Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Discoverpath: A Knowledge Refinement And Retrieval System For Interdisciplinarity On Biomedical Research, Yu-Neng Chuang, Guanchu Wang, Chia-Yuan Chang, Kwei-Herng Lai, Daochen Zha, Ruixiang Tang, Fan Yang, Alfredo Costilla Reyes, Kaixiong Zhou, Xiaoqian Jiang, Xia Hu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The exponential growth in scholarly publications necessitates advanced tools for efficient article retrieval, especially in interdisciplinary fields where diverse terminologies are used to describe similar research. Traditional keyword-based search engines often fall short in assisting users who may not be familiar with specific terminologies. To address this, we present a knowledge graph based paper search engine for biomedical research to enhance the user experience in discovering relevant queries and articles. The system, dubbed DiscoverPath, employs Named Entity Recognition (NER) and part-of-speech (POS) tagging to extract terminologies and relationships from article abstracts to create a KG. To reduce information overload, DiscoverPath …

Visualization Of Patient-Generated Health Data: A Scoping Review Of Dashboard Designs, Edna Shenvi, Aziz Boxwala, Dean Sittig, Courtney Zott, Edwin Lomotan, James Swiger, Prashila Dullabh

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Patient-centered clinical decision support (PC CDS) aims to assist with tailoring decisions to an individual patient's needs. Patient-generated health data (PGHD), including physiologic measurements captured frequently by automated devices, provide important information for PC CDS. The volume and availability of such PGHD is increasing, but how PGHD should be presented to clinicians to best aid decision-making is unclear.

OBJECTIVES: Identify best practices in visualizations of physiologic PGHD, for designing a software application as a PC CDS tool.

METHODS: We performed a scoping review of studies of PGHD dashboards that involved clinician users in design or evaluations. We included only …

Co-Targeting Bcl-Xl And Bcl-2 By Protac 753b Eliminates Leukemia Cells And Enhances Efficacy Of Chemotherapy By Targeting Senescent Cells, Yannan Jia, Lina Han, Cassandra L Ramage, Zhe Wang, Connie C Weng, Lei Yang, Simona Colla, Helen Ma, Weiguo Zhang, Michael Andreeff, Naval Daver, Nitin Jain, Naveen Pemmaraju, Kapil Bhalla, Satu Mustjoki, Peiyi Zhang, Guangrong Zheng, Daohong Zhou, Qi Zhang, Marina Konopleva

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BCL-XL and BCL-2 are key anti-apoptotic proteins and validated cancer targets. 753B is a novel BCL-XL/BCL-2 proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) that targets both BCL-XL and BCL-2 to the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) E3 ligase, leading to BCLX L/BCL-2 ubiquitination and degradation selectively in cells expressing VHL. Because platelets lack VHL expression, 753B spares on-target platelet toxicity caused by the first-generation dual BCL-XL/BCL-2 inhibitor navitoclax (ABT-263). Here, we report pre-clinical single-agent activity of 753B against different leukemia subsets. 753B effectively reduced cell viability and induced dose-dependent degradation of BCL-XL and BCL-2 in a subset of hematopoietic cell lines, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) …

Combining Clinical And Biological Data To Predict Progressive Pulmonary Fibrosis In Patients With Systemic Sclerosis Despite Immunomodulatory Therapy, Elizabeth R Volkmann, Holly Wilhalme, Shervin Assassi, Grace Hyun J Kim, Jonathan Goldin, Masataka Kuwana, Donald P Tashkin, Michael D Roth

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: Progressive pulmonary fibrosis (PPF) is the leading cause of death in systemic sclerosis (SSc). This study aimed to develop a clinical prediction nomogram using clinical and biological data to assess risk of PPF among patients receiving treatment of SSc-related interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD).

METHODS: Patients with SSc-ILD who participated in the Scleroderma Lung Study II (SLS II) were randomized to treatment with either mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) or cyclophosphamide (CYC). Clinical and biological parameters were analyzed using univariable and multivariable logistic regression, and a nomogram was created to assess the risk of PPF and validated by bootstrap resampling.

