14365 results for ""Pennsylvania+German"+ACS+study+'Socius'+open+access"

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• Symptom Clusters in Oncology Patients Receiving Chemotherapy

  The parent longitudinal study evaluated the symptom experience of oncology outpatients receiving chemotherapy. Patients completed questionnaires in their homes a total of six times (assessments 1 through 6). The questionnaires were timed to evaluate symptoms associated with the receipt of two cycles of chemotherapy that were administered approximately a month apart. Assessments 1 and 4 evaluated symptoms prior to the receipt of chemotherapy. Assessments 2 and 5 evaluated symptoms in the week following the administration of chemotherapy. Assessments 3 and 6 evaluated symptoms two weeks following the administration of chemotherapy. For this analysis, morning and evening fatigue data from the enrollment assessment (i.e., prior to the second or third cycle of chemotherapy) and the assessment that was done approximately 1 week after administration of chemotherapy were evaluated. Patients completed the Lee Fatigue Scale to obtain information on morning and evening fatigue severity. For the morning fatigue assessment, patients were asked to describe how they “felt over the past week when they woke up in the morning”. For the evening fatigue assessment, they were asked to describe how they felt over the past week “before they went to bed at night”. Medical records were reviewed for disease and treatment information. Epigenome assays (microarray) were completed for 1170 patients. Whole transcriptome sequencing (bulk RNA-Seq) was completed for 651 patients.

  Study phs003863

• In vitro reconstitution of epigenetic reprogramming in the human germ line

  Epigenetic reprogramming resets parental epigenetic memories and differentiates primordial germ cells (PGCs) into mitotic pro-spermatogonia or oogonia, ensuring sexually dimorphic germ-cell development for totipotency. In vitro reconstitution of epigenetic reprogramming in humans remains a fundamental challenge. Here, we establish a robust strategy for inducing epigenetic reprogramming and differentiation of pluripotent stem cell (PSC)-derived human PGC-like cells (hPGCLCs) into mitotic pro-spermatogonia or oogonia, coupled with their extensive amplification (~>1010-fold). Strikingly, bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signalling is a key driver of these processes: BMP-driven hPGCLC differentiation involves an attenuation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular-regulated kinase (MAPK/ERK) pathway and both de novo and maintenance DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) activities, likely promoting replication-coupled, passive DNA demethylation. On the other hand, hPGCLCs deficient in tens-eleven translocation (TET) 1, an active DNA demethylase abundant in human germ cells, differentiate into extraembryonic cells, including amnion, with de-repression of key genes bearing bivalent promoters; these cells fail to fully activate genes vital for spermatogenesis and oogenesis, with their promoters remaining methylated. Our study elucidates the framework of epigenetic reprogramming in humans, making a fundamental advance in human biology, and through the generation of abundant mitotic pro-spermatogonia and oogonia-like cells, represents a milestone for human in vitro gametogenesis (IVG) research and its potential translation into reproductive medicine.

  Study JGAS000690

• Identification of RNA biomarkers in Parkinson's disease iPSC-derived neuronal cells

  Parkinson?s disease (PD) is an age-related, chronic and progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a loss of multifocal neurons and subsequent motor symptoms. These overt motor symptoms are often preceded by prodromal non-motor symptoms. Though a number of genetic and environmental factors have been identified to play a role in PD, more exact methods for both diagnosing and assessing prognosis are yet to be discovered. Probing the transcriptomes of control and PD cells can give some interesting insight into changes caused by the disease (in both coding and non-coding gene expression), highlighting potential RNA biomarkers that may be used for PD diagnosis and as new drug targets. The study consists of two main sources of data: matched neural stem cell (NSC) and fully differentiated dopaminergic neurons derived from iPS cells. Both sets of data are made up of three samples from a control cell line, and five samples carrying a mutation in one of several genes known to be linked to heritable PD: PARK2, PARK22 or PARK9. All transcriptome libraries were synthesized and sequenced using no-amplification non-tagging cap analysis of gene expression (nAnT-iCAGE) on the Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform. Resulting data was mapped to the human genome annotation (hg38) and processed CAGE tags were clustered ready for differential expression analyses. The 16 samples here described were sequenced across two lanes.

  Study JGAS000142

• Identification of RNA biomarkers in Parkinson's disease iPSC-derived neuronal cells

  Parkinson���s disease (PD) is an age-related, chronic and progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a loss of multifocal neurons and subsequent motor symptoms. These overt motor symptoms are often preceded by prodromal non-motor symptoms. Though a number of genetic and environmental factors have been identified to play a role in PD, more exact methods for both diagnosing and assessing prognosis are yet to be discovered. Probing the transcriptomes of control and PD cells can give some interesting insight into changes caused by the disease (in both coding and non-coding gene expression), highlighting potential RNA biomarkers that may be used for PD diagnosis and as new drug targets. The study consists of two main sources of data: matched neural stem cell (NSC) and fully differentiated dopaminergic neurons derived from iPS cells. Both sets of data are made up of three samples from a control cell line, and five samples carrying a mutation in one of several genes known to be linked to heritable PD: PARK2, PARK22 or PARK9. All transcriptome libraries were synthesized and sequenced using no-amplification non-tagging cap analysis of gene expression (nAnT-iCAGE) on the Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform. Resulting data was mapped to the human genome annotation (hg38) and processed CAGE tags were clustered ready for differential expression analyses. The 16 samples here described were sequenced across two lanes.

