Biological Phenomena, Cell Phenomena, and Immunity Commons^™

Blockade Of Fgf2/Fgfr2 Partially Overcomes Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Mediated Progression Of T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, Chen Tian, Yueyang Li, Lina Wang, Junqi Si, Yaxin Zheng, Junnan Kang, Yafei Wang, M James You, Guoguang Zheng

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The development of acute lymphoblastic leuakemia (ALL) is partly attributed to the effects of bone marrow (BM) microenvironment, especially mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), which interact bilaterally with leukaemia cells, leading to ALL progression. In order to find MSCs-based microenvironment targeted therapeutic strategies, Notch1-induced T-cell ALL (T-ALL) mice models were used and dynamic alterations of BM-MSCs with increased cell viability during T-ALL development was observed. In T-ALL mice derived stroma-based condition, leukaemia cells showed significantly elevated growth capacity indicating that MSCs participated in leukaemic niche formation. RNA sequence results revealed that T-ALL derived MSCs secreted fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), which …

The Tumor Invasion Paradox In Cancer Stem Cell-Driven Solid Tumors, Alexandra Shyntar, Ashna Patel, Meghan Rhodes, Heiko Enderling, Thomas Hillen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are key in understanding tumor growth and tumor progression. A counterintuitive effect of CSCs is the so-called tumor growth paradox: the effect where a tumor with a higher death rate may grow larger than a tumor with a lower death rate. Here we extend the modeling of the tumor growth paradox by including spatial structure and considering cancer invasion. Using agent-based modeling and a corresponding partial differential equation model, we demonstrate and prove mathematically a tumor invasion paradox: a larger cell death rate can lead to a faster invasion speed. We test this result on a …

Interferon Signaling In The Endometrium And In Endometriosis, Yuri Park, Sang Jun Han

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Endometriosis is an estrogen-dependent inflammatory disease that develops in reproductive-aged women who experience pelvic pain and infertility. Even though endometriosis is not a new disease, its molecular etiology has not been clearly elucidated. Defects in the immune system might be one of the factors that promote endometriosis progression. For example, elevated levels of proinflammatory cytokines are associated with endometriosis. Interferon is one of the cytokines that is elevated in endometriotic tissues compared with normal endometrium. Therefore, high interferon levels play a crucial role in endometriosis progression. In addition to endometriosis, however, interferon has a critical role in endometrial function, particularly …

Elevated Nras Expression During Dcis Is A Potential Driver For Progression To Basal-Like Properties And Local Invasiveness, Ze-Yi Zheng, Hanan Elsarraj, Jonathan T Lei, Yan Hong, Meenakshi Anurag, Long Feng, Hilda Kennedy, Yichao Shen, Flora Lo, Zifan Zhao, Bing Zhang, Xiang H-F Zhang, Ossama W Tawfik, Fariba Behbod, Eric C Chang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is the most common type of in situ premalignant breast cancers. What drives DCIS to invasive breast cancer is unclear. Basal-like invasive breast cancers are aggressive. We have previously shown that NRAS is highly expressed selectively in basal-like subtypes of invasive breast cancers and can promote their growth and progression. In this study, we investigated whether NRAS expression at the DCIS stage can control transition from luminal DCIS to basal-like invasive breast cancers.

METHODS: Wilcoxon rank-sum test was performed to assess expression of NRAS in DCIS compared to invasive breast tumors in patients. NRAS …

The Hect Family Of E3 Ubiquitin Ligases And Pten, Min Sup Song, Pier Paolo Pandolfi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Members of the HECT family of E3 ubiquitin ligases have emerged as prominent regulators of PTEN function, subcellular localization and levels. In turn this unfolding regulatory network is allowing for the identification of genes directly involved in both tumorigenesis at large and cancer susceptibility syndromes. While the complexity of this regulatory network is still being unraveled, these new findings are paving the way for novel therapeutic modalities for cancer prevention and therapy as well as for other diseases. Here we will review the signal transduction and therapeutic implications of the cross-talk between HECT family members and PTEN.

Role Of Sam68 In Sunitinib Induced Renal Cell Carcinoma Apoptosis, Zeshen Wu, Yulu Peng, Longbin Xiong, Jun Wang, Zhen Li, Kang Ning, Minhua Deng, Ning Wang, Wensu Wei, Zhiyong Li, Pei Dong, Chunping Yu, Fangjian Zhou, Zhiling Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Sunitinib is one of the first-line targeted drugs for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with dual effects of antiangiogensis and proapoptosis. Sam68 (Src-associated in mitosis, 68 KDa), is found being involved in cell apoptosis. This article reveals that Sam68 impacts the sensitivity to sunitinib by mediating the apoptosis of RCC cells. Immunohistochemical staining indicated that the Sam68 expression levels in sunitinib sensitive tumor tissues were markedly higher than those in sunitinib resistant tumor tissues. Sunitinib induced RCC cell apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner and inhibited the expression of total and phosphorylated Sam68 (p-Sam68). Downregulation of Sam68 expression inhibited RCC cell …

Identification Of An Early Survival Prognostic Gene Signature For Localized Osteosarcoma Patients, Harry Mackay, Chathura J Gunasekara, Kit-Yi Yam, Dollada Srisai, Hari Krishna Yalamanchili, Yumei Li, Rui Chen, Cristian Coarfa, Robert A Waterland

