Biological Phenomena, Cell Phenomena, and Immunity Commons^™

Liver Transplantation In 3 Cholestatic Infants With History Of Covid Exposure, Shruti Sakhuja, Kalyani R Patel, Matthew Goss, Flor M Munoz, Garrett Wortham, Megan Crawford, John A Goss, Nhu Thao Galvan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic presents several challenges during pregnancy including thromboembolic complications, direct placental infection, transplacental transmission, and systemic hyperinflammatory state. The liver is the second most commonly affected organ in SARS-CoV-2 infection after the lungs. Mechanisms of liver injury in COVID-19 patients can include: direct viral cytopathic effect, worsening of underlying liver disease, cytokine storm, hypoxic ischemic injury, and cholangiopathy leading to persistent marked cholestasis. Here we describe 3 infants at Texas Children's Hospital with perinatal SARS-CoV-2 exposure with persistent cholestasis and histologic evidence of extrahepatic biliary obstruction suggesting underlying biliary atresia (BA) with some atypical features possibly exacerbated by …

Spatial And Seasonal Dynamics Of Mosquito Species In Harris County, Texas, Highlight Risk Of Arbovirus Introduction And Transmission, Morgan Jibowu, Maximea Vigilant, Andre Luis Costa-Da-Silva, Alisa Nelson, Heather T Essigmann, Eric L Brown, Sarah M Gunter

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Mosquito-borne diseases pose a significant public health threat, particularly in densely populated urban areas. Climate change, urbanization, and global connectivity have fueled the expansion of mosquitoes and their associated pathogens, increasing the disease burden. Harris County, Texas, is among the most vulnerable regions in the United States for mosquito-borne disease outbreaks, underscoring the critical need for localized insights into mosquito population dynamics to inform vector surveillance and control strategies. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the population dynamics of mosquito species in Harris County by exploring their species composition, spatial distribution, and seasonal patterns. Our findings reveal the extensive …

Radial Glia Integrin Avb8 Regulates Cell Autonomous Microglial Tgfβ1 Signaling That Is Necessary For Microglial Identity, Gabriel Mckinsey, Nicolas Santander, Xiaoming Zhang, Kilian Kleemann, Lauren Tran, Aditya Katewa, Kaylynn Conant, Matthew Barraza, Kian Waddell, Carlos Lizama, Marie La Russa, Ji Hyun Koo, Hyunji Lee, Dibyanti Mukherjee, Helena Paidassi, E. S. Anton, Kamran Atabai, Dean Sheppard, Oleg Butovsky, Thomas Arnold

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

Microglial diversity arises from the interplay between inherent genetic programs and external environmental signals. However, the mechanisms by which these processes develop and interact within the growing brain are not yet fully understood. Here, we show that radial glia-expressed integrin beta 8 (ITGB8) activates microglia-expressed TGFβ1 to drive microglial development. Domain-restricted deletion of Itgb8 in these progenitors results in regionally restricted and developmentally arrested microglia that persist into adulthood. In the absence of autocrine TGFβ1 signaling, microglia adopt a similar phenotype, leading to neuromotor symptoms almost identical to Itgb8 mutant mice. In contrast, microglia lacking the canonical TGFβ signal transducers …

Rare Damaging Ccr2 Variants Are Associated With Lower Lifetime Cardiovascular Risk, Marios K Georgakis, Rainer Malik, Omar El Bounkari, Natalie R Hasbani, Jiang Li, Jennifer E Huffman, Gabrielle Shakt, Reinier W P Tack, Tamara N Kimball, Yaw Asare, Alanna C Morrison, Noah L Tsao, Renae Judy, Braxton D Mitchell, Huichun Xu, May E Montasser, Ron Do, Eimear E Kenny, Ruth J F Loos, James G Terry, John Jeffrey Carr, Joshua C Bis, Bruce M Psaty, W T Longstreth, Kendra A Young, Sharon M Lutz, Michael H Cho, Jai Broome, Alyna T Khan, Fei Fei Wang, Nancy Heard-Costa, Sudha Seshadri, Ramachandran S Vasan, Nicholette D Palmer, Barry I Freedman, Donald W Bowden, Lisa R Yanek, Brian G Kral, Lewis C Becker, Patricia A Peyser, Lawrence F Bielak, Farah Ammous, April P Carson, Michael E Hall, Laura M Raffield, Stephen S Rich, Wendy S Post, Russel P Tracy, Kent D Taylor, Xiuqing Guo, Michael C Mahaney, Joanne E Curran, John Blangero, Shoa L Clarke, Jeffrey W Haessler, Yao Hu, Themistocles L Assimes, Charles Kooperberg, Jürgen Bernhagen, Christopher D Anderson, Scott M Damrauer, Ramin Zand, Jerome I Rotter, Paul S De Vries, Martin Dichgans

