Cellular population dynamics control the robustness of the stem cell niche

Revisiting Epithelial Carcinogenesis

The origin of cancer remains one of the most important enigmas in modern biology. This paper presents a hypothesis for the origin of carcinomas in which cellular aging and inflammation enable the recovery of cellular plasticity, which may ultimately result in cancer. The hypothesis describes carcinogenesis as the result of the dedifferentiation undergone by epithelial cells in hyperplasia due to replicative senescence towards a mesenchymal cell state with potentially cancerous behavior. In support of this hypothesis, the molecular, cellular, and histopathological evidence was critically reviewed and reinterpreted when necessary to postulate a plausible generic series of mechanisms for the origin and progression of carcinomas. In addition, the implications of this theoretical framework for the current strategies of cancer treatment are discussed considering recent evidence of the molecular events underlying the epigenetic switches involved in the resistance of breast carcinomas. The hypothesis also proposes an epigenetic landscape for their progression and a potential mechanism for restraining the degree of dedifferentiation and malignant behavior. In addition, the manuscript revisits the gradual degeneration of the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease to propose an integrative generalized mechanistic explanation for the involution and carcinogenesis of tissues associated with aging. The presented hypothesis might serve to understand and structure new findings into a more encompassing view of the genesis of degenerative diseases and may inspire novel approaches for their study and therapy.

Importance of Stability Analysis When Using Nonlinear Semimechanistic Models to Describe Drug-Induced Hematotoxicity

Stability analysis, often overlooked in pharmacometrics, is essential to explore dynamical systems. The model developed by Friberg et al.¹ to describe drug‐induced hematotoxicity is widely used to support decisions across drug development, and parameter values are often identified from observed blood counts. We use stability analysis to study the parametric dependence of stable and unstable solutions of several Friberg‐type models and highlight the risks associated with system instability in the context of nonlinear mixed effects modeling. We emphasize the consequences of unstable solutions on prediction performance by demonstrating nonbiological system behaviors in a real case study of drug‐induced thrombocytopenia. Ultimately, we provide simple criteria for identifying parameters associated with stable solutions of Friberg‐type models. For instance, in the original Friberg model, we find that stability depends only on the parameter that governs the feedback from peripheral cells to progenitors and provide the exact range of values that results in stable solutions.

Exploring intermediate cell states through the lens of single cells

As our catalog of cell states expands, appropriate characterization of these states and the transitions between them is crucial. Here we discuss the roles of intermediate cell states (ICSs) in this growing collection. We begin with definitions and discuss evidence for the existence of ICSs and their relevance in various tissues. We then provide a list of possible functions for ICSs with examples. Finally, we describe means by which ICSs and their functional roles can be identified from single-cell data or predicted from models.

Targeting the T-Lak cell originated protein kinase by OTS964 shrinks the size of power-law coded heterogeneous glioma stem cell populations

Glioblastoma resists chemoradiotherapy, then, recurs to be a fatal space-occupying lesion. The recurrence is caused by re-growing cell populations such as glioma stem cells (GSCs), suggesting that GSC populations should be targeted. This study addressed whether a novel anti-cancer drug, OTS964, an inhibitor for T-LAK cell originated protein kinase (TOPK), is effective in reducing the size of the heterogeneous GSC populations, a power-law coded heterogeneous GSC populations consisting of glioma sphere (GS) clones, by detailing quantitative growth properties. We found that OTS964 killed GS clones while suppressing the growth of surviving GS clones, thus identifying clone-eliminating and growth-disturbing efficacies of OTS964. The efficacies led to a significant size reduction in GS populations in a dose-dependent manner. The surviving GS clones reconstructed GS populations in the following generations; the recovery of GS populations fits a recurrence after the chemotherapy. The recovering GS clones resisted the clone-eliminating effect of OTS964 in sequential exposure during the growth recovery. However, surprisingly, the resistant properties of the recovered-GS clones had been plastically canceled during self-renewal, and then the GS clones had become re-sensitive to OTS964. Thus, OTS964 targets GSCs to eliminate them or suppress their growth, resulting in shrinkage of the power-law coded GSC populations. We propose a therapy focusing on long-term control in recurrence of glioblastoma via reducing the size of the GSC populations by OTS964.

