Digital Commons Network^™

Zyxin Inhibits The Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Process In Gastric Cancer By Upregulating Sirt1, Jing Lou, Sha Geng, Wei He, Song-Bai Liu, Xinghong Shi, Ying Chang, Shiyuan Han, Panting Qian, Hesham M Amin, Yao-Hua Song, Yangxin Li, Jin Zhou

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Tumor development relies on the stemness of cancer stem cells, which is regulated by environmental cues. Previous studies have shown that zyxin can inhibit the expression of genes for embryonic stem cell status. In the present study, the expression levels of zyxin protein in cancer tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues from 73 gastric cancer patients with different clinical stages were analyzed by Western blot. We showed that the relative expression levels of zyxin in gastric cancer tissues (cancer tissues/adjacent tissues) were significantly downregulated in advanced clinical stages. Overexpression of zyxin inhibited the stemness and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) processes in gastric …

Therapeutic Effects Of Combining Curcumin And Swimming In Osteoarthritis Using A Rat Model, Mona M Saber, Manal Moustafa Mahmoud, Hesham M Amin, Reham M Essam

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common debilitating degenerative disease of the elderly. We aimed to study the therapeutic effects of combining curcumin and swimming in monosodium iodoacetate (MIA)-induced OA in a rat model. The rats were divided into 5 groups (n = 9). Group 1 received saline and served as a control group. Groups 2-5 were injected intra-articularly in the right knee with 100 μL MIA. One week later, groups 3 and 5 were started on daily swimming sessions that gradually increased to 20-mins per session, and for groups 4 and 5, oral curcumin was administered at a dose of 200 …

Young-Onset Rectal Cancer: Unique Tumoral Microbiome And Correlation With Response To Neoadjuvant Therapy, Michael G White, Ashish Damania, Jumanah Alshenaifi, Pranoti Sahasrabhojane, Oliver Peacock, Jillian Losh, Matthew C Wong, Zuzana Lutter-Berkova, George J Chang, Andrew Futreal, Jennifer A Wargo, Nadim J Ajami, Scott Kopetz, Y Nancy You

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: External exposures, the host, and the microbiome interact in oncology. We aimed to investigate tumoral microbiomes in young-onset rectal cancers (YORCs) for profiles potentially correlative with disease etiology and biology.

BACKGROUND: YORC is rapidly increasing, with 1 in 4 new rectal cancer cases occurring under the age of 50 years. Its etiology is unknown.

METHODS: YORC (old) or later-onset rectal cancer (LORC, ≥50 y old) patients underwent pretreatment biopsied of tumor and tumor-adjacent normal (TAN) tissue. After whole genome sequencing, metagenomic analysis quantified microbial communities comparing tumors versus TANs and YORCs versus LORCs, controlling for multiple testing. Response to …

Emphasizing Others’ Persistence Can Promote Unwarranted Social Inferences In Children And Adults, Jamie Amemiya, Gail D Heyman, Caren M Walker

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

People often hear stories about individuals who persist to overcome their constraints. While these stories can be motivating, emphasizing others’ persistence may promote unwarranted judgments about constrained individuals who do not persist. Using a developmental social inference task (Study 1a: n = 124 U.S. children, 5 to 12 years of age; Study 1b [n = 135] and Study 2 [n = 120]: U.S. adults), the present research tested whether persistence stories lead people to infer that a constrained individual who does not persist, and instead accepts the lower-quality option that is available to them, prefers it over a …

A Machine Learning Approach That Measures Ph Using Acidocest Mri Of Iopamidol, Tianzhe Li, Julio Cárdenas-Rodríguez, Priya N Trakru, Mark D Pagel

