Digital Commons Network^™

Surveyed Dermatologists Are Less Likely To Curette Invasive Squamous Cell Carcinoma In Solid Organ Transplant Recipients, Kathleen M Nemer, Tyler M Bauman, M Laurin Council, Eva A Hurst

Open Access Publications

Background: The risk of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is increased in solid organ transplant recipients (OTRs), and preferential treatment modalities vary among clinicians.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to survey dermatologists regarding practice patterns for electrodesiccation and curettage (EDC) of SCC in OTRs and nontransplant patients.

Methods: An 18-question survey was sent to dermatologist members of the International Transplant Skin Cancer Collaborative, Association of Professors of Dermatology, and American College of Mohs Surgery. Differences in EDC practice patterns for treatment of SCC in OTRs and nontransplant patients were evaluated.

Results: Dermatologists in this study (

Conclusions: In OTRs …

The Safety Of Combined Triple Drug Therapy With Ivermectin, Diethylcarbamazine And Albendazole In The Neglected Tropical Diseases Co-Endemic Setting Of Fiji: A Cluster Randomised Trial, Myra Hardy, Josaia Samuela, Mike Kama, Meciusela Tuicakau, Lucia Romani, Margot J. Whitfeld, Christopher L. King, Gary J. Weil, Anneke C. Grobler, Leanne J. Robinson, John M. Kaldor, Andrew C. Steer

Open Access Publications

Lymphatic filariasis has remained endemic in Fiji despite repeated mass drug administration using the well-established and safe combination of diethylcarbamazine and albendazole (DA) since 2002. In certain settings the addition of ivermectin to this combination (IDA) remains a safe strategy and is more efficacious. However, the safety has yet to be described in scabies and soil-transmitted helminth endemic settings like Fiji. Villages of Rotuma and Gau islands were randomised to either DA or IDA. Residents received weight-based treatment unblinded with standard exclusions. Participants were actively found and asked by a nurse about their health daily for the first two days …

Long Non-Coding Rna Lcal62 / Linc00261 Is Associated With Lung Adenocarcinoma Prognosis, Ha X Dang, Nicole M White, Emily B Rozycki, Brooke M Felsheim, Mark A Watson, Ramaswamy Govindan, Jingqin Luo, Christopher A Maher

Open Access Publications

Background: More than half of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients present with metastatic disease at initial diagnosis with an estimated five-year survival rate of ~5%. Despite advances in understanding primary lung cancer oncogenesis metastatic disease remains poorly characterized. Recent studies demonstrate important roles of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in tumor physiology and as prognostic markers. Therefore, we present the first transcriptome analysis to identify lncRNAs altered in metastatic lung adenocarcinoma leading to the discovery and characterization of the lncRNA

Patients and methods: RNA-Seq, microarray, nanoString expression, and clinical data from 1,116 LUAD patients across six independent cohorts and 83 …

Civicpy: A Python Software Evelopment And Analysis Toolkit For The Civic Knowledgebase, Alex H Wagner, Susanna Kiwala, Adam C Coffman, Joshua F Mcmichael, Kelsy C Cotto, Thomas B Mooney, Erica K Barnell, Kilannin Krysiak, Arpad M Danos, Jason Walker, Obi L Griffith, Malachi Griffith

Open Access Publications

PURPOSE: Precision oncology depends on the matching of tumor variants to relevant knowledge describing the clinical significance of those variants. We recently developed the Clinical Interpretations for Variants in Cancer (CIViC; civicdb.org) crowd-sourced, expert-moderated, and open-access knowledgebase. CIViC provides a structured framework for evaluating genomic variants of various types (eg, fusions, single-nucleotide variants) for their therapeutic, prognostic, predisposing, diagnostic, or functional utility. CIViC has a documented application programming interface for accessing CIViC records: assertions, evidence, variants, and genes. Third-party tools that analyze or access the contents of this knowledgebase programmatically must leverage this application programming interface, often reimplementing redundant functionality …

Disease-Modifying Therapy Adherence And Associated Factors In A National Sample Of Medicare Patients With Multiple Sclerosis, Pengxiang Li, Vrushabh P Ladage, Joseph Berger, Salim Chahin, Mehul Jhaveri, Caroline Geremakis, Jalpa A Doshi

Open Access Publications

OBJECTIVES: Disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) reduce relapse rates and disability progression for relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS). Although 25% to 30% of all US patients with MS are Medicare beneficiaries, limited information exists on this population. This is the first study using national Medicare data to (1) describe characteristics of patients with MS using DMTs, (2) estimate adherence to DMTs over a 1-year and 3-year follow-up, and (3) examine factors associated with DMT adherence.

