Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

P5l Mutation In Ank Results In An Increase In Extracellular Inorganic Pyrophosphate During Proliferation And Nonmineralizing Hypertrophy In Stably Transduced Atdc5 Cells, Raihana Zaka, David Stokes, Arnold S. Dion, Anna Kusnierz, Fei Han, Charlene J. Williams

Charlene Williams

Ank is a multipass transmembrane protein that regulates the cellular transport of inorganic pyrophosphate. In the progressive ankylosis (ank) mouse, a premature termination mutation at glutamic acid 440 results in a phenotype characterized by inappropriate deposition of basic calcium phosphate crystals in skeletal tissues. Mutations in the amino terminus of ANKH, the human homolog of Ank, result in familial calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate deposition disease. It has been hypothesized that these mutations result in a gain-of-function with respect to the elaboration of extracellular inorganic pyrophosphate. To explore this issue in a mineralization-competent system, we stably transduced ATDC5 cells with wild-type Ank …

A Deafness Mechanism Of Digenic Cx26 (Gjb2) And Cx30 (Gjb6) Mutations: Reduction Of Endocochlear Potential By Impairment Of Heterogeneous Gap Junctional Function In The Cochlear Lateral Wall, Ling Mei, Jin Chen, Liang Zong, Yan Zhu, Chun Liang, Raleigh O. Jones, Hong-Bo Zhao

Otolaryngology--Head & Neck Surgery Faculty Publications

Digenic Connexin26 (Cx26, GJB2) and Cx30 (GJB6) heterozygous mutations are the second most frequent cause of recessive deafness in humans. However, the underlying deafness mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we created different double Cx26 and Cx30 heterozygous (Cx26^+/−/Cx30^+/−) mouse models to investigate the underlying pathological changes and deafness mechanism. We found that double Cx26^+/−/Cx30^+/− heterozygous mice had hearing loss. Endocochlear potential (EP), which is a driving force for hair cells producing auditory receptor current, was reduced. However, unlike Cx26 homozygous knockout (Cx26^−/−) mice, the cochlea in Cx26 …

Mutational Patterns In Chemotherapy Resistant Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer., David Liu, Philip Abbosh, Daniel Keliher, Brendan Reardon, Diana Miao, Kent Mouw, Amaro Weiner-Taylor, Stephanie Wankowicz, Garam Han, Min Yuen Teo, Catharine Cipolla, Jaegil Kim, Gopa Iyer, Hikmat Al-Ahmadie, Essel Dulaimi, David Y.T. Chen, R. Katherine Alpaugh, Jean Hoffman-Censits, Levi A. Garraway, Gad Getz, Scott L. Carter, Joaquim Bellmunt, Elizabeth R. Plimack, Jonathan E. Rosenberg, Eliezer M. Van Allen

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

Despite continued widespread use, the genomic effects of cisplatin-based chemotherapy and implications for subsequent treatment are incompletely characterized. Here, we analyze whole exome sequencing of matched pre- and post-neoadjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy primary bladder tumor samples from 30 muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients. We observe no overall increase in tumor mutational burden post-chemotherapy, though a significant proportion of subclonal mutations are unique to the matched pre- or post-treatment tumor, suggesting chemotherapy-induced and/or spatial heterogeneity. We subsequently identify and validate a novel mutational signature in post-treatment tumors consistent with known characteristics of cisplatin damage and repair. We find that post-treatment tumor heterogeneity predicts …

Impact Of Kras/Nras Mutational Heterogeneity On Clinical Outcomes In Colorectal Cancer, Jonathan M. Loree

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Introduction: Mutations in KRAS/NRAS (RAS) predict a lack of benefit from anti-EGFR agents in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). As next generation sequencing (NGS) has advanced, we are discovering atypical and low allele frequency mutations. We aimed to evaluate how NGS can optimally define RAS mutant CRC and the role of relative mutant allele frequency (rMAF) as a biomarker.