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Previous work has shown a role of CCL2, a key chemokine governing monocyte trafficking, in atherosclerosis. However, it remains unknown whether targeting CCR2, the cognate receptor of CCL2, provides protection against human atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

METHODS: Computationally predicted damaging or loss-of-function (REVEL > 0.5) variants within CCR2 were detected in whole-exome-sequencing data from 454,775 UK Biobank participants and tested for association with cardiovascular endpoints in gene-burden tests. Given the key role of CCR2 in monocyte mobilization, variants associated with lower monocyte count were prioritized for experimental validation. The response to CCL2 of human cells transfected with these variants was tested …

Identification And Catalog Of Viral Transcriptional Regulators In Human Diseases, Citu Citu, Le Chang, Astrid M Manuel, Nitesh Enduru, Zhongming Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Viral genomes encode viral transcriptional regulators (vTRs) that manipulate host gene expression to facilitate replication and evade immune detection. Nevertheless, their role in non-cancerous diseases remains largely underexplored. Here, we unveiled 268 new candidate vTRs from 14 of the 20 viral families we investigated. We mapped vTRs' genome-wide binding profiles and identified their potential human targets, which were enriched in immune-mediated pathways, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancers. Through vTR DNA-binding preference analysis, 283 virus-specific and human-like motifs were identified. Prioritized Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) vTR target genes were associated with multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis, and systemic lupus erythematosus. The partitioned heritability …

Nutritional Status, Social Determinants Of Health And Clinical Outcomes In Critically Ill Children, Yash Desai, Andrea Marroquín, Paola Hong-Zhu, Nicole Knebusch, Stephanie Vazquez, Marwa Mansour, Thomas P Fogarty, M Hossein Tcharmtchi, Fernando Stein, Jorge A Coss-Bu

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction: Childhood malnutrition remains a risk factor for morbidity and mortality. Children admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) are at a higher risk of worsening nutritional status with adverse clinical outcomes. The burden of malnutrition is strongly linked to various well-defined social determinants of health, including race, socioeconomic status, and geography, as these factors influence household food insecurity. This study aimed to analyze the interrelationships of nutritional status, social determinants of health, and health outcomes in critically ill children.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study of 6418 critically ill children admitted to PICU from January 2014 to December 2017. Demographic …

The Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor Ric-8a Regulates The Sensitivity Of Constitutively Active Gαq To The Inhibitor Ym-254890, Morgan Dwyer, Jiansong Luo, Tyson Todd, Kendall Blumer, Gregory Tall, Philip Wedegaertner

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

Heterotrimeric G proteins are stimulated under normal circumstances by G protein-coupled receptors to promote downstream intracellular signaling. Mutations can occur in αq at glutamine 209 (Q209) that cause constitutive, G protein-coupled receptor independent signaling due to disruption of GTPase activity. Specifically, Q209L/P mutations are oncogenic drivers of uveal melanoma. YM-254890 (YM) has been shown to selectively inhibit both WT and constitutively active (CA) αqQ209L/P by preventing the release of GDP and exchange for GTP, thereby halting downstream signaling. Because αqQL/P are thought to be primarily GTP-bound and GTPase deficient, the current mechanistic understanding of YM inhibition needs further investigation to …

Utility Of 3-Dimensional Echocardiography In Patients With Complex Intracardiac Connections And Ventricular Septal Defects, Aura Andrea Sanchez Mejia, Tam T Doan, Christian Lilje, Minh B Nguyen, Ricardo H Pignatelli, Shagun Sachdeva, Anitha Parthiban

