Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

C-Terminal Binding Protein 2 Is A Novel Tumor Suppressor Targeting The Myc-Irf4 Axis In Multiple Myeloma, Coty Hing Yau Cheung, Chi Keung Cheng, Kam Tong Leung, Chi Zhang, Chi Yan Ho, Xi Luo, Angel Yuet Fong Kam, Tian Xia, Thomas Shek Kong Wan, Herbert Augustus Pitts, Natalie Pui Ha Chan, Joyce Sin Cheung, Raymond Siu Ming Wong, Xiao-Bing Zhang, Margaret Heung Ling Ng

Journal Articles

Multiple myeloma (MM) cells are addicted to MYC and its direct transactivation targets IRF4 for proliferation and survival. MYC and IRF4 are still considered "undruggable," as most small-molecule inhibitors suffer from low potency, suboptimal pharmacokinetic properties, and undesirable off-target effects. Indirect inhibition of MYC/IRF4 emerges as a therapeutic vulnerability in MM. Here, we uncovered an unappreciated tumor-suppressive role of C-terminal binding protein 2 (CTBP2) in MM via strong inhibition of the MYC-IRF4 axis. In contrast to epithelial cancers, CTBP2 is frequently downregulated in MM, in association with shortened survival, hyperproliferative features, and adverse clinical outcomes. Restoration of CTBP2 exhibited potent …

Interplay Of Hypoxia-Inducible Factors And Oxygen Therapy In Cardiovascular Medicine, Yafen Liang, Wei Ruan, Yandong Jiang, Richard Smalling, Xiaoyi Yuan, Holger K Eltzschig

Journal Articles

Mammals have evolved to adapt to differences in oxygen availability. Although systemic oxygen homeostasis relies on respiratory and circulatory responses, cellular adaptation to hypoxia involves the transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF). Given that many cardiovascular diseases involve some degree of systemic or local tissue hypoxia, oxygen therapy has been used liberally over many decades for the treatment of cardiovascular disorders. However, preclinical research has revealed the detrimental effects of excessive use of oxygen therapy, including the generation of toxic oxygen radicals or attenuation of endogenous protection by HIFs. In addition, investigators in clinical trials conducted in the past decade have …

Targeting Myocardial Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporter Ent1 Provides Cardioprotection By Enhancing Myeloid Adora2b Signaling, Wei Ruan, Jiwen Li, Seungwon Choi, Xinxin Ma, Yafen Liang, Ragini Nair, Xiaoyi Yuan, Tingting W Mills, Holger K Eltzschig

Journal Articles

Previous studies implicate extracellular adenosine signaling in attenuating myocardial ischemia and reperfusion injury (IRI). This extracellular adenosine signaling is terminated by its uptake into cells by equilibrative nucleoside transporters (ENTs). Thus, we hypothesized that targeting ENTs would function to increase cardiac adenosine signaling and concomitant cardioprotection against IRI. Mice were exposed to myocardial ischemia and reperfusion injury. Myocardial injury was attenuated in mice treated with the nonspecific ENT inhibitor dipyridamole. A comparison of mice with global Ent1 or Ent2 deletion showed cardioprotection only in Ent1-/- mice. Moreover, studies with tissue-specific Ent deletion revealed that mice with myocyte-specific Ent1 deletion (Ent1loxP/loxP …

Gata1 Controls Numbers Of Hematopoietic Progenitors And Their Response To Autoimmune Neuroinflammation, Daniel Hwang, Larissa Ishikawa, Maryam S. Seyedsadr, Elisabeth R. Mari, Ezgi Kasimoglu, Ziver Sahin, Alexandra Boehm, Soohwa Jang, Javad Rasouli, Courtney Vaccaro, Michael Gonzalez, Hakon Hakonarson, Mohamad Rostami, Guang-Xian Zhang, Bogoljub Ciric

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

GATA-binding factor 1 (GATA1) is a transcription factor that governs the development and function of multiple hematopoietic cell lineages. GATA1 is expressed in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) and is essential for erythroid lineage commitment; however, whether it plays a role in hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) biology and the development of myeloid cells, and what that role might be, remains unclear. We initially set out to test the role of eosinophils in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model of central nervous system autoimmunity, using mice lacking a double GATA-site (ΔdblGATA), which lacks eosinophils due to the deletion of the …

