Next-generation sequencing of microRNAs in primary human polarized macrophages

Macrophages are important for mounting inflammatory responses to tissue damage or infection by invading pathogens, and therefore modulation of their cellular functions is essential for the success of the immune system as well as for maintaining tissue homeostasis. Small non-coding RNAs are important regulatory elements of gene expression and microRNAs are the most widely known to be fundamental for the proper development of cells of the immune system. Macrophages can exhibit different phenotypes, depending on the cytokine environment they encounter in the affected tissues. We have analyzed the microRNA expression profiles during maturation of human primary monocytes into macrophages and polarization by pro- or anti-inflammatory cytokines. Here we describe the analysis of next-generation sequencing data deposited in EMBL–EBI ArrayExpress under accession number E-MTAB-1969 and associated with the study published by Cobos Jiménez and collaborators in Physiological Genomics in 2014 (1). The data presented here contributes to our understanding of microRNA expression profiles in human monocytes and macrophages and will also serve as a resource for novel microRNAs and other small RNA species expressed in these cells

The Human Transcriptome Map Reveals Extremes in Gene Density, Intron Length, GC Content, and Repeat Pattern for Domains of Highly and Weakly Expressed Genes

The chromosomal gene expression profiles established by the Human Transcriptome Map (HTM) revealed a clustering of highly expressed genes in about 30 domains, called ridges. To physically characterize ridges, we constructed a new HTM based on the draft human genome sequence (HTMseq). Expression of 25,003 genes can be analyzed online in a multitude of tissues (http://bioinfo.amc.uva.nl/HTMseq). Ridges are found to be very gene-dense domains with a high GC content, a high SINE repeat density, and a low LINE repeat density. Genes in ridges have significantly shorter introns than genes outside of ridges. The HTMseq also identifies a significant clustering of weakly expressed genes in domains with fully opposite characteristics (antiridges). Both types of domains are open to tissue-specific expression regulation, but the maximal expression levels in ridges are considerably higher than in antiridges. Ridges are therefore an integral part of a higher order structure in the genome related to transcriptional regulation

Embracing Complexity beyond Systems Medicine: A New Approach to Chronic Immune Disorders

Contains fulltext : 166590.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)In order to combat chronic immune disorders (CIDs), it is an absolute necessity to understand the bigger picture, one that goes beyond insights at a one-disease, molecular, cellular, and static level. To unravel this bigger picture we advocate an integral, cross-disciplinary approach capable of embracing the complexity of the field. This paper discusses the current knowledge on common pathways in CIDs including general psychosocial and lifestyle factors associated with immune functioning. We demonstrate the lack of more in-depth psychosocial and lifestyle factors in current research cohorts and most importantly the need for an all-encompassing analysis of these factors. The second part of the paper discusses the challenges of understanding immune system dynamics and effectively integrating all key perspectives on immune functioning, including the patient's perspective itself. This paper suggests the use of techniques from complex systems science in describing and simulating healthy or deviating behavior of the immune system in its biopsychosocial surroundings. The patient's perspective data are suggested to be generated by using specific narrative techniques. We conclude that to gain more insight into the behavior of the whole system and to acquire new ways of combatting CIDs, we need to construct and apply new techniques in the field of computational and complexity science, to an even wider variety of dynamic data than used in today's systems medicine

Metabolomics and lipidomics in Caenorhabditis elegans using a single-sample preparation

Comprehensive metabolomic and lipidomic mass spectrometry methods are in increasing demand, for instance in research related to nutrition and aging. The nematode C. elegans is a key model organism in these fields, due to the large repository of available C. elegans mutants and their convenient natural lifespan. Here, we describe a robust and sensitive analytical method for the semi-quantitative analysis of >100 polar (metabolomics) and >1000 apolar (lipidomics) metabolites in C. elegans, using a single sample preparation. Our method is capable of reliably detecting a wide variety of biologically relevant metabolic aberrations in, for instance, glycolysis and the TCA cycle, pyrimidine metabolism and complex lipid biosynthesis. In conclusion, we provide a powerful analytical tool that maximizes metabolic data yield from a single sample

A Conserved Mito-Cytosolic Translational Balance Links Two Longevity Pathways

ISSN:1550-4131ISSN:1932-742