| 11. |
- Hörnblad, Andreas, et al.
(author)
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The pancreas
- 2015. - 1
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In: Kaufman's atlas of mouse development supplement. - : Elsevier. - 9780128000434 - 9780128009130 ; , s. 85-94
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This chapter aims to provide a three-dimensional description of the key morphological events, through which a discrete region of the early gut epithelium, as well as its associated mesenchyme, gives rise to the adult pancreas. Facilitated by recent advances in optical imaging techniques, including light sheet fluorescence microscopy and optical projection tomography, we present image series illustrating the growth of the organ and the formation of key morphological and anatomical features. Given the close developmental relationship between the pancreas-associated mesenchyme and the spleen anlage, and thus the potential for the developing spleen to influence pancreas morphogenesis, we include a brief section which covers the early development of this organ. Finally, we describe the spatial and quantitative distribution of the pancreatic endocrine (β-cell) component in adult mice and highlight lobular heterogeneities that may affect phenotypical evaluations of the gland.
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| 12. |
- Jo, Junghyo, et al.
(author)
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The fractal spatial distribution of pancreatic islets in three dimensions : a self-avoiding growth model
- 2013
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In: Physical Biology. - : Institute of Physics Publishing (IOPP). - 1478-3967 .- 1478-3975. ; 10:3, s. 036009-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The islets of Langerhans, responsible for controlling blood glucose levels, are dispersed within the pancreas. A universal power law governing the fractal spatial distribution of islets in two-dimensional pancreatic sections has been reported. However, the fractal geometry in the actual three-dimensional pancreas volume, and the developmental process that gives rise to such a self-similar structure, has not been investigated. Here, we examined the three-dimensional spatial distribution of islets in intact mouse pancreata using optical projection tomography and found a power law with a fractal dimension of 2.1. Furthermore, based on two-dimensional pancreatic sections of human autopsies, we found that the distribution of human islets also follows a universal power law with a fractal dimension of 1.5 in adult pancreata, which agrees with the value previously reported in smaller mammalian pancreas sections. Finally, we developed a self-avoiding growth model for the development of the islet distribution and found that the fractal nature of the spatial islet distribution may be associated with the self-avoidance in the branching process of vascularization in the pancreas.
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| 13. |
- Kahsay, Abraha, et al.
(author)
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Pax3 loss of function delays tumour progression in kRAS-induced zebrafish rhabdomyosarcoma models
- 2022
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In: Scientific Reports. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2045-2322. ; 12:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Rhabdomyosarcoma is a soft tissue cancer that arises in skeletal muscle due to mutations in myogenic progenitors that lead to ineffective differentiation and malignant transformation. The transcription factors Pax3 and Pax7 and their downstream target genes are tightly linked with the fusion positive alveolar subtype, whereas the RAS pathway is usually involved in the embryonal, fusion negative variant. Here, we analyse the role of Pax3 in a fusion negative context, by linking alterations in gene expression in pax3a/pax3b double mutant zebrafish with tumour progression in kRAS-induced rhabdomyosarcoma tumours. Several genes in the RAS/MAPK signalling pathway were significantly down-regulated in pax3a/pax3b double mutant zebrafish. Progression of rhabdomyosarcoma tumours was also delayed in the pax3a/pax3b double mutant zebrafish indicating that Pax3 transcription factors have an unappreciated role in mediating malignancy in fusion negative rhabdomyosarcoma.
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| 14. |
- López-Pérez, Ana R., et al.
(author)
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Diet-induced rewiring of the Wnt gene regulatory network connects aberrant splicing to fatty liver and liver cancer in DIAMOND mice
- 2023
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In: Scientific Reports. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2045-2322. ; 13:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Several preclinical models have been recently developed for metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) and associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) but comprehensive analysis of the regulatory and transcriptional landscapes underlying disease in these models are still missing. We investigated the regulatory and transcriptional landscape in fatty livers and liver tumours from DIAMOND mice that faithfully mimic human HCC development in the context of MAFLD. RNA-sequencing and ChIP-sequencing revealed rewiring of the Wnt/β-catenin regulatory network in DIAMOND tumours, as manifested by chromatin remodelling and associated switching in the expression of the canonical TCF/LEF downstream effectors. We identified splicing as a major mechanism leading to constitutive oncogenic activation of β-catenin in a large subset of DIAMOND tumours, a mechanism that is independent on somatic mutations in the locus and that has not been previously shown. Similar splicing events were found in a fraction of human HCC and hepatoblastoma samples.
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| 15. |
- López-Pérez, Ana R., et al.
