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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

Iron Reduction Response And Demographic Differences Between Diabetics And Non-Diabetics With Cardiovascular Disease Entered To A Controlled Clinical Trial, Leo Zacharski, Galina Shamayeva, Bruce Chow Dec 2017

Iron Reduction Response And Demographic Differences Between Diabetics And Non-Diabetics With Cardiovascular Disease Entered To A Controlled Clinical Trial, Leo Zacharski, Galina Shamayeva, Bruce Chow

Dartmouth Scholarship

Iron-catalyzed oxygen free radical-induced oxidative stress mediates the pathogenesis of diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Diabetics (n=473) and non-diabetics (n=804) with CVD entered to a randomized trial of iron (ferritin) reduction by calibrated phlebotomy (www.clinicaltrials.gov, Identifier NCT00032357) had comparable iron measures at entry but diabetics had greater burden of CVD and comorbidities, lower hemoglobin and hematocrit levels, and higher glucose levels than non-diabetics. Entry iron measures were lower in diabetics on hypoglycemic therapy compared to diabetics untreated previously. Diabetics and non-diabetics had comparable iron measures during follow-up. Loess analysis of paired ferritin and hemoglobin, and paired ferritin and glucose levels …


Vista Deficiency Attenuates Antibody-Induced Arthritis And Alters Macrophage Gene Expression In Response To Simulated Immune Complexes, Sabrina Ceeraz, Susan K. Eszterhas, Petra Sergent, David A. Armstrong, Alix Ashare, Thomas Broughton, Li Wang, Dov Pechenick, Christopher M. Burns, Randolph J. Noelle, Matthew P. Vincenti, Roy A. Fava Dec 2017

Vista Deficiency Attenuates Antibody-Induced Arthritis And Alters Macrophage Gene Expression In Response To Simulated Immune Complexes, Sabrina Ceeraz, Susan K. Eszterhas, Petra Sergent, David A. Armstrong, Alix Ashare, Thomas Broughton, Li Wang, Dov Pechenick, Christopher M. Burns, Randolph J. Noelle, Matthew P. Vincenti, Roy A. Fava

Dartmouth Scholarship

In addition to activated T cells, the immune checkpoint inhibitor “V domain-containing Ig suppressor of T-cell activation” (VISTA) is expressed by myeloid cell types, including macrophages and neutrophils. The importance of VISTA expression by myeloid cells to antibody-induced arthritis and its potential for relevance in human disease was evaluated. Methods: VISTA was immunolocalized in normal and arthritic human synovial tissue sections and synovial tissue lysates were subjected to western blot analysis. The collagen antibody-induced arthritis model (CAIA) was performed with DBA/1 J mice treated with antibodies against VISTA and with VISTA-deficient mice (V-KO). Total mRNA from arthritic joints, spleens, and …


Intrinsic And Innate Defenses Of Neurons: Détente With The Herpesviruses, Lynn Enquist, David A. Leib Oct 2017

Intrinsic And Innate Defenses Of Neurons: Détente With The Herpesviruses, Lynn Enquist, David A. Leib

Dartmouth Scholarship

Neuroinvasive herpesviruses have evolved to efficiently infect and establish latency in neurons. The nervous system has limited capability to regenerate, so immune responses therein are carefully regulated to be nondestructive, with dependence on atypical intrinsic and innate defenses. In this article we review studies of some of these noncanonical defense pathways and how herpesvirus gene products counter them, highlighting the contributions that primary neuronal in vitro models have made to our understanding of this field.


Safety And Immunogenicity Of An Inactivated Whole Cell Tuberculosis Vaccine Booster In Adults Primed With Bcg: A Randomized, Controlled Trial Of Dar-901, C. Fordham Von Reyn, Timothy Lahey, Robert D. Arbeit, Bernard Landry, Leway Kailani, Lisa Adams, Brenda Haynes, Todd Mackenzie, Wendy Wieland-Alter, Ruth Connor, Sue Tvaroha, David Hokey, Ann Ginsberg, Richard Waddell May 2017

Safety And Immunogenicity Of An Inactivated Whole Cell Tuberculosis Vaccine Booster In Adults Primed With Bcg: A Randomized, Controlled Trial Of Dar-901, C. Fordham Von Reyn, Timothy Lahey, Robert D. Arbeit, Bernard Landry, Leway Kailani, Lisa Adams, Brenda Haynes, Todd Mackenzie, Wendy Wieland-Alter, Ruth Connor, Sue Tvaroha, David Hokey, Ann Ginsberg, Richard Waddell

Dartmouth Scholarship

Development of a tuberculosis vaccine to boost BCG is a major international health priority. SRL172, an inactivated whole cell booster derived from a non-tuberculous mycobacterium, is the only new vaccine against tuberculosis to have demonstrated efficacy in a Phase 3 trial. In the present study we sought to determine if a three-dose series of DAR-901 manufactured from the SRL172 master cell bank by a new, scalable method was safe and immunogenic.


