Digital Commons Network^™

Mimicking Large Spot-Scanning Radiation Fields For Proton Flash Preclinical Studies With A Robotic Motion Platform, Fada Guan, Dadi Jiang, Xiaochun Wang, Ming Yang, Kiminori Iga, Yuting Li, Lawrence Bronk, Julianna Bronk, Liang Wang, Youming Guo, Narayan Sahoo, David R Grosshans, Albert C Koong, Xiaorong R Zhu, Radhe Mohan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Previously, a synchrotron-based horizontal proton beamline (87.2 MeV) was successfully commissioned to deliver radiation doses in FLASH and conventional dose rate modes to small fields and volumes. In this study, we developed a strategy to increase the effective radiation field size using a custom robotic motion platform to automatically shift the positions of biological samples. The beam was first broadened with a thin tungsten scatterer and shaped by customized brass collimators for irradiating cell/organoid cultures in 96-well plates (a 7-mm-diameter circle) or for irradiating mice (1-cm

Π-Hub: The Proteomic Navigator Of The Human Body, Fuchu He, Ruedi Aebersold, Mark S Baker, Xiuwu Bian, Xiaochen Bo, Daniel W Chan, Cheng Chang, Luonan Chen, Xiangmei Chen, Yu-Ju Chen, Heping Cheng, Ben C Collins, Fernando Corrales, Jürgen Cox, Weinan E, Jennifer E Van Eyk, Jia Fan, Pouya Faridi, Daniel Figeys, George Fu Gao, Wen Gao, Zu-Hua Gao, Keisuke Goda, Wilson Wen Bin Goh, Dongfeng Gu, Changjiang Guo, Tiannan Guo, Yuezhong He, Albert J R Heck, Henning Hermjakob, Tony Hunter, Narayanan Gopalakrishna Iyer, Ying Jiang, Connie R Jimenez, Lokesh Joshi, Neil L Kelleher, Ming Li, Yang Li, Qingsong Lin, Cui Hua Liu, Fan Liu, Guang-Hui Liu, Yansheng Liu, Zhihua Liu, Teck Yew Low, Ben Lu, Matthias Mann, Anming Meng, Robert L Moritz, Edouard Nice, Guang Ning, Gilbert S Omenn, Christopher M Overall, Giuseppe Palmisano, Yaojin Peng, Charles Pineau, Terence Chuen Wai Poon, Anthony W Purcell, Jie Qiao, Roger R Reddel, Phillip J Robinson, Paola Roncada, Chris Sander, Jiahao Sha, Erwei Song, Sanjeeva Srivastava, Aihua Sun, Siu Kwan Sze, Chao Tang, Liujun Tang, Ruijun Tian, Juan Antonio Vizcaíno, Chanjuan Wang, Chen Wang, Xiaowen Wang, Xinxing Wang, Yan Wang, Tobias Weiss, Mathias Wilhelm, Robert Winkler, Bernd Wollscheid, Limsoon Wong, Linhai Xie, Wei Xie, Tao Xu, Tianhao Xu, Liying Yan, Jing Yang, Xiao Yang, John Yates, Tao Yun, Qiwei Zhai, Bing Zhang, Hui Zhang, Lihua Zhang, Lingqiang Zhang, Pingwen Zhang, Yukui Zhang, Yu Zi Zheng, Qing Zhong, Yunping Zhu, Π-Hub Consortium

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The human body contains trillions of cells, classified into specific cell types, with diverse morphologies and functions. In addition, cells of the same type can assume different states within an individual's body during their lifetime. Understanding the complexities of the proteome in the context of a human organism and its many potential states is a necessary requirement to understanding human biology, but these complexities can neither be predicted from the genome, nor have they been systematically measurable with available technologies. Recent advances in proteomic technology and computational sciences now provide opportunities to investigate the intricate biology of the human body …

Modulation Of Energetic And Lipid Pathways By Curcumin As A Potential Chemopreventive Strategy In Human Prostate Cancer Cells, Michele Pellegrino, Maria Antonietta Occhiuzzi, Fedora Grande, Ilaria Stefania Pagani, Stefano Aquaro, Paola Tucci

