Persistent Replication of a Chikungunya Virus Replicon in Human Cells Is Associated with Presence of Stable Cytoplasmic Granules Containing Nonstructural Protein 3.
AuthorsRemenyi R, Gao Y, Hughes RE, Curd A, Zothner C, Peckham M, Merits A, Harris M,
JournalJ Virol
PubMed ID29875241
'Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), a mosquito-borne human pathogen, causes a disabling disease characterized by severe joint pain that can persist for weeks, months, or even years in patients. The nonstructural protein 3 (nsP3) plays essential roles during acute infection, but little is known about the function of nsP3 during chronic disease. ... More
Diatom bloom-derived biotoxins cause aberrant development and gene expression in the appendicularian chordate Oikopleura dioica.
AuthorsTorres-Águila NP, Martí-Solans J, Ferrández-Roldán A, Almazán A, Roncalli V, D'Aniello S, Romano G, Palumbo A, Albalat R, Cañestro C,
JournalCommun Biol
PubMed ID30272001
'Investigating environmental hazards than could affect appendicularians is of prime ecological interest because they are among the most abundant components of the mesozooplankton. This work shows that embryo development of the appendicularian Oikopleura dioica is compromised by diatom bloom-derived biotoxins, even at concentrations in the same range as those measured ... More
Complex bile duct network formation within liver decellularized extracellular matrix hydrogels.
AuthorsLewis PL, Su J, Yan M, Meng F, Glaser SS, Alpini GD, Green RM, Sosa-Pineda B, Shah RN,
JournalSci Rep
PubMed ID30111800
'The biliary tree is an essential component of transplantable human liver tissue. Despite recent advances in liver tissue engineering, attempts at re-creating the intrahepatic biliary tree have not progressed significantly. The finer branches of the biliary tree are structurally and functionally complex and heterogeneous and require harnessing innate developmental processes ... More
Exopolysaccharide production in Caulobacter crescentus: A resource allocation trade-off between protection and proliferation.
AuthorsHerr KL, Carey AM, Heckman TI, Chávez JL, Johnson CN, Harvey E, Gamroth WA, Wulfing BS, Van Kessel RA, Marks ME,
JournalPLoS One
PubMed ID29293585
'Complex and interacting selective pressures can produce bacterial communities with a range of phenotypes. One measure of bacterial success is the ability of cells or populations to proliferate while avoiding lytic phage infection. Resistance against bacteriophage infection can occur in the form of a metabolically expensive exopolysaccharide capsule. Here, we ... More
Mmf1p Couples Amino Acid Metabolism to Mitochondrial DNA Maintenance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
AuthorsErnst DC, Downs DM,
JournalMBio
PubMed ID29487232
'A variety of metabolic deficiencies and human diseases arise from the disruption of mitochondrial enzymes and/or loss of mitochondrial DNA. Mounting evidence shows that eukaryotes have conserved enzymes that prevent the accumulation of reactive metabolites that cause stress inside the mitochondrion. 2-Aminoacrylate is a reactive enamine generated by pyridoxal 5''-phosphate-dependent ... More
Acylation of Superoxide Dismutase 1 (SOD1) at K122 Governs SOD1-Mediated Inhibition of Mitochondrial Respiration.
'In this study, we employed proteomics to identify mechanisms of posttranslational regulation on cell survival signaling proteins. We focused on Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1), which protects cells from oxidative stress. We found that acylation of K122 on SOD1, while not impacting SOD1 catalytic activity, suppressed the ability of SOD1 to ... More
Increased Fc?RIIB dominance contributes to the emergence of resistance to therapeutic antibodies in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia patients.
AuthorsBurgess M, Mapp S, Mazzieri R, Cheung C, Chambers L, Mattarollo SR, Mollee P, Gill D, Saunders NA
JournalOncogene
PubMed ID27748757
Resistance to therapeutic antibodies in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is common. In this study, we show that therapeutic antibodies against CD62L (CD62L-Ab) or CD20 (obinutuzumab) were able to induce antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) and phagocytosis (ADP) in primary cultures of CLL cells. CLL cells derived from patients with active disease ... More
PI(3,5)P2 biosynthesis regulates oligodendrocyte differentiation by intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms.