Methods: Using institutional and public cohorts of mCRC patients with NGS results, we described the prevalence and clinical impact of atypical (not in current guidelines) and low rMAF RAS mutations (RAS MAF by the MAF of the mutated gene with …

Computational Identification Of Noncoding Driver Mutations Based On Impact On Rna Processing, Kevin Zhu

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Despite the prevalence of mutations in the noncoding regions of the DNA, their effects on cancer development remain largely uninvestigated. This is especially evident when compared to coding mutations, which have been relatively well-studied and, in certain cases, been identified as driver mutations for cancer. Recent studies, however, have identified noncoding mutations that frequently appear in certain types of cancer, which may be evidence that those mutations are important to cancer development. Nonetheless, the role of noncoding mutations in cancer remains unclear. A potential vector for understanding this mechanism is through observing the relation between noncoding mutations and functional RNA …

P2x2 Dominant Deafness Mutations Have No Negative Effect On Wild-Type Isoform: Implications For Functional Rescue And In Deafness Mechanism, Yan Zhu, Juline Beudez, Ning Yu, Thomas Grutter, Hong-Bo Zhao

Otolaryngology--Head & Neck Surgery Faculty Publications

The P2X2 receptor is an ATP-gated ion channel, assembled by three subunits. Recently, it has been found that heterozygous mutations of P2X2 V60L and G353R can cause autosomal dominant nonsyndromic hearing loss. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. The fact that heterozygous mutations cause deafness suggests that the mutations may have dominant-negative effect (DNE) on wild-type (WT) P2X2 isoforms and/or other partners leading to hearing loss. In this study, the effect of these dominant deafness P2X2 mutations on WT P2X2 was investigated. We found that sole transfection of both V60L and G353R deafness mutants could efficiently target to the plasma …

Hypotonia And Intellectual Disability Without Dysmorphic Features In A Patient With Pign-Related Disease., Isabelle Thiffault, Britton Zuccarelli, Holly Welsh, Xuan Yuan, Emily Farrow, Lee Zellmer, Neil Miller, Sarah Soden, Ahmed Abdelmoity, Robert A Brodsky, Carol Saunders

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Defects in the human glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor biosynthetic pathway are associated with inherited glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-deficiencies characterized by a broad range of clinical phenotypes including multiple congenital anomalies, dysmorphic faces, developmental delay, hypotonia, and epilepsy. Biallelic variants in PIGN, encoding phosphatidylinositol-glycan biosynthesis class N have been recently associated with multiple congenital anomalies hypotonia seizure syndrome.

CASE PRESENTATION: Our patient is a 2 year old male with hypotonia, global developmental delay, and focal epilepsy. Trio whole-exome sequencing revealed heterozygous variants in PIGN, c.181G > T (p.Glu61*) and c.284G > A (p.Arg95Gln). Analysis of FLAER and anti-CD59 by flow-cytometry demonstrated a shift in this patient's …

Linking Tuberous Sclerosis Complex, Excessive Mtor Signaling, And Age-Related Neurodegeneration: A New Association Between Tsc1 Mutation And Frontotemporal Dementia, Nicholas T. Olney, Carolina Alquezar, Eliana Marisa Ramos, Alissa L. Nana, Jamie C. Fong, Anna M. Karydas, Joanne B Taylor, Melanie L. Stephens, Andrea R. Argouarch, Victoria A. Van Berlo, Deepika R. Dokuru, Elliott H. Sherr, Gregory A. Jicha, William P. Dillon, Rahul S. Desikan, Mary De May, William W. Seeley, Giovanni Coppola, Bruce L. Miller, Aimee W. Kao

Neurology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Detection Of Activating Estrogen Receptor Gene (Esr1) Mutations In Single Circulating Tumor Cells, Carmela Paolillo, Zhaomei Mu, Giovanna Rossi, Matthew J. Schiewer, Thomas Nguyen, Laura Austin, Ettore Capoluongo, Karen E. Knudsen, Massimo Cristofanilli, Paolo Fortina

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Purpose: Early detection is essential for treatment plans before onset of metastatic disease. Our purpose was to demonstrate feasibility to detect and monitor estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1) gene mutations at the single circulating tumor cell (CTC) level in metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Experimental Design: We used a CTC molecular characterization approach to investigate heterogeneity of 14 hotspot mutations in ESR1 and their correlation with endocrine resistance. Combining the CellSearch and DEPArray technologies allowed recovery of 71 single CTCs and 12 WBC from 3 ER-positive MBC patients. Forty CTCs and 12 WBC were subjected to whole genome amplification by MALBAC and …