Systematic tracking of altered haematopoiesis during sporozoite-mediated malaria development reveals multiple response points

Haematopoiesis is the complex developmental process that maintains the turnover of all blood cell lineages. It critically depends on the correct functioning of rare, quiescent haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and more numerous, HSC-derived, highly proliferative and differentiating haematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs). Infection is known to affect HSCs, with severe and chronic inflammatory stimuli leading to stem cell pool depletion, while acute, non-lethal infections exert transient and even potentiating effects. Both whether this paradigm applies to all infections and whether the HSC response is the dominant driver of the changes observed during stressed haematopoiesis remain open questions. We use a mouse model of malaria, based on natural, sporozoite-driven Plasmodium berghei infection, as an experimental platform to gain a global view of haematopoietic perturbations during infection progression. We observe coordinated responses by the most primitive HSCs and multiple HPCs, some starting before blood parasitaemia is detected. We show that, despite highly variable inter-host responses, primitive HSCs become highly proliferative, but mathematical modelling suggests that this alone is not sufficient to significantly impact the whole haematopoietic cascade. We observe that the dramatic expansion of Sca-1(+) progenitors results from combined proliferation of direct HSC progeny and phenotypic changes in downstream populations. We observe that the simultaneous perturbation of HSC/HPC population dynamics is coupled with early signs of anaemia onset. Our data uncover a complex relationship between Plasmodium and its host's haematopoiesis and raise the question whether the variable responses observed may affect the outcome of the infection itself and its long-term consequences on the host.

Feedback control in planarian stem cell systems

Background

In planarian flatworms, the mechanisms underlying the activity of collectively pluripotent adult stem cells (neoblasts) and their descendants can now be studied from the level of the individual gene to the entire animal. Flatworms maintain startling developmental plasticity and regenerative capacity in response to variable nutrient conditions or injury. We develop a model for cell dynamics in such animals, assuming that fully differentiated cells exert feedback control on neoblast activity.

Results

Our model predicts a number of whole organism level and general cell biological and behaviours, some of which have been empirically observed or inferred in planarians and others that have not. As previously observed empirically we find: 1) a curvilinear relationship between external food and planarian steady state size; 2) the fraction of neoblasts in the steady state is constant regardless of planarian size; 3) a burst of controlled apoptosis during regeneration after amputation as the number of differentiated cells are adjusted towards their homeostatic/steady state level. In addition our model describes the following properties that can inform and be tested by future experiments: 4) the strength of feedback control from differentiated cells to neoblasts (i.e. the activity of the signalling system) and from neoblasts on themselves in relation to absolute number depends upon the level of food in the environment; 5) planarians adjust size when food level reduces initially through increased apoptosis and then through a reduction in neoblast self-renewal activity; 6) following wounding or excision of differentiated cells, different time scales characterize both recovery of size and the two feedback functions; 7) the temporal pattern of feedback controls differs noticeably during recovery from a removal or neoblasts or a removal of differentiated cells; 8) the signaling strength for apoptosis of differentiated cells depends upon both the absolute and relative deviations of the number of differentiated cells from their homeostatic level; and 9) planaria prioritize resource use for cell divisions.

Conclusions

We offer the first analytical framework for organizing experiments on planarian flatworm stem cell dynamics in a form that allows models to be compared with quantitative cell data based on underlying molecular mechanisms and thus facilitate the interplay between empirical studies and modeling. This framework is the foundation for studying cell migration during wound repair, the determination of homeostatic levels of differentiated cells by natural selection, and stochastic effects.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12918-016-0261-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.