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Recent genome-wide association studies corroborate classical research on developmental programming indicating that obesity is primarily a neurodevelopmental disease strongly influenced by nutrition during critical ontogenic windows. Epigenetic mechanisms regulate neurodevelopment; however, little is known about their role in establishing and maintaining the brain's energy balance circuitry. We generated neuron and glia methylomes and transcriptomes from male and female mouse hypothalamic arcuate nucleus, a key site for energy balance regulation, at time points spanning the closure of an established critical window for developmental programming of obesity risk. We find that postnatal epigenetic maturation is markedly cell type and sex specific and …

Integration Of Mouse Ovary Morphogenesis With Developmental Dynamics Of The Oviduct, Ovarian Ligaments, And Rete Ovarii, Jennifer Mckey, Dilara N Anbarci, Corey Bunce, Alejandra E Ontiveros, Richard R Behringer, Blanche Capel

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Morphogenetic events during the development of the fetal ovary are crucial to the establishment of female fertility. However, the effects of structural rearrangements of the ovary and surrounding reproductive tissues on ovary morphogenesis remain largely uncharacterized. Using tissue clearing and lightsheet microscopy, we found that ovary folding correlated with regionalization into cortex and medulla. Relocation of the oviduct to the ventral aspect of the ovary led to ovary encapsulation, and mutual attachment of the ovary and oviduct to the cranial suspensory ligament likely triggered ovary folding. During this process, the rete ovarii (RO) elaborated into a convoluted tubular structure extending …

Plasma Protein Biomarkers For Primary Graft Dysfunction After Lung Transplantation: A Single-Center Cohort Analysis, Lourdes Chacon-Alberty, Rupa S Kanchi, Shengbin Ye, Camila Hochman-Mendez, Daoud Daoud, Cristian Coarfa, Meng Li, Sandra L Grimm, Maher Baz, Ivan Rosas, Gabriel Loor

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The clinical use of circulating biomarkers for primary graft dysfunction (PGD) after lung transplantation has been limited. In a prospective single-center cohort, we examined the use of plasma protein biomarkers as indicators of PGD severity and duration after lung transplantation. The study comprised 40 consecutive lung transplant patients who consented to blood sample collection immediately pretransplant and at 6, 24, 48, and 72 h after lung transplant. An expert grader determined the severity and duration of PGD and scored PGD at T0 (6 h after reperfusion), T24, T48, and T72 h post-reperfusion using the 2016 ISHLT consensus guidelines. A bead-based …

Analysis Of The Efficacy Of Autologous Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation In High-Risk Neuroblastoma, Jin Yan, Li Jie, Yang Jiaxing, Cao Yanna, Li Zhanglin, Li Zhongyuan, Wang Daowei, Zhao Guangzong, Zhong Benfu, Yan Jie, Zhao Qiang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the efficacy of autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation for high-risk neuroblastoma in China.

Methods: The data of 90 high-risk neuroblastoma patients treated with the CCCG-NB 2015 regimen were reviewed. The baseline clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis were analyzed and compared. In addition, the prognoses of tandem autologous stem cell transplantation and single autologous stem cell transplantation groups were compared.

Results: The results of survival analysis showed that autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation based on this pretreatment regimen significantly improved the prognosis of children in the high-risk group. The 3-year event-free survival (EFS) and …

Generation And Validation Of An Anti-Human Pank3 Mouse Monoclonal Antibody, Sunada Khadka, Long Vien, Paul Leonard, Laura Bover, Florian Muller

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Coenzyme A (CoA) is an essential co-factor at the intersection of diverse metabolic pathways. Cellular CoA biosynthesis is regulated at the first committed step-phosphorylation of pantothenic acid-catalyzed by pantothenate kinases (PANK1,2,3 in humans, PANK3 being the most highly expressed). Despite the critical importance of CoA in metabolism, the differential roles of PANK isoforms remain poorly understood. Our investigations of PANK proteins as potential precision oncology collateral lethality targets (PANK1 is co-deleted as part of the PTEN locus in some highly aggressive cancers) were severely hindered by a dearth of commercial antibodies that can reliably detect endogenous PANK3 protein. While …

Pim1 Promotes Hepatic Conversion By Suppressing Reprogramming-Induced Ferroptosis And Cell Cycle Arrest, Yangyang Yuan, Chenwei Wang, Xuran Zhuang, Shaofeng Lin, Miaomiao Luo, Wankun Deng, Jiaqi Zhou, Lihui Liu, Lina Mao, Wenbo Peng, Jian Chen, Qiangsong Wang, Yilai Shu, Yu Xue, Pengyu Huang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Protein kinase-mediated phosphorylation plays a critical role in many biological processes. However, the identification of key regulatory kinases is still a great challenge. Here, we develop a trans-omics-based method, central kinase inference, to predict potentially key kinases by integrating quantitative transcriptomic and phosphoproteomic data. Using known kinases associated with anti-cancer drug resistance, the accuracy of our method denoted by the area under the curve is 5.2% to 29.5% higher than Kinase-Substrate Enrichment Analysis. We further use this method to analyze trans-omic data in hepatocyte maturation and hepatic reprogramming of human dermal fibroblasts, uncovering 5 kinases as regulators in the two …