METHODS: This retrospective claims analysis used 2011-2014 100% Medicare files. Monthly adherence to MS DMTs was defined as the proportion of days covered ≥0.80 with any DMT in …

Decision-Making Based On 3d Printed Models In Laparoscopic Liver Resections With Intraoperative Ultrasound: A Prospective Observational Study, Jan Witowski, Andrzej Budzyński, Anna Grochowska, David H Ballard, Piotr Major, Mateusz Rubinkiewicz, Adriana Złahoda-Huzior, Tadeusz J Popiela, Mateusz Wierdak, Michał Pędziwiatr

Open Access Publications

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate impact of 3D printed models on decision-making in context of laparoscopic liver resections (LLR) performed with intraoperative ultrasound (IOUS) guidance.

METHODS: Nineteen patients with liver malignances (74% were colorectal cancer metastases) were prospectively qualified for LLR or radiofrequency ablation in a single center from April 2017 to December 2018. Models were 3DP in all cases based on CT and facilitated optical visualization of tumors' relationships with portal and hepatic veins. Planned surgical extent and its changes were tracked after CT analysis and 3D model inspection, as well as intraoperatively using IOUS. …

Modular Analysis Of The Control Of Flagellar Ca2+-Spike Trains Produced By Catsper And Cav Channels In Sea Urchin Sperm, Daniel A. Priego-Espinosa, Alberto Darszon, Adán Guerrero, Ana Laura González-Cota, Takuya Nishigaki, Gustavo Martínez-Mekler, Jorge Carneiro

Open Access Publications

Intracellular calcium ([Ca2+]i) is a basic and ubiquitous cellular signal controlling a wide variety of biological processes. A remarkable example is the steering of sea urchin spermatozoa towards the conspecific egg by a spatially and temporally orchestrated series of [Ca2+]i spikes. Although this process has been an experimental paradigm for reproduction and sperm chemotaxis studies, the composition and regulation of the signalling network underlying the cytosolic calcium fluctuations are hitherto not fully understood. Here, we used a differential equations model of the signalling network to assess which set of channels can explain the characteristic envelope and temporal organisation of the …

Treatment Of Oligometastatic Lung Cancer With Brain Metastases Using Stereotactic Radiosurgery (Srs) And Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (Sbrt), John Nikitas, Michael Roach, Cliff Robinson, Jeffrey Bradley, Jiayi Huang, Stephanie Perkins, Christina Tsien, Christopher Abraham

Open Access Publications

Background: There is increasing interest in treating oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with stereotactic radiation. We aimed to address whether patients definitively treated with synchronous thoracic stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) and brain stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) had favorable outcomes with local therapy.

Materials and methods: We reviewed a database of patients receiving lung SBRT as well as a database for brain metastasis patients treated with SRS between June 2004 and January 2016. We selected for cT1-2aN0M1 NSCLC patients with brain metastases and calculated their overall survival (OS), freedom from progression (FFP), and local control (LC) rates.

Results: Six …

Platelet Activation In Experimental Murine Neonatal Pulmonary Hypertension, Pavel Davizon-Castillo, Ayed Allawzi, Matthew Sorrells, Susan Fisher, Kristina Baltrunaite, Keith Neeves, Eva Nozik-Grayck, Jorge Dipaola, Cassidy Delaney

Open Access Publications

Serotonin (5-HT) contributes to the pathogenesis of experimental neonatal pulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Platelets are the primary source of circulating 5-HT and is released upon platelet activation. Platelet transfusions are associated with neonatal mortality and increased rates of BPD. As BPD is often complicated by PH, we tested the hypothesis that circulating platelets are activated and also increased in the lungs of neonatal mice with bleomycin-induced PH associated with BPD. Newborn wild-type mice received intraperitoneal bleomycin (3 units/kg) three times weekly for 3 weeks. Platelets from mice with experimental PH exhibited increased adhesion to collagen under …

Microbiome Restoration By Rbx2660 Does Not Preclude Recurrence Of Multidrug-Resistant Urinary Tract Infection Following Subsequent Antibiotic Exposure: A Case Report, Eric C. Keen, Preston Tasoff, Tiffany Hink, Kimberly A. Reske, Carey-Ann D. Burnham, Gautam Dantas, Jennie H. Kwon, Erik R. Dubberke

Open Access Publications

A 62-year-old woman received RBX2660, an investigational microbiome restoration therapeutic, for recurrent multidrug-resistant (MDR) urinary tract infection (UTI). RBX2660 increased gut microbiome diversity but did not eliminate uropathogen carriage, and MDR UTI recurred after subsequent antibiotic exposure. Thus, restoration of microbiome diversity does not preclude disease recurrence by residual MDR pathogens.

