Digital Commons Network^™

Unmet Needs And Coping Strategies Of Older Underserved Veterans During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Trenton M Haltom, Joyce Tiong, Tracy L Evans, Nipa Kamdar, Gala True, Mark E Kunik

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound impacts on people with diabetes, a group with high morbidity and mortality. Factors like race, age, income, Veteran-status, and limited or interrupted resources early in the COVID-19 pandemic compounded risks for negative health outcomes. Our objective was to characterize the experiences and needs of under-resourced Veterans with type 2 diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS: We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews (March through September 2021) with U.S. military Veterans with diabetes. Transcripts were analyzed using a team-based, iterative process of summarizing and coding to identify key themes. Participants included Veterans (n = 25) who …

Bridging Science And Spirituality: The Intersection Of Religion And Public Health In The Covid-19 Pandemic, Shahana Ayub, Gibson O Anugwom, Tajudeen Basiru, Vishi Sachdeva, Nazar Muhammad, Anil Bachu, Maxwell Trudeau, Gazal Gulati, Amanda Sullivan, Saeed Ahmed, Lakshit Jain

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has had global impacts on social interactions and religious activities, leading to a complex relationship between religion and public health policies. This article reviews impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on religious activities and beliefs in relation to the spread of the virus, as well as the potential of religious leaders and faith communities in mitigating the impact of the pandemic through public health measures and community engagement.

METHODS: A literature review was conducted using PubMed and Google Scholar, with search terms including "religion," "COVID-19," "pandemic," "coronavirus," and "spirituality." We included English articles published between January 2020 …

Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide Protects From Soluble Fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase-1-Induced Vascular Dysfunction In A Preeclampsia Mouse Model, Akansha Mishra, Ancizar Betancourt, Vipin Alukkal Vidyadharan, Chellakkan Selvanesan Blesson, Michael Belfort, Chandra Yallampalli, Madhu Chauhan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction: Preeclampsia (PE) is a hypertensive disorder during pregnancy associated with elevated levels of soluble FMS-like tyrosine kinase (sFLT-1) and increased vascular sensitivity to angiotensin II (ATII). Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CALCA) is a potent vasodilator that inhibits the ATII-induced increase in blood pressure and protects against ATII-induced increases in oxidative stress through a mitochondrial-dependent pathway in male mice. In rodent pregnancy, CALCA facilitates pregnancy-induced vascular adaptation. Most of the vascular effects of CALCA are mediated by vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). We recently reported that CALCA treatment inhibits sFLT-1-induced decreases in cAMP synthesis in omental artery smooth muscle cells (OASMCs) …

Role Of Adrenomedullin2/ Intermedin In Pregnancy Induced Vascular And Metabolic Adaptation In Mice, Chandra Yallampalli, Ancizar Betancourt, Akansha Mishra, Kathleen A Pennington, Simone Hernandez Ruano, Moises Tacam, Madhu Chauhan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction: Adrenomedullin2 (AM2) shares its receptor with Calcitonin gene related peptide and adrenomedullin with overlapping but distinct biological functions. Goal of this study was to assess the specific role of Adrenomedullin2 (AM2) in pregnancy induced vascular and metabolic adaptation using AM2 knockout mice (AM2 ^−/−).

Method : The AM2 ^−/− mice were successfully generated using Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/Nuclease Cas nine system. Phenotype of pregnant AM2 ^−/− mice was assessed with respect to its fertility, blood pressure regulation, vascular health and metabolic adaptations and compared to the wild type littermates (AM2 ^+/+).

Results …

Multimodal Imaging Of Choroidal Lesions In An Elderly Man With Uveal Lymphoid Hyperplasia, John R Chancellor, Christina Y Weng

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Purpose: To describe the case of an elderly man who was incidentally found to have multiple hypopigmented choroidal lesions in the left eye in the absence of intraocular inflammation. Methods: A case report was analyzed, including the laboratory workup and imaging results. Results: The workup for conditions, including birdshot chorioretinopathy, syphilis, and tuberculosis, were negative. Ancillary imaging confirmed a diagnosis of uveal lymphoid hyperplasia (ULH). The patient was stable under observation for more than 1 year. Conclusions: Careful examination and imaging findings can aid in differentiating between ULH and other diagnoses.

