Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Dock Beetle: Reducing Costs And Pesticides In Irish Agriculture, Bianca Araujo, Daniel P. Fitzpatrick

SURE Journal: Science Undergraduate Research Experience Journal

No abstract provided.

Implementation Of The Nature Restoration Law In The Eu - Pros, Cons And Impossibilities, Emma Mcdonagh, Liam Sunner

SURE Journal: Science Undergraduate Research Experience Journal

No abstract provided.

Ireland’S Energy Transition: Unlocking The Potential Of Offshore Renewables, Caoimhe O'Hare, Madjid Karimirad, Gautam Baruah

SURE Journal: Science Undergraduate Research Experience Journal

No abstract provided.

From Conflict To Connection: Educators Leading The Shift Towards Restorative Practices (Rp) In Deis Primary Schools, Ellen Slattery, Clara Hoyne

SURE Journal: Science Undergraduate Research Experience Journal

No abstract provided.

Bridging The Gap From Preschool To Primary: From Policy To Practice, Aimee O'Connor, Cóilín O’ Braonáin

SURE Journal: Science Undergraduate Research Experience Journal

No abstract provided.

Editorial, Anne M. Friel, Brigid Hooban, Therese Montgomery, Anne Marie O'Brien, Cormac Quigley, Edel Mcneela, Eva Campion, James Walshe, Sinead Loughran

SURE Journal: Science Undergraduate Research Experience Journal

No abstract provided.

Insecticide Resistance Profile In Nashville Culex Spp. Mosquito Populations, Ellie Sebaugh, Zachary Bement, Abelardo Moncayo, Darlene Panvini

Science University Research Symposium (SURS)

Mosquitoes may develop resistance to insecticides used by control programs, potentially increasing population density and the risk of mosquito-borne diseases. Culex spp. mosquitos are the primary vector of West Nile Virus (WNV), the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the United States and a reportable disease in Tennessee. Resistance profiles were constructed for two insecticides, permethrin and malathion, in a Culex spp. population from Nashville, Tennessee. Adult female mosquitoes were live-captured using gravid traps and tested using the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) bioassay protocol to assess resistance or susceptibility. Three inhibitors were also included to identify metabolic …

Gut Bacterial Dysbiosis In Pediatric Severe Malaria Associates With Post-Discharge Mortality, Olivia Bednarski, Sawyer Lehman, David Mzinza, Caroline Kazinga, Ruth Namazzi, Robert Opoka, Jie Ren, Tuan Tran, Terrie Taylor, Karl Seydel

Paediatrics and Child Health, East Africa

Gut microbiota have been implicated in severe malaria in murine models, but their contribution to the pathogenesis of severe malaria in children is unknown. Here we show through analysis of gut bacteria in stool samples from two separate African studies enrolling children with severe malaria, and children from local communities, that children with severe malaria have gut bacteria dysbiosis. Among children with severe malaria, there is increased abundance of Enterobacteriaceae that associates with multiple clinical complications of severe malaria. Moreover, increased abundance of Escherichia coli was a predictor of post-discharge mortality. Metagenome analysis identify elevated metabolic pathways and genes supporting …

Thalamocortical Structural Covariation Networks Are Related To Familial Risk For Schizophrenia In The Context Of Lower Nuclei Volume Estimates In Patients: An Enigma Study, Annalisa Lella, Linda A. Antonucci, Roberta Passiatore, Loredana Bellantuono, Pierluigi Selvaggi, Teresa Popolizio, Guido Di Sciascio, Alessandro Saponaro, Patrizia Ricci, John Blangero

School of Medicine Publications

Background

Structural brain differences in the thalamus and the cortex have been widely reported in schizophrenia (SCZ) relative to neurotypical control individuals (NCs). Most previous studies examined the thalamusas a whole as a single region of interest. In addition, findings in individuals at familial high risk for SCZ (FHRs) remain inconclusive. Here, we investigated whether local and network-wide thalamic-related structural alterations vary as a function of familial risk for SCZ.

