Review
Neurosciences
Magdalena Zielinska, Jan Albrecht, Mariusz Popek
Summary: Acute liver failure causes hyperammonemia and increased ammonia accumulation in the brain. This is associated with increased brain glutamine content. This review focuses on the effects of hyperammonemia on glutamine carriers in astrocytes and their contribution to brain edema.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Virology
Renuka Rao, Melad Farraha, Grant J. Logan, Sindhu Igoor, Cindy Y. Kok, James J. H. Chong, Ian E. Alexander, Eddy Kizana
Summary: This study compared two production methods for cardiotropic rAAVs, finding that rAAV produced by the traditional HEK293 method outperformed vector produced using the baculovirus/Sf9 system in vitro and in vivo. This underscores the importance of thorough assessment of vector performance when using diverse rAAV production methods.
Review
Surgery
Amir Y. Kamel, Amir M. Emtiazjoo, Lauren Adkins, Abbas Shahmohammadi, Hassan Alnuaimat, Andres Pelaez, Tiago Machuca, Mauricio Pipkin, Hyun-wook Lee, David I. Weiner, Satish Chandrashekaran
Summary: This systematic review examined the etiologies and management strategies of hyperammonemia after lung transplantation. The incidence of hyperammonemia was low but had a high mortality rate. Our institution had a similar incidence rate compared to previous reports, but lower ammonia levels and earlier peaks, likely due to early recognition and prompt treatment.
TRANSPLANT INTERNATIONAL
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Daniela Staquicini, Fenny H. F. Tang, Christopher Markosian, Virginia J. Yao, Fernanda Staquicini, Esteban Dodero-Rojas, Vinicius G. Contessoto, Deodate Davis, Paul O'Brien, Nazia Habib, Tracey L. Smith, Natalie Bruiners, Richard L. Sidman, Maria L. Gennaro, Edmund C. Lattime, Steven K. Libutti, Paul C. Whitford, Stephen K. Burley, Jose N. Onuchic, Wadih Arap, Renata Pasqualini
Summary: The development of effective vaccines against COVID-19 is a global priority, with engineered filamentous bacteriophage particles showing promise due to their immunogenicity, genetic plasticity, stability, cost-effectiveness, and safety. Targeted phage and AAVP particles have been developed and evaluated as potential COVID-19 vaccine approaches, demonstrating robust and versatile platforms for translational development.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Oncology
Tra Ly Nguyen, Marie-Julie Nokin, Silvia Teres, Mercedes Tome, Clement Bodineau, Oriane Galmar, Jean-Max Pasquet, Benoit Rousseau, Sebastian van Liempd, Juan Manuel Falcon-Perez, Elodie Richard, Elodie Muzotte, Hamid-Reza Rezvani, Muriel Priault, Marion Bouchecareilh, Isabelle Redonnet-Vernhet, Julien Calvo, Benjamin Uzan, Francoise Pflumio, Patricia Fuentes, Maria L. Toribio, Abdel-Majid Khatib, Pierre Soubeyran, Piedad Del Socorro Murdoch, Raul Duran
Summary: Upregulation of Notch1 in T-ALL induces metabolic changes in glutamine, leading to increased glutamine addiction. Notch1 also activates the mTORC1 pathway through increased glutaminolysis, promoting cell growth. Combined treatment targeting mTORC1 and limiting glutamine availability has a synergistic effect in inducing apoptosis and preventing Notch1-driven leukemia progression.
MOLECULAR ONCOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Huayan Yin, Qian Sun, Xiaoqing Lu, Lufei Zhang, Yanchao Yuan, Cuiling Gong, Xiaoyan He, Wujun Ma, Ping Mu
Summary: This study provides a comprehensive characterization of the GS gene family in four wheat species and demonstrates that Ta4D.GSe plays a crucial role in enhancing drought tolerance by improving the scavenging of ROS and osmotic adjustment ability in Arabidopsis.
PLANT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Matheus M. Noguera, Aimone Porri, Isabel S. Werle, James Heiser, Frank Brandle, Jens Lerchl, Brent Murphy, Michael Betz, Fanny Gatzmann, Martin Penkert, Clara Tuerk, Lucie Meyer, Nilda Roma-Burgos
Summary: This study discovered that the resistance of Amaranthus palmeri to glufosinate is achieved through amplification and overexpression of the target site glutamine synthetase (GS), specifically the plastid-located isoform GS2. Increased copies and expression of GS2 confer resistance to glufosinate-ammonium (GFA) in A. palmeri.
Review
Plant Sciences
E. Moreira, S. Coimbra, P. Melo
Summary: Glutamine synthetase is an essential enzyme in plant metabolism, playing important roles in nitrogen assimilation and crop productivity. Different isoenzymes of GS have specific and non-redundant roles in plant physiology, but in species like A. thaliana, there is a redundancy in the gene family with a compensation mechanism.
