Martyna Popis - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Martyna Popis
Regular and Young Investigator Award Abstracts, Nov 1, 2022
Mutations in the cytosine-5 RNA methyltransferase NSun2 cause microcephaly and other neurological... more Mutations in the cytosine-5 RNA methyltransferase NSun2 cause microcephaly and other neurological abnormalities in mice and human. How post-transcriptional methylation contributes to the human disease is currently unknown. By comparing gene expression data with global cytosine-5 RNA methylomes in patient fibroblasts and NSun2-deficient mice, we find that loss of cytosine-5 RNA methylation increases the angiogenin-mediated endonucleolytic cleavage of transfer RNAs (tRNA) leading to an accumulation of 50 tRNA-derived small RNA fragments. Accumulation of 50 tRNA fragments in the absence of NSun2 reduces protein translation rates and activates stress pathways leading to reduced cell size and increased apoptosis of cortical, hippocampal and striatal neurons. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that angiogenin binds with higher affinity to tRNAs lacking site-specific NSun2-mediated methylation and that the presence of 50 tRNA fragments is sufficient and required to trigger cellular stress res...
Mutations in the cytosine-5 RNA methyltransferase NSun2 cause microcephaly and other neurological... more Mutations in the cytosine-5 RNA methyltransferase NSun2 cause microcephaly and other neurological abnormalities in mice and human. How post-transcriptional methylation contributes to the human disease is currently unknown. By comparing gene expression data with global cytosine-5 RNA methylomes in patient fibroblasts and NSun2-deficient mice, we find that loss of cytosine-5 RNA methylation increases the angiogenin-mediated endonucleolytic cleavage of transfer RNAs (tRNA) leading to an accumulation of 50 tRNA-derived small RNA fragments. Accumulation of 50 tRNA fragments in the absence of NSun2 reduces protein translation rates and activates stress pathways leading to reduced cell size and increased apoptosis of cortical, hippocampal and striatal neurons. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that angiogenin binds with higher affinity to tRNAs lacking site-specific NSun2-mediated methylation and that the presence of 50 tRNA fragments is sufficient and required to trigger cellular stress res...
Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, 2021
BackgroundChimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has shown outstanding benefit in hematol... more BackgroundChimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has shown outstanding benefit in hematological malignancies with three autologous CAR-T therapies commercially available and several in clinical development. The use of autologous T cells to manufacture CAR therapies has several disadvantages including production time, cost, lengthy time to treatment and dependence on patient T cell functionality. An allogeneic off the shelf CAR product can overcome these issues. We use invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells as basis for our allogeneic cell therapy platform. Invariant NKT cells are innate-like lymphocytes that bridge innate and adaptative immune response to promote anti-cancer immunity. iNKT cells share characteristics of T cells and Natural Killer (NK) cells, expressing both an invariant T Cell Receptor (iTCR) and canonical NK receptors. They can be activated by recognition of lipid antigens through the iTCR, pro-inflammatory cytokines and recognition of stress ligands. More...
Development, 2020
Thymus function depends on the epithelial compartment of the thymic stroma. Cortical thymic epith... more Thymus function depends on the epithelial compartment of the thymic stroma. Cortical thymic epithelial cells (cTECs) regulate T cell lineage commitment and positive selection, while medullary (m) TECs impose central tolerance on the T cell repertoire. During thymus organogenesis, these functionally distinct sub-lineages are thought to arise from a common thymic epithelial progenitor cell (TEPC). The mechanisms controlling cTEC and mTEC production from the common TEPC are not however understood. Here, we show that emergence of the earliest mTEC lineage-restricted progenitors requires active NOTCH signaling in progenitor TEC and that, once specified, further mTEC development is NOTCH-independent. In addition, we demonstrate that persistent NOTCH activity favors maintenance of undifferentiated TEPC at the expense of cTEC differentiation. Finally, we uncover a cross-regulatory relationship between NOTCH and FOXN1, a master regulator of TEC differentiation. These data establish NOTCH as ...