Staff and Researcher Publications

In Western industrialized countries, prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common malignant disease and prevalent cause of death for men. Epidemiological studies have shown that curcumin (CUR) either prevents PCa initiation or delays its progression to a more aggressive and treatment-refractory form, thus reducing related mortality. Our previous studies have proven the anticancer, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties of CUR on PCa cells. However, there are few reports of the effect of CUR on energy and lipid pathways in PCa. Herein, we show that CUR can modulate the two metabolic energy pathways, increasing glycolytic reserve and reducing oxidative phosphorylation. Moreover, …

Construction And Evaluation Of A New Rat Reference Genome Assembly, Grcr8, From Long Reads And Long-Range Scaffolding, Kai Li, Melissa L Smith, J Chris Blazier, Kelli J Kochan, Jonathan M D Wood, Kerstin Howe, Anne E Kwitek, Melinda R Dwinell, Hao Chen, Julia L Ciosek, Patrick Masterson, Terence D Murphy, Theodore S Kalbfleisch, Peter A Doris

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We report the construction and analysis of a new reference genome assembly for Rattus norvegicus, the laboratory rat, a widely used experimental animal model organism. The assembly has been adopted as the rat reference assembly by the Genome Reference Consortium and is named GRCr8. The assembly has employed 40× Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) HiFi sequencing coverage and scaffolding using optical mapping and Hi-C. We used genomic DNA from a male BN/NHsdMcwi (BN) rat of the same strain and from the same colony as the prior reference assembly, mRatBN7.2. The assembly is at chromosome level with 98.7% of the sequence assigned …

Asxl1/Tet2 Genotype-Based Risk Stratification Outperforms Asxl1 Mutational Impact And Is Independent Of Mutant Variant Allele Fractions In Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia, Clifford M Csizmar, Mark Gurney, Rashmi Kanagal-Shamanna, Kelly Chien, Danielle Hammond, Terra L Lasho, Christy M Finke, Christopher Dean, Anuya Natu, Abhishek A Mangaonkar, Aref Al-Kali, Naseema Gangat, Ayalew Tefferi, Hassan Alkhateeb, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Rami S Komrokji, Najla A Ali, Eric Padron, Guillermo Montalban-Bravo, Mrinal M Patnaik

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Identification Of A Clade-Specific Hla-C*03:02 Ctl Epitope Gy9 Derived From The Hiv-1 P17 Matrix Protein, Samuel Kyobe, Savannah Mwesigwa, Gyaviira Nkurunungi, Gaone Retshabile, Moses Egesa, Eric Katagirya, Marion Amujal, Busisiwe C Mlotshwa, Lesedi Williams, Hakim Sendagire, On Behalf Of The Cafgen Consortium, Dithan Kiragga, Graeme Mardon, Mogomotsi Matshaba, Neil A Hanchard, Jacqueline Kyosiimire-Lugemwa, David Robinson

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Efforts towards an effective HIV-1 vaccine have remained mainly unsuccessful. There is increasing evidence for a potential role of HLA-C-restricted CD8+ T cell responses in HIV-1 control, including our recent report of HLA-C*03:02 among African children. However, there are no documented optimal HIV-1 CD8+ T cell epitopes restricted by HLA-C*03:02; additionally, the structural influence of HLA-C*03:02 on epitope binding is undetermined. Immunoinformatics approaches provide a fast and inexpensive method to discover HLA-restricted epitopes. Here, we employed immunopeptidomics to identify HLA-C*03:02 CD8+ T cell epitopes. We identified a clade-specific Gag-derived GY9 (GTEELRSLY) HIV-1 p17 matrix epitope potentially restricted to HLA-C*03:02. Residues …

Perspectives On The Clinical Use Of Anti-Amyloid Therapy For The Treatment Of Alzheimer's Disease: Insights From The Fields Of Cancer, Rheumatology, And Neurology, Gregory Jicha, Erin Abner, Elif Pinar Coskun, Mark Huffmyer, Thomas Tucker, Peter T. Nelson

Neurology Faculty Publications

Introduction: The advent of disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has raised many questions and debates in the field as to the clinical benefits, risks, and costs of such therapies. The controversies have resulted in the perception that many clinicians are apprehensive about prescribing these medications to their patient populations. There also remains widespread uncertainty as to the economic impact, cost benefit ratio, and safety oversight for use of these medications in standard clinical care settings.