Genetic- And Diet-Induced Ω-3 Fatty Acid Enrichment Enhances Trpv4-Mediated Vasodilation In Mice, Rebeca Caires, Tessa A C Garrud, Luis O Romero, Carlos Fernández-Peña, Valeria Vásquez, Jonathan H Jaggar, Julio F Cordero-Morales

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

TRPV4 channel activation in endothelial cells leads to vasodilation, while impairment of TRPV4 activity is implicated in vascular dysfunction. Strategies that increase TRPV4 activity could enhance vasodilation and ameliorate vascular disorders. Here, we show that supplementation with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), an ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid known to have beneficial cardiovascular effects, increases TRPV4 activity in human endothelial cells of various vascular beds. Mice carrying the C. elegans FAT-1 enzyme, which converts ω-6 to ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, display higher EPA content and increased TRPV4-mediated vasodilation in mesenteric arteries. Likewise, mice fed an EPA-enriched diet exhibit enhanced and prolonged TRPV4-dependent vasodilation …

Mab21l4 Deficiency Drives Squamous Cell Carcinoma Via Activation Of Ret, Ankit Srivastava, Cristina Tommasi, Dane Sessions, Angela Mah, Tomas Bencomo, Jasmine M Garcia, Tiffany Jiang, Michael Lee, Joseph Y Shen, Lek Wei Seow, Audrey Nguyen, Kimal Rajapakshe, Cristian Coarfa, Kenneth Y Tsai, Vanessa Lopez-Pajares, Carolyn S Lee

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

UNLABELLED: Epithelial squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) most commonly originate in the skin, where they display disruptions in the normally tightly regulated homeostatic balance between keratinocyte proliferation and terminal differentiation. We performed a transcriptome-wide screen for genes of unknown function that possess inverse expression patterns in differentiating keratinocytes compared with cutaneous SCC (cSCC), leading to the identification of MAB21L4 (C2ORF54) as an enforcer of terminal differentiation that suppresses carcinogenesis. Loss of MAB21L4 in human cSCC organoids increased expression of RET to enable malignant progression. In addition to transcriptional upregulation of RET, deletion of MAB21L4 preempted recruitment of the CacyBP-Siah1 E3 ligase …

Ppm1d In Solid And Hematologic Malignancies: Friend And Foe?, Linda Zhang, Joanne I Hsu, Margaret A Goodell

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

In the face of constant genomic insults, the DNA damage response (DDR) is initiated to preserve genome integrity; its disruption is a classic hallmark of cancer. Protein phosphatase Mg2+/Mn2+-dependent 1D (PPM1D) is a central negative regulator of the DDR that is mutated or amplified in many solid cancers. PPM1D overexpression is associated with increased proliferative and metastatic behavior in multiple solid tumor types and patients with PPM1D-mutated malignancies have poorer prognoses. Recent findings have sparked an interest in the role of PPM1D in hematologic malignancies. Acquired somatic mutations may provide hematopoietic stem cells with a competitive advantage, leading to a …

Confirming Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Induction In The Endovascular Puncture Mouse Model, Ari Dienel, Sung-Ha Hong, Jose Guzman, Kumar T Peeyush, Spiros L Blackburn, Devin W Mcbride

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background and purpose: Experimental studies of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) using the endovascular perforation model routinely use either cerebral blood flow (CBF) or intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring to confirm SAH induction. We designed this study to test the hypothesis that contralateral CBF is a better marker of SAH induction than ipsilateral CBF.

Methods: Sixty-eight adult C57BL/6J mice were subjected to endovascular perforation. Mice were monitored using laser Doppler (for relative CBF) or ICP probes.

Results: The ipsilateral CBF significantly decreased prior to ICP rising. However, reduction of the CBF in the contralateral hemisphere occurred at the same time as the rise …

Associations Between Maternal Reports Of Periconceptional Fever From Miscellaneous Causes And Structural Birth Defects, Nithya Lakshmi Mohan Dass, Lorenzo D Botto, Sarah C Tinker, Mark A Canfield, Richard H Finnell, Michael Shayne Gallaway, Syed Shahrukh Hashmi, Adrienne T Hoyt, Wendy N Nembhard, Dorothy K Waller, National Birth Defects Prevention Study

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Associations between birth defects and fevers attributed to colds, influenza, and urinary tract infections (UTIs) have been observed in previous studies. Our aim was to study associations between birth defects and fevers attributed to other causes.

METHODS: We analyzed data from 34,862 participants in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, a multistate case-control study of major structural birth defects. Using multivariable logistic regression, we assessed the association between maternal report of fever during early pregnancy due to causes other than colds, influenza, or UTI and 36 categories of birth defects.

RESULTS: Maternal reports of fever due to other causes …

Gene Expression Signatures Identify Biologically And Clinically Distinct Tuberculosis Endotypes, Andrew R Dinardo, Tanmay Gandhi, Jan Heyckendorf, Sandra L Grimm, Kimal Rajapakshe, Tomoki Nishiguchi, Maja Reimann, H Lester Kirchner, Jaqueline Kahari, Qiniso Dlamini, Christoph Lange, Torsten Goldmann, Sebastian Marwitz, Dzif-Tb Cohort Study Group, Abhimanyu, Jeffrey D Cirillo, Stefan H E Kaufmann, Mihai G Netea, Reinout Van Crevel, Anna M Mandalakas, Cristian Coarfa

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND:In vitro, animal model and clinical evidence suggests that tuberculosis is not a monomorphic disease, and that host response to tuberculosis is protean with multiple distinct molecular pathways and pathologies (endotypes). We applied unbiased clustering to identify separate tuberculosis endotypes with classifiable gene expression patterns and clinical outcomes.