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The surgical management of patients with complex intracardiac connections, ventricular septal defect (VSD), and 2 adequately sized ventricles is challenging. Understanding the VSD anatomy and its spatial relationships with the outflow tracts is critical to determining the suitability for biventricular repair. Transthoracic 2-dimensional echocardiography (2D-echo) is the primary cardiac imaging tool in congenital heart disease. Transthoracic 3-dimensional echocardiography (3D-echo) has an additive role over 2D-echo in the definition of the potential baffle pathway from the VSD to the semilunar valves, the anatomical characteristics of the VSD, and any substrate for systemic outflow tract obstruction postrepair. In this paper, we describe …

Metabolic Signatures In Adipose Tissue Linking Lipophilic Persistent Organic Pollutant Mixtures To Blood Pressure Five Years After Bariatric Surgery Among Adolescents, Shudi Pan, Zhenjiang Li, Douglas I Walker, Brittney O Baumert, Hongxu Wang, Jesse A Goodrich, Sarah Rock, Thomas H Inge, Todd M Jenkins, Stephanie Sisley, Scott M Bartell, Stavra Xanthakos, Xiangping Lin, Brooklynn Mcneil, Anna R Robuck, Catherine E Mullins, Michele A La Merill, Erika Garcia, Max T Aung, Sandrah P Eckel, Rob Mcconnell, David V Conti, Justin R Ryder, Lida Chatzi

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are lipophilic environmental contaminants accumulated in the adipose tissue. Weight loss interventions, such as bariatric surgery, can mobilize POPs from adipose tissue into the bloodstream. We hypothesized that this mobilization could contribute to increases in blood pressure among 57 adolescents with severe obesity undergoing bariatric surgery. POPs and metabolic features were measured from visceral adipose tissue collected during surgery using gas and liquid chromatography, coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry. Blood pressure was assessed at baseline, 6 months, and 5 years post-surgery. We used quantile g-computation to estimate associations of POP mixtures with blood pressure changes. With …

Novel Signaling Pathways Involved In Ybx1 Role In Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Yamile Abuchard Anaya, Ana Ayala Pazzi, Dennis Kwabiah, Veerababu Nagati, Ricardo Pequeno Bracho, Kyle Doxtater, Subhash C. Chauhan, Manish K. Tripathi

Research Symposium

Background: The most prevalent type of liver cancer is hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and socioeconomic and health disparities have a major impact on both its incidence and fatality rates. HCC rates are typically greater in areas with poor access to healthcare, high obesity rates, and a high frequency of infectious diseases. Because of risk factors include diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and Hepatitis B and C, HCC is particularly common in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). The burden of HCC in this underprivileged area is made worse by McAllen, Texas, which regrettably holds the distinction of being the most obese …

Dysregulation Of Cholesterol Metabolism And Sorafenib Drug Resistance In Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Veerababu Nagati, Dennis Kwabiah, Yamile Abuchard Anaya, Ana Ayala Pazzi, Manish K. Tripathi

Research Symposium

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is among the most prevalent cancers and a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Sorafenib, a multikinase inhibitor, serves as a key first-line treatment for HCC when surgical intervention is not an option. However, primary and acquired resistance to sorafenib has significantly limited its effectiveness, reducing the disease control rate. Dysregulation of numerous genes that influence cancer cell proliferation, survival, and drug resistance contributes to this challenge. Identifying the molecular drivers of sorafenib resistance remains critical to improving treatment outcomes. Several factors, including activation of oncogenic pathways (e.g., Akt/mTOR), hypoxia, cholesterol metabolism, EMT, multidrug resistance, and …

Carm1 Regulates Tubulin Autoregulation Through Pi3kc2Α R175 Methylation, Yena Cho, Jee Won Hwang, Mark T Bedford, Dae-Geun Song, Su-Nam Kim, Yong Kee Kim

