'We herein developed a protocol for the rapid procurement of adult nerve-derived Schwann cells (SCs) that was optimized to implement an immediate enzymatic dissociation of fresh nerve tissue while maintaining high cell viability, improving yields and minimizing fibroblast and myelin contamination. This protocol introduces: (1) an efficient method for enzymatic ... More
Overexpression of the Sorghum bicolor SbCCoAOMT alters cell wall associated hydroxycinnamoyl groups.
'Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is a drought tolerant crop, which is being developed as a bioenergy feedstock. The monolignol biosynthesis pathway is a major focus for altering the abundance and composition of lignin. Caffeoyl coenzyme-A O-methyltransferase (CCoAOMT) is an S-adenosyl methionine (SAM)-dependent O-methyltransferase that methylates caffeoyl-CoA to generate feruloyl-CoA, an intermediate ... More
Exosomes facilitate therapeutic targeting of oncogenic KRAS in pancreatic cancer.
AuthorsKamerkar S, LeBleu VS, Sugimoto H, Yang S, Ruivo CF, Melo SA, Lee JJ, Kalluri R
JournalNature
PubMed ID28607485
'The mutant form of the GTPase KRAS is a key driver of pancreatic cancer but remains a challenging therapeutic target. Exosomes are extracellular vesicles generated by all cells, and are naturally present in the blood. Here we show that enhanced retention of exosomes, compared to liposomes, in the circulation of ... More
Mechanisms of PKC-Mediated Enhancement of HIF-1a Activity and its Inhibition by Vitamin K2 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells.
AuthorsXia J, Ozaki I, Matsuhashi S, Kuwashiro T, Takahashi H, Anzai K, Mizuta T
JournalInt J Mol Sci
PubMed ID30813635
'Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) plays important roles in cancer cell biology. HIF-1a is reportedly activated by several factors, including protein kinase C (PKC), in addition to hypoxia. We investigated the role of PKC isoforms and the effects of vitamin K2 (VK2) in the activation process of HIF-1a. Human hepatocellular carcinoma ... More
Genetic resistance to DEHP-induced transgenerational endocrine disruption.
AuthorsStenz L, Rahban R, Prados J, Nef S, Paoloni-Giacobino A
JournalPLoS One
PubMed ID31181066
'Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) interferes with sex hormones signaling pathways (SHP). C57BL/6J mice prenatally exposed to 300 mg/kg/day DEHP develop a testicular dysgenesis syndrome (TDS) at adulthood, but similarly-exposed FVB/N mice are not affected. Here we aim to understand the reasons behind this drastic difference that should depend on the genome of ... More
System-wide Profiling of RNA-Binding Proteins Uncovers Key Regulators of Virus Infection.
AuthorsGarcia-Moreno M, Noerenberg M, Ni S, Järvelin AI, González-Almela E, Lenz CE, Bach-Pages M, Cox V, Avolio R, Davis T, Hester S, Sohier TJM, Li B, Heikel G, Michlewski G, Sanz MA, Carrasco L, Ricci EP, Pelechano V, Davis I, Fischer B, Mohammed S, Castello A
JournalMol Cell
PubMed ID30799147
'The compendium of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) has been greatly expanded by the development of RNA-interactome capture (RIC). However, it remained unknown if the complement of RBPs changes in response to environmental perturbations and whether these rearrangements are important. To answer these questions, we developed "comparative RIC" and applied it to cells ... More
Lithium Reversibly Inhibits Schwann Cell Proliferation and Differentiation Without Inducing Myelin Loss.
This study was undertaken to examine the bioactivity, specificity, and reversibility of lithium's action on the growth, survival, proliferation, and differentiation of cultured Schwann cells (SCs). In isolated SCs, lithium promoted a state of cell cycle arrest that featured extensive cell enlargement and c-Jun downregulation in the absence of increased ... More
MicroRNA-425 and microRNA-155 cooperatively regulate atrial natriuretic peptide expression and cGMP production.
AuthorsVandenwijngaert S, Ledsky CD, Agha O, Wu C, Hu D, Bagchi A, Domian IJ, Buys ES, Newton-Cheh C, Bloch DB
JournalPLoS One
PubMed ID29698509
Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), secreted primarily by atrial cardiomyocytes, decreases blood pressure by raising cyclic 3',5'-guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) levels and inducing vasorelaxation, natriuresis, and diuresis. Raising the level of ANP has been shown to be an effective treatment for hypertension. To advance the future development of an anti-microRNA (miR) approach ... More
Disrupted structure and aberrant function of CHIP mediates the loss of motor and cognitive function in preclinical models of SCAR16.
AuthorsShi CH, Rubel C, Soss SE, Sanchez-Hodge R, Zhang S, Madrigal SC, Ravi S, McDonough H, Page RC, Chazin WJ, Patterson C, Mao CY, Willis MS, Luo HY, Li YS, Stevens DA, Tang MB, Du P, Wang YH, Hu ZW, Xu YM, Schisler JC
JournalPLoS Genet
PubMed ID30222779
CHIP (carboxyl terminus of heat shock 70-interacting protein) has long been recognized as an active member of the cellular protein quality control system given the ability of CHIP to function as both a co-chaperone and ubiquitin ligase. We discovered a genetic disease, now known as spinocerebellar autosomal recessive 16 (SCAR16), ... More
RAGE-induced changes in the proteome of alveolar epithelial cells.
AuthorsDowns CA, Johnson NM, Tsaprailis G, Helms MN
JournalJ Proteomics
PubMed ID29448054
The receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) is a pattern recognition receptor and member of the immunoglobulin superfamily. RAGE is constitutively expressed in the distal lung where it co-localizes with the alveolar epithelium; RAGE expression is otherwise minimal or absent, except with disease. This suggests RAGE plays a role in ... More
CyanoGate: A Modular Cloning Suite for Engineering Cyanobacteria Based on the Plant MoClo Syntax.
AuthorsVasudevan R, Gale GAR, Schiavon AA, Puzorjov A, Malin J, Gillespie MD, Vavitsas K, Zulkower V, Wang B, Howe CJ, Lea-Smith DJ, McCormick AJ
JournalPlant Physiol
PubMed ID30819783
Recent advances in synthetic biology research have been underpinned by an exponential increase in available genomic information and a proliferation of advanced DNA assembly tools. The adoption of plasmid vector assembly standards and parts libraries has greatly enhanced the reproducibility of research and the exchange of parts between different labs ... More
Burn-Induced Microglia Activation is Associated With Motor Neuron Degeneration and Muscle Wasting in Mice.
AuthorsMa L, Zhou Y, Khan MAS, Yasuhara S, Martyn JAJ
JournalShock
PubMed ID30702509
Burn injury (BI) leads to both systemic and neuro-inflammation and is associated with muscle wasting and weakness, which increase morbidity and mortality. Disuse atrophy is concomitantly present in BI patients. Most studies have focused on muscle with little attention to role of central nervous system (CNS) in the neuromuscular changes. ... More
Structure of the DNA-Bound Spacer Capture Complex of a Type II CRISPR-Cas System.
AuthorsWilkinson M, Drabavicius G, Silanskas A, Gasiunas G, Siksnys V, Wigley DB
JournalMol Cell
PubMed ID31080012
CRISPR and associated Cas proteins function as an adaptive immune system in prokaryotes to combat bacteriophage infection. During the immunization step, new spacers are acquired by the CRISPR machinery, but the molecular mechanism of spacer capture remains enigmatic. We show that the Cas9, Cas1, Cas2, and Csn2 proteins of a ... More