(author)
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Pan-AMPK activator O304 prevents gene expression changes and remobilisation of histone marks in islets of diet-induced obese mice
- 2021
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In: Scientific Reports. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2045-2322. ; 11:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) has an important role in cellular energy homeostasis and has emerged as a promising target for treatment of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) due to its beneficial effects on insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostasis. O304 is a pan-AMPK activator that has been shown to improve glucose homeostasis in both mouse models of diabetes and in human T2D subjects. Here, we describe the genome-wide transcriptional profile and chromatin landscape of pancreatic islets following O304 treatment of mice fed high-fat diet (HFD). O304 largely prevented genome-wide gene expression changes associated with HFD feeding in CBA mice and these changes were associated with remodelling of active and repressive chromatin marks. In particular, the increased expression of the β-cell stress marker Aldh1a3 in islets from HFD-mice is completely abrogated following O304 treatment, which is accompanied by loss of active chromatin marks in the promoter as well as distant non-coding regions upstream of the Aldh1a3 gene. Moreover, O304 treatment restored dysfunctional glucose homeostasis as well as expression of key markers associated with β-cell function in mice with already established obesity. Our findings provide preclinical evidence that O304 is a promising therapeutic compound not only for T2D remission but also for restoration of β-cell function following remission of T2D diabetes.
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| 16. |
- Remeseiro, Silvia, et al.
(author)
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Gene regulation during development in the light of topologically associating domains
- 2016
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In: Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. - : Wiley. - 1759-7684 .- 1759-7692. ; 5:2, s. 169-185
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- During embryonic development, complex transcriptional programs govern the precision of gene expression. Many key developmental genes are regulated via cis-regulatory elements that are located far away in the linear genome. How sequences located hundreds of kilobases away from a promoter can influence its activity has been the subject of numerous speculations, which all underline the importance of the 3D-organization of the genome. The recent advent of chromosome conformation capture techniques has put into focus the subdivision of the genome into topologically associating domains (TADs). TADs may influence regulatory activities on multiple levels. The relative invariance of TAD limits across cell types suggests that they may form fixed structural domains that could facilitate and/or confine long-range regulatory interactions. However, most recent studies suggest that interactions within TADs are more variable and dynamic than initially described. Hence, different models are emerging regarding how TADs shape the complex 3D conformations, and thereafter influence the networks of cis-interactions that govern gene expression during development. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
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| 17. |
- Vincent, Craig A., et al.
(author)
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Epigenomic perturbation of novel EGFR enhancers reduces the proliferative and invasive capacity of glioblastoma and increases sensitivity to temozolomide
- 2023
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In: BMC Cancer. - : BioMed Central (BMC). - 1471-2407. ; 23:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Glioblastoma (GB) is the most aggressive of all primary brain tumours and due to its highly invasive nature, surgical resection is nearly impossible. Patients typically rely on radiotherapy with concurrent temozolomide (TMZ) treatment and face a median survival of ~ 14 months. Alterations in the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor gene (EGFR) are common in GB tumours, but therapies targeting EGFR have not shown significant clinical efficacy.Methods: Here, we investigated the influence of the EGFR regulatory genome on GB cells and identified novel EGFR enhancers located near the GB-associated SNP rs723527. We used CRISPR/Cas9-based approaches to target the EGFR enhancer regions, generating multiple modified GB cell lines, which enabled us to study the functional response to enhancer perturbation.Results: Epigenomic perturbation of the EGFR regulatory region decreases EGFR expression and reduces the proliferative and invasive capacity of glioblastoma cells, which also undergo a metabolic reprogramming in favour of mitochondrial respiration and present increased apoptosis. Moreover, EGFR enhancer-perturbation increases the sensitivity of GB cells to TMZ, the first-choice chemotherapeutic agent to treat glioblastoma.Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate how epigenomic perturbation of EGFR enhancers can ameliorate the aggressiveness of glioblastoma cells and enhance the efficacy of TMZ treatment. This study demonstrates how CRISPR/Cas9-based perturbation of enhancers can be used to modulate the expression of key cancer genes, which can help improve the effectiveness of existing cancer treatments and potentially the prognosis of difficult-to-treat cancers such as glioblastoma.
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| 18. |
- Wolfhagen Sand, Fredrik, et al.
(author)
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Growth-limiting role of endothelial cells in endoderm development
- 2011
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In: Developmental Biology. - : Academic Press. - 0012-1606 .- 1095-564X. ; 352:2, s. 267-277
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Endoderm development is dependent on inductive signals from different structures in close vicinity, including the notochord, lateral plate mesoderm and endothelial cells. Recently, we demonstrated that a functional vascular system is necessary for proper pancreas development, and that sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) exhibits the traits of a blood vessel-derived molecule involved in early pancreas morphogenesis. To examine whether S1P(1)-signaling plays a more general role in endoderm development, S1P(1)-deficient mice were analyzed. S1P(1) ablation results in compromised growth of several foregut-derived organs, including the stomach, dorsal and ventral pancreas and liver. Within the developing pancreas the reduction in organ size was due to deficient proliferation of Pdx1(+) pancreatic progenitors, whereas endocrine cell differentiation was unaffected. Ablation of endothelial cells in vitro did not mimic the S1P(1) phenotype, instead, increased organ size and hyperbranching were observed. Consistent with a negative role for endothelial cells in endoderm organ expansion, excessive vasculature was discovered in S1P(1)-deficient embryos. Altogether, our results show that endothelial cell hyperplasia negatively influences organ development in several foregut-derived organs.
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