Your browser doesn't support javascript.
loading
Show: 20 | 50 | 100
Results 1 - 20 de 87
Filter
Add more filters

Publication year range
1.
Cell ; 184(15): 3915-3935.e21, 2021 07 22.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34174187

ABSTRACT

Emerging evidence indicates a fundamental role for the epigenome in immunity. Here, we mapped the epigenomic and transcriptional landscape of immunity to influenza vaccination in humans at the single-cell level. Vaccination against seasonal influenza induced persistently diminished H3K27ac in monocytes and myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs), which was associated with impaired cytokine responses to Toll-like receptor stimulation. Single-cell ATAC-seq analysis revealed an epigenomically distinct subcluster of monocytes with reduced chromatin accessibility at AP-1-targeted loci after vaccination. Similar effects were observed in response to vaccination with the AS03-adjuvanted H5N1 pandemic influenza vaccine. However, this vaccine also stimulated persistently increased chromatin accessibility at interferon response factor (IRF) loci in monocytes and mDCs. This was associated with elevated expression of antiviral genes and heightened resistance to the unrelated Zika and Dengue viruses. These results demonstrate that vaccination stimulates persistent epigenomic remodeling of the innate immune system and reveal AS03's potential as an epigenetic adjuvant.


Subject(s)
Epigenomics , Immunity/genetics , Influenza Vaccines/genetics , Influenza Vaccines/immunology , Single-Cell Analysis , Transcription, Genetic , Vaccination , Adolescent , Adult , Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology , Antigens, CD34/metabolism , Antiviral Agents/pharmacology , Cellular Reprogramming , Chromatin/metabolism , Cytokines/biosynthesis , Drug Combinations , Female , Gene Expression Regulation , Histones/metabolism , Humans , Immunity, Innate/genetics , Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype/drug effects , Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype/immunology , Interferon Type I/metabolism , Male , Myeloid Cells/metabolism , Polysorbates/pharmacology , Squalene/pharmacology , Toll-Like Receptors/metabolism , Transcription Factor AP-1/metabolism , Transcriptome/genetics , Young Adult , alpha-Tocopherol/pharmacology
2.
Nat Immunol ; 23(2): 318-329, 2022 02.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35058616

ABSTRACT

Tuberculosis (TB) in humans is characterized by formation of immune-rich granulomas in infected tissues, the architecture and composition of which are thought to affect disease outcome. However, our understanding of the spatial relationships that control human granulomas is limited. Here, we used multiplexed ion beam imaging by time of flight (MIBI-TOF) to image 37 proteins in tissues from patients with active TB. We constructed a comprehensive atlas that maps 19 cell subsets across 8 spatial microenvironments. This atlas shows an IFN-γ-depleted microenvironment enriched for TGF-ß, regulatory T cells and IDO1+ PD-L1+ myeloid cells. In a further transcriptomic meta-analysis of peripheral blood from patients with TB, immunoregulatory trends mirror those identified by granuloma imaging. Notably, PD-L1 expression is associated with progression to active TB and treatment response. These data indicate that in TB granulomas, there are local spatially coordinated immunoregulatory programs with systemic manifestations that define active TB.


Subject(s)
Granuloma/immunology , Tuberculosis/immunology , B7-H1 Antigen/immunology , Cells, Cultured , Cytokines/immunology , Gene Expression Profiling/methods , Humans , Indoleamine-Pyrrole 2,3,-Dioxygenase/immunology , Lung/immunology , Mycobacterium tuberculosis/immunology , Myeloid Cells/immunology
3.
Nat Immunol ; 22(6): 711-722, 2021 06.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34017121

