GSE15934

Analysis of Gene Expression changes in human intestinal endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition - TRANSFORMED GROUP

Whole-study status Not suitable

Dataset does not meet the current suitability threshold.

Whole-study downloads — these do not apply your sample requirements.

Selected cohort requirements

Samples meeting selected requirements: 0 cases / 0 controls

View matching samples

2 case / 2 control samples elsewhere in the study have incomplete or conflicting evidence; they are not included above

Patient pairs verified in indexed sample metadata: 0

A case/control comparison meeting these requirements is not confirmed.

Counts describe samples, not independent patients. Pair verification uses explicit subject identifiers in indexed sample metadata. Zero verified pairs does not establish that the study is unpaired; reported matched-normal design alone is insufficient.

Summary

Intestinal fibrosis is a well-known complication of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and has important clinical implications for both forms of IBD, Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). In addition to mesenchymal cells, endothelial cell contribute to organ fibrosis through the process of endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndoMT). Our aim was to investigate if human intestinal microvascular endothelial cells (HIMEC) can undergo EndoMT, produce extracellular matrix, and contribute to fibrosis in both forms of IBD. Cellular transformation is a highly complex event involving drastic changes in multiple gene expression levels. To assess global genomic changes accompanying HIMEC transformation, we performed microarray analysis comparing transformed to non-transformed/untreated HIMEC. Consistent with the morphological, phenotypic and functional findings, transformed HIMEC downregulated the expression levels of genes typically expressed in endothelial cells and upregulated several genes of ECM molecules known to be increased in intestinal fibrosis. Thus, it is evident that inflammatory stimuli induce transdifferentiation of HIMEC into matrix-producing mesenchymal cells. Because the conditions inducing transformation in vitro reproduce those found in vivo during active gut inflammation, the microvasculature may contribute to IBD-associated fibrosis through the novel process of EndoMT. This series includes all treated or TRANSFORMED HIMEC samples (4).

Overall design

Surgically resected specimens were used for isolation of human intestinal microvascular endothelial cells (HIMEC). HIMEC monolayers derived from intestinal mucosa of four different subjects – 2 controls, 1 ulcerative colitis, and 1 crohns were cultured in 75cm2 tissue culture flasks coated with fibronectin. Cells were left untreated (unstimulated/non-transformed) or exposed to the combination of IL-1b 100 U/ml, TNF-a 100 U/ml and TGF-b1, 5ng/ml (TGFTNFIL1) for six days. HIMEC medium was changed every 3 days. Total ribonucleic acid (RNA) was extracted using a commercially available kit (Qiagen®). RNA was reverse transcribed into cRNA which was then hybridized to the Illumina HumanRef-8 v2 Expression BeadChip. The raw gene expression datasets were processed to remove outliers, log2 transformed and quantile normalized using R lumi software. Those genes that satisfied the FDR p-value threshold of < 0.05 or raw p-value of <0.001 were identified as significant for the functional pathway and network analysis.

Source Evidence

4 sources
Source Contribution Status
GEO

Original dataset metadata, sample metadata, source links, and GEO data availability flags.

Sample records
4 GSM samples
Primary source
recount3

Planned trusted source for processed count availability.

No match found
Expression Atlas

Planned source for curated expression experiment links.

No match found
PubMed

Publication context when PubMed identifiers are already known.

No match found

Metadata Quality Components

Analysis Readiness

Ready after review
97% DE readiness

Contrast completeness

25/25 pts

Both case and control groups are present in the proposed grouping.

Minimum group size

20/20 pts

Each contrast group has at least 2 samples.

Processed data availability

20/20 pts

Processed data is marked available in the GEO index.

Sample decision clarity

15/15 pts

All samples are assigned to a case or control group.

Blocking warnings

7/10 pts

Warnings are present, but none are critical blockers.

Metadata normalization

10/10 pts

Metadata quality is high enough to support downstream handoff.

Blockers

No readiness blockers detected.

Next Steps

  • Verify the proposed sample assignments and case-versus-control comparison against the GEO metadata before using them in DESeq2 or another differential-expression tool.
  • Confirm processed count files and sample identifiers match the exported metadata.

Analysis Preparation Checklist

5/6 ready

Group labels reviewed

Needs review

Siftome proposed case and control labels, but no reviewer confirmation is stored yet.

Open the sample grouping CSV and confirm group labels before analysis.

