St. Baldrick’s: UT Health Science Center Pediatric Cancer Researcher Receives Grant in Groundbreaking Work for Childhood Cancer Survivors

August 13, 2014

UT Health Science Center Pediatric Cancer Researcher Receives Grant in Groundbreaking Work for Childhood Cancer Survivors A pediatric hematologist-oncologist from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio has been awarded a grant from the St. Baldrick’s Foundation to continue his groundbreaking work into the long-term problems that lifesaving chemotherapy can cause in […]

Oncogene: Androgen receptor and microRNA-21 axis downregulates transforming growth factor beta receptor II (TGFBR2) expression in prostate cancer

July 31, 2014

S Mishra 1, J J Deng 1, P S Gowda 1, M K Rao 1, C-L Lin 2, C L Chen 2, T Huang 3, L-Z Sun 4 Abstract Prostate cancer cells escape growth inhibition from transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) by downregulating TGFβ receptors. However, the mechanism by which cancer cells downregulate TGFβ receptors in the prostate is not clear. Here, we showed that coordinated action of miR-21 and […]

Hepatology: Astrocyte elevated gene‐1 and c‐Myc cooperate to promote hepatocarcinogenesis in mice

July 28, 2014

Jyoti Srivastava Ayesha Siddiq Rachel Gredler Xue‐Ning Shen Devaraja Rajasekaran  Chadia L. Robertson  Mark A. Subler  Jolene J. Windle  Catherine I. Dumur  Nitai D. Mukhopadhyay  Dawn Garcia  Zhao Lai  Yidong Chen  Uthra Balaji  Paul B. Fisher  Devanand Sarkar Abstract Astrocyte elevated gene‐1 (AEG‐1) and c‐Myc are overexpressed in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) functioning as oncogenes. AEG‐1 is transcriptionally regulated by c‐Myc, and AEG‐1 itself induces c‐Myc by activating the […]

Pediatric Blood & Cancer: Neonatal medical exposures and characteristics of low birth weight hepatoblastoma cases: a report from the Children’s Oncology Group

July 15, 2014

Lucie M Turcotte 1, Michael K Georgieff, Julie A Ross, James H Feusner, Gail E Tomlinson, Marcio H Malogolowkin, Mark D Krailo, Nicole Miller, Rachel Fonstad, Logan G Spector Abstract Background: Hepatoblastoma is a malignancy of young children. Low birth weight is associated with a significantly increased risk of hepatoblastoma and neonatal medical exposures are hypothesized as contributors. This study represents the largest case-control study of […]

PNAS: Targeting RPL39 and MLF2 reduces tumor initiation and metastasis in breast cancer by inhibiting nitric oxide synthase signaling

June 17, 2014

Bhuvanesh Dave, Sergio Granados-Principal, Rui Zhu, Stephen Benz, Shahrooz Rabizadeh, Patrick Soon-Shiong, Ke-Da Yu, Zhimin Shao, Xiaoxian Li, Michael Gilcrease, Zhao Lai, Yidong Chen, Tim H.-M. Huang, Haifa Shen, Xuewu Liu, Mauro Ferrari, Ming Zhan, Stephen T. C. Wong, Muthiah Kumaraswami, Vivek Mittal, Xi Chen, Steven S. Gross, and Jenny C. Chang Abstract We previously described a gene signature for breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) derived from patient biopsies. Selective shRNA knockdown identified ribosomal protein L39 (RPL39) […]

American Journal of Medical Genetics: Congenital abnormalities and hepatoblastoma: a report from the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) and the Utah Population Database (UPDB)

June 16, 2014

Rajkumar Venkatramani 1, Logan G Spector, Michael Georgieff, Gail Tomlinson, Mark Krailo, Marcio Malogolowkin, Wendy Kohlmann, Karen Curtin, Rachel K Fonstad, Joshua D Schiffman Abstract Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome (BWS) and familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) are known to predispose to hepatoblastoma (HB). A case-control study was conducted through the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) to study the association of HB with isolated congenital abnormalities. Cases (N = 383) […]

Genes & Development: Lineage of origin in rhabdomyosarcoma informs pharmacological response

June 3, 2014

Jinu Abraham1, Yaiza Nuñez-Álvarez2, Simone Hettmer3,4, Elvira Carrió2, Hung-I Harry Chen5, Koichi Nishijo5, Elaine T. Huang1, Suresh I. Prajapati5, Robert L. Walker6, Sean Davis6, Jennifer Rebeles5, Hunter Wiebush5, Amanda T. McCleish5, Sheila T. Hampton5, Christopher R.R. Bjornson7, Andrew S. Brack7, Amy J. Wagers3, Thomas A. Rando7, Mario R. Capecchi8, Frank C. Marini9, Benjamin R. Ehler10, Lee Ann Zarzabal10, Martin W. Goros10, Joel E. Michalek10, Paul S. Meltzer6, David M. Langenau11, Robin D. LeGallo12, Atiya Mansoor13, Yidong Chen5,10, Mònica Suelves2, Brian P. Rubin14 and Charles Keller1,15 Abstract Lineage […]

Cell Reports: Negative Elongation Factor Controls Energy Homeostasis in Cardiomyocytes

April 17, 2014

HaihuiPan1 KunhuaQin1 ZhanyongGuo23 YonggangMa4CraigApril7 XiaoliGao5T homas G.Andrews2 AlexBokov3 JianhuaZhang4 YidongChen23 Susan T.Weintraub5 Jian-BingFan7 DegengWang 23YanfenHu1 Gregory J.Aune26 Merry L.Lindsey4 RongLi1 Summary Negative elongation factor (NELF) is known to enforce promoter-proximal pausing of RNA polymerase II (Pol II), a pervasive phenomenon observed across multicellular genomes. However, the physiological impact of NELF on tissue homeostasis remains unclear. Here, we show that whole-body conditional deletion of the […]

Breast Cancer Research & Treatment: Long-term risk of medical conditions associated with breast cancer treatment

April 3, 2014

Deirdre A Hill 1, Nora K Horick, Claudine Isaacs, Susan M Domchek, Gail E Tomlinson, Jan T Lowery, Anita Y Kinney, Jonathan S Berg, Karen L Edwards, Patricia G Moorman, Sharon E Plon, Louise C Strong, Argyrois Ziogas, Constance A Griffin, Carol H Kasten, Dianne M Finkelstein Abstract Early and late effects of cancer treatment are of increasing concern with growing survivor populations, but relevant data are sparse. We sought to […]

Cancer Prevention Research: Pubertal Bisphenol A Exposure Alters Murine Mammary Stem Cell Function Leading to Early Neoplasia in Regenerated Glands

April 1, 2014

Danhan Wang, Hui Gao, Abhik Bandyopadhyay, Anqi Wu, I-Tien Yeh, Yidong Chen, Yi Zou, Changjiang Huang, Christi A. Walter, Qiaoxiang Dong, and Lu-Zhe Sun Abstract Perinatal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) has been shown to cause aberrant mammary gland morphogenesis and mammary neoplastic transformation. Yet, the underlying mechanism is poorly understood. We tested the hypothesis that mammary glands exposed to BPA during a susceptible window may lead to its susceptibility to tumorigenesis through a stem cell-mediated mechanism. […]