Medical Specialties Commons^™

Engineering A Tunable Micropattern-Array Assay To Sort Single Extracellular Vesicles And Particles To Detect Rna And Protein In Situ, Jingjing Zhang, Xilal Y Rima, Xinyu Wang, Luong T H Nguyen, Kristin Huntoon, Yifan Ma, Paola Loreto Palacio, Kim Truc Nguyen, Karunya Albert, Minh-Dao Duong-Thi, Nicole Walters, Kwang Joo Kwak, Min Jin Yoon, Hong Li, Jacob Doon-Ralls, Colin L Hisey, Daeyong Lee, Yifan Wang, Jonghoon Ha, Kelsey Scherler, Shannon Fallen, Inyoul Lee, Andre F Palmer, Wen Jiang, Setty M Magaña, Kai Wang, Betty Y S Kim, L James Lee, Eduardo Reátegui

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The molecular heterogeneity of extracellular vesicles (EVs) and the co-isolation of physically similar particles, such as lipoproteins (LPs), confounds and limits the sensitivity of EV bulk biomarker characterization. Herein, we present a single-EV and particle (siEVP) protein and RNA assay (siEVPPRA) to simultaneously detect mRNAs, miRNAs, and proteins in subpopulations of EVs and LPs. The siEVPPRA immobilizes and sorts particles via positive immunoselection onto micropatterns and focuses biomolecular signals in situ. By detecting EVPs at a single-particle resolution, the siEVPPRA outperformed the sensitivities of bulk-analysis benchmark assays for RNA and protein. To assess the specificity of RNA detection in complex …

Care After Premenopausal Risk-Reducing Salpingo-Oophorectomy In High-Risk Women: Scoping Review And International Consensus Recommendations, Denise R Nebgen, Susan M Domchek, Joanne Kotsopoulos, Joanne A De Hullu, Emma J Crosbie, Vincent Singh Paramanandam, Monique M A Brood-Van Zanten, Barbara M Norquist, Theresa Guise, Serge Rozenberg, Allison W Kurian, Holly J Pederson, Nese Yuksel, Rachel Michaelson-Cohen, Sharon L Bober, Agnaldo Lopes Da Silva Filho, Nora Johansen, F Guidozzi, D Gareth Evans, Usha Menon, Sheryl A Kingsberg, C Bethan Powell, Giovanni Grandi, Claudia Marchetti, Michelle Jacobson, Donal J Brennan, Martha Hickey

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Women at high inherited risk of ovarian cancer are offered risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO) from age 35 to 45 years. Although potentially life-saving, RRSO may induce symptoms that negatively affect quality of life and impair long-term health. Clinical care following RRSO is often suboptimal. This scoping review describes how RRSO affects short- and long-term health and provides evidence-based international consensus recommendations for care from preoperative counselling to long-term disease prevention. This includes the efficacy and safety of hormonal and non-hormonal treatments for vasomotor symptoms, sleep disturbance and sexual dysfunction and effective approaches to prevent bone and cardiovascular disease.

Opioid-Free Discharge After Pancreatic Resection Through A Learning Health System Paradigm, Artem Boyev, Anish J Jain, Timothy E Newhook, Laura R Prakash, Yi-Ju Chiang, Morgan L Bruno, Elsa M Arvide, Whitney L Dewhurst, Michael P Kim, Jessica E Maxwell, Naruhiko Ikoma, Rebecca A Snyder, Jeffrey E Lee, Matthew H G Katz, Ching-Wei D Tzeng

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Importance: Postoperative opioid overprescribing leads to persistent opioid use and excess pills at risk for misuse and diversion. A learning health system paradigm using risk-stratified pancreatectomy clinical pathways (RSPCPs) may lead to reduction in inpatient and discharge opioid volume.

Objective: To analyze the outcomes of 2 iterative RSPCP updates on inpatient and discharge opioid volumes.

Design, setting, and participants: This cohort study included 832 consecutive adult patients at an urban comprehensive cancer center who underwent pancreatic resection between October 2016 and April 2022, comprising 3 sequential pathway cohorts (version [V] 1, October 1, 2016, to January 31, 2019 [n = …

Supportive Care For Dual Caregivers Who Care For Their Partner With Cancer And Their Young Children, Sujin Ann-Yi, Kathrin Milbury, Morgan Jones, Victoria Necroto, Meagan Whisenant, Yisheng Li, Eduardo Bruera

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Advanced cancer patients and their spouses who parent minor children report parenting concerns and increased psychological distress. This single-arm trial examined the feasibility and initial evidence for efficacy of a novel parent support program.