Minimum sample count met

Ready

Both groups meet the minimum of 2 samples.

Confirm whether the cohort is large enough for the intended statistical analysis.

Processed counts available

Ready

Processed data availability is marked true in the GEO index.

Verify that downloaded processed files contain usable count or expression identifiers.

Ambiguous samples handled

Ready

No review-needed or unassigned samples are present in the proposed grouping.

Review the grouping table for biologically meaningful differences that the automated checks may not detect.

Exclusion decisions recorded

Ready

No hard-excluded samples were detected by the current rules.

Record any manual exclusions in the downstream analysis notes.

Source traceability preserved

Ready

The dataset and sample accessions can be traced back to GEO.

Keep GEO accessions with exported metadata.

Bioinformatician Review

Bioinformatician review required

Ask a bioinformatician to review grouping, count availability, exclusions, and design before DE.

Small cohort warning is present.

Assay context may require expert handling before DESeq2-style analysis.

Why This Is Ranked Here

Tumor vs normal
Not suitable Dataset does not meet the current suitability threshold.

Applied Review Decisions

No active review decisions affect this ranking.

Derived Classifications

  • Assay differs from search intent Microarray Search intent expects bulk RNA-seq. Assay came from Normalization rules.
  • Disease context Crohn's disease, fibrosis, inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis Disease context came from Normalization rules.
  • Likely case group Ulcerative colitis 2 samples
  • Likely control group Healthy control 2 samples

Intent Interpretation

  • Downgrade or exclusion reason Downgraded assay: microarray cohorts are separated from the RNA-seq intent. Derived from current-intent ranking reasons.

Ranking Facts

Supporting evidence

  • Comparison: Disease/model vs control. Specimen: Tissue. Comparison suitability: 0%.
  • Interpreted disease metadata: Crohn's disease, Fibrosis, Inflammatory bowel disease, Ulcerative colitis.
  • Processed data is available for downstream review.

Cautions

  • Downgraded assay: microarray cohorts are separated from the RNA-seq intent.
  • Disease/control design without a tumor/normal comparison is outside tumor/normal triage.
  • Microarray expression context downgraded below primary bulk RNA-seq for the default tissue ranking.
  • Overall score capped because comparison suitability is weak for the selected search intent.
  • Overall score capped because fewer than six samples are too small for top-ranked cohort confidence.
  • Overall score capped because microarray cohorts should be compared separately from RNA-seq cohorts.
  • Comparison suitability score is below the Phase 1 recommended threshold.

Dataset Warnings

Normalized Fields

15 fields

Sample Group Preview

4 rows shown
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Study totals: Case 2 | Control 2 | Unassigned 0 | Excluded 0 | Ambiguous 0 4 rows shown
Group Role Accession Title Source / characteristics Reason
Ulcerative colitis Case GSM399770 HIMEC ulcerative colitis TGFTNFIL1 12h Human intestinal microvascular endothelial cells, ulcerative colitis patient, TGFbeta1/TNFalpha/IL-1beta, 12 hours Tissue: Intestinal mucosa; Gender: Female; Age: 34 yrs; Disease state: Ulcerative colitis Case marker detected.
Crohn's disease Case GSM399771 HIMEC Crohn's disease TGFTNFIL1 12h Human intestinal microvascular endothelial cells, crohn’s disease patient, TGFbeta1/TNFalpha/IL-1beta, 12 hours Tissue: Intestinal mucosa; Gender: Male; Age: 37 yrs; Disease state: Crohn's disease Case marker detected.
Healthy control Control GSM399769 HIMEC normal 1 TGFTNFIL1 12h Human intestinal microvascular endothelial cells, control patient 1, TGFbeta1/TNFalpha/IL-1beta, 12 hours Tissue: Intestinal mucosa; Gender: Male; Age: 56 yrs; Disease state: Normal Sample-local control marker detected.
Healthy control Control GSM399772 HIMEC normal 2 TGFTNFIL1 12h Human intestinal microvascular endothelial cells, control patient 2, TGFbeta1/TNFalpha/IL-1beta, 12 hours Tissue: Intestinal mucosa; Gender: Male; Age: 48 yrs; Disease state: Normal Sample-local control marker detected.

Use as Discovery Cohort

External Validation Finder

Carry Siftome's disease, organism, specimen, assay, data type, and accession into a validation project. Uncertain fields remain Unknown.