PLOS Biology, 2019
Posttranscriptional modifications in transfer RNA (tRNA) are often critical for normal developmen... more Posttranscriptional modifications in transfer RNA (tRNA) are often critical for normal development because they adapt protein synthesis rates to a dynamically changing microenvironment. However, the precise cellular mechanisms linking the extrinsic stimulus to the intrinsic RNA modification pathways remain largely unclear. Here, we identified the cytosine-5 RNA methyltransferase NSUN2 as a sensor for external stress stimuli. Exposure to oxidative stress efficiently repressed NSUN2, causing a reduction of methylation at specific tRNA sites. Using metabolic profiling, we showed that loss of tRNA methylation captured cells in a distinct catabolic state. Mechanistically, loss of NSUN2 altered the biogenesis of tRNAderived noncoding fragments (tRFs) in response to stress, leading to impaired regulation of protein synthesis. The intracellular accumulation of a specific subset of tRFs correlated with the dynamic repression of global protein synthesis. Finally, NSUN2-driven RNA methylation was functionally required to adapt cell cycle progression to the early stress response. In summary, we revealed that changes in tRNA methylation profiles were sufficient to specify cellular metabolic states and efficiently adapt protein synthesis rates to cell stress.
Thymus function depends on the epithelial compartment of the thymic stroma. Cortical thymic epith... more Thymus function depends on the epithelial compartment of the thymic stroma. Cortical thymic epithelial cells (cTECs) regulate T cell lineage commitment and positive selection, while medullary (m) TECs impose central tolerance on the T cell repertoire. During thymus organogenesis, these functionally distinct sub-lineages are thought to arise from a common thymic epithelial progenitor cell (TEPC). The mechanisms controlling cTEC and mTEC production from the common TEPC are not however understood. Here, we show that emergence of the earliest mTEC lineage-restricted progenitors requires active NOTCH signaling in progenitor TEC and that, once specified, further mTEC development is NOTCH-independent. In addition, we demonstrate that persistent NOTCH activity favors maintenance of undifferentiated TEPC at the expense of cTEC differentiation. Finally, we uncover a direct interaction between NOTCH and FOXN1, the master regulator of TEC differentiation. These data establish NOTCH as a potent ...
BMC Research Notes, 2018
Objective: This study was designed to estimate the percentage of non-malignant skin tumours (papi... more Objective: This study was designed to estimate the percentage of non-malignant skin tumours (papillomas) progressing to malignant squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) in a carcinogenesis study using established transgenic mouse models. In our skin cancer model, we conditionally induced oncogenic point mutant alleles of p53 and k-ras in undifferentiated, basal cells of the epidermis. Results: Upon activation of the transgenes through administration of tamoxifen, the vast majority of mice (> 80%) developed skin papillomas, yet primarily around the mouth. Since these tumours hindered the mice eating, they rapidly lost weight and needed to be culled before the papillomas progressed to SCCs. The mouth papillomas formed regardless of the route of application, including intraperitoneal injections, local application to the back skin, or subcutaneous insertion of a tamoxifen pellet. Implantation of a slow releasing tamoxifen pellet into 18 mice consistently led to papilloma formation, of which only one progressed to a malignant SCC. Thus, the challenges for skin carcinogenesis studies using this particular cancer mouse model are low conversion rates of papillomas to SCCs and high frequencies of mouth papilloma formation.
Nature, 2016
Whether protein synthesis and cellular stress response pathways interact to control stem cell fun... more Whether protein synthesis and cellular stress response pathways interact to control stem cell function is currently unknown. Here, we show that skin stem cells synthesize less protein than their immediate progenitors in vivo, even when forced to proliferate. Our analyses reveal that activation of stress response pathways drives both a global reduction of protein synthesis and altered translational programmes that together promote stem cell functions and tumourigenesis. Mechanistically we show that inhibition of post-transcriptional cytosine-5 methylation locks stem cells in this distinct translational inhibition programme. Paradoxically, this inhibition renders stem cells hypersensitive to cytotoxic stress, as tumour regeneration after treatment with 5fluorouracil is blocked. Thus, stem cells must revoke translation inhibition pathways to regenerate a tissue or tumour.
