Publications by authors named "C Pena-Rasgado"

Article Synopsis
  • There is a significant need for new treatments targeting diseases caused by premature termination codons (PTCs), which lead to faulty proteins.
  • Splice-switching antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) can help by inducing exon skipping, effectively removing PTCs from mRNA and potentially restoring protein function if the remaining exons are in the correct reading frame.
  • The research focuses on the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) gene, demonstrating that ASOs can restore CFTR function in airway cells from individuals with PTC-causing mutations, showing the potential for ASO therapies across similar multi-exon genes.
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gene mutations that result in the introduction of premature termination codons (PTCs) are common in cystic fibrosis (CF). This mutation type causes a severe form of the disease, likely because of low messenger RNA (mRNA) expression as a result of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay, as well as the production of a nonfunctional, truncated CFTR protein. Current therapeutics for CF, which target residual protein function, are less effective in patients with these types of mutations due in part to low CFTR protein levels.

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A depressed autophagy has previously been reported in cystic fibrosis patients with the common F508del-CFTR mutation. This report describes the synthesis and preliminary biological characterization of a novel series of autophagy activators involving fatty acid cysteamine conjugates. These molecular entities were synthesized by first covalently linking cysteamine to docosahexaenoic acid.

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The aims of this work were to determine: 1) whether Ca2+ exit via the plasmalemmal Ca2+ ATPase (PMCA) is coupled to H+ entry via a Ca2+/H+ exchange; 2) whether operation of PMCA has an absolute requirement on external H+ (Ho); and 3) the stoichiometry and voltage-dependence of the Ca2+/H+ exchange. Barnacle muscle cells were used because of the ease with which they can be internally-perfused (e.g.

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