Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Production Of Genetically Stable And Odontoglossum Ringspot Virus-Free Cymbidium Orchid ‘New True’ Plants Via Meristem-Derived Protocorm-Like Body (Plb) Subcultures, Jova Riza Campol, Aung Htay Naing, Hay Mon Aung, Su Bin Cho, Hyunhee Kang, Mi Young Chung, Chang Kil Kim

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to produce Odontoglossum ringspot virus (ORSV)-free Cymbidium orchid 'New True' plants from ORSV-infected mother plants by culturing their meristems and successively repeating subcultures of protocorm-like bodies (PLBs) derived from the meristems.

RESULTS: Initially, ORSV was confirmed as the causative agent of viral symptoms in orchid leaves via reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis. Meristems from infected plants were cultured to generate PLBs, which in sequence were repeatedly subcultured up to four times. RT-PCR and quantitative RT-PCR analyses revealed that while ORSV was undetectable in shoots derived from the first subculture, complete elimination of the virus required …

The P-Myh9/Usp22/Hif-1Α Axis Promotes Lenvatinib Resistance And Cancer Stemness In Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Qiaonan Shan, Lu Yin, Qifan Zhan, Jiongjie Yu, Sheng Pan, Jianyong Zhuo, Wei Zhou, Jiaqi Bao, Lincheng Zhang, Jiachen Hong, Jianan Xiang, Qingyang Que, Kangchen Chen, Shengjun Xu, Jingrui Wang, Yangbo Zhu, Bin He, Jingbang Wu, Haiyang Xie, Shusen Zheng, Tingting Feng, Sunbin Ling, Xiao Xu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Lenvatinib is a targeted drug used for first-line treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A deeper insight into the resistance mechanism of HCC against lenvatinib is urgently needed. In this study, we aimed to dissect the underlying mechanism of lenvatinib resistance (LR) and provide effective treatment strategies. We established an HCC model of acquired LR. Cell counting, migration, self-renewal ability, chemoresistance and expression of stemness genes were used to detect the stemness of HCC cells. Molecular and biochemical strategies such as RNA-sequencing, immunoprecipitation, mass spectrometry and ubiquitination assays were used to explore the underlying mechanisms. Patient-derived HCC models and HCC samples …

Current Status And Research Directions In Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Hagop Kantarjian, Gautam Borthakur, Naval Daver, Courtney D Dinardo, Ghayas Issa, Elias Jabbour, Tapan Kadia, Koji Sasaki, Nicholas J Short, Musa Yilmaz, Farhad Ravandi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The understanding of the molecular pathobiology of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has spurred the identification of therapeutic targets and the development of corresponding novel targeted therapies. Since 2017, twelve agents have been approved for the treatment of AML subsets: the BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax; the CD33 antibody drug conjugate gemtuzumab ozogamicin; three FLT3 inhibitors (midostaurin, gilteritinib, quizartinib); three IDH inhibitors (ivosidenib and olutasidenib targeting IDH1 mutations; enasidenib targeting IDH2 mutations); two oral hypomethylating agents (oral poorly absorbable azacitidine; fully absorbable decitabine-cedazuridine [latter approved as an alternative to parenteral hypomethylating agents in myelodysplastic syndrome and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia but commonly used in …

Loss Of P53 And Smad4 Induces Adenosquamous Subtype Pancreatic Cancer In The Absence Of An Oncogenic Kras Mutation, Daowei Yang, Xinlei Sun, Rohan Moniruzzaman, Hua Wang, Citu Citu, Zhongming Zhao, Ignacio I Wistuba, Huamin Wang, Anirban Maitra, Yang Chen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Pancreatic cancer is associated with an oncogenic KRAS mutation in approximately 90% of cases. However, a non-negligible proportion of pancreatic cancer cases harbor wild-type KRAS (KRAS-WT). This study establishes genetically engineered mouse models that develop spontaneous pancreatic cancer in the context of KRAS-WT. The Trp53

Effects Of Sotagliflozin On Health Status In Patients With Worsening Heart Failure: Results From Soloist-Whf, Ankeet S Bhatt, Deepak L Bhatt, Ph Gabriel Steg, Michael Szarek, Christopher P Cannon, Lawrence A Leiter, Darren K Mcguire, Julia B Lewis, Matthew C Riddle, Adriaan A Voors, Marco Metra, Lars H Lund, Jeffrey M Testani, Christopher S Wilcox, Michael Davies, Bertram Pitt, Mikhail N Kosiborod

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors improve health status in heart failure (HF) across the left ejection fraction ejection spectrum. However, the effects of SGLT1 and SGLT2 inhibition on health status are unknown.

