Medical Sciences Commons^™

Roles Of Γδ T Cells In Influenza Infections And Methods For Tcr Expression And Characterization, Xizhi Guo

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

"Influenza virus is a significant pathogen in humans and animals with the ability to cause extensive morbidity and mortality. Exuberant immune responses associated with immune cell migration/activation and cytokine/chemokine release, can be induced after infections. Recent studies have painted a complex picture of viral clearance and tissue repair in adults. The immune responses in neonatal influenza infections and the potential methods to engineer antigen-specific T cells for immunotherapy against cancers and infections will be the focus of this dissertation." "Compared to adults, infants suffer higher rates of hospitalization, severe clinical complications, and mortality due to influenza infection. We found that …

The Tumor Microenvironment Regulates Retinoblastoma Cell Survival, Zachary K. Goldsmith

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Retinoblastoma (Rb) is the most common intraocular malignancy in children comprising 4% of all pediatric tumors. Early intervention increases survival rates up to 95% in developed countries; being survival rates associated to socio-economic status. Despite the high survival rates in developed countries, preservation of the eye and vision are continuing challenges in the management of Rb. Vitreous seeds constitute the greatest challenge in treatment of Rb. The unique location of these seeds within the vitreous makes them difficult to treat. Viable seeds showed reduced proliferative capacity and metabolism. making the majority refractory to current chemotherapeutics. This prompted the development of …

The Role Of Bip Co-Chaperone Sil1 In Marinesco-Sjögren Syndrome Pathogenesis, Viraj Paresh Ichhaporia

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Marinesco-Sjögren syndrome (MSS) is a rare, autosomal recessive, multisystem disorder, which is characterized by cerebellar ataxia, early-onset bilateral cataracts, and progressive myopathy amongst other symptoms. MSS has been attributed to mutations in the SIL1 gene, which encodes a nucleotide exchange factor for the endoplasmicreticulum- resident Hsp70 chaperone, BiP. To date, there are 46 MSS-associated mutations that have been reported in SIL1, which occur throughout this gene and are predicted to result in a loss of SIL1’s function. The large majority of these mutations cause deletions of large fractions of the SIL1 protein. Nine MSS-associated mutations are particularly interesting because they …

Signaling Induced By Inflammatory Mediators In The Rodent Pulmonary Microvasculature, Rachel Escue Helms

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Acute lung inflammation (ALI), stemming from a disproportionate and detrimental immune response, may arise from or complicate other disease states, leading to the often-fatal acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Because of the many culpable factors and differing points of induction, pinning down the signaling mechanisms involved in the morbidity of this disorder as well as defining an effective treatment has proved problematic. However, the most detrimental characteristic of this condition is seen regardless of the development of the response: increased microvascular permeability. Because of the architecture and the size of the pulmonary microvascular network, the lungs have a resident, sequestered …

Targeting The Colchicine Binding Site On Tubulin To Overcome Multidrug Resistance And Anticancer Efficacy Of Selective Survivin Inhibitors, Kinsle E. Arnst

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Tubulin inhibitors are widely used as chemotherapeutic agents, and their successis attributed to their ability to target microtubule dynamics and disrupt critical cellular functions including cell signaling, motility, intracellular trafficking, and mitosis. Interference with microtubule dynamics consequently disrupts mitotic progression and ultimately leads to apoptosis, validating microtubule dynamics as an excellent target for anticancer agents. While this class of drug has proven to be effective against many cancer types, the clinical efficacy of current tubulin inhibitors is often limited by the development of multidrug resistance. The most common form of resistance to these agents arises from the overexpression of drug …

The Role Of Exosomal Transport Of Viral Agents In Persistent Hiv Pathogenesis, Benjamin J. Patters

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, despite great advances in antiretroviral therapy (ART), remains a lifelong affliction. Though current treatment regimens can effectively suppress viral load to undetectable levels and preserve healthy immune function, they cannot fully alleviate all symptoms caused by the presence of the virus, such as HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). Exosomes are small vesicles that transport cellular proteins, RNA, and small molecules between cells as a mechanism of intercellular communication. Recent research has shown that HIV proteins and RNA can be packaged into exosomes and transported between cells, to pathogenic effect. This review summarizes the current knowledge on …

Roles Of Cytosolic Nucleic Acid Sensors In Cancer And Infection, Qifan Zhu

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Pattern recognition receptors are innate immune sensors that recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) with crucial roles in host defense against microbial infection, autoimmune diseases and cancer. Cytosolic nucleic acids including DNA and RNA originate from pathogens or self-cells, which form major groups of PAMPs and DAMPs. A range of nucleic acid sensors have evolved to sense various types of nucleic acids. How different DNA-sensing pathways regulate microbial infection and cancer is the focus of this dissertation.