Methods: To contextualize such issues, the present study compared anti-amyloid biologic therapy (lecanemab) to four commonly used biologic agents in other fields, including trastuzumab …

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 …

Identification And Characterization Of A Skin Microbiome On Caenorhabditis Elegans Suggests Environmental Microbes Confer Cuticle Protection, Nadia B Haghani, Robert H Lampe, Buck S Samuel, Sreekanth H Chalasani, Molly A Matty

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

In the wild, C. elegans are emersed in environments teeming with a veritable menagerie of microorganisms. The C. elegans cuticular surface serves as a barrier and first point of contact with their microbial environments. In this study, we identify microbes from C. elegans natural habitats that associate with its cuticle, constituting a simple “skin microbiome.” We rear our animals on a modified CeMbio, mCeMbio, a consortium of ecologically relevant microbes. We first combine standard microbiological methods with an adapted micro skin-swabbing tool to describe the skin-resident bacteria on the C. elegans surface. Furthermore, we conduct 16S rRNA gene sequencing studies …

Risk Factors Associated With Pyogenic Spinal Infections Among Intravenous Drug Users And Nonusers, Vivek Biololikar, Brendan Gleason, Lee Kripke, Robert Merrill, Colin Whitaker, Jon Handal

Einstein Health Papers

PURPOSE: To identify the differences in patient factors, presentation, treatment course, and outcomes of intravenous drug users (IVDA) vs. nonusers (non-IVDA) presenting with pyogenic spinal infections.

METHODS: We identified all cases involving spinal infections at our institution between May 2017 and January 2023. Postsurgical infections were excluded, and patients were separated into IVDA and non-IVDA groups. The patient charts were reviewed and analyzed for statistical or clinically significant differences using RStudio (2019 version 3.6.2). Our institutional review board approved this study, IRB# 2020-277, iRISID-2023-1384.

RESULTS: Fifty patients (29 males and 21 females) with primary pyogenic spinal infections were included in …

The Dynamic Trpv2 Ion Channel Proximity Proteome Reveals Functional Links Of Calcium Flux With Cellular Adhesion Factors Ncam And L1cam In Neurite Outgrowth, Pamela N Gallo, Elaine Mihelc, Robyn Eisert, Gary A Bradshaw, Florian Dimek, Andreas Leffler, Marian Kalocsay, Vera Moiseenkova-Bell

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

TRPV2 voltage-insensitive, calcium-permeable ion channels play important roles in cancer progression, immune response, and neuronal development. Despite TRPV2's physiological impact, underlying endogenous proteins mediating TRPV2 responses and affected signaling pathways remain elusive. Using quantitative peroxidase-catalyzed (APEX2) proximity proteomics we uncover dynamic changes in the TRPV2-proximal proteome and identify calcium signaling and cell adhesion factors recruited to the molecular channel neighborhood in response to activation. Quantitative TRPV2 proximity proteomics further revealed activation-induced enrichment of protein clusters with biological functions in neural and cellular projection. We demonstrate a functional connection between TRPV2 and the neural immunoglobulin cell adhesion molecules NCAM and L1CAM. …

Navigating The Critical Translational Questions For Implementing Flash In The Clinic, Billy W Loo, Ioannis I Verginadis, Brita Singers Sørensen, Anthony E Mascia, John P Perentesis, Albert C Koong, Emil Schüler, Erinn B Rankin, Peter G Maxim, Charles L Limoli, Marie-Catherine Vozenin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The "FLASH effect" is an increased therapeutic index, that is, reduced normal tissue toxicity for a given degree of anti-cancer efficacy, produced by ultra-rapid irradiation delivered on time scales orders of magnitude shorter than currently conventional in the clinic for the same doses. This phenomenon has been observed in numerous preclinical in vivo tumor and normal tissue models. While the underlying biological mechanism(s) remain to be elucidated, a path to clinical implementation of FLASH can be paved by addressing several critical translational questions. Technological questions pertinent to each beam type (eg, electron, proton, photon) also dictate the logical progression of …

