Search bioRxiv⌕ Search

Biology subjects

Katsumi, Y.

Publications and source records attributed to Katsumi, Y..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Affective enhancement of episodic memory is associated with widespread patterns of intrinsic functional connectivity across the adult lifespan

Subjectively arousing experiences tend to be better remembered than neutral ones. While numerous task-related neuroimaging studies have revealed the neural mechanisms associated with this phenomenon, it remains unclear how variability in the extent to which individuals show superior memory for subjectively arousing stimuli is associated with the intrinsic functional organization of their brains. Here, we addressed this issue using functional magnetic resonance imaging data collected at rest from a sample drawn from the Cambridge Centre for Ageing Neuroscience cohort (N = 269, 18-86 years). Specifically, we performed multi-voxel pattern analysis of intrinsic functional connectivity, an unbiased, data-driven approach to examine whole-brain voxel-wise connectivity patterns. This technique allowed us to reveal the most important features from the high-dimensional, whole-brain connectivity structure without a priori hypotheses about the topography and direction of functional connectivity differences. Behaviorally, both item and associative memory accuracy were enhanced for trials with affectively arousing (positive or negative) stimuli than those with neutral ones. Whole-brain multi-voxel pattern analysis of functional connectivity revealed that the affective enhancement of memory was associated with intrinsic connectivity patterns of spatially distributed brain regions belonging to several functional networks in the cerebral cortex. Post hoc seed-based brain-behavior regression analysis and principal component analysis of the resulting correlation maps showed that these connectivity patterns were in turn primarily characterized by the involvement of heteromodal association (dorsal attention, salience, and default mode) networks as well as select subcortical structures (striatum, thalamus, and cerebellum). Collectively, these findings suggest that the affective enhancement of episodic memory may be characterized as a whole-brain phenomenon, possibly supported by intrinsic functional interactions across several networks and structures in the brain.

neuroscience↗

Identification and validation of a non-genetically encoded vulnerability to XPO1 inhibition in malignant rhabdoid tumors - expanding patient-driven discovery beyond the Nof1.

Malignant rhabdoid tumors (MRTs) are rare, aggressive pediatric solid tumors, characterized by a 22q11 deletion that inactivates the SMARCB1 gene. Outcomes remain poor despite multimodality treatment. MRTs are among the most genomically stable cancers and lack therapeutically targetable genetic mutations. We utilized metaVIPER, an extension of the Virtual Inference of Protein-activity by Enriched Regulon (VIPER) algorithm, to computationally infer activated druggable proteins in the tumor of an eight month old patient and then expanded the analysis to TCGA and TARGET cohorts. In vitro studies were performed on a panel of MRT and atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor cell lines. Two patient-derived xenograft (PDX) mouse models of MRT were used for in vivo efficacy studies. MetaVIPER analysis from the patients tumor identified significantly high inferred activity of nuclear export protein Exportin-1 (XPO1). Expanded metaVIPER analysis of TCGA and TARGET cohorts revealed consistent elevations in XPO1 inferred activity in MRTs compared to other cancer types. All MRT cell lines demonstrated baseline activation of XPO1. MRT cell lines demonstrated in vitro sensitivity to the XPO1 inhibitor, selinexor which led to cell cycle arrest and induction of apoptosis. Targeted inhibition of XPO1 in patient-derived xenograft models of MRT using selinexor resulted in abrogation of tumor growth. Selinexor demonstrates efficacy in preclinical models of MRT. These results support investigation of selinexor in a phase II study in children with MRT and illustrate the importance of an N-of-1 approach in driving discovery beyond the single patient. Statement of Translational RelevanceWe describe the patient-driven discovery of XPO1 activation as a non-genetically encoded vulnerability in MRTs. The application of metaVIPER analysis to tumors lacking actionable oncogenic alterations represents a novel approach for identifying potential therapeutic targets and biomarkers of response. Our preclinical validation of selinexor confirms XPO1 inhibition as a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of MRT.

cancer biology↗

Functional connectivity gradients as a common neural architecture for predictive processing in the human brain

Predictive processing is emerging as a common computational hypothesis to account for diverse psychological functions subserved by a brain, providing a systems-level framework for characterizing structure-function relationships of its distinct substructures. Here, we contribute to this framework by examining gradients of functional connectivity as a low dimensional spatial representation of functional variation in the brain and demonstrating their computational implications for predictive processing. Specifically, we investigated functional connectivity gradients in the cerebral cortex, the cerebellum, and the hippocampus using resting-state functional MRI data collected from large samples of healthy young adults. We then evaluated the degree to which these structures share common principles of functional organization by assessing the correspondence of their gradients. We show that the organizing principles of these structures primarily follow two functional gradients consistent with the existing hierarchical accounts of predictive processing: A model-error gradient that describes the flow of prediction and prediction error signals, and a model-precision gradient that differentiates regions involved in the representation and attentional modulation of such signals in the cerebral cortex. Using these gradients, we also demonstrated triangulation of functional connectivity involving distinct subregions of the three structures, which allows characterization of distinct ways in which these structures functionally interact with each other, possibly subserving unique and complementary aspects of predictive processing. These findings support the viability of computational hypotheses about the functional relationships between the cerebral cortex, the cerebellum, and the hippocampus that may be instrumental for understanding the brains dynamics within its large-scale predictive architecture.

neuroscience↗