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Tumor acidosis is an important biomarker for aggressive tumors, and extracellular pH (pHe) of the tumor microenvironment can be used to predict and evaluate tumor responses to chemotherapy and immunotherapy. AcidoCEST MRI measures tumor pHe by exploiting the pH-dependent chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) effect of iopamidol, an exogenous CT agent repurposed for CEST MRI. However, all pH fitting methodologies for acidoCEST MRI data have limitations. Herein we present results of the application of machine learning for extracting pH values from CEST Z-spectra of iopamidol. We acquired 36,000 experimental CEST spectra from 200 phantoms of iopamidol prepared at five concentrations, …

Innately Expressed Estrogen-Related Receptors In The Skeletal Muscle Are Indispensable For Exercise Fitness, Ashok Kumar, Vihang A Narkar

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a prevalent cardiovascular complication of limb vascular insufficiency, causing ischemic injury, mitochondrial metabolic damage and functional impairment in the skeletal muscle, and ultimately leading to immobility and mortality. While potential therapies have been mostly focussed on revascularization, none of the currently available pharmacological treatments are fully effective in PAD, often leading to amputations, particularly in chronic metabolic diseases. One major limitation of focussed angiogenesis and revascularization as a therapeutic strategy is a limited effect on metabolic restoration and muscle regeneration in the affected limb. Therefore, additional preclinical investigations are needed to discover novel treatment options …

The 2017 American College Of Cardiology/American Heart Association Hypertension Guideline And Blood Pressure In Older Adults, Michael C Wang, Lucia C Petito, Lindsay R Pool, Kathryn Foti, Stephen P Juraschek, John W Mcevoy, Vijay Nambi, Mercedes R Carnethon, Erin D Michos, Sadiya S Khan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction: The 2017 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association blood pressure guideline redefined hypertension and lowered the blood pressure treatment target. Empirical data on the guideline's impact are needed.

Methods: Data were analyzed from Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study participants who attended baseline pre-guideline (2016-2017) and post-guideline (2018-2019) visits with baseline systolic blood pressure between 120 and 159 mmHg. Participants were grouped according to baseline systolic blood pressure by change in classification under the new guideline as follows: not reclassified (120-129 mmHg), reclassified to Stage 1 hypertension (130-139 mmHg), and reclassified to Stage 2 hypertension (140-159 mmHg). Means and 95% …

Obesity Paradox Or Hypoxia Preconditioning: How Obstructive Sleep Apnea Modifies The Obesity-Mi Relationship, Amir Sharafkhaneh, Ritwick Agrawal, Vijay Nambi, Ahmed Bahammam, Javad Razjouyan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to evaluate the interaction between obesity and obstructive sleep apnea on acute MI in hospital mortality.

METHODS: This retrospective cohort study utilized Veterans Health Administration data from years 1999-2020. Participants were categorized according to their body mass index (BMI) to non-obese (BMI

RESULTS: Among 72,036 veterans with acute-MI hospitalization, individuals with obesity and obstructive sleep apnea (OB-SA) had the lowest in-hospital mortality rate (1.0%) compared to those without obesity and obstructive sleep apnea (nOB-nSA, 2.8%), with obesity but without obstructive sleep apnea (OB-nSA, 2.4%), and with obesity and obstructive sleep apnea (nOB-SA, 1.4%). …

Review Of Toxocariasis At A Children's Hospital Prompting Need For Public Health Interventions, Mary B Fortini, Timothy A Erickson, Lauren M Leining, Karina M Robinson, Megan N Carey, Sarah J Smith, Brendan Sullivan, Alisa R Nelson, Sarah M Gunter, Jill E Weatherhead

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Toxocariasis, caused the by dog and cat roundworm, is one of the most common zoonotic helminth infections in the United States and can lead to severe lifelong morbidity in children. Although historical seroprevalence studies have identified a high frequency of toxocariasis regionally in the United States, there are few studies linking epidemiology and clinical disease in children. The study objective was to examine the contemporary epidemiology of pediatric toxocariasis within an endemic US region.