ABSTRACT

Chromatin undergoes extensive reprogramming during immune cell differentiation. Here we report the repression of controlled histone H3 amino terminus proteolytic cleavage (H3ΔN) during monocyte-to-macrophage development. This abundant histone mark in human peripheral blood monocytes is catalyzed by neutrophil serine proteases (NSPs) cathepsin G, neutrophil elastase and proteinase 3. NSPs are repressed as monocytes mature into macrophages. Integrative epigenomic analysis reveals widespread H3ΔN distribution across the genome in a monocytic cell line and primary monocytes, which becomes largely undetectable in fully differentiated macrophages. H3ΔN is enriched at permissive chromatin and actively transcribed genes. Simultaneous NSP depletion in monocytic cells results in H3ΔN loss and further increase in chromatin accessibility, which likely primes the chromatin for gene expression reprogramming. Importantly, H3ΔN is reduced in monocytes from patients with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis, an autoinflammatory disease with prominent macrophage involvement. Overall, we uncover an epigenetic mechanism that primes the chromatin to facilitate macrophage development.


Subject(s)
Arthritis, Juvenile/immunology , Cell Differentiation/immunology , Epigenesis, Genetic/immunology , Histones/metabolism , Leukocytes, Mononuclear/metabolism , Macrophages/immunology , Adolescent , Arthritis, Juvenile/blood , Arthritis, Juvenile/genetics , CRISPR-Cas Systems/genetics , Cathepsin G/genetics , Cathepsin G/metabolism , Cell Differentiation/genetics , Cell Nucleus/metabolism , Child , Child, Preschool , Chromatin/metabolism , Enzyme Assays , Epigenomics , Female , Gene Knockout Techniques , Humans , Jurkat Cells , Leukocyte Elastase/genetics , Leukocyte Elastase/metabolism , Leukocytes, Mononuclear/immunology , Macrophages/metabolism , Male , Myeloblastin/genetics , Myeloblastin/metabolism , Primary Cell Culture , Proteolysis , RNA-Seq , Recombinant Proteins/genetics , Recombinant Proteins/metabolism , THP-1 Cells , Young Adult
4.
Cell ; 173(6): 1385-1397.e14, 2018 05 31.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-29706550

ABSTRACT

Post-translational modifications of histone proteins and exchanges of histone variants of chromatin are central to the regulation of nearly all DNA-templated biological processes. However, the degree and variability of chromatin modifications in specific human immune cells remain largely unknown. Here, we employ a highly multiplexed mass cytometry analysis to profile the global levels of a broad array of chromatin modifications in primary human immune cells at the single-cell level. Our data reveal markedly different cell-type- and hematopoietic-lineage-specific chromatin modification patterns. Differential analysis between younger and older adults shows that aging is associated with increased heterogeneity between individuals and elevated cell-to-cell variability in chromatin modifications. Analysis of a twin cohort unveils heritability of chromatin modifications and demonstrates that aging-related chromatin alterations are predominantly driven by non-heritable influences. Together, we present a powerful platform for chromatin and immunology research. Our discoveries highlight the profound impacts of aging on chromatin modifications.


Subject(s)
Aging , Chromatin/chemistry , Epigenesis, Genetic , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Cell Lineage , Cell Separation , Diseases in Twins , Female , Flow Cytometry , Histones/metabolism , Humans , Immune System , Immunophenotyping , Leukocytes, Mononuclear/cytology , Male , Middle Aged , Monocytes/cytology , Principal Component Analysis , Protein Processing, Post-Translational , Registries , Young Adult
5.
Immunity ; 54(4): 753-768.e5, 2021 04 13.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33765435

ABSTRACT

Viral infections induce a conserved host response distinct from bacterial infections. We hypothesized that the conserved response is associated with disease severity and is distinct between patients with different outcomes. To test this, we integrated 4,780 blood transcriptome profiles from patients aged 0 to 90 years infected with one of 16 viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, Ebola, chikungunya, and influenza, across 34 cohorts from 18 countries, and single-cell RNA sequencing profiles of 702,970 immune cells from 289 samples across three cohorts. Severe viral infection was associated with increased hematopoiesis, myelopoiesis, and myeloid-derived suppressor cells. We identified protective and detrimental gene modules that defined distinct trajectories associated with mild versus severe outcomes. The interferon response was decoupled from the protective host response in patients with severe outcomes. These findings were consistent, irrespective of age and virus, and provide insights to accelerate the development of diagnostics and host-directed therapies to improve global pandemic preparedness.