METHODS: A cohort comprised of microarray gene expression data from microbiologically confirmed tuberculosis patients was used to identify putative endotypes. One microarray cohort with longitudinal clinical outcomes was reserved for validation, as were two RNA-sequencing (seq) cohorts. Finally, a separate cohort of tuberculosis patients with functional immune responses was evaluated …

Structure-Based Design Of Stapled Peptides That Bind Gabarap And Inhibit Autophagy, Hawley Brown, Mia Chung, Alina Üffing, Nefeli Batistatou, Tiffany Tsang, Samantha Doskocil, Weiqun Mao, Dieter Willbold, Robert C Bast, Zhen Lu, Oliver H Weiergräber, Joshua A Kritzer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The LC3/GABARAP family of proteins is involved in nearly every stage of autophagy. Inhibition of LC3/GABARAP proteins is a promising approach to blocking autophagy, which sensitizes advanced cancers to DNA-damaging chemotherapy. Here, we report the structure-based design of stapled peptides that inhibit GABARAP with nanomolar affinities. Small changes in staple structure produced stapled peptides with very different binding modes and functional differences in LC3/GABARAP paralog selectivity, ranging from highly GABARAP-specific to broad inhibition of both subfamilies. The stapled peptides exhibited considerable cytosolic penetration and resistance to biological degradation. They also reduced autophagic flux in cultured ovarian cancer cells and sensitized …

Qualitative Interviews To Understand Health Care Providers’ Experiences Of Prescribing Licensed Peanut Oral Immunotherapy, Aikaterini Anagnostou, Claire Lawrence, Stephen A Tilles, Susan Laubach, Sarah M Donelson, Mohamed Yassine, Anna Nowak-Wegrzyn

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVE: This research sought to explore health care providers' (HCPs) experiences of delivering the first US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Commission (EC) approved peanut oral immunotherapy (peanut OIT; Palforzia). Semi-structured qualitative interviews with HCPs who had initiated treatment with ≥ 3 patients in the first nine months following FDA approval sought to identify challenges faced and successful implementation strategies.

RESULTS: Eight allergists and three nurse practitioners from eight sites based in the United States participated. The HCPs included in this research were motivated to implement this novel treatment, however, entered the process with some reservations. HCPs described …

