@article{HofmannBoettgerRangeetal.2017, author = {Hofmann, Sigrun Ruth and B{\"o}ttger, Fanny and Range, Ursula and L{\"u}ck, Christian and Morbach, Henner and Girschick, Hermann Joseph and Suttorp, Meinolf and Hedrich, Christian Michael}, title = {Serum interleukin-6 and CCL11/eotaxin may be suitable biomarkers for the diagnosis of chronic nonbacterial osteomyelitis}, series = {Frontiers in Pediatrics}, volume = {5}, journal = {Frontiers in Pediatrics}, doi = {10.3389/fped.2017.00256}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-172744}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Objectives: Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO), the most severe form of chronic nonbacterial osteomyelitis (CNO), is an autoinflammatory bone disorder. In the absence of diagnostic criteria or biomarkers, CNO/CRMO remains a diagnosis of exclusion. The aim of this study was to identify biomarkers for diagnosing multifocal disease (CRMO). Study design: Sera from 71 pediatric CRMO patients, 11 patients with osteoarticular infections, 62 patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), 7 patients with para-infectious or reactive arthritis, and 43 patients with acute leukemia or lymphoma, as well as 59 healthy individuals were collected. Multiplex analysis of 18 inflammation- and/or bone remodeling-associated serum proteins was performed. Statistical analysis included univariate ANOVA, discriminant analysis, univariate receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, and logistic regression analyses. Results: For 14 of 18 blood serum proteins, significant differences were determined between CRMO patients, at least one alternative diagnosis, or healthy controls. Multi-component discriminant analysis delivered five biomarkers (IL-6, CCL11/eotaxin, CCL5/RANTES, collagen Iα, sIL-2R) for the diagnosis of CRMO. ROC analysis allowed further reduction to a core set of 2 biomarkers (CCL11/eotaxin, IL-6) that are sufficient to discern between CRMO, healthy controls, and alternative diagnoses. Conclusion: Serum biomarkers CCL11/eotaxin and IL-6 differentiate between patients with CRMO, healthy controls, and alternative diagnoses (leukemia and lymphoma, osteoarticular infections, para-infectious arthritis, and JIA). Easily accessible biomarkers may aid in diagnosing CRMO. Further studies testing biomarkers in larger unrelated cohorts are warranted.}, language = {en} } @article{HofmannKarlSommeretal.2017, author = {Hofmann, Lukas and Karl, Franziska and Sommer, Claudia and {\"U}{\c{c}}eyler, Nurcan}, title = {Affective and cognitive behavior in the alpha-galactosidase A deficient mouse model of Fabry disease}, series = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {12}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, number = {6}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0180601}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170745}, pages = {e0180601}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Fabry disease is an X-linked inherited lysosomal storage disorder with intracellular accumulation of globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) due to α-galactosidase A (α-Gal A) deficiency. Fabry patients frequently report of anxiety, depression, and impaired cognitive function. We characterized affective and cognitive phenotype of male mice with α-Gal A deficiency (Fabry KO) and compared results with those of age-matched male wildtype (WT) littermates. Young (3 months) and old (≥ 18 months) mice were tested in the na{\"i}ve state and after i.pl. injection of complete Freund`s adjuvant (CFA) as an inflammatory pain model. We used the elevated plus maze (EPM), the light-dark box (LDB) and the open field test (OF) to investigate anxiety-like behavior. The forced swim test (FST) and Morris water maze (MWM) were applied to assess depressive-like and learning behavior. The EPM test revealed no intergroup difference for anxiety-like behavior in na{\"i}ve young and old Fabry KO mice compared to WT littermates, except for longer time spent in open arms of the EPM for young WT mice compared to young Fabry KO mice (p<0.05). After CFA injection, young Fabry KO mice showed increased anxiety-like behavior compared to young WT littermates (p<0.05) and na{\"i}ve young Fabry KO mice (p<0.05) in the EPM as reflected by shorter time spent in EPM open arms. There were no relevant differences in the LDB and the OF test, except for longer time spent in the center zone of the OF by young WT mice compared to young Fabry KO mice (p<0.05). Complementary to this, depression-like and learning behavior were not different between genotypes and age-groups, except for the expectedly lower memory performance in older age-groups compared to young mice. Our results indicate that genetic influences on affective and cognitive symptoms in FD may be of subordinate relevance, drawing attention to potential influences of environmental and epigenetic factors.