Subject(s)
Immunity/genetics , Virus Diseases/immunology , Antigen Presentation/genetics , Cohort Studies , Hematopoiesis/genetics , Humans , Interferons/blood , Killer Cells, Natural/immunology , Killer Cells, Natural/pathology , Myeloid Cells/immunology , Myeloid Cells/pathology , Prognosis , Severity of Illness Index , Systems Biology , Transcriptome , Virus Diseases/blood , Virus Diseases/classification , Virus Diseases/genetics , Viruses/classification , Viruses/pathogenicity
7.
Am J Pathol ; 193(1): 51-59, 2023 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36243045

ABSTRACT

Diagnosis and classification of tumors is increasingly dependent on biomarkers. RNA expression profiling using next-generation sequencing provides reliable and reproducible information on the biology of cancer. This study investigated targeted transcriptome and artificial intelligence for differential diagnosis of hematologic and solid tumors. RNA samples from hematologic neoplasms (N = 2606), solid tumors (N = 2038), normal bone marrow (N = 782), and lymph node control (N = 24) were sequenced using next-generation sequencing using a targeted 1408-gene panel. Twenty subtypes of hematologic neoplasms and 24 subtypes of solid tumors were identified. Machine learning was used for diagnosis between two classes. Geometric mean naïve Bayesian classifier was used for differential diagnosis across 45 diagnostic entities with assigned rankings. Machine learning showed high accuracy in distinguishing between two diagnoses, with area under the curve varying between 1 and 0.841. Geometric mean naïve Bayesian algorithm was trained using 3045 samples and tested on 1415 samples, and showed correct first-choice diagnosis in 100%, 88%, 85%, 82%, 88%, 72%, and 72% of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and follicular lymphoma cases, respectively. The data indicate that targeted transcriptome combined with artificial intelligence are highly useful for diagnosis and classification of various cancers. Mutation profiles and clinical information can improve these algorithms and minimize errors in diagnoses.


Subject(s)
Hematologic Neoplasms , Lung Neoplasms , Humans , Transcriptome/genetics , Artificial Intelligence , Diagnosis, Differential , Bayes Theorem , Lung Neoplasms/genetics , Hematologic Neoplasms/diagnosis , Hematologic Neoplasms/genetics , RNA
8.
Ann Rheum Dis ; 82(5): 670-680, 2023 05.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36653124

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Results from the SCOT (Scleroderma: Cyclophosphamide Or Transplantation) clinical trial demonstrated significant benefits of haematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) versus cyclophosphamide (CTX) in patients with systemic sclerosis. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that transplantation stabilises the autoantibody repertoire in patients with favourable clinical outcomes. METHODS: We used a bead-based array containing 221 protein antigens to profile serum IgG autoantibodies in participants of the SCOT trial. RESULTS: Comparison of autoantibody profiles at month 26 (n=23 HSCT; n=22 CTX) revealed antibodies against two viral antigens and six self-proteins (SSB/La, CX3CL1, glycyl-tRNA synthetase (EJ), parietal cell antigen, bactericidal permeability-increasing protein and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)) that were significantly different between treatment groups. Linear mixed model analysis identified temporal increases in antibody levels for hepatitis B surface antigen, CCL3 and EGFR in HSCT-treated patients. Eight of 32 HSCT-treated participants and one of 31 CTX-treated participants had temporally varying serum antibody profiles for one or more of 14 antigens. Baseline autoantibody levels against 20 unique antigens, including 9 secreted proteins (interleukins, IL-18, IL-22, IL-23 and IL-27), interferon-α2A, stem cell factor, transforming growth factor-ß, macrophage colony-stimulating factor and macrophage migration inhibitory factor were significantly higher in patients who survived event-free to month 54. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that HSCT favourably alters the autoantibody repertoire, which remains virtually unchanged in CTX-treated patients. Although antibodies recognising secreted proteins are generally thought to be pathogenic, our results suggest a subset could potentially modulate HSCT in scleroderma.