A Multi-Layer Functional Genomic Analysis To Understand Noncoding Genetic Variation In Lipids, Shweta Ramdas, Jonathan Judd, Sarah E Graham, Stavroula Kanoni, Yuxuan Wang, Ida Surakka, Brandon Wenz, Shoa L Clarke, Alessandra Chesi, Andrew Wells, Konain Fatima Bhatti, Sailaja Vedantam, Thomas W Winkler, Adam E Locke, Eirini Marouli, Greg J M Zajac, Kuan-Han H Wu, Ioanna Ntalla, Qin Hui, Derek Klarin, Austin T Hilliard, Zeyuan Wang, Chao Xue, Gudmar Thorleifsson, Anna Helgadottir, Daniel F Gudbjartsson, Hilma Holm, Isleifur Olafsson, Mi Yeong Hwang, Sohee Han, Masato Akiyama, Saori Sakaue, Chikashi Terao, Masahiro Kanai, Wei Zhou, Ben M Brumpton, Humaira Rasheed, Aki S Havulinna, Yogasudha Veturi, Jennifer Allen Pacheco, Elisabeth A Rosenthal, Todd Lingren, Qiping Feng, Iftikhar J Kullo, Akira Narita, Jun Takayama, Hilary C Martin, Karen A Hunt, Bhavi Trivedi, Jeffrey Haessler, Franco Giulianini, Yuki Bradford, Jason E Miller, Archie Campbell, Kuang Lin, Iona Y Millwood, Asif Rasheed, George Hindy, Jessica D Faul, Wei Zhao, David R Weir, Constance Turman, Hongyan Huang, Mariaelisa Graff, Ananyo Choudhury, Dhriti Sengupta, Anubha Mahajan, Michael R Brown, Weihua Zhang, Ketian Yu, Ellen M Schmidt, Anita Pandit, Stefan Gustafsson, Xianyong Yin, Jian'an Luan, Jing-Hua Zhao, Fumihiko Matsuda, Hye-Mi Jang, Kyungheon Yoon, Carolina Medina-Gomez, Achilleas Pitsillides, Jouke Jan Hottenga, Andrew R Wood, Yingji Ji, Zishan Gao, Simon Haworth, Ruth E Mitchell, Jin Fang Chai, Mette Aadahl, Anne A Bjerregaard, Jie Yao, Ani Manichaikul, Wen-Jane Lee, Chao Agnes Hsiung, Helen R Warren, Julia Ramirez, Jette Bork-Jensen, Line L Kårhus, Anuj Goel, Maria Sabater-Lleal, Raymond Noordam, Pala Mauro, Floris Matteo, Aaron F Mcdaid, Pedro Marques-Vidal, Matthias Wielscher, Stella Trompet, Naveed Sattar, Line T Møllehave, Matthias Munz, Lingyao Zeng, Jianfeng Huang, Bin Yang, Alaitz Poveda, Azra Kurbasic, Sebastian Schönherr, Lukas Forer, Markus Scholz, Tessel E Galesloot, Jonathan P Bradfield, Sanni E Ruotsalainen, E Warwick Daw, Joseph M Zmuda, Jonathan S Mitchell, Christian Fuchsberger, Henry Christensen, Jennifer A Brody, Phuong Le, Mary F Feitosa, Mary K Wojczynski, Daiane Hemerich, Michael Preuss, Massimo Mangino, Paraskevi Christofidou, Niek Verweij, Jan W Benjamins, Jorgen Engmann, Tsao L Noah, Anurag Verma, Roderick C Slieker, Ken Sin Lo, Nuno R Zilhao, Marcus E Kleber, Graciela E Delgado, Shaofeng Huo, Daisuke D Ikeda, Hiroyuki Iha, Jian Yang, Jun Liu, Ayşe Demirkan, Hampton L Leonard, Jonathan Marten, Carina Emmel, Börge Schmidt, Laura J Smyth, Marisa Cañadas-Garre, Chaolong Wang, Masahiro Nakatochi, Andrew Wong, Nina Hutri-Kähönen, Xueling Sim, Rui Xia, Alicia Huerta-Chagoya, Juan Carlos Fernandez-Lopez, Valeriya Lyssenko, Suraj S Nongmaithem, Alagu Sankareswaran, Marguerite R Irvin, Christopher Oldmeadow, Han-Na Kim, Seungho Ryu, Paul R H J Timmers, Liubov Arbeeva, Rajkumar Dorajoo, Leslie A Lange, Gauri Prasad, Laura Lorés-Motta, Marc Pauper, Jirong Long, Xiaohui Li, Elizabeth Theusch, Fumihiko Takeuchi, Cassandra N Spracklen, Anu Loukola, Sailalitha Bollepalli, Sophie C Warner, Ya Xing Wang, Wen B Wei, Teresa Nutile, Daniela Ruggiero, Yun Ju Sung, Shufeng Chen, Fangchao Liu, Jingyun Yang, Katherine A Kentistou, Bernhard Banas, Anna Morgan, Karina Meidtner, Lawrence F Bielak, Jennifer A Smith, Prashantha Hebbar, Aliki-Eleni Farmaki, Edith Hofer, Maoxuan Lin, Maria Pina Concas, Simona Vaccargiu, Peter J Van Der Most, Niina Pitkänen, Brian E Cade, Sander W Van Der Laan, Kumaraswamy Naidu Chitrala, Stefan Weiss, Amy R Bentley, Ayo P Doumatey, Adebowale A Adeyemo, Jong Young Lee, Eva R B Petersen, Aneta A Nielsen, Hyeok Sun Choi, Maria Nethander, Sandra Freitag-Wolf, Lorraine Southam, Nigel W Rayner, Carol A Wang, Shih-Yi Lin, Jun-Sing Wang, Christian Couture, Leo-Pekka Lyytikäinen, Kjell Nikus, Gabriel Cuellar-Partida, Henrik Vestergaard, Bertha Hidalgo, Olga Giannakopoulou, Qiuyin Cai, Morgan O Obura, Jessica Van Setten, Karen Y He, Hua Tang, Natalie Terzikhan, Jae Hun Shin, Rebecca D Jackson, Alexander P Reiner, Lisa Warsinger Martin, Zhengming Chen, Liming Li, Takahisa Kawaguchi, Joachim Thiery, Joshua C Bis, Lenore J Launer, Huaixing Li, Mike A Nalls, Olli T Raitakari, Sahoko Ichihara, Sarah H Wild, Christopher P Nelson, Harry Campbell, Susanne Jäger, Toru Nabika, Fahd Al-Mulla, Harri Niinikoski, Peter S Braund, Ivana Kolcic, Peter Kovacs, Tota Giardoglou, Tomohiro Katsuya, Dominique De Kleijn, Gert J De Borst, Eung Kweon Kim, Hieab H H Adams, M Arfan Ikram, Xiaofeng Zhu, Folkert W