TY  - JOUR
A1  - Soltamov, V. A.
A1  - Kasper, C.
A1  - Poshakinskiy, A. V.
A1  - Anisimov, A. N.
A1  - Mokhov, E. N.
A1  - Sperlich, A.
A1  - Tarasenko, S. A.
A1  - Baranov, P. G.
A1  - Astakhov, G. V.
A1  - Dyakonov, V.
T1  - Excitation and coherent control of spin qudit modes in silicon carbide at room temperature
JF  - Nature Communications
N2  - One of the challenges in the field of quantum sensing and information processing is to selectively address and coherently manipulate highly homogeneous qubits subject to external perturbations. Here, we present room-temperature coherent control of high-dimensional quantum bits, the so-called qudits, associated with vacancy-related spins in silicon carbide enriched with nuclear spin-free isotopes. In addition to the excitation of a spectrally narrow qudit mode at the pump frequency, several other modes are excited in the electron spin resonance spectra whose relative positions depend on the external magnetic field. We develop a theory of multipole spin dynamics and demonstrate selective quantum control of homogeneous spin packets with sub-MHz spectral resolution. Furthermore, we perform two-frequency Ramsey interferometry to demonstrate absolute dc magnetometry, which is immune to thermal noise and strain inhomogeneity.
KW  - quantum information
KW  - qubits
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-239149
VL  - 10
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Vaeth, Martin
A1  - Wang, Yin-Hu
A1  - Eckstein, Miriam
A1  - Yang, Jun
A1  - Silverman, Gregg J.
A1  - Lacruz, Rodrigo S.
A1  - Kannan, Kasthuri
A1  - Feske, Stefan
T1  - Tissue resident and follicular Treg cell differentiation is regulated by CRAC channels
JF  - Nature Communications
N2  - T regulatory (Treg) cells maintain immunological tolerance and organ homeostasis. Activated Treg cells differentiate into effector Treg subsets that acquire tissue-specific functions. Ca2+ influx via Ca2+ release-activated Ca2+ (CRAC) channels formed by STIM and ORAI proteins is required for the thymic development of Treg cells, but its function in mature Treg cells remains unclear. Here we show that deletion of Stim1 and Stim2 genes in mature Treg cells abolishes Ca2+ signaling and prevents their differentiation into follicular Treg and tissue-resident Treg cells. Transcriptional profiling of STIM1/STIM2-deficient Treg cells reveals that Ca2+ signaling regulates transcription factors and signaling pathways that control the identity and effector differentiation of Treg cells. In the absence of STIM1/STIM2 in Treg cells, mice develop a broad spectrum of autoantibodies and fatal multiorgan inflammation. Our findings establish a critical role of CRAC channels in controlling lineage identity and effector functions of Treg cells.
KW  - gene regulation in immune cells
KW  - lymphocytes
KW  - regulatory T cells
KW  - signal transduction
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-232148
VL  - 10
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Trautz, Florian
A1  - Franke, Heike
A1  - Bohnert, Simone
A1  - Hammer, Niels
A1  - Müller, Wolf
A1  - Stassart, Ruth
A1  - Tse, Rexson
A1  - Zwirner, Johann
A1  - Dreßler, Jan
A1  - Ondruschka, Benjamin
T1  - Survival-time dependent increase in neuronal IL-6 and astroglial GFAP expression in fatally injured human brain tissue
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Knowledge on trauma survival time prior to death following a lethal traumatic brain injury (TBI) may be essential for legal purposes. Immunohistochemistry studies might allow to narrow down this survival interval. The biomarkers interleukin-6 (IL-6) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) are well known in the clinical setting for their usability in TBI prediction. Here, both proteins were chosen in forensics to determine whether neuronal or glial expression in various brain regions may be associated with the cause of death and the survival time prior to death following TBI. IL-6 positive neurons, glial cells and GFAP positive astrocytes all concordantly increase with longer trauma survival time, with statistically significant changes being evident from three days post-TBI (p < 0.05) in the pericontusional zone, irrespective of its definite cortical localization. IL-6 staining in neurons increases significantly in the cerebellum after trauma, whereas increasing GFAP positivity is also detected in the cortex contralateral to the focal lesion. These systematic chronological changes in biomarkers of pericontusional neurons and glial cells allow for an estimation of trauma survival time. Higher numbers of IL-6 and GFAP-stained cells above threshold values in the pericontusional zone substantiate the existence of fatal traumatic changes in the brain with reasonable certainty.
