This data article provides further detailed information related to our research article titled "Microfabricated Blood Vessels Undergo Neovascularization" (DiVito et al., 2017) [1], in which we report fabrication of human blood vessels using hydrodynamic focusing (HDF). Hydrodynamic focusing with advection inducing chevrons were used in concert to encase one fluid stream within another, shaping the inner core fluid into 'bullseye-like" cross-sections that were preserved through click photochemistry producing streams of cellularized hollow 3-dimensional assemblies, such as human blood vessels (Daniele et al.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe greatest ambition and promise of tissue engineering is to manufacture human organs. Before "made-to-measure" tissues can become a reality [1-3], however, three-dimensional tissues must be reconstructed and characterized. The current inability to manufacture operational vasculature has limited the growth of engineered tissues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo facilitate the rapid purification of bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMVs), we developed two plasmid constructs that utilize a truncated, transmembrane protein to present an exterior histidine repeat sequence. We chose OmpA, a highly abundant porin protein, as the protein scaffold and utilized the lac promoter to allow for inducible control of the epitope-presenting construct. OMVs containing mutant OmpA-His6 were purified directly from Escherichia coli culture media on an immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) Ni-NTA resin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntegrating a perfusable microvasculature system is a substantial challenge for "on-chip" tissue models. We have developed an inclusive on-chip platform that is capable of maintaining laminar flow through porous biosynthetic microvessels. The biomimetic microfluidic device is able to deliver and generate a steady perfusion of media containing small-molecule nutrients, drugs, and gases in three-dimensional cell cultures, while replicating flow-induced mechanical stimuli.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Myc/Max/Mad network plays a critical role in cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis and c-Myc is overexpressed in many cancers, including HPV-positive cervical cancer cell lines. Despite the tolerance of cervical cancer keratinocytes to high Myc expression, we found that the solitary transduction of the Myc gene into primary cervical and foreskin keratinocytes induced rapid cell death. These findings suggested that the anti-apoptotic activity of E7 in cervical cancer cells might be responsible for negating the apoptotic activity of over-expressed Myc.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInhibitor of differentiation/DNA-binding (Id) proteins are helix-loop-helix (HLH) transcription factors. The Id protein family (Id1-Id4) mediates tissue homeostasis by regulating cellular processes including differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis. Ids typically function as dominant negative HLH proteins, which bind other HLH proteins and sequester them away from DNA promoter regions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTGF-β and the inhibitors of differentiation (Id) are linked. Smad7 and other TGF-β inhibitors can potently suppress melanomagenesis; however, little work examining Ids has been reported in melanoma, particularly for Id4. Here, we report that Id4, but not Id2 or Id3 expression, surprisingly, activated robust melanin production in xenografts of previously amelanotic (lacking pigment) 1205Lu/Smad7 (S7) cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe role for the inhibitors of differentiation (Ids) proteins in melanomagenesis has been poorly explored. In other cell types, Ids have been shown to contribute to cell proliferation, migration and angiogenesis and, along with a number of other genes, are direct downstream targets of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-β pathway. Expression of Smad7, which suppress TGF-β signaling, or synthetic TGF-β inhibitors, was shown to potently suppress melanomagenesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChemotherapeutic refractoriness of advanced cutaneous melanoma may be linked with melanoma-initiating cells, also known as melanoma stem cells. This study aimed to determine relative risk of clonal dominance of the CD133+ phenotype in tissues from melanoma patients with different clinical outcomes that could be applied to early diagnosis, prognosis or disease monitoring. Significant overexpression of CD133 (p<0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe list of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β)-related proteins in non-canonical TGF-β signaling is growing. Examples include receptor-Smads directing micro-RNA processing and inhibitory-Smads, e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe 2,6,9-trisubstituted purine group of cyclin dependent kinase inhibitors have the potential to be clinically relevant inhibitors of cancer cell proliferation. We have recently designed and synthesized a novel dansylated analog of purvalanol B, termed VMY-1-103, that inhibited cell cycle progression in breast cancer cell lines more effectively than did purvalanol B and allowed for uptake analyses by fluorescence microscopy. ErbB-2 plays an important role in the regulation of signal transduction cascades in a number of epithelial tumors, including prostate cancer (PCa).