Non-Invasive And Objective Tear Film Breakup Detection On Interference Color Images Using Convolutional Neural Networks, Yasushi Kikukawa, Shin Tanaka, Takuya Kosugi, Stephen C Pflugfelder

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

PURPOSE: Dry eye disease affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide and is one of the most common causes for visits to eye care practitioners. The fluorescein tear breakup time test is currently widely used to diagnose dry eye disease, but it is an invasive and subjective method, thus resulting in variability in diagnostic results. This study aimed to develop an objective method to detect tear breakup using the convolutional neural networks on the tear film images taken by the non-invasive device KOWA DR-1α.

METHODS: The image classification models for detecting characteristics of tear film images were constructed using transfer …

Efficient Recognition And Closed Reduction Of Locked Lateral Patella Dislocation, Justin Aflatooni, Scott D Mckay

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Patellar dislocation is not an uncommon injury in the general population that can often be managed in the emergency room with a closed reduction. However, rarely, the patella can become impacted on the lateral femoral condyle and become resistant to closed reduction techniques, which is known as a locked patellar dislocation. This injury is reported in the literature as requiring advanced imaging with a costly workup, operative intervention, or extensive manipulation under general anesthesia, and, to our knowledge, has never been documented to be closed reduced outside the operating room. In this report, we present a 17-year-old male with a …

A Facilitated Peer Mentoring Program With A Dedicated Curriculum To Foster Career Advancement Of Academic Hospitalists, Doris Lin, R Michelle Schmidt, Chirayu Shah, Andrew Caruso, Xiaofan Huang, Kristen A Staggers, Joslyn Fisher

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

INTRODUCTION: In the field of hospital medicine, there is both a limited pool of senior faculty to mentor the rapidly growing number of junior faculty and a lack of career development curricula focused on scholarly activities specific to the needs of the hospitalist. These deficits have resulted in a disproportionately low number of academic hospitalists being promoted to associate and full professor. We implemented a facilitated peer mentoring program with a dedicated curriculum to foster career advancement of academic hospitalists.

METHODS: We recruited 29 academic hospitalists and divided them into five small groups, each guided by one senior faculty. Peer …

Biallelic Prmt7 Pathogenic Variants Are Associated With A Recognizable Syndromic Neurodevelopmental Disorder With Short Stature, Obesity, And Craniofacial And Digital Abnormalities, Elisa Cali, Mohnish Suri, Marcello Scala, Matteo P Ferla, Shahryar Alavi, Eissa Ali Faqeih, Emilia K Bijlsma, Kristen M Wigby, Diana Baralle, Mohammad Y V Mehrjardi, Jennifer Schwab, Konrad Platzer, Katharina Steindl, Mais Hashem, Marilyn Jones, Dmitriy M Niyazov, Jennifer Jacober, Rebecca Okashah Littlejohn, Denisa Weis, Neda Zadeh, Lance Rodan, Alice Goldenberg, François Lecoquierre, Marina Dutra-Clarke, Gabriella Horvath, Dana Young, Naama Orenstein, Shahad Bawazeer, Anneke T Vulto-Van Silfhout, Yvan Herenger, Mohammadreza Dehghani, Seyed Mohammad Seyedhassani, Amir Bahreini, Mahya E Nasab, A Gulhan Ercan-Sencicek, Zahra Firoozfar, Mojtaba Movahedinia, Stephanie Efthymiou, Pasquale Striano, Ehsan Ghayoor Karimiani, Vincenzo Salpietro, Jenny C Taylor, Melody Redman, Alexander P A Stegmann, Andreas Laner, Ghada Abdel-Salam, Megan Li, Mario Bengala, Amelie Johanna Müller, Maria C Digilio, Anita Rauch, Murat Gunel, Hannah Titheradge, Daniela N Schweitzer, Alison Kraus, Irene Valenzuela, Scott D Mclean, Chanika Phornphutkul, Mustafa Salih, Amber Begtrup, Rhonda E Schnur, Erin Torti, Tobias B Haack, Carlos E Prada, Fowzan S Alkuraya, Henry Houlden, Reza Maroofian

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

PURPOSE: Protein arginine methyltransferase 7 (PRMT7) is a member of a family of enzymes that catalyzes the methylation of arginine residues on several protein substrates. Biallelic pathogenic PRMT7 variants have previously been associated with a syndromic neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by short stature, brachydactyly, intellectual developmental disability, and seizures. To our knowledge, no comprehensive study describes the detailed clinical characteristics of this syndrome. Thus, we aim to delineate the phenotypic spectrum of PRMT7-related disorder.