Objectives: These prespecified analyses of the SOLOIST-WHF (Effect of Sotagliflozin on Cardiovascular Events in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Post Worsening Heart Failure) trial examined the effects of sotagliflozin vs placebo on HF-related health status.

Methods: SOLOIST-WHF randomized patients hospitalized or recently discharged after a worsening HF episode to receive sotagliflozin or placebo. The primary endpoint was total number of HF hospitalizations, urgent HF visits, and cardiovascular …

Perfusion-Weighted Imaging With Dynamic Contrast Enhancement (Pwi/Dce) Morphologic, Qualitative, Semiquantitative, And Radiomics Features Predicting Undifferentiated Pleomorphic Sarcoma (Ups) Treatment Response, R F Valenzuela, E Duran-Sierra, M Canjirathinkal, B Amini, K E Torres, R S Benjamin, J Ma, W L Wang, K P Hwang, R J Stafford, C Wu, A M Zarzour, A J Bishop, S Lo, J E Madewell, R Kumar, W A Murphy, C M Costelloe

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) is the largest subgroup of soft tissue sarcomas. This study determined the value of perfusion-weighted imaging with dynamic-contrast-enhancement (PWI/DCE) morphologic, qualitative, and semiquantitative features for predicting UPS pathology-assessed treatment effect (PATE). This retrospective study included 33 surgically excised extremity UPS patients with pre-surgical MRI. Volumetric tumor segmentation from PWI/DCE was obtained at Baseline (BL), Post-Chemotherapy (PC), and Post-Radiation Therapy (PRT). The surgical specimens' PATE separated cases into Responders (R) (≥ 90%, 16 patients), Partial-Responders (PR) (89 - 31%, 10 patients), and Non-Responders (NR) (≤ 30%, seven patients). Seven semiquantitative kinetic parameters and maps were extracted from …

Detecting Altered Hepatic Lipid Oxidation By Mri In An Animal Model Of Masld, Marc Mcleod, Mario C Chang, Anna Rushin, Mukundan Ragavan, Rohit Mahar, Gaurav Sharma, Arshee Badar, Anthony Giacalone, Max E Glanz, Vinay R Malut, Dalton Graham, Nishanth E Sunny, James A Bankson, Kenneth Cusi, Matthew E Merritt

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) prevalence is increasing annually and affects over a third of US adults. MASLD can progress to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), characterized by severe hepatocyte injury, inflammation, and eventual advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis. MASH is predicted to become the primary cause of liver transplant by 2030. Although the etiology of MASLD/MASH is incompletely understood, dysregulated fatty acid oxidation is implicated in disease pathogenesis. Here, we develop a method for estimating hepatic β-oxidation from the metabolism of [D

Gut Phageome In Mexican Americans: A Population At High Risk For Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease And Diabetes, Suet-Ying Kwan, Caroline M Sabotta, Lorenzo R Cruz, Matthew C Wong, Nadim J Ajami, Joseph B Mccormick, Susan P Fisher-Hoch, Laura Beretta

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Mexican Americans are disproportionally affected by metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), which often co-occurs with diabetes. Despite extensive evidence on the causative role of the gut microbiome in MASLD, studies determining the involvement of the gut phageome are scarce. In this cross-sectional study, we characterized the gut phageome in Mexican Americans of South Texas by stool shotgun metagenomic sequencing of 340 subjects, concurrently screened for liver steatosis by transient elastography. Inter-individual variations in the phageome were associated with gender, country of birth, diabetes, and liver steatosis. The phage signatures for diabetes and liver steatosis were subsequently determined. Enrichment of …

