Pulmonary Cell News Volume 5.46 | Nov 24 2016

TOP STORY

Inactivation of Capicua Drives Cancer Metastasis

Through the development of an in vivo spontaneous lung cancer metastasis model, scientists showed that the developmentally regulated transcriptional repressor Capicua suppresses invasion and metastasis. [Nat Genet] Abstract | Press Release

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

p53 Regulates Progenitor Cell Quiescence and Differentiation in the Airway

The authors demonstrated that the tumor suppressor p53 regulates both proliferation and differentiation of progenitors in the airway epithelium. p53 loss decreased ciliated cell differentiation and increased the self-renewal and proliferative capacity of club progenitors, increasing epithelial cell density. [Cell Rep] Full Article | Graphical Abstract

Emergence of a Wave of Wnt Signaling that Regulates Lung Alveologenesis by Controlling Epithelial Self-Renewal and Differentiation

Using a Wnt-signaling reporter system, investigators demonstrated the emergence of a Wnt-responsive alveolar epithelial cell sublineage, which arises during alveologenesis, called the axin2+ alveolar type 2 cell, or AT2^Axin2. The number of AT2^Axin2 cells increases substantially during late lung development, correlating with a wave of Wnt signaling during alveologenesis. [Cell Rep] Full Article | Graphical Abstract

Silymarin Attenuates Cigarette Smoke Extract-Induced Inflammation via Simultaneous Inhibition of Autophagy and ERK/p38 MAPK Pathway in Human Bronchial Epithelial Cells

The authors investigated the molecular mechanisms of silymarin in cigarette smoke extract-induced inflammation using human bronchial epithelial cells. Silymarin significantly suppressed autophagy activation and the activity of ERK/p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway in Beas-2B cells. [Sci Rep] Full Article

Involvement of Igf1r in Bronchiolar Epithelial Regeneration: Role during Repair Kinetics after Selective Club Cell Ablation

Researchers sought to further understand the role of Igf1r in pulmonary homeostasis, two distinct lung epithelial-specific Igf1r mutant mice were generated and studied. The lack of Igf1r disturbed airway epithelial differentiation in adult mice, and revealed enhanced proliferation and altered morphology in distal airway club cells. [PLoS One] Full Article

LUNG CANCER

Molecular Analysis of Circulating Tumor Cells Identifies Distinct Copy-Number Profiles in Patients with Chemosensitive and Chemorefractory Small-Cell Lung Cancer

The molecular mechanisms that differentiate chemosensitive from chemorefractory disease are currently unknown. To identify genetic features that distinguish chemosensitive from chemorefractory disease, scientists examined copy-number aberrations in circulating tumor cells from pretreatment small-cell lung cancer blood samples. [Nat Med] Abstract | Press Release

Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition Drives a Pro-Metastatic Golgi Compaction Process through Scaffolding Protein PAQR11

High PAQR11 levels were correlated with epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and shorter survival in human cancers, and PAQR11 was found to be essential for tumor cell migration and metastasis in EMT-driven lung adenocarcinoma models. Investigators found that EMT initiates a PAQR11-mediated Golgi compaction process that drives metastasis. [J Clin Invest] Abstract | Press Release

miR-127 Promotes EMT and Stem-Like Traits in Lung Cancer through a Feed-Forward Regulatory Loop

Researchers showed how that miR-127, an embryo-expressing lung miRNA, was prominently induced in lung adenocarcinoma and correlated with poor prognosis. Elevated miR-127 level drove a pronounced shift from the epithelial to the mesenchymal phenotype in cancer cells, and this shift was associated with their acquisition of stem-like traits, increased resistance to the epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitor and tumor-propagating potential. [Oncogene] Abstract

Oncogenic Transformation of Human Lung Bronchial Epithelial Cells Induced by Arsenic Involves ROS-Dependent Activation of STAT3-miR-21-PDCD4 Mechanism

Scientists showed that treatment of human bronchial epithelial (BEAS-2B) cells with arsenic induces ROS through p47^phox, one of the NOX subunits that is the key source of arsenic-induced ROS. Arsenic exposure induced an upregulation of miR-21 expression associated with inhibition of programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4), and caused malignant cell transformation and tumorigenesis of BEAS-2B cells. [Sci Rep] Full Article

Analysis of miRNA Profiles Identified miR-196a as a Crucial Mediator of Aberrant PI3K/AKT Signaling in Lung Cancer Cells

Hyperactivation of the PI3K/AKT pathway is observed in most human cancer including lung carcinomas. Scientists have investigated the role of miRNAs as downstream targets of activated PI3K/AKT signaling in non small cell lung cancer. miRNA profiling was performed in human lung epithelial cells expressing active AKT1, active PI3KCA or with silenced PTEN. [Oncotarget] Full Article

