Publications by authors named "Alexander Zaika"

Article Synopsis
  • GERD is a common digestive disorder that causes damage to the esophagus due to stomach acid exposure, which can lead to serious complications like esophageal tumors and is characterized by oxidative stress and reactive byproducts known as isoLGs.
  • The study examined how isoLGs interact with and cause misfolding and aggregation of proteins, using various assays and animal models to analyze esophageal tissues affected by GERD.
  • The findings reveal that GERD leads to protein misfolding and cell death through mechanisms involving isoLG adduction, suggesting it shares features with other diseases related to protein aggregation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Aberrant cell fate transitions can lead to cancer, and p63 is identified as a key factor in determining cell type in esophageal development, specifically between squamous and neuroendocrine lineages.
  • Deleting p63 in developing mice and human stem cells leads to increased neuroendocrine differentiation, suggesting that this transcription factor is crucial for maintaining proper cell identity.
  • In esophageal neuroendocrine carcinoma, p63 is silenced by EZH2-mediated trimethylation, but reactivating p63 can promote a return to squamous cell characteristics, highlighting its role in cancer progression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is the main risk factor for gastric cancer. The SRY-Box Transcription Factor 9 (SOX9) serves as a marker of stomach stem cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: TGFβ signaling is implicated in the progression of most cancers, including esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). Emerging evidence indicates that TGFβ signaling is a key factor in the development of resistance toward cancer therapy.

Experimental Design: In this study, we developed patient-derived organoids and patient-derived xenograft models of EAC and performed bioinformatics analysis combined with functional genetics to investigate the role of SMAD family member 3 (SMAD3) in EAC resistance to oxaliplatin.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

While cell fate determination and maintenance are important in establishing and preserving tissue identity and function during development, aberrant cell fate transition leads to cancer cell heterogeneity and resistance to treatment. Here, we report an unexpected role for the transcription factor p63 (Trp63/TP63) in the fate choice of squamous versus neuroendocrine lineage in esophageal development and malignancy. Deletion of results in extensive neuroendocrine differentiation in the developing mouse esophagus and esophageal progenitors derived from human embryonic stem cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Chronic gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, where acidic bile salts (ABS) reflux into the oesophagus, is the leading risk factor for oesophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). We investigated the role of ABS in promoting epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in EAC.

Design: RNA sequencing data and public databases were analysed for the EMT pathway enrichment and patients' relapse-free survival.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Gastric cancer (GC) ranks fifth in incidence and fourth for mortality worldwide. The response to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy in GC is heterogeneous due to tumour-intrinsic and acquired immunotherapy resistance. We developed an immunophenotype-based subtyping of human GC based on immune cells infiltration to develop a novel treatment option.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We evaluate National Cancer Institute (NCI) funding distribution to the most common cancers, considering their respective public health burdens, and explore associations between funding and racial and ethnic burden of disease. The NCI's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results, US Cancer Statistics database, and Funding Statistics were used to calculate funding-to-lethality (FTL) scores. Breast and prostate cancer had the first (179.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • LBH (Limb-Bud and Heart) is a transcription co-factor that plays complex roles in cancer, showing both oncogenic and tumor-suppressive effects, but its expression in various cancers has not been well understood.
  • Analysis of over 20 cancer types revealed that LBH is overexpressed in most cancers compared to normal tissues, linking elevated LBH levels to poor patient prognosis, while some cancers showed a reduction in LBH expression.
  • The study identifies DNA hypomethylation as a key mechanism behind LBH dysregulation and highlights its significant association with WNT signaling pathways, suggesting LBH as a potential universal biomarker to detect WNT hyperactivation in tumor samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

p53 is a key tumor suppressor that is frequently mutated in human tumors. In this study, we investigated how p53 is regulated in precancerous lesions prior to mutations in the p53 gene. Analyzing esophageal cells in conditions of genotoxic stress that promotes development of esophageal adenocarcinoma, we find that p53 protein is adducted with reactive isolevuglandins (isoLGs), products of lipid peroxidation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background & Aims: Transformation of stem/progenitor cells has been associated with tumorigenesis in multiple tissues, but stem cells in the stomach have been hard to localize. We therefore aimed to use a combination of several markers to better target oncogenes to gastric stem cells and understand their behavior in the initial stages of gastric tumorigenesis.