Loss Of Hd-Ptp Function Results In Lipodystrophy, Defective Cellular Signaling And Altered Lipid Homeostasis, Destiny F Schultz, Brian A Davies, Johanna A Payne, Cole P Martin, Annabel Y Minard, Bennett G Childs, Cheng Zhang, Karthik B Jeganathan, Ines Sturmlechner, Thomas A White, Alain De Bruin, Liesbeth Harkema, Huiqin Chen, Michael A Davies, Sarah Jachim, Nathan K Lebrasseur, Robert C Piper, Hu Li, Darren J Baker, Jan Van Deursen, Daniel D Billadeau, David J Katzmann

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

His domain protein tyrosine phosphatase (HD-PTP; also known as PTPN23) facilitates function of the endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRTs) during multivesicular body (MVB) formation. To uncover its role in physiological homeostasis, embryonic lethality caused by a complete lack of HD-PTP was bypassed through generation of hypomorphic mice expressing reduced protein, resulting in animals that are viable into adulthood. These mice exhibited marked lipodystrophy and decreased receptor-mediated signaling within white adipose tissue (WAT), involving multiple prominent pathways including RAS/MAPK, phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT and receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs), such as EGFR. EGFR signaling was dissected in vitro to assess the …

Longitudinal Intravascular Antibody Labeling Identified Regulatory T Cell Recruitment As A Therapeutic Target In A Mouse Model Of Lung Cancer, Sean-Luc Shanahan, Nikesh Kunder, Charles Inaku, Natalie B Hagan, Grace Gibbons, Nicolas Mathey-Andrews, Gayathri Anandappa, Shawn Soares, Kristen E Pauken, Tyler Jacks, Jason M Schenkel

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Anticancer immunity is predicated on leukocyte migration into tumors. Once recruited, leukocytes undergo substantial reprogramming to adapt to the tumor microenvironment. A major challenge in the field is distinguishing recently recruited from resident leukocytes in tumors. In this study, we developed an intravascular Ab technique to label circulating mouse leukocytes before they migrate to tissues, providing unprecedented insight into the kinetics of recruitment. This approach unveiled the substantial role of leukocyte migration in tumor progression using a preclinical mouse model of lung adenocarcinoma. Regulatory T cells (Tregs), critical mediators of immunosuppression, were continuously and rapidly recruited into tumors throughout cancer …

Hif-2Α-Dependent Induction Of Mir-29a Restrains Th1 Activity During T Cell Dependent Colitis, Agnieszka K Czopik, Eóin N Mcnamee, Victoria Vaughn, Xiangsheng Huang, In Hyuk Bang, Trent Clark, Yanyu Wang, Wei Ruan, Tom Nguyen, Joanne C Masterson, Eunyoung Tak, Sandra Frank, Colm B Collins, Howard Li, Cristian Rodriguez-Aguayo, Gabriel Lopez-Berestein, Mark E Gerich, Glenn T Furuta, Xiaoyi Yuan, Anil K Sood, Edwin F De Zoeten, Holger K Eltzschig

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Metabolic imbalance leading to inflammatory hypoxia and stabilization of hypoxia-inducible transcription factors (HIFs) is a hallmark of inflammatory bowel diseases. We hypothesize that HIF could be stabilized in CD4+ T cells during intestinal inflammation and alter the functional responses of T cells via regulation of microRNAs. Our assays reveal markedly increased T cell-intrinsic hypoxia and stabilization of HIF protein during experimental colitis. microRNA screen in primary CD4+ T cells points us towards miR-29a and our subsequent studies identify a selective role for HIF-2α in CD4-cell-intrinsic induction of miR-29a during hypoxia. Mice with T cell-intrinsic HIF-2α deletion display elevated T-bet (target …

Spatially Fractionated Grid Radiation Potentiates Immune-Mediated Tumor Control, Rebecca A Bekker, Nina Obertopp, Gage Redler, José Penagaricano, Jimmy J Caudell, Kosj Yamoah, Shari Pilon-Thomas, Eduardo G Moros, Heiko Enderling

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Tumor-immune interactions shape a developing tumor and its tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) resulting in either well-infiltrated, immunologically inflamed tumor beds, or immune deserts with low levels of infiltration. The pre-treatment immune make-up of the TIME is associated with treatment outcome; immunologically inflamed tumors generally exhibit better responses to radio- and immunotherapy than non-inflamed tumors. However, radiotherapy is known to induce opposing immunological consequences, resulting in both immunostimulatory and inhibitory responses. In fact, it is thought that the radiation-induced tumoricidal immune response is curtailed by subsequent applications of radiation. It is thus conceivable that spatially fractionated radiotherapy (SFRT), administered through …