Methods: Patients with a metastatic solid malignancy and their spouses completed self-reported assessments of psychological distress (HADS), parenting concerns (PCQ) and efficacy (CaPSE) at baseline. Both patients and spouses jointly attended the first two sessions addressing illness communication and family routines. Spouses individually attended two additional sessions focusing on caregiver support and death preparedness. All four sessions were delivered via videoconference by a licensed psychological …

Engineering Cannabidiol Synergistic Carbon Monoxide Nanocomplexes To Enhance Cancer Therapy Via Excessive Autophagy, Chang Xiao, Yue Sun, Jialong Fan, William Nguyen, Simin Chen, Ying Long, Wei Chen, Aiguo Zhu, Bin Liu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Although carbon monoxide (CO)-based treatments have demonstrated the high cancer efficacy by promoting mitochondrial damage and core-region penetrating ability, the efficiency was often compromised by protective autophagy (mitophagy). Herein, cannabidiol (CBD) is integrated into biomimetic carbon monoxide nanocomplexes (HMPOC@M) to address this issue by inducing excessive autophagy. The biomimetic membrane not only prevents premature drugs leakage, but also prolongs blood circulation for tumor enrichment. After entering the acidic tumor microenvironment, carbon monoxide (CO) donors are stimulated by hydrogen oxide (H2O2) to disintegrate into CO and Mn2+. The comprehensive effect of CO/Mn2+ and CBD can induce ROS-mediated cell apoptosis. In addition, …

Model-Informed Drug Development Of Autologous Car-T Cell Therapy: Strategies To Optimize Car-T Cell Exposure Leveraging Cell Kinetic/Dynamic Modeling, Anna M Mc Laughlin, Peter A Milligan, Cassian Yee, Martin Bergstrand

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Autologous Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T) cell therapy has been highly successful in the treatment of aggressive hematological malignancies and is also being evaluated for the treatment of solid tumors as well as other therapeutic areas. A challenge, however, is that up to 60% of patients do not sustain a long-term response. Low CAR-T cell exposure has been suggested as an underlying factor for a poor prognosis. CAR-T cell therapy is a novel therapeutic modality with unique kinetic and dynamic properties. Importantly, "clear" dose-exposure relationships do not seem to exist for any of the currently approved CAR-T cell products. In other …

Style Transfer-Assisted Deep Learning Method For Kidney Segmentation At Multiphase Mri, Junyu Guo, Manu Goyal, Yin Xi, Lauren Hinojosa, Gaelle Haddad, Emin Albayrak, Ivan Pedrosa

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: To develop and validate a semisupervised style transfer-assisted deep learning method for automated segmentation of the kidneys using multiphase contrast-enhanced (MCE) MRI acquisitions.

Materials and methods: This retrospective, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant, institutional review board-approved study included 125 patients (mean age, 57.3 years; 67 male, 58 female) with renal masses. Cohort 1 consisted of 102 coronal T2-weighted MRI acquisitions and 27 MCE MRI acquisitions during the corticomedullary phase. Cohort 2 comprised 92 MCE MRI acquisitions (23 acquisitions during four phases each, including precontrast, corticomedullary, early nephrographic, and nephrographic phases). The kidneys were manually segmented on T2-weighted images. …

Clinical Outcome And Therapeutic Impact On Neuroendocrine Neoplasms Of The Breast: A National Cancer Database Study, Libo Yang, Heather Lin, Yu Shen, Madhuchhanda Roy, Constance Albarracin, Qingqing Ding, Lei Huo, Hui Chen, Bing Wei, Hong Bu, Isabelle Bedrosian, Yun Wu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) of the breast are rare and not well-studied. NEN are subcategorized as well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumor (NET) and poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC). The objectives of the current study were to review the clinicopathologic features of NENs, therapeutic efficacy of current systemic therapy and clinical outcomes of NEN of the breast.

