is essential for battling against infections but also drives chronic inflammation. Since primary neutrophils are terminally differentiated and not genetically tractable, leukemia cells such as HL-60 are differentiated into neutrophil-like cells to study mechanisms underlying neutrophil migration. However, constitutive overexpression or inhibition in this cell line does not allow the characterization of the genes that affect the differentiation process. Here we apply the tet-on system to induce the expression of a zebrafish microRNA, dre-miR-722, in differentiated HL-60. Overexpression of miR-722 reduced the mRNA level of genes in the chemotaxis and inflammation pathways, including Ras-Related C3 Botulinum Toxin Substrate 2 (RAC2). Consistently, polarization of the actin cytoskeleton, cell migration and generation of the reactive oxygen species are significantly inhibited upon induced miR-722 overexpression. Together, zebrafish miR-722 is a suppressor for migration and signaling in human neutrophil like cells.
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    Phenotypical microRNA screen reveals a noncanonical role of CDK2 in regulating neutrophil migration
    (National Academy of Sciences, 2019-09-10) Hsu, Alan Y.; Wang, Decheng; Liu, Sheng; Lu, Justice; Syahirah, Ramizah; Bennin, David A.; Huttenlocher, Anna; Umulis, David M.; Wan, Jun; Deng, Qing; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Neutrophil migration is essential for inflammatory responses to kill pathogens; however, excessive neutrophilic inflammation also leads to tissue injury and adverse effects. To discover novel therapeutic targets that modulate neutrophil migration, we performed a neutrophil-specific microRNA (miRNA) overexpression screen in zebrafish and identified 8 miRNAs as potent suppressors of neutrophil migration. Among those, miR-199 decreases neutrophil chemotaxis in zebrafish and human neutrophil-like cells. Intriguingly, in terminally differentiated neutrophils, miR-199 alters the cell cycle-related pathways and directly suppresses cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (Cdk2), whose known activity is restricted to cell cycle progression and cell differentiation. Inhibiting Cdk2, but not DNA replication, disrupts cell polarity and chemotaxis of zebrafish neutrophils without inducing cell death. Human neutrophil-like cells deficient in CDK2 fail to polarize and display altered signaling downstream of the formyl peptide receptor. Chemotaxis of primary human neutrophils is also reduced upon CDK2 inhibition. Furthermore, miR-199 overexpression or CDK2 inhibition significantly improves the outcome of lethal systemic inflammation challenges in zebrafish. Our results therefore reveal previously unknown functions of miR-199 and CDK2 in regulating neutrophil migration and provide directions in alleviating systemic inflammation.
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    Rora Regulates Neutrophil Migration and Activation in Zebrafish
    (Frontiers Media, 2022-03-04) Hsu, Alan Y.; Wang, Tianqi; Syahirah, Ramizah; Liu, Sheng; Li, Kailing; Zhang, Weiwei; Wang, Jiao; Cao, Ziming; Tian, Simon; Matosevic, Sandro; Staiger, Christopher J.; Wan, Jun; Deng, Qing; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Neutrophil migration and activation are essential for defense against pathogens. However, this process may also lead to collateral tissue injury. We used microRNA overexpression as a platform and discovered protein-coding genes that regulate neutrophil migration. Here we show that miR-99 decreased the chemotaxis of zebrafish neutrophils and human neutrophil-like cells. In zebrafish neutrophils, miR-99 directly targets the transcriptional factor RAR-related orphan receptor alpha (roraa). Inhibiting RORα, but not the closely related RORγ, reduced chemotaxis of zebrafish and primary human neutrophils without causing cell death, and increased susceptibility of zebrafish to bacterial infection. Expressing a dominant-negative form of Rorα or disrupting the roraa locus specifically in zebrafish neutrophils reduced cell migration. At the transcriptional level, RORα regulates transmembrane signaling receptor activity and protein phosphorylation pathways. Our results, therefore, reveal previously unknown functions of miR-99 and RORα in regulating neutrophil migration and anti-microbial defense.