University of Toronto

About: University of Toronto is a education organization based out in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 126067 authors who have published 294940 publications receiving 13536856 citations. The organization is also known as: UToronto & U of T.

Nod1 and Nod2 direct autophagy by recruiting ATG16L1 to the plasma membrane at the site of bacterial entry

Abstract: Autophagy is emerging as a crucial defense mechanism against bacteria, but the host intracellular sensors responsible for inducing autophagy in response to bacterial infection remain unknown. Here we demonstrated that the intracellular sensors Nod1 and Nod2 are critical for the autophagic response to invasive bacteria. By a mechanism independent of the adaptor RIP2 and transcription factor NF-kappaB, Nod1 and Nod2 recruited the autophagy protein ATG16L1 to the plasma membrane at the bacterial entry site. In cells homozygous for the Crohn's disease-associated NOD2 frameshift mutation, mutant Nod2 failed to recruit ATG16L1 to the plasma membrane and wrapping of invading bacteria by autophagosomes was impaired. Our results link bacterial sensing by Nod proteins to the induction of autophagy and provide a functional link between Nod2 and ATG16L1, which are encoded by two of the most important genes associated with Crohn's disease.

Genome-wide scan reveals association of psoriasis with IL-23 and NF-κB pathways

Abstract: Psoriasis is a common immune-mediated disorder that affects the skin, nails and joints. To identify psoriasis susceptibility loci, we genotyped 438,670 SNPs in 1,409 psoriasis cases and 1,436 controls of European ancestry. We followed up 21 promising SNPs in 5,048 psoriasis cases and 5,041 controls. Our results provide strong support for the association of at least seven genetic loci and psoriasis (each with combined P < 5 x 10(-8)). Loci with confirmed association include HLA-C, three genes involved in IL-23 signaling (IL23A, IL23R, IL12B), two genes that act downstream of TNF-alpha and regulate NF-kappaB signaling (TNIP1, TNFAIP3) and two genes involved in the modulation of Th2 immune responses (IL4, IL13). Although the proteins encoded in these loci are known to interact biologically, we found no evidence for epistasis between associated SNPs. Our results expand the catalog of genetic loci implicated in psoriasis susceptibility and suggest priority targets for study in other auto-immune disorders.

Management of hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes: A consensus algorithm for the initiation and adjustment of therapy: a consensus statement from the American Diabetes Association and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.

Abstract: The epidemic of type 2 diabetes in the latter part of the 20th and in the early 21st century, and the recognition that achieving specific glycemic goals can substantially reduce morbidity, have made the effective treatment of hyperglycemia a top priority (1–3). While the management of hyperglycemia, the hallmark metabolic abnormality associated with type 2 diabetes, has historically had center stage in the treatment of diabetes, therapies directed at other coincident features, such as dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypercoagulability, obesity, and insulin resistance, have also been a major focus of research and therapy. Maintaining glycemic levels as close to the nondiabetic range as possible has been demonstrated to have a powerful beneficial impact on diabetes-specific complications, including retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy in the setting of type 1 diabetes (4,5); in type 2 diabetes, more intensive treatment strategies have likewise been demonstrated to reduce complications (6–8). Intensive glycemic management resulting in lower HbA1c (A1C) levels has also been shown to have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular disease (CVD) complications in type 1 diabetes (9,10); however, the role of intensive diabetes therapy on CVD in type 2 diabetes remains under active investigation (11,12). Some therapies directed at lowering glucose levels have additional benefits with regard to CVD risk factors, while others lower glucose without additional benefits. The development of new classes of blood glucose–lowering medications to supplement the older therapies, such as lifestyle-directed interventions, insulin, sulfonylureas, and metformin, has increased the treatment options for type 2 diabetes. Whether used alone or in combination with other blood glucose–lowering interventions, the availability of the newer agents has provided an increased number of choices for practitioners and patients and heightened uncertainty regarding the most appropriate means of treating this widespread disease. Although numerous reviews on the …

Wound bed preparation: a systematic approach to wound management.

Abstract: The healing process in acute wounds has been extensively studied and the knowledge derived from these studies has often been extrapolated to the care of chronic wounds, on the assumption that nonhealing chronic wounds were simply aberrations of the normal tissue repair process. However, this approach is less than satisfactory, as the chronic wound healing process differs in many important respects from that seen in acute wounds. In chronic wounds, the orderly sequence of events seen in acute wounds becomes disrupted or “stuck” at one or more of the different stages of wound healing. For the normal repair process to resume, the barrier to healing must be identified and removed through application of the correct techniques. It is important, therefore, to understand the molecular events that are involved in the wound healing process in order to select the most appropriate intervention. Wound bed preparation is the management of a wound in order to accelerate endogenous healing or to facilitate the effectiveness of other therapeutic measures. Experts in wound management consider that wound bed preparation is an important concept with significant potential as an educational tool in wound management. This article was developed after a meeting of wound healing experts in June 2002 and is intended to provide an overview of the current status, role, and key elements of wound bed preparation. Readers will be able to examine the following issues; • the current status of wound bed preparation; • an analysis of the acute and chronic wound environments; • how wound healing can take place in these environments; • the role of wound bed preparation in the clinic; • the clinical and cellular components of the wound bed preparation concept; • a detailed analysis of the components of wound bed preparation. (WOUND REP REG 2003;11:1–28)

The DNA-encoded nucleosome organization of a eukaryotic genome

Abstract: The nucleosomes are the basic repeating units of eukaryotic chromatin, and nucleosome organization is critically important for gene regulation. Kaplan et al. tested the importance of the intrinsic DNA sequence preferences of nucleosomes by measuring the genome-wide occupancy of nucleosomes assembled on purified yeast genomic DNA. The resulting map is remarkably similar to in vivo nucleosome maps, indicating that the organization of nucleosomes in vivo is largely governed by the underlying genomic DNA sequence. This study tests the importance of the intrinsic DNA sequence preferences of nucleosomes by measuring the genome-wide occupancy of nucleosomes assembled on purified yeast genomic DNA. The resulting map is similar to in vivo nucleosome maps, indicating that the organization of nucleosomes in vivo is largely governed by the underlying genomic DNA sequence. Nucleosome organization is critical for gene regulation1. In living cells this organization is determined by multiple factors, including the action of chromatin remodellers2, competition with site-specific DNA-binding proteins3, and the DNA sequence preferences of the nucleosomes themselves4,5,6,7,8. However, it has been difficult to estimate the relative importance of each of these mechanisms in vivo7,9,10,11, because in vivo nucleosome maps reflect the combined action of all influencing factors. Here we determine the importance of nucleosome DNA sequence preferences experimentally by measuring the genome-wide occupancy of nucleosomes assembled on purified yeast genomic DNA. The resulting map, in which nucleosome occupancy is governed only by the intrinsic sequence preferences of nucleosomes, is similar to in vivo nucleosome maps generated in three different growth conditions. In vitro, nucleosome depletion is evident at many transcription factor binding sites and around gene start and end sites, indicating that nucleosome depletion at these sites in vivo is partly encoded in the genome. We confirm these results with a micrococcal nuclease-independent experiment that measures the relative affinity of nucleosomes for ∼40,000 double-stranded 150-base-pair oligonucleotides. Using our in vitro data, we devise a computational model of nucleosome sequence preferences that is significantly correlated with in vivo nucleosome occupancy in Caenorhabditis elegans. Our results indicate that the intrinsic DNA sequence preferences of nucleosomes have a central role in determining the organization of nucleosomes in vivo.