The E2f4 Prognostic Signature Predicts Pathological Response To Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy In Breast Cancer Patients, Kenneth M. K. Mark, Frederick S. Varn, Matthew H. Ung, Feng Qian, Chao Cheng May 2017

The E2f4 Prognostic Signature Predicts Pathological Response To Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy In Breast Cancer Patients, Kenneth M. K. Mark, Frederick S. Varn, Matthew H. Ung, Feng Qian, Chao Cheng

Dartmouth Scholarship

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is a key component of breast cancer treatment regimens and pathologic complete response to this therapy varies among patients. This is presumably due to differences in the molecular mechanisms that underlie each tumor’s disease pathology. Developing genomic clinical assays that accurately categorize responders from non-responders can provide patients with the most effective therapy for their individual disease. We applied our previously developed E2F4 genomic signature to predict neoadjuvant chemotherapy response in breast cancer. E2F4 individual regulatory activity scores were calculated for 1129 patient samples across 5 independent breast cancer neoadjuvant chemotherapy datasets. Accuracy of the E2F4 signature in …


Aspergillus Fumigatus Trehalose-Regulatory Subunit Homolog Moonlights To Mediate Cell Wall Homeostasis Through Modulation Of Chitin Synthase Activity, Arsa Thammahong, Alayna K. Caffrey-Card, Sourabh Dhingra, Joshua J. Obar, Robert Cramer Apr 2017

Aspergillus Fumigatus Trehalose-Regulatory Subunit Homolog Moonlights To Mediate Cell Wall Homeostasis Through Modulation Of Chitin Synthase Activity, Arsa Thammahong, Alayna K. Caffrey-Card, Sourabh Dhingra, Joshua J. Obar, Robert Cramer

Dartmouth Scholarship

Trehalose biosynthesis is found in fungi but not humans. Proteins involved in trehalose biosynthesis are essential for fungal pathogen virulence in humans and plants through multiple mechanisms. Loss of canonical trehalose biosynthesis genes in the human pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus significantly alters cell wall structure and integrity, though the mechanistic link between these virulence-associated pathways remains enigmatic. Here we characterize genes, called tslAand tslB, which encode proteins that contain domains similar to those corresponding to trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase but lack critical catalytic residues for phosphatase activity. Loss of tslA reduces trehalose content in both conidia and mycelia, impairs cell wall …


Filamentous Fungal Carbon Catabolite Repression Supports Metabolic Plasticity And Stress Responses Essential For Disease Progression, Sarah R. Beattie, Kenneth Mark, Arsa Thammahong, Laure Nicolas Annick Ries, Sourabh Dhingra, Alayna Caffrey-Carr, Chao Cheng Apr 2017

Filamentous Fungal Carbon Catabolite Repression Supports Metabolic Plasticity And Stress Responses Essential For Disease Progression, Sarah R. Beattie, Kenneth Mark, Arsa Thammahong, Laure Nicolas Annick Ries, Sourabh Dhingra, Alayna Caffrey-Carr, Chao Cheng

Dartmouth Scholarship

Aspergillus fumigatus is responsible for a disproportionate number of invasive mycosis cases relative to other common filamentous fungi. While many fungal factors critical for infection establishment are known, genes essential for disease persistence and progression are ill defined. We propose that fungal factors that promote navigation of the rapidly changing nutrient and structural landscape characteristic of disease progression represent untapped clinically relevant therapeutic targets. To this end, we find that A. fumigatus requires a carbon catabolite repression (CCR) mediated genetic network to support in vivo fungal fitness and disease progression. While CCR as mediated by the transcriptional repressor CreA is …


Cis-Eqtl-Based Trans-Ethnic Meta-Analysis Reveals Novel Genes Associated With Breast Cancer Risk, Joshua Hoffman, Rebecca Graff, Nima Emami, Caroline Tai, Michael Passarelli Mar 2017

Cis-Eqtl-Based Trans-Ethnic Meta-Analysis Reveals Novel Genes Associated With Breast Cancer Risk, Joshua Hoffman, Rebecca Graff, Nima Emami, Caroline Tai, Michael Passarelli