Minimally Invasive Therapies For Knee Osteoarthritis, Uchenna Osuala, Megan H Goh, Arian Mansur, John B Smirniotopoulos, Arielle Scott, Christine Vassell, Bardia Yousefi, Neil K Jain, Alan A Sag, Allison Lax, Kevin W Park, Alexander Kheradi, Marc Sapoval, Jafar Golzarian, Peiman Habibollahi, Osman Ahmed, Shamar Young, Nariman Nezami

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a musculoskeletal disorder characterized by articular cartilage degeneration and chronic inflammation, affecting one in five people over 40 years old. The purpose of this study was to provide an overview of traditional and novel minimally invasive treatment options and role of artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline the diagnostic process of KOA. This literature review provides insights into the mechanisms of action, efficacy, complications, technical approaches, and recommendations to intra-articular injections (corticosteroids, hyaluronic acid, and plate rich plasma), genicular artery embolization (GAE), and genicular nerve ablation (GNA). Overall, there is mixed evidence to support the efficacy of …

Chromatin Conformation Capture In The Clinic: 4c-Seq/Hic Distinguishes Pathogenic From Neutral Duplications At The Gpr101 Locus, Adrian F Daly, Leslie A Dunnington, David F Rodriguez-Buritica, Erica Spiegel, Francesco Brancati, Giovanna Mantovani, Vandana M Rawal, Fabio Rueda Faucz, Hadia Hijazi, Jean-Hubert Caberg, Anna Maria Nardone, Mario Bengala, Paola Fortugno, Giulia Del Sindaco, Marta Ragonese, Helen Gould, Salvatore Cannavò, Patrick Pétrossians, Andrea Lania, James R Lupski, Albert Beckers, Constantine A Stratakis, Brynn Levy, Giampaolo Trivellin, Martin Franke

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: X-linked acrogigantism (X-LAG; MIM: 300942) is a severe form of pituitary gigantism caused by chromosome Xq26.3 duplications involving GPR101. X-LAG-associated duplications disrupt the integrity of the topologically associating domain (TAD) containing GPR101 and lead to the formation of a neo-TAD that drives pituitary GPR101 misexpression and gigantism. As X-LAG is fully penetrant and heritable, duplications involving GPR101 identified on prenatal screening studies, like amniocentesis, can pose an interpretation challenge for medical geneticists and raise important concerns for patients and families. Therefore, providing robust information on the functional genomic impact of such duplications has important research and clinical value with …

Characterization Of Dna Damage Repair Pathway Utilization In High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancers Yields Rational Therapeutic Approaches, Erika Nakatsuka, Lijun Tan, Brianna Cunneen, Caroline Foster, Yu Leo Lei, Karen Mclean

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

While poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors (PARPi) have improved the prognosis of ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) tumors that are homologous recombination (HR) deficient (HRD), new therapeutic strategies are needed for tumors that are HR proficient (HRP) because they demonstrate greater resistance to current treatments and thus have poorer clinical outcomes. Additionally, clinical precautionary statements regarding potential risks associated with PARPi, such as myelodysplastic syndrome, highlight the need for combinatorial approaches that can lessen the dose and duration of PARPi treatment to reduce toxicities. Here, we evaluated DNA double-strand damage repair pathways in HRD and HRP ovarian cancer cell lines …

Expanding The Crispr Base Editing Toolbox In Drosophila Melanogaster, Michael Clark, Christina Nguyen, Hung Nguyen, Aidan Tay, Samuel J Beach, Maciej Maselko, Víctor López Del Amo

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CRISPR base editors can introduce point mutations into DNA precisely, and cytosine base editors (CBEs) catalyze C to T transitions. While CBEs have been thoroughly explored in cell culture and organisms such as mice, little is known about DNA base editing in insects. In this study, we evaluated germline editing rates of three different CBEs expressed under actin (ubiquitous) or nanos (germline) promoters utilizing Drosophila melanogaster. The original Rattus norvegicus-derived cytosine deaminase APOBEC1 (rAPO-1) displayed high base editing rates (~99%) with undetectable indel formation. Additionally, we show that base editors can be used for generating male sterility and female lethality. …

