The Journal of Experimental Medicine

Our medical research library holds 9 studies published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine (1917–2020). Each entry links to the study's record on PubMed and, where there is one, to the publisher's page and a free full text. 9 have an abstract, the authors' own summary as PubMed records it: open "Abstract" to read it.

About the journal

• Publisher: Rockefeller University Press
• Published: 1896 to the present, United States
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0022-1007 (print), 1540-9538 (electronic)
• Its record in the NLM Catalog

2020s

• Combined deletion of Bap1, Nf2, and Cdkn2ab causes rapid onset of malignant mesothelioma in mice. J. Badhai, G.K. Pandey, J.Y. Song, et al. 2020;217(6). PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  We have generated mouse models of malignant mesothelioma (MM) based upon disruption of the Bap1, Nf2, and Cdkn2ab tumor suppressor loci in various combinations as also frequently observed in human MM. Inactivation of all three loci in the mesothelial lining of the thoracic cavity leads to a highly aggressive MM that recapitulates the histological features and gene expression profile observed in human patients. The tumors also show a similar inflammatory phenotype. Bap1 deletion alone does not cause MM but dramatically accelerates MM development when combined with Nf2 and Cdkn2ab (hereafter BNC) disruption. The accelerated tumor development is accompanied by increased Polycomb repression and EZH2-mediated redistribution of H3K27me3 toward promoter sites with concomitant activation of PI3K and MAPK pathways. Treatment of BNC tumor-bearing mice with cisplatin and pemetrexed, the current frontline treatment, prolongs survival. This makes the autochthonous mouse model described here very well suited to explore the pathogenesis of MM and validate new treatment regimens for MM, including immunotherapy.

  © 2020 Badhai et al.

2010s

• Rapid activation of tumor-associated macrophages boosts preexisting tumor immunity. S. Hoves, C.H. Ooi, C. Wolter, et al. 2018;215(3):859-876. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  Depletion of immunosuppressive tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) or reprogramming toward a proinflammatory activation state represent different strategies to therapeutically target this abundant myeloid population. In this study, we report that inhibition of colony-stimulating factor-1 receptor (CSF-1R) signaling sensitizes TAMs to profound and rapid reprogramming in the presence of a CD40 agonist before their depletion. Despite the short-lived nature of macrophage hyperactivation, combined CSF-1R+CD40 stimulation of macrophages is sufficient to create a proinflammatory tumor milieu that reinvigorates an effective T cell response in transplanted tumors that are either responsive or insensitive to immune checkpoint blockade. The central role of macrophages in regulating preexisting immunity is substantiated by depletion experiments, transcriptome analysis of ex vivo sorted TAMs, and gene expression profiling of whole tumor lysates at an early treatment time point. This approach enabled the identification of specific combination-induced changes among the pleiotropic activation spectrum of the CD40 agonist. In patients, CD40 expression on human TAMs was detected in mesothelioma and colorectal adenocarcinoma.

  © 2018 Roche Diagnostics GmbH.

• TGF-β synergizes with defects in the Hippo pathway to stimulate human malignant mesothelioma growth. M. Fujii, T. Toyoda, H. Nakanishi, et al. 2012;209(3):479-94. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is an incurable malignancy that is caused by exposure to asbestos and is accompanied by severe fibrosis. Because MM is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage and clinical identification of early lesions is difficult, its molecular pathogenesis has not been completely elucidated. Nearly 75% of MM cases have inactivating mutations in the NF2 (neurofibromatosis type 2; Merlin) gene or in downstream signaling molecules of the Hippo signaling cascade, which negatively regulates the transcription factor Yes-associated protein (YAP). In this study, we demonstrate a functional interaction between the Hippo and TGF-β pathways in regulating connective tissue growth factor (CTGF). Expression of CTGF in MM cells was induced by the formation of a YAP-TEAD4-Smad3-p300 complex on the CTGF promoter. Knocking down CTGF expression in MM cells prolonged the survival of xenografted mice, and a significant association was seen between CTGF expression and extracellular matrix deposition in MM xenografts and in patient tissue specimens. We further suggest that CTGF may influence the malignancy of mesothelioma because of the different histological expression patterns observed in human MM tissues. These data suggest that CTGF is an important modulator of MM growth and pathology and represents a novel therapeutic target for this disease.

1970s

• Macrophage plasminogen activator: induction by asbestos is blocked by anti-inflammatory steroids. J. Hamilton, J.D. Vassalli, E. Reich. 1976;144(6):1689-94. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  Intraperitoneal injection of asbestos fibres into mice induces the formation of exudates containing macrophages that produce plasminogen activator. Like-wise, in vitro addition of asbestos to macrophage cultures stimulates plasminogen activator secretion; the synthesis and secretion of lysozyme and lysosomal enzymes are not changed under these conditions. The enhanced secretion of plasminogen activator by macrophages exposed to asbestos is suppressed by low concentrations of anti-inflammatory steroids.

