Publications

55 Publications visible to you, out of a total of 55

Abstract (Expand)

Conventional two-dimensional differentiation from pluripotency fails to recapitulate cell interactions occurring during organogenesis. Three-dimensional organoids generate complex organ-like tissues; however, it is unclear how heterotypic interactions affect lineage identity. Here we use single-cell RNA sequencing to reconstruct hepatocyte-like lineage progression from pluripotency in two-dimensional culture. We then derive three-dimensional liver bud organoids by reconstituting hepatic, stromal, and endothelial interactions, and deconstruct heterogeneity during liver bud development. We find that liver bud hepatoblasts diverge from the two-dimensional lineage, and express epithelial migration signatures characteristic of organ budding. We benchmark three-dimensional liver buds against fetal and adult human liver single-cell RNA sequencing data, and find a striking correspondence between the three-dimensional liver bud and fetal liver cells. We use a receptor-ligand pairing analysis and a high-throughput inhibitor assay to interrogate signalling in liver buds, and show that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) crosstalk potentiates endothelial network formation and hepatoblast differentiation. Our molecular dissection reveals interlineage communication regulating organoid development, and illuminates previously inaccessible aspects of human liver development.

Authors: J. G. Camp, K. Sekine, T. Gerber, H. Loeffler-Wirth, H. Binder, M. Gac, S. Kanton, J. Kageyama, G. Damm, D. Seehofer, L. Belicova, M. Bickle, R. Barsacchi, R. Okuda, E. Yoshizawa, M. Kimura, H. Ayabe, H. Taniguchi, T. Takebe, B. Treutlein

Date Published: 22nd Jun 2017

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: liver disease

Abstract (Expand)

By the modern molecular biological approaches that exploit the availability of high quality gene expression data, it is made clear that flexible and robust responses of cellular programs are encoded in the relations between gene expression values. These relations naturally define a network where they stand for edges between the nodes that stand for the genes. The wiring of these networks often found to be dysregulated in cancer. Different system biological approaches that rely on correlations, differential equations and logical analysis are used to probe these relations in gene expression data especially. In our work we investigated selected biological functions in aggressive germinal center B-cell lymphoma in terms of a logical analysis of gene-regulation in Boolean space and a signal propagation algorithm considering network topology based on gene expression data. We especially aimed at studying the activity of the MYC gene as a key player. It is shown that the functional output of a gene network is affected by the states of the genes and also by the wirings between them. Our results support the key function of MYC in lymphoma biology. In addition, we showed that genes can alter functional output of the network by alternative mechanisms like reducing the variance in propagating signal and locking it to a certain level.

Authors: V. Cakir, H. Loeffler-Wirth, A. Arakelyan, H. Binder

Date Published: 17th May 2017

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: B-cell lymphoma

Abstract (Expand)

OBJECTIVE/METHODS: DNA methylation plays an important role in obesity and related metabolic complications. We examined genome-wide DNA promoter methylation along with mRNA profiles in paired samples of human subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and omental visceral adipose tissue (OVAT) from non-obese vs. obese individuals. RESULTS: We identified negatively correlated methylation and expression of several obesity-associated genes in our discovery dataset and in silico replicated ETV6 in two independent cohorts. Further, we identified six adipose tissue depot-specific genes (HAND2, HOXC6, PPARG, SORBS2, CD36, and CLDN1). The effects were further supported in additional independent cohorts. Our top hits might play a role in adipogenesis and differentiation, obesity, lipid metabolism, and adipose tissue expandability. Finally, we show that in vitro methylation of SORBS2 directly represses gene expression. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our data show distinct tissue specific epigenetic alterations which associate with obesity.

Authors: M. Keller, L. Hopp, X. Liu, T. Wohland, K. Rohde, R. Cancello, M. Klos, K. Bacos, M. Kern, F. Eichelmann, A. Dietrich, M. R. Schon, D. Gartner, T. Lohmann, M. Dressler, M. Stumvoll, P. Kovacs, A. M. DiBlasio, C. Ling, H. Binder, M. Bluher, Y. Bottcher

Date Published: 27th Jan 2017

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: obesity

Abstract (Expand)

Recent technological advances in single-cell genomics make it possible to analyze cellular heterogeneity of tumor samples. Here, we applied single-cell RNA-seq to measure the transcriptomes of 307 single cells cultured from three biopsies of three different patients with a BRAF/NRAS wild type, BRAF mutant/NRAS wild type and BRAF wild type/NRAS mutant melanoma metastasis, respectively. Analysis based on self-organizing maps identified sub-populations defined by multiple gene expression modules involved in proliferation, oxidative phosphorylation, pigmentation and cellular stroma. Gene expression modules had prognostic relevance when compared with gene expression data from published melanoma samples and patient survival data. We surveyed kinome expression patterns across sub-populations of the BRAF/NRAS wild type sample and found that CDK4 and CDK2 were consistently highly expressed in the majority of cells, suggesting that these kinases might be involved in melanoma progression. Treatment of cells with the CDK4 inhibitor palbociclib restricted cell proliferation to a similar, and in some cases greater, extent than MAPK inhibitors. Finally, we identified a low abundant sub-population in this sample that highly expressed a module containing ABC transporter ABCB5, surface markers CD271 and CD133, and multiple aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDHs). Patient-derived cultures of the BRAF mutant/NRAS wild type and BRAF wild type/NRAS mutant metastases showed more homogeneous single-cell gene expression patterns with gene expression modules for proliferation and ABC transporters. Taken together, our results describe an intertumor and intratumor heterogeneity in melanoma short-term cultures which might be relevant for patient survival, and suggest promising targets for new treatment approaches in melanoma therapy.

