Digital Commons Network^™

Loss Of Tyrosine 211 Phosphorylation Of Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (Pcna) Enhances Postnatal Mammary Gland Development, Yi-Chun Shen, You-Zhe Lin, Wan-Rong Wu, Pei-Le Lin, Chien-Ching Liao, Feng-Chi Chung, Chia-Yun Chen, Ching-Yu Weng, Shao-Chun Wang

BioMedicine

The intricately orchestrated progression of mammary tissue development involves the precise coordination of gland differentiation and cellular proliferation. Nevertheless, the understanding of the role and regulatory mechanisms governing the DNA replication machinery in mammary gland development remains limited. Given the essential role of DNA replication in the viability of living cells, any genetic disturbance to its replicative function, in any form, will impede organ development. This circumstance poses a technical challenge in elucidating the potential function of cell proliferation in mammary morphogenesis. PCNA is crucial in DNA replication, playing a pivotal role in the development of complete eukaryotic organisms. The …

Effect Of Inulin From Dahlia Tubers (Dahlia Variabilis) Extract On Insulitis Severity And Insulin Expression In Diabetic Rats, Ismawati Ismawati, Saryono Saryono, Mukhyarjon Mukhyarjon, Ilhami Romus, Veni Dayu Putri, Sri Yanti, Fitri Dyna, Nada Idzdihari Adesti

BioMedicine

Background: Dahlia (Dahlia variabilis), a widely cultivated ornamental plant in Indonesia, is known to contain 84.08% inulin in its tubers. Numerous studies have demonstrated the antidiabetic potential of inulin from various plant sources. However, most of the research is in the form of a mixture of inulin with other active substances, and no one has analyzed the effects of inulin derived from dahlia tubers. This study examines the effect of inulin from dahlia tuber extract on blood glucose levels, serum insulin expression, pancreatic tissue insulin expression, homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and the extent of …

Effect Of Mucuna Pruriens Seed Extract On Depression-Like Behavior Derived From Mild Traumatic Brain Injury In Rats, Alfonso Mata-Bermudez, Ricardo Trejo-Chávez, Marina Martínez-Vargas, Adán Pérez-Arredondo, María De Los Ángeles Martínez-Cárdenas, Araceli Diaz-Ruiz, Camilo Rios, Héctor Alonso Romero-Sánchez, Agustino Martínez-Antonio, Luz Navarro

BioMedicine

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a severe health problem for which there is no specific treatment, leading to neurological or neuropsychological consequences. One of the most described disorders, even after mild TBI (mTBI), is depression, related to mechanisms involving reactive oxygen species (ROS). The Mucuna pruriens (M. pruriens) plant has various antioxidant, neuroprotective, and anti-inflammatory properties.

Purpose: There is insufficient evidence of M. pruriens use for the treatment of neurobehavioral and depressive impairments induced by TBI and of the mechanisms underlying this effect, so we aimed to evaluate the ability of shortterm administration of M. pruriens extract …

Effect Of Alantolactones On Cardiac Parameters Of Animals Under Artificially Induced Oxidative Stress, Mishal Fatima, Hina Andaleeb, Tanzila Rehman, Ouz Gul, Shanza Azeezz, Huzaifa Rehman, Haq Nawaz

BioMedicine

Purpose: Phytochemicals have been found effective in reducing the oxidative stress and damage to cardiovascular and other tissues. In this study, the effects of alantolactone (AL) on cardiac parameters in rabbits exposed to artificially-induced oxidative stress were investigated. Method: The oxidative stress was induced in a group of White New Zealand rabbits by injecting 40% hydrogen peroxide solution (1 ml/kg body weight) thrice with an interval of 72 h. The hydrogen peroxide-treated animals were orally treated with AL extracted from the roots of Inula helenium (1 ml/kg repeated thrice after 72 h). Blood samples were taken before and after the …

