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Plaque rupture in atherosclerosis is the primary cause of potentially deadly coronary events, yet about 40% of ruptures occur away from the plaque cap shoulders and cannot be fully explained with the current biomechanical theories. Here, cap buckling is considered as a potential destabilizing factor which increases the propensity of the atherosclerotic plaque to rupture and which may also explain plaque failure away from the cap shoulders. To investigate this phenomenon, quasistatic 2D finite element simulations are performed, considering the salient geometrical and nonlinear material properties of diverse atherosclerotic plaques over the range of physiological loads. The numerical results indicate that buckling may displace the location of the peak von Mises stresses in the deflected caps. Plaque buckling, together with its deleterious effects is further observed experimentally in plaque caps using a physical model of deformable mock coronary arteries with fibroatheroma. Moreover, an analytical approach combining quasistatic equilibrium equations with the Navier-Bresse formulas is used to demonstrate the buckling potential of a simplified arched slender cap under intraluminal pressure and supported by foundations. This analysis shows that plaque caps - calcified, fibrotic or cellular - may buckle in specific undulated shapes once submitted to critical loads. Finally, a preliminary analysis of intravascular ultrasonography recordings of patients with atherosclerotic coronary arteries corroborates the numerical, experimental and theoretical findings and shows that various plaque caps buckle in vivo. By displacing the sites of high stresses in the plaque cap, buckling may explain the atherosclerotic plaque cap rupture at various locations, including cap shoulders.

The introduction of multiagent treatment protocols has led to a remarkable increase in survival rates for children diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, yet for a subpopulation of patients, resistance to chemotherapeutics remains an obstacle to successful treatment. Here we investigate the role of the mitochondrial (or intrinsic) apoptosis pathway in modulating the onset and outcomes of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Cell death is a highly regulated process that plays an essential role in regulating cell homeostasis, particularly in tissues with high intrinsic proliferating capacity such as the hematopoietic system. Following the underlying paradigm that cis-acting genetic variation can influence disease risk and outcomes by modulating gene expression, we performed a systematic analysis of the proximal promoter regions of 21 genes involved in apoptosis. Using gene reporter assays, we show that promoter variations in 11 intrinsic apoptosis genes, including ADPRT, APAF1, BCL2, BAD, BID, MCL1, BIRC4, BCL2L1, ENDOG, YWHAB, and YWHAQ, influence promoter activity in an allele-specific manner. We also show that correlated promoter variation and increased expression of MCL1 is associated with reduced overall survival among high-risk patients receiving higher doses of corticosteroid, suggesting that increased expression of this anti-apoptosis gene could lead to reduced cell death and influence treatment response in a disease- and dose-responsive manner.

Childhood cancer survivorship issues represent an established public health challenge. Most late adverse effects (LAEs) have been demonstrated to be time and treatment dependent. The PETALE study is a multidisciplinary research project aiming to comprehensively characterize LAEs and identify associated predictive biomarkers in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (cALL) survivors.cALL survivors treated at Sainte-Justine University Health Center with Dana-Farber Cancer Institution-ALL protocols 87-01 through 2005-01 were eligible. During Phase I of the study, the participants underwent comprehensive clinical, biologic, and psychosocial investigation targeting metabolic syndrome, cardiotoxicity, bone morbidity, neurocognitive problems, and quality of life issues. Whole-exome sequencing was performed for all participants. Subjects identified with an extreme phenotype during Phase I were recalled for additional testing (Phase II).Phase I included 246 survivors (recall rate 71.9%). Of those, 85 participants completed Phase II (recall rate 88.5%). Survivors agreeing to participate in Phase I (n = 251) were similar to those who refused (n = 31) in terms of relapse risk profile, radiotherapy exposure, and age at the time of study. Participants, however, tended to be slightly older at diagnosis (6.1 vs. 4.7 years old, P = 0.08), with a higher proportion of female agreeing to participate compared with males (93.2 vs. 86.5%, P = 0.07).The PETALE study will contribute to comprehensively characterize clinical, psychosocial, biologic, and genomic features of cALL survivors using an integrated approach. Expected outcomes include LAE early detection biomarkers, long-term follow-up guidelines, and recommendations for physicians and health professionals.