Methods

Structural magnetic resonance imaging scans were obtained from 5197 participants (NC, n = 3409; FHR, n = 257; SCZ, n = 1531) across 32 cross-sectional samples within the …

Age- And Step-Length-Dependent Alterations In Muscle Synergies And Joint Coordination During Unexpected Gait Termination, Woohyoung Jeon, Ashley Dalby, Xuanliang Neil Dong, Melinda Hermanns

Health & Kinesiology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Falls in older adults often occur during unexpected gait termination, when rapid deceleration is required. Age-related declines in strength, proprioception, and coordination impair efficient distal-to-proximal braking, raising fall risk. Variable step lengths, ranging from “normal” steps to larger “big” steps used when hurrying, better reflect real-world walking demands and pose greater mechanical and neuromuscular challenges. This study investigated how age and step length affect muscle synergy complexity and joint coordination during unexpected gait stops.

Methods: Twelve healthy younger and twelve healthy older adults performed normal- and big-step stops in response to random visual cues during walking. Surface EMG from …

Small For Gestational Age Subgroups Have Differential Morbidity, Growth, And Neurodevelopment At Age 2: The Interbio-21st Newborn Study, Aris T. Papageorghiou, María C. Restrepo-Ménde, Rose Mcgready, Fernando C. Barros, Francois Nosten, Shama Munim, Roseline Ochieng, Rachel Craik, Hellen C. Barsosio, Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta

Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Background: Small for gestational age is a complex perinatal syndrome associated with increased neonatal morbidity, mortality, and impaired childhood growth and neurodevelopment. Current classifications rely primarily on birthweight, which does not capture the heterogeneity of the condition nor predict long-term health outcomes. Here we aim to identify and characterize distinct small for gestational age subgroups and assess their neonatal and early childhood health trajectories.
Objective: To refine the classification of small for gestational age by identifying subgroups based on maternal, fetal, and environmental factors and evaluating their associations with neonatal morbidity, growth, and neurodevelopment at age 2.
Study design: Prospective …

Effects Of Neurocognitive Multitask Activities On A Novel Lower Extremity Functional Performance Test, Sidney M. Stoddard, Logan Hill, Bryan L. Riemann, George J. Davies

Physical Therapy Faculty Publications

Objective: To examine the effects of incorporating (1) a neurocognitive reactive component and (2) a neurocognitive multitask component on performance degradation of a single-limb hop functional performance test.

Design: Randomized within-subject design of 32 healthy young adults.

Methods: Participants performed 3 randomly assigned variations of the single-limb T-Drill Hop Test (TDHT). The time to complete each test was recorded. The reactive TDHT (R-TDHT) consisted of the TDHT with a flashing light, indicating the "T" intersection hop direction. The neurocognitive reactive-recall TDHT (RR-TDHT) incorporated the R-TDHT and required participants to observe 5 flashing light colors. Participants then recalled the colors in …

Hand Swelling And Other Non-Raynaud Phenomenon Symptoms As The Initial Presentation Of Systemic Sclerosis: Prevalence And Clinical Associations In Two Us Cohorts, Iqtidar Hanif, Shervin Assassi, Maureen D Mayes, Zsuzsanna H Mcmahan, Meng Zhang, Julio Charles, John M Vanburen, Jessica S Alvey, Kimia Ghaffari, Elana J Bernstein, Flavia V Castelino, Lorinda Chung, Luke Evnin, Tracy M Frech, Jessica K Gordon, Faye N Hant, Laura K Hummers, Dinesh Khanna, Kimberly S Lakin, Dorota Lebiedz-Odrobina, Yiming Luo, Ashima Makol, Jerry A Molitor, Duncan F Moore, Carrie Richardson, Nora Sandorfi, Ami A Shah, Ankoor Shah, Victoria K Shanmugam, Virginia D Steen, Elizabeth R Volkmann, Carleigh Zahn, Brian Skaug

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: Raynaud phenomenon (RP) is often the initial clinical manifestation of systemic sclerosis (SSc), but some patients develop other manifestations first. To help elucidate the diversity of SSc presentation in its early stages, we describe the initial clinical manifestations and antinuclear antibody (ANA) profiles of patients in two early SSc cohorts.

