Digital Commons Network^™

Low-Dose Versus High-Dose Carfilzomib With Dexamethasone (S1304) In Patients With Relapsed-Refractory Multiple Myeloma, Sikander Ailawadhi, Rachael Sexton, Suzanne Lentzsch, Muneer H Abidi, Peter M Voorhees, Adam D Cohen, Eric M Rohren, Stephen Heitner, Kevin Kelly, Niklas J Mackler, David M Baer, Antje Hoering, Brian Durie, Robert Z Orlowski

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

PURPOSE: Treatment of multiple myeloma has evolved tremendously and optimal utilization of available therapies will ensure maximal patient benefits.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: We report the Southwest Oncology Group randomized phase II trial (S1304) comparing twice weekly low-dose (27 mg/m

RESULTS: Among 143 enrolled patients, of whom 121 were eligible and analyzable, the overall response rate was 42.8%, with no significant difference between the arms (

CONCLUSIONS: This randomized trial did not support a benefit of fixed duration, twice weekly 56 mg/m

Modulation Of Hedgehog Signaling By Kappa Opioids To Attenuate Osteoarthritis, Alexander E Weber, Omid Jalali, Sean Limfat, Ruzanna Shkhyan, Robert Van Der Horst, Siyoung Lee, Yucheng Lin, Liangliang Li, Erik N Mayer, Liming Wang, Nancy Q Liu, Frank A Petrigliano, Jay R Lieberman, Denis Evseenko

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVE: Inhibition of hedgehog (HH) signaling prevents cartilage degeneration and promotes repair in animal models of osteoarthritis (OA). This study, undertaken in OA models and in human OA articular cartilage, was designed to explore whether kappa opioid receptor (KOR) modulation via the inhibition of HH signaling may have therapeutic potential for achieving disease-modifying activity in OA.

METHODS: Primary human articular cartilage and synovial tissue samples from patients with knee OA undergoing total joint replacement and from healthy human subjects were obtained from the National Disease Research Interchange. For in vivo animal studies, a partial medial meniscectomy (PMM) model of knee …

Gut Microbiota-Derived Short-Chain Fatty Acids Promote Poststroke Recovery In Aged Mice, Juneyoung Lee, John D'Aigle, Louise Atadja, Victoria Quaicoe, Pedram Honarpisheh, Bhanu P Ganesh, Ahmad Hassan, Joerg Graf, Joseph Petrosino, Nagireddy Putluri, Liang Zhu, David J Durgan, Robert M Bryan, Louise D Mccullough, Venugopal Reddy Venna

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

RATIONALE: The elderly experience profound systemic responses after stroke, which contribute to higher mortality and more severe long-term disability. Recent studies have revealed that stroke outcomes can be influenced by the composition of gut microbiome. However, the potential benefits of manipulating the gut microbiome after injury is unknown.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if restoring youthful gut microbiota after stroke aids in recovery in aged subjects, we altered the gut microbiome through young fecal transplant gavage in aged mice after experimental stroke. Further, the effect of direct enrichment of selective bacteria producing short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) was tested as a more targeted …

A Substitution In Cgmp-Dependent Protein Kinase 1 Associated With Aortic Disease Induces An Active Conformation In The Absence Of Cgmp, Matthew H Chan, Sahar Aminzai, Tingfei Hu, Amatya Taran, Sheng Li, Choel Kim, Renate B Pilz, Darren E Casteel

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Type 1 cGMP-dependent protein kinases (PKGs) play important roles in human cardiovascular physiology, regulating vascular tone and smooth-muscle cell phenotype. A mutation in the human PRKG1 gene encoding cGMP-dependent protein kinase 1 (PKG1) leads to thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections. The mutation causes an arginine-to-glutamine (RQ) substitution within the first cGMP-binding pocket in PKG1. This substitution disrupts cGMP binding to the pocket, but it also unexpectedly causes PKG1 to have high activity in the absence of cGMP via an unknown mechanism. Here, we identified the molecular mechanism whereby the RQ mutation increases basal kinase activity in the human PKG1α and …

