Neurology Commons^™

Novel Murine Glioblastoma Models That Reflect The Immunotherapy Resistance Profile Of A Human Disease, Chao-Hsien Chen, Renee L Chin, Genevieve P Hartley, Spencer T Lea, Brian J Engel, Cheng-En Hsieh, Rishika Prasad, Jason Roszik, Takashi Shingu, Gregory A Lizee, Amy B Heimberger, Steven W Millward, Jian Hu, David S Hong, Michael A Curran

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The lack of murine glioblastoma models that mimic the immunobiology of human disease has impeded basic and translational immunology research. We, therefore, developed murine glioblastoma stem cell lines derived from Nestin-CreERT2QkL/L; Trp53L/L; PtenL/L (QPP) mice driven by clinically relevant genetic mutations common in human glioblastoma. This study aims to determine the immune sensitivities of these QPP lines in immunocompetent hosts and their underlying mechanisms.

METHODS: The differential responsiveness of QPP lines was assessed in the brain and flank in untreated, anti-PD-1, or anti-CTLA-4 treated mice. The impact of genomic landscape on the responsiveness of each tumor was measured through …

Piezo2 In Somatosensory Neurons Controls Gastrointestinal Transit, M Rocio Servin-Vences, Ruby M Lam, Alize Koolen, Yu Wang, Dimah N Saade, Meaghan Loud, Halil Kacmaz, Suzanne Frausto, Yunxiao Zhang, Arthur Beyder, Kara L Marshall, Carsten G Bönnemann, Alexander T Chesler, Ardem Patapoutian

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

The gastrointestinal tract is in a state of constant motion. These movements are tightly regulated by the presence of food and help digestion by mechanically breaking down and propelling gut content. Mechanical sensing in the gut is thought to be essential for regulating motility; however, the identity of the neuronal populations, the molecules involved, and the functional consequences of this sensation are unknown. Here, we show that humans lacking PIEZO2 exhibit impaired bowel sensation and motility. Piezo2 in mouse dorsal root, but not nodose ganglia is required to sense gut content, and this activity slows down food transit rates in …

Monoallelic Variation In Dhx9, The Gene Encoding The Dexh-Box Helicase Dhx9, Underlies Neurodevelopment Disorders And Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, Daniel G Calame, Tianyu Guo, Chen Wang, Lillian Garrett, Angad Jolly, Moez Dawood, Alina Kurolap, Noa Zunz Henig, Jawid M Fatih, Isabella Herman, Haowei Du, Tadahiro Mitani, Lore Becker, Birgit Rathkolb, Raffaele Gerlini, Claudia Seisenberger, Susan Marschall, Jill V Hunter, Amanda Gerard, Alexis Heidlebaugh, Thomas Challman, Rebecca C Spillmann, Shalini N Jhangiani, Zeynep Coban-Akdemir, Seema Lalani, Lingxiao Liu, Anya Revah-Politi, Alejandro Iglesias, Edwin Guzman, Evan Baugh, Nathalie Boddaert, Sophie Rondeau, Clothide Ormieres, Giulia Barcia, Queenie K G Tan, Isabelle Thiffault, Tomi Pastinen, Kazim Sheikh, Suur Biliciler, Davide Mei, Federico Melani, Vandana Shashi, Yuval Yaron, Mary Steele, Emma Wakeling, Elsebet Østergaard, Lusine Nazaryan-Petersen, Undiagnosed Diseases Network, Francisca Millan, Teresa Santiago-Sim, Julien Thevenon, Ange-Line Bruel, Christel Thauvin-Robinet, Denny Popp, Konrad Platzer, Pawel Gawlinski, Wojciech Wiszniewski, Dana Marafi, Davut Pehlivan, Jennifer E Posey, Richard A Gibbs, Valerie Gailus-Durner, Renzo Guerrini, Helmut Fuchs, Martin Hrabě De Angelis, Sabine M Hölter, Hoi-Hung Cheung, Shen Gu, James R Lupski

