Biology subjects

Zucker, A.

Publications and source records attributed to Zucker, A..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Cyclic immunofluorescence platform using photocleavable linkers for direct antibody labeling enables cancer phenotyping

Advances in spatial proteomics through the development of multiplexed immunostaining platforms have facilitated analyses with increasing cellular and molecular granularity. However, currently available approaches are limited by harsh conditions for signal removal, restricting the number of antigens that can be probed in a single specimen without significant alterations to sample quality and structure. Here we present an approach for direct labeling of primary antibodies with fluorophores using a photocleavable linker (PCL) with a polyethylene glycol spacer (PEG) to enable cyclic immunofluorescence (cyCIF) with gentle signal removal conditions. Our innovative approach uses directly labeled primary antibodies to enhance staining specificity and cyclic immunostaining efficiency, while minimizing nonspecific background signal. Additionally, through integration of the PCL, this approach facilitates gentle cleavage of antibody conjugated fluorophore, preserving sample integrity over multiple rounds of staining. Direct PEG-PCL antibody labeling will promote greater multiplexing by minimizing specimen damage and allow for quantitative analyses of cyCIF spatial data. We demonstrate that cyCIF with PEG-PCL conjugated antibodies can be applied across a variety of cancer subtypes to identify and characterize rare neoplastic cell populations in both tumor tissue and fragile peripheral blood specimens.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2026

Cell fusion reprograms tumor cells and promotes RUNX1-mediated invasion and dissemination in colorectal cancer

Metastasis remains the primary cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality, despite significant advances in targeted therapies. Although metastatic dissemination requires tumor cells to escape the primary lesion and colonize distant organs, the mechanisms by which primary tumor cells gain metastatic competence remain poorly understood. Increasing evidence demonstrates that fusion of tumor (i.e., neoplastic) and immune (e.g., macrophages) cells generate a distinct population of tumor-immune hybrid cells with enhanced functional ability to migrate and disseminate into peripheral blood. Herein, our study investigates tumor-macrophage hybrid cells, an underexplored population of disseminated tumor cells, and their inherent heterogeneity and acquisition of molecular mechanisms underlying their dissemination as metastatic effectors in colorectal cancer (CRC). Through hybrid cell phenotyping utilizing integrative single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), cyclic immunofluorescence (cyCIF) and functional assays with an in vitro model of CRC hybrid cells, we identify Runt-related transcription factor 1 (Runx1) as a central regulator of hybrid cell motility and invasion. Runx1 depletion in hybrid cells suppressed functional protease expression, chemotactic activity and extracellular matrix (ECM) invasion. Furthermore, pharmacologic inhibition of RUNX1 in an in vivo model reduced hybrid tumor growth and dissemination into peripheral blood, key attributes of metastatic spread of disease. In patients with CRC, RUNX1+ hybrid cells were identified in both primary tumor and peripheral blood, where circulating hybrid cells (CHCs) exhibited enriched migratory and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotypes. Taken together, these findings reveal a mechanistic role for RUNX1 in driving invasive behavior of tumor-immune hybrids and highlight disseminated CHCs as an under-recognized contributor to metastatic spread and a promising noninvasive biomarker for tumor progression.

cancer biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Application of high-throughput, high-depth, targeted single-nucleus DNA sequencing in pancreatic cancer

Despite insights gained by bulk DNA sequencing of cancer it remains challenging to resolve the admixture of normal and tumor cells, and/or of distinct tumor subclones; high throughput single-cell DNA sequencing circumvents these and brings cancer genomic studies to higher resolution. However, its application has been limited to liquid tumors or a small batch of solid tumors, mainly because of the lack of a scalable workflow to process solid tumor samples. Here we optimized a highly automated nuclei extraction workflow that achieved fast and reliable targeted single-nucleus DNA library preparation of 38 samples from 16 pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients, with an average library yield per sample of 2867 single nuclei. We demonstrate that this workflow not only performs well using low cellularity or low tumor purity samples but reveals novel genomic evolution patterns of PDAC as well.

cancer biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Evolutionary Dynamics of Non-Coding Regions in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

While the non-coding genome appears to play a role, the dynamic nature of noncoding alterations with respect to clonal progression of solid tumors remains unexplored. To address this gap in knowledge we performed multiregional whole genome sequencing and clonal analysis to elucidate the evolutionary dynamics of non-coding regions in pancreatic cancer relative to those of the coding genome. We find that the mutational burden of noncoding DNA is higher than coding DNA. However, when noncoding DNA was segregated into enhancer and non-enhancer regions, enhancers were more similar to coding DNA. Mutational signatures of noncoding and coding DNA further revealed the similar mutational spectra of enhancers to coding DNA whereas the mutational spectra of non-enhancer, noncoding DNA had an entirely different pattern. These findings shed light on the role of noncoding DNA in pancreatic cancer.

cancer biology↗