The Struggling Infectious Diseases Fellow: Remediation Challenges And Opportunities, Michael T. Melia, Gerome Escota, Et Al

Open Access Publications

Remediation of struggling learners is a challenge faced by all educators. In recognition of this reality, and in light of contemporary challenges facing infectious diseases (ID) fellowship program directors, the Infectious Diseases Society of America Training Program Directors' Committee focused the 2018 National Fellowship Program Directors' Meeting at IDWeek on "Remediation of the Struggling Fellow." Small group discussions addressed 7 core topics, including feedback and evaluations, performance management and remediation, knowledge deficits, fellow well-being, efficiency and time management, teaching skills, and career development. This manuscript synthesizes those discussions around a competency-based framework to provide program directors and other educators with …

Glp-1 Notch-Lag-1 Csl Control Of The Germline Stem Cell Fate Is Mediated By Transcriptional Targets Lst-1 And Sygl-1, Jian Chen, Ariz Mohammad, Nanette Pazdernik, Huiyan Huang, Beth Bowman, Eric Tycksen, Tim Schedl

Open Access Publications

Stem cell systems are essential for the development and maintenance of polarized tissues. Intercellular signaling pathways control stem cell systems, where niche cells signal stem cells to maintain the stem cell fate/self-renewal and inhibit differentiation. In the C. elegans germline, GLP-1 Notch signaling specifies the stem cell fate, employing the sequence-specific DNA binding protein LAG-1 to implement the transcriptional response. We undertook a comprehensive genome-wide approach to identify transcriptional targets of GLP-1 signaling. We expected primary response target genes to be evident at the intersection of genes identified as directly bound by LAG-1, from ChIP-seq experiments, with genes identified as …

Modeling Cancer Genomic Data In Yeast Reveals Selection Against Atm Function During Tumorigenesis, Marcel Hohl, Aditya Mojumdar, Sarem Hailemariam, Vitaly Kuryavyi, Fiorella Ghisays, Kyle Sorenson, Matthew Chang, Barry S. Taylor, Dinshaw J. Patel, Peter M. Burgers, Jennifer A. Cobb, John H. J. Petrini

Open Access Publications

The DNA damage response (DDR) comprises multiple functions that collectively preserve genomic integrity and suppress tumorigenesis. The Mre11 complex and ATM govern a major axis of the DDR and several lines of evidence implicate that axis in tumor suppression. Components of the Mre11 complex are mutated in approximately five percent of human cancers. Inherited mutations of complex members cause severe chromosome instability syndromes, such as Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome, which is associated with strong predisposition to malignancy. And in mice, Mre11 complex mutations are markedly more susceptible to oncogene- induced carcinogenesis. The complex is integral to all modes of DNA double …

Direct Cost Of Surgically Treated Adult Traumatic Brachial Plexus Injuries, Christopher J Dy, Nithya Lingampalli, Kate Peacock, Margaret A Olsen, Wilson Z Ray, David M Brogan

Open Access Publications

PURPOSE: The economic implications of brachial plexus injuries (BPI) in the United States are not well understood. The purpose of our study was to quantify the direct costs associated with surgical treatment of BPI after traumatic injury in adults, which would enable future study of the societal value of surgical reconstruction.

METHODS: Using an administrative database of patients with commercial insurance, a cohort of patients aged 18 to 64 years with BPI treated surgically from 2007 to 2015 was assembled and assessed for index admission associated with BPI surgery and all payments toward claims (including medical, surgical, therapy, and pharmacy …

Second-Line Lenvatinib In Patients With Recurrent Endometrial Cancer, Ignace Vergote, Matthew A Powell, Michael G Teneriello, David S Miller, Agustin A Garcia, Olga N Mikheeva, Mariusz Bidzinski, Cristina Ligia Cebotaru, Corina E Dutcus, Min Ren, Tadashi Kadowaki, Yasuhiro Funahashi, Richard T Penson

Open Access Publications

OBJECTIVE: This study assessed the efficacy of lenvatinib, a multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor, as second-line therapy in patients with unresectable endometrial cancer. The primary end point was the objective response rate (ORR) as assessed by independent radiologic review (IRR). Secondary end points included median progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and clinical benefit rate. Exploratory end points examined the association of baseline levels of plasma biomarkers (50 circulating cytokine and/or angiogenic factors measured by immunoassays) with efficacy outcomes.