  Study JGAS000318

• Neoadjuvant immune checkpoint blockade in mismatch-repair proficient colon cancers

  Immune checkpoint blockade has led to paradigm shifts in the treatment of various tumour types, yet limited efficacy has been observed in patients with metastatic mismatch-repair proficient (pMMR) colorectal cancer. Here we report an in-depth analysis of patients with early-stage pMMR colon cancer from the phase II NICHE study (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03026140). A total of 31 patients received neoadjuvant treatment of nivolumab plus ipilimumab followed by surgery. The response rate was 26% and included six patients with a major pathological response (≤10% residual viable tumour). One patient with an ongoing clinical complete response did not undergo surgery. Responses were observed despite a low tumour mutational burden in all tumours, while chromosomal genomic instability scores were significantly higher in responders compared to non-responders. Responding tumours were more likely to be TP53 mutant, KRASG12 wildtype and had significantly higher baseline expression of proliferation signatures and TCF1. Imaging mass cytometry also revealed a higher percentage of Ki-67+ cancer and Ki-67+ CD8+ T cells in responders compared to non-responders. Meanwhile, in non-responders, we observed an enrichment for an inflamed-fibrotic microenvironment associated with TGF-β expression, hinting towards possible resistance mechanisms. These results provide a comprehensive analysis of response to neoadjuvant ICB in early-stage pMMR colon cancers and identify potential biomarkers for patient selection.

  Study EGAS50000000856

• Immune heterogeneity in small cell lung cancer and vulnerability to immune checkpoint blockade

  Following the pivotal Phase III IMpower133 study, atezolizumab (anti–PD-L1), combined with carboplatin and etoposide (CE), was the first immune checkpoint inhibitor approved for first-line treatment of extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) and is now a standard of care. A clearer understanding of therapeutically relevant SCLC subsets is needed to improve outcomes and to identify rational combination strategies. Transcriptomic analyses and nonnegative matrix factorization were conducted on 271 pre-treatment patient tumor samples from IMpower133 and four subsets with general concordance to previously reported SCLC subtypes were identified. Deeper investigation into the immune heterogeneity relevant to clinical outcomes uncover two subsets with differing neuroendocrine (NE) versus non-neuroendocrine (non-NE) phenotypes that demonstrated hallmarks of immune cell infiltration. The balance of tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) to T-effector signals distinguished these inflamed subsets. Tumors with low TAM but high T-effector signals had a NE phenotype and demonstrated longer overall survival with PD-L1 blockade and CE versus CE alone than did tumors with high TAM and high T-effector signal, which had a non-NE phenotype. The delineation of SCLC immune heterogeneity offers a clinically relevant approach to discriminate SCLC patients likely to benefit most from immunotherapeutic approaches and highlights the complex mechanisms underlying response and resistance to immune checkpoint blockade. 

  Study EGAS50000000138

• Investigating Host Genetic Risk Factors for Tuberculosis in Highly Endemic South African Populations

  It is apparent from our recent population genetic and admixture mapping work 1–3 that a substantial part of the ancestral input into the South African Coloured (SAC) population is from the San or Khoe groups, which are not well represented in publicly available genetic databases. It is a reasonable assumption that the SAC population in the Western Cape may have derived more genetic input from the present KhoeSan population in the Northern Cape than the San residing in Namibia. It was concluded by our group that it is indeed the southern African KhoeSan group, the ≠Khomani, that best represent the KhoeSan contribution seen in the SAC 4. More recently, it has been shown that there are ancestry related increases in TB susceptibility, especially with increased Bantu-speaking African and KhoeSan ancestry 5. We aim to elucidate the epidemiological and human-host genetic risk factors for TB and the immunological pathways modulating TB infection. The proposed sub-study will enroll people evaluated for TB at Northern Cape community health clinics and their contacts from their households and/or community. We will conduct a demographic interview, collect saliva, which will be used for genetic analysis, and blood to determine latent TB infection status and capture immunological responses to mycobacterial infections at the cellular level and RNA sequencing.

  Study EGAS00001007850

• Multimodal plasma and urinary cell-free DNA profiling improves risk stratification in newly diagnosed prostate cancer

  Prostate cancer (PCa) is a heterogeneous disease, impeding early detection and risk stratification. Liquid biopsies (LBx) enable minimally invasive tumor profiling, but circulating tumor-derived DNA (ctDNA) detection remains difficult, particularly in early-stage PCa. We developed a multimodal LBx approach combining genomic and epigenomic cell-free DNA (cfDNA) features in plasma and urine from newly diagnosed PCa patients to improve early characterization of PCa and risk stratification of aggressive disease. Plasma and urine samples from 55 localized PCa (lPCa) patients, 18 advanced PCa (aPCa) patients, and 36 cancer-free controls were subjected to low-coverage whole-genome sequencing and methylated DNA immunoprecipitation sequencing to assess fragmentation, chromosomal instability, and methylation in cfDNA. This complementary approach yielded a 45% ctDNA detection rate in newly diagnosed PCa. Major differences were observed between aPCa and controls, reflecting increasing signals with tumor progression. Epigenomic cfDNA features differentiated lPCa from aPCa, and ctDNA was detected in 46% of PCa patients with prostate-specific antigen <10 ng/ml, suggesting potential for risk stratification. This study highlights the value of multimodal LBx approaches for early characterization of primary PCa and identification of aggressive disease at initial diagnosis. Integration into clinical workflows could complement diagnostics and support personalized decision-making tailored to patients’ PCa risk profiles. 