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Tubulin is crucial in several cellular processes, including intracellular organization, organelle transport, motility, and chromosome segregation. Intracellular tubulin concentration is tightly regulated by an autoregulation mechanism, in which excess free tubulin promotes tubulin mRNA degradation. However, the details of how changes in free tubulin levels initiate this autoregulation remain unclear. In this study, we identified coactivator-associated arginine methyltransferase 1 (CARM1)-phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase class 2α (PI3KC2α) axis as a novel regulator of tubulin autoregulation. CARM1 stabilizes PI3KC2α by methylating its R175 residue. Once PI3KC2α is not methylated, it becomes unstable, leading to decreased cellular levels. Loss of PI3KC2α results in the release …

Utilidad De La Combinación De Los Biomarcadores: Procalcitonina, Proteína C Reactiva Y Volumen Plaquetario Medio En El Diagnóstico Temprano De Sepsis Neonatal [Usefulness Of The Combination Of Biomarkers: Procalcitonin, C-Reactive Protein And Mean Platelet Volume In The Early Diagnosis Of Neonatal Sepsis], Oscar Manuel Berlanga Bolado Jr, Patricia Rivera Vazquez, Arely Socorro Hernández García, Angelica Lizbeth Martinez Ortiz

Research Symposium

Introducción: La sepsis neonatal es una causa frecuente de morbilidad y mortalidad infantil. Se le ha definido como un síndrome clínico caracterizado por signos sistémicos de infección, acompañado de bacteriemia en el primer mes de vida. Por lo tanto, el diagnóstico temprano es fundamental.

Objetivo: Conocer la sensibilidad y especificidad de la combinación de biomarcadores séricos como procalcitonina, proteína C reactiva y volumen plaquetario medio en el diagnóstico temprano de sepsis neonatal.

Material y métodos: Estudio clínico, de tipo prospectivo, predictivo, observacional, analítico, longitudinal y conveniencia. Se analizaron los biomarcadores como PCT, PCR, VPM para diagnosticar sepsis neonatal. Se incluyeron …

Recovery Potential In Patients After Cardiac Arrest Who Die After Limitations Or Withdrawal Of Life Support, Jonathan Elmer, Patrick J Coppler, Cecelia Ratay, Alexis Steinberg, Sara Difiore-Sprouse, Nicholas Case, Baruch Fischhoff, Maria De-Arteaga, Alain Cariou, Alejandro A Rabinstein, Andrea O Rossetti, Ankur A Doshi, Bradley J Molyneaux, Cameron Dezfulian, Carolina B Maciel, Christoph Leithner, Cindy H Hsu, Claudio Sandroni, David M Greer, David B Seder, Francis X Guyette, Fabio Silvio Taccone, Hiromichi Naito, Jasmeet Soar, Jean-Baptiste Lascarrou, Jerry P Nolan, Karen G Hirsch, Katherine M Berg, Marion Moseby-Knappe, Markus B Skrifvars, Michael C Kurz, Min Jung Kathy Chae, Mypinder S Sekhon, Nicholas J Johnson, Pedro Kurtz, Romergryko G Geocadin, Sachin Agarwal, Teresa L May, Theresa M Olasveengen, Clifton W Callaway, Optimizing Recovery Prediction After Cardiac Arrest (Orca) Study Group

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Importance: Understanding the relationship between patients' clinical characteristics and outcomes is fundamental to medicine. When critically ill patients die after withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy (WLST), the inability to observe the potential for recovery with continued aggressive care could bias future clinical decisions and research.

Objective: To quantify the frequency with which experts consider patients who died after WLST following resuscitated cardiac arrest to have had recovery potential if life-sustaining therapy had been continued.

Design, setting, and participants: This prospective cohort study included comatose adult patients (aged ≥18 years) treated following resuscitation from cardiac arrest at a single academic medical center …

Depletion Of Acetyl-Coa Carboxylase 1 Facilitates Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition In Prostate Cancer Cells By Activating The Mapk/Erk Pathway, Jiarun Lai, Shaoyou Liu, Yupeng Chen, Jian Chen, Jinchuang Li, Zhenguo Liang, Xinyue Mei, Yuanfa Feng, Zhaodong Han, Funeng Jiang, Shengbang Yang, Yongding Wu, Huijing Tan, Junchen Liu, Huichan He, Weide Zhong

