Publications by authors named "T W Ridky"

Estrogen effects in tissue are mediated in part through activation of the surface estrogen receptor GPER, a broadly expressed G protein-coupled receptor that impacts a wide range of normal and pathologic processes, including metabolism, vascular health, inflammation, and cancer. A commonly used synthetic and specific GPER agonist, named G-1, antagonizes tumors by promoting cellular differentiation and enhancing tumor immunogenicity. G-1 is a racemic compound, and since its discovery, the question of whether both enantiomers display agonist activity or the agonist activity resides primarily in a single enantiomer has never been fully resolved.

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Melanoma is the most aggressive and deadly form of skin cancer that arises from the transformation of melanocytes, the pigment producing cells of the skin. In the year 2024 there will be approximately 10,000 new cases of melanoma diagnosed and approximately 8,000 deaths attributed to melanoma in the United States. In this study we treated a group of male and female transgenic mice that spontaneously develop metastatic melanoma, TGS, with a G-protein-coupled estrogen receptor agonist LNS8801 to assess the efficacy on disease progression.

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Unlabelled: Despite recent therapeutic advances, the 5-year survival rate for adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is poor and standard-of-care chemotherapy is associated with significant toxicity, highlighting the need for new therapeutic approaches. Recent work from our group and others established that the G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) is tumor suppressive in melanoma and other solid tumors. We performed a preliminary screen of human cancer cell lines from multiple malignancies and found that LNS8801, a synthetic pharmacologic agonist of GPER currently in early phase clinical trials, promoted apoptosis in human AML cells.

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GPER (G protein-coupled estrogen receptor) has been reported to play roles in several areas of physiology including cancer, metabolic disorders, and cardiovascular disease. However, the understanding of where this receptor is expressed in human tissue is limited due to limited available tools and methodologies that can reliably detect GPER protein. Recently, a highly specific monoclonal antibody against GPER (20H15L21) was developed and is suitable for immunohistochemistry.

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Here, we provide a protocol to model the effects of changes to a small number of cells, such as those arising from a mutation or a virus infection, in stratified epithelia. We describe steps for diluting engineered human keratinocytes into a larger population of unmodified cells and using these cells to grow three-dimensional organotypic cultures. We detail steps to observe effects that are not apparent in homogenous organotypic epithelial cultures by visualizing the localization of modified keratinocytes in epithelial layers.

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