Publications by authors named "R L Benz"

Article Synopsis
  • Somatostatin receptor type 2 (SSTR2) is commonly found on certain tumors, including gastro-entero-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors and breast cancer, making it a target for therapy.
  • Researchers developed a novel fluorescent-peptide antagonist, Octo-Fluo, that works with genetically engineered CAR T-cells to selectively trigger cell death in SSTR2-expressing cancer cells.
  • In laboratory and animal studies, Octo-Fluo enhanced the effectiveness of AdFITC(E2)-CAR T-cells against tumors, but high concentrations of Octo-Fluo could reduce its effectiveness by saturating both the CAR and SSTR2, highlighting the importance of dosage for treatment success.
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The dynamic range challenge for the detection of proteins and their proteoforms in human plasma has been well documented. Here, we use the nanoparticle protein corona approach to enrich low-abundance proteins selectively and reproducibly from human plasma and use top-down proteomics to quantify differential enrichment for the 2841 detected proteoforms from 114 proteins. Furthermore, nanoparticle enrichment allowed top-down detection of proteoforms between ∼1 μg/mL and ∼10 pg/mL in absolute abundance, providing up to a 10-fold increase in proteome depth over neat plasma in which only proteoforms from abundant proteins (>1 μg/mL) were detected.

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There is a significant unmet need for clinical reflex tests that increase the specificity of prostate-specific antigen blood testing, the longstanding but imperfect tool for prostate cancer diagnosis. Towards this endpoint, we present the results from a discovery study that identifies new prostate-specific antigen reflex markers in a large-scale patient serum cohort using differentiating technologies for deep proteomic interrogation. We detect known prostate cancer blood markers as well as novel candidates.

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The dynamic range challenge for detection of proteins and their proteoforms in human plasma has been well documented. Here, we use the nanoparticle protein corona approach to enrich low-abundant proteins selectively and reproducibly from human plasma and use top-down proteomics to quantify differential enrichment for the 2841 detected proteoforms from 114 proteins. Furthermore, nanoparticle enrichment allowed top-down detection of proteoforms between ∼1 µg/mL and ∼10 pg/mL in absolute abundance, providing up to 10 -fold increase in proteome depth over neat plasma in which only proteoforms from abundant proteins (>1 µg/mL) were detected.

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As spaceflight becomes more common with commercial crews, blood-based measures of crew health can guide both astronaut biomedicine and countermeasures. By profiling plasma proteins, metabolites, and extracellular vesicles/particles (EVPs) from the SpaceX Inspiration4 crew, we generated "spaceflight secretome profiles," which showed significant differences in coagulation, oxidative stress, and brain-enriched proteins. While >93% of differentially abundant proteins (DAPs) in vesicles and metabolites recovered within six months, the majority (73%) of plasma DAPs were still perturbed post-flight.

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