Biology subjects

Mahammadov, E.

Publications and source records attributed to Mahammadov, E..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Epithelial mesenchymal transition initiates precancer states in BRCA1 mutation carriers

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is activated to equip cells with the capacity to adapt to and escape hostile conditions. While EMT is required for cancer progression, its role in breast cancer initiation remains elusive. Given the basal-like phenotype of breast cancers arising in female carriers of germline BRCA1 pathogenic variants (BRCA1 carriers), we hypothesized that enhanced EMT susceptibility underlies precancerous initiation in mammary epithelium. Perturbation of patient-derived normal mammary organoids from BRCA1 carriers and non-carriers with inflammatory cytokines induced copy number variations (CNV) and the acquisition of oncogenic mutations in both groups. However, in organoids derived from BRCA1 carriers, cytokine exposure induced morphological, transcriptomic, and functional EMT, accompanied by a transition to basal-like phenotype. Concomitant DNA damage accumulation in organoids from BRCA1-carriers demonstrated PARP inhibitor sensitivity. EMT-primed states were identified in a subpopulation of normal mammary epithelium from BRCA1 carriers. We demonstrate the utility of patient-derived normal BRCA1 heterozygous mammary organoids to reveal a plastic, high-risk epithelial state that is associated with a transient, targetable vulnerability.

cancer biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Semaphorin 4A maintains functional diversity of the hematopoietic stem cell pool

Somatic stem cell pools are comprised of diverse, highly specialized subsets whose individual contribution is critical for the overall regenerative function. In the bone marrow, myeloid-biased HSC (myHSC) are indispensable for replenishment of myeloid cells and platelets during inflammatory response but at the same time, become irreversibly damaged during inflammation and aging. Here, we identify an extrinsic factor, Semaphorin 4A (Sema4A), which non cell-autonomously confers myHSC resilience to inflammatory stress. We show that the absence of Sema4A, myHSC inflammatory hyper-responsiveness in young mice drives excessive myHSC expansion, myeloid bias and profound loss of regenerative function with age. Mechanistically, Sema4A is mainly produced by neutrophils, signals via a cell surface receptor Plexin D1 and safeguards myHSC epigenetic state. Our study shows that by selectively protecting a distinct stem cell subset, an extrinsic factor preserves functional diversity of somatic stem cell pool throughout organismal lifespan.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Myeloid-biased HSC require Semaphorin 4A from the bone marrow niche for self-renewal under stress and life-long persistence

Tissue stem cells are hierarchically organized. Those that are most primitive serve as key drivers of regenerative response but the signals that selectively preserve their functional integrity are largely unknown. Here, we identify a secreted factor, Semaphorin 4A (Sema4A), as a specific regulator of myeloid-biased hematopoietic stem cells (myHSC), which are positioned at the top of the HSC hierarchy. Lack of Sema4A leads to exaggerated myHSC (but not downstream "balanced" HSC) proliferation after acute inflammatory stress, indicating that Sema4A enforces myHSC quiescence. Strikingly, aged Sema4A knock-out myHSC expand but almost completely lose reconstitution capacity. The effect of Sema4A is non cell-autonomous, since upon transplantation into Sema4A-deficient environment, wild-type myHSC excessively proliferate but fail to engraft long-term. Sema4A constrains inflammatory signaling in myHSC and acts via a surface receptor Plexin-D1. Our data support a model whereby the most primitive tissue stem cells critically rely on a dedicated signal from the niche for self-renewal and life-long persistence.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2020

A spatially resolved single cell atlas of human gastrulation

Gastrulation is the fundamental process during the embryogenesis of all multicellular animals through which the basic body plan is first laid down. It is pivotal in generating cellular diversity coordinated with spatial patterning. Gastrulation in humans occurs in the third week following fertilization. Our understanding of this process in humans is extremely limited, and based almost entirely on experimental models. Here, we characterize in a spatially resolved manner the single cell transcriptional profile of an entire gastrulating human embryo approximately 16 to 19 days after fertilization. We used these data to provide the first unequivocal demonstration that human embryonic stem cells represent the early post implantation epiblast. We identified both primordial germ cells and red blood cells, which had never been characterized so early during human development. Comparison with mouse gastrula transcriptomes revealed many commonalities between the human and mouse but also several key differences, particularly in FGF signaling, that we validated experimentally. This unique dataset offers a unique glimpse into a central but generally inaccessible stage of our development, provides new context for interpreting experiments in other model systems and represents a valuable resource for guiding directed differentiation of human cells in vitro.

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Differences in mitochondrial activity trigger cell competition during early mouse development.

Cell competition is emerging as a quality control mechanism that eliminates unfit cells in a wide range of settings from development to the adult. However, the nature of the cells normally eliminated by cell competition and what triggers their elimination remains poorly understood. In mouse, prior to gastrulation 35% of epiblast cells are eliminated. Here we have performed single cell transcriptional profiling of these cells and find that they show the hallmarks of cell competition and have mitochondrial defects. We demonstrate that mitochondrial defects are common to a range of different loser cell types and that manipulating mitochondrial function is sufficient to trigger competition. Importantly, we show that in the embryo cell competition eliminates cells with mitochondrial DNA mutations and that even non-pathological changes in mitochondrial DNA sequence can induce cell competition. Our results therefore suggest that cell competition is a purifying selection that optimises mitochondrial performance prior to gastrulation.

developmental biology↗