Barriers And Opportunities In Pancreatic Cancer Immunotherapy, Yixin Ju, Dongzhi Xu, Miao-Miao Liao, Yutong Sun, Wen-Dai Bao, Fan Yao, Li Ma

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) presents a fatal clinical challenge characterized by a dismal 5-year overall survival rate, primarily due to the lack of early diagnosis and limited therapeutic efficacy. Immunotherapy, a proven success in multiple cancers, has yet to demonstrate significant benefits in PDAC. Recent studies have revealed the immunosuppressive characteristics of the PDAC tumor microenvironment (TME), including immune cells with suppressive properties, desmoplastic stroma, microbiome influences, and PDAC-specific signaling pathways. In this article, we review recent advances in understanding the immunosuppressive TME of PDAC, TME differences among various mouse models of pancreatic cancer, and the mechanisms underlying resistance to …

Zeolite-Promoted Platinum Catalyst For Efficient Reduction Of Nitrogen Oxides With Hydrogen, Shaohua Xie, Liping Liu, Yuejin Li, Kailong Ye, Daekun Kim, Xing Zhang, Hongliang Xin, Lu Ma, Steven N Ehrlich, Fudong Liu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Internal combustion engine fueled by carbon-free hydrogen (H2-ICE) offers a promising alternative for sustainable transportation. Herein, we report a facile and universal strategy through the physical mixing of Pt catalyst with zeolites to significantly improve the catalytic performance in the selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides (NOx) with H2 (H2-SCR), a process aiming at NOx removal from H2-ICE. Via the physical mixing of Pt/TiO2 with Y zeolite (Pt/TiO2 + Y), a remarkable enhancement of NOx reduction activity and N2 selectivity was simultaneously achieved. The incorporation of Y zeolite effectively captured the in-situ generated water, fostering a water-rich environment surrounding the …

Persistent Tailoring Of Msc Activation Through Genetic Priming, Michael A Beauregard, Guy C Bedford, Daniel A Brenner, Leonardo D Sanchez Solis, Tomoki Nishiguchi, Abhimanyu, Santiago Carrero Longlax, Barun Mahata, Omid Veiseh, Pamela L Wenzel, Andrew R Dinardo, Isaac B Hilton, Michael R Diehl

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) are an attractive platform for cell therapy due to their safety profile and unique ability to secrete broad arrays of immunomodulatory and regenerative molecules. Yet, MSCs are well known to require preconditioning or priming to boost their therapeutic efficacy. Current priming methods offer limited control over MSC activation, yield transient effects, and often induce the expression of pro-inflammatory effectors that can potentiate immunogenicity. Here, we describe a genetic priming method that can both selectively and sustainably boost MSC potency via the controlled expression of the inflammatory-stimulus-responsive transcription factor interferon response factor 1 (IRF1). MSCs engineered to …

Batf Is A Major Driver Of Nk Cell Epigenetic Reprogramming And Dysfunction In Aml, Bijender Kumar, Anand Singh, Rafet Basar, Nadima Uprety, Ye Li, Huihui Fan, Ana Karen Nunez Cortes, Mecit Kaplan, Sunil Acharya, Hila Shaim, Anna C Xu, Manrong Wu, Emily Ensley, Dexing Fang, Pinaki P Banerjee, Luciana Melo Garcia, Silvia Tiberti, Paul Lin, Hind Rafei, Maliha Nuzhat Munir, Madison Moore, Mayra Shanley, Mayela Mendt, Lucila N Kerbauy, Bin Liu, Alexander Biederstädt, Elif Gokdemir, Susmita Ghosh, Kiran Kundu, Francia Reyes-Silva, Xin Ru Jiang, Xinhai Wan, April L Gilbert, Merve Dede, Vakul Mohanty, Jinzhuang Dou, Patrick Zhang, Enli Liu, Luis Muniz-Feliciano, Gary M Deyter, Abhinav K Jain, Juan Jose Rodriguez-Sevilla, Simona Colla, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Elizabeth J Shpall, Ken Chen, Hussein A Abbas, Kunal Rai, Katayoun Rezvani, May Daher