METHODS: We conducted an epidemiologic study analyzing children diagnosed with toxocariasis presenting to a tertiary pediatric hospital in Texas from 2010 to 2021. We examined …

The Role Of Alcohol Extract Of Cranberry In Improving Serum Indices Of Experimental Metaproterenol-Induced Heart Damage In Rats, Kimia Salmasi, Ali Hassanpour, Bahram Amouoghli Tabrizi, Sina Moghaddam

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Cranberry offers numerous cardiovascular benefits. According to several studies, this fruit promotes the oxidation of low‐density lipoprotein, enhances high‐density lipoprotein, reduces platelet coagulation, and improves vascular activity. Albino male rats were divided into five groups (n = 5 per group). The control group received intraperitoneal administration of normal saline. The second group was injected with metaproterenol (MET) 3 days a week for 4 weeks. The third, fourth, and fifth groups were given cranberry extract in doses of 75, 100, and 150, respectively, along with heart‐damaging drugs. Blood samples were collected and sent to the laboratory on the fourth weekend …

Mammalian Aging Driven By Transcription Going Awry, Brenna S Mccauley, Weiwei Dang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The mechanisms that underlie increased cryptic transcription during senescence and aging have been poorly understood. Sen et al. recently identified cryptic transcription start sites (cTSSs) and chromatin state changes that may contribute to cTSS activation in mammals. Their results indicate that enhancer-promoter conversion may drive cryptic transcription in senescence.

A Pancreatic Player In Dementia: Pathological Role For Islet Amyloid Polypeptide Accumulation In The Brain, Angelina S Bortoletto, Ronald J Parchem

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients have a markedly higher risk of developing dementia. While multiple factors contribute to this predisposition, one of these involves the increased secretion of amylin, or islet amyloid polypeptide, that accompanies the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Islet amyloid polypeptide accumulation has undoubtedly been implicated in various forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia, but the exact mechanisms underlying islet amyloid polypeptide’s causative role in dementia are unclear. In this review, we have summarized the literature supporting the various mechanisms by which islet amyloid polypeptide accumulation may cause neuronal damage, ultimately leading to …

Tnf Is A Critical Cytokine In Age-Related Dry Eye Disease, Yashaswini Kelagere, Kaitlin K Scholand, Erica N Dejong, Andrea I Boyd, Zhiyuan Yu, Roger A Astley, Michelle C Callegan, Dawn Me Bowdish, Helen P Makarenkova, Cintia S De Paiva

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Aging is a complex biological process that is characterized by low-grade inflammation, called inflammaging. Aging affects multiple organs including eye and lacrimal gland. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is a pleiotropic cytokine that participates in inflammation, activation of proteases such as cathepsin S, and formation of ectopic lymphoid organs. Using genetic and pharmacological approaches, we investigated the role of TNF in age-related dry eye disease, emphasizing the ocular surface and lacrimal gland inflammation. Our results show the increased protein and mRNA levels of TNF in aged lacrimal glands, accompanied by increased TNF, IL1β, IL-18, CCL5, CXCL1, IL-2, IL-2 receptor alpha (CD25), …

Structural Biology Of Mcr-1-Mediated Resistance To Polymyxin Antibiotics, Isabel Cristina Materon, Timothy Palzkill

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Polymyxins, a last resort antibiotic, target the outer membrane of pathogens and are used to address the increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. The plasmid-encoded enzyme MCR-1 confers polymyxin resistance to bacteria by modifying the outer membrane. Transferable resistance to polymyxins is a major concern; therefore, MCR-1 is an important drug target. In this review, we discuss recent structural and mechanistic aspects of MCR-1 function, its variants and homologs, and how they are relevant to polymyxin resistance. Specifically, we discuss work on polymyxin-mediated disruption of the outer and inner membranes, computational studies on the catalytic mechanism of MCR-1, mutagenesis and …

The Influence Of Baseline Sleep On Exercise-Induced Cognitive Change In Cognitively Unimpaired Older Adults: A Randomised Clinical Trial, Kelsey R. Sewell, Stephanie R. Rainey-Smith, Jeremiah Peiffer, Hamid R. Sohrabi, James Doecke, Natalie J. Frost, Shaun J. Markovic, Kirk Erickson, Belinda M. Brown