  Study EGAS00001008195

• Genomic characterization of retinoblastoma (targeted sequencing)

  Retinoblastoma is the most frequent intraocular malignancy in children, originating from a maturing cone precursor in the developing retina. Little is known on the molecular basis underlying the biological and clinical behavior of this cancer. Here, using multi-omics data, we demonstrate the existence of two retinoblastoma subtypes. Subtype 1, of earlier onset, includes most of the heritable forms. It harbors few genetic alterations other than the initiating RB1 inactivation and corresponds to differentiated tumors expressing mature cone markers. By contrast, subtype 2 tumors harbor frequent recurrent genetic alterations including MYCN-amplification. They express markers of less differentiated cone together with neuronal/ganglion cell markers with marked inter- and intra-tumor heterogeneity. The cone dedifferentiation in subtype 2 is associated with stemness features including low immune and interferon response, E2F and MYC/MYCN activation and a higher propensity for metastasis. The recognition of these two subtypes, one maintaining a cone-differentiated state, and the other, more aggressive, associated with cone dedifferentiation and expression of neuronal markers, opens up important biological and clinical perspectives for retinoblastomas. In this study, we performed targeted sequencing of the exonic regions of RB1, BCOR and ARID1A on 37 samples from the series of 102 retinoblastomas. Among them, 23 samples were not subjected to whole-exome sequencing, and 14 samples have the whole-exome sequencing data (deposited in EGAS00001005248).

  Study EGAS00001005550

• Transcriptional regulatory networks of tumor-associated macrophages that drive malignancy in mesenchymal glioblastoma

  Background: Glioblastoma (GBM) is a complex disease with extensive molecular and transcriptional heterogeneity. GBM can be subcategorized into four distinct subtypes; tumors that shift towards the mesenchymal phenotype upon recurrence are generally associated with treatment resistance, unfavorable prognosis, and the infiltration of pro-tumorigenic macrophages. Results: We explore the transcriptional regulatory networks of mesenchymal-associated tumor-associated macrophages (MA-TAMs), which drive the malignant phenotypic state of GBM, and identify macrophage receptor with collagenous structure (MARCO) as the most highly differentially expressed gene. MARCOhigh TAMs induce a phenotypic shift towards mesenchymal cellular state of glioma stem cells, promoting both invasive and proliferative activities, as well as therapeutic resistance to irradiation. MARCOhigh TAMs also significantly accelerate tumor engraftment and growth in vivo. Moreover, both MA-TAM master regulators and their target genes are significantly correlated with poor clinical outcomes, and are often associated with genomic aberrations in neurofibromin 1 (NF1) and phosphoinositide 3-kinases/mammalian target of rapamycin/Akt pathway (PI3K-mTOR-AKT)-related genes. We further demonstrate origination of MA-TAMs from peripheral blood, as well as their potential association with tumor-induced polarization states and immunosuppressive environments. Conclusions: Collectively, our study characterizes the global transcriptional profile of TAMs driving mesenchymal GBM pathogenesis, providing potential therapeutic targets for improving the effectiveness of GBM immunotherapy.

  Study EGAS00001002443

• WES of 2 human osteosarcoma and corresponding cell lines

  Progress in the systemic control of osteosarcoma has been limited over the past decades thus indicating the urgent clinical need for the development of novel treatment strategies. Therefore, we have recently developed new preclinical models to study promising novel agents for the treatment of pediatric osteosarcoma. The checkpoint kinase (chk) inhibitor prexasertib (LY2606368) and its salt form (LSN2940930) have recently been shown to be active in adult and pediatric malignancies, including sarcoma. We have now tested the potency of prexasertib in clonogenic survival assays in two new lines of primary patient-derived osteosarcoma cells and in two established osteosarcoma cell lines as a single agent and in combination with cisplatin and the poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor talazoparib. Prexasertib alone results in strongly reduced clonogenic survival at low nanomolar concentrations and acts by affecting cell cycle progression, induction of apoptosis and induction of double-stranded DNA breakage at concentrations that are well below clinically tolerable and safe plasma concentrations. In combination with cisplatin and talazoparib, prexasertib acts in a synergistic fashion. Chk1 inhibition by prexasertib and its combination with the DNA damaging agent cisplatin and the PARP-inhibitor talazoparib thus emerges as a potential new treatment option for pediatric osteosarcoma which will now have to be tested in preclinical primary patient derived in vivo models and clinical studies.

  Study EGAS00001003923

• Human Pancreatic Islet RNAseq - Lund

  Most signals detected by genome-wide association studies map to non-coding sequence and their tissue-specific effects influence transcriptional regulation. However, many key tissues and cell-types required for appropriate functional inference are absent from large-scale resources such as ENCODE and GTEx. We explored the relationship between genetic variants influencing predisposition to type 2 diabetes (T2D) and related glycemic traits, and human pancreatic islet transcription using RNA-Seq and genotyping data from 420 islet donors. We find: (a) eQTLs have a variable replication rate across the 44 GTEx tissues (<73%), indicating that our study captured islet-specific cis-eQTL signals; (b) islet eQTL signals show marked overlap with islet epigenome annotation, though eQTL effect size is reduced in the stretch enhancers most strongly implicated in GWAS signal location; (c) selective enrichment of islet eQTL overlap with the subset of T2D variants implicated in islet dysfunction; and (d) colocalization between islet eQTLs and variants influencing T2D or related glycemic traits, delivering candidate effector transcripts at 23 loci, including DGKB and TCF7L2. Our findings illustrate the advantages of performing functional and regulatory studies in tissues of greatest disease-relevance while expanding our mechanistic insights into complex traits association loci activity with an expanded list of putative transcripts implicated in T2D development.

