Pulmonary Cell News Volume 7.34 | Aug 30 2018

TOP STORY

Preventing Loss of Mechanosensation by the Nuclear Membranes of Alveolar Cells Reduces Lung Injury in Mice during Mechanical Ventilation

Lamin-A expression increased and nuclear membrane compliance decreased in human bronchial epithelial cells after a mechanical stretch stimulus and in a murine model of lung injury after positive-pressure ventilation. [Sci Transl Med] Abstract

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

BAL Cell Gene Expression Is Indicative of Outcome and Airway Basal Cell Involvement in IPF

The genes associated with mortality in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cells were significantly enriched for genes expressed in airway basal cells. Further analyses by gene expression, flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry showed an increase in airway basal cells in BAL and tissues of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) compared to controls, but not in COPD or sarcoidosis. [Am J Respir Crit Care Med] Abstract

Dynamic Expression of HOPX in Alveolar Epithelial Cells Reflects Injury and Repair during the Progression of Pulmonary Fibrosis

Scientists established a flow cytometry-based method to evaluate homeobox only protein x (HOPX)-expressing cells in the lung. HOPX expression in cultured alveolar epithelial type II (ATII) cells increased over culture time, which was accompanied by a decrease of proSP-C, an ATII marker. [Sci Rep] Full Article

Micropillar-Based Culture Platform Induces Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in the Alveolar Epithelial Cell Line

Investigators adopted polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-micropillars-based matrix platform to culture human alveolar epithelial cells for studying the influence of topography and rigidity on epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). This study reports a previously undefined role of mechanical microenvironment in EMT induction. [J Biomed Mater Res A] Abstract

N-Acetylcysteine Prevents Cytotoxic Effects Induced by Man-Made Mineral Fibers in a Human Bronchial Epithelial Cell Line

Scientists investigated the cytotoxic effects on human bronchial epithelial cells exposed to glass wool 1, rock wool 1 and refractory ceramic fibre 2, considering their properties similar to that of asbestos. [Toxicol In Vitro] Abstract

LUNG CANCER

Expansion of Cancer Stem Cell Pool Initiates Lung Cancer Recurrence before Angiogenesis

Mechanistically, high insulin-like growth factor 1 initiates lung cancer stem cells (LCSCs) self-renewal from asymmetry to symmetry via the activation of a PI3K/Akt/β-catenin axis. Next, the expansion of LCSC pool promotes angiogenesis by increasing the production of CXCL1 and PlGF in CD133⁺ LCSCs, which results in lung cancer recurrence. [Proc Natl Acad Sci USA] Abstract

Rab37 Mediates Exocytosis of Secreted Frizzled-Related Protein 1 to Inhibit Wnt Signaling and thus Suppress Lung Cancer Stemness

Scientists report a previously uncharacterized mechanism by which Rab37 mediates exocytosis of secreted frizzled-related protein-1, an extracellular antagonist of Wnt, to suppress Wnt signaling and cancer stemness in vitro and in vivo. [Cell Death Dis] Full Article

Imperatorin Targets MCL-1 to Sensitize CD133⁺ Lung Cancer Cells to γδ-T Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity

Compared with CD133^– cells, CD133⁺ cells were resistant to γδ T cell-mediated cytotoxicity. However, imperatorin significantly increased the sensitivity of CD133⁺ lung cancer cells to γδ T cell treatment in vitro and in vivo. [Cell Physiol Biochem] Full Article

Overexpressed D2 Dopamine Receptor Inhibits Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Progression through Inhibiting NF-κB Signaling Pathway

In vitro experiments showed that disruption of dopamine receptor D2 promoted the proliferation of non-small cell lung cancer cell lines A549 and SK-MES-1 by inhibiting the NF-κB signaling pathway. [Cell Physiol Biochem] Full Article

Multilayered Cultures of NSCLC Cells Grown at the Air-Liquid Interface Allow the Efficacy Testing of Inhaled Anti-Cancer Drugs

The authors developed and characterized in vitro models for the efficacy testing of inhaled chemotherapeutic agents against non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). These models recapitulated key elements of both the lung epithelium and the tumor tissue, namely the direct contact with the gas phase and the three-dimensional architecture. [Sci Rep] Full Article

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TGF-β Signaling in Lung Health and Disease

Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β is the most potent inducer of epithelial-mesenchymal transition in non-small cell lung cancer cells and is pivotal to the development of tumor-promoting microenvironment in the lung cancer tissue. The authors summarize the current knowledge of TGF-β signaling relevant to lung health and disease. [Int J Mol Sci] Full Article

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Zai Lab Doses First Patient in Phase III Trial of ZL-2306 (Niraparib) in Patients with Small-Cell Lung Cancer in China

Zai Lab Limited announced dosing of the first patient in a Phase III trial of ZL-2306 in patients with small-cell lung cancer. [Zai Lab Limited] Press Release

Baylor Awarded CPRIT Grants for Research, Recruitment

Baylor College of Medicine has been awarded more than $31 million by the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to support new research, core facilities and recruitment of new faculty to support the fight against cancer. [Baylor College of Medicine] Press Release

Clinical Trials Have Far Too Little Racial and Ethnic Diversity

The symptoms of conditions such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes, as well as the contributing factors, vary across lines of ethnicity, as they do between the sexes. If diverse groups aren’t part of these studies, we can’t be sure whether the treatment will work in all populations or what side effects might emerge in one group or another. [Scientific American] Editorial

Top UK Genomics Institute Investigates Bullying Allegations

An investigation into allegations of bullying is under way at one of the world’s top genomics centers — the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Hinxton, UK. According to The Guardian, which first reported on the investigation at Sanger, the complaints come from current and former staff members and include allegations against the institute’s director, geneticist Michael Stratton, who has been at the helm since 2010. [Nature News] Editorial

Yale Prof Gets Endowed Chair Four Years After Harassment Finding

Michael Simons, a Yale School of Medicine professor who was removed from a leadership post in 2014 after the university found him guilty of sexual harassment, was given an endowed professorship in the school’s cardiology department. In response, faculty members “went into an uproar,” and the school removed an online press release about Simons’s honor, Yale Daily News reported. [The Scientist] Editorial

New Research: Financial Disclosure Lacking in Publication of Clinical Trials

A substantial proportion of pharmaceutical industry payments to authors of oncology clinical trials published in major scientific journals are not disclosed, new research shows. The publications focused on clinical trials that tested new cancer drugs. The new findings were published as a research letter in the journal JAMA Oncology. [OHSU] Editorial

NEW European Lung Cancer Congress (ELCC) 2019
April 10-13, 2019
Geneva, Switzerland

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NEW PhD Students – Lung Disease Research (Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen)

NEW Faculty Investigators – Cancer Research (The University of Alabama at Birmingham)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Respiratory Epithelial Cell Biology (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)

Postdoctoral Position – Lung Diseases (German Research Center for Environmental Health)

Postdoctoral Position – Acute Lung Injury (University of Kentucky)

Cancer Research Scholar – Lung Cancer (University of California)

Postdoctoral Fellow – BCL-2 & Pathogenesis & Targeted Therapy of Lung Cancer (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Lung and Vascular Diseases (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Cellular Therapeutics in Chronic Lung Disease (Helmholtz Zentrum München)

Principal Investigators – Cancer (University of Alabama Birmingham)

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