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Hoffmann2017, author = {Hoffmann, Helene}, title = {Identifying regulators of tumor vascular morphology}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-142348}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2017}, abstract = {In contrast to normal vessels, tumor vasculature is structurally and functionally abnormal. Tumor vessels are highly disorganized, tortuous and dilated, with uneven diameter and excessive branching. Consequently, tumor blood flow is chaotic, which leads to hypoxic and acidic regions in tumors. These conditions lower the therapeutic effectiveness and select for cancer cells that are more malignant and metastatic. The therapeutic outcome could be improved by increasing the functionality and density of the tumor vasculature. Tumor angiogenesis also shows parallels to epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process enabling metastasis. Metastasis is a multi-step process, during which tumor cells have to invade the surrounding host tissue to reach the circulation and to be transported to distant sites. We hypothesize that the variability in the phenotype of the tumor vasculature is controlled by the differential expression of key transcription factors. Inhibiting these transcription factors might be a promising way for angiogenic intervention and vascular re-engineering. Therefore, we investigated the interdependence of tumor-, stroma- and immune cell-derived angiogenic factors, transcription factors and resulting vessel phenotypes. Additionally, we evaluated whether transcription factors that regulate EMT are promising targets for vascular remodeling. We used formalin fixed paraffin embedded samples from breast cancer patients, classified according to estrogen-, progesterone- and human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) 2 status. Establishing various techniques (CD34 staining, laser microdissection, RNA isolation and expression profiling) we systematically analyzed tumor and stroma-derived growths factors. In addition, vascular parameters such as microvessel size, area, circularity and density were assessed. Finally the established expression profiles were correlated with the observed vessel phenotype. As the SNAI1 transcriptional repressor is a key regulator of EMT, we examined the effect of vascular knockdown of Snai1 in murine cancer models (E0771, B16-F10 and lewis lung carcinoma). Among individual mammary carcinomas, but not among subtypes, strong differences of vascular parameters were observed. Also, little difference between lobular carcinomas and ductal carcinomas was found. Vessel phenotype of Her2 enriched carcinomas was similar to that of lobular carcinomas. Vessel morphology of luminal A and B and basal-like tumors resembled each other. Expression of angiogenic factors was variable across subtypes. We discovered an inverse correlation of PDGF-B and VEGF-A with vessel area in luminal A tumors. In these tumors expression of IL12A, an inhibitor of angiogenesis, was also correlated with vessel size. Treatment of endothelial cells with growth factors revealed an increased expression of transcription factors involved in the regulation of EMT. Knockdown of Snai1 in endothelial cells of mice increased tumor growth and decreased hypoxia in the E0771 and the B16-F10 models. In the lewis lung carcinomas, tumor vascularity and biodistribution of doxorubicin were improved. Here, doxorubicin treatment in combination with the endothelial cell-specific knockdown did slow tumor growth. This shows that SNAI1 is important for a tumor's vascularization, with the significance of its role depending on the tumor model. The methods established in this work open the way for the analysis of the expression of key transcription factors in vessels of formalin fixed paraffin embedded tumors. This research enables us to find novel targets for vascular intervention and to eventually design novel targeted drugs to inhibit these targets.}, subject = {Antiangiogenese}, language = {en} } @unpublished{HocheSchmittHumeniuketal.2017, author = {Hoche, Joscha and Schmitt, Hans-Christian and Humeniuk, Alexander and Fischer, Ingo and Mitrić, Roland and R{\"o}hr, Merle I. S.}, title = {The mechanism of excimer formation: an experimental and theoretical study on the pyrene dimer}, series = {Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics}, journal = {Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics}, doi = {10.1039/C7CP03990E}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159656}, year = {2017}, abstract = {The understanding of excimer formation in organic materials is of fundamental importance, since excimers profoundly influence their functional performance in applications such as light-harvesting, photovoltaics or organic electronics. We present a joint experimental and theoretical study of the ultrafast dynamics of excimer formation in the pyrene dimer in a supersonic jet, which is the archetype of an excimer forming system. We perform simulations of the nonadiabatic photodynamics in the frame of TDDFT that reveal two distinct excimer formation pathways in the gas-phase dimer. The first pathway involves local excited state relaxation close to the initial Franck-Condon geometry that is characterized by a strong excitation of the stacking coordinate exhibiting damped oscillations with a period of 350 fs that persist for several picoseconds. The second excimer forming pathway involves large amplitude oscillations along the parallel shift coordinate with a period of ≈900 fs that after intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution leads to the formation of a perfectly stacked dimer. The electronic