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Objectives: Observational studies consistently demonstrate that physical activity is associated with elevated cognitive function, however, there remains significant heterogeneity in cognitive outcomes from randomized exercise interventions. Individual variation in sleep behaviours may be a source of variability in the effectiveness of exercise-induced cognitive change, however this has not yet been investigated. The current study aimed to (1) investigate the influence of a 6-month exercise intervention on sleep, assessed pre- and post-intervention and, (2) investigate whether baseline sleep measures moderate exercise-induced cognitive changes. Methods: We utilised data from the Intense Physical Activity and Cognition (IPAC) study (n = 89), a 6-month …

Elongation Of Very Long Chain Fatty Acids-3 (Elovl3) Is Activated By Zhx2 And Is A Regulator Of Cell Cycle Progression, Kate Townsend Creasy, Hui Ren, Jieyun Jiang, Martha L. Peterson, Brett T. Spear

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Zinc fingers and homeoboxes 2 (Zhx2) are transcriptional regulators of liver gene expression with key functions in embryonic development as well as tissue regeneration in response to damage and disease, presumably through its control of target genes. Previous microarray data suggested that elongation of very long chain fatty acids-3 (Elovl3), a member of the ELOVL family of enzymes that synthesize very long chain fatty acids (VLCFAs), is a putative Zhx2 target gene. VLCFAs are core component of ceramides and other bioactive sphingolipids that are often dysregulated in diseases and regulate key cellular processes including proliferation. Since several previously identified Zhx2 …

Expert Panel Curation Of 113 Primary Mitochondrial Disease Genes For The Leigh Syndrome Spectrum, Elizabeth M Mccormick, Kierstin Keller, Julie P Taylor, Alison J Coffey, Lishuang Shen, Danuta Krotoski, Brian Harding, Xiaowu Gai, Marni J Falk, Zarazuela Zolkipli-Cunningham, Shamima Rahman

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Objective: Primary mitochondrial diseases (PMDs) are heterogeneous disorders caused by inherited mitochondrial dysfunction. Classically defined neuropathologically as subacute necrotizing encephalomyelopathy, Leigh syndrome spectrum (LSS) is the most frequent manifestation of PMD in children, but may also present in adults. A major challenge for accurate diagnosis of LSS in the genomic medicine era is establishing gene-disease relationships (GDRs) for this syndrome with >100 monogenic causes across both nuclear and mitochondrial genomes.

Methods: The Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen) Mitochondrial Disease Gene Curation Expert Panel (GCEP), comprising 40 international PMD experts, met monthly for 4 years to review GDRs for LSS. The GCEP …

Pirh2-Dependent Dna Damage In Neurons Induced By The G-Quadruplex Ligand Pyridostatin, Rocio Diaz Escarcega, Abhijeet A Patil, Jose F Moruno-Manchon, Akihiko Urayama, Sean P Marrelli, Nayun Kim, David Monchaud, Louise D Mccullough, Andrey S Tsvetkov

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Noncanonical base pairing between four guanines (G) within single-stranded G-rich sequences leads to formation of а G-quartet. Self-stacking of G-quartets results in a columnar four-stranded DNA structure known as the G-quadruplex (G4 or G4-DNA). In cancer cells, G4-DNA regulates multiple DNA-dependent processes, including transcription, replication, and telomere function. How G4s function in neurons is poorly understood. Here, we performed a genome-wide gene expression analysis (RNA-Seq) to identify genes modulated by a G4-DNA ligand, pyridostatin (PDS), in primary cultured neurons. PDS promotes stabilization of G4 structures, thus allowing us to define genes directly or indirectly responsive to G4 regulation. We found …