Subject(s)
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation , Scleroderma, Systemic , Humans , Autoantibodies , Scleroderma, Systemic/pathology , Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation/methods , Cyclophosphamide/therapeutic use , Transplantation, Autologous
9.
PLoS Pathog ; 17(10): e1010025, 2021 10.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34714894

ABSTRACT

The global SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic continues to be devastating in many areas. Treatment options have been limited and convalescent donor plasma has been used by many centers to transfer passive neutralizing antibodies to patients with respiratory involvement. The results often vary by institution and are complicated by the nature and quality of the donor plasma itself, the timing of administration and the clinical aspects of the recipients. SARS-CoV-2 infection is known to be associated with an increase in the blood concentrations of several inflammatory cytokines/chemokines, as part of the overall immune response to the virus and consequential to mediated lung pathology. Some of these correlates contribute to the cytokine storm syndrome and acute respiratory distress syndrome, often resulting in fatality. A Phase IIa clinical trial at our institution using high neutralizing titer convalescent plasma transfer gave us the unique opportunity to study the elevations of correlates in the first 10 days after infusion. Plasma recipients were divided into hospitalized COVID-19 pneumonia patients who did not (Track 2) or did (Track 3) require mechanical ventilation. Several cytokines were elevated in the patients of each Track and some continued to rise through Day 10, while others initially increased and then subsided. Furthermore, elevations in MIP-1α, MIP-1ß and CRP correlated with disease progression of Track 2 recipients. Overall, our observations serve as a foundation for further study of these correlates and the identification of potential biomarkers to improve upon convalescent plasma therapy and to drive more successful patient outcomes.


Subject(s)
COVID-19/therapy , Chemokines/blood , Cytokines/blood , SARS-CoV-2 , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Antibodies, Viral/blood , COVID-19/immunology , Female , Humans , Immunization, Passive , Immunoglobulin Isotypes/blood , Male , Middle Aged , COVID-19 Serotherapy
10.
Int J Mol Sci ; 24(16)2023 Aug 09.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37628803

ABSTRACT

Over the last decade, the therapeutic scenario for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has undergone a major paradigm shift. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have shown a meaningful clinical and survival improvement in different settings of the disease. However, the real benefit of this therapeutic approach remains controversial in selected NSCLC subsets, such as those of the elderly with active brain metastases or oncogene-addicted mutations. This is mainly due to the exclusion or underrepresentation of these patient subpopulations in most pivotal phase III studies; this precludes the generalization of ICI efficacy in this context. Moreover, no predictive biomarkers of ICI response exist that can help with patient selection for this therapeutic approach. Here, we critically summarize the current state of ICI efficacy in the most common "special" NSCLC subpopulations.


Subject(s)
Brain Neoplasms , Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung , Lung Neoplasms , Aged , Humans , Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors/pharmacology , Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors/therapeutic use , Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/drug therapy , Lung Neoplasms/drug therapy , Patient Selection
11.
Eur Respir J ; 59(2)2022 02.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34446466