RESULTS: Among …

Evolving Availability And Standardization Of Patient Attributes For Matching, Yu Deng, Lacey P Gleason, Adam Culbertson, Xiaotian Chen, Elmer V Bernstam, Theresa Cullen, Ramkiran Gouripeddi, Christopher Harle, David F Hesse, Jacob Kean, John Lee, Tanja Magoc, Daniella Meeker, Toan Ong, Jyotishman Pathak, Marc Rosenman, Laura K Rusie, Akash J Shah, Lizheng Shi, Aaron Thomas, William E Trick, Shaun Grannis, Abel Kho

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Variation in availability, format, and standardization of patient attributes across health care organizations impacts patient-matching performance. We report on the changing nature of patient-matching features available from 2010-2020 across diverse care settings. We asked 38 health care provider organizations about their current patient attribute data-collection practices. All sites collected name, date of birth (DOB), address, and phone number. Name, DOB, current address, social security number (SSN), sex, and phone number were most commonly used for cross-provider patient matching. Electronic health record queries for a subset of 20 participating sites revealed that DOB, first name, last name, city, and postal codes …

An Efficient Strategy For Evaluating New Non-Invasive Screening Tests For Colorectal Cancer: The Guiding Principles, Robert S Bresalier, Carlo Senore, Graeme P Young, James Allison, Robert Benamouzig, Sally Benton, Patrick M M Bossuyt, Luis Caro, Beatriz Carvalho, Han-Mo Chiu, Veerle M H Coupé, Willemijn De Klaver, Clasine Maria De Klerk, Evelien Dekker, Sunil Dolwani, Callum G Fraser, William Grady, Lydia Guittet, Samir Gupta, Stephen P Halloran, Ulrike Haug, Geir Hoff, Steven Itzkowitz, Tim Kortlever, Anastasios Koulaouzidis, Uri Ladabaum, Beatrice Lauby-Secretan, Mārcis Leja, Bernard Levin, Theodore Robert Levin, Finlay Macrae, Gerrit A Meijer, Joshua Melson, Colm O'Morain, Susan Parry, Linda Rabeneck, David F Ransohoff, Roque Sáenz, Hiroshi Saito, Silvia Sanduleanu-Dascalescu, Robert E Schoen, Kevin Selby, Harminder Singh, Robert J C Steele, Joseph J Y Sung, Erin Leigh Symonds, Sidney J Winawer, Members Of The World Endoscopy Colorectal Cancer Screening New Test Evaluation Expert Working Group

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: New screening tests for colorectal cancer (CRC) are rapidly emerging. Conducting trials with mortality reduction as the end point supporting their adoption is challenging. We re-examined the principles underlying evaluation of new non-invasive tests in view of technological developments and identification of new biomarkers.

DESIGN: A formal consensus approach involving a multidisciplinary expert panel revised eight previously established principles.

RESULTS: Twelve newly stated principles emerged. Effectiveness of a new test can be evaluated by comparison with a proven comparator non-invasive test. The faecal immunochemical test is now considered the appropriate comparator, while colonoscopy remains the diagnostic standard. For a …

Zyxin Inhibits The Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Process In Gastric Cancer By Upregulating Sirt1, Jing Lou, Sha Geng, Wei He, Song-Bai Liu, Xinghong Shi, Ying Chang, Shiyuan Han, Panting Qian, Hesham M Amin, Yao-Hua Song, Yangxin Li, Jin Zhou

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Tumor development relies on the stemness of cancer stem cells, which is regulated by environmental cues. Previous studies have shown that zyxin can inhibit the expression of genes for embryonic stem cell status. In the present study, the expression levels of zyxin protein in cancer tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues from 73 gastric cancer patients with different clinical stages were analyzed by Western blot. We showed that the relative expression levels of zyxin in gastric cancer tissues (cancer tissues/adjacent tissues) were significantly downregulated in advanced clinical stages. Overexpression of zyxin inhibited the stemness and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) processes in gastric …