Multi-Ancestry Genome-Wide Study Identifies Effector Genes And Druggable Pathways For Coronary Artery Calcification, Maryam Kavousi, Maxime M Bos, Hanna J Barnes, Christian L Lino Cardenas, Doris Wong, Haojie Lu, Chani J Hodonsky, Lennart P L Landsmeer, Adam W Turner, Minjung Kho, Natalie R Hasbani, Paul S De Vries, Donald W Bowden, Sandesh Chopade, Joris Deelen, Ernest Diez Benavente, Xiuqing Guo, Edith Hofer, Shih-Jen Hwang, Sharon M Lutz, Leo-Pekka Lyytikäinen, Lotte Slenders, Albert V Smith, Maggie A Stanislawski, Jessica Van Setten, Quenna Wong, Lisa R Yanek, Diane M Becker, Marian Beekman, Matthew J Budoff, Mary F Feitosa, Chris Finan, Austin T Hilliard, Sharon L R Kardia, Jason C Kovacic, Brian G Kral, Carl D Langefeld, Lenore J Launer, Shaista Malik, Firdaus A A Mohamed Hoesein, Michal Mokry, Reinhold Schmidt, Jennifer A Smith, Kent D Taylor, James G Terry, Jeroen Van Der Grond, Joyce Van Meurs, Rozemarijn Vliegenthart, Jianzhao Xu, Kendra A Young, Nuno R Zilhão, Robert Zweiker, Themistocles L Assimes, Lewis C Becker, Daniel Bos, J Jeffrey Carr, L Adrienne Cupples, Dominique P V De Kleijn, Menno De Winther, Hester M Den Ruijter, Myriam Fornage, Barry I Freedman, Vilmundur Gudnason, Aroon D Hingorani, John E Hokanson, M Arfan Ikram, Ivana Išgum, David R Jacobs, Mika Kähönen, Leslie A Lange, Terho Lehtimäki, Gerard Pasterkamp, Olli T Raitakari, Helena Schmidt, P Eline Slagboom, André G Uitterlinden, Meike W Vernooij, Joshua C Bis, Nora Franceschini, Bruce M Psaty, Wendy S Post, Jerome I Rotter, Johan L M Björkegren, Christopher J O'Donnell, Lawrence F Bielak, Patricia A Peyser, Rajeev Malhotra, Sander W Van Der Laan, Clint L Miller

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Coronary artery calcification (CAC), a measure of subclinical atherosclerosis, predicts future symptomatic coronary artery disease (CAD). Identifying genetic risk factors for CAC may point to new therapeutic avenues for prevention. Currently, there are only four known risk loci for CAC identified from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in the general population. Here we conducted the largest multi-ancestry GWAS meta-analysis of CAC to date, which comprised 26,909 individuals of European ancestry and 8,867 individuals of African ancestry. We identified 11 independent risk loci, of which eight were new for CAC and five had not been reported for CAD. These new CAC loci …

Nuclear Receptors As Potential Therapeutic Targets In Peripheral Arterial Disease And Related Myopathy, Ashok Kumar, Vihang A Narkar

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a prevalent cardiovascular complication of limb vascular insufficiency, causing ischemic injury, mitochondrial metabolic damage and functional impairment in the skeletal muscle, and ultimately leading to immobility and mortality. While potential therapies have been mostly focussed on revascularization, none of the currently available pharmacological treatments are fully effective in PAD, often leading to amputations, particularly in chronic metabolic diseases. One major limitation of focussed angiogenesis and revascularization as a therapeutic strategy is a limited effect on metabolic restoration and muscle regeneration in the affected limb. Therefore, additional preclinical investigations are needed to discover novel treatment options …