relaxation within the excitonic manifold is mediated by the presence of intermolecular conical intersections formed between fully delocalized excitonic states. Such conical intersections may generally arise in stacked π-conjugated aggregates due to the interplay between the long-range and short-range electronic coupling. The simulations are supported by picosecond photoionization experiments in a supersonic jet that provide a time-constant for the excimer formation of around 6-7 ps, in good agreement with theory. Finally, in order to explore how the crystal environment influences the excimer formation dynamics we perform large scale QM/MM nonadiabatic dynamics simulations on a pyrene crystal in the framework of the long-range corrected tight-binding TDDFT. In contrast to the isolated dimer, the excimer formation in the crystal follows a single reaction pathway in which the initially excited parallel slip motion is strongly damped by the interaction with the surrounding molecules leading to the slow excimer stabilization on a picosecond time scale.}, language = {en} } @article{HocheSchmittHumeniuketal.2017, author = {Hoche, Joscha and Schmitt, Hans-Christian and Humeniuk, Alexander and Fischer, Ingo and Mitrić, Roland and R{\"o}hr, Merle I. S.}, title = {The mechanism of excimer formation: an experimental and theoretical study on the pyrene dimer}, series = {Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics}, volume = {19}, journal = {Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics}, number = {36}, doi = {10.1039/C7CP03990E}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159514}, pages = {25002-25015}, year = {2017}, abstract = {The understanding of excimer formation in organic materials is of fundamental importance, since excimers profoundly influence their functional performance in applications such as light-harvesting, photovoltaics or organic electronics. We present a joint experimental and theoretical study of the ultrafast dynamics of excimer formation in the pyrene dimer in a supersonic jet, which is the archetype of an excimer forming system. We perform simulations of the nonadiabatic photodynamics in the frame of TDDFT that reveal two distinct excimer formation pathways in the gas-phase dimer. The first pathway involves local excited state relaxation close to the initial Franck-Condon geometry that is characterized by a strong excitation of the stacking coordinate exhibiting damped oscillations with a period of 350 fs that persist for several picoseconds. The second excimer forming pathway involves large amplitude oscillations along the parallel shift coordinate with a period of ≈900 fs that after intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution leads to the formation of a perfectly stacked dimer. The electronic relaxation within the excitonic manifold is mediated by the presence of intermolecular conical intersections formed between fully delocalized excitonic states. Such conical intersections may generally arise in stacked π-conjugated aggregates due to the interplay between the long-range and short-range electronic coupling. The simulations are supported by picosecond photoionization experiments in a supersonic jet that provide a time-constant for the excimer formation of around 6-7 ps, in good agreement with theory. Finally, in order to explore how the crystal environment influences the excimer formation dynamics we perform large scale QM/MM nonadiabatic dynamics simulations on a pyrene crystal in the framework of the long-range corrected tight-binding TDDFT. In contrast to the isolated dimer, the excimer formation in the crystal follows a single reaction pathway in which the initially excited parallel slip motion is strongly damped by the interaction with the surrounding molecules leading to the slow excimer stabilization on a picosecond time scale.}, language = {en} } @article{HillmannWiedmannRueckeretal.2017, author = {Hillmann, Steffi and Wiedmann, Silke and R{\"u}cker, Viktoria and Berger, Klaus and Nabavi, Darius and Bruder, Ingo and Koennecke, Hans-Christian and Seidel, G{\"u}nter and Misselwitz, Bj{\"o}rn and Janssen, Alfred and Burmeister, Christoph and Matthis, Christine and Busse, Otto and Hermanek, Peter and Heuschmann, Peter Ulrich}, title = {Stroke unit care in Germany: the German stroke registers study group (ADSR)}, series = {BMC Neurology}, volume = {17}, journal = {BMC Neurology}, number = {49}, doi = {10.1186/s12883-017-0819-0}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159447}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Background: Factors influencing access to stroke unit (SU) care and data on quality of SU care in Germany are scarce. We investigated characteristics of patients directly admitted to a SU as well as patient-related and structural factors influencing adherence to predefined indicators of quality of acute stroke care across hospitals providing SU care. Methods: Data were derived from the German Stroke Registers Study Group (ADSR), a voluntary network of 9 regional registers for monitoring quality of acute stroke care in Germany. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate characteristics influencing direct admission to SU. Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM) were used to estimate the influence of structural hospital characteristics (percentage of patients admitted to SU, year of SU-certification, and number of stroke and TIA patients treated per year) on adherence to predefined quality indicators. Results: In 2012 180,887 patients were treated in 255 hospitals providing certified SU care participating within the ADSR were included in the analysis; of those 82.4\% were directly admitted to a SU. Ischemic stroke patients without disturbances of consciousness (p < .0001), an interval onset to admission time ≤3 h (p < .0001), and weekend admission (p < .0001) were more likely to be directly admitted to a SU. A higher proportion of quality indicators within predefined target ranges were achieved in hospitals with a higher proportion of SU admission (p = 0.0002). Quality of stroke care could be maintained even if certification was several years ago. Conclusions: Differences in demographical and clinical characteristics regarding the probability of SU admission were observed. The influence of structural characteristics on adherence to evidence-based quality indicators was low.}, language = {en} } @article{HibarAdamsJahanshadetal.2017, author = {Hibar, Derrek P. and Adams, Hieab H.H. and Jahanshad, Neda and Chauhan, Ganesh and Stein, Jason L and Hofer, Edith and Renteria, Miguel E. and Bis, Joshua C. and Arias-Vasquez, Alejandro and Ikram, M. Kamran and Desrivi{\`e}res, Sylvane and Vernooij, Meike W. and Abramovic, Lucija and Alhusaini, Saud and Amin, Najaf and Andersson, Micael and Arfanakis, Konstantinos and Aribisala, Benjamin S. and Armstrong, Nicola J. and Athanasiu, Lavinia and Axelsson, Tomas and Beecham, Ashley H. and Beiser, Alexa and Bernard, Manon and Blanton, Susan H. and Bohlken, Marc M. and Boks, Marco P. and Bralten, Janita and Brickman, Adam M. and Carmichael, Owen}, title = {Novel genetic loci associated with hippocampal volume}, series = {Nature Communications}, volume = {8}, journal = {Nature Communications}, doi = {10.1038/ncomms13624}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-182115}, pages = {12}, year = {2017}, abstract = {The hippocampal formation is a brain structure integrally involved in episodic memory, spatial navigation, cognition and stress responsiveness. Structural abnormalities in hippocampal volume and shape are found in several common neuropsychiatric disorders. To identify the genetic underpinnings of hippocampal structure here we perform a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 33,536 individuals and discover six independent loci significantly associated with hippocampal volume, four of them novel. Of the novel loci, three lie within genes (ASTN2, DPP4 and MAST4) and one is found 200 kb upstream of SHH. A hippocampal subfield analysis shows that a locus within the MSRB3 gene shows evidence of a localized effect along the dentate gyrus, subiculum, CA1 and fissure. Further, we show that genetic variants associated with decreased hippocampal volume are also associated with increased risk for Alzheimer's disease (r\(_g\)=-0.155). Our findings suggest novel biological pathways through which human genetic variation influences hippocampal volume and risk for neuropsychiatric illness.}, language = {en} } @article{HeuserGototPiotrowskietal.2017, author = {Heuser, Christoph and Gotot, Janine and Piotrowski, Eveline Christina and Philipp, Marie-Sophie and Courr{\`e}ges, Christina Johanna Felicia and Otte, Martin Sylvester and Guo, Linlin and Schmid-Burgk, Jonathan Leo and Hornung, Veit and Heine, Annkristin and Knolle, Percy Alexander and Garbi, Natalio and Serfling, Edgar and Evaristo, C{\´e}sar and Thaiss, Friedrich and Kurts, Christian}, title = {Prolonged IKK\(\beta\) Inhibition Improves Ongoing CTL Antitumor Responses by Incapacitating Regulatory T Cells}, series = {Cell Reports}, volume = {21}, journal = {Cell Reports}, number = {3}, doi = {10.1016/j.celrep.2017.09.082}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173643}, pages = {578-586}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Regulatory T cells (Tregs) prevent autoimmunity but limit antitumor immunity. The canonical NF-\(\kappa\)B signaling pathway both activates immunity and promotes thymic Treg development. Here, we report that mature Tregs continue to require NF-\(\kappa\)B signaling through I\(\kappa\)B-kinase \(\beta\) (IKK\(\beta\)) after thymic egress. Mice lacking IKK\(\beta\) in mature Tregs developed scurfy-like immunopathology due to death of peripheral FoxP3\(^+\) Tregs. Also, pharmacological IKK\(\beta\) inhibition reduced Treg numbers in the circulation by ~50\% and downregulated FoxP3 and CD25 expression and STAT5 phosphorylation. In contrast, activated cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) were resistant to IKK\(\beta\) inhibition because other pathways, in particular nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFATc1) signaling, sustained their survival and expansion. In a melanoma mouse model, IKK\(\beta\) inhibition after CTL cross-priming improved the antitumor response and delayed tumor growth. In conclusion, prolonged IKK\(\beta\) inhibition decimates circulating Tregs and improves CTL responses when commenced after tumor vaccination, indicating that IKK\(\beta\) represents a druggable checkpoint.