  Study EGAS00001004042

• Phenotyping data on human pancreatic islets from 191 donors - Lund

  Most signals detected by genome-wide association studies map to non-coding sequence and their tissue-specific effects influence transcriptional regulation. However, many key tissues and cell-types required for appropriate functional inference are absent from large-scale resources such as ENCODE and GTEx. We explored the relationship between genetic variants influencing predisposition to type 2 diabetes (T2D) and related glycemic traits, and human pancreatic islet transcription using RNA-Seq and genotyping data from 420 islet donors. We find: (a) eQTLs have a variable replication rate across the 44 GTEx tissues (<73%), indicating that our study captured islet-specific cis-eQTL signals; (b) islet eQTL signals show marked overlap with islet epigenome annotation, though eQTL effect size is reduced in the stretch enhancers most strongly implicated in GWAS signal location; (c) selective enrichment of islet eQTL overlap with the subset of T2D variants implicated in islet dysfunction; and (d) colocalization between islet eQTLs and variants influencing T2D or related glycemic traits, delivering candidate effector transcripts at 23 loci, including DGKB and TCF7L2. Our findings illustrate the advantages of performing functional and regulatory studies in tissues of greatest disease-relevance while expanding our mechanistic insights into complex traits association loci activity with an expanded list of putative transcripts implicated in T2D development.

  Study EGAS00001004056

• Enrichment of oral-derived bacteria in inflamed colorectal tumors and distinct associations of Fusobacterium in the mesenchymal subtype

  The association between colorectal cancer (CRC) clinical variables and Fusobacterium, but not other intra-tumoral bacteria, has been extensively studied. Here we leveraged whole-transcriptome sequencing from 807 CRC tumor samples from the AVANT phase III trial to dually characterize tumor gene expression and intra-tumoral bacteria. After stringent filtering, 74 high-confidence taxa were identified. 17 of these species, including 4 Fusobacterium spp., were classified as orally-derived and had a robust signal within right-sided, MSI-H, and BRAF mutant tumors. Across consensus molecular subtypes (CMS), integration of Fusobacterium animalis presence and tumor gene expression revealed that F. animalis had the greatest number of associations in mesenchymal CMS4 tumors, despite an overall lower prevalence than in immune CMS1 tumors. Pathway analysis within CMS4 revealed that F. animalis, but not other highly prevalent species, was uniquely associated with pathways for collagen degradation and formation as well as IL-6 and IL-1 cytokine signaling. These associations could explain in part why Fusobacterium has been previously associated with reduced survival in mesenchymal populations. Overall, this study identified oral-derived bacteria, including Fusobacterium, as broadly more prevalent in inflamed CRC tumors compared to the other subtypes, and the association of intra-tumoral bacteria on tumor gene expression is context- and species-specific.

  Study EGAS00001006757

• UK10K NEURO ASD MGAS

  In the UK10K project we propose a series of complementary genetic approaches to find new low frequency/rare variants contributing to disease phenotypes. These will be based on obtaining the genome wide sequence of 4000 samples from the TwinsUK and ALSPAC cohorts (at 6x sequence coverage), and the exome sequence (protein coding regions and related conserved sequence) of 6000 samples selected for extreme phenotypes. Our studies will focus primarily on cardiovascular-related quantitative traits, obesity and related metabolic traits, neurodevelopmental disorders and a limited number of extreme clinical phenotypes that will provide proof-of-concept for future familial trait sequencing. We will analyse directly quantitative traits in the cohorts and the selected traits in the extreme samples, and also use imputation down to 0.1% allele frequency to extend the analyses to further sample sets with genome wide genotype data. In each case we will investigate indels and larger structural variants as well as SNPs, and use statistical methods that combine rare variants in a locus or pathway as well as single-variant approaches. The MGAS (Molecular Genetics of Autism Study) samples are from a clinical sample seen by specialists at the Maudsley hospital and who have had detailed phenotypic assessments with ADI-R and ADOS.For further information on this cohort please contact Patrick Bolton (patrick.bolton@kcl.ac.uk).