Stie: Single-Cell Level Deconvolution, Convolution, And Clustering In In Situ Capturing-Based Spatial Transcriptomics, Shijia Zhu, Naoto Kubota, Shidan Wang, Tao Wang, Guanghua Xiao, Yujin Hoshida

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In in situ capturing-based spatial transcriptomics, spots of the same size and printed at fixed locations cannot precisely capture the randomly-located single cells, therefore inherently failing to profile transcriptome at the single-cell level. To this end, we present STIE, an Expectation Maximization algorithm that aligns the spatial transcriptome to its matched histology image-based nuclear morphology and recovers missing cells from ~70% gap area, thereby achieving the real single-cell level and whole-slide scale deconvolution, convolution, and clustering for both low- and high-resolution spots. STIE characterizes cell-type-specific gene expression and demonstrates outperforming concordance with true cell-type-specific transcriptomic signatures than the other spot- …

Inhibition Of Ulk1/2 And Kras G12c Controls Tumor Growth In Preclinical Models Of Lung Cancer, Phaedra C Ghazi, Kayla T O'Toole, Sanjana Srinivas Boggaram, Michael T Scherzer, Mark R Silvis, Yun Zhang, Madhumita Bogdan, Bryan D Smith, Guillermina Lozano, Daniel L Flynn, Eric L Snyder, Conan G Kinsey, Martin Mcmahon

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Mutational activation of KRAS occurs commonly in lung carcinogenesis and, with the recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of covalent inhibitors of KRASG12C such as sotorasib or adagrasib, KRAS oncoproteins are important pharmacological targets in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, not all KRASG12C-driven NSCLCs respond to these inhibitors, and the emergence of drug resistance in those patients who do respond can be rapid and pleiotropic. Hence, based on a backbone of covalent inhibition of KRASG12C, efforts are underway to develop effective combination therapies. Here, we report that the inhibition of KRASG12C signaling increases autophagy in KRASG12C-expressing lung cancer …

Longitudinal Imaging Of Injured Spinal Cord Myelin And White Matter With 3d Ultrashort Echo Time Magnetization Transfer (Ute-Mt) And Diffusion Mri, Qingbo Tang, Yajun Ma, Qun Cheng, Yuanshan Wu, Junyuan Chen, Jiang Du, Pengzhe Lu, Eric Y Chang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Quantitative MRI techniques could be helpful to noninvasively and longitudinally monitor dynamic changes in spinal cord white matter following injury, but imaging and postprocessing techniques in small animals remain lacking. Unilateral C5 hemisection lesions were created in a rat model, and ultrashort echo time magnetization transfer (UTE-MT) and diffusion-weighted sequences were used for imaging following injury. Magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) measurements and preferential diffusion along the longitudinal axis of the spinal cord were calculated as fractional anisotropy or an apparent diffusion coefficient ratio over transverse directions. The area of myelinated white matter was obtained by thresholding the spinal cord using …

Barriers And Facilitators To Administering Burn Pit Registry Exams In Vha Facilities, Patricia V Chen, Israel C Christie, Kyler M Godwin, Jaehwan Han, Nisha Jani, Anays Sotolongo, Asma Ali, Drew A Helmer

Faculty and Staff Publications

Introduction: The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) established the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry (AHOBPR) in 2014 to address exposure concerns for veterans who have served in military operations in Southwest Asia and Afghanistan. By 2021, over 236,086 veterans completed the online questionnaire and 60% requested an AHOBPR examination. Of those requesting an exam, only 12% had an exam recorded in their medical record. This article summarizes barriers and facilitators to delivering AHOBPR exams and shares lessons learned from facilities who have successfully implemented burn pit exams for veterans.