Assessing The Impact Of Storage Conditions On Rna From Human Saliva And Its Application To The Identification Of Mrna Biomarkers For Asthma, Poorna Manasa Bhamidimarri, David Fuentes, Laila Salameh, Bassam Mahboub, Rifat Hamoudi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Human saliva was used to develop non-invasive liquid biopsy biomarkers to establish saliva as an alternate to blood and plasma in translational research. The present study focused on understanding the impact of sample storage conditions on the extraction of RNA from saliva and the RNA yield, to be applied in clinical diagnosis. In this study, genes related to asthma were used to test the method developed.

Methods: Salivary RNA was extracted from three subjects using the Qiazol® based method and quantified by both spectrophotometric (NanoDrop) and fluorometric (Qubit®) methods. RNA integrity was measured using a bioanalyzer. Quantitative PCR was …

Introducing A Novel Innovative Technique For The Recording And Interpretation Of Dynamic Coronary Angiography, Thach Nguyen, Duc Khiem Ngo, Tri Loc Vu, Hien Q. Nguyen, Dat H. Pham, Mihas Kodenchery, Gianluca Rigatelli, Aravinda Nanjundappa, Michael Gibson

School of Medicine Publications

In the study of coronary artery disease (CAD), the mechanism of plaque formation and development is still an important subject for investigation. A limitation of current coronary angiography (CAG) is that it can only show static images of the narrowing of arterial channels without identifying the mechanism of the disease or predicting its progression or regression. To address this limitation, the CAG technique has been modified. The new approach emphasizes identifying and analyzing blood flow patterns, employing methodologies akin to those used by hydraulic engineers for fluid or gas movement through domestic or industrial pipes and pumps. With the new …

Key Variants Via The Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project Whole Genome Sequence Data, Yanbing Wang, Chloé Sarnowski, Honghuang Lin, Achilleas N Pitsillides, Nancy L Heard-Costa, Seung Hoan Choi, Dongyu Wang, Joshua C Bis, Elizabeth E Blue, Eric Boerwinkle, Philip L De Jager, Myriam Fornage, Ellen M Wijsman, Sudha Seshadri, Josée Dupuis, Gina M Peloso, Anita L Destefano

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified loci associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) but did not identify specific causal genes or variants within those loci. Analysis of whole genome sequence (WGS) data, which interrogates the entire genome and captures rare variations, may identify causal variants within GWAS loci.

METHODS: We performed single common variant association analysis and rare variant aggregate analyses in the pooled population (N cases = 2184, N controls = 2383) and targeted analyses in subpopulations using WGS data from the Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP). The analyses were restricted to variants within 100 kb of 83 previously …

Direct Implantation Of Patient Brain Tumor Cells Into Matching Locations In Mouse Brains For Patient-Derived Orthotopic Xenograft Model Development, Lin Qi, Patricia Baxter, Mari Kogiso, Huiyuan Zhang, Frank K Braun, Holly Lindsay, Sibo Zhao, Sophie Xiao, Aalaa Sanad Abdallah, Milagros Suarez, Zilu Huang, Wan Yee Teo, Litian Yu, Xiumei Zhao, Zhigang Liu, Yulun Huang, Jack M Su, Tsz-Kwong Man, Ching C Lau, Laszlo Perlaky, Yuchen Du, Xiao-Nan Li

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Background: Despite multimodality therapies, the prognosis of patients with malignant brain tumors remains extremely poor. One of the major obstacles that hinders development of effective therapies is the limited availability of clinically relevant and biologically accurate (CRBA) mouse models.

Methods: We have developed a freehand surgical technique that allows for rapid and safe injection of fresh human brain tumor specimens directly into the matching locations (cerebrum, cerebellum, or brainstem) in the brains of SCID mice.