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

DExD/H-box RNA helicases (DDX/DHX) are encoded by a large paralogous gene family; in a subset of these human helicase genes, pathogenic variation causes neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) traits and cancer. DHX9 encodes a BRCA1-interacting nuclear helicase regulating transcription, R-loops, and homologous recombination and exhibits the highest mutational constraint of all DDX/DHX paralogs but remains unassociated with disease traits in OMIM. Using exome sequencing and family-based rare-variant analyses, we identified 20 individuals with de novo, ultra-rare, heterozygous missense or loss-of-function (LoF) DHX9 variant alleles. Phenotypes ranged from NDDs to the distal symmetric polyneuropathy axonal Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT2). Quantitative Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) …

Eosinophils Promote Effector Functions Of Lung Group 2 Innate Lymphoid Cells In Allergic Airway Inflammation In Mice, William E Lesuer, Melanie Kienzl, Sergei I Ochkur, Rudolf Schicho, Alfred D Doyle, Benjamin L Wright, Matthew A Rank, Alexander S Krupnick, Hirohito Kita, Elizabeth A Jacobsen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) are critical mediators of type 2 respiratory inflammation, releasing IL-5 and IL-13 and promoting the pulmonary eosinophilia associated with allergen provocation. Although ILC2s have been shown to promote eosinophil activities, the role of eosinophils in group 2 innate lymphoid cell (ILC2) responses is less well defined.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to investigate the role of eosinophils in activation of ILC2s in models of allergic asthma and in vitro.

METHODS: Inducible eosinophil-deficient mice were exposed to allergic respiratory inflammation models of asthma, such as ovalbumin or house dust mite challenge, or to innate models of …

Cerebellar Dysfunction As A Source Of Dystonic Phenotypes In Mice, Amanda M Brown, Meike E Van Der Heijden, H A Jinnah, Roy V Sillitoe

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

There is now a substantial amount of compelling evidence demonstrating that the cerebellum may be a central locus in dystonia pathogenesis. Studies using spontaneous genetic mutations in rats and mice, engineered genetic alleles in mice, shRNA knockdown in mice, and conditional genetic silencing of fast neurotransmission in mice have all uncovered a common set of behavioral and electrophysiological defects that point to cerebellar cortical and cerebellar nuclei dysfunction as a source of dystonic phenotypes. Here, we revisit the Ptf1aCre/+;Vglut2flox/flox mutant mouse to define fundamental phenotypes and measures that are valuable for testing the cellular, circuit, and …

Age-Related Decline In Hippocampal Tyrosine Phosphatase Ptpro Is A Mechanistic Factor In Chemotherapy-Related Cognitive Impairment., Zhimeng Yao, Hongmei Dong, Jianlin Zhu, Liang Du, Yichen Luo, Qing Liu, Shixin Liu, Yusheng Lin, Lu Wang, Shuhong Wang, Wei Wei, Keke Zhang, Qingjun Huang, Xiaojun Yu, Weijiang Zhao, Haiyun Xu, Xiaofu Qiu, Yunlong Pan, Xingxu Huang, Sai-Ching Jim Yeung, Dianzheng Zhang, Hao Zhang

PCOM Scholarly Works

Chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) or "chemo brain" is a devastating neurotoxic sequela of cancer-related treatments, especially for the elderly individuals. Here we show that PTPRO, a tyrosine phosphatase, is highly enriched in the hippocampus, and its level is tightly associated with neurocognitive function but declined significantly during aging. To understand the protective role of PTPRO in CRCI, a mouse model was generated by treating Ptpro-/- female mice with doxorubicin (DOX) because Ptpro-/- female mice are more vulnerable to DOX, showing cognitive impairments and neurodegeneration. By analyzing PTPRO substrates that are neurocognition-associated tyrosine kinases, we found that SRC and EPHA4 are …

Clinical And Functional Correlates Of Parkinsonism In A Population-Based Sample Of Individuals Aged 75 +: The Pietà Study, Thiago Cardoso Vale, Francisco Eduardo Costa Cardoso, Danilo Jorge Da Silva, Elisa De Paula Franca Resende, Débora Palma Maia, Mauro César Quintão Cunningham, Henrique Cerqueira Guimarães, João Carlos Barbosa Machado, Antônio Lúcio Teixeira, Paulo Caramelli, Maira Tonidandel Barbosa

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Parkinsonism is strongly associated with ageing, and many studies have suggested that parkinsonian signs may affect up to half of older adults and is associated with a wide range of adverse health outcomes. We compared clinical and functional characteristics of oldest-old community-dwelling individuals with parkinsonism (parkinsonian group [PG]) to individuals without parkinsonism (non-parkinsonian group [NPG].