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) belong to a continuous disease spectrum of myeloid malignancies with poor prognosis in the relapsed/refractory setting necessitating novel therapies. Natural killer (NK) cells from patients with myeloid malignancies display global dysfunction with impaired killing capacity, altered metabolism and exhausted phenotype at the single cell transcriptomic and proteomic levels. In this study we identified that this dysfunction was mediated through a crosstalk between NK cells and myeloid blasts necessitating cell-cell contact. NK cell dysfunction could be prevented by targeting the αvβ integrin/TGF-β/SMAD pathway but, once established, was persistent due to profound epigenetic reprogramming. …

Bacteroides Ovatus Alleviates Dysbiotic Microbiota-Induced Graft-Versus-Host Disease, Eiko Hayase, Tomo Hayase, Akash Mukherjee, Stuart C Stinson, Mohamed A Jamal, Miriam R Ortega, Christopher A Sanchez, Saira S Ahmed, Jennifer L Karmouch, Chia-Chi Chang, Ivonne I Flores, Lauren K Mcdaniel, Alexandria N Brown, Rawan K El-Himri, Valerie A Chapa, Lin Tan, Bao Q Tran, Yao Xiao, Christopher Fan, Dung Pham, Taylor M Halsey, Yimei Jin, Wen-Bin Tsai, Rishika Prasad, Israel K Glover, Altai Enkhbayar, Aqsa Mohammed, Maren Schmiester, Katherine Y King, Robert A Britton, Pavan Reddy, Matthew C Wong, Nadim J Ajami, Jennifer A Wargo, Samuel Shelburne, Pablo C Okhuysen, Chen Liu, Stephanie W Fowler, Margaret E Conner, Zoe Katsamakis, Natalie Smith, Marina Burgos Da Silva, Doris M Ponce, Jonathan U Peled, Marcel R M Van Den Brink, Christine B Peterson, Gabriela Rondon, Jeffrey J Molldrem, Richard E Champlin, Elizabeth J Shpall, Philip L Lorenzi, Rohtesh S Mehta, Eric C Martens, Amin M Alousi, Robert R Jenq

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Acute lower gastrointestinal GVHD (aLGI-GVHD) is a serious complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Although the intestinal microbiota is associated with the incidence of aLGI-GVHD, how the intestinal microbiota impacts treatment responses in aLGI-GVHD has not been thoroughly studied. In a cohort of patients with aLGI-GVHD (n = 37), we found that non-response to standard therapy with corticosteroids was associated with prior treatment with carbapenem antibiotics and a disrupted fecal microbiome characterized by reduced abundances of Bacteroides ovatus. In a murine GVHD model aggravated by carbapenem antibiotics, introducing B. ovatus reduced GVHD severity and improved survival. These beneficial effects …

Targeting Prmt3 Impairs Methylation And Oligomerization Of Hsp60 To Boost Anti-Tumor Immunity By Activating Cgas/Sting Signaling, Yunxing Shi, Zongfeng Wu, Shaoru Liu, Dinglan Zuo, Yi Niu, Yuxiong Qiu, Liang Qiao, Wei He, Jiliang Qiu, Yunfei Yuan, Guocan Wang, Binkui Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has emerged as a promising therapeutic option for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but resistance to ICB occurs and patient responses vary. Here, we uncover protein arginine methyltransferase 3 (PRMT3) as a driver for immunotherapy resistance in HCC. We show that PRMT3 expression is induced by ICB-activated T cells via an interferon-gamma (IFNγ)-STAT1 signaling pathway, and higher PRMT3 expression levels correlate with reduced numbers of tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells and poorer response to ICB. Genetic depletion or pharmacological inhibition of PRMT3 elicits an influx of T cells into tumors and reduces tumor size in HCC mouse models. Mechanistically, …

Clinical Outcomes After Idecabtagene Vicleucel In Older Patients With Multiple Myeloma: A Multicenter Real-World Experience, Nilesh M Kalariya, Michelle A T Hildebrandt, Doris K Hansen, Surbhi Sidana, Jack Khouri, Christopher J Ferreri, William N Doyle, Omar Castaneda-Puglianini, Ciara L Freeman, Vanna Hovanky, Hitomi Hosoya, Leyla O Shune, Krina K Patel