METHODS: An international, open-label, single-arm, multicenter, phase 2 trial was conducted. Eligible patients had histologically confirmed unresectable endometrial cancer that relapsed after …

Age And Tightness Of Repair Are Predictors Of Heel-Rise Height After Achilles Tendon Rupture, Michael R Carmont, Jennifer A Zellers, Annelie Brorsson, Katarina Nilsson-Helander, Jón Karlsson, Karin Grävare Silbernagel

Open Access Publications

Background: Achilles tendon rupture leads to weakness of ankle plantarflexion. Treatment of Achilles tendon rupture should aim to restore function while minimizing weakness and complications of management.

Purpose: To determine the influence of factors (age, sex, body mass index [BMI], weight, time from injury to operative repair, and tightness of repair) in the initial surgical management of patients after an acute Achilles tendon rupture on 12-month functional outcome assessment after percutaneous and minimally invasive repair.

Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.

Methods: From May 2012 to January 2018, patients sustaining an Achilles tendon rupture receiving operative repair were …

Impaired Tumor Necrosis Factor-Α Secretion By Cd4 T Cells During Respiratory Syncytial Virus Bronchiolitis Associated With Recurrent Wheeze, Maleewan Kitcharoensakkul, Leonard B Bacharier, Huiqing Yin-Declue, Jonathan S Boomer, Geneline Sajol, Marilyn K Leung, Brad Wilson, Kenneth B Schechtman, John P Atkinson, Jonathan M Green, Mario Castro

Open Access Publications

BACKGROUND: Infants with severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) bronchiolitis have an increased risk of recurrent wheezing and asthma. We aimed to evaluate the relationships between regulatory T cell (Treg) percentage and cytokine production of in vitro-stimulated CD4+ T cells during acute bronchiolitis and the development of recurrent wheezing in the first 3 years of life.

METHODS: We obtained peripheral blood from 166 infants hospitalized with their first episode of RSV-confirmed bronchiolitis. Granzyme B (GZB) expression, and interleukin-10, interferon-γ, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), IL-4, and IL-5 production by in vitro anti-CD3/CD28- and anti-CD3/CD46-activated CD4+ T cells, and percentage of peripheral Treg …

Tgfβ1 Orchestrates Renal Fibrosis Following Escherichia Coli Pyelonephritis, Teri N Hreha, Christina A Collins, Allyssa L Daugherty, Joy Twentyman, Nitin Paluri, David A Hunstad

Open Access Publications

Renal scarring after pyelonephritis is linked to long-term health risks for hypertension and chronic kidney disease. Androgen exposure increases susceptibility to, and severity of, uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) pyelonephritis and resultant scarring in both male and female mice, while anti-androgen therapy is protective against severe urinary tract infection (UTI) in these models. This work employed androgenized female C57BL/6 mice to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of post-infectious renal fibrosis and to determine how these pathways are altered by the presence of androgens. We found that elevated circulating testosterone levels primed the kidney for fibrosis by increasing local production of TGFβ1 before …

Intraoperative Suprachoroidal Hemorrhage During Xen Gel Stent Implantation, James C Liu, Wesley Green, Arsham Sheybani, John T Lind

Open Access Publications

Purpose: To report a rare case of intraoperative suprachoroidal hemorrhage during Xen gel stent implantation with accompanying surgical video and subsequent 6-month follow-up.

Observations: Our patient required incisional glaucoma surgery after inadequate pressure reduction with four classes of topical medication, methazolamide, and selective laser trabeculoplasty. The patient underwent Xen gel stent implantation and developed an intraoperative suprachoroidal hemorrhage, which was managed in the operating room. The patient recovered his baseline visual acuity with a functioning bleb out to 6 months postoperatively.

