Publications by authors named "Huard C"

While moderately activated microglia in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are pivotal in clearing amyloid beta (Aβ), hyperactivated microglia perpetuate neuroinflammation. Prior investigations reported that the elimination of ~80% of microglia through inhibition of the colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) during the advanced stage of neuroinflammation in 5xFamilial AD (5xFAD) mice mitigates synapse loss and neurodegeneration. Furthermore, prolonged CSF1R inhibition diminished the development of parenchymal plaques.

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  • Black/African American women with breast cancer face a higher mortality risk than other racial groups, despite having lower overall incidence rates, with very low advance care planning and code status documentation.
  • The study analyzed data from over 7,500 women at the University of Chicago Medical Center between 2016 and 2021, using Cox regression to assess the impact of race on code status orders.
  • Results showed that only 7.2% had code status documentation, with Black/African American patients being significantly more likely to have code status orders compared to other racial groups, highlighting ongoing racial disparities in breast cancer care.
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Introduction: Communities with low socioeconomic status have disproportionately high rates of tobacco use, and community health workers (CHWs) have an increasing role in delivering tobacco cessation interventions. However, existing tobacco cessation trainings are not appropriate for the CHW model of care. The aim of this study was to identify training needs of CHWs to develop a tailored tobacco cessation curriculum to help them effectively serve their high-risk patients.

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Background: Chronic Gulf War Illness (GWI) is characterized by cognitive and mood impairments, as well as persistent neuroinflammation and oxidative stress. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of Epidiolex, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved cannabidiol (CBD), in improving brain function in a rat model of chronic GWI.

Methods: Six months after exposure to low doses of GWI-related chemicals [pyridostigmine bromide, N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET), and permethrin (PER)] along with moderate stress, rats with chronic GWI were administered either vehicle (VEH) or CBD (20 mg/kg, oral) for 16 weeks.

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Chronic neuroinflammation represents a prominent hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). While moderately activated microglia are pivotal in clearing amyloid beta (Aβ), hyperactivated microglia perpetuate neuroinflammation. Prior investigations have indicated that the elimination of ∼80% of microglia through a month-long inhibition of the colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) during the advanced stage of neuroinflammation in 5xFamilial AD (5xFAD) mice mitigates synapse loss and neurodegeneration without impacting Aβ levels.

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The diheteroarylamide-based compound 1C8 and the aminothiazole carboxamide-related compound GPS167 inhibit the CLK kinases, and affect the proliferation of a broad range of cancer cell lines. A chemogenomic screen previously performed with GPS167 revealed that the depletion of components associated with mitotic spindle assembly altered sensitivity to GPS167. Here, a similar screen performed with 1C8 also established the impact of components involved in mitotic spindle assembly.

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Chronic conditions associated with aging have proven difficult to prevent or treat. Senescence is a cell fate defined by loss of proliferative capacity and the development of a pro-inflammatory senescence-associated secretory phenotype comprised of cytokines/chemokines, proteases, and other factors that promotes age-related diseases. Specifically, an increase in senescent peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), including T cells, is associated with conditions like frailty, rheumatoid arthritis, and bone loss.

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Tumor growth is driven by continued cellular growth and proliferation. Cyclin-dependent kinase 7's (CDK7) role in activating mitotic CDKs and global gene expression makes it therefore an attractive target for cancer therapies. However, what makes cancer cells particularly sensitive to CDK7 inhibition (CDK7i) remains unclear.

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Fisetin has been shown to be beneficial for brain injury and age-related brain disease via different mechanisms. The purpose of this study was to determine the presence of senescent cells and the effects of fisetin on cellular senescence in the brain and other vital organs in old sheep, a more translational model. Female sheep 6-7 years old (N = 6) were treated with 100 mg/kg fisetin or vehicle alone on two consecutive days a week for 8 weeks.

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Background: Senescence, a characteristic of cellular aging and inflammation, has been linked to the acceleration of osteoarthritis. The purpose of this study is to prospectively identify, measure, and compare senescent profiles in synovial fluid and peripheral blood in patients with an acute knee injury within 48 h.

Methods: Seven subjects, aged 18-60 years, with an acute ACL tear with effusion were prospectively enrolled.

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  • Extracellular vesicles (EVs) from human-induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived neural stem cells (NSCs) show promise as a treatment for neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease (AD) due to their anti-inflammatory and neurogenic properties.
  • This study explored how quickly these EVs can reach various brain cell types after being administered intranasally in a mouse model of familial AD (5xFAD).
  • Results indicated that hiPSC-NSC-EVs targeted neurons, interneurons, and microglia effectively within 45 minutes across different brain regions, but were less penetrative in 5xFAD mice, suggesting amyloidosis impacts their effectiveness.
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Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have long been viewed as a promising therapeutic for musculoskeletal repair. However, regulatory concerns including tumorgenicity, inconsistencies in preparation techniques, donor-to-donor variability, and the accumulation of senescence during culture expansion have hindered the clinical application of MSCs. Senescence is a driving mechanism for MSC dysfunction with advancing age.

