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BACKGROUND & AIMS Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) increase risk for colorectal cancer. Mutations in the Mediterranean fever gene (MEFV or pyrin) are associated with hereditary autoinflammatory disease and severe IBD. Expression of MEFV,a sensor protein that the initiates assembly of the inflammasome complex,is increased in colon biopsies from patients with IBD. We investigated the role of pyrin in intestinal homeostasis in mice. METHODS Mefv-/- mice and C57/BL6 mice (controls) were given azoxymethane followed by multiple rounds of dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) to induce colitis and tumorigenesis. In some experiments,Mefv-/- mice were given injections of recombinant interleukin 18 (rIL18) or saline (control) during DSS administration. Colon tissues were collected at different time points during colitis development and analyzed by histology,immunohistochemistry,immunoblots,or ELISAs (to measure cytokines). Spleen and mesenteric lymph node were collected,processed,and analyzed by flow cytometry. Colon epithelial permeability was measured in mice with colitis by gavage of fluorescent dextran and quantification of serum levels. RESULTS MEFV was expressed in colons of control mice and expression increased during chronic and acute inflammation; high levels were detected in colon tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues. Mefv-/- mice developed more severe colitis than control mice,with a greater extent of epithelial hyperplasia and a larger tumor burden. Levels of inflammatory cytokines (IL6) and chemokines were significantly higher in colons of Mefv-/- mice than control mice following colitis induction,whereas the level IL18,which depends on the inflammasome for maturation and release,was significantly lower in colons of Mefv-/- mice. Mefv-/- mice had increased epithelial permeability following administration of DSS than control mice,and loss of the tight junction proteins occludin and claudin-2 from intercellular junctions. STAT3 was activated (phosphorylated) in inflamed colon tissues from Mefv-/-,which also had increased expression of stem cell markers (OLFM4,BMI1,and MSI1) compared with colons from control mice. Administration of rIL18 to Mefv-/- mice reduced epithelial permeability,intestinal inflammation,the severity of colitis,and colon tumorigenesis. CONCLUSIONS In studies with DSS-induced colitis,we found that pyrin (MEFV) is required for inflammasome activation and IL18 maturation,which promote intestinal barrier integrity and prevent colon inflammation and tumorigenesis. Strategies to increase activity of MEFV or IL18 might be developed for the treatment of IBD and prevention of colitis-associated tumorigenesis. View Publication

Availability of tumor and non-tumor patient-derived models would promote the development of more effective therapeutics for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Recently,conditionally reprogrammed cells (CRC) methodology demonstrated exceptional potential for the expansion of epithelial cells from patient tissues. However,the possibility to expand patient-derived lung cancer cells using CRC protocols is controversial. Here,we used CRC approach to expand cells from non-tumoral and tumor biopsies of patients with primary or metastatic NSCLC as well as pulmonary metastases of colorectal or breast cancers. CRC cultures were obtained from both tumor and non-malignant tissues with extraordinary high efficiency. Tumor cells were tracked in vitro through tumorigenicity assay,monitoring of tumor-specific genetic alterations and marker expression. Cultures were composed of EpCAM+ lung epithelial cells lacking tumorigenic potential. NSCLC biopsies-derived cultures rapidly lost patient-specific genetic mutations or tumor antigens. Similarly,pulmonary metastases of colon or breast cancer generated CRC cultures of lung epithelial cells. All CRC cultures examined displayed epithelial lung stem cell phenotype and function. In contrast,brain metastatic lung cancer biopsies failed to generate CRC cultures. In conclusion,patient-derived primary and metastatic lung cancer cells were negatively selected under CRC conditions,limiting the expansion to non-malignant lung epithelial stem cells from either tumor or non-tumor tissue sources. Thus,CRC approach cannot be applied for direct therapeutic testing of patient lung tumor cells,as the tumor-derived CRC cultures are composed of (non-tumoral) airway basal cells. View Publication

Lgr5-expressing intestinal stem cells (ISCs) maintain continuous and rapid generation of the intestinal epithelium. Here we present evidence that dedifferentiation of committed enteroendocrine cells (EECs) contributes to maintenance of the epithelium under both basal conditions and in response to injury. Lineage tracing studies identified a subset of EECs that reside at +4 position for more than 2 weeks,most of which were BrdU-label-retaining cells. Under basal conditions,cells derived from these EECs grow from the bottom of the crypt to generate intestinal epithelium according to neutral drift kinetics that is consistent with dedifferentiation of mature EECs to ISCs. The lineage tracing of EECs demonstrated reserve stem cell properties in response to radiation-induced injury with the generation of reparative EEC-derived epithelial patches. Finally,the enterochromaffin (EC) cell was the predominant EEC type participating in these stem cell dynamics. These results provide novel insights into the +4 reserve ISC hypothesis,stem cell dynamics of the intestinal epithelium and novel insight in the development of EC-derived small intestinal tumors. View Publication