KW  - cell death in the nervous system
KW  - diagnostic markers
KW  - outcomes research
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-229037
VL  - 9
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Tylek, Tina
A1  - Schilling, Tatjana
A1  - Schlegelmilch, Katrin
A1  - Ries, Maximilian
A1  - Rudert, Maximilian
A1  - Jakob, Franz
A1  - Groll, Jürgen
T1  - Platelet lysate outperforms FCS and human serum for co-culture of primary human macrophages and hMSCs
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - In vitro co-cultures of different primary human cell types are pivotal for the testing and evaluation of biomaterials under conditions that are closer to the human in vivo situation. Especially co-cultures of macrophages and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are of interest, as they are both present and involved in tissue regeneration and inflammatory reactions and play crucial roles in the immediate inflammatory reactions and the onset of regenerative processes, thus reflecting the decisive early phase of biomaterial contact with the host. A co-culture system of these cell types might thus allow for the assessment of the biocompatibility of biomaterials. The establishment of such a co-culture is challenging due to the different in vitro cell culture conditions. For human macrophages, medium is usually supplemented with human serum (hS), whereas hMSC culture is mostly performed using fetal calf serum (FCS), and these conditions are disadvantageous for the respective other cell type. We demonstrate that human platelet lysate (hPL) can replace hS in macrophage cultivation and appears to be the best option for co-cultivation of human macrophages with hMSCs. In contrast to FCS and hS, hPL maintained the phenotype of both cell types, comparable to that of their respective standard culture serum, as well as the percentage of each cell population. Moreover, the expression profile and phagocytosis activity of macrophages was similar to hS.
KW  - biomaterials – cells
KW  - tissue engineering
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-229174
VL  - 9
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Woodcock, B. A.
A1  - Garratt, M. P. D.
A1  - Powney, G. D.
A1  - Shaw, R. F.
A1  - Osborne, J. L.
A1  - Soroka, J.
A1  - Lindström, S. A. M.
A1  - Stanley, D.
A1  - Ouvrard, P.
A1  - Edwards, M. E.
A1  - Jauker, F.
A1  - McCracken, M. E.
A1  - Zou, Y.
A1  - Potts, S. G.
A1  - Rundlöf, M.
A1  - Noriega, J. A.
A1  - Greenop, A.
A1  - Smith, H. G.
A1  - Bommarco, R.
A1  - van der Werf, W.
A1  - Stout, J. C.
A1  - Steffan-Dewenter, I.
A1  - Morandin, L.
A1  - Bullock, J. M.
A1  - Pywell, R. F.
T1  - Meta-analysis reveals that pollinator functional diversity and abundance enhance crop pollination and yield
JF  - Nature Communications
N2  - How insects promote crop pollination remains poorly understood in terms of the contribution of functional trait differences between species. We used meta-analyses to test for correlations between community abundance, species richness and functional trait metrics with oilseed rape yield, a globally important crop. While overall abundance is consistently important in predicting yield, functional divergence between species traits also showed a positive correlation. This result supports the complementarity hypothesis that pollination function is maintained by non-overlapping trait distributions. In artificially constructed communities (mesocosms), species richness is positively correlated with yield, although this effect is not seen under field conditions. As traits of the dominant species do not predict yield above that attributed to the effect of abundance alone, we find no evidence in support of the mass ratio hypothesis. Management practices increasing not just pollinator abundance, but also functional divergence, could benefit oilseed rape agriculture.
KW  - agroecology
KW  - agriculture
KW  - ecosystem services
KW  - environmental sciences
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-233787
VL  - 10
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Walker, Brian A.
A1  - Mavrommatis, Konstantinos
A1  - Wardell, Christopher P.
A1  - Ashby, T. Cody
A1  - Bauer, Michael
A1  - Davies, Faith
A1  - Rosenthal, Adam
A1  - Wang, Hongwei
A1  - Qu, Pingping
A1  - Hoering, Antje
A1  - Samur, Mehmet
A1  - Towfic, Fadi
A1  - Ortiz, Maria
A1  - Flynt, Erin
A1  - Yu, Zhinuan
A1  - Yang, Zhihong
A1  - Rozelle, Dan
A1  - Obenauer, John
A1  - Trotter, Matthew
A1  - Auclair, Daniel
A1  - Keats, Jonathan
A1  - Bolli, Niccolo
A1  - Fulciniti, Mariateresa
A1  - Szalat, Raphael
A1  - Moreau, Phillipe
A1  - Durie, Brian
A1  - Stewart, A. Keith
A1  - Goldschmidt, Hartmut
A1  - Raab, Marc S.
