Antibody News

By Christina Towers, PhD

What is autophagy?

Autophagy is the catabolic process that degrades cytoplasmic material via the lysosome. In the beginning... the process of macroautophagy was originally characterized in yeast where the core autophagy proteins or Apgs were identified. In this first system, the multistep process of phagophore initiation and elongation as well as the conjugation machinery that mediate efficient autophagosome completion were determined and cloned to assess function. The mechanisms of starvation induced autophagy as well as many of the selective autophagy processes were also hashed out in...

By Christina Towers, PhD

Autophagy facilitates the degradation and recycling of damaged cytoplasmic material. The multistep process consists of a double membrane structure called an autophagosome that engulfs proteins and organelles and then fuses with lysosomes to facilitate their breakdown. Autophagy is tightly regulated by nutrient availability and is negatively regulated by the robust nutrient sensor mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). Starvation, either by glucose deprivation or amino acid depletion, will cause a marked increase in autophagy, best quantified by an increase in autophagic flux. Likewise,...

By Yoskaly Lazo-Fernandez, PhD

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a conserved serine/threonine kinase that, as a member of two distinct intracellular protein complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2, regulates protein synthesis, autophagy metabolism, proliferation and survival. More and more research is showing how the catalytic activity of both mTOR complexes plays an important role in cancer biology. Not only mTOR is upregulated and contributes to the development of numerous cancer types, but it also contributes to the angiogenic and immune responses within the tumor microenvironment (TME)¹.

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By Jennifer Sokolowski, MD, PhD.

Microglia are a major immune-cell component in the brain. They ingest and degrade dead cells, debris, and foreign material and interact with other immune cells to orchestrate central nervous system immune responses.^1,2 Microglia appear to play a critical role in modulating normal physiologic immune functions as well as the immune response in disease states. In order to define the role of microglia, we need specific markers that allow distinction of microglia from other cell types; fortunately, researchers have validated a new microglia-specific marker,...

By Jamshed Arslan Pharm.D.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2) is a movement disorder characterized by neurodegeneration. The cause of this autosomal dominant disease is a mutation in the RNA processing gene Atxn2, which leads to polyglutamine (polyQ) expansion in ATXN2 protein. The association between mutant polyQ proteins, neurodegeneration, and dysfunctional autophagy has been extensively studied in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), autism, and Huntington’s disease, but not in SCA2. It is noteworthy that ATXN2 is widely expressed in our nervous system, partly as a constituent of stress granules (SGs), which...

By Jamshed Arslan Pharm.D.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an irreversible brain disorder that destroys memory and thinking skills. The telltale signs of AD brains are extracellular deposits of amyloid beta (a polypeptide that comes from proteolysis of precursor protein APP) and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles. The consequent neurodegeneration affects regions associated with memory and cognition, the most noteworthy of which is the hippocampus. It goes without saying that generating immortalized primary hippocampal neurons that could express AD-related protein(s) would immensely...

By Christina Towers, PhD.

Macroautophagy is a cellular recycling process that requires the formation of double membrane structures to engulf and degrade damaged cytoplasmic material. The pathway involves over 20 core autophagy proteins (

By Jamshed Arslan Pharm.D.

Nickel (Ni) is a naturally abundant metallic element. It is a major component of stainless steel, coins, and many other items of daily use. Disturbingly, Ni exposure is associated with cancer and several diseases of the lung, kidney and cardiovascular system. Despite being carcinogenic, Ni’s ability to cause DNA mutations and induce oxidative stress is low. To explain this paradox and investigate how the impact of carcinogen exposure may last for months or even years, researchers at the New York University and University of Virginia examined Ni-induced changes in transcription and cellular regulation in human epithelial cells from lung and urinary...

By Stephanie Melchor

The inflammasome is a large, multimeric protein complex found primarily in innate immune cells, which are white blood cells that can attack a wide range of pathogenic threats. Three main elements make up the inflammasome: 1) the sensor – a cytosolic pattern recognition receptor that senses pathogen- or damage-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs and DAMPs), 2) an adaptor protein called ASC, and 3) a caspase effector that cleaves and activates pro-IL-1 beta and pro-IL-18.

Prior to inflammasome activation, a cell must first be "primed" with...

By Jamshed Arslan Pharm.D.

Gastric carcinoma is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. One of the key features of gastric carcinoma is acidosis, which promotes growth and metastasis of gastric cancer cells by inducing HIF-1alpha, TGF-beta, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) signaling pathways. Gastric cancer cells have a reduced expression of bone morphogenetic protein and activin membrane-bound inhibitor (BAMBI), a pseudoreceptor that negatively regulates TGF-beta signaling by inhibiting the...

By Victoria Osinski

Scientists have turned to gene editing techniques to modify patients’ T cells to combat cancer, but are often limited by factors including cost, low cell yields, or availability of expertise for therapy development. Interest lies in developing “off-the-shelf”, universal, donor cells, which require thorough T cell modifications to make this approach safe and feasible. Currently, scientists are leveraging the use of the gene editing tool clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 system to advance CAR T therapies.

"Off-the-shelf" donor T cells requires a combinatorial approach

Patients...

By Yoskaly Lazo-Fernandez, PhD

Introduction

Cancer invasion requires cancerous cells to overpower the barriers of the extracellular matrix and reach adjacent tissues. Invading cells undergo a process called epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which enables them to dedifferentiate into a highly invasive mesenchymal stem cell-like phenotype. Interestingly, once the cells have reached their new location through metastasis, they undergo a reverse process named mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) which allows the solid tumor to reorganize in the distant organ.

Molecular pathways involved in cancer invasion have thus become important targets for anticancer...