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Hyperactivation of fatty acid biosynthesis holds promise as a targeted therapeutic strategy in prostate cancer (PCa). However, inhibiting these enzymes could potentially promote metastatic progression in various other cancers. Herein, we found that depletion of acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 (encoded by ACACA), the enzyme responsible for the first and rate-limiting step of de novo fatty acid biosynthesis, facilitated epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and migration of PCa cells. This finding was validated in vitro through cell migration assays and in vivo using a metastatic model established by tail vein injection of ACACA-depleted cells into BALB/c nude mice. Additionally, depletion of ACACA activated the …

Chronic Hepatitis And Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis Associated With Systemic Chronic Active Epstein-Barr Virus Disease, Emmanuel Palomera-Tejeda, Lauren Shaffer, Michael Shi, Nagasri Shankar, Roshan Raza, George Cholankeril

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Systemic chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) disease is a rare, delayed, and life-threatening complication of EBV infection. It is characterized by persistent viremia and a mononucleosis-like syndrome with multisystemic involvement because of lymphocytic tissue infiltration. We present the case of an 82-year-old woman without known immunodeficiency who presented with abnormal liver enzymes and interstitial pneumonia. Investigations revealed hyperferritinemia, elevated soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels, hypofibrinogenemia, and hepatosplenomegaly, consistent with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, as well as a high EBV viral load. Liver biopsy demonstrated portal chronic lymphocytic inflammation and positive EBV in situ hybridization, suggesting systemic chronic active Epstein-Barr virus disease as the …

Inappropriate Laboratory Testing: Significant Waste Quantified By A Large-Scale Year-Long Study Of Medicare And Commercial Payer Reimbursement, Dave Smart, Jeff Schreier, Ila R Singh

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Context.—: Laboratory testing, beyond what is essential for managing health, is considered low-value care, posing patient risks and wasting resources. Measuring excess testing on a national level is crucial to identify waste and optimize healthcare resource allocation for maximum impact.

Objective.—: To measure inappropriate laboratory testing and its cost across Medicare and many US commercial payers.

Design.—: A retrospective analysis on 2019 claims data measured the frequency of 4 commonly used laboratory tests among 64 million individuals with Medicare and 168 million with commercial insurance. Tests included 25-hydroxy vitamin D, prostate-specific antigen, lipid panel, and hemoglobin A1c. Clinical guidelines, medical …

Should All Pediatric Patients With Type 1 Autoimmune Hepatitis Be Screened For Inflammatory Bowel Disease?, Richard Kellermayer

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Abnormal Urine Drug Screens In Pregnancy- Opportunity For Laboratory Stewardship, Anil K Chokkalla, Sahil Malik, Ridwan Ibrahim, Sridevi Devaraj

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Clinical testing for drugs of abuse typically involves initial screening followed by confirmatory testing. Due to limited evidence-based guidelines, the healthcare provider makes the decision to confirm abnormal screens based on the clinical context. This two-step approach proved to be inadequate in scenarios like maternal substance abuse and subsequent fetal/ newborn exposure. The goal of this study is to assess and improve the confirmatory testing rate of abnormal screens among pregnant patients at our women's center.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted to assess the confirmation rates among positively screened pregnant patients, and a lab stewardship initiative was …

Impact Of Measurable Residual Disease Clearance Kinetics In Patients With Aml Undergoing Intensive Chemotherapy, Wei-Ying Jen, Koji Sasaki, Farhad Ravandi, Tapan M Kadia, Sa A Wang, Wei Wang, Sanam Loghavi, Naval G Daver, Courtney D Dinardo, Ghayas C Issa, Hussein A Abbas, Cedric Nasnas, Alex Bataller, Samuel Urrutia, Omer S Karrar, Sherry Pierce, Hagop M Kantarjian, Nicholas J Short

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The prognostic impact of measurable residual disease (MRD) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is unequivocal; however, the optimal time point for achieving undetectable MRD is unclear. We retrospectively studied patients with newly diagnosed (ND) AML who achieved remission with frontline intensive chemotherapy and had MRD assessed by flow cytometry after induction (time point 1 [TP1]) and after cycles 2 or 3 (TP2). Cases were grouped into MRD negative (Neg)/Neg, positive (Pos)/Neg, or Pos/Pos at TP1 and TP2, respectively. Of 1980 patients with ND AML, 277 met the inclusion criteria and were included in this analysis. The median relapse-free survival (RFS) …

