Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Ctpathway: A Crosstalk-Based Pathway Enrichment Analysis Method For Cancer Research, Haizhou Liu, Mengqin Yuan, Ramkrishna Mitra, Xu Zhou, Min Long, Wanyue Lei, Shunheng Zhou, Yu-E Huang, Fei Hou, Christine M. Eischen, Wei Jiang

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Background: Pathway enrichment analysis (PEA) is a common method for exploring functions of hundreds of genes and identifying disease-risk pathways. Moreover, different pathways exert their functions through crosstalk. However, existing PEA methods do not sufficiently integrate essential pathway features, including pathway crosstalk, molecular interactions, and network topologies, resulting in many risk pathways that remain uninvestigated.

Methods: To overcome these limitations, we develop a new crosstalk-based PEA method, CTpathway, based on a global pathway crosstalk map (GPCM) with >440,000 edges by combing pathways from eight resources, transcription factor-gene regulations, and large-scale protein-protein interactions. Integrating gene differential expression and crosstalk effects in …

Cardio-Onco-Metabolism – Metabolic Vulnerabilities In Cancer And The Heart, Anja Karlstaedt, Heinrich Taegtmeyer

Journal Articles

Cancer and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death worldwide. Metabolic remodeling is a hallmark of both cancer and the failing heart. Tumors reprogram metabolism to optimize nutrient utilization and meet increased demands for energy provision, biosynthetic pathways, and proliferation. Shared risk factors for cancer and CVDs suggest intersecting mechanisms for disease pathogenesis and progression. In this review, we aim to highlight the role of metabolic remodeling in cancer and its potential to impair cardiac function. Understanding these mechanisms will help us develop biomarkers, better therapies, and identify patients at risk of developing heart disease after surviving cancer.

Substrate-Specific Effect On Sirtuin Conformation And Oligomerization, Jie Yang, Shannon L. Dwyer, Nathan I. Nicely, Brian P. Weiser

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Human sirtuins are a family of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD +)-dependent enzymes that are responsible for removing acyl modifications from lysine residues. Sirtuins are involved in the formation and proliferation of cancers and are thought to regulate the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. Although sirtuins can be pharmacologically targeted by small molecules, it is not easy to modulate the substrate selectivity of sirtuins despite the chemical diversity of their substrates. Here, we report substrate-specific effects on sirtuin conformation and oligomerization that regulate enzyme deacylase activity. We used fluorescent acyl peptide probes to study substrate interactions with two sirtuin isoforms: SIRT2 and …

Natural Killer Cells In Liver Transplantation: Can We Harness The Power Of The Immune Checkpoint To Promote Tolerance?, Jennifer Halma, Stephen Pierce, Rebecca Mclennan, Todd Bradley, Ryan T. Fischer

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

The roles that natural killer (NK) cells play in liver disease and transplantation remain ill-defined. Reports on the matter are often contradictory, and the mechanisms elucidated are complex and dependent on the context of the model tested. Moreover, NK cell attributes, such as receptor protein expression and function differ among species, make study of primate or rodent transplant models challenging. Recent insights into NK function and NK-mediated therapy in the context of cancer therapy may prove applicable to transplantation. Of specific interest are immune checkpoint molecules and the mechanisms by which they modulate NK cells in the tumor micro-environment. In …

When Eating Becomes Torturous: Understanding Nutrition-Related Cancer Treatment Side Effects Among Individuals With Cancer And Their Caregivers, Brandy-Joe Milliron, Lora Packel, Dan Dychtwald, Cynthia Klobodu, Laura Pontiggia, Ochi Ogbogu, Byron Barksdale, Jonathan Deutsch

Institute of Emerging Health Professions Faculty Papers

Individuals living with cancer often experience multiple nutrition-related side effects from cancer treatment, including changes in taste and smell, nausea, diarrhea, loss of appetite, and pain during eating. These side effects can profoundly impact nutritional status and quality of life. The purpose of this study was to explore experiences with nutrition-related cancer treatment side effects among cancer patients and their family caregivers, the way they manage such side effects, and the resulting changes in food preferences and behaviors. Structured surveys and in-depth interviews were conducted. Interviews focused on the presence and management of treatment side effects, how those changes influenced …

Tumor Microenvironment Enriches The Stemness Features: The Architectural Event Of Therapy Resistance And Metastasis, Palanisamy Nallasamy, Rama Krishna Nimmakayala, Seema Parte, Abhirup C. Are, Surinder K. Batra, Moorthy P. Ponnusamy

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Cancer divergence has many facets other than being considered a genetic term. It is a tremendous challenge to understand the metastasis and therapy response in cancer biology; however, it postulates the opportunity to explore the possible mechanism in the surrounding tumor environment. Most deadly solid malignancies are distinctly characterized by their tumor microenvironment (TME). TME consists of stromal components such as immune, inflammatory, endothelial, adipocytes, and fibroblast cells. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) or cancer stem-like cells are a small sub-set of the population within cancer cells believed to be a responsible player in the self-renewal, metastasis, and therapy response of …