A1  - Einsele, Hermann
A1  - Sonneveld, Pieter
A1  - San Miguel, Jesus
A1  - Lonial, Sagar
A1  - Jackson, Graham H.
A1  - Anderson, Kenneth C.
A1  - Avet-Loiseau, Herve
A1  - Munshi, Nikhil
A1  - Thakurta, Anjan
A1  - Morgan, Gareth
T1  - A high-risk, Double-Hit, group of newly diagnosed myeloma identified by genomic analysis
JF  - Leukemia
N2  - Patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) with high-risk disease are in need of new treatment strategies to improve the outcomes. Multiple clinical, cytogenetic, or gene expression features have been used to identify high-risk patients, each of which has significant weaknesses. Inclusion of molecular features into risk stratification could resolve the current challenges. In a genome-wide analysis of the largest set of molecular and clinical data established to date from NDMM, as part of the Myeloma Genome Project, we have defined DNA drivers of aggressive clinical behavior. Whole-genome and exome data from 1273 NDMM patients identified genetic factors that contribute significantly to progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) (cumulative R2 = 18.4% and 25.2%, respectively). Integrating DNA drivers and clinical data into a Cox model using 784 patients with ISS, age, PFS, OS, and genomic data, the model has a cumlative R2 of 34.3% for PFS and 46.5% for OS. A high-risk subgroup was defined by recursive partitioning using either a) bi-allelic TP53 inactivation or b) amplification (≥4 copies) of CKS1B (1q21) on the background of International Staging System III, comprising 6.1% of the population (median PFS = 15.4 months; OS = 20.7 months) that was validated in an independent dataset. Double-Hit patients have a dire prognosis despite modern therapies and should be considered for novel therapeutic approaches.
KW  - cancer genomics
KW  - risk factors
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-233299
VL  - 33
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Annunziata, Ida
A1  - van de Vlekkert, Diantha
A1  - Wolf, Elmar
A1  - Finkelstein, David
A1  - Neale, Geoffrey
A1  - Machado, Eda
A1  - Mosca, Rosario
A1  - Campos, Yvan
A1  - Tillman, Heather
A1  - Roussel, Martine F.
A1  - Weesner, Jason Andrew
A1  - Fremuth, Leigh Ellen
A1  - Qiu, Xiaohui
A1  - Han, Min-Joon
A1  - Grosveld, Gerard C.
A1  - d'Azzo, Alessandra
T1  - MYC competes with MiT/TFE in regulating lysosomal biogenesis and autophagy through an epigenetic rheostat
JF  - Nature Communications
N2  - Coordinated regulation of the lysosomal and autophagic systems ensures basal catabolism and normal cell physiology, and failure of either system causes disease. Here we describe an epigenetic rheostat orchestrated by c-MYC and histone deacetylases that inhibits lysosomal and autophagic biogenesis by concomitantly repressing the expression of the transcription factors MiT/TFE and FOXH1, and that of lysosomal and autophagy genes. Inhibition of histone deacetylases abates c-MYC binding to the promoters of lysosomal and autophagy genes, granting promoter occupancy to the MiT/TFE members, TFEB and TFE3, and/or the autophagy regulator FOXH1. In pluripotent stem cells and cancer, suppression of lysosomal and autophagic function is directly downstream of c-MYC overexpression and may represent a hallmark of malignant transformation. We propose that, by determining the fate of these catabolic systems, this hierarchical switch regulates the adaptive response of cells to pathological and physiological cues that could be exploited therapeutically.
KW  - autophagy
KW  - cancer
KW  - cancer metabolism
KW  - cell biology
KW  - mechanisms of disease
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-221189
VL  - 10
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Lee, Hong-Jen
A1  - Li, Chien-Feng
A1  - Ruan, Diane
A1  - He, Jiabei
A1  - Montal, Emily D.
A1  - Lorenz, Sonja
A1  - Girnun, Geoffrey D.
A1  - Chan, Chia-Hsin
T1  - Non-proteolytic ubiquitination of Hexokinase 2 by HectH9 controls tumor metabolism and cancer stem cell expansion
JF  - Nature Communications
N2  - Enormous efforts have been made to target metabolic dependencies of cancer cells for developing new therapies. However, the therapeutic efficacy of glycolysis inhibitors is limited due to their inability to elicit cell death. Hexokinase 2 (HK2), via its mitochondrial localization, functions as a central nexus integrating glycolysis activation and apoptosis resilience. Here we identify that K63-linked ubiquitination by HectH9 regulates the mitochondrial localization and function of HK2. Through stable isotope tracer approach and functional metabolic analyses, we show that HectH9 deficiency impedes tumor glucose metabolism and growth by HK2 inhibition. The HectH9/HK2 pathway regulates cancer stem cell (CSC) expansion and CSC-associated chemoresistance. Histological analyses show that HectH9 expression is upregulated and correlated with disease progression in prostate cancer. This work uncovers that HectH9 is a novel regulator of HK2 and cancer metabolism. Targeting HectH9 represents an effective strategy to achieve long-term tumor remission by concomitantly disrupting glycolysis and inducing apoptosis.