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFId2 is a member of the helix-loop-helix (HLH) family of transcription regulators known to antagonize basic HLH transcription factors and proteins of the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor family and is implicated in the regulation of proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and carcinogenesis. To investigate its proposed role in tumorigenesis, Id2 or deletion mutants were re-expressed in Id2(-/-) dermal fibroblasts. Ectopic expression of Id2 or mutants containing the central HLH domain increased S-phase cells, cell proliferation in low and normal serum and induced tumorigenesis when grafted or subcutaneously injected into athymic mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFId3 belongs to the inhibitor of differentiation family of helix-loop-helix transcription factors, important in proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. We showed that Id3, but not Id2 or Id1, mediates the UVB-sensitization of immortalized keratinocytes by inducing caspase 9-dependent apoptosis. In this study, quantitative PCR analysis revealed a time-dependent increase in Id3 mRNA induced by UVB, dependent on reactive oxygen species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe selective ubiquitination of proteins by ubiquitin E3 ligases plays an important regulatory role in control of cell differentiation, growth, and transformation and their dysregulation is often associated with pathologic outcomes, including tumorigenesis. RNF5 is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that has been implicated in motility and endoplasmic reticulum stress response. Here, we show that RNF5 expression is up-regulated in breast cancer tumors and related cell lines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The proapoptotic receptors tumor necrosis factor--related apoptosis-inducing ligand receptor 1 (TRAIL-R1) and TRAIL-R2 are targets of drugs in clinical development, and receptor expression levels may be important determinants of sensitivity to receptor agonists. We assessed TRAIL-R1 and TRAIL-R2 expression patterns in a large cohort of melanomas and benign nevi.
Experimental Design: We analyzed tissue microarrays containing 546 melanomas and 540 nevi using our automated quantitative method to measure protein levels in situ (AQUA).
Purpose: The cell surface receptors tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand receptor 1 (TRAIL-R1) and TRAIL-R2 transmit apoptotic signals, and agents that activate these receptors are in clinical development. We sought to determine the expression and prognostic value of TRAIL-R1 and TRAIL-R2 in early-stage breast cancer.
Experimental Design: Tissue microarrays containing specimens from 655 breast cancer patients with 20-year follow-up were employed and evaluated with our automated quantitative analysis (AQUA) system.
The addition of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) antisense to dacarbazine in the treatment of metastatic melanoma demonstrates improved response rates and progression-free survival when compared with dacarbazine alone. Studies on small cohorts of melanoma patients have shown variability in Bcl-2 expression (60%-96% positive). We performed quantitative analysis of Bcl-2 expression in a large patient cohort to assess the association with outcome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma continues to increase every year, and this disease remains the leading cause of skin cancer death in industrialized countries. Despite the aggressive nature of advanced melanoma, there are no standard biological assays in clinical usage that can predict metastasis. This may be due, in part, to the inadequacy of reproducible assessment of protein expression using traditional immunohistochemistry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTissue microarrays have facilitated the evaluation of large cohort studies; however, there is little data on the best method for preserving sections once they are cut. We assessed three methods of storing precut breast cancer microarray slides: paraffin coating and storage in a nitrogen desiccator, either alone or in combination. We tested the durability of three antigens, cytokeratin, estrogen receptor, and Ki-67 on microarrays stored under these conditions for 3 months at room temperature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMelanoma is among the most chemotherapy-resistant malignancies. Numerous new agents have been developed that target specific molecules on cancer cells, including the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab, which targets Her2/neu and has been very beneficial in the treatment of breast cancer. There are conflicting reports in the literature about Her2/neu expression in melanoma specimens, but all of the cohorts studied have been small.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe fms oncogene encodes the macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor (CSF1R), a transmembrane tyrosine kinase receptor, which is abnormally expressed in breast cancer. Transfection of wild-type CSF1R into HC11 mammary epithelial cells (HC11-CSF1R) renders the transfectants capable of in vitro local invasion and in vivo tumorigenesis. Transfection with CSF1R mutated to express phe at the tyr-721 autophosphorylation site (HC11-CSF1R-721) creates a phenotype that lacks metastastic competence but maintains local invasiveness.
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