Asselbergs, Adriaan O Kraaijeveld, Joline W J Beulens, Xiao-Ou Shu, Loukianos S Rallidis, Oluf Pedersen, Torben Hansen, Paul Mitchell, Alex W Hewitt, Mika Kähönen, Louis Pérusse, Claude Bouchard, Anke Tönjes, Yii-Der Ida Chen, Craig E Pennell, Trevor A Mori, Wolfgang Lieb, Andre Franke, Claes Ohlsson, Dan Mellström, Yoon Shin Cho, Hyejin Lee, Jian-Min Yuan, Woon-Puay Koh, Sang Youl Rhee, Jeong-Taek Woo, Iris M Heid, Klaus J Stark, Martina E Zimmermann, Henry Völzke, Georg Homuth, Michele K Evans, Alan B Zonderman, Ozren Polasek, Gerard Pasterkamp, Imo E Hoefer, Susan Redline, Katja Pahkala, Albertine J Oldehinkel, Harold Snieder, Ginevra Biino, Reinhold Schmidt, Helena Schmidt, Stefania Bandinelli, George Dedoussis, Thangavel Alphonse Thanaraj, Patricia A Peyser, Norihiro Kato, Matthias B Schulze, Giorgia Girotto, Carsten A Böger, Bettina Jung, Peter K Joshi, David A Bennett, Philip L De Jager, Xiangfeng Lu, Vasiliki Mamakou, Morris Brown, Mark J Caulfield, Patricia B Munroe, Xiuqing Guo, Marina Ciullo, Jost B Jonas, Nilesh J Samani, Jaakko Kaprio, Päivi Pajukanta, Teresa Tusié-Luna, Carlos A Aguilar-Salinas, Linda S Adair, Sonny Augustin Bechayda, H Janaka De Silva, Ananda R Wickremasinghe, Ronald M Krauss, Jer-Yuarn Wu, Wei Zheng, Anneke I Den Hollander, Dwaipayan Bharadwaj, Adolfo Correa, James G Wilson, Lars Lind, Chew-Kiat Heng, Amanda E Nelson, Yvonne M Golightly, James F Wilson, Brenda Penninx, Hyung-Lae Kim, John Attia, Rodney J Scott, D C Rao, Donna K Arnett, Mark Walker, Laura J Scott, Heikki A Koistinen, Giriraj R Chandak, Josep M Mercader, Clicerio Gonzalez Villalpando, Lorena Orozco, Myriam Fornage, E Shyong Tai, Rob M Van Dam, Terho Lehtimäki, Nish Chaturvedi, Mitsuhiro Yokota, Jianjun Liu, Dermot F Reilly, Amy Jayne Mcknight, Frank Kee, Karl-Heinz Jöckel, Mark I Mccarthy, Colin N A Palmer, Veronique Vitart, Caroline Hayward, Eleanor Simonsick, Cornelia M Van Duijn, Zi-Bing Jin, Fan Lu, Haretsugu Hishigaki, Xu Lin, Winfried März, Vilmundur Gudnason, Jean-Claude Tardif, Guillaume Lettre, Leen M T Hart, Petra J M Elders, Daniel J Rader, Scott M Damrauer, Meena Kumari, Mika Kivimaki, Pim Van Der Harst, Tim D Spector, Ruth J F Loos, Michael A Province, Esteban J Parra, Miguel Cruz, Bruce M Psaty, Ivan Brandslund, Peter P Pramstaller, Charles N Rotimi, Kaare Christensen, Samuli Ripatti, Elisabeth Widén, Hakon Hakonarson, Struan F A Grant, Lambertus Kiemeney, Jacqueline De Graaf, Markus Loeffler, Florian Kronenberg, Dongfeng Gu, Jeanette Erdmann, Heribert Schunkert, Paul W Franks, Allan Linneberg, J Wouter Jukema, Amit V Khera, Minna Männikkö, Marjo-Riitta Jarvelin, Zoltan Kutalik, Cucca Francesco, Dennis O Mook-Kanamori, Ko Willems Van Dijk, Hugh Watkins, David P Strachan, Niels Grarup, Peter Sever, Neil Poulter, Wayne Huey-Herng Sheu, Jerome I Rotter, Thomas M Dantoft, Fredrik Karpe, Matt J Neville, Nicholas J Timpson, Ching-Yu Cheng, Tien-Yin Wong, Chiea Chuen Khor, Hengtong Li, Charumathi Sabanayagam, Annette Peters, Christian Gieger, Andrew T Hattersley, Nancy L Pedersen, Patrik K E Magnusson, Dorret I Boomsma, Eco J C De Geus, L Adrienne Cupples, Joyce B J Van Meurs, Arfan Ikram, Mohsen Ghanbari, Penny Gordon-Larsen, Wei Huang, Young Jin Kim, Yasuharu Tabara, Nicholas J Wareham, Claudia Langenberg, Eleftheria Zeggini, Jaakko Tuomilehto, Johanna Kuusisto, Markku Laakso, Erik Ingelsson, Goncalo Abecasis, John C Chambers, Jaspal S Kooner, Paul S De Vries, Alanna C Morrison, Scott Hazelhurst, Michèle Ramsay, Kari E North, Martha Daviglus, Peter Kraft, Nicholas G Martin, John B Whitfield, Shahid Abbas, Danish Saleheen, Robin G Walters, Michael V Holmes, Corri Black, Blair H Smith, Aris Baras, Anne E Justice, Julie E Buring, Paul M Ridker, Daniel I Chasman, Charles Kooperberg, Gen Tamiya, Masayuki Yamamoto, David A Van Heel, Richard C Trembath, Wei-Qi Wei, Gail P Jarvik, Bahram Namjou, M Geoffrey Hayes, Marylyn D Ritchie, Pekka Jousilahti, Veikko Salomaa, Kristian Hveem, Bjørn Olav Åsvold, Michiaki Kubo, Yoichiro Kamatani, Yukinori Okada, Yoshinori Murakami, Bong-Jo Kim, Unnur Thorsteinsdottir, Kari Stefansson, Jifeng Zhang, Y Eugene Chen, Yuk-Lam Ho, Julie A Lynch, Philip S Tsao, Kyong-Mi Chang, Kelly Cho, Christopher J O'Donnell, John M Gaziano, Peter Wilson, Karen L Mohlke, Timothy M Frayling, Joel N Hirschhorn, Sekar Kathiresan, Michael Boehnke, Million Veterans Program, Global Lipids Genetics Consortium, Struan Grant, Pradeep Natarajan, Yan V Sun, Andrew P Morris, Panos Deloukas, Gina Peloso, Themistocles L Assimes, Cristen J Willer, Xiang Zhu, Christopher D Brown