METHODS: The Pietà study is a population-based study conducted in Caeté, southeast Brazil, involving 607 individuals aged 75 + years submitted to an extensive clinical evaluation. A subset of 65 PG individuals (61.5% women, median age of 82 years) was compared to 542 NPG …

Metastatic Infiltration Of Nervous Tissue And Periosteal Nerve Sprouting In Multiple Myeloma-Induced Bone Pain In Mice And Human, Marta Diaz-Delcastillo, Oana Palasca, Tim T Nemler, Didde M Thygesen, Norma A Chávez-Saldaña, Juan A Vázquez-Mora, Lizeth Y Ponce Gomez, Lars Juhl Jensen, Holly Evans, Rebecca E Andrews, Aritri Mandal, David Neves, Patrick Mehlen, James P Caruso, Patrick M Dougherty, Theodore J Price, Andrew Chantry, Michelle A Lawson, Thomas L Andersen, Juan M Jimenez-Andrade, Anne-Marie Heegaard

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a neoplasia of B plasma cells that often induces bone pain. However, the mechanisms underlying myeloma-induced bone pain (MIBP) are mostly unknown. Using a syngeneic MM mouse model, we show that periosteal nerve sprouting of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP+) and growth associated protein 43 (GAP43+) fibers occurs concurrent to the onset of nociception and its blockade provides transient pain relief. MM patient samples also showed increased periosteal innervation. Mechanistically, we investigated MM induced gene expression changes in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) innervating the MM-bearing bone of male mice and found alterations in pathways associated with …

Nerve Transfer For Restoration Of Lower Motor Neuron-Lesioned Bladder, Urethral, And Anal Sphincter Function In A Dog Model. Part 3. Nicotinic Receptor Characterization, Nagat Frara, Mary F. Barbe, Dania Giaddui, Danielle S. Porreca, Alan S. Braverman, Ekta Tiwari, Attia Ahmad, Justin M. Brown, Benjamin R. Johnston, Stanley F. Bazarek, Michael R. Ruggieri

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

Very little is known about the physiological role of nicotinic receptors in canine bladders, although functional nicotinic receptors have been reported in bladders of many species. Utilizing in vitro methods, we evaluated nicotinic receptors mediating bladder function in dogs: control (9 female and 11 male normal controls, 5 sham operated), Decentralized (9 females, decentralized 6–21 mo), and obturator-to-pelvic nerve transfer reinnervated (ObNT-Reinn; 9 females; decentralized 9–13 mo, then reinnervated with 8–12 mo recovery). Muscle strips were collected, mucosa-denuded, and mounted in muscle baths before incubation with neurotransmitter antagonists, and contractions to the nicotinic receptor agonist epibatidine were determined. Strip response …

The Cerebellum Contributes To Generalized Seizures By Altering Activity In The Ventral Posteromedial Nucleus, Jaclyn Beckinghausen, Joshua Ortiz-Guzman, Tao Lin, Benjamin Bachman, Luis E Salazar Leon, Yu Liu, Detlef H Heck, Benjamin R Arenkiel, Roy V Sillitoe

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

Thalamo-cortical networks are central to seizures, yet it is unclear how these circuits initiate seizures. We test whether a facial region of the thalamus, the ventral posteromedial nucleus (VPM), is a source of generalized, convulsive motor seizures and if convergent VPM input drives the behavior. To address this question, we devise an in vivo optogenetic mouse model to elicit convulsive motor seizures by driving these inputs and perform single-unit recordings during awake, convulsive seizures to define the local activity of thalamic neurons before, during, and after seizure onset. We find dynamic activity with biphasic properties, raising the possibility that heterogenous …