Therapeutic Effects Of Combining Curcumin And Swimming In Osteoarthritis Using A Rat Model, Mona M Saber, Manal Moustafa Mahmoud, Hesham M Amin, Reham M Essam

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common debilitating degenerative disease of the elderly. We aimed to study the therapeutic effects of combining curcumin and swimming in monosodium iodoacetate (MIA)-induced OA in a rat model. The rats were divided into 5 groups (n = 9). Group 1 received saline and served as a control group. Groups 2-5 were injected intra-articularly in the right knee with 100 μL MIA. One week later, groups 3 and 5 were started on daily swimming sessions that gradually increased to 20-mins per session, and for groups 4 and 5, oral curcumin was administered at a dose of 200 …

Evaluation Of The Natural History Of Disease By Combining Incident And Prevalent Cohorts: Application To The Nun Study, Daewoo Pak, Jing Ning, Richard J Kryscio, Yu Shen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The Nun study is a well-known longitudinal epidemiology study of aging and dementia that recruited elderly nuns who were not yet diagnosed with dementia (i.e., incident cohort) and who had dementia prior to entry (i.e., prevalent cohort). In such a natural history of disease study, multistate modeling of the combined data from both incident and prevalent cohorts is desirable to improve the efficiency of inference. While important, the multistate modeling approaches for the combined data have been scarcely used in practice because prevalent samples do not provide the exact date of disease onset and do not represent the target population …

A Self-Configuring Deep Learning Network For Segmentation Of Temporal Bone Anatomy In Cone-Beam Ct Imaging, Andy S Ding, Alexander Lu, Zhaoshuo Li, Manish Sahu, Deepa Galaiya, Jeffrey H Siewerdsen, Mathias Unberath, Russell H Taylor, Francis X Creighton

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: Preoperative planning for otologic or neurotologic procedures often requires manual segmentation of relevant structures, which can be tedious and time-consuming. Automated methods for segmenting multiple geometrically complex structures can not only streamline preoperative planning but also augment minimally invasive and/or robot-assisted procedures in this space. This study evaluates a state-of-the-art deep learning pipeline for semantic segmentation of temporal bone anatomy.

STUDY DESIGN: A descriptive study of a segmentation network.

SETTING: Academic institution.

METHODS: A total of 15 high-resolution cone-beam temporal bone computed tomography (CT) data sets were included in this study. All images were co-registered, with relevant anatomical structures …

Garetosmab In Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Phase 2 Trial, Maja Di Rocco, Eduardo Forleo-Neto, Robert J Pignolo, Richard Keen, Philippe Orcel, Thomas Funck-Brentano, Christian Roux, Sami Kolta, Annalisa Madeo, Judith S Bubbear, Jacek Tabarkiewicz, Małgorzata Szczepanek, Javier Bachiller-Corral, Angela M Cheung, Kathryn M Dahir, Esmée Botman, Pieter G Raijmakers, Mona Al Mukaddam, Lianne Tile, Cynthia Portal-Celhay, Neena Sarkar, Peijie Hou, Bret J Musser, Anita Boyapati, Kusha Mohammadi, Scott J Mellis, Andrew J Rankin, Aris N Economides, Dinko Gonzalez Trotter, Gary A Herman, Sarah J O'Meara, Richard Delgizzi, David M Weinreich, George D Yancopoulos, E Marelise W Eekhoff, Frederick S Kaplan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) is a rare disease characterized by heterotopic ossification (HO) in connective tissues and painful flare-ups. In the phase 2 LUMINA-1 trial, adult patients with FOP were randomized to garetosmab, an activin A-blocking antibody (n = 20) or placebo (n = 24) in period 1 (28 weeks), followed by an open-label period 2 (28 weeks; n = 43). The primary end points were safety and for period 1, the activity and size of HO lesions. All patients experienced at least one treatment-emergent adverse event during period 1, notably epistaxis, madarosis and skin abscesses. Five deaths …

