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Full-Text Articles in Medical Genetics

Lysergic Acid Diethylamide Induces Increased Signalling Entropy In Rats’ Prefrontal Cortex, Aurora Savino, Charles D. Nichols Nov 2021

Lysergic Acid Diethylamide Induces Increased Signalling Entropy In Rats’ Prefrontal Cortex, Aurora Savino, Charles D. Nichols

School of Graduate Studies Faculty Publications

Psychedelic drugs are gaining attention from the scientific community as potential new compounds for the treatment of psychiatric diseases such as mood and substance use disorders. The 5-HT2A receptor has been identified as the main molecular target, and early studies pointed to an effect on the expression of neuroplasticity genes. Analysing RNA-seq data from the prefrontal cortex of rats chronically treated with lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), we describe the psychedelic-induced rewiring of gene co-expression networks, which become less centralised but more complex, with an overall increase in signalling entropy typical of highly plastic systems. Intriguingly, signalling entropy mirrors, at the …


Ceramides Promote Apoptosis For Virus-Infected Lymphoma Cells Through Induction Of Ceramide Synthases And Viral Lytic Gene Expression, Lu Dai, Jimena Trillo-Tinoco, Aiping Bai, Yihan Chen, Jacek Bielawski, Luis Del Valle, Charles D. Smith, Augusto C. Ochoa, Zhiqiang Qin, Chris Parsons Jul 2015

Ceramides Promote Apoptosis For Virus-Infected Lymphoma Cells Through Induction Of Ceramide Synthases And Viral Lytic Gene Expression, Lu Dai, Jimena Trillo-Tinoco, Aiping Bai, Yihan Chen, Jacek Bielawski, Luis Del Valle, Charles D. Smith, Augusto C. Ochoa, Zhiqiang Qin, Chris Parsons

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the etiologic agent for several human cancers including primary effusion lymphoma (PEL), a rapidly progressive malignancy arising preferentially in immunocompromised patients. With conventional chemotherapy, PEL continues to portend high mortality, dictating the development of novel therapeutic strategies. Sphingosine kinase 2 (SphK2) represents a key gatekeeper for sphingolipid metabolism, responsible for conversion of ceramides to sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P). We have previously demonstrated that targeting SphK2 using a novel selective inhibitor, ABC294640, leads to intracellular accumulation of ceramides and induces apoptosis for KSHV-infected PEL cells, while suppressing tumor progression in vivo. In the current study, we sought to …