1
|
Bürvenich L, Rössler OG, Thiel G. Stimulus-Induced Activation of the Glycoprotein Hormone α-Subunit Promoter in Human Placental Choriocarcinoma Cells: Major Role of a tandem cAMP Response Element. Curr Issues Mol Biol 2024; 46:3218-3235. [PMID: 38666932 PMCID: PMC11049346 DOI: 10.3390/cimb46040202] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2024] [Revised: 03/27/2024] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
The glycoprotein hormones LH, FSH, TSH and chorionic gonadotropin consist of a common α-subunit and a hormone-specific β-subunit. The α-subunit is expressed in the pituitary and the placental cells, and its expression is regulated by extracellular signal molecules. Much is known about the regulation of the α-subunit gene in the pituitary, but few studies have addressed the regulation of this gene in trophoblasts. The aim of this study was to characterize the molecular mechanism of stimulus-induced α-subunit gene transcription in JEG-3 cells, a cellular model for human trophoblasts, using chromatin-embedded reporter genes under the control of the α-subunit promoter. The results show that increasing the concentration of the second messengers cAMP or Ca2+, or expressing the catalytic subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase in the nucleus activated the α-subunit promoter. Similarly, the stimulation of p38 protein kinase activated the α-subunit promoter, linking α-subunit expression to stress response. The stimulation of a Gαq-coupled designer receptor activated the α-subunit promoter, involving the transcription factor CREB, linking α-subunit expression to hormonal stimulation and an increase in intracellular Ca2+. Deletion mutagenesis underscores the importance of a tandem cAMP response element within the glycoprotein hormone α-subunit promoter, which acts as a point of convergence for a multiple signaling pathway.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Gerald Thiel
- Department of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Saarland University, Building 44, 66421 Homburg, Germany; (L.B.); (O.G.R.)
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Engel A, Rishik S, Hirsch P, Keller V, Fehlmann T, Kern F, Keller A. SingmiR: a single-cell miRNA alignment and analysis tool. Nucleic Acids Res 2024:gkae225. [PMID: 38572750 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkae225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2024] [Revised: 03/08/2024] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) has revolutionized our understanding of cell biology, developmental and pathophysiological molecular processes, paving the way toward novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. However, most of the gene regulatory processes on the single-cell level are still unknown, including post-transcriptional control conferred by microRNAs (miRNAs). Like the established single-cell gene expression analysis, advanced computational expertise is required to comprehensively process newly emerging single-cell miRNA-seq datasets. A web server providing a workflow tailored for single-cell miRNA-seq data with a self-explanatory interface is currently not available. Here, we present SingmiR, enabling the rapid (pre-)processing and quantification of human miRNAs from noncoding single-cell samples. It performs read trimming for different library preparation protocols, generates automated quality control reports and provides feature-normalized count files. Numerous standard and advanced analyses such as dimension reduction, clustered feature heatmaps, sample correlation heatmaps and differential expression statistics are implemented. We aim to speed up the prototyping pipeline for biologists developing single-cell miRNA-seq protocols on small to medium-sized datasets. SingmiR is freely available to all users without the need for a login at https://www.ccb.uni-saarland.de/singmir.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Annika Engel
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Shusruto Rishik
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Pascal Hirsch
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Verena Keller
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Tobias Fehlmann
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Fabian Kern
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
- Department of Clinical Bioinformatics (CLIB), Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Andreas Keller
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
- Department of Clinical Bioinformatics (CLIB), Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Flotho M, Amand J, Hirsch P, Grandke F, Wyss-Coray T, Keller A, Kern F. ZEBRA: a hierarchically integrated gene expression atlas of the murine and human brain at single-cell resolution. Nucleic Acids Res 2024; 52:D1089-D1096. [PMID: 37941147 PMCID: PMC10767845 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad990] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2023] [Revised: 10/02/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The molecular causes and mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases remain poorly understood. A growing number of single-cell studies have implicated various neural, glial, and immune cell subtypes to affect the mammalian central nervous system in many age-related disorders. Integrating this body of transcriptomic evidence into a comprehensive and reproducible framework poses several computational challenges. Here, we introduce ZEBRA, a large single-cell and single-nucleus RNA-seq database. ZEBRA integrates and normalizes gene expression and metadata from 33 studies, encompassing 4.2 million human and mouse brain cells sampled from 39 brain regions. It incorporates samples from patients with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Multiple sclerosis, as well as samples from relevant mouse models. We employed scVI, a deep probabilistic auto-encoder model, to integrate the samples and curated both cell and sample metadata for downstream analysis. ZEBRA allows for cell-type and disease-specific markers to be explored and compared between sample conditions and brain regions, a cell composition analysis, and gene-wise feature mappings. Our comprehensive molecular database facilitates the generation of data-driven hypotheses, enhancing our understanding of mammalian brain function during aging and disease. The data sets, along with an interactive database are freely available at https://www.ccb.uni-saarland.de/zebra.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Matthias Flotho