Stimulator of IFN genes (STING) is a cytosolic innate immune sensor for cyclic dinucleotides that also serves a dual …

Pathogenicity And Protection Mediated By A Single Tcrβ In Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis, Tianhua Wu

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

How the TCR repertoire, together with risk-associated major histocompatibility complex (MHC), imposes susceptibility for autoimmune disease is not fully understood. A small fraction of TCR α or β chains are “public”, and are shared by most individuals.High-throughput sequencing of the mouse TCRβ repertoire during myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG)-induced experimental autoimmuneencephalomyelitis (EAE) identified a public TCRβ chain, TCRβ1, which was highly shared among individual mice and preferentially deployed during EAE. Retrogenic expression of TCRβ1 resulted in spontaneous early-onset EAE in mice with high penetrance and severity, despite being paired with a diverse endogenous TCRα repertoire. To further study autoimmunity conferred by …

An Interface Of The Taste And Reward Systems In The Brainstem And Its Role In Feeding, Louis Saites

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

We eat what tastes good. We also eat because it is necessary for our health. In fact, some of the most nutritious foods (e.g., vegetables) are often less appetizing, and the tastiest (e.g., fast food, ice cream) may be the least healthy. Despite the former, we may also have a lower limit of what we accept at which point nutrition becomes irrelevant (e.g., “spinach is just too yucky”). Further, we may eat unhealthily because of overwhelming urges. We investigated the complex interactions of taste and feeding at the neurobiological level using the experiments described.

In one sense, this neurobiology begins …

Molecular Interplay Of Chromatin Remodeling Factor Brg1 And Transcription Factor Stat3 Regulates Stemness, Chemosensitivity And Tumorigenicity Of Glioma Tumor Initiating Cells, Debolina Ganguly

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is an aggressive brain tumor, characterized by high cellular heterogeneity, is refractory to treatment and has dismal prognosis. These characteristics of GBM have suggested the presence of stem-like cells that have the ability to initiate and maintain tumors of a heterogeneous nature, and bestow resistance to current therapeutic regimens. It is therefore imperative to identify the dysregulated molecular pathways which enable the maintenance of these cells in a stem-like state in order to inform strategies to therapeutically target them.

In this study, we investigated the role of the Y705 and S727 phosphorylation domains of STAT3, a multifunctional …

Pip2 Modulation Of Afterhyperpolarizations In Magnocellular Supraoptic Neurons, Matthew Karl Kirchner

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Magnocellular neurosecretory cells (MNCs) are large oxytocin (OT)- and vasopressin (VP)-releasing neurons that secrete these hormones into the circulatory system in response to physiological stimuli. These cells exhibit unique phasic and burst firing patterns to release these peptides into the circulatory system where they primarily control milk ejection and parturition (OT) as well as salt-water balance and vasoconstriction (VP). This firing is underlain by intrinsic ionic mechanisms that shape the duration and frequency of these bursts. One of these mechanisms is the Ca2+-dependent afterhyperpolarization (AHP), which activates during bursts and causes spike frequency adaptation. This afterhyperpolarization has three distinct conductances: …

Role Of Smarce1 And Bhlhe40 In Breast Cancer Metastasis, Aarti Sethuraman

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

No abstract provided.