Targeting Gbm With An Oncolytic Picornavirus Svv-001 Alone And In Combination With Fractionated Radiation In A Novel Panel Of Orthotopic Pdx Models, Huiyuan Zhang, Yuchen Du, Lin Qi, Sophie Xiao, Frank K Braun, Mari Kogiso, Yulun Huang, Frank Huang, Aalaa Abdallah, Milagros Suarez, Sekar Karthick, Nabil M Ahmed, Vita S Salsman, Patricia A Baxter, Jack M Su, Daniel J Brat, Paul L Hellenbeck, Wan-Yee Teo, Akash J Patel, Xiao-Nan Li

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Animal models representing different molecular subtypes of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is desired for developing new therapies. SVV-001 is an oncolytic virus selectively targeting cancer cells. It's capacity of passing through the blood brain barrier makes is an attractive novel approach for GBM.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: 23 patient tumor samples were implanted into the brains of NOD/SCID mice (1 × 105 cells/mouse). Tumor histology, gene expression (RNAseq), and growth rate of the developed patient-derived orthotopic xenograft (PDOX) models were compared with the originating patient tumors during serial subtransplantations. Anti-tumor activities of SVV-001 were examined in vivo; and therapeutic efficacy validated …

Tiam1 Coordinates Synaptic Structural And Functional Plasticity Underpinning The Pathophysiology Of Neuropathic Pain, Lingyong Li, Qin Ru, Yungang Lu, Xing Fang, Guanxing Chen, Ali Bin Saifullah, Changqun Yao, Kimberley F Tolias

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Neuropathic pain is a common, debilitating chronic pain condition caused by damage or a disease affecting the somatosensory nervous system. Understanding the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying neuropathic pain is critical for developing new therapeutic strategies to treat chronic pain effectively. Tiam1 is a Rac1 guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) that promotes dendritic and synaptic growth during hippocampal development by inducing actin cytoskeletal remodeling. Here, using multiple neuropathic pain animal models, we show that Tiam1 coordinates synaptic structural and functional plasticity in the spinal dorsal horn via actin cytoskeleton reorganization and synaptic NMDAR stabilization and that these actions are essential for the …

Inhibition Of Autophagy In Microglia And Macrophages Exacerbates Innate Immune Responses And Worsens Brain Injury Outcomes, Nivedita Hegdekar, Chinmoy Sarkar, Sabrina Bustos, Rodney M Ritzel, Marie Hanscom, Prarthana Ravishankar, Deepika Philkana, Junfang Wu, David J Loane, Marta M Lipinski

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Excessive and prolonged neuroinflammation following traumatic brain injury (TBI) contributes to long-term tissue damage and poor functional outcomes. However, the mechanisms contributing to exacerbated inflammatory responses after brain injury remain poorly understood. Our previous work showed that macroautophagy/autophagy flux is inhibited in neurons following TBI in mice and contributes to neuronal cell death. In the present study, we demonstrate that autophagy is also inhibited in activated microglia and infiltrating macrophages, and that this potentiates injury-induced neuroinflammatory responses. Macrophage/microglia-specific knockout of the essential autophagy gene Becn1 led to overall increase in neuroinflammation after TBI. In particular, we observed excessive activation of …

Reprogramming Tumour-Associated Macrophages To Outcompete Cancer Cells, Xian Zhang, Shun Li, Isha Malik, Mytrang H Do, Liangliang Ji, Chun Chou, Wei Shi, Kristelle J Capistrano, Jing Zhang, Ting-Wei Hsu, Briana G Nixon, Ke Xu, Xinxin Wang, Andrea Ballabio, Laura S Schmidt, W Marston Linehan, Ming O Li

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

In metazoan organisms, cell competition acts as a quality control mechanism to eliminate unfit cells in favour of their more robust neighbours1,2. This mechanism has the potential to be maladapted, promoting the selection of aggressive cancer cells3-6. Tumours are metabolically active and are populated by stroma cells7,8, but how environmental factors affect cancer cell competition remains largely unknown. Here we show that tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs) can be dietarily or genetically reprogrammed to outcompete MYC-overexpressing cancer cells. In a mouse model of breast cancer, MYC overexpression resulted in an mTORC1-dependent 'winner' cancer cell state. A low-protein diet inhibited mTORC1 signalling in …