Methods: All patient data in the Genetics vs Environment in Scleroderma Outcomes Study (GENISOS) and Collaborative National Quality and Efficacy Registry (CONQUER) cohorts were reviewed. Both studies enrolled patients within five years of the first non-RP symptom.

Results: In GENISOS and CONQUER, respectively, 194 (44.2%) of 439 and 292 …

Enhancement Of Antimicrobial Activity Of Truncated Cecropin B Peptides With The Substitution Of Tryptophan Residues, Sarah Smith, Christopher Feudale, Josephina R. Vermillion, Joseph Feudale, Joshua Do, Sabrina Arroyo, Juan Barrera, Madeleine Whitsitt, Marion Duval, Colby Grames, Bret Hatzinger, Makenzie Hilling, Tia Kean, Jasayle Rivera, Mia Shum, Hannah Zyra, David Rovnyak, Moria C. Chambers

Faculty Journal Articles

Cecropins are a class of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) expressed by insects that have broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and low cytotoxicity. However, cecropins are also long (40–45 amino acids) peptides, making their adaptation for therapeutic use challenging. Here, we present a series of 16 amino acid-long peptides derived from cecropin B from Drosophila melanogaster. The native truncated peptide is cationic and expected to form an amphipathic α-helix, but does not have antimicrobial activity. The incorporation of two Trp residues, depending on the position in the peptide backbone, results in antibacterial activity compa-rable to that of full-length cecropin B against the gram-negative bacteria …

Mortality Among Transgender Persons: A Taiwan Matched-Population And Sibling-Comparison Cohort Study, Chih-Wei Hsu, Yang-Chieh Brian Chen, Liang-Jen Wang, Mu-Hong Chen, Yao-Hsu Yang, Chih-Sung Liang, Po-Yen Chen, Edward Chia-Cheng Lai

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Background: Transgender persons have been reported to experience excess mortality, but evidence is dominated by Western cohorts and seldom addresses familial confounding.

Methods: We conducted a nationwide, retrospective cohort study using two prespecified comparison designs: matched population controls (1:4, matched on legal sex and birth date) and within-family cisgender sibling comparisons. Transgender persons were identified by ≥2 psychiatrist-recorded gender identity disorder diagnoses during 2001-2021; cohort entry required age ≥6 years. Participants were followed until death or December 31, 2022. We compared all-cause, external-cause (suicide and accidents), and internal-cause mortality using Cox regression adjusted for sociodemographics and medical comorbidity.

Findings: Among …

Concerns Regarding The Standard Deviation Of Individual Responses For Assessing Treatment Response Heterogeneity, Aaron R Caldwell, David B Allison, Andrew W Brown, Gary L Gadbury, Thirupathi Reddy Mokalla, R Drew Sayer, Andrew D Vigotsky

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

The estimation of treatment response heterogeneity (TRH) is increasingly important as medicine moves toward personalized approaches. While various statistical methods have been proposed to quantify TRH in parallel-group trials, the standard deviation of individual responses (SDIR) has gained prominence within physiological research. This method is intended to quantify individual response variation by comparing standard deviations of change scores between intervention and control groups. We acknowledge that SDIR represents an improvement over many other flawed approaches that often involve responder counting. However, SDIR has critical limitations: 1) it cannot overcome the fundamental problem of causal inference because the correlation between potential …

Perceived Prejudice Or Discrimination In Medical Care Among Us Adults, Inimfon Jackson, Robert Yu, Joël Fokom Domgue, Sanjay Shete

