433 research outputs found
CEO Education and the Ability to Raise Capital
Research Question/Issue: Using a unique handâcollected dataset, this study examines the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) educational attainments in relation to newly public firms.
Research Findings/Insights: We find that Initial Public Offering (IPO) firms led by CEOs with superior educational credentials â in terms of level and quality â are associated with lower levels of IPO underpricing. This association is mainly driven by CEOs that hold advanced degrees. Notably, a differenceâinâdifference approach based on two quasiânatural experiments indicates that the impact of CEO education on IPO underpricing is more pronounced within environments characterized by lower information transparency. The baseline results also hold in the longer term, thereby confirming the value of signaling prestigious academic awards at the time of the IPO.
Theoretical/Academic Implications: Using human capital, institutional and upper echelon theories, we hypothesize and demonstrate that CEO educational attainments do not unambiguously affect investorsâ perceptions of a firm's future prospects. Instead, their influence depends on the quality of CEO education as well as on the degree of uncertainty regarding the firm's future performance, and the level of information asymmetry between issuers and prospective investors. To our knowledge, this is the first study that provides a comprehensive treatment of the role of CEO education in the IPO context.
Practitioner/Policy Implications: Our evidence on the importance of CEO education, and especially that CEOs with varying levels and quality of educational training might differentially affect newly listed firms, is useful to providers of financial capital and boards of directors interested in assessing the viability of new ventures. The implication of our study for IPO investors is that it is worth paying more to take an equity position in firms run by betterâeducated CEOs
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CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND INVESTORS' PERCEPTIONS OF FOREIGN IPO VALUE: AN INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE
We build on sociology-grounded research on financial market behavior and suggest a ânestedâ legitimacy framework to explore U.S. investor perceptions of foreign IPO value. We draw on a fuzzy-set theoretic approach to demonstrate how different combinations of monitoring and incentive-based corporate governance mechanisms lead to the same level of investor valuations of firms. We also argue that institutional factors related to the minority shareholder protection strength in the foreign IPOâs home country represent a boundary condition that affects the number of governance mechanisms required to achieve U.S. investorsâ high value perceptions. Our findings, drawn from a unique, hand-collected dataset of foreign IPOs in the U.S, contribute to the sociological perspective on comparative corporate governance and the inter-dependencies between organizations and institutions
Peptide Ligands for Pro-survival Protein Bfl-1 from Computationally Guided Library Screening
Pro-survival members of the Bcl-2 protein family inhibit cell death by binding short helical BH3 motifs in pro-apoptotic proteins. Mammalian pro-survival proteins Bcl-x[subscript L], Bcl-2, Bcl-w, Mcl-1, and Bfl-1 bind with varying affinities and specificities to native BH3 motifs, engineered peptides, and small molecules. Biophysical studies have determined interaction patterns for these proteins, particularly for the most-studied family members Bcl-x[subscript L] and Mcl-1. Bfl-1 is a pro-survival protein implicated in preventing apoptosis in leukemia, lymphoma, and melanoma. Although Bfl-1 is a promising therapeutic target, relatively little is known about its binding preferences. We explored the binding of Bfl-1 to BH3-like peptides by screening a peptide library that was designed to sample a high degree of relevant sequence diversity. Screening using yeast-surface display led to several novel high-affinity Bfl-1 binders and to thousands of putative binders identified through deep sequencing. Further screening for specificity led to identification of a peptide that bound to Bfl-1 with K[subscript d] < 1 nM and very slow dissociation from Bfl-1 compared to other pro-survival Bcl-2 family members. A point mutation in this sequence gave a peptide with ~50 nM affinity for Bfl-1 that was selective for Bfl-1 in equilibrium binding assays. Analysis of engineered Bfl-1 binders deepens our understanding of how the binding profiles of pro-survival proteins differ and may guide the development of targeted Bfl-1 inhibitors.National Institute of General Medical Sciences (U.S.) (Award GM084181)National Institute of General Medical Sciences (U.S.) (Award P50-GM68762
Bcl-2 inhibits apoptosis by increasing the time-to-death and intrinsic cell-to-cell variations in the mitochondrial pathway of cell death
BH3 mimetics have been proposed as new anticancer therapeutics. They target
anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins, up-regulation of which has been implicated in
the resistance of many cancer cells, particularly leukemia and lymphoma cells,
to apoptosis. Using probabilistic computational modeling of the mitochondrial
pathway of apoptosis, verified by single-cell experimental observations, we
develop a model of Bcl-2 inhibition of apoptosis. Our results clarify how Bcl-2
imparts its anti-apoptotic role by increasing the time-to-death and
cell-to-cell variability. We also show that although the commitment to death is
highly impacted by differences in protein levels at the time of stimulation,
inherent stochastic fluctuations in apoptotic signaling are sufficient to
induce cell-to-cell variability and to allow single cells to escape death. This
study suggests that intrinsic cell-to-cell stochastic variability in apoptotic
signaling is sufficient to cause fractional killing of cancer cells after
exposure to BH3 mimetics. This is an unanticipated facet of cancer
chemoresistance.Comment: 11 pages, In pres
Molecular Interactions of Prodiginines with the BH3 Domain of Anti-Apoptotic Bcl-2 Family Members
Prodigiosin and obatoclax, members of the prodiginines family, are small molecules with anti-cancer properties that are
currently under preclinical and clinical trials. The molecular target(s) of these agents, however, is an open question.