Novel Determinants That Influence Azole Susceptibility In Candida Glabrata And Candida Albicans, Sarah Garland Whaley

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Despite the scientific and medical communities’ best efforts, the incidence of fungal infections in susceptible populations continues to rise. The most common cause of these opportunistic fungal infections is Candida. In fact, Candida is the fourth most common pathogen associated with nosocomial blood stream infections. Reported mortality rates for patients with candidemia vary, but have not decreased in the past fifteen years and are reported to be as high as 50%. Candida glabrata, second only to Candida albicans among Candida infections, expresses high rates of resistance to treatment with arguably the best class of currently available antifungals - …

Protein Trafficking Of Bk Channel Β1 Subunits In Cerebral Artery Myocytes, Xue Zhai

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Rationale: Large-conductance calcium (Ca²⁺)-activated potassium channels (BK) are expressed in arterial myocytes to control arterial contractility. It is composed of pore- forming BKα and auxiliary β1 subunits. Auxiliary β1 subunits associate with BKα which modulate Ca²⁺ sensitivity of BK channel. Previous data showed that BKα locates at cell membrane, whereas β1 subunits are primarily intracellular which regulated by Rab11A- positive recycling endosomes. Endothelin-1 (ET-1), a vasoconstrictor, induces contraction of myocytes. ET-1 inhibits BK channel but mechanisms are not fully understood. It is unclear that vasoconstrictors regulate the cellular distribution of BK channels. Furthermore, BK channels are involved …

Somatic Mutation Detection In Leukemia-Derived Circulating Dna: Utility In Monitoring Clonal Dynamics And Disease Response In Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Sarah Hisham Abdelaziz Youssef

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Despite the improved outcome associated with current treatment strategies ofpediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), relapse still represents a major challenge. Pediatric ALL demonstrates branched evolution in response to selective pressure exerted by therapy; relapse founder clones emerge from pre-leukemic clones or minor subclones present at diagnosis. It is hence crucial to develop biomarkers capable of tracking subclones throughout therapy. Current practices for monitoring disease response in leukemia rely on the analysis of BM biopsy sample at specific time points throughout therapy. Not only the invasiveness of the BM biopsy hinders the sequential sampling, but also, the currently implied techniques are …

Characterization Of The Hepatotoxicity Of Rifampicin And Isoniazid, Christopher T. Brewer

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

In a mouse model, rifampicin and isoniazid combination treatment results in cholestatic liver injury that is associated with an increase of protoporphyrin ix (PPIX), the penultimate heme precursor. Excess PPIX is believed to bind to bile acids, precipitate in bile canaliculi, and form bile plugs leading to cholestasis fol owed by liver injury. Both ferrochelatase (FECH/Fech) and aminolevulinic acid synthase 1 (ALAS1/Alas1) are crucial enzymes in regulating heme biosynthesis. Isoniazid has recently been reported to up-regulate Alas1 but down-regulate Fech protein levels in mice; however the mechanism of isoniazid mediated heme synthesis …

Habituation And Dishabituation In The Olfactory Bulb: From Neural Responses To Behavior, Mary Cameron Ogg

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Habituation and dishabituation modulate the neural resources and behavioral significance allocated to incoming stimuli across the sensory systems. The purpose of the research presented in this dissertation was to characterize these processes in the mouse olfactory bulb (OB) and to determine if OB acetylcholine (ACh) has a role in physiological and behavioral olfactory dishabituation. Calcium imaging was used to determine the timecourse and magnitude of habituation in different parts of the OB during and after a prolonged odor presentation. Widefield imaging of the dendritic, or glomerular, response of OB output cells demonstrated that prolonged odor input habituates glomerular responses during …

Pitx3null Mutant (Striatal Dopamine-Deficient) Mice Have Exaggerated Spiny Projection Neuron Responses To L-Dopa And D1 Agonism And Lack Baseline Striatonigral Spiking, Ben Sagot

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

L-3,4 dihidroxyphenylalanine (l-DOPA) strongly stimulates motor activity in parkinsonian patients and animal models of Parkinson's disease. Severe striatal dopamine (DA) loss characterizes Parkinson's disease and its animal models. Given the canonical rate model of Parkinson's Disease pathophysiology based on differences in DA pharmacology manifesting as electrophysiological differences in striatal projection neuron (SPN) spike rates, SPNs should increase spiking during the motor response to l-DOPA. In fact, stimulating specific subsets of these neurons to spike in freely-moving wild type and parkinsonian animals causes or inhibits motor activity as predicted. However, pharmacological effects of DA deficiency, let alone those of DA replacement, …

Revealing A Non-Canonical Role Of Anti-Apoptotic Mcl-1 In Early Embryonic Development, Xue Yang