Methods: Between 2004 and 2015, 420 NET, 205 NEC, 146 Adenocarcinoma with NE differentiation (ACNED) and 1,479,520 of invasive carcinoma, not otherwise specified (IC-NOS) of the breast were identified in the National Caner Database. Overall survival was compared among groups using Kaplan-Meier method and Log-rank test. …

Remotely Delivered Cancer Genetic Testing In The Making Genetic Testing Accessible (Magenta) Trial: A Randomized Clinical Trial, Elizabeth M Swisher, Nadine Rayes, Deborah Bowen, Christine B Peterson, Barbara M Norquist, Tara Coffin, Kathleen Gavin, Deborah Polinsky, Jamie Crase, Jamie N Bakkum-Gamez, Stephanie V Blank, Mark F Munsell, Denise Nebgen, Gini F Fleming, Olufunmilayo I Olopade, Sherman Law, Alicia Zhou, Douglas A Levine, Alan D'Andrea, Karen H Lu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Importance: Requiring personalized genetic counseling may introduce barriers to cancer risk assessment, but it is unknown whether omitting counseling could increase distress.

Objective: To assess whether omitting pretest and/or posttest genetic counseling would increase distress during remote testing.

Design, setting, and participants: Making Genetic Testing Accessible (MAGENTA) was a 4-arm, randomized noninferiority trial testing the effects of individualized pretest and/or posttest genetic counseling on participant distress 3 and 12 months posttest. Participants were recruited via social and traditional media, and enrollment occurred between April 27, 2017, and September 29, 2020. Participants were women aged 30 years or older, English-speaking, US …

Next-Generation Chimeric Antigen Receptors For T- And Natural Killer-Cell Therapies Against Cancer, Ye Li, Katayoun Rezvani, Hind Rafei

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Adoptive cellular therapy using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells has led to a paradigm shift in the treatment of various hematologic malignancies. However, the broad application of this approach for myeloid malignancies and solid cancers has been limited by the paucity and heterogeneity of target antigen expression, and lack of bona fide tumor-specific antigens that can be targeted without cross-reactivity against normal tissues. This may lead to unwanted on-target off-tumor toxicities that could undermine the desired antitumor effect. Recent advances in synthetic biology and genetic engineering have enabled reprogramming of immune effector cells to enhance their selectivity toward tumors, …

Stepwise Requirements For Polymerases Δ And Θ In Theta-Mediated End Joining, Susanna Stroik, Juan Carvajal-Garcia, Dipika Gupta, Alyssa Edwards, Adam Luthman, David W Wyatt, Rachel L Dannenberg, Wanjuan Feng, Thomas A Kunkel, Gaorav P Gupta, Mark Hedglin, Richard Wood, Sylvie Doublié, Eli Rothenberg, Dale A Ramsden

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Timely repair of chromosomal double-strand breaks is required for genome integrity and cellular viability. The polymerase theta-mediated end joining pathway has an important role in resolving these breaks and is essential in cancers defective in other DNA repair pathways, thus making it an emerging therapeutic target1 It requires annealing of 2-6 nucleotides of complementary sequence, microhomologies, that are adjacent to the broken ends, followed by initiation of end-bridging DNA synthesis by polymerase θ. However, the other pathway steps remain inadequately defined, and the enzymes required for them are unknown. Here we demonstrate requirements for exonucleolytic digestion of unpaired 3' tails …

Mmp-2 Associates With Incident Heart Failure And Atrial Fibrillation: The Aric Study, Leo F Buckley, Ali M Agha, Pranav Dorbala, Brian L Claggett, Bing Yu, Aliza Hussain, Vijay Nambi, Lin Yee Chen, Kunihiro Matsushita, Ron C Hoogeveen, Christie M Ballantyne, Amil M Shah

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: MMP (matrix metalloproteinase)-2 participates in extracellular matrix regulation and may be involved in heart failure (HF), atrial fibrillation (AF), and coronary heart disease.

