Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD)

Crystal Weyman

Professor, Chair BGES
Location: 
SR 266
Phone: 
216-687-6971
Fax: 
216-687-6972

Dr. Weyman’s research focus is to understand the signaling pathways that coordinately regulate the mutually exclusive biological endpoints of differentiation and apoptosis (programmed cell death) in skeletal myoblasts. Dissecting this coordinate regulation could enable selective manipulation relevant to the amelioration of disease states associated with muscle degeneration and to the effectiveness of any treatment utilizing skeletal myoblast transfer. The lab is also interested in signaling by oncogenic Ras.

A list of my publications in MyBibliography

Representative publications:

1. Weyman, C.M., Wolfson, M., Taparowsky, E.J., and Ashendel, C.L. (1988) Partial down-regulation of protein kinase C in C3H 10T1/2 mouse fibroblasts transfected with the human Ha-ras oncogene. Cancer Research 48:6535-6541.

2. Vaidya, T.B., Weyman, C.M., Ashendel, C.L., and Taparowsky, E.J. (1991) Inhibition of myogenesis by the Ha-ras oncogene: Implication of a role for protein kinase C.  Journal of Cellular Biology  114:809-820.

3. Weyman, C.M. and Stacey, D.W. (1996) Selective protection of normal cells against cancer drug induced toxicity by blockage at distinct points in proliferative signaling: A novel strategy for protective chemotherapy. Anticancer Research 16(1):493-498.

4. Weyman, C.M. and Stacey, D.W. (1996) Ras: Processor of Vital  Signals.  Advances in Oncobiology Breast Cancer.  JAI Press Inc.(E. Edward Bittar, ed.).1(8):159-177.

5. Weyman, C.M., Ramocki, M.B., Taparowsky, E.J., and Wolfman, A. (1997) Distinct signaling pathways regulate transformation and inhibition of skeletal muscle differentiation by oncogenic Ras. Oncogene 14:697-704.

6. Weyman, C.M. and Wolfman, A. (1997) Oncogenic Ras-induced secretion of a novel inhibitor of skeletal myoblast differentiation.  Oncogene, 15:2521-25-28.

7. Weyman, C.M. and Wolfman, A. (1998) MEK activity is required for inhibition of skeletal myoblast differentiation by IGF-1 or FGF-2. Endocrinology, 139:1794-1800.

8. Dee, K., Freer, M., Mei, Y. and Weyman, C.M. (2002) Apoptosis coincident with the differentiation of skeletal myoblasts is delayed by caspase 3 inhibition and abrogated by MEK-independent constitutive Ras signaling. Cell Death Differ. 9, 209-218.

9. DeChant, A., Dee, K. and Weyman, C.M. (2002) Raf-induced effects on the differentiation and apoptosis of skeletal myoblasts is determined by the level of Raf activity: abrogation of apoptosis by Raf is downstream of caspase 3 activation. Oncogene 21, 5268-5279.

10. Dee, K., DeChant, A. and Weyman, C.M. (2003) Differential signaling through NF_B does not ameliorate skeletal myoblast apoptosis during differentiation. FEBS Letters 545, 246-252

11. Dee, K., Karasarides, M., Schulman, D., Harford, T., Wolfman, A. and Weyman, C.M. (2006) Inhibition of skeletal myoblast differentiation and the associated apoptosis by active Ras mutants  is independent  of constitutive  PI3 kinase. Cell Biology International  30, 308-318.

12. Li, Q., Subbulakshmi, V., Oldfield, C.,  M.Aamir, R., Weyman, C.M., Wolfman,A. and Cathcart, M.K. (2007) PKCalpha regulates phosphorylation and enzymatic activity of cPLA(2) in vitro and in activated human monocytes.  Cell Signal.  19:359-366.

