Astrocytes are multi-functional glial cells in the central nervous system that play critical roles in modulation of metabolism, extracellular ion and neurotransmitter levels, and synaptic plasticity. Astrocyte-derived signaling molecules mediate many of these modulatory functions of astrocytes, including vesicular release of ATP. In the present study, we used a unique genetic mouse model to investigate the functional significance of astrocytic exocytosis of ATP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Insulin is a principal metabolic hormone. It regulates a plethora of metabolic pathways in peripheral tissues. The highly homologous insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), on the other hand, is important for development and growth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTriple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive molecular subtype among breast tumors and remains a challenge even for the most current therapeutic regimes. Here, we demonstrate that oncolytic alphavirus M1 effectively kills both TNBC and non-TNBC. ER-stress and apoptosis pathways are responsible for the cell death in non-TNBC as reported in other cancer types, yet the cell death in TNBC does not depend on these pathways.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlphavirus M1 is a promising oncolytic virus for cancer therapy. Here, we constructed a fluorescent reporter virus for real-time visualization and quantification of M1 virus both and . The reporter-encoding M1 virus maintained the characteristics of parental virus in the aspects of structure, replication capacity, the feature to induce cytopathic cell death, and the property of tumor targeting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOncolytic viruses are potent anticancer agents that replicate within and kill cancer cells rather than normal cells, and their selectivity is largely determined by oncogenic mutations. M1, a novel oncolytic virus strain, has been shown to target cancer cells, but the relationship between its cancer selectivity and oncogenic signaling pathways is poorly understood. Here, we report that RAS mutation promotes the replication and oncolytic effect of M1 in cancer, and we further provide evidence that the inhibition of the RAS/RAF/MEK signaling axis suppresses M1 infection and the subsequent cytopathic effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAvoiding immune destruction is essential for tumorigenesis. Current research into the interaction between tumor and immunological niches complement tumor pathology beyond cancer genetics. Intrinsic host defense immunity is a specialized innate immunity component to restrict viral infection.
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