ABSTRACT

RATIONALE: Premature infants exposed to oxygen are at risk for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), which is characterised by lung growth arrest. Inflammation is important, but the mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we investigated inflammatory pathways and therapeutic targets in severe clinical and experimental BPD. METHODS AND RESULTS: First, transcriptomic analysis with in silico cellular deconvolution identified a lung-intrinsic M1-like-driven cytokine pattern in newborn mice after hyperoxia. These findings were confirmed by gene expression of macrophage-regulating chemokines (Ccl2, Ccl7, Cxcl5) and markers (Il6, Il17A, Mmp12). Secondly, hyperoxia-activated interleukin 6 (IL-6)/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) signalling was measured in vivo and related to loss of alveolar epithelial type II cells (ATII) as well as increased mesenchymal marker. Il6 null mice exhibited preserved ATII survival, reduced myofibroblasts and improved elastic fibre assembly, thus enabling lung growth and protecting lung function. Pharmacological inhibition of global IL-6 signalling and IL-6 trans-signalling promoted alveolarisation and ATII survival after hyperoxia. Third, hyperoxia triggered M1-like polarisation, possibly via Krüppel-like factor 4; hyperoxia-conditioned medium of macrophages and IL-6-impaired ATII proliferation. Finally, clinical data demonstrated elevated macrophage-related plasma cytokines as potential biomarkers that identify infants receiving oxygen at increased risk of developing BPD. Moreover, macrophage-derived IL6 and active STAT3 were related to loss of epithelial cells in BPD lungs. CONCLUSION: We present a novel IL-6-mediated mechanism by which hyperoxia activates macrophages in immature lungs, impairs ATII homeostasis and disrupts elastic fibre formation, thereby inhibiting lung growth. The data provide evidence that IL-6 trans-signalling could offer an innovative pharmacological target to enable lung growth in severe neonatal chronic lung disease.


Subject(s)
Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia , Hyperoxia , Animals , Animals, Newborn , Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia/pathology , Disease Models, Animal , Hyperoxia/pathology , Interleukin-6/metabolism , Lung , Macrophages/metabolism , Mice
12.
Int J Mol Sci ; 23(15)2022 Aug 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35955679

ABSTRACT

Liquid biopsy has advantages over tissue biopsy, but also some technical limitations that hinder its wide use in clinical applications. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the usefulness of liquid biopsy for the clinical management of patients with advanced-stage oncogene-addicted non-small-cell lung adenocarcinomas. The investigation was conducted on a series of cases-641 plasma samples from 57 patients-collected in a prospective consecutive manner, which allowed us to assess the benefits and limitations of the approach in a real-world clinical context. Thirteen samples were collected at diagnosis, and the additional samples during the periodic follow-up visits. At diagnosis, we detected mutations in ctDNA in 10 of the 13 cases (77%). During follow-up, 36 patients progressed. In this subset of patients, molecular analyses of plasma DNA/RNA at progression revealed the appearance of mutations in 29 patients (80.6%). Mutations in ctDNA/RNA were typically detected an average of 80 days earlier than disease progression assessed by RECIST or clinical evaluations. Among the cases positive for mutations, we observed 13 de novo mutations, responsible for the development of resistance to therapy. This study allowed us to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of liquid biopsy, which led to suggesting algorithms for the use of liquid biopsy analyses at diagnosis and during monitoring of therapy response.


Subject(s)
Adenocarcinoma of Lung , Adenocarcinoma , Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung , Cell-Free Nucleic Acids , Circulating Tumor DNA , Lung Neoplasms , Adenocarcinoma/genetics , Adenocarcinoma of Lung/genetics , Biomarkers, Tumor/genetics , Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/genetics , Cell-Free Nucleic Acids/genetics , Circulating Tumor DNA/genetics , High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing , Humans , Lung Neoplasms/pathology , Mutation , Oncogenes , Prospective Studies , RNA
13.
Bioinformatics ; 35(19): 3672-3678, 2019 10 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30840053

ABSTRACT

MOTIVATION: Drug repurposing is a potential alternative to the classical drug discovery pipeline. Repurposing involves finding novel indications for already approved drugs. In this work, we present a novel machine learning-based method for drug repurposing. This method explores the anti-similarity between drugs and a disease to uncover new uses for the drugs. More specifically, our proposed method takes into account three sources of information: (i) large-scale gene expression profiles corresponding to human cell lines treated with small molecules, (ii) gene expression profile of a human disease and (iii) the known relationship between Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs and diseases. Using these data, our proposed method learns a similarity metric through a supervised machine learning-based algorithm such that a disease and its associated FDA-approved drugs have smaller distance than the other disease-drug pairs. RESULTS: We validated our framework by showing that the proposed method incorporating distance metric learning technique can retrieve FDA-approved drugs for their approved indications. Once validated, we used our approach to identify a few strong candidates for repurposing. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The R scripts are available on demand from the authors. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


