Familial Cancer: Discovery of mutations in homologous recombination genes in African-American women with breast cancer

September 2, 2017

Yuan Chun Ding 1, Aaron W Adamson 1, Linda Steele 1, Adam M Bailis 2, Esther M John 3 4, Gail Tomlinson 5 6, Susan L Neuhausen 7 Abstract African-American women are more likely to develop aggressive breast cancer at younger ages and experience poorer cancer prognoses than non-Hispanic Caucasians. Deficiency in the repair of DNA by homologous recombination (HR) is associated with cancer development, suggesting that mutations in genes […]

Human Genetics: RNA processing as an alternative route to attack glioblastoma

September 1, 2017

Fabiana Marcelino Meliso, Christopher G Hubert, Pedro A Favoretto Galante, Luiz O Penalva Genomic analyses have become an important tool to identify new avenues for therapy. This is especially true for cancer types with extremely poor outcomes since our lack of effective therapies offers no tangible clinical starting point to build upon. The highly malignant […]

Human Genetics: From mechanisms to therapy: RNA processing’s impact on human genetics

September 1, 2017

Authors Luiz O Penalva, Jeremy R Sanford Protein-coding genes defy the one gene-one enzyme paradigm, in part, through the process of alternative pre-mRNA splicing. This mode of gene regulation is critical for generating protein isoforms with specific functions in development and homeostasis (Kalsotra and Cooper 2011). Alternative pre-mRNA processing not only expands the protein-coding capacity […]

Journal of Clinical and Translational Science: 2337: Doxorubicin exposure in vitro stimulates ROS production and directly suppresses cardiac fibroblast proliferation

September 1, 2017

Trevi A. Mancilla (a1) and Gregory J. Aune (a1) Trevi A. Mancilla and Gregory J. Aune Abstract OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Our research strives to understand the pathophysiology of doxorubicin cardiotoxicity, focusing on the understudied nonmyocyte cardiac cells. Our understanding will enable researchers to develop protective or alternative therapies for cancer patients and treatments for cancer survivors. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Early studies have […]

Scientific Reports: A miR-SNP biomarker linked to an increased lung cancer survival by miRNA-mediated down-regulation of FZD4 expression and Wnt signaling

August 22, 2017

Jing Lin, Roza Zandi, Ruping Shao, Jian Gu, Yuanqin Ye, Jing Wang, Yang Zhao, Alexander Pertsemlidis, Ignacio I. Wistuba, Xifeng Wu, Jack A. Roth & Lin Ji Abstract Through a new hypothesis-driven and microRNA-pathway-based SNP (miR-SNP) association study, we identified a novel miR-SNP (rs713065) in the 3′UTR region of FZD4 gene linked with decreased risk of […]

Cell Cycle: SGT1-HSP90 complex is required for CENP-A deposition at centromeres

August 17, 2017

Yohei Niikura,Risa Kitagawa,Hiroo Ogi &Katsumi Kitagawa ABSTRACT The centromere plays an essential role in accurate chromosome segregation, and defects in its function lead to aneuploidy and thus cancer. The centromere-specific histone H3 variant CENP-A is proposed to be the epigenetic mark of the centromere, as active centromeres require CENP-A–containing nucleosomes to direct the recruitment of multiple […]

CPRIT Grant: Recruitment of First-Time, Tenure-Track Faculty Members

August 16, 2017

“Big Data” is a driving force in cancer research today. Sifting through the data from thousands of cancer genomes will help researchers understand what drives cancer, and help them make predictions about therapies that will be most beneficial to individual patients. To help make sense of these data, and in particular, to apply the findings […]

Cancer Research: IGFBP7 Deletion Promotes Hepatocellular Carcinoma

August 1, 2017

Maaged Akiel, Chunqing Guo, Xia Li, Devaraja Rajasekaran, Rachel G. Mendoza, Chadia L. Robertson, Nidhi Jariwala, Fang Yuan, Mark A. Subler, Jolene Windle, Dawn K. Garcia, Zhao Lai, Hung-I Harry Chen, Yidong Chen, Shah Giashuddin, Paul B. Fisher, Xiang-Yang Wang and Devanand Sarkar Abstract Activation of IGF signaling is a major oncogenic event in diverse cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this setting, the insulin-like growth factor-binding protein IGFBP7 inhibits IGF signaling by binding the IGF1 receptor (IGF1R), functioning as a candidate tumor suppressor. IGFBP7 abrogates tumors by inhibiting angiogenesis and […]

PLOS One: Target specificity, “in vivo” pharmacokinetics, and efficacy of the putative STAT3 inhibitor LY5 in osteosarcoma, Ewing’s sarcoma, and rhabdomyosarcoma

July 27, 2017

Peter Y. Yu , Heather L. Gardner , Ryan Roberts, Hakan Cam, Seethalakshmi Hariharan, Ling Ren, Amy K. LeBlanc, Hui Xiao, Jiayuh Lin, Denis C. Guttridge, Xiaokui Mo, Chad E. Bennett, Christopher C. Coss, Yonghua Ling, Mitch A. Phelps, Peter Houghton, Cheryl A. London  Abstract Background STAT3 is a transcription factor involved in cytokine and receptor kinase […]

Clinical Cancer Research: Bioluminescence Imaging Enhances Analysis of Drug Responses in a Patient-Derived Xenograft Model of Pediatric ALL

July 15, 2017

Luke Jones 1, Jennifer Richmond 1, Kathryn Evans 1, Hernan Carol 1, Duohui Jing 1, Raushan T Kurmasheva 2, Catherine A Billups 3, Peter J Houghton 2, Malcolm A Smith 4, Richard B Lock 5 Abstract Purpose: Robust preclinical models of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are essential in prioritizing promising therapies for clinical assessment in high-risk patients. Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models of ALL provide a clinically relevant platform for assessing novel drugs, with […]