Medical Molecular Biology Commons^™

The Impact Of Essential Trace Elements On Ovarian Response And Reproductive Outcomes Following Single Euploid Embryo Transfer, Roberto Gonzalez-Martin, Andrea Palomar, Alicia Quiñonero, Nuria Pellicer, Rocio Fernandez-Saavedra, Estefania Conde-Vilda, Alberto J Quejido, Christine Whitehead, Richard T. Scott, Francisco Dominguez

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

Essential trace elements are required in extremely small amounts and obtained through diet. This research focuses on detecting major trace elements in different biofluids of sixty women undergoing ICSI with PGT-A and SET/FET at IVI-RMA, New Jersey, and assessing their impact on their IVF outcomes. Urine, plasma, and follicular fluid samples were collected on the vaginal oocyte retrieval day to measure the concentrations of eight essential trace elements (copper, zinc, molybdenum, lithium, selenium, manganese, chromium, and iron) using ICP-MS. After analysis, ovarian response and preimplantation outcomes had significant positive associations with both copper alone and the copper/zinc ratio in the …

Diagnostic Accuracy Of Macular Thickness Map And Texture En Face Images For Detecting Glaucoma In Eyes With Axial High Myopia, Christopher Bowd, Akram Belghith, Jasmin Rezapour, Mark Christopher, Leslie Hyman, Jost B Jonas, Robert N Weinreb, Linda M Zangwill

Wills Eye Hospital Papers

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of a novel optical coherence tomography texture-based en face image analysis (SALSA-Texture) that requires segmentation of only 1 retinal layer for glaucoma detection in eyes with axial high myopia, and to compare SALSA-Texture with standard macular ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) thickness, macular retinal nerve fiber layer (mRNFL) thickness, and ganglion cell complex (GCC) thickness maps.

Design: Comparison of diagnostic approaches.

Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected from 92 eyes with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and 44 healthy control eyes with axial high myopia (axial length >26 mm). Optical coherence tomography texture en face images, …

Liquid Biopsies To Occult Brain Metastasis, Asad Ur Rehman, Parvez Khan, Shailendra K. Maurya, Jawed A. Siddiqui, Juan A. Santamaria-Barria, Surinder K. Batra, Mohd W. Nasser

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Brain metastasis (BrM) is a major problem associated with cancer-related mortality, and currently, no specific biomarkers are available in clinical settings for early detection. Liquid biopsy is widely accepted as a non-invasive method for diagnosing cancer and other diseases. We have reviewed the evidence that shows how the molecular alterations are involved in BrM, majorly from breast cancer (BC), lung cancer (LC), and melanoma, with an inception in how they can be employed for biomarker development. We discussed genetic and epigenetic changes that influence cancer cells to breach the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and help to establish metastatic lesions in the …

The Effects Of Estrogen In The Glucoregulatory Response To Exercise In Type 1 Diabetes, Mitchell James Sammut

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Regular exercise has shown to benefit the health of individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). However, a barrier to regular exercise for this population is the fear of low blood glucose (BG) levels, also known as hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia can result in short and long-term side-effects, such as recurring loss of consciousness or in severe cases death.

In non-diabetics, sex-related differences in fuel selection during exercise are well established. Women shift towards using fats as fuel whereas men rely mostly on sugars (i.e., carbohydrates) for energy production. Exercise during the luteal phase of the female menstrual cycle, where estrogen levels …

Candida Cell-Surface-Specific Monoclonal Antibodies Protect Mice Against Candida Auris Invasive Infection, Jonothan Rosario-Colon, Karen Eberle, Abby Adams, Evan Courville, Hong Xin

School of Graduate Studies Faculty Publications

Candida auris is a multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen that can cause disseminated bloodstream infections with up to 60% mortality in susceptible populations. Of the three major classes of antifungal drugs, most C. auris isolates show high resistance to azoles and polyenes, with some clinical isolates showing resistance to all three drug classes. We reported in this study a novel approach to treating C. auris disseminated infections through passive transfer of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting cell surface antigens with high homology in medically important Candida species. Using an established A/J mouse model of disseminated infection that mimics human candidiasis, we showed that …