Mutations In Keops-Complex Genes Cause Nephrotic Syndrome With Primary Microcephaly, Daniela A Braun, Jia Rao, Geraldine Mollet, David Schapiro, Marie-Claire Daugeron, Weizhen Tan, Olivier Gribouval, Olivia Boyer, Patrick Revy, Tilman Jobst-Schwan, Johanna Magdalena Schmidt, Jennifer A Lawson, Denny Schanze, Shazia Ashraf, Jeremy F P Ullmann, Charlotte A Hoogstraten, Nathalie Boddaert, Bruno Collinet, Gaëlle Martin, Dominique Liger, Svjetlana Lovric, Monica Furlano, I Chiara Guerrera, Oraly Sanchez-Ferras, Jennifer F Hu, Anne-Claire Boschat, Sylvia Sanquer, Björn Menten, Sarah Vergult, Nina De Rocker, Merlin Airik, Tobias Hermle, Shirlee Shril, Eugen Widmeier, Heon Yung Gee, Won-Il Choi, Carolin E Sadowski, Werner L Pabst, Jillian K Warejko, Ankana Daga, Tamara Basta, Verena Matejas, Karin Scharmann, Sandra D Kienast, Babak Behnam, Brendan Beeson, Amber Begtrup, Malcolm Bruce, Gaik-Siew Ch'ng, Shuan-Pei Lin, Jui-Hsing Chang, Chao-Huei Chen, Megan T Cho, Patrick M Gaffney, Patrick E Gipson, Chyong-Hsin Hsu, Jameela A Kari, Yu-Yuan Ke, Cathy Kiraly-Borri, Wai-Ming Lai, Emmanuelle Lemyre, Rebecca Okashah Littlejohn, Amira Masri, Mastaneh Moghtaderi, Kazuyuki Nakamura, Fatih Ozaltin, Marleen Praet, Chitra Prasad, Agnieszka Prytula, Elizabeth R Roeder, Patrick Rump, Rhonda E Schnur, Takashi Shiihara, Manish D Sinha, Neveen A Soliman, Kenza Soulami, David A Sweetser, Wen-Hui Tsai, Jeng-Daw Tsai, Rezan Topaloglu, Udo Vester, David H Viskochil, Nithiwat Vatanavicharn, Jessica L Waxler, Klaas J Wierenga, Matthias T F Wolf, Sik-Nin Wong, Sebastian A Leidel, Gessica Truglio, Peter C Dedon, Annapurna Poduri, Shrikant Mane, Richard P Lifton, Maxime Bouchard, Peter Kannu, David Chitayat, Daniella Magen, Bert Callewaert, Herman Van Tilbeurgh, Martin Zenker, Corinne Antignac, Friedhelm Hildebrandt

Paediatrics Publications

Galloway-Mowat syndrome (GAMOS) is an autosomal-recessive disease characterized by the combination of early-onset nephrotic syndrome (SRNS) and microcephaly with brain anomalies. Here we identified recessive mutations in OSGEP, TP53RK, TPRKB, and LAGE3, genes encoding the four subunits of the KEOPS complex, in 37 individuals from 32 families with GAMOS. CRISPR-Cas9 knockout in zebrafish and mice recapitulated the human phenotype of primary microcephaly and resulted in early lethality. Knockdown of OSGEP, TP53RK, or TPRKB inhibited cell proliferation, which human mutations did not rescue. Furthermore, knockdown of these genes impaired protein translation, caused endoplasmic reticulum stress, activated DNA-damage-response signaling, and ultimately induced …

Therapeutic And Prognostic Implications Of Braf V600e In Pediatric Low-Grade Gliomas., Alvaro Lassaletta, Michal Zapotocky, Matthew Mistry, Vijay Ramaswamy, Marion Honnorat, Rahul Krishnatry, Ana Guerreiro Stucklin, Nataliya Zhukova, Anthony Arnoldo, Scott Ryall, Catriona Ling, Tara Mckeown, Jim Loukides, Ofelia Cruz, Carmen De Torres, Cheng-Ying Ho, Roger J Packer, Ruth Tatevossian, Ibrahim Qaddoumi, Julie H Harreld, James D Dalton, Jean Mulcahy-Levy, Nicholas Foreman, Matthias A Karajannis, Shiyang Wang, Matija Snuderl, Amulya Nageswara Rao, Caterina Giannini, Mark Kieran, Keith L Ligon, Maria Luisa Garre, Paolo Nozza, Samantha Mascelli, Alessandro Raso, Sabine Mueller, Theodore Nicolaides, Karen Silva, Romain Perbet, Alexandre Vasiljevic, Cécile Faure Conter, Didier Frappaz, Sarah Leary, Courtney Crane, Aden Chan, Ho-Keung Ng, Zhi-Feng Shi, Ying Mao, Elizabeth Finch, David Eisenstat, Bev Wilson, Anne Sophie Carret, Peter Hauser, David Sumerauer, Lenka Krskova, Valerie Larouche, Adam Fleming, Shayna Zelcer, Nada Jabado, James T Rutka, Peter Dirks, Michael D Taylor, Shiyi Chen, Ute Bartels, Annie Huang, David W Ellison, Eric Bouffet, Cynthia Hawkins, Uri Tabori

Paediatrics Publications

Purpose BRAF V600E is a potentially highly targetable mutation detected in a subset of pediatric low-grade gliomas (PLGGs). Its biologic and clinical effect within this diverse group of tumors remains unknown.

