Telomere length heterogeneity in ALT cells is maintained by PML-dependent localization of the BTR complex to telomeres.

Telomeres consist of TTAGGG repeats bound by protein complexes that serve to protect the natural end of linear chromosomes. Most cells maintain telomere repeat lengths by using the enzyme telomerase, although there are some cancer cells that use a telomerase-independent mechanism of telomere extension, termed alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT). Cells that use ALT are characterized, in part, by the presence of specialized PML nuclear bodies called ALT-associated PML bodies (APBs).

The probacterial effect of type I interferon signaling requires its own negative regulator USP18.

Type I interferon (IFN-I) signaling paradoxically impairs host immune responses during many primary and secondary bacterial infections. Lack of IFN-I receptor reduces bacterial replication and/or bacterial persistence during infection with several bacteria. However, the mechanisms that mediate the adverse IFN-I effect are incompletely understood.

Development of pyrazolone and isoxazol-5-one cambinol analogues as sirtuin inhibitors.

Sirtuins are a family of NAD(+)-dependent protein deacetylases that play critical roles in epigenetic regulation, stress responses, and cellular aging in eukaryotic cells. In an effort to identify small molecule inhibitors of sirtuins for potential use as chemotherapeutics as well as tools to modulate sirtuin activity, we previously identified a nonselective sirtuin inhibitor called cambinol (IC50 ≈ 50 μM for SIRT1 and SIRT2) with in vitro and in vivo antilymphoma activity. In the current study, we used saturation transfer difference (STD) NMR experiments with recombinant SIRT1 and 20 to map parts of the inhibitor that interacted with the protein.