Precision Medicine And Actionable Alterations In Lung Cancer: A Single Institution Experience, Isa Mambetsariev, Yingyu Wang, Chen Chen, Sorena Nadaf, Rebecca Pharaon, Jeremy Fricke, Idoroenyi Amanam, Arya Amini, Andrea Bild, Peiguo Chu, Loretta Erhunmwunsee, Jae Kim, Janet Munu, Raju Pillai, Dan Raz, Sagus Sampath, Lalit Vora, Fang Qiu, Lynette M. Smith, Surinder K. Batra, Erminia Massarelli, Marianna Koczywas, Karen Reckamp, Ravi Salgia

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

OBJECTIVES: Oncology has become more reliant on new testing methods and a greater use of electronic medical records, which provide a plethora of information available to physicians and researchers. However, to take advantage of vital clinical and research data for precision medicine, we must initially make an effort to create an infrastructure for the collection, storage, and utilization of this information with uniquely designed disease-specific registries that could support the collection of a large number of patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, we perform an in-depth analysis of a series of lung adenocarcinoma patients (n = 415) with genomic …

Economic Evaluation Of Lupus Nephritis In The Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics Inception Cohort Using A Multistate Model Approach., M. R.W. Barber, J. G. Hanly, L. Su, M. B. Urowitz, Y. St Pierre, J. Romero-Diaz, C. Gordon, C. Aranow, M. Mackay, A. E. Clarke, +30 Additional Authors

Journal Articles

OBJECTIVE: Little is known about the long-term costs of lupus nephritis (LN). The costs were compared between patients with and without LN using multistate modeling.

METHODS: Patients from 32 centers in 11 countries were enrolled in the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics inception cohort within 15 months of diagnosis and provided annual data on renal function, hospitalizations, medications, dialysis, and selected procedures. LN was diagnosed by renal biopsy or the American College of Rheumatology classification criteria. Renal function was assessed annually using the estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) or estimated proteinuria. A multistate model was used to predict 10-year cumulative …

Stress Granules And Rna Processing Bodies Are Novel Autoantibody Targets In Systemic Sclerosis, Michael E. Johnson, Andrew V. Grassetti, Jaclyn N. Taroni, Shawn M. Lyons, Devin Schweppe, Jessica K. Gordon, Robert F. Speira, Robert Lafyatis, Paul J. Anderson, Scott A. Gerber, Michael L. Whitfield

Dartmouth Scholarship

Autoantibody profiles represent important patient stratification markers in systemic sclerosis (SSc). Here, we performed serum-immunoprecipitations with patient antibodies followed by mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to obtain an unbiased view of all possible autoantibody targets and their associated molecular complexes recognized by SSc.

Amyloid Precursor-Like Protein 2 (Aplp2) Affects The Actin Cytoskeleton And Increases Pancreatic Cancer Growth And Metastasis., Poomy Pandey, Satyanarayana Rachagani, Srustidhar Das, Parthasarathy Seshacharyulu, Yuri Sheinin, Naava Naslavsky, Zenggang Pan, Brittney L. Smith, Haley L. Peters, Prakash Radhakrishnan, Nicole R. Mckenna, Sai Srinivas Panapakkam Giridharan, Dhanya Haridas, Sukhwinder Kaur, Michael A. Hollingsworth, Richard G. Macdonald, Jane L. Meza, Steve Caplan, Surinder K. Batra, Joyce C. Solheim

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Amyloid precursor-like protein 2 (APLP2) is aberrantly expressed in pancreatic cancer. Here we showed that APLP2 is increased in pancreatic cancer metastases, particularly in metastatic lesions found in the diaphragm and intestine. Examination of matched human primary tumor-liver metastasis pairs showed that 38.1% of the patients had positive APLP2 expression in both the primary tumor and the corresponding liver metastasis. Stable knock-down of APLP2 expression (with inducible shRNA) in pancreatic cancer cells reduced the ability of these cells to migrate and invade. Loss of APLP2 decreased cortical actin and increased intracellular actin filaments in pancreatic cancer cells. Down-regulation of APLP2 …

Diagnosis Of Pancreatic Neoplasms Using A Novel Method Of Dna Methylation Analysis Of Mucin Expression In Pancreatic Juice., Seiya Yokoyama, Sho Kitamoto, Michiyo Higashi, Yuko Goto, Taro Hara, Dai Ikebe, Taketo Yamaguchi, Yoshifumi Arisaka, Toru Niihara, Hiroto Nishimata, Sadao Tanaka, Kyoichi Takaori, Surinder K. Batra, Suguru Yonezawa