Rna-Gps Predicts Sars-Cov-2 Rna Residency To Host Mitochondria And Nucleolus, Kevin E Wu, Furqan M Fazal, Kevin R Parker, James Zou, Howard Y Chang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

SARS-CoV-2 genomic and subgenomic RNA (sgRNA) transcripts hijack the host cell's machinery. Subcellular localization of its viral RNA could, thus, play important roles in viral replication and host antiviral immune response. We perform computational modeling of SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA subcellular residency across eight subcellular neighborhoods. We compare hundreds of SARS-CoV-2 genomes with the human transcriptome and other coronaviruses. We predict the SARS-CoV-2 RNA genome and sgRNAs to be enriched toward the host mitochondrial matrix and nucleolus, and that the 5' and 3' viral untranslated regions contain the strongest, most distinct localization signals. We interpret the mitochondrial residency signal as an …

Reduced Intensity Conditioning For Acute Myeloid Leukemia Using Melphalan- Vs Busulfan-Based Regimens: A Cibmtr Report, Zheng Zhou, Rajneesh Nath, Jan Cerny, Hai-Lin Wang, Mei-Jie Zhang, Hisham Abdel-Azim, Vaibhav Agrawal, Gulrayz Ahmed, A Samer Al-Homsi, Mahmoud Aljurf, Hassan B Alkhateeb, Amer Assal, Ulrike Bacher, Ashish Bajel, Qaiser Bashir, Minocher Battiwalla, Vijaya Raj Bhatt, Michael Byrne, Jean-Yves Cahn, Mitchell Cairo, Hannah Choe, Edward Copelan, Corey Cutler, Moussab B Damlaj, Zachariah Defilipp, Marcos De Lima, Miguel Angel Diaz, Nosha Farhadfar, James Foran, César O Freytes, Aaron T Gerds, Usama Gergis, Michael R Grunwald, Zartash Gul, Mehdi Hamadani, Shahrukh Hashmi, Mark Hertzberg, Gerhard C Hildebrandt, Nasheed Hossain, Yoshihiro Inamoto, Luis Isola, Tania Jain, Rammurti T Kamble, Muhammad Waqas Khan, Mohamed A Kharfan-Dabaja, Partow Kebriaei, Natasha Kekre, Nandita Khera, Hillard M Lazarus, Jane L Liesveld, Mark Litzow, Hongtao Liu, David I Marks, Rodrigo Martino, Vikram Mathews, Asmita Mishra, Hemant S Murthy, Arnon Nagler, Ryotaro Nakamura, Sunita Nathan, Taiga Nishihori, Rebecca Olin, Richard F Olsson, Neil Palmisiano, Sagar S Patel, Mrinal M Patnaik, Attaphol Pawarode, Miguel-Angel Perales, Ioannis Politikos, Uday Popat, David Rizzieri, Brenda M Sandmaier, Bipin N Savani, Sachiko Seo, Nirav N Shah, Geoffrey L Uy, David Valcárcel, Leo F Verdonck, Edmund K Waller, Youjin Wang, Daniel Weisdorf, Baldeep Wirk, Eric Wong, Jean A Yared, Wael Saber

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

There is a lack of large comparative study on the outcomes of reduced intensity conditioning (RIC) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) transplantation using fludarabine/busulfan (FB) and fludarabine/melphalan (FM) regimens. Adult AML patients from Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research who received first RIC allo-transplant between 2001 and 2015 were studied. Patients were excluded if they received cord blood or identical twin transplant, total body irradiation in conditioning, or graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis with in vitro T-cell depletion. Primary outcome was overall survival (OS), secondary end points were leukemia-free survival (LFS), nonrelapse mortality (NRM), relapse, and GVHD. Multivariate survival …

