On the origin of alkali feldspar megacrysts in granitoids. Part 2: evidence for nucleation and growth under magmatic conditions from crystal size distributions of the Cathedral Peak Granodiorite, California, USA.

The mechanisms whereby alkali feldspar megacrysts form have been debated for several decades; yet, we do not understand well the processes that lead to their formation. We take advantage of glacially polished outcrop surfaces from the Cathedral Peak Granodiorite in the Tuolumne Intrusive Complex, CA to quantitatively characterize alkali feldspar textures, to provide better insight into their origin. On the glacially polished surfaces, we traced alkali feldspar crystals > 10 mm in the field. From the same localities, we also collected large slabs and stained them to reveal feldspar textures for crystals < 20 mm in size. We scaned the resulting field tracings and rock slabs to quantify CSDs using image processing techniques with the software ImageJ. The CSDs from glacially polished outcrop surfaces and complementary polished and stained rock slabs reveal two stages of crystallization. Crystals > 20 mm show log-linear CSDs with shallow slopes, suggesting magmatic nucleation and growth on timescales of thousands of years. Crystals < 20 mm define a second stage of crystallization, with much steeper slopes, suggesting a period of enhanced nucleation leading to formation of a groundmass during the final stages of solidification on timescales of decades to centuries. We do not find any evidence for CSDs affected by textural coarsening, or any effects of subsolidus processes. Our data suggest that these megacrysts form in large, slowly cooling magma, where low nucleation rates dominate. These crystals are not special in their magmatic formation-only in their size. A change in solidification conditions led to the formation of a groundmass, which warrants further study to better understand this crystallization stage in a plutonic environment.

Estimating HLA haplotype frequencies from homozygous individuals - A Technical Report.

We estimated HLA haplotype frequencies based on individuals homozygous for 4, 5 or 6 loci. Validation of our approach using a sample of over 3.4 million German individuals was successful. Compared to an expectation-maximization algorithm, the errors were larger. However, our approach allows the unequivocal detection of rare haplotypes.

Vps37a regulates hepatic glucose production by controlling glucagon receptor localization to endosomes.

During mammalian energy homeostasis, the glucagon receptor (Gcgr) plays a key role in regulating both glucose and lipid metabolisms. However, the mechanisms by which these distinct signaling arms are differentially regulated remain poorly understood. Using a Cy5-glucagon agonist, we show that the endosomal protein Vps37a uncouples glucose production from lipid usage downstream of Gcgr signaling by altering intracellular receptor localization. Hepatocyte-specific knockdown of Vps37a causes an accumulation of Gcgr in endosomes, resulting in overactivation of the cAMP/PKA/p-Creb signaling pathway to gluconeogenesis without affecting ß-oxidation. Shifting the receptor back to the plasma membrane rescues the differential signaling and highlights the importance of the spatiotemporal localization of Gcgr for its metabolic effects. Importantly, since Vps37a knockdown in animals fed with a high-fat diet leads to hyperglycemia, although its overexpression reduces blood glucose levels, these data reveal a contribution of endosomal signaling to metabolic diseases that could be exploited for treatments of type 2 diabetes.

Stem cell donor registry activities during the COVID-19 pandemic: a field report by DKMS.

The COVID-19 pandemic has serious implications also for patients with other diseases. Here, we describe the effects of the pandemic on unrelated hematopoietic stem cell donation and transplantation from the perspective of DKMS, a large international donor registry. Especially, we cover the development of PBSC and bone marrow collection figures, donor management including Health and Availability Check (HAC), transport and cryopreservation of stem cell products, donor recruitment and business continuity measures. The total number of stem cell products provided declined by around 15% during the crisis with a particularly strong decrease in bone marrow products. We modified donor management processes to ensure donor and product safety. HAC instead of confirmatory typing was helpful especially in countries with strict lockdowns. New transport modes were developed so that stem cell products could be safely delivered despite COVID-19-related travel restrictions. Cryopreservation of stem cell products became the new temporary standard during the pandemic to minimize risks related to transport logistics and donor availability. However, many products from unrelated donors will never be transfused. DKMS discontinued public offline donor recruitment, leading to a 40% decline in new donors during the crisis. Most DKMS employees worked from home to ensure business continuity during the crisis.

Combination therapies induce cancer cell death through the integrated stress response and disturbed pyrimidine metabolism.