Materials and methods: We (I.C.C and J.H.) constructed a key …

Persistent Mri Findings Unique To Blast And Repetitive Mild Tbi: Analysis Of The Cenc/Limbic Cohort Injury Characteristics, David F Tate, Benjamin S C Wade, Carmen S Velez, Erin D Bigler, Nicholas D Davenport, Emily L Dennis, Carrie Esopenko, Sidney R Hinds, Jacob Kean, Eamonn Kennedy, Kimbra Kenney, Andrew R Mayer, Mary R Newsome, Carissa L Philippi, Mary J Pugh, Randall S Scheibel, Brian A Taylor, Maya Troyanskaya, John K Werner, Gerald E York, William Walker, Elisabeth A Wilde

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction: MRI represents one of the clinical tools at the forefront of research efforts aimed at identifying diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Both volumetric and diffusion MRI findings in mild TBI (mTBI) are mixed, making the findings difficult to interpret. As such, additional research is needed to continue to elucidate the relationship between the clinical features of mTBI and quantitative MRI measurements.

Material and methods: Volumetric and diffusion imaging data in a sample of 976 veterans and service members from the Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium and now the Long-Term Impact of Military-Relevant Brain Injury Consortium …

Combination Therapy Of Ido1 Inhibition And Anti-Pd1 Mediates Anti-Tumor Immunity By Promoting Memory Immunity Development And Cytotoxicity Of Γδ T And Nk Cells Via Il-2 Signaling And By Overcoming Pro-Tumor Effects Of Tgf-Β Signaling, Hyuk Jee

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Cutaneous melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer even though it takes only about 1% of all skin cancers. Even among all cutaneous melanomas, NRAS-mutant melanoma is more aggressive than any other, and about 10-25% of all cutaneous melanoma cases have mutations in NRAS. NRAS is a member of the RAS family of proto-oncogenic GTPase proteins, and it plays a key role in signal transduction pathways responsible for cellular survival, proliferation, and metabolism. Immunotherapy is the first line of defense against NRAS-mutant melanoma because, despite tremendous efforts made for decades, it has not been successful to develop small …

Elevated Level Of Extracellular Vimentin Is Associated With An Increased Fibrin Formation Potential In Sepsis: Ex Vivo Swine Study, Marina Martinez-Vargas, Arun Saini, Subhashree Pradhan, Luis Gardea, Barbara Stoll, Inka C Didelija, K Vinod Vijayan, Trung C Nguyen, Miguel A Cruz

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Sepsis can lead to coagulopathy and microvascular thrombosis. Prior studies, including ours, reported an increased level of extracellular vimentin in blood derived from septic patients. Moreover, we identified the contribution of extracellular vimentin to fibrin formation and to the fibrin clot structure ex vivo in plasma from septic patients. Here, we tested the status of plasma vimentin and its impact on fibrin clots using our recently described swine model of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) sepsis-induced coagulopathy.

RESULTS: We employed ELISA, size-exclusion chromatography, vimentin antibodies, confocal microscopy, and turbidity assays on piglet plasma obtained at pre- and post-MRSA inoculation. Plasma …

Heparan Sulfate Roles In Amyloid-Beta Clearance And Alzheimer’S Disease Pathogenesis, Ilayda Ozsan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia yet remains without an effective treatment due to its poorly understood etiology. Mounting evidence points to the accumulation and aggregation of amyloid-β peptides (Aβ), which constitute amyloid plaques in the brain, as pivotal in initiating and accelerating AD pathogenesis. Extensive efforts have focused on uncovering the molecular underpinnings and fundamental origins of impaired Aβ metabolism in AD. Heparan sulfate (HS), a linear polysaccharide of the glycosaminoglycan family, co-deposits with Aβ in plaques within the AD brain. It directly binds to and accelerates Aβ aggregation, interacts with key players in Aβ …

Feedback Inhibition By A Descending Gabaergic Neuron Regulates Timing Of Escape Behavior In Drosophila Larvae, Jiayi Zhu, Jean-Christophe Boivin, Alastair Garner, Jing Ning, Yi Q Zhao, Tomoko Ohyama

