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Articles 1 - 24 of 24

Full-Text Articles in Oncology

Noninvasive Liquid Diet Delivery Of Stable Isotopes Into Mouse Models For Deep Metabolic Network Tracing, Ramon C. Sun, Teresa W.-M. Fan, Pan Deng, Richard M. Higashi, Andrew N. Lane, Anh-Thu Le, Timothy L. Scott, Qiushi Sun, Marc O. Warmoes, Ye Yang Nov 2017

Noninvasive Liquid Diet Delivery Of Stable Isotopes Into Mouse Models For Deep Metabolic Network Tracing, Ramon C. Sun, Teresa W.-M. Fan, Pan Deng, Richard M. Higashi, Andrew N. Lane, Anh-Thu Le, Timothy L. Scott, Qiushi Sun, Marc O. Warmoes, Ye Yang

Center for Environmental and Systems Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Delivering isotopic tracers for metabolic studies in rodents without overt stress is challenging. Current methods achieve low label enrichment in proteins and lipids. Here, we report noninvasive introduction of 13C6-glucose via a stress-free, ad libitum liquid diet. Using NMR and ion chromatography-mass spectrometry, we quantify extensive 13C enrichment in products of glycolysis, the Krebs cycle, the pentose phosphate pathway, nucleobases, UDP-sugars, glycogen, lipids, and proteins in mouse tissues during 12 to 48 h of 13C6-glucose feeding. Applying this approach to patient-derived lung tumor xenografts (PDTX), we show that the liver supplies glucose-derived Gln …


Top2a And Ezh2 Provide Early Detection Of An Aggressive Prostate Cancer Subgroup., David P. Labbé, Christopher J. Sweeney, Myles Brown, Phillip Galbo, Spencer Rosario, Kristine M. Wadosky, Sheng-Yu Ku, Martin Sjöström, Mohammed Alshalalfa, Nicholas Erho, Elai Davicioni, R. Jeffrey Karnes, Edward M. Schaeffer, Robert B. Jenkins, Robert B. Den, Ashley E. Ross, Michaela Bowden, Ying Huang, Kathryn P. Gray, Felix Y. Feng, Daniel E. Spratt, David W. Goodrich, Kevin H. Eng, Leigh Ellis Nov 2017

Top2a And Ezh2 Provide Early Detection Of An Aggressive Prostate Cancer Subgroup., David P. Labbé, Christopher J. Sweeney, Myles Brown, Phillip Galbo, Spencer Rosario, Kristine M. Wadosky, Sheng-Yu Ku, Martin Sjöström, Mohammed Alshalalfa, Nicholas Erho, Elai Davicioni, R. Jeffrey Karnes, Edward M. Schaeffer, Robert B. Jenkins, Robert B. Den, Ashley E. Ross, Michaela Bowden, Ying Huang, Kathryn P. Gray, Felix Y. Feng, Daniel E. Spratt, David W. Goodrich, Kevin H. Eng, Leigh Ellis

Department of Radiation Oncology Faculty Papers

Purpose: Current clinical parameters do not stratify indolent from aggressive prostate cancer. Aggressive prostate cancer, defined by the progression from localized disease to metastasis, is responsible for the majority of prostate cancer–associated mortality. Recent gene expression profiling has proven successful in predicting the outcome of prostate cancer patients; however, they have yet to provide targeted therapy approaches that could inhibit a patient's progression to metastatic disease. Experimental Design: We have interrogated a total of seven primary prostate cancer cohorts (n = 1,900), two metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer datasets (n = 293), and one prospective cohort (n = 1,385) to assess …


Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts Neutralize The Anti-Tumor Effect Of Csf1 Receptor Blockade By Inducing Pmn-Mdsc Infiltration Of Tumors., Vinit Kumar, Laxminarasimha Donthireddy, Douglas Marvel, Thomas Condamine, Fang Wang, Sergio Lavilla-Alonso, Ayumi Hashimoto, Prashanthi Vonteddu, Reeti Behera, Marlee A. Goins, Charles Mulligan, Brian Nam, Neil Hockstein, Fred Denstman, Shanti Shakamuri, David W. Speicher, Ashani T. Weeraratna, Timothy Chao, Robert H. Vonderheide, Lucia R. Languino, Peter Ordentlich, Qin Liu, Xiaowei Xu, Albert Lo, Ellen Puré, Chunsheng Zhang, Andrey Loboda, Manuel A. Sepulveda, Linda A. Snyder, Dmitry I. Gabrilovich Nov 2017

Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts Neutralize The Anti-Tumor Effect Of Csf1 Receptor Blockade By Inducing Pmn-Mdsc Infiltration Of Tumors., Vinit Kumar, Laxminarasimha Donthireddy, Douglas Marvel, Thomas Condamine, Fang Wang, Sergio Lavilla-Alonso, Ayumi Hashimoto, Prashanthi Vonteddu, Reeti Behera, Marlee A. Goins, Charles Mulligan, Brian Nam, Neil Hockstein, Fred Denstman, Shanti Shakamuri, David W. Speicher, Ashani T. Weeraratna, Timothy Chao, Robert H. Vonderheide, Lucia R. Languino, Peter Ordentlich, Qin Liu, Xiaowei Xu, Albert Lo, Ellen Puré, Chunsheng Zhang, Andrey Loboda, Manuel A. Sepulveda, Linda A. Snyder, Dmitry I. Gabrilovich

Kimmel Cancer Center Papers, Presentations, and Grand Rounds

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) contribute to all aspects of tumor progression. Use of CSF1R inhibitors to target TAM is therapeutically appealing, but has had very limited anti-tumor effects. Here, we have identified the mechanism that limited the effect of CSF1R targeted therapy. We demonstrated that carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAF) are major sources of chemokines that recruit granulocytes to tumors. CSF1 produced by tumor cells caused HDAC2-mediated downregulation of granulocyte-specific chemokine expression in CAF, which limited migration of these cells to tumors. Treatment with CSF1R inhibitors disrupted this crosstalk and triggered a profound increase in granulocyte recruitment to tumors. Combining CSF1R inhibitor with …


Tumor Suppressor Pdcd4 Attenuates Sin1 Translation To Inhibit Invasion In Colon Carcinoma, Qing Wang, Jiang Zhu, Ya-Wen Wang, Yong Dai, Yanlei Wang, Chi Wang, Jinpeng Liu, Alyson Baker, Nancy H. Colburn, Hsin-Sheng Yang Nov 2017

Tumor Suppressor Pdcd4 Attenuates Sin1 Translation To Inhibit Invasion In Colon Carcinoma, Qing Wang, Jiang Zhu, Ya-Wen Wang, Yong Dai, Yanlei Wang, Chi Wang, Jinpeng Liu, Alyson Baker, Nancy H. Colburn, Hsin-Sheng Yang

Toxicology and Cancer Biology Faculty Publications

Programmed cell death 4 (Pdcd4), a tumor invasion suppressor, is frequently downregulated in colorectal cancer and other cancers. In this study, we find that loss of Pdcd4 increases the activity of mammalian target of rapamycin complex 2 (mTORC2) and thereby upregulates Snail expression. Examining the components of mTORC2 showed that Pdcd4 knockdown increased the protein but not mRNA level of stress-activated-protein kinase interacting protein 1 (Sin1), which resulted from enhanced Sin1 translation. To understand how Pdcd4 regulates Sin1 translation, the SIN1 5′ untranslated region (5′UTR) was fused with luciferase reporter and named as 5′Sin1-Luc. Pdcd4 knockdown/knockout significantly increased the translation …


Timing Of Pd-1 Blockade Is Critical To Effective Combination Immunotherapy With Anti-Ox40., David J Messenheimer, Shawn M. Jensen, Michael E Afentoulis, Keith W Wegman, Zipei Feng, David J Friedman, Michael J. Gough, Walter Urba, Bernard A Fox Oct 2017

Timing Of Pd-1 Blockade Is Critical To Effective Combination Immunotherapy With Anti-Ox40., David J Messenheimer, Shawn M. Jensen, Michael E Afentoulis, Keith W Wegman, Zipei Feng, David J Friedman, Michael J. Gough, Walter Urba, Bernard A Fox

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Purpose: Antibodies specific for inhibitory checkpoints PD-1 and CTLA-4 have shown impressive results against solid tumors. This has fueled interest in novel immunotherapy combinations to affect patients who remain refractory to checkpoint blockade monotherapy. However, how to optimally combine checkpoint blockade with agents targeting T-cell costimulatory receptors, such as OX40, remains a critical question.Experimental Design: We utilized an anti-PD-1-refractory, orthotopically transplanted MMTV-PyMT mammary cancer model to investigate the antitumor effect of an agonist anti-OX40 antibody combined with anti-PD-1. As PD-1 naturally aids in immune contraction after T-cell activation, we treated mice with concurrent combination treatment versus sequentially administering anti-OX40 …


Probing The Metabolic Phenotype Of Breast Cancer Cells By Multiple Tracer Stable Isotope Resolved Metabolomics, Andrew N. Lane, Julie Tan, Yali Wang, Jun Yan, Richard M. Higashi, Teresa W. -M. Fan Sep 2017