Patients and Methods A combined clinical and genetic institutional study of patients with PLGGs with long-term follow-up was performed (N = 510). Clinical and treatment data of patients with BRAF V600E mutated PLGG (n = 99) were compared with a large international independent cohort of patients with BRAF V600E mutated-PLGG (n = 180).

Results BRAF V600E mutation was detected in 69 of 405 patients (17%) with PLGG across a …

Ibrutinib Unmasks Critical Role Of Bruton Tyrosine Kinase In Primary Cns Lymphoma., Christian Grommes, Alessandro Pastore, Nicolaos Palaskas, Sarah S. Tang, Carl Campos, Derrek Schartz, Paolo Codega, Donna Nichol, Owen Clark, Wan-Ying Hsieh, Dan Rohle, Marc Rosenblum, Agnes Viale, Viviane S. Tabar, Cameron W. Brennan, Igor T. Gavrilovic, Thomas J. Kaley, Craig P. Nolan, Antonio Omuro, Elena Pentsova, Alissa A. Thomas, Elina Tsyvkin, Ariela Noy, M. Lia Palomba, Paul Hamlin, Craig S. Sauter, Craig H. Moskowitz, Julia Wolfe, Ahmet Dogan, Minhee Won, Jon Glass, Scott Peak, Enrico C. Lallana, Vaios Hatzoglou, Anne S. Reiner, Philip H. Gutin, Jason T. Huse, Katherine S. Panageas, Thomas G. Graeber, Nikolaus Schultz, Lisa M. Deangelis, Ingo K. Mellinghoff

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) links the B-cell antigen receptor (BCR) and Toll-like receptors with NF-κB. The role of BTK in primary central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma (PCNSL) is unknown. We performed a phase I clinical trial with ibrutinib, the first-in-class BTK inhibitor, for patients with relapsed or refractory CNS lymphoma. Clinical responses to ibrutinib occurred in 10 of 13 (77%) patients with PCNSL, including five complete responses. The only PCNSL with complete ibrutinib resistance harbored a mutation within the coiled-coil domain of CARD11, a known ibrutinib resistance mechanism. Incomplete tumor responses were associated with mutations in the B-cell antigen receptor-associated …

Amlexanox Enhances Premature Termination Codon Read-Through In Col7a1 And Expression Of Full Length Type Vii Collagen: Potential Therapy For Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa., Velina S. Atanasova, Qiujie Jiang, Marco Prisco, Christina Gruber, Josefina Piñón Hofbauer, Mei Chen, Cristina Has, Leena Bruckner-Tuderman, John A. Mcgrath, Jouni Uitto, Andrew P. South

Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology Faculty Papers

Recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB) is a rare monogenic blistering disorder caused by the lack of functional type VII collagen, leading to skin fragility and subsequent trauma-induced separation of the epidermis from the underlying dermis. A total of 46% of patients with RDEB harbor at least one premature termination codon (PTC) mutation in COL7A1, and previous studies have shown that aminoglycosides are able to overcome RDEB PTC mutations by inducing "read-through" and incorporation of an amino acid at the PTC site. However, aminoglycoside toxicity will likely prevent widespread clinical application. Here the FDA-approved drug amlexanox was tested for its ability …

Tia1 Mutations In Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis And Frontotemporal Dementia Promote Phase Separation And Alter Stress Granule Dynamics., Ian R. Mackenzie, Alexandra M. Nicholson, Mohona Sarkar, James Messing, Maria D. Purice, Cyril Pottier, Kavya Annu, Matt Baker, Ralph B. Perkerson, Aishe Kurti, Billie J. Matchett, Tanja Mittag, Jamshid Temirov, Ging-Yuek R. Hsiung, Charles Krieger, Melissa E. Murray, Masato Kato, John D. Fryer, Leonard Petrucelli, Lorne Zinman, Sandra Weintraub, Marsel Mesulam, Julia Keith, Sasha A. Zivkovic, Veronica Hirsch-Reinshagen, Raymond P. Roos, Stephan Züchner, Neill R. Graff-Radford, Ronald C. Petersen, Richard J. Caselli, Zbigniew K. Wszolek, Elizabeth Finger, Carol Lippa, David Lacomis, Heather Stewart, Dennis W. Dickson, Hong Joo Kim, Ekaterina Rogaeva, Eileen Bigio, Kevin B. Boylan, J. Paul Taylor, Rosa Rademakers

