Browsing by Author "Gonzalez, Pablo"

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    Altered Chemokine Receptor Expression in Papillary Thyroid Cancer
    (MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC, 2009) Gonzalez, Hernan E.; Leiva, Andrea; Tobar, Hugo; Boehmwald, Karen; Tapia, Grace; Torres, Javiera; Mosso, Lorena M.; Bueno, Susan M.; Gonzalez, Pablo; Kalergis, Alexis M.; Riedel, Claudia A.
    Background: Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), the most prevalent type of differentiated thyroid carcinoma, displays a strikingly high frequency of lymph node metastasis (LNM). Recent data suggest that chemokines can play an important role in promoting tumor progression and metastatic migration of tumor cells. Here we have evaluated whether PTC tissues express a different pattern of chemokine receptors and if the expression of these receptors correlates with LNM.
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    HSV activates Akt to trigger calcium release and promote viral entry: novel candidate target for treatment and suppression
    (2013) Cheshenko, Natalia; Trepanier, Janie B.; Stefanidou, Martha; Buckley, Niall; Gonzalez, Pablo; Jacobs, William; Herold, Betsy C.
    HSV triggers intracellular calcium release to promote viral entry. We hypothesized that Akt signaling induces the calcium responses and contributes to HSV entry. Exposure of human cervical and primary genital tract epithelial, neuronal, or keratinocyte cells to HSV serotype 2 resulted in rapid phosphorylation of Akt. Silencing of Akt with small interfering RNA prevented the calcium responses, blocked viral entry, and inhibited plaque formation by 90% compared to control siRNA. Susceptibility to infection was partially restored if Akt was reintroduced into silenced cells with an Akt-expressing plasmid. HSV-2 variants deleted in glycoproteins B or D failed to induce Akt phosphorylation, and coimmunoprecipitation studies indicated that Akt interacts with glycoprotein B. Cell-surface expression of Akt was rapidly induced in response to HSV exposure. Miltefosine (50 M), a licensed drug that blocks Akt phosphorylation, inhibited HSV-induced calcium release, viral entry, and plaque formation following infection with acyclovir-sensitive and resistant clinical isolates. Miltefosine blocked amplification of HSV from explanted ganglia to epithelial cells; viral yields were significantly less in miltefosine compared to control-treated cocultures (P<0.01). Together, these findings identify a novel role for Akt in viral entry, link Akt and calcium signaling, and suggest a new target for HSV treatment and suppression.Cheshenko, N., Trepanier, J. B., Stefanidou, M., Buckley, N., Gonzalez, P., Jacobs, W., and Herold, B. C. HSV activates Akt to trigger calcium release and promote viral entry: novel candidate target for treatment and suppression.
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    Impact of impurity on kinetic estimates from transport and inhibition studies
    (AMER SOC PHARMACOLOGY EXPERIMENTAL THERAPEUTICS, 2008) Gonzalez, Pablo; Polli, James E.
    Although in vitro transport/inhibition studies are commonly performed on impure drug candidates to screen for pharmacokinetic properties in early development, quantitative guidelines concerning acceptable impurity levels are lacking. The broad goal was to derive models for the effect of impurity on transport and inhibition studies and identify the maximum allowable impurity level that does not bias assay results. Models were derived, and simulations were performed to assess the impact of impurity on substrate properties K-t and J(max) and inhibition K-i. Simulation results were experimentally challenged with a known amount of impurity, using the intestinal bile acid transporter as a model system. For substrate uptake studies, glycocholate served as substrate and was contaminated with either a very strong, strong, or moderate impurity (i.e., taurolithocholate, chenodeoxycholate, or ursodeoxycholate, respectively). For inhibition studies, taurocholate and glycocholate together was the substrate/inhibitor pair, where glycocholate was contaminated with taurolithocholate. There was high agreement between simulation results and experimental observations. It is not surprising that, in the inhibition assay, potent impurity caused test compound to appear more potent than the true potency of the test compound (i.e., reduced inhibitory K-i). However, results in the transport scenario surprisingly indicated that potent impurity did not diminish test compound potency but, rather, increased substrate potency (i.e., reduced Michaelis-Menten substrate K-t). In general, less than 2.5% impurity is a reasonable target, provided the impurity is less than 10-fold more potent than test compound. Study results indicate that careful consideration of possible impurity effect is needed when quantitative structure-activity relationship analysis cannot explain high compound potency from transport or inhibition studies.