Biology subjects

Widjaja, A.

Publications and source records attributed to Widjaja, A..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Tight translation regulation of the canonical C9ORF72 through a multi-component system

C9ORF72 is involved in multiple neuronal functions and a major factor in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a fatal neurodegenerative disease. Pathogenicity is implemented through an intronic repeat expansion in the genes mRNA leader that produces long, repetitive RNA and dipeptides when translated through a non-canonical mechanism. In contrast, despite the presence of ribosome-occupied, regulatory elements in the mRNA leader, nothing is known about C9ORF72 translation regulation under normal conditions. Surprisingly, when analyzing a series of mutants of the C9ORF72 mRNA leader, we found that translation of C9ORF72 is tightly regulated through a multi-layer system. First, non-canonical, multi-initiation upstream open reading frames (nc-uORFs) in all three frames, a start-stop element in frame 2, and a canonical uORF in frame 1work together to keep baseline C9ORF72 translation very low. Second, a strong secondary structure enhances these repressive elements, mainly the two nc-uORFs in frames 0 and 2. Finally, as initiation at the nc-uORFs reduces initiation at the downstream start-stop, the nc-uORFs effectively dampen the start-stops repressive function, forming a feedforward loop. We hypothesize that this buffered repressor system has likely evolved to ensure reliable, noise-insensitive expression of this critical regulator of neuronal function.

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Interleukin 11 expression causes murine inflammatory bowel disease

Interleukin 11 (IL11) is a profibrotic cytokine, secreted by myofibroblasts and damaged epithelial cells. Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) also secrete IL11 under pathological conditions and express the IL11 receptor. Here we examined the effects of SMC-specific, conditional expression of murine IL11 in a transgenic mouse (Il11SMC). Within days of transgene activation, Il11SMC mice developed loose stools and progressive bleeding and rectal prolapse, which was associated with a 65% mortality by two weeks. The bowel of Il11SMC mice was inflamed, fibrotic and had a thickened wall, which was accompanied by activation of ERK and STAT3. In other organs, including heart, lung, liver, kidney and skin there was a phenotypic spectrum of fibro-inflammation, together with consistent ERK activation. To investigate further the importance of stromal-derived IL11 in the inflammatory bowel phenotype we used a second model with fibroblast-specific expression of IL11, the Il11Fib mouse. This additional model largely phenocopied the Il11SMC bowel phenotype. These data show that IL11 secretion from the stromal niche is sufficient to drive inflammatory bowel disease in mice. Given that IL11 expression in colonic stromal cells predicts anti-TNF therapy failure in patients with ulcerative colitis or Crohns disease, we suggest IL11 as a therapeutic target for inflammatory bowel disease.

pathology↗

bioRxiv2018

IL-11 is a therapeutic target in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) remains a progressive disease despite best medical management. We previously identified IL-11 as a critical factor for cardiovascular fibrosis and examine here its role in pulmonary fibrosis. IL-11 is consistently upregulated in IPF genomic datasets, which we confirmed by histology. Pulmonary fibroblasts stimulated with IL-11 transform into invasive myofibroblasts whereas fibroblasts from Il11ra deleted mice did not respond to pro-fibrotic stimuli. In the mouse, injection of recombinant Il-11 or fibroblast-specific expression of Il-11 caused pulmonary fibrosis. We then generated a neutralising IL-11 binding antibody that blocks lung fibroblast activation across species. In a mouse model of IPF, anti-IL-11 therapy attenuated lung fibrosis and specifically blocked Erk activation. These data prioritise IL-11 as an accessible drug target in IPF.\n\nOne Sentence SummaryNon-canonical IL-11 signalling is a central hallmark of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and represents a novel target for antibody therapies.

molecular biology↗