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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Advances In Gene Ontology Utilization Improve Statistical Power Of Annotation Enrichment, Eugene Waverly Hinderer Iii, Robert M. Flight, Rashmi Dubey, James N. Macleod, Hunter N. B. Moseley Aug 2019

Advances In Gene Ontology Utilization Improve Statistical Power Of Annotation Enrichment, Eugene Waverly Hinderer Iii, Robert M. Flight, Rashmi Dubey, James N. Macleod, Hunter N. B. Moseley

Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center Faculty Publications

Gene-annotation enrichment is a common method for utilizing ontology-based annotations in gene and gene-product centric knowledgebases. Effective utilization of these annotations requires inferring semantic linkages by tracing paths through edges in the ontological graph, referred to as relations. However, some relations are semantically problematic with respect to scope, necessitating their omission or modification lest erroneous term mappings occur. To address these issues, we created the Gene Ontology Categorization Suite, or GOcats—a novel tool that organizes the Gene Ontology into subgraphs representing user-defined concepts, while ensuring that all appropriate relations are congruent with respect to scoping semantics. Here, we demonstrate the …


Impact Of High Volume Energy Drink Consumption On Electrocardiographic And Blood Pressure Parameters: A Randomized Trial, Sachin A. Shah, Andy H. Szeto, Raechel Farewell, Allen Shek, Dorothy Fan, Kathy N. Quach, Mouchumi Bhattacharyya, Jasmine Elmiari, Winny Chan, Kate O'Dell, Nancy Nguyen, Tracey J. Mcgaughey, Javed M. Nasir, Sanjay Kaul Jun 2019

Impact Of High Volume Energy Drink Consumption On Electrocardiographic And Blood Pressure Parameters: A Randomized Trial, Sachin A. Shah, Andy H. Szeto, Raechel Farewell, Allen Shek, Dorothy Fan, Kathy N. Quach, Mouchumi Bhattacharyya, Jasmine Elmiari, Winny Chan, Kate O'Dell, Nancy Nguyen, Tracey J. Mcgaughey, Javed M. Nasir, Sanjay Kaul

School of Pharmacy Faculty Articles

Background Energy drinks have been linked to an increase in emergency room visits and deaths. We aim to determine the impact of energy drinks on electrocardiographic and hemodynamic parameters in young healthy volunteers. Methods and Results A randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled, crossover study was conducted in healthy volunteers. Participants consumed 32 oz of either energy drink A, energy drink B, or placebo within 60 minutes on 3 study days with a 6-day washout period in between. The primary end point of QT c interval and secondary end points of QT interval, PR interval, QRS duration, heart rate, and brachial and central …


Transcriptional Regulation Factors Of The Human Mitochondrial Aspartate/Glutamate Carrier Gene, Isoform 2 (Slc25a13): Usf1 As Basal Factor And Foxa2 As Activator In Liver Cells, Paolo Convertini, Simona Todisco, Francesco De Santis, Ilaria Pappalardo, Dominga Iacobazzi, Maria Antonietta Castiglione Morelli, Yvonne N. Fondufe-Mittendorf, Giuseppe Martelli, Ferdinando Palmieri, Vittoria Infantino Apr 2019

Transcriptional Regulation Factors Of The Human Mitochondrial Aspartate/Glutamate Carrier Gene, Isoform 2 (Slc25a13): Usf1 As Basal Factor And Foxa2 As Activator In Liver Cells, Paolo Convertini, Simona Todisco, Francesco De Santis, Ilaria Pappalardo, Dominga Iacobazzi, Maria Antonietta Castiglione Morelli, Yvonne N. Fondufe-Mittendorf, Giuseppe Martelli, Ferdinando Palmieri, Vittoria Infantino