Patient-Derived Ipscs Link Elevated Mitochondrial Respiratory Complex I Function To Osteosarcoma In Rothmund-Thomson Syndrome, Brittany E Jewell, An Xu, Dandan Zhu, Mo-Fan Huang, Linchao Lu, Mo Liu, Erica L Underwood, Jun Hyoung Park, Huihui Fan, Julian A Gingold, Ruoji Zhou, Jian Tu, Zijun Huo, Ying Liu, Weidong Jin, Yi-Hung Chen, Yitian Xu, Shu-Hsia Chen, Nino Rainusso, Nathaniel K Berg, Danielle A Bazer, Christopher Vellano, Philip Jones, Holger K Eltzschig, Zhongming Zhao, Benny Abraham Kaipparettu, Ruiying Zhao, Lisa L Wang, Dung-Fang Lee

Journal Articles

Rothmund-Thomson syndrome (RTS) is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder characterized by poikiloderma, small stature, skeletal anomalies, sparse brows/lashes, cataracts, and predisposition to cancer. Type 2 RTS patients with biallelic RECQL4 pathogenic variants have multiple skeletal anomalies and a significantly increased incidence of osteosarcoma. Here, we generated RTS patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to dissect the pathological signaling leading to RTS patient-associated osteosarcoma. RTS iPSC-derived osteoblasts showed defective osteogenic differentiation and gain of in vitro tumorigenic ability. Transcriptome analysis of RTS osteoblasts validated decreased bone morphogenesis while revealing aberrantly upregulated mitochondrial respiratory complex I gene expression. RTS osteoblast metabolic assays …

Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-Dependent Induction Of Myeloid-Derived Netrin-1 Attenuates Natural Killer Cell Infiltration During Endotoxin-Induced Lung Injury, Nathaniel K Berg, Jiwen Li, Boyun Kim, Tingting Mills, Guangsheng Pei, Zhongming Zhao, Xiangyun Li, Xu Zhang, Wei Ruan, Holger K Eltzschig, Xiaoyi Yuan

Journal Articles

Sepsis and sepsis-associated lung inflammation significantly contribute to the morbidity and mortality of critical illness. Here, we examined the hypothesis that neuronal guidance proteins could orchestrate inflammatory events during endotoxin-induced lung injury. Through a targeted array, we identified netrin-1 as the top upregulated neuronal guidance protein in macrophages treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Furthermore, we found that netrin-1 is highly enriched in infiltrating myeloid cells, particularly in macrophages during LPS-induced lung injury. Transcriptional studies implicate hypoxia-inducible factor HIF-1α in the transcriptional induction of netrin-1 during LPS treatment. Subsequently, the deletion of netrin-1 in the myeloid compartment (Ntn1

Bax 335 Hemophilia B Gene Therapy Clinical Trial Results: Potential Impact Of Cpg Sequences On Gene Expression, Barbara A Konkle, Christopher E Walsh, Miguel A Escobar, Neil C Josephson, Guy Young, Annette Von Drygalski, Scott W J Mcphee, R Jude Samulski, Ivan Bilic, Maurus De La Rosa, Birgit M Reipert, Hanspeter Rottensteiner, Friedrich Scheiflinger, John C Chapin, Bruce Ewenstein, Paul E Monahan

Journal Articles

Gene therapy has the potential to maintain therapeutic blood clotting factor IX (FIX) levels in patients with hemophilia B by delivering a functional human F9 gene into liver cells. This phase 1/2, open-label dose-escalation study investigated BAX 335 (AskBio009, AAV8.sc-TTR-FIXR338Lopt), an adeno-associated virus serotype 8 (AAV8)-based FIX Padua gene therapy, in patients with hemophilia B. This report focuses on 12-month interim analyses of safety, pharmacokinetic variables, effects on FIX activity, and immune responses for dosed participants. Eight adult male participants (aged 20-69 years; range FIX activity, 0.5% to 2.0%) received 1 of 3 BAX 335 IV doses: 2.0 × 1011; …

Mir-9-1 Suppresses Cell Proliferation And Promotes Apoptosis By Targeting Uhrf1 In Lung Cancer, Cheng-You Jia, Wei Xiang, Ji-Bin Liu, Geng-Xi Jiang, Feng Sun, Jian-Jun Wu, Xiao-Li Yang, Rui Xin, Yi Shi, Dan-Dan Zhang, Wen Li, Zavuga Zuberi, Jie Zhang, Gai-Xia Lu, Hui-Min Wang, Pei-Yao Wang, Fei Yu, Zhong-Wei Lv, Yu-Shui Ma, Da Fu