Conclusions and Importance: Micro-invasive glaucoma surgeries offer a new repertoire of surgical options, purportedly with safer and less invasive …

Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (Ercp) Assisted Enucleation Of Deep Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors (Pnets): A Novel Technique To Increase Procedure Safety And Decrease Risk Of Post-Operative Pancreatic Fistula, Adeel S. Khan, Mohamed A. Abdallah, Muslim Atiq, Daniel Mullady, Koushik K. Das, William C. Chapman, Maria B. Doyle

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

The Dual-Specificity Kinase Dyrk1a Modulates The Levels Of Cyclin L2 To Control Hiv Replication In Macrophages, Javan K. Kisaka, Lee Ratner, George B. Kyei

Open Access Publications

HIV replication in macrophages contributes to the latent viral reservoirs, which are considered the main barrier to HIV eradication. Few cellular factors that facilitate HIV replication in latently infected cells are known. We previously identified cyclin L2 as a critical factor required by HIV-1 and found that depletion of cyclin L2 attenuates HIV-1 replication in macrophages. Here we demonstrate that cyclin L2 promotes HIV-1 replication through interactions with the dual-specificity tyrosine phosphorylation-regulated kinase 1A (DYRK1A). Cyclin L2 and DYRK1A were colocalized in the nucleus and were found together in immunoprecipitation experiments. Knockdown or inhibition of DYRK1A increased HIV-1 replication in …

How To Stop The Bleed: First Care Provider Model For Developing Public Trauma Response Beyond Basic Hemorrhage Control, Joshua P Bobko, Dylan J Badin, Leila Danishgar, Kate Bayhan, Kevin J Thompson, William J Harris, R. Todd Baldridge, Gerald R Fortuna

Open Access Publications

INTRODUCTION: Since 2013, the First Care Provider (FCP) model has successfully educated the non-medical population on how to recognize life-threatening injuries and perform interventions recommended by the Committee for Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (C-TECC) and the Hartford Consensus in the disaster setting. Recent programs, such as the federal "Stop The Bleed" campaign, have placed the emphasis of public training on hemorrhage control. However, recent attacks demonstrate that access to wounded, recognition of injury, and rapid evacuation are equally as important as hemorrhage control in minimizing mortality. To date, no training programs have produced a validated study with regard to training …

Agonist-Selective Recruitment Of Engineered Protein Probes And Of Grk2 By Opioid Receptors In Living Cells, Miriam Stoeber, Damien Jullié, Joy Li, Soumen Chakraborty, Susruta Majumdar, Nevin A. Lambert, Aashish Manglik, Mark Von Zastrow

Open Access Publications

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) signal through allostery, and it is increasingly clear that chemically distinct agonists can produce different receptor-based effects. It has been proposed that agonists selectively promote receptors to recruit one cellular interacting partner over another, introducing allosteric 'bias' into the signaling system. However, the underlying hypothesis - that different agonists drive GPCRs to engage different cytoplasmic proteins in living cells - remains untested due to the complexity of readouts through which receptor-proximal interactions are typically inferred. We describe a cell-based assay to overcome this challenge, based on GPCR-interacting biosensors that are disconnected from endogenous transduction mechanisms. Focusing …

Improving Characterization Of Understudied Human Microbiomes Using Targeted Phylogenetics, Bruce A Rosa, Kathie Mihindukulasuriya, Kymberlie Hallsworth-Pepin, Aye Wollam, John Martin, Caroline Snowden, William Michael Dunne Jr., George M Weinstock, Carey-Ann D. Burnham, Makedonka Mitreva

Open Access Publications

Whole-genome bacterial sequences are required to better understand microbial functions, niche-specific bacterial metabolism, and disease states. Although genomic sequences are available for many of the human-associated bacteria from commonly tested body habitats (e.g., feces), as few as 13% of bacterium-derived reads from other sites such as the skin map to known bacterial genomes. To facilitate a better characterization of metagenomic shotgun reads from underrepresented body sites, we collected over 10,000 bacterial isolates originating from 14 human body habitats, identified novel taxonomic groups based on full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences, clustered the sequences to ensure that no individual taxonomic group was …

The Plasmodium Falciparum Artemisinin Susceptibility-Associated Ap-2 Adaptin Μ Subunit Is Clathrin Independent And Essential For Schizont Maturation, Ryan C Henrici, Rachel L Edwards, Martin Zoltner, Donelly A Van Schalkwyk, Melissa N Hart, Franziska Mohring, Robert W Moon, Stephanie D Nofal, Avnish Patel, Christian Flueck, David A Baker, Audrey R Odom John, Mark C Field, Colin J Sutherland

Open Access Publications

The efficacy of current antimalarial drugs is threatened by reduced susceptibility of

