JoVE: Genome-wide Analysis of HDAC Inhibitor-mediated Modulation of microRNAs and mRNAs in B Cells Induced to Undergo Class-switch DNA Recombination and Plasma Cell Differentiation

September 20, 2017

Helia N Sanchez 1, Tian Shen 2, Dawn Garcia 3, Zhao Lai 3, Paolo Casali 1, Hong Zan 4 Abstract Antibody responses are accomplished through several critical B cell-intrinsic processes, including somatic hypermutation (SHM), class-switch DNA recombination (CSR), and plasma cell differentiation. In recent years, epigenetic modifications or factors, such as histone deacetylation and microRNAs (miRNAs), have been shown to interact with B-cell genetic programs to […]

Nature Communications: Cross-talk between miR-471-5p and autophagy component proteins regulates LC3-associated phagocytosis (LAP) of apoptotic germ cells

September 19, 2017

Subbarayalu Panneerdoss, Suryavathi Viswanadhapalli, Nourhan Abdelfattah, Benjamin C. Onyeagucha, Santosh Timilsina, Tabrez A. Mohammad, Yidong Chen, Michael Drake, Kristiina Vuori, T. Rajendra Kumar & Manjeet K. Rao Abstract Phagocytic clearance of apoptotic germ cells by Sertoli cells is vital for germ cell development and differentiation. Here, using a tissue-specific miRNA transgenic mouse model, we show that interaction between miR-471-5p and autophagy member proteins regulates the clearance of […]

Oncotarget: Novel post-transcriptional and post-translational regulation of pro-apoptotic protein BOK and anti-apoptotic protein Mcl-1 determine the fate of breast cancer cells to survive or die

September 12, 2017

Benjamin Onyeagucha1,2, Panneerdoss Subbarayalu1,2, Nourhan Abdelfattah1,2, Subapriya Rajamanickam1,2, Santosh Timilsina1,2, Rosa Guzman1, Carla Zeballos2, Vijay Eedunuri1,2, Sanjay Bansal1, Tabrez Mohammad2, Yidong Chen1,3, Ratna K. Vadlamudi4, and Manjeet K. Rao1,2 ABSTRACT Deregulation of apoptosis is central to cancer progression and a major obstacle to effective treatment. The Bcl-2 gene family members play important roles in the regulation […]

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 […]