KW  - cancer
KW  - cancer metabolism
KW  - molecular biology
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-236445
VL  - 10
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Liao, Chunyu
A1  - Ttofali, Fani
A1  - Slotkowski, Rebecca A.
A1  - Denny, Steven R.
A1  - Cecil, Taylor D.
A1  - Leenay, Ryan T.
A1  - Keung, Albert J.
A1  - Beisel, Chase L.
T1  - Modular one-pot assembly of CRISPR arrays enables library generation and reveals factors influencing crRNA biogenesis
JF  - Nature Communications
N2  - CRISPR-Cas systems inherently multiplex through CRISPR arrays—whether to defend against different invaders or mediate multi-target editing, regulation, imaging, or sensing. However, arrays remain difficult to generate due to their reoccurring repeat sequences. Here, we report a modular, one-pot scheme called CRATES to construct CRISPR arrays and array libraries. CRATES allows assembly of repeat-spacer subunits using defined assembly junctions within the trimmed portion of spacers. Using CRATES, we construct arrays for the single-effector nucleases Cas9, Cas12a, and Cas13a that mediated multiplexed DNA/RNA cleavage and gene regulation in cell-free systems, bacteria, and yeast. CRATES further allows the one-pot construction of array libraries and composite arrays utilized by multiple Cas nucleases. Finally, array characterization reveals processing of extraneous CRISPR RNAs from Cas12a terminal repeats and sequence- and context-dependent loss of RNA-directed nuclease activity via global RNA structure formation. CRATES thus can facilitate diverse multiplexing applications and help identify factors impacting crRNA biogenesis.
KW  - biotechnology
KW  - CRISPR-Cas systems
KW  - microbiology
KW  - small RNAs
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-236843
VL  - 10
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Levy, Marion J. F.
A1  - Boulle, Fabien
A1  - Emerit, Michel Boris
A1  - Poilbout, Corinne
A1  - Steinbusch, Harry W. M.
A1  - Van den Hove, Daniel L. A.
A1  - Kenis, Gunter
A1  - Lanfumey, Laurence
T1  - 5-HTT independent effects of fluoxetine on neuroplasticity
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are among the most prescribed antidepressants. Fluoxetine is the lead molecule which exerts its therapeutic effects, at least in part, by promoting neuroplasticity through increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)/tropomyosin-related receptor kinase B (TrkB) signalling. It is unclear however, to which extent the neuroplastic effects of fluoxetine are solely mediated by the inhibition of the serotonin transporter (5-HTT). To answer this question, the effects of fluoxetine on neuroplasticity were analysed in both wild type (WT) and 5-Htt knock-out (KO) mice. Using Western blotting and RT-qPCR approaches, we showed that fluoxetine 10 µM activated BDNF/TrkB signalling pathways in both CD1 and C57BL/6J mouse primary cortical neurons. Interestingly, effects on BDNF signalling were observed in primary cortical neurons from both 5-Htt WT and KO mice. In addition, a 3-week in vivo fluoxetine treatment (15 mg/kg/d; i.p.) increased the expression of plasticity genes in brains of both 5-Htt WT and KO mice, and tended to equally enhance hippocampal cell proliferation in both genotypes, without reaching significance. Our results further suggest that fluoxetine-induced neuroplasticity does not solely depend on 5-HTT blockade, but might rely, at least in part, on 5-HTT-independent direct activation of TrkB.
KW  - depression
KW  - neurotrophic factors
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-236759
VL  - 9
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Liu, Yuhai
A1  - Wang, Zhenjiu
A1  - Sato, Toshihiro
A1  - Hohenadler, Martin
A1  - Wang, Chong
A1  - Guo, Wenan
A1  - Assaad, Fakher F.
