Elicitation of the tumor-eliminating immune response is a major challenge, as macrophages- constituting a major component of solid tumor mass- play important roles in development, maintenance and tumo Show more
Elicitation of the tumor-eliminating immune response is a major challenge, as macrophages- constituting a major component of solid tumor mass- play important roles in development, maintenance and tumor regression. The macrophage-expressed Toll-Like Receptors (TLRs) enhance macrophage function and their ability to activate T cells via secretion of cytokines, which may help in tumor regression. IL-27, a member of the IL-12 family of cytokines, is shown to exhibit anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic activities. Herein, we developed B16BL6 melanoma model in C75BL/6 mouse to dissect the crosstalk between TLRs and IL-27 in tumors. We report existence of a novel TLR- IL-27 feed-forward loop, whereby TLRs and IL-27 up-regulated each other's expression, which we found perturbed during melanoma tumorigenesis. Intra-tumoral injection of Imiquimod, a TLR7/8 ligand, reduced the tumor burden; the anti-tumor effect was reversed upon IL-27 and IL-27R silencing by intra-tumorally administered, lentivirally expressed IL-27 and IL-27R shRNA. The reduced tumor growth was accompanied by significantly fewer Treg cells but increased IFN-γ and granzyme B expression by CD8 Show less
Yoonsoo Hahn, Tapan Kumar Bera, Kristen Gehlhaus+3 more · 2004 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · National Academy of Sciences · added 2026-04-24
Chromosomal rearrangements resulting in gene fusions are frequently involved in carcinogenesis. Here, we describe a semiautomatic procedure for identifying fusion gene transcripts by using publicly av Show more
Chromosomal rearrangements resulting in gene fusions are frequently involved in carcinogenesis. Here, we describe a semiautomatic procedure for identifying fusion gene transcripts by using publicly available mRNA and EST databases. With this procedure, we have identified 96 transcript sequences that are derived from 60 known fusion genes. Also, 47 or more additional sequences appear to be derived from 20 or more previously unknown putative fusion genes. We have experimentally verified the presence of a previously unknown IRA1/RGS17 fusion in the breast cancer cell line MCF7. The fusion gene encodes the full-length RGS17 protein, a regulator of G protein-coupled signaling, under the control of the IRA1 gene promoter. This study demonstrates that databases of ESTs can be used to discover fusion genes resulting from structural rearrangement of chromosomes. Show less