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

MCL-1, a well-known pro-survival BCL-2 family member, is indispensable for the survival of various cellular lineages and is also among the most frequently amplified genes in a variety of human malignancies. Gene ablation studies previously revealed that Mcl-1 deficiency leads to embryonic lethality around E3.5 during peri-implantation stage. Strikingly, the study did not detect any increase in apoptotic cells of the blastocyst, indicating a function of MCL-1 beyond regulating apoptosis. Our previous studies revealed an unrecognized role of MCL-1 in promoting mitochondrial physiology, which is independent of its classical anti-apoptotic function and requires being imported into the mitochondrial matrix. In …

Assessing Neuronal Synchrony And Brain Function Through Local Field Potential And Spike Analysis, Samuel Stuart Mcafee

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Studies of neuronal network oscillations and rhythmic neuronal synchronization have led to a number of important insights in recent years, giving us a better understanding of the temporal organization of neuronal activity related to essential brain functions like sensory processing and cognition. Important principles and theories have emerged from these findings, including the communication through coherence hypothesis, which proposes that synchronous oscillations render neuronal communication effective, selective, and precise. The implications of such a theory may be universal for brain function, as the determinants of neuronal communication inextricably shape the neuronal representation of information in the brain. However, the study …

Metabolic Regulation Of Cellular Signaling, Rashid John Darbandi

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Using the biochemically tractable Xenopus oocyte model system, we have previously characterized a novel metabolic regulation of cell death. We found that glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) via the pentose phosphate pathway leads to increased nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) levels, a subsequent increase in cytosolic acetyl-coenzyme A and activation of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII). We recently identified coenzyme A (CoA), derived from the breakdown of acetyl-CoA, as the key metabolic signal that mediates a novel mechanism of calmodulindependent activation of CaMKII. CoA binds directly to the calmodulin (CaM) binding domain (CaMBD) of CaMKII resulting in its activation and downstream inhibitory phosphorylation …

Genome-Scale Precision Proteomics Identifies Cancer Signaling Networks And Therapeutic Vulnerabilities, Hong Wang

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Mass spectrometry (MS) based-proteomics technology has been emerging as an indispensable tool for biomedical research. But the highly diverse physical and chemical properties of the protein building blocks and the dramatic human proteome complexity largely limited proteomic profiling depth. Moreover, there was a lack of high-throughput quantitative strategies that were both precise and parallel to in-depth proteomic techniques. To solve these grand challenges, a high resolution liquid chromatography (LC) system that coupled with an advanced mass spectrometer was developed to allow genome-scale human proteome identification. Using the combination of pre-MS peptide fractionation, MS2-based interference detection and post-MS computational interference correction, …

Cannabinoid Receptor 2 (Cb2) Ligands Downregulate Pro-Inflammatory Markers In Stimulated Primary Human Periodontal Ligament Fibroblasts (Hpdlfs), Ammaar Hasan Abidi

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

There are approximately 743 million individuals suffering from chronic periodontitis (PD) making it the sixth most prevalent condition worldwide. The affected adult population in the U.S. are nearly 64.7 million and the healthcare costs exceeds $14 billion. Recently, host response to pathogenic infection has been seen critical to the progression of PD and exhibit increase in various inflammatory markers. Marijuana is well known for its recreational usage and is a risk factor for periodontal disease, which is seen as a concern in society for its negative health consequences. However, many medical conditions can benefit from the pharmacological effects of cannabinoids. …

Investigating The Role Of Dispatched In Hedgehog Ligand Transport And Delivery, William Bodeen

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

During the development of all metazoans, the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway provides instructional cues influencing a variety of cellular processes. The pathway ligand, Hh, is dually lipidated by cholesterol and palmitate, which effectively anchors the molecule to the lipid bilayer of the signal producing cell. To complicate the Hh pathway induction process, the Hh ligand is often produced at a significant distance from the cells it influences. Only one known conserved molecule, Dispatched (Disp), can alleviate the membrane tethering imparted by Hh lipidation. Underscoring the importance of Disp protein during development, knockout animals succumb to lethality at E9.5, an exact …

Therapeutic Effects Of Ormeloxifene In Cervical Cancer Carcinogenesis, Neeraj Chauhan