Subject(s)
Drug Repositioning , Algorithms , Computational Biology , Drug Discovery , Humans , Machine Learning , Pharmaceutical Preparations
14.
Am J Respir Crit Care Med ; 199(1): 83-98, 2019 01 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30107138

ABSTRACT

RATIONALE: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by progressive narrowing of pulmonary arteries, resulting in right heart failure and death. BMPR2 (bone morphogenetic protein receptor type 2) mutations account for most familial PAH forms whereas reduced BMPR2 is present in many idiopathic PAH forms, suggesting dysfunctional BMPR2 signaling to be a key feature of PAH. Modulating BMPR2 signaling is therapeutically promising, yet how BMPR2 is downregulated in PAH is unclear. OBJECTIVES: We intended to identify and pharmaceutically target BMPR2 modifier genes to improve PAH. METHODS: We combined siRNA high-throughput screening of >20,000 genes with a multicohort analysis of publicly available PAH RNA expression data to identify clinically relevant BMPR2 modifiers. After confirming gene dysregulation in tissue from patients with PAH, we determined the functional roles of BMPR2 modifiers in vitro and tested the repurposed drug enzastaurin for its propensity to improve experimental pulmonary hypertension (PH). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We discovered FHIT (fragile histidine triad) as a novel BMPR2 modifier. BMPR2 and FHIT expression were reduced in patients with PAH. FHIT reductions were associated with endothelial and smooth muscle cell dysfunction, rescued by enzastaurin through a dual mechanism: upregulation of FHIT as well as miR17-5 repression. Fhit-/- mice had exaggerated hypoxic PH and failed to recover in normoxia. Enzastaurin reversed PH in the Sugen5416/hypoxia/normoxia rat model, by improving right ventricular systolic pressure, right ventricular hypertrophy, cardiac fibrosis, and vascular remodeling. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the importance of the novel BMPR2 modifier FHIT in PH and the clinical value of the repurposed drug enzastaurin as a potential novel therapeutic strategy to improve PAH.


Subject(s)
Acid Anhydride Hydrolases/genetics , Familial Primary Pulmonary Hypertension/genetics , Genes, Modifier/genetics , Neoplasm Proteins/genetics , Animals , Bone Morphogenetic Protein Receptors, Type II/genetics , Disease Models, Animal , Familial Primary Pulmonary Hypertension/metabolism , Female , Humans , Indoles/pharmacology , Lung/metabolism , Male , Mice , Mice, Inbred C57BL , Rats , Rats, Sprague-Dawley , Signal Transduction/drug effects
15.
Bioinformatics ; 34(16): 2817-2825, 2018 08 15.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-29534151

ABSTRACT

Motivation: Identification of novel therapeutic effects for existing US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs, drug repurposing, is an approach aimed to dramatically shorten the drug discovery process, which is costly, slow and risky. Several computational approaches use transcriptional data to find potential repurposing candidates. The main hypothesis of such approaches is that if gene expression signature of a particular drug is opposite to the gene expression signature of a disease, that drug may have a potential therapeutic effect on the disease. However, this may not be optimal since it fails to consider the different roles of genes and their dependencies at the system level. Results: We propose a systems biology approach to discover novel therapeutic roles for established drugs that addresses some of the issues in the current approaches. To do so, we use publicly available drug and disease data to build a drug-disease network by considering all interactions between drug targets and disease-related genes in the context of all known signaling pathways. This network is integrated with gene-expression measurements to identify drugs with new desired therapeutic effects based on a system-level analysis method. We compare the proposed approach with the drug repurposing approach proposed by Sirota et al. on four human diseases: idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, non-small cell lung cancer, prostate cancer and breast cancer. We evaluate the proposed approach based on its ability to re-discover drugs that are already FDA-approved for a given disease. Availability and implementation: The R package DrugDiseaseNet is under review for publication in Bioconductor and is available at https://github.com/azampvd/DrugDiseaseNet. Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