T1  - Superconductivity from the condensation of topological defects in a quantum spin-Hall insulator
JF  - Nature Communications
N2  - The discovery of quantum spin-Hall (QSH) insulators has brought topology to the forefront of condensed matter physics. While a QSH state from spin-orbit coupling can be fully understood in terms of band theory, fascinating many-body effects are expected if it instead results from spontaneous symmetry breaking. Here, we introduce a model of interacting Dirac fermions where a QSH state is dynamically generated. Our tuning parameter further allows us to destabilize the QSH state in favour of a superconducting state through proliferation of charge-2e topological defects. This route to superconductivity put forward by Grover and Senthil is an instance of a deconfined quantum critical point (DQCP). Our model offers the possibility to study DQCPs without a second length scale associated with the reduced symmetry between field theory and lattice realization and, by construction, is amenable to large-scale fermion quantum Monte Carlo simulations.
KW  - computational science
KW  - phase transitions and critical phenomena
KW  - topological insulators
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-237024
VL  - 10
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - López, Cristina
A1  - Kleinheinz, Kortine
A1  - Aukema, Sietse M.
A1  - Rohde, Marius
A1  - Bernhart, Stephan H.
A1  - Hübschmann, Daniel
A1  - Wagener, Rabea
A1  - Toprak, Umut H.
A1  - Raimondi, Francesco
A1  - Kreuz, Markus
A1  - Waszak, Sebastian M.
A1  - Huang, Zhiqin
A1  - Sieverling, Lina
A1  - Paramasivam, Nagarajan
A1  - Seufert, Julian
A1  - Sungalee, Stephanie
A1  - Russell, Robert B.
A1  - Bausinger, Julia
A1  - Kretzmer, Helene
A1  - Ammerpohl, Ole
A1  - Bergmann, Anke K.
A1  - Binder, Hans
A1  - Borkhardt, Arndt
A1  - Brors, Benedikt
A1  - Claviez, Alexander
A1  - Doose, Gero
A1  - Feuerbach, Lars
A1  - Haake, Andrea
A1  - Hansmann, Martin-Leo
A1  - Hoell, Jessica
A1  - Hummel, Michael
A1  - Korbel, Jan O.
A1  - Lawerenz, Chris
A1  - Lenze, Dido
A1  - Radlwimmer, Bernhard
A1  - Richter, Julia
A1  - Rosenstiel, Philip
A1  - Rosenwald, Andreas
A1  - Schilhabel, Markus B.
A1  - Stein, Harald
A1  - Stilgenbauer, Stephan
A1  - Stadler, Peter F.
A1  - Szczepanowski, Monika
A1  - Weniger, Marc A.
A1  - Zapatka, Marc
A1  - Eils, Roland
A1  - Lichter, Peter
A1  - Loeffler, Markus
A1  - Möller, Peter
A1  - Trümper, Lorenz
A1  - Klapper, Wolfram
A1  - Hoffmann, Steve
A1  - Küppers, Ralf
A1  - Burkhardt, Birgit
A1  - Schlesner, Matthias
A1  - Siebert, Reiner
T1  - Genomic and transcriptomic changes complement each other in the pathogenesis of sporadic Burkitt lymphoma
JF  - Nature Communications
N2  - Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is the most common B-cell lymphoma in children. Within the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), we performed whole genome and transcriptome sequencing of 39 sporadic BL. Here, we unravel interaction of structural, mutational, and transcriptional changes, which contribute to MYC oncogene dysregulation together with the pathognomonic IG-MYC translocation. Moreover, by mapping IGH translocation breakpoints, we provide evidence that the precursor of at least a subset of BL is a B-cell poised to express IGHA. We describe the landscape of mutations, structural variants, and mutational processes, and identified a series of driver genes in the pathogenesis of BL, which can be targeted by various mechanisms, including IG-non MYC translocations, germline and somatic mutations, fusion transcripts, and alternative splicing.
KW  - cancer genomics
KW  - lymphocytes
KW  - lymphoid tissues
KW  - oncology
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-237281
VL  - 10
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Lu, Yuan
A1  - Boswell, Wiliam
A1  - Boswell, Mikki
A1  - Klotz, Barbara
A1  - Kneitz, Susanne
A1  - Regneri, Janine
A1  - Savage, Markita
A1  - Mendoza, Cristina
A1  - Postlethwait, John
A1  - Warren, Wesley C.
A1  - Schartl, Manfred
A1  - Walter, Ronald B.