Journal Articles

Lung cancer is listed as the most common reason for cancer-related death all over the world despite diagnostic improvements and the development of chemotherapy and targeted therapies. MicroRNAs control both physiological and pathological processes including development and cancer. A microRNA-9 to 1 (miR-9 to 1) overexpression model in lung cancer cell lines was established and miR-9 to 1 was found to significantly suppress the proliferation rate in lung cancer cell lines, colony formation in vitro, and tumorigenicity in nude mice of A549 cells. Ubiquitin-like containing PHD and RING finger domains 1 (UHRF1) was then identified to direct target of miR-9 …

The Landscape Of Rna Polymerase Ii-Associated Chromatin Interactions In Prostate Cancer, Susmita G Ramanand, Yong Chen, Jiapei Yuan, Kelly Daescu, Maryou Bk Lambros, Kathleen E Houlahan, Suzanne Carreira, Wei Yuan, Guemhee Baek, Adam Sharp, Alec Paschalis, Mohammed Kanchwala, Yunpeng Gao, Adam Aslam, Nida Safdar, Xiaowei Zhan, Ganesh V Raj, Chao Xing, Paul C Boutros, Johann De Bono, Michael Q Zhang, Ram S Mani

Faculty Scholarship for the College of Science & Mathematics

Transcriptional dysregulation is a hallmark of prostate cancer (PCa). We mapped the RNA polymerase II-associated (RNA Pol II-associated) chromatin interactions in normal prostate cells and PCa cells. We discovered thousands of enhancer-promoter, enhancer-enhancer, as well as promoter-promoter chromatin interactions. These transcriptional hubs operate within the framework set by structural proteins - CTCF and cohesins - and are regulated by the cooperative action of master transcription factors, such as the androgen receptor (AR) and FOXA1. By combining analyses from metastatic castration-resistant PCa (mCRPC) specimens, we show that AR locus amplification contributes to the transcriptional upregulation of the AR gene by increasing …

Atrx Deletion In Neurons Leads To Sexually Dimorphic Dysregulation Of Mir-137 And Spatial Learning And Memory Deficits., Renee J. Tamming, Vanessa Dumeaux, Yan Jiang, Sarfraz Shafiq, Luana Langlois, Jacob Ellegood, Lily R. Qiu, Jason P. Lerch, Nathalie G. Bérubé

Paediatrics Publications

ATRX gene mutations have been identified in syndromic and non-syndromic intellectual disabilities in humans. ATRX is known to maintain genomic stability in neuroprogenitor cells, but its function in differentiated neurons and memory processes remains largely unresolved. Here, we show that the deletion of neuronal Atrx in mice leads to distinct hippocampal structural defects, fewer presynaptic vesicles, and an enlarged postsynaptic area at CA1 apical dendrite-axon junctions. We identify male-specific impairments in long-term contextual memory and in synaptic gene expression, linked to altered miR-137 levels. We show that ATRX directly binds to the miR-137 locus and that the enrichment of the …

The Β3-Adrenergic Receptor Agonist Mirabegron Improves Glucose Homeostasis In Obese Humans, Brian S. Finlin, Hasiyet Memetimin, Beibei Zhu, Amy L. Confides, Hemendra J. Vekaria, Riham H. El Khouli, Zachary R. Johnson, Philip M. Westgate, Jianzhong Chen, Andrew J. Morris, Patrick G. Sullivan, Esther E. Dupont-Versteegden, Philip A. Kern

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND. Beige adipose tissue is associated with improved glucose homeostasis in mice. Adipose tissue contains β3-adrenergic receptors (β3-ARs), and this study was intended to determine whether the treatment of obese, insulin-resistant humans with the β3-AR agonist mirabegron, which stimulates beige adipose formation in subcutaneous white adipose tissue (SC WAT), would induce other beneficial changes in fat and muscle and improve metabolic homeostasis.

METHODS. Before and after β3-AR agonist treatment, oral glucose tolerance tests and euglycemic clamps were performed, and histochemical analysis and gene expression profiling were performed on fat and muscle biopsies. PET-CT scans quantified brown adipose tissue volume and …

Dietary Fat And Sugar Differentially Affect Β-Adrenergic Stimulation Of Cardiac Erk And Akt Pathways In C57bl/6 Male Mice Subjected To High-Calorie Feeding, Sadia Ashraf, Gizem Yilmaz, Xu Chen, Romain Harmancey

Journal Articles

BACKGROUND: High dietary fat and sugar promote cardiac hypertrophy independently from an increase in blood pressure. The respective contribution that each macronutrient exerts on cardiac growth signaling pathways remains unclear.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to investigate the mechanisms by which high amounts of dietary fat and sugar affect cardiac growth regulatory pathways.