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Cervical cancer (CxCa) remains the fourth leading cause of cancer related deaths among women worldwide. Cervical cancer is mainly (~ 99.7%) derived from high risk Human papillomavirus (HR HPV). HPV E6/E7 are the two main oncoproteins that interfere with p53 and pRb (retinoblastoma) cell cycle regulatory proteins and hinder their efficacy of controlling cell growth. Additionally, PI3K-Akt is a cell survival pathway that is aberrantly expressed in cervical cancer cells. This pathway has a profound role in inhibiting mitochondrial intrinsic apoptotic signaling pathway. Advanced stage cervical cancer is difficult to treat and patients diagnosed with metastatic disease have a poor …

Role Of Dendritic Cells In Pathology Of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection In Neonates, Bishwas Shrestha

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the leading causes of bronchiolitis in children. We have shown that neonatal mice respond to primary RSV infection with T helper type 2 (Th2) biased immune responses, which are enhanced following reinfection. Dendritic cells (DCs) including myeloid DCs (mDCs) and plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) play important roles in driving host responses to RSV infection. mDCs present antigens to help Th cells differentiate, and pDCs protect against viral infection through type I interferons (IFNs). Despite data demonstrating importance of mDCs and pDCs in protection against RSV, it has not been studied in an age appropriate …

The Role Of Hsf1 Protein Regulation On Neurodegeneration, Eunhee Kim

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Cellular protein homeostasis is achieved by a delicate network of molecular chaperones and various proteolytic processes such as ubiquitin–proteasome system (UPS) to avoid a build-up of misfolded protein aggregates. The latter is a common denominator of neurodegeneration. Neurons are found to be particularly vulnerable to toxic stress from aggregation-prone proteins such as α-synuclein. Induction of heat-shock proteins (HSPs), such as through activated heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF1) via Hsp90 inhibition, is being investigated as a therapeutic option for proteinopathic diseases. HSF1 is a master stress-protective transcription factor which activates genes encoding protein chaperones (e.g. iHsp70) and anti-apoptotic proteins. However, …

Environmental Signaling Through The Target Of Rapamycin Complex 1 (Torc1) And The Regulation Of Epigenetic Mechanisms, Jason J. Workman

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

The gene expression profile of a eukaryotic cell is responsive to a variety of extracellular stimuli, including nutrient availability, which allows cells to toggle between anabolism and catabolism based on the favorability of their environment. Much of this information is relayed through signaling complexes, such as the target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1), to downstream chromatin modifying enzymes. These enzymes impact the gene regulatory process through altered histone post-translation modifications, changes in chromatin structure, and docking of chromatin regulatory complexes. Yet, despite preliminary studies suggesting that TORC1 affects epigenetic mechanisms, including histone H3 lysine 56 acetylation (H3K56ac), almost nothing is …

Role Of Occludin In The Regulation Of Epithelial Tight Junctions, Bhargavi Manda

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Tight junctions (TJ) constitute the primary component of epithelial barrier function, a disruption of which is involved in the pathogenesis of many gastrointestinal, pulmonary and renal diseases. Occludin is the major transmembrane protein of TJ, a deletion of which leads to a complex phenotype including chronic inflammation in several epithelial tissues of occludin deficient mice and poor TJ integrity in epithelial cell lines. Its down regulation was seen in Crohn’s disease, tumors of the colon, brain, endometrium and breast cancer. Occludin is also known to be a target that enables Hepatitis C Virus infection and bacterial pathogenesis. But the specific …

Regulation Of Cancer Metastasis By Protein Kinase D1: A Global Regulatory Cascade, Aditya Ganju

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Protein Kinase D1 (PKD1) is a serine threonine kinase which is downregulated in Prostate, Breast and Colon Cancer. It functions as a tumor suppressor in different cancer cells. Downregulation of PKD1 is known to be associated with aggressiveness of the cancer. PKD1 is known to regulate many key oncogenic signaling pathways such as E-cadherin, β-catenin and Androgen Receptor signaling pathways. Aberrant expression of these oncogenic pathways leads to transformation of cells from normal to malignant phenotype, thereby leading to increased proliferation, growth and metastasis to distant organs of these cancer cells. Literature evidence also points to the fact that E-cadherin …