Staphylococcus aureus α-toxin impairs early neutrophil localization via electrogenic disruption of store-operated calcium entry.

The pore-forming S. aureus α-toxin (Hla) contributes to virulence and disease pathogenesis. While high concentrations of toxin induce cell death, neutrophils exhibit relative resistance to lysis, suggesting that the action of Hla may not be solely conferred by lytic susceptibility.

Listeria motility increases the efficiency of epithelial invasion during intestinal infection.

Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) is a food-borne pathogen that causes severe bacterial gastroenteritis, with high rates of hospitalization and mortality. Lm is ubiquitous in soil, water and livestock, and can survive and proliferate at low temperatures. Following oral ingestion of contaminated food, Lm crosses the epithelium through intestinal goblet cells in a mechanism mediated by Lm InlA binding host E-cadherin.

CelltrackR: An R package for fast and flexible analysis of immune cell migration data.

Visualization of cell migration via time-lapse microscopy has greatly advanced our understanding of the immune system. However, subtle differences in migration dynamics are easily obscured by biases and imaging artifacts. While several analysis methods have been suggested to address these issues, an integrated tool implementing them is currently lacking.

A Study of High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer Origins Implicates the SOX18 Transcription Factor in Tumor Development.

Fallopian tube secretory epithelial cells (FTSECs) are likely the main precursor cell type of high-grade serous ovarian cancers (HGSOCs), but these tumors may also arise from ovarian surface epithelial cells (OSECs). We profiled global landscapes of gene expression and active chromatin to characterize molecular similarities between OSECs (n = 114), FTSECs (n = 74), and HGSOCs (n = 394). A one-class machine learning algorithm predicts that most HGSOCs derive from FTSECs, with particularly high FTSEC scores in mesenchymal-type HGSOCs (p < 8 × 10).

TR3 modulates platinum resistance in ovarian cancer.

In metastatic ovarian cancer, resistance to platinum chemotherapy is common. Although the orphan nuclear receptor TR3 (nur77/NR4A1) is implicated in mediating chemotherapy-induced apoptosis in cancer cells, its role in ovarian cancer has not been determined. In an ovarian cancer tissue microarray, TR3 protein expression was elevated in stage I tumors, but downregulated in a significant subset of metastatic tumors.

An orthotopic model of platinum-sensitive high grade serous fallopian tube carcinoma.

Fallopian tube carcinoma (FTCA) is a very rare cancer type, but may be a useful platform for investigating high grade serous tumors of the pelvis that originate from a serous tubal intraepithelial carcinoma (STIC) precursor. Metastatic tumors from a patient diagnosed with Stage IIIC high grade serous FTCA (P0) were transplanted via intraperitoneal (IP) injection into a small cohort of mice (passage, P1). Patient information was obtained from the medical record.