Jae Hyun Byun

McGill University | McGill · Faculty of Medicine

The fatty acid translocase, also known as CD36, is a well-established scavenger receptor for fatty acid (FA) uptake and is abundantly expressed in many metabolically active tissues. In the liver, CD36 is known to contribute to the progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and to the more severe non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, by promoting tri...

Evidence suggests that caffeine (CF) reduces cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. However, the mechanism by which this occurs has not yet been uncovered. Here, we investigated the effect of CF on the expression of two bona fide regulators of circulating low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLc) levels; the proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type...

https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMc2402048

Background: Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide. Unstable atherosclerotic plaques that reside in the carotid arteries are major etiological factors known to increase the incidence of ischemic strokes. Moreover, sex differences exist in plaque morphology and composition; males are more prone to develop unstable plaque...

Cardiovascular mortality is particularly high and increasing in patients with chronic kidney disease, with vascular calcification (VC) as a major pathophysiologic feature. VC is a highly regulated biological process similar to bone formation involving osteogenic transdifferentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). We have previously demons...

Background The 78-kDa glucose-regulated protein (GRP78) expressed on the cell surface (csGRP78) has been reported to regulate tissue factor procoagulant activity (TF PCA) in lesion-resident endothelial cells (ECs), which is further enhanced by circulating anti-GRP78 autoantibodies that bind to the Leu98-Leu115 epitope in GRP78. Objectives Determ...

Statins are a cornerstone in the medical management of cardiovascular disease, yet their efficacy varies greatly between individuals. In this commentary, we outline evidence for the role of CD4+CD28null T-cell expansion as a critical moderator of the effects of statins in preventing cardiovascular events via the reduction of pathological inflammati...

Endoplasmic reticulum stress is associated with insulin resistance and the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Deficiency of the endoplasmic reticulum stress response T-cell death–associated gene 51 (TDAG51) (TDAG51−/−) in mice promotes the development of high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity, fatty liver, and hepatic insulin resistance....

Objective: Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) affects hundreds of millions of individuals and constitutes a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Obesity is believed to be at the core of metabolic abnormalities associated with MetS, including dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, fatty liver disease and vascular dysfunction. Although previous studi...

Pleckstrin homology-like domain, family A, member 1 (PHLDA1) is a multifaceted intracellular protein belonging to the evolutionarily conserved pleckstrin homology-related domain family. Its murine homologue, T-cell death-associated gene 51 (TDAG51), was initially discovered for its role in activation-induced apoptosis in T-cell hybridomas. In recen...

The 78 kDa glucose-regulated protein (GRP78) is considered an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-resident molecular chaperone that plays a crucial role in protein folding homeostasis by regulating the unfolded protein response (UPR) and inducing numerous proapoptotic and autophagic pathways within the eukaryotic cell. However, in cancer cells, GRP78 has al...

Background: PCSK9 modulates the uptake of circulating lipids through a range of receptors, including the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) and CD36. In the kidney, CD36 is known to contribute to renal injury through pro-inflammatory and -fibrotic pathways. In this study, we sought to investigate the role of PCSK9 in modulating renal lipid acc...

The importance of the proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type-9 (PCSK9) gene was quickly recognized by the scientific community as the third locus for familial hypercholesterolemia. By promoting the degradation of the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), secreted PCSK9 protein plays a vital role in the regulation of circulating cholesterol...

The hepatic carbohydrate-recognizing asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGR1) mediates the endocytosis/lysosomal degradation of desialylated glycoproteins following binding to terminal galactose/N-acetylgalactosamine. Human heterozygote-carriers of ASGR1-deletions exhibit ∼34% lower risk of coronary artery disease and ∼10-14% reduction of non-HDL-choles...

Calcium (Ca²⁺) is an essential mineral of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) luminal biochemistry due to the Ca²⁺-dependence of ER-resident chaperones charged with folding de novo proteins that transit this cellular compartment. ER Ca²⁺ depletion reduces the ability of chaperones to properly fold the proteins entering the ER, thus leading to an accumulatio...