METHODS: Male C57BL/6 mice (9 wk old; n = 20/group) were fed a standard rodent diet (STD; kcal% protein-fat-carbohydrate, 29-17-54), a high-fat diet (HFD; 20-60-20), a high-fat and high-sugar Western diet (WD; 20-45-35), a high-sugar diet with mixed carbohydrates (HCD; 20-10-70), or a high-sucrose diet …

Dietary Fat And Sugar Differentially Affect Β-Adrenergic Stimulation Of Cardiac Erk And Akt Pathways In C57bl/6 Male Mice Subjected To High-Calorie Feeding, Sadia Ashraf, Gizem Yilmaz, Xu Chen, Romain Harmancey

Journal Articles

BACKGROUND: High dietary fat and sugar promote cardiac hypertrophy independently from an increase in blood pressure. The respective contribution that each macronutrient exerts on cardiac growth signaling pathways remains unclear.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to investigate the mechanisms by which high amounts of dietary fat and sugar affect cardiac growth regulatory pathways.

METHODS: Male C57BL/6 mice (9 wk old; n = 20/group) were fed a standard rodent diet (STD; kcal% protein-fat-carbohydrate, 29-17-54), a high-fat diet (HFD; 20-60-20), a high-fat and high-sugar Western diet (WD; 20-45-35), a high-sugar diet with mixed carbohydrates (HCD; 20-10-70), or a high-sucrose diet …

Evidence Of Increased Hypoxia Signaling In Fetal Liver From Maternal Nutrient Restriction In Mice., Bethany N Radford, Victor K M Han

Paediatrics Publications

BACKGROUND: Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is a pregnancy condition where fetal growth is reduced, and offspring from IUGR pregnancies are at increased risk for type II diabetes as adults. The liver is susceptible to fetal undernutrition experienced by IUGR infants and animal models of growth restriction. This study aimed to examine hepatic expression changes in a maternal nutrient restriction (MNR) mouse model of IUGR to understand fetal adaptations that influence adult metabolism.

METHODS: Liver samples of male offspring from MNR (70% of ad libitum starting at E6.5) or control pregnancies were obtained at E18.5 and differential expression was assessed by …

Pathologic Gene Network Rewiring Implicates Ppp1r3a As A Central Regulator In Pressure Overload Heart Failure., Pablo Cordero, Victoria N Parikh, Elizabeth T Chin, Ayca Erbilgin, Michael J Gloudemans, Ching Shang, Yong Huang, Alex C Chang, Kevin S Smith, Frederick Dewey, Kathia Zaleta, Michael Morley, Jeff Brandimarto, Nicole Glazer, Daryl Waggott, Aleksandra Pavlovic, Mingming Zhao, Christine S Moravec, W H Wilson Tang, Jamie Skreen, Christine Malloy, Sridhar Hannenhalli, Hongzhe Li, Scott Ritter, Mingyao Li, Daniel Bernstein, Andrew Connolly, Hakon Hakonarson, Aldons J Lusis, Kenneth B Margulies, Anna A Depaoli-Roach, Stephen B Montgomery, Matthew T Wheeler, Thomas Cappola, Euan A Ashley

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Heart failure is a leading cause of mortality, yet our understanding of the genetic interactions underlying this disease remains incomplete. Here, we harvest 1352 healthy and failing human hearts directly from transplant center operating rooms, and obtain genome-wide genotyping and gene expression measurements for a subset of 313. We build failing and non-failing cardiac regulatory gene networks, revealing important regulators and cardiac expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs). PPP1R3A emerges as a regulator whose network connectivity changes significantly between health and disease. RNA sequencing after PPP1R3A knockdown validates network-based predictions, and highlights metabolic pathway regulation associated with increased cardiomyocyte size and …

Ucp1 Expression-Associated Gene Signatures Of Human Epicardial Adipose Tissue., Kanta Chechi, Jinchu Vijay, Pierre Voisine, Patrick Mathieu, Yohan Bossé, Andre Tchernof, Elin Grundberg, Denis Richard

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Multiple reports of uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) expression have established its presence in human epicardial adipose tissue (eAT). Its functional relevance to eAT, however, remains largely unknown. In a recent study, we reported that adrenergic stimulation of eAT was associated with downregulation of secreted proteins involved in oxidative stress-related and immune-related pathways. Here, we explored the UCP1-associated features of human eAT using next-generation deep sequencing. Paired biopsies of eAT, mediastinal adipose tissue (mAT), and subcutaneous adipose tissue (sAT) obtained from cardiac surgery patients, with specific criteria of high and low expression of UCP1 in eAT, were subjected to RNA sequencing. …

