The Wonders of BMP9: From mesenchymal stem cell differentiation, angiogenesis, neurogenesis, tumorigenesis, and metabolism to regenerative medicine
Publication date: Available online 24 July 2019Source: Genes & DiseasesAuthor(s): Sami Mostafa, Mikhail Pakvasa, Elam Coalson, Allen Zhu, Alex Alverdy, Hector Castillo, Jiaming Fan, Alex Li, Yixiao Feng, Di Wu, Elliott Bishop, Scott Du, Mia Spezia, Alissa Li, Ofir Hagag, Alison Deng, Winny Liu, Mingyang Li, Sherwin S. Ho, Aravind AthivirahamAbstractAlthough bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) initially showed effective induction of ectopic bone growth in muscle, it has since been determined that these proteins, as members of the TGF-β superfamily, play a diverse and critical array of biological roles. These roles include r...
Source: Genes and Diseases - July 25, 2019 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Paradox-driven adventures in the development of cancer immunology and immunotherapy
Publication date: Available online 10 July 2019Source: Genes & DiseasesAuthor(s): Whitney Barham, Joanina K. Gicobi, Yiyi Yan, Roxana S. Dronca, Haidong DongAbstractAfter more than one hundred years of documented trials, immunotherapy has become a standard of care in the treatment of human cancer. Much of the knowledge that led to recent breakthroughs seems quite logical from today’s point of view. However, what we now cite as facts were originally considered paradoxes, meaning something contrary to expectations or perceived opinion at the time. In order to make gains in the field of immunotherapy, one had to be willing ...
Source: Genes and Diseases - July 11, 2019 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Molecular mechanisms of congenital heart disease in Down syndrome
Publication date: Available online 8 July 2019Source: Genes & DiseasesAuthor(s): Hui Zhang, Lingjuan Liu, Jie TianAbstractDown syndrome (DS), as a typical genomic aneuploidy, is a common cause of various birth defects, among which is congenital heart disease (CHD). 40-60% neonates with DS have some kinds of CHD. However, the molecular pathogenic mechanisms of DS associated CHD are still not fully understood. This review summarizes available studies on DS associated CHD from seven aspects so as to provide a crucial and updated overview of what we known so far in this domain. (Source: Genes and Diseases)
Source: Genes and Diseases - July 9, 2019 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Predictive biomarkers for immune checkpoint blockade and opportunities for combination therapies
Publication date: Available online 3 July 2019Source: Genes & DiseasesAuthor(s): Hongxing Shen, Eddy Shih-Hsin Yang, Marty Conry, John Fiveash, Carlo Contreras, James A. Bonner, Lewis Zhichang ShiAbstractImmune checkpoint blockade therapies (ICBs) are a prominent breakthrough in cancer immunotherapy in recent years (named the 2013 “Breakthrough of the Year” by the Science magazine). Thus far, FDA-approved ICBs primarily target immune checkpoints CTLA-4, PD-1, and PD-L1. Notwithstanding their impressive long-term therapeutic benefits, their efficacy is limited to a small subset of cancer patients. In addition, ICBs indu...
Source: Genes and Diseases - July 4, 2019 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Regulation of the Hippo signaling pathway by deubiquitinating enzymes in cancer
Publication date: Available online 24 June 2019Source: Genes & DiseasesAuthor(s): Ashley Mussell, Costa Frangou, Jianmin ZhangAbstractRegulation of the Hippo signaling pathway is essential for normal organ growth and tissue homeostasis. The proteins that act to regulate this pathway are important for ensuring proper function and cellular location. Deubiquitinases (DUBs) are a family of proteases that act upon many proteins. While ubiquitinases add ubiquitin and target proteins for degradation, DUBs act by removing ubiquitin (Ub) moieties. Changes in ubiquitin chain topology results in the stabilization of proteins, membran...
Source: Genes and Diseases - June 25, 2019 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
CircRNA expression profiles in decidual tissue of patients with early recurrent miscarriage
This study aimed to evaluate the potential role of circRNAs in decidual tissue of patients with early recurrent miscarriage (RM). We constructed circRNA expression profiles in decidual tissue using microarray data. A total of 123 differentially expressed circRNAs, including 78 upregulated and 45 downregulated circRNAs were detected in the early RM group compared with the control group (P<0.05). Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis also revealed the enrichment of specific circRNAs. The verified circRNA-targeted miRNA-mRNA network was constructed, most of the circRNAs har...
Source: Genes and Diseases - June 25, 2019 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
High prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency in Chinese children with upper limb fractures
This study aimed at investigating the vitamin D status of pediatric patients with upper limb fractures and finding out the influences of age, gender, season and fracture sites. 695 patients were admitted for upper limb fractures between November 1st 2014 and October 31st 2015. 224 healthy children were included during the same period. Serum 25(OH)D was measured at the time of visit and their demographic data were recorded. Generally fracture patients had significant lower vitamin D level than the healthy children. The average serum 25(OH)D of the patients was 24.5ng/ml, compared to 28.1ng/ml in healthy children. Vitamin D ...
Source: Genes and Diseases - June 22, 2019 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
A Novel Inhibitor of MDM2 Oncogene Blocks Metastasis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Overcomes Chemoresistance
Publication date: Available online 19 June 2019Source: Genes & DiseasesAuthor(s): Wei Wang, Bo Hu, Jiang-Jiang Qin, Jianwen Cheng, Xin Li, Mehrdad Rajaei, Jia Fan, Xin-Rong Yang, Ruiwen ZhangAbstractOverexpression of the MDM2 oncogene and mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor commonly occur in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and are associated with increased mortality due to this disease. Inhibiting MDM2 has been demonstrated to be a valid approach for the treatment of HCC. However, most of the MDM2 inhibitors evaluated to date have been designed to block the MDM2 and p53 binding, and have limited efficacy against tumors wi...