Colony-stimulating factor 1 (CSF1) controls the growth and differentiation of macrophages.CSF1R signaling has been implicated in the maintenance of the intestinal stem cell niche and differentiation of Paneth cells,but evidence of expression of CSF1R within the crypt is equivocal. Here we show that CSF1R-dependent macrophages influence intestinal epithelial differentiation and homeostasis. In the intestinal lamina propria CSF1R mRNA expression is restricted to macrophages which are intimately associated with the crypt epithelium,and is undetectable in Paneth cells. Macrophage ablation following CSF1R blockade affects Paneth cell differentiation and leads to a reduction of Lgr5+ intestinal stem cells. The disturbances to the crypt caused by macrophage depletion adversely affect the subsequent differentiation of intestinal epithelial cell lineages. Goblet cell density is enhanced,whereas the development of M cells in Peyer's patches is impeded. We suggest that modification of the phenotype or abundance of macrophages in the gut wall alters the development of the intestinal epithelium and the ability to sample gut antigens. View Publication

Immunomodulation contributes to the antitumor efficacy of the fractionated radiation therapy (RT). Here,we describe immune effects of RT with concurrent systemic cisplatin or cetuximab treatment of patients with stage III-IV head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Using longitudinally collected blood samples,we identified significant changes in cytokines/chemokines and immune cell populations compared to immune-related gene expression profiles in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). The 7-week combinatorial RT resulted in gradual elevation of proinflammatory mediators (IFNgamma$,IL-6,TNFɑ,CCL2),while levels of IL-12,cytokine essential for antitumor immune responses,were decreased. These effects correlated with progressive accumulation of polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells (PMN-MDSC) with detectable activity of STAT3 and PD-L1 expression,underscoring tolerogenic effects of MDSCs. Correspondingly,gene expression analysis of PBMCs harvested after two weeks of combinatorial RT,found upregulation of several immunosuppressive mediators. These included IL6,IL6R,STAT3 and PDL1,which could represent IL-6/STAT3-driven tolerogenic signaling,which inhibits T cell and NK activity. Overall,our results suggest that potential immunostimulatory effects of combinatorial RT in HNSCC patients are likely limited by tolerogenic STAT3 signaling and PD-L1 upregulation in myeloid immune cells. Further studies will clarify whether STAT3 targeting could augment RT efficacy and durability of antitumor responses. View Publication

Chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) link an antigen recognition domain to intracellular signaling domains to redirect T cell specificity and function. T cells expressing CARs with CD28/CD3$\zeta$ or 4-1BB/CD3$\zeta$ signaling domains are effective at treating refractory B cell malignancies but exhibit differences in effector function,clinical efficacy,and toxicity that are assumed to result from the activation of divergent signaling cascades. We analyzed stimulation-induced phosphorylation events in primary human CD8+ CD28/CD3$\zeta$ and 4-1BB/CD3$\zeta$ CAR T cells by mass spectrometry and found that both CAR constructs activated similar signaling intermediates. Stimulation of CD28/CD3$\zeta$ CARs activated faster and larger-magnitude changes in protein phosphorylation,which correlated with an effector T cell-like phenotype and function. In contrast,4-1BB/CD3$\zeta$ CAR T cells preferentially expressed T cell memory-associated genes and exhibited sustained antitumor activity against established tumors in vivo. Mutagenesis of the CAR CD28 signaling domain demonstrated that the increased CD28/CD3$\zeta$ CAR signal intensity was partly related to constitutive association of Lck with this domain in CAR complexes. Our data show that CAR signaling pathways cannot be predicted solely by the domains used to construct the receptor and that signal strength is a key determinant of T cell fate. Thus,tailoring CAR design based on signal strength may lead to improved clinical efficacy and reduced toxicity. View Publication

