Advancing the Science of Cancer in LatinosProject Summary/AbstractThe proposed conference, ?Advancing the Science of Cancer in Latinos,? would occur February21-23, 2018, in San Antonio, Texas.

Saliva is an important defense mechanism for protecting oral health. Salivary gland (SG) hypofunctionresults in uncontrolled and severe oral diseases that lead to severely compromised quality of life. SGsare highly differentiated and have little regenerative capacity once they are destroyed by therapy ordisease (e.g. radiation therapy or autoimmune Sjgren?s syndrome). Therefore, the development ofstrategies for preserving or regenerating the secretory function of SGs is essential for successfulmanagement of these patients.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common and often fatal event. Inflammation plays a key role in the pathogenesis of AKI. Relatively little is known regarding the endogenous pathways which limit inflammation and reduce the incidence and/or severity of AKI. We recently determined that resident dendritic cells (DCs) and endogenous IL-10 are anti-inflammatory and reduce the severity of AKI. Moreover, the protective actions of dendritic cells are partially dependent upon their production of IL-10.

A big concern has recently arisen regarding the safety of anesthesia in infants and children based on the profoundly increasing preclinical evidences in rodents and nonhuman primates that the commonly used anesthetics in clinic are neurotoxic to the developing brain and may cause long-term neurobehavioral abnormalities. Hence, the clinical relevance of anesthetic neurotoxicity as well as the development of biomarkers for early detection of anesthetic-induced neuronal injury is an urgent matter of public health.

OverallSystems Analysis of Epigenomic Architecture in Cancer ProgressionDespite anti-hormone therapies in patients, the cognate receptors ER? and AR can remain functional tosupport oncogenic signaling for advanced progression of breast and prostate cancers. Intensive studies haveuncovered cellular and biochemical changes underlying the development of hormone resistance. However,epigenetic mechanisms for establishing and maintaining a hormone-resistant phenotype remain to beexplored.

Microtubule stabilizing agents (MSAs) are some of the most widely used and effective therapies availablefor the treatment of solid tumors. However, their utility is compromised by innate and acquired drugresistance. The taccalonolides (taccas) are a mechanistically unique class of MSAs that circumventmultiple clinically relevant forms of drug resistance. Multiple potent taccas identified by our laboratorieshave effective antitumor activity in drug sensitive and resistant in vivo models but suffer from a narrowtherapeutic window.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a profoundly debilitating neurodegenerative disorder without effective treatment or determinative antemortem diagnostics. Improvements in diagnostic and treatment options will require a better understanding of the biological processes that drive AD onset and progression. The prevailing model to explain AD pathogenesis holds that neuronal degeneration and clinical demise are precipitated by the gradual accumulation, in brain centers controlling memory and cognition, of amyloid-? (A?) peptide, a catabolite of the transmembrane Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP).

This application in response to PA-11-184 is the first competing continuation of a new program entitled 'Training in drug abuse research: behavior and neurobiology' that provides research training and career development activities for postdoctoral fellows who aspire to careers in the area of drug addiction. In its first 4 years the Program has grown from 2 to 5 training positions, plus 1 additional position supported by UTHSCSA for a total of 6.

The recent reports that scopolamine has antidepressant effects in humans has raised the hope that this antimuscarinic drug represents an improvement over the serotonergic and noradrenergic reuptake blockers that have formed the basis for antidepressant medication for decades. Scopolamine's effects had a rapid onset of action, and were quite long lasting, giving them considerable advantage over previous medications.