  Study EGAS00001000113

• RNA-sequencing of six Pilocytic astrocytoma tumors

  Pilocytic astrocytoma (PA) is the most common pediatric brain tumor. A recurrent feature of PA is deregulation of the mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway most often through KIAA1549-BRAF fusion, but also by other BRAF- or RAF1-gene fusions and point mutations (e.g. BRAFV600E). These features may serve as diagnostic and prognostic markers, and also facilitate development of targeted therapy. The aim of this study was to characterize the genetic alterations underlying the development of PA tumor in six cases, and evaluate methods for fusion oncogene detection. Using a combined analysis of RNA sequencing and copy number variation data we identified a new BRAF fusion involving the 5’ gene fusion partner GTF2I (7q11.23), not previously described in PA. The novel GTF2I-BRAF 19-10 fusion was found in one case, while the other five cases harbored the frequent KIAA1549-BRAF 16-9 fusion gene. Comparing fusion detection methods, Fluorescence in situ hybridization with BRAF break apart probe was the most sensitive method for detection of the two different BRAF rearrangements (GTF2I-BRAF and KIAA1549-BRAF). Our finding of a novel BRAF fusion in PA further emphasis the important role of B-Raf in tumorigenesis of these tumor types. Also, the growing list of BRAF/RAF gene fusions suggests these to be informative tumor markers in molecular diagnostics, which could guide future treatment strategies.

  Study EGAS00001002149

• Ultrasensitive detection of minor allele fractions in maternal samples based on microhaplotype analysis

  Background: Tools for quantifying and studying genetic variation in heterogeneous cell populations have a limited sensitivity. However, many biological problems require ultrasensitive genetic deconvolution of cell mixtures. The detection of fetal cells in cervical samples from pregnant women presents such a challenge. Methods: Using deep sequencing of microhaplotype loci and analysis of the error profiles in genetically pure and mixed samples, we increase the sensitivity for minor allele detection and demonstrate the potential for paternal allele detection in cervical samples from pregnant women. Results: Using artificial DNA mixtures, we show that unique alleles can be readily identified in mixtures with a ratio of 1 in 10,000 (0.01%). By applying this method on ten non-invasive cervical samples from pregnant women we could identify the presence of paternal alleles in half of the samples. Unexpectedly, we demonstrate those alleles not to be of fetal origin but of sperm. Conclusions: We developed a novel method that can deconvolute genetic mixtures to at least 0.01%, which can be applied to study minor allele fractions in genetic mixtures and, for example, could aid in trophoblast cell detection in maternal blood or cervix. Our results demonstrate the importance of discriminating fetal and paternal alleles when analyzing cervical fetal cells and may pinpoint a potential cause of erroneous results in previous trophoblast isolation studies.

  Study EGAS00001007057

• Finnish_population_cohort_genotyping_B

  The FINRISK cohorts comprise the respondents of representative, cross-sectional populationsurveys that are carried out every 5 years since 1972, to assess the risk factors of chronicdiseases (e.g. CVD, diabetes, obesity, cancer) and health behavior in the working agepopulation, in 3-5 large study areas of Finland. DNA samples were collected in the followingsurvey years: 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2007, and 2012. The MONICA and EHES (EU)procedures were applied in phenotype collection (cf. MORGAM) and a wide spectrum oflaboratory tests was carried out from serum and plasma samples. Background information onsocioeconomic status, medical history, diet, exercise, measured anthropometric measures,etc. was collected by questionnaires and during a clinical visit. Plasma/serum samples arestill available for the 2002-2012 cohorts. The cohort sizes are 6000-8800 per survey. Thecohorts have been followed up by linking them to the national hospital discharge register,causes-of-death register and cancer register.This project is an extension to previous efforts to build a catalogue of Finnish genome widedata on population-based Finsrisk samples with rich phenotypic characterisations and healthregistry link-up. These samples will extend the current Sequencing Initiative Suomi (SISu)samples with a combination of genotyping using Illumina HumanCoreExome array and SISu-based imputation. This will lead to high confidence common and low frequency variantcatalogue. The project will be funded by Aarno Palotie’s remaining faculty fundscomplemented by Finnish funding from FIMM.

  Study EGAS00001001047

• GWAS data on human pancreatic islets from 191 donors - Lund

  Most signals detected by genome-wide association studies map to non-coding sequence and their tissue-specific effects influence transcriptional regulation. However, many key tissues and cell-types required for appropriate functional inference are absent from large-scale resources such as ENCODE and GTEx. We explored the relationship between genetic variants influencing predisposition to type 2 diabetes (T2D) and related glycemic traits, and human pancreatic islet transcription using RNA-Seq and genotyping data from 420 islet donors. We find: (a) eQTLs have a variable replication rate across the 44 GTEx tissues (<73%), indicating that our study captured islet-specific cis-eQTL signals; (b) islet eQTL signals show marked overlap with islet epigenome annotation, though eQTL effect size is reduced in the stretch enhancers most strongly implicated in GWAS signal location; (c) selective enrichment of islet eQTL overlap with the subset of T2D variants implicated in islet dysfunction; and (d) colocalization between islet eQTLs and variants influencing T2D or related glycemic traits, delivering candidate effector transcripts at 23 loci, including DGKB and TCF7L2. Our findings illustrate the advantages of performing functional and regulatory studies in tissues of greatest disease-relevance while expanding our mechanistic insights into complex traits association loci activity with an expanded list of putative transcripts implicated in T2D development.