Dartmouth Scholarship

Breast cancer is the most common solid organ malignancy and the most frequent cause of cancer death among women worldwide. Previous research has yielded insights into its genetic etiology, but there remains a gap in the understanding of genetic factors that contribute to risk, and particularly in the biological mechanisms by which genetic variation modulates risk. The National Cancer Institute's "Up for a Challenge" (U4C) competition provided an opportunity to further elucidate the genetic basis of the disease. Our group leveraged the seven datasets made available by the U4C organizers and data from the publicly available UK Biobank cohort to …


Do The Disc Degeneration And Osteophyte Contribute To The Curve Rigidity Of Degenerative Scoliosis?, Feng Zhu, Hongda Bao, Peng Yan, Shunan Liu, Mike Bao Mar 2017

Do The Disc Degeneration And Osteophyte Contribute To The Curve Rigidity Of Degenerative Scoliosis?, Feng Zhu, Hongda Bao, Peng Yan, Shunan Liu, Mike Bao

Dartmouth Scholarship

The factors associated with lateral curve flexibility in degenerative scoliosis have not been well documented. Disc degeneration could result in significant change in stiffness and range of motion in lateral bending films. The osteophytes could be commonly observed in degenerative spine but the relationship between osteophyte formation and curve flexibility remains controversial. The aim of the current study is to clarify if the disc degeneration and osteophyte formation were both associated with curve flexibility of degenerative scoliosis.


A Novel Multi-Network Approach Reveals Tissue-Specific Cellular Modulators Of Fibrosis In Systemic Sclerosis, Jaclyn N. Taroni, Casey S. Greene, Viktor Martyanov, Tammara A. Wood Mar 2017

A Novel Multi-Network Approach Reveals Tissue-Specific Cellular Modulators Of Fibrosis In Systemic Sclerosis, Jaclyn N. Taroni, Casey S. Greene, Viktor Martyanov, Tammara A. Wood

Dartmouth Scholarship

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a multi-organ autoimmune disease characterized by skin fibrosis. Internal organ involvement is heterogeneous. It is unknown whether disease mechanisms are common across all involved affected tissues or if each manifestation has a distinct underlying pathology.We used consensus clustering to compare gene expression profiles of biopsies from four SSc-affected tissues (skin, lung, esophagus, and peripheral blood) from patients with SSc, and the related conditions pulmonary fibrosis (PF) and pulmonary arterial hypertension, and derived a consensus disease-associate signature across all tissues. We used this signature to query tissue-specific functional genomic networks. We performed novel network analyses to contrast …


A New Class Of Inhibitors Of The Arac Family Virulence Regulator Vibrio Cholerae Toxt, Anne K. Woodbrey, Evans O. Onyango, Maria Pellegrini, Gabriela Kovacikova, Ronald Taylor, Gordon Gribble, F. Jon Kull Mar 2017

A New Class Of Inhibitors Of The Arac Family Virulence Regulator Vibrio Cholerae Toxt, Anne K. Woodbrey, Evans O. Onyango, Maria Pellegrini, Gabriela Kovacikova, Ronald Taylor, Gordon Gribble, F. Jon Kull

Dartmouth Scholarship

Vibrio cholerae is responsible for the diarrheal disease cholera that infects millions of people worldwide. While vaccines protecting against cholera exist, and oral rehydration therapy is an effective treatment method, the disease will remain a global health threat until long-term solutions such as improved sanitation and access to clean water become widely available. Because of this, there is a pressing need for potent therapeutics that can either mitigate cholera symptoms, or act prophylactically to prevent the virulent effects of a cholera infection. Here we report the design, synthesis, and characterization of a set of compounds that bind and inhibit ToxT, …


Associations Between Genetic Variants In Mrna Splicing-Related Genes And Risk Of Lung Cancer: A Pathway-Based Analysis From Published Gwass, Yongchu Pan, Hongliang Liu, Yanru Wang, Xiaozheng Kang, Kouros Owzar, Younghun Han Mar 2017

Associations Between Genetic Variants In Mrna Splicing-Related Genes And Risk Of Lung Cancer: A Pathway-Based Analysis From Published Gwass, Yongchu Pan, Hongliang Liu, Yanru Wang, Xiaozheng Kang, Kouros Owzar, Younghun Han

Dartmouth Scholarship

mRNA splicing is an important mechanism to regulate mRNA expression. Abnormal regulation of thisprocess may lead to lung cancer. Here, we investigated the associations of 11,966 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 206 mRNA splicing-related genes with lung cancer risk by using the summarydata from six published genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of Transdisciplinary Research in Cancerof the Lung (TRICL) (12,160 cases and 16,838 controls) and another two lung cancer GWASs of Harvard University (984 cases and 970 controls) and deCODE (1,319 cases and 26,380 controls). We found that a total of 12 significant SNPs with false discovery rate (FDR) ≤0.05 were mapped …