- Helmholtz-Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Saarland University Campus, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
- Clinical Bioinformatics, Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Jérémy Amand
- Helmholtz-Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Saarland University Campus, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
- Clinical Bioinformatics, Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Pascal Hirsch
- Clinical Bioinformatics, Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Friederike Grandke
- Clinical Bioinformatics, Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Tony Wyss-Coray
- Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- The Phil and Penny Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Andreas Keller
- Helmholtz-Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Saarland University Campus, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
- Clinical Bioinformatics, Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Fabian Kern
- Helmholtz-Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Saarland University Campus, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
- Clinical Bioinformatics, Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Hirsch P, Tagirdzhanov A, Kushnareva A, Olkhovskii I, Graf S, Schmartz GP, Hegemann JD, Bozhüyük KAJ, Müller R, Keller A, Gurevich A. ABC-HuMi: the Atlas of Biosynthetic Gene Clusters in the Human Microbiome. Nucleic Acids Res 2024; 52:D579-D585. [PMID: 37994699 PMCID: PMC10767846 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad1086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2023] [Revised: 10/18/2023] [Accepted: 10/30/2023] [Indexed: 11/24/2023] Open
Abstract
The human microbiome has emerged as a rich source of diverse and bioactive natural products, harboring immense potential for therapeutic applications. To facilitate systematic exploration and analysis of its biosynthetic landscape, we present ABC-HuMi: the Atlas of Biosynthetic Gene Clusters (BGCs) in the Human Microbiome. ABC-HuMi integrates data from major human microbiome sequence databases and provides an expansive repository of BGCs compared to the limited coverage offered by existing resources. Employing state-of-the-art BGC prediction and analysis tools, our database ensures accurate annotation and enhanced prediction capabilities. ABC-HuMi empowers researchers with advanced browsing, filtering, and search functionality, enabling efficient exploration of the resource. At present, ABC-HuMi boasts a catalog of 19 218 representative BGCs derived from the human gut, oral, skin, respiratory and urogenital systems. By capturing the intricate biosynthetic potential across diverse human body sites, our database fosters profound insights into the molecular repertoire encoded within the human microbiome and offers a comprehensive resource for the discovery and characterization of novel bioactive compounds. The database is freely accessible at https://www.ccb.uni-saarland.de/abc_humi/.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pascal Hirsch
- Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
| | - Azat Tagirdzhanov
- Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
- Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
| | - Aleksandra Kushnareva
- Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
- Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
| | - Ilia Olkhovskii
- Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
- Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
- Saarbrücken Graduate School of Computer Science, Saarland University, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
| | - Simon Graf
- Department of Computer Science, Saarland University, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
| | - Georges P Schmartz
- Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
| | - Julian D Hegemann
- Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
- Department of Pharmacy, Saarland University, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
| | - Kenan A J Bozhüyük
- Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
| | - Rolf Müller
- Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
- Department of Pharmacy, Saarland University, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
| | - Andreas Keller
- Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
- Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
| | - Alexey Gurevich
- Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
- Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
- Department of Computer Science, Saarland University, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Aparicio-Puerta E, Hirsch P, Schmartz GP, Kern F, Fehlmann T, Keller A. miEAA 2023: updates, new functional microRNA sets and improved enrichment visualizations. Nucleic Acids Res 2023:7161530. [PMID: 37177999 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2023] [Revised: 04/21/2023] [Accepted: 05/05/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023] Open
