Notch Signaling Publication by Cancer Center Members

University of Illinois Cancer Center members and leaders are authors of a study published in the journal Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences that investigated Notch signaling in lung vascular endothelial adherent junctions.

Cancer Center member Kostandin V. Pajcini, PhD, Associate Professor of Pharmacology in the Department of Pharmacology and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Chicago, is the corresponding author of the study, Notch Transcriptional Target tmtc1 Maintains Vascular Homeostasis.

Coauthors from the Cancer Center include Director Jan Kitajewski, PhD, Sweeney Basic Sciences Professor Director in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the College of Medicine; Translational Oncology Research Program co-leader Jalees Rehman, MD, Benjamin Goldberg Professor and Head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the College of Medicine; and Cancer Biology Research Program members Jae‐Won Shin, PhD, Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Regenerative Medicine at the College of Medicine, and Dolly Mehta, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology and Regenerative Medicine at the College of Medicine.

The study’s significance statement is excerpted below.

We genetically and functionally investigated the role of Notch signaling in lung vascular endothelial adherens junctions. Utilizing two in vivo, inducible, endothelial-specific, loss-of-function transgenic murine models and in vivo small molecule inhibition of Notch signaling by gamma secretase inhibitors, we reveal a critical role for canonical, transcriptional Notch signaling in maintaining endothelial barrier function. We also identify tmtc1 as a novel downstream target of Notch signaling in vascular endothelial cells.

Other authors from the College of Medicine included:

Na Yoon Paik, PhD; Jacob Neethling, MD/PhD candidate, Research Assistant (Pajcini Lab); Mumtaz Anwar, PhD, Research Assistant Professor (Mehta Lab); Prerak Gupta, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow (Shin Lab); Mark A. Sanborn, Graduate Education in Biomedical Sciences (GEMS) PhD Student (Rehman Lab); Zekun Shen, MD, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow (Pajcini Lab); Thilinie Bandara, GEMS PhD candidate (Pajcini Lab); James Hyun, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of California, Los Angeles (formerly Pajcini Lab); and L. A. Naiche, PhD, Research Assistant Professor and Scientific Director (Kitajewski Lab).

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