Mechanism Of Ligand Activation Of A Eukaryotic Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Channel, Xiangdong Zheng, Ziao Fu, Deyuan Su, Yuebin Zhang, Minghui Li, Yaping Pan, Huan Li, Shufang Li, Robert A Grassucci, Zhenning Ren, Zhengshan Hu, Xueming Li, Ming Zhou, Guohui Li, Joachim Frank, Jian Yang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Cyclic nucleotide-gated (CNG) channels convert cyclic nucleotide (CN) binding and unbinding into electrical signals in sensory receptors and neurons. The molecular conformational changes underpinning ligand activation are largely undefined. We report both closed- and open-state atomic cryo-EM structures of a full-length Caenorhabditis elegans cyclic GMP-activated channel TAX-4, reconstituted in lipid nanodiscs. These structures, together with computational and functional analyses and a mutant channel structure, reveal a double-barrier hydrophobic gate formed by two S6 amino acids in the central cavity. cGMP binding produces global conformational changes that open the cavity gate located ~52 Å away but do not alter the structure …

Etiology Of Lumbosacral Radiculoplexopathy: Sacral Insufficiency Fracture On Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Christian Geannette, Susan C Lee, Darryl B Sneag

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Sacral insufficiency fracture (SIF) can cause lumbosacral radiculoplexopathy (LSRP) and is probably under-recognized. Symptoms may include nonspecific lumbar spine or buttock pain that is exacerbated by physical activity and alleviated with rest. The frequency of LSRP secondary to SIF has not been reported.

QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: We aimed to determine the frequency of LSRP associated with SIF using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the lumbar spine.

METHODS: We searched a radiology database at our institution using the keywords "sacral insufficiency fracture" and "lumbar spine MRI" for patient records from January 2014 through December 2017. We assessed for the presence of LSRP, …

Burden-Of-Illness Associated With Bleeding-Related Hospitalizations In Atrial Fibrillation Patients: Findings From The Nationwide Readmission Database, Benjamin Miao, Monique Miller, Belinda Lovelace, Anne Beaubrun, Kelly Mcneil-Posey, Mark J Alberts, William Frank Peacock, Olivia S Costa, Charles Michael White, Craig I Coleman

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction  A paucity of contemporary data examining bleeding-related hospitalization outcomes in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients exists.

Methods  Adults in the Nationwide Readmissions Database (January 2016–November 2016) with AF and hospitalized for intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), gastrointestinal, genitourinary, or other bleeding were identified. Association between bleed types and outcomes were assessed using multivariable regression (gastrointestinal defined as referent) and reported as crude incidences and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) or mean differences with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results  In total, 196,878 index bleeding-related hospitalizations were identified in this AF cohort (CHA2DS2VASc score ≥2 in 95.1%), with 70.8% classified as gastrointestinal. The overall incidences …

Combined Lenvatinib And Pembrolizumab As Salvage Therapy In Advanced Adrenal Cortical Carcinoma, Sara Bedrose, Kevin Charles Miller, Lina Altameemi, Mohamed S Ali, Sameh Nassar, Naveen Garg, Marilyne Daher, Keith D Eaton, Jeffrey Thomas Yorio, Davey B Daniel, Matthew Campbell, Keith C Bible, Mabel Ryder, Ashish V Chintakuntlawar, Mouhammed Amir Habra

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: There is no effective systemic therapy for metastatic adrenal cortical carcinoma (ACC) after failure of platinum-based chemotherapy. The efficacies of single-agent oral multikinase inhibitors (MKIs) or salvage immune checkpoint inhibitors (CPIs) have been very limited. It is unknown whether combining CPIs, such as pembrolizumab (PEM), with other therapies, such as MKIs, could yield higher response rates in ACC, yet this combination has shown promise in other cancers. Herein, we describe the first case series using PEM in combination with the MKI lenvatinib (LEN) in patients with progressive, metastatic ACC.

METHODS: A retrospective case series describing the use of LEN/PEM …

Glycemic Control And Infections Among Us Hemodialysis Patients With Diabetes Mellitus, Jinnie J Rhee, Yuanchao Zheng, Sai Liu, Maria E Montez-Rath, Richard J Hamill, Julie H Ishida, Wolfgang C Winkelmayer

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

INTRODUCTION: Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) on hemodialysis (HD) may be particularly vulnerable to infections.

