BRI Briefs
BWH Medical Staff News brings you BRI Briefs to share some of the latest research news coming out of the Biomedical Research Institute (BRI).
Kim Gains Bugher Grant to Study Stroke Prevention
Dong H. Kim, MD, of Neurosurgery, and his colleagues were awarded a four-year stroke prevention research grant by the Henrietta B. and Frederick H. Bugher Foundation and the American Heart Association. The collaborative research initiative between BWH, HMS and MGH is recognized as one of three Bugher Foundation Centers for Stroke Prevention Research in the country.
As one of two principal investigators, Kim will focus his lab’s research on uncovering a genetic link to cerebral aneurysms as well as collaborating with the other Bugher Foundation Centers to develop better stroke prevention measures. Other BWH researchers taking part in this project include Christine Seidman, MD, Jonathan Seidman, PhD, and Steven K. Feske, MD.
Biomarkers Uncovered for Germ Cell Tumors
Keith L. Ligon, MD, PhD, Jason Hornick, MD, PhD, and Sandro Santagata, MD, PhD, from the DFCI/BWH Center for Molecular Oncologic Pathology, report that the same core group of embryonic stem cell transcription factors (TFs) recently discovered to reprogram cells and mediate cellular cloning, are also important biomarkers for the pathologic diagnosis of a wide variety of germ cell tumors (GCTs). These findings appear in the June 2007 issue of the American Journal of Surgical Pathology.
Historically GCTs have been thought to develop from embryonic stem cells and therefore might share the same TFs. Ligon and colleagues tested this and found that the TF SOX2 facilitates the distinction of seminomatous from non-seminomatous GCTs in primary testicular and metastatic retroperitoneal GCTs. The other TFs within this core group, OCT4 and NANOG, were common factors that helped in the identification of both tumor groups, but did not aid in their distinction.
Connection Between Mast Cells, Atherosclerotic Lesions Confirmed in Mice
Guo-Ping Shi, DSc, and colleagues from Cardiovascular Medicine confirmed for the first time in vivo using mouse models, previous research connecting mast cells and the formation of human atherosclerotic lesions. These findings appear in the June 2007 issue of Nature Medicine.
Shi and researchers studied mast-cell deficient mice and found that regardless of consuming a high-fat diet, these mice decreased their risk for developing atherosclerosis by nearly 50 percent. The researchers were also able to reverse the phenotype and restore atherosclerosis to the mice by introducing mast cell proinflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IFN-y, which augmented the expression of arterial wall destructive enzymes that are known essential to atherosclerosis lesion development.
Rald Discovered in Rodent Fat
Jorge Plutzky, MD, and Ouliana Ziouzenkova, PhD, both of the Cardiovascular Division, report in the June 2007 issue of Nature Medicine that retinaldehyde (Rald) - a derivative of vitamin A that until this study had no defined biological role outside the eye - is present in rodent fat, where it can inhibit the development of fat cells.
The researchers and their colleagues found that in vivo, mice lacking the Rald-catabolizing enzyme Raldh1 were completely protected against weight increase and diabetes even while on a high-fat diet. These investigators went on to link these changes with increased levels of Rald itself.
WHS: No Link between CRP, Breast Cancer
Though findings from a previous, smaller study suggested an association between chronic inflammation and breast cancer development, Shumin Zhang, MD, ScD, and colleagues from Preventative Medicine found no relationship between C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of systemic inflammation, and breast cancer risk among healthy women part of the Women’s Health Study. These findings appear in the June 6, 2007 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Zhang and researchers measured plasma CRP levels of nearly 30,000 apparently health women 45 years of age and older. After an average of 10 years of follow-up, the researchers found no association between baseline CRP levels and a women’s risk of developing invasive breast cancer.
Researchers are encouraged to submit their work for consideration through the BRI Public Affairs Kit available on the BRI intranet.