The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston
The University of Western Ontario
University of Pennsylvania
University of Iowa
Washington State University
The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School
University of North Texas Health Science Center
Virginia Commonwealth University
Environmental Signaling Through The Target Of Rapamycin Complex 1 (Torc1) And The Regulation Of Epigenetic Mechanisms,
2016
University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Environmental Signaling Through The Target Of Rapamycin Complex 1 (Torc1) And The Regulation Of Epigenetic Mechanisms, Jason J. Workman
Theses and Dissertations (ETD)
The gene expression profile of a eukaryotic cell is responsive to a variety of extracellular stimuli, including nutrient availability, which allows cells to toggle between anabolism and catabolism based on the favorability of their environment. Much of this information is relayed through signaling complexes, such as the target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1), to downstream chromatin modifying enzymes. These enzymes impact the gene regulatory process through altered histone post-translation modifications, changes in chromatin structure, and docking of chromatin regulatory complexes. Yet, despite preliminary studies suggesting that TORC1 affects epigenetic mechanisms, including histone H3 lysine 56 acetylation (H3K56ac), almost nothing is ...
Regulation Of Polycystin-1 Function By Calmodulin Binding,
2016
University of California, Santa Barbara
Regulation Of Polycystin-1 Function By Calmodulin Binding, Nicholas Doerr, Yidi Wang, Kevin R. Kipp, Guangyi Liu, Jesse J. Benza, Vladimir Pletnev, Tengis S. Pavlov, Alexander Staruschenko, Ashraf M. Mohieldin, Maki Takahashi, Surya M. Nauli, Thomas Weimbs
Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research
Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD) is a common genetic disease that leads to progressive renal cyst growth and loss of renal function, and is caused by mutations in the genes encoding polycystin-1 (PC1) and polycystin-2 (PC2), respectively. The PC1/PC2 complex localizes to primary cilia and can act as a flow-dependent calcium channel in addition to numerous other signaling functions. The exact functions of the polycystins, their regulation and the purpose of the PC1/PC2 channel are still poorly understood. PC1 is an integral membrane protein with a large extracytoplasmic N-terminal domain and a short, ~200 amino acid C-terminal ...
Exome-Based Variant Detection In Core Promoters.,
2016
University of Nebraska Medical Center
Exome-Based Variant Detection In Core Promoters., Yeong C. Kim, Jian Cui, Jiangtao Luo, Fengxia Xiao, Bradley Downs, San Ming Wang
Journal Articles: Genetics, Cell Biology & Anatomy
Core promoter controls the initiation of transcription. Core promoter sequence change can disrupt transcriptional regulation, lead to impairment of gene expression and ultimately diseases. Therefore, comprehensive characterization of core promoters is essential to understand normal and abnormal gene expression in biomedical studies. Here we report the development of EVDC (Exome-based Variant Detection in Core promoters) method for genome-scale analysis of core-promoter sequence variation. This method is based on the fact that exome sequences contain the sequences not only from coding exons but also from non-coding region including core promoters generated by random fragmentation in exome sequencing process. Using exome data ...
Hiv Vaccines: Progress, Limitations And A Crispr/Cas9 Vaccine,
2016
Augustana College, Rock Island Illinois
Hiv Vaccines: Progress, Limitations And A Crispr/Cas9 Vaccine, Omar A. Garcia Martinez
Biology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works
ABSTRACT: The HIV-1 pandemic continues to thrive due to ineffective HIV-1 vaccines. Historically, the world’s most infectious diseases, such as polio and smallpox, have been eradicated or have come close to eradication due to the advent of effective vaccines. Highly active antiretroviral therapy is able to delay the onset of AIDS but can neither rid the body of HIV-1 proviral DNA nor prevent further transmission. A prophylactic vaccine that prevents the various mechanisms HIV-1 has to evade and attack our immune system is needed to end the HIV-1 pandemic. Recent advances in engineered nuclease systems, like the CRISPR/Cas9 ...
