Biology subjects

Collin, L.

Publications and source records attributed to Collin, L..

6 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Organoid-to-organoid transplantation and pro-neurogenic treatment promote graft integration and neuronal repair in a human ischemic model

Neuronal loss resulting from brain injury and neurodegenerative diseases currently lacks effective regenerative therapies. While neurogenic compounds and cell transplantation hold promise, clinical translation is hindered by poor graft integration and limited cell survival. Here, we developed a novel organoid-to-organoid transplantation model using human pluripotent stem cell-derived cortical organoids (hCOs) to evaluate a dual cell transplantation and pro-neurogenic strategy for brain repair. We demonstrate that pro-neurogenic treatment with ER272 stimulates early-stage hCO growth and enhances neurogenesis through a PKC- and Notch-dependent pathway. Mechanistically, ER272 upregulates genes associated with extracellular matrix, cell adhesion and growth factor signaling. Notably, combining early-stage hCO transplantation with ER272 treatment significantly enhanced graft integration and improved neuronal repair in an ischemic-like model of late-stage host hCOs. This novel human organoid-to-organoid platform offers a robust translational tool to test regenerative therapies and highlight the potential of combining cell transplantation with pro-neurogenic stimulation for the treatment of neurological conditions associated with neuronal loss.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Foamy microglia link oxylipins to disease progression in multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neuroinflammatory disease characterized by expanding demyelinating lesions, leading to severe and irreversible disability. The mechanisms driving lesion expansion, however, remain poorly understood. Here, using a multi-omics approach, we identified foamy microglia as primary contributors to the molecular profile of lesions and disease progression in secondary progressive MS. Lesions with foamy microglia are marked by the accumulation of cholesterol esters, bismonoacylglycerolphosphates (BMP), and oxylipins, along with high B-cell infiltration, increased levels of immunoglobulin G1, and elevated expression of Fc{gamma}- and complement receptors. Lesions with foamy GPNMB+-microglia display markers of enhanced phagocytosis, lipid metabolism, lysosomal dysfunction, and antigen presentation, but lack classical pro-inflammatory markers. Our data suggest that sustained phagocytosis of myelin overwhelms microglial endo-lysosomal capacity, leading to lipid droplet and oxylipin formation. This microglial phenotype may induce further recruitment of adaptive immune cells, axonal damage, drive lesion expansion and prevent remyelination. Monoacylglycerol lipase, involved in producing oxylipin precursors, was identified as a potential therapeutic target to disrupt this cycle and prevent chronic lesion expansion.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

An arrayed CRISPR/Cas9 screen identifies mTORC1 as a regulator of lipid droplet accumulation in APOE E3 and APOE KO iPSC-derived microglia

Variants of the Apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene, particularly the E4 allele, are significantly associated with an increased risk of Alzheimers Disease and have been implicated in neuroinflammatory processes due to disrupted lipid metabolism. Lipid alterations can manifest in glial cells as an excessive buildup of lipids, potentially contributing to neuroinflammation. In this study, we observed a heightened lipid load in APOE-deficient human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived microglia relative to cells with other APOE isoforms. To explore the mechanisms governing lipid handling within microglia, we established a technique for the nucleofection of CRISPR/Cas9 ribonucleoprotein complexes into iPSC-derived myeloid cells. Utilizing this method, we performed a targeted screen to identify key upstream modifiers in lipid droplet formation. Our findings highlight the mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling pathway as a pivotal influence on lipid storage in microglia with both APOE3 and APOE knockout genotypes, underscoring its role in lipid dysregulation associated with Alzheimers Disease and neuroinflammation.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

A potent and selective inhibitor for the modulation of MAGL activity in the neurovasculature