Clostridioides Difficile Colonization Is Not Mediated By Bile Salts And Utilizes Stickland Fermentation Of Proline In An In Vitro Model, Xiaoyun Huang, April E Johnson, Joshua N Brehm, Thi Van Thanh Do, Thomas A Auchtung, Hugh C Mccullough, Armando I Lerma, Sigmund J Haidacher, Kathleen M Hoch, Thomas D Horvath, Joseph A Sorg, Anthony M Haag, Jennifer M Auchtung

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Treatment with antibiotics is a major risk factor for Clostridioides difficile infection, likely due to depletion of the gastrointestinal microbiota. Two microbiota-mediated mechanisms thought to limit C. difficile colonization include the conversion of conjugated primary bile salts into secondary bile salts toxic to C. difficile growth and competition between the microbiota and C. difficile for limiting nutrients. Using a continuous flow model that simulates the nutrient conditions of the distal colon, we investigated how treatment with 6 clinically used antibiotics influenced susceptibility to C. difficile infection in 12 different microbial communities cultivated from healthy individuals. Antibiotic treatment reduced microbial richness; …

Bilateral Carotid Body Paragangliomas With Succinate Dehydrogenase Complex Subunit D Gene Mutation, Abdul R. Khan, Kelvin Li, Neel D. Gupta, Jagan D. Gupta, Mohammed M. Ansari, Triet M. Do, Enrique Palacios

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Prediction Of Cognitive Conversion Within The Alzheimer’S Disease Continuum Using Deep Learning, Siyu Yang, Xintong Zhang, Xinyu Du, Peng Yan, Jing Zhang, Wei Wang, Jing Wang, Lei Zhang, Huaiqing Sun, Yin Liu, Xinran Xu, Yaxuan Di, Jin Zhong, Caiyun Wu, Jan D Reinhardt, Yu Zheng, Ting Wu

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Early diagnosis and accurate prognosis of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is important to timely assignment to optimal treatment modes. We aimed to develop a deep learning model to predict cognitive conversion to guide re-assignment decisions to more intensive therapies where needed.

Methods: Longitudinal data including five variable sets, i.e. demographics, medical history, neuropsychological outcomes, laboratory and neuroimaging results, from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) cohort were analyzed. We first developed a deep learning model to predicted cognitive conversion using all five variable sets. We then gradually removed variable sets to obtained parsimonious models for four different …

Plasma Micrornas To Select Optimal Patients For Antibody Production From Anti-Addiction Vaccines, Thomas R Kosten, Amrit Koirala, David A Nielsen, Coreen B Domingo, Ynhi T Thomas, Preethi H Gunaratne, Cristian Coarfa

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Cocaine and illicit amphetamines (disguised as “Adderall”) are being laced with fentanyl and producing accidental and intentional fatal overdoses. Vaccines can prevent these overdoses, but 33% of humans generate insufficient anti-drug antibody (AB) levels. Plasma microRNAs (miRs) can be used to predict non-responders. We have plasma stored from 152 cocaine vaccine trial participants following three vaccinations over 9 weeks and examined miRs as potential response biomarkers. Methods: We compared 2517 miRs before anti-cocaine vaccination in participants with the highest (n = 25) to the lowest (n = 23) antibody levels. False Discovery Rates (FDRs) were applied to identify differentially …

A Galleria Mellonella Study: Protective Effects Of Sulforaphane On Immune Function In Binge Alcohol Exposure, Robert Kento Darby, Braydon Black, Vincent Tran, Dallen James, Scott Quimby