Incorporating Pathway Information Into Feature Selection Towards Better Performed Gene Signatures, Suyan Tian, Chi Wang, Bing Wang

Biostatistics Faculty Publications

To analyze gene expression data with sophisticated grouping structures and to extract hidden patterns from such data, feature selection is of critical importance. It is well known that genes do not function in isolation but rather work together within various metabolic, regulatory, and signaling pathways. If the biological knowledge contained within these pathways is taken into account, the resulting method is a pathway-based algorithm. Studies have demonstrated that a pathway-based method usually outperforms its gene-based counterpart in which no biological knowledge is considered. In this article, a pathway-based feature selection is firstly divided into three major categories, namely, pathway-level selection, …

Second Case Of Hoip Deficiency Expands Clinical Features And Defines Inflammatory Transcriptome Regulated By Lubac., Hirotsugu Oda, David B. Beck, Hye Sun Kuehn, Natalia Sampaio Moura, Patrycja Hoffmann, Maria Ibarra, Jennifer Stoddard, Wanxia Li Tsai, Gustavo Gutierrez-Cruz, Massimo Gadina, Sergio D. Rosenzweig, Daniel L. Kastner, Luigi D. Notarangelo, Ivona Aksentijevich

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Background: HOIP is the catalytic subunit of the linear ubiquitination chain assembly complex (LUBAC) that is essential for NF-κB signaling and thus proper innate and adaptive immunity. To date only one patient with HOIP deficiency has been reported with clinical characteristics that include autoinflammation, immunodeficiency, amylopectinosis, and systemic lymphangiectasia. Case: We sought to identify a genetic cause of a disease for an 8 year-old girl who presented with early-onset immune deficiency and autoinflammation. Methods: Targeted next generation sequencing of 352 immune-related genes was performed. Functional studies included transcriptome analysis, cytokine profiling, and protein analysis in patients' primary cells. Results: We …

Identification Of Novel Regulatory Genes In Apap Induced Hepatocyte Toxicity By A Genome-Wide Crispr-Cas9 Screen., Katherine Shortt, Daniel P. Heruth, Nini Zhang, Weibin Wu, Shipra Singh, Ding-You Li, Li Qin Zhang, Gerald J. Wyckoff, Lei S Qi, Craig A. Friesen, Shui Qing Ye

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Acetaminophen (APAP) is a commonly used analgesic responsible for more than half of acute liver failure cases. Identification of previously unknown genetic risk factors would provide mechanistic insights and novel therapeutic targets for APAP-induced liver injury. This study used a genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 screen to evaluate genes that are protective against, or cause susceptibility to, APAP-induced liver injury. HuH7 human hepatocellular carcinoma cells containing CRISPR-Cas9 gene knockouts were treated with 15 mM APAP for 30 minutes to 4 days. A gene expression profile was developed based on the 1) top screening hits, 2) overlap of expression data from APAP overdose studies, …

Human Islet Response To Selected Type 1 Diabetes-Associated Bacteria: A Transcriptome-Based Study, Ahmed M. Abdellatif, Heather Jensen Smith, Robert Z. Harms, Nora Sarvetnick

Journal Articles: Eppley Institute

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic autoimmune disease that results from destruction of pancreatic β-cells. T1D subjects were recently shown to harbor distinct intestinal microbiome profiles. Based on these findings, the role of gut bacteria in T1D is being intensively investigated. The mechanism connecting intestinal microbial homeostasis with the development of T1D is unknown. Specific gut bacteria such as Bacteroides dorei (BD) and Ruminococcus gnavus (RG) show markedly increased abundance prior to the development of autoimmunity. One hypothesis is that these bacteria might traverse the damaged gut barrier, and their constituents elicit a response from human islets that causes …