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Escape behaviors help animals avoid harm from predators and other threats in the environment. Successful escape relies on integrating information from multiple stimulus modalities (of external or internal origin) to compute trajectories toward safe locations, choose between actions that satisfy competing motivations, and execute other strategies that ensure survival. To this end, escape behaviors must be adaptive. When a Drosophila melanogaster larva encounters a noxious stimulus, such as the focal pressure a parasitic wasp applies to the larval cuticle via its ovipositor, it initiates a characteristic escape response. The escape sequence consists of an initial abrupt bending, lateral rolling, and …

Mechanisms And Metabolic Consequences Of Adipocyte Progenitor Replicative Senescence, Tonghui Lin, Aftab Mohammad, Mikhail G Kolonin, Kristin L Eckel-Mahan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In recent decades, obesity has become a worldwide epidemic. As a result, the importance of adipose tissue (AT) as a metabolically active storage depot for lipids and a key mediator of body-wide metabolism and energy balance has been increasingly recognized. Emerging from the studies of AT in metabolic disease is a recognition of the importance of the adipocyte progenitor cell (APC) population of AT being the gatekeeper of adipocyte function. APCs have the capability to self-renew and undergo adipogenesis to propagate new adipocytes capable of lipid storage, which is important for maintaining a healthy fat pad, devoid of dysfunctional lipid …

Adenovirus Vaccine Targeting Kinases Induces Potent Antitumor Immunity In Solid Tumors, Fei Zhu, Zheng Lu, Wenjing Tang, Guangya Zhao, Yingxiang Shao, Bowen Lu, Jiage Ding, Yanyan Zheng, Lin Fang, Huizhong Li, Gang Wang, Renjin Chen, Junnian Zheng, Dafei Chai

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Targeting kinases presents a potential strategy for treating solid tumors; however, the therapeutic potential of vaccines targeting kinases remains uncertain.

METHODS: Adenovirus (Ad) vaccines encoding Aurora kinase A (AURKA) or cyclin-dependent kinase 7 (CDK7) were developed, and their therapeutic potentials were investigated by various methods including western blot, flow cytometry, cytotoxic T lymphocyte assay, and enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISpot), in mouse and humanized solid tumor models.

RESULTS: Co-immunization with Ad-AURKA/CDK7 effectively prevented subcutaneous tumor growth in the Renca, RM-1, MC38, and Hepa1-6 tumor models. In therapeutic tumor models, Ad-AURKA/CDK7 treatment impeded tumor growth and increased immune cell infiltration. Administration of …

Whole Genome And Reverse Protein Phase Array Landscapes Of Patient Derived Osteosarcoma Xenograft Models, Chia-Chin Wu, Licai Huang, Zhongting Zhang, Zhenlin Ju, Xingzhi Song, E Anders Kolb, Wendong Zhang, Jonathan Gill, Min Ha, Malcolm A Smith, Peter Houghton, Christopher L Morton, Raushan Kurmasheva, John Maris, Yael Mosse, Yiling Lu, Richard Gorlick, P Andrew Futreal, Hannah C Beird

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone malignancy in children and young adults, and it has few treatment options. As a result, there has been little improvement in survival outcomes in the past few decades. The need for models to test novel therapies is especially great in this disease since it is both rare and does not respond to most therapies. To address this, an NCI-funded consortium has characterized and utilized a panel of patient-derived xenograft models of osteosarcoma for drug testing. The exomes, transcriptomes, and copy number landscapes of these models have been presented previously. This study now adds …

Evaluating The Impact Of Laboratory-Based Eligibility Criteria By Race/Ethnicity In First-Line Clinical Trials Of Dlbcl, Arushi Khurana, Raphael Mwangi, Loretta J Nastoupil, Patrick M Reagan, Umar Farooq, Jason T Romancik, Timothy J Mcdonnell, Shaun M Riska, Lzidore S Lossos, Brad S Kahl, Peter Martin, Thomas E Witzig, James R Cerhan, Christopher R Flowers, Grzegorz S Nowakowski, Matthew J Maurer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Underrepresentation of racial and ethnic subgroups in cancer clinical trials remains a persistent challenge. Restrictive clinical trial eligibility criteria have been shown to exacerbate this problem. We previously identified that up to 24% of patients treated with standard immunochemotherapy would have been excluded from recent first-line trials in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) based on 5 laboratory-based criteria. These ineligible patients had worse clinical outcomes and increased deaths related to lymphoma progression, suggesting the potential exclusion of patients who could have benefited most from the novel therapies being evaluated. Using data from the prospectively enrolled Lymphoma Epidemiology Outcomes cohort study, …