Combining experimental and computational techniques we find that prodigiosin binds to the BH3 domain in some BCL-2
protein families, which play an important role in the apoptotic programmed cell death. In particular, our results indicate
a large affinity of prodigiosin for MCL-1, an anti-apoptotic member of the BCL-2 family. In melanoma cells, we demonstrate
that prodigiosin activates the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway by disrupting MCL-1/BAK complexes. Computer simulations
with the PELE software allow the description of the induced fit process, obtaining a detailed atomic view of the molecular
interactions. These results provide new data to understand the mechanism of action of these molecules, and assist in the
development of more specific inhibitors of anti-apoptotic BCL-2 proteins.Spanish government and the European Union (FIS-PI10/00338) and from the ERC-2009-Adg
25027-PELE European project
To be financed or not : the role of patents for venture capital financing
This paper investigates how patent applications and grants held by new ventures improve their ability to attract venture capital (VC) financing. We argue that investors are faced with considerable uncertainty and therefore rely on patents as signals when trying to assess the prospects of potential portfolio companies. For a sample of VC-seeking German and British biotechnology companies we have identified all patents filed at the European Patent Office (EPO). Applying hazard rate analysis, we find that in the presence of patent applications, VC financing occurs earlier. Our results also show that VCs pay attention to patent quality, financing those ventures faster which later turn out to have high-quality patents. Patent oppositions increase the likelihood of receiving VC, but ultimate grant decisions do not spur VC financing, presumably because they are anticipated. Our empirical results and interviews with VCs suggest that the process of patenting generates signals which help to overcome the liabilities of newness faced by new ventures
Selective Induction of Cell Death in Melanoma Cell Lines through Targeting of Mcl-1 and A1
Melanoma is an often fatal form of skin cancer which is remarkably resistant against radio- and chemotherapy. Even new strategies that target RAS/RAF signaling and display unprecedented efficacy are characterized by resistance mechanisms. The targeting of survival pathways would be an attractive alternative strategy, if tumor-specific cell death can be achieved. Bcl-2 proteins play a central role in regulating survival of tumor cells. In this study, we systematically investigated the relevance of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 proteins, i.e., Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, Bcl-w, Mcl-1, and A1, in melanoma cell lines and non-malignant cells using RNAi. We found that melanoma cells required the presence of specific antiapoptotic Bcl-2 proteins: Inhibition of Mcl-1 and A1 strongly induced cell death in some melanoma cell lines, whereas non-malignant cells, i.e., primary human fibroblasts or keratinocytes were not affected. This specific sensitivity of melanoma cells was further enhanced by the combined inhibition of Mcl-1 and A1 and resulted in 60% to 80% cell death in all melanoma cell lines tested. This treatment was successfully combined with chemotherapy, which killed a substantial proportion of cells that survived Mcl-1 and A1 inhibition. Together, these results identify antiapoptotic proteins on which specifically melanoma cells rely on and, thus, provide a basis for the development of new Bcl-2 protein-targeting therapies
Pegylated IFN-α sensitizes melanoma cells to chemotherapy and causes premature senescence in endothelial cells by IRF-1-mediated signaling
Pegylated interferon-α2b (pIFN-α) is an integral part of the drug regimen currently employed against melanoma. Interferon regulatory factor-1 (IRF-1) has an important role in the transcriptional regulation of the IFN response, cell cycle and apoptosis. We have studied pIFN-α-induced responses when combined with the chemotherapy agent, vinblastine (VBL), in tumor and endothelial cell lines and the connection to IRF-1 signaling. Levels of IRF-1/IRF-2 protein expression were found to be decreased in tumor versus normal tissues. pIFN-α induced IRF-1 signaling in human melanoma (M14) and endothelial (EA.hy926) cells and enhanced cell death when combined with VBL. Upon combined IFN-α and VBL treatment, p21 expression, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage and activated Bak levels were increased in M14 cells. An increase in p21 and cyclin D1 expression occurred in EA.hy926 cells after 6âh of treatment with pIFN-α, which dissipated by 24âh. This biphasic response, characteristic of cellular senescence, was more pronounced upon combined treatment. Exposure of the EA.hy926 cells to pIFN-α was associated with an enlarged, multinucleated, ÎČ-galactosidase-positive senescent phenotype. The overall therapeutic mechanism of IFN-α combined with chemotherapy may be due to both direct tumor cell death via IRF-1 signaling and by premature senescence of endothelial cells and subsequent effects on angiogenesis in the tumor microenvironment
The eEF1Îł Subunit Contacts RNA Polymerase II and Binds Vimentin Promoter Region
Here, we show that the eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1 gamma (eEF1Îł) physically interacts with the RNA polymerase II (pol II) core subunit 3 (RPB3), both in isolation and in the context of the holo-enzyme. Importantly, eEF1Îł has been recently shown to bind Vimentin mRNA. By chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments, we demonstrate, for the first time, that eEF1Îł is also physically present on the genomic locus corresponding to the promoter region of human Vimentin gene. The eEF1Îł depletion causes the Vimentin protein to be incorrectly compartmentalised and to severely compromise cellular shape and mitochondria localisation. We demonstrate that eEF1Îł partially colocalises with the mitochondrial marker Tom20 and that eEF1Îł depletion increases mitochondrial superoxide generation as well as the total levels of carbonylated proteins. Finally, we hypothesise that eEF1Îł, in addition to its role in translation elongation complex, is involved in regulating Vimentin gene by contacting both pol II and the Vimentin promoter region and then shuttling/nursing the Vimentin mRNA from its gene locus to its appropriate cellular compartment for translation
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