Journal: Nucleic Acids Research

Article Title: High-efficiency homology-directed insertion into the genome using the engineered homing endonuclease ARCUS

doi: 10.1093/nar/gkaf961

Figure Lengend Snippet: Highly efficient and specific small insertions, deletions, and substitutions are enabled using ARCUS and AAV. T cells were electroporated with mRNA encoding a TGFBR2 -specific ARCUS nuclease and transduced with one of four AAV6 templates displaying 500 bp HAs flanking the cut site. Each AAV6 vector in this study contained mismatches in the RHA as denoted in ( A ). Representative histograms shown in ( B ) show loss of TGFBRII display on insert + cells, compared to cells treated with repair vector or nuclease alone. Data are representative of three independent experiments using T cells from two human donors.

Article Snippet: At 7 days post electroporation, single-cell suspensions were labeled with antibodies against human CD3 (BioLegend, San Diego, CA, Cat# 344818), TGFBRII (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN, Cat# AF-241-NA), or B2M (Becton-Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, NJ, Cat# 551337).

Techniques: Transduction, Plasmid Preparation

Journal: PLoS ONE

Article Title: MicroRNA-30b controls endothelial cell capillary morphogenesis through regulation of transforming growth factor beta 2

doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185619

Figure Lengend Snippet: (A) HUVECs were transfected with either control mimic (con) or miR-30b mimic (30b) and levels of TGFβ1 and TGFβ2 mRNA were assessed by qRT-PCR. Expression levels relative to control mimic transfected cells and normalized to β-actin expression are presented as the mean ± SEM (n = 2). Overexpression of miR-30b significantly increases TGFβ2 expression. * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01 as determined by unpaired Student’s t -test. (B) Cells were transfected with 20 nM of either control mimic (control) or miR-30b mimic (miR-30b) and protein lysates were collected after 48 hours for assessment of TGFβ2 protein levels by western blot. β-actin was used as endogenous control. (C) ELISAs for TGFβ1 and TGFβ2 were performed with 24 hour conditioned supernates from HUVECs transfected with 20 nM of either control or miR-30b mimic. Data represents the mean ± SEM (n = 2). Overexpression of miR-30b significantly increases TGFβ2 secretion into cell culture supernate. * P = 0.044 as determined by unpaired Student’s t -test. (D) HUVECs were transfected with 20 nM of either control mimic (control) or miR-30b mimic (miR-30b) and protein lysates were collected after 48 hours for assessment of Smad2 phosphorylation by western blot.

Article Snippet: Primary antibodies used were: TGFβ2 (V, SC-90), ATF-2 (C-19, SC-187), and phospho-ATF-2 (F-1, SC-8398) from Santa Cruz Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, CA), phospho-Smad2 (S465/467) from Cell Signaling Technology (3101; Danvers, MA), Smad2 from Invitrogen (511300; Carlsbad, CA), β-Actin (clone AC-74) from Sigma-Aldrich (A5316; St. Louis, MO), anti-TGFβ2 neutralizing antibody (AB-12-NA) and Normal Rabbit IgG (AB-105-C) from R&D Systems (Minneapolis, MN).

Techniques: Transfection, Control, Quantitative RT-PCR, Expressing, Over Expression, Western Blot, Cell Culture, Phospho-proteomics

Journal: PLoS ONE

Article Title: MicroRNA-30b controls endothelial cell capillary morphogenesis through regulation of transforming growth factor beta 2

doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185619

Figure Lengend Snippet: (A) JDP2 mRNA expression was assessed in HUVECs transfected with miR-30b mimic (20 nM) as compared to control by qRT-PCR. Data represents the mean ± SEM (n = 3) normalized to β-actin as endogenous control. * P = 0.016 as determined by unpaired Student’s t -test. (B) HUVEC were transfected with 50 nM of either control siRNA or ATF2 siRNA 1 or 2 and RNA was isolated at 48 hours post transfection. Levels of ATF2 and TGFβ2 mRNA were assessed by qRT-PCR with β-actin as endogenous control. Data presented is mean ± SEM (n = 2). Statistically significant decreases in ATF2 and TGFβ2 expression were seen in ATF2 siRNA treated cells as compared to control siRNA treated cells. * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001 as determined by unpaired Student’s t -tests for each ATF2 siRNA compared to control siRNA. (C) Cells transfected with 5 nM of either control siRNA or ATF2 siRNA 1 were seeded onto growth factor reduced BME and the formation of capillary-like cord structures and number of loops was assessed after 24 hours. (D) A statistically significant increase in cord formation was observed in cells depleted of ATF2 through siRNA. Data represents the mean ± SEM (n = 2). * P = 0.041 as determined by unpaired Student’s t -test. (E) HUVECs were co-transfected with miRNA mimic (20 nM) and ATF2 siRNA 1 or 2 (50 nM) in the combinations displayed and cell lysates were collected at 48 hours post transfection and assessed for TGFβ2 mRNA expression. Data presented is mean ± SEM (n = 2). * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001 as determined by ANOVA with post hoc analysis. (F) Cells were transfected as in (E) using miRNA mimic (20 nM) and ATF2 siRNA 1 (5 nM) and serum starved overnight in MCDB 131 with 0.5% FBS prior to protein expression analysis by western blot. Data is representative of expression levels observed in two independently performed experiments.