T1  - Application of the Transcriptional Disease Signature (TDSs) to Screen Melanoma-Effective Compounds in a Small Fish Model
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Cell culture and protein target-based compound screening strategies, though broadly utilized in selecting candidate compounds, often fail to eliminate candidate compounds with non-target effects and/or safety concerns until late in the drug developmental process. Phenotype screening using intact research animals is attractive because it can help identify small molecule candidate compounds that have a high probability of proceeding to clinical use. Most FDA approved, first-in-class small molecules were identified from phenotypic screening. However, phenotypic screening using rodent models is labor intensive, low-throughput, and very expensive. As a novel alternative for small molecule screening, we have been developing gene expression disease profiles, termed the Transcriptional Disease Signature (TDS), as readout of small molecule screens for therapeutic molecules. In this concept, compounds that can reverse, or otherwise affect known disease-associated gene expression patterns in whole animals may be rapidly identified for more detailed downstream direct testing of their efficacy and mode of action. To establish proof of concept for this screening strategy, we employed a transgenic strain of a small aquarium fish, medaka (Oryzias latipes), that overexpresses the malignant melanoma driver gene xmrk, a mutant egfr gene, that is driven by a pigment cell-specific mitf promoter. In this model, melanoma develops with 100% penetrance. Using the transgenic medaka malignant melanoma model, we established a screening system that employs the NanoString nCounter platform to quantify gene expression within custom sets of TDS gene targets that we had previously shown to exhibit differential transcription among xmrk-transgenic and wild-type medaka. Compound-modulated gene expression was identified using an internet-accessible custom-built data processing pipeline. The effect of a given drug on the entire TDS profile was estimated by comparing compound-modulated genes in the TDS using an activation Z-score and Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistics. TDS gene probes were designed that target common signaling pathways that include proliferation, development, toxicity, immune function, metabolism and detoxification. These pathways may be utilized to evaluate candidate compounds for potential favorable, or unfavorable, effects on melanoma-associated gene expression. Here we present the logistics of using medaka to screen compounds, as well as, the development of a user-friendly NanoString data analysis pipeline to support feasibility of this novel TDS drug-screening strategy.
KW  - bioinformatics
KW  - phenotypic screening
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-237322
VL  - 9
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mercier, Rebecca
A1  - Wolmarans, Annemarie
A1  - Schubert, Jonathan
A1  - Neuweiler, Hannes
A1  - Johnson, Jill L.
A1  - LaPointe, Paul
T1  - The conserved NxNNWHW motif in Aha-type co-chaperones modulates the kinetics of Hsp90 ATPase stimulation
JF  - Nature Communications
N2  - Hsp90 is a dimeric molecular chaperone that is essential for the folding and activation of hundreds of client proteins. Co-chaperone proteins regulate the ATP-driven Hsp90 client activation cycle. Aha-type co-chaperones are the most potent stimulators of the Hsp90 ATPase activity but the relationship between ATPase regulation and in vivo activity is poorly understood. We report here that the most strongly conserved region of Aha-type co-chaperones, the N terminal NxNNWHW motif, modulates the apparent affinity of Hsp90 for nucleotide substrates. The ability of yeast Aha-type co-chaperones to act in vivo is ablated when the N terminal NxNNWHW motif is removed. This work suggests that nucleotide exchange during the Hsp90 functional cycle may be more important than rate of catalysis.
KW  - biophysics
KW  - cell growth
KW  - chaperones
KW  - enzymes
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-224007
VL  - 10
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Medler, Juliane
A1  - Nelke, Johannes
A1  - Weisenberger, Daniela
A1  - Steinfatt, Tim
A1  - Rothaug, Moritz
A1  - Berr, Susanne
A1  - Hünig, Thomas
A1  - Beilhack, Andreas
A1  - Wajant, Harald
T1  - TNFRSF receptor-specific antibody fusion proteins with targeting controlled FcγR-independent agonistic activity
JF  - Cell Death & Disease
N2  - Antibodies specific for TNFRSF receptors that bind soluble ligands without getting properly activated generally act as strong agonists upon FcγR binding. Systematic analyses revealed that the FcγR dependency of such antibodies to act as potent agonists is largely independent from isotype, FcγR type, and of the epitope recognized. This suggests that the sole cellular attachment, achieved by Fc domain-FcγR interaction, dominantly determines the agonistic activity of antibodies recognizing TNFRSF receptors poorly responsive to soluble ligands. In accordance with this hypothesis, we demonstrated that antibody fusion proteins harboring domains allowing FcγR-independent cell surface anchoring also act as strong agonist provided they have access to their target. This finding defines a general possibility to generate anti-TNFRSF receptor antibodies with FcγR-independent agonism. Moreover, anti-TNFRSF receptor antibody fusion proteins with an anchoring domain promise superior applicability to conventional systemically active agonists when an anchoring target with localized disease associated expression can be addressed.
KW  - biologics
KW  - proteins
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-223948
VL  - 10
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Lübcke, Paul M.
A1  - Ebbers, Meinolf N. B.