Authors: T. Gerber, E. Willscher, H. Loeffler-Wirth, L. Hopp, D. Schadendorf, M. Schartl, U. Anderegg, G. Camp, B. Treutlein, H. Binder, M. Kunz

Date Published: 3rd Jan 2017

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: melanoma

Abstract (Expand)

Application of new high-throughput technologies in molecular medicine collects massive data for hundreds to thousands of persons in large cohort studies by characterizing the phenotype of each individual on a personalized basis. The chapter aims at increasing our understanding of disease genesis and progression and to improve diagnosis and treatment. New methods are needed to handle such "big data." Machine learning enables one to recognize and to visualize complex data patterns and to make decisions potentially relevant for diagnosis and treatment. The authors address these tasks by applying the method of self-organizing maps and present worked examples from different disease entities of the colon ranging from inflammation to cancer.

Authors: Hans Binder, Lydia Hopp, K. Lembcke, Henry Löffler-Wirth

Date Published: 2017

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract (Expand)

Three-dimensional (3D) whole body scanners are increasingly used as precise measuring tools for the rapid quantification of anthropometric measures in epidemiological studies. We analyzed 3D whole body scanning data of nearly 10,000 participants of a cohort collected from the adult population of Leipzig, one of the largest cities in Eastern Germany. We present a novel approach for the systematic analysis of this data which aims at identifying distinguishable clusters of body shapes called body types. In the first step, our method aggregates body measures provided by the scanner into meta-measures, each representing one relevant dimension of the body shape. In a next step, we stratified the cohort into body types and assessed their stability and dependence on the size of the underlying cohort. Using self-organizing maps (SOM) we identified thirteen robust meta-measures and fifteen body types comprising between 1 and 18 percent of the total cohort size. Thirteen of them are virtually gender specific (six for women and seven for men) and thus reflect most abundant body shapes of women and men. Two body types include both women and men, and describe androgynous body shapes that lack typical gender specific features. The body types disentangle a large variability of body shapes enabling distinctions which go beyond the traditional indices such as body mass index, the waist-to-height ratio, the waist-to-hip ratio and the mortality-hazard ABSI-index. In a next step, we will link the identified body types with disease predispositions to study how size and shape of the human body impact health and disease.

Authors: H. Loffler-Wirth, E. Willscher, P. Ahnert, K. Wirkner, C. Engel, M. Loeffler, H. Binder

Date Published: 29th Jul 2016

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: obesity

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND: The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta pathways regulate key biological features of glioblastoma. Here we explore whether the TGF-beta pathway, which promotes angiogenesis, invasiveness, and immunosuppression, acts as an escape pathway from VEGF inhibition. METHODS: The role of the TGF-beta pathway in escape from VEGF inhibition was assessed in vitro and in vivo and by gene expression profiling in syngeneic mouse glioma models. RESULTS: We found that TGF-beta is an upstream regulator of VEGF, whereas VEGF pathway activity does not alter the TGF-beta pathway in vitro. In vivo, single-agent activity was observed for the VEGF antibody B20-4.1.1 in 3 and for the TGF-beta receptor 1 antagonist LY2157299 in 2 of 4 models. Reduction of tumor volume and blood vessel density, but not induction of hypoxia, correlated with benefit from B20-4.1.1. Reduction of phosphorylated (p)SMAD2 by LY2157299 was seen in all models but did not predict survival. Resistance to B20 was associated with anti-angiogenesis escape pathway gene expression, whereas resistance to LY2157299 was associated with different immune response gene signatures in SMA-497 and GL-261 on transcriptomic profiling. The combination of B20 with LY2157299 was ineffective in SMA-497 but provided prolongation of survival in GL-261, associated with early suppression of pSMAD2 in tumor and host immune cells, prolonged suppression of angiogenesis, and delayed accumulation of tumor infiltrating microglia/macrophages. CONCLUSIONS: Our study highlights the biological heterogeneity of murine glioma models and illustrates that cotargeting of the VEGF and TGF-beta pathways might lead to improved tumor control only in subsets of glioblastoma.

Authors: D. Mangani, M. Weller, E. Seyed Sadr, E. Willscher, K. Seystahl, G. Reifenberger, G. Tabatabai, H. Binder, H. Schneider

Date Published: 12th Jun 2016

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: glioblastoma multiforme

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