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Mucins (MUC) play crucial roles in carcinogenesis and tumor invasion in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs). Our immunohistochemistry (IHC) studies have shown a consensus position on mucin expression profiles in pancreatic neoplasms as follows: MUC1-positive but MUC2-negative expression in PDACs; MUC1-negative but MUC2-positive expression in intestinal-type IPMNs (dangerous type); MUC1-negative and MUC2-negative expression in gastric-type IPMNs (safe type); High MUC4 expression in PDAC patients with a poor outcome; and MUC4-positive expression in intestinal-type IPMNs. We also showed that three mucin genes (MUC1, MUC2 and MUC4) expression in cancer cell line was regulated by DNA methylation. …

An Integrated Clinico-Metabolomic Model Improves Prediction Of Death In Sepsis., Raymond J. Langley, Ephraim L. Tsalik, Jennifer C. Van Velkinburgh, Seth W. Glickman, Brandon J. Rice, Chunping Wang, Bo Chen, Lawrence Carin, Arturo Suarez, Robert P. Mohney, Debra H. Freeman, Mu Wang, Jinsam You, Jacob Wulff, J Will Thompson, M Arthur Moseley, Stephanie Reisinger, Brian T. Edmonds, Brian Grinnell, David R. Nelson, Darrell L. Dinwiddie, Neil A. Miller, Carol J. Saunders, Sarah Soden, Angela J. Rogers, Lee Gazourian, Laura E. Fredenburgh, Anthony F. Massaro, Rebecca M. Baron, Augustine M K Choi, G Ralph Corey, Geoffrey S. Ginsburg, Charles B. Cairns, Ronny M. Otero, Vance G. Fowler, Emanuel P. Rivers, Christopher W. Woods, Stephen F. Kingsmore

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Sepsis is a common cause of death, but outcomes in individual patients are difficult to predict. Elucidating the molecular processes that differ between sepsis patients who survive and those who die may permit more appropriate treatments to be deployed. We examined the clinical features and the plasma metabolome and proteome of patients with and without community-acquired sepsis, upon their arrival at hospital emergency departments and 24 hours later. The metabolomes and proteomes of patients at hospital admittance who would ultimately die differed markedly from those of patients who would survive. The different profiles of proteins and metabolites clustered into the …

Muc4 Overexpression Augments Cell Migration And Metastasis Through Egfr Family Proteins In Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells., Partha Mukhopadhyay, Imayavaramban Lakshmanan, Moorthy P. Ponnusamy, Subhankar Chakraborty, Maneesh Jain, Priya Pai, Lynette M. Smith, Subodh M. Lele, Surinder K. Batra

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

INTRODUCTION: Current studies indicate that triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive breast cancer subtype, is associated with poor prognosis and an early pattern of metastasis. Emerging evidence suggests that MUC4 mucin is associated with metastasis of various cancers, including breast cancer. However, the functional role of MUC4 remains unclear in breast cancers, especially in TNBCs.

METHOD: In the present study, we investigated the functional and mechanistic roles of MUC4 in potentiating pathogenic signals including EGFR family proteins to promote TNBC aggressiveness using in vitro and in vivo studies. Further, we studied the expression of MUC4 in invasive TNBC tissue …

Ash2 Acts As An Ecdysone Receptor Coactivator By Stabilizing The Histone Methyltransferase Trr., Albert Carbonell, Alexander Mazo, Florenci Serras, Montserrat Corominas

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

The molting hormone ecdysone triggers chromatin changes via histone modifications that are important for gene regulation. On hormone activation, the ecdysone receptor (EcR) binds to the SET domain-containing histone H3 methyltransferase trithorax-related protein (Trr). Methylation of histone H3 at lysine 4 (H3K4me), which is associated with transcriptional activation, requires several cofactors, including Ash2. We find that ash2 mutants have severe defects in pupariation and metamorphosis due to a lack of activation of ecdysone-responsive genes. This transcriptional defect is caused by the absence of the H3K4me3 marks set by Trr in these genes. We present evidence that Ash2 interacts with Trr …

Muc4 And Muc1 Expression In Adenocarcinoma Of The Stomach Correlates With Vessel Invasion And Lymph Node Metastasis: An Immunohistochemical Study Of Early Gastric Cancer., Yukihiro Tamura, Michiyo Higashi, Sho Kitamoto, Seiya Yokoyama, Masahiko Osako, Michiko Horinouchi, Takeshi Shimizu, Mineo Tabata, Surinder K. Batra, Masamichi Goto, Suguru Yonezawa