METHODS: We assembled a cohort of 51 affected individuals from 39 different families, gathering clinical information from 36 newly described affected individuals and reviewing data of 15 …

Cardiovascular Hemodynamics In Mice With Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor-Associated Factor 2 Mediated Cytoprotection In The Heart, Andrea G Marshall, Kit Neikirk, Zer Vue, Heather K Beasley, Edgar Garza-Lopez, Larry Vang, Taylor Barongan, Zoe Evans, Amber Crabtree, Elsie Spencer, Josephs Anudokem, Remi Parker, Jamaine Davis, Dominique Stephens, Steven Damo, Thuy T Pham, Jose A Gomez, Vernat Exil, Dao-Fu Dai, Sandra A Murray, Mark L Entman, George E Taffet, Antentor O Hinton, Anilkumar K Reddy

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

INTRODUCTION: Many studies in mice have demonstrated that cardiac-specific innate immune signaling pathways can be reprogrammed to modulate inflammation in response to myocardial injury and improve outcomes. While the echocardiography standard parameters of left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction, fractional shortening, end-diastolic diameter, and others are used to assess cardiac function, their dependency on loading conditions somewhat limits their utility in completely reflecting the contractile function and global cardiovascular efficiency of the heart. A true measure of global cardiovascular efficiency should include the interaction between the ventricle and the aorta (ventricular-vascular coupling, VVC) as well as measures of aortic impedance and …

Novel Banana Lectin Car-T Cells To Target Pancreatic Tumors And Tumor-Associated Stroma, Mary K Mckenna, Ada Ozcan, Daniel Brenner, Norihiro Watanabe, Maureen Legendre, Dafydd G Thomas, Christopher Ashwood, Richard D Cummings, Challice Bonifant, David M Markovitz, Malcolm K Brenner

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Cell therapies for solid tumors are thwarted by the hostile tumor microenvironment (TME) and by heterogeneous expression of tumor target antigens. We address both limitations with a novel class of chimeric antigen receptors based on plant lectins, which recognize the aberrant sugar residues that are a 'hallmark' of both malignant and associated stromal cells. We have expressed in T cells a modified lectin from banana, H84T BanLec, attached to a chimeric antigen receptor (H84T-CAR) that recognizes high-mannose (asparagine residue with five to nine mannoses). Here, we tested the efficacy of our novel H84T CAR in models of pancreatic ductal …

What Can We Learn From Covid-19?: Examining The Resilience Of Primary Care Teams, Ashley M Hughes, Kelley Arredondo, Houston F Lester, Frederick L Oswald, Trang N D Pham, Cheng Jiang, Sylvia J Hysong

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic continues to place an unprecedented strain on the US healthcare system, and primary care is no exception. Primary care services have shifted toward a team-based approach for delivering care in the last decade. COVID-19 placed extraordinary stress on primary care teams at the forefront of the pandemic response efforts. The current work applies the science of effective teams to examine the impact of COVID-19-a crisis or adverse event-on primary care team resilience.

METHODS: Little empirical research has been done testing the theory of team resilience during an extremely adverse crisis event in an applied team setting. …

Transcriptomic Analyses Of Ovarian Clear-Cell Carcinoma With Concurrent Endometriosis, Kaitlyn E Collins, Xiyin Wang, Yuliya Klymenko, Noah B Davis, Maria C Martinez, Chi Zhang, Kaman So, Aaron Buechlein, Douglas B Rusch, Chad J Creighton, Shannon M Hawkins

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

INTRODUCTION: Endometriosis, a benign inflammatory disease whereby endometrial-like tissue grows outside the uterus, is a risk factor for endometriosis-associated ovarian cancers. In particular, ovarian endometriomas, cystic lesions of deeply invasive endometriosis, are considered the precursor lesion for ovarian clear-cell carcinoma (OCCC).