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  • Tobacco-related illnesses are a major preventable health issue for Latino/a communities in the U.S., with community health workers (CHWs) playing a crucial role in addressing this issue.
  • CHWs serving Latino/a populations reported low confidence and knowledge regarding tobacco cessation strategies, with an average score of only 4.03 out of 10 on a tobacco knowledge questionnaire.
  • Tailored training for CHWs could enhance their ability to support tobacco cessation efforts and reduce health disparities among Latino/a individuals.
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Individuals from communities with a low socioeconomic status have the highest rates of tobacco use but are less likely to receive assistance with quitting. Community health workers (CHWs) are well-positioned to engage these communities; however, CHWs face barriers in receiving relevant tobacco cessation training. The objective of this study was to conduct a mixed methods needs assessment to describe tobacco practices and the desire for training among CHWs.

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Objective: The type 1 interferon (IFN) pathway is up-regulated in dermatomyositis (DM). We sought to define how organ-specific disease activity as well as autoantibodies and other clinical factors are independently associated with systemic type I IFN activity in adult patients with DM.

Methods: RNA sequencing was performed on 355 whole blood samples collected from 202 well-phenotyped DM patients followed up during the course of their clinical care.

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Background: Despite the importance of advance care planning (ACP), a process that optimizes future medical treatment and end-of-life care, for at-risk populations, rates of patient-provider ACP conversations are extremely low among Black women with breast cancer. Community health workers (CHWs) are well-positioned to support patients in engaging in ACP conversations with their providers; yet research on integrating CHWs to promote ACP is scant. The current study examined multilevel facilitators and barriers to successful ACP conversations among Black women from the perspective of providers and CHWs who serve this community.

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  • Activating mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) are prevalent in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and contribute to treatment resistance with current therapies.
  • The study introduces EMI66, a small molecule that inhibits mutant EGFR signaling through a unique mechanism, affecting receptor tyrosine kinase expression and altering the localization of COPB2 protein in lung cancer cells.
  • Results indicate that EMI66 not only impacts the ER stress response pathway but also effectively reduces the growth of mutant EGFR lung cancer cells and organoids, highlighting the potential of targeting COPB2 as a therapeutic strategy in NSCLC.
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The elevated expression of the splicing regulator SRSF10 in metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) stimulates the production of the pro-tumorigenic splice variant. We discovered a group of small molecules with an aminothiazole carboxamide core (GPS167, GPS192 and others) that decrease production of . While additional alternative splicing events regulated by SRSF10 are affected by GPS167/192 in HCT116 cells (e.

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Telomere erosion in cells with insufficient levels of the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), contributes to age-associated tissue dysfunction and senescence, and p53 plays a crucial role in this response. We undertook a genome-wide CRISPR screen to identify gene deletions that sensitized p53-positive human cells to telomerase inhibition. We uncovered a previously unannotated gene, C16ORF72, which we term Telomere Attrition and p53 Response 1 (TAPR1), that exhibited a synthetic-sick relationship with TERT loss.

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This study investigated the role of muscle damage in bone defect healing using skull and tibial double-defect and tibial fracture models in dystrophin/Utrophin double-knockout (dKO-Hom) mice. The skull and tibia bone defect and fracture healing was monitored using micro-CT, histology, immuohistochemistry and quantitative PCR. We found the skull defect healing is not impaired while the tibial defect healing was delayed at day 7 in the dKO-Hom group compared to wild-type (WT) group as revealed by micro-CT.

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Resveratrol is a natural product associated with wide-ranging effects in animal and cellular models, including lifespan extension. To identify the genetic target of resveratrol in human cells, we conducted genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 screens to pinpoint genes that confer sensitivity or resistance to resveratrol. An extensive network of DNA damage response and replicative stress genes exhibited genetic interactions with resveratrol and its analog pterostilbene.

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Several human autoimmune diseases are characterized by increased expression of type 1 IFN-stimulated genes in both the peripheral blood and tissue. The contributions of different type I IFNs to this gene signature are uncertain as the type I IFN family consists of 13 alphas and one each of β, ε, κ, and ω subtypes. We sought to investigate the contribution of various IFNs to IFN signaling in primary human cell types.

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Background: Osteoarthritis and cartilage injury treatment is an unmet clinical need. Therefore, development of new approaches to treat these diseases is critically needed. Previous work in our laboratory has shown that murine muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs) can efficiently repair articular cartilage in an osteochondral and osteoarthritis model.

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We describe a Poona outbreak involving 31 infant cases in France. Following outbreak detection on 18 January 2019, consumption of rice-based infant formula manufactured at a facility in Spain was identified as the probable cause, leading to a recall on 24 January. Whole genome sequencing analysis linked present outbreak isolates to a 2010-11 Poona outbreak in Spain associated with formula manufactured in the same facility, indicating a persistent source of contamination.

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  • Researchers studied how the age of muscle stem cells from humans (hMDSCs) affects their ability to regenerate bones when treated with a special protein (LBMP2).
  • They tested both young and old hMDSCs in labs and in mice to see how well they could help bones heal.
  • The results showed that both young and old hMDSCs worked well to make bones grow back, but both types did better when used in young mice compared to old mice.
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