Life Sciences Commons^™

Integrative Genomic And Transcriptomic Analysis For Pinpointing Recurrent Alterations Of Plant Homeodomain Genes And Their Clinical Significance In Breast Cancer, Huimei Yu, Yuanyuan Jiang, Lanxin Liu, Wenqi Shan, Xiaofang Chu, Zhe Yang, Zeng-Quan Yang

Oncology Faculty Publications

A wide range of the epigenetic effectors that regulate chromatin modification, gene expression, genomic stability, and DNA repair contain structurally conserved domains called plant homeodomain (PHD) fingers. Alternations of several PHD finger-containing proteins (PHFs) due to genomic amplification, mutations, deletions, and translocations have been linked directly to various types of cancer. However, little is known about the genomic landscape and the clinical significance of PHFs in breast cancer. Hence, we performed a large-scale genomic and transcriptomic analysis of 98 PHF genes in breast cancer using TCGA and METABRIC datasets and correlated the recurrent alterations with clinicopathological features and survival of …

High-Throughput Allele-Specific Expression Across 250 Environmental Conditions, Gregory A. Moyerbrailean, Allison L. Richards, Daniel Kurtz, Cynthia A. Kalita, Gordon O. Davis, Chris T. Harvey, Adnan Alazizi, Donovan Watza, Yoram Sorokin, Nancy J. Hauff, Xiang Zhou, Xiaoquan Wen, Roger Pique-Regi, Francesca Luca

Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics

Gene-by-environment (GxE) interactions determine common disease risk factors and biomedically relevant complex traits. However, quantifying how the environment modulates genetic effects on human quantitative phenotypes presents unique challenges. Environmental covariates are complex and difficult to measure and control at the organismal level, as found in GWAS and epidemiological studies. An alternative approach focuses on the cellular environment using in vitro treatments as a proxy for the organismal environment. These cellular environments simplify the organism-level environmental exposures to provide a tractable influence on subcellular phenotypes, such as gene expression. Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) mapping studies identified GxE interactions in response …

Altered Differential Control Of Sympathetic Outflow Following Sedentary Conditions: Role Of Subregional Neuroplasticity In The Rvlm, Madhan Subramanian, Patrick J. Mueller

Physiology Faculty Research Publications

Despite the classically held belief of an “all-or-none” activation of the sympathetic nervous system, differential responses in sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) can occur acutely at varying magnitudes and in opposing directions. Sympathetic nerves also appear to contribute differentially to various disease states including hypertension and heart failure. Previously we have reported that sedentary conditions enhanced responses of splanchnic SNA (SSNA) but not lumbar SNA (LSNA) to activation of the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) in rats. Bulbospinal RVLM neurons from sedentary rats also exhibit increased dendritic branching in rostral regions of the RVLM. We hypothesized that regionally specific structural neuroplasticity would …

An Analysis Of Plasticity In The Rat Respiratory System Following Cervical Spinal Cord Injury And The Application Of Nanotechnology To Induce Or Enhance Recovery Of Diaphragm Function, Janelle Lorien Walker

Wayne State University Dissertations

Second cervical segment spinal cord hemisection (C2Hx) results in ipsilateral hemidiaphragm paralysis. However, the intact latent crossed phrenic pathway can restore function spontaneously over time or immediately following drug administration.

WGA bound fluorochromes were administered to identify nuclei associated with diaphragm function in both the acute and chronic C2Hx models. WGA is unique in that it undergoes receptor mediated endocytosis and is transsynaptically transported across select physiologically active synapses. Comparison of labeling in the acutely injured to the chronically injured rat provided an anatomical map of spinal and supraspinal injury induced synaptic plasticity. The plasticity occurs over time in the …

An Analysis Of Virtual Place Learning/Navigation In Children And Young Adults Prenatally Exposed To Alcohol, Neil Christopher Dodge

Wayne State University Dissertations

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder refers to the spectrum of disorders resulting from prenatal alcohol exposure and is the leading cause of preventable mental retardation. Rodent studies have found that prenatal alcohol exposure impairs performance on the Morris water maze. This task requires the rodent to use distal room cues to locate a hidden platform in a pool of opaque water. Successful performance on this task is dependent upon hippocampal function. Rodents prenatally exposed to alcohol are impaired on the Morris water maze and show damage to hippocampal neurons. A human analogue of the Morris water maze, the virtual water maze …

Role Of Secretory Granule Heterogeneity In Calcium-Triggered Exocytosis, Tejeshwar Rao

Wayne State University Dissertations

The sympathetic nervous system is activated by a variety of threats to organismal homeostasis. The adrenomedullary chromaffin cell is the core effector of sympathetic activity in the peripheral nervous system. By design, the chromaffin cell secretory response is mutable so that release can be rapidly tuned to drive context-dependent changes in physiological function. However, the mechanisms by which this tuning is achieved with such high temporal fidelity and context specificity remain unclear. This represents a major gap in our understanding of the sympatho-adrenal system since it is known to modify the function of nearly every organ system in the body. …