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

A major challenge of genome-wide association studies (GWASs) is to translate phenotypic associations into biological insights. Here, we integrate a large GWAS on blood lipids involving 1.6 million individuals from five ancestries with a wide array of functional genomic datasets to discover regulatory mechanisms underlying lipid associations. We first prioritize lipid-associated genes with expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) colocalizations and then add chromatin interaction data to narrow the search for functional genes. Polygenic enrichment analysis across 697 annotations from a host of tissues and cell types confirms the central role of the liver in lipid levels and highlights the selective …

Structural Plasticity Can Produce Metaplasticity, Wenli Zhao, Shuo Han, Na Qiu, Wenbo Feng, Mengjie Lu, Wenru Zhang, Mu Wang, Qingtong Zhou, Shutian Chen, Wei Xu, Juan Du, Xiaojing Chu, Cuiying Yi, Antao Dai, Liaoyuan Hu, Michelle Y Shen, Yaping Sun, Qing Zhang, Yingli Ma, Wenge Zhong, Dehua Yang, Ming-Wei Wang, Beili Wu, Qiang Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) play versatile roles in inhibiting the secretion of multiple hormones such as growth hormone and thyroid-stimulating hormone, and thus are considered as targets for treating multiple tumors. Despite great progress made in therapeutic development against this diverse receptor family, drugs that target SSTRs still show limited efficacy with preferential binding affinity and conspicuous side-effects. Here, we report five structures of SSTR2 and SSTR4 in different states, including two crystal structures of SSTR2 in complex with a selective peptide antagonist and a non-peptide agonist, respectively, a cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of Gi1-bound SSTR2 in the presence of the …

Exome Sequencing Identifies Genetic Variants In Anophthalmia And Microphthalmia, Jingjing Li, Wei Yang, Yuejun Jessie Wang, Chen Ma, Cynthia J Curry, Daniel Mcgoldrick, Deborah A Nickerson, Jessica X Chong, Elizabeth E Blue, James C Mullikin, Jennita Reefhuis, Wendy N Nembhard, Paul A Romitti, Martha M Werler, Marilyn L Browne, Andrew F Olshan, Richard H Finnell, Marcia L Feldkamp, Faith Pangilinan, Lynn M Almli, Mike J Bamshad, Lawrence C Brody, Mary M Jenkins, Gary M Shaw, University Of Washington Center For Mendelian Genomics, Nisc Comparative Sequencing Program, National Birth Defects Prevention Study

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Anophthalmia and microphthalmia (A/M) are rare birth defects affecting up to 2 per 10,000 live births. These conditions are manifested by the absence of an eye or reduced eye volumes within the orbit leading to vision loss. Although clinical case series suggest a strong genetic component in A/M, few systematic investigations have been conducted on potential genetic contributions owing to low population prevalence. To overcome this challenge, we utilized DNA samples and data collected as part of the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS). The NBDPS employed multi-center ascertainment of infants affected by A/M. We performed exome sequencing on 67 …

Patients With Lung Cancer Of Different Racial Backgrounds Harbor Distinct Immune Cell Profiles, Yitian Xu, Licheng Zhang, Jose Thaiparambil, Sunny Mai, Dimuthu Nuwan Perera, Jilu Zhang, Ping-Ying Pan, Cristian Coarfa, Kenneth Ramos, Shu-Hsia Chen, Randa El-Zein

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

UNLABELLED: Tumors accumulated with infiltrated immune cells (hot tumors) have a higher response rate to immune checkpoint blockade, when compared with those with minimal T-cell infiltration (cold tumors). We report here that patients with lung cancer with different racial backgrounds harbored distinct immune cell profiles in the tumor microenvironment. Compared with African Americans (AA), Caucasian Americans (CA) exhibited increased immune cell infiltration and vasculature, and increased survival. Changes of survival and immune profile were most pronounced among active smokers and nonsmokers, compared with former smokers and total patients. Neighborhood analysis showed that immune cells accumulated around cancer cells in CAs …

Early Growth Response 1 Transcription Factor Is Essential For The Pathogenic Properties Of Human Endometriotic Epithelial Cells, Vineet K Maurya, Maria M Szwarc, Rodrigo Fernandez-Valdivia, David M Lonard, Song Yong, Niraj Joshi, Asgerally T Fazleabas, John P Lydon

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Although a non-malignant gynecological disorder, endometriosis displays some pathogenic features of malignancy, such as cell proliferation, migration, invasion and adaptation to hypoxia. Current treatments of endometriosis include pharmacotherapy and/or surgery, which are of limited efficacy and often associated with adverse side effects. Therefore, to develop more effective therapies to treat this disease, a broader understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms that underpin endometriosis needs to be attained. Using immortalized human endometriotic epithelial and stromal cell lines, we demonstrate that the early growth response 1 (EGR1) transcription factor is essential for cell proliferation, migration and invasion, which represent some of the …

Integrated Multi-Omic Characterization Of Congenital Heart Disease, Matthew C Hill, Zachary A Kadow, Hali Long, Yuka Morikawa, Thomas J Martin, Emma J Birks, Kenneth S Campbell, Jeanne Nerbonne, Kory Lavine, Lalita Wadhwa, Jun Wang, Diwakar Turaga, Iki Adachi, James F Martin