Probing The Metabolic Phenotype Of Breast Cancer Cells By Multiple Tracer Stable Isotope Resolved Metabolomics, Andrew N. Lane, Julie Tan, Yali Wang, Jun Yan, Richard M. Higashi, Teresa W. -M. Fan

Center for Environmental and Systems Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Breast cancers vary by their origin and specific set of genetic lesions, which gives rise to distinct phenotypes and differential response to targeted and untargeted chemotherapies. To explore the functional differences of different breast cell types, we performed Stable Isotope Resolved Metabolomics (SIRM) studies of one primary breast (HMEC) and three breast cancer cells (MCF-7, MDAMB-231, and ZR75-1) having distinct genotypes and growth characteristics, using 13C6-glucose, 13C-1+2-glucose, 13C5,15N2-Gln, 13C3-glycerol, and 13C8-octanoate as tracers. These tracers were designed to probe the central energy producing …


Posttranscriptional Upregulation Of Idh1 By Hur Establishes A Powerful Survival Phenotype In Pancreatic Cancer Cells., Mahsa Zarei, Shruti Lal, Seth J. Parker, Avinoam Nevler, Ali Vaziri-Gohar, Katerina Dukleska, Nicole C. Mambelli-Lisboa, Cynthia Moffat, Fernando F Blanco, Saswati N. Chand, Masaya Jimbo, Joseph A. Cozzitorto, Wei Jiang, Charles J. Yeo, Eric R. Londin, Erin L. Seifert, Christian M. Metallo, Jonathan R. Brody, Jordan M. Winter Aug 2017

Posttranscriptional Upregulation Of Idh1 By Hur Establishes A Powerful Survival Phenotype In Pancreatic Cancer Cells., Mahsa Zarei, Shruti Lal, Seth J. Parker, Avinoam Nevler, Ali Vaziri-Gohar, Katerina Dukleska, Nicole C. Mambelli-Lisboa, Cynthia Moffat, Fernando F Blanco, Saswati N. Chand, Masaya Jimbo, Joseph A. Cozzitorto, Wei Jiang, Charles J. Yeo, Eric R. Londin, Erin L. Seifert, Christian M. Metallo, Jonathan R. Brody, Jordan M. Winter

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

Cancer aggressiveness may result from the selective pressure of a harsh nutrient-deprived microenvironment. Here we illustrate how such conditions promote chemotherapy resistance in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Glucose or glutamine withdrawal resulted in a 5- to 10-fold protective effect with chemotherapy treatment. PDAC xenografts were less sensitive to gemcitabine in hypoglycemic mice compared with hyperglycemic mice. Consistent with this observation, patients receiving adjuvant gemcitabine (n = 107) with elevated serum glucose levels (HgbA1C > 6.5%) exhibited improved survival. We identified enhanced antioxidant defense as a driver of chemoresistance in this setting. ROS levels were doubled in vitro by either nutrient withdrawal …


Abl Kinase Regulation By Braf/Erk And Cooperation With Akt In Melanoma, Aditi Jain, Rakshamani Tripathi, Courtney P. Turpin, Chi Wang, Rina Plattner Aug 2017

Abl Kinase Regulation By Braf/Erk And Cooperation With Akt In Melanoma, Aditi Jain, Rakshamani Tripathi, Courtney P. Turpin, Chi Wang, Rina Plattner

Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

The melanoma incidence continues to increase, and the disease remains incurable for many due to its metastatic nature and high rate of therapeutic resistance. In particular, melanomas harboring BRAFV600E and PTEN mutations often are resistant to current therapies, including BRAF inhibitors (BRAFi) and immune checkpoint inhibitors. Abl kinases (Abl/Arg) are activated in melanomas and drive progression; however, their mechanism of activation has not been established. Here we elucidate a novel link between BRAFV600E/ERK signaling and Abl kinases. We demonstrate that BRAFV600E/ERK play a critical role in binding, phosphorylating and regulating Abl localization and Abl/Arg activation …


A Naturally Generated Decoy Of The Prostate Apoptosis Response-4 Protein Overcomes Therapy Resistance In Tumors, Nikhil Hebbar, Ravshan Burikhanov, Nidhi Shukla, Shirley Qiu, Yanming Zhao, Kojo S. J. Elenitoba-Johnson, Vivek M. Rangnekar Aug 2017

A Naturally Generated Decoy Of The Prostate Apoptosis Response-4 Protein Overcomes Therapy Resistance In Tumors, Nikhil Hebbar, Ravshan Burikhanov, Nidhi Shukla, Shirley Qiu, Yanming Zhao, Kojo S. J. Elenitoba-Johnson, Vivek M. Rangnekar