Genome-Wide Mega-Analysis Identifies 16 Loci And Highlights Diverse Biological Mechanisms In The Common Epilepsies., Bassel Abou-Khalil, Pauls Auce, Andreja Avbersek, Melanie Bahlo, David J. Balding, Thomas Bast, Larry Baum, Albert J. Becker, Felicitas Becker, Bianca Berghuis, Samuel F. Berkovic, Katja E. Boysen, Jonathan P. Bradfield, Lawrence C. Brody, Russell J. Buono, Ellen Campbell, Gregory D. Cascino, Claudia B. Catarino, Gianpiero L. Cavalleri, Stacey S. Cherny, Krishna Chinthapalli, Alison J. Coffey, Alastair Compston, Antonietta Coppola, Patrick Cossette, John J. Craig, Gerrit-Jan De Haan, Peter De Jonghe, Carolien G.F. De Kovel, Norman Delanty, Chantal Depondt, Orrin Devinsky, Dennis J. Dlugos, Colin P. Doherty, Christian E. Elger, Johan G. Eriksson, Thomas N. Ferraro, Martha Feuch, Ben Francis, Andre Franke, Jacqueline A. French, Saskia Freytag, Verena Gaus, Eric B. Geller, Christian Gieger, Tracy Glauser, Simon Glynn, David B. Goldstein, Hongsheng Gui, Youling Guo, Kevin F. Haas, Hakon Hakonarson, Kerstin Hallmann, Sheryl Haut, Erin L. Heinzen, Ingo Helbig, Christian Hengsbach, Helle Hjalgrim, Michele Iacomino, Andrés Ingason, Jennifer Jamnadas-Khoda, Michael R. Johnson, Reetta Kälviäinen, Anne-Mari Kantanen, Dalia Kasperavičiūte, Dorothee Kasteleijn-Nolst Trenite, Heidi E. Kirsch, Robert C. Knowlton, Bobby P.C. Koeleman, Roland Krause, Martin Krenn, Wolfram S. Kunz, Ruben Kuzniecky, Patrick Kwan, Dennis Lal, Yu-Lung Lau, Anna-Elina Lehesjoki, Holger Lerche, Costin Leu, Wolfgang Lieb, Dick Lindhout, Warren D. Lo, Iscia Lopes-Cendes, Daniel H. Lowenstein, Alberto Malovini, Anthony G. Marson, Thomas Mayer, Mark Mccormack, James L. Mills, Nasir Mirza, Martina Moerzinger, Rikke S. Møller, Anne M. Molloy, Hiltrud Muhle, Mark Newton, Ping-Wing Ng, Markus M. Nöthen, Peter Nürnberg, Terence J. O’Brien, Karen L. Oliver, Palotie Palotie, Faith Pangilinan, Sarah Peter, Slavé Petrovski, Annapurna Poduri, Michael Privitera, Rodney Radtke, Sarah Rau, Philipp S. Reif, Eva M. Reinthaler, Felix Rosenow, Josemir W. Sander, Thomas Sander, Theresa Scattergood, Steven C. Schachter, Christoph J. Schankin, Ingrid E. Scheffer, Bettina Schmitz, Susanne Schoch, Pak C. Sham, Jerry J. Shih, Graeme J. Sills, Sanjay M. Sisodiya, Lisa Slattery, Alexander Smith, David F. Smith, Michael C. Smith, Philip E. Smith, Anja C.M. Sonsma, Doug Speed, Michael R. Sperling, Bernhard J. Steinhoff, Ulrich Stephani, Remi Stevelink, Konstantin Strauch, Pasquale Striano, Hans Stroink, Rainer Surges, K. Meng Tan, Liu Lin Thio, G. Neil Thomas, Marian Todaro, Rossana Tozzi, Maria S. Vari, Ellen P.G. Vining, Frank Visscher, Sarah Von Spiczak, Nicole M. Walley, Yvonne G. Weber, Zhi Wei, Judith Weisenberg, Christopher D. Whelan, Peter Widdess-Walsh, Markus Wolff, Wolking Wolking, Wanling Yang, Federico Zara, Fritz Zimprich

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

The epilepsies affect around 65 million people worldwide and have a substantial missing heritability component. We report a genome-wide mega-analysis involving 15,212 individuals with epilepsy and 29,677 controls, which reveals 16 genome-wide significant loci, of which 11 are novel. Using various prioritization criteria, we pinpoint the 21 most likely epilepsy genes at these loci, with the majority in genetic generalized epilepsies. These genes have diverse biological functions, including coding for ion-channel subunits, transcription factors and a vitamin-B6 metabolism enzyme. Converging evidence shows that the common variants associated with epilepsy play a role in epigenetic regulation of gene expression in the …

Targeting The Brd4/Foxo3a/Cdk6 Axis Sensitizes Akt Inhibition In Luminal Breast Cancer, Jingyi Liu, Weijie Guo, Zhibing Duan, Lei Zeng, Yadi Wu, Yule Chen, Fang Tai, Yifan Wang, Yiwei Lin, Qiang Zhang, Yanling He, Jiong Deng, Rachel L. Stewart, Chi Wang, Pengnian Charles Lin, Saghi Ghaffari, B. Mark Evers, Suling Liu, Ming-Ming Zhou, Binhua P. Zhou, Jian Shi

