Browsing by Author "Zhang, Peng"
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Item 7,8-Dihydroxyflavone accelerates recovery of Brown-Sequard syndrome in adult female rats with spinal cord lateral hemisection(Elsevier, 2022) Lin, Xiaojing; Zhao, Tingbao; Mei, Guiping; Liu, Ruoxu; Li, Chenyi; Wang, Xiaowen; Qu, Zixuan; Lin, Shide; Walker, M. J.; Yi, Xueqing; Zhang, Peng; Tseng, Kuang-Wen; Xu, Xiao-Ming; Lin, Cheng-Hsien; Sun, Gang; Neurological Surgery, School of MedicineBackground: 7,8-Dihydroxyflavone (DHF) mimicks the physiological action of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Since local BDNF delivery to the injured spinal cord enhanced diaphragmatic respiratory function, we aimed to ascertain whether DHF might have similar beneficial effects after Brown-Sequard Syndrome in a rat model of spinal cord lateral hemisection (HX) at the 9th thoracic (T9) vertebral level. Methods: Three sets of adult female rats were included: sham+vehicle group, T9HX+vehicle group and T9HX+DHF group. On the day of surgery, HX+DHF group received DHF (5 mg/kg) while HX+vehicle group received vehicle. Neurobehavioral function, morphology of motor neurons innervating the tibialis anterior muscle and the transmission in descending motor pathways were evaluated. Results: Adult female rats received T9 HX had paralysis and loss of proprioception on the same side as the injury and loss of pain and temperature on the opposite side. We found that, in this model of Brown-Sequard syndrome, reduced cord dendritic arbor complexity, reduced cord motoneuron numbers, enlarged cord lesion volumes, reduced motor evoked potentials, and cord astrogliosis and microgliosis were noted after T9HX. All of the above-mentioned disorders showed recovery by Day 28 after surgery. Therapy with DHF significantly accelerated the electrophysiological, histological and functional recovery in these T9HX animals. Conclusions: Our data provide a biological basis for DHF as a neurotherapeutic agent to improve recovery after a Brown-Sequard syndrome. Such an effect may be mediated by synaptic plasticity and glia-mediated inflammation in the spared lumbar motoneuron pools to a T9HX.Item An abnormal bone marrow microenvironment contributes to hematopoietic dysfunction in Fanconi anemia(Ferrata Storti Foundation, 2017-06) Zhou, Yuan; He, Yongzheng; Xing, Wen; Zhang, Peng; Shi, Hui; Chen, Shi; Shi, Jun; Bai, Jie; Rhodes, Steven D.; Zhang, Fengqui; Yuan, Jin; Yang, Xianlin; Zhu, Xiaofan; Li, Yan; Hanenberg, Helmut; Xu, Mingjiang; Robertson, Kent A.; Yuan, Weiping; Nalepa, Grzegorz; Cheng, Tao; Clapp, D. Wade; Yang, Feng-Chun; Pediatrics, School of MedicineFanconi anemia is a complex heterogeneous genetic disorder with a high incidence of bone marrow failure, clonal evolution to acute myeloid leukemia and mesenchymal-derived congenital anomalies. Increasing evidence in Fanconi anemia and other genetic disorders points towards an interdependence of skeletal and hematopoietic development, yet the impact of the marrow microenvironment in the pathogenesis of the bone marrow failure in Fanconi anemia remains unclear. Here we demonstrated that mice with double knockout of both Fancc and Fancg genes had decreased bone formation at least partially due to impaired osteoblast differentiation from mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells. Mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells from the double knockout mice showed impaired hematopoietic supportive activity. Mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells of patients with Fanconi anemia exhibited similar cellular deficits, including increased senescence, reduced proliferation, impaired osteoblast differentiation and defective hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell supportive activity. Collectively, these studies provide unique insights into the physiological significance of mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells in supporting the marrow microenvironment, which is potentially of broad relevance in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.Item Aircraft noise, like heat stress, causes cognitive impairments via similar mechanisms in male mice(Elsevier, 2021) Sun, Gang; Lin, Xiaojing; Yi, Xueqing; Zhang, Peng; Liu, Ruoxu; Fu, Bo; Sun, Yating; Li, Jing; Jiao, Shuxin; Tian, Tian; Xu, Xiao-Ming; Tseng, Kuang-Wen; Lin, Cheng-Hsien; Neurological