By accentuating drug efficacy and impeding resistance mechanisms, combinatorial, multi-agent therapies have emerged as key approaches in the treatment of complex diseases, most notably cancer. Using high-throughput drug screens, we uncovered distinct metabolic vulnerabilities and thereby identified drug combinations synergistically causing a starvation-like lethal catabolic response in tumor cells from different cancer entities. Domperidone, a dopamine receptor antagonist, as well as several tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), including imipramine, induced cancer cell death in combination with the mitochondrial uncoupler niclosamide ethanolamine (NEN) through activation of the integrated stress response pathway and the catabolic CLEAR network. Using transcriptome and metabolome analyses, we characterized a combinatorial response, mainly driven by the transcription factors CHOP and TFE3, which resulted in cell death through enhanced pyrimidine catabolism as well as reduced pyrimidine synthesis. Remarkably, the drug combinations sensitized human organoid cultures to the standard-of-care chemotherapy paclitaxel. Thus, our combinatorial approach could be clinically implemented into established treatment regimen, which would be further facilitated by the advantages of drug repurposing.

Decreased expression of angiogenesis antagonist EFEMP1 in sporadic breast cancer is caused by aberrant promoter methylation and points to an impact of EFEMP1 as molecular biomarker.

EGF-containing fibulin-like extracellular matrix protein 1 (EFEMP1) was recently described as an antagonist of angiogenesis. Motivated by a strong dependence of tumor growth and metastasis on angiogenesis, we investigated the role of EFEMP1 in human breast cancer. We applied RNA microarray expression analysis and quantitative real-time PCR (QRT) in a total of 45 sporadic breast cancer tissues and found EFEMP1 down-regulation in 59% and 61% of the analyzed tissues, respectively. This down-regulation was confirmed on protein level. Immunohistochemistry in 211 breast cancer tissues resulted in reduced or even abolished EFEMP1 expression in 57-62.5% of the tumors. Bisulphite genomic sequencing in breast cancer cell lines and primary breast cancer tissues revealed promoter methylation as the major cause of this down-regulation. Furthermore, analysis of 203 clinically well characterized primary breast cancers displayed a significant correlation of reduced EFEMP1 protein expression with poor disease-free (p = 0.037) and overall survival (p = 0.032), particularly in those node-positive patients who received adjuvant anthracycline-based chemotherapy, but not in those treated by either cyclophosphamide-methotrexate-5-fluorouracil (CMF) or Tamoxifen. In summary, the presented data demonstrate for the first time the reduced EFEMP1 expression on RNA and protein level in a substantial number of sporadic breast carcinomas and its correlation with epigenetic alterations. Furthermore, these data point towards a possible predictive impact of EFEMP1 expression in primary breast cancer.

Chemical genetic screen identifies Gapex-5/GAPVD1 and STBD1 as novel AMPK substrates.

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a key regulator of cellular energy homeostasis, acting as a sensor of energy and nutrient status. As such, AMPK is considered a promising drug target for treatment of medical conditions particularly associated with metabolic dysfunctions. To better understand the downstream effectors and physiological consequences of AMPK activation, we have employed a chemical genetic screen in mouse primary hepatocytes in an attempt to identify novel AMPK targets. Treatment of hepatocytes with a potent and specific AMPK activator 991 resulted in identification of 65 proteins phosphorylated upon AMPK activation, which are involved in a variety of cellular processes such as lipid/glycogen metabolism, vesicle trafficking, and cytoskeleton organisation. Further characterisation and validation using mass spectrometry followed by immunoblotting analysis with phosphorylation site-specific antibodies identified AMPK-dependent phosphorylation of Gapex-5 (also known as GTPase-activating protein and VPS9 domain-containing protein 1 (GAPVD1)) on Ser902 in hepatocytes and starch-binding domain 1 (STBD1) on Ser175 in multiple cells/tissues. As new promising roles of AMPK as a key metabolic regulator continue to emerge, the substrates we identified could provide new mechanistic and therapeutic insights into AMPK-activating drugs in the liver.