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Mitochondrial carriers catalyse the translocation of numerous metabolites across the inner mitochondrial membrane, playing a key role in different cell functions. For this reason, mitochondrial carrier gene expression needs tight regulation. The human SLC25A13 gene, encoding for the mitochondrial aspartate/glutamate carrier isoform 2 (AGC2), catalyses the electrogenic exchange of aspartate for glutamate plus a proton, thus taking part in many metabolic processes including the malate-aspartate shuttle. By the luciferase (LUC) activity of promoter deletion constructs we identified the putative promoter region, comprising the proximal promoter (−442 bp/−19 bp), as well as an enhancer region (−968 bp/−768 bp). Furthermore, with different …


Extracellular Vesicles As Biological Shuttles For Targeted Therapies., Stefania Raimondo, Gianluca Giavaresi, Aurelio Lorico, Riccardo Alessandro Apr 2019

Extracellular Vesicles As Biological Shuttles For Targeted Therapies., Stefania Raimondo, Gianluca Giavaresi, Aurelio Lorico, Riccardo Alessandro

College of Osteopathic Medicine (TUN) Publications and Research

The development of effective nanosystems for drug delivery represents a key challenge for the improvement of most current anticancer therapies. Recent progress in the understanding of structure and function of extracellular vesicles (EVs)-specialized membrane-bound nanocarriers for intercellular communication-suggests that they might also serve as optimal delivery systems of therapeutics. In addition to carrying proteins, lipids, DNA and different forms of RNAs, EVs can be engineered to deliver specific bioactive molecules to target cells. Exploitation of their molecular composition and physical properties, together with improvement in bio-techniques to modify their content are critical issues to target them to specific cells/tissues/organs. Here, …


Stress-Induced Epinephrine Enhances Lactate Dehydrogenase A And Promotes Breast Cancer Stem-Like Cells, Bai Cui, Yuanyuan Luo, Pengfei Tian, Fei Peng, Jinxin Lu, Yongliang Yang, Qitong Su, Bing Liu, Jiachuan Yu, Xi Luo, Liu Yin, Wei Cheng, Fan An, Bin He, Dapeng Liang, Sijin Wu, Peng Chu, Luyao Song, Xinyu Liu, Huandong Luo, Binhua P. Zhou Mar 2019

Stress-Induced Epinephrine Enhances Lactate Dehydrogenase A And Promotes Breast Cancer Stem-Like Cells, Bai Cui, Yuanyuan Luo, Pengfei Tian, Fei Peng, Jinxin Lu, Yongliang Yang, Qitong Su, Bing Liu, Jiachuan Yu, Xi Luo, Liu Yin, Wei Cheng, Fan An, Bin He, Dapeng Liang, Sijin Wu, Peng Chu, Luyao Song, Xinyu Liu, Huandong Luo, Binhua P. Zhou

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Chronic stress triggers activation of the sympathetic nervous system and drives malignancy. Using an immunodeficient murine system, we showed that chronic stress–induced epinephrine promoted breast cancer stem-like properties via lactate dehydrogenase A–dependent (LDHA-dependent) metabolic rewiring. Chronic stress–induced epinephrine activated LDHA to generate lactate, and the adjusted pH directed USP28-mediated deubiquitination and stabilization of MYC. The SLUG promoter was then activated by MYC, which promoted development of breast cancer stem-like traits. Using a drug screen that targeted LDHA, we found that a chronic stress–induced cancer stem-like phenotype could be reversed by vitamin C. These findings demonstrated the critical importance of psychological …


Myxobacteria Versus Sponge-Derived Alkaloids: The Bengamide Family Identified As Potent Immune Modulating Agents By Scrutiny Of Lc-Ms/Elsd Libraries., Tyler A. Johnson, Johann Sohn, Yvette M Vaske, Kimberly N White, Tanya L Cohen, Helene C Vervoort, Karen Tenney, Frederick A Valeriote, Leonard F Bjeldanes, Phillip Crews Feb 2019

Myxobacteria Versus Sponge-Derived Alkaloids: The Bengamide Family Identified As Potent Immune Modulating Agents By Scrutiny Of Lc-Ms/Elsd Libraries., Tyler A. Johnson, Johann Sohn, Yvette M Vaske, Kimberly N White, Tanya L Cohen, Helene C Vervoort, Karen Tenney, Frederick A Valeriote, Leonard F Bjeldanes, Phillip Crews