Young-Onset Rectal Cancer: Unique Tumoral Microbiome And Correlation With Response To Neoadjuvant Therapy, Michael G White, Ashish Damania, Jumanah Alshenaifi, Pranoti Sahasrabhojane, Oliver Peacock, Jillian Losh, Matthew C Wong, Zuzana Lutter-Berkova, George J Chang, Andrew Futreal, Jennifer A Wargo, Nadim J Ajami, Scott Kopetz, Y Nancy You

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: External exposures, the host, and the microbiome interact in oncology. We aimed to investigate tumoral microbiomes in young-onset rectal cancers (YORCs) for profiles potentially correlative with disease etiology and biology.

BACKGROUND: YORC is rapidly increasing, with 1 in 4 new rectal cancer cases occurring under the age of 50 years. Its etiology is unknown.

METHODS: YORC (old) or later-onset rectal cancer (LORC, ≥50 y old) patients underwent pretreatment biopsied of tumor and tumor-adjacent normal (TAN) tissue. After whole genome sequencing, metagenomic analysis quantified microbial communities comparing tumors versus TANs and YORCs versus LORCs, controlling for multiple testing. Response to …

Peripheral Levels Of The Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor In Coronary Artery Disease: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Parnian Shobeiri, Amir Hossein Behnoush, Amirmohammad Khalaji, Antonio Lucio Teixeira, Nima Rezaei

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Among its functions, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) regulates endothelial and macrophage activation, possibly playing a role in atherosclerotic plaque pathophysiology. Given contradicting reports, this study sought to investigate whether blood levels of BDNF differed between patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and controls.

METHODS: We explored PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library for studies comparing BDNF blood levels in patients with CHD and controls. Random-effect meta-analysis was conducted to calculate the standardized mean differences (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). The Newcastle-Ottawa scale was used to evaluate the quality of included articles, and statistical analyses were conducted …

Refphase: Multi-Sample Phasing Reveals Haplotype-Specific Copy Number Heterogeneity, Thomas B K Watkins, Emma C Colliver, Matthew R Huska, Tom L Kaufmann, Emilia L Lim, Cody B Duncan, Kerstin Haase, Peter Van Loo, Charles Swanton, Nicholas Mcgranahan, Roland F Schwarz

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Most computational methods that infer somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs) from bulk sequencing of DNA analyse tumour samples individually. However, the sequencing of multiple tumour samples from a patient's disease is an increasingly common practice. We introduce Refphase, an algorithm that leverages this multi-sampling approach to infer haplotype-specific copy numbers through multi-sample phasing. We demonstrate Refphase's ability to infer haplotype-specific SCNAs and characterise their intra-tumour heterogeneity, to uncover previously undetected allelic imbalance in low purity samples, and to identify parallel evolution in the context of whole genome doubling in a pan-cancer cohort of 336 samples from 99 tumours.

Emphasizing Others’ Persistence Can Promote Unwarranted Social Inferences In Children And Adults, Jamie Amemiya, Gail D Heyman, Caren M Walker

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

People often hear stories about individuals who persist to overcome their constraints. While these stories can be motivating, emphasizing others’ persistence may promote unwarranted judgments about constrained individuals who do not persist. Using a developmental social inference task (Study 1a: n = 124 U.S. children, 5 to 12 years of age; Study 1b [n = 135] and Study 2 [n = 120]: U.S. adults), the present research tested whether persistence stories lead people to infer that a constrained individual who does not persist, and instead accepts the lower-quality option that is available to them, prefers it over a …

Prevalence Of Pituitary Hormone Dysfunction Following Radiotherapy For Sinonasal And Nasopharyngeal Malignancies, Kevin J Contrera, Jack Phan, Steven G Waguespack, Mohammed Aldehaim, Xin Wang, Tze Yee Lim, Dianna B Roberts, C David Fuller, Michael T Spiotto, Shaan M Raza, Franco Demonte, Ehab Y Hanna, Shirley Y Su

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: There are limited studies and no surveillance protocols on pituitary dysfunction for adults who underwent anterior skull base radiation.