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Deciphering Rna Modification And Post-Transcriptional Regulation With Netrnapan, Haodong Xu, Wankun Deng, Ruifeng Hu, Binfeng Liu, Wenchao Zhang, Lujuan Wang, Lin Qi, Xiaolei Ren, Chao Tu, Zhihong Li, Zhongming Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

RNA modification, which is evolutionarily conserved, is crucial for modulating various biological functions and disease pathogenesis. High resolution transcriptome-wide mapping of RNA modifications has facilitated both data resources and computational prediction of RNA modification. While these prediction algorithms are promising, they are limited in interpretability or generalizability, or the capacity for discovering novel post-transcriptional regulations. Here, we present NetRNApan, a deep learning framework for RNA modification site prediction, motif discovery and trans-regulatory factor identification. Using m5U profiles generated by FICC-seq and miCLIP-seq technologies and single-base resolution m6A sites from multiple experiments as cases, we demonstrated the accuracy of NetRNApan with …

Substituted Piperidines As (Alpha4)3(Beta2)2 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Positive Allosteric Modulators: In Vitro Pharmacology, Nataly Sanchez, Josue Gaona, Wilder Felix, Nathalia Menegasso, Brisa Cea, Ganesh Thakur, Ayman K. Hamouda

School of Medicine Student Publications and Presentations

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinsonʼs disease (PD). In PD, degeneration of dopaminergic and cholinergic neurons impairs neurotransmitter release, leading to cognitive and motor dysfunction. Current treatments provide only symptomatic relief, highlighting the need for novel therapeutic strategies. The (α4)₃(β2)₂ subtype of nAChRs is expressed on affected neurons, making it a promising druggable target for enhancing neurotransmitter release and providing neuroprotection. To explore the therapeutic potential of positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) of (α4)₃(β2)₂ nAChRs, we evaluated chemical derivatives of CMPI [3-(2-chlorophenyl)-5-(5-methyl-1-(piperidin-4-yl)-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)isoxazole]. We used two-electrode voltage-clamp recordings from Xenopus laevis …

Microbial Signals In Primary And Metastatic Brain Tumors, Golnaz Morad, Ashish V Damania, Brenda Melendez, Bharat B Singh, Fabiana J Veguilla, Rebecca A Soto, Yasmine M Hoballah, Pranoti V Sahasrabhojane, Matthew C Wong, Mona M Ahmed, Rene N Rico, Kaitlyn N Lewis, Khalida Wani, Diana D Shamsutdinova, Rossana N Lazcano Segura, Davis R Ingram, Eric A Goethe, Abderrahman Day, Ivonne I Flores, Lauren K Mcdaniel, Manoj Chelvanambi, Sarah B Johnson, Florentia Dimitriou, Pravesh Gupta, Shivangi Oberai, M Anna Zal, Phoebe Doss, Mohamed A Jamal, Eiko Hayase, Chetna Wathoo, Lisa M Norberg, Stephanie L Jenkins, Sara Nass, Joy Gumin, Lihong Long, Jing Yang, Gina R Bradley, Mahesh Prasad Bekal, Antonio G Dono, Pavel S Pichardo-Rojas, Samuel W Andrewes, Leomar Y Ballester, Jillian S Losh, Jiyong Liang, Longfei Huo, Douglas C Nielsen, Brittany C Parker Kerrigan, Priscilla K Brastianos, Natalie Wall Fowlkes, Chia-Chi Chang, Robert R Jenq, Candelaria Gomez-Manzano, Jason T Huse, Michael A Davies, Alexander J Lazar, Krishna P Bhat, Nitin Tandon, Yoshua Esquenazi, Christine B Peterson, Vinay K Puduvalli, Frederick F Lang, Christopher D Johnston, Susan Bullman, Nadim J Ajami, Sherise D Ferguson, Jennifer A Wargo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Gliomas and brain metastases are associated with poor prognosis, necessitating a deeper understanding of brain tumor biology and the development of effective therapeutic strategies. Although our group and others have demonstrated microbial presence in various tumors, recent controversies regarding cancer-type-specific intratumoral microbiota emphasize the importance of rigorous, orthogonal validation. This prospective, multi-institutional study included a total of 243 samples from 221 patients, comprising 168 glioma and brain metastases samples and 75 non-cancerous or tumor-adjacent tissues. Using stringent fluorescence in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry and high-resolution spatial imaging, we detected intracellular bacterial 16S rRNA and lipopolysaccharides in both glioma and brain metastases …