A1  - Volzke, Johann
A1  - Bull, Jana
A1  - Kneitz, Susanne
A1  - Engelmann, Robby
A1  - Lang, Hermann
A1  - Kreikemeyer, Bernd
A1  - Müller-Hilke, Brigitte
T1  - Periodontal treatment prevents arthritis in mice and methotrexate ameliorates periodontal bone loss
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Recent studies indicate a causal relationship between the periodontal pathogen P. gingivalis and rheumatoid arthritis involving the production of autoantibodies against citrullinated peptides. We therefore postulated that therapeutic eradication P. gingivalis may ameliorate rheumatoid arthritis development and here turned to a mouse model in order to challenge our hypothesis. F1 (DBA/1 x B10.Q) mice were orally inoculated with P. gingivalis before collagen-induced arthritis was provoked. Chlorhexidine or metronidazole were orally administered either before or during the induction phase of arthritis and their effects on arthritis progression and alveolar bone loss were compared to intraperitoneally injected methotrexate. Arthritis incidence and severity were macroscopically scored and alveolar bone loss was evaluated via microcomputed tomography. Serum antibody titres against P. gingivalis were quantified by ELISA and microbial dysbiosis following oral inoculation was monitored in stool samples via microbiome analyses. Both, oral chlorhexidine and metronidazole reduced the incidence and ameliorated the severity of collagen-induced arthritis comparable to methotrexate. Likewise, all three therapies attenuated alveolar bone loss. Relative abundance of Porphyromonadaceae was increased after oral inoculation with P. gingivalis and decreased after treatment. This is the first study to describe beneficial effects of non-surgical periodontal treatment on collagen-induced arthritis in mice and suggests that mouthwash with chlorhexidine or metronidazole may also be beneficial for patients with rheumatoid arthritis and a coexisting periodontitis. Methotrexate ameliorated periodontitis in mice, further raising the possibility that methotrexate may also positively impact on the tooth supporting tissues of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
KW  - rheumatic diseases
KW  - rheumatology
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-237355
VL  - 9
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
T1  - Measurement of prompt photon production in √ s(NN) = 8.16 TeV \(p\) Pb collisions with ATLAS
JF  - Physics letters B
N2  - The inclusive production rates of isolated, prompt photons in p Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 8.16 TeV are studied with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider using a dataset with an integrated luminosity of 165 nb(-1) recorded in 2016. The cross-section and nuclear modification factor R-p pb are measured as a function of photon transverse energy from 20 GeV to 550 GeV and in three nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass pseudorapidity regions, (-2.83, -2.02), (-1.84, 0.91), and (1.09, 1.90). The cross-section and R-p pb values are compared with the results of a next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculation, with and without nuclear parton distribution function modifications, and with expectations based on a model of the energy loss of partons prior to the hard scattering. The data disfavour a large amount of energy loss and provide new constraints on the parton densities in nuclei. (C) 2019 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V.
KW  - Boson Production
KW  - PPB Collisions
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-312697
VL  - 796
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Elliot, Perry M.
A1  - Germain, Dominique P.
A1  - Hilz, Max J.
A1  - Spada, Marco
A1  - Wanner, Christoph
A1  - Falissard, Bruno
T1  - Why systematic literature reviews in Fabry disease should include all published evidence
JF  - European Journal of Medical Genetics
N2  - Fabry disease is an X-linked inherited, progressive disorder of lipid metabolism resulting from the deficient activity of the enzyme α-galactosidase. Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) with recombinant agalsidase, with intravenous infusions of either agalsidase beta or agalsidase alfa, is available and clinical experience now exceeds 15 years. There are very few randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trials evaluating the outcomes of ERT. Data are often derived from observational, registry-based studies and case reports. Pooled analysis of data from different sources may be limited by the heterogeneity of the patient populations, outcomes and treatment. Therefore, comprehensive systematic literature reviews of unpooled data are needed to determine the effects of ERT on disease outcomes. A systematic literature search was conducted in the Embase and PubMed (MEDLINE) databases to retrieve original articles that evaluated outcomes of ERT in patients with Fabry disease; the outcome data were analysed unpooled. The literature analysis included the full range of published literature including observational studies and case series/case reports. Considerable heterogeneity was found among the studies, with differences in sample size, statistical methods, ERT regimens and patient demographic and clinical characteristics. We have demonstrated the value of performing an unpooled systematic literature review of all published evidence of ERT outcomes in Fabry disease, highlighting that in a rare genetic disorder like Fabry disease, which is phenotypically diverse, different patient populations can require different disease management and therapeutic goals depending on age, genotype, and disease severity/level of organ involvement. In addition, these findings are valuable to guide the design and reporting of new clinical studies.
