Pulmonary Cell News Volume 5.43 | Nov 3 2016

TOP STORY

GSDMB Induces an Asthma Phenotype Characterized by Increased Airway Responsiveness and Remodeling without Lung Inflammation

The authors demonstrated that Gasdermin B (GSDMB), a gene highly linked to asthma but whose function in asthma is previously unknown, regulates airway-hyperresponsiveness and airway remodeling without airway inflammation through a previously unrecognized pathway in which GSDMB induces 5-Lipoxygenase to induce TGF-β1 in bronchial epithelium. [Proc Natl Acad Sci USA] Abstract

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Regulates Chemokine Production in Cystic Fibrosis Airway Cells through STAT3 Modulation

Scientists used cellular models in conjunction with data from a recent cystic fibrosis genome-wide association study meta-analysis to determine modulators of endoplasmic reticulum stress-mediated inflammation. [J Infect Dis] Abstract

Quantitative Monitoring of Hypoxia-Induced Intracellular Acidification in Lung Tumor Cells and Tissues Using Activatable Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Nanoprobes

Hypoxia is considered to contribute to pathophysiology in various cells and tissues, a clear understanding about the relationship between hypoxia and intracellular acidification will help to elucidate the complex mechanism of glycolysis under hypoxia. The authors report a new activatable nanoprobe for sensing pH change under different degrees of hypoxia by surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy. [Anal Chem] Abstract

Large-Scale Gene Expression Profiling Platform for Identification of Context-Dependent Drug Responses in Multicellular Tumor Spheroids

Two-dimensional cancer cell cultures have major limitations, as they do not closely mimic the heterogeneity and tissue context of in vivo tumors. Developing three-dimensional cell cultures, such as multicellular tumor spheroids, has the potential to address some of these limitations. Investigators combined a high-throughput gene expression profiling method with a tumor spheroid-based drug-screening assay to identify context-dependent treatment responses. [Chem Biol] Abstract | Graphical Abstract

Long Term Culture of the A549 Cancer Cell Line Promotes Multilamellar Body Formation and Differentiation towards an Alveolar Type II Pneumocyte Phenotype

Most work with A549 cells involves short term culture of proliferating cells, researchers postulated that culture conditions that reduced proliferation of the cancer cells would promote a more differentiated alveolar type II (ATII) cell phenotype. They examined A549 cell growth in different media over long term culture and used microarray analysis to investigate temporal regulation of pathways involved in cell cycle and ATII differentiation. [PLoS One] Full Article

Matched-Comparative Modeling of Normal and Diseased Human Airway Responses Using a Microengineered Breathing Lung Chip

The authors showed that a small airway-on-a-chip device lined by living human bronchiolar epithelium from normal or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients can be connected to an instrument that “breathes” whole cigarette smoke in and out of the chips to study smoke-induced pathophysiology in vitro. [Cell Syst] Abstract | Graphical Abstract

LUNG CANCER

Inhibition of Hydrogen Sulfide Biosynthesis Sensitizes Lung Adenocarcinoma to Chemotherapeutic Drugs by Inhibiting Mitochondrial DNA Repair and Suppressing Cellular Bioenergetics

Scientists showed that human lung adenocarcinoma tissue expresses high levels of hydrogen sulfide producing enzymes, namely, cystathionine beta-synthase, cystathionine gamma lyase and 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase, in comparison to adjacent lung tissue. [Sci Rep] Full Article

Tumor Microenvironment-Responsive Lipoic Acid Nanoparticles for Targeted Delivery of Docetaxel to Lung Cancer

Researchers developed a novel type of reduction-sensitive nanoparticles for docetaxel (DTX) delivery based on cross-linked lipoic acid nanoparticles (LANPs). The physicochemical properties, cellular uptake and in vitro cytotoxicity of DTX loaded LANPs (DTX-LANPs) on A549 cells were investigated. [Sci Rep] Full Article

MicroRNA-206 Attenuates the Growth and Angiogenesis in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells by Blocking the 14-3-3ζ/STAT3/HIF-1α/VEGF Signaling

The authors findings’ provided the underlying mechanisms of miR-206/14-3-3ζ in tumor growth and angiogenesis, and implicated miR-206 and 14-3-3ζ as potential therapeutic targets for non-small cell lung cancer. [Oncotarget] Full Article

Glypican-5 Suppresses Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition of the Lung Adenocarcinoma by Competitively Binding to Wnt3a

Researchers found over-expression Glypican-5 induced significant Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition process of A549 cells in vitro. [Oncotarget] Full Article

β-Cryptoxanthin Reduced Lung Tumor Multiplicity and Inhibited Lung Cancer Cell Motility by Downregulating Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor α7 Signaling