Tyler Johnson

A nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) luciferase assay has been employed to identify the bengamides, previously known for their anti-tumor activity, as a new class of immune modulators. A unique element of this study was that the bengamide analogs were isolated from two disparate sources, Myxococcus virescens (bacterium) and Jaspis coriacea (sponge). Comparative LC-MS/ELSD and NMR analysis facilitated the isolation of M. viriscens derived samples of bengamide E (8) and two congeners, bengamide E' (13) and F' (14) each isolated as an insperable mixture of diastereomers. Additional compounds drawn from the UC, Santa Cruz repository allowed expansion of the structure activity relationship …


The Marine Sponge Metabolite Mycothiazole: A Novel Prototype Mitochondrial Complex I Inhibitor., J Brian Morgan, Fakhri Mahdi, Yang Liu, Veena Coothankandaswamy, Mika B Jekabsons, Tyler A. Johnson, Koneni V Sashidhara, Phillip Crews, Dale G Nagle, Yu-Dong Zhou Feb 2019

The Marine Sponge Metabolite Mycothiazole: A Novel Prototype Mitochondrial Complex I Inhibitor., J Brian Morgan, Fakhri Mahdi, Yang Liu, Veena Coothankandaswamy, Mika B Jekabsons, Tyler A. Johnson, Koneni V Sashidhara, Phillip Crews, Dale G Nagle, Yu-Dong Zhou

Tyler Johnson

A natural product chemistry-based approach was applied to discover small-molecule inhibitors of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1). A Petrosaspongia mycofijiensis marine sponge extract yielded mycothiazole (1), a solid tumor selective compound with no known mechanism for its cell line-dependent cytotoxic activity. Compound 1 inhibited hypoxic HIF-1 signaling in tumor cells (IC(50) 1nM) that correlated with the suppression of hypoxia-stimulated tumor angiogenesis in vitro. However, 1 exhibited pronounced neurotoxicity in vitro. Mechanistic studies revealed that 1 selectively suppresses mitochondrial respiration at complex I (NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase). Unlike rotenone, MPP(+), annonaceous acetogenins, piericidin A, and other complex I inhibitors, mycothiazole is a mixed polyketide/peptide-derived compound …


Chemically Diverse Microtubule Stabilizing Agents Initiate Distinct Mitotic Defects And Dysregulated Expression Of Key Mitotic Kinases., Cristina C Rohena, Jiangnan Peng, Tyler A. Johnson, Phillip Crews, Susan L Mooberry Feb 2019

Chemically Diverse Microtubule Stabilizing Agents Initiate Distinct Mitotic Defects And Dysregulated Expression Of Key Mitotic Kinases., Cristina C Rohena, Jiangnan Peng, Tyler A. Johnson, Phillip Crews, Susan L Mooberry

Tyler Johnson

Microtubule stabilizers are some of the most successful drugs used in the treatment of adult solid tumors and yet the molecular events responsible for their antimitotic actions are not well defined. The mitotic events initiated by three structurally and biologically diverse microtubule stabilizers; taccalonolide AJ, laulimalide/fijianolide B and paclitaxel were studied. These microtubule stabilizers cause the formation of aberrant, but structurally distinct mitotic spindles leading to the hypothesis that they differentially affect mitotic signaling. Each microtubule stabilizer initiated different patterns of expression of key mitotic signaling proteins. Taccalonolide AJ causes centrosome separation and disjunction failure to a much greater extent …


Discovery Of Platelet-Type 12-Human Lipoxygenase Selective Inhibitors By High-Throughput Screening Of Structurally Diverse Libraries., Joshua D. Deschamps, Jeffrey T. Gautschi, Stephanie Whitman, Tyler A. Johnson, Nadine C. Gassner, Phillip Crews, Theodore R. Holman Feb 2019