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The safety and efficacy of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy is not well described in older patients, a population that has higher frailty and comorbidities. In this multicenter retrospective study, we evaluated clinical outcomes along with frailty and geriatric characteristics such as comorbidities, polypharmacy, falls, neuropathy, organ dysfunction, and performance status in younger (aged < 65 years) vs older (aged ≥65 years) patients who received commercial idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel). A total of 156 patients (n = 75, aged ≥65 years) were infused with ide-cel by data cutoff. In older patients (median age: 69 years; range, 65-83; 66.7% frail; 77.3% did not meet KarMMa eligibility criteria), with a median follow-up duration of 14.2 months, best overall response rate (ORR) was 86.7%, which was comparable with pivotal KarMMa study results (ORR: 73%). Median progression-free survival and overall survival in older patients were 9.1 months and 26.5 months, respectively. Grade ≥3 cytokine-release syndrome and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome were observed in 1% and 4% of older patients, respectively. Compared with younger patients, the older patients had significantly higher prevalence of frailty, geriatric characteristics such as polypharmacy (≥5 drugs; 97%), ≥4 comorbidities (69%), and organ dysfunction (35%; P < .05). The safety and efficacy of ide-cel therapy were similar in younger and older patients. Frailty and geriatric characteristics such as polypharmacy, comorbidities, and organ dysfunction in older patients did not confer an inferior overall outcome.

Transcriptomic And Proteomic Differences In Btk-Wt And Btk-Mutated Cll And Their Changes During Therapy With Pirtobrutinib, Burcu Aslan, Ganiraju Manyam, Lakesla R Iles, Shady I Tantawy, Sai Prasad Desikan, William G Wierda, Varsha Gandhi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Covalent Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitors (cBTKis), which bind to the BTK C481 residue, are now primary therapeutics for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Alterations at C481, primarily C481S, prevent cBTKi binding and lead to the emergence of resistant clones. Pirtobrutinib is a noncovalent BTKi that binds to both wild-type (WT) and C481S-mutated BTK and has shown efficacy in BTK-WT and -mutated CLL patient groups. To compare baseline clinical, transcriptomic, and proteomic characteristics and their changes during treatment in these 2 groups, we used 67 longitudinal peripheral blood samples obtained during the first 3 cycles of treatment with pirtobrutinib from 18 patients …

Calcium Modulates The Tethering Of Bcor-Prc11 Enzymatic Core To Kdm2b Via Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation, Rui Chen, Feng Shen, Yulong Zhang, Mingze Sun, Yan Dong, Yue Yin, Chen Su, Chao Peng, Jinsong Liu, Jinxin Xu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Recruitment of non-canonical BCOR-PRC1.1 to non-methylated CpG islands via KDM2B plays a fundamental role in transcription control during developmental processes and cancer progression. However, the mechanism is still largely unknown on how this recruitment is regulated. Here, we unveiled the importance of the Poly-D/E regions within the linker of BCOR for its binding to KDM2B. Interestingly, we also demonstrated that these negatively charged Poly-D/E regions on BCOR play autoinhibitory roles in liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of BCORANK-linker-PUFD/PCGF1RAWUL. Through neutralizing negative charges of these Poly-D/E regions, Ca2+ not only weakens the interaction between BCOR/PCGF1 and KDM2B, but also promotes co-condensation of …

A Case Demonstration Of The Open Health Natural Language Processing Toolkit From The National Covid-19 Cohort Collaborative And The Researching Covid To Enhance Recovery Programs For A Natural Language Processing System For Covid-19 Or Postacute Sequelae Of Sars Cov-2 Infection: Algorithm Development And Validation, Andrew Wen, Liwei Wang, Huan He, Sunyang Fu, Sijia Liu, David A Hanauer, Daniel R Harris, Ramakanth Kavuluru, Rui Zhang, Karthik Natarajan, Nishanth P Pavinkurve, Janos Hajagos, Sritha Rajupet, Veena Lingam, Mary Saltz, Corey Elowsky, Richard A Moffitt, Farrukh M Koraishy, Matvey B Palchuk, Jordan Donovan, Lora Lingrey, Garo Stone-Derhagopian, Robert T Miller, Andrew E Williams, Peter J Leese, Paul I Kovach, Emily R Pfaff, Mikhail Zemmel, Robert D Pates, Nick Guthe, Melissa A Haendel, Christopher G Chute, Hongfang Liu, National Covid Cohort Collaborative, Recover Initiative

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: A wealth of clinically relevant information is only obtainable within unstructured clinical narratives, leading to great interest in clinical natural language processing (NLP). While a multitude of approaches to NLP exist, current algorithm development approaches have limitations that can slow the development process. These limitations are exacerbated when the task is emergent, as is the case currently for NLP extraction of signs and symptoms of COVID-19 and postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC).

