Pharmacology Reviews: Challenges and Opportunities for Childhood Cancer Drug Development

October 1, 2019

Peter J Houghton 1, Raushan T Kurmasheva 2 Abstract Cancer in children is rare with approximately 15,700 new cases diagnosed in the United States annually. Through the use of multimodality therapy (surgery, radiation therapy, and aggressive chemotherapy), 70% of patients will be “cured” of their disease, and 5-year event-free survival exceeds 80%. However, for patients surviving their malignancy, […]

Cancer Research: Tie2-FGFR1 Interaction Induces Adaptive PI3K Inhibitor Resistance by Upregulating Aurora A/PLK1/CDK1 Signaling in Glioblastoma

October 1, 2019

Xiaolong Li 1, Emmanuel Martinez-Ledesma 1 2, Chen Zhang 1, Feng Gao 1, Siyuan Zheng 1, Jie Ding 1, Shaofang Wu 1, Nghi Nguyen 3, Stephan C Clifford 3, Patrick Y Wen 4, Keith L Ligon 4, W K Alfred Yung 1, Dimpy Koul 5 Abstract PI3K-targeting therapy represents one of the most sought-after therapies for glioblastoma (GBM). Several small-molecule inhibitors have been evaluated in clinical trials, however, the emergence of resistance limits treatment potential. Here, we generated a patient-derived glioma […]

Molecular Therapy – Oncolytics: The miR-195 Axis Regulates Chemoresistance through TUBB and Lung Cancer Progression through BIRC5

September 27, 2019

Author links open overlay panelXiaojie Yu126, Yiqiang Zhang1, Binggen Wu13, Jonathan M.Kurie4, Alexander Pertsemlidis125 Chemoresistance and metastasis are the major reasons for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment failure and patient deaths. We and others have shown that miR-195 regulates the sensitivity of NSCLC to microtubule-targeting agents (MTAs) in vitro and in vivo and that miR-195 represses the migration and invasion […]

BioSpace: Hyundai Hope On Wheels Presents UT Health San Antonio With Hyundai Young Investigator And Scholar Hope Grant Totaling A Combined $500,000 To Support Pediatric Cancer Research (Aune & Ignatius Labs)

September 23, 2019

Hyundai Hope On Wheels® (HHOW), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization supported by Hyundai and its U.S. dealers, announces $500,000 Hyundai Young Investigator and Scholar Hope Grant to UT Health San Antonio to continue its long-standing fight against pediatric cancer. HHOW has committed $13.2 million to support 52 new doctor-researchers in their research for better treatment options and to improve care for children diagnosed […]

Developmental Cell: CENP-A Ubiquitylation Is Indispensable to Cell Viability

September 23, 2019

Summary CENP-A is a centromere-specific histone H3 variant that epigenetically determines centromere identity, but how CENP-A is deposited at the centromere remains obscure. We previously reported that CENP-A K124 ubiquitylation, mediated by the CUL4A-RBX1-COPS8 complex, is essential for CENP-A deposition at the centromere. However, a recent report stated that CENP-A K124R mutants show no defects […]

September is Women in Medicine Month

September 19, 2019

  As part of the American Medical Association (AMA) “Women in Medicine Month”, we at the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute – UT Health San Antonio would like to take a moment and celebrate the female faculty who have dedicated their careers to childhood cancer.     Christine Aguilar, MD, MPH, Faculty Associate, Greehey Children’s […]

KENS5: UT Health gets a $306,000 grant to study Ewing sarcoma

September 16, 2019

SAN ANTONIO — September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. One of those cancers, Ewing sarcoma, is the second most common type of bone cancer in children with only 200 diagnosed each year in the U.S. Thanks to a $306,000 grant from The St. Baldrick’s Foundation, UT Health San Antonio is working to find a cure […]

PLOS Biology: Activation of the intrinsic fibroinflammatory program in adult pancreatic acinar cells triggered by Hippo signaling disruption

September 12, 2019

Jun Liu , Ming Gao , Michael Nipper, Janice Deng, Francis E. Sharkey, Randy L. Johnson, Howard C. Crawford, Yidong Chen, Pei Wang  Abstract Damaged acinar cells play a passive role in activating pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) via the recruitment of immune cells that subsequently activate PSCs. However, whether acinar cells directly contribute to PSC activation is […]