The Carboxyl Terminal Mutational Hotspot Of The Ciliary Disease Protein Rpgrorf15 (Retinitis Pigmentosa Gtpase Regulator) Is Glutamylated In Vivo,
2016
University of Massachusetts Medical School
The Carboxyl Terminal Mutational Hotspot Of The Ciliary Disease Protein Rpgrorf15 (Retinitis Pigmentosa Gtpase Regulator) Is Glutamylated In Vivo, Kollu N. Rao, Manisha Anand, Hemant Khanna
Open Access Articles
Mutations inRPGR(ORF15)(retinitis pigmentosa GTPase regulator) are a major cause of inherited retinal degenerative diseases. RPGR(ORF15)(1152 residues) is a ciliary protein involved in regulating the composition and function of photoreceptor cilia. The mutational hotspot in RPGR(ORF15)is an unusual C-terminal domain encoded by exon ORF15, which is rich in polyglutamates and glycine residues (Glu-Gly domain) followed by a short stretch of basic amino acid residues (RPGR(C2)domain; residues 1072-1152). However, the properties of the ORF15-encoded domain and its involvement in the pathogenesis of the disease are unclear. Here we show that RPGR(ORF15)is glutamylated ...
Gene Expression Profiling In An Alzheimer's Disease Mouse Model,
2016
Liberty University
Gene Expression Profiling In An Alzheimer's Disease Mouse Model, Matthew R. Dalton
Senior Honors Theses
Explaining precisely how Alzheimer’s disease (AD)—the world’s most common form of dementia—materializes in the human brain has proven to be one of the most elusive ends in modern medicine. Progressive memory loss, neurodegeneration, and the presence of abnormal protein aggregates of amyloid-beta (Aβ) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) characterize this disease. Genome sequencing provides researchers with the ability to better identify disease-related changes in gene expression, some of which may play a role in the initiation and progression toward the AD-like state. Intimate interactions between tissues have been observed in many diseases, particularly between the brain and ...
Intimin Likely Used To Cause Disease During Competition With Commensal Escherichia Coli,
2016
Liberty University
Intimin Likely Used To Cause Disease During Competition With Commensal Escherichia Coli, Dominique J. Richburg
Senior Honors Theses
The intimin gene in the Locus of Enterocyte Effacement (LEE) island of pathogenicity is the primary attachment mechanism in Citrobacter rodentium. Intimin is a bacterial adhesin (protein) that attaches to obtain a niche/nutrient and thrive within the intestine. Intimin was deleted within C. rodentium to study colonization and pathogenesis in the murine intestine. Additionally, C. rodentium is an attaching/effacing pathogen, and a useful murine model in understanding Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) infection in humans. E. coli and C. rodentium cause gastroenteritis in humans and mice, respectively. C. rodentium is a murine pathogen commonly used to model gastrointestinal disease ...
Genetic Link Between Renal Birth Defects And Congenital Heart Disease,
2016
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Genetic Link Between Renal Birth Defects And Congenital Heart Disease, Jovenal T. San Agustin, Nikolai Klena, Kristi Granath, Ashok Panigrahy, Eileen Stewart, William Devine, Lara Strittmatter, Julie A. Jonassen, Xiaoqin Liu, Cecilia W. Lo, Gregory J. Pazour
Program in Molecular Medicine Publications and Presentations
Structural birth defects in the kidney and urinary tract are observed in 0.5% of live births and are a major cause of end-stage renal disease, but their genetic aetiology is not well understood. Here we analyse 135 lines of mice identified in large-scale mouse mutagenesis screen and show that 29% of mutations causing congenital heart disease (CHD) also cause renal anomalies. The renal anomalies included duplex and multiplex kidneys, renal agenesis, hydronephrosis and cystic kidney disease. To assess the clinical relevance of these findings, we examined patients with CHD and observed a 30% co-occurrence of renal anomalies of a ...
Identification Of Potential Drug Targets In Cancer Signaling Pathways Using Stochastic Logical Models,
2016
Northwestern Polytechnical University
Identification Of Potential Drug Targets In Cancer Signaling Pathways Using Stochastic Logical Models, Peican Zhu, Hamidreza Montazeri Aliabadi, Hasan Uludag, Jie Han
Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research
The investigation of vulnerable components in a signaling pathway can contribute to development of drug therapy addressing aberrations in that pathway. Here, an original signaling pathway is derived from the published literature on breast cancer models. New stochastic logical models are then developed to analyze the vulnerability of the components in multiple signalling sub-pathways involved in this signaling cascade. The computational results are consistent with the experimental results, where the selected proteins were silenced using specific siRNAs and the viability of the cells were analyzed 72 hours after silencing. The genes elF4E and NFkB are found to have nearly no ...