Surgery, School of MedicineTo our knowledge, little evidence is available about effects of aircraft noise (AN), a non-chemical stressor, on cognitive function. Again, it is unknown whether or not the heat stress (HS)-induced cognitive deficits can be exacerbated by AN. The adult male mice were assigned to four groups: group 1 mice exposed to non-HS (24-26 °C 2 h daily for 4 consecutive days) and white noise (WN) (2 h daily for 4 consecutive days), group 2 mice exposed to WN and HS (32-34 °C 2 h daily for 4 consecutive days), group 3 mice exposed to AN and non-HS (2 h daily for 4 consecutive days) and group 4 mice exposed to AN and HS (2 h daily for consecutive 4 days). Cognitive function were determined by passive avoidance, Y-maze, Morris water maze, and novel object recognition tests. Gut barrier and blood-brain-barrier (BBB) permeability, upload of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) translocation, systemic and central inflammation, and stress reactions were examined. Heat stressed mice displayed both increased stress reactions and learning and memory loss. Heat stress also caused gut barrier hyperpermeability, increased upload of LPS translocation, systemic inflammation, BBB disruption and hippocampal neuroinflammation. Aircraft noise stressed mice did not display systemic inflammation but caused gut barrier hyperpermeability, increased upload of LPS translocation, increased stress reactions, BBB disruption, hippocampal neuroinflammation and cognitive deficits. Aircraft noise exposure further exacerbated the heat stress-induced cognitive deficits and its complications. Our data suggest that AN, like HS, causes cognitive impairments via similar mechanisms in male mice.Item ASXL1 interacts with the cohesin complex to maintain chromatid separation and gene expression for normal hematopoiesis(American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2017-01-20) Li, Zhaomin; Zhang, Peng; Yan, Aimin; Guo, Zhengyu; Ban, Yuguang; Li, Jin; Chen, Shi; Yang, Hui; He, Yongzheng; Li, Jianping; Guo, Ying; Zhang, Wen; Hajiramezanali, Ehsan; An, Huangda; Fajardo, Darlene; Harbour, J. William; Ruan, Yijun; Nimer, Stephen D.; Yu, Peng; Chen, Xi; Xu, Mingjiang; Yang, Feng-Chun; Department of Pediatrics, IU School of MedicineASXL1 is frequently mutated in a spectrum of myeloid malignancies with poor prognosis. Loss of Asxl1 leads to myelodysplastic syndrome-like disease in mice; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. We report that ASXL1 interacts with the cohesin complex, which has been shown to guide sister chromatid segregation and regulate gene expression. Loss of Asxl1 impairs the cohesin function, as reflected by an impaired telophase chromatid disjunction in hematopoietic cells. Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by DNA sequencing data revealed that ASXL1, RAD21, and SMC1A share 93% of genomic binding sites at promoter regions in Lin-cKit+ (LK) cells. We have shown that loss of Asxl1 reduces the genome binding of RAD21 and SMC1A and alters the expression of ASXL1/cohesin target genes in LK cells. Our study underscores the ASXL1-cohesin interaction as a novel means to maintain normal sister chromatid separation and regulate gene expression in hematopoietic cells.Item Detecting significant genotype-phenotype association rules in bipolar disorder: market research meets complex genetics(SpringerOpen, 2018-11-11) Breuer, René; Mattheisen, Manuel; Frank, Josef; Krumm, Bertram; Treutlein, Jens; Kassem, Layla; Strohmaier, Jana; Herms, Stefan; Mühleisen, Thomas W.; Degenhardt, Franziska; Cichon, Sven; Nöthen, Markus M.; Karypis, George; Kelsoe, John; Greenwood, Tiffany; Nievergelt, Caroline; Shilling, Paul; Shekhtman, Tatyana; Edenberg, Howard; Craig, David; Szelinger, Szabolcs; Nurnberger, John; Gershon, Elliot; Alliey‑Rodriguez, Ney; Zandi, Peter; Goes, Fernando; Schork, Nicholas; Smith, Erin; Koller, Daniel; Zhang, Peng; Badner, Judith; Berrettini, Wade; Bloss, Cinnamon; Byerley, William; Coryell, William; Foroud, Tatiana; Guo, Yirin; Hipolito, Maria; Keating, Brendan; Lawson, William; Liu, Chunyu; Mahon, Pamela; McInnis, Melvin; Murray, Sarah; Nwulia, Evaristus; Potash, James; Rice, John; Scheftner, William; Zöllner, Sebastian; McMahon, Francis J.; Rietschel, Marcella; Schulze, Thomas