Publications by authors named "Kelsey Aguirre"

Article Synopsis
  • - Selenocysteine-containing proteins are crucial for maintaining redox balance, and their production relies on a specific modification of tRNA called Um34, which is facilitated by the methyltransferase FTSJ1.
  • - The absence of Um34 causes issues during translation, leading to problems like ribosomal stalling and reduced efficiency in translating selenocysteine at the UGA stop codon.
  • - Cells lacking FTSJ1 show increased sensitivity to oxidative stress and lower melanoma metastasis, indicating that FTSJ1 and Um34 modification are vital for the antioxidant response and could be targeted for therapeutic purposes.
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Metastasizing cancer cells encounter a multitude of stresses throughout the metastatic cascade. Oxidative stress is known to be a major barrier for metastatic colonization, such that metastasizing cancer cells must rewire their metabolic pathways to increase their antioxidant capacity. NADPH is essential for regeneration of cellular antioxidants and several NADPH-regenerating pathways have been shown to play a role in metastasis.

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Cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling is localized to multiple spatially distinct microdomains, but the role of cAMP microdomains in cancer cell biology is poorly understood. Here, we present a tunable genetic system that allows us to activate cAMP signaling in specific microdomains. We uncover a nuclear cAMP microdomain that activates a tumor-suppressive pathway in a broad range of cancers by inhibiting YAP, a key effector protein of the Hippo pathway, inside the nucleus.

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There are no behavioral models for testing anxiety in amphibians, a group of animals widely used for developmental, ecotoxicological, and genetic research. We aimed to validate two common rodent paradigms, the plus maze and the scototaxis test, for use in the aquatic African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis). We predicted: (a) that frogs would prefer the dark, vs.

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