Radiation Medicine Faculty Publications

Primary tumors are often heterogeneous, composed of therapy-sensitive and emerging therapy-resistant cancer cells. Interestingly, treatment of therapy-sensitive tumors in heterogeneous tumor microenvironments results in apoptosis of therapy-resistant tumors. In this study, we identify a prostate apoptosis response-4 (Par-4) amino-terminal fragment (PAF) that is released by diverse therapy-sensitive cancer cells following therapy-induced caspase cleavage of the tumor suppressor Par-4 protein. PAF caused apoptosis in cancer cells resistant to therapy and inhibited tumor growth. A VASA segment of Par-4 mediated its binding and degradation by the ubiquitin ligase Fbxo45, resulting in loss of Par-4 proapoptotic function. Conversely, PAF, which contains this VASA …


Chloroformate Derivatization For Tracing The Fate Of Amino Acids In Cells And Tissues By Multiple Stable Isotope Resolved Metabolomics (Msirm), Ye Yang, Teresa W. -M. Fan, Andrew N. Lane, Richard M. Higashi Jul 2017

Chloroformate Derivatization For Tracing The Fate Of Amino Acids In Cells And Tissues By Multiple Stable Isotope Resolved Metabolomics (Msirm), Ye Yang, Teresa W. -M. Fan, Andrew N. Lane, Richard M. Higashi

Center for Environmental and Systems Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Amino acids have crucial roles in central metabolism, both anabolic and catabolic. To elucidate these roles, steady-state concentrations of amino acids alone are insufficient, as each amino acid participates in multiple pathways and functions in a complex network, which can also be compartmentalized. Stable Isotope-Resolved Metabolomics (SIRM) is an approach that uses atom-resolved tracking of metabolites through biochemical transformations in cells, tissues, or whole organisms. Using different elemental stable isotopes to label multiple metabolite precursors makes it possible to resolve simultaneously the utilization of these precursors in a single experiment. Conversely, a single precursor labeled with two (or more) different …


Cyclin D1 Restrains Oncogene-Induced Autophagy By Regulating The Ampk-Lkb1 Signaling Axis., Mathew C. Casimiro, Gabriele Disante, Agnese Di Rocco, Emanuele Loro, Claudia Pupo, Timothy G. Pestell, Sara Bisetto, Marco A. Velasco-Velázquez, Xuanmao Jiao, Zhiping Li, Christine M. Kusminski, Erin L. Seifert, Chenguang Wang, Daniel Ly, Bin Zheng, Che-Hung Shen, Philipp E. Scherer, Richard Pestell Jul 2017

Cyclin D1 Restrains Oncogene-Induced Autophagy By Regulating The Ampk-Lkb1 Signaling Axis., Mathew C. Casimiro, Gabriele Disante, Agnese Di Rocco, Emanuele Loro, Claudia Pupo, Timothy G. Pestell, Sara Bisetto, Marco A. Velasco-Velázquez, Xuanmao Jiao, Zhiping Li, Christine M. Kusminski, Erin L. Seifert, Chenguang Wang, Daniel Ly, Bin Zheng, Che-Hung Shen, Philipp E. Scherer, Richard Pestell

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Autophagy activated after DNA damage or other stresses mitigates cellular damage by removing damaged proteins, lipids, and organelles. Activation of the master metabolic kinase AMPK enhances autophagy. Here we report that cyclin D1 restrains autophagy by modulating the activation of AMPK. In cell models of human breast cancer or in a cyclin D1-deficient model, we observed a cyclin D1-mediated reduction in AMPK activation. Mechanistic investigations showed that cyclin D1 inhibited mitochondrial function, promoted glycolysis, and reduced activation of AMPK (pT172), possibly through a mechanism that involves cyclin D1-Cdk4/Cdk6 phosphorylation of LKB1. Our findings suggest how AMPK activation by cyclin D1 …


Inhibition Of Age-Related Therapy Resistance In Melanoma By Rosiglitazone-Mediated Induction Of Klotho., Reeti Behera, Amanpreet Kaur, Marie R. Webster, Suyeon Kim, Abibatou Ndoye, Curtis H. Kugel, Gretchen M. Alicea, Joshua Wang, Kanad Ghosh, Phil Cheng, Sofia Lisanti, Katie Marchbank, Vanessa Dang, Mitchell Levesque, Reinhard Dummer, Xiaowei Xu, Meenhard Herlyn, Andrew E. Aplin, Alexander Roesch, Cecilia Caino, Dario C. Altieri, Ashani T. Weeraratna Jun 2017

