Browsing by Author "Weyerbacher, Jonathan"

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    Acute Ethanol Exposure Augments Low-Dose UVB-Mediated Systemic Immunosuppression via Enhanced Production of Platelet-Activating Factor Receptor Agonists
    (Elsevier, 2019-01-22) Travers, Jeffrey B.; Weyerbacher, Jonathan; Ocana, Jesus A.; Borchers, Christina; Rapp, Christine M.; Sahu, Ravi P.; Dermatology, School of Medicine
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    Enhanced Platelet-activating Factor synthesis facilitates acute and delayed effects of ethanol intoxicated thermal burn injury
    (Elsevier, 2018) Harrison, Kathleen A.; Romer, Eric; Weyerbacher, Jonathan; Ocana, Jesus A.; Sahu, Ravi P.; Murphy, Robert C.; Kelly, Lisa E.; Smith, Townsend A.; Rapp, Christine M.; Borchers, Christina; Cool, David R.; Li, Gengxin; Simman, Richard; Travers, Jeffrey B.; Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Medicine
    Thermal burn injuries in patients alcohol intoxicated result in greater morbidity and mortality. Murine models combining ethanol and localized thermal burn injury reproduce the systemic toxicity seen in human subjects, which consists of both acute systemic cytokine production with multiple organ dysfunction, as well as a delayed systemic immunosuppression. However, the exact mechanisms for these acute and delayed effects are unclear. These studies sought to define the role of the lipid mediator Platelet-activating factor (PAF) in the acute and delayed effects of intoxicated burn injury. Combining ethanol and thermal burn injury resulted in increased enzymatic PAF generation in a keratinocyte cell line in vitro, human skin explants ex vivo, as well as in murine skin in vivo. Further, the acute increase in inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6, and the systemic immunosuppressive effects of intoxicated thermal burn injury, were suppressed in mice lacking PAF receptors. Together, these studies provide a potential mechanism and novel treatment strategies for the augmented toxicity and immunosuppressive effects of thermal burn injury in the setting of acute ethanol exposure, which involves the pleotropic lipid mediator PAF.
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    Radiation therapy generates platelet-activating factor agonists
    (Impact Journals, 2016-04-12) Sahu, Ravi P.; Harrison, Kathleen A.; Weyerbacher, Jonathan; Murphy, Robert C.; Konger, Raymond L.; Garrett, Joy Elizabeth; Chin-Sinex, Helen Jan; Johnston II., Michael Edward; Dynlacht, Joseph R.; Mendonca, Marc; McMullen, Kevin; Li, Gengxin; Spandau, Dan F.; Travers, Jeffrey B.; Department of Dermatology, IU School of Medicine
    Pro-oxidative stressors can suppress host immunity due to their ability to generate oxidized lipid agonists of the platelet-activating factor-receptor (PAF-R). As radiation therapy also induces reactive oxygen species, the present studies were designed to define whether ionizing radiation could generate PAF-R agonists and if these lipids could subvert host immunity. We demonstrate that radiation exposure of multiple tumor cell lines in-vitro, tumors in-vivo, and human subjects undergoing radiation therapy for skin tumors all generate PAF-R agonists. Structural characterization of radiation-induced PAF-R agonistic activity revealed PAF and multiple oxidized glycerophosphocholines that are produced non-enzymatically. In a murine melanoma tumor model, irradiation of one tumor augmented the growth of the other (non-treated) tumor in a PAF-R-dependent process blocked by a cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor. These results indicate a novel pathway by which PAF-R agonists produced as a byproduct of radiation therapy could result in tumor treatment failure, and offer important insights into potential therapeutic strategies that could improve the overall antitumor effectiveness of radiation therapy regimens.
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    Randomized controlled trial of fractionated laser resurfacing on aged skin as prophylaxis against actinic neoplasia
    (The American Society for Clinical Investigation, 2021) Spandau, Dan F.; Chen, Roy; Wargo, Jeffrey J.; Rohan, Craig A.; Southern, David; Zhang, Angela; Loesch, Mathew; Weyerbacher, Jonathan; Tholpady, Sunil S.; Lewis, Davina A.; Kuhar, Matthew; Tsai, Kenneth Y.; Castellanos, Amber J.; Kemp, Michael G.; Markey, Michael; Cates, Elizabeth; Williams, Amy R.; Knisely, Christina; Bashir, Sabina; Gabbard, Ryan; Hoopes, Robert; Travers, Jeffrey B.; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine
    BACKGROUND: The loss of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) expression in senescent dermal fibroblasts during aging is associated with an increased risk of nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC). We tested how IGF-1 signaling can influence photocarcinogenesis during chronic UVB exposure to determine if fractionated laser resurfacing (FLR) of aged skin, which upregulates dermal IGF-1 levels, can prevent the occurrence of actinic keratosis (AK) and NMSC. METHODS: A human skin/immunodeficient mouse xenografting model was used to test the effects of a small molecule inhibitor of the IGF-1 receptor on chronic UVB radiation. Subsequently, the durability of FLR treatment was tested on a cohort of human participants aged 65 years and older. Finally, 48 individuals aged 60 years and older with considerable actinic damage were enrolled in a prospective randomized clinical trial in which they underwent a single unilateral FLR treatment of one lower arm. Numbers of AKs/NMSCs were recorded on both extremities for up to 36 months in blinded fashion. RESULTS: Xenografting studies revealed that chronic UVB treatment with a topical IGF-1R inhibitor resulted in a procarcinogenic response. A single FLR treatment was durable in restoring appropriate UVB response in geriatric skin for at least 2 years. FLR resulted in sustained reduction in numbers of AKs and decreased numbers of NMSCs in the treated arm (2 NMSCs) versus the untreated arm (24 NMSCs). CONCLUSION: The elimination of senescent fibroblasts via FLR reduced the procarcinogenic UVB response of aged skin. Thus, wounding therapies are a potentially effective prophylaxis for managing high-risk populations.