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a complex disorder that leads to premature death and hospitalization. Several drugs have been, or are currently being tested for their ability to reduce cardiovascular mortality and/or promote regression of atherosclerotic lesions. In addition to "hard end point" clinical trials in which total and cardiovascular mortality as well as risk of incident myocardial infarction are considered as outcomes, trials with surrogate end points using imaging biomarkers can rapidly assess the efficacy of new cardiovascular drugs. Low-density lipoprotein-based therapies with statins have been shown to promote atherosclerosis regression, and several other drugs targeting high-density lipoproteins or inflammation/oxidation are currently being tested in both outcomes and imaging trials in which atherosclerosis regression is anticipated. In this review, we focus on the latest progress in CVD and highlight novel drugs that tackle atherosclerosis as well as the currently used and upcoming imaging techniques to optimally measure atherosclerosis progression.

Prolactin and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) have different roles in the adult mammary gland, which are mediated in part by the signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT)5 and STAT3. In vivo studies have shown that STAT5 contributes to prolactin-dependent lobuloalveolar development and lactation whereas STAT3 mediates LIF-dependent epithelial apoptosis during postlactational involution. To understand the molecular basis of these STAT-dependent pathways, we demonstrate the ligand-independent effects of STAT5 and STAT3 in mammary epithelial cells in vitro and also identify the genes regulated by these related transcription factors. Thus, using conditionally active STAT3- or STAT5a-GyraseB fusion proteins, we observed that enforced and specific dimerization of STAT3 induced apoptosis whereas STAT5 induced differentiation of mammary epithelial cells. Furthermore, STAT5 attenuated apoptosis mediated by LIF, the physiological inducer of STAT3. Microarray analysis of STAT3- and STAT5-induced genes using this system demonstrated a marked specificity, which reflected their different physiological effects in vitro and in vivo. STAT5-specific gene targets included the milk protein genes alpha-casein and kallikrein-8 and the survival factors prosaposin and Grb10. STAT3-specific genes included the apoptosis regulators CCAAT enhancer binding protein-delta, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-regulatory subunits, purine nucleoside phosphorylase, and c-fos. These data illustrate that specific activation of STAT3 and STAT5 alone is sufficient to induce and suppress apoptosis, respectively, and that these transcription factors elicit their actions by inducing distinct subsets of target genes in mammary epithelial cells.

Unconventional prefoldin RPB5 interactor (URI), an evolutionary conserved member of the prefoldin family of molecular chaperones, plays a central role in the regulation of nutrient-sensitive, TOR (target-of-rapamycin)-dependent gene expression programs in yeast. Mammalian URI has been shown to associate with key components of the transcriptional machinery, including RPB5, a shared subunit of all three RNA polymerases, the ATPases TIP48 and TIP49, which are present in various chromatin remodeling complexes, and human PAF1 and parafibromin, which are components of a transcription elongation complex. Here, we provide the first functional characterization of a URI-1 homolog in a multicellular organism and show that the C. elegans gene uri-1 is essential for germ cell proliferation. URI-1-deficient cells exhibit cell cycle arrest and display DNA breaks as evidenced by TUNEL staining and the appearance of HUS-1::GFP foci formation. In addition, uri-1(lf) mutants and uri-1(RNAi) worms show a p53-dependent increase in germline apoptosis. Our findings indicate that URI-1 has an important function in the mitotic and meiotic cell cycles. Furthermore, they imply that URI-1 participates in a pathway(s) that is associated with the suppression of endogenous genotoxic DNA damage and highlight a role for URI-1 in the control of genome integrity.

