Grouping annotations on the subcellular layered interactome demonstrates enhanced autophagy activity in a recurrent experimental autoimmune uveitis T cell line

PLoS One. 2014 Aug 12;9(8):e104404. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104404. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Human uveitis is a type of T cell-mediated autoimmune disease that often shows relapse-remitting courses affecting multiple biological processes. As a cytoplasmic process, autophagy has been seen as an adaptive response to cell death and survival, yet the link between autophagy and T cell-mediated autoimmunity is not certain. In this study, based on the differentially expressed genes (GSE19652) between the recurrent versus monophasic T cell lines, whose adoptive transfer to susceptible animals may result in respective recurrent or monophasic uveitis, we proposed grouping annotations on a subcellular layered interactome framework to analyze the specific bioprocesses that are linked to the recurrence of T cell autoimmunity. That is, the subcellular layered interactome was established by the Cytoscape and Cerebral plugin based on differential expression, global interactome, and subcellular localization information. Then, the layered interactomes were grouping annotated by the ClueGO plugin based on Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes databases. The analysis showed that significant bioprocesses with autophagy were orchestrated in the cytoplasmic layered interactome and that mTOR may have a regulatory role in it. Furthermore, by setting up recurrent and monophasic uveitis in Lewis rats, we confirmed by transmission electron microscopy that, in comparison to the monophasic disease, recurrent uveitis in vivo showed significantly increased autophagy activity and extended lymphocyte infiltration to the affected retina. In summary, our framework methodology is a useful tool to disclose specific bioprocesses and molecular targets that can be attributed to a certain disease. Our results indicated that targeted inhibition of autophagy pathways may perturb the recurrence of uveitis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Autoimmune Diseases / genetics*
  • Autoimmune Diseases / immunology
  • Autophagy / genetics*
  • Computational Biology
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • Gene Regulatory Networks*
  • Humans
  • Intracellular Space / genetics
  • Intracellular Space / metabolism
  • Molecular Sequence Annotation*
  • Rats
  • T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • T-Lymphocytes / metabolism*
  • T-Lymphocytes / ultrastructure
  • Uveitis / genetics*
  • Uveitis / immunology

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Fund of Heilongjiang Provincial Education Department (12521180), the Fund of Heilongjiang Province Postdoctoral Project (LBH-Z12179), the Fund of China Postdoctoral Project (2013M541411), the Fund of Heilongjiang Provincial Health Office (2011-208), the Fund of “Spring Sunshine Program” (Z2010003), the Fund of Harbin Science and Technology Bureau (RC2011XK003008), and Open Topic of Key Laboratory of Neurobiology, General Colleges and Universities in Heilongjiang Province of China (2012HLJKLNT-10). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.