Neutralization Escape, Infectivity, And Membrane Fusion Of Jn1-Derived Sars-Cov-2 Slip, Flirt, And Kp2 Variants, Pei Li, Julia N Faraone, Cheng Chih Hsu, Michelle Chamblee, Yi-Min Zheng, Claire Carlin, Joseph S Bednash, Jeffrey C Horowitz, Rama K Mallampalli, Linda J Saif, Eugene M Oltz, Daniel Jones, Jianrong Li, Richard J Gumina, Kai Xu, Shan-Lu Liu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We investigate JN.1-derived subvariants SLip, FLiRT, and KP.2 for neutralization by antibodies in vaccinated individuals, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-infected patients, or class III monoclonal antibody S309. Compared to JN.1, SLip, KP.2, and especially FLiRT exhibit increased resistance to bivalent-vaccinated and BA.2.86/JN.1-wave convalescent human sera. XBB.1.5 monovalent-vaccinated hamster sera robustly neutralize FLiRT and KP.2 but have reduced efficiency for SLip. All subvariants are resistant to S309 and show decreased infectivity, cell-cell fusion, and spike processing relative to JN.1. Modeling reveals that L455S and F456L in SLip reduce spike binding for ACE2, while R346T in FLiRT and KP.2 strengthens …

Pipe Dream: Remyelination Therapy For Multiple Sclerosis, Benjamin Deneen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Trim44, A Novel Prognostic Marker, Supports The Survival Of Proteasome-Resistant Multiple Myeloma Cells, Trung Vu, Yuqin Wang, Annaliese Fowler, Anton Simieou, Nami Mccarty

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

TRIM44, a tripartite motif (TRIM) family member, is pivotal in linking the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) to autophagy in multiple myeloma (MM). However, its prognostic impact and therapeutic potential remain underexplored. Here, we report that TRIM44 overexpression is associated with poor prognosis in a Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) cohort of 858 patients, persisting across primary and recurrent MM cases. TRIM44 expression notably increases in advanced MM stages, indicating its potential role in disease progression. Single-cell RNA sequencing across MM stages showed significant TRIM44 upregulation in smoldering MM (SMM) and MM compared to normal bone marrow, especially in patients with t(4;14) …

Natural Killer Cell Effector Function Is Critical For Host Defense Against Alcohol-Associated Bacterial Pneumonia, Daniel Villageliu, Kelly C. Cunningham, Deandra R. Smith, Daren L. Knoell, Mason Mandolfo, Todd A. Wyatt, Derrick R. Samuelson

Food for Health: Publications

Alcohol use is an independent risk factor for the development of bacterial pneumonia due, in part, to impaired mucus-facilitated clearance, macrophage phagocytosis, and recruitment of neutrophils. Alcohol consumption is also known to reduce peripheral natural killer (NK) cell numbers and compromise NK cell cytolytic activity, especially NK cells with a mature phenotype. However, the role of innate lymphocytes, such as NK cells during host defense against alcohol-associated bacterial pneumonia is essentially unknown. We have previously shown that indole supplementation mitigates increases in pulmonary bacterial burden and improves pulmonary NK cell recruitment in alcohol-fed mice, which were dependent on aryl hydrocarbon …

Improved High Quality Sand Fly Assemblies Enabled By Ultra Low Input Long Read Sequencing, Michelle Huang, Sarah Kingan, Douglas Shoue, Oanh Nguyen, Lutz Froenicke, Brendan Galvin, Christine Lambert, Ruqayya Khan, Chirag Maheshwari, David Weisz, Gareth Maslen, Helen Davison, Erez Lieberman Aiden, Jonas Korlach, Olga Dudchenko, Mary Ann Mcdowell, Stephen Richards