  Study EGAS00001004044

• Mutational Landscape of Grey Zone Lymphoma

  The mutational landscape of grey zone lymphoma (GZL) has not yet been established and differences to related entities are mostly unknown. Here, we studied coding sequence mutations of 50 EBV-negative GZL and 20 polymorphic EBV-positive DLBCL NOS (poly-EBV-L) in comparison to classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL), primary mediastinal B cell lymphoma (PMBCL), and diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Paired exomes of 21 GZL and 7 poly-EBV-L cases were analyzed as a discovery cohort followed by targeted sequencing of 217 genes in an extension cohort of 29 GZL and 13 poly-EBV-L cases. GZL cases with thymic niche involvement displayed a mutation profile closely resembling cHL and PMBCL, with SOCS1 (45%), B2M (45%), TNFAIP3 (35%), GNA13 (35%) and NFKBIA (29%) being the most recurrently mutated genes. In contrast, GZL cases without thymic niche involvement (N=18) had a significantly distinct pattern, enriched in mutations related to apoptosis defects (TP53 (39%), BCL2 (28%), BIRC6 (22%)) and depleted in GNA13, XPO1 or NFKB signaling pathway mutations (TNFAIP3, NFKBIE, IKBKB, NFKBIA). Poly-EBV-L cases presented a distinct mutational profile including STAT3, PRKDC mutations and a significantly lower coding-mutation load in comparison to EBV-negative GZL. Our study highlights characteristic mutational patterns in GZL associated with presentation in the thymic niche suggesting a common cell of origin and disease evolution with related anterior mediastinal lymphomas.

  Study EGAS00001004482

• Prebiotic inulin-type fructans induce specific changes in the human gut microbiota

  ObjectiveContrary to the long-standing prerequisite of inducing selective (i.e. bifidogenic) effects, recent findings suggest that prebiotic interventions lead to ecosystem-wide microbiota shifts. Yet, a comprehensive characterization of this process is still lacking. Here, we apply 16S rDNA microbiota profiling and matching (GC-MS) metabolomics to assess the consequences of inulin fermentation both on the composition of the colon bacterial ecosystem and fecal metabolites profiles.DesignFecal samples collected during a double blind, randomized, cross-over intervention study (NCT02548247) set up to assess the effect of inulin consumption on stool frequency in healthy adults with mild constipation were analyzed. Fecal microbiota composition and metabolite profiles were linked to the study’s clinical outcome as well as to quality-of-life measurements recorded.ResultsWhile fecal metabolite profiles were not significantly altered by inulin consumption, our analyses did detect a modest effect on global microbiota composition. At the same time, specific inulin-induced changes in relative abundances of Anaerostipes, Bilophila, and Bifidobacterium were identified. The observed decrease in Bilophila abundances following inulin consumption was associated with both softer stools and a favorable change in constipation-specific quality of life measures.ConclusionsEcosystem-wide analysis of the effect of a dietary intervention with prebiotic inulin-type fructans on the colon microbiota revealed that this effect is specifically associated to three genera, one of which (Bilophila) representing a promising novel target for mechanistic research.

  Study EGAS00001002173

• GENETIC HISTORY OF ITALY

  Recent scientific literature has highlighted the relevance of population genetic studies both for disease association-mapping in admixed populations and for understanding the history of human migrations. Deeper insight into the history of Italian population is critical for understanding the peopling of Europe. Because of its crucial position at the centre of the Mediterranean basin, the Italian peninsula has experienced a complex history of colonization and migration, whose genetic signatures are still present in contemporary Italians. In this study, we investigated genomic variation in the Italian population using 2.5 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a sample of more than 300 unrelated Italian subjects with well-defined geographical origins. We combined several analytical approaches to interpret genome-wide data on 1,272 individuals from European, Middle Eastern, and North African populations. We detected three major ancestral components contributing different proportions across the Italian peninsula, and signatures of continuous gene flow within Italy, which has produced remarkable genetic variability among contemporary Italians. In addition, we have extracted novel details about the Italian population’s ancestry: we identified genetic signatures of major historical events in Europe and the Mediterranean basin from the Neolithic (e.g., peopling of Sardinia) to recent times (e.g., ‘barbarian invasion’ of Northern and Central Italy). These results are valuable for further genetic, epidemiological and forensic studies in Italy and in Europe.

  Study EGAS00001001458

• PD-L1 blockade immunotherapy rewires cancer-induced emergency myelopoiesis

  Introduction Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment, demonstrating exceptional clinical responses in a wide range of cancers. Despite the success, a significant proportion of patients still fail to respond, highlighting the existence of unappreciated mechanisms of immunotherapy resistance. Delineating such mechanisms is paramount to minimize immunotherapy failures and optimize the clinical benefit. Methods In this study, we treated tumour-bearing mice with PD-L1 blockage antibody (aPD-L1) immunotherapy, to investigate its effects on cancer-induced emergency myelopoiesis, focusing on bone marrow HSPCs. We examined the impact of aPD-L1 treatment on HSPC quiescence, proliferation, transcriptomic profile, and functionality. Results Herein, we reveal that aPD-L1 in tumour-bearing mice targets the hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) in the bone marrow (ΒΜ), mediating their exit from quiescence and promoting their proliferation. Notably, disruption of the PDL1/PD1 axis induces transcriptomic reprogramming in HSPCs, observed in both individuals with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and tumour-bearing mice, shifting towards an inflammatory state. Furthermore, HSPCs from aPDL1-treated mice demonstrated resistance to cancer-induced emergency myelopoiesis, evidenced by a lower generation of MDSCs compared to control-treated mice. Discussion: Our findings shed light on unrecognized mechanisms of action of ICB immunotherapy in cancer, which involves targeting of BM-driven HSPCs and reprogramming of cancer-induced emergency myelopoiesis.

