Pancreatic Cell News 8.37 September 19, 2017 | |
| |
TOP STORYScientists developed an engraftment strategy to examine age-associated human islet cell replication competence and reveal mechanisms underlying age-dependent decline of β cell proliferation in human islets. They found that exendin-4, an agonist of the glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor, stimulated human β cell proliferation in juvenile, but not adult islets. [J Clin Invest] Full Article | |
| |
PUBLICATIONS(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)DIABETES & PANCREATITISTALK-1 Channels Control β Cell Endoplasmic Reticulum Ca2+ Homeostasis The authors demonstrated that K+ flux through endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-localized TALK-1 channels facilitated Ca2+ release from the ER in mouse and human β cells. They found that β cells from mice lacking TALK-1 exhibited reduced basal cytosolic Ca2+ and increased ER Ca2+ concentrations. [Sci Signal] Abstract To explore the cellular heterogeneity and temporal progression of endocrine progenitors and their progeny, researchers performed single-cell qPCR on more than 500 cells across several stages of in vitro differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and compared them with human islets. [Stem Cell Reports] Full Article | Graphical Abstract C3aR and C5aR1 Act as Key Regulators of Human and Mouse β-Cell Function Investigators characterized islet expression of C3 and C5 complement components, and the impact of C3aR and C5aR1 activation on islet function and viability. Human and mouse islet mRNAs encoding key elements of the complement system were quantified by qPCR, and distribution of C3 and C5 proteins was determined by immunohistochemistry. [Cell Mol Life Sci] Full Article Scientists investigated the effects of PI3Kγ ablation in db/db diabetic mice, a genetic model of obesity-driven β-cell failure and diabetes. Mice that lacked PI3Kγ were backcrossed into db/+ mice C57BL/KS to obtain db/db–PI3Kγ−/− mice. [FASEB J] Abstract PANCREATIC CANCERResearchers utilized single-cell RNA sequencing to identify differentially expressed genes in relation to apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 (APE1) protein levels within the cell. Using a straight forward yet novel statistical design, they identified 2,837 genes whose expression is significantly changed following APE1 knockdown. [Mol Oncol] Full Article MicroRNA-196b Inhibits Late Apoptosis of Pancreatic Cancer Cells by Targeting CADM1 To identify the differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) in pancreatic cancer tissues, scientists performed the systematic microarray and qRT-PCR analyses. They found miR-196b was the top dysregulated DEM in PC tissues as compared with the corresponding adjacent tissues, and positively correlated with poor differentiation, tumor size, lymphatic invasion and TNM stage. [Sci Rep] Full Article Researchers developed an integrated irreversible electroporation (IRE) system with controllable laser heating and tumor impedance monitoring to treat mouse ectopic pancreatic cancer. They were able to heat and maintain the temperature of a targeted tumor area at 42 °C during IRE treatment. Pre-heating the tumor greatly reduced the impedance of tumor and its fluctuation. [Sci Rep] Full Article HOX genes encode transcription factors that function as sequence-specific transcription factors that are involved in cellular proliferation, differentiation, and death. Scientists investigated the role of a HOX family protein, HOXB7 in the motility and invasiveness of pancreatic cancer cells. [J Biol Chem] Full Article | Abstract | |
| |
REVIEWSEMT and Treatment Resistance in Pancreatic Cancer Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is one of the most distinctive and critical features of pancreatic cancer (PC), occurring even in the very first stages of tumor development. This is known as pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia and leads to early dissemination, drug resistance, and unfavorable prognosis and survival. The authors shed new light on the critical role assumed by EMT during PC progression, with a particular focus on its role in PC resistance. [Cancers] Full Article Visit our reviews page to see a complete list of reviews in the pancreatic cell research field. | |
| |
INDUSTRY NEWSUS Medical Innovations, LLC (USMI) announced that its parent company, US Patent Innovations, LLC (USPI), announced that USPI has signed a $5.3 million sponsored research agreement with the George Washington University. Under the agreement, USPI will fund a new plasma-based cancer therapy program for USMI’s development of biomedical applications for plasma technology, particularly in the treatment of cancer. [US Medical Innovations, LLC (Business Wire)] Press Release HHMI Selects 15 Hanna Gray Fellows to Support Diversity in Science The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) announced the selection of 15 exceptional early career scientists as the first group of HHMI Hanna Gray Fellows. Each fellow will receive up to $1.4 million in funding over eight years, with mentoring and active involvement within the HHMI community. [Howard Hughes Medical Institute] Press Release Karus Therapeutics Ltd announced that the first patients have been dosed with its histone deacetylase 6 inhibitor, KA2507, in a Phase I clinical study. This is the company’s second orally-active small molecule cancer therapeutic agent to enter clinical trials during the past 12 months. [Karus Therapeutics Ltd] Press Release | |
| |
POLICY NEWSU.S. House Approves 2018 Spending Bills, but Process Far from Finished The U.S. House of Representatives took a major step toward setting federal science budgets for the 2018 fiscal year. But Congress is still far from the finish line, and final spending levels aren’t likely to be finalized until late this year at the earliest. [ScienceInsider] Editorial After Uproar, U.K. Parliament’s Science Committee Now Has a Female Member The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee tweeted that it was “pleased to announced our membership has been confirmed.” Parliamentary committees had been dissolved after the recent U.K. election, and now the panel was rolling out its new contingent of lawmakers. The only problem: All eight of the mostly smiling faces belonged to men. [ScienceInsider] Editorial They Got Hundreds of Thousands to Rally. Where Does the March for Science Go from Here? The hundreds of thousands of people who rallied on the National Mall and in cities worldwide for the March for Science came to be noticed. But as two dozen of them met in New York the following month for a debrief, they faced an obvious reality: A grass-roots organization that was quickly formed to plan a singular event was not, at least immediately, equipped for far-reaching and long-term science advocacy. [STAT News] Editorial
| |
EVENTSNEW Keystone Symposia: Vascular Biology and Human Diseases: From Molecular Pathways to Novel Therapeutics Visit our events page to see a complete list of events in the community.
| |
JOB OPPORTUNITIESNEW Researcher – Cancer Biology (University of Cincinnati) Postdoctoral Fellow – Diabetes (Harvard University) Postdoctoral Research Fellow – RNA Metabolism in Pancreatic Cancer (Moffitt Cancer Center) Postdoctoral Research Position – Pancreatitis and Pancreatic Cancer (Stanford University) Faculty Position – Cancer Biology (The University of Texas Southwestern) Postdoctoral Research Scientist – Tumor Environment (Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute) Postdoctoral Position – Islet Biology (Sanofi) Postdoctoral Scientist – hPSC Differentiation into Beta Cells (Helmholtz Zentrum München) Scientist – Diabetes and Obesity (Helmholtz Zentrum München) Assistant Investigator – Cancer Genetics, Epigenetics and Biomarkers (Baylor Research Institute) Postdoctoral Fellow – Cancer Genetics, Epigenetics and Biomarkers (Baylor Research Institute) Research Assistant – Cancer Genetics, Epigenetics and Biomarkers (Baylor Research Institute) Postdoctoral Scholar – Pancreatic and Lung Cancer Research (University of California, San Francisco) Postdoctoral Position – Immunology (Harvard Medical School) Faculty Positions – Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism (University of Pittsburgh) Recruit Top Talent: Reach potential candidates by posting your organization’s career opportunities on the Connexon Creative Job Board at no cost.
| |
Have we missed an important article or publication in Pancreatic Cell News? Click here to submit! Comments or suggestions? Submit your feedback here. | |
|