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Kalaimani L, Devarajan B, Namperumalsamy VP, Veerappan M, Daniels JT, Chidambaranathan GP. Hsa-miR-143-3p inhibits Wnt-β-catenin and MAPK signaling in human corneal epithelial stem cells. Sci Rep 2022; 12:11432. [PMID: 35794158 PMCID: PMC9259643 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-15263-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2022] [Accepted: 06/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Our previous study demonstrated hsa-miR-143-3p as one of the highly expressed miRNAs in enriched corneal epithelial stem cells (CESCs). Hence this study aims to elucidate the regulatory role of hsa-miR-143-3p in the maintenance of stemness in CESCs. The target genes of hsa-miR-143-3p were predicted and subjected to pathway analysis to select the targets for functional studies. Primary cultured limbal epithelial cells were transfected with hsa-miR-143-3p mimic, inhibitor or scrambled sequence using Lipofectamine 3000. The transfected cells were analysed for (i) colony forming potential, (ii) expression of stem cell (SC) markers/ transcription factors (ABCG2, NANOG, OCT4, KLF4, ΔNp63), (iii) differentiation marker (Cx43), (iv) predicted five targets of hsa-miR-143-3p (DVL3, MAPK1, MAPK14, KRAS and KAT6A), (v) MAPK signaling regulators and (vi) Wnt-β-catenin signaling regulators by qPCR, immunofluorescence staining and/or Western blotting. High expression of hsa-miR-143-3p increased the colony forming potential (10.04 ± 1.35%, p < 0.001) with the ability to form holoclone-like colonies in comparison to control (3.33 ± 0.71%). The mimic treated cells had increased expression of SC markers but reduced expression of Cx43 and hsa-miR-143-3p targets involved in Wnt-β-catenin and MAPK signaling pathways. The expression of β-catenin, active β-catenin and ERK2 in hsa-miR-143-3p inhibitor transfected cells were higher than the control cells and the localized nuclear expression indicated the activation of Wnt and MAPK signaling. Thus, the probable association of hsa-miR-143-3p in the maintenance of CESCs through inhibition of Wnt and MAPK signaling pathways was thus indicated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lavanya Kalaimani
- Department of Immunology and Stem Cell Biology, Aravind Medical Research Foundation, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, 625020, India.,Department of Biotechnology, Aravind Medical Research Foundation-Affiliated to Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, India.,Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Bharanidharan Devarajan
- Department of Bioinformatics, Aravind Medical Research Foundation, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
| | | | - Muthukkaruppan Veerappan
- Department of Immunology and Stem Cell Biology, Aravind Medical Research Foundation, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, 625020, India
| | - Julie T Daniels
- Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Gowri Priya Chidambaranathan
- Department of Immunology and Stem Cell Biology, Aravind Medical Research Foundation, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, 625020, India. .,Department of Biotechnology, Aravind Medical Research Foundation-Affiliated to Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, India.
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Seyed-Safi AG, Daniels JT. The limbus: Structure and function. Exp Eye Res 2020; 197:108074. [PMID: 32502532 DOI: 10.1016/j.exer.2020.108074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2020] [Revised: 05/14/2020] [Accepted: 05/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Limbal function is a key determinant of corneal epithelial integrity. Lineage tracing studies in mice have highlighted that the centripetal movement of epithelial progenitors from the limbus drives both the steady-state maintenance of the corneal epithelium and its regeneration following injury. It is well established that this is facilitated by a population of limbal epithelial stem cells within the limbus. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the behaviour of these stem cells and their ability to respond to the needs of the tissue are closely linked to their immediate microenvironment - the stem cell niche. Increasing understanding of the structural features of this niche and the signalling networks that they coordinate is required to enhance the therapeutic application of these cells in the treatment of limbal stem cell deficiency. Importantly, an improved characterisation of the hierarchy of limbal epithelial progenitors using both new and old putative markers will enable a greater appreciation for the effects of many of these limbal niche factors on stem cell fate.
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Kalaimani L, Devarajan B, Subramanian U, Ayyasamy V, Namperumalsamy VP, Veerappan M, Chidambaranathan GP. MicroRNA Profiling of Highly Enriched Human Corneal Epithelial Stem Cells by Small RNA Sequencing. Sci Rep 2020; 10:7418. [PMID: 32366885 PMCID: PMC7198595 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-64273-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2020] [Accepted: 03/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The objective of the study was to elucidate the microRNA (miRNA) profile of an enriched human corneal epithelial stem cell (CESC) population in comparison to differentiated central corneal epithelial cells (CCECs) by small RNA sequencing. The CESCs were enriched by differential enzymatic treatment to isolate the basal limbal epithelial cells followed by laser capture microdissection of cells with nucleus to cytoplasm ratio ≥0.7, from donor tissues. Small RNA sequencing was carried out using Illumina NextSeq. 500 platform and the validation of differentially expressed miRNAs by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) and locked nucleic acid miRNA in-situ hybridization (LNA-ISH). The sequencing identified 62 miRNAs in CESCs and 611 in CCECs. Six miRNAs: hsa-miR-21-5p, 3168, 143-3p, 10a-5p, 150-5p and 1910-5p were found to be significantly upregulated in enriched CESCs, which was further confirmed by qPCR and LNA-ISH. The expression of hsa-miR-143-3p was exclusive to clusters of limbal basal epithelial cells. The targets of the upregulated miRNAs were predicted to be associated with signaling pathways -Wnt, PI3K-AKT, MAPK and pathways that regulate pluripotency of stem cells, cell migration, growth and proliferation. Further studies are essential to elucidate their functional role in maintenance of stemness. The findings of the study also hypothesize the inherent potential of hsa-miR-143-3p to serve as a biomarker for identifying CESCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lavanya Kalaimani
- Department of Immunology and Stem Cell Biology, Aravind Medical Research Foundation, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
- Department of Biotechnology, Aravind Medical Research Foundation -Affiliated to Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Bharanidharan Devarajan
- Department of Bioinformatics, Aravind Medical Research Foundation, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Umadevi Subramanian
- Department of Bioinformatics, Aravind Medical Research Foundation, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Vanniarajan Ayyasamy
- Department of Molecular Genetics, Aravind Medical Research Foundation, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
| | | | - Muthukkaruppan Veerappan
- Department of Immunology and Stem Cell Biology, Aravind Medical Research Foundation, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Gowri Priya Chidambaranathan
- Department of Immunology and Stem Cell Biology, Aravind Medical Research Foundation, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India.