Current Opinion in Oncology, 2016
Purpose of the review-Significant advances have been made in understanding the functional roles o... more Purpose of the review-Significant advances have been made in understanding the functional roles of evolutionary conserved chemical modifications in RNA. By focusing on cytosine-5 methylation, we will highlight the latest insight into the mechanisms how post-transcriptional methylation contributes cell fate decisions, with implications for cancer development. Recent findings-Several mutations in RNA-modifying enzymes have been identified to cause complex human diseases, and linked post-transcriptional modifications to fundamental cellular processes. Distinct post-transcriptional modifications are implicated in the regulation of stem cell maintenance and cellular differentiation. The dynamic deposition of a methyl mark into noncoding RNAs modulates the adaptive cellular responses to stress and alterations of methylation levels may lead to cancer.
The EMBO Journal, 2014
Mutations in the cytosine-5 RNA methyltransferase NSun2 cause microcephaly and other neurological... more Mutations in the cytosine-5 RNA methyltransferase NSun2 cause microcephaly and other neurological abnormalities in mice and human. How post-transcriptional methylation contributes to the human disease is currently unknown. By comparing gene expression data with global cytosine-5 RNA methylomes in patient fibroblasts and NSun2-deficient mice, we find that loss of cytosine-5 RNA methylation increases the angiogenin-mediated endonucleolytic cleavage of transfer RNAs (tRNA) leading to an accumulation of 5 0 tRNA-derived small RNA fragments. Accumulation of 5 0 tRNA fragments in the absence of NSun2 reduces protein translation rates and activates stress pathways leading to reduced cell size and increased apoptosis of cortical, hippocampal and striatal neurons. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that angiogenin binds with higher affinity to tRNAs lacking site-specific NSun2-mediated methylation and that the presence of 5 0 tRNA fragments is sufficient and required to trigger cellular stress responses. Furthermore, the enhanced sensitivity of NSun2-deficient brains to oxidative stress can be rescued through inhibition of angiogenin during embryogenesis. In conclusion, failure in NSun2-mediated tRNA methylation contributes to human diseases via stress-induced RNA cleavage.
Regular and Young Investigator Award Abstracts, Nov 1, 2022
Regular and Young Investigator Award Abstracts, Nov 1, 2022
Mutations in the cytosine-5 RNA methyltransferase NSun2 cause microcephaly and other neurological... more Mutations in the cytosine-5 RNA methyltransferase NSun2 cause microcephaly and other neurological abnormalities in mice and human. How post-transcriptional methylation contributes to the human disease is currently unknown. By comparing gene expression data with global cytosine-5 RNA methylomes in patient fibroblasts and NSun2-deficient mice, we find that loss of cytosine-5 RNA methylation increases the angiogenin-mediated endonucleolytic cleavage of transfer RNAs (tRNA) leading to an accumulation of 50 tRNA-derived small RNA fragments. Accumulation of 50 tRNA fragments in the absence of NSun2 reduces protein translation rates and activates stress pathways leading to reduced cell size and increased apoptosis of cortical, hippocampal and striatal neurons. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that angiogenin binds with higher affinity to tRNAs lacking site-specific NSun2-mediated methylation and that the presence of 50 tRNA fragments is sufficient and required to trigger cellular stress res...
Mutations in the cytosine-5 RNA methyltransferase NSun2 cause microcephaly and other neurological... more Mutations in the cytosine-5 RNA methyltransferase NSun2 cause microcephaly and other neurological abnormalities in mice and human. How post-transcriptional methylation contributes to the human disease is currently unknown. By comparing gene expression data with global cytosine-5 RNA methylomes in patient fibroblasts and NSun2-deficient mice, we find that loss of cytosine-5 RNA methylation increases the angiogenin-mediated endonucleolytic cleavage of transfer RNAs (tRNA) leading to an accumulation of 50 tRNA-derived small RNA fragments. Accumulation of 50 tRNA fragments in the absence of NSun2 reduces protein translation rates and activates stress pathways leading to reduced cell size and increased apoptosis of cortical, hippocampal and striatal neurons. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that angiogenin binds with higher affinity to tRNAs lacking site-specific NSun2-mediated methylation and that the presence of 50 tRNA fragments is sufficient and required to trigger cellular stress res...
Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, 2021
BackgroundChimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has shown outstanding benefit in hematol... more BackgroundChimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has shown outstanding benefit in hematological malignancies with three autologous CAR-T therapies commercially available and several in clinical development. The use of autologous T cells to manufacture CAR therapies has several disadvantages including production time, cost, lengthy time to treatment and dependence on patient T cell functionality. An allogeneic off the shelf CAR product can overcome these issues. We use invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells as basis for our allogeneic cell therapy platform. Invariant NKT cells are innate-like lymphocytes that bridge innate and adaptative immune response to promote anti-cancer immunity. iNKT cells share characteristics of T cells and Natural Killer (NK) cells, expressing both an invariant T Cell Receptor (iTCR) and canonical NK receptors. They can be activated by recognition of lipid antigens through the iTCR, pro-inflammatory cytokines and recognition of stress ligands. More...
Development, 2020
Thymus function depends on the epithelial compartment of the thymic stroma. Cortical thymic epith... more Thymus function depends on the epithelial compartment of the thymic stroma. Cortical thymic epithelial cells (cTECs) regulate T cell lineage commitment and positive selection, while medullary (m) TECs impose central tolerance on the T cell repertoire. During thymus organogenesis, these functionally distinct sub-lineages are thought to arise from a common thymic epithelial progenitor cell (TEPC). The mechanisms controlling cTEC and mTEC production from the common TEPC are not however understood. Here, we show that emergence of the earliest mTEC lineage-restricted progenitors requires active NOTCH signaling in progenitor TEC and that, once specified, further mTEC development is NOTCH-independent. In addition, we demonstrate that persistent NOTCH activity favors maintenance of undifferentiated TEPC at the expense of cTEC differentiation. Finally, we uncover a cross-regulatory relationship between NOTCH and FOXN1, a master regulator of TEC differentiation. These data establish NOTCH as ...
PLOS Biology, 2019
Posttranscriptional modifications in transfer RNA (tRNA) are often critical for normal developmen... more Posttranscriptional modifications in transfer RNA (tRNA) are often critical for normal development because they adapt protein synthesis rates to a dynamically changing microenvironment. However, the precise cellular mechanisms linking the extrinsic stimulus to the intrinsic RNA modification pathways remain largely unclear. Here, we identified the cytosine-5 RNA methyltransferase NSUN2 as a sensor for external stress stimuli. Exposure to oxidative stress efficiently repressed NSUN2, causing a reduction of methylation at specific tRNA sites. Using metabolic profiling, we showed that loss of tRNA methylation captured cells in a distinct catabolic state. Mechanistically, loss of NSUN2 altered the biogenesis of tRNAderived noncoding fragments (tRFs) in response to stress, leading to impaired regulation of protein synthesis. The intracellular accumulation of a specific subset of tRFs correlated with the dynamic repression of global protein synthesis. Finally, NSUN2-driven RNA methylation was functionally required to adapt cell cycle progression to the early stress response. In summary, we revealed that changes in tRNA methylation profiles were sufficient to specify cellular metabolic states and efficiently adapt protein synthesis rates to cell stress.
Thymus function depends on the epithelial compartment of the thymic stroma. Cortical thymic epith... more Thymus function depends on the epithelial compartment of the thymic stroma. Cortical thymic epithelial cells (cTECs) regulate T cell lineage commitment and positive selection, while medullary (m) TECs impose central tolerance on the T cell repertoire. During thymus organogenesis, these functionally distinct sub-lineages are thought to arise from a common thymic epithelial progenitor cell (TEPC). The mechanisms controlling cTEC and mTEC production from the common TEPC are not however understood. Here, we show that emergence of the earliest mTEC lineage-restricted progenitors requires active NOTCH signaling in progenitor TEC and that, once specified, further mTEC development is NOTCH-independent. In addition, we demonstrate that persistent NOTCH activity favors maintenance of undifferentiated TEPC at the expense of cTEC differentiation. Finally, we uncover a direct interaction between NOTCH and FOXN1, the master regulator of TEC differentiation. These data establish NOTCH as a potent ...
