Browsing by Author "Carlos Roa, Juan"

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    Association of inflammatory and other immune markers with gallbladder cancer: Results from two independent case-control studies
    (2016) Koshiol, Jill; Castro, Felipe; Kemp, Troy J.; Gao, Yu-Tang; Carlos Roa, Juan; Wang, Bingsheng; Nogueira, Leticia; Carlos Araya, Juan; Shen, Ming-Chang; Rashid, Asif; Hsing, Ann W.; Hildesheim, Allan; Ferreccio, Catterina; Pfeiffer, Ruth M.; Pinto, Ligia A.
    Most gallbladder cancer (GBC) cases arise in the context of gallstones, which cause inflammation, but few gallstone patients develop GBC. We explored inflammation/immune-related markers measured in bile and serum in GBC cases compared to gallstone patients to better understand how inflammatory patterns in these two conditions differ. We measured 65 immune-related markers in serum and bile from 41 GBC cases and 127 gallstone patients from Shanghai, China, and calculated age- and sex-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for GBC versus gallstones. We then focused on the markers that were significantly elevated in bile and serum to replicate the findings in serum from 35 GBC cases and 31 gallstone controls from Chile. Comparing the highest versus lowest quantile, 15 markers (23%) were elevated in both serum and bile from GBC versus gallstone patients in the Shanghai study (p <0.05). The strongest OR was for CXCL8 (interleukin-8) in serum (96.8, 95% CI: 11.9-790.2). Of these 15 markers, 6 were also significantly elevated in serum from Chile (CCL20, C -reactive protein, CXCL8, CXCL10, resistin, serum amyloid A). Pooled ORs from Shanghai and Chile for these 6 markers ranged from 7.2 (95% CI: 2.8-18.4) for CXCL10 to 58.2 (95% CI: 12.4-273.0) for CXCL8. GBC is associated with inflammation above and beyond that generated by gallstones alone. This local inflammatory process is reflected systemically. Future longitudinal studies are needed to identify the key players in cancer development, which may guide translational efforts to identify individuals at high risk of developing GBC. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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    Autophagy Activation in Zebrafish Heart Regeneration
    (2020) Chavez, Myra N.; Morales, Rodrigo A.; Lopez-Crisosto, Camila; Carlos Roa, Juan; Allende, Miguel L.; Lavandero, Sergio
    Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved process that plays a key role in the maintenance of overall cellular health. While it has been suggested that autophagy may elicit cardioprotective and pro-survival modulating functions, excessive activation of autophagy can also be detrimental. In this regard, the zebrafish is considered a hallmark model for vertebrate regeneration, since contrary to adult mammals, it is able to faithfully regenerate cardiac tissue. Interestingly, the role that autophagy may play in zebrafish heart regeneration has not been studied yet. In the present work, we hypothesize that, in the context of a well-established injury model of ventricular apex resection, autophagy plays a critical role during cardiac regeneration and its regulation can directly affect the zebrafish regenerative potential. We studied the autophagy events occurring upon injury using electron microscopy, in vivo tracking of autophagy markers, and protein analysis. Additionally, using pharmacological tools, we investigated how rapamycin, an inducer of autophagy, affects regeneration relevant processes. Our results show that a tightly regulated autophagic response is triggered upon injury and during the early stages of the regeneration process. Furthermore, treatment with rapamycin caused an impairment in the cardiac regeneration outcome. These findings are reminiscent of the pathophysiological description of an injured human heart and hence put forward the zebrafish as a model to study the poorly understood double-sword effect that autophagy has in cardiac homeostasis.