METHODS: We used merged data from the United States Renal Data System and electronic health records data from a large US dialysis provider to retrospectively examine the association between glycemic control and infections in these patients. Adult patients with DM aged ≥18 years who initiated in-center maintenance HD treatment from 2006 to 2011 and survived >90 days were included. Quarterly mean time-averaged hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) values were categorized into

RESULTS: In a cohort of 33,753 eligible patients, those with higher HbA1c levels had higher rates …

Association Analysis Of Driver Gene-Related Genetic Variants Identified Novel Lung Cancer Susceptibility Loci With 20,871 Lung Cancer Cases And 15,971 Controls, Yuzhuo Wang, Olga Y Gorlova, Ivan P Gorlov, Meng Zhu, Juncheng Dai, Demetrius Albanes, Stephen Lam, Adonina Tardon, Chu Chen, Gary E Goodman, Stig E Bojesen, Maria Teresa Landi, Mattias Johansson, Angela Risch, Heunz-Erich Wichmann, Heike Bickeboller, David C Christiani, Gad Rennert, Susanne M Arnold, Paul Brennan, John K Field, Sanjay Shete, Loïc Le Marchand, Olle Melander, Hans Brunnstrom, Geoffrey Liu, Rayjean J Hung, Angeline S Andrew, Lambertus A Kiemeney, Shanbeh Zienolddiny, Kjell Grankvist, Mikael Johansson, Neil E Caporaso, Penella J Woll, Philip Lazarus, Matthew B Schabath, Melinda C Aldrich, Victoria L Stevens, Hongxia Ma, Guangfu Jin, Zhibin Hu, Christopher I Amos, Hongbing Shen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: A substantial proportion of cancer driver genes (CDG) are also cancer predisposition genes. However, the associations between genetic variants in lung CDGs and the susceptibility to lung cancer have rarely been investigated.

METHODS: We selected expression-related single-nucleotide polymorphisms (eSNP) and nonsynonymous variants of lung CDGs, and tested their associations with lung cancer risk in two large-scale genome-wide association studies (20,871 cases and 15,971 controls of European descent). Conditional and joint association analysis was performed to identify independent risk variants. The associations of independent risk variants with somatic alterations in lung CDGs or recurrently altered pathways were investigated using data …

Rna-Gps Predicts High-Resolution Rna Subcellular Localization And Highlights The Role Of Splicing, Kevin E Wu, Kevin R Parker, Furqan M Fazal, Howard Y Chang, James Zou

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Subcellular localization is essential to RNA biogenesis, processing, and function across the gene expression life cycle. However, the specific nucleotide sequence motifs that direct RNA localization are incompletely understood. Fortunately, new sequencing technologies have provided transcriptome-wide atlases of RNA localization, creating an opportunity to leverage computational modeling. Here we present RNA-GPS, a new machine learning model that uses nucleotide-level features to predict RNA localization across eight different subcellular locations-the first to provide such a wide range of predictions. RNA-GPS's design enables high-throughput sequence ablation and feature importance analyses to probe the sequence motifs that drive localization prediction. We find localization …

Correction: Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Dose-Ranging Trial Of Intravenous Ketamine As Adjunctive Therapy In Treatment-Resistant Depression (Trd), Maurizio Fava, Marlene P Freeman, Martina Flynn, Heidi Judge, Bettina B Hoeppner, Cristina Cusin, Dawn F Ionescu, Sanjay J Mathew, Lee C Chang, Dan V Iosifescu, James Murrough, Charles Debattista, Alan F Schatzberg, Madhukar H Trivedi, Manish K Jha, Gerard Sanacora, Samuel T Wilkinson, George I Papakostas

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Numerous placebo-controlled studies have demonstrated the ability of ketamine, an NMDA receptor antagonist, to induce rapid (within hours), transient antidepressant effects when administered intravenously (IV) at subanesthetic doses (0.5 mg/kg over 40 min). However, the optimal antidepressant dose remains unknown. We aimed to compare to active placebo the rapid acting antidepressant properties of a broad range of subanesthetic doses of IV ketamine among outpatients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). A range of IV ketamine doses were compared to active placebo in the treatment of adult TRD over a 3-day period following a single infusion over 40 min. This was an outpatient …

