Transcriptional profiling of putative human epithelial stem cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human interfollicular epidermis is sustained by the proliferation of stem cells and their progeny, transient amplifying cells. Molecular characterization of these two cell populations is essential for better understanding of self renewal, differentiation and mechanisms of skin pathogenesis. The purpose of this study was to obtain gene expression profiles of alpha 6⁺/MHCI⁺, transient amplifying cells and alpha 6⁺/MHCI^-, putative stem cells, and to compare them with existing data bases of gene expression profiles of hair follicle stem cells. The expression of Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) class I, previously shown to be absent in stem cells in several tissues, and alpha 6 integrin were used to isolate MHCI positive basal cells, and MHCI low/negative basal cells.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Transcriptional profiles of the two cell populations were determined and comparisons made with published data for hair follicle stem cell gene expression profiles. We demonstrate that presumptive interfollicular stem cells, alpha 6⁺/MHCI^-cells, are enriched in messenger RNAs encoding surface receptors, cell adhesion molecules, extracellular matrix proteins, transcripts encoding members of IFN-alpha family proteins and components of IFN signaling, but contain lower levels of transcripts encoding proteins which take part in energy metabolism, cell cycle, ribosome biosynthesis, splicing, protein translation, degradation, DNA replication, repair, and chromosome remodeling. Furthermore, our data indicate that the cell signaling pathways Notch1 and NF-κB are downregulated/inhibited in MHC negative basal cells.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study demonstrates that alpha 6⁺/MHCI^-cells have additional characteristics attributed to stem cells. Moreover, the transcription profile of alpha 6⁺/MHCI^-cells shows similarities to transcription profiles of mouse hair follicle bulge cells known to be enriched for stem cells. Collectively, our data suggests that alpha 6⁺/MHCI^-cells may be enriched for stem cells. This study is the first comprehensive gene expression profile of putative human epithelial stem cells and their progeny that were isolated directly from neonatal foreskin tissue. Our study is important for understanding self renewal and differentiation of epidermal stem cells, and for elucidating signaling pathways involved in those processes. The generated data base may serve those working with other human epithelial tissue progenitors.</p

A new strategy for effective learning in population Monte Carlo sampling

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A new class of particle filters for random dynamical systems with unknown statistics

In recent years, particle filtering has become a powerful tool for tracking signals and time-varying parameters of random dynamic systems. These methods require a mathematical representation of the dynamics of the system evolution, together with assumptions of probabilistic models. In this paper, we present a new class of particle filtering methods that do not assume explicit mathematical forms of the probability distributions of the noise in the system. As a consequence, the proposed techniques are simpler, more robust, and more flexible than standard particle filters. Apart from the theoretical development of specific methods in the new class, we provide computer simulation results that demonstrate the performance of the algorithms in the problem of autonomous positioning of a vehicle in a 2-dimensional space

Sequential Monte Carlo for inference of latent ARMA time-series with innovations correlated in time

Abstract We consider the problem of sequential inference of latent time-series with innovations correlated in time and observed via nonlinear functions. We accommodate time-varying phenomena with diverse properties by means of a flexible mathematical representation of the data. We characterize statistically such time-series by a Bayesian analysis of their densities. The density that describes the transition of the state from time t to the next time instant t+1 is used for implementation of novel sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) methods. We present a set of SMC methods for inference of latent ARMA time-series with innovations correlated in time for different assumptions in knowledge of parameters. The methods operate in a unified and consistent manner for data with diverse memory properties. We show the validity of the proposed approach by comprehensive simulations of the challenging stochastic volatility model

A New Class of Particle Filters for Random Dynamic Systems with Unknown Statistics

In recent years, particle filtering has become a powerful tool for tracking signals and time-varying parameters of random dynamic systems. These methods require a mathematical representation of the dynamics of the system evolution, together with assumptions of probabilistic models. In this paper, we present a new class of particle filtering methods that do not assume explicit mathematical forms of the probability distributions of the noise in the system. As a consequence, the proposed techniques are simpler, more robust, and more flexible than standard particle filters. Apart from the theoretical development of specific methods in the new class, we provide computer simulation results that demonstrate the performance of the algorithms in the problem of autonomous positioning of a vehicle in a 2-dimensional space

Population Monte Carlo Schemes with Reduced Path Degeneracy

International audienc