13. O Flaherty, J., Mei, Y., Freer, M. and Weyman, C.M. (2006) Signaling through the TRAIL receptor DR5/FADD pathway plays a role in the apoptosis associated with skeletal myoblast differentiation. Apoptosis  11:2103-2113.

14. Koo, B., LeGoff, C., Jungers, K., O Flaherty, J., Weyman, C.M.  and Apte, S. (2007) ADAMTS-LIKE 2 (ADAMTSL2) is a secreted glycoprotein that is widely expressed during mouse embryogenesis and is regulated during skeletal myogenesis. Matrix Biology 6:431-441.

15. Shaltouki, A., Freer, M., Mei, Y. and Weyman, C.M. (2007) Increased expression of the pro-apoptotic Bcl2 family member PUMA is required for the mitochondrial release of cytochrome   C and the apoptosis associated with skeletal myoblast differentiation.  Apoptosis 12:2143-2154.

16. Zhou, Y., Weyman, C.M., Hongli Liu, Almasan A. and Zhou, A. (2008) IFN-gamma selectively mediates cytochrome C release and apoptosis in HL60 cells through decreased Bcl2 expression and increased Bak expression. J. Interferon and Cytokine Res. 28:65-72

17. Liu, H., Liang, S.L., Kumar, S., Weyman, C.M., Liu, W.  and Zhou, A. (2009) Statins induce apoptosis in ovarian cancer cells through the Rac1/Cdc42/JNK pathway. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol  6:997-1005.

18. Freer, M., Ross, J., O Flaherty, J.  and Weyman, C.M.  (2009) Noncanonical role for the TRAIL receptor DR5/FADD/caspase pathway in the maintenance of MyoD expression and the differentiation of skeletal myoblasts. Differentiation.  4:205-212.

19. Harford, T., Shaltouki, A. and Weyman, C.M.  (2010) Increased expression of the pro-apoptotic Bcl2 family member PUMA and apoptosis by the muscle regulatory transcription factor MyoD in response to a variety of stimuli. Apoptosis 15:71-82.

20. Ebron, J., Weyman, C.M., and Shukla, G (2013) Targeting of Androgen Receptor expression by andro-miRs as novel adjunctive therapeutics in prostate cancer. Journal of Cancer Therapy 4:47-58.

21. Shaltouki, A., Harford, T. J., Komar, A.A and Weyman, C.M.  (2013) IRES-mediated translation of the pro-apoptotic Bcl2 family member PUMA. Translation 1:1-11. (featured in antibodyresource.com).

22. Ebron, J.S., Weyman, C.M. and Shukla G.C. 2013) Targeting of Androgen Receptor Expression by Andro-miRs as Novel Adjunctive Therapeutics in Prostate Cancer. J Cancer Ther. 4:47-58.

23.  Harford, T.J, Kliment, G., Shukla G.C., Weyman C.M. (2017) The muscle regulatory transcription factor MyoD participates with p53 to directly increase the expression of the pro-apoptotic Bcl2 family member PUMA. Apoptosis 12:1532-1542.

24. Ebron, J.S., Shankar, E., Singh, J., Sikand, K., Weyman, C.M., Gupta, S., Lindner, D.J., Liu, X, Campbell, M.J. and Shukla, G,C. (2019) MiR-644a Disrupts Oncogenic Transformation and Warburg Effect by Direct Modulation of Multiple Genes of Tumor-Promoting Pathways. Cancer Res.  79(8):1844-1856.

25. Ross, J.A., Barrett, B., Bensimon, V., Shukla, G. and Weyman, C.M. (2020) Basal Signalling Through Death Receptor 5 and Caspase 3 Activates p38 Kinase to Regulate Serum Response Factor (SRF)-Mediated MyoD Transcription. J Mol Signal. 8;14:1.

26. Bhattarai, A., Likos, E.M., Weyman, C.M. and Shukla, G.C. (2021) Regulation of cholesterol biosynthesis and lipid metabolism: A microRNA management perspective. Steroids 173:108878.