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    D-Propranolol Impairs EGFR Trafficking and Destabilizes Mutant p53 Counteracting AKT Signaling and Tumor Malignancy
    (2021) Barra, Jonathan; Cerda-Infante, Javier; Sandoval, Lisette; Gajardo-Meneses, Patricia; Henriquez, Jenny F.; Labarca, Mariana; Metz, Claudia; Venegas, Jaime; Retamal, Claudio; Oyanadel, Claudia; Cancino, Jorge; Soza, Andrea; Cuello, Mauricio A.; Carlos Roa, Juan; Montecinos, Viviana P.; Gonzalez, Alfonso
    Simple Summary Cancer progression is frequently driven by altered functions of EGFR belonging to the tyrosine-kinase family of growth factor receptors and by the transcription factor p53, which is called the "genome guardian". We report that D-Propranolol, previously used for other purposes in human patients, has antitumor effects involving a redistribution of cell surface EGFR to intracellular compartments and degradation of gain-of-function mutants of p53 (GOF-mutp53). These effects can be seen in cancer cell lines expressing EGFR and GOF-mutp53 and are reproduced in vivo, reducing tumor growth and prolonging survival of xenografted mice. D-Propranolol is proposed as a prototype drug for a new strategy against highly aggressive EGFR- and mutp53-expressing tumors. Cancer therapy may be improved by the simultaneous interference of two or more oncogenic pathways contributing to tumor progression and aggressiveness, such as EGFR and p53. Tumor cells expressing gain-of-function (GOF) mutants of p53 (mutp53) are usually resistant to EGFR inhibitors and display invasive migration and AKT-mediated survival associated with enhanced EGFR recycling. D-Propranolol (D-Prop), the non-beta blocker enantiomer of propranolol, was previously shown to induce EGFR internalization through a PKA inhibitory pathway that blocks the recycling of the receptor. Here, we first show that D-Prop decreases the levels of EGFR at the surface of GOF mutp53 cells, relocating the receptor towards recycling endosomes, both in the absence of ligand and during stimulation with high concentrations of EGF or TGF-alpha. D-Prop also inactivates AKT signaling and reduces the invasive migration and viability of these mutp53 cells. Unexpectedly, mutp53 protein, which is stabilized by interaction with the chaperone HSP90 and mediates cell oncogenic addiction, becomes destabilized after D-Prop treatment. HSP90 phosphorylation by PKA and its interaction with mutp53 are decreased by D-Prop, releasing mutp53 towards proteasomal degradation. Furthermore, a single daily dose of D-Prop reproduces most of these effects in xenografts of aggressive gallbladder cancerous G-415 cells expressing GOF R282W mutp53, resulting in reduced tumor growth and extended mice survival. D-Prop then emerges as an old drug endowed with a novel therapeutic potential against EGFR- and mutp53-driven tumor traits that are common to a large variety of cancers.
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    Detection and genotyping of human papillomavirus virus (HPV): a comparative analysis of clinical performance in cervical and urine samples in Chilean women
    (2018) Buchegger, Kurt; Viscarra, Tamara; Andana, Alejandra; Ili, Carmen; Lopez, Jaime; Zanella, Louise; Ines Carmona-Lopez, Maria; Jose Fernandez, Juan; Cartas Espinel, Irene; Sanchez, Raul; Carlos Roa, Juan; Brebi, Priscilla
    Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infectious agent and is the main cause of cervical cancer (CC). In Chile, CC is the second leading cause of death by cancer in women aged 20-44 years, four times higher than in developed countries. Currently, the detection of HPV infection using a cervical brush is recommended; however, this is an invasive procedure that many women try to avoid. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical performance of a self-collected, urine-based HPV detection method using conventional PCR followed by a reverse line blot. A PCR-based HPV genotyping was performed on 190 paired cervical and urine samples from gynecological exams at public health centers in the Araucania Region, Chile. HPV DNA detection and genotyping were performed by PCR and reverse line blot assay. Carcinogenic HPV types were present in 64.7% and 65.8% of the cervical and urine samples; the infection rates of HPV16 were 34.7% and 33.2%, respectively. The overall percent agreement between carcinogenic HPV detection in cervical and urine samples was 73.7%, with a moderate concordance rate of carcinogenic HPV detection (kappa = 0.42). Clinical sensitivities for cervical and urine-based sampling methods to diagnose cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2/3 (CIN2/3) by histology were 93.4% and 90.2%, respectively. These results suggest that both cervical brush and urine-based sampling show a good clinical performance in the detection of HPV infection. The urine-based sampling method represents a valuable alternative with a great impact on public health, allowing increased cervical cancer screening coverage among women who do not undergo pelvic examinations.