Colorectal-Specific Radiation Dose And Chemotherapy Risk For Subsequent Colorectal Malignancies In Childhood Cancer Survivors: A Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (Ccss) Report, Constance A Owens, Ethan B Ludmir, Qi Liu, Weiyu Qiu, Aashish C Gupta, Susan A Smith, Bastien Rigaud, Kristy K Brock, James E Bates, Taylor G Meyers, Arnold C Paulino, Christine B Peterson, Stephen F Kry, Jop C Teepen, Cécile M Ronckers, Joseph P Neglia, Wendy M Leisenring, Kevin C Oeffinger, Paul C Nathan, Lucie M Turcotte, David C Hodgson, Melissa M Hudson, Leslie L Robison, Chaya S Moskowitz, Gregory T Armstrong, Tara O Henderson, Yutaka Yasui, Rebecca M Howell

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Among childhood cancer survivors, we evaluated not previously explored relationships between colorectal subsequent malignant neoplasm (SMN) incidence and colorectum-specific radiation dose metrics currently used in radiation therapy (RT) planning and expanded upon previously reported chemotherapy associations.

Methods: The Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS) includes 5-year survivors of childhood cancer diagnosed between 1970 and 1999. RT was assessed as mean colorectal dose (MCD) and the percent volume (VX Gy) receiving ≥5, 10, 20, 30, and 40 Gy. Chemotherapy was assessed as cumulative doses for procarbazine and platinum agents, cyclophosphamide-equivalent doses for alkylating agents, and doxorubicin-equivalent doses for anthracyclines. Piecewise-exponential models …

Intentional Creation Of Suboptimal, Realistic Dose Distributions, Skylar S Gay, Mary P Gronberg, Raymond Mumme, Beth M Beadle, Anuja Jhingran, Tze Yee Lim, Zhiqian H Yu, Christine Chung, Meena Khan, Chelsea Pinnix, Sanjay Shete, Brent Parker, Tucker J Netherton, Carlos E Cardenas, Laurence E Court

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Radiation oncology residents report a lack of understanding and confidence in assessing radiotherapy plan quality. A contributing factor is the environment in which plan review is taught during residency, that is, routine clinical practice, which does not provide ample time for self-guided practice in a low-stakes setting. Expertise in plan review requires diverse case presentation and many examples, which are often not achievable in smaller programs and for less common cancer types. As plan quality affects patient outcomes, it is important to address these pitfalls in the education of residents on plan review.

Purpose: To address the identified pitfalls …

Acute And Chronic Nasal Inflammation Induces Lymphangiogenesis In The Olfactory Mucosa In Mice, Suzuho Komaki, Ryuichi Imai, Yuzuki Sugimoto, Rei Settsu, Aki Obara, Atsuyoshi Shimada, Robert Dantzer, Geoffroy Laumet, Fumiaki Imamura, Sanae Hasegawa-Ishii

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Lymphangiogenesis, the formation of new lymphatic vessels, is primarily driven by VEGF-C-mediated activation of VEGFR-3 and plays a critical role in immune regulation and tissue repair. Although lymphangiogenesis has been well documented in various inflamed tissues, its occurrence and spatiotemporal characteristics in the olfactory mucosa during nasal inflammation remain poorly understood. To address this, we investigated the localization and development of lymphatic vessels in a mouse model of both acute and chronic nasal inflammation.