Targeting Aav Vectors To The Central Nervous System By Engineering Capsid-Receptor Interactions That Enable Crossing Of The Blood-Brain Barrier, Qin Huang, Albert T Chen, Ken Y Chan, Hikari Sorensen, Andrew J Barry, Bahar Azari, Qingxia Zheng, Thomas Beddow, Binhui Zhao, Isabelle G Tobey, Cynthia Moncada-Reid, Fatma-Elzahraa Eid, Christopher J Walkey, M Cecilia Ljungberg, William R Lagor, Jason D Heaney, Yujia A Chan, Benjamin E Deverman

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Viruses have evolved the ability to bind and enter cells through interactions with a wide variety of cell macromolecules. We engineered peptide-modified adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsids that transduce the brain through the introduction of de novo interactions with 2 proteins expressed on the mouse blood-brain barrier (BBB), LY6A or LY6C1. The in vivo tropisms of these capsids are predictable as they are dependent on the cell- and strain-specific expression of their target protein. This approach generated hundreds of capsids with dramatically enhanced central nervous system (CNS) tropisms within a single round of screening in vitro and secondary validation in vivo …

Chronic Social Defeat Alters Brain Vascular-Associated Cell Gene Expression Patterns Leading To Vascular Dysfunction And Immune System Activation, Joshua D Samuels, Madison L Lotstein, Michael L Lehmann, Abdel G Elkahloun, Subhadra Banerjee, Miles Herkenham

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Brain vascular integrity is critical for brain health, and its disruption is implicated in many brain pathologies, including psychiatric disorders. Brain-vascular barriers are a complex cellular landscape composed of endothelial, glial, mural, and immune cells. Yet currently, little is known about these brain vascular-associated cells (BVACs) in health and disease. Previously, we demonstrated that 14 days of chronic social defeat (CSD), a mouse paradigm that produces anxiety and depressive-like behaviors, causes cerebrovascular damage in the form of scattered microbleeds. Here, we developed a technique to isolate barrier-related cells from the mouse brain and subjected the isolated cells to single-cell RNA …

Il-11 Induces Nlrp3 Inflammasome Activation In Monocytes And Inflammatory Cell Migration To The Central Nervous System, Maryamsadat Seyedsadr, Yan Wang, Manal Elzoheiry, Sowmya Shree Gopal, Soohwa Jang, Gayel Duran, Inna Chervoneva, Ezgi Kasimoglu, John A. Wrobel, Daniel Hwang, James Garifallou, Xin Zhang, Tabish H. Khan, Ulrike Lorenz, Maureen Su, Jenny P. Ting, Bieke Broux, A M Rostami, Dhanashri Miskin, Silva Markovic-Plese

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

The objective of this study is to examine IL-11-induced mechanisms of inflammatory cell migration to the central nervous system (CNS). We report that IL-11 is produced at highest frequency by myeloid cells among the peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) subsets. Patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) have an increased frequency of IL-11+ monocytes, IL-11+ and IL-11R+ CD4+ lymphocytes, and IL-11R+ neutrophils in comparison to matched healthy controls. IL-11+ and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF)+ monocytes, CD4+ lymphocytes, and neutrophils accumulate in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The effect of IL-11 in-vitro stimulation, examined using single-cell RNA sequencing, revealed the highest number of …

Sox7 Deficiency Causes Ventricular Septal Defects Through Its Effects On Endocardial-To-Mesenchymal Transition And The Expression Of Wnt4 And Bmp2, Andrés Hernández-García, Katherine E Pendleton, Sangbae Kim, Yumei Li, Bum J Kim, Hitisha P Zaveri, Valerie K Jordan, Aliska M Berry, M Cecilia Ljungberg, Rui Chen, Rainer B Lanz, Daryl A Scott

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

SOX7 is a transcription factor-encoding gene located in a region on chromosome 8p23.1 that is recurrently deleted in individuals with ventricular septal defects (VSDs). We have previously shown that Sox7-/- embryos die of heart failure around E11.5. Here, we demonstrate that these embryos have hypocellular endocardial cushions with severely reduced numbers of mesenchymal cells. Ablation of Sox7 in the endocardium also resulted in hypocellular endocardial cushions, and we observed VSDs in rare E15.5 Sox7flox/-;Tie2-Cre and Sox7flox/flox;Tie2-Cre embryos that survived to E15.5. In atrioventricular explant studies, we showed that SOX7 deficiency leads to a severe reduction in endocardial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT). RNA-seq …