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Phlebotomine sand flies are the vectors of leishmaniasis, a neglected tropical disease. High-quality reference genomes are an important tool for understanding the biology and eco-evolutionary dynamics underpinning disease epidemiology. Previous leishmaniasis vector reference sequences were limited by sequencing technologies available at the time and inadequate for high-resolution genomic inquiry. Here, we present updated reference assemblies of two sand flies, Phlebotomus papatasi and Lutzomyia longipalpis. These chromosome-level assemblies were generated using an ultra-low input library protocol, PacBio HiFi long reads, and Hi-C technology. The new P. papatasi reference has a final assembly span of 351.6 Mb and contig and scaffold N50s …

Accessible Dietary Interventions For The Prevention And Management Of Common Menstrual Disorders: A Systematic Review, Ella R. Motzko

Theses and Graduate Projects

Objective: This systematic review aims to provide healthcare providers with evidence-based dietary recommendations that can be easily implemented by patients across diverse populations to address a critical gap in the management of common menstrual disorders like premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and primary dysmenorrhea (PD).

Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted using UpToDate, American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) Green Journal, Google Scholar, and PubMed electronic databases to identify randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) that investigated the effects of specific essential nutrients or diet-related behavioral or educational interventions on PMS or PD symptoms.

Results: Following the PRISMA guidelines, the identification process began with …

Effects Of Limosilactobacillus Reuteri Strains Pta-126787 And Pta-126788 On Intestinal Barrier Integrity And Immune Homeostasis In An Alcohol-Induced Leaky Gut Model, Dharanesh Gangaiah, Min Gu, Aline Zaparte, Olaf Will, Laurie C. Dolan, Anthony Goering, Jason Pillai, Shrinivasrao P. Mane, German Plata, Emily B. Helmes, David A. Welsh, Arvind Kumar Mahajan

School of Graduate Studies Faculty Publications

Intestinal barrier is a first line of defense that prevents entry of various harmful substances from the lumen into the systemic environment. Impaired barrier function with consequent translocation of harmful substances into systemic circulation (“leaky gut”) is a central theme in many gastrointestinal, autoimmune, mental, and metabolic diseases. Probiotics have emerged as a promising strategy to maintain intestinal integrity and address “leaky gut”. Using in silico, in vitro and avian in vivo analyses, we previously showed that two novel L. reuteri strains, PTA-126787 (L. reuteri 3630) and PTA-126788 (L. reuteri 3632), isolated from broiler chickens possess favorable safety profiles. Consistent …

Lung Cell Transplantation For Pulmonary Fibrosis, Irit Milman Krentsis, Yangxi Zheng, Chava Rosen, Sarah Y Shin, Christa Blagdon, Einav Shoshan, Yuan Qi, Jing Wang, Sandeep K Yadav, Esther Bachar Lustig, Elias Shetzen, Burton F Dickey, Harry Karmouty-Quintana, Yair Reisner

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a major cause of death with few treatment options. Here, we demonstrate the therapeutic efficacy for lung fibrosis of adult lung cell transplantation using a single-cell suspension of the entire lung in two distinct mouse systems: bleomycin treatment and mice lacking telomeric repeat-binding factor 1 expression in alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells (SPC-Cre TRF1fl/fl), spontaneously developing fibrosis. In both models, the progression of fibrosis was associated with reduced levels of host lung progenitors, enabling engraftment of donor progenitors without any additional conditioning, in contrast to our previous studies. Two months after transplantation, engrafted progenitors …