METHODS: Among the 4693 ARIC study (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities) participants (mean age, 75±5 years; 42% women) without prevalent HF, multivariable Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate associations of plasma MMP-2 levels with incident HF, HF with preserved ejection fraction (≥50%), HF with reduced ejection fraction (

RESULTS: Compared with the 3 lower quartiles, the highest MMP-2 quartile associated with greater risk of incident HF overall (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.48 [95% CI, 1.21-1.81]), incident …

Health-Related Quality Of Life In A Systematically Assessed Cohort Of Children And Adults With Urea Cycle Disorders, Chaya N Murali, John R Barber, Robert Mccarter, Anqing Zhang, Natalie Gallant, Kara Simpson, Naghmeh Dorrani, Greta N Wilkening, Ron D Hays, Uta Lichter-Konecki, Members Of The Urea Cycle Disorders Consortium, Lindsay C Burrage, Sandesh C S Nagamani

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

PURPOSE: Individuals with urea cycle disorders (UCDs) may develop recurrent hyperammonemia, episodic encephalopathy, and neurological sequelae which can impact Health-related Quality of Life (HRQoL). To date, there have been no systematic studies of HRQoL in people with UCDs.

METHODS: We reviewed HRQoL and clinical data for 190 children and 203 adults enrolled in a multicenter UCD natural history study. Physical and psychosocial HRQoL in people with UCDs were compared to HRQoL in healthy people and people with phenylketonuria (PKU) and diabetes mellitus. We assessed relationships between HRQoL, UCD diagnosis, and disease severity. Finally, we calculated sample sizes required to detect …

Geographic Variation In Late-Stage Cervical Cancer Diagnosis, Itunu O Sokale, Aaron P Thrift, Jane Montealegre, Victor Adekanmbi, Onyema G Chido-Amajuoyi, Ann Amuta, Lorraine R Reitzel, Abiodun O Oluyomi

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

IMPORTANCE: There are stark disparities in cervical cancer burden in the United States, notably by race and ethnicity and geography. Late-stage diagnosis is an indicator of inadequate access to and utilization of screening.

OBJECTIVE: To identify geospatial clusters of late-stage cervical cancer at time of diagnosis in Texas.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This population-based cross-sectional study used incident cervical cancer data from the Texas Cancer Registry from 2014 to 2018 of female patients aged 18 years or older. Late-stage cervical cancer cases were geocoded at the census tract level (n = 5265) using their residential coordinates (latitude and longitude) at …

Political Ideology And Trust In Government Health Agencies For Cancer Information, Onyema G Chido-Amajuoyi, Henry K Onyeaka, Itunu O Sokale, Somto Nwani, Carlos H Barcenas, Hermioni L Amonoo, Sanjay Shete

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

This cross-sectional study assesses the association between political ideology and trust in government health agencies for cancer information.

Once-Weekly Transcon Cnp (Navepegritide) In Children With Achondroplasia (Accomplish): A Phase 2, Multicentre, Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Dose-Escalation Trial, Ravi Savarirayan, Daniel G Hoernschemeyer, Merete Ljungberg, Yuri A Zarate, Carlos A Bacino, Michael B Bober, Janet M Legare, Wolfgang Högler, Teresa Quattrin, M Jennifer Abuzzahab, Paul L Hofman, Klane K White, Nina S Ma, Dirk Schnabel, Sérgio B Sousa, Meng Mao, Alden Smith, Mukta Chakraborty, Adebola Giwa, Bent Winding, Birgitte Volck, Aimee D Shu, Ciara Mcdonnell

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: TransCon CNP (navepegritide) is an investigational prodrug of C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) designed to allow for continuous CNP exposure with once-weekly dosing. This 52-week phase 2 (ACcomplisH) trial assessed the safety and efficacy of TransCon CNP in children with achondroplasia.

METHODS: ACcomplisH is a global, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-escalation trial. Study participants were recruited between June 10, 2020, and September 24, 2021. Eligible participants were prepubertal, aged 2-10 years, with genetically confirmed achondroplasia, and randomised 3:1 to once-weekly subcutaneous injections of TransCon CNP (6, 20, 50, or 100 μg CNP/kg/week) or placebo for 52 weeks. Primary objectives were safety …

Dominant Negative Variants In Kif5b Cause Osteogenesis Imperfecta Via Down Regulation Of Mtor Signaling, Ronit Marom, Bo Zhang, Megan E Washington, I-Wen Song, Lindsay C Burrage, Vittoria C Rossi, Ava S Berrier, Anika Lindsey, Jacob Lesinski, Michael L Nonet, Jian Chen, Dustin Baldridge, Gary A Silverman, V Reid Sutton, Jill A Rosenfeld, Alyssa A Tran, M John Hicks, David R Murdock, Hongzheng Dai, Maryann Weis, Shalini N Jhangiani, Donna M Muzny, Richard A Gibbs, Richard Caswell, Carrie Pottinger, Deirdre Cilliers, Karen Stals, Undiagnosed Diseases Network, David Eyre, Deborah Krakow, Tim Schedl, Stephen C Pak, Brendan H Lee