METHODS: To explore this transcriptomic landscape, OCCC from women with pathology-proven concurrent endometriosis (n = 4) were compared to benign endometriomas (n = 4) by bulk RNA and small-RNA sequencing.

RESULTS: Analysis of protein-coding genes identified 2449 upregulated and 3131 downregulated protein-coding genes (DESeq2, P< 0.05, log2 fold-change > |1|) in OCCC with concurrent endometriosis compared to endometriomas. Gene set enrichment …

Gene Expression Profiles In Cancers And Their Therapeutic Implications, Chad J Creighton

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The vast amount of gene expression profiling data of bulk tumors and cell lines available in the public domain represents a tremendous resource. For any major cancer type, expression data can identify molecular subtypes, predict patient outcome, identify markers of therapeutic response, determine the functional consequences of somatic mutation, and elucidate the biology of metastatic and advanced cancers. This review provides a broad overview of gene expression profiling in cancer (which may include transcriptome and proteome levels) and the types of findings made using these data. This review also provides specific examples of accessing public cancer gene expression data sets …

Allogeneic Haematopoietic Cell Transplant In Patients With Relapsed/Refractory Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma, Fateeha Furqan, Kwang W Ahn, Yue Chen, Manmeet Kaur, Syed A Abutalib, Nausheen Ahmed, Sairah Ahmed, Mohamed A Kharfan-Dabaja, Johnathan Friedberg, Tara Gregory, Laquisa Hill, Cole Sterling, Stephan K Barta, Mazyar Shadman, Miguel-Angel Perales, Jasmine Zain, Alex F Herrera, Craig Sauter, Mehdi Hamadani

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The prognosis of relapsed/refractory (R/R) anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is poor. Large studies evaluating outcomes of allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) in systemic R/R ALCL are not available. Using the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) database, we evaluated outcomes of 182 adults (aged ≥18 years) with R/R ALCL undergoing allo-HCT between 2008 and 2019. Non-relapse mortality (NRM), disease relapse/progression (REL), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were modelled using Cox proportional hazards models. The median (range) follow-up of survivors was 62 (3-148) months. The 1-year NRM was 18%. The 5-year REL, PFS and OS …

Multiomics In Primary And Metastatic Breast Tumors From The Aurora Us Network Finds Microenvironment And Epigenetic Drivers Of Metastasis, Susana Garcia-Recio, Toshinori Hinoue, Gregory L Wheeler, Benjamin J Kelly, Ana C Garrido-Castro, Tomas Pascual, Aguirre A De Cubas, Youli Xia, Brooke M Felsheim, Marni B Mcclure, Andrei Rajkovic, Ezgi Karaesmen, Markia A Smith, Cheng Fan, Paula I Gonzalez Ericsson, Melinda E Sanders, Chad J Creighton, Jay Bowen, Kristen Leraas, Robyn T Burns, Sara Coppens, Amy Wheless, Salma Rezk, Amy L Garrett, Joel S Parker, Kelly K Foy, Hui Shen, Ben H Park, Ian Krop, Carey Anders, Julie Gastier-Foster, Mothaffar F Rimawi, Rita Nanda, Nancy U Lin, Claudine Isaacs, P Kelly Marcom, Anna Maria Storniolo, Fergus J Couch, Uma Chandran, Michael Davis, Jonathan Silverstein, Alexander Ropelewski, Minetta C Liu, Susan G Hilsenbeck, Larry Norton, Andrea L Richardson, W Fraser Symmans, Antonio C Wolff, Nancy E Davidson, Lisa A Carey, Adrian V Lee, Justin M Balko, Katherine A Hoadley, Peter W Laird, Elaine R Mardis, Tari A King, Charles M Perou

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The AURORA US Metastasis Project was established with the goal to identify molecular features associated with metastasis. We assayed 55 females with metastatic breast cancer (51 primary cancers and 102 metastases) by RNA sequencing, tumor/germline DNA exome and low-pass whole-genome sequencing and global DNA methylation microarrays. Expression subtype changes were observed in ~30% of samples and were coincident with DNA clonality shifts, especially involving HER2. Downregulation of estrogen receptor (ER)-mediated cell-cell adhesion genes through DNA methylation mechanisms was observed in metastases. Microenvironment differences varied according to tumor subtype; the ER