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are age-related neurodegenerative disorders with shared genetic etiologies and overlapping clinical and pathological features. Here we studied a novel ALS/FTD family and identified the P362L mutation in the low-complexity domain (LCD) of T cell-restricted intracellular antigen-1 (TIA1). Subsequent genetic association analyses showed an increased burden of TIA1 LCD mutations in ALS patients compared to controls (p = 8.7 × 10

Integrative Analysis Identifies Four Molecular And Clinical Subsets In Uveal Melanoma., A Gordon Robertson, Juliann Shih, Christina Yau, Ewan A Gibb, Junna Oba, Karen L Mungall, Julian M Hess, Vladislav Uzunangelov, Vonn Walter, Ludmila Danilova, Tara M Lichtenberg, Melanie Kucherlapati, Patrick K Kimes, Ming Tang, Alexander Penson, Ozgun Babur, Rehan Akbani, Christopher A Bristow, Katherine A Hoadley, Lisa Iype, Matthew T Chang, Andrew D Cherniack, Christopher Benz, Gordon B Mills, Roel G W Verhaak, Klaus G Griewank, Ina Felau, Jean C Zenklusen, Jeffrey E Gershenwald, Lynn Schoenfield, Alexander J Lazar, Mohamed H Abdel-Rahman, Sergio Roman-Roman, Marc-Henri Stern, Colleen M Cebulla, Michelle D Williams, Martine J Jager, Sarah E Coupland, Bita Esmaeli, Cyriac Kandoth, Scott E Woodman

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Comprehensive multiplatform analysis of 80 uveal melanomas (UM) identifies four molecularly distinct, clinically relevant subtypes: two associated with poor-prognosis monosomy 3 (M3) and two with better-prognosis disomy 3 (D3). We show that BAP1 loss follows M3 occurrence and correlates with a global DNA methylation state that is distinct from D3-UM. Poor-prognosis M3-UM divide into subsets with divergent genomic aberrations, transcriptional features, and clinical outcomes. We report change-of-function SRSF2 mutations. Within D3-UM, EIF1AX- and SRSF2/SF3B1-mutant tumors have distinct somatic copy number alterations and DNA methylation profiles, providing insight into the biology of these low- versus intermediate-risk clinical mutation subtypes.

Abl Kinase Regulation By Braf/Erk And Cooperation With Akt In Melanoma, Aditi Jain, Rakshamani Tripathi, Courtney P. Turpin, Chi Wang, Rina Plattner

Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

The melanoma incidence continues to increase, and the disease remains incurable for many due to its metastatic nature and high rate of therapeutic resistance. In particular, melanomas harboring BRAF^V600E and PTEN mutations often are resistant to current therapies, including BRAF inhibitors (BRAFi) and immune checkpoint inhibitors. Abl kinases (Abl/Arg) are activated in melanomas and drive progression; however, their mechanism of activation has not been established. Here we elucidate a novel link between BRAF^V600E/ERK signaling and Abl kinases. We demonstrate that BRAF^V600E/ERK play a critical role in binding, phosphorylating and regulating Abl localization and Abl/Arg activation …

Mismatch Repair Deficiency Predicts Response Of Solid Tumors To Pd-1 Blockade., Dung T Le, Jennifer N Durham, Kellie N Smith, Hao Wang, Bjarne R Bartlett, Laveet K Aulakh, Steve Lu, Holly Kemberling, Cara Wilt, Brandon S Luber, Fay Wong, Nilofer S Azad, Agnieszka A Rucki, Dan Laheru, Ross Donehower, Atif Zaheer, George A Fisher, Todd S Crocenzi, James J Lee, Tim F Greten, Austin G Duffy, Kristen K Ciombor, Aleksandra D Eyring, Bao H Lam, Andrew Joe, S Peter Kang, Matthias Holdhoff, Ludmila Danilova, Leslie Cope, Christian Meyer, Shibin Zhou, Richard M Goldberg, Deborah K Armstrong, Katherine M Bever, Amanda N Fader, Janis Taube, Franck Housseau, David Spetzler, Nianqing Xiao, Drew M Pardoll, Nickolas Papadopoulos, Kenneth W Kinzler, James R Eshleman, Bert Vogelstein, Robert A Anders, Luis A Diaz