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Kinesin motor proteins transport intracellular cargo, including mRNA, proteins, and organelles. Pathogenic variants in kinesin-related genes have been implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders and skeletal dysplasias. We identified de novo, heterozygous variants in KIF5B, encoding a kinesin-1 subunit, in four individuals with osteogenesis imperfecta. The variants cluster within the highly conserved kinesin motor domain and are predicted to interfere with nucleotide binding, although the mechanistic consequences on cell signaling and function are unknown.

METHODS: To understand the in vivo genetic mechanism of KIF5B variants, we modeled the p.Thr87Ile variant that was found in two patients in the C. elegans ortholog, …

Biallelic Missense Variants In Cog3 Cause A Congenital Disorder Of Glycosylation With Impairment Of Retrograde Vesicular Trafficking, Ruizhi Duan, Dana Marafi, Zhi-Jie Xia, Bobby G Ng, Reza Maroofian, Farhana Taher Sumya, Ahmed K Saad, Haowei Du, Jawid M Fatih, Jill V Hunter, Hasnaa M Elbendary, Shahid M Baig, Uzma Abdullah, Zafar Ali, Stephanie Efthymiou, David Murphy, Tadahiro Mitani, Marjorie A Withers, Shalini N Jhangiani, Zeynep Coban-Akdemir, Daniel G Calame, Davut Pehlivan, Richard A Gibbs, Jennifer E Posey, Henry Houlden, Vladimir V Lupashin, Maha S Zaki, Hudson H Freeze, James R Lupski

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Biallelic variants in genes for seven out of eight subunits of the conserved oligomeric Golgi complex (COG) are known to cause recessive congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) with variable clinical manifestations. COG3 encodes a constituent subunit of the COG complex that has not been associated with disease traits in humans. Herein, we report two COG3 homozygous missense variants in four individuals from two unrelated consanguineous families that co-segregated with COG3-CDG presentations. Clinical phenotypes of affected individuals include global developmental delay, severe intellectual disability, microcephaly, epilepsy, facial dysmorphism, and variable neurological findings. Biochemical analysis of serum transferrin from one family showed …

Aso Silencing Of A Glycosyltransferase, Poglut1, Improves The Liver Phenotypes In Mouse Models Of Alagille Syndrome, Nima Niknejad, Duncan Fox, Jennifer L Burwinkel, Neda Zarrin-Khameh, Soomin Cho, Armand Soriano, Ashley E Cast, Mario F Lopez, Kari A Huppert, Frank Rigo, Stacey S Huppert, Paymaan Jafar-Nejad, Hamed Jafar-Nejad

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Paucity of intrahepatic bile ducts (BDs) is caused by various etiologies and often leads to cholestatic liver disease. For example, in patients with Alagille syndrome (ALGS), which is a genetic disease primarily caused by mutations in jagged 1 ( JAG1) , BD paucity often results in severe cholestasis and liver damage. However, no mechanism-based therapy exists to restore the biliary system in ALGS or other diseases associated with BD paucity. Based on previous genetic observations, we investigated whether postnatal knockdown of the glycosyltransferase gene protein O -glucosyltransferase 1 ( Poglut1) can improve the ALGS liver phenotypes in …

Oral Follicle-Stimulating Hormone Receptor Agonist Affects Granulosa Cells Differently Than Recombinant Human Fsh, Joie Z Guner, Diana Monsivais, Henry Yu, Fabio Stossi, Hannah L Johnson, William E Gibbons, Martin M Matzuk, Stephen Palmer

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objective:

To determine whether TOP5300, a novel oral follicle stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) allosteric agonist, elicits a different cellular response than recombinant human FSH (rh-FSH) in human granulosa cells from in vitro fertilization patients.

Design:

Basic science research with a preclinical allosteric FSHR agonist.