Nuclear Localization Of A Novel Calpain-2 Mediated Junctophilin-2 C-Terminal Cleavage Peptide Promotes Cardiomyocyte Remodeling, Satadru K Lahiri, Ann P Quick, Benoit Samson-Couterie, Mohit Hulsurkar, Ies Elzenaar, Ralph J Van Oort, Xander H T Wehrens

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Heart failure (HF) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Patients with HF exhibit a loss of junctophilin-2 (JPH2), a structural protein critical in forming junctional membrane complexes in which excitation-contraction takes place. Several mechanisms have been proposed to mediate the loss of JPH2, one being cleavage by the calcium-dependent protease calpain. The downstream mechanisms underlying HF progression after JPH2 cleavage are presently poorly understood. In this study, we used Labcas to bioinformatically predict putative calpain cleavage sites on JPH2. We identified a cleavage site that produces a novel C-terminal JPH2 peptide (JPH2-CTP) using several domain-specific antibodies. Western …

Mechanism Of Allosteric Inhibition In The Plasmodium Falciparum Cgmp-Dependent Protein Kinase, Jung Ah Byun, Katherine Van, Jinfeng Huang, Philipp Henning, Eugen Franz, Madoka Akimoto, Friedrich W Herberg, Choel Kim, Giuseppe Melacini

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Most malaria deaths are caused by the protozoan parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Its life cycle is regulated by a cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PfPKG), whose inhibition is a promising antimalaria strategy. Allosteric kinase inhibitors, such as cGMP analogs, offer enhanced selectivity relative to competitive kinase inhibitors. However, the mechanisms underlying allosteric PfPKG inhibition are incompletely understood. Here, we show that 8-NBD-cGMP is an effective PfPKG antagonist. Using comparative NMR analyses of a key regulatory domain, PfD, in its apo, cGMP-bound, and cGMP analog–bound states, we elucidated its inhibition mechanism of action. Using NMR chemical shift …

Acute Tubular Injury In A Patient On A Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin Type 9 Inhibitor, June K Pickett, Maulin Shah, Michael Gillette, Peter Jones, Salim Virani, Christie Ballantyne, Vijay Nambi

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

A 72-year-old man with coronary artery disease, statin intolerance, and chronic kidney disease stage IIIa was initiated on alirocumab, a proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibitor, and developed acute kidney injury. A kidney biopsy was performed and suggested acute tubular injury. The serum creatinine returned to baseline after discontinuation of alirocumab. (Level of Difficulty: Intermediate.)

A Genome-Wide Association Study Identifies Two Novel Susceptible Regions For Squamous Cell Carcinoma Of The Head And Neck, Sanjay Shete, Hongliang Liu, Jian Wang, Robert Yu, Erich M Sturgis, Guojun Li, Kristina R Dahlstrom, Zhensheng Liu, Christopher I Amos, Qingyi Wei

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

To identify genetic variants for risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN), we conducted a two-phase genome-wide association study consisting of 7,858,089 SNPs in 2,171 cases and 4,493 controls of non-Hispanic white, of which 434,839 typed and 7,423,250 imputed SNPs as the discovery. SNPs with P <1×10–3 were further validated in the OncoArray study of oral and pharynx cancer (5,205 cases and 3,232 controls of European ancestry) from dbGaP. Meta-analysis of the discovery and replication studies identified one novel locus 6p22.1 (P = 2.96×10–9 for the leading rs259919) and two cancer susceptibility loci 6p21.32 (rs3135001, HLA-DQB1) and 6p21.33 (rs1265081, CCHCR1) associated with SCCHN risk. Further stratification by tumor site revealed four known cancer loci (5p15.33, 6p21.32, 6p21.33, and 2p23.1) associated with oral cavity cancer risk and oropharyngeal cancer risk, respectively. In addition, one novel locus 18q22.2 (P = 2.54×10–9 for the leading SNP rs142021700) was identified for hypo-pharynx and larynx cancer risk. For SNPs in those reported or novel loci, we also performed functional annotations by bioinformatics prediction and eQTL analysis. Collectively, our identification of four reported loci (2p23.1, 5p15.33, 6p21.32, and 6p21.33) and two novel loci (6p22.1 and 18q22.2) for SCCHN risk highlight the importance of HLA loci for oropharyngeal cancer risk, suggesting that immunologic mechanisms are implicated in the etiology of this subset of SCCHN.