Abstract
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that play a critical role in regulating diverse biological processes. Extracting functional insights from a list of miRNAs is challenging, as each miRNA can potentially interact with hundreds of genes. To address this challenge, we developed miEAA, a flexible and comprehensive miRNA enrichment analysis tool based on direct and indirect miRNA annotation. The latest release of miEAA includes a data warehouse of 19 miRNA repositories, covering 10 different organisms and 139 399 functional categories. We have added information on the cellular context of miRNAs, isomiRs, and high-confidence miRNAs to improve the accuracy of the results. We have also improved the representation of aggregated results, including interactive Upset plots to aid users in understanding the interaction among enriched terms or categories. Finally, we demonstrate the functionality of miEAA in the context of ageing and highlight the importance of carefully considering the miRNA input list. MiEAA is free to use and publicly available at https://www.ccb.uni-saarland.de/mieaa/.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Pascal Hirsch
- Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Georges P Schmartz
- Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Fabian Kern
- Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
- Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Saarland University Campus, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Tobias Fehlmann
- Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Andreas Keller
- Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
- Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Saarland University Campus, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Thiel G, Rössler OG. Calmodulin Regulates Transient Receptor Potential TRPM3 and TRPM8-Induced Gene Transcription. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24097902. [PMID: 37175607 PMCID: PMC10178570 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24097902] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2023] [Revised: 04/23/2023] [Accepted: 04/24/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Calmodulin is a small protein that binds Ca2+ ions via four EF-hand motifs. The Ca2+/calmodulin complex as well as Ca2+-free calmodulin regulate the activities of numerous enzymes and ion channels. Here, we used genetic and pharmacological tools to study the functional role of calmodulin in regulating signal transduction of TRPM3 and TRPM8 channels. Both TRPM3 and TRPM8 are important regulators of thermosensation. Gene transcription triggered by stimulation of TRPM3 or TRPM8 channels was significantly impaired in cells expressing a calmodulin mutant with mutations in all four EF-hand Ca2+ binding motifs. Similarly, incubation of cells with the calmodulin inhibitor ophiobolin A reduced TRPM3 and TRPM8-induced signaling. The Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein phosphatase calcineurin was shown to negatively regulate TRPM3-induced gene transcription. Here, we show that TRPM8-induced transcription is also regulated by calcineurin. We propose that calmodulin plays a dual role in regulating TRPM3 and TRPM8 functions. Calmodulin is required for the activation of TRPM3 and TRPM8-induced intracellular signaling, most likely through a direct interaction with the channels. Ca2+ influx through TRPM3 and TRPM8 feeds back to TRPM3 and TRPM8-induced signaling by activation of the calmodulin-regulated enzyme calcineurin, which acts as a negative feedback loop for both TRPM3 and TRPM8 channel signaling.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gerald Thiel
- Department of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Saarland University, Building 44, 66421 Homburg, Germany
| | - Oliver G Rössler
- Department of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Saarland University, Building 44, 66421 Homburg, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Amor H, Hammadeh ME, Mohd I, Jankowski PM. Impact of heavy alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking on sperm DNA integrity. Andrologia 2022; 54:e14434. [PMID: 35484935 DOI: 10.1111/and.14434] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2022] [Revised: 03/14/2022] [Accepted: 03/25/2022] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The purposes of the presents study were to investigate the impact of alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking on semen parameters and sperm DNA quality, as well as to determine whether tobacco smoking, or alcohol consumption causes more deterioration of sperm quality. Two hundred and eleven semen samples of men were included in this study. Four groups were studied: heavy smokers (N = 48), heavy drinkers (N = 52), non-smokers (n = 70), and non-drinkers (n = 41). Semen parameters were determined according to WHO guidelines, protamine deficiency assessed by chromomycin (CMA3) staining, and sperm DNA fragmentation (sDF) evaluated by TUNEL assay. Sperm parameters were significantly higher in non-smokers versus smokers and in non-drinkers versus drinkers (p < 0.005). However, protamine deficiency and sDF were significantly lower in non-smokers versus smokers and in non-drinkers versus drinkers (p < 0.0001). No significant difference in the semen analysis parameters was observed between heavy smokers and heavy drinkers (semen volume: 3.20 ± 1.43 vs. 2.81 ± 1.56 ml, semen count: 65.75 ± 31.32 vs. 53.51 ± 32.67 mill/ml, total motility: 24.27 ± 8.18 vs. 23.75 ± 1.75%, sperm vitality: 36.15 ± 18.57 vs. 34.62 ± 16.65%, functional integrity: 41.56 ± 18.57 vs. 45.96 ± 17.98% and the morphologically normal spermatozoa: 28.77 ± 11.82 vs. 27.06 ± 13.13%, respectively). However, protamine deficiency was significantly higher among drinkers than smokers (37.03 ± 9.75 vs. 33.27 ± 8.56%, p = 0.020). The sDF was also significantly higher among drinkers than smokers (22.37 ± 7.60 vs. 15.55 ± 3.33%, p < 0.0001). Thus, cigarette smoking, and heavy alcohol intake can deteriorate sperm quality. However, alcohol consumption deteriorates sperm maturity and damages DNA integrity at significantly higher rates than cigarette smoking.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Houda Amor
- Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Saarland University, Homburg/Saar, Germany
| | - Mohamad Eid Hammadeh
- Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Saarland University, Homburg/Saar, Germany
| | - Izzaddin Mohd
- Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Saarland University, Homburg/Saar, Germany
| | | |
Collapse
|
8
|
Schmartz GP, Hirsch P, Amand J, Dastbaz J, Fehlmann T, Kern F, Müller R, Keller A. OUP accepted manuscript. Nucleic Acids Res 2022; 50:W132-W137. [PMID: 35489067 PMCID: PMC9252796 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkac298] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2022] [Revised: 04/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite recent methodology and reference database improvements for taxonomic profiling tools, metagenomic assembly and genomic binning remain important pillars of metagenomic analysis workflows. In case reference information is lacking, genomic binning is considered to be a state-of-the-art method in mixed culture metagenomic data analysis. In this light, our previously published tool BusyBee Web implements a composition-based binning method efficient enough to function as a rapid online utility. Handling assembled contigs and long nanopore generated reads alike, the webserver provides a wide range of supplementary annotations and visualizations. Half a decade after the initial publication, we revisited existing functionality, added comprehensive visualizations, and increased the number of data analysis customization options for further experimentation. The webserver now allows for visualization-supported differential analysis of samples, which is computationally expensive and typically only performed in coverage-based binning methods. Further, users may now optionally check their uploaded samples for plasmid sequences using PLSDB as a reference database. Lastly, a new application programming interface with a supporting python package was implemented, to allow power users fully automated access to the resource and integration into existing workflows. The webserver is freely available under: https://www.ccb.uni-saarland.de/busybee.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Georges P Schmartz
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Pascal Hirsch
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
- Clinical Bioinformatics (CLIB), Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Jérémy Amand
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
- Clinical Bioinformatics (CLIB), Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Jan Dastbaz
- Microbial Natural Products (MINS), Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
- Deutsches Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (DZIF), Standort Hannover-Braunschweig, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Tobias Fehlmann
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Fabian Kern
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
- Clinical Bioinformatics (CLIB), Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Rolf Müller
- Microbial Natural Products (MINS), Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
- Deutsches Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (DZIF), Standort Hannover-Braunschweig, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Andreas Keller
- To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +49 681 30268611; Fax: +49 681 30268610;
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Stemler T, Hoffmann C, Hierlmeier IM, Maus S, Krause E, Ezziddin S, Jung G, Bartholomä MD. A Structure-Activity Relationship Study of Bimodal BODIPY-Labeled PSMA-Targeting Bioconjugates. ChemMedChem 2021; 16:2535-2545. [PMID: 33905162 PMCID: PMC8453963 DOI: 10.1002/cmdc.202100210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
The aim of this study was to identify a high-affinity BODIPY peptidomimetic that targets the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) as a potential bimodal imaging probe for prostate cancer. For the structure-activity study, several BODIPY (difluoroboron dipyrromethene) derivatives with varying spacers between the BODIPY dye and the PSMA Glu-CO-Lys binding motif were prepared. Corresponding affinities were determined by competitive binding assays in PSMA-positive LNCaP cells. One compound was identified with comparable affinity (IC50 =21.5±0.1 nM) to Glu-CO-Lys-Ahx-HBED-CC (PSMA-11) (IC50 =18.4±0.2 nM). Radiolabeling was achieved by Lewis-acid-mediated 19 F/18 F exchange in moderate molar activities (∼0.7 MBq nmol-1 ) and high radiochemical purities (>99 %) with mean radiochemical yields of 20-30 %. Cell internalization of the 18 F-labeled high-affinity conjugate was demonstrated in LNCaP cells showing gradual increasing PSMA-mediated internalization over time. By fluorescence microscopy, localization of the high-affinity BODIPY-PSMA conjugate was found in the cell membrane at early time points and also in subcellular compartments at later time points. In summary, a high-affinity BODIPY-PSMA conjugate has been identified as a suitable candidate for the development of PSMA-specific dual-imaging agents.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tobias Stemler