Subjects:

Infertility patients at a single academic fertility clinic were recruited under an IRB-approved protocol. Primary granulosa cell cultures were established for 41 patients, of which 8 had normal ovarian reserve (NOR), 17 were of advanced reproductive age (ARA), 12 had a diagnosis of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), and 4 had a combination of diagnoses, such …

Cardiac Muscle-Restricted Partial Loss Of Nos1ap Expression Has Limited But Significant Impact On Electrocardiographic Features, Alexa Smith, Dallas Auer, Morgan Johnson, Ernesto Sanchez, Holly Ross, Christopher Ward, Aravinda Chakravarti, Ashish Kapoor

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Genome-wide association studies have identified sequence polymorphisms in a functional enhancer of the NOS1AP gene as the most common genetic regulator of QT interval and human cardiac NOS1AP gene expression in the general population. Functional studies based on in vitro overexpression in murine cardiomyocytes and ex vivo knockdown in zebrafish embryonic hearts, by us and others, have also demonstrated that NOS1AP expression levels can alter cellular electrophysiology. Here, to explore the role of NOS1AP in cardiac electrophysiology at an organismal level, we generated and characterized constitutive and heart muscle-restricted Nos1ap knockout mice to assess whether NOS1AP disruption alters the QT …

Interobserver Variability And Challenges In Intraoperative Frozen Section Evaluation Of Pancreatic Margins In Pancreatectomy Specimens, Sadhna Dhingra, Melissa W Taggart, Wai Chin Foo, Asif Rashid, Maria Luisa Machado Heredia, Sarah B May, George Van Buren, William E Fisher, Huamin Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: Frozen-section evaluation of the pancreatic margin is challenging. We aimed to determine interobserver variability among gastrointestinal pathologists for the assessment of frozen sections of pancreatic margins with marked chronic pancreatitis and to determine the challenging histological features in discrepant cases.

Methods: We identified 45 patients who underwent pancreas resection for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and showed marked chronic pancreatitis at pancreatic margin. Deidentified first levels of frozen-sections of the pancreatic margins from all cases were independently reviewed by 5 experienced gastrointestinal pathologists for the presence of carcinoma and/or high-grade dysplasia.

Results: Interobserver agreement among pathologists was calculated as kappa coefficients …

Caregiver Perspectives On The Daily Function Of People Living With Hnrnph2-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder: Developing A Conceptual Model, Rachel Salazar

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Introduction: Neurodevelopmental disorders are a group of conditions that start in childhood and lead to impairments in functioning. HNRNPH2-related neurodevelopmental disorder is an ultra-rare disorder in which individuals present with cognitive, behavioral, language and motor function impairments that often leads to reliance on their caregivers. Existing conceptual models of neurodevelopment are not specific to this ultra rare disorder and do not highlight the caregiver impact of living with HNRNPH2-related neurodevelopmental disorder.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand the caregiver perspective on the everyday functioning of people living with HNRNPH2-related neurodevelopmental disorder to generate a …

Correction: Microrna 603 Acts As A Tumor Suppressor And Inhibits Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Tumorigenesis By Targeting Elongation Factor 2 Kinase, Recep Bayraktar, Martin Pichler, Pinar Kanlikilicer, Cristina Ivan, Emine Bayraktar, Nermin Kahraman, Burcu Aslan, Serpil Oguztuzun, Mustafa Ulasli, Ahmet Arslan, George Calin, Gabriel Lopez-Berestein, Bulent Ozpolat

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Obesity On Outcomes With Immune Checkpoint Blockade: Clinical Evidence And Potential Biological Mechanisms, Andrew W Hahn, Neha Venkatesh, Pavlos Msaouel, Jennifer L Mcquade

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) is a mainstay of treatment for advanced cancer, yet tumor response and host toxicity are heterogenous in those patients who receive ICB. There is growing interest in understanding how host factors interact with tumor intrinsic properties and the tumor microenvironment to influence the therapeutic index with ICB. Obesity, defined by body mass index, is a host factor associated with improved outcomes in select cancers when treated with ICB. While the biological mechanism for this obesity paradox is not fully understood, pre-clinical and translational studies suggest obesity may potentially impact tumor metabolism, inflammation, and angiogenesis. Herein, we …

