Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Design And Biological Evaluation Of Colchicine-Cd44-Targeted Peptide Conjugate In An In Vitro Model Of Crystal Induced Inflammation, Khalid A. Zoghebi, Emira Bousoik, Keykavous Parang, Khaled A. Elsaid

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Gout is an inflammatory arthritis due to the joint deposition of monosodium urate (MSU) crystals. Phagocytosis of MSU crystals by tissue macrophages results in the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and production of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Colchicine use in gout is limited by severe toxicity. CD44 is a transmembrane glycoprotein that is highly expressed in tissue macrophages and may be involved in gout pathogenesis. The P6 peptide is a 20-amino acid residue peptide that binds to CD44. We hypothesized that the conjugation of colchicine to the P6 peptide would reduce its off-target cytotoxicity while preserving its anti-inflammatory effect. …

Bone Strength And Distal Femur Trabecular Thickness In Sleep Deprived Ovariectomized Rats Treated With Zoledronate, Erin Nolte, Frank Frisch

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Osteoporosis is a disease that causes the density and quality of bone to be decreased, which can increase the risk of fracture by 40%. 1 in 3 women over the age of 50 will be affected by osteoporosis. This study aimed to show how bone strength and distal femur trabecular thickness might be affected by Zoledronate and sleep-deprivation in estrogen-deficient rats. Wistar female rats were ovariectomized to contrive postmenopausal estrogen-deficiency. The rats were separated into 4 groups. The control group (C, n=4) was given an intraperitoneal (IP) injection of 0.45 mL of 0.9% saline, were housed in standard conditions permitting …

Evaluation Of Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha In Sleep-Deprived Menopausal- Induced Rats And The Impact On Bone Health, Nicole Ellsworth, Dwight Curry Iii, Cj Deleon, Frank Frisch

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Post-menopausal osteoporosis as a consequence of estrogen depletion is a growing concern for women in the United States. As more women take on executive positions and experience sleep deprivation, there is the potential for up regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor alpha. It follows that the homeostatic imbalance of osteoclastic and osteoblastic activity leads to a greater risk of disease. Bisphosphonates generally, and Zolendronate specifically works by decreasing the number of osteoclasts. This current study investigated the impact of Zolendronate on the concentrations of tumor necrosis factor alpha-type (TNFɑ) in 32 ovariectomized Wistar rats. Throughout a five …

Drug Interactions With Antimalarial Medications In Older Travelers: A Clinical Guide, Jelena Lewis, Tania Gregorian, Ivan Portillo, Jeff Goad

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Increasingly older adults are traveling to international destinations with malaria as a present risk. Surveillance systems indicate that older adults are more likely to suffer severe complications from malaria. The role of health care providers in selecting an appropriate medication for chemoprophylaxis or treatment of malaria in adults becomes more difficult as older adults undergo physiologic changes that alter the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic nature of medications potentially causing increased drug interactions, adverse events, and altered drug action. A comprehensive literature search from 1970 to present, with a focus on the last 10 years, was conducted on drug interactions, pharmacokinetic and …

Budesonide Enhances Agonist-Induced Bronchodilation In Human Small Airways By Increasing Camp Production In Airway Smooth Muscle, Cynthia J. Koziol-White, Timothy B. Johnstone, Maia L. Corpuz, Gaoyuan Cao, Sarah Orfanos, Vishal Parikh, Brian Deeney, Omar Tliba, Rennolds S. Ostrom, Ian Dainty, Reynold A. Panettieri Jr.

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

The non-genomic mechanisms by which glucocorticoids modulate β₂ agonist-induced-bronchodilation remain elusive. Our studies aimed to elucidate mechanisms mediating the beneficial effects of glucocorticoids on agonist-induced bronchodilation. Utilizing human precision cut lung slices (hPCLS), we measured bronchodilation to formoterol, prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂), cholera toxin (CTX) or forskolin in the presence and absence of budesonide. Using cultured human airway smooth muscle (HASM), intracellular cAMP was measured in live cells following exposure to formoterol, PGE₂, or forskolin in the presence or absence of budesonide. We showed that simultaneous budesonide administration amplified formoterol-induced bronchodilation and attenuated agonist-induced phosphorylation …

Establishing Computational Approaches Towards Identifying Malarial Allosteric Modulators: A Case Study Of Plasmodium Falciparum Hsp70s, Arnold Amusengeri, Lindy Astl, Kevin Lobb, Gennady M. Verkhivker, Özlem Tastan Bishop