Review
Engineering, Biomedical
Yi Wang, Kiara F. Bruggeman, Stephanie Franks, Vini Gautam, Stuart I. Hodgetts, Alan R. Harvey, Richard J. Williams, David R. Nisbet
Summary: Gene delivery is crucial for treating genetic or epigenetic disorders, with efforts focused on improving the delivery and efficacy of viral gene therapy. Biomaterials offer a promising option for controlled and targeted gene delivery, potentially overcoming major challenges in current gene therapy approaches.
ADVANCED HEALTHCARE MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Kamel Chettab, Eva-Laure Matera, Maxime Lafond, Durieux Coralie, Camille Favin-Leveque, Clemence Goy, Regina Strakhova, Jean-Louis Mestas, Cyril Lafon, Charles Dumontet
Summary: This study evaluated the delivery of bovine serum albumin (BSA) into human erythrocytes using a sonoporation device that generates and monitors acoustic stable cavitation. The results showed that stable cavitation allows efficient delivery of proteins into human erythrocytes with limited lysis.
MOLECULAR PHARMACEUTICS
(2022)
Review
Virology
Matias L. Pidre, Paula N. Arrias, Leslie C. Amoros C. Morales, Victor Romanowski
Summary: This article reviews the technological applications of insect-specific enveloped baculoviruses. It summarizes the natural cycle of the virus in larvae and cell culture and how it can be exploited. It discusses various applications of baculovirus-based protein expression systems (BEVS) in the pharmaceutical and biotechnological industry. Finally, it extensively describes different gene therapy strategies based on baculoviruses for the treatment of various diseases.
Review
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Nilofer Sayed, Prince Allawadhi, Amit Khurana, Vishakha Singh, Umashanker Navik, Sravan Kumar Pasumarthi, Isha Khurana, Anil Kumar Banothu, Ralf Weiskirchen, Kala Kumar Bharani
Summary: Gene therapy is a method to treat diseases by silencing, replacing, or editing genes. The transfer of genes can be done through transformation, transduction, or transfection using physical, chemical, or biological methods. Gene therapy has been used in various diseases, but the safe and effective delivery of genes remains a major challenge.
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Yu Sun, Hadrien Demagny, Adrien Faure, Francesca Pontanari, Antoine Jalil, Nadia Bresciani, Ece Yildiz, Melanie Korbelius, Alessia Perino, Kristina Schoonjans
Summary: The enzyme asparagine synthetase (ASNS) is responsible for the de novo synthesis of the nonessential amino acid asparagine. The expression of ASNS in pericentral hepatocytes, specialized liver cells in xenobiotic detoxification, is significantly increased in models of acute liver injury. Mice with hepatocyte-specific Asns deletion are more susceptible to pericentral liver damage, which can be reversed by intravenous administration of asparagine. The upregulation of ASNS in response to stress is mediated by the nuclear receptor, liver receptor homolog 1 (LRH-1; NR5A2) through an ATF4-independent, noncanonical pathway.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL INVESTIGATION
(2023)
Article
Agronomy
Bin Ren, Yongjie Kuang, Ziyan Xu, Xuemei Wu, Dawei Zhang, Fang Yan, Xiangju Li, Xueping Zhou, Guirong Wang, Huanbin Zhou
Summary: Currently, only a few glufosinate-tolerant genes from Streptomyces are available for developing genetically modified rice in agriculture. With the development of genome editing technology, it is more promising to create novel glufosinate-tolerant gene resources through artificial evolution of endogenous genes in rice breeding. This study successfully evolved the endogenous glutamine synthetase1 (OsGS1) gene in rice cells using base-editing-mediated gene evolution (BEMGE) to create novel alleles conferring glufosinate tolerance. Three glufosinate-tolerant alleles were identified, and two of them were deployed into an elite rice cultivar through precise base editing. These results demonstrate the feasibility of developing glufosinate-tolerant rice by editing an endogenous rice gene in molecular breeding programs.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Oleksandr Kondratov, Liudmyla Kondratova, Ronald J. Mandel, Kirsten Coleman, Michael A. Savage, Heather L. Gray-Edwards, Timothy J. Ness, Edgar Rodriguez-Lebron, Robert D. Bell, Joseph Rabinowitz, Paul D. Gamlin, Sergei Zolotukhin
Summary: The study utilized a multiplex barcode recombinant AAV vector-tracing strategy to analyze 29 distinct AAV natural isolates and engineered capsids in the central nervous system of eight macaques, identifying the most efficient AAV capsid variants targeting specific CNS areas under different delivery routes. Newly developed bioinformatics and visualization algorithms for comparative analysis of mammalian brain models have been made publicly available.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Itzcoatl A. Gomez, Vanessa Hernandez, Laura A. Palomares, Octavio T. Ramirez
BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2018)
Meeting Abstract
Biophysics
Humberto Gasperin, Claudia G. Benitez-Cardoza, Jorge L. Rosas-Trigueros, Absalom Zamorano-Carrillo
BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL
(2018)
Meeting Abstract
Peripheral Vascular Disease
M. Sanchez Aguilar, A. Aguilar-Navarro, L. Ibarra-Lara, L. Del Valle-Mondragon, M. Rubio-Ruiz, M. Ramirez-Ortega, G. Pastelin-Hernandez, A. Zamorano-Carrillo, A. Sanchez-Mendoza
JOURNAL OF HYPERTENSION
(2018)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Juan David Ospina-Villa, Juan Garcia-Contreras, Jorge Luis Rosas-Trigueros, Esther Ramirez-Moreno, Cesar Lopez-Camarillo, Beatriz Zamora-Lopez, Laurence A. Marchat, Absalom Zamorano-Carrillo
JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR MODELING
(2018)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Juan David Ospina-Villa, Alexandre Dufour, Christian Weber, Esther Ramirez-Moreno, Absalom Zamorano-Carrillo, Nancy Guillen, Cesar Lopez-Camarillo, Laurence A. Marchat
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2018)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Francisca Villanueva-Flores, Margarita Miranda-Hernandez, Jose O. Flores-Flores, Alberto Porras-Sanjuanico, Hailin Hu, Leonor Perez-Martinez, Octavio T. Ramirez, Laura A. Palomares
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE
(2019)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
W. I. Garcia-Garcia, A. Vidal-Limon, A. A. Arrocha-Arcos, L. A. Palomares, O. T. Ramirez, M. Miranda-Hernandez
BIOELECTROCHEMISTRY
(2019)
Article
Immunology
Ana Ruth Pastor, Gonzalo Gonzalez-Dominguez, Marco A. Diaz-Salinas, Octavio T. Ramirez, Laura A. Palomares
Review
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Francisca Villanueva-Flores, Andres Castro-Lugo, Octavio T. Ramirez, Laura A. Palomares
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Dubhe B. Bulte, Laura A. Palomares, Carolina Gomez Parra, Juan Andres Martinez, Martha A. Contreras, Lilia G. Noriega, Octavio T. Ramirez
BIOTECHNOLOGY AND BIOENGINEERING
(2020)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Mabel Rodriguez, Ricardo M. Castro-Acosta, Elias R. Ruiz-Morales, Francisca Villanueva-Flores, Octavio T. Ramirez, Laura A. Palomares
Summary: A novel method was developed for efficient assembly of viral proteins into nanotubes, showing improved quality and efficiency compared to previous methods. The nanotube length was dependent on the initial concentration of protein monomers, following classic nucleation theory. Functionalizing the nanotubes with metals yielded unique nanobiomaterials.
BIOTECHNOLOGY LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Francisca Villanueva-Flores, Laura A. Palomares
Summary: The synthesized PFA membranes showed excellent adsorption performance for heavy metal pollutants in the polluted Mexican river. No further modifications were needed to achieve acceptable levels for drinking water, leading to lower production costs.
Article
Immunology
Ana G. Montiel-Martinez, Roxana Y. Vargas-Jeronimo, Tania Flores-Romero, Jaime Moreno-Munoz, Carlos C. Bravo-Reyna, Veronica Luqueno-Martinez, Mariela Contreras-Escamilla, Jovani Zamudio-Lopez, Susana Martinez-Rodriguez, Fernanda Barran-Sanchez, Juan C. Villegas-Garcia, Jorge Barrios-Payan, A. Ruth Pastor, Laura A. Palomares, Fernando Esquivel-Guadarrama, Efrain Garrido, Miguel A. Torres-Vega
Summary: Helicobacter pylori is a gram-negative bacterium that is present in over half of the world's population. The colonization of the stomachs gastric mucosa by H. pylori is related to the onset of chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer, and cancer. Current treatments for controlling H. pylori colonization are becoming less effective due to the bacterium's increased resistance to antibiotics. The development of a vaccine against H. pylori is challenging but a baculovirus-based vaccine shows promise in controlling this pathogen in humans.
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Francisca Villanueva-Flores, Ana Ruth Pastor, Laura A. Palomares, Alejandro Huerta-Saquero
Summary: The interest in using plant-derived virus-like particles (pVLPs) as nanocarriers is due to their non-infectious nature, immunostimulatory properties, and ability to carry and release cargo molecules. This study encapsulated the FDA-approved drug asparaginase (ASNase) into brome mosaic virus-like particles (BMV-VLPs) to create stable ASNase-BMV nanobioreactors. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments showed that the ASNase-BMV nanobioreactors had similar cytotoxicity against cancer cells as the commercial drug. However, there was also a specific immune response against the BMV capsids. Despite this, the ASNase-BMV nanobioreactors show potential as a novel formulation for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (LLA) treatment.