Discovery Of Platelet-Type 12-Human Lipoxygenase Selective Inhibitors By High-Throughput Screening Of Structurally Diverse Libraries., Joshua D. Deschamps, Jeffrey T. Gautschi, Stephanie Whitman, Tyler A. Johnson, Nadine C. Gassner, Phillip Crews, Theodore R. Holman

Tyler Johnson

Human lipoxygenases (hLO) have been implicated in a variety of diseases and cancers and each hLO isozyme appears to have distinct roles in cellular biology. This fact emphasizes the need for discovering selective hLO inhibitors for both understanding the role of specific lipoxygenases in the cell and developing pharmaceutical therapeutics. To this end, we have modified a known lipoxygenase assay for high-throughput (HTP) screening of both the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the UC Santa Cruz marine extract library (UCSC-MEL) in search of platelet-type 12-hLO (12-hLO) selective inhibitors. The HTP screen led to the characterization of five novel 12-hLO inhibitors …


A Rational Approach For Creating Peptides Mimicking Antibody Binding, Sameer Sachdeva, Hyun Joo, Jerry Tsai, Bhaskara Jasti, Xiaoling Li Jan 2019

A Rational Approach For Creating Peptides Mimicking Antibody Binding, Sameer Sachdeva, Hyun Joo, Jerry Tsai, Bhaskara Jasti, Xiaoling Li

School of Pharmacy Faculty Articles

This study reports a novel method to design peptides that mimic antibody binding. Using the Knob-Socket model for protein-protein interaction, the interaction surface between Cetuximab and EGFR was mapped. EGFR binding peptides were designed based on geometry and the probability of the mapped knob-sockets pairs. Designed peptides were synthesized and then characterized for binding specificity, affinity, cytotoxicity of drug-peptide conjugate and inhibition of phosphorylation. In cell culture studies, designed peptides specifically bind and internalize to EGFR overexpressing cells with three to four-fold higher uptake compared to control cells that do not overexpress EGFR. The designed peptide, Pep11, bound to EGFR …


Immunization Of Alpacas (Lama Pacos) With Protein Antigens And Production Of Antigen-Specific Single Domain Antibodies, K. Martin Chow, Sidney W. Whiteheart, Jeffrey R. Smiley, Savita Sharma, Kathy Boaz, Meggie J. Coleman, Alvina Maynard, Louis B. Hersh, Craig W. Vander Kooi Jan 2019

Immunization Of Alpacas (Lama Pacos) With Protein Antigens And Production Of Antigen-Specific Single Domain Antibodies, K. Martin Chow, Sidney W. Whiteheart, Jeffrey R. Smiley, Savita Sharma, Kathy Boaz, Meggie J. Coleman, Alvina Maynard, Louis B. Hersh, Craig W. Vander Kooi

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

In this manuscript, a method for the immunization of alpaca and the use of molecular biology methods to produce antigen-specific single domain antibodies is described and demonstrated. Camelids, such as alpacas and llamas, have become a valuable resource for biomedical research since they produce a novel type of heavy chain-only antibody which can be used to produce single domain antibodies. Because the immune system is highly flexible, single domain antibodies can be made to many different protein antigens, and even different conformations of the antigen, with a very high degree of specificity. These features, among others, make single domain antibodies …


Antisense Oligonucleotides Targeting Angiotensinogen: Insights From Animal Studies, Chia-Hua Wu, Ya Wang, Murong Ma, Adam E. Mullick, Rosanne M. Crooke, Mark J. Graham, Alan Daugherty, Hong S. Lu Jan 2019

Antisense Oligonucleotides Targeting Angiotensinogen: Insights From Animal Studies, Chia-Hua Wu, Ya Wang, Murong Ma, Adam E. Mullick, Rosanne M. Crooke, Mark J. Graham, Alan Daugherty, Hong S. Lu

Saha Cardiovascular Research Center Faculty Publications

Angiotensinogen (AGT) is the unique substrate of all angiotensin peptides. We review the recent preclinical research of AGT antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), a rapidly evolving therapeutic approach. The scope of the research findings not only opens doors for potentially new therapeutics of hypertension and many other diseases, but also provides insights into understanding critical physiological and pathophysiological roles mediated by AGT.