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Combating malaria is almost a never-ending battle, as Plasmodium parasites develop resistance to the drugs used against them, as observed recently in artemisinin-based combination therapies. The main concern now is if the resistant parasite strains spread from Southeast Asia to Africa, the continent hosting most malaria cases. To prevent catastrophic results, we need to find non-conventional approaches. Allosteric drug targeting sites and modulators might be a new hope for malarial treatments. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are potential malarial drug targets and have complex allosteric control mechanisms. Yet, studies on designing allosteric modulators against them are limited. Here, we identified allosteric …

Graft Versus Host Disease-Associated Dry Eye: Role Of Ocular Surface Mucins And The Effect Of Rebamipide, A Mucin Secretagogue, Kiumars Shamloo, Ashley Barbarino, Saleh Alfuraih, Ajay Sharma

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

PURPOSE. The present study was designed to investigate the role of ocular surface glycocalyx and mucins in graft versus host disease (GVHD)-associated dry eye. The ameliorative effect of topical rebamipide, a mucin secretagogue, on GVHD-associated dry eye was also tested.

METHODS. A mouse model of allogeneic transplantation was used to induce ocular GVHD with C57BL/6 as donors and B6D2F1 as recipient mice. Phenol red thread method and fluorescein staining was used to quantify tear secretion and corneal keratopathy. At 8 weeks after the allogeneic transplantation, corneas were harvested to perform glycocalyx staining and confocal microscopy. Goblet cell staining was performed …

Effects Of Dabigatran In Mouse Models Of Aging And Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy, Neethu Michael, Mher Mahoney Grigoryan, Kelley Kilday, Rachita K. Sumbria, Vitaly Vasilevko, Joanne Van Ryn, David H. Cribbs, Annlia Paganini-Hill, Mark J. Fisher

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Oral anticoagulants are a critical component of stroke prevention, but carry a risk of brain hemorrhage. These hemorrhagic complications tend to occur in elderly individuals, especially those with predisposing conditions such as cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). Clinical evidence suggests that non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants are safer than traditional oral anticoagulants. We analyzed whether the anticoagulant dabigatran produces cerebral microhemorrhage (the pathological substrate of MRI-demonstrable cerebral microbleeds) or intracerebral hemorrhage in aged mice with and without hemorrhage-predisposing angiopathy. We studied aged (22 months old) Tg2576 (a model of CAA) and wild-type (WT) littermate mice. Mice received either dabigatran etexilate (DE) …

Coccidioidomycosis: Medical And Spatio-Temporal Perspectives, Nikias Sarafoglou, Rafael Laniado-Laborin, Menas Kafatos

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Coccidioidomycosis (CM) is a disease of major public health importance due to the challenges in its diagnosis and treatment. To understand CM requires the attributes of a multidisciplinary network analysis to appreciate the complexity of the medical, the environmental and the social issues involved: public health, public policy, geology, atmospheric science, agronomy, social sciences and finally humanities, all which provide insight into this population transformation.

In section 1 of this paper, we describe the CM-epidemiology, the clinical features, the diagnosis and finally the treatment.

In section 2, we highlight the most important contributions and controversies in the history of the …

Short Amylin Receptor Antagonist Peptides Improve Memory Deficits In Alzheimer’S Disease Mouse Model, Rania Soudy, Ryoichi Kimura, Aarti Patel, Wen Fu, Kamaljit Kaur, David Westaway, Jing Yang, Jack Jhamandas

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Recent evidence supports involvement of amylin and the amylin receptor in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We have previously shown that amylin receptor antagonist, AC253, improves spatial memory in AD mouse models. Herein, we generated and screened a peptide library and identified two short sequence amylin peptides (12–14 aa) that are proteolytically stable, brain penetrant when administered intraperitoneally, neuroprotective against Aβ toxicity and restore diminished levels of hippocampal long term potentiation in AD mice. Systemic administration of the peptides for five weeks in aged 5XFAD mice improved spatial memory, reduced amyloid plaque burden, and neuroinflammation. The common residue SQELHRLQTY …