Inhibition Of Age-Related Therapy Resistance In Melanoma By Rosiglitazone-Mediated Induction Of Klotho., Reeti Behera, Amanpreet Kaur, Marie R. Webster, Suyeon Kim, Abibatou Ndoye, Curtis H. Kugel, Gretchen M. Alicea, Joshua Wang, Kanad Ghosh, Phil Cheng, Sofia Lisanti, Katie Marchbank, Vanessa Dang, Mitchell Levesque, Reinhard Dummer, Xiaowei Xu, Meenhard Herlyn, Andrew E. Aplin, Alexander Roesch, Cecilia Caino, Dario C. Altieri, Ashani T. Weeraratna

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Purpose: Aging is a poor prognostic factor for melanoma. We have shown that melanoma cells in an aged microenvironment are more resistant to targeted therapy than identical cells in a young microenvironment. This is dependent on age-related secreted factors. Klotho is an age-related protein whose serum levels decrease dramatically by age 40. Most studies on klotho in cancer have focused on the expression of klotho in the tumor cell. We have shown that exogenous klotho inhibits internalization and signaling of Wnt5A, which drives melanoma metastasis and resistance to targeted therapy. We investigate here whether increasing klotho in the aged microenvironment …


Modulation Of Bax And Mtor For Cancer Therapeutics., Rui Li, Chunyong Ding, Jun Zhang, Maohua Xie, Dongkyoo Park, Ye Ding, Guo Chen, Guojing Zhang, Melissa Gilbert-Ross, Wei Zhou, Adam I Marcus, Shi-Yong Sun, Zhuo G Chen, Gabriel L Sica, Suresh S Ramalingam, Andrew T Magis, Haian Fu, Fadlo R Khuri, Walter J Curran, Taofeek K Owonikoko, Dong M Shin, Jia Zhou, Xingming Deng Jun 2017

Modulation Of Bax And Mtor For Cancer Therapeutics., Rui Li, Chunyong Ding, Jun Zhang, Maohua Xie, Dongkyoo Park, Ye Ding, Guo Chen, Guojing Zhang, Melissa Gilbert-Ross, Wei Zhou, Adam I Marcus, Shi-Yong Sun, Zhuo G Chen, Gabriel L Sica, Suresh S Ramalingam, Andrew T Magis, Haian Fu, Fadlo R Khuri, Walter J Curran, Taofeek K Owonikoko, Dong M Shin, Jia Zhou, Xingming Deng

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

A rationale exists for pharmacologic manipulation of the serine (S)184 phosphorylation site of the proapoptotic Bcl2 family member Bax as an anticancer strategy. Here, we report the refinement of the Bax agonist SMBA1 to generate CYD-2-11, which has characteristics of a suitable clinical lead compound. CYD-2-11 targeted the structural pocket proximal to S184 in the C-terminal region of Bax, directly activating its proapoptotic activity by inducing a conformational change enabling formation of Bax homooligomers in mitochondrial membranes. In murine models of small-cell and non-small cell lung cancers, including patient-derived xenograft and the genetically engineered mutant KRAS-driven lung cancer models, CYD-2-11 …


Ccr4 Is A Determinant Of Melanoma Brain Metastasis., Anat Klein, Orit Sagi-Assif, Tsipi Meshel, Alona Telerman, Sivan Izraely, Shlomit Ben-Menachem, Jagadeesh Bayry, Diego M Marzese, Shuichi Ohe, Dave S B Hoon, Neta Erez, Isaac P Witz May 2017

Ccr4 Is A Determinant Of Melanoma Brain Metastasis., Anat Klein, Orit Sagi-Assif, Tsipi Meshel, Alona Telerman, Sivan Izraely, Shlomit Ben-Menachem, Jagadeesh Bayry, Diego M Marzese, Shuichi Ohe, Dave S B Hoon, Neta Erez, Isaac P Witz

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

We previously identified the chemokine receptor CCR4 as part of the molecular signature of melanoma brain metastasis. The aim of this study was to determine the functional significance of CCR4 in melanoma brain metastasis. We show that CCR4 is more highly expressed by brain metastasizing melanoma cells than by local cutaneous cells from the same melanoma. Moreover, we found that the expression of CCR4 is significantly higher in paired clinical specimens of melanoma metastases than in samples of primary tumors from the same patients. Notably, the expression of the CCR4 ligands, Ccl22 and Ccl17 is upregulated at the earliest stages …


Sigma1 Targeting To Suppress Aberrant Androgen Receptor Signaling In Prostate Cancer., Jeffrey D. Thomas, Charles G. Longen, Halley M. Oyer, Nan Chen, Christina M. Maher, Joseph M. Salvino, Blase Kania, Kelsey N. Anderson, William F. Ostrander, Karen E. Knudsen, Felix J. Kim May 2017