Subject(s)
Drug Repositioning , Neoplasms/drug therapy , Systems Biology , Drug Discovery/methods , Drug Repositioning/methods , Humans , Transcriptome
16.
Clin Immunol ; 196: 40-48, 2018 11.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-29960011

ABSTRACT

Modifications of histone proteins are fundamental to the regulation of epigenetic phenotypes. Dysregulations of histone modifications have been linked to the pathogenesis of diverse human diseases. However, identifying differential histone modifications in patients with immune-mediated diseases has been challenging, in part due to the lack of a powerful analytic platform to study histone modifications in the complex human immune system. We recently developed a highly multiplexed platform, Epigenetic landscape profiling using cytometry by Time-Of-Flight (EpiTOF), to analyze the global levels of a broad array of histone modifications in single cells using mass cytometry. In this review, we summarize the development of EpiTOF and discuss its potential applications in biomedical research. We anticipate that this platform will provide new insights into the roles of epigenetic regulation in hematopoiesis, immune cell functions, and immune system aging, and reveal aberrant epigenetic patterns associated with immune-mediated diseases.


Subject(s)
Chromatin/metabolism , Epigenesis, Genetic , Histone Code , Histones/metabolism , Single-Cell Analysis/methods , Flow Cytometry , Humans , Mass Spectrometry , Protein Processing, Post-Translational
17.
Crit Care Med ; 46(6): 915-925, 2018 06.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-29537985

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To find and validate generalizable sepsis subtypes using data-driven clustering. DESIGN: We used advanced informatics techniques to pool data from 14 bacterial sepsis transcriptomic datasets from eight different countries (n = 700). SETTING: Retrospective analysis. SUBJECTS: Persons admitted to the hospital with bacterial sepsis. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: A unified clustering analysis across 14 discovery datasets revealed three subtypes, which, based on functional analysis, we termed "Inflammopathic, Adaptive, and Coagulopathic." We then validated these subtypes in nine independent datasets from five different countries (n = 600). In both discovery and validation data, the Adaptive subtype is associated with a lower clinical severity and lower mortality rate, and the Coagulopathic subtype is associated with higher mortality and clinical coagulopathy. Further, these clusters are statistically associated with clusters derived by others in independent single sepsis cohorts. CONCLUSIONS: The three sepsis subtypes may represent a unifying framework for understanding the molecular heterogeneity of the sepsis syndrome. Further study could potentially enable a precision medicine approach of matching novel immunomodulatory therapies with septic patients most likely to benefit.


Subject(s)
Gene Expression Profiling , Sepsis/genetics , Adaptive Immunity/genetics , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Blood Coagulation Disorders/genetics , Cluster Analysis , Datasets as Topic , Female , Humans , Immunity, Innate/genetics , Inflammation/genetics , Male , Middle Aged , Retrospective Studies , Sepsis/microbiology , Young Adult
18.
Bioinformatics ; 33(13): 1987-1994, 2017 Jul 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-28200075

ABSTRACT

MOTIVATION: The ultimate goal of any experiment is to understand the biological phenomena underlying the condition investigated. This process often results in genes network through which a certain biological mechanism is explained. Such networks have been proven to be extremely useful, for the prediction of mechanisms of action of drugs or the responses of an organism to a specific impact (e.g. a disease, a treatment, etc.). Here, we introduce an approach able to build a network that captures the putative mechanisms at play in the given condition, by using datasets from multiple experiments studying the same phenotype. This method takes advantage of known interactions extracted from multiple sources such as protein-protein interactions and curated biological pathways. Based on such prior knowledge, we overcome the drawbacks of snap-shot data by considering the possible effects of each gene on its neighbors. RESULTS: We show the effectiveness of this approach in three different case studies and validate the results in two ways considering the identified genes and interactions between them. We compare our findings with the results of two widely-used methods in the same category as well as the classical approach of selecting differentially expressed (DE) genes in an investigated condition. The results show that 'neighbor-net' analysis is able to report biological mechanisms that are significantly relevant to the given diseases in all the three case studies, and performs better compared to all reference methods using both validation approaches. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The proposed method is implemented as in R and will be available an a Bioconductor package. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