Hepatic Rab24 controls blood glucose homeostasis via improving mitochondrial plasticity.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) represents a key feature of obesity-related type 2 diabetes with increasing prevalence worldwide. To our knowledge, no treatment options are available to date, paving the way for more severe liver damage, including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Here, we show an unexpected function for an intracellular trafficking regulator, the small Rab GTPase Rab24, in mitochondrial fission and activation, which has an immediate impact on hepatic and systemic energy homeostasis. RAB24 is highly upregulated in the livers of obese patients with NAFLD and positively correlates with increased body fat in humans. Liver-selective inhibition of Rab24 increases autophagic flux and mitochondrial connectivity, leading to a strong improvement in hepatic steatosis and a reduction in serum glucose and cholesterol levels in obese mice. Our study highlights a potential therapeutic application of trafficking regulators, such as RAB24, for NAFLD and establishes a conceptual functional connection between intracellular transport and systemic metabolic dysfunction.

SV40 large T antigen-transformed human primary normal and cancerous mammary epithelial cells are phenotypically similar but can be distinguished in 3D culture with selection medium.

Human normal mammary epithelial cells (NMECs) have 2 major in vitro growth restrictions, senescence and crisis. Cellular immortalization is considered a hallmark of malignancy. However, cancerous mammary epithelial cells (CMECs) that are thought to have passed growth barriers in vivo usually cannot be established long-term in vitro. Here we show that CMECs deprived of their natural environment and grown in conventional complete medium behave similar to NMECs, e.g., they stop producing telomerase and become senescent. Like NMECs, CMECs are rescued by SV40 large T (LT) from senescence but not from crisis. The telomere length of both LT-transformed NMEC (N-LT) and CMEC (C-LT) cells first shortens but later partially recovers after telomerase activation. Both cell types upregulate ErbB2 expression, acquire genetic changes, remain long-term dependent on LT and ErbB2 and are nontumorigenic. Despite these similarities, N-LT and C-LT cells cultured in selection medium show different growth characteristics in 3D culture and in vivo tumorigenesis. Thus, CMECs are under a comparable in vitro selective pressure in conventional monolayer culture as NMECs despite their in vivo malignancy. This data demonstrate that most primary breast cancer cells are still unable to overcome the in vitro growth restrictions and suggest that the relationship of in vitro immortalization and in vivo carcinogenesis should be re-evaluated.

Organellar Proteomics and Phospho-Proteomics Reveal Subcellular Reorganization in Diet-Induced Hepatic Steatosis.

Lipid metabolism is highly compartmentalized between cellular organelles that dynamically adapt their compositions and interactions in response to metabolic challenges. Here, we investigate how diet-induced hepatic lipid accumulation, observed in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), affects protein localization, organelle organization, and protein phosphorylation in vivo. We develop a mass spectrometric workflow for protein and phosphopeptide correlation profiling to monitor levels and cellular distributions of ∼6,000 liver proteins and ∼16,000 phosphopeptides during development of steatosis. Several organelle contact site proteins are targeted to lipid droplets (LDs) in steatotic liver, tethering organelles orchestrating lipid metabolism. Proteins of the secretory pathway dramatically redistribute, including the mis-localization of the COPI complex and sequestration of the Golgi apparatus at LDs. This correlates with reduced hepatic protein secretion. Our systematic in vivo analysis of subcellular rearrangements and organelle-specific phosphorylation reveals how nutrient overload leads to organellar reorganization and cellular dysfunction.

Characterization of {gamma}-aminobutyric acid type A receptor-associated protein, a novel tumor suppressor, showing reduced expression in breast cancer.

Frequent allelic loss of the chromosomal region 17p13 in breast cancer has suggested that more tumor suppressor genes, besides p53, are located in this region. By doing suppression subtractive hybridization to detect differentially expressed genes between the breast cancer cell line CAL51 and a nontumorigenic microcell hybrid CAL/17-1, we identified the gene for the gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA(A)) receptor associated protein (GABARAP), located on 17p13.1. GABARAP displayed high expression levels in the microcell hybrid CAL/17-1 but only weak expression in CAL51 and other breast cancer cell lines tested. Furthermore, we observed large vesicles in CAL/17-1 by immunofluorescence staining, whereas no signal could be detected in the tumor cell line. GABARAP mRNA expression and protein expression were significantly down-regulated in invasive ductal and invasive lobular carcinomas compared with normal breast tissue measured by semiquantitative reverse transcription-PCR and immunohistochemistry, respectively. We assessed that neither mutations in the coding region of the gene nor hypermethylation of CpG islands in the promoter region are responsible for loss of gene expression in CAL51; however, 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine treatment was effective in gene up-regulation, suggesting a methylation-dependent upstream effect. Stable transfection of GABARAP into CAL51 resulted in an increase of gene expression and remarkably influenced the ability of colony formation in soft agar and the growth rate in vitro and, moreover, suppressed the tumorigenicity of the cells in nude mice. In summary, our data suggest that GABARAP acts via a vesicle transport mechanism as a tumor suppressor in breast cancer.