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

BRD4 assembles transcriptional machinery at gene super-enhancer regions and governs the expression of genes that are critical for cancer progression. However, it remains unclear whether BRD4-mediated gene transcription is required for tumor cells to develop drug resistance. Our data show that prolonged treatment of luminal breast cancer cells with AKT inhibitors induces FOXO3a dephosphorylation, nuclear translocation, and disrupts its association with SirT6, eventually leading to FOXO3a acetylation as well as BRD4 recognition. Acetylated FOXO3a recognizes the BD2 domain of BRD4, recruits the BRD4/RNAPII complex to the CDK6 gene promoter, and induces its transcription. Pharmacological inhibition of either BRD4/FOXO3a association or …

Control Of Ccnd1 Ubiquitylation By The Catalytic Saga Subunit Usp22 Is Essential For Cell Cycle Progression Through G1 In Cancer Cells., Victoria J. Gennaro, Timothy J. Stanek, Amy R. Peck, Yunguang Sun, Feng Wang, Shuo Qie, Karen E. Knudsen, Hallgeir Rui, Tauseef Butt, J. Alan Diehl, Steven B. Mcmahon

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

Overexpression of the deubiquitylase ubiquitin-specific peptidase 22 (USP22) is a marker of aggressive cancer phenotypes like metastasis, therapy resistance, and poor survival. Functionally, this overexpression of USP22 actively contributes to tumorigenesis, as USP22 depletion blocks cancer cell cycle progression in vitro, and inhibits tumor progression in animal models of lung, breast, bladder, ovarian, and liver cancer, among others. Current models suggest that USP22 mediates these biological effects via its role in epigenetic regulation as a subunit of the Spt-Ada-Gcn5-acetyltransferase (SAGA) transcriptional cofactor complex. Challenging the dogma, we report here a nontranscriptional role for USP22 via a direct effect on the …

Trpv1 And The Mcp-1/Ccr2 Axis Modulate Post-Uti Chronic Pain., John Rosen, Ryan E. Yaggie, Patrick J. Woida, Richard J. Miller, Anthony J. Schaeffer, David J. Klumpp

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

The etiology of chronic pelvic pain syndromes remains unknown. In a murine urinary tract infection (UTI) model, lipopolysaccharide of uropathogenic E. coli and its receptor TLR4 are required for post-UTI chronic pain development. However, downstream mechanisms of post-UTI chronic pelvic pain remain unclear. Because the TRPV1 and MCP-1/CCR2 pathways are implicated in chronic neuropathic pain, we explored their role in post-UTI chronic pain. Mice were infected with the E. coli strain SΦ874, known to produce chronic allodynia, and treated with the TRPV1 antagonist capsazepine. Mice treated with capsazepine at the time of SΦ874 infection failed to develop chronic allodynia, whereas …

Macrophage-Derived Il-1Β/Nf-Κb Signaling Mediates Parenteral Nutrition-Associated Cholestasis., Karim C El Kasmi, Padade M Vue, Aimee L Anderson, Michael W Devereaux, Swati Ghosh, Natarajan Balasubramaniyan, Sophie A Fillon, Carola Dahrenmoeller, Ayed Allawzi, Crystal Woods, Sarah Mckenna, Clyde J Wright, Linda Johnson, Angelo D'Alessandro, Julie A Reisz, Eva Nozik-Grayck, Frederick J Suchy, Ronald J Sokol

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

In infants intolerant of enteral feeding because of intestinal disease, parenteral nutrition may be associated with cholestasis, which can progress to end-stage liver disease. Here we show the function of hepatic macrophages and phytosterols in parenteral nutrition-associated cholestasis (PNAC) pathogenesis using a mouse model that recapitulates the human pathophysiology and combines intestinal injury with parenteral nutrition. We combine genetic, molecular, and pharmacological approaches to identify an essential function of hepatic macrophages and IL-1β in PNAC. Pharmacological antagonism of IL-1 signaling or genetic deficiency in CCR2, caspase-1 and caspase-11, or IL-1 receptor (which binds both IL-1α and IL-1β) prevents PNAC in …

Transcriptional Regulatory Networks Underlying Gene Expression Changes In Huntington's Disease., Seth A Ament, Jocelynn R Pearl, Jeffrey P Cantle, Robert M Bragg, Peter J Skene, Sydney R Coffey, Dani E Bergey, Vanessa C Wheeler, Marcy E Macdonald, Nitin S Baliga, Jim Rosinski, Leroy E Hood, Jeffrey B Carroll, Nathan D Price