G.; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of MedicineBACKGROUND: Disentangling the etiology of common, complex diseases is a major challenge in genetic research. For bipolar disorder (BD), several genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been performed. Similar to other complex disorders, major breakthroughs in explaining the high heritability of BD through GWAS have remained elusive. To overcome this dilemma, genetic research into BD, has embraced a variety of strategies such as the formation of large consortia to increase sample size and sequencing approaches. Here we advocate a complementary approach making use of already existing GWAS data: a novel data mining procedure to identify yet undetected genotype-phenotype relationships. We adapted association rule mining, a data mining technique traditionally used in retail market research, to identify frequent and characteristic genotype patterns showing strong associations to phenotype clusters. We applied this strategy to three independent GWAS datasets from 2835 phenotypically characterized patients with BD. In a discovery step, 20,882 candidate association rules were extracted. RESULTS: Two of these rules-one associated with eating disorder and the other with anxiety-remained significant in an independent dataset after robust correction for multiple testing. Both showed considerable effect sizes (odds ratio ~ 3.4 and 3.0, respectively) and support previously reported molecular biological findings. CONCLUSION: Our approach detected novel specific genotype-phenotype relationships in BD that were missed by standard analyses like GWAS. While we developed and applied our method within the context of BD gene discovery, it may facilitate identifying highly specific genotype-phenotype relationships in subsets of genome-wide data sets of other complex phenotype with similar epidemiological properties and challenges to gene discovery efforts.Item Efficient region-based test strategy uncovers genetic risk factors for functional outcome in bipolar disorder(Elsevier, 2019-01-01) Budde, Monika; Friedrichs, Stefanie; Alliey-Rodriguez, Ney; Ament, Seth; Badner, Judith A.; Berrettini, Wade H.; Bloss, Cinnamon S.; Byerley, William; Cichon, Sven; Comes, Ashley L.; Coryell, William; Craig, David W.; Degenhardt, Franziska; Edenberg, Howard J.; Foroud, Tatiana; Forstner, Andreas J.; Frank, Josef; Gershon, Elliot S.; Goes, Fernando S.; Greenwood, Tiffany A.; Guo, Yiran; Hipolito, Maria; Hood, Leroy; Keating, Brendan J.; Koller, Daniel L.; Lawson, William B.; Liu, Chunyu; Mahon, Pamela B.; McInnis, Melvin G.; McMahon, Francis J.; Meier, Sandra M.; Mühleisen, Thomas W.; Murray, Sarah S.; Nievergelt, Caroline M.; Nurnberger, John I.; Nwulia, Evaristus A.; Potash, James B.; Quarless, Danjuma; Rice, John; Roach, Jared C.; Scheftner, William A.; Schork, Nicholas J.; Shekhtman, Tatyana; Shilling, Paul D.; Smith, Erin N.; Streit, Fabian; Strohmaier, Jana; Szelinger, Szabolcs; Treutlein, Jens; Witt, Stephanie H.; Zandi, Peter P.; Zhang, Peng; Zöllner, Sebastian; Bickeböller, Heike; Falkai, Peter G.; Kelsoe, John R.; Nöthen, Markus M.; Rietschel, Marcella; Schulze, Thomas G.; Malzahn, Dörthe; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of MedicineGenome-wide association studies of case-control status have advanced the understanding of the genetic basis of psychiatric disorders. Further progress may be gained by increasing sample size but also by new analysis strategies that advance the exploitation of existing data, especially for clinically important quantitative phenotypes. The functionally-informed efficient region-based test strategy (FIERS) introduced herein uses prior knowledge on biological function and dependence of genotypes within a powerful statistical framework with improved sensitivity and specificity for detecting consistent genetic effects across studies. As proof of concept, FIERS was used for the first genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based investigation on bipolar disorder (BD) that focuses on an important aspect of disease course, the functional outcome. FIERS identified a significantly associated locus on chromosome 15 (hg38: chr15:48965004 – 49464789 bp) with consistent effect strength between two independent studies (GAIN/TGen: European Americans, BOMA: Germans; n = 1592 BD patients in total). Protective and risk