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

We have previously reported that MUC4 expression is a poor prognostic factor in various carcinomas. Our previous study also showed that MUC1 expression in gastric cancers, including the early and advanced stages is a poor prognostic factor. In the present study, the expression profiles of MUC4 and MUC1 were examined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) using two anti-MUC4 monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), 8G7 and 1G8, and anti-MUC1 MAb DF3 in 104 gastrectomy specimens of early gastric adenocarcinoma with submucosal invasion (pT1b2), including 197 histological subtype lesions. Before the IHC study of the human specimens, we evaluated the specificity of the two MAbs by …

Marital Status And Survival In Pancreatic Cancer Patients: A Seer Based Analysis., Michael J. Baine, Freshta Sahak, Chi Lin, Subhankar Chakraborty, Surinder K. Batra, Elizabeth R. Lyden

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

BACKGROUND: Recent findings suggest that marital status affects survival in patients with different types of cancer. However, its role in the survival of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is unknown. In this study, we investigated whether there was an association between marital status and overall survival (OS) in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

METHODS: Adult patients diagnosed with PDAC between 1998 and 2003 with known marital statuses were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry of the National Cancer Institute. OS for these patients was plotted using the Kaplan-Meier method. Comparative risks of mortality were evaluated by …

Transcriptional Profiling Of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells In Pancreatic Cancer Patients Identifies Novel Genes With Potential Diagnostic Utility., Michael J. Baine, Subhankar Chakraborty, Lynette M. Smith, Kavita Mallya, Aaron R. Sasson, Randall E. Brand, Surinder K. Batra

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

BACKGROUND: It is well known that many malignancies, including pancreatic cancer (PC), possess the ability to evade the immune system by indirectly downregulating the mononuclear cell machinery necessary to launch an effective immune response. This knowledge, in conjunction with the fact that the trancriptome of peripheral blood mononuclear cells has been shown to be altered in the context of many diseases, including renal cell carcinoma, lead us to study if any such alteration in gene expression exists in PC as it may have diagnostic utility.

METHODS AND FINDINGS: PBMC samples from 26 PC patients and 33 matched healthy controls were …

Steroids Up-Regulate P66shc Longevity Protein In Growth Regulation By Inhibiting Its Ubiquitination., Santosh Kumar, Satyendra Kumar, Mythilypriya Rajendran, Syed Mahfuzul Alam, Fen-Fen Lin, Pi-Wan Cheng, Ming-Fong Lin

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

BACKGROUND: p66Shc, an isoform of Shc adaptor proteins, mediates diverse signals, including cellular stress and mouse longevity. p66Shc protein level is elevated in several carcinomas and steroid-treated human cancer cells. Several lines of evidence indicate that p66Shc plays a critical role in steroid-related carcinogenesis, and steroids play a role in its elevated levels in those cells without known mechanism.

METHODS AND FINDINGS: In this study, we investigated the molecular mechanism by which steroid hormones up-regulate p66Shc protein level. In steroid-treated human prostate and ovarian cancer cells, p66Shc protein levels were elevated, correlating with increased cell proliferation. These steroid effects on …

Imaging Spontaneous Mmtvneu Transgenic Murine Mammary Tumors: Targeting Metabolic Activity Versus Genetic Products., Mathew L Thakur, Devakumar Devadhas, Kaijun Zhang, Richard G Pestell, Chenguang Wang, Peter Mccue, Eric Wickstrom

Department of Radiology Faculty Papers

INTRODUCTION: Despite the great strides made in imaging breast cancer (BC) in humans, the current imaging modalities miss up to 30% of BC, do not distinguish malignant lesions from benign ones, and require histologic examinations for which invasive biopsy must be performed. Annually in the United States, approximately 5.6 million biopsies find benign lesions. More than 50% of human BCs overexpress cyclin D1, and all BCs exhibit VPAC1 oncogene products. Together, these gene products may provide an excellent biomarker for the early and accurate detection of BC. We have evaluated 4 biologically active peptide analogs that have high affinity for …

Genome Based Cell Population Heterogeneity Promotes Tumorigenicity: The Evolutionary Mechanism Of Cancer., Christine J. Ye, Joshua B. Stevens, Guo Liu, Steven W. Bremer, Aruna S. Jaiswal, Karen J. Ye, Ming-Fong Lin, Lesley Lawrenson, Wayne D. Lancaster, Markku Kurkinen, Joshua D. Liao, C. Gary Gairola, Malathy P. V. Shekhar, Satya Narayan, Fred R. Miller, Henry H. Q. Heng