STAT3 is the key mediator of apoptosis in mammary gland. We demonstrate here that LIF is the physiological activator of STAT3, because in involuting mammary glands of Lif -;/-; mice, pSTAT3 is absent and the STAT3 target, C/EBPδ, is not upregulated. Similar to Stat3 knockouts, Lif -;/-; mammary glands exhibit delayed involution, reduced apoptosis and elevated levels of p53. Significantly, Lif -;/-; glands display precocious development during pregnancy, when pSTAT3 is not normally detected. We show that pERK1/2 is significantly reduced in Lif -;/-; glands at this time, suggesting that at this stage LIF mediates its effects through pERK1/2. Inhibition of LIF-mediated ERK1/2 phosphorylation potentiates the proapoptotic effects of STAT3. LIF therefore signals alternately through ERK1/2, then STAT3, to regulate mammary growth and apoptosis.

Fibrosis is an accumulation of proteins including collagen in the extracellular space, which has previously been considered as irreversible damage in various cardiovascular diseases including heart failure and hypertension. The pathophysiology of fibrosis is currently better understood and can be evaluated by non-invasive methods. Here, the authors present briefly the impact and molecular mechanisms of fibrosis in the myocardium and the promising therapeutic candidates including anti-hypertensive therapies, heart-rate lowering drugs, anti-inflammatory agents, as well as other innovative approaches such as inhibitors of growth factors, miRNA or cell therapy. Surrogate end points allow for larger clinical trials than previously possible with endomyocardial biopsies, and magnetic resonance and molecular imaging should open new fields of research on cardiac fibrosis. Several pre-clinical findings are very promising, and some clinical data support the proofs of concept, mainly those with inhibitors of the renin-angiotensin system. These approaches open the field for regression of fibrosis and include the following: first, some of these drugs are widely used like renin-angiotensin system inhibitors; second, inflammation modulators; third, in near future entirely new approaches targeting the TGF-β pathways, or others like cell therapies or genetic interventions.

Erythropoietin (EPO) is the main hormone that regulates erythropoiesis. Beyond its well-known hematopoietic action, EPO has diverse cellular effects in non-hematopoietic tissues. It has been shown to inhibit apoptosis by activating pro-survival pathways in the myocardium, to mobilize endothelial progenitor cells and to inhibit migration of inflammatory cells. EPO has also been shown to have potent pro-angiogenic properties. Numerous experimental data support the cardioprotective effects of EPO in animal models of acute myocardial infarct (AMI). However, these findings are not supported by recent clinical trials designed to investigate the safety and efficacy of EPO in patients with AMI. In this article, we begin by providing a comprehensive review of the cardioprotective effects of EPO in experimental animal models and the molecular mechanisms underlying these effects. We then discuss the EPO data obtained through clinical trials. We compare similarities and differences between the animal and human studies as well as between the different clinical studies in terms of sample size and study design including the dose, the route and the timing of administration as well as confounding factors such as comorbidities and concomitant treatments. Finally, we question the gap between the experimental and the translational clinical data and propose further developments to address these discrepancies and clearly evaluate the role of EPO in the clinical setting of MI.

Atherosclerosis remains one of the main causes of cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death worldwide. It is now accepted that atherosclerosis is an inflammatory, dynamic and complex disease involving multiple cell types, and many antiinflammatory strategies have recently emerged as potential therapeutic approaches for atherosclerotic disease. In this review, we discuss the most recent progress in the development of anti-inflammatory strategies. We highlight the beneficial effects of potent antiinflammatory drugs, including recently developed biologics, and we describe diverse emerging approaches that target inflammatory processes involved in atherosclerosis including tumor necrosis factor antagonists, anti-interleukins, viral-derived serpins, P-selectin inhibition and leukotriene synthesis inhibition.

Although colchicine, a natural product, is one of the oldest drugs still currently available, its possible functions seem to be surprisingly not well-known. Beyond its present medicinal use (gout, familial Mediterranean fever, Behcet's disease, chondrocalcinosis and other crystal arthritis), numerous other conditions have been recently proposed for the use of this drug, including pericardial diseases. However, colchicine appears as a double-edged sword, with underestimated toxicity and frequent side effects. In this review, we present the main pharmacologic features of this drug, with an emphasis on toxicity and highlight its possible applications in the cardiovascular field.

Atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease are the leading cause of death worldwide. Atherosclerosis is a complex inflammatory disease that results from lipid accumulation and oxidation in the arterial wall combined with an active inflammatory reaction involving transmigration of monocytes and other inflammatory cells from the blood stream into the vessel wall. Many therapeutic approaches have been tested to treat atherosclerosis and prevent its complications, with statins being the most efficient therapy by reducing the levels of atherogenic lipoproteins and preventing major cardiovascular events. However, the risk of atherothrombotic complications still remains high, causing millions of deaths around the world each year. Extensive research has shed light on the cascade of cellular and molecular events that lead from atherosclerotic plaque formation to its rupture and have highlighted promising new therapeutic targets, each being implicated at different stages of the atherosclerotic plaque formation and progression. In this review, we briefly discuss the potential of high-density lipoprotein-based therapies, given the anti-inflammatory properties of high-density lipoprotein. We then present different approaches that tackle inflammation, including inhibition of 5-lipoxygenase, blockade of P-selectin, use of a viral-derived serpin, and interleukin-1β inhibition. All these targets have shown encouraging results in clinical trials and support the idea that targeting inflammation could reduce cardiovascular complications in patients with coronary artery disease.

KU70 is involved in the DNA double-strand break repair pathway, which plays a critical role in maintaining genomic stability and preventing cancer. Genetic variation within the KU70 gene has been shown to be associated with increased risk of several types of cancers including breast cancer. Here, we used gene reporter and gel shift assays combined with site-directed mutagenesis to characterize genetic variation within the KU70 proximal promoter region and investigate the putative functional role of regulatory variation and altered KU70 expression in modulating an individual's susceptibility to disease. We show that the variant rs2267437C>G significantly influences KU70 transcriptional activity in an allele- specific manner and alters DNA-protein complex formation in breast cancer cell lines. Our data provide a possible molecular explanation for the associations observed between the KU70 regulatory variant rs2267437 and breast cancer risk.

Although childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most common pediatric cancer, its etiology remains poorly understood. In an attempt to replicate the findings of 2 recent genome-wide association studies in a French-Canadian cohort, we confirmed the association of 5 SNPs [rs7073837 (P=4.2 x 10(-4)), rs10994982 (P=3.8 x 10(-4)), rs10740055 (P=1.6 x 10(-5)), rs10821936 (P=1.7 x 10(-7)) and rs7089424 (P=3.6 x 10(-7))] in the ARID5B gene with childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. We also confirmed a selective effect for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia with hyperdiploidy and report a putative gender-specific effect of ARID5B SNPs on acute lymphoblastic leukemia risk in males. This study provides a strong rationale for more detailed analysis to identify the causal variants at this locus and to better understand the overall functional contribution of ARID5B to childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia susceptibility.

DICE1 (deleted in cancer 1), first identified in human lung carcinoma cell lines, is a candidate tumor suppressor, but the details of its activity remain largely unknown. We have found that RNA interference of its C. elegans homolog (DIC-1) produced inviable embryos with increased apoptosis, cavities in cells and abnormal morphogenesis. In the dic-1(RNAi) germ line, ced-3-dependent apoptosis increased, and cell cavities appeared at the late-pachytene/oogenic stage,leading to defective oogenesis. Immunofluorescence microscopy of DIC-1 revealed its ubiquitous expression in the form of cytoplasmic foci, and cryoelectron microscopy narrowed down the location of the foci to the inner membrane of mitochondria. After dic-1 RNAi, mitochondria had an irregular morphology and contained numerous internal vesicles. Homozygous embryos from a heterozygous dic-1 mother arrested at the L3 larval stage, in agreement with the essential role of DIC-1 in mitochondria. In summary, C. elegans DIC-1 plays a crucial role in the formation of normal morphology of the mitochondrial cristae/inner membrane. Our results suggest that human DICE1 may have several functions in multiple intracellular locations.

