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OPUS: Open Ulethbridge Scholarship

Open ULeth Scholarship (OPUS) is the University of Lethbridge's open access research repository. It contains a collection of materials related to research and teaching produced by the academic community.

Self-archiving your research in OPUS is one way to meet Open Access policies of granting agencies. It is important to retain your final, post-peer-reviewed drafts for submission to OPUS, as this is often the only version publishers will allow to be archived. Click here for information on the U of L Open Access Policy.

Check here for more information about OPUS.

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Recent Submissions

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    Gut microbiome metagenomic sequences of honey bees (Apis mellifera) exposed to crops
    (American Society for Microbiology, 2025) Tran, L.; Lansing, L.; Cunningham, M.; Ho, J.; Deckers, T.; Newman, T.; Wu, L.; Gregoris, S.; Zorz, J.; Muntz, L.; Lee, K.; Trépanier-Leroux, D.; Conflitti, Ida M.; Pepinelli, M.; Walsh, E. M.; Morfin, N.; Powell, J. E.; Moran, N.; Hoover, Shelley E.; Pernal, Stephen F.; Currie, Robert W.; Giovenazzo, P.; Guzman-Novoa, E.; Jabbari, H.; Foster, Leonard J.; Zayed, A.; Ortega Polo, Rodrigo; Guarna, M. Marta
    The gut microbiome of the European honey bee (Apis mellifera) is vital to its health, yet large-scale studies are scarce. We present metagenomic sequencing data from 180 samples collected near and far from eight crops across Canada over 2 years. These data sets will help address various biological and environmental questions.
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    High-CBD cannabis extracts inhibit the expression of proinflammatory factors via miRNA-mediated silencing in human small intestinal epithelial cells
    (Elsevier, 2023) Wang, Bo; Li, Dongping; Fiselier, Anna; Kovalchuk, Igor; Kovalchuk, Olga
    The incidence of chronic inflammatory disorders and autoimmune diseases is rapidly growing. To date, the COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has killed over 6,209,000 people globally, while no drug has been proven effective for the disease. Screening natural anti-inflammatory compounds for clinical application has drawn much attention. In this study, we showed that high-CBD cannabis extracts #1, #5, #7, #169, and #317 suppressed the levels of expression of proinflammatory cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) and increased the expression of the anti-inflammatory suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) in human small intestinal epithelial cells (HSIEC) in TNFα/IFNγ-triggered inflammation. We revealed that these extracts, with the exception of extract #169, also profoundly attenuated induction of proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6) and/or IL-8 proteins through miR-760- and miR-302c-3p-mediated silencing. The prevalent components in extracts #1 and #7 influenced the levels of IL-8 both individually as well as in combination with each other. However, the high-dose cannabis extracts displayed an inhibitory effect in the growth of HSIEC cells. These results show that our high-CBD cannabis extracts decrease the levels of proinflammatory molecules COX2, IL-6, and IL-8 via transcriptional suppression or miRNA-mediated silencing, highlighting their potential against COVID-19-associated cytokine storm syndrome.
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    Genome-wide detection of chimeric transcripts in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer
    (International Institute of Anticancer Research, 2023) Ilnytskyy, Yaroslav; Petersen, Lars; McIntyre, John B.; Konno, Mie; D'Silva, Adrijana; Dean, Michelle; Elegbede, Anifat; Golubov, Audrey; Kovalchuk, Olga; Kovalchuk, Igor; Bebb, Gwyn
    Lung cancer remains the main culprit in cancer-related mortality worldwide. Transcript fusions play a critical role in the initiation and progression of multiple cancers. Treatment approaches based on specific targeting of discovered driver events, such as mutations in EGFR, and fusions in NTRK, ROS1, and ALK genes led to profound improvements in clinical outcomes. The formation of chimeric proteins due to genomic rearrangements or at the post-transcriptional level is widespread and plays a critical role in tumor initiation and progression. Yet, the fusion landscape of lung cancer remains underexplored. Materials and Methods: We used the JAFFA pipeline to discover transcript fusions in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The set of detected fusions was further analyzed to identify recurrent events, genes with multiple partners