A Living Organoid Biobank of Crohn's Disease Patients Reveals Molecular Subtypes for Personalized Therapeutics.

Crohn's disease (CD) is a complex, clinically heterogeneous disease of multifactorial origin; there is no perfect pre-clinical model, little insight into the basis for such heterogeneity, and still no cure. To address these unmet needs, we sought to explore the translational potential of adult stem cell-derived organoids that not only retain their tissue identity, but also their genetic and epigenetic disease-driving traits. We prospectively created a biobank of CD patient-derived organoid cultures (PDOs) using biopsied tissues from colons of 34 consecutive subjects representing all clinical subtypes (Montreal Classification B1-B3 and perianal disease). PDOs were generated also from healthy subjects. Comparative gene expression analyses enabled benchmarking of PDOs as tools for modeling the colonic epithelium in active disease and revealed that despite the clinical heterogeneity there are two major molecular subtypes: immune-deficient infectious-CD [IDICD] and stress and senescence-induced fibrostenotic-CD [S2FCD]. The transcriptome, genome and phenome show a surprising degree of internal consistency within each molecular subtype. The spectrum of morphometric, phenotypic, and functional changes within the "living biobank" reveals distinct differences between the molecular subtypes. These insights enabled drug screens that reversed subtype-specific phenotypes, e.g., impaired microbial clearance in IDICD was reversed using agonists for nuclear receptors, and senescence in S2FCD was rectified using senotherapeutics, but not vice versa . Phenotyped-genotyped CD-PDOs may fill the gap between basic biology and patient trials by enabling pre-clinical Phase '0' human trials for personalized therapeutics. In Brief: This work creates a prospectively biobanked phenotyped-genotyped Crohn's disease patient-derived organoids (CD-PDOs) as platforms for molecular subtyping of disease and for ushering personalized therapeutics. HIGHLIGHTS: Prospectively biobanked CD-organoids recapitulate the disease epithelium in patientsThe phenome-transcriptome-genome of CD-organoids converge on two molecular subtypesOne subtype shows impaired microbial clearance, another increased cellular senescencePhenotyped-genotyped PDOs are then used for integrative and personalized therapeutics.

COVID-19 lung disease shares driver AT2 cytopathic features with Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

BACKGROUND: In the aftermath of Covid-19, some patients develop a fibrotic lung disease, i.e., post-COVID-19 lung disease (PCLD), for which we currently lack insights into pathogenesis, disease models, or treatment options. METHODS: Using an AI-guided approach, we analyzed > 1000 human lung transcriptomic datasets associated with various lung conditions using two viral pandemic signatures (ViP and sViP) and one covid lung-derived signature. Upon identifying similarities between COVID-19 and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), we subsequently dissected the basis for such similarity from molecular, cytopathic, and immunologic perspectives using a panel of IPF-specific gene signatures, alongside signatures of alveolar type II (AT2) cytopathies and of prognostic monocyte-driven processes that are known drivers of IPF. Transcriptome-derived findings were used to construct protein-protein interaction (PPI) network to identify the major triggers of AT2 dysfunction. Key findings were validated in hamster and human adult lung organoid (ALO) pre-clinical models of COVID-19 using immunohistochemistry and qPCR. FINDINGS: COVID-19 resembles IPF at a fundamental level; it recapitulates the gene expression patterns (ViP and IPF signatures), cytokine storm (IL15-centric), and the AT2 cytopathic changes, e.g., injury, DNA damage, arrest in a transient, damage-induced progenitor state, and senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). These immunocytopathic features were induced in pre-clinical COVID models (ALO and hamster) and reversed with effective anti-CoV-2 therapeutics in hamsters. PPI-network analyses pinpointed ER stress as one of the shared early triggers of both diseases, and IHC studies validated the same in the lungs of deceased subjects with COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2-challenged hamster lungs. Lungs from tg-mice, in which ER stress is induced specifically in the AT2 cells, faithfully recapitulate the host immune response and alveolar cytopathic changes that are induced by SARS-CoV-2. INTERPRETATION: Like IPF, COVID-19 may be driven by injury-induced ER stress that culminates into progenitor state arrest and SASP in AT2 cells. The ViP signatures in monocytes may be key determinants of prognosis. The insights, signatures, disease models identified here are likely to spur the development of therapies for patients with IPF and other fibrotic interstitial lung diseases. FUNDING: This work was supported by the National Institutes for Health grants R01- GM138385 and AI155696 and funding from the Tobacco-Related disease Research Program (R01RG3780).