BMC Research Notes, 2018
Objective: This study was designed to estimate the percentage of non-malignant skin tumours (papi... more Objective: This study was designed to estimate the percentage of non-malignant skin tumours (papillomas) progressing to malignant squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) in a carcinogenesis study using established transgenic mouse models. In our skin cancer model, we conditionally induced oncogenic point mutant alleles of p53 and k-ras in undifferentiated, basal cells of the epidermis. Results: Upon activation of the transgenes through administration of tamoxifen, the vast majority of mice (> 80%) developed skin papillomas, yet primarily around the mouth. Since these tumours hindered the mice eating, they rapidly lost weight and needed to be culled before the papillomas progressed to SCCs. The mouth papillomas formed regardless of the route of application, including intraperitoneal injections, local application to the back skin, or subcutaneous insertion of a tamoxifen pellet. Implantation of a slow releasing tamoxifen pellet into 18 mice consistently led to papilloma formation, of which only one progressed to a malignant SCC. Thus, the challenges for skin carcinogenesis studies using this particular cancer mouse model are low conversion rates of papillomas to SCCs and high frequencies of mouth papilloma formation.
Nature, 2016
Whether protein synthesis and cellular stress response pathways interact to control stem cell fun... more Whether protein synthesis and cellular stress response pathways interact to control stem cell function is currently unknown. Here, we show that skin stem cells synthesize less protein than their immediate progenitors in vivo, even when forced to proliferate. Our analyses reveal that activation of stress response pathways drives both a global reduction of protein synthesis and altered translational programmes that together promote stem cell functions and tumourigenesis. Mechanistically we show that inhibition of post-transcriptional cytosine-5 methylation locks stem cells in this distinct translational inhibition programme. Paradoxically, this inhibition renders stem cells hypersensitive to cytotoxic stress, as tumour regeneration after treatment with 5fluorouracil is blocked. Thus, stem cells must revoke translation inhibition pathways to regenerate a tissue or tumour.
Current Opinion in Oncology, 2016
Purpose of the review-Significant advances have been made in understanding the functional roles o... more Purpose of the review-Significant advances have been made in understanding the functional roles of evolutionary conserved chemical modifications in RNA. By focusing on cytosine-5 methylation, we will highlight the latest insight into the mechanisms how post-transcriptional methylation contributes cell fate decisions, with implications for cancer development. Recent findings-Several mutations in RNA-modifying enzymes have been identified to cause complex human diseases, and linked post-transcriptional modifications to fundamental cellular processes. Distinct post-transcriptional modifications are implicated in the regulation of stem cell maintenance and cellular differentiation. The dynamic deposition of a methyl mark into noncoding RNAs modulates the adaptive cellular responses to stress and alterations of methylation levels may lead to cancer.
The EMBO Journal, 2014
Mutations in the cytosine-5 RNA methyltransferase NSun2 cause microcephaly and other neurological... more Mutations in the cytosine-5 RNA methyltransferase NSun2 cause microcephaly and other neurological abnormalities in mice and human. How post-transcriptional methylation contributes to the human disease is currently unknown. By comparing gene expression data with global cytosine-5 RNA methylomes in patient fibroblasts and NSun2-deficient mice, we find that loss of cytosine-5 RNA methylation increases the angiogenin-mediated endonucleolytic cleavage of transfer RNAs (tRNA) leading to an accumulation of 5 0 tRNA-derived small RNA fragments. Accumulation of 5 0 tRNA fragments in the absence of NSun2 reduces protein translation rates and activates stress pathways leading to reduced cell size and increased apoptosis of cortical, hippocampal and striatal neurons. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that angiogenin binds with higher affinity to tRNAs lacking site-specific NSun2-mediated methylation and that the presence of 5 0 tRNA fragments is sufficient and required to trigger cellular stress responses. Furthermore, the enhanced sensitivity of NSun2-deficient brains to oxidative stress can be rescued through inhibition of angiogenin during embryogenesis. In conclusion, failure in NSun2-mediated tRNA methylation contributes to human diseases via stress-induced RNA cleavage.
Regular and Young Investigator Award Abstracts, Nov 1, 2022