TY - JOUR A1 - Gattenloehner, Stefan A1 - Joerissen, H. A1 - Huhn, M. A1 - Vincent, A. A1 - Beeson, D. A1 - Tzartos, S. A1 - Mamalaki, A. A1 - Etschmann, B. A1 - Muller-Hermelink, H. K. A1 - Koscielniak, E. A1 - Barth, S. A1 - Marx, A. T1 - A Human Recombinant Autoantibody-Based Immunotoxin Specific for the Fetal Acetylcholine Receptor Inhibits Rhabdomyosarcoma Growth In Vitro and in a Murine Transplantation Model [Research Article] N2 - Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common malignant soft tissue tumor in children and is highly resistant to all forms of treatment currently available once metastasis or relapse has commenced. As it has recently been determined that the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) γ-subunit, which defines the fetal AChR (fAChR) isoform, is almost exclusively expressed in RMS post partum, we recombinantly fused a single chain variable fragment (scFv) derived from a fully human anti-fAChR Fab-fragment to Pseudomonas exotoxin A to generate an anti-fAChR immunotoxin (scFv35-ETA).While scFv35-ETA had no damaging effect on fAChR-negative control cell lines, it killed human embryonic and alveolar RMS cell lines in vitro and delayed RMS development in a murine transplantation model. These results indicate that scFv35-ETA may be a valuable new therapeutic tool as well as a relevant step towards the development of a fully human immunotoxin directed against RMS. Moreover, as approximately 20% of metastatic malignant melanomas (MMs) display rhabdoid features including the expression of fAChR, the immunotoxin we developed may also prove to be of significant use in the treatment of these more common and most often fatal neoplasms. KW - Medizin Y1 - 2010 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-68200 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dammert, Marcel A. A1 - Brägelmann, Johannes A1 - Olsen, Rachelle R. A1 - Böhm, Stefanie A1 - Monhasery, Niloufar A1 - Whitney, Christopher P. A1 - Chalishazar, Milind D. A1 - Tumbrink, Hannah L. A1 - Guthrie, Matthew R. A1 - Klein, Sebastian A1 - Ireland, Abbie S. A1 - Ryan, Jeremy A1 - Schmitt, Anna A1 - Marx, Annika A1 - Ozretić, Luka A1 - Castiglione, Roberta A1 - Lorenz, Carina A1 - Jachimowicz, Ron D. A1 - Wolf, Elmar A1 - Thomas, Roman K. A1 - Poirier, John T. A1 - Büttner, Reinhard A1 - Sen, Triparna A1 - Byers, Lauren A. A1 - Reinhardt, H. Christian A1 - Letai, Anthony A1 - Oliver, Trudy G. A1 - Sos, Martin L. T1 - MYC paralog-dependent apoptotic priming orchestrates a spectrum of vulnerabilities in small cell lung cancer JF - Nature Communications N2 - MYC paralogs are frequently activated in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) but represent poor drug targets. Thus, a detailed mapping of MYC-paralog-specific vulnerabilities may help to develop effective therapies for SCLC patients. Using a unique cellular CRISPR activation model, we uncover that, in contrast to MYCN and MYCL, MYC represses BCL2 transcription via interaction with MIZ1 and DNMT3a. The resulting lack of BCL2 expression promotes sensitivity to cell cycle control inhibition and dependency on MCL1. Furthermore, MYC activation leads to heightened apoptotic priming, intrinsic genotoxic stress and susceptibility to DNA damage checkpoint inhibitors. Finally, combined AURK and CHK1 inhibition substantially prolongs the survival of mice bearing MYC-driven SCLC beyond that of combination chemotherapy. These analyses uncover MYC-paralog-specific regulation of the apoptotic machinery with implications for genotype-based selection of targeted therapeutics in SCLC patients. KW - genetic engineering KW - oncogenes KW - small-cell lung cancer KW - targeted therapies Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-223569 VL - 10 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Huang, Bei A1 - Belharazem, Djeda A1 - Li, Li A1 - Kneitz, Susanne A1 - Schnabel, Philipp A. A1 - Rieker, Ralf J. A1 - Körner, Daniel A1 - Nix, Wilfried A1 - Schalke, Berthold A1 - Müller-Hermelink, Hans Konrad A1 - Ott, German A1 - Rosenwald, Andreas A1 - Ströbel, Philipp A1 - Marx, Alexander T1 - Anti-apoptotic signature in thymic