Familial Cancer Syndromes,
2016
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Familial Cancer Syndromes, Beverly N. Hay
Cancer Concepts: A Guidebook for the Non-Oncologist
While the majority of cancers are not inherited, there are a number of well described collections of cancers that occur within families. These cancer syndromes were initially identified based on observation of the family history and subsequently the molecular mechanisms have been elucidated. This chapter in Cancer Concepts: A Guidebook for the Non-Oncologist is intended to allow the reader to recognize when a pattern of cancers occurs in an individual or their family, and to generate an investigation into potential cancer syndromes. With the rapidly expanding understanding of the molecular basis of cancers at the cellular and constitutional levels, appropriate ...
Raav2/5 Gene-Targeting To Rods: Dose-Dependent Efficiency And Complications Associated With Different Promoters,
2016
University of Pennsylvania
Raav2/5 Gene-Targeting To Rods: Dose-Dependent Efficiency And Complications Associated With Different Promoters, William Beltran, Sanford Boye, Shannon Boye, Vince Chiodo, Alfred Lewin, William Hauswirth, Gustavo Aguirre
Gustavo D. Aguirre, VMD, PhD
A prerequisite for using corrective gene therapy to treat humans with inherited retinal degenerative diseases that primarily affect rods is to develop viral vectors that target specifically this population of photoreceptors. The delivery of a viral vector with photoreceptor tropism coupled with a rod-specific promoter is likely to be the safest and most efficient approach to target expression of the therapeutic gene to rods. Three promoters that included a fragment of the proximal mouse opsin promoter (mOP), the human G-protein-coupled receptor protein kinase 1 promoter (hGRK1), or the cytomegalovirus immediate early enhancer combined with the chicken β actin proximal promoter ...
Exonic Sine Insertion In Stk38l Causes Canine Early Retinal Degeneration (Erd),
2016
University of Pennsylvania
Exonic Sine Insertion In Stk38l Causes Canine Early Retinal Degeneration (Erd), Orly Goldstein, Anna Kukekova, Gustavo Aguirre, Gregory Acland
Gustavo D. Aguirre, VMD, PhD
Fine mapping followed by candidate gene analysis of erd — a canine hereditary retinal degeneration characterized by aberrant photoreceptor development — established that the disease cosegregates with a SINE insertion in exon 4 of the canine STK38L/NDR2 gene. The mutation removes exon 4 from STK38L transcripts and is predicted to remove much of the N terminus from the translated protein, including binding sites for S100B and Mob proteins, part of the protein kinase domain, and a Thr-75 residue critical for autophosphorylation. Although known to have roles in neuronal cell function, the STK38L pathway has not previously been implicated in normal or ...
Identical Mutation In A Novel Retinal Gene Causes Progressive Rod-Cone Degeneration In Dogs And Retinitis Pigmentosa In Humans,
2016
University of Pennsylvania
Identical Mutation In A Novel Retinal Gene Causes Progressive Rod-Cone Degeneration In Dogs And Retinitis Pigmentosa In Humans, Barbara Zangerl, Orly Goldstein, Alisdair Philip, Sarah Lindauer, Susan Pearce-Kelling, Roberts Mullins, Alexander Graphodatsky, Daniel Ripoll, Jeanette Felix, Edwin Stone, Gregory Acland, Gustavo Aguirre
Gustavo D. Aguirre, VMD, PhD
Progressive rod–cone degeneration (prcd) is a late-onset, autosomal recessive photoreceptor degeneration of dogs and a homolog for some forms of human retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Previously, the disease-relevant interval was reduced to a 106-kb region on CFA9, and a common phenotype-specific haplotype was identified in all affected dogs from several different breeds and breed varieties. Screening of a canine retinal EST library identified partial cDNAs for novel candidate genes in the disease-relevant interval. The complete cDNA of one of these, PRCD, was cloned in dog, human, and mouse. The gene codes for a 54-amino-acid (aa) protein in dog and human ...
