Uveitic glaucoma-like features in Yap conditional knockout mice.

Glaucoma is a multifactorial neurodegenerative disease characterized by the progressive and irreversible degeneration of the optic nerve and retinal ganglion cells. Despite medical advances aiming at slowing degeneration, around 40% of treated glaucomatous patients will undergo vision loss. It is thus of utmost importance to have a better understanding of the disease and to investigate more deeply its early causes.

NGR-bearing human adenovirus type 5 infects cells in flotillin- or caveolin-mediated manner depending on the NGR insertion site.

Human adenoviruses represent attractive candidates for the design of cancer gene therapy vectors. Modification of adenovirus tropism by incorporating a targeting ligand into the adenovirus capsid proteins allows retargeting of adenovirus towards the cells of interest. Human adenovirus type 5 (HAdV-C5) bearing NGR containing peptide (CNGRCVSGCAGRC) inserted into the fiber (AdFNGR) or the hexon (AdHNGR) protein demonstrated an increased transduction of endothelial cells showing expression of aminopeptidase N, also known as CD13, and αvβ3 integrin both present on tumor vasculature, indicating that NGR-bearing adenoviruses could be used as tools for anti-angiogenic cancer therapy.

Yap haploinsufficiency leads to Müller cell dysfunction and late-onset cone dystrophy.

Hippo signalling regulates eye growth during embryogenesis through its effectors YAP and TAZ. Taking advantage of a Yap heterozygous mouse line, we here sought to examine its function in adult neural retina, where YAP expression is restricted to Müller glia. We first discovered an unexpected temporal dynamic of gene compensation.

Combined therapy of colon carcinomas with an oncolytic adenovirus and valproic acid.

The anti-tumor potential of oncolytic adenoviruses (CRAds) has been demonstrated in preclinical and clinical studies. While these agents failed to eradicate tumors when used as a monotherapy, they may be more effective if combined with conventional treatments such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy. This study seeks to evaluate the combination of a CRAd bearing a ∆24 deletion in E1A with valproic acid (VPA), a histone deacetylase inhibitor, for the treatment of human colon carcinomas.

Sstr2A: a relevant target for the delivery of genes into human glioblastoma cells using fiber-modified adenoviral vectors.

Glioblastomas are the most aggressive of the brain tumors occurring in adults and children. Currently available chemotherapy prolongs the median survival time of patients by only 4 months. The low efficiency of current treatments is partly owing to the blood-brain barrier, which restricts the penetration of most drugs into the central nervous system.