- Department of Nuclear MedicineSaarland University – Medical CenterKirrbergerstrasse66421HomburgGermany
| | - Caroline Hoffmann
- Department of Biophysical ChemistrySaarland UniversityCampus B2 266123SaarbrückenGermany
| | - Ina M. Hierlmeier
- Department of Nuclear MedicineSaarland University – Medical CenterKirrbergerstrasse66421HomburgGermany
| | - Stephan Maus
- Department of Nuclear MedicineSaarland University – Medical CenterKirrbergerstrasse66421HomburgGermany
| | - Elmar Krause
- Department of Cellular NeurophysiologyCenter for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine (CIPMM)Saarland UniversityKirrbergerstrasse66421HomburgGermany
| | - Samer Ezziddin
- Department of Nuclear MedicineSaarland University – Medical CenterKirrbergerstrasse66421HomburgGermany
| | - Gregor Jung
- Department of Biophysical ChemistrySaarland UniversityCampus B2 266123SaarbrückenGermany
| | - Mark D. Bartholomä
- Department of Nuclear MedicineSaarland University – Medical CenterKirrbergerstrasse66421HomburgGermany
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Kern F, Aparicio-Puerta E, Li Y, Fehlmann T, Kehl T, Wagner V, Ray K, Ludwig N, Lenhof HP, Meese E, Keller A. miRTargetLink 2.0-interactive miRNA target gene and target pathway networks. Nucleic Acids Res 2021; 49:W409-W416. [PMID: 34009375 PMCID: PMC8262750 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab297] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2021] [Revised: 04/05/2021] [Accepted: 04/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Which genes, gene sets or pathways are regulated by certain miRNAs? Which miRNAs regulate a particular target gene or target pathway in a certain physiological context? Answering such common research questions can be time consuming and labor intensive. Especially for researchers without computational experience, the integration of different data sources, selection of the right parameters and concise visualization can be demanding. A comprehensive analysis should be central to present adequate answers to complex biological questions. With miRTargetLink 2.0, we develop an all-in-one solution for human, mouse and rat miRNA networks. Users input in the unidirectional search mode either a single gene, gene set or gene pathway, alternatively a single miRNA, a set of miRNAs or an miRNA pathway. Moreover, genes and miRNAs can jointly be provided to the tool in the bidirectional search mode. For the selected entities, interaction graphs are generated from different data sources and dynamically presented. Connected application programming interfaces (APIs) to the tailored enrichment tools miEAA and GeneTrail facilitate downstream analysis of pathways and context-annotated categories of network nodes. MiRTargetLink 2.0 is freely accessible at https://www.ccb.uni-saarland.de/mirtargetlink2.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Fabian Kern
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | | | - Yongping Li
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Tobias Fehlmann
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Tim Kehl
- Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland Informatics Campus, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Viktoria Wagner
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Kamalika Ray
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Nicole Ludwig
- Center for Human and Molecular Biology, Institute of Human Genetics, Saarland University, 66421 Homburg, Germany
| | - Hans-Peter Lenhof
- Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland Informatics Campus, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Eckart Meese
- Center for Human and Molecular Biology, Institute of Human Genetics, Saarland University, 66421 Homburg, Germany
| | - Andreas Keller
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
- Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford 94304, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Qindeel M, Barani M, Rahdar A, Arshad R, Cucchiarini M. Nanomaterials for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Urinary Tract Infections. Nanomaterials (Basel) 2021; 11:546. [PMID: 33671511 PMCID: PMC7926703 DOI: 10.3390/nano11020546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2021] [Revised: 02/15/2021] [Accepted: 02/17/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
The diagnosis and treatment of urinary tract infections (UTIs) remain challenging due to the lack of convenient assessment techniques and to the resistance to conventional antimicrobial therapy, showing the need for novel approaches to address such problems. In this regard, nanotechnology has a strong potential for both the diagnosis and therapy of UTIs via controlled delivery of antimicrobials upon stable, effective and sustained drug release. On one side, nanoscience allowed the production of various nanomaterial-based evaluation tools as precise, effective, and rapid procedures for the identification of UTIs. On the other side, nanotechnology brought tremendous breakthroughs for the treatment of UTIs based on the use of metallic nanoparticles (NPs) for instance, owing to the antimicrobial properties of metals, or of surface-tailored nanocarriers, allowing to overcome multidrug-resistance and prevent biofilm formation via targeted drug delivery to desired sites of action and preventing the development of cytotoxic processes in healthy cells. The goal of the current study is therefore to present the newest developments for the diagnosis and treatment of UTIs based on nanotechnology procedures in relation to the currently available techniques.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Maimoona Qindeel
- Department of Pharmacy, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan; (M.Q.); (R.A.)