METHODS: Cross-sectional study of 50 consecutive patients with sinonasal or nasopharyngeal cancer who underwent definitive radiotherapy. The mean radiation doses, prevalence of pituitary dysfunction, and associated factors were calculated.

RESULTS: Pituitary hormone levels were abnormal in 23 (46%) patients, including 6 (12%) with symptomatic abnormalities requiring treatment. The most common hormonal abnormality was hyperprolactinemia (30%), central hypothyroidism (8%) and central hypogonadism (6%). Patients with abnormal pituitary hormone values received higher mean radiation doses to the pituitary gland (1143 cGy, P …

Single-Agent Lenalidomide Maintenance After Upfront Autologous Stem Cell Transplant For Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma: The Md Anderson Experience, Oren Pasvolsky, Denái R Milton, Adeel Masood, Sophiya S Sami, Mark R Tanner, Qaiser Bashir, Samer Srour, Neeraj Saini, Paul Lin, Jeremy Ramdial, Yago Nieto, Arsalan Saeed, Hans C Lee, Krina K Patel, Partow Kebriaei, Sheeba K Thomas, Donna M Weber, Robert Z Orlowski, Elizabeth J Shpall, Richard E Champlin, Muzaffar H Qazilbash

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The optimal duration of lenalidomide (Len) maintenance for patients with multiple myeloma (MM) after autologous stem cell transplantation (autoHCT) is unknown. We conducted a retrospective single-center analysis of adult MM patients that received upfront autoHCT between 2005 and 2021, followed by single-agent Len maintenance. A total of 1167 patients were included with a median age of 61.4 (range 25.4-82.3) years, and high-risk chromosomal abnormalities in 19%. Median duration of maintenance was 22.3 (range 0.03-139.6) months. After a median follow-up of 47.9 (range 2.9-171.7) months, median PFS and OS for the entire cohort were 56.6 (95% CI 48.2-61.4) months and 111.3 …

A Machine Learning Approach That Measures Ph Using Acidocest Mri Of Iopamidol, Tianzhe Li, Julio Cárdenas-Rodríguez, Priya N Trakru, Mark D Pagel

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Tumor acidosis is an important biomarker for aggressive tumors, and extracellular pH (pHe) of the tumor microenvironment can be used to predict and evaluate tumor responses to chemotherapy and immunotherapy. AcidoCEST MRI measures tumor pHe by exploiting the pH-dependent chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) effect of iopamidol, an exogenous CT agent repurposed for CEST MRI. However, all pH fitting methodologies for acidoCEST MRI data have limitations. Herein we present results of the application of machine learning for extracting pH values from CEST Z-spectra of iopamidol. We acquired 36,000 experimental CEST spectra from 200 phantoms of iopamidol prepared at five concentrations, …

Innately Expressed Estrogen-Related Receptors In The Skeletal Muscle Are Indispensable For Exercise Fitness, Ashok Kumar, Vihang A Narkar

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a prevalent cardiovascular complication of limb vascular insufficiency, causing ischemic injury, mitochondrial metabolic damage and functional impairment in the skeletal muscle, and ultimately leading to immobility and mortality. While potential therapies have been mostly focussed on revascularization, none of the currently available pharmacological treatments are fully effective in PAD, often leading to amputations, particularly in chronic metabolic diseases. One major limitation of focussed angiogenesis and revascularization as a therapeutic strategy is a limited effect on metabolic restoration and muscle regeneration in the affected limb. Therefore, additional preclinical investigations are needed to discover novel treatment options …

Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And Fruit And Vegetable Intake Among A National Sample Of U.S. Adults, Ivan D. Mendoza, Jorge A. Banda, Zachary Giano, Randolph D. Hubach

Purdue University Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund

Few studies have examined the role adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have on specific diet patterns. This study assessed the association between ACEs and daily fruit and vegetable intake (FVI). Data were derived from the 2019 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) which surveys 50 states and three U.S. territories. Participants who completed the ACEs module were included in the analyses (N = 106,967). Total ACEs included the summed responses from the domains of abuse, household challenges, and neglect. FVI was reported by number of times consumed per day. The two fruit items included fruit (fresh, frozen, and canned) and fruit …

Limited Accumulation And Persistence Of An Influenza A Virus In Tadpole Snails (Physa Spp.), Paul T. Oesterle, J. Jeffrey Root, Darcy S.O. Mora, Heather Schneider, Alan B. Franklin, Kathryn P. Huyvaert

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Waterfowl infected with avian influenza A viruses (IAVs) shed infectious virus into aquatic environments, providing a mechanism for transmission among waterfowl, while also exposing the entire aquatic ecosystem to the virus. Aquatic invertebrates such as freshwater snails are likely exposed to IAVs in the water column and sediment. Freshwater snails comprise a significant portion of some waterfowl species’ diets, so this trophic interaction may serve as a novel route of IAV transmission. In these experiments, tadpole snails (Physa spp.) were exposed to a low-pathogenicity IAV (H3N8) to determine whether snails can accumulate the virus and, if so, how long virus …

Awareness Of The Public Charge, Confidence In Knowledge, And The Use Of Public Healthcare Programs Among Mexican-Origin Oregon Latino/As, Edlyn Wolwowicz-Lopez, Emily Boniface, Sara Díaz-Anaya, Yareli Cornejo-Torres, Blair Darney

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective We describe awareness about the modified “public charge” rule among Oregon’s Mexican-origin Latino/a population and whether concerns about the rule influenced disenrollment from state-funded programs, which do not fall under the public charge. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional survey of adults (ages 18–59) recruited at the Mexican consulate and living in the state of Oregon. Our outcomes were awareness (of the public charge, source of knowledge, and confidence in knowledge of the public charge) and disenrolling self or family members from state-funded public healthcare programs due to concerns about the rule. We described outcomes and used logistic regression and …

Food And Mood: Investigating The Correlation Between Vitamin B12 Intake And Depression, Jana Soucar, Hawley Almstedt

Health and Human Sciences Faculty Works

Vitamin B12 is an essential nutrient that metabolizes homocysteine, which is a potentially neurotoxic molecule when in excess. Studies show that a deficiency in vitamin B12, as well as folate, may be associated with mental health conditions. Additionally, the prevalence of depression is higher in college students than other demographic populations. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate a correlation between vitamin B12 and folate intake with signs and symptoms of depression in college students. METHODS: This study was conducted by first providing participants with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to measure signs and symptoms of …

Microaggressions: Investigating Physical Therapy Student Perspectives During Clinical Experiences, Dakota Studley, Jocelin Friedman, Ashley H. Campbell, Laurie Shimko, Megan B. Flores

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose: Microaggressions are “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, and environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory or negative racial slights and insults to the target person or group” (Gilliam & Russel, 2021). The effect of microaggressions has been explored among medical students, however, there is limited literature identifying the frequency and effect of microaggressions on Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students. The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of DPT students on clinical experiences to determine: 1) the frequency that students experience microaggressions, and 2) the impact of microaggressions on self-efficacy.

Methods: …

The Scoop, Vol. 10 Issue 7, October 2023, Health Sciences Library

Volume 10

Latest news and updates from the Health Sciences Library in our monthly newsletter for October 2023.

Reclaiming The Balance: Blocking Glutamine Uptake To Restrain Pulmonary Fibrosis, Gang Liu, Ross Summer

Center for Translational Medicine Faculty Papers

No abstract provided.