  Study EGAS00001007873

• Cell fate mapping of human glioblastoma reveals an invariant stem cell hierarchy pre- and post-treatment

  Human glioblastomas (GBMs) are thought to harbour a subpopulation of glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) that initiate tumour formation and regrowth following treatment. However, the origin of their proliferative heterogeneity during tumour growth pre- and post-treatment remains poorly understood. Here we study the clonal evolution of DNA barcoded GBMs following their serial propagation in xenograft mouse models to define the fate behaviour of individual GBM cells. Through quantitative analysis of clone sizes scored across multiple passages, we show that the growth of GBM clones in vivo are consistent with a remarkably neutral process resulting from a conserved proliferative hierarchy. In this model, slow-cycling stem-like cells give rise to a more rapidly cycling progenitor population with extensive self-maintenance capacity, that in turn generates short-lived cells that lack proliferative ability. We also identify rare "outlier" clones that deviate from these dynamics, and further show that chemotherapy reproducibly facilitates the selective expansion of pre-existing drug-resistant GBM lineages. Finally, we show that coexisting, functionally distinct GSCs may be targeted separately with epigenetic compounds. These findings show that, independent of an evolving mutational signature, the clonal dynamics of human GBM can be surprisingly robust, with intratumoural heterogeneity derived primarily from the defined stochastic fate behaviour of tumour cells within a conserved proliferative hierarchy.

  Study EGAS00001002424

• Molecular analysis of post-colonoscopy CRC (PCCRC)

  Background: Post-colonoscopy colorectal cancers (PCCRCs, i.e. CRC diagnosed after a colonoscopy that excluded cancer) pose a challenge in clinical practice. In a retrospective cohort study, we compared clinical and molecular features of PCCRCs and prevalent CRCs. Methods: PCCRCs were defined according to the WEO classification, as cancers occurring within 10 years after a complete index colonoscopy, which excluded CRC. Whole genome chromosomal copy number changes and mutation status of genes commonly affected in CRC (APC, KRAS, BRAF, FBXW7, PIK3CA, NRAS, SMAD4 and TP53) were examined by low-coverage WGS and targeted sequencing, respectively. MSI and CIMP status were also determined. Results: In total, 122 PCCRCs and 98 prevalent CRCs were examined. PCCRCs are more often located proximally in the colon (p<0.001), non-polypoid appearing (p=0.004), early stage (p=0.009), and poorly differentiated (p=0.006) compared to prevalent CRCs. PCCRCs contain less frequently 18q deletions (p<0.001) than prevalent CRCs. MSI (p=0.029) and CIMP (p=0.014) are more frequently observed in PCCRCs. Conclusion: Although no PCCRC specific pathway could be defined, PCCRCs’ molecular features are more associated with MSI and hypermethylation pathways than canonical CIN pathway. The clinical and molecular features observed in PCCRCs support the hypothesis that sessile serrated lesions and non-polypoid CRNs are contributors to the development of these cancers."

  Study EGAS00001004686

• Epigenetic profiling of human CD4+ memory T cells reveals their proliferative history and argues in favor of a progressive differentiation model driven by epigenetically controlled master regulators.

  A key element of adaptive immunity is the development of long-lived memory cells, which protect against recurring infection by providing a highly enriched pool of antigen-specific cells ready to react to the pathogen. Different classes of memory T cells occur upon primary activation of naive T cells, however, their detailed differentiation pathway is not entirely clear. As part of the IHEC consortium, we generated genome-wide epigenetic maps of a number of CD4+ T cell memory (Tmem) stages including rare subsets such as terminally differentiated (TEMRA) and bone marrow-resident Tmem. We found that CD4+ T cells show progressive global DNA demethylation with differentiation into memory stages, which reflects their proliferative history and likely indicates their decline in differentiation and proliferation potential. Furthermore, transcriptomic profiling combined with co-regulation network analyses arranged different Tmem subsets into a successive differentiation pathway. In addition, we identified a number of epigenetically controlled candidate master regulators for Tmem formation, of which we functionally validated a new methylation-sensitive promoter for the known 'naive-keeper' transcription factor Foxp1. Our study highlights the power of epigenomic datasets in the elucidation of the cellular history but also of the functional potential of T cell populations including the identification of epigenetically controlled master regulators.

  Study EGAS00001001624

• Measurable residual disease in elderly acute myeloid leukemia: results from the PETHEMA-FLUGAZA phase III clinical trial

  The value of measurable residual disease (MRD) in elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is inconsistent between those treated with intensive vs hypomethylating drugs, and unknown after semi-intensive therapy. We investigated the role of MRD in refining complete remission (CR) and treatment duration in the phase III PETHEMA-FLUGAZA clinical trial, that randomized 283 elderly AML patients to induction and consolidation with fludarabine plus cytarabine or induction and consolidation with 5-azacitidine. After consolidation, patients continued treatment if MRD≥0.01% or stopped if MRD<0.01%, assessed by multidimensional flow cytometry (MFC). On multivariate analysis including genetic risk and treatment arm, MRD status in patients achieving CR (N=72) was the only independent prognostic factor for cumulative-incidence of relapse (HR:2.95;P=.002) and relapse-free survival (HR:3.45;P=.002). A trend for longer overall survival was observed in patients with undetectable MRD (N=13/72). Although leukemic cells from most elderly AML patients display phenotypic aberrancies vs their normal counterpart (N=258/265), CD34 progenitors from cases with undetectable MRD by MFC displayed extensive genetic abnormalities identified by whole-exome sequencing. This study supports MRD assessment to refine CR after semi-intensive therapy or hypomethylating agents, but unveils that improved sensitivity is warranted to individualize treatment and prolong survival of elderly AML patients achieving undetectable MRD.