Systemic Proteome Alterations Linked To Early Stage Pancreatic Cancer In Diabetic Patients, Hong Peng, Sheng Pan, Yuanqing Yan, Randall E Brand, Gloria M Petersen, Suresh T Chari, Lisa A Lai, Jimmy K Eng, Teresa A Brentnall, Ru Chen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Diabetes is a risk factor associated with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), and new adult-onset diabetes can be an early sign of pancreatic malignancy. Development of blood-based biomarkers to identify diabetic patients who warrant imaging tests for cancer detection may represent a realistic approach to facilitate earlier diagnosis of PDAC in a risk population.

METHODS: A spectral library-based proteomic platform was applied to interrogate biomarker candidates in plasma samples from clinically well-defined diabetic cohorts with and without PDAC. Random forest algorithm was used for prediction model building and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was applied to evaluate the prediction …

Aav-Crispr Gene Editing Is Negated By Pre-Existing Immunity To Cas9, Ang Li, Mark R Tanner, Ciaran M Lee, Ayrea E Hurley, Marco De Giorgi, Kelsey E Jarrett, Timothy H Davis, Alexandria M Doerfler, Gang Bao, Christine Beeton, William R Lagor

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors are a leading candidate for the delivery of CRISPR-Cas9 for therapeutic genome editing in vivo. However, AAV-based delivery involves persistent expression of the Cas9 nuclease, a bacterial protein. Recent studies indicate a high prevalence of neutralizing antibodies and T cells specific to the commonly used Cas9 orthologs from Streptococcus pyogenes (SpCas9) and Staphylococcus aureus (SaCas9) in humans. We tested in a mouse model whether pre-existing immunity to SaCas9 would pose a barrier to liver genome editing with AAV packaging CRISPR-Cas9. Although efficient genome editing occurred in mouse liver with pre-existing SaCas9 immunity, this was accompanied by …

Ipledge Must Abstain From Abstinence, Kami Lowery, Theodore Rosen, Janet Malek

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Isotretinoin has unmatched efficacy in the treatment of acne. However, because isotretinoin is a teratogen that can cause profound birth defects, the iPLEDGE program regulates the drug's distribution in the United States. To minimize fetal exposure to isotretinoin, the program requires that female patients capable of becoming pregnant use two forms of contraception or commit to abstinence while using this therapy. This manuscript argues that iPLEDGE should be revised to remove abstinence as an acceptable contraceptive option in the face of evidence that disputes its efficacy. All patients, regardless of reported sexual activity, should be required to use data-proven contraception. …

Rapid And Efficient Synthetic Assembly Of Multiplex Luciferase Reporter Plasmids For The Simultaneous Monitoring Of Up To Six Cellular Signaling Pathways, Alejandro Sarrion-Perdigones, Yezabel Gonzalez, Koen J T Venken

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

High-throughput cell-based screening assays are valuable tools in the discovery of chemical probes and therapeutic agents. Such assays are designed to examine the effects of small compounds on targets, pathways, or phenotypes participating in normal and disease processes. While most cell-based assays measure single quantities, multiplexed assays seek to address these limitations by obtaining multiple simultaneous measurements. The signals from such measurements should be independently detectable and cover large dynamic ranges. Luciferases are good candidates for generation of such signals. They are genetically encoded, versatile, and cost-effective, and their output signals can be sensitively detected. We recently developed a multiplex …

Emergency Potassium Normalization Treatment Including Sodium Zirconium Cyclosilicate: A Phase Ii, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study (Energize), W Frank Peacock, Zubaid Rafique, Konstantin Vishnevskiy, Edward Michelson, Elena Vishneva, Tatiana Zvereva, Rajaa Nahra, Dao Li, Joseph Miller

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVES: Sodium zirconium cyclosilicate (SZC) is a novel, highly selective potassium binder currently approved in the United States and European Union for treatment of hyperkalemia. This pilot evaluation explored the efficacy of SZC with insulin and glucose as hyperkalemia treatment in the emergency department (ED).