During oocyte development in Caenorhabditis elegans, approximately half of all developing germ cells undergo apoptosis. While this process is evolutionarily conserved from worms to humans, the regulators of germ cell death are still largely unknown. In a genetic screen for novel genes involved in germline apoptosis in Caenorhabditis elegans, we identified and cloned gla-3. Loss of gla-3 function results in increased germline apoptosis and reduced brood size due to defective pachytene exit from meiosis I. gla-3 encodes a TIS11-like zinc-finger-containing protein that is expressed in the germline, from the L4 larval stage to adulthood. Biochemical evidence and genetic epistasis analysis revealed that GLA-3 participates in the MAPK signaling cascade and directly interacts with the C. elegans MAPK MPK-1, an essential meiotic regulator. Our results show that GLA-3 is a new component of the MAPK cascade that controls meiotic progression and apoptosis in the C. elegans germline and functions as a negative regulator of the MAPK signaling pathway during vulval development and in muscle cells.

We used genome-wide RNA interference (RNAi) to identify genes that affect apoptosis in the C. elegans germ line. RNAi-mediated knockdown of 21 genes caused a moderate to strong increase in germ cell death. Genetic epistasis studies with these RNAi candidates showed that a large subset (16/21) requires p53 to activate germ cell apoptosis. Apoptosis following knockdown of the genes in the p53-dependent class also depended on a functional DNA damage response pathway, suggesting that these genes might function in DNA repair or to maintain genome integrity. As apoptotic pathways are conserved, orthologues of the worm germline apoptosis genes presented here could be involved in the maintenance of genomic stability, p53 activation, and fertility in mammals.

Although mutations in the oncoprotein murine double minute 2 (MDM2) are rare, MDM2 gene overexpression has been observed in several human tumors. Given that even modest changes in MDM2 levels might influence the p53 tumor suppressor signaling pathway, we postulated that sequence variation in the promoter region of MDM2 could lead to disregulated expression and variation in gene dosage. Two promoters have been reported for MDM2; an internal promoter (P2), which is located near the end of intron 1 and is p53-responsive, and an upstream constitutive promoter (P1), which is p53-independent. Both promoter regions contain DNA variants that could influence the expression levels of MDM2, including the well-studied single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) SNP309, which is located in the promoter P2; i.e., upstream of exon 2. In this report, we screened the promoter P1 for DNA variants and assessed the functional impact of the corresponding SNPs. Using the dbSNP database and genotyping validation in individuals of European descent, we identified three common SNPs (−1494 G > A; indel 40 bp; and −182 C > G). Three major promoter haplotypes were inferred by using these three promoter SNPs together with rs2279744 (SNP309). Following subcloning into a gene reporter system, we found that two of the haplotypes significantly influenced MDM2 promoter activity in a haplotype-specific manner. Site-directed mutagenesis experiments indicated that the 40 bp insertion/deletion variation is causing the observed allelic promoter activity. This study suggests that part of the variability in the MDM2 expression levels could be explained by allelic p53-independent P1 promoter activity.

Postlactational regression of the mammary gland is characterized by extensive apoptosis of the epithelial compartment. Involution occurs in two phases: an early reversible phase and a later phase accompanied by breakdown of the extracellular matrix and remodeling of the gland. We have used both knockout mice and a cell-culture model to identify the transcription factors that regulate the early phase of involution. Conditional deletion of Stat3 results in diminished apoptosis and delayed involution, whereas, in contrast, loss of IRF-1, a downstream target of Stat1, accelerates the first phase of involution. We have begun to analyze in more detail the molecular events associated with the activation of these transcription factors. Downstream targets have not been identified, although IGFBP-5 may be an indirect target of both Stat3 and IRF-1. In the absence of Stat3, elevated levels of p21, p53 and Stat1 are observed. Using a mammary epithelial cell culture model, KIM-2, and inducible activation of Stat3 and Stat5, we have shown that dimerization of Stat3 alone is sufficient to induce apoptosis of KIM-2 cells. Furthermore, apoptosis can be significantly increased by blocking a survival pathway. In contrast, dimerization of Stat5 provides a differentiation signal and, subsequently, a survival signal for differentiated KIM-2 cells. Interplay between Stat3 and Stat5, identification of downstream targets, and crosstalk with other pathways is now being investigated.