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

The genomes of cancers deficient in mismatch repair contain exceptionally high numbers of somatic mutations. In a proof-of-concept study, we previously showed that colorectal cancers with mismatch repair deficiency were sensitive to immune checkpoint blockade with antibodies to programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1). We have now expanded this study to evaluate the efficacy of PD-1 blockade in patients with advanced mismatch repair-deficient cancers across 12 different tumor types. Objective radiographic responses were observed in 53% of patients, and complete responses were achieved in 21% of patients. Responses were durable, with median progression-free survival and overall survival still not reached. Functional analysis …

Quaternary Interactions And Supercoiling Modulate The Cooperative Dna Binding Of Agt, Manana Melikishvili, Michael G. Fried

Center for Structural Biology Faculty Publications

Human O⁶-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase (AGT) repairs mutagenic O⁶-alkylguanine and O⁴-alkylthymine adducts in single-stranded and duplex DNAs. The search for these lesions, through a vast excess of competing, unmodified genomic DNA, is a mechanistic challenge that may limit the repair rate in vivo. Here, we examine influences of DNA secondary structure and twist on protein–protein interactions in cooperative AGT complexes formed on lesion-free DNAs that model the unmodified parts of the genome. We used a new approach to resolve nearest neighbor (nn) and long-range (lr) components from the ensemble-average cooperativity, ω_ave. We found …

The Rhoj-Bad Signaling Network: An Achilles' Heel For Braf Mutant Melanomas., Rolando Ruiz, Sohail Jahid, Melissa Harris, Diego M Marzese, Francisco Espitia, Priya Vasudeva, Chi-Fen Chen, Sebastien De Feraudy, Jie Wu, Daniel L Gillen, Tatiana B Krasieva, Bruce J Tromberg, William J Pavan, Dave S B Hoon, Anand K Ganesan

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Genes and pathways that allow cells to cope with oncogene-induced stress represent selective cancer therapeutic targets that remain largely undiscovered. In this study, we identify a RhoJ signaling pathway that is a selective therapeutic target for BRAF mutant cells. RhoJ deletion in BRAF mutant melanocytes modulates the expression of the pro-apoptotic protein BAD as well as genes involved in cellular metabolism, impairing nevus formation, cellular transformation, and metastasis. Short-term treatment of nascent melanoma tumors with PAK inhibitors that block RhoJ signaling halts the growth of BRAF mutant melanoma tumors in vivo and induces apoptosis in melanoma cells in vitro via …

Macrolides Selectively Inhibit Mutant Kcnj5 Potassium Channels That Cause Aldosterone-Producing Adenoma, Ute Scholl, Laura Abriola, Chengbiao Zhang, Esther Reimer, Mark Plummer, Wenhui Wang, Richard Lifton

NYMC Faculty Publications

Aldosterone-producing adenomas (APAs) are benign tumors of the adrenal gland that constitutively produce the salt-retaining steroid hormone aldosterone and cause millions of cases of severe hypertension worldwide. Either of 2 somatic mutations in the potassium channel KCNJ5 (G151R and L168R, hereafter referred to as KCNJ5MUT) in adrenocortical cells account for half of APAs worldwide. These mutations alter channel selectivity to allow abnormal Na+ conductance, resulting in membrane depolarization, calcium influx, aldosterone production, and cell proliferation. Because APA diagnosis requires a difficult invasive procedure, patients often remain undiagnosed and inadequately treated. Inhibitors of KCNJ5MUT could allow noninvasive diagnosis and therapy of …

Cib2 Interacts With Tmc1 And Tmc2 And Is Essential For Mechanotransduction In Auditory Hair Cells, Arnaud P. J. Giese, Yi-Quan Tang, Ghanshyam P. Sinha, Michael R. Bowl, Adam C. Goldring, Andrew Parker, Mary J. Freeman, Steve D. M. Brown, Saima Riazuddin, Robert Fettiplace, William R. Schafer, Gregory I. Frolenkov, Zubair M. Ahmed

Physiology Faculty Publications

Inner ear hair cells detect sound through deflection of stereocilia, the microvilli-like projections that are arranged in rows of graded heights. Calcium and integrin-binding protein 2 is essential for hearing and localizes to stereocilia, but its exact function is unknown. Here, we have characterized two mutant mouse lines, one lacking calcium and integrin-binding protein 2 and one carrying a human deafness-related Cib2 mutation, and show that both are deaf and exhibit no mechanotransduction in auditory hair cells, despite the presence of tip links that gate the mechanotransducer channels. In addition, mechanotransducing shorter row stereocilia overgrow in hair cell bundles of …