haplotypes were found on the most strongly associated SNPs. They contain a CTCF binding site (rs586758); CTCF sites are known to regulate sets of genes within a chromatin domain. The rs586758 – rs2086256 – rs1904317 haplotype is located in the promoter flanking region of the COPS2 gene, close to microRNA4716, and the EID1, SHC4, DTWD1 genes as plausible biological candidates. While implication with BD is novel, COPS2, EID1, and SHC4 are known to be relevant for neuronal differentiation and function and DTWD1 for psychopharmacological side effects. The test strategy FIERS that enabled this discovery is equally applicable for tag SNPs and sequence data.Item EZH2 or HDAC1 Inhibition Reverses Multiple Myeloma-Induced Epigenetic Suppression of Osteoblast Differentiation(American Association for Cancer Research, 2017-04) Adamik, Juraj; Jin, Shunqian; Sun, Quanhong; Zhang, Peng; Weiss, Kurt R.; Anderson, Judith L.; Silbermann, Rebecca; Roodman, G. David; Galson, Deborah L.; Medicine, School of MedicineIn multiple myeloma, osteolytic lesions rarely heal because of persistent suppressed osteoblast differentiation resulting in a high fracture risk. Herein, chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses reveal that multiple myeloma cells induce repressive epigenetic histone changes at the Runx2 locus that prevent osteoblast differentiation. The most pronounced multiple myeloma-induced changes were at the Runx2-P1 promoter, converting it from a poised bivalent state to a repressed state. Previously, it was observed that multiple myeloma induces the transcription repressor GFI1 in osteoblast precursors, which correlates with decreased Runx2 expression, thus prompting detailed characterization of the multiple myeloma and TNFα-dependent GFI1 response element within the Runx2-P1 promoter. Further analyses reveal that multiple myeloma-induced GFI1 binding to Runx2 in osteoblast precursors and recruitment of the histone modifiers HDAC1, LSD1, and EZH2 is required to establish and maintain Runx2 repression in osteogenic conditions. These GFI1-mediated repressive chromatin changes persist even after removal of multiple myeloma. Ectopic GFI1 is sufficient to bind to Runx2, recruit HDAC1 and EZH2, increase H3K27me3 on the gene, and prevent osteogenic induction of endogenous Runx2 expression. Gfi1 knockdown in MC4 cells blocked multiple myeloma-induced recruitment of HDAC1 and EZH2 to Runx2, acquisition of repressive chromatin architecture, and suppression of osteoblast differentiation. Importantly, inhibition of EZH2 or HDAC1 activity in pre-osteoblasts after multiple myeloma exposure in vitro or in osteoblast precursors from patients with multiple myeloma reversed the repressive chromatin architecture at Runx2 and rescued osteoblast differentiation.Implications: This study suggests that therapeutically targeting EZH2 or HDAC1 activity may reverse the profound multiple myeloma-induced osteoblast suppression and allow repair of the lytic lesions.Item Loss of Asxl1 Alters Self-Renewal and Cell Fate of Bone Marrow Stromal Cell, Leading to Bohring-Opitz-like Syndrome in Mice(Elsevier, 2016-06-14) Zhang, Peng; Xing, Caihong; Rhodes, Steven D.; He, Yongzheng; Deng, Kai; Li, Zhaomin; He, Fuhong; Zhu, Caiying; Nguyen, Lihn; Zhou, Yuan; Chen, Shi; Mohammad, Khalid S.; Guise, Theresa A.; Abdel-Wahab, Omar; Xu, Mingjiang; Wang, Qian-Fei; Yang, Feng-Chun; Department of Pediatrics, IU School of MedicineDe novo ASXL1 mutations are found in patients with Bohring-Opitz syndrome, a disease with severe developmental defects and early childhood mortality. The underlying pathologic mechanisms remain largely unknown. Using Asxl1-targeted murine models, we found that Asxl1 global loss as well as conditional deletion in osteoblasts and their progenitors led to significant bone loss and a markedly decreased number of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) compared with wild-type littermates. Asxl1(-/-) BMSCs displayed impaired self-renewal and skewed differentiation, away from osteoblasts and favoring adipocytes. RNA-sequencing analysis revealed altered expression of genes involved in cell proliferation, skeletal development, and morphogenesis. Furthermore, gene set enrichment analysis showed decreased expression of stem cell self-renewal gene signature, suggesting a role of Asxl1 in regulating the stemness of