Sigma1 Targeting To Suppress Aberrant Androgen Receptor Signaling In Prostate Cancer., Jeffrey D. Thomas, Charles G. Longen, Halley M. Oyer, Nan Chen, Christina M. Maher, Joseph M. Salvino, Blase Kania, Kelsey N. Anderson, William F. Ostrander, Karen E. Knudsen, Felix J. Kim

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Suppression of androgen receptor (AR) activity in prostate cancer by androgen depletion or direct AR antagonist treatment, although initially effective, leads to incurable castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) via compensatory mechanisms including resurgence of AR and AR splice variant (ARV) signaling. Emerging evidence suggests that Sigma1 (also known as sigma-1 receptor) is a unique chaperone or scaffolding protein that contributes to cellular protein homeostasis. We reported previously that some Sigma1-selective small molecules can be used to pharmacologically modulate protein homeostasis pathways. We hypothesized that these Sigma1-mediated responses could be exploited to suppress AR protein levels and activity. Here we demonstrate that …


Induction And Characterization Of Anti-Tumor Endothelium Immunity Elicited By Vallovax Therapeutic Cancer Vaccine., Samuel C Wagner, Thomas E Ichim, Vladimir Bogin, Wei-Ping Min, Francisco Silva, Amit N Patel, Santosh Kesari Apr 2017

Induction And Characterization Of Anti-Tumor Endothelium Immunity Elicited By Vallovax Therapeutic Cancer Vaccine., Samuel C Wagner, Thomas E Ichim, Vladimir Bogin, Wei-Ping Min, Francisco Silva, Amit N Patel, Santosh Kesari

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

ValloVax is a placental endothelium derived vaccine which induces tissue-nonspecific antitumor immunity by blocking tumor angiogesis. To elucidate mechanisms of action, we showed that production of ValloVax, which involves treating placental endothelial cells with IFN-gamma, results in upregulation of HLA and costimulatory molecules. It was shown that in mixed lymphocyte reaction, ValloVax induces Type I cytokines and allo-proliferative responses. Plasma from ValloVax immunized mice was capable of killing in vitro tumor-like endothelium but not control endothelium. Using defined antigens associated with tumor endothelial cells, specific molecular entities were identified as being targeted by ValloVax induced antibodies. Binding of predominantly IgG …


Atr Mutations Promote The Growth Of Melanoma Tumors By Modulating The Immune Microenvironment., Chi-Fen Chen, Rolando Ruiz-Vega, Priya Vasudeva, Francisco Espitia, Tatiana B Krasieva, Sebastien De Feraudy, Bruce J Tromberg, Sharon Huang, Chad P Garner, Jie Wu, Dave S B Hoon, Anand K Ganesan Mar 2017

Atr Mutations Promote The Growth Of Melanoma Tumors By Modulating The Immune Microenvironment., Chi-Fen Chen, Rolando Ruiz-Vega, Priya Vasudeva, Francisco Espitia, Tatiana B Krasieva, Sebastien De Feraudy, Bruce J Tromberg, Sharon Huang, Chad P Garner, Jie Wu, Dave S B Hoon, Anand K Ganesan

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Melanomas accumulate a high burden of mutations that could potentially generate neoantigens, yet somehow suppress the immune response to facilitate continued growth. In this study, we identify a subset of human melanomas that have loss-of-function mutations in ATR, a kinase that recognizes and repairs UV-induced DNA damage and is required for cellular proliferation. ATR mutant tumors exhibit both the accumulation of multiple mutations and the altered expression of inflammatory genes, resulting in decreased T cell recruitment and increased recruitment of macrophages known to spur tumor invasion. Taken together, these studies identify a mechanism by which melanoma cells modulate the immune …


Relb Expression Determines The Differential Effects Of Ascorbic Acid In Normal And Cancer Cells, Xiaowei Wei, Yong Xu, Fang Fang Xu, Luksana Chaiswing, David M. Schnell, Teresa Noel, Chi Wang, Jinfei Chen, Daret K. St. Clair, William H. St. Clair Mar 2017

Relb Expression Determines The Differential Effects Of Ascorbic Acid In Normal And Cancer Cells, Xiaowei Wei, Yong Xu, Fang Fang Xu, Luksana Chaiswing, David M. Schnell, Teresa Noel, Chi Wang, Jinfei Chen, Daret K. St. Clair, William H. St. Clair