Results: Using this technique, we successfully developed 188 PDOX models from 408 brain tumor patient samples (both high-and low-grade) with a success rate of 72.3% …

Deparylation Is Critical For S Phase Progression And Cell Survival, Litong Nie, Chao Wang, Min Huang, Xiaoguang Liu, Xu Feng, Mengfan Tang, Siting Li, Qinglei Hang, Hongqi Teng, Xi Shen, Li Ma, Boyi Gan, Junjie Chen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Poly(ADP-ribose)ylation or PARylation by PAR polymerase 1 (PARP1) and dePARylation by poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase (PARG) are equally important for the dynamic regulation of DNA damage response. PARG, the most active dePARylation enzyme, is recruited to sites of DNA damage via pADPr-dependent and PCNA-dependent mechanisms. Targeting dePARylation is considered an alternative strategy to overcome PARP inhibitor resistance. However, precisely how dePARylation functions in normal unperturbed cells remains elusive. To address this challenge, we conducted multiple CRISPR screens and revealed that dePARylation of S phase pADPr by PARG is essential for cell viability. Loss of dePARylation activity initially induced S-phase-specific pADPr signaling, which …

Cytogenetic And Molecular Associations With Outcomes In Higher-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndromes Treated With Hypomethylating Agents Plus Venetoclax, Alexandre Bazinet, Sai Prasad Desikan, Ziyi Li, Juan Jose Rodriguez-Sevilla, Sangeetha Venugopal, Samuel Urrutia, Guillermo Montalban-Bravo, Koji Sasaki, Kelly S Chien, Danielle Hammond, Rashmi Kanagal-Shamanna, Irene Ganan-Gomez, Tapan M Kadia, Gautam Borthakur, Courtney D Dinardo, Naval G Daver, Elias J Jabbour, Farhad Ravandi, Hagop Kantarjian, Guillermo Garcia-Manero

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Hypomethylating agents (HMA) combined with venetoclax are an emerging therapeutic strategy for higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (HR-MDS). The cytogenetic and molecular factors associated with outcomes with this combination for HR-MDS are incompletely understood.

Experimental design: We pooled patient data from 3 prospective trials evaluating HMA-venetoclax in HR-MDS to study associations between cytogenetic and molecular factors and overall response rate (ORR), overall survival (OS), and event-free survival (EFS). The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate time-to-event endpoints. Univariate and multivariate analyses using logistic regression (for ORR) or the Cox proportional hazards model (for OS and EFS) were used to identify associations …

Gut Microbiota Composition Is Associated With The Efficacy Of Delta-24-Rgdox In Malignant Gliomas, Natalie M Meléndez-Vázquez, Teresa T Nguyen, Xuejun Fan, Andrés R López-Rivas, Juan Fueyo, Candelaria Gomez-Manzano, Filipa Godoy-Vitorino

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Glioblastoma, the most common primary brain tumor, has a 6.8% survival rate 5 years post diagnosis. Our team developed an oncolytic adenovirus with an OX-40L expression cassette named Delta-24-RGDOX. While studies have revealed the interaction between the gut microbiota and immunotherapy agents, there are no studies linking the gut microbiota with viroimmunotherapy efficacy. We hypothesize that gut bacterial signatures will be associated with oncolytic viral therapy efficacy. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated the changes in gut microbiota in two mouse cohorts: (1) GSC-005 glioblastoma-bearing mice treated orally with indoximod, an immunotherapeutic agent, or with Delta-24-RGDOX by intratumoral injection and …

Gut Microbiota Composition Is Associated With The Efficacy Of Delta-24-Rgdox In Malignant Gliomas, Natalie M Meléndez-Vázquez, Teresa T Nguyen, Xuejun Fan, Andrés R López-Rivas, Juan Fueyo, Candelaria Gomez-Manzano, Filipa Godoy-Vitorino

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Glioblastoma, the most common primary brain tumor, has a 6.8% survival rate 5 years post diagnosis. Our team developed an oncolytic adenovirus with an OX-40L expression cassette named Delta-24-RGDOX. While studies have revealed the interaction between the gut microbiota and immunotherapy agents, there are no studies linking the gut microbiota with viroimmunotherapy efficacy. We hypothesize that gut bacterial signatures will be associated with oncolytic viral therapy efficacy. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated the changes in gut microbiota in two mouse cohorts: (1) GSC-005 glioblastoma-bearing mice treated orally with indoximod, an immunotherapeutic agent, or with Delta-24-RGDOX by intratumoral injection and …

