Publications by authors named "Sara K Blick-Nitko"

Restricting amino acids from tumors is an emerging therapeutic strategy with significant promise. While typically considered an intracellular antioxidant with tumor-promoting capabilities, glutathione (GSH) is a tripeptide of cysteine, glutamate, and glycine that can be catabolized, yielding amino acids. The extent to which GSH-derived amino acids are essential to cancers is unclear.

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  • - Platelets show immune responsiveness in various diseases, like sepsis and COVID-19, and play a role in the immune response to malaria caused by the Plasmodium parasite, specifically evidenced by changes in messenger RNA in infected mice.
  • - In a study with non-lethal Plasmodium yoelii-infected mice, platelet Ido1 expression increased due to interferon-γ (IFN-γ), a cytokine that enhances this enzyme, leading to higher kynurenine levels and lower serotonin.
  • - Platelet-specific Ido1 knockout mice experienced higher mortality and lung thrombi during infection, suggesting that platelet Ido1 is crucial for managing immune responses and maintaining vascular stability after malaria infection.
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Deaf professionals experience inequitable access at conferences, but conference hosts can learn to recognize and understand the contributing barriers. Establishing clear accessibility protocols can enhance organizational success and ensure a successful conference.

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Background: While platelets have well-studied hemostatic functions, platelets are immune cells that circulate at the interface between the vascular wall and white blood cells. The physiological implications of these constant transient interactions are poorly understood. Activated platelets induce and amplify immune responses, but platelets may also maintain immune homeostasis in healthy conditions, including maintaining vascular integrity and T helper cell differentiation, meaning that platelets are central to both immune responses and immune quiescence.

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  • Platelets function as immune cells in addition to their role in blood clotting, directly influencing immune responses and vascular health through interactions with leukocytes.
  • Thrombocytopenia, or low platelet counts, disrupts this balance and leads to monocyte dysfunction, causing increased immune responses which may lead to inflammation.
  • Research shows that normal platelet levels are crucial for maintaining immune homeostasis, as they regulate the immunometabolic processes in monocytes, leading to epigenetic changes that affect immune gene expression.
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Although platelets are the cellular mediators of thrombosis, they are also immune cells. Platelets interact both directly and indirectly with immune cells, impacting their activation and differentiation, as well as all phases of the immune response. Megakaryocytes (Mks) are the cell source of circulating platelets, and until recently Mks were typically only considered bone marrow-resident (BM-resident) cells.

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