Subject(s)
Computational Biology/methods , Gene Regulatory Networks , Software , Algorithms , Gene Expression Regulation , Humans , Metabolic Networks and Pathways , Phenotype , Protein Interaction Maps
19.
Bioinformatics ; 32(3): 409-16, 2016 Feb 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-26471455

ABSTRACT

MOTIVATION: The accumulation of high-throughput data in public repositories creates a pressing need for integrative analysis of multiple datasets from independent experiments. However, study heterogeneity, study bias, outliers and the lack of power of available methods present real challenge in integrating genomic data. One practical drawback of many P-value-based meta-analysis methods, including Fisher's, Stouffer's, minP and maxP, is that they are sensitive to outliers. Another drawback is that, because they perform just one statistical test for each individual experiment, they may not fully exploit the potentially large number of samples within each study. RESULTS: We propose a novel bi-level meta-analysis approach that employs the additive method and the Central Limit Theorem within each individual experiment and also across multiple experiments. We prove that the bi-level framework is robust against bias, less sensitive to outliers than other methods, and more sensitive to small changes in signal. For comparative analysis, we demonstrate that the intra-experiment analysis has more power than the equivalent statistical test performed on a single large experiment. For pathway analysis, we compare the proposed framework versus classical meta-analysis approaches (Fisher's, Stouffer's and the additive method) as well as against a dedicated pathway meta-analysis package (MetaPath), using 1252 samples from 21 datasets related to three human diseases, acute myeloid leukemia (9 datasets), type II diabetes (5 datasets) and Alzheimer's disease (7 datasets). Our framework outperforms its competitors to correctly identify pathways relevant to the phenotypes. The framework is sufficiently general to be applied to any type of statistical meta-analysis. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The R scripts are available on demand from the authors. CONTACT: sorin@wayne.edu SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


Subject(s)
Alzheimer Disease/genetics , Data Interpretation, Statistical , Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/genetics , Gene Expression Profiling/methods , Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/genetics , Meta-Analysis as Topic , Signal Transduction , Case-Control Studies , Computational Biology/methods , Gene Regulatory Networks , Genome, Human , Genomics/methods , Humans
20.
Proc IEEE Inst Electr Electron Eng ; 105(3): 482-495, 2017 Mar.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30337764

ABSTRACT

A crucial step in the understanding of any phenotype is the correct identification of the signaling pathways that are significantly impacted in that phenotype. However, most current pathway analysis methods produce both false positives as well as false negatives in certain circumstances. We hypothesized that such incorrect results are due to the fact that the existing methods fail to distinguish between the primary dis-regulation of a given gene itself and the effects of signaling coming from upstream. Furthermore, a modern whole-genome experiment performed with a next-generation technology spends a great deal of effort to measure the entire set of 30,000-100,000 transcripts in the genome. This is followed by the selection of a few hundreds differentially expressed genes, step that literally discards more than 99% of the collected data. We also hypothesized that such a drastic filtering could discard many genes that play crucial roles in the phenotype. We propose a novel topology-based pathway analysis method that identifies significantly impacted pathways using the entire set of measurements, thus allowing the full use of the data provided by NGS techniques. The results obtained on 24 real data sets involving 12 different human diseases, as well as on 8 yeast knock-out data sets show that the proposed method yields significant improvements with respect to the state-of-the-art methods: SPIA, GSEA and GSA. AVAILABILITY: Primary dis-regulation analysis is implemented in R and included in ROntoTools Bioconductor package (versions ≥ 2.0.0). https://www.bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/ROntoTools.html.

SELECTION OF CITATIONS
SEARCH DETAIL