Publications by authors named "Ariana Majer"

Article Synopsis
  • Menin, a protein encoded by a specific gene, acts as a nuclear scaffold that regulates gene expression by interacting with chromatin modifiers and transcription factors.
  • Its role in cancer is complex, as it can function as both a tumor suppressor in conditions like MEN1 syndrome and cholangiocarcinoma, and as a tumor promoter in various other cancers like leukemia and colorectal cancer, depending on the type and context of the tumor.
  • The review focuses on the diverse roles of menin across different cancer types, emphasizing the need for further research to understand its mechanisms and therapeutic potential.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Availability of the essential amino acid methionine affects cellular metabolism and growth, and dietary methionine restriction has been implicated as a cancer therapeutic strategy. Nevertheless, how liver cancer cells respond to methionine deprivation and underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here we find that human liver cancer cells undergo irreversible cell cycle arrest upon methionine deprivation in vitro.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Aims: Menin is a nuclear scaffold protein that regulates gene transcription in an oftentimes tissue-specific manner. Our previous work showed that menin is over-expressed in colorectal cancer (CRC); however, the full spectrum of menin function in colonic neoplasia remains unclear. Herein, we aimed to uncover novel menin-regulated pathways important for colorectal carcinogenesis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Unlabelled: Despite recent therapeutic advances, the 5-year survival rate for adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is poor and standard-of-care chemotherapy is associated with significant toxicity, highlighting the need for new therapeutic approaches. Recent work from our group and others established that the G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) is tumor suppressive in melanoma and other solid tumors. We performed a preliminary screen of human cancer cell lines from multiple malignancies and found that LNS8801, a synthetic pharmacologic agonist of GPER currently in early phase clinical trials, promoted apoptosis in human AML cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Maternal stress during reproduction can influence how offspring respond to stress later in life. Greater lifetime exposure to glucocorticoid hormones released during stress is linked to greater risks of behavioral disorders, disease susceptibility, and mortality. The immense variation in individual's stress responses is explained, in part, by prenatal glucocorticoid exposure.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Elevations in glucocorticoid (GC) levels in breeding females may induce adaptive shifts in offspring life histories. Offspring produced by mothers with elevated GCs may be better prepared to face harsh environments, where a faster pace of life is beneficial. We examined how experimentally elevated GCs in pregnant or lactating North American red squirrels () affected offspring postnatal growth, structural size and oxidative stress levels (two antioxidants and oxidative protein damage) in three different tissues (blood, heart and liver) and liver telomere lengths.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Acute rises in glucocorticoid hormones allow individuals to adaptively respond to environmental challenges but may also have negative consequences, including oxidative stress. While the effects of chronic glucocorticoid exposure on oxidative stress have been well characterized, those of acute stress or glucocorticoid exposure have mostly been overlooked. We examined the relationship between acute stress exposure, glucocorticoids and oxidative stress in Japanese quail ().

View Article and Find Full Text PDF