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Cancer progression represents an evolutionary process where overall genome level changes reflect system instability and serve as a driving force for evolving new systems. To illustrate this principle it must be demonstrated that karyotypic heterogeneity (population diversity) directly contributes to tumorigenicity. Five well characterized in vitro tumor progression models representing various types of cancers were selected for such an analysis. The tumorigenicity of each model has been linked to different molecular pathways, and there is no common molecular mechanism shared among them. According to our hypothesis that genome level heterogeneity is a key to cancer evolution, we expect to reveal …

Elongation Factor 1 Alpha Interacts With Phospho-Akt In Breast Cancer Cells And Regulates Their Proliferation, Survival And Motility., Luisa Pecorari, Oriano Marin, Chiara Silvestri, Olivia Candini, Elena Rossi, Clara Guerzoni, Sara Cattelani, Samanta A Mariani, Francesca Corradini, Giovanna Ferrari-Amorotti, Laura Cortesi, Rita Bussolari, Giuseppe Raschellà, Massimo R Federico, Bruno Calabretta

Kimmel Cancer Center Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Akt/PKB is a serine/threonine kinase that has attracted much attention because of its central role in regulating cell proliferation, survival, motility and angiogenesis. Activation of Akt in breast cancer portends aggressive tumour behaviour, resistance to hormone-, chemo-, and radiotherapy-induced apoptosis and it is correlated with decreased overall survival. Recent studies have identified novel tumor-specific substrates of Akt that may provide new diagnostic and prognostic markers and serve as therapeutic targets. This study was undertaken to identify pAkt-interacting proteins and to assess their biological roles in breast cancer cells. RESULTS: We confirmed that one of the pAkt interacting proteins is …

Muc4 Activates Her2 Signalling And Enhances The Motility Of Human Ovarian Cancer Cells., Moorthy P. Ponnusamy, A. P. Singh, Maneesh Jain, S. Chakraborty, N. Moniaux, Surinder K. Batra

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

The mucin MUC4 is a high molecular weight transmembrane glycoprotein. It consists of a mucin-type subunit (MUC4alpha) and a transmembrane growth factor-like subunit (MUC4beta). The mucin MUC4 is overexpressed in many epithelial malignancies including ovarian cancer, suggesting a possible role in the pathogenesis of these cancers. In this study, we investigated the functional role of MUC4 in the human ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3. The mucin MUC4 was ectopically expressed by stable transfection, and its expression was examined by western blot and confocal microscopy analyses. The in vitro studies demonstrated an enhanced motility of MUC4-expressing SKOV3 cells compared with the …

Muc4 And Muc5ac Are Highly Specific Tumour-Associated Mucins In Biliary Tract Cancer., W. R. Matull, F. Andreola, A. Loh, Z. Adiguzel, M. Deheragoda, U. Qureshi, Surinder K. Batra, D. M. Swallow, S. P. Pereira

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Alterations in epithelial mucin expression are associated with carcinogenesis, but there are few data in biliary tract cancer (BTC). In pancreatic malignancy, MUC4 is a diagnostic and prognostic tumour marker, whereas MUC5AC has been proposed as a sensitive serological marker for BTC. We assessed MUC4 and MUC5AC expression in (i) prospectively collected bile and serum specimens from 72 patients with biliary obstruction (39 BTC) by real-time reverse transcriptase-PCR (qPCR) and western blot analysis, and (ii) 79 archived biliary tissues (69 BTC) by immunohistochemistry. In bile, MUC4 protein was detected in 27% of BTC and 29% of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) …

Early Diagnosis Of Pancreatic Cancer: Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin As A Marker Of Pancreatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia., N. Moniaux, S. Chakraborty, M. Yalniz, J. Gonzalez, Valerie K. Shostrom, J. Standop, Subodh M. Lele, Michel M. Ouellette, Parviz M. Pour, Aaron Sasson, R. E. Brand, Michael A. Hollingsworth, Maneesh Jain, Surinder K. Batra

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal malignancy with a dismal 5-year survival of less than 5%. The scarcity of early biomarkers has considerably hindered our ability to launch preventive measures for this malignancy in a timely manner. Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), a 24-kDa glycoprotein, was reported to be upregulated nearly 27-fold in pancreatic cancer cells compared to normal ductal cells in a microarray analysis. Given the need for biomarkers in the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, we investigated the expression of NGAL in tissues with the objective of examining if NGAL immunostaining could be used to identify foci of pancreatic …