The protective effect of β-cryptoxanthin (BCX) in the lungs was associated with reductions of both mRNA and protein of the homopentameric neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor α7 (α7-nAChR), which has been implicated in lung tumorigenesis. The authors conducted an in vitro cell culture study and found that BCX treatment suppressed α7-nAChR expression and inhibited the migration and invasion of α7-nAChR-positive lung cancer cells but not in cells lacking α7-nAChR. [Cancer Prev Res (Phila)] Abstract | Press Release

Organoids: Synthetic Scaffolds Help Airway Cells Reach Maturity

The author discusses how transplanting bioengineered human lung organoids into mice could lead to a humanized model for pre-clinical studies of lung disease. [Elife] Full Article

Extracellular Vesicles in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

The authors summarize the recent findings of extracellular vesicles (EV)-mediated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) pathogenesis. They also discuss the potential clinical usefulness of EVs as biomarkers and therapeutic agents for the treatment of COPD. [Int J Mol Sci] Full Article | Graphical Abstract

Tuberculosis

In many low-income and middle-income countries, tuberculosis (TB) continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality, and drug-resistant TB is a major concern in many settings. Although several new TB diagnostics have been developed, including rapid molecular tests, there is a need for simpler point-of-care tests. [Nat Rev Dis Primers] Abstract

Visit our reviews page to see a complete list of reviews in the pulmonary cell research field.

Gov. Cuomo Announces Landmark Roswell Park Study Bringing Cuban Lung Cancer Vaccine to U.S. Patients, and Approval of Historic U.S. Government License Authorizing U.S.–Cuba Commercial Partnership to Fast-Track Biotech Development

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that a partnership formed during his historic New York State Trade Mission to Cuba last year has resulted in a milestone of international collaboration: the launch of a U.S. clinical trial of a Cuban immunotherapy developed by the Center of Molecular Immunology for lung cancer. [Roswell Park] Press Release

Asuragen Launches QuantideX^® NGS RNA Lung Cancer Kit (RUO)

Asuragen Inc., announced the launch of the QuantideX^® NGS RNA Lung Cancer Kit1, a next generation sequencing panel that simultaneously interrogates known clinically-relevant gene fusions, 3’/5’ imbalance markers, exon skipping events, and mRNA expression levels in non-small cell lung cancer samples. [Asuragen Inc.] Press Release

Over Half a Billion in Research Council Grant to Karolinska Institute (KI) Researchers

The Swedish Research Council announced the grants it will be awarding in the category of medicine and health. The total sum is almost 980 million Swedish krona (SEK), of which KI researchers will receive SEK 524,325,017. [Karolinska Institute] Press Release

Cedars-Sinai Receives Approval to Test Novel Combined Stem Cell and Gene Therapy for ALS Patients

Cedars-Sinai regenerative medicine investigators have received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to test a combination stem cell-gene therapy they developed to stall the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurological disease that causes progressive paralysis and ultimately death. [Cedars-Sinai] Press Release

Tracker Flags up Failures to Report Clinical Trials

An automated tool has trawled through thousands of records on the world’s leading clinical-trials database to reveal which drug firms and academic institutions are failing to publish the results of their trials. The US Department of Health and Human Services announced tougher rules to push the researchers that it funds to publish clinical-trial designs and results. [Nature News] Editorial

Publisher Pulls 58 Articles by Iranian Scientists over Authorship Manipulation

A tranche of 58 articles authored by 282 Iran-based researchers were retracted by a leading scientific publisher, which said it had found signs that the peer review and publication processes had been compromised. [Nature News] Editorial

Young Scientists Ditch Postdocs for Biotech Start-Ups

There is a vanguard of young biomedical scientists who have started companies instead of taking the conventional academic path and pursuing postdoctoral studies after their PhDs. Among the factors driving this change are an infusion of money into early-stage biotech investing, the emergence of biotech incubators and the scarcity of academic jobs in science. [Nature News] Editorial

Beyond Trump vs Clinton: A Scientist’s Guide to the US Election

Choices that voters make will influence other levels of government — and some of these decisions will steer the course of science and science policy. [Nature News] Editorial

NEW Keystone Symposium: New Developments in Our Basic Understanding of Tuberculosis
January 14-18, 2017
Vancouver, Canada

Visit our events page to see a complete list of events in the community.

NEW Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Cancer GeneticsEpigenetics (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center)

Postdoctoral Researcher – Lung Cancer (Northwestern University)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Lung Biology (Boston University)

Cell Biologist – Pulmonary Vascular Signaling (University of Maryland)

Research Fellow(s) – Pulmonary Research (Imperial College London)

Postdoctoral Position – Virus-Induced Lung Repair (Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research)

Associate/Full Professor – Various Projects (University of California, San Francisco)

Postdoctoral Training Fellow, Lung Cancer and Drug Resistance (Institute of Cancer Research)

Professor Position – Pulmonary Cell Research (University of Pennsylvania)

Postdoctoral Research Fellowship – Lung Disease (Johns Hopkins University)

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