The SFB members Anna Orlova and Richard Moriggl are co-founders of the pharmaceutical start-up RIANA Therapeutics spun out of Vetmeduni Vienna in February 2023. RIANA Therapeutics focuses on developing novel anti-cancer treatments with hope to improve life of cancer patients.

For further information see https://www.vetmeduni.ac.at/en/universitaet/infoservice/presseinformationen/presseinformationen-2023/riana-viennese-start-up-develops-novel-precise-anti-cancer-drugs

Foto credit Thomas Suchanek/Vetmeduni Vienna

The SFB Jak-Stat subproject leader Veronika Sexl took the lead of the University of Innsbruck (https://www.uibk.ac.at/en/) in March 2023. Veronika was appointed head of the rectorate in an international selection process for a period of four years. The SFB members congratulate Veronika to this highly responsible and prestigious position. We will miss Veronika’s scientific excellence and spirit in our team and wish her a successful and fruitful time in Innsbruck.

Richard Moriggl – a long-term member of the SFB – will take over the leadership of the subproject ‘Partners in Crime: STAT3 and CDK6 Control Transformation in Hematopoietic Cells’. We highly appreciate the commitment of Richard and look forward to exciting interactions.

Foto credit Michael Bernkopf/Vetmeduni Vienna

Interferons (IFNs) activate cell-intrinsic defence mechanisms to fight infections. The innate immune response to infections overlaps and cooperates with cellular stress signalling governed by the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) p38. Laura Boccuni in the group of Thomas Decker unravelled the molecular mechanism how macrophages merge the IFN JAK-STAT and the stress p38 MAPK pathways to enhance the beneficial but also the detrimental effects of the innate and inflammatory responses. With the exception of one, all SFB groups contributed to this SFB-financed publication.

Published in Science Signaling

Laura Boccuni, Elke Podgorschek, Moritz Schmiedeberg, Ekaterini Platanitis, Peter Traxler, Philipp Fischer, Alessia Schirripa, Philipp Novoszel, Angel R. Nebreda, J. Simon C. Arthur, Nikolaus Fortelny, Matthias Farlik, Veronika Sexl, Christoph Bock, Maria Sibilia, Pavel Kovarik, Mathias Müller, Thomas Decker

Stress signaling boosts interferon-induced gene transcription in macrophages
https://doi.org/10.1126/scisignal.abq5389

See also for RELATED FOCUS: Rewiring the logic board of IFN signaling, by John D. MacMicking John D. MacMicking
https://doi.org/10.1126/scisignal.adf0778

The JAK-STAT signaling pioneers James E Darnell, John J O‘Shea and George R Stark and former or current co-workers in their labs co-author a comprehensive review on the current knowledge on the cellular and systemic activities of JAKs and STATs and possibilities of their therapeutic targeting in disease settings (see https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2022.09.023).

The Viennese JAK-STAT community congratulates this fascinating pathway to its 30ies anniversary!

Clemens Schmitt

Tuesday November 15th 2022, 13.30 

Clemens Schmitt

Kepler Universitätsklinikum / Johannes Kepler Universität Linz

Hämatologie und Internistische Onkologie (https://www.kepleruniklinikum.at/kliniken-einrichtungen/innere-medizin-3-haematologie-und-internistische-onkologie/team).

Title: Not just arrested – senescence-associated plasticity in cancer

Host: Veronika Sexl

Location: Vetmeduni Vienna Bldg NA, Room 07 B00 & Hybrid Blackboard Collaborate (https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/eb6707f5a10e49b6b89f9d48d07a5cc5)

 

Matthias Ernst

Wednesday June 8th 2022, 10 am 

Matthias Ernst

Director, ONJCRI
Head Cancer and Inflammation Program and Laborartory
Head School of Cancer Medicine, La Trobe University (https://www.onjcri.org.au/about-us/matthias-ernst/).

Title: Targeting IL-11 to prevent oncogenic STAT3 signaling and Src kinase as regulator of myeloid cell proliferation

Host: Richard Moriggl

Location: Vetmeduni Vienna Bldg NA, Room 07 B00 & Hybrid Blackboard Collaborate (https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/9ebec0a0bcf448e2a1dec957827b18ca)

 

Katarzyna Sitnik wins Merit Award of CMV Conference

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  https://www.cmv2022.org Abstract of Oral Presentation Pdgfra-positive fibroblasts are a major site of mouse cytomegalovirus latency in vivo. Latent cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections pertain to most of the human population, yet our understanding of the cell types that carry latent CMV in vivo remains limited. While endothelial cells and macrophages have been identified previously as sites […]

Innate immunity to viral infection is achieved by a group of polypeptide mediators, the interferons (IFN). By binding to cell surface receptors they initiate signal transduction via Janus kinases (JAK) that the STATs target, a group of transcription factors. STATs combine to form a transcription factor, ISGF3, that activates transcription of a large number of IFN-induced genes (ISG) encoding antiviral proteins and establishing an antiviral state.
We show that the transcription of antiviral genes includes important changes of chromatin structure (see below). First, ISGF3 binds to the control region of ISG to induce a rearrangement of nucleosomes that creates maximal accessibility of the promoter (below middle panel). Second, ISG that are arranged in chromosomal clusters change their chromatin loop structure to increase the interaction of regulatory elements (below right panel). The molecular model emerging from the study posits that interaction in the 3-dimensional space creates regulatory hubs with the ability to influence the expression of several clustered genes simultaneously. This may help to both coordinate, accelerate and strengthen the establishment of the antiviral state.

IFN stimulus alters the 3-dimensional chromatin architecture at antiviral gene clusters

Published in iScience

Ekaterini Platanitis, Sthephan Gruener, Aarathy Ravi Sundar Jose Geetha, Laura Boccuni, Alexander Vogt, Maria Novatchkova, Andreas Sommer, Iros Barozzi, Mathias Müller, Thomas Decker

Interferons reshape the 3D conformation and accessibility of macrophage chromatin

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.103840