Inhibition Of Age-Related Therapy Resistance In Melanoma By Rosiglitazone-Mediated Induction Of Klotho., Reeti Behera, Amanpreet Kaur, Marie R. Webster, Suyeon Kim, Abibatou Ndoye, Curtis H. Kugel, Gretchen M. Alicea, Joshua Wang, Kanad Ghosh, Phil Cheng, Sofia Lisanti, Katie Marchbank, Vanessa Dang, Mitchell Levesque, Reinhard Dummer, Xiaowei Xu, Meenhard Herlyn, Andrew E. Aplin, Alexander Roesch, Cecilia Caino, Dario C. Altieri, Ashani T. Weeraratna

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Purpose: Aging is a poor prognostic factor for melanoma. We have shown that melanoma cells in an aged microenvironment are more resistant to targeted therapy than identical cells in a young microenvironment. This is dependent on age-related secreted factors. Klotho is an age-related protein whose serum levels decrease dramatically by age 40. Most studies on klotho in cancer have focused on the expression of klotho in the tumor cell. We have shown that exogenous klotho inhibits internalization and signaling of Wnt5A, which drives melanoma metastasis and resistance to targeted therapy. We investigate here whether increasing klotho in the aged microenvironment …

Intracellular Ca 2+ Sensing: Role In Calcium Homeostasis And Signaling, Rafaela Bagur, György Hajnóczky

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

Ca²⁺ is a ubiquitous intracellular messenger that controls diverse cellular functions but can become toxic and cause cell death. Selective control of specific targets depends on spatiotemporal patterning of the calcium signal and decoding it by multiple, tunable, and often strategically positioned Ca²⁺-sensing elements. Ca²⁺ is detected by specialized motifs on proteins that have been biochemically characterized decades ago. However, the field of Ca²⁺ sensing has been reenergized by recent progress in fluorescent technology, genetics, and cryo-EM. These approaches exposed local Ca²⁺-sensing mechanisms inside organelles and at the organellar interfaces, revealed how Ca …

Zinc Transporters Ybtx And Znuabc Are Required For The Virulence Of Yersinia Pestis In Bubonic And Pneumonic Plague In Mice, Alexander G. Bobrov, Olga Kirillina, Marina Y. Fosso, Jacqueline D. Fetherston, M. Clarke Miller, Tiva T. Vancleave, Joseph A. Burlison, William K. Arnold, Matthew B. Lawrenz, Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova, Robert D. Perry

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

A number of bacterial pathogens require the ZnuABC Zinc (Zn²⁺) transporter and/or a second Zn²⁺ transport system to overcome Zn²⁺ sequestration by mammalian hosts. Previously we have shown that in addition to ZnuABC, Yersinia pestis possesses a second Zn²⁺ transporter that involves components of the yersiniabactin (Ybt), siderophore-dependent iron transport system. Synthesis of the Ybt siderophore and YbtX, a member of the major facilitator superfamily, are both critical components of the second Zn²⁺ transport system. Here we demonstrate that a ybtX znu double mutant is essentially avirulent in mouse models of bubonic and pneumonic …

Expanding The Genotypic Spectrum Of Bathing Suit Ichthyosis., Nareh V. Marukian, Rong-Hua Hu, Brittany G. Craiglow, Leonard M. Milstone, Jing Zhou, Amy Theos, Hande Kaymakcalan, Deniz A. Akkaya, Jouni J. Uitto, Hassan Vahidnezhad, Leila Youssefian, Susan J. Bayliss, Amy S. Paller, Lynn M. Boyden, Keith A. Choate

Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology Faculty Papers

Importance: Bathing suit ichthyosis (BSI) is a rare congenital disorder of keratinization characterized by restriction of scale to sites of relatively higher temperature such as the trunk, with cooler areas remaining unaffected. Fewer than 40 cases have been reported in the literature. Bathing suit ichthyosis is caused by recessive, temperature-sensitive mutations in the transglutaminase-1 gene (TGM1). Clear genotype-phenotype correlations have been difficult to establish because several of the same TGM1 mutations have been reported in BSI and other forms of congenital ichthyosis. We identify novel and recurrent mutations in 16 participants with BSI.