Covid-19 And Pregnancy: Clinical Outcomes; Mechanisms, And Vaccine Efficacy, Deepak Kumar, Sonam Verma, Indira U Mysorekar

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues into its third year, emerging data indicates increased risks associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy, including pre-eclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction, preterm birth, stillbirth, and risk of developmental defects in neonates. Here, we review clinical reports to date that address different COVID-19 pregnancy complications. We also document placental pathologies induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection, entry mechanisms in placental cells, and immune responses at the maternal-fetal interface. Since new variants of SARS-CoV-2 are emerging with characteristics of higher transmissibility and more effective immune escape strategies, we also briefly highlight the genomic and proteomic features of SARS-CoV-2 investigated to …

Effects Of Aging On Urinary Tract Epithelial Homeostasis And Immunity, Marianne M Ligon, Chetanchandra S Joshi, Bisiayo E Fashemi, Arnold M Salazar, Indira U Mysorekar

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

A global increase in older individuals creates an increasing demand to understand numerous healthcare challenges related to aging. This population is subject to changes in tissue physiology and the immune response network. Older individuals are particularly susceptible to infectious diseases, with one of the most common being urinary tract infections (UTIs). Postmenopausal and older women have the highest risk of recurrent UTIs (rUTIs); however, why rUTIs become more frequent after menopause and during old age is incompletely understood. This increased susceptibility and severity among older individuals may involve functional changes to the immune system with age. Aging also has substantial …

Clinical Approach To Evaluation Of Underlying Cardiac Device Infection In Patients Hospitalized With Bacteremia, Dierdre B Axell-House, Sarwat Khalil, M Rizwan Sohail

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

More than 400,000 cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs), including permanent pacemakers, implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, and cardiac resynchronization therapy devices, are implanted every year in the United States (US). Infection is a serious complication of CIED therapy and is associated with high morbidity and mortality. While CIED pocket infection can be diagnosed based on clinical exam findings, positive blood culture may be the only manifestation of CIED lead infection. Thus, management of bacteremia in patients living with CIEDs requires special consideration. This review summarizes contemporary data in the context of the recently updated 2023 Duke-International Society for Cardiovascular Infectious Diseases Criteria for …

Real-World Experience With Cefiderocol Therapy For Pseudomonas Aeruginosa And Other Multidrug Resistant Gram-Negative Infections Within The Veterans Health Administration, 2019–2022, Andrew Chou, David Ramsey, Eva Amenta, Barbara W Trautner

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVE: Single-center and regional studies have reported outcomes after treatment with cefiderocol, a novel siderophore cephalosporin. We report on real-world use, clinical outcomes, and microbiological outcomes with cefiderocol therapy within the Veterans' Health Administration (VHA).

DESIGN: Prospective, observational descriptive study.

SETTING: Veterans' Health Administration, 132 sites across the United States, during 2019-2022.

PATIENTS: This study included patients admitted to any VHA medical center who received cefiderocol for ≥2 days.

METHODS: Data were obtained from the VHA Corporate Data Warehouse and through manual chart review. We extracted clinical and microbiologic characteristics and outcomes.

RESULTS: In total, 8,763,652 patients received 1,142,940,842 prescriptions …

Bacteriuria In Older Adults Triggers Confusion In Healthcare Providers: A Mindful Pause To Treat The Worry, Eva M Amenta, Robin L P Jump, Barbara W Trautner

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The evidence base for refraining from screening for or treating asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) in older adults is strong, but both practices remain prevalent. Clinical confusion over how to respond to a change from baseline, when to order a urinalysis and urine culture, and what to do with a positive urine culture fuels unnecessary antibiotic use for ASB. If the provider can take a mindful pause to apply evidenced-based assessment tools, the resulting increased clarity in how to manage the situation can reduce overtreatment of ASB.