Potent Single-Domain Antibodies That Arrest Respiratory Syncytial Virus Fusion Protein In Its Prefusion State, Iebe Rossey, Morgan Gilman, Stephanie Kabeche, Koen Sedeyn, Daniel Wrapp Feb 2017

Potent Single-Domain Antibodies That Arrest Respiratory Syncytial Virus Fusion Protein In Its Prefusion State, Iebe Rossey, Morgan Gilman, Stephanie Kabeche, Koen Sedeyn, Daniel Wrapp

Dartmouth Scholarship

Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the main cause of lower respiratory tract infections in young children. The RSV fusion protein (F) is highly conserved and is the only viral membrane protein that is essential for infection. The prefusion conformation of RSV F is considered the most relevant target for antiviral strategies because it is the fusion-competent form of the protein and the primary target of neutralizing activity present in human serum. Here, we describe two llama-derived single-domain antibodies (VHHs) that have potent RSV-neutralizing activity and bind selectively to prefusion RSV F with picomolar affinity. Crystal structures of these VHHs …


Association Of Igg4 Response And Autoimmune Pancreatitis With Intraductal Papillary-Mucinous Neoplasms, Amin A. Hedayat, Mikhail Lisovsky, Arief A. Suriawinata Feb 2017

Association Of Igg4 Response And Autoimmune Pancreatitis With Intraductal Papillary-Mucinous Neoplasms, Amin A. Hedayat, Mikhail Lisovsky, Arief A. Suriawinata

Dartmouth Scholarship

Objectives: Concurrent intraductal papillary-mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) and autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) was observed in a patient (index case) at our institution. Cases of coincidental IPMN and type 1 AIP and concurrent ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and AIP have been previously reported. In this study we evaluate the hypothesis that IPMN elicits an IgG4 response. Methods: Twenty-one pancreases (including the index case) with IPMN resected at our institution were studied. H&E stained slides were reviewed and blocks of peritumoral pancreas were immunostained with IgG4 to look for IgG4-positive plasma cells. Results: We found evidence of variable IgG4 overexpression in 4/21 (19%) of IPMN. …


Familial Lung Cancer: A Brief History From The Earliest Work To The Most Recent Studies, Anthony Musolf, Claire Simpson, Mariza De Andrade, Diptasri Mandal, Colette Gaba, Ping Yang, Yafang Li Jan 2017

Familial Lung Cancer: A Brief History From The Earliest Work To The Most Recent Studies, Anthony Musolf, Claire Simpson, Mariza De Andrade, Diptasri Mandal, Colette Gaba, Ping Yang, Yafang Li

Dartmouth Scholarship

Lung cancer is the deadliest cancer in the United States, killing roughly one of four cancer patients in 2016. While it is well-established that lung cancer is caused primarily by environmental effects (particularly tobacco smoking), there is evidence for genetic susceptibility. Lung cancer has been shown to aggregate in families, and segregation analyses have hypothesized a major susceptibility locus for the disease. Genetic association studies have provided strong evidence for common risk variants of small-to-moderate effect. Rare and highly penetrant alleles have been identified by linkage studies, including on 6q23–25. Though not common, some germline mutations have also been identified …


Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Sabotages The Generation Of Host Proresolving Lipid Mediators, Becca A. Flitter, Kelli L. Hvorecny, Emiko Ono, Taylor Eddens Jan 2017

Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Sabotages The Generation Of Host Proresolving Lipid Mediators, Becca A. Flitter, Kelli L. Hvorecny, Emiko Ono, Taylor Eddens

Dartmouth Scholarship

Recurrent Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections coupled with robust, damaging neutrophilic inflammation characterize the chronic lung disease cystic fibrosis (CF). The proresolving lipid mediator, 15-epi lipoxin A4 (15-epi LXA4), plays a critical role in limiting neutrophil activation and tissue inflammation, thus promoting the return to tissue homeostasis. Here, we show that a secreted P. aeruginosa epoxide hydrolase, cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator inhibitory factor (Cif), can disrupt 15-epi LXA4 transcellular biosynthesis and function. In the airway, 15-epi LXA4 production is stimulated by the epithelial-derived eicosanoid 14,15-epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (14,15-EET). Cif sabotages the production of 15-epi LXA4 by rapidly hydrolyzing 14,15-EET into its cognate …