Toxicology and Cancer Biology Faculty Publications

Cancer cells typically experience higher oxidative stress than normal cells, such that elevating pro-oxidant levels can trigger cancer cell death. Although pre-exposure to mild oxidative agents will sensitize cancer cells to radiation, this pre-exposure may also activate the adaptive stress defense system in normal cells. Ascorbic acid is a prototype redox modulator that when infused intravenously appears to kill cancers without injury to normal tissues; however, the mechanisms involved remain elusive. In this study, we show how ascorbic acid kills cancer cells and sensitizes prostate cancer to radiation therapy while also conferring protection upon normal prostate epithelial cells against radiation-induced …


Differentiated State Of Initiating Tumor Cells Is Key To Distinctive Immune Responses Seen In H-Ras, Michael A Podolsky, Jacob T Bailey, Andrew J Gunderson, Carrie J Oakes, Kyle Breech, Adam B Glick Mar 2017

Differentiated State Of Initiating Tumor Cells Is Key To Distinctive Immune Responses Seen In H-Ras, Michael A Podolsky, Jacob T Bailey, Andrew J Gunderson, Carrie J Oakes, Kyle Breech, Adam B Glick

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Heterogeneity in tumor immune responses is a poorly understood yet critical parameter for successful immunotherapy. In two doxycycline-inducible models where oncogenic H-RasG12V is targeted either to the epidermal basal/stem cell layer with a Keratin14-rtTA transgene (K14Ras), or committed progenitor/suprabasal cells with an Involucrin-tTA transgene (InvRas), we observed strikingly distinct tumor immune responses. On threshold doxycycline levels yielding similar Ras expression, tumor latency, and numbers, tumors from K14Ras mice had an immunosuppressed microenvironment, whereas InvRas tumors had a proinflammatory microenvironment. On a Rag1-/- background, InvRas mice developed fewer and smaller tumors that regressed over time, whereas K14Ras mice developed more …


The Distinct Metabolic Phenotype Of Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma Defines Selective Vulnerability To Glycolytic Inhibition, Justin Goodwin, Michael L. Neugent, Shin Yup Lee, Joshua H. Choe, Hyunsung Choi, Dana M. R. Jenkins, Robin J. Ruthenborg, Maddox W. Robinson, Ji Yun Jeong, Masaki Wake, Hajime Abe, Norihiko Takeda, Hiroko Endo, Masahiro Inoue, Zhenyu Xuan, Hyuntae Yoo, Min Chen, Jung-Mo Ahn, John D. Minna, Kristi L. Helke, Pankaj K. Singh, David B. Shackelford, Jung-Whan Kim Jan 2017

The Distinct Metabolic Phenotype Of Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma Defines Selective Vulnerability To Glycolytic Inhibition, Justin Goodwin, Michael L. Neugent, Shin Yup Lee, Joshua H. Choe, Hyunsung Choi, Dana M. R. Jenkins, Robin J. Ruthenborg, Maddox W. Robinson, Ji Yun Jeong, Masaki Wake, Hajime Abe, Norihiko Takeda, Hiroko Endo, Masahiro Inoue, Zhenyu Xuan, Hyuntae Yoo, Min Chen, Jung-Mo Ahn, John D. Minna, Kristi L. Helke, Pankaj K. Singh, David B. Shackelford, Jung-Whan Kim

Journal Articles: Eppley Institute

Adenocarcinoma (ADC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) are the two predominant subtypes of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and are distinct in their histological, molecular and clinical presentation. However, metabolic signatures specific to individual NSCLC subtypes remain unknown. Here, we perform an integrative analysis of human NSCLC tumour samples, patient-derived xenografts, murine model of NSCLC, NSCLC cell lines and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and reveal a markedly elevated expression of the GLUT1 glucose transporter in lung SqCC, which augments glucose uptake and glycolytic flux. We show that a critical reliance on glycolysis renders lung SqCC vulnerable to glycolytic inhibition, …


Sting Expression And Response To Treatment With Sting Ligands In Premalignant And Malignant Disease., Jason R Baird, Zipei Feng, Hong D Xiao, David Friedman, Ben Cottam, Bernard A Fox, Gwen Kramer, Rom S Leidner, Richard Bryan Bell, Kristina H Young, Marka R Crittenden, Michael J Gough Jan 2017

Sting Expression And Response To Treatment With Sting Ligands In Premalignant And Malignant Disease., Jason R Baird, Zipei Feng, Hong D Xiao, David Friedman, Ben Cottam, Bernard A Fox, Gwen Kramer, Rom S Leidner, Richard Bryan Bell, Kristina H Young, Marka R Crittenden, Michael J Gough

