Publications by authors named "J Flaxenburg"

Background: Immune responses to vaccination are a known trigger for a new onset of glomerular disease or disease flare in susceptible individuals. Mass immunization against SARS-CoV-2 in the COVID-19 pandemic provides a unique opportunity to study vaccination-associated autoimmune kidney diseases. In the recent literature, there are several patient reports demonstrating a temporal association of SARS-CoV-2 immunization and kidney diseases.

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TNF-family molecules induce the expression Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) in endothelial cells (EC) and elicit signaling responses that result in angiogenesis. However, the role of TNF-receptor associated factors (TRAFs) as upstream regulators of VEGF expression or as mediators of angiogenesis is not known. In this study, HUVEC were cotransfected with a full-length VEGF promoter-luciferase construct and siRNAs to TRAF 1, -2, -3, -5, -6, and promoter activity was measured.

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Interactions between chemokines and chemokine receptors have been proposed recently to be of importance in the development and progression of cancer. Human breast cancer cells express the chemokine CXCL10 (IP-10) and also its receptor CXCR3. In this study, we have investigated the role of Ras activation in the regulation of CXCL10 and its receptor splice variant CXCR3-B in two human breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-435 and MCF-7.

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Ligation of endothelial cell (EC) CD40 induces the expression of several proinflammatory cytokines as well as angiogenesis factors, including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Moreover, despite the reported importance of CD40 in cell-mediated immunity, little is known of the CD40-induced signaling pathways in EC. In this study, we have investigated the function of the Ras signaling pathway(s) for CD40-induced overexpression of VEGF.

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Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is produced by several cell types in the kidney, and its expression is tightly regulated for the maintenance of normal renal physiology. Increases or decreases in its expression are associated with proteinuria and renal disease. Recently, we found that the expression of VEGF is markedly induced following interactions between CD40 ligand (CD40L) and CD40.

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