Cell-Type-Specific Aging Clocks To Quantify Aging And Rejuvenation In Neurogenic Regions Of The Brain, Matthew T Buckley, Eric D Sun, Benson M George, Ling Liu, Nicholas Schaum, Lucy Xu, Jaime M Reyes, Margaret A Goodell, Irving L Weissman, Tony Wyss-Coray, Thomas A Rando, Anne Brunet

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The diversity of cell types is a challenge for quantifying aging and its reversal. Here we develop 'aging clocks' based on single-cell transcriptomics to characterize cell-type-specific aging and rejuvenation. We generated single-cell transcriptomes from the subventricular zone neurogenic region of 28 mice, tiling ages from young to old. We trained single-cell-based regression models to predict chronological age and biological age (neural stem cell proliferation capacity). These aging clocks are generalizable to independent cohorts of mice, other regions of the brains, and other species. To determine if these aging clocks could quantify transcriptomic rejuvenation, we generated single-cell transcriptomic datasets of neurogenic …

Deciphering The Role Of Qpctl In Glioma Progression And Cancer Immunotherapy, Yu'e Liu, Shaojuan Lu, Yihong Sun, Fei Wang, Shibo Yu, Xi Chen, Lei-Lei Wu, Hui Yang, Yufeng Shi, Kaijun Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Glioma is the most lethal and most aggressive brain cancer, and currently there is no effective treatment. Cancer immunotherapy is an advanced therapy by manipulating immune cells to attack cancer cells and it has been studied a lot in glioma treatment. Targeting the immune checkpoint CD47 or blocking the CD47-SIRPα axis can effectively eliminate glioma cancer cells but also brings side effects such as anemia. Glutaminyl-peptide cyclotransferase-like protein (QPCTL) catalyzes the pyroglutamylation of CD47 and is crucial for the binding between CD47 and SIRPα. Further study found that loss of intracellular QPCTL limits chemokine function and reshapes myeloid infiltration …

Selective Reprogramming Of Regulatory T Cells In Solid Tumors Can Strongly Enhance Or Inhibit Tumor Growth, Rami Alfar, John V Napoleon, Imrul Shahriar, Richard Finnell, Cole Walchle, Austin Johnson, Philip S Low

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Folate receptor delta (FRδ) has been used as a biomarker for regulatory T cells (Tregs), because its expression is limited to Tregs and ovum. Although FRδ is unable to bind folate, we have used molecular docking software to identify a folate congener that binds FRδ with high affinity and have exploited this FRδ-specific ligand to target attached drugs (imaging agents, immune activators, and immune suppressors) specifically to Tregs in murine tumor xenografts. Analysis of treated tumors demonstrates that targeting of a Toll-like receptor 7 agonist inhibits Treg expression of FOXP3, PD-1, CTLA4, and HELIOS, resulting in 40-80% reduction in tumor …

The Nr2f2-Hand2 Signaling Axis Regulates Progesterone Actions In The Uterus At Early Pregnancy, Yeongseok Oh, Elvis Quiroz, Tianyuan Wang, Yassmin Medina-Laver, Skylar Montague Redecke, Francisco Dominguez, John P Lydon, Francesco J Demayo, San-Pin Wu

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Endometrial function is dependent on a tight crosstalk between the epithelial and stromal cells of the endometrium. This communication is critical to ensure a fertile uterus and relies on progesterone and estrogen signaling to prepare a receptive uterus for embryo implantation in early pregnancy. One of the key mediators of this crosstalk is the orphan nuclear receptor NR2F2, which regulates uterine epithelial receptivity and stromal cell differentiation. In order to determine the molecular mechanism regulated by NR2F2, RNAseq analysis was conducted on the uterus of

The Covert Symphony: Cellular And Molecular Accomplices In Breast Cancer Metastasis, Hongjiang Si, Madelyn Esquivel, Erika Mendoza Mendoza, Kevin Roarty

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Breast cancer has emerged as the most commonly diagnosed cancer and primary cause of cancer-related deaths among women worldwide. Although significant progress has been made in targeting the primary tumor, the effectiveness of systemic treatments to prevent metastasis remains limited. Metastatic disease continues to be the predominant factor leading to fatality in the majority of breast cancer patients. The existence of a prolonged latency period between initial treatment and eventual recurrence in certain patients indicates that tumors can both adapt to and interact with the systemic environment of the host, facilitating and sustaining the progression of the disease. In order …