• Properties of plasminogen activators formed by neoplastic human cell cultures. D.B. Rifkin, J.N. Loeb, G. Moore, et al. 1974;139(5):1317-28. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  A series of human cell lines has been examined for fibrinolysis in culture. The sera that are activating for fibrinolysis by human cells are mouse, monkey, human, horse, and bovine. Individual human sera show considerable variation in the ability to activate fibrinolysis. In common with other neoplastic or transformed mammalian and avian cell cultures, human cell lines of neoplastic origin produce substantial amounts of plasminogen activator. Several cultures of nonmalignant origin also produce plasminogen activator, whereas cultures obtained from trypsinized human embryos, or from human embryonic skin do not. The human melanoma plasminogen activators are of two kinds: a major component with a mol wt of 50,000, and a minor species with a mol wt of approximately 60,000. Both are DFP sensitive, serine proteases.

• Cytotoxic effects of some mineral dusts on Syrian hamster peritoneal macrophages. E. Bey, J.S. Harington. 1971;133(5):1149-69. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  Hamster peritoneal macrophages were grown in cell culture and their response to various conditions was examined. The cultures responded favorably to high concentrations of serum and to medium which had been preconditioned by contact with tumor cells. After 2-3 days of adaptation, they entered into a period of stability which lasted from the 4th to the 9th day. Macrophage cultures in this stable phase were treated with various samples of mineral dusts and their response determined by counting the number of viable macrophages/cm(2) at intervals over a period of 72 hr. Crystalline silica Snowit was found to be nontoxic. Amorphous silica Fransil caused a characteristic cytotoxic effect and a rapid decline in cell population at doses less than 150 microg/5 x 10(5) cells. Of the three different kinds of asbestos used, chrysotile was toxic and amosite and crocidolite nontoxic at equivalent concentrations. A comparison of two preparations of chrysotile which differed in surface area showed that weight rather than surface area determines toxicity. Pretreatment of chrysotile with tryptose phosphate broth under drastic conditions accelerated but did not increase the final intensity of the cytotoxic effect.

1950s

• The pathogenesis of hemophilia; an experimental analysis of the anticephalin hypothesis in hemophilic dogs. J.B. Graham, E.M. Barrow. 1957;106(2):273-92. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  It has been possible to duplicate in the hemophilic dog four of the major experiments which have suggested in humans an "anticephalin" hypothesis for the pathogenesis of hemophilia. The experiments in the dog have been considerably extended, as compared with the human experiments, by a variety of techniques. I. Asbestos was placed in contact with hemophilic dog plasma, and the clotting time became shorter. When transfused, this plasma had no effect on the defective prothrombin utilization of hemophilic dogs, in contrast to untreated normal plasma. II. The ionic strength of native dog plasma and dog plasma citrated (38 per cent sodium citrate) then recalcified (0.2 M CaCl(2)) were calculated. The ionic strength of the native plasma was approximately 0.15 while that of the citrated plasma was approximately 0.21. Conductivity and freezing point determinations on the plasmas described above were consistent with the idea that the ionic strength of the citrated plasma was significantly higher. The biphasic dilution curve, to which much significance has been attached in arriving at the "anticephalin" hypothesis, can be produced readily in the dog. Diluting dog plasma with "iso-ionic" or "hyper-ionic" NaCl solution abolished the biphasic phenomenon. Dilution with distilled water exaggerated the biphasic curve. These experiments suggest that the biphasic curve is an artifact of uncontrolled ionic strength. III. The prothrombin utilization rates of undiluted whole hemophilic dog blood and hemophilic dog blood diluted 1:2 with 0.85 per cent NaCl were found to be the same. IV. Ether extraction of both normal and hemophilic dog plasma removed fibrinogen and reduced somewhat the concentration of prothrombin. In treated normal plasma AHF was reduced to the level of untreated hemophilic plasma, thus producing a quasi-hemophilic plasma. Defibrination and ether extraction of both normal and hemophilic dog plasma "generated" clotting activity which shortened the clotting time of hemophilic plasma and was active in the thromboplastin generation test. The activity "generated" by defibrination and ether extraction of dog plasma was adsorbed by a BaSO(4) suspension and shown, therefore, not to be the anti-hemophilic factor (AHF). Transfusion of ether-extracted normal or hemophilic dog plasma into hemophilic dogs had no effect on the prothrombin utilization rate, unlike untreated normal plasma which had a marked effect. Thus, four of the main lines of evidence supporting the "anticephalin" hypothesis were duplicated in the dog. However, by extending the experiments it was found that all were explainable on bases other than the presence of "anticephalin." Such an hypothesis is not necessary, therefore, to explain the pathogenesis of canine hemophilia. The apparent identity of hemophilia in the two species suggests that the hypothesis is also not applicable to humans.

1920s

• An improved anaerobe jar. J.H. Brown. 1921;33(6):677-81. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  There has been described a modification of the anaerobe jars of McIntosh and Fildes and of Smillie in which the oxygen is consumed by combustion with hydrogen under the catalytic action of platinized or palladinized asbestos. The special advantages of the apparatus described reside in its greater safety and in the fact that the catalyzer is heated electrically after the jar is closed and may be reheated at any time during incubation without opening the jar.

1910s

• New anaerobic methods. W.G. Smillie. 1917;26(1):59-66. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  1. Anaerobic methods have been devised which depend upon the catalytic action of platinized asbestos upon hydrogen and oxygen. 2. The methods may be utilized for the growth of anaerobes in test-tubes, upon Blake bottles, in flasks, and in a large container. 3. Because oxygen is so completely removed, the methods are of great value in the successful cultivation of absolute anaerobes.

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