KW  - Fabry disease
KW  - enzyme replacement therapy
KW  - systematic literature review
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-226654
VL  - 62
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Sondermann, Wiebke
A1  - Utikal, Jochen Sven
A1  - Enk, Alexander H.
A1  - Schadendorf, Dirk
A1  - Klode, Joachim
A1  - Hauschild, Axel
A1  - Weichenthal, Michael
A1  - French, Lars E.
A1  - Berking, Carola
A1  - Schilling, Bastian
A1  - Haferkamp, Sebastian
A1  - Fröhling, Stefan
A1  - von Kalle, Christof
A1  - Brinker, Titus J.
T1  - Prediction of melanoma evolution in melanocytic nevi via artificial intelligence: A call for prospective data
JF  - European Journal of Cancer
N2  - Recent research revealed the superiority of artificial intelligence over dermatologists to diagnose melanoma from images. However, 30–50% of all melanomas and more than half of those in young patients evolve from initially benign lesions. Despite its high relevance for melanoma screening, neither clinicians nor computers are yet able to reliably predict a nevus’ oncologic transformation. The cause of this lies in the static nature of lesion presentation in the current standard of care, both for clinicians and algorithms. The status quo makes it difficult to train algorithms (and clinicians) to precisely assess the likelihood of a benign skin lesion to transform into melanoma. In addition, it inhibits the precision of current algorithms since ‘evolution’ image features may not be part of their decision. The current literature reveals certain types of melanocytic nevi (i.e. ‘spitzoid’ or ‘dysplastic’ nevi) and criteria (i.e. visible vasculature) that, in general, appear to have a higher chance to transform into melanoma. However, owing to the cumulative nature of oncogenic mutations in melanoma, a more fine-grained early morphologic footprint is likely to be detectable by an algorithm. In this perspective article, the concept of melanoma prediction is further explored by the discussion of the evolution of melanoma, the concept for training of such a nevi classifier and the implications of early melanoma prediction for clinical practice. In conclusion, the authors believe that artificial intelligence trained on prospective image data could be transformative for skin cancer diagnostics by (a) predicting melanoma before it occurs (i.e. pre-in situ) and (b) further enhancing the accuracy of current melanoma classifiers. Necessary prospective images for this research are obtained via free mole-monitoring mobile apps.
KW  - melanoma
KW  - skin cancer
KW  - artificial Intelligence
KW  - deep learning
KW  - prediction
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-239263
VL  - 119
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wurm, Michael
A1  - Stark, Thomas
A1  - Zhu, Xiao Xiang
A1  - Weigand, Matthias
A1  - Taubenböck, Hannes
T1  - Semantic segmentation of slums in satellite images using transfer learning on fully convolutional neural networks
JF  - ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
N2  - Unprecedented urbanization in particular in countries of the global south result in informal urban development processes, especially in mega cities. With an estimated 1 billion slum dwellers globally, the United Nations have made the fight against poverty the number one sustainable development goal. To provide better infrastructure and thus a better life to slum dwellers, detailed information on the spatial location and size of slums is of crucial importance. In the past, remote sensing has proven to be an extremely valuable and effective tool for mapping slums. The nature of used mapping approaches by machine learning, however, made it necessary to invest a lot of effort in training the models. Recent advances in deep learning allow for transferring trained fully convolutional networks (FCN) from one data set to another. Thus, in our study we aim at analyzing transfer learning capabilities of FCNs to slum mapping in various satellite images. A model trained on very high resolution optical satellite imagery from QuickBird is transferred to Sentinel-2 and TerraSAR-X data. While free-of-charge Sentinel-2 data is widely available, its comparably lower resolution makes slum mapping a challenging task. TerraSAR-X data on the other hand, has a higher resolution and is considered a powerful data source for intra-urban structure analysis. Due to the different image characteristics of SAR compared to optical data, however, transferring the model could not improve the performance of semantic segmentation but we observe very high accuracies for mapped slums in the optical data: QuickBird image obtains 86–88% (positive prediction value and sensitivity) and a significant increase for Sentinel-2 applying transfer learning can be observed (from 38 to 55% and from 79 to 85% for PPV and sensitivity, respectively). Using transfer learning proofs extremely valuable in retrieving information on small-scaled urban structures such as slum patches even in satellite images of decametric resolution.
KW  - slums
KW  - FCN
KW  - convolutional neural networks
KW  - deep learning
KW  - transfer learning
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-233799
VL  - 150
ER  -