BMSCs. Importantly, re-introduction of Asxl1 normalized NANOG and OCT4 expression and restored the self-renewal capacity of Asxl1(-/-) BMSCs. Our study unveils a pivotal role of ASXL1 in the maintenance of BMSC functions and skeletal development.Item Proteomics analysis reveals a Th17-prone cell population in presymptomatic graft-versus-host disease(American Society for Clinical Investigation, 2016-05-05) Li, Wei; Liu, Liangyi; Gomez, Aurelie; Zhang, Jilu; Ramadan, Abdulraouf; Zhang, Qing; Choi, Sung W.; Zhang, Peng; Greenson, Joel K.; Liu, Chen; Jiang, Di; Virts, Elizabeth; Kelich, Stephanie L.; Chu, Hong Wei; Flynn, Ryan; Blazar, Bruce R.; Hanenberg, Helmut; Hanash, Samir; Paczesny, Sophie; Department of Microbiology & Immunology, IU School of MedicineGastrointestinal graft-versus-host-disease (GI-GVHD) is a life-threatening complication occurring after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), and a blood biomarker that permits stratification of HCT patients according to their risk of developing GI-GVHD would greatly aid treatment planning. Through in-depth, large-scale proteomic profiling of presymptomatic samples, we identified a T cell population expressing both CD146, a cell adhesion molecule, and CCR5, a chemokine receptor that is upregulated as early as 14 days after transplantation in patients who develop GI-GVHD. The CD4+CD146+CCR5+ T cell population is Th17 prone and increased by ICOS stimulation. shRNA knockdown of CD146 in T cells reduced their transmigration through endothelial cells, and maraviroc, a CCR5 inhibitor, reduced chemotaxis of the CD4+CD146+CCR5+ T cell population toward CCL14. Mice that received CD146 shRNA-transduced human T cells did not lose weight, showed better survival, and had fewer CD4+CD146+CCR5+ T cells and less pathogenic Th17 infiltration in the intestine, even compared with mice receiving maraviroc with control shRNA- transduced human T cells. Furthermore, the frequency of CD4+CD146+CCR5+ Tregs was increased in GI-GVHD patients, and these cells showed increased plasticity toward Th17 upon ICOS stimulation. Our findings can be applied to early risk stratification, as well as specific preventative therapeutic strategies following HCT.Item Single-cell transcriptome and antigen-immunoglobin analysis reveals the diversity of B cells in non-small cell lung cancer(BMC, 2020-06-24) Chen, Jian; Tan, Yun; Sun, Fenghuan; Hou, Likun; Zhang, Chi; Ge, Tao; Yu, Huansha; Wu, Chunxiao; Zhu, Yuming; Duan, Liang; Wu, Liang; Song, Nan; Zhang, Liping; Zhang, Wei; Wang, Di; Chen, Chang; Wu, Chunyan; Jiang, Gening; Zhang, Peng; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of MedicineBackground Malignant transformation and progression of cancer are driven by the co-evolution of cancer cells and their dysregulated tumor microenvironment (TME). Recent studies on immunotherapy demonstrate the efficacy in reverting the anti-tumoral function of T cells, highlighting the therapeutic potential in targeting certain cell types in TME. However, the functions of other immune cell types remain largely unexplored. Results We conduct a single-cell RNA-seq analysis of cells isolated from tumor tissue samples of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, and identify subtypes of tumor-infiltrated B cells and their diverse functions in the progression of NSCLC. Flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry experiments on two independent cohorts confirm the co-existence of the two major subtypes of B cells, namely the naïve-like and plasma-like B cells. The naïve-like B cells are decreased in advanced NSCLC, and their lower level is associated with poor prognosis. Co-culture of isolated naïve-like B cells from NSCLC patients with two lung cancer cell lines demonstrate that the naïve-like B cells suppress the growth of lung cancer cells by secreting four factors negatively regulating the cell growth. We also demonstrate that the plasma-like B cells inhibit cancer cell growth in the early stage of NSCLC, but promote cell growth in the advanced stage of NSCLC. The roles of the plasma-like B cell produced immunoglobulins, and their interacting proteins in the progression of NSCLC are further validated by proteomics data. Conclusion Our analysis reveals versatile functions of tumor-infiltrating B cells and their potential clinical implications in NSCLC.