Annual Research Symposium

Alcohol is associated with increased mortality and morbidity. Pulmonary infections with opportunistic pathogens can occur in healthy humans; however, hazardous alcohol exposure like binge alcohol intoxication (≥ 0.08% BAC) is a major risk factor. We’ve previously investigated the efficacy of Sulforaphane (SFN) prophylaxis in protecting human and murine alveolar macrophage function against opportunistic infections when exposed to binge alcohol conditions in vitro. However, an in vivo model investigating SFN and hazardous alcohol exposure in the context of infection is not well understood. The aim of this study is to 1) establish a G. mellonella larvae model by determining the LD50 …

Axl Signaling In Cancer: From Molecular Insights To Targeted Therapies, Monika Yadav, Akansha Sharma, Ketki Patne, Saba Tabasum, Jyoti Suryavanshi, Laxminarayan Rawat, Marc Machaalani, Marc Eid, Rana Singh, Toni Choueiri, Soumitro Pal, Akash Sabarwal

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

AXL, a member of the TAM receptor family, has emerged as a potential target for advanced-stage human malignancies. It is frequently overexpressed in different cancers and plays a significant role in various tumor-promoting pathways, including cancer cell proliferation, invasion, metastasis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), angiogenesis, stemness, DNA damage response, acquired therapeutic resistance, immunosuppression, and inflammatory responses. Beyond oncology, AXL also facilitates viral infections, including SARS-CoV-2 and Zika highlighting its importance in both cancer and virology. In preclinical models, small-molecule kinase inhibitors targeting AXL have shown promising anti-tumorigenic potential. This review primarily focuses on the induction, regulation and biological functions of AXL …

Neutralizing Antibody Immune Correlates For A Recombinant Protein Vaccine In The Covail Trial, Youyi Fong, Lauren Dang, Bo Zhang, Jonathan Fintzi, Shiyu Chen, Jing Wang, Nadine G Rouphael, Angela R Branche, David J Diemert, Ann R Falsey, Cecilia Losada, Lindsey R Baden, Sharon E Frey, Jennifer A Whitaker, Susan J Little, Satoshi Kamidani, Emmanuel B Walter, Richard M Novak, Richard Rupp, Lisa A Jackson, Chenchen Yu, Craig A Magaret, Cindy Molitor, Bhavesh Borate, Tara M Babu, Angelica C Kottkamp, Anne F Luetkemeyer, Lilly C Immergluck, Rachel M Presti, Martín Bäcker, Patricia L Winokur, Siham M Mahgoub, Paul A Goepfert, Dahlene N Fusco, Robert L Atmar, Christine M Posavad, Jinjian Mu, Mat Makowski, Mamodikoe K Makhene, Seema U Nayak, Paul C Roberts, Dean Follmann, Peter B Gilbert

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

For COVAIL recipients of a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Sanofi booster vaccine, neutralizing antibody titers were assessed as a correlate of risk (CoR) of COVID-19. Peak and exposure-proximal titers were inverse CoRs with covariate-adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) 0.30 (0.11, 0.78) and 0.25 (0.07, 0.85) per 10-fold increase in weighted average titer.

Pediatric Participation In Biobanking Related To Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Jennifer Saccente Thompson, Sahna Reddy, Alison Shaw, Antone R Opekun, Richard Kellermayer

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Management Of Children With Food Allergies By Allergists In The United States, Aikaterini Anagnostou, Matthew Greenhawt, Jay A Lieberman, Christina E Ciaccio, Sayantani B Sindher, Blaine Creasy, Katherine Baran, Sachin Gupta, Anna Nowak-Wegrzyn

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Management of patients with food allergies is complex, especially in cases of patients with multiple and potentially severe food allergies. Although international guidelines exist for food allergy management, the role of the allergist in the decision-making process is key.

OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to investigate the management patterns and educational needs of practicing allergists treating patients with food allergies.

METHODS: An online survey was e-mailed to United States-based practicing allergists (N = 2833) in November-December 2021. The allergists were screened for managing 1 or more patients (including ≥25% pediatric patients) with food allergies per month. The allergists responded to …

Podoplanin And Microthrombi In Lung Injury, Jahnavi Gollamudi, Ricardo Gonzalez Delgado, Min Soon Cho, Brianne Wharton, Hani Lee, Animesh Vadaparti, Swapan K Dasgupta, Miguel A Cruz, Perumal Thiagarajan, Vahid Afshar-Kharghan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.