Methods: Acute inflammation was induced by intranasal administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 10 μg per nostril) in 8-week-old male mice, with saline-treated mice as controls. Behavioral …

Outcomes And Patterns Of Relapse Of Npm1 Mutated Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treated With Venetoclax Based Therapies, Wei-Ying Jen, Sanam Loghavi, Alexandre Bazinet, Alex Bataller, Ian Bouligny, Naval G Daver, Ghayas C Issa, Naszrin Arani, Emmanuel Almanza Huante, Abhishek Maiti, Guillermo Montalban-Bravo, Gautam Borthakur, Nicholas J Short, Sherry Pierce, Elias Jabbour, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Farhad Ravandi, Hagop M Kantarjian, Courtney D Dinardo, Tapan M Kadia

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

A Tour Of Leukemia Progress In 2025, Viewed Through The Md Anderson Leukemia Research Lens, Hagop M Kantarjian, Gautam Borthakur, Naval Daver, Courtney Dinardo, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Ghayas Issa, Elias Jabbour, Nitin Jain, Tapan Kadia, Sanam Loghavi, Farhad Ravandi, Guilin Tang, Mary Alma Welch, William Wierda

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Advances in the prognostication, monitoring, and treatment of both the acute and chronic leukemias have led to drastically improved outcomes over the past 2 decades. With the advent of targeted therapies, including antibodies such as blinatumomab and inotuzumab and small molecule inhibitors, such as the BCR::ABL1 tyrosine kinase inhibitors, Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and venetoclax, the treatment landscape of leukemia has drastically changed, improving survival outcomes while relying less on overall chemotherapy intensity in many leukemia types. This progress has allowed the categorization of more leukemia types as favorable (i.e., chronic lymphocytic leukemia, younger acute lymphoblastic leukemia [patients younger than …

Brain-Wide Patterns Of Crf Receptor 1 Expression In The Transgenic Crfr1-Cre-2a-Tdtom Rat, Douglas S Engelke, Lierni Ugartemendia, Jonathan Tao, Shivakumar Rajamanikam, Fabricio H Do Monte, Nicholas J Justice

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The ability to manipulate neurons that express corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) or its receptors has led to many new discoveries about how CRF signaling modulates stress-related behaviors in mice. However, similar advances in rats have been limited by the lack of reporter lines targeting CRF receptors, restricting access to behavioral paradigms that are more suitable for, or specific to, rats. Here, we provide an extensive neuroanatomical characterization of a recently generated CRFR1-Cre rat. We show that Cre and tdTomato are expressed in a pattern that closely aligns with previously reported CRFR1 expression patterns, as determined by in situ hybridization in rats …

Probabilistic Template Matching For Detecting Resting-State Functional Mri Language Network In Brain Tumor Patients, Jian Ming Teo, Vinodh A Kumar, Alexander M Khalaf, Kyle R Noll, Sherise D Ferguson, Chibawanye I Ene, Sujit S Prabhu, Max Wintermark, Ho-Ling Liu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Intersubject variation among patients with brain tumors complicates the template matching process for detecting the resting-state (rs) functional MRI (fMRI) language network when using independent component analysis (ICA).

Purpose: This study aimed to develop methods that use a probabilistic language atlas to incorporate intersubject variation in brain tumor patients into the template matching process.

Methods: This retrospective study included 79 patients with brain tumors (average age, 50 ± 15 years) who underwent presurgical task-based (tb)-fMRI and rs-fMRI at clinical 3T scanners. At varying template generation thresholds (τ), binary and probabilistic templates were obtained from the language atlas. A binary …

Tagraxofusp, A Cd123-Targeted Therapy, For Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia: Final Results Of A Phase 1/2 Study, Mrinal M Patnaik, Haris Ali, Eunice S Wang, Abdulraheem Yacoub, James M Foran, Vikas Gupta, Gary J Schiller, Don Ambrose Stevens, Moshe Talpaz, Sarah Wall, Terra L Lasho, Abhishek A Mangaonkar, Talha Badar, Ross Lindsay, Antonio Galleu, Ira Gupta, Naveen Pemmaraju, Guillermo Garcia-Manero