Vascular abnormalities are a common component of eye diseases that often lead to vision loss. Vaso-obliteration is associated with inherited retinal degenerations,since photoreceptor atrophy lowers local metabolic demands and vascular support to those regions is no longer required. Given the degree of neurovascular crosstalk in the retina,it may be possible to use one cell type to rescue another cell type in the face of severe stress,such as hypoxia or genetically encoded cell-specific degenerations. Here,we show that intravitreally injected human endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs) that can be isolated and differentiated from cord blood in xeno-free media collect in the vitreous cavity and rescue vaso-obliteration and neurodegeneration in animal models of retinal disease. Furthermore,we determined that a subset of the ECFCs was more effective at anatomically and functionally preventing retinopathy; these cells expressed high levels of CD44,the hyaluronic acid receptor,and IGFBPs (insulin-like growth factor-binding proteins). Injection of cultured media from ECFCs or only recombinant human IGFBPs also rescued the ischemia phenotype. These results help us to understand the mechanism of ECFC-based therapies for ischemic insults and retinal neurodegenerative diseases. View Publication

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) were generated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from the whole blood of a 43-year-old male with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) who carries the pathogenic variant p.Val698Ala in beta-myosin heavy chain (MYH7). Patient-derived PBMCs were reprogrammed using non-integrative episomal vectors containing reprogramming factors OCT4,SOX2,LIN28,KLF4 and L-MYC. iPSCs were shown to express pluripotent markers,have trilineage differentiation potential,carry the pathogenic MYH7 variant p.Val698Ala,have a normal karyotype and no longer carry the episomal reprogramming vector. This line is useful for studying the link between variants in MYH7 and the pathogenesis of HCM. View Publication

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) were generated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) obtained from a 62-year-old female with familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). PBMCs were reprogrammed to a pluripotent state following transfection with non-integrative episomal vectors carrying reprogramming factors OCT4,SOX2,LIN28,KLF4 and L-MYC. iPSCs were shown to express pluripotency markers,possess trilineage differentiation potential,carry rare variants identified in DNA isolated directly from the patient's whole blood,have a normal karyotype and no longer carry episomal vectors for reprogramming. This line is a useful resource for identifying unknown genetic causes of HCM. View Publication

The hypothalamus contains neurons that integrate hunger and satiety endocrine signals from the periphery and are implicated in the pathophysiology of obesity. The limited availability of human hypothalamic neurons hampers our understanding of obesity disease mechanisms. To address this,we generated human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) from multiple normal body mass index (BMI; BMI ≤ 25) subjects and super-obese (OBS) donors (BMI ≥ 50) with polygenic coding variants in obesity-associated genes. We developed a method to reliably differentiate hiPSCs into hypothalamic-like neurons (iHTNs) capable of secreting orexigenic and anorexigenic neuropeptides. Transcriptomic profiling revealed that,although iHTNs maintain a fetal identity,they respond appropriately to metabolic hormones ghrelin and leptin. Notably,OBS iHTNs retained disease signatures and phenotypes of high BMI,exhibiting dysregulated respiratory function,ghrelin-leptin signaling,axonal guidance,glutamate receptors,and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress pathways. Thus,human iHTNs provide a powerful platform to study obesity and gene-environment interactions. View Publication

Advancing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered adoptive T cells for the treatment of solid cancers is a major focus in the field of immunotherapy,given impressive recent clinical responses in hematological malignancies. Prostate cancer may be amenable to T cell-based immunotherapy since several tumor antigens,including prostate stem-cell antigen (PSCA),are widely over-expressed in metastatic disease. While antigen selectivity of CARs for solid cancers is crucial,it is problematic due to the absence of truly restricted tumor antigen expression and potential safety concerns with on-target off-tumor" activity. Here View Publication

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is emerging as a synaptopathology driven by metaplasticity. Indeed,reminiscent of metaplasticity,oligomeric forms of the amyloid-beta$ peptide (oAbeta$) prevent induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) via the prior activation of GluN2B-containing NMDA receptors (NMDARs). However,the downstream Ca2+-dependent signaling molecules that mediate aberrant metaplasticity are unknown. In this study,we show that oAbeta$ promotes the activation of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaMKII) via GluN2B-containing NMDARs. Importantly,we find that CaMKII inhibition rescues both the LTP impairment and the dendritic spine loss mediated by oAbeta$. Mechanistically resembling metaplasticity,oAbeta$ prevents subsequent rounds of plasticity from inducing CaMKII T286 autophosphorylation,as well as the associated anchoring and accumulation of synaptic AMPA receptors (AMPARs). Finally,prolonged oAbeta$ treatment-induced CaMKII misactivation leads to dendritic spine loss via the destabilization of surface AMPARs. Thus,our study demonstrates that oAbeta$ engages synaptic metaplasticity via aberrant CaMKII activation. View Publication