Label-Aware Distance Mitigates Temporal And Spatial Variability For Clustering And Visualization Of Single-Cell Gene Expression Data, Shaoheng Liang, Jinzhuang Dou, Ramiz Iqbal, Ken Chen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Clustering and visualization are essential parts of single-cell gene expression data analysis. The Euclidean distance used in most distance-based methods is not optimal. The batch effect, i.e., the variability among samples gathered from different times, tissues, and patients, introduces large between-group distance and obscures the true identities of cells. To solve this problem, we introduce Label-Aware Distance (LAD), a metric using temporal/spatial locality of the batch effect to control for such factors. We validate LAD on simulated data as well as apply it to a mouse retina development dataset and a lung dataset. We also found the utility of our …

Chimeric Oncolytic Adenovirus Evades Neutralizing Antibodies From Human Patients And Exhibits Enhanced Anti-Glioma Efficacy In Immunized Mice, Dong Ho Shin, Hong Jiang, Andrew G Gillard, Debora Kim, Xuejun Fan, Sanjay K Singh, Teresa T Nguyen, Sagar S Sohoni, Andres R Lopez-Rivas, Akhila Parthasarathy, Chibawanye I Ene, Joy Gumin, Frederick F Lang, Marta M Alonso, Candelaria Gomez-Manzano, Juan Fueyo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Oncolytic viruses are a promising treatment for patients with high-grade gliomas, but neutralizing antibodies can limit their efficacy in patients with prior virus exposure or upon repeated virus injections. Data from a previous clinical trial using the oncolytic adenovirus Delta-24-RGD showed that generation of anti-viral neutralizing antibodies may affect the long-term survival of glioma patients. Past studies have examined the effects of neutralizing antibodies during systemic virus injections, but largely overlooked their impact during local virus injections into the brain. We found that immunoglobulins colocalized with viral proteins upon local oncolytic virotherapy of brain tumors, warranting a strategy to prevent …

A Phase 1 Trial Utilizing A Pharmacokinetic Endpoint To Determine The Optimal Dose Of Ramucirumab In Children And Adolescents With Relapsed Or Refractory Solid Tumors, Including Central Nervous System Tumors, Kristy L Pilbeam, Kamnesh Pradhan, James Croop, Charles G Minard, Xiaowei Liu, Stephan D Voss, Emasenyie Isikwei, Stacey L Berg, Joel M Reid, Elizabeth Fox, Brenda J Weigel

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Background: Ramucirumab is a monoclonal antibody that binds the extracellular domain of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR-2) and prevents binding of VEGF ligands. Based on population pharmacokinetic (PK) analysis and correlation with efficacy in adults, a target steady state trough concentration (Css,min ) ≥ 50 µg/mL was established.

Procedures: This phase 1 trial (ADVL1416) used a rolling six design and a PK primary endpoint to define the recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D) of ramucirumab in children with recurrent/refractory solid tumors. Two dose levels (DL) were planned (DL1: 8 mg/kg, DL2: 12 mg/kg administered intravenously [IV] every 2 weeks). Toxicity …

Advances In Immunocompetent Mouse And Rat Models, Wen Bu, Yi Li

Center on Aging Staff Publications

Rodent models of breast cancer have played critical roles in our understanding of breast cancer development and progression as well as preclinical testing of cancer prevention and therapeutics. In this article, we first review the values and challenges of conventional genetically engineered mouse (GEM) models and newer iterations of these models, especially those with inducible or conditional regulation of oncogenes and tumor suppressors. Then, we discuss nongermline (somatic) GEM models of breast cancer with temporospatial control, made possible by intraductal injection of viral vectors to deliver oncogenes or to manipulate the genome of mammary epithelial cells. Next, we introduce the …