Elevated Expression of STIM1 Is Involved in Lung Tumorigenesis

The authors aimed to address the potential role of stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1) in lung tumorigenesis. They showed that the expression of STIM1 mRNA was significantly higher in human lung tumors than that in adjacent non-neoplastic lung tissues. [Oncotarget] Full Article

Pregnane X Receptors Regulate CYP2C8 and P-Glycoprotein to Impact on the Resistance of NSCLC Cells to Taxol

Scientists researched the effect of pregnane X receptor on Taxol-resistant non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC cells) via regulating Cytochrome P450 2C8 (CYP2C8) and P-glycoprotein. [Cancer Med] Full Article

Th9 and Other IL-9-Producing Cells in Allergic Asthma

IL-9 is a pleiotropic cytokine that influences various distinct functions of different target cells such as T cells, B cells, mast cells and airway epithelial cells by activating signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)1, STAT3 and STAT5. Because of its pleiotropic functions, IL-9 has been demonstrated to be involved in several diseases, such as cancer, autoimmunity and other pathogen-mediated immune-regulated diseases. In this review, the authors focus on the role of Th9 and IL-9-producing cells in allergic asthma. [Semin Immunopathol] Abstract

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

Ability Pharmaceuticals Initiates Phase II Combination Trial with ABTL0812 as First-Line Therapy in Patients with Endometrial or Squamous Lung Cancer

Ability Pharmaceuticals announced the initiation of the first Phase II Trial with its targeted drug candidate ABTL0812 as first-line therapy to evaluate its efficacy and safety combined with paclitaxel and carboplatin in 80 patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer or squamous lung cancer. [Ability Pharmaceurticals] Press Release

MD Anderson Receives $22 Million in CPRIT Funding for Research, Recruitment and Training

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center was awarded $22 million from the Cancer Prevention and Reasearch Insitute of Texas, receiving 24 percent of the total $93 million awarded. The MD Anderson awards included $990,905 for early translational research, $8.9 million for individual investigator research, $6 million for research training and $6 million for recruitment of an established investigator. [The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center] Press Release

CPRIT Advances Cancer Research at UT Southwestern with New Awards

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers recently received $5.8 million in support from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). [UT Southwestern Medical Center] Press Release

$25 Million Awarded to Center for Study of Regulatory Science

The FDA is funding a collaboration between Stanford and UCSF to improve the regulatory infrastructure that helps to shape modern biomedical research. [Stanford Medicine] Press Release

NgAgo Gene-Editing Controversy Escalates in Peer-Reviewed Papers

A heated dispute over gene-editing that began online is now playing out in the scientific literature. Six months ago, Chinese researchers reported that an enzyme called NgAgo could be used to edit mammalian genes – and that it might be more accurate and more versatile than the popular CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technique. [Nature News] Editorial

Immigrant and Minority Scientists Shaken by Trump Win

Scientists are reconsidering whether to work or study in the United States. Worries include job prospects, discrimination — and safety. [Nature News] Editorial

Peer-Review ‘Heroes’ Do Lion’s Share of the Work

In 2015, the number of scientists in the life sciences far exceeded the demand on them for peer review, according to Michail Kovanis, a computational physicist at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research in Paris, and his colleagues. Yet their study also suggests – based on data obtained from a rapidly-growing website of peer-review activity – that 20% of the scientists undertook between 69% and 94% of reviews last year, lending credence to some researchers’ complaints that they are overburdened. “These ‘peer-review heroes’ may be overworked, with risk of downgraded peer-review standards,” Kovanis and colleagues write in a paper published in PLOS One. [Nature News] Editorial

Cautious Welcome for UK’s Vague £2 Billion Research Pledge

UK scientists have welcomed a surprise government promise to invest an extra £2 billion (US$2.5 billion) per year into research and development by 2020 – although details of the pledge will not be made clear for at least another two days. [Nature News] Editorial

Conservatives, Liberals Team Up against Animal Research

“Painful, bizarre, and wasteful experiments.” Buying dogs “just to cut them apart … and kill them.” These statements might sound like the rhetoric used by extreme animal rights groups, but they come from White Coat Waste—a new, unlikely coalition of fiscal conservatives and liberal activists that aims to end federal funding for research involving dogs and other animals by targeting people’s pocketbooks in addition to their heartstrings. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

NEW Gordon Research Conference: Stem Cells & Cancer
February 12-17, 2017
Barga, Italy

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

NEW Postdoctoral Fellow – System Genetics and Genomics of Lung Diseases (Brigham & Women’s Hospital – Harvard Medical School)

Research Associate – Modeling Tumor Development and Therapy (University of Cambridge)

Scientists/Physicians – Laboratory/Translational/Clinical Research in Lung Cancers (University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center)

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)

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

Professor Position – Pulmonary Cell Research (University of Pennsylvania)

Postdoctoral Research Fellowship – Lung Disease (Johns Hopkins University)

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