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    Fibroblast Primary Cilia Are Required for Cardiac Fibrosis
    (2019) Villalobos, Elisa; Criollo, Alfredo; Schiattarella, Gabriele G.; Altamirano, Francisco; French, Kristin M.; May, Herman, I; Jiang, Nan; Ngoc Uyen Nhi Nguyen; Romero, Diego; Carlos Roa, Juan; Garcia, Lorena; Diaz-Araya, Guillermo; Morselli, Eugenia; Ferdous, Anwarul; Conway, Simon J.; Sadek, Hesham A.; Gillette, Thomas G.; Lavandero, Sergio; Hill, Joseph A.
    BACKGROUND: The primary cilium is a singular cellular structure that extends from the surface of many cell types and plays crucial roles in vertebrate development, including that of the heart. Whereas ciliated cells have been described in developing heart, a role for primary cilia in adult heart has not been reported. This, coupled with the fact that mutations in genes coding for multiple ciliary proteins underlie polycystic kidney disease, a disorder with numerous cardiovascular manifestations, prompted us to identify cells in adult heart harboring a primary cilium and to determine whether primary cilia play a role in disease-related remodeling.
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    Follicular Cholecystitis: Reappraisal of Incidence, Definition, and Clinicopathologic Associations in an Analysis of 2550 Cholecystectomies
    (SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC, 2020) Saka, Burcu; Memis, Bahar; Seven, Ipek Erbarut; Pehlivanoglu, Burcin; Balci, Serdar; Bagci, Pelin; Reid, Michelle; Dursun, Nevra; Tapia Escalano, Oscar; Carlos Roa, Juan; Carlos Araya, Juan; Kong, So Yeon; Basturk, Olca; Koshiol, Jill; Adsay, N. Volkan
    Context.
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    Galectin-8 induces partial epithelial-mesenchymal transition with invasive tumorigenic capabilities involving a FAK/EGFR/proteasome pathway in Madin-Darby canine kidney cells
    (2018) Oyanadel, Claudia; Holmes, Christopher; Pardo, Evelyn; Retamal, Claudio; Shaughnessy, Ronan; Smith, Patricio; Cortes, Priscilla; Bravo-Zehnder, Marcela; Metz, Claudia; Feuerhake, Teo; Romero, Diego, V; Carlos Roa, Juan; Montecinos, Viviana; Soza, Andrea; Gonzalez, Alfonso
    Epithelial cells can acquire invasive and tumorigenic capabilities through epithelial-mesenchymal- transition (EMT). The glycan-binding protein galectin-8 (Gal-8) activates selective beta 1-integrins involved in EMT and is overexpressed by certain carcinomas. Here we show that Gal-8 overexpression or exogenous addition promotes proliferation, migration, and invasion in nontumoral Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells, involving focal-adhesion kinase (FAK)-mediated transactivation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), likely triggered by alpha 5 beta 1 integrin binding. Under subconfluent conditions, Gal-8-overexpressing MDCK cells (MDCK-Gal-8(H)) display hallmarks of EMT, including decreased E-cadherin and up-regulated expression of vimentin, fibronectin, and Snail, as well as increased beta-catenin activity. Changes related to migration/invasion included higher expression of alpha 5 beta 1 integrin, extracellular matrix-degrading MMP13 and urokinase plasminogen activator/urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPA/uPAR) protease systems. Gal-8-stimulated FAK/EGFR pathway leads to proteasome overactivity characteristic of cancer cells. Yet MDCK-Gal-8H cells still develop apical/basolateral polarity reverting EMT markers and proteasome activity under confluence. This is due to the opposite segregation of Gal-8 secretion (apical) and beta 1-integrins distribution (basolateral). Strikingly, MDCK-Gal-8(H) cells acquired tumorigenic potential, as reflected in anchorage-independent growth in soft agar and tumor generation in immunodeficient NSG mice. Therefore, Gal-8 can promote oncogenic-like transformation of epithelial cells through partial and reversible EMT, accompanied by higher proliferation, migration/invasion, and tumorigenic properties.
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    Interleukin 33/ST2 Axis Components Are Associated to Desmoplasia, a Metastasis-Related Factor in Colorectal Cancer
    (2019) Landskron, Glauben; De la Fuente Lopez, Marjorie; Dubois-Camacho, Karen; Diaz-Jimenez, David; Orellana-Serradell, Octavio; Romero, Diego; Sepulveda, Santiago A.; Salazar, Christian; Parada-Venegas, Daniela; Quera, Rodrigo; Simian, Daniela; Gonzalez, Maria-Julieta; Kronberg, Udo; Abedrapo, Mario; Gallegos, Ivan; Contreras, Hector R.; Pena, Cristina; Diaz-Araya, Guillermo; Carlos Roa, Juan; Hermoso, Marcela A.