| | - Mahmood Barani
- Department of Chemistry, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman 76169-14111, Iran;
| | - Abbas Rahdar
- Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Zabol, Zabol 538-98615, Iran
| | - Rabia Arshad
- Department of Pharmacy, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan; (M.Q.); (R.A.)
| | - Magali Cucchiarini
- Center of Experimental Orthopaedics, Saarland University Medical Center, Kirrbergerstr. Bldg. 37, D-66421 Homburg, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Li Y, Fehlmann T, Borcherding A, Drmanac S, Liu S, Groeger L, Xu C, Callow M, Villarosa C, Jorjorian A, Kern F, Grammes N, Meese E, Jiang H, Drmanac R, Ludwig N, Keller A. CoolMPS: evaluation of antibody labeling based massively parallel non-coding RNA sequencing. Nucleic Acids Res 2021; 49:e10. [PMID: 33290507 PMCID: PMC7826284 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkaa1122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2020] [Revised: 10/02/2020] [Accepted: 11/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Results of massive parallel sequencing-by-synthesis vary depending on the sequencing approach. CoolMPS™ is a new sequencing chemistry that incorporates bases by labeled antibodies. To evaluate the performance, we sequenced 240 human non-coding RNA samples (dementia patients and controls) with and without CoolMPS. The Q30 value as indicator of the per base sequencing quality increased from 91.8 to 94%. The higher quality was reached across the whole read length. Likewise, the percentage of reads mapping to the human genome increased from 84.9 to 86.2%. For both technologies, we computed similar distributions between different RNA classes (miRNA, piRNA, tRNA, snoRNA and yRNA) and within the classes. While standard sequencing-by-synthesis allowed to recover more annotated miRNAs, CoolMPS yielded more novel miRNAs. The correlation between the two methods was 0.97. Evaluating the diagnostic performance, we observed lower minimal P-values for CoolMPS (adjusted P-value of 0.0006 versus 0.0004) and larger effect sizes (Cohen's d of 0.878 versus 0.9). Validating 19 miRNAs resulted in a correlation of 0.852 between CoolMPS and reverse transcriptase-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Comparison to data generated with Illumina technology confirmed a known shift in the overall RNA composition. With CoolMPS we evaluated a novel sequencing-by-synthesis technology showing high performance for the analysis of non-coding RNAs.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yongping Li
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
- MGI, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China
| | - Tobias Fehlmann
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | | | | | - Sophie Liu
- Complete Genomics Incorporated, San Jose, CA 95134, USA
| | - Laura Groeger
- Department of Human Genetics, Saarland University, 66421 Homburg, Germany
| | - Chongjun Xu
- MGI, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China
- Complete Genomics Incorporated, San Jose, CA 95134, USA
- BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China
- China National GeneBank, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518120, China
| | | | | | | | - Fabian Kern
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Nadja Grammes
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Eckart Meese
- Department of Human Genetics, Saarland University, 66421 Homburg, Germany
| | - Hui Jiang
- MGI, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China
| | - Radoje Drmanac
- MGI, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China
- Complete Genomics Incorporated, San Jose, CA 95134, USA
- BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China
- China National GeneBank, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518120, China
| | - Nicole Ludwig
- Department of Human Genetics, Saarland University, 66421 Homburg, Germany
| | - Andreas Keller
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
- Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford UniversitySchool of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94304, USA
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Abstract
Web services are used through all disciplines in life sciences and the online landscape is growing by hundreds of novel servers annually. However, availability varies, and maintenance practices are largely inconsistent. We screened the availability of 2396 web tools published during the past 10 years. All servers were accessed over 133 days and 318 668 index files were stored in a local database. The number of accessible tools almost linearly increases in time with highest availability for 2019 and 2020 (∼90%) and lowest for tools published in 2010 (∼50%). In a 133-day test frame, 31% of tools were always working, 48.4% occasionally and 20.6% never. Consecutive downtimes were typically below 5 days with a median of 1 day, and unevenly distributed over the weekdays. A rescue experiment on 47 tools that were published from 2019 onwards but never accessible showed that 51.1% of the tools could be restored in due time. We found a positive association between the number of citations and the probability of a web server being reachable. We then determined common challenges and formulated categorical recommendations for researchers planning to develop web-based resources. As implication of our study, we propose to develop a repository for automatic API testing and sustainability indexing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Fabian Kern
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
- Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland Informatics Campus, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
| | - Tobias Fehlmann
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
- Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland Informatics Campus, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
| | - Andreas Keller
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
- Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland Informatics Campus, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
- Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA 94305, USA
| |
Collapse
|