Browsing by Author "Heaton, Brook E"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Open Access
Host protein kinases required for SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid phosphorylation and viral replication.
(Science signaling, 2022-10) Yaron, Tomer M; Heaton, Brook E; Levy, Tyler M; Johnson, Jared L; Jordan, Tristan X; Cohen, Benjamin M; Kerelsky, Alexander; Lin, Ting-Yu; Liberatore, Katarina M; Bulaon, Danielle K; Van Nest, Samantha J; Koundouros, Nikos; Kastenhuber, Edward R; Mercadante, Marisa N; Shobana-Ganesh, Kripa; He, Long; Schwartz, Robert E; Chen, Shuibing; Weinstein, Harel; Elemento, Olivier; Piskounova, Elena; Nilsson-Payant, Benjamin E; Lee, Gina; Trimarco, Joseph D; Burke, Kaitlyn N; Hamele, Cait E; Chaparian, Ryan R; Harding, Alfred T; Tata, Aleksandra; Zhu, Xinyu; Tata, Purushothama Rao; Smith, Clare M; Possemato, Anthony P; Tkachev, Sasha L; Hornbeck, Peter V; Beausoleil, Sean A; Anand, Shankara K; Aguet, François; Getz, Gad; Davidson, Andrew D; Heesom, Kate; Kavanagh-Williamson, Maia; Matthews, David A; tenOever, Benjamin R; Cantley, Lewis C; Blenis, John; Heaton, Nicholas S
Multiple coronaviruses have emerged independently in the past 20 years that cause lethal human diseases. Although vaccine development targeting these viruses has been accelerated substantially, there remain patients requiring treatment who cannot be vaccinated or who experience breakthrough infections. Understanding the common host factors necessary for the life cycles of coronaviruses may reveal conserved therapeutic targets. Here, we used the known substrate specificities of mammalian protein kinases to deconvolute the sequence of phosphorylation events mediated by three host protein kinase families (SRPK, GSK-3, and CK1) that coordinately phosphorylate a cluster of serine and threonine residues in the viral N protein, which is required for viral replication. We also showed that loss or inhibition of SRPK1/2, which we propose initiates the N protein phosphorylation cascade, compromised the viral replication cycle. Because these phosphorylation sites are highly conserved across coronaviruses, inhibitors of these protein kinases not only may have therapeutic potential against COVID-19 but also may be broadly useful against coronavirus-mediated diseases.
Open Access
Human Lung Stem Cell-Based Alveolospheres Provide Insights into SARS-CoV-2-Mediated Interferon Responses and Pneumocyte Dysfunction.
(Cell stem cell, 2020-10-21) Katsura, Hiroaki; Sontake, Vishwaraj; Tata, Aleksandra; Kobayashi, Yoshihiko; Edwards, Caitlin E; Heaton, Brook E; Konkimalla, Arvind; Asakura, Takanori; Mikami, Yu; Fritch, Ethan J; Lee, Patty J; Heaton, Nicholas S; Boucher, Richard C; Randell, Scott H; Baric, Ralph S; Tata, Purushothama Rao
Coronavirus infection causes diffuse alveolar damage leading to acute respiratory distress syndrome. The absence of ex vivo models of human alveolar epithelium is hindering an understanding of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pathogenesis. Here, we report a feeder-free, scalable, chemically defined, and modular alveolosphere culture system for the propagation and differentiation of human alveolar type 2 cells/pneumocytes derived from primary lung tissue. Cultured pneumocytes express the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme receptor type-2 (ACE2) and can be infected with virus. Transcriptome and histological analysis of infected alveolospheres mirror features of COVID-19 lungs, including emergence of interferon (IFN)-mediated inflammatory responses, loss of surfactant proteins, and apoptosis. Treatment of alveolospheres with IFNs recapitulates features of virus infection, including cell death. In contrast, alveolospheres pretreated with low-dose IFNs show a reduction in viral replication, suggesting the prophylactic effectiveness of IFNs against SARS-CoV-2. Human stem cell-based alveolospheres, thus, provide novel insights into COVID-19 pathogenesis and can serve as a model for understanding human respiratory diseases.
Open Access
Rapid tissue prototyping with micro-organospheres.
(Stem cell reports, 2022-09) Wang, Zhaohui; Boretto, Matteo; Millen, Rosemary; Natesh, Naveen; Reckzeh, Elena S; Hsu, Carolyn; Negrete, Marcos; Yao, Haipei; Quayle, William; Heaton, Brook E; Harding, Alfred T; Bose, Shree; Driehuis, Else; Beumer, Joep; Rivera, Grecia O; van Ineveld, Ravian L; Gex, Donald; DeVilla, Jessica; Wang, Daisong; Puschhof, Jens; Geurts, Maarten H; Yeung, Athena; Hamele, Cait; Smith, Amber; Bankaitis, Eric; Xiang, Kun; Ding, Shengli; Nelson, Daniel; Delubac, Daniel; Rios, Anne; Abi-Hachem, Ralph; Jang, David; Goldstein, Bradley J; Glass, Carolyn; Heaton, Nicholas S; Hsu, David; Clevers, Hans; Shen, Xiling
In vitro tissue models hold great promise for modeling diseases and drug responses. Here, we used emulsion microfluidics to form micro-organospheres (MOSs), which are droplet-encapsulated miniature three-dimensional (3D) tissue models that can be established rapidly from patient tissues or cells. MOSs retain key biological features and responses to chemo-, targeted, and radiation therapies compared with organoids. The small size and large surface-to-volume ratio of MOSs enable various applications including quantitative assessment of nutrient dependence, pathogen-host interaction for anti-viral drug screening, and a rapid potency assay for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T therapy. An automated MOS imaging pipeline combined with machine learning overcomes plating variation, distinguishes tumorspheres from stroma, differentiates cytostatic versus cytotoxic drug effects, and captures resistant clones and heterogeneity in drug response. This pipeline is capable of robust assessments of drug response at individual-tumorsphere resolution and provides a rapid and high-throughput therapeutic profiling platform for precision medicine.