Source: Genes and Diseases - June 19, 2019 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
PRMT5 in gene regulation and hematologic malignancies
Publication date: Available online 19 June 2019Source: Genes & DiseasesAuthor(s): Fen Zhu, Lixin RuiAbstractArginine methylation is a common posttranslational modification that governs important cellular processes and impacts development, cell growth, proliferation, and differentiation. Arginine methylation is catalyzed by protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs), which are classified as type I and type II enzymes responsible for the formation of asymmetric and symmetric dimethylarginine, respectively. PRMT5 is the main type II enzyme that catalyzes symmetric dimethylarginine of histone proteins to induce gene silencing...
Source: Genes and Diseases - June 19, 2019 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Association of a genetic variant in AKT1 gene with features of the metabolic syndrome
Publication date: Available online 17 June 2019Source: Genes & DiseasesAuthor(s): Fateme Sadat Eshaghi, Hamideh Ghazizadeh, Sakine Kazami Nooreini, Ameneh Timar, Habibollah Esmaeily, Mehrane Mehramiz, Amir Avan, Majid Ghayour-MobarhanAbstractMetabolic syndrome (MetS) is a clustering of metabolic abnormalities that is associated with increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. There is growing body of data showing the associations of genetic variants of the genes involved in the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway with diabetes and obesity. We aimed to investigate the association between MetS and its componen...
Source: Genes and Diseases - June 18, 2019 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Pioglitazone ameliorates neuronal damage after traumatic brain injury via the PPARγ/NF-κB/IL-6 signaling pathway
Publication date: Available online 6 June 2019Source: Genes & DiseasesAuthor(s): Yongbing Deng, Xue Jiang, Xiaoyan Deng, Hong Chen, Jie Xu, Zhaosi Zhang, Geli Liu, Zhu yong, Chengfu Yuan, Xiaochuan Sun, Changdong WangAbstractTraumatic brain injury (TBI) is the major cause of high mortality and disability rates worldwide. Pioglitazone is an activator of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARγ) that can reduce inflammation following TBI. Clinically, neuroinflammation after TBI lacks effective treatment. Although there are many studies on PPARγ in TBI animals, only few could be converted into clinical, since...
Source: Genes and Diseases - June 6, 2019 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Correlation between IL28B/TLR4 genetic variants and HCC development with/without DAAs treatment in chronic HCV patients
This study is designed to explore the relation between IL28B/TLR4 genetic variants and each of the followings; HCC development post SOF/DCV treatment, progression to HCC in naïve patients and SOF/DCV therapy outcome. A total of 493 blood samples were collected (controls (n=70); HCV patients treated with SOF/DCV (n=252) of whom 65 patients developed HCC, 187 patients didn’t develop HCC (125 responders, 62 relapsers); naïve HCV patients (n= 171) had early (n=48), late liver fibrosis (n=21) and HCC (n=102)). Both SNPs were genotyped using a TaqMan 5’ allelic discrimination assay. At IL28B rs12979860 SNP, the C allele wa...
Source: Genes and Diseases - May 28, 2019 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Ubiquitination status does not affect Vps34 degradation
Publication date: Available online 25 May 2019Source: Genes & DiseasesAuthor(s): Jing Tang, Fei Sun, Xiao-Juan Deng, Yuan-Lin Ma, Kun-Yi Li, Ying Tang, Guo-Jun ChenAbstractVps34 (vacuolar protein-sorting 34) plays important role in autophagy and endosomal trafficking. These processes are closely associated protein ubiquitination and degradation. We have hypothesized that Vps34 ubiquitination status would also control its degradation. Here, we report that our results did not support this assumption. In cells transiently transfected with ubiquitin (UB) constructs contained different lysine residues (Ks), Vps34 ubiquitination...
Source: Genes and Diseases - May 25, 2019 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Biomechanical analysis of the computer-assisted internal fixation of a femoral neck fracture
Publication date: Available online 23 April 2019Source: Genes & DiseasesAuthor(s): Hui Lu, Hongquan Shen, Shuqing Zhou, Weidong Ni, Dianming JiangAbstractThe number and spatial configuration of the screws will affect the stability and prognosis of the fractures. In our study, we assessed the biomechanical effects of the double-head cannulated compression screw (DhCCS) and ordinary cannulated compression screw (OCCS) for the treatment of femoral neck fractures by using computer finite element analysis. The original digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM)data of a proximal femur were imported into Materialise'...
Source: Genes and Diseases - May 23, 2019 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Mutations in EZH2 are associated with poor prognosis for patients with myeloid neoplasms
Publication date: Available online 16 May 2019Source: Genes & DiseasesAuthor(s): Qi Zhang, Qi Han, Jie Zi, Jinlong Ma, huihui Song, Yulu Tian, Mary McGrath, Chunhua Song, Zheng GeAbstractEZH2 is a component of the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), which is a highly conserved histone methyltransferase that methylates lysine 27 of histone 3. EZH2 mutations are associated with oncogenesis and progression of cancers. However, the relationship between the clinical outcome of patients with myeloid malignancies and EZH2 mutations is controversial. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis of 8 studies (n= 2243 patients) that ev...
Source: Genes and Diseases - May 16, 2019 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
