Publications by authors named "Amanda Blackwelder"

Introduction: One-third of US adults report sleeping less than the recommended amount, and approximately 20% live with a mental illness. The objective of our study was to examine the association between inadequate sleep and frequent mental distress in a population-based sample of US adults.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study by using 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data that included 273,695 US adults aged 18 to 64.

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There is increasing evidence that prenatal exposure to environmental factors may modify breast cancer risk later in life. This study aimed to investigate the effects of in utero exposure to low-dose alcohol on mammary development and tumor risk. Pregnant MMTV-erbB-2 mice were exposed to alcohol (6 g/kg/day) between day 13 and day 19 of gestation, and the female offspring were examined for tumor risk.

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Metformin is an oral biguanide used for type II diabetes. Epidemiologic studies suggest a link between metformin use and reduced risk of breast and other types of cancers. ErbB2-expressing breast cancer is a subgroup of tumors with poor prognosis.

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Melanoma antigen-A11 (MAGE-A11) is a low-abundance, primate-specific steroid receptor coregulator in normal tissues of the human reproductive tract that is expressed at higher levels in prostate cancer. Increased expression of MAGE-A11 enhances androgen receptor transcriptional activity and promotes prostate cancer cell growth. Further investigation into the mechanisms of MAGE-A11 function in prostate cancer demonstrated interactions with the retinoblastoma-related protein p107 and Rb tumor suppressor but no interaction with p130 of the Rb family.

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Prostate cancer growth and progression depend on androgen receptor (AR) signaling through transcriptional mechanisms that require interactions with coregulatory proteins, one of which is the primate-specific steroid receptor coregulator melanoma antigen-A11 (MAGE-A11). In this report, we provide evidence how increased expression of MAGE-A11 during prostate cancer progression enhances AR signaling and prostate cancer growth. MAGE-A11 protein levels were highest in castration-recurrent prostate cancer.

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Progesterone acting through the progesterone receptor (PR) and its coregulators prepares the human endometrium for receptivity to embryo implantation and maintains pregnancy. The menstrual cycle-dependent expression of melanoma antigen-A11 (MAGE-11) in the mid-secretory human endometrium suggested a novel function in human PR signaling. Here we show that MAGE-11 is an isoform-specific coregulator responsible for the greater transcriptional activity of human PR-B relative to PR-A.

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Naturally occurring germ line mutations in the X-linked human androgen receptor (AR) gene cause incomplete masculinization of the external genitalia by disrupting AR function in males with androgen insensitivity syndrome. Almost all AR missense mutations that cause androgen insensitivity syndrome are located in the highly structured DNA and ligand binding domains. In this report we investigate the functional defect associated with an AR exon 1 missense mutation, R405S, that caused partial androgen insensitivity.

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Male sex development and growth occur in response to high affinity androgen binding to the androgen receptor (AR). In contrast to complete amino acid sequence conservation in the AR DNA and ligand binding domains among mammals, a primate-specific difference in the AR NH(2)-terminal region that regulates the NH(2)- and carboxyl-terminal (N/C) interaction enables direct binding to melanoma antigen-A11 (MAGE-11), an AR coregulator that is also primate-specific. Human, mouse, and rat AR share the same NH(2)-terminal (23)FQNLF(27) sequence that mediates the androgen-dependent N/C interaction.

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Androgen receptor (AR)-mediated gene regulation involves interactions with coregulatory proteins that include the melanoma antigen gene protein-A11 (MAGE-11). To understand the functional significance of sequence similarity between MAGE-11 and the adenovirus early protein E1A, we determined whether MAGE-11 contributes to AR transcriptional activity through an interaction with p300, a potent and ubiquitous transcriptional regulator. Here, we report that MAGE-11 interacts with the NH(2)-terminal region of p300 through the MAGE-11 MXXIF motif (185)MXXIF(189), with transcriptional activity depending on the MAGE-11 F-box and MAPK phosphorylation.

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