Therapeutic Antisense Oligonucleotides In Oncology: From Bench To Bedside, Elif Çakan, Olivia D Lara, Anna Szymanowska, Emine Bayraktar, Arturo Chavez-Reyes, Gabriel Lopez-Berestein, Paola Amero, Cristian Rodriguez-Aguayo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Advancements in our comprehension of tumor biology and chemoresistance have spurred the development of treatments that precisely target specific molecules within the body. Despite the expanding landscape of therapeutic options, there persists a demand for innovative approaches to address unmet clinical needs. RNA therapeutics have emerged as a promising frontier in this realm, offering novel avenues for intervention such as RNA interference and the utilization of antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs). ASOs represent a versatile class of therapeutics capable of selectively targeting messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and silencing disease-associated proteins, thereby disrupting pathogenic processes at the molecular level. Recent advancements in chemical modification …

Loss Of Symmetric Cell Division Of Apical Neural Progenitors Drives Dennd5a-Related Developmental And Epileptic Encephalopathy, Emily Banks, Vincent Francis, Sheng-Jia Lin, Fares Kharfallah, Vladimir Fonov, Maxime Lévesque, Chanshuai Han, Gopinath Kulasekaran, Marius Tuznik, Armin Bayati, Reem Al-Khater, Fowzan S Alkuraya, Loukas Argyriou, Meisam Babaei, Melanie Bahlo, Behnoosh Bakhshoodeh, Eileen Barr, Lauren Bartik, Mahmoud Bassiony, Miriam Bertrand, Dominique Braun, Rebecca Buchert, Mauro Budetta, Maxime Cadieux-Dion, Daniel G Calame, Heidi Cope, Donna Cushing, Stephanie Efthymiou, Marwa Abd Elmaksoud, Huda G El Said, Tawfiq Froukh, Harinder K Gill, Joseph G Gleeson, Laura Gogoll, Elaine S-Y Goh, Vykuntaraju K Gowda, Tobias B Haack, Mais O Hashem, Stefan Hauser, Trevor L Hoffman, Jacob S Hogue, Akimoto Hosokawa, Henry Houlden, Kevin Huang, Stephanie Huynh, Ehsan G Karimiani, Silke Kaulfuß, G Christoph Korenke, Amy Kritzer, Hane Lee, James R Lupski, Elysa J Marco, Kirsty Mcwalter, Arakel Minassian, Berge A Minassian, David Murphy, Juanita Neira-Fresneda, Hope Northrup, Denis M Nyaga, Barbara Oehl-Jaschkowitz, Matthew Osmond, Richard Person, Davut Pehlivan, Cassidy Petree, Lynette G Sadleir, Carol Saunders, Ludger Schoels, Vandana Shashi, Rebecca C Spillmann, Varunvenkat M Srinivasan, Paria N Torbati, Tulay Tos, Maha S Zaki, Dihong Zhou, Christiane Zweier, Jean-François Trempe, Thomas M Durcan, Ziv Gan-Or, Massimo Avoli, Cesar Alves, Gaurav K Varshney, Reza Maroofian, David A Rudko, Peter S Mcpherson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs) feature altered brain development, developmental delay and seizures, with seizures exacerbating developmental delay. Here we identify a cohort with biallelic variants in DENND5A, encoding a membrane trafficking protein, and develop animal models with phenotypes like the human syndrome. We demonstrate that DENND5A interacts with Pals1/MUPP1, components of the Crumbs apical polarity complex required for symmetrical division of neural progenitor cells. Human induced pluripotent stem cells lacking DENND5A fail to undergo symmetric cell division with an inherent propensity to differentiate into neurons. These phenotypes result from misalignment of the mitotic spindle in apical neural progenitors. Cells …

