Faculty Bibliography

Oocytes are complex cells comprising many cellular systems, each of which is essential for proper oocyte function. Methods to assess the diverse and critical cellular systems in oocytes derived from in vitro maturation are badly needed

OBJECTIVE: Osteosarcoma arises predominantly in the metaphyseal growth plate of children during the growth spurt years. These tumors develop during physiological growth from an expanding cell population, suggesting that the transformed cell is a bone-forming progenitor. An absence of the p53 oncogene has been implicated in the origin and progression of osteosarcoma, and because mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are the physiological osteogenic progenitor cell population, we hypothesized that a p53-/- mutation would enhance bone differentiation of MSC in a mouse model of in vitro osteogenesis. METHODS: Clonal MSC populations were derived from p53-/- mice. P53-/- and wild-type cells were placed in osteogenic culture and assessed via Alizarin Red quantification and alkaline phosphatase staining. The osteogenic marker genes Cbfa1, osteopontin, and osteocalcin were assessed by quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction during differentiation. RESULTS: Bone nodule formation and alkaline phosphatase staining was accelerated and enhanced in the p53-/- cells. The early and intermediate osteogenic markers, Cbfa1 and osteopontin, were upregulated in p53-/- MSCs compared with wild-type cells during osteogenesis. The terminal osteogenic marker gene osteocalcin was paradoxically lower in p53-/- MSCs indicating impaired terminal differentiation. CONCLUSION: The p53-/- mutation enhances and accelerates early osteogenesis in MSCs, but prevents terminal differentiation toward a mature osteocyte phenotype. These findings may have important implications for the regulation of the MSC compartment during the derivation of osteosarcoma in children.

A semibiological molecular machine with an implemented "AND" logic gate was developed, which was capable of controlling the folding process of proteins in response to ATP and light as input stimuli. The molecular design made use of a genetically engineered chaperonin GroEL bearing, at both entrance parts of its cylindrical cavity, cysteine residues, which were functionalized by an azobenzene derivative to construct photoresponsive mechanical gates (azo-GroEL). This engineered chaperonin trapped denatured green fluorescent protein (GFP(denat)) and prohibited its refolding. However, when hosting azo-GroEL detected ATP (input stimulus 1) and UV light (input stimulus 2) at the same time, it quickly released GFP(denat) to allow its refolding. In contrast, reception of either input stimulus 1 or 2 resulted in only very slow or no substantial refolding of GFP(denat). Implementation of such "AND" logic gate mechanisms in mechanically driven biomolecular systems is an important step toward the design of secured drug delivery systems.

BACKGROUND: Gene expression and transcription factor (TF) binding data have been used to reveal gene transcriptional regulatory networks. Existing knowledge of gene regulation can be presented using gene connectivity networks. However, these composite connectivity networks do not specify the range of biological conditions of the activity of each link in the network. RESULTS: We present a novel method that utilizes the expression and binding patterns of the neighboring nodes of each link in existing experimentally-based, literature-derived gene transcriptional regulatory networks and extend them in silico using TF-gene binding motifs and a compendium of large expression data from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using this method, we predict several hundreds of new transcriptional regulatory TF-gene links, along with experimental conditions in which known and predicted links become active. This approach unravels new links in the yeast gene transcriptional regulatory network by utilizing the known transcriptional regulatory interactions, and is particularly useful for breaking down the composite transcriptional regulatory network to condition specific networks. CONCLUSION: Our methods can facilitate future binding experiments, as they can considerably help focus on the TFs that must be surveyed to understand gene regulation.(Supplemental material and the latest version of the MATLAB implementation of the United Signature Algorithm is available online at 1 or [see Additional files 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10])

Atherosclerosis regression is an important clinical goal. In previous studies of regression in mice, the rapid loss of plaque foam cells was explained by emigration to lymph nodes, a process reminiscent of dendritic cells. In the present study, plaque-containing arterial segments from apoE-/- mice were transplanted into WT recipient normolipidemic mice or apoE-/- mice. Three days after transplant, in the WT regression environment, plaque size decreased by approximately 40%, and foam cell content by approximately 75%. In contrast, both parameters increased in apoE-/- recipients. Foam cells were isolated by laser capture microdissection. In WT recipients, there were 3- to 6-fold increases in foam cells of mRNA for liver X receptor alpha and cholesterol efflux factors ABCA1 and SR-BI. Although liver X receptor alpha was induced, there was no detectable expression of its putative activator, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma. Expression levels of VCAM or MCP-1 were reduced to 25% of levels in pretransplant or apoE-/- recipient samples, but there was induction at the mRNA and protein levels of chemokine receptor CCR7, an essential factor for dendritic cell migration. Remarkably, when CCR7 function was abrogated in vivo by treatment of WT recipients with antibodies to CCR7 ligands CCL19 and CCL21, lesion size and foam cell content were substantially preserved. In summary, in foam cells during atherosclerosis regression, there is induction of CCR7 and a requirement for its function. Taken with the other gene expression data, these results in vivo point to complex relationships among the immune system, nuclear hormone receptors, and inflammation during regression

BACKGROUND: The beneficial effects of reperfusion therapies have been limited by the amount of ischemic damage that occurs before reperfusion. To enable development of interventions to reduce cell injury, our research has focused on understanding mechanisms involved in cardiac cell death after ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. In this context, our laboratory has been investigating the role of the receptor for advanced-glycation end products (RAGE) in myocardial I/R injury. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study we tested the hypothesis that RAGE is a key modulator of I/R injury in the myocardium. In ischemic rat hearts, expression of RAGE and its ligands was significantly enhanced. Pretreatment of rats with sRAGE, a decoy soluble part of RAGE receptor, reduced ischemic injury and improved functional recovery of myocardium. To specifically dissect the impact of RAGE, hearts from homozygous RAGE-null mice were isolated, perfused, and subjected to I/R. RAGE-null mice were strikingly protected from the adverse impact of I/R injury in the heart, as indicated by decreased release of LDH, improved functional recovery, and increased adenosine triphosphate (ATP). In rats and mice, activation of the RAGE axis was associated with increases in inducible nitric oxide synthase expression and levels of nitric oxide, cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), and nitrotyrosine. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate novel and key roles for RAGE in I/R injury in the heart. The findings also demonstrate that the interaction of RAGE with advanced-glycation end products affects myocardial energy metabolism and function during I/R