COVID-19 lung disease shares driver AT2 cytopathic features with Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Background: In the aftermath of Covid-19, some patients develop a fibrotic lung disease, i.e., p ost- C OVID-19 l ung d isease (PCLD), for which we currently lack insights into pathogenesis, disease models, or treatment options. Method: Using an AI-guided approach, we analyzed > 1000 human lung transcriptomic datasets associated with various lung conditions using two viral pandemic signatures (ViP and sViP) and one covid lung-derived signature. Upon identifying similarities between COVID-19 and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), we subsequently dissected the basis for such similarity from molecular, cytopathic, and immunologic perspectives using a panel of IPF-specific gene signatures, alongside signatures of alveolar type II (AT2) cytopathies and of prognostic monocyte-driven processes that are known drivers of IPF. Transcriptome-derived findings were used to construct protein-protein interaction (PPI) network to identify the major triggers of AT2 dysfunction. Key findings were validated in hamster and human adult lung organoid (ALO) pre-clinical models of COVID-19 using immunohistochemistry and qPCR. Findings: COVID-19 resembles IPF at a fundamental level; it recapitulates the gene expression patterns (ViP and IPF signatures), cytokine storm (IL15-centric), and the AT2 cytopathic changes, e.g., injury, DNA damage, arrest in a transient, damage-induced progenitor state, and senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). These immunocytopathic features were induced in pre-clinical COVID models (ALO and hamster) and reversed with effective anti-CoV-2 therapeutics in hamsters. PPI-network analyses pinpointed ER stress as one of the shared early triggers of both diseases, and IHC studies validated the same in the lungs of deceased subjects with COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2-challenged hamster lungs. Lungs from tg - mice, in which ER stress is induced specifically in the AT2 cells, faithfully recapitulate the host immune response and alveolar cytopathic changes that are induced by SARS-CoV-2. Interpretation: Like IPF, COVID-19 may be driven by injury-induced ER stress that culminates into progenitor state arrest and SASP in AT2 cells. The ViP signatures in monocytes may be key determinants of prognosis. The insights, signatures, disease models identified here are likely to spur the development of therapies for patients with IPF and other fibrotic interstitial lung diseases. Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes for Health grants R01-GM138385 and AI155696 and funding from the Tobacco-Related disease Research Program (R01RG3780). One Sentence Summary: Severe COVID-19 triggers cellular processes seen in fibrosing Interstitial Lung Disease. RESEARCH IN CONTEXT: Evidence before this study: In its aftermath, the COVID-19 pandemic has left many survivors, almost a third of those who recovered, with a mysterious long-haul form of the disease which culminates in a fibrotic form of interstitial lung disease (post-COVID-19 ILD). Post-COVID-19 ILD remains a largely unknown entity. Currently, we lack insights into the core cytopathic features that drive this condition.Added value of this study: Using an AI-guided approach, which involves the use of sets of gene signatures, protein-protein network analysis, and a hamster model of COVID-19, we have revealed here that COVID-19 -lung fibrosis resembles IPF, the most common form of ILD, at a fundamental levelâ€"showing similar gene expression patterns in the lungs and blood, and dysfunctional AT2 processes (ER stress, telomere instability, progenitor cell arrest, and senescence). These findings are insightful because AT2 cells are known to contain an elegant quality control network to respond to intrinsic or extrinsic stress; a failure of such quality control results in diverse cellular phenotypes, of which ER stress appears to be a point of convergence, which appears to be sufficient to drive downstream fibrotic remodeling in the lung.Implications of all the available evidence: Because unbiased computational methods identified the shared fundamental aspects of gene expression and cellular processes between COVID-19 and IPF, the impact of our findings is likely to go beyond COVID-19 or any viral pandemic. The insights, tools (disease models, gene signatures, and biomarkers), and mechanisms identified here are likely to spur the development of therapies for patients with IPF and, other fibrotic interstitial lung diseases, all of whom have limited or no treatment options. To dissect the validated prognostic biomarkers to assess and track the risk of pulmonary fibrosis and develop therapeutics to halt fibrogenic progression.

Functional assays with human patient-derived enteroid monolayers to assess the human gut barrier.

Here, we describe the use of polarized patient enteroid-derived monolayers (EDMs) to assess the impact of e-cigarettes on the human gut barrier. These EDMs can be adapted to culture in a 96-well plate for high-throughput screening. We model the effect of e-cigarettes by combining pathogens, enteroids, and e-cigarette vapor-infused media and assess gut barrier integrity, bacterial internalization, and inflammatory response of the gut epithelium. This protocol can be used to assess the effects of e-cigarette components on gut functions. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Sharma et al. (2021).

E-cigarettes compromise the gut barrier and trigger inflammation.

E-cigarette usage continues to rise, yet the safety of e-cigarette aerosols is questioned. Using murine models of acute and chronic e-cigarette aerosol inhalation, murine colon transcriptomics, and murine and human gut-derived organoids in co-culture models, we assessed the effects of e-cigarette use on the gut barrier. Histologic and transcriptome analyses revealed that chronic, but not acute, nicotine-free e-cigarette use increased inflammation and reduced expression of tight junction (TJ) markers. Exposure of murine and human enteroid-derived monolayers (EDMs) to nicotine-free e-cigarette aerosols alone or in co-culture with bacteria also causes barrier disruption, downregulation of TJ protein, and enhanced inflammation in response to infection. These data highlight the harmful effects of "non-nicotine" component of e-cigarettes on the gut barrier. Considering the importance of an intact gut barrier for host fitness and the impact of gut mucosal inflammation on a multitude of chronic diseases, these findings are broadly relevant to both medicine and public health.