}, language = {en} } @article{HeroldHerzWinteretal.2017, author = {Herold, Volker and Herz, Stefan and Winter, Patrick and Gutjahr, Fabian Tobias and Andelovic, Kristina and Bauer, Wolfgang Rudolf and Jakob, Peter Michael}, title = {Assessment of local pulse wave velocity distribution in mice using k-t BLAST PC-CMR with semi-automatic area segmentation.}, series = {Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance}, volume = {19}, journal = {Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance}, number = {77}, doi = {10.1186/s12968-017-0382-2}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157696}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Background: Local aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) is a measure for vascular stiffness and has a predictive value for cardiovascular events. Ultra high field CMR scanners allow the quantification of local PWV in mice, however these systems are yet unable to monitor the distribution of local elasticities. Methods: In the present study we provide a new accelerated method to quantify local aortic PWV in mice with phase-contrast cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (PC-CMR) at 17.6 T. Based on a k-t BLAST (Broad-use Linear Acquisition Speed-up Technique) undersampling scheme, total measurement time could be reduced by a factor of 6. The fast data acquisition enables to quantify the local PWV at several locations along the aortic blood vessel based on the evaluation of local temporal changes in blood flow and vessel cross sectional area. To speed up post processing and to eliminate operator bias, we introduce a new semi-automatic segmentation algorithm to quantify cross-sectional areas of the aortic vessel. The new methods were applied in 10 eight-month-old mice (4 C57BL/6J-mice and 6 ApoE\(^{(-/-)}\)-mice) at 12 adjacent locations along the abdominal aorta. Results: Accelerated data acquisition and semi-automatic post-processing delivered reliable measures for the local PWV, similiar to those obtained with full data sampling and manual segmentation. No statistically significant differences of the mean values could be detected for the different measurement approaches. Mean PWV values were elevated for the ApoE\(^{(-/-)}\)-group compared to the C57BL/6J-group (3.5 ± 0.7 m/s vs. 2.2 ± 0.4 m/s, p < 0.01). A more heterogeneous PWV-distribution in the ApoE \(^{(-/-)}\)-animals could be observed compared to the C57BL/6J-mice, representing the local character of lesion development in atherosclerosis. Conclusion: In the present work, we showed that k-t BLAST PC-MRI enables the measurement of the local PWV distribution in the mouse aorta. The semi-automatic segmentation method based on PC-CMR data allowed rapid determination of local PWV. The findings of this study demonstrate the ability of the proposed methods to non-invasively quantify the spatial variations in local PWV along the aorta of ApoE\(^{(-/-)}\)-mice as a relevant model of atherosclerosis.}, language = {en} } @article{HergovitsMaisHaanetal.2017, author = {Hergovits, Sabine and Mais, Christine and Haan, Claude and Costa-Pereira, Ana P. and Hermanns, Heike M.}, title = {Oncostatin M induces RIG-I and MDA5 expression and enhances the double-stranded RNA response in fibroblasts}, series = {Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine}, volume = {21}, journal = {Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine}, number = {11}, doi = {10.1111/jcmm.13221}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159558}, pages = {3087-3099}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Interleukin (IL)-6-type cytokines have no direct antiviral activity; nevertheless, they display immune-modulatory functions. Oncostatin M (OSM), a member of the IL-6 family, has recently been shown to induce a distinct number of classical interferon stimulated genes (ISG). Most of them are involved in antigen processing and presentation. However, induction of retinoic acid-inducible gene (RIG)-I-like receptors (RLR) has not been investigated. Here we report that OSM has the capability to induce the expression of the DExD/H-Box RNA helicases RIG-I and melanoma differentiation antigen 5 (MDA5) as well as of the transcription factors interferon regulatory factor (IRF)1, IRF7 and IRF9 in primary fibroblasts. Induction of the helicases depends on tyrosine as well as serine phosphorylation of STAT1. Moreover, we could show that the OSM-induced STAT1 phosphorylation is predominantly counter-regulated by a strong STAT3-dependent SOCS3 induction, as Stat3 as well as Socs3 knock-down results in an enhanced and prolonged helicase and IRF expression. Other factors involved in regulation of STAT1 or IRF1 activity, like protein tyrosine phosphatase, non-receptor type 2 (PTPN2), promyelocytic leukaemia protein (PML) or small ubiquitin-related modifier 1 (SUMO1), play a minor role in OSM-mediated induction of RLR. Remarkably, OSM and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) synergize to mediate transcription of RLR and pre-treatment of fibroblasts with OSM fosters the type I interferon production in response to a subsequent encounter with double-stranded RNA. Together, these findings suggest that the OSM-induced JAK/STAT1 signalling is implicated in virus protection of non-professional immune cells and may cooperate with interferons to enhance RLR expression in these cells.}, language = {en} }