PNAS: Probing initial transient oligomerization events facilitating Huntingtin fibril nucleation at atomic resolution by relaxation-based NMR

February 26, 2019

Samuel A. Kotler, Vitali Tugarinov, Thomas Schmidt, Alberto Ceccon, David S. Libich, Rodolfo Ghirlando, Charles D. Schwieters, and G. Marius Clore Abstract The N-terminal region of the huntingtin protein, encoded by exon-1, comprises an amphiphilic domain (httNT), a polyglutamine (Q n ) tract, and a proline-rich sequence. Polyglutamine expansion results in an aggregation-prone protein responsible for Huntington’s disease. Here, we study the earliest events […]





BMC Genomics: CeL-ID: cell line identification using RNA-seq data

February 4, 2019

Tabrez A. Mohammad, Yun S. Tsai, Safwa Ameer, Hung-I Harry Chen, Yu-Chiao Chiu & Yidong Chen Abstract Background Cell lines form the cornerstone of cell-based experimentation studies into understanding the underlying mechanisms of normal and disease biology including cancer. However, it is commonly acknowledged that contamination of cell lines is a prevalent problem affecting biomedical science and available methods for cell […]


Journal of Oral Pathology & Medicine: The novel capsazepine analog, CIDD‐99, significantly inhibits oral squamous cell carcinoma in vivo through a TRPV1‐independent induction of ER stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and apoptosis

February 3, 2019

Jorge J. De La Chapa, Prajjal K. Singha, Kristen K. Self, McKay L. Sallaway, Stanton F. McHardy, Matthew J. Hart, Howard Stan McGuff, Matthew C. Valdez Francisco Ruiz II, Srikanth R. Polusani, Cara B. Gonzales Abstract Background Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a deadly disease with a mere 40% five‐year survival rate for patients with advanced disease. Previously, we discovered that capsazepine […]


Oncology Learning Network: Podcast – Daunorubicin Decreases Long-Term Cardiomyopathy Risk in Cancer Survivors

January 31, 2019

In an interview with Oncology Learning Network, Gregory J. Aune, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at UT Health San Antonio and Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute, discussed his team’s findings from a multicenter study evaluating the long-term risk for anthracycline-related cardiomyopathy in survivors of childhood cancer (JAMA Oncol. 2019 Jan 31. Epub ahead of print).


Drug Discovery & Development: Do All Chemotherapies Have Equal Long-Term Heart Risk?

January 31, 2019

Gregory Aune, MD, PhD, of UT Health San Antonio, served on a team that found different chemotherapy drugs used to treat children with cancer appear to have different risks long term for cardiomyopathy (abnormal heart muscle with impaired function). The study was in more than 28,000 childhood cancer survivors. Credit: UT Health San Antonio In […]


BMC Medical Genomics: Predicting drug response of tumors from integrated genomic profiles by deep neural networks

January 31, 2019

Yu-Chiao Chiu, Hung-I Harry Chen, Tinghe Zhang, Songyao Zhang, Aparna Gorthi, Li-Ju Wang, Yufei Huang & Yidong Chen Abstract Background The study of high-throughput genomic profiles from a pharmacogenomics viewpoint has provided unprecedented insights into the oncogenic features modulating drug response. A recent study screened for the response of a thousand human cancer cell lines to a wide collection of anti-cancer drugs and […]