Hiv Viral Rebound Due To A Possible Drug-Drug Interaction Between Elvitegravir/Cobicistat/Emtricitabine/Tenofovir Alafenamide And Calcium-Containing Products: Report Of 2 Cases, S. Lena Kang-Birken, Dena El-Sayed, John Prichard Jan 2019

Hiv Viral Rebound Due To A Possible Drug-Drug Interaction Between Elvitegravir/Cobicistat/Emtricitabine/Tenofovir Alafenamide And Calcium-Containing Products: Report Of 2 Cases, S. Lena Kang-Birken, Dena El-Sayed, John Prichard

School of Pharmacy Faculty Articles

Elvitegravir/cobicistat/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (E/C/F/TAF) is a potent fixed-dose, once-daily regimen for HIV-1 treatment and has rare emergence of drug resistance. We report a potential drug-drug interaction in 2 female patients both receiving treatment for HIV and cerebral toxoplasmosis: one case between E/C/F/TAF with calcium carbonate and a second case involving leucovorin as calcium salt. Both cases resulted in rise in HIV RNA levels and emergence of M184 V mutation and resistance to elvitegravir and raltegravir. To the best of our knowledge, these 2 cases are the first reports of rapid emergence of mutation from coadministration of E/C/F/TAF and calcium.


Responsible, Safe, And Effective Use Of Biologics In The Management Of Low Back Pain: American Society Of Interventional Pain Physicians (Asipp) Guidelines, Annu Navani, Laxmaiah Manchikanti, Sheri L. Albers, Richard E. Latchaw, Jaya Sanapati, Alan David Kaye, Sairam Atluri, Sheldon Jordan, Ashim Gupta, David Cedeno, Alejandro Vallejo, Bert Fellows, Nebojsa Nick Knezevic, Miguel Pappolla, Sudhir Diwan, Andrea M. Trescot, Amol Soin, Adam M. Kaye, Steve M. Aydin, Aaron K. Calodney, Kenneth D. Candido, Sanjay Bakshi, Ramsin M. Benyamin, Ricardo Vallejo, Art Watanabe, Douglas Beall, Todd P. Stitik, Patrick M. Foye, Erik M. Helander, Joshua A. Hirsch Jan 2019

Responsible, Safe, And Effective Use Of Biologics In The Management Of Low Back Pain: American Society Of Interventional Pain Physicians (Asipp) Guidelines, Annu Navani, Laxmaiah Manchikanti, Sheri L. Albers, Richard E. Latchaw, Jaya Sanapati, Alan David Kaye, Sairam Atluri, Sheldon Jordan, Ashim Gupta, David Cedeno, Alejandro Vallejo, Bert Fellows, Nebojsa Nick Knezevic, Miguel Pappolla, Sudhir Diwan, Andrea M. Trescot, Amol Soin, Adam M. Kaye, Steve M. Aydin, Aaron K. Calodney, Kenneth D. Candido, Sanjay Bakshi, Ramsin M. Benyamin, Ricardo Vallejo, Art Watanabe, Douglas Beall, Todd P. Stitik, Patrick M. Foye, Erik M. Helander, Joshua A. Hirsch

School of Pharmacy Faculty Articles

BACKGROUND: Regenerative medicine is a medical subspecialty that seeks to recruit and enhance the body's own inherent healing armamentarium in the treatment of patient pathology. This therapy's intention is to assist in the repair, and to potentially replace or restore damaged tissue through the use of autologous or allogenic biologics. This field is rising like a Phoenix from the ashes of underperforming conventional therapy midst the hopes and high expectations of patients and medical personnel alike. But, because this is a relatively new area of medicine that has yet to substantiate its outcomes, care must be taken in its public …