Androgen Drives Melanoma Invasiveness And Metastatic Spread By Inducing Tumorigenic Fucosylation, Qian Liu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Melanoma incidence and mortality rates are historically higher for men than women, with an estimated ~47% more new cases and twice the lethality in men in the US in 2023. Consistent with these discrepancies, emerging studies have highlighted the tumorigenic role of the male sex hormone androgen and its receptor (AR) in promoting melanoma aggressiveness. However, underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms and their precise pathological contributions are not well-defined. We recently discovered a sex-associated disparity in melanoma fucosylation, the post-translational modification of proteins with the dietary sugar L-fucose. Fucosylation, the conjugation of fucose moieties onto different glycan linkages on target …

Pulmonary Fibrosis Stakeholder Summit: A Joint Nhlbi, Three Lakes Foundation, And Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Workshop Report, Sydney B Montesi, Christian R Gomez, Michael Beers, Robert Brown, Ishanu Chattopadhyay, Kevin R Flaherty, Christine Kim Garcia, Brigitte Gomperts, Lida P Hariri, Cory M Hogaboam, R Gisli Jenkins, Naftali Kaminski, Grace Hyun J Kim, Melanie Königshoff, Martin Kolb, Darrell N Kotton, Jonathan A Kropski, Joseph Lasky, Chelsea M Magin, Toby M Maher, Mark Mccormick, Bethany B Moore, Cheryl Nickerson-Nutter, Justin Oldham, Anna J Podolanczuk, Ganesh Raghu, Ivan Rosas, Steven M Rowe, William T Schmidt, David Schwartz, Jessica E Shore, Cathie Spino, J Matthew Craig, Fernando J Martinez

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Despite progress in elucidation of disease mechanisms, identification of risk factors, biomarker discovery, and the approval of two medications to slow lung function decline in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and one medication to slow lung function decline in progressive pulmonary fibrosis, pulmonary fibrosis remains a disease with a high morbidity and mortality. In recognition of the need to catalyze ongoing advances and collaboration in the field of pulmonary fibrosis, the NHLBI, the Three Lakes Foundation, and the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation hosted the Pulmonary Fibrosis Stakeholder Summit on November 8–9, 2022. This workshop was held virtually and was organized into three topic …

Molecular-Guided Therapy For The Treatment Of Patients With Relapsed And Refractory Childhood Cancers: A Beat Childhood Cancer Research Consortium Trial., Giselle L Saulnier Sholler, Genevieve Bergendahl, Elizabeth C. Lewis, Jacqueline Kraveka, William Ferguson, Abhinav B. Nagulapally, Karl Dykema, Valerie I Brown, Michael S. Isakoff, Joseph Junewick, Deanna Mitchell, Jawhar Rawwas, William Roberts, Don Eslin, Javier Oesterheld, Randal K. Wada, Devang Pastakia, Virginia Harrod, Kevin Ginn, Raya Saab, Kevin Bielamowicz, Jason Glover, Eugenia Chang, Gina K. Hanna, Daniel Enriquez, Tyler Izatt, Rebecca F Halperin, Abigail Moore, Sara A. Byron, William P D Hendricks, Jeffrey M. Trent

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Children with relapsed central nervous system (CNS tumors), neuroblastoma, sarcomas, and other rare solid tumors face poor outcomes. This prospective clinical trial examined the feasibility of combining genomic and transcriptomic profiling of tumor samples with a molecular tumor board (MTB) approach to make real‑time treatment decisions for children with relapsed/refractory solid tumors.

METHODS: Subjects were divided into three strata: stratum 1-relapsed/refractory neuroblastoma; stratum 2-relapsed/refractory CNS tumors; and stratum 3-relapsed/refractory rare solid tumors. Tumor samples were sent for tumor/normal whole-exome (WES) and tumor whole-transcriptome (WTS) sequencing, and the genomic data were used in a multi-institutional MTB to make real‑time treatment …