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to highlight the current limitations of existing NLP algorithm development approaches that are exacerbated by NLP tasks surrounding emergent clinical concepts and …

Parp-1 Selectively Impairs Kras-Driven Phenotypic And Molecular Features In Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma, Friederike L Keggenhoff, Darko Castven, Diana Becker, Stojan Stojkovic, Jovana Castven, Carolin Zimpel, Beate K Straub, Tiemo Gerber, Harald Langer, Patricia Hähnel, Thomas Kindler, Jörg Fahrer, Colm J O'Rourke, Ursula Ehmer, Anna Saborowski, Lichun Ma, Xin Wei Wang, Timo Gaiser, Matthias S Matter, Christian Sina, Stefanie Derer, Ju-Seog Lee, Stephanie Roessler, Bernd Kaina, Jesper B Andersen, Peter R Galle, Jens U Marquardt

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) is the second most common primary liver cancer with limited therapeutic options. KRAS mutations are among the most abundant genetic alterations in iCCA associated with poor clinical outcome and treatment response. Recent findings indicate that Poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase1 (PARP-1) is implicated in KRAS-driven cancers, but its exact role in cholangiocarcinogenesis remains undefined.

Design: PARP-1 inhibition was performed in patient-derived and established iCCA cells using RNAi, CRISPR/Cas9 and pharmacological inhibition in KRAS-mutant, non-mutant cells. In addition, Parp-1 knockout mice were combined with iCCA induction by hydrodynamic tail vein injection to evaluate an impact on phenotypic and molecular …

The Kras Mutational Spectrum And Its Clinical Implications In Pancreatic Cancer, Luigi Perelli, Giannicola Genovese, Giulio F Draetta

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In this issue of Cancer Cell, McIntyre et al. show that specific mutations in the KRAS proto-oncogene shape clinical progression of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Importantly, they find that the KRASG12R mutation is enriched in early-stage PDAC, and it is characterized by distinctly activated molecular programs.

The Kras Mutational Spectrum And Its Clinical Implications In Pancreatic Cancer, Luigi Perelli, Giannicola Genovese, Giulio F Draetta

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In this issue of Cancer Cell, McIntyre et al. show that specific mutations in the KRAS proto-oncogene shape clinical progression of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Importantly, they find that the KRASG12R mutation is enriched in early-stage PDAC, and it is characterized by distinctly activated molecular programs.

Fibrotic Response To Anti-Csf-1r Therapy Potentiates Glioblastoma Recurrence, Spencer S Watson, Anoek Zomer, Nadine Fournier, Joao Lourenco, Manfredo Quadroni, Agnieszka Chryplewicz, Sina Nassiri, Pauline Aubel, Simona Avanthay, Davide Croci, Erik Abels, Marike L D Broekman, Douglas Hanahan, Jason T Huse, Roy T Daniel, Monika E Hegi, Krisztian Homicsko, Giulia Cossu, Andreas F Hottinger, Johanna A Joyce

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Glioblastoma recurrence is currently inevitable despite extensive standard-of-care treatment. In preclinical studies, an alternative strategy of targeting tumor-associated macrophages and microglia through CSF-1R inhibition was previously found to regress established tumors and significantly increase overall survival. However, recurrences developed in ∼50% of mice in long-term studies, which were consistently associated with fibrotic scars. This fibrotic response is observed following multiple anti-glioma therapies in different preclinical models herein and in patient recurrence samples. Multi-omics analyses of the post-treatment tumor microenvironment identified fibrotic areas as pro-tumor survival niches that encapsulated surviving glioma cells, promoted dormancy, and inhibited immune surveillance. The fibrotic treatment …