Neural Mechanisms Of Economic Choices In Mice, Masaru Kuwabara, Ningdong Kang, Timothy E. Holy, Camillo Padoa-Schioppa

Open Access Publications

Economic choices entail computing and comparing subjective values. Evidence from primates indicates that this behavior relies on the orbitofrontal cortex. Conversely, previous work in rodents provided conflicting results. Here we present a mouse model of economic choice behavior, and we show that the lateral orbital (LO) area is intimately related to the decision process. In the experiments, mice chose between different juices offered in variable amounts. Choice patterns closely resembled those measured in primates. Optogenetic inactivation of LO dramatically disrupted choices by inducing erratic changes of relative value and by increasing choice variability. Neuronal recordings revealed that different groups of …

Pituitary Carcinoma: Two Case Reports And Review Of Literature, Lai Xu, Karam Khaddour, Jie Chen, Keith M. Rich, Richard J. Perrin, Jian Li Campian

Open Access Publications

BACKGROUND: Pituitary carcinoma is a rare type of malignancy that can be very difficult to diagnose and treat. Many cases were diagnosed at autopsy. Delays in diagnosis often adversely impact patients' outcomes. Even with prompt diagnosis, treatment decisions remain challenging in the absence of randomized controlled trials.

CASE SUMMARY: We report two cases of pituitary carcinoma in men with a history of pituitary adenoma. In the first case, a 55-year-old man was initially diagnosed with pituitary macroadenoma. He underwent subtotal debulking of the tumor followed by adjuvant radiotherapy. Subsequently, he developed relapsed disease and multifocal intracranial metastases and a diagnosis …

Proteogenomic Characterization Of Endometrial Carcinoma, Yongchao Dou, Daniel Cui Zhou, Alla Karpova, Yige Wu, Song Cao, Matthew A Wyczalkowski, Qingsong Gao, Sunantha Sethuraman, David Mutch, Katherine Fuh, Li Ding, Et Al

Open Access Publications

We undertook a comprehensive proteogenomic characterization of 95 prospectively collected endometrial carcinomas, comprising 83 endometrioid and 12 serous tumors. This analysis revealed possible new consequences of perturbations to the p53 and Wnt/β-catenin pathways, identified a potential role for circRNAs in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and provided new information about proteomic markers of clinical and genomic tumor subgroups, including relationships to known druggable pathways. An extensive genome-wide acetylation survey yielded insights into regulatory mechanisms linking Wnt signaling and histone acetylation. We also characterized aspects of the tumor immune landscape, including immunogenic alterations, neoantigens, common cancer/testis antigens, and the immune microenvironment, all of …

An Inducible Cre Mouse Line To Sparsely Target Nervous System Cells, Including Remak Schwann Cells, Darshan Sapkota, Joseph D Dougherty

Open Access Publications

Nerves of the peripheral nervous system contain two classes of Schwann cells: myelinating Schwann cells that ensheath large caliber axons and generate the myelin sheath, and Remak Schwann cells that surround smaller axons and do not myelinate. While tools exist for genetic targeting of Schwann cell precursors and myelinating Schwann cells, such reagents have been challenging to generate specifically for the Remak population, in part because many of the genes that mark this population in maturity are also robustly expressed in Schwann cell precursors. To circumvent this challenge, we utilized BAC transgenesis to generate a mouse line expressing a tamoxifen-inducible …

Combining Stage Specificity And Metabolomic Profiling To Advance Antimalarial Drug Discovery, James M Murithi, Edward S Owen, Eva S Istvan, Marcus C S Lee, Sabine Ottilie, Kelly Chibale, Daniel E Goldberg, Elizabeth A Winzeler, Manuel Llinás, David A Fidock, Manu Vanaerschot

Open Access Publications

We report detailed susceptibility profiling of asexual blood stages of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum to clinical and experimental antimalarials, combined with metabolomic fingerprinting. Results revealed a variety of stage-specific and metabolic profiles that differentiated the modes of action of clinical antimalarials including chloroquine, piperaquine, lumefantrine, and mefloquine, and identified late trophozoite-specific peak activity and stage-specific biphasic dose-responses for the mitochondrial inhibitors DSM265 and atovaquone. We also identified experimental antimalarials hitting previously unexplored druggable pathways as reflected by their unique stage specificity and/or metabolic profiles. These included several ring-active compounds, ones affecting hemoglobin catabolism through distinct pathways, and mitochondrial inhibitors …