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Human papilloma virus positive (HPV+) tumors represent a large proportion of anal, vulvar, vaginal, cervical and head and neck squamous carcinomas (HNSCC) and late stage invasive disease is thought to originate from a premalignant state. Cyclic dinucleotides that activate STimulator of INterferon Genes (STING) have been shown to cause rapid regression of a range of advanced tumors. We aimed to investigate STING ligands as a novel treatment for papilloma. We tested therapies in a spontaneous mouse model of papilloma of the face and anogenital region that histologically resembles human HPV-associated papilloma. We demonstrate that STING ligands cause rapid regression of …


Astrocytes Promote Progression Of Breast Cancer Metastases To The Brain Via A Kiss1-Mediated Autophagy., Natalya Kaverina, Anton V Borovjagin, Zaira Kadagidze, Anatoly Baryshnikov, Maria Baryshnikova, Dmitry Malin, Dhimankrishhna Ghosh, Nameeta Shah, Danny R Welch, Patrik Gabikian, Apollon Karseladze, Charles Cobbs, Ilya V Ulasov Jan 2017

Astrocytes Promote Progression Of Breast Cancer Metastases To The Brain Via A Kiss1-Mediated Autophagy., Natalya Kaverina, Anton V Borovjagin, Zaira Kadagidze, Anatoly Baryshnikov, Maria Baryshnikova, Dmitry Malin, Dhimankrishhna Ghosh, Nameeta Shah, Danny R Welch, Patrik Gabikian, Apollon Karseladze, Charles Cobbs, Ilya V Ulasov

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Formation of metastases, also known as cancer dissemination, is an important stage of breast cancer (BrCa) development. KISS1 expression is associated with inhibition of metastases development. Recently we have demonstrated that BrCa metastases to the brain exhibit low levels of KISS1 expression at both mRNA and protein levels. By using multicolor immunofluorescence and coculture techniques here we show that normal adult astrocytes in the brain are capable of promoting metastatic transformation of circulating breast cancer cells localized to the brain through secretion of chemokine CXCL12. The latter was found in this study to downregulate KISS1 expression at the post-transcriptional level …


Foxc1 Is Associated With Estrogen Receptor Alpha And Affects Sensitivity Of Tamoxifen Treatment In Breast Cancer., Jinhua Wang, Yali Xu, Li Li, Lin Wang, Ru Yao, Qiang Sun, Guanhua Du Jan 2017

Foxc1 Is Associated With Estrogen Receptor Alpha And Affects Sensitivity Of Tamoxifen Treatment In Breast Cancer., Jinhua Wang, Yali Xu, Li Li, Lin Wang, Ru Yao, Qiang Sun, Guanhua Du

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

FOXC1 is a member of Forkhead box transcription factors that participates in embryonic development and tumorigenesis. Our previous study demonstrated that FOXC1 was highly expressed in triple-negative breast cancer. However, it remains unclear what is the relation between FOXC1 and ERα and if FOXC1 regulates expression of ERα. To explore relation between FOXC1 and ERα and discover regulation of ERα expression by FOXC1 in breast cancer, we analyzed data assembled in the Oncomine and TCGA, and found that there was significantly higher FOXC1 expression in estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer than that in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. Overexpression of FOXC1 reduced …


Differential Phenotypes Of Memory Cd4 And Cd8 T Cells In The Spleen And Peripheral Tissues Following Immunostimulatory Therapy., Gail D Sckisel, Annie Mirsoian, Christine M Minnar, Marka R Crittenden, Brendan Curti, Jane Q Chen, Bruce R Blazar, Alexander D Borowsky, Arta M Monjazeb, William J Murphy Jan 2017

Differential Phenotypes Of Memory Cd4 And Cd8 T Cells In The Spleen And Peripheral Tissues Following Immunostimulatory Therapy., Gail D Sckisel, Annie Mirsoian, Christine M Minnar, Marka R Crittenden, Brendan Curti, Jane Q Chen, Bruce R Blazar, Alexander D Borowsky, Arta M Monjazeb, William J Murphy

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

BACKGROUND: Studies assessing immune parameters typically utilize human PBMCs or murine splenocytes to generate data that is interpreted as representative of immune status. Using splenocytes, we have shown memory CD4-T cells that expand following systemic immunostimulatory therapies undergo rapid IFNg-mediated activation induced cell death (AICD) resulting in a net loss of total CD4-T cells which correlates with elevated PD-1 expression. This is in contrast to CD8-T cells which expand with minimal PD-1 upregulation and apoptosis. In this study we expand upon our previous work by evaluating CD4 and CD8-T cell phenotype and distribution in peripheral organs which are more representative …