Journal of Biological Chemistry: An engineered transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) monomer that functions as a dominant negative to block TGF-β signaling

February 22, 2017

Sun Kyung Kim‡1, Lindsey Barron§, Cynthia S. Hinck¶, Elyse M. Petrunak¶, Kristin E. Cano‡, Avinash Thangirala‡, Brian Iskra‡, Molly Brothers‡, Machell Vonberg‡, Belinda Leal‡, Blair Richter‡, Ravindra Kodali¶, Alexander B. Taylor‡, Shoucheng Du¶, Christopher O. Barnes¶, Traian Sulea‖, Guillermo Calero¶, P. John Hart‡, Matthew J. Hart**, Borries Demeler‡, and Andrew P. Hinck¶2 Abstract The transforming growth factor β isoforms, TGF-β1, -β2, and -β3, are small secreted homodimeric signaling proteins with essential roles in regulating the adaptive […]

Biochemistry: Confinement and Stabilization of Fyn SH3 Folding Intermediate Mimetics within the Cavity of the Chaperonin GroEL Demonstrated by Relaxation-Based NMR

February 21, 2017

David S Libich 1, Vitali Tugarinov 1, Rodolfo Ghirlando 1, G Marius Clore 1 Abstract The interaction of two folding intermediate mimetics of the model protein substrate Fyn SH3 with the chaperonin GroEL, a supramolecular foldase/unfoldase machine, has been investigated by 15N relaxation-based nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (lifetime line broadening, dark-state exchange saturation transfer, and relaxation dispersion). The two mimetics comprise C-terminal truncations […]

Journal of Clinical Oncology: Successful integration of genetic counseling in a comprehensive childhood cancer survivorship clinic.

February 10, 2017

Shafqat Shah, Gregory John Aune, Lindsey Mette, Natalie Poullard Background: Awareness of inherited genetic risk and cancer predisposition has markedly increased. Research has shown that germline mutations in known cancer predisposition genes are identified in ~8% of pediatric oncology patients. Patients diagnosed years ago did not meet with a Genetic counselor or undergo genetic testing. The annual comprehensive survivorship […]

Bioinformatics: Riborex: fast and flexible identification of differential translation from Ribo-seq data

January 31, 2017

Authors Wenzheng Li, Weili Wang, Philip J Uren, Luiz OF Penalva, Andrew D Smith Abstract Motivation Global analysis of translation regulation has recently been enabled by the development of Ribosome Profiling, or Ribo-seq, technology. This approach provides maps of ribosome activity for each expressed gene in a given biological sample. Measurements of translation efficiency are […]

Pediatric Hematology Oncology: Paraneoplastic Galactorrhea in Childhood T-ALL: An Evaluation of Tumor-derived Prolactin

January 1, 2017

Allison Grimes 1, Nooshin Mirkheshti, Bandana Chatterjee, Gail Tomlinson, Chatchawin Assanasen Abstract T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) comprises 15% of childhood leukemia. Although multiagent pulse chemotherapy has improved event-free survival in recent decades, the lack of reliable prognosticators and high rate of relapse remains a challenge. Described is a novel discovery of tumor-derived hyperprolactinemia in childhood T-ALL through a case […]

Washington Post: A new urgency to protect survivors of childhood cancer

December 25, 2016

SAN ANTONIO — When Brittany Galan was diagnosed with leukemia at 6 weeks old, doctors warned her parents she had little chance of surviving — she was so young and so sick. But after being treated with chemotherapy, “I lived and lived!” said the exuberant 24-year-old. “Everyone calls me the miracle baby.” The lifesaving chemo, however, took a […]

Developmental Cell: CENP-A Ubiquitylation Is Required for CENP-A Deposition at the Centromere

December 20, 2016

YoheiNiikura1, RisaKitagawa1, KatsumiKitagawa1 Main Text CENP-A is a centromere-specific histone variant that determines centromere identity, but how it localizes to centromeres is not completely understood. Previously, we demonstrated that CENP-A deposition at the centromere requires ubiquitylation on lysine 124 (K124) mediated by the CUL4A-RBX1-COPS8 E3 ligase (Niikura et al., 2015). A K124R mutation reduced interaction with HJURP (a CENP-A-specific histone chaperone) and abrogated centromeric […]

Ft. Worth Business: Cancer treatments that save children’s lives exact a heavy price years later

December 16, 2016

The lifesaving chemo, however, took a heavy toll. It “messed me up neurologically,” Galan said. In grade school, she had trouble with reading and math and eventually went on ADHD medication. In college, the once-avid runner developed a heart problem. Recently, Galan, who juggles two part-time jobs working with children with emotional problems, began taking […]

IEEE Xplore: Analyzing Differential Regulatory Networks Modulated by Continuous-State Genomic Features in Glioblastoma Multiforme

December 5, 2016

Yu-Chiao Chiu; Tzu-Hung Hsiao; Li-Ju Wang; Yidong Chen; Eric Y. Chuang Abstract: Gene regulatory networks are a global representation of complex interactions between molecules that dictate cellular behavior. The study of a regulatory network modulated by single or multiple modulators’ expression levels, including microRNAs (miRNAs) and transcription factors (TFs), in different conditions can further reveal the modulators’ roles in […]

Genome Biology: Functional genomics analyses of RNA-binding proteins reveal the splicing regulator SNRPB as an oncogenic candidate in glioblastoma

December 1, 2016

Bruna R Correa, Patricia Rosa de Araujo, Mei Qiao, Suzanne C Burns, Chen Chen, Richard Schlegel, Seema Agarwal, Pedro AF Galante, Luiz OF Penalva Background Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive type of brain tumor. Currently, GBM has an extremely poor outcome and there is no effective treatment. In this context, genomic and […]