Research Paper

Cell Reports: GDF6-CD99 Signaling Regulates Src and Ewing Sarcoma Growth

November 3, 2020

Fuchun Zhou (1), David J.Elzi (1, 2), Panneerselvam Jayabal(1), Xiuye Ma(1), Yu-Chiao Chiu (1) Yidong Chen 1,3,4) Barron Blackman(1) Susan T.Weintraub (4, 5) Peter J.Houghton 1,4,6) Yuzuru Shiio (1,4,5,7) Highlights The autocrine signaling mediated by GDF6 maintains Ewing sarcoma growth The GDF6 prodomain is a ligand for CD99, a widely used marker for Ewing sarcoma […]


ECancer Interview: Prospective validation of single mouse testing by the paediatric preclinical testing consortium (Houghton)

October 24, 2020

Dr. Peter Houghton speaks to ecancer about the prospective validation of single mouse testing by the pediatric preclinical testing consortium; a study that was presented at ENA 2020 this year. Dr. Houghton initially explains the rationale behind this study and talks about how it was tested that using a single mouse for studying drug efficacy [...]

MedicalXpress – One Mouse at a Time: a New Approach to Testing Potential Drugs for Children’s Cancers (Houghton, Kurmasheva, PPTC)

October 22, 2020

by European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer A team of researchers in the US and Australia have developed a way of testing potential drugs for children’s cancers so as to take account of the wide genetic diversity of these diseases. In new research to be presented at the 32nd EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular […]


Stand Up to Cancer: Alexander J. R. Bishop, DPhil to Lead One of Three Trans-Atlantic Teams to Study Hard-to-Treat Childhood Cancers

October 20, 2020

Published On: October 19, 2020 Shared by Rosanne Fohn SAN ANTONIO (Oct. 19, 2020) — Although COVID-19 has become the top health and research priority around the world, a child is still diagnosed with cancer every two minutes globally. To meet this urgent need, the Stand Up To Cancer and Cancer Research UK’s Pediatric Cancer New […]


Pediatric Blood & Cancer: Radiation therapy and molecular‐targeted agents in preclinical testing for immunotherapy, brain tumors, and sarcomas: Opportunities and challenges (Houghton)

October 14, 2020

Radiation therapy and molecular‐targeted agents in preclinical testing for immunotherapy, brain tumors, and sarcomas: Opportunities and challenges Ralph Vatner, Charles D. James, Vythialingam Sathiaseelan, Kathryn M. Bondra, John A. Kalapurakal, Peter J. Houghton Abstract Despite radiation therapy (RT) being an integral part of the treatment of most pediatric cancers and the recent discovery of novel […]


Breast Cancer Research and Treatment: KDM1A inhibition is effective in reducing stemness and treating triple negative breast cancer

October 14, 2020

Abstract Purpose Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are highly tumorigenic, spared by chemotherapy, sustain tumor growth, and are implicated in tumor recurrence after conventional therapies in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Lysine-specific histone demethylase 1A (KDM1A) is highly expressed in several human malignancies and CSCs including TNBC. However, the precise mechanistic role of KDM1A in CSC functions […]


Pipette Gazette: Trevi Mancilla First Author Publication in PLOS One About The Significance Of Non-Cardiomyocyte Cells (Aune Lab)

September 30, 2020

Trevi Mancilla, a student in the South Texas Medical Scientist Training Program, has published a first-author publication in PLOS ONE. The title is “Doxorubicin-induced p53 interferes with mitophagy in cardiac fibroblasts.” Her mentor is Dr. Greg Aune. We interviewed Trevi about her recent achievement.    


Cardiovascular Business: Chemotherapy could be damaging children’s heart cells, leading to problems later in life (Aune)

September 30, 2020

Undergoing chemotherapy can have a negative impact on the cells responsible for repairing heart damage, according to a new study published in PLOS One. This may explain why 20% of children treated with anthracyclines go on to experience heart failure later in life. “We don’t fully understand why some children who are exposed to anthracycline therapy […]


Medical Xpress: Childhood Chemo Alters Heart’s Caretaker Cells, Study Finds (Aune Lab)

September 30, 2020

by Will Sansom, UT Health San Antonio Cancer chemotherapy changes the function of cells that repair heart injury, researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) discovered. Twenty percent of children treated with drugs called anthracyclines go on to suffer heart failure later in life. The journal […]


Scientific Reports: “Transcriptomic Sex Differences in Sensory Neuronal Populations of Mice”

September 23, 2020

Jennifer Mecklenburg 1, Yi Zou 2, Andi Wangzhou 3, Dawn Garcia 2, Zhao Lai 2 4, Alexei V Tumanov 5, Gregory Dussor 3, Theodore J Price 3, Armen N Akopian 6 7 Abstract Many chronic pain conditions show sex differences in their epidemiology. This could be attributed to the sex-dependent differential expression of genes (DEGs) involved in nociceptive pathways, including sensory neurons. This study aimed to identify sex-dependent DEGs in estrous female versus male […]