Kunitz-Type Protease Inhibitor Tfpi2 Remodels Stemness And Immunosuppressive Tumor Microenvironment In Glioblastoma, Lizhi Pang, Madeline Dunterman, Songlin Guo, Fatima Khan, Yang Liu, Erfan Taefi, Atousa Bahrami, Changiz Geula, Wen-Hao Hsu, Craig Horbinski, Charles David James, Peiwen Chen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Glioblastoma (GBM) tumors consist of multiple cell populations, including self-renewing glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) and immunosuppressive microglia. Here we identified Kunitz-type protease inhibitor TFPI2 as a critical factor connecting these cell populations and their associated GBM hallmarks of stemness and immunosuppression. TFPI2 promotes GSC self-renewal and tumor growth via activation of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)3 pathway. Secreted TFPI2 interacts with its functional receptor CD51 on microglia to trigger the infiltration and immunosuppressive polarization of microglia through activation of STAT6 signaling. Inhibition of the TFPI2-CD51-STAT6 signaling axis activates T cells and synergizes with anti-PD1 therapy …

Advances In Vaccine Development For Cancer Prevention And Treatment In Lynch Syndrome, Ana M Bolivar, Fahriye Duzagac, Krishna M Sinha, Eduardo Vilar

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Lynch Syndrome (LS) is one of the most common hereditary cancer syndromes, and is caused by mutations in one of the four DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes, namely MLH1, MSH2, MSH6 and PMS2. Tumors developed by LS carriers display high levels of microsatellite instability, which leads to the accumulation of large numbers of mutations, among which frameshift insertion/deletions (indels) within microsatellite (MS) loci are the most common. As a result, MMR-deficient (MMRd) cells generate increased rates of tumor-specific neoantigens (neoAgs) that can be recognized by the immune system to activate cancer cell killing. In this context, LS is an ideal …

Emerging Therapeutics And Evolving Assessment Criteria For Intracranial Metastases In Patients With Oncogene-Driven Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer, Kelsey Pan, Kyle Concannon, Jing Li, Jianjun Zhang, John V Heymach, Xiuning Le

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The improved survival outcomes of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), largely owing to the improved control of systemic disease provided by immune-checkpoint inhibitors and novel targeted therapies, have highlighted the challenges posed by central nervous system (CNS) metastases as a devastating yet common complication, with up to 50% of patients developing such lesions during the course of the disease. Early-generation tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (TKIs) often provide robust systemic disease control in patients with oncogene-driven NSCLCs, although these agents are usually unable to accumulate to therapeutically relevant concentrations in the CNS owing to an inability to cross the blood-brain barrier. However, …

Renal Cell Carcinoma Of Variant Histology: Biology And Therapies, Pavlos Msaouel, Giannicola Genovese, Nizar M Tannir

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The term variant histology renal cell carcinomas (vhRCCs), also known as non-clear cell RCCs, refers to a diverse group of malignancies with distinct biologic and therapeutic considerations. The management of vhRCC subtypes is often based on extrapolating results from the more common clear cell RCC studies or basket trials that are not specific to each histology. The unique management of each vhRCC subtype necessitates accurate pathologic diagnosis and dedicated research efforts. Herein, we discuss tailored recommendations for each vhRCC histology informed by ongoing research and clinical experience.

Bayesian Approach For Design And Analysis Of Medical Device Trials In The Era Of Modern Clinical Studies, Han Cao, Chen Yao, Ying Yuan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Medical device technology develops rapidly, and the life cycle of a medical device is much shorter than drugs. It is necessary to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a medical device in a timely manner to keep up with technology flux. Bayesian methods provides an efficient approach to addressing this challenge. In this article, we review the characteristics of the Bayesian approach and some Bayesian designs that were commonly used in medical device regulatory setting, including Bayesian adaptive design, Bayesian diagnostic design, Bayesian multiregional design, and Bayesian label expansion study. We illustrate these designs with medical devices approved by the …

Cytosolic Dna Accumulation Promotes Breast Cancer Immunogenicity Via A Sting-Independent Pathway, Jing Zhang, Hui Dai, Lei Huo, Jared K Burks, Daniel J Mcgrail, Shiaw-Yih Lin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has revolutionized cancer treatment. However, ICB alone has demonstrated only benefit in a small subset of patients with breast cancer. Recent studies have shown that agents targeting DNA damage response improve the efficacy of ICB and promote cytosolic DNA accumulation. However, recent clinical trials have shown that these agents are associated with hematological toxicities. More effective therapeutic strategies are urgently needed.