The Lin28b/Wnt5a Axis Drives Pancreas Cancer Through Crosstalk Between Cancer Associated Fibroblasts And Tumor Epithelium, Zhaoqi Shu, Minghe Fan, Bo Tu, Zhiheng Tang, Haojie Wang, Haimeng Li, Hengchao Li, Meng Yuan, Jingru Bai, Sihan Huo, Lina Wang, Wei-Guo Zhu, Wei Wang, Xiaoyun Liu, Shaokun Shu, Ying Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Bidirectional signal transduction between tumor epithelial cells and tumor microenvironment (TME) is important for tumor development. Here we show that Lin28b/let-7 pathway is indispensable for modulating the expression of Wnt5a in tumor epithelium, which could be secreted and then up-regulates Lin28b in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). Moreover, we demonstrate that Lin28b in CAFs promoted growth of PDAC by inducing cytokine PCSK9's production. Using an orthotopic mouse model of PDAC, we find that depletion of Lin28b in CAFs reduced tumor weight, highlighting the importance of Lin28b in PDAC stroma. Thus, our study shows that the Lin28b-Wnt5a axis plays a critical role in …

Irf1 Regulates Self-Renewal And Stress Responsiveness To Support Hematopoietic Stem Cell Maintenance, Alexandra J S Rundberg Nilsson, Hongxu Xian, Shabnam Shalapour, Jörg Cammenga, Michael Karin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are tightly controlled to maintain a balance between blood cell production and self-renewal. While inflammation-related signaling is a critical regulator of HSC activity, the underlying mechanisms and the precise functions of specific factors under steady-state and stress conditions remain incompletely understood. We investigated the role of interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF1), a transcription factor that is affected by multiple inflammatory stimuli, in HSC regulation. Our findings demonstrate that the loss of IRF1 from mouse HSCs significantly impairs self-renewal, increases stress-induced proliferation, and confers resistance to apoptosis. In addition, given the frequent abnormal expression of IRF1 in …

Rna-Based Translation Activators For Targeted Gene Upregulation, Yang Cao, Huachun Liu, Shannon S Lu, Krysten A Jones, Anitha P Govind, Okunola Jeyifous, Christine Q Simmons, Negar Tabatabaei, William N Green, Jimmy L Holder, Soroush Tahmasebi, Alfred L George, Bryan C Dickinson

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

Technologies capable of programmable translation activation offer strategies to develop therapeutics for diseases caused by insufficient gene expression. Here, we present "translation-activating RNAs" (taRNAs), a bifunctional RNA-based molecular technology that binds to a specific mRNA of interest and directly upregulates its translation. taRNAs are constructed from a variety of viral or mammalian RNA internal ribosome entry sites (IRESs) and upregulate translation for a suite of target mRNAs. We minimize the taRNA scaffold to 94 nucleotides, identify two translation initiation factor proteins responsible for taRNA activity, and validate the technology by amplifying SYNGAP1 expression, a haploinsufficiency disease target, in patient-derived cells. …

Decoding Meningioma Heterogeneity And Neoplastic Cell-Macrophage Interaction Through Single-Cell Transcriptome Profiling Across Pathological Grades, Hailang Fan, Lairong Song, Jian Fan, Junpeng Ma, Xiaojie Li, Junting Zhang, Jian Hu, Zhen Wu, Dake Zhang, Liang Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Analyzing meningioma of distinct pathological types at the single-cell level can provide new and valuable insights into the specific biological mechanisms of each cellular subpopulation, as well as their vital interplay within the tumor microenvironment.

Methods: We recruited patients diagnosed with four distinct types of meningioma and performed single-cell RNA sequencing on their tumor samples, concurrently analyzing a publicly available dataset for comparison. Next, we separated the cells into discrete clusters and identified their unique identities. Using pseudotime analysis, we demonstrated cellular differentiation and dynamics. To investigate biological function, we employed weighted gene co-expression network analysis, gene regulatory network, …

Methyl-Branched Liposomes As A Depot For Sustained Drug Delivery, Yang Li, Rachelle Shao, Claire A Ostertag-Hill, Matthew Torre, Ran Yan, Daniel S Kohane

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

Inadequate drug loading and control of payload leakage limit the duration of the effect of liposomal drug carriers and may cause toxicity. Here, we report a liposome system as a depot for sustained drug delivery whose design is inspired by the low permeability of Archaeal membranes to protons and solutes. Incorporating methyl-branched phospholipids into lipid bilayers decreased payload diffusion across liposomal membranes, thereby enhancing the drug load capacity by 10-16% and reducing the release of small molecules in the first 24 h by 40-48%. The in vivo impact of this approach was demonstrated by injection at the sciatic nerve. Methyl-branched …