Chronic inflammation and blood-brain barrier dysfunction are key pathological hallmarks of neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimers disease and Parkinsons disease. Major drivers of these pathologies include pro-inflammatory stimuli such as prostaglandins, which are produced in the central nervous system by the oxidation of arachidonic acid in a reaction catalyzed by the cyclooxygenases COX1 and COX2. Monoacylglycerol lipase hydrolyzes the endocannabinoid signaling lipid 2-arachidonyl glycerol, enhancing local pools of arachidonic acid in the brain and leading to cyclooxygenase-mediated prostaglandin production and neuroinflammation. Monoacylglycerol lipase inhibitors were recently shown to act as effective anti-inflammatory modulators, increasing 2-arachidonyl glycerol levels while reducing levels of arachidonic acid and prostaglandins, including PGE2 and PGD2. In this study, we characterized a novel, highly selective, potent and reversible monoacylglycerol lipase inhibitor (MAGLi 432) in a mouse model of lipopolysaccharide-induced blood-brain barrier permeability and in both human and mouse cells of the neurovascular unit: brain microvascular endothelial cells, pericytes and astrocytes. We confirmed the expression of monoacylglycerol lipase in specific neurovascular unit cells in vitro, with pericytes showing the highest expression level and activity. However, MAGLi 432 did not ameliorate lipopolysaccharide-induced blood-brain barrier permeability in vivo or reduce the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the brain. Our data confirm monoacylglycerol lipase expression in mouse and human cells of the neurovascular unit and provide the basis for further cell-specific analysis of MAGLi 432 in the context of blood-brain barrier dysfunction caused by inflammatory insults.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Single nuclei RNAseq stratifies multiple sclerosis patients into three distinct white matter glia responses

The lack of understanding of the cellular and molecular basis of clinical and genetic heterogeneity in progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) has hindered the search for new effective therapies. Here, to address this gap, we analysed 632,000 single nuclei RNAseq profiles of 156 brain tissue samples, comprising white matter (WM) lesions, normal appearing WM, grey matter (GM) lesions and normal appearing GM from 54 MS patients and 26 controls. We observed the expected changes in overall neuronal and glial numbers previously described within the classical lesion subtypes. We found highly cell type-specific gene expression changes in MS tissue, with distinct differences between GM and WM areas, confirming different pathologies. However, surprisingly, we did not observe distinct gene expression signatures for the classical different WM lesion types, rather a continuum of change. This indicates that classical lesion characterization better reflects changes in cell abundance than changes in cell type gene expression, and indicates a global disease effect. Furthermore, the major biological determinants of variability in gene expression in MS WM samples relate to individual patient effects, rather than to lesion types or other metadata. We identify four subgroups of MS patients with distinct WM glial gene expression signatures and patterns of oligodendrocyte stress and/or maturation, suggestive of engagement of different pathological processes, with an additional more variable regenerative astrocyte signature. The discovery of these patterns, which were also found in an independent MS patient cohort, provides a framework to use molecular biomarkers to stratify patients for optimal therapeutic approaches for progressive MS, significantly advances our mechanistic understanding of progressive MS, and highlights the need for precision-medicine approaches to address heterogeneity among MS patients.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

On the discovery of population-specific state transitions from multi-sample multi-condition single-cell RNA sequencing data

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) has quickly become an empowering technology to profile the transcriptomes of individual cells on a large scale. Many early analyses of differential expression have aimed at identifying differences between subpopulations, and thus are focused on finding subpopulation markers either in a single sample or across multiple samples. More generally, such methods can compare expression levels in multiple sets of cells, thus leading to cross-condition analyses. However, given the emergence of replicated multi-condition scRNA-seq datasets, an area of increasing focus is making sample-level inferences, termed here as differential state analysis. For example, one could investigate the condition-specific responses of cell subpopulations measured from patients from each condition; however, it is not clear which statistical framework best handles this situation. In this work, we surveyed the methods available to perform cross-condition differential state analyses, including cell-level mixed models and methods based on aggregated "pseudobulk" data. We developed a flexible simulation platform that mimics both single and multi-sample scRNA-seq data and provide robust tools for multi-condition analysis within the muscat R package.

bioinformatics↗