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The heart, the first organ to develop in the embryo, undergoes complex morphogenesis that when defective results in congenital heart disease (CHD). With current therapies, more than 90% of patients with CHD survive into adulthood, but many suffer premature death from heart failure and non-cardiac causes1. Here, to gain insight into this disease progression, we performed single-nucleus RNA sequencing on 157,273 nuclei from control hearts and hearts from patients with CHD, including those with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) and tetralogy of Fallot, two common forms of cyanotic CHD lesions, as well as dilated and hypertrophic cardiomyopathies. We …

Persistent Ethnicity-Associated Disparity In Anti-Tumor Effectiveness Of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors Despite Equal Access, Marcus A Florez, Jan O Kemnade, Nan Chen, Wendy Du, Anita L Sabichi, Daniel Y Wang, Quillan Huang, Courtney N Miller-Chism, Aparna Jotwani, Albert C Chen, David Hernandez, Vlad C Sandulache

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

We reviewed response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) of 207 patients with diagnoses of lung or head and neck cancer treated with chemotherapy/ICI combination therapy and ICI monotherapy between 2015 and 2020 at one of three clinical pavilions associated with the Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine. Two of these pavilions (Harris Health System and the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center) serve large minority populations and provide equal access to care regardless of means. 174 patients had a diagnosis of lung cancer (non-small cell or small cell) and 33 had a diagnosis of …

Hippo-Taz Signaling Is The Master Regulator Of The Onset Of Triple-Negative Basal-Like Breast Cancers, Hirotoshi Soyama, Miki Nishio, Junji Otani, Toshiko Sakuma, Shintaro Takao, Shigeo Hara, Takaaki Masuda, Koshi Mimori, Shinya Toyokuni, John P Lydon, Kazuwa Nakao, Hiroshi Nishina, Takumi Fukumoto, Tomohiko Maehama, Akira Suzuki

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

A universal oncogenic driver of basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) has resisted identification. We show that continuous transcriptional coactivator with PDZ-binding motif (TAZ) activation in precancerous murine luminal cells generates luminal cancers that later become BLBCs. Subsequent TP53 alteration, a feature of invasive human BLBCs, accelerates tumor progression. Because BLBC development is inhibited by TAZ inactivation in vivo, our work provides a sound rationale for targeting Hippo-TAZ signaling as therapy for human BLBC. Our mouse model of BLBC represents a powerful tool for evaluating such drugs.

Triplet Therapy, Transplantation, And Maintenance Until Progression In Myeloma, Paul G Richardson, Susanna J Jacobus, Edie A Weller, Hani Hassoun, Sagar Lonial, Noopur S Raje, Eva Medvedova, Philip L Mccarthy, Edward N Libby, Peter M Voorhees, Robert Z Orlowski, Larry D Anderson, Jeffrey A Zonder, Carter P Milner, Cristina Gasparetto, Mounzer E Agha, Abdullah M Khan, David D Hurd, Krisstina Gowin, Rammurti T Kamble, Sundar Jagannath, Nitya Nathwani, Melissa Alsina, R Frank Cornell, Hamza Hashmi, Erica L Campagnaro, Astrid C Andreescu, Teresa Gentile, Michaela Liedtke, Kelly N Godby, Adam D Cohen, Thomas H Openshaw, Marcelo C Pasquini, Sergio A Giralt, Jonathan L Kaufman, Andrew J Yee, Emma Scott, Pallawi Torka, Amy Foley, Mariateresa Fulciniti, Kyle Hebert, Mehmet K Samur, Kelly Masone, Michelle E Maglio, Andrea A Zeytoonjian, Omar Nadeem, Robert L Schlossman, Jacob P Laubach, Claudia Paba-Prada, Irene M Ghobrial, Aurore Perrot, Philippe Moreau, Hervé Avet-Loiseau, Michel Attal, Kenneth C Anderson, Nikhil C Munshi, Determination Investigators

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: In patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, the effect of adding autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT) to triplet therapy (lenalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone [RVD]), followed by lenalidomide maintenance therapy until disease progression, is unknown.

METHODS: In this phase 3 trial, adults (18 to 65 years of age) with symptomatic myeloma received one cycle of RVD. We randomly assigned these patients, in a 1:1 ratio, to receive two additional RVD cycles plus stem-cell mobilization, followed by either five additional RVD cycles (the RVD-alone group) or high-dose melphalan plus ASCT followed by two additional RVD cycles (the transplantation group). Both groups received …

Renin-Angiotensin System In Huntington's Disease: Evidence From Animal Models And Human Patients, Lucas M Kangussu, Natalia P Rocha, Priscila A C Valadão, Thatiane C G Machado, Kívia B Soares, Julliane V Joviano-Santos, Leigh B Latham, Gabriela D Colpo, Ana Flávia Almeida-Santos, Erin Furr Stimming, Ana Cristina Simões E Silva, Antônio L Teixeira, Aline Silva Miranda, Cristina Guatimosim

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The Renin-Angiotensin System (RAS) is expressed in the central nervous system and has important functions that go beyond blood pressure regulation. Clinical and experimental studies have suggested that alterations in the brain RAS contribute to the development and progression of neurodegenerative diseases. However, there is limited information regarding the involvement of RAS components in Huntington's disease (HD). Herein, we used the HD murine model, (BACHD), as well as samples from patients with HD to investigate the role of both the classical and alternative axes of RAS in HD pathophysiology. BACHD mice displayed worse motor performance in different behavioral tests alongside …