METHODS:This exploratory, phase II, multicenter, randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled study (NCT03337477) enrolled adult ED patients with blood potassium ≥ 5.8 mmol/L. Patients were randomized 1:1 to receive SZC 10 g or placebo, up to three times during a 10‐hour period, with insulin and glucose. The primary efficacy outcome was the mean change in serum …

Pooled Crispr Screens With Imaging On Microraft Arrays Reveals Stress Granule-Regulatory Factors, Emily C Wheeler, Anthony Q Vu, Jaclyn M Einstein, Matthew Disalvo, Noorsher Ahmed, Eric L Van Nostrand, Alexander A Shishkin, Wenhao Jin, Nancy L Allbritton, Gene W Yeo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Genetic screens using pooled CRISPR-based approaches are scalable and inexpensive, but restricted to standard readouts, including survival, proliferation and sortable markers. However, many biologically relevant cell states involve cellular and subcellular changes that are only accessible by microscopic visualization, and are currently impossible to screen with pooled methods. Here we combine pooled CRISPR-Cas9 screening with microraft array technology and high-content imaging to screen image-based phenotypes (CRaft-ID; CRISPR-based microRaft followed by guide RNA identification). By isolating microrafts that contain genetic clones harboring individual guide RNAs (gRNA), we identify RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) that influence the formation of stress granules, the punctate protein-RNA …

Discovery Of A Selective Inhibitor Of Doublecortin Like Kinase 1, Fleur M Ferguson, Behnam Nabet, Srivatsan Raghavan, Yan Liu, Alan L Leggett, Miljan Kuljanin, Radha L Kalekar, Annan Yang, Shuning He, Jinhua Wang, Raymond W S Ng, Rita Sulahian, Lianbo Li, Emily J Poulin, Ling Huang, Jost Koren, Nora Dieguez-Martinez, Sergio Espinosa, Zhiyang Zeng, Cesear R Corona, James D Vasta, Ryoma Ohi, Taebo Sim, Nam Doo Kim, Wayne Harshbarger, Jose M Lizcano, Matthew B Robers, Senthil Muthaswamy, Charles Y Lin, A Thomas Look, Kevin M Haigis, Joseph D Mancias, Brian M Wolpin, Andrew J Aguirre, William C Hahn, Kenneth D Westover, Nathanael S Gray

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Doublecortin like kinase 1 (DCLK1) is an understudied kinase that is upregulated in a wide range of cancers, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). However, little is known about its potential as a therapeutic target. We used chemoproteomic profiling and structure-based design to develop a selective, in vivo-compatible chemical probe of the DCLK1 kinase domain, DCLK1-IN-1. We demonstrate activity of DCLK1-IN-1 against clinically relevant patient-derived PDAC organoid models and use a combination of RNA-sequencing, proteomics and phosphoproteomics analysis to reveal that DCLK1 inhibition modulates proteins and pathways associated with cell motility in this context. DCLK1-IN-1 will serve as a versatile tool …

Acute Maltodextrin Supplementation During Resistance Exercise, Dylan T Wilburn, Steven B Machek, Thomas D Cardaci, Paul S Hwang, Darryn S Willoughby

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Most of the research investigating the ergogenic enhancing mechanisms of carbohydrate have been conducted using aerobic based exercise. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of pre-exercise maltodextrin ingestion on resistance exercise performance, serum insulin, epinephrine, glucose, and muscle glycogen concentrations. In a double blind, cross over, repeated measures design, participants completed four sets to failure at 70% of 1-RM with 45s rest on the angled leg press with or without pre-exercise maltodextrin (2g/kg) after a 3hr fast. Serum glucose, epinephrine, and insulin were assessed at baseline, 30 min post-ingestion, immediately after, and 1hr post-exercise with …