Article Snippet: Primary antibodies used were: TGFβ2 (V, SC-90), ATF-2 (C-19, SC-187), and phospho-ATF-2 (F-1, SC-8398) from Santa Cruz Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, CA), phospho-Smad2 (S465/467) from Cell Signaling Technology (3101; Danvers, MA), Smad2 from Invitrogen (511300; Carlsbad, CA), β-Actin (clone AC-74) from Sigma-Aldrich (A5316; St. Louis, MO), anti-TGFβ2 neutralizing antibody (AB-12-NA) and Normal Rabbit IgG (AB-105-C) from R&D Systems (Minneapolis, MN).

Techniques: Expressing, Transfection, Control, Quantitative RT-PCR, Isolation, Western Blot

Journal: PLoS ONE

Article Title: MicroRNA-30b controls endothelial cell capillary morphogenesis through regulation of transforming growth factor beta 2

doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185619

Figure Lengend Snippet: (A) HUVECs were serum starved overnight in MCDB 131 with 0.5% FBS and stimulated with VEGF (50 ng/ml) in the presence or absence of Avastin (1 μg/ml) for 24 hours. Data represents the mean ± SEM (n = 2) for expression of TGFβ1 and TGFβ2 assessed by qRT-PCR relative to β-actin endogenous control. * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001 as determined by ANOVA. (B) HUVECs were treated with 5 ng/ml of TGFβ2 for 3 days prior to seeding onto growth factor reduced BME for assessment of capillary-like cord formation after 24 hours. (C) A significant decrease in cord formation is observed in the TGFβ2 treated group. Data represents the mean ± SEM (n = 2). ** P = 0.0072 as determined by unpaired Student’s t -test. (D) HUVECs transfected with 1 nM control or miR-30b mimic were treated 4 hours post transfection with 0.8 μg/ml anti-TGFβ2 neutralizing antibody or rabbit IgG. Media was refreshed after 24 hours, again with rabbit IgG or anti-TGFβ2 antibody and cells were seeded onto growth factor reduced BME 24 hours later (ie. 48 hours post transfection) in media containing rabbit IgG or anti-TGFβ2 antibody. (E) Data represents the mean ± SEM (n = 3) of the number of capillary-like cord structures or number of loops formed after 24 hours on BME. * P < 0.05, ns denotes not significant as determined by ANOVA with post hoc analysis.

Article Snippet: Primary antibodies used were: TGFβ2 (V, SC-90), ATF-2 (C-19, SC-187), and phospho-ATF-2 (F-1, SC-8398) from Santa Cruz Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, CA), phospho-Smad2 (S465/467) from Cell Signaling Technology (3101; Danvers, MA), Smad2 from Invitrogen (511300; Carlsbad, CA), β-Actin (clone AC-74) from Sigma-Aldrich (A5316; St. Louis, MO), anti-TGFβ2 neutralizing antibody (AB-12-NA) and Normal Rabbit IgG (AB-105-C) from R&D Systems (Minneapolis, MN).