squamous cell carcinomas – functional relevance of anti-apoptotic BIRC3 expression in the thymic carcinoma cell line 1889c JF - Frontiers in Oncology N2 - The molecular pathogenesis of thymomas and thymic arcinomas (TCs) is poorly understood and results of adjuvant therapy are unsatisfactory in case of metastatic disease and tumor recurrence. For these clinical settings, novel therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. Recently, limited sequencing efforts revealed that a broad spectrum of genes that play key roles in various common cancers are rarely affected in thymomas and TCs, suggesting that other oncogenic principles might be important.This made us re-analyze historic expression data obtained in a spectrumof thymomas and thymic squamous cell carcinomas (TSCCs) with a custom-made cDNA microarray. By cluster analysis, different anti-apoptotic signatures were detected in type B3 thymoma and TSCC, including overexpression of BIRC3 in TSCCs. This was confirmed by qRT-PCR in the original and an independent validation set of tumors. In contrast to several other cancer cell lines, the BIRC3-positive TSCC cell line, 1889c showed spontaneous apoptosis after BIRC3 knock-down. Targeting apoptosis genes is worth testing as therapeutic principle in TSCC. KW - gene expression KW - MTCH2 KW - targeted KW - myasthenia gravis KW - apoptosis KW - thymus KW - thymoma KW - thymic carcinoma Y1 - 2013 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-132214 VL - 3 IS - 316 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gordon, Sarah A1 - Daneshian, Mardas A1 - Bouwstra, Joke A1 - Caloni, Francesca A1 - Constant, Samuel A1 - Davies, Donna E. A1 - Dandekar, Gudrun A1 - Guzman, Carlos A. A1 - Fabian, Eric A1 - Haltner, Eleonore A1 - Hartung, Thomas A1 - Hasiwa, Nina A1 - Hayden, Patrick A1 - Kandarova, Helena A1 - Khare, Sangeeta A1 - Krug, Harald F. A1 - Kneuer, Carsten A1 - Leist, Marcel A1 - Lian, Guoping A1 - Marx, Uwe A1 - Metzger, Marco A1 - Ott, Katharina A1 - Prieto, Pilar A1 - Roberts, Michael S. A1 - Roggen, Erwin L. A1 - Tralau, Tewes A1 - van den Braak, Claudia A1 - Walles, Heike A1 - Lehr, Claus-Michael T1 - Non-animal models of epithelial barriers (skin, intestine and lung) in research, industrial applications and regulatory toxicology JF - ALTEX: Alternatives to Animal Experimentation N2 - Models of the outer epithelia of the human body namely the skin, the intestine and the lung have found valid applications in both research and industrial settings as attractive alternatives to animal testing. A variety of approaches to model these barriers are currently employed in such fields, ranging from the utilization of ex vivo tissue to reconstructed in vitro models, and further to chip-based technologies, synthetic membrane systems and, of increasing current interest, in silico modeling approaches. An international group of experts in the field of epithelial barriers was convened from academia, industry and regulatory bodies to present both the current state of the art of non-animal models of the skin, intestinal and pulmonary barriers in their various fields of application, and to discuss research-based, industry-driven and regulatory-relevant future directions for both the development of new models and the refinement of existing test methods. Issues of model relevance and preference, validation and standardization, acceptance, and the need for simplicity versus complexity were focal themes of the discussions. The outcomes of workshop presentations and discussions, in relation to both current status and future directions in the utilization and development of epithelial barrier models, are presented by the attending experts in the current report. KW - on-a-chip KW - asthmatic bronchial epithelium KW - vesicle-based barrier KW - pulmonary drug-delivery KW - epithelial cell culture KW - cytotoxicity KW - transport studies KW - permeability KW - in vitro models KW - air-liquid interface KW - respiratory syncytial virus KW - reconstructed human epidermis KW - artificial membrane-permeability KW - embryonic stem cells Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-144275 VL - 32 IS - 4 ER -