Induction Of Astrocytic Slc22a3 Regulates Sensory Processing Through Histone Serotonylation, Debosmita Sardar, Yi-Ting Cheng, Junsung Woo, Dong-Joo Choi, Zhung-Fu Lee, Wookbong Kwon, Hsiao-Chi Chen, Brittney Lozzi, Alexis Cervantes, Kavitha Rajendran, Teng-Wei Huang, Antrix Jain, Benjamin R Arenkiel, Ian Maze, Benjamin Deneen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Neuronal activity drives alterations in gene expression within neurons, yet how it directs transcriptional and epigenomic changes in neighboring astrocytes in functioning circuits is unknown. We found that neuronal activity induces widespread transcriptional upregulation and downregulation in astrocytes, highlighted by the identification of a neuromodulator transporter Slc22a3 as an activity-inducible astrocyte gene regulating sensory processing in the olfactory bulb. Loss of astrocytic Slc22a3 reduced serotonin (5HT) levels in astrocytes, leading to alterations in histone serotonylation. Inhibition of histone serotonylation in astrocytes reduced expression of GABA biosynthetic genes and GABA release, culminating in olfactory deficits. Our study revealed that neuronal activity …

Aging Fly Cell Atlas Identifies Exhaustive Aging Features At Cellular Resolution, Tzu-Chiao Lu, Maria Brbić, Ye-Jin Park, Tyler Jackson, Jiaye Chen, Sai Saroja Kolluru, Yanyan Qi, Nadja Sandra Katheder, Xiaoyu Tracy Cai, Seungjae Lee, Yen-Chung Chen, Niccole Auld, Chung-Yi Liang, Sophia H Ding, Doug Welsch, Samuel D'Souza, Angela Oliveira Pisco, Robert C Jones, Jure Leskovec, Eric C Lai, Hugo J Bellen, Liqun Luo, Heinrich Jasper, Stephen R Quake, Hongjie Li

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

Aging is characterized by a decline in tissue function, but the underlying changes at cellular resolution across the organism remain unclear. Here, we present the Aging Fly Cell Atlas, a single-nucleus transcriptomic map of the whole aging Drosophila. We characterize 163 distinct cell types and perform an in-depth analysis of changes in tissue cell composition, gene expression, and cell identities. We further develop aging clock models to predict the fly age and show that ribosomal gene expression is a conserved predictive factor for age. Combining all aging features, we find unique cell type-specific aging patterns. This atlas provides a …

Chronic Basal Forebrain Activation Improves Spatial Memory, Boosts Neurotrophin Receptor Expression, And Lowers Bace1 And Aβ42 Levels In The Cerebral Cortex In Mice, Jacob Kumro, Ashutosh Tripathi, Yun Lei, Jeremy Sword, Patrick Callahan, Alvin Terry, Xin-Yun Lu, Sergei A Kirov, Anilkumar Pillai, David T Blake

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The etiology of Alzheimer’s dementia has been hypothesized in terms of basal forebrain cholinergic decline, and in terms of reflecting beta-amyloid neuropathology. To study these different biological elements, we activated the basal forebrain in 5xFAD Alzheimer’s model mice and littermates. Mice received 5 months of 1 h per day intermittent stimulation of the basal forebrain, which includes cholinergic projections to the cortical mantle. Then, mice were behaviorally tested followed by tissue analysis. The 5xFAD mice performed worse in water-maze testing than littermates. Stimulated groups learned the water maze better than unstimulated groups. Stimulated groups had 2–3-fold increases in frontal cortex …

The Tempo And Mode Of Gene Regulatory Programs During Bacterial Infection, Rocio Diaz Escarcega, Abhijeet A Patil, Matthew D Meyer, Jose F Moruno-Manchon, Alexander D Silvagnoli, Louise D Mccullough, Andrey S Tsvetkov