The Fgfr1 Signaling Pathway Upregulates The Oncogenic Transcription Factor Foxq1 To Promote Breast Cancer Cell Growth, Yan Lin, Fengkang Lin, Zhuoran Zhang, Lijia Peng, Wenli Yang, Mao Yang, Bo Luo, Ting Wu, Dabing Li, Xuesen Li, Bing Ran, Songyot Anuchapreeda, Rujirek Chaiwongsa, Pinyaphat Khamphikham, Suwit Duangmano, Jianming Xu, Tao He, Sakorn Pornprasert

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

FGFR1 is a receptor tyrosine kinase deregulated in certain breast cancers (BCs) with a poor prognosis. Although FGFR1-activated phosphorylation cascades have been mapped, the key genes regulated by FGFR1 in BC are largely unclear. FOXQ1 is an oncogenic transcription factor. Although we found that activation of FGFR1 robustly upregulated FOXQ1 mRNA, how FGFR1 regulates FOXQ1 gene expression and whether FOXQ1 is essential for FGFR1-stimulated cell proliferation are unknown. Herein, we confirmed that activation of FGFR1 robustly upregulated FOXQ1 mRNA and protein in BC cells. Knockdown of FOXQ1 blocked the FGFR1 signaling-stimulated BC cell proliferation, colony formation, and xenograft tumor growth. …

Role Of Adenosine Deaminase In Prostate Cancer Progression, Christy Charles, Stacy M Lloyd, Danthasinghe Waduge Badrajee Piyarathna, Jie Gohlke, Uttam Rasaily, Vasanta Putluri, Brian W Simons, Alexander Zaslavsky, Srinivas Nallandhighal, George Michailidis, Nallasivam Palanisamy, Nora Navone, Jeffrey A Jones, Michael M Ittmann, Nagireddy Putluri, David R Rowley, Simpa S Salami, Ganesh S Palapattu, Arun Sreekumar

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common cancer and constitutes about 14.7% of total cancer cases. PCa is highly prevalent and more aggressive in African-American (AA) men than in European-American (EA) men. PCa tends to be highly heterogeneous, and its complex biology is not fully understood. We use metabolomics to better understand the mechanisms behind PCa progression and disparities in its clinical outcome. Adenosine deaminase (ADA) is a key enzyme in the purine metabolic pathway; it was found to be upregulated in PCa and is associated with higher-grade PCa and poor disease-free survival. The inosine-to-adenosine ratio, which is a …

Proceedings Of The 2023 Santa Fe Bone Symposium: Progress And Controversies In The Management Of Patients With Skeletal Diseases, E Michael Lewiecki, Teresita Bellido, John P Bilezikian, Jacques P Brown, Azeez Farooki, Christopher S Kovacs, Brendan Lee, William D Leslie, Michael R Mcclung, Mark L Prasarn, Deborah E Sellmeyer

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The Santa Fe Bone Symposium (SFBS) held its 23rd annual event on August 5-6, 2023, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. Attendees participated in-person and remotely, representing many states and countries. The program included plenary presentations, panel discussions, satellite symposia, a Project ECHO workshop, and a session on healthcare policy and reimbursement for fracture liaison programs. A broad range of topics were addressed, including transitions of osteoporosis treatments over a lifetime; controversies in vitamin D; update on Official Positions of the International Society for Clinical Densitometry; spine surgery and bone health; clinical applications of bone turnover markers; basic bone biology …

Resveratrol Attenuates Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B-Activated Immune Cell Metabolism, Hasan Alghetaa, Amira Mohammed, Narendra Singh, Kiesha Wilson, Goushuai Cai, Nagireddy Putluri, Mitzi Nagarkatti, Prakash Nagarkatti

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is triggered by a variety of insults, such as bacterial and viral infections, including SARS-CoV-2, leading to high mortality. In the murine model of ARDS induced by Staphylococcal enterotoxin-B (SEB), our previous studies showed that while SEB triggered 100% mortality, treatment with Resveratrol (RES) completely prevented such mortality by attenuating inflammation in the lungs. In the current study, we investigated the metabolic profile of SEB-activated immune cells in the lungs following treatment with RES. RES-treated mice had higher expression of miR-100 in the lung mononuclear cells (MNCs), which targeted mTOR, leading to its decreased expression. …