A Multivalent Kaposi Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus-Like Particle Vaccine Capable Of Eliciting High Titers Of Neutralizing Antibodies In Immunized Rabbits, David H. Mulama, Lorraine Z. Mustvunguma, Jennifer Totonchy, Peng Ye, Joslyn Foley, Gabriela M. Escalante, Esther Rodriguez, Ramina Nabiee, Murali Muniraju, Felix Wussow, Anne K. Barasa, Javier Gordon Ogembo

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is an emerging pathogen and the causative agent of multiple cancers in immunocompromised patients. To date, there is no licensed prophylactic KSHV vaccine. In this study, we generated a novel subunit vaccine that incorporates four key KSHV envelope glycoproteins required for viral entry in diverse cell types (gpK8.1, gB, and gH/gL) into a single multivalent KSHV-like particle (KSHV-LP). Purified KSHV-LPs were similar in size, shape, and morphology to KSHV virions. Vaccination of rabbits with adjuvanted KSHV-LPs generated strong glycoprotein-specific antibody responses, and purified immunoglobulins from KSHV-LP-immunized rabbits neutralized KSHV infection in epithelial, endothelial, fibroblast, and B …

Ecological Determinants Of Respiratory Health: Examining Associations Between Asthma Emergency Department Visits, Diesel Particulate Matter, And Public Parks And Open Space In Los Angeles, California, Jason A. Douglas, Reginald S. Archer, Serena E. Alexander

Health Sciences and Kinesiology Faculty Articles

Los Angeles County (LAC) low-income communities of color experience uneven asthma rates, evidenced by asthma emergency department visits (AEDV). This has partly been attributed to inequitable exposure to diesel particulate matter (DPM). Promisingly, public parks and open space (PPOS) contribute to DPM mitigation. However, low-income communities of color with limited access to PPOS may be deprived of associated public health benefits. Therefore, this novel study investigates the AEDV, DPM, PPOS nexus to address this public health dilemma and inform public policy in at-risk communities. Optimized Hotspot Analysis was used to examine geographic clustering of AEDVs, DPM, and PPOS at the …

The Role Of Thyroglobulin In Thyroid Hormonogenesis, Cintia E. Citterio, Héctor M. Targovnik, Peter Arvan

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

In humans, the thyroid hormones T₃ and T₄ are synthesized in the thyroid gland in a process that crucially involves the iodoglycoprotein thyroglobulin. The overall structure of thyroglobulin is conserved in all vertebrates. Upon thyroglobulin delivery from thyrocytes to the follicular lumen of the thyroid gland via the secretory pathway, multiple tyrosine residues can become iodinated to form mono-iodotyrosine (MIT) and/or di-iodotyrosine (DIT); however, selective tyrosine residues lead to preferential formation of T₄ and T₃ at distinct sites. T₄ formation involves oxidative coupling between two DIT side chains, and de novo T₃ formation involves …

Shingrix Revaccination And Vaccination In Vulnerable Populations, Laressa Bethishou, Luma Munjy, John Andraos

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

"Herpes zoster, also known as shingles, is a painful cutaneous eruption that develops following the reactivation of the varicella zoster virus (VZV), the same virus that causes chickenpox.¹ About 1 in 3 people in the United States will develop shingles, with an estimated 1 million cases occurring annually. Anyone with a history of chickenpox is at risk for shingles, but the risk increases with age and in patients who are immunocompromised.²"

Systematic Literature Review Of Quetiapine For The Treatment Of Psychosis In Patients With Parkinsonism, Jack J. Chen, Henry Hua, Lilian Massihi, Ivan Portillo, Azita Alipour, William Ondo, Khashayar Dashtipour

Library Articles and Research

Objective:

The purpose of this article was to determine the efficacy and tolerability of quetiapine compared with placebo or other interventions for psychosis in parkinsonism.

Methods:

Participants with a diagnosis of parkinsonism participated in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the efficacy and tolerability of quetiapine for psychotic symptoms within a defined follow-up period. The authors conducted searches on PubMed, Cochrane Controlled Register of Trials, and EMBASE for articles published from January 1991 to October 2017. Study methodology and patient- and treatment-level data were independently extracted and summarized by using descriptive statistics. Studies underwent quality assessment for risk of bias.

