Publications | Hermanson laboratory

Selected  publications

Lithium treatment reverses irradiation-induced changes in rodent neural progenitors and rescues cognition.
Zanni G, Goto S, Fragopoulou AF, Gaudenzi G, Naidoo V, Di Martino E, Levy G, Dominguez CA, Dethlefsen O, Cedazo-Minguez A, Merino-Serrais P, Stamatakis A, Hermanson O, Blomgren K
Mol Psychiatry 2021 01;26(1):322-340

Irradiation of the brain, relevant for pediatric oncology, causes detrimental effects in the patients. Blomgren lab had previously discovered a positive effect of lithium (Li) in mice after irradiation. Here we collaborated to reveal the mechanisms underlying this, including changes in DNA methylation and gene expression (GAD65 and Tppp) by irradiation and Li treatment, and thereby novel mechanisms underlying the recovery of cognitive function.

A SNP in the HTT promoter alters NF-κB binding and is a bidirectional genetic modifier of Huntington disease.
Bečanović K, Nørremølle A, Neal SJ, Kay C, Collins JA, Arenillas D, et al
Nat. Neurosci. 2015 Jun;18(6):807-16

HD patients with the same length of the disease-causing CAG repeat show major differences in age of onset of disease. Here we revealed a new important parameter that could explain this, at least in a subset of patients.

Gene-specific methylation control of H3K9 and H3K36 on neurotrophic BDNF versus astroglial GFAP genes by KDM4A/C regulates neural stem cell differentiation.
Cascante A, Klum S, Biswas M, Antolin-Fontes B, Barnabé-Heider F, Hermanson O
J Mol Biol 2014 Oct;426(20):3467-77

Here we show that KDM4A/C could demethylate H3K9 in the promoter of BDNF and thereby promote neuronal maturation, whereas in parallel demethylate H3K36 specifically in ORFs of the astrocyte-gene GFAP, thereby repressing astroglial differentiation.

Neural stem cell differentiation is dictated by distinct actions of nuclear receptor corepressors and histone deacetylases.
Castelo-Branco G, Lilja T, Wallenborg K, Falcão AM, Marques SC, Gracias A, et al
Stem Cell Reports 2014 Sep;3(3):502-15

Here we showed specific roles for different corepressor/chromatin factors previously believed general in function in neural development.

The histone H4 lysine 16 acetyltransferase hMOF regulates the outcome of autophagy.
Füllgrabe J, Lynch-Day MA, Heldring N, Li W, Struijk RB, Ma Q, et al
Nature 2013 Aug;500(7463):468-71

This paper demonstrates that chromatin modifying factors influence autophagy and is thus the first paper demonstrating a nuclear parameter in autophagy.

CXXC5 is a novel BMP4-regulated modulator of Wnt signaling in neural stem cells.
Andersson T, Södersten E, Duckworth JK, Cascante A, Fritz N, Sacchetti P, Cervenka I, Bryja V, Hermanson O
J Biol Chem 2009 Feb;284(6):3672-81

My lab discovered and characterized the novel factor, CXXC5, regulated by BMP4 in neural stem cells and could show that it inhibited signaling of canonical Wnt signaling, by interacting with the signaling intermediate Dishevelled.

The promotion of neuronal maturation on soft substrates.
Teixeira AI, Ilkhanizadeh S, Wigenius JA, Duckworth JK, Inganäs O, Hermanson O
Biomaterials 2009 Sep;30(27):4567-72

After a seminal paper from the Discher lab showing substrate influences on mesenchymal stem cells, we here show that such influences/responses are cell-specific.

Inkjet printing of macromolecules on hydrogels to steer neural stem cell differentiation.
Ilkhanizadeh S, Teixeira AI, Hermanson O
Biomaterials 2007 Sep;28(27):3936-43

We showed that replacing colors for growth factors in an old conventional inkjet printer, generated a versatile tool where neural stem cells seeded upon printed hydrogels, responded properly to the printed factor gradient.

SMRT-mediated repression of an H3K27 demethylase in progression from neural stem cell to neuron.
Jepsen K, Solum D, Zhou T, McEvilly RJ, Kim HJ, Glass CK, Hermanson O, Rosenfeld MG
Nature 2007 Nov;450(7168):415-9

This manuscript demonstrates the specificity of transcriptional corepressors and also the discovery of H3K27 demethylases, later associated with in numerous disorders (e.g., pediatric CNS tumors and psychiatric disease).

N-CoR controls differentiation of neural stem cells into astrocytes.
Hermanson O, Jepsen K, Rosenfeld MG
Nature 2002 Oct;419(6910):934-9

This was a breakthrough paper in the understanding of the roles for transcriptional
corepressors in neural development.