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) is an aggressive hematologic neoplasm characterized by an expansion of CD123+ monocytes and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs). pDC bone marrow clusters in CMML have been associated with higher rates of acute myeloid leukemia transformation. We evaluated tagraxofusp, a CD123-targeted therapy, in a phase 1/2 trial for patients with CMML. There were no dose-limiting toxicities. At the recommended phase 2 dose of 12 μg/kg per day, 37 patients were treated: 15 were treatment naïve; 22 had relapsed/refractory disease (median number of previous therapies, 1 [range, 1-7]). Common nonhematologic treatment-emergent adverse events (AEs) included fatigue (49%), hypoalbuminemia (46%), …

Meeting Report From The 2024 Symposium On Irak4 In Cancer: Highlights And Clinical Updates, Eric S Winer, Marina Konopleva, Han W Tun, Kian-Huat Lim, Bently Doonan, Klaus H Metzeler, Lakshmi Nayak, Andrés J M Ferreri, Christina Von Roemeling, Grzegorz S Nowakowski, Guillermo Garcia-Manero

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase 4 (IRAK4) is a serine/threonine kinase that mediates interleukin-1 and Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling. IRAK4 drives the activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), which promotes cell survival, inflammation, and proliferation. Aberrant activation of IRAK4 and TLR signaling has been implicated in multiple malignancies. At the 3rd Annual IRAK4 in Cancer Symposium, experts discussed the role of IRAK4 in cancer biology, the potential for synergism between IRAK4 inhibition and other treatments to overcome resistance, and how IRAK4 inhibition may improve clinical outcomes. Preclinical data were presented demonstrating the activity of IRAK4 inhibition alone or in combination with …

Sars-Cov-2 Mrna Vaccines Sensitize Tumours To Immune Checkpoint Blockade, Adam J Grippin, Christiano Marconi, Sage Copling, Nan Li, Chen Braun, Cole Woody, Elliana Young, Priti Gupta, Min Wang, Annette Wu, Seong Dong Jeong, Dhruvkumar Soni, Frances Weidert, Chao Xie, Eden Goldenberg, Andrew Kim, Chong Zhao, Anna Devries, Paul Castillo, Rishabh Lohray, Michael K Rooney, Benjamin R Schrank, Yifan Wang, Yifan Ma, Enoch Chang, Ramez Kouzy, Kyle Dyson, Jordan Jafarnia, Nina Nariman, Gregory Gladish, Jacob New, Ada Argueta, Diana Amaya, Nagheme Thomas, Andria Doty, Joe Chen, Nikhil Copling, Gabriel Alatrash, Julie Simon, Alicia Bea Davies, William Dennis, Richard Liang, Jeff Lewis, Xiong Wei, Waree Rinsurongkawong, Ara A Vaporciyan, Andrew Johns, D3code Team, Jack Lee, Ji-Hyun Lee, Ryan Sun, Padmanee Sharma, Hai Tran, Jianjun Zhang, Don L Gibbons, Jennifer Wargo, Betty Y S Kim, John V Heymach, Hector R Mendez-Gomez, Wen Jiang, Elias J Sayour, Steven H Lin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) extend survival in many patients with cancer but are ineffective in patients without pre-existing immunity1–9. Although personalized mRNA cancer vaccines sensitize tumours to ICIs by directing immune attacks against preselected antigens, personalized vaccines are limited by complex and time-intensive manufacturing processes10–14. Here we show that mRNA vaccines targeting SARS-CoV-2 also sensitize tumours to ICIs. In preclinical models, SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines led to a substantial increase in type I interferon, enabling innate immune cells to prime CD8+ T cells that target tumour-associated antigens. Concomitant ICI treatment is required for …