Androgen Drives Melanoma Invasiveness And Metastatic Spread By Inducing Tumorigenic Fucosylation, Qian Liu, Emma Adhikari, Daniel K Lester, Bin Fang, Joseph O Johnson, Yijun Tian, Andrea T Mockabee-Macias, Victoria Izumi, Kelly M Guzman, Michael G White, John M Koomen, Jennifer A Wargo, Jane L Messina, Jianfei Qi, Eric K Lau

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Melanoma incidence and mortality rates are historically higher for men than women. Although emerging studies have highlighted tumorigenic roles for the male sex hormone androgen and its receptor (AR) in melanoma, cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these sex-associated discrepancies are poorly defined. Here, we delineate a previously undisclosed mechanism by which androgen-activated AR transcriptionally upregulates fucosyltransferase 4 (FUT4) expression, which drives melanoma invasiveness by interfering with adherens junctions (AJs). Global phosphoproteomic and fucoproteomic profiling, coupled with in vitro and in vivo functional validation, further reveal that AR-induced FUT4 fucosylates L1 cell adhesion molecule (L1CAM), which is required for FUT4-increased metastatic …

Pluripotency Of A Founding Field: Rebranding Developmental Biology, Crystal D Rogers, Chris Amemiya, Swathi Arur, Leslie Babonis, Michael Barresi, Madelaine Bartlett, Richard Behringer, Blair Benham-Pyle, Dominique Bergmann, Ben Blackman, C Titus Brown, Bill Browne, Jasmin Camacho, Chiswili Yves Chabu, Ida Chow, Ondine Cleaver, Jonah Cool, Megan Y Dennis, Alexandra Jazz Dickinson, Stefano Di Talia, Margaret Frank, Stewart Gillmor, Eric S Haag, Iswar Hariharan, Richard Harland, Aman Husbands, Loydie Jerome-Majewska, Kristen Koenig, Carole Labonne, Michael Layden, Chris Lowe, Madhav Mani, Megan Martik, Katelyn Mckown, Cecilia Moens, Christian Mosimann, Joyce Onyenedum, Robert Reed, Ajna Rivera, Dan Rokhsar, Loic Royer, Flora Rutaganira, Rachel Shahan, Neelima Sinha, Billie Swalla, Jaimie M Van Norman, Daniel E Wagner, Athula Wikramanayake, Sophia Zebell, Siobhán M Brady

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The field of developmental biology has declined in prominence in recent decades, with off-shoots from the field becoming more fashionable and highly funded. This has created inequity in discovery and opportunity, partly due to the perception that the field is antiquated or not cutting edge. A 'think tank' of scientists from multiple developmental biology-related disciplines came together to define specific challenges in the field that may have inhibited innovation, and to provide tangible solutions to some of the issues facing developmental biology. The community suggestions include a call to the community to help 'rebrand' the field, alongside proposals for additional …

Novel Pan-Err Agonists Ameliorate Heart Failure Through Enhancing Cardiac Fatty Acid Metabolism And Mitochondrial Function, Weiyi Xu, Cyrielle Billon, Hui Li, Andrea Wilderman, Lei Qi, Andrea Graves, Jernie Rae Dela Cruz Rideb, Yuanbiao Zhao, Matthew Hayes, Keyang Yu, Mckenna Losby, Carissa S Hampton, Christiana M Adeyemi, Seok Jae Hong, Eleni Nasiotis, Chen Fu, Tae Gyu Oh, Weiwei Fan, Michael Downes, Ryan D Welch, Ronald M Evans, Aleksandar Milosavljevic, John K Walker, Brian C Jensen, Liming Pei, Thomas Burris, Lilei Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Cardiac metabolic dysfunction is a hallmark of heart failure (HF). Estrogen-related receptors ERRα and ERRγ are essential regulators of cardiac metabolism. Therefore, activation of ERR could be a potential therapeutic intervention for HF. However, in vivo studies demonstrating the potential usefulness of ERR agonist for HF treatment are lacking, because compounds with pharmacokinetics appropriate for in vivo use have not been available.

METHODS: Using a structure-based design approach, we designed and synthesized 2 structurally distinct pan-ERR agonists, SLU-PP-332 and SLU-PP-915. We investigated the effect of ERR agonist on cardiac function in a pressure overload-induced HF model in vivo. We …