Early Rhombic Lip Protogenin+Ve Stem Cells In A Human-Specific Neurovascular Niche Initiate And Maintain Group 3 Medulloblastoma, Abhirami Visvanathan, Olivier Saulnier, Chuan Chen, Parthiv Haldipur, Wilda Orisme, Alberto Delaidelli, Seungmin Shin, Jake Millman, Andrew Bryant, Namal Abeysundara, Xujia Wu, Liam D Hendrikse, Vikas Patil, Zahedeh Bashardanesh, Joseph Golser, Bryn G Livingston, Takuma Nakashima, Yusuke Funakoshi, Winnie Ong, Alexandra Rasnitsyn, Kimberly A Aldinger, Cory M Richman, Randy Van Ommeren, John J Y Lee, Michelle Ly, Maria C Vladoiu, Kaitlin Kharas, Polina Balin, Anders W Erickson, Vernon Fong, Jiao Zhang, Raúl A Suárez, Hao Wang, Ning Huang, Jonelle G Pallota, Tajana Douglas, Joonas Haapasalo, Ferechte Razavi, Evelina Silvestri, Olga Sirbu, Samantha Worme, Michelle M Kameda-Smith, Xiaochong Wu, Craig Daniels, Antony K Michaelraj, Aparna Bhaduri, Daniel Schramek, Hiromichi Suzuki, Livia Garzia, Nabil Ahmed, Claudia L Kleinman, Lincoln D Stein, Peter Dirks, Christopher Dunham, Nada Jabado, Jeremy N Rich, Wei Li, Poul H Sorensen, Robert J Wechsler-Reya, William A Weiss, Kathleen J Millen, David W Ellison, Dimiter S Dimitrov, Michael D Taylor

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

We identify a population of PRTG+ve MYChigh NESTINlow stem cells in the four-week-old human embryonic hindbrain that subsequently localizes to the ventricular zone of the rhombic lip (RLVZ). Oncogenic transformation of early Prtg+ve rhombic lip stem cells initiate Group 3 Medulloblastoma (Gr3-MB)-like tumors. PRTG+ve stem-cells grow adjacent to a human specific interposed vascular plexus in the RLVZ, a phenotype which is recapitulated in Gr3-MB, but not other types of medulloblastoma. Co-culture of Gr3-MB with endothelial cells promotes tumor stem-cell growth, with the endothelial cells adopting an immature phenotype. Targeting the PRTGhigh compartment of Gr3-MB in vivo using either the diphtheria …

Clinical Features And Disease Progression In Older Individuals With Rett Syndrome, Jeffrey L Neul, Timothy A Benke, Eric D Marsh, Bernhard Suter, Cary Fu, Robin C Ryther, Steven A Skinner, David N Lieberman, Timothy Feyma, Arthur Beisang, Peter Heydemann, Sarika U Peters, Amitha Ananth, Alan K Percy

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Although long-term survival in Rett syndrome (RTT) has been observed, limited information on older people with RTT exists. We hypothesized that increased longevity in RTT would be associated with genetic variants in MECP2 associated with milder severity, and that clinical features would not be static in older individuals. To address these hypotheses, we compared the distribution of MECP2 variants and clinical severity between younger individuals with Classic RTT (under 30 years old) and older individuals (over 30 years old). Contrary to expectation, enrichment of a severe MECP2 variant (R106W) was observed in the older cohort. Overall severity was not different …

The Dna Repair Pathway As A Therapeutic Target To Synergize With Trastuzumab Deruxtecan In Her2-Targeted Antibody-Drug Conjugate-Resistant Her2-Overexpressing Breast Cancer, Jangsoon Lee, Kumiko Kida, Jiwon Koh, Huey Liu, Ganiraju C Manyam, Young Jin Gi, Dileep R Rampa, Asha S Multani, Jing Wang, Gitanjali Jayachandran, Dae-Won Lee, James M Reuben, Aysegul Sahin, Lei Huo, Debu Tripathy, Seock-Ah Im, Naoto T Ueno

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Anti-HER2 therapies, including the HER2 antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) and trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd), have led to improved survival outcomes in patients with HER2-overexpressing (HER2+) metastatic breast cancer. However, intrinsic or acquired resistance to anti-HER2-based therapies remains a clinical challenge in these patients, as there is no standard of care following disease progression. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the mechanisms of resistance to T-DM1 and T-DXd in HER2+ BC patients and preclinical models and identify targets whose inhibition enhances the antitumor activity of T-DXd in HER2-directed ADC-resistant HER2+ breast cancer in vitro and in vivo. …