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Tardigrades are microscopic invertebrates, which are capable of withstanding extreme environmental conditions, including high levels of radiation. A Tardigrade protein, Dsup (Damage Suppressor), protects the Tardigrade's DNA during harsh environmental stress and X-rays. When expressed in cancer cells, Dsup protects DNA from single- and double-strand breaks (DSBs) induced by radiation, increases survival of irradiated cells, and protects DNA from reactive oxygen species. These unusual properties of Dsup suggested that understanding how the protein functions may help in the design of small molecules that could protect humans during radiotherapy or space travel. Here, we investigated if Dsup is protective in cortical …

Aibp Regulates Trpv1 Activation In Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy By Controlling Lipid Raft Dynamics And Proximity To Tlr4 In Dorsal Root Ganglion Neurons, Juliana M Navia-Pelaez, Julia Borges Paes Lemes, Leonardo Gonzalez, Lauriane Delay, Luciano Dos Santos Aggum Capettini, Jenny W Lu, Gilson Gonçalves Dos Santos, Ann M Gregus, Patrick M Dougherty, Tony L Yaksh, Yury I Miller

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Nociceptive afferent signaling evoked by inflammation and nerve injury is mediated by the opening of ligand-gated and voltage-gated receptors or channels localized to cholesterol-rich lipid raft membrane domains. Dorsal root ganglion (DRG) nociceptors express high levels of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), which also localize to lipid rafts. Genetic deletion or pharmacologic blocking of TLR4 diminishes pain associated with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). In DRGs of mice with paclitaxel-induced CIPN, we analyzed DRG neuronal lipid rafts, expression of TLR4, activation of transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 1 (TRPV1), and TLR4-TRPV1 interaction. Using proximity ligation assay, flow cytometry, and …

De Novo Variants In Mrtfb Have Gain-Of-Function Activity In Drosophila And Are Associated With A Novel Neurodevelopmental Phenotype With Dysmorphic Features, Jonathan C Andrews, Jung-Wan Mok, Oguz Kanca, Sharayu Jangam, Cynthia Tifft, Ellen F Macnamara, Bianca E Russell, Lee-Kai Wang, Undiagnosed Diseases Network, Stanley F Nelson, Hugo J Bellen, Shinya Yamamoto, May Christine V Malicdan, Michael F Wangler

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

Purpose: Myocardin-related transcription factor B (MRTFB) is an important transcriptional regulator, which promotes the activity of an estimated 300 genes but is not known to underlie a Mendelian disorder.

Methods: Probands were identified through the efforts of the Undiagnosed Disease Network. Because the MRTFB protein is highly conserved between vertebrate and invertebrate model organisms, we generated a humanized Drosophila model expressing the human MRTFB protein in the same spatial and temporal pattern as the fly gene. Actin binding assays were used to validate the effect of the variants on MRTFB.

Results: Here, we report 2 pediatric probands with de novo …

Circadian Features Of Cluster Headache And Migraine: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, And Genetic Analysis, Barlas Benkli, Sun Young Kim, Nobuya Koike, Chorong Han, Celia K Tran, Emma Silva, Yuanqing Yan, Kazuhiro Yagita, Zheng Chen, Seung-Hee Yoo, Mark J Burish

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Cluster headache and migraine have circadian features at multiple levels (cellular, systems, and behavioral). A thorough understanding of their circadian features informs their pathophysiologies.

METHODS: A librarian created search criteria in MEDLINE Ovid, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library. Two physicians independently performed the remainder of the systematic review/meta-analysis using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Separate from the systematic review/meta-analysis, we performed a genetic analysis for genes with a circadian pattern of expression (clock-controlled genes or CCGs) by cross-referencing genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of headache, a nonhuman primate study of CCGs …

The Role Of Extracellular Heat Shock Proteins In Cardiovascular Diseases, Soumya Patnaik, Sriram Nathan, Biswajit Kar, Igor D Gregoric, Yi-Ping Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In the early 1960s, heat shock proteins (HSPs) were first identified as vital intracellular proteinaceous components that help in stress physiology and reprogram the cellular responses to enable the organism's survival. By the early 1990s, HSPs were detected in extracellular spaces and found to activate gamma-delta T-lymphocytes. Subsequent investigations identified their association with varied disease conditions, including autoimmune disorders, diabetes, cancer, hepatic, pancreatic, and renal disorders, and cachexia. In cardiology, extracellular HSPs play a definite, but still unclear, role in atherosclerosis, acute coronary syndromes, and heart failure. The possibility of HSP-targeted novel molecular therapeutics has generated much interest and hope …