Results: …

Innovation And Competition In Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products, Enrique Seoane-Vazquez, Vaishali Shukla, Rosa Rodriguez-Monguio

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

"Advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), including gene therapy, cell therapy, and tissue engineering products, represent a paradigm shift in health care as they have great potential for preventing and treating many diseases (Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 2013). By way of example, only 367 (8.0%) of the 4,603 rare diseases and conditions listed by the NIH Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center had at least one FDA-approved drug therapy in early 2018. An estimated 3,038 (66.0%) of those rare diseases and conditions are congenital and genetic diseases that could potentially be treated by gene therapy. There are already ATMPs under …

Transforming Growth Factor-Β1 Decreases Β2-Agonist–Induced Relaxation In Human Airway Smooth Muscle, Christie A. Ojiaku, Elena Chung, Vishal Parikh, Jazmean K. Williams, Anthony Schwab, Ana Lucia Fuentes, Maia L. Corpuz, Victoria Lui, Sam Paek, Natalia M. Bexiga, Shreya Narayan, Francisco J. Nunez, Kwangmi An, Rennolds S. Ostrom, Steven S. An, Reynold A. Pannettieri Jr.

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Helper T effector cytokines implicated in asthma modulate the contractility of human airway smooth muscle (HASM) cells. We have reported recently that a profibrotic cytokine, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, induces HASM cell shortening and airway hyperresponsiveness. Here, we assessed whether TGF-β1 affects the ability of HASM cells to relax in response to β₂-agonists, a mainstay treatment for airway hyperresponsiveness in asthma. Overnight TGF-β1 treatment significantly impaired isoproterenol (ISO)-induced relaxation of carbachol-stimulated, isolated HASM cells. This single-cell mechanical hyporesponsiveness to ISO was corroborated by sustained increases in myosin light chain phosphorylation. In TGF-β1–treated HASM cells, ISO evoked markedly lower …

Src Family Kinase Inhibitors Block Translation Of Alphavirus Subgenomic Mrnas, Rebecca Broeckel, Sanjay Sarkar, Nicholas A. May, Jennifer Totonchy, Craig N. Kreklywich, Patricia Smith, Lee Graves, Victor R. Defilippis, Mark T. Heise, Thomas E. Morrison, Nathaniel Moorman, Daniel N. Streblow

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Alphaviruses are arthropod-transmitted RNA viruses that can cause arthralgia, myalgia, and encephalitis in humans. Since the role of cellular kinases in alphavirus replication is unknown, we profiled kinetic changes in host kinase abundance and phosphorylation following chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection of fibroblasts. Based upon the results of this study, we treated CHIKV-infected cells with kinase inhibitors targeting the Src family kinase (SFK)–phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)–AKT–mTORC signaling pathways. Treatment of cells with SFK inhibitors blocked the replication of CHIKV as well as multiple other alphaviruses, including Mayaro virus, O’nyong-nyong virus, Ross River virus, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus. Dissecting the effect of …

The Promises And Challenges Of Erythropoietin For Treatment Of Alzheimer's Disease, Jiahong Sun, Jan Michelle Martin, Victoria Vanderpoel, Rachita K. Sumbria

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder in the world, and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles and extracellular amyloid-beta protein deposits represent the major pathological hallmarks of the disease. Currently available treatments provide some symptomatic relief but fail to modify primary pathological processes that underlie the disease. Erythropoietin (EPO), a hematopoietic growth factor, acts primarily to stimulate erythroid cell production, and is clinically used to treat anemia. EPO has evolved as a therapeutic agent for neurodegeneration and has improved neurological outcomes and AD pathology in rodents. However, penetration of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) and negative hematopoietic effects are the two …

Hematologic Safety Of Chronic Brain-Penetrating Erythropoietin Dosing In App/Ps1 Mice, Jiahong Sun, Joshua Yang, Kathrine Whitman, Charlene Zhu, David H. Cribbs, Ruben J. Boado, William M. Pardridge, Rachita K. Sumbria

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Introduction: Low blood-brain barrier (BBB) penetration and hematopoietic side effects limit the therapeutic development of erythropoietin (EPO) for Alzheimer's disease (AD). A fusion protein of EPO and a chimeric monoclonal antibody targeting the mouse transferrin receptor (cTfRMAb) has been engineered. The latter drives EPO into the brain via receptor-mediated transcytosis across the BBB and increases its peripheral clearance to reduce hematopoietic side effects of EPO. Our previous work shows the protective effects of this BBB-penetrating EPO in AD mice but hematologic effects have not been studied. Herein, we investigate the hematologic safety and therapeutic effects of chronic cTfRMAb-EPO dosing, …