and fusions with high predicted oncogenic potential. Finally, we used a generalized linear model (GLM) to establish statistical associations between fusion occurrences and clinicopathological variables. RNA sequencing was used to discover and characterize transcript fusions in 270 NSCLC samples selected from the Glans-Look specimen repository. The samples were obtained during the early stages of disease prior to the initiation of chemo- or radiotherapy. Results: We identified a set of 792 fusions where 751 were novel, and 33 were recurrent. Four of the 33 recurrent fusions were significantly associated with clinicopathological variables. Several of the fusion partners were represented by well-established oncogenes ERBB4, BRAF, FGFR2, and MET. Conclusion: The data presented in this study allow researchers to identify, select, and validate promising candidates for targeted clinical interventions.
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    Application of drug efficiency index metric for analysis of post-traumatic stress disorder and treatment resistant depression gene expression profiles
    (MDPI, 2023) Borisov, Nicolas; Ilnytskyy, Yaroslav; Byeon, Boseon; Kovalchuk, Olga; Kovalchuk, Igor
    Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe mental illness with grave social, political, economic, and humanitarian implications. To apply the principles of personalized omics-based medicine to this psychiatric problem, we implemented our previously introduced drug efficiency index (DEI) to the PTSD gene expression datasets. Generally, omics-based personalized medicine evaluates individual drug action using two classes of data: (1) gene expression, mutation, and Big Data profiles, and (2) molecular pathway graphs that reflect the protein–protein interaction. In the particular case of the DEI metric, we evaluate the drug action according to the drug’s ability to restore healthy (control) activation levels of molecular pathways. We have curated five PTSD and one TRD (treatment-resistant depression) cohorts of next-generation sequencing (NGS) and microarray hybridization (MH) gene expression profiles, which, in total, comprise 791 samples, including 379 cases and 413 controls. To check the applicability of our DEI metrics, we have performed three differential studies with gene expression and pathway activation data: (1) case samples vs. control samples, (2) case samples after treatment or/and observation vs. before treatment, and (3) samples from patients positively responding to the treatment vs. those responding negatively or non-responding patients. We found that the DEI values that use the signaling pathway impact activation (SPIA) metric were better than those that used the Oncobox pathway activation level (Oncobox PAL) approach. However, SPIA, Oncobox PAL, and DEI evaluations were reliable only if there were differential genes between case and control, or treated and untreated, samples.
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    Sex-dependent skin aging and rejuvenation strategies
    (MDPI, 2023) Gerasymchuk, Marta; Robinson, Gregory I.; Vardinska, Nataliia; Ayedun, Samuel A.; Alozie, Sandra C.; Robinson, John W.; Kovalchuk, Olga; Kovalchuk, Igor
    The skin, the largest external organ, serves as the primary defensive barrier against various environmental factors such as ultraviolet exposure, pollution, dietary habits, pathogens, and chemical compounds. Consequently, the skin reflects our age through visible signs of aging, such as wrinkles, age spots, dullness, and sagging. This review explores the gender-related aspects of cutaneous aging and the associated dermatological conditions. It highlights the different manifestations of aging in females and males that become evident after the age of 12, emphasizing the susceptibility to conditions such as seborrheic eczema, acne, and rosacea. Treatment strategies often vary between genders due to these disparities. While men tend to experience accelerated skin aging, most anti-aging products and strategies primarily target females. However, there has been a recent shift in men’s priorities, leading to increased interest in maintaining a youthful appearance and seeking cosmetic treatments. The manuscript covers a comprehensive range of modern dermal anti-aging and rejuvenation procedures, including plastic surgery, bio-revitalization methods, lasers, microneedling, and topical treatments. Additionally, it explores promising natural and synthetic therapeutics for combating age-related skin changes. The focus is on understanding the physiological aspects of gender-related cutaneous structure and aging to guide effective and tailored approaches in dermatological practice.