Simultaneous Examination Of Cellular Pathways Using Multiplex Hextuple Luciferase Assaying, Alejandro Sarrion-Perdigones, Lyra Chang, Yezabel Gonzalez, Tatiana Gallego-Flores, Damian W Young, Koen J T Venken

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Multiplex experimentation that can assay multiple cellular signaling pathways in the same cells requires orthogonal genetically encoded reporters that report over large dynamic ranges. Luciferases are cost-effective, versatile candidates whose output signals can be sensitively detected in a multiplex fashion. Commonly used dual luciferase reporter assays detect one luciferase that is coupled to a single cellular pathway, and a second that is coupled to a control pathway for normalization purposes. We expanded this approach to multiplex hextuple luciferase assaying that can report on five cellular signaling pathways and one control, each of which is encoded by a unique luciferase. Light …

Myeloma Cells Shift Osteoblastogenesis To Adipogenesis By Inhibiting The Ubiquitin Ligase Murf1 In Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Zhiqiang Liu, Huan Liu, Jin He, Pei Lin, Qiang Tong, Jing Yang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The suppression of bone formation is a hallmark of multiple myeloma. Myeloma cells inhibit osteoblastogenesis from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which can also differentiate into adipocytes. We investigated myeloma-MSC interactions and the effects of such interactions on the differentiation of MSCs into adipocytes or osteoblasts using single-cell RNA sequencing, in vitro co-culture, and subcutaneous injection of MSCs and myeloma cells into mice. Our results revealed that the α4 subunit of integrin on myeloma cells stimulated vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM1) on MSCs, leading to the activation of protein kinase C β1 (PKCβ1) signaling and repression of the muscle ring-finger …

Age-Dependent Involvement Of Gut Mast Cells And Histamine In Post-Stroke Inflammation, Maria Pilar Blasco, Anjali Chauhan, Pedram Honarpisheh, Hilda Ahnstedt, John D'Aigle, Arunkumar Ganesan, Sriram Ayyaswamy, Frank Blixt, Susan Venable, Angela Major, David Durgan, Anthony Haag, Julia Kofler, Robert Bryan, Louise D Mccullough, Bhanu Priya Ganesh

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Risk of stroke-related morbidity and mortality increases significantly with age. Aging is associated with chronic, low-grade inflammation, which is thought to contribute to the poorer outcomes after stroke seen in the elderly. Histamine (HA) is a major molecular mediator of inflammation, and mast cells residing in the gut are a primary source of histamine.

METHODS: Stroke was induced in male C57BL/6 J mice at 3 months (young) and 20 months (aged) of age. Role of histamine after stroke was examined using young (Yg) and aged (Ag) mice; mice underwent MCAO surgery and were euthanized at 6 h, 24 h, …

Tfeb Regulates Murine Liver Cell Fate During Development And Regeneration, Nunzia Pastore, Tuong Huynh, Niculin J Herz, Alessia Calcagni', Tiemo J Klisch, Lorenzo Brunetti, Kangho Ho Kim, Marco De Giorgi, Ayrea Hurley, Annamaria Carissimo, Margherita Mutarelli, Niya Aleksieva, Luca D'Orsi, William R Lagor, David D Moore, Carmine Settembre, Milton J Finegold, Stuart J Forbes, Andrea Ballabio

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

It is well established that pluripotent stem cells in fetal and postnatal liver (LPCs) can differentiate into both hepatocytes and cholangiocytes. However, the signaling pathways implicated in the differentiation of LPCs are still incompletely understood. Transcription Factor EB (TFEB), a master regulator of lysosomal biogenesis and autophagy, is known to be involved in osteoblast and myeloid differentiation, but its role in lineage commitment in the liver has not been investigated. Here we show that during development and upon regeneration TFEB drives the differentiation status of murine LPCs into the progenitor/cholangiocyte lineage while inhibiting hepatocyte differentiation. Genetic interaction studies show that …