  Study EGAS00001004574

• Cerebral organoid model reveals excessive proliferation of human caudal late interneuron progenitors in Tuberous Sclerosis Complex

  Although the intricate and prolonged development of the human brain critically distinguishes it from other mammals, our current understanding of neurodevelopmental diseases is largely based on work using animal models. Recent studies revealed that neural progenitors in the human brain are profoundly different from those found in rodent animal models. Moreover, post-mortem studies revealed extensive migration of interneurons into the late-gestational and post-natal human prefrontal cortex that does not occur in rodents. Here, we use cerebral organoids to show that overproduction of mid-gestational human interneurons causes Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC), a severe neuro-developmental disorder associated with mutations in TSC1 and TSC2. We identify a previously uncharacterized population of caudal late interneuron progenitors, the CLIP-cells. In organoids derived from patients carrying heterozygous TSC2 mutations, dysregulation of mTOR signaling leads to CLIP-cell over-proliferation and formation of cortical tubers and subependymal tumors. Surprisingly, second-hit events resulting from copy-neutral loss-of-heterozygosity (cnLOH) are not causative for but occur during the progression of tumor lesions. Instead, EGFR signaling is required for tumor proliferation, opening up a promising approach to treat TSC lesions. Our study demonstrates that the analysis of developmental disorders in organoid models can lead to fundamental insights into human brain development and neuropsychiatric disorders.

  Study EGAS00001004586

• Drug-perturbation-based stratification of blood cancer

  As new generations of targeted therapies emerge and tumor genome sequencing discovers increasingly comprehensive mutation repertoires, the functional relationships of mutations to tumor phenotypes remain largely unknown. Here, we measured ex vivo sensitivity of 246 blood cancers to 63 drugs alongside genome, transcriptome, and DNA methylome analysis to understand determinants of drug response. We assembled a primary blood cancer cell encyclopedia data set that revealed disease-specific sensitivities for each cancer. Within chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), responses to 62% of drugs were associated with 2 or more mutations, and linked the B cell receptor (BCR) pathway to trisomy 12, an important driver of CLL. Based on drug responses, the disease could be organized into phenotypic subgroups characterized by exploitable dependencies on BCR, mTOR, or MEK signaling and associated with mutations, gene expression, and DNA methylation. Fourteen percent of CLLs were driven by mTOR signaling in a non–BCR-dependent manner. Multivariate modeling revealed immunoglobulin heavy chain variable gene (IGHV) mutation status and trisomy 12 as the most important modulators of response to kinase inhibitors in CLL. Ex vivo drug responses were associated with outcome. This study overcomes the perception that most mutations do not influence drug response of cancer, and points to an updated approach to understanding tumor biology, with implications for biomarker discovery and cancer care.

  Study EGAS00001001746

• Landscape of somatic mutations and clonal evolution in mantle cell lymphoma

  Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is an aggressive tumor, but a subset of patients may follow an indolent clinical course. To understand the mechanisms underlying this biological heterogeneity, we performed whole-genome and/or whole-exome sequencing on 29 MCL cases and their respective matched normal DNA, as well as 6 MCL cell lines. Recurrently mutated genes were investigated by targeted sequencing in an independent cohort of 172 MCL patients. We identified 25 significantly mutated genes, including known drivers such as ataxia-telangectasia mutated (ATM), cyclin D1 (CCND1), and the tumor suppressor TP53; mutated genes encoding the anti-apoptotic protein BIRC3 and Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2); and the chromatin modifiers WHSC1, MLL2, and MEF2B. We also found NOTCH2 mutations as an alternative phenomenon to NOTCH1 mutations in aggressive tumors with a dismal prognosis. Analysis of two simultaneous or subsequent MCL samples by whole-genome/whole-exome (n = 8) or targeted (n = 19) sequencing revealed subclonal heterogeneity at diagnosis in samples from different topographic sites and modulation of the initial mutational profile at the progression of the disease. Some mutations were predominantly clonal or subclonal, indicating an early or late event in tumor evolution, respectively. Our study identifies molecular mechanisms contributing to MCL pathogenesis and offers potential targets for therapeutic intervention.

  Study EGAS00001000510

• Integrated analysis of relapsed B-cell precursor Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia identifies subtype-specific cytokine and metabolic signatures

  Recent efforts reclassified B-Cell Precursor Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (BCP-ALL) into more refined subtypes. Nevertheless, outcomes of relapsed BCP-ALL remain unsatisfactory, particularly in adult patients where the molecular basis of relapse is still poorly understood. To elucidate the evolution of relapse in BCP-ALL, we established a comprehensive multi-omics dataset including DNA-sequencing, RNA-sequencing, DNA methylation array and proteome MASS-spec data from matched diagnosis and relapse samples of BCP-ALL patients (n = 50) including the subtypes DUX4, Ph-like and two aneuploid subtypes. Relapse-specific alterations were enriched for chromatin modifiers, nucleotide and steroid metabolism including the novel candidates FPGS, AGBL and ZNF483. The