A Hepatic GAbp-AMPK Axis Links Inflammatory Signaling to Systemic Vascular Damage.

Increased pro-inflammatory signaling is a hallmark of metabolic dysfunction in obesity and diabetes. Although both inflammatory and energy substrate handling processes represent critical layers of metabolic control, their molecular integration sites remain largely unknown. Here, we identify the heterodimerization interface between the α and ß subunits of transcription factor GA-binding protein (GAbp) as a negative target of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) signaling. TNF-α prevented GAbpα and ß complex formation via reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to the non-energy-dependent transcriptional inactivation of AMP-activated kinase (AMPK) ß1, which was identified as a direct hepatic GAbp target. Impairment of AMPKß1, in turn, elevated downstream cellular cholesterol biosynthesis, and hepatocyte-specific ablation of GAbpα induced systemic hypercholesterolemia and early macro-vascular lesion formation in mice. As GAbpα and AMPKß1 levels were also found to correlate in obese human patients, the ROS-GAbp-AMPK pathway may represent a key component of a hepato-vascular axis in diabetic long-term complications.

A network of clinically and functionally relevant genes is involved in the reversion of the tumorigenic phenotype of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells after transfer of human chromosome 8.

Several investigations have supposed that tumor suppressor genes might be located on human chromosome 8. We used microcell-mediated transfer of chromosome 8 into MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells and generated independent hybrids with strongly reduced tumorigenic potential. Loss of the transferred chromosome results in reappearance of the malignant phenotype. Expression analysis identified a set of 109 genes (CT8-ps) differentially expressed in microcell hybrids as compared to the tumorigenic MDA-MB-231 and rerevertant cells. Of these, 44.9% are differentially expressed in human breast tumors. The expression pattern of CT8-ps was associated with prognostic factors such as tumor size and grading as well as loss of heterozygosity at the short arm of chromosome 8. We identified CT8-ps networks suggesting that these genes act cooperatively to cause reversion of tumorigenicity in MDA-MB-231 cells. Our findings provide a conceptual basis and experimental system to identify and evaluate genes and gene networks involved in the development and/or progression of breast cancer.

ST18 is a breast cancer tumor suppressor gene at human chromosome 8q11.2.

We have identified a gene, ST18 (suppression of tumorigenicity 18, breast carcinoma, zinc-finger protein), within a frequent imbalanced region of chromosome 8q11 as a breast cancer tumor suppressor gene. The ST18 gene encodes a zinc-finger DNA-binding protein with six fingers of the C2HC type (configuration Cys-X5-Cys-X12-His-X4-Cys) and an SMC domain. ST18 has the potential to act as transcriptional regulator. ST18 is expressed in a number of normal tissues including mammary epithelial cells although the level of expression is quite low. In breast cancer cell lines and the majority of primary breast tumors, ST18 mRNA is significantly downregulated. A 160 bp region within the promoter of the ST18 gene is hypermethylated in about 80% of the breast cancer samples and in the majority of breast cancer cell lines. The strong correlation between ST18 promoter hypermethylation and loss of ST18 expression in tumor cells suggests that this epigenetic mechanism is responsible for tumor-specific downregulation. We further show that ectopic ST18 expression in MCF-7 breast cancer cells strongly inhibits colony formation in soft agar and the formation of tumors in a xenograft mouse model.

SASH1: a candidate tumor suppressor gene on chromosome 6q24.3 is downregulated in breast cancer.

Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and in silico expression analysis were applied to identify genes significantly downregulated in breast cancer within the genomic interval 6q23-25. Systematic comparison of candidate EST sequences with genomic sequences from this interval revealed the genomic structure of a potential target gene on 6q24.3, which we called SAM and SH3 domain containing 1 (SASH1). Loss of the gene-internal marker D6S311, found in 30% of primary breast cancer, was significantly correlated with poor survival and increase in tumor size. Two SASH1 transcripts of approximately 4.4 and 7.5 kb exist and are predominantly transcribed in the human breast, lung, thyroid, spleen, placenta and thymus. In breast cancer cell lines, SASH1 is only expressed at low levels. SASH1 is downregulated in the majority (74%) of breast tumors in comparison with corresponding normal breast epithelial tissues. In addition, SASH1 is also downregulated in tumors of the lung and thyroid. Analysis of the protein domain structure revealed that SASH1 is a member of a recently described family of SH3/SAM adapter molecules and thus suggests a role in signaling pathways. We assume that SASH1 is a new tumor suppressor gene possibly involved in tumorigenesis of breast and other solid cancers. We were unable to find mutations in the coding region of the gene in primary breast cancers showing LOH within the critical region. We therefore hypothesize that other mechanisms as for instance methylation of the promoter region of SASH1 are responsible for the loss of expression of SASH1 in primary and metastatic breast cancer.

Pathology of ovarian cancers in BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers.

PURPOSE: Germline mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes confer increased susceptibility to ovarian cancer. There is evidence that tumors in carriers may exhibit a distinct distribution of pathological features, but previous studies on the pathology of such tumors have been small. Our aim was to evaluate the morphologies and immunophenotypes in a large cohort of patients with familial ovarian cancer. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We performed a systematic review of ovarian tumors from 178 BRCA1 mutation carriers, 29 BRCA2 mutation carriers, and 235 controls with a similar age distribution. Tumors were evaluated by four pathologists blinded to mutation status. Both morphological features and immunochemical staining for p53 and HER2 were evaluated. RESULTS: Tumors in BRCA1 mutation carriers were more likely than tumors in age-matched controls to be invasive serous adenocarcinomas (odds ratio, 1.84; 95% confidence interval, 1.21-2.79) and unlikely to be borderline or mucinous tumors. Tumors in BRCA1 carriers were of higher grade (P < 0.0001), had a higher percentage solid component (P = 0.001), and were more likely to stain strongly for p53 (P = 0.018). The distribution of pathological features in BRCA2 carriers was similar to that in BRCA1 carriers. CONCLUSIONS: Use of pathological features can substantially improve the targeting of predictive genetic testing. Results also suggest that BRCA1 and BRCA2 tumors are relatively aggressive and may be expected to have poor prognosis, although this may be treatment dependent.

Analysis of DLC-1 expression in human breast cancer.

The chromosome region 8p12-p22 shows frequent allelic loss in many neoplasms, including breast cancer (BC). The DLC-1 gene, located on 8p21-p22, might be a candidate tumor suppressor gene in this region. To evaluate the involvement of DLC-1 in breast carcinogenesis we studied DLC-1 mRNA expression in a panel of 14 primary human BC and the corresponding normal breast cells as well as 8 BC cell lines. Low levels or absence of DLC-1 mRNA were observed in 57% of primary BC and 62.5% of BC cell lines, respectively. We could not find any correlation between DLC-1 mRNA expression and deletions at the DLC-1 locus. Transfection of the gene into DLC-1 deficient T-47D cells raised the DLC-1 mRNA level and resulted in inhibition of cell growth and reduced colony-forming capacity. Our results indicate a role of DLC-1 in BC carcinogenesis.

Identification of brain- and bone-specific breast cancer metastasis genes.

In breast cancer, metastases are relatively widely distributed, with the most common sites being bone, regional lymph nodes, lung, liver, and brain. The detailed mechanism of organ-specific metastasis is poorly understood. In this study, we initiated a search for genes that are implicated in brain or bone metastasis of primary human breast cancer. We generated gene expression profiles of 18 brain and eight bone metastases derived from primary breast tumors. We identified 73 genes differentially expressed between brain and bone metastases. Visualization of the differential gene expression profiles by correspondence and cluster analyses shows that the metastases clearly separate into two distinct groups as an exact reflection of their site of metastasis. Moreover, the analysis of this gene set in primary breast tumors relapsing to either bone or brain allowed accurate categorization of the tumors according to their metastatic site. The identified genes may prove to be excellent markers to predict the site of metastasis in breast cancer patients and could lead to tailor-made therapy to an individual patient.