A Blunted Th17 Cytokine Signature In Women With Mild Cognitive Impairment: Insights From Inflammatory Profiling Of A Community-Based Cohort Of Older Adults, Adam D. Bachstetter, Jenny Lutshumba, Edric D. Winford, Erin L. Abner, Barbra J. Martin, Jordan P. Harp, Linda J. Van Eldik, Frederick A. Schmitt, Donna M. Wilcock, Ann M. Stowe, Gregory A. Jicha, Barbara S. Nikolajczyk

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

People with dementia have an increase in brain inflammation, caused in part by innate and adaptive immune cells. However, it remains unknown whether dementia-associated diseases alter neuro-immune reflex arcs to impact the systemic immune system. We examined peripheral immune cells from a community-based cohort of older adults to test if systemic inflammatory cytokine signatures associated with early stages of cognitive impairment. Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells were cultured with monocyte or T-cell-targeted stimuli, and multiplex assays quantitated cytokines in the conditioned media. Following T-cell-targeted stimulation, cells from women with cognitive impairment produced lower amounts of TH17 cytokines compared with cells …

Control Of Cd4+ T Cells To Restrain Inflammatory Diseases Via Eukaryotic Elongation Factor 2 Kinase, Hao-Yun Peng, Liqing Wang, Jugal Kishore Das, Anil Kumar, Darby J. Ballard, Yijie Ren, Xiaofeng Xiong, Paul De Figueiredo, Jin-Ming Yang, Jianxun Song

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

CD4+ T cells, particularly IL-17-secreting helper CD4+ T cells, play a central role in the inflammatory processes underlying autoimmune disorders. Eukaryotic Elongation Factor 2 Kinase (eEF2K) is pivotal in CD8+ T cells and has important implications in vascular dysfunction and inflammation-related diseases such as hypertension. However, its specific immunological role in CD4+ T cell activities and related inflammatory diseases remains elusive. Our investigation has uncovered that the deficiency of eEF2K disrupts the survival and proliferation of CD4+ T cells, impairs their ability to secrete cytokines. Notably, this dysregulation leads to heightened production of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-17, fosters a pro-inflammatory microenvironment …

Copy Number Variation That Influences The Ionizing Radiation Sensitivity Of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Tadahide Izumi, Piotr G. Rychahou, Li Chen, Molly H. Smith, Joseph Valentino

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Genome instability in cancer cells causes not only point mutations but also structural variations of the genome, including copy number variations (CNVs). It has recently been proposed that CNVs arise in cancer to adapt to a given microenvironment to survive. However, how CNV influences cellular resistance against ionizing radiation remains unknown. PRMT5 (protein arginine methyltransferase 5) and APE1 (apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1), which enhance repair of DNA double-strand breaks and oxidative DNA damage, are closely localized in the chromosome 14 of the human genome. In this study, the genomics data for the PRMT5 and APE1 genes, including their expression, CNVs, and …

Dense Granule Protein 3 Of Toxoplasma Gondii Plays A Crucial Role In The Capability Of The Tissue Cysts Of The Parasite To Persist In The Presence Of Anti-Cyst Cd8+ T Cells During The Chronic Stage Of Infection, Rajesh Mani, Mohamed H. Abdelaziz, Eri Ochiai, Qila Sa, Barbara A. Fox, David J. Bzik, Yasuhiro Suzuki

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Toxoplasma gondii establishes chronic infection by forming tissue cysts, and this chronic infection is one of the most common parasitic infections in humans. Our recent studies revealed that whereas CD8 + T cells of genetically resistant BALB/c mice have the capability to remove the tissue cysts of the parasite through their perforin-mediated activities, small portions of the cysts are capable of persisting in the presence of the anti-cyst CD8+ T cells. It is currently unknown how those small portions of the cysts resist or escape the T-cell immunity and persist in the hosts. In the present study, we discovered that …