Methods: Mouse models of gastric metaplasia and cancer by targeting stem/progenitor cells were generated and analyzed with techniques including reanalysis of single-cell RNA sequencing and immunostaining.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is the main risk factor for gastric cancer, a leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. The oncogenic functions of cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) are not fully understood in gastric tumorigenesis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is characterized by poor prognosis and low survival rate. Chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is the main risk factor for the development of Barrett's esophagus (BE), a preneoplastic metaplastic condition, and its progression to EAC. Yes-associated protein 1 (YAP1) activation mediates stem-like properties under cellular stress.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a common gastric pathogen that infects approximately half of the world's population. Infection with H.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Oesophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) arises in the setting of Barrett's oesophagus, an intestinal metaplastic precursor lesion that can develop in patients with chronic GERD. Here, we investigated the role of acidic bile salts, the mimicry of reflux, in activation of NOTCH signaling in EAC.

Design: This study used public databases, EAC cell line models, L2-IL1β transgenic mouse model and human EAC tissue samples to identify mechanisms of NOTCH activation under reflux conditions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: H. pylori infection is the main risk factor for gastric cancer. In this study, we investigated H.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the deadliest malignancies worldwide. In contrast to many other tumor types, gastric carcinogenesis is tightly linked to infectious events. Infections with () bacterium and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) are the two most investigated risk factors for GC.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a major risk factor for the development of metaplastic Barrett's esophagus (BE) and its progression to esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). Uncontrolled accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in response to acidic bile salts (ABS) in reflux conditions can be lethal to cells. In this study, we investigated the role of APE1/REF1 in regulating nuclear erythroid factor-like 2 (NRF2), the master antioxidant transcription factor, in response to reflux conditions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is the dominant form of esophageal malignancies in the United States and other industrialized countries. The incidence of EAC has been rising rapidly during the past four decades. Barrett's esophagus (BE) is the main precancerous condition for EAC, where a metaplastic columnar epithelium replaces normal squamous mucosa of the lower esophagus.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is the main risk factor for gastric carcinogenesis. In this study, we investigated the expression, molecular functions, and downstream effectors of miR490-3p in gastric cancer.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Approximately half of the world's population is infected with the stomach pathogen Helicobacter pylori. Infection with H. pylori is the main risk factor for distal gastric cancer.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a predominant cancer type in developing countries such as China, where ESCC accounts for approximately 90% of esophageal malignancies. Lacking effective and targeted therapy contributes to the poor 5-year survival rate. Recent studies showed that about 30% of ESCC cases have high levels of SOX2.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is the main risk factor for gastric cancer. The role of antioxidant enzyme peroxiredoxin 2 (PRDX2) in gastric tumorigenesis remains unknown.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Dopamine and cAMP-regulated phosphoprotein, Mr 32000 (DARPP-32), is frequently overexpressed in early stages of gastric cancers. We utilized in vitro assays, 3D gastric gland organoid cultures, mouse models, and human tissue samples to investigate the biological and molecular impact of DARPP-32 on activation of IGF1R and STAT3 signaling and gastric tumorigenesis. DARPP-32 enhanced phosphorylation of IGF1R (Y1135), a step that was critical for STAT3 phosphorylation at Y705, nuclear localization, and transcription activation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Warning

Message: fopen(/var/lib/php/sessions/ci_sessionvmj4g9m7atiduuv3b3kqiheo47q3dr11): Failed to open stream: No space left on device

Filename: drivers/Session_files_driver.php

Line Number: 177

Backtrace:

File: /var/www/html/index.php
Line: 316
Function: require_once

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Warning

Message: session_start(): Failed to read session data: user (path: /var/lib/php/sessions)

Filename: Session/Session.php

Line Number: 137

Backtrace:

File: /var/www/html/index.php
Line: 316
Function: require_once