    In colorectal cancer (CRC), cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are the most abundant component from the tumor microenvironment (TM). CAFs facilitate tumor progression by inducing angiogenesis, immune suppression and invasion, thus altering the organization/composition of the extracellular matrix (i.e., desmoplasia) and/or activating epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Soluble factors from the TM can also contribute to cell invasion through secretion of cytokines and recently, IL-33/ST2 pathway has gained huge interest as a protumor alarmin, promoting progression to metastasis by inducing changes in TM. Hence, we analyzed IL-33 and ST2 content in tumor and healthy tissue lysates and plasma from CRC patients. Tissue localization and distribution of these molecules was evaluated by immunohistochemistry (using localization reference markers a-smooth muscle actin or alpha-SMA and E-cadherin), and clinical/histopathological information was obtained from CRC patients. In vitro experiments were conducted in primary cultures of CAFs and normal fibroblasts (NFs) isolated from tumor and healthy tissue taken from CRC patients. Additionally, migration and proliferation analysis were performed in HT29 and HCT116 cell lines. It was found that IL-33 content increases in left-sided CRC patients with lymphatic metastasis, with localization in tumor epithelia associated with abundant desmoplasia. Although ST2 content showed similarities between tumor and healthy tissue, a decreased immunoreactivity was observed in left-sided tumor stroma, associated to metastasis related factors (advanced stages, abundant desmoplasia, and presence of tumor budding). A principal component analysis (including stromal and epithelial IL-33/ST2 and alpha-SMA immunoreactivity with extent of desmoplasia) allowed us to distinguish clusters of low, intermediate and abundant desmoplasia, with potential to develop a diagnostic signature with benefits for further therapeutic targets. IL-33 transcript levels from CAFs directly correlated with CRC cell line migration induced by CAFs conditioned media, with rhlL-33 inducing a mesenchymal phenotype in HT29 cells. These results indicate a role of IL-33/ST2 in tumor microenvironment, specifically in the interaction between CAFs and epithelial tumor cells, thus contributing to invasion and metastasis in left-sided CRC, most likely by activating desmoplasia.
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    The Chile Biliary Longitudinal Study: A Gallstone Cohort
    (2021) Koshiol, Jill; Van de Wyngard, Vanessa; McGee, Emma E.; Cook, Paz; Pfeiffer, Ruth M.; Mardones, Noldy; Medina, Karie; Olivo, Vanessa; Pettit, Karen; Jackson, Sarah S.; Paredes, Fabio; Sanchez, Raul; Huidobro, Andrea; Villaseca, Miguel; Bellolio, Enrique; Losada, Hector; Carlos Roa, Juan; Hildesheim, Allan; Carlos Araya, Juan; Ferreccio, Catterina
    Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is a highly fatal cancer that can be cured through cholecystectomy if identified early. The presence of gallstones is the primary risk factor for GBC, but few people with gallstones develop GBC. A key question is what drives the development of GBC among persons with gallstones. We initiated the Chile Biliary Longitudinal Study (Chile BiLS) to address this question. From 2016 to 2019, Chile BiLS enrolled 4,726 women aged 50-74 years with ultrasound-detected gallstones from southern-central Chile, accounting for an estimated 36% of eligible women with gallstones in the study area. The median age was 59 years; 25% of the women were Amerindian (Mapuche), 60% were obese, 25% had diabetes, and 6% had cardiovascular disease. Participants will be followed for gallbladder dysplasia or cancer for 6 years. As of April 30, 2020, over 91% of those eligible completed the year 2 follow-up visit. Data being collected include epidemiologic and sociodemographic information, anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, and tooth counts. Biosamples being taken include baseline plasma, buffy coat, red blood cells, serum, blood clot from serum, and PAXgene whole blood (PreAnalytiX GmbH, Hombrechtikon, Switzerland). Complete gallbladder sampling is conducted for most participants undergoing cholecystectomy. The Chile BiLS cohort study will increase our understanding of GBC etiology and could identify potential risk stratification and early detection strategies in high-risk areas.