Techniques: Expressing, Quantitative RT-PCR, Control, Transfection

Journal: Fibrogenesis & Tissue Repair

Article Title: L 59 TGF-β LAP degradation products serve as a promising blood biomarker for liver fibrogenesis in mice

doi: 10.1186/s13069-015-0034-9

Figure Lengend Snippet: Establishment of a sandwich ELISA for detecting L 59 LAP-DPs. a Schematic diagram of the ELISA for L 59 LAP-DPs. In the ELISA, L 59 LAP-DPs are first captured by coated L59 antibodies (Ab) and then sandwiched by biotin-conjugated anti-LAP antibodies (αLAP-Ab), which form a complex with strep-AP. For detection, an enzyme substrate is added and absorbance at 405 nm was measured. b , c Incubation time- and PLK concentration-dependent increases in the absorbance of the samples containing LAP incubated with PLK. The LAP (final 25 nM) was digested with 12.5 nM (open triangle), 25 nM (open reverse triangle), and 50 nM (open square) PLK, or without PLK (open circle) for 0–90 min, and then the samples were diluted by 1/50 and subjected to the L 59 LAP-DP ELISA ( b ). Also, 25 nM rhLAP was digested with 50 nM PLK (open square) or PLN (cross mark), or PLK in the presence of 5 μM camostat mesilate (open diamond) ( c ). All data were presented as mean ± SD from two different experiments ​*p-value <0.05, **p-value <0.01, ***p-value<0.001 obtained comparing to corresponding control values

Article Snippet: rhLAP β1 and anti-human LAP β1 mouse monoclonal antibodies were purchased from R&D Systems (Minneapolis, MN, USA).

Techniques: Sandwich ELISA, Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay, Incubation, Concentration Assay, Control

Journal: Fibrogenesis & Tissue Repair

Article Title: L 59 TGF-β LAP degradation products serve as a promising blood biomarker for liver fibrogenesis in mice

doi: 10.1186/s13069-015-0034-9

Figure Lengend Snippet: Correlation among L 59 LAP-DPs and active TGF-β in the culture medium, and intracellular signal transduction. a , c The ×9CAGA-Luc-transformed CCL64 cells were cultured in PLK-added CM derived from HEK293T cells overexpressing hLTGF-β1. After 6 h, the levels of active TGF-β1 and L 59 LAP-DPs were determined by respective ELISAs ( a ), and the extent of TGF-β signaling was measured by luciferase activity in CCL64 cells ( c ). b , d The scatterplots between the levels of L 59 LAP-DPs and active TGF-β shown in a ( b ) and between increases in L 59 LAP-DP levels and increases in luminescence from the values obtained compared to basal levels in the absence of PLK shown in c ( d ). A significant positive correlation was seen ( b ) * p-value <0.05, ***p-value <0.001 obtained comparing to 0

Article Snippet: rhLAP β1 and anti-human LAP β1 mouse monoclonal antibodies were purchased from R&D Systems (Minneapolis, MN, USA).

Techniques: Transduction, Transformation Assay, Cell Culture, Derivative Assay, Luciferase, Activity Assay

Journal: Kidney international

Article Title: p35, the non-cyclin activator of Cdk5, protects podocytes against apoptosis in vitro and in vivo.

doi: 10.1038/ki.2009.548

Figure Lengend Snippet: Figure 3 | Cultured p35-null podocytes are more susceptible to apoptosis. Apoptosis was quantified in non-fixed cells by nuclear Hoechst-33342 staining in wild-type (open square) and p35-null (filled square) cells under non-stressed conditions (reflected as zero in each experiment) (a) 48 h following exposure to PAN (0–100 mg/ml), (b) 24 h after exposure to anti-glomerular antibody (0–5%, pre-immune IgG served as control IgG), (c) 24 h after serum depletion (0–10%), (d) 24 h following TGFb1 incubation (0–10 mg/ml), and (e) 6 h after UV-C irradiation (0–25 J/m2). Experiments were performed in triplicates and a minimum of 300 cells were counted per experiment. For statistical analysis, analysis of variance for multiple testing was applied. *Po0.05; **Po0.01; ***Po0.001. (f) Representative photographs of Hoechst- 33342 stainings following UV-C irradiation (25 J/m2). (g) Increase in apoptosis in p35-null podocytes was confirmed by measuring cleaved caspase-3 by Western blot analysis 6 h following UV-C irradiation (0–25 J/m2). b-Actin served as loading control.

Article Snippet: Apoptosis was induced by UV-C irradiation (0–25 J/m2), serum depletion (0–10%), or incubation with PAN (0–100 mg/ml; Sigma-Aldrich, St Louis, MO, USA), sheep anti-rabbit glomerular antibody (0–5%), or TGFb1 (0–10mg/ml; R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN, USA) and assessed by staining for nuclear condensation in non-fixed cells with Hoechst-33342 (10 mM; SigmaAldrich) and by detection of caspase-3 cleavage products by Western blot analysis.

Techniques: Cell Culture, Staining, Control, Serum Depletion, Incubation, Irradiation, Western Blot