- Department of Biotechnology, Aravind Medical Research Foundation -Affiliated to Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, India.
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Guo ZH, Zeng YM, Lin JS. Dynamic spatiotemporal expression pattern of limbal stem cell putative biomarkers during mouse development. Exp Eye Res 2020; 192:107915. [PMID: 31911164 DOI: 10.1016/j.exer.2020.107915] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2019] [Revised: 12/20/2019] [Accepted: 01/02/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Limbal stem cells (LSCs), a subpopulation of limbal epithelial basal cells, are crucial to the homeostasis and wound healing of corneal epithelium. The identification and isolation of LSCs remains a challenge due to lack of specific LSCs biomarkers. In this study, Haematoxylin-eosin (HE), 4', 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI), and immunohistochemistry (IHC) stains were performed on the pre- and post-natal limbus tissues of mice which has the advantage of more controllable in term of sampling age relative to human origin. By morphological analysis, we supported that there is an absence of the Palisades of Vogt (POV) in the mouse. The development of prenatal and neonatal cornea was dominated by its stroma, whereas after eyelids opened at P14, the corneal epithelial cells (CECs) quickly go stratification in response to the liquid-air interface. Based on IHC staining, we found that the expression of LSCs putative biomarkers in limbal epithelial basal cells appeared in chronological order as follows: Vim = p63 > CK14 > CK15 (where = represents same time; > represents earlier), and in corneal epithelial basal cells were weakened in chronological order as follows: Vim > p63 > CK15 > CK14, which might also represent the stemness degree. Furthermore, the dynamic spatial expression of the examined LSCs putative biomarkers during mouse development also implied a temporal restriction. The expression of Vim in epithelial cells of mouse ocular surface occurred during E12-E19 only. The expression of CK15 was completely undetectable in CECs after P14, whereas the others putative molecular markers of LSCs, such as p63 and CK14, still remained weak expression, suggesting that CK15 was suitable to serve as the mouse LSCs biomarkers after P14. In this study, our data demonstrated the dynamic spatiotemporal expression pattern of LSCs putative biomarkers in mouse was age-related and revealed the time spectrum of the expression of LSCs in mouse, which adds in our knowledge by understanding the dynamic expression pattern of biomarkers of stem cells relate to maintenance of their stemness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhi Hou Guo
- School of Medicine, Huaqiao University, Quanzhou, 362021, Fujian, China; Stem Cell Laboratory, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, 362000, China.
| | - Yi Ming Zeng
- The Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, China.
| | - Jun Sheng Lin
- School of Medicine, Huaqiao University, Quanzhou, 362021, Fujian, China.
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Guo ZH, Zhang W, Jia YYS, Liu QX, Li ZF, Lin JS. An Insight into the Difficulties in the Discovery of Specific Biomarkers of Limbal Stem Cells. Int J Mol Sci 2018; 19:ijms19071982. [PMID: 29986467 PMCID: PMC6073450 DOI: 10.3390/ijms19071982] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2018] [Revised: 06/25/2018] [Accepted: 06/29/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Keeping the integrity and transparency of the cornea is the most important issue to ensure normal vision. There are more than 10 million patients going blind due to the cornea diseases worldwide. One of the effective ways to cure corneal diseases is corneal transplantation. Currently, donations are the main source of corneas for transplantation, but immune rejection and a shortage of donor corneas are still serious problems. Graft rejection could cause transplanted cornea opacity to fail. Therefore, bioengineer-based corneas become a new source for corneal transplantation. Limbal stem cells (LSCs) are located at the basal layer in the epithelial palisades of Vogt, which serve a homeostatic function for the cornea epithelium and repair the damaged cornea. LSC-based transplantation is one of the hot topics currently. Clinical data showed that the ratio of LSCs to total candidate cells for a transplantation has a significant impact on the effectiveness of the transplantation. It indicates that it is very important to accurately identify the LSCs. To date, several putative biomarkers of LSCs have been widely reported, whereas their specificity is controversial. As reported, the identification of LSCs is based on the characteristics of stem cells, such as a nuclear-to-cytoplasm ratio (N/C) ≥ 0.7, label-retaining, and side population (SP) phenotype. Here, we review recently published data to provide an insight into the circumstances in the study of LSC biomarkers. The particularities of limbus anatomy and histochemistry, the limits of the current technology level for LSC isolation, the heterogeneity of LSCs and the influence of enzyme digestion are discussed. Practical approaches are proposed in order to overcome the difficulties in basic and applied research for LSC-specific biomarkers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhi Hou Guo
- School of Medicine, Huaqiao University, Quanzhou 362021, China.
| | - Wei Zhang
- School of Medicine, Huaqiao University, Quanzhou 362021, China.
| | | | - Qing Xiu Liu
- School of Medicine, Huaqiao University, Quanzhou 362021, China.
| | - Zhao Fa Li
- School of Medicine, Huaqiao University, Quanzhou 362021, China.
| | - Jun Sheng Lin
- School of Medicine, Huaqiao University, Quanzhou 362021, China.
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