Objective: To expand the genotypic spectrum of …

Impact Of Ibrutinib Dose Adherence On Therapeutic Efficacy In Patients With Previously Treated Cll/Sll., Paul M Barr, Jennifer R Brown, Peter Hillmen, Susan O'Brien, Jacqueline C Barrientos, Nishitha M Reddy, Steven Coutre, Stephen P Mulligan, Ulrich Jaeger, Richard R Furman, Florence Cymbalista, Marco Montillo, Claire Dearden, Tadeusz Robak, Carol Moreno, John M Pagel, Jan A Burger, Samuel Suzuki, Juthamas Sukbuntherng, George Cole, Danelle F James, John C Byrd

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Ibrutinib, an oral inhibitor of Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK), at a once-daily dose of 420 mg achieved BTK active-site occupancy in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)/small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) that was maintained at 24 hours. It is unknown if intermittent interruption of ibrutinib therapy contributes to altered clinical outcomes. We therefore evaluated the effect of ibrutinib dose adherence on patient outcomes in the phase 3 RESONATE trial. The overall mean dose intensity (DI) was 95% with median treatment duration of ∼9 months. Pharmacokinetic assessment of ibrutinib exposure at 420-mg dose suggested similar exposure regardless of patient weight or age. …

Dysregulated Gpcr Signaling And Therapeutic Options In Uveal Melanoma., Vivian Chua, Dominic Lapadula, Clinita Randolph, Jeffrey L. Benovic, Philip B. Wedegaertner, Andrew E. Aplin

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

Uveal melanoma is the most common primary intraocular malignant tumor in adults and arises from the transformation of melanocytes in the uveal tract. Even after treatment of the primary tumor, up to 50% of patients succumb to metastatic disease. The liver is the predominant organ of metastasis. There is an important need to provide effective treatment options for advanced stage uveal melanoma. To provide the preclinical basis for new treatments, it is important to understand the molecular underpinnings of the disease. Recent genomic studies have shown that mutations within components of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling are early events associated …

Exome Analysis Of Rare And Common Variants Within The Nod Signaling Pathway., Gaia Andreoletti, Valentina Shakhnovich, Kathy Christenson, Tracy Coelho, Rachel Haggarty, Nadeem A. Afzal, Akshay Batra, Britt-Sabina Petersen, Matthew Mort, R Mark Beattie, Sarah Ennis

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (pIBD) is a chronic heterogeneous disorder. This study looks at the burden of common and rare coding mutations within 41 genes comprising the NOD signaling pathway in pIBD patients. 136 pIBD and 106 control samples underwent whole-exome sequencing. We compared the burden of common, rare and private mutation between these two groups using the SKAT-O test. An independent replication cohort of 33 cases and 111 controls was used to validate significant findings. We observed variation in 40 of 41 genes comprising the NOD signaling pathway. Four genes were significantly associated with disease in the discovery cohort …

Lactate Dehydrogenase In Toxoplasma Gondii Controls Virulence, Bradyzoite Differentiation, And Chronic Infection, Abdelbaset E. Abdelbaset, Barbara A. Fox, Mohamed H. Karram, Mahmoud R. Abd Ellah, David J. Bzik, Makoto Igarashi

Dartmouth Scholarship

In the asexual stages, Toxoplasma gondii stage converts between acute phase rapidly replicating tachyzoites and chronic phase slowly dividing bradyzoites. Correspondingly, T. gondii differentially expresses two distinct genes and isoforms of the lactate dehydrogenase enzyme, expressing LDH1 exclusively in the tachyzoite stage and LDH2 preferentially in the bradyzoite stage. LDH catalyzes the interconversion of pyruvate and lactate in anaerobic growth conditions and is utilized for energy supply, however, the precise role of LDH1 and LDH2 in parasite biology in the asexual stages is still unclear. Here, we investigated the biological role of LDH1 and LDH2 in the asexual stages, …

Atr Mutations Promote The Growth Of Melanoma Tumors By Modulating The Immune Microenvironment., Chi-Fen Chen, Rolando Ruiz-Vega, Priya Vasudeva, Francisco Espitia, Tatiana B Krasieva, Sebastien De Feraudy, Bruce J Tromberg, Sharon Huang, Chad P Garner, Jie Wu, Dave S B Hoon, Anand K Ganesan

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Melanomas accumulate a high burden of mutations that could potentially generate neoantigens, yet somehow suppress the immune response to facilitate continued growth. In this study, we identify a subset of human melanomas that have loss-of-function mutations in ATR, a kinase that recognizes and repairs UV-induced DNA damage and is required for cellular proliferation. ATR mutant tumors exhibit both the accumulation of multiple mutations and the altered expression of inflammatory genes, resulting in decreased T cell recruitment and increased recruitment of macrophages known to spur tumor invasion. Taken together, these studies identify a mechanism by which melanoma cells modulate the immune …