Surgeons’ Knowledge Regarding Perioperative Pain Management In Patients With Opioid Use Disorder: A Survey Among 260 Members Of The American College Of Surgeons, Caroline E Crocker, Romana Sharmeen, Thu T Tran, Amir M Khan, Wen Li, Joseph L Alcorn

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Surfactant protein A (SP-A) has important roles in innate immunity and modulation of pulmonary and extrapulmonary inflammation. Given SP-A has been detected in rat and human brain, we sought to determine if SP-A has a role in modulating inflammation in the neonatal mouse brain. Neonatal wildtype (WT) and SP-A-deficient (SP-A

Glutamatergic Cerebellar Neurons Differentially Contribute To The Acquisition Of Motor And Social Behaviors, Meike E Van Der Heijden, Alejandro G Rey Hipolito, Linda H Kim, Dominic J Kizek, Ross M Perez, Tao Lin, Roy V Sillitoe

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

Insults to the developing cerebellum can cause motor, language, and social deficits. Here, we investigate whether developmental insults to different cerebellar neurons constrain the ability to acquire cerebellar-dependent behaviors. We perturb cerebellar cortical or nuclei neuron function by eliminating glutamatergic neurotransmission during development, and then we measure motor and social behaviors in early postnatal and adult mice. Altering cortical and nuclei neurons impacts postnatal motor control and social vocalizations. Normalizing neurotransmission in cortical neurons but not nuclei neurons restores social behaviors while the motor deficits remain impaired in adults. In contrast, manipulating only a subset of nuclei neurons leaves social …

Efficient Cancer Modeling Through Crispr-Cas9/Hdr-Based Somatic Precision Gene Editing In Mice, Wen Bu, Chad J Creighton, Kelsey S Heavener, Carolina Gutierrez, Yongchao Dou, Amy T Ku, Yiqun Zhang, Weiyu Jiang, Jazmin Urrutia, Wen Jiang, Fei Yue, Luyu Jia, Ahmed Atef Ibrahim, Bing Zhang, Shixia Huang, Yi Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

CRISPR-Cas9 has been used successfully to introduce indels in somatic cells of rodents; however, precise editing of single nucleotides has been hampered by limitations of flexibility and efficiency. Here, we report technological modifications to the CRISPR-Cas9 vector system that now allows homology-directed repair-mediated precise editing of any proto-oncogene in murine somatic tissues to generate tumor models with high flexibility and efficiency. Somatic editing of either

Tfeb And Tfe3 Drive Kidney Cystogenesis And Tumorigenesis, Chiara Di Malta, Angela Zampelli, Letizia Granieri, Claudia Vilardo, Rossella De Cegli, Laura Cinque, Edoardo Nusco, Salvatore Pece, Daniela Tosoni, Francesca Sanguedolce, Nicolina Cristina Sorrentino, Maria J Merino, Deborah Nielsen, Ramaprasad Srinivasan, Mark W Ball, Christopher J Ricketts, Cathy D Vocke, Martin Lang, Baktiar Karim, Luisa Lanfrancone, Laura S Schmidt, W Marston Linehan, Andrea Ballabio

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

Birt-Hogg-Dubé (BHD) syndrome is an inherited familial cancer syndrome characterized by the development of cutaneous lesions, pulmonary cysts, renal tumors and cysts and caused by loss-of-function pathogenic variants in the gene encoding the tumor-suppressor protein folliculin (FLCN). FLCN acts as a negative regulator of TFEB and TFE3 transcription factors, master controllers of lysosomal biogenesis and autophagy, by enabling their phosphorylation by the mechanistic Target Of Rapamycin Complex 1 (mTORC1). We have previously shown that deletion of Tfeb rescued the renal cystic phenotype of kidney-specific Flcn KO mice. Using Flcn/Tfeb/Tfe3 double and triple KO mice, we now show that both Tfeb …