Kostina, E. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2025

Unraveling Regulatory Feedback Mechanisms in Adult Neurogenesis Through Mathematical Modelling

Adult neurogenesis is defined as the process by which new neurons are produced from neural stem cells in the adult brain. A comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms that regulate this process is essential for the development of effective interventions aimed at decelerating the decline of adult neurogenesis associated with ageing. Mathematical models provide a valuable tool for studying the dynamics of neural stem cells and their lineage, and have revealed alterations in these processes during the ageing process. The present study draws upon experimental data to explore how these processes are modulated by investigating regulatory feedback mechanisms among neural populations through the lens of nonlinear differential equations models. Our observations indicate that the time evolution of the neural lineage is predominantly regulated by neural stem cells, with more differentiated neural populations exerting a comparatively weaker influence. urthermore, we shed light on the manner in which different subpopulations govern these regulations and gain insights into the impact of specific perturbations on the system.

systems biology↗

bioRxiv2023

Phenotyping of lymphoproliferative tumours generated in xenografts of non-small cell lung cancer

Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models involve the engraftment of tumour tissue in immunocompromised mice and represent an important pre-clinixtcal oncology research. A limitation of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) PDX model derivation in NOD-scid IL2Rgammanull (NSG) mice is that a subset of initial engraftments are of lymphocytic, rather than tumour origin. In the lung TRACERx PDX pipeline, lymphoproliferations occurred in 17.8% of lung adenocarcinoma and 10% of lung squamous cell carcinoma transplantations, despite none of these patients having a prior or subsequent clinical history of lymphoproliferative disease. Lymphoproliferations were predominantly human CD20+ B cells and had the immunophenotype expected for post-transplantation diffuse large B cell lymphoma. All lymphoproliferations expressed Epstein-Barr-encoded RNAs (EBER). Analysis of immunoglobulin light chain gene rearrangements in three tumours where multiple tumour regions had resulted in lymphoproliferations suggested that each had independent clonal origins. Overall, these data suggest the presence of B cell clones with lymphoproliferative potential within primary NSCLC tumours that are under continuous immune surveillance. Since these cells can be expanded following transplantation into NSG mice, our data highlight the value of quality control measures to identify lymphoproliferations within xenograft pipelines and support the incorporation of strategies to minimise lymphoproliferations during the early stages of xenograft establishment pipelines. To present the histology data herein, we developed a Python-based tool for generating patient-level pathology overview figures from whole-slide image files; PATHOverview is available on GitHub (https://github.com/EpiCENTR-Lab/PATHOverview).

cancer biology↗