Modeling The Structural Consequences Of Best1 Missense Mutations,
2016
University of Pennsylvania
Modeling The Structural Consequences Of Best1 Missense Mutations, Karina Guziewicz, Gustavo Aguirre, Barbara Zangerl
Gustavo D. Aguirre, VMD, PhD
Mutations in the bestrophin-1 gene (BEST1) are an important cause of inherited retinal disorders. Hitherto, over 100 unique allelic variants have been linked to the human BEST1 (hBEST1), and associated with disease phenotypes, broadly termed as bestrophinopathies. A spontaneous animal model recapitulating BEST1-related phenotypes, canine multifocal retinopathy (cmr), is caused by mutations in the canine gene ortholog (cBEST1). We have recently characterized molecular consequences of cmr, demonstrating defective protein trafficking as a result of G161D (cmr2) mutation. To further investigate the pathological effects of BEST1 missense mutations, canine and human peptide fragments derived from the protein sequence have been studied ...
Identification Of Genetic Variation And Haplotype Structure Of The Canine Abca4 Gene For Retinal Disease Association Studies,
2016
University of Pennsylvania
Identification Of Genetic Variation And Haplotype Structure Of The Canine Abca4 Gene For Retinal Disease Association Studies, Barbara Zangerl, Sarah Lindauer, Gregory Acland, Gustavo Aguirre
Gustavo D. Aguirre, VMD, PhD
Over 200 mutations in the retina specific member of the ATP-binding cassette transporter superfamily (ABCA4) have been associated with a diverse group of human retinal diseases. The disease mechanisms, and genotype–phenotype associations, nonetheless, remain elusive in many cases. As orthologous genes are commonly mutated in canine models of human blinding disorders, canine ABCA4 appears to be an ideal candidate gene to identify and study sequence changes in dogs affected by various forms of inherited retinal degeneration. However, the size of the gene and lack of haplotype assignment significantly limit targeted association and/or linkage approaches. This study assessed the ...
Canine Rd3 Mutation Establishes Rod-Cone Dysplasia Type 2 (Rcd2) As Ortholog Of Human And Murine Rd3,
2016
University of Pennsylvania
Canine Rd3 Mutation Establishes Rod-Cone Dysplasia Type 2 (Rcd2) As Ortholog Of Human And Murine Rd3, Anna Kukekova, Orly Goldstein, Jennifer Johnson, Malcolm Richardson, Susan Pearce-Kelling, Anand Swaroop, James Friedman, Gustavo Aguirre, Gregory Acland
Gustavo D. Aguirre, VMD, PhD
Rod-cone dysplasia type 2 (rcd2) is an autosomal recessive disorder that segregates in collie dogs. Linkage disequilibrium and meiotic linkage mapping were combined to take advantage of population structure within this breed and to fine map rcd2 to a 230-kb candidate region that included the gene C1orf36 responsible for human and murine rd3, and within which all affected dogs were homozygous for one haplotype. In one of three identified canine retinal RD3 splice variants, an insertion was found that cosegregates with rcd2 and is predicted to alter the last 61 codons of the normal open reading frame and further extend ...
Development And Validation Of A Canine-Specific Profiling Array To Examine Expression Of Pro-Apoptotic And Pro-Survival Genes In Retinal Degenerative Diseases,
2016
University of Pennsylvania
Development And Validation Of A Canine-Specific Profiling Array To Examine Expression Of Pro-Apoptotic And Pro-Survival Genes In Retinal Degenerative Diseases, Sem Genini, William Beltran, Gustavo Aguirre
Gustavo D. Aguirre, VMD, PhD
We developed an expression profiling array to examine pro-apoptotic and pro-survival genes in dog retinal degeneration models. Gene-specific canine TaqMan assays were developed and included in a custom real-time quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) array. Of the 96 selected genes, 93 belonged to known relevant pro-apoptotic and pro-survival pathways, and/or were positive controls expressed in retina, while three were housekeeping genes. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) showed that the selected genes belonged to expected biological functions (cell death, cell-mediated immune response, cellular development, function, and maintenance) and pathways (death receptor signaling, apoptosis, TNFR1 signaling, and induction of apoptosis by HIV1). Validation ...