METHODS: Primary triple negative breast cancer tumors were stained for cytosolic single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) using multiplex immunohistochemical staining. To increase cytosolic ssDNA, we genetically silenced TREX1. The role of tumor cytosolic ssDNA in promoting …

Anchors: A Way For Ftsz Filaments To Stay Membrane Bound, Arindam Naha, Daniel P Haeusser, William Margolin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Most bacteria use the tubulin homolog FtsZ to organize their cell division. FtsZ polymers initially assemble into mobile complexes that circle around a ring-like structure at the cell midpoint, followed by the recruitment of other proteins that will constrict the cytoplasmic membrane and synthesize septal peptidoglycan to divide the cell. Despite the need for FtsZ polymers to associate with the membrane, FtsZ lacks intrinsic membrane binding ability. Consequently, FtsZ polymers have evolved to interact with the membrane through adaptor proteins that both bind FtsZ and the membrane. Here, we discuss recent progress in understanding the functions of these FtsZ membrane …

A Translational Blueprint For Developing Intraoperative Imaging Agents Via Radiopharmaceutical-Guided Drug Design, Teresa E Sullivan, Servando Hernandez Vargas, Sukhen C Ghosh, Solmaz Aghaamiri, Naruhiko Ikoma, Ali Azhdarinia

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cancer imaging is a rapidly evolving field due to the discovery of novel molecular targets and the availability of corresponding techniques to detect them with high precision, accuracy, and sensitivity. Nuclear medicine is the most widely used molecular imaging modality and has a growing toolkit of clinically used radiopharmaceuticals that enable whole-body tumor visualization, staging, and treatment monitoring for a variety of tumors in a non-invasive manner. The need for similar imaging capabilities in the operating room has led to the emergence of fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS) as a powerful technique that gives surgeons unprecedented ability to distinguish tumors from healthy …

Pd-1 Blockade In Combination With Dasatinib Potentiates Induction Of Anti-Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia Immunity, Paul Koller, Natalia Baran, Karine Harutyunyan, Antonio Cavazos, Saradhi Mallampati, Renee L Chin, Zhou Jiang, Xian Sun, Heng-Huan Lee, Jennifer L Hsu, Patrick Williams, Xuelin Huang, Michael A Curran, Mien-Chie Hung, Marina Konopleva

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Immunotherapy, in the form of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), has been part of the standard of care in the treatment of acute leukemia for over 40 years. Trials evaluating novel immunotherapeutic approaches, such as targeting the programmed death-1 (PD-1) pathway, have unfortunately not yielded comparable results to those seen in solid tumors. Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins are cell surface proteins essential for the adaptive immune system to recognize self versus non-self. MHC typing is used to determine donor compatibility when evaluating patients for HSCT. Recently, loss of MHC class II (MHC II) was shown to be a mechanism …

Electrophysiological Responses To Emotional And Cocaine Cues Reveal Individual Neuroaffective Profiles In Cocaine Users, Heather E Webber, Constanza De Dios, Margaret C Wardle, Robert Suchting, Charles E Green, Joy M Schmitz, Scott D Lane, Francesco Versace

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Smokers with stronger neuroaffective responses to drug-related cues compared to non-drug-related pleasant images (C>P) are more vulnerable to compulsive smoking than individuals with the opposite brain reactivity profile (P>C). However, it is unknown if these neurobehavioral profiles exist in individuals abusing other drugs. We tested whether individuals with cocaine use disorder (CUD) show similar neuroaffective profiles to smokers. We also monitored eye movements to assess attentional bias toward cues and we further performed exploratory analyses on demographics, personality, and drug use between profiles. Participants with CUD (n=43) viewed pleasant, unpleasant, cocaine, and neutral images while we recorded electroencephalogram. …