Forming Cardi-OH: A Statewide Collaborative to Improve Cardiovascular Health in Ohio.

Background Cardiovascular risk factor control is challenging, especially in disadvantaged populations. However, few statewide efforts exist to tackle this challenge. Therefore, our objective is to describe the formation of a unique statewide cardiovascular health collaborative so others may learn from this approach.

A retrospective case study of successful translational research: Gazelle Hb variant point-of-care diagnostic device for sickle cell disease.

Evaluation researchers at Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) hubs are conducting retrospective case studies to evaluate the translational research process. The objective of this study was to deepen knowledge of the translational process and identify contributors to successful translation. We investigated the successful translation of the HemeChip, a low-cost point-of-care diagnostic device for sickle cell disease, using a protocol for retrospective translational science case studies of health interventions developed by evaluators at the National Health Institutes (NIH) and CTSA hubs.

Secreted transforming growth factor beta2 activates NF-kappaB, blocks apoptosis, and is essential for the survival of some tumor cells.

The basis of constitutive activation of NF-kappaB, essential for survival and resistance to apoptosis in many tumors, is not well understood. We find that transforming growth factor beta2 (TGFbeta2), predominantly in its latent form, is secreted by several different types of tumor cell lines that exhibit constitutively active NF-kappaB and that TGFbeta2 potently stimulates the activation of NF-kappaB in reporter cells. Suppression of TGFbeta2 expression by small interfering RNA kills prostate cancer PC3 cells, indicating that the TGFbeta2-NF-kappaB pathway is important for their viability.

Mutant human cells with constitutive activation of NF-kappaB.

We have used a genetic approach to generate eight different mutant human cell lines in which NF-kappaB is constitutively activated. These independent clones have different phenotypes and belong to several different genetic complementation groups. In one clone inhibitor of kappaB(IkappaB) kinase is constitutively active, but in the seven others it is not, despite the fact that IkappaB is degraded in all eight clones.

Secretion of cytokines and growth factors as a general cause of constitutive NFkappaB activation in cancer.

The constitutive activation of nuclear factor kappaB (NFkappaB) helps a variety of tumors to resist apoptosis and desensitizes them to chemotherapy, but the causes are still largely unknown. We have analysed this phenomenon in eight mutant cell lines derived from human 293 cells, selected for NFkappaB-dependent expression of a marker gene, and also in seven tumor-derived cell lines. Conditioned media from all of these cells stimulated the activation of NFkappaB (up to 30-fold) in indicator cells carrying an NFkappaB-responsive reporter.