Individuals harboring the loss-of-function (LOF) proprotein convertase subtilising/kexin type 9 Gln152His variation (PCSK9Q152H) have low circulating low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels and are therefore protected against cardiovascular disease (CVD). This uncleavable form of pro-PCSK9, however, is retained in the endoplasmic reticulum...

Objective Cardiovascular disease is the primary cause of mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease. Vascular calcification (VC) in the medial layer of the vessel wall is a unique and prominent feature in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease and is now recognized as an important predictor and independent risk factor for cardiovascul...

ABSTRACT Objective: Growth differentiation factors (GDFs) and bone-morphogenic proteins (BMPs) are members of the transforming growth factor b (TGFb) superfamily and are known to play a central role in the growth and differentiation of developing tissues. Accumulating evidence, however, demonstrates that many of these factors, such as BMP-2 and -4,...

Cell death is a common driver of human disease and is frequently studied in a variety of in vitro settings. There currently exists a range of commercially available assays to examine cell death, however, most are costly and require assay-specific experimental conditions that may not be suitable for many cell types. Here, we show that cellular debri...

The worldwide prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is increasing rapidly. Although this condition is generally benign, accumulating evidence now suggests that patients with NAFLD are also at increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD); the leading cause of death in developed nations. Despite the well-established role of the li...

Endoplasmic reticulum stress plays an important role in cardiovascular disease (CVD) and atherosclerosis. We aimed to assess the ability of 4‐phenylbutyrate (4‐PBA), a small chemical chaperone administered via drinking water, to reduce atherosclerotic lesion size in chow‐fed apolipoprotein (Apo) e−/− mice and to identify mechanisms that contribute...

The 78-kDa glucose-regulated protein (GRP78) is an ER molecular chaperone that aids in protein folding and secretion. However, pathological conditions that cause ER stress can promote the relocalization of GRP78 to the cell surface (csGRP78), where it acts as a signaling receptor to promote cancer progression. csGRP78 also possesses antigenic prope...

The Undergraduate Research in Natural and Clinical Science and Technology (URNCST) Journal was founded in July 2017 and has strived to be recognized as the leading publisher for undergraduate research conferences and case competitions around the world since its inception. The journal provides undergraduate researchers with the opportunity to showca...

Abstract Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the primary cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). More than half of all deaths from patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) requiring dialysis can be attributed to CVD. Although traditional risk factors for CVD are prevalent in ESRD, they cannot fully explain th...

Abstract Characterized by excess hepatic lipid accumulation, hepatic steatosis frequently leads to hepatocyte injury and onset of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Recently, the discovery of a bona fide regulator of the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor (LDLR), the proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type-9 (PCSK9), has lead to the devel...

Abstract The proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type-9 (PCSK9) plays a central role in cardiovascular disease (CVD) by degrading hepatic low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR). As such, loss-of-function (LOF) PCSK9 variants that fail to exit the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) increase hepatic LDLR levels and lower the risk of developing CVD. The r...

The proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type-9 (PCSK9) plays a central role in cardiovascular disease (CVD) by degrading hepatic low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR). As such, loss-of-function (LOF) PCSK9 variants that fail to exit the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) increase hepatic LDLR levels and lower the risk of developing CVD. The retention...

Presented: 1. CPHA Public Health 2017 Public Health 2017, Canadian Public Health Association Annual Conference (CPHA). Halifax, NS. June 6 – 8, 2017 (Poster) 2. 9th Annual Dalla Lana School of Public Health Student-Led Conference, University of Toronto.Toronto, ON. October 21-22, 2016 (Poster)

The simultaneity judgment (SJ) and temporal order judgment (TOJ) tasks are the two widely used methods for measuring the size of the window of simultaneity among various sensory modalities; however, recent evidence in the literature suggest that these two tasks may in fact measure distinct cognitive processes. We present data from the visuotactile...