Thymus is a primary lymphoid organ, able to generate mature T cells that eventually colonize secondary lymphoid organs, and is therefore essential for peripheral T cell renewal. Recent data showed that normal thymocyte export can be altered by several influence factors including several chemokines, sphingosine1-phosphate (S1P), transcription factors such as Foxj1, Kruppel-like transcription fac...

Retinoic acid (RA) protects mice from diet-induced obesity. The activity is mediated in part through activation of the nuclear receptors RA receptors (RARs) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor β/δ and their associated binding proteins cellular RA binding protein type II (CRABP-II) and fatty acid binding protein type 5 in adipocytes and skeletal muscle, leading to enhanced lipid oxida...

The endothelium plays a pivotal role in vascular inflammation. Here we study bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling in endothelial inflammation and in particular the role of BMPER, an extracellular BMP modulator that is important in vascular development and angiogenesis. Using the BMP antagonist dorsomorphin or BMP2 as an agonist we show that BMP signaling is essential for the inflammatory ...

Human and mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are derived from blastocyst-stage embryos but have very different biological properties, and molecular analyses suggest that the pluripotent state of human ESCs isolated so far corresponds to that of mouse-derived epiblast stem cells (EpiSCs). Here we rewire the identity of conventional human ESCs into a more immature state that extensively shares def...

PURPOSE Mounting evidence supports the clinical significance of gene mutations and immunogenetic features in common mature B-cell malignancies. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN We undertook a detailed characterization of the genetic background of splenic marginal zone lymphoma (SMZL), using targeted resequencing and explored potential clinical implications in a multinational cohort of 175 patients with SM...

Complex interactions between genes or proteins contribute substantially to phenotypic evolution. We present a probabilistic model and a maximum likelihood approach for cross-species clustering analysis and for identification of conserved as well as species-specific co-expression modules. This model enables a "soft" cross-species clustering (SCSC) approach by encouraging but not enforcing orthol...