AuthorsMironova YA, Lenk GM, Lin JP, Lee SJ, Twiss JL, Vaccari I, Bolino A, Havton LA, Min SH, Abrams CS, Shrager P, Meisler MH, Giger RJ
JournalElife
PubMed ID27008179
Proper development of the CNS axon-glia unit requires bi-directional communication between axons and oligodendrocytes (OLs). We show that the signaling lipid phosphatidylinositol-3,5-bisphosphate [PI(3,5)P2] is required in neurons and in OLs for normal CNS myelination. In mice, mutations of Fig4, Pikfyve or Vac14, encoding key components of the PI(3,5)P2 biosynthetic complex, ... More
Organic CO Prodrugs: Structure-CO-Release Rate Relationship Studies.
AuthorsPan Z, Chittavong V, Li W, Zhang J, Ji K, Zhu M, Ji X, Wang B,
JournalChemistry
PubMed ID28544290
Carbon monoxide (CO) is an endogenously produced gasotransmitter in mammals, and may have signaling roles in bacteria as well. It has many recognized therapeutic effects. A significant challenge in this field is the development of pharmaceutically acceptable forms of CO delivery with controllable and tunable release rates. Herein, the structure-release ... More
Disruption of Circulating Extracellular Vesicles as a Novel Therapeutic Strategy against Cancer Metastasis.
AuthorsNishida-Aoki N, Tominaga N, Takeshita F, Sonoda H, Yoshioka Y, Ochiya T,
JournalMol Ther
PubMed ID28129113
Metastasis is the main cause of cancer mortality for many types of cancer; however, difficulties remain in effectively preventing metastasis. It has been recently and widely reported that cancer-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) contribute to cancer metastasis. Thus, therapeutic strategies targeting cancer-derived EVs hold great promise because of the possibility of ... More
The Par3 polarity protein is an exocyst receptor essential for mammary cell survival.
AuthorsAhmed SM, Macara IG,
JournalNat Commun
PubMed ID28358000
The exocyst is an essential component of the secretory pathway required for delivery of basolateral proteins to the plasma membranes of epithelial cells. Delivery occurs adjacent to tight junctions (TJ), suggesting that it recognizes a receptor at this location. However, no such receptor has been identified. The Par3 polarity protein ... More
A functional screening of the kinome identifies the Polo-like kinase 4 as a potential therapeutic target for malignant rhabdoid tumors, and possibly, other embryonal tumors of the brain.
AuthorsSredni ST, Suzuki M, Yang JP, Topczewski J, Bailey AW, Gokirmak T, Gross JN, de Andrade A, Kondo A, Piper DR, Tomita T
JournalPediatr Blood Cancer
PubMed ID28067514
Malignant rhabdoid tumors (MRTs) are deadly embryonal tumors of the infancy. With poor survival and modest response to available therapies, more effective and less toxic treatments are needed. We hypothesized that a systematic screening of the kinome will reveal kinases that drive rhabdoid tumors and can be targeted by specific ... More
Engineering of cell membrane to enhance heterologous production of hyaluronic acid in Bacillus subtilis.
AuthorsWestbrook AW, Ren X, Moo-Young M, Chou CP,
JournalBiotechnol Bioeng
PubMed ID28941282
Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a high-value biopolymer used in the biomedical, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food industries. Current methods of HA production, including extraction from animal sources and streptococcal cultivations, are associated with high costs and health risks. Accordingly, the development of bioprocesses for HA production centered on robust ... More
Esterase-Sensitive and pH-Controlled Carbon Monoxide Prodrugs for Treating Systemic Inflammation.
AuthorsJi X, Pan Z, Li C, Kang T, De La Cruz LKC, Yang L, Yuan Z, Ke B, Wang B,
JournalJ Med Chem
PubMed ID30816714
A bottleneck for developing CO-based therapeutics is the lack of a safe and controllable delivery form. Herein, we describe efforts toward organic CO prodrugs with dual-responsive endogenous triggers. One representative CO prodrug showed significant anti-inflammatory effects both in vitro and in a LPS-simulated systemic inflammation model. These results firmly establish ... More
MiR-384 induces apoptosis and autophagy of non-small cell lung cancer cells through the negative regulation of Collagen a-1(X) chain gene.
AuthorsGuo Q, Zheng M, Xu Y, Wang N, Zhao W,
JournalBiosci Rep
PubMed ID30442874
The present study aims to investigate the mechanism of miR-384 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell apoptosis and autophagy by regulating Collagen a-1(X) chain (COL10A1). Bioinformatics methods were applied to evaluate potential miRNAs and genes that might correlate with NSCLC. Tumor tissues and adjacent tissues from 104 NSCLC patients ... More