Col9a2 And Col9a3 Mutations In Canine Autosomal Recessive Oculoskeletal Dysplasia,
2016
University of Pennsylvania
Col9a2 And Col9a3 Mutations In Canine Autosomal Recessive Oculoskeletal Dysplasia, Orly Goldstein, Richard Guyon, Anna Kukekova, Tatyana Kuznetsova, Susan Pearce-Kelling, Jennifer Johnson, Gustavo Aguirre, Gregory Acland
Gustavo D. Aguirre, VMD, PhD
Oculoskeletal dysplasia segregates as an autosomal recessive trait in the Labrador retriever and Samoyed canine breeds, in which the causative loci have been termed drd1 and drd2, respectively. Affected dogs exhibit short-limbed dwarfism and severe ocular defects. The disease phenotype resembles human hereditary arthro-ophthalmopathies such as Stickler and Marshall syndromes, although these disorders are usually dominant. Linkage studies mapped drd1 to canine chromosome 24 and drd2 to canine chromosome 15. Positional candidate gene analysis then led to the identification of a 1-base insertional mutation in exon 1 of COL9A3 that cosegregates with drd1 and a 1,267-bp deletion mutation in ...
Long-Term Restoration Of Rod And Cone Vision By Single Dose Raav-Mediated Gene Transfer To The Retina In A Canine Model Of Childhood Blindness,
2016
University of Pennsylvania
Long-Term Restoration Of Rod And Cone Vision By Single Dose Raav-Mediated Gene Transfer To The Retina In A Canine Model Of Childhood Blindness, Gregory Acland, Gustavo Aguirre, Jean Bennett, Tomas Aleman, Artur Cideciyan, Jeannette Bennicelli, Nadine Dejneka, Susan Pearce-Kelling, Albert Maguire, Krzysztof Palczewski, William Hauswirth, Samuel Jacobson
Gustavo D. Aguirre, VMD, PhD
The short- and long-term effects of gene therapy using AAV-mediated RPE65 transfer to canine retinal pigment epithelium were investigated in dogs affected with disease caused by RPE65 deficiency. Results with AAV 2/2, 2/1, and 2/5 vector pseudotypes, human or canine RPE65 cDNA, and constitutive or tissue-specific promoters were similar. Subretinally administered vectors restored retinal function in 23 of 26 eyes, but intravitreal injections consistently did not. Photoreceptoral and postreceptoral function in both rod and cone systems improved with therapy. In dogs followed electroretinographically for 3 years, responses remained stable. Biochemical analysis of retinal retinoids indicates that mutant ...
Linkage Disequilibrium Mapping In Domestic Dog Breeds Narrows The Progressive Rod-Cone Degeneration Interval And Identifies Ancestral Disease-Transmitting Chromosome,
2016
University of Pennsylvania
Linkage Disequilibrium Mapping In Domestic Dog Breeds Narrows The Progressive Rod-Cone Degeneration Interval And Identifies Ancestral Disease-Transmitting Chromosome, Orly Goldstein, Barbara Zangerl, Sue Pearce-Kelling, Duska Sidjanin, James Kijas, Jeanette Felix, Gregory Acland, Gustavo Aguirre
Gustavo D. Aguirre, VMD, PhD
Canine progressive rod–cone degeneration (prcd) is a retinal disease previously mapped to a broad, gene-rich centromeric region of canine chromosome 9. As allelic disorders are present in multiple breeds, we used linkage disequilibrium (LD) to narrow the ∼6.4-Mb interval candidate region. Multiple dog breeds, each representing genetically isolated populations, were typed for SNPs and other polymorphisms identified from BACs. The candidate region was initially localized to a 1.5-Mb zero recombination interval between growth factor receptor-bound protein 2 (GRB2) and SEC14-like 1 (SEC14L). A fine-scale haplotype of the region was developed, which reduced the LD interval to 106 ...