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Transcriptional changes occur presymptomatically and throughout Huntington's disease (HD), motivating the study of transcriptional regulatory networks (TRNs) in HD We reconstructed a genome-scale model for the target genes of 718 transcription factors (TFs) in the mouse striatum by integrating a model of genomic binding sites with transcriptome profiling of striatal tissue from HD mouse models. We identified 48 differentially expressed TF-target gene modules associated with age- and CAG repeat length-dependent gene expression changes in

Conserved Brain Myelination Networks Are Altered In Alzheimer's And Other Neurodegenerative Diseases., Mariet Allen, Xue Wang, Jeremy D Burgess, Jens Watzlawik, Daniel J Serie, Curtis S Younkin, Thuy Nguyen, Kimberly G Malphrus, Sarah Lincoln, Minerva M Carrasquillo, Charlotte Ho, Paramita Chakrabarty, Samantha Strickland, Melissa E Murray, Vivek Swarup, Daniel H Geschwind, Nicholas T Seyfried, Eric B Dammer, James J Lah, Allan I Levey, Todd E Golde, Cory Funk, Hongdong Li, Nathan D Price, Ronald C Petersen, Neill R Graff-Radford, Steven G Younkin, Dennis W Dickson, Julia R Crook, Yan W Asmann, Nilüfer Ertekin-Taner

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

INTRODUCTION: Comparative transcriptome analyses in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative proteinopathies can uncover both shared and distinct disease pathways.

METHODS: We analyzed 940 brain transcriptomes including patients with AD, progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP; a primary tauopathy), and control subjects.

RESULTS: We identified transcriptional coexpression networks implicated in myelination, which were lower in PSP temporal cortex (TCX) compared with AD. Some of these associations were retained even after adjustments for brain cell population changes. These TCX myelination network structures were preserved in cerebellum but they were not differentially expressed in cerebellum between AD and PSP. Myelination networks were downregulated in …

Nephron Segment-Specific Gene Expression Using Aav Vectors., Laureano D Asico, Santiago Cuevas, Xiaobo Ma, Pedro A Jose, Ines Armando, Prasad R Konkalmatt

Medicine Faculty Publications

AAV9 vector provides efficient gene transfer in all segments of the renal nephron, with minimum expression in non-renal cells, when administered retrogradely via the ureter. It is important to restrict the transgene expression to the desired cell type within the kidney, so that the physiological endpoints represent the function of the transgene expressed in that specific cell type within kidney. We hypothesized that segment-specific gene expression within the kidney can be accomplished using the highly efficient AAV9 vectors carrying the promoters of genes that are expressed exclusively in the desired segment of the nephron in combination with administration by retrograde …

Neurotensin Receptor 3/Sortilin Contributes To Tumorigenesis Of Neuroendocrine Tumors Through Augmentation Of Cell Adhesion And Migration, Ji Tae Kim, Dana L. Napier, Heidi L. Weiss, Eun Y. Lee, Courtney M. Townsend, B. Mark Evers

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Neurotensin (NTS), a 13–amino acid peptide which is distributed predominantly along gastrointestinal tract, has multiple physiologic and pathologic functions, and its effects are mediated by three distinct NTS receptors (NTSRs). Overexpression and activation of NTS signaling components, especially NTS and/or NTSR1, are closely linked with cancer progression and metastasis in various types of cancers including neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). Although deregulation of NTSR3/sortilin has been implicated in a variety of human diseases, the expression and role of NTSR3/sortilin in NETs have not been elucidated. In this study, we investigated the expression and oncogenic effect of NTSR3/sortilin in NETs. Increased protein levels …

Microscale Gene Expression Analysis Of Tumor-Associated Macrophages, Kuldeep S. Attri, Kamiya Mehla, Surendra K. Shukla, Pankaj K. Singh

Journal Articles: Eppley Institute

Macrophages, apart from being the key effector cells of the innate immune system, also play critical roles during the development and progression of various complex diseases, including cancer. Tumor-associated macrophages, infiltrate tumors during different stages of cancer progression to regulate motility, invasion, and intravasation to metastatic sites. Macrophages can exist in different polarization states associated with unique function in tumors. Since tumor-associated macrophages constitute a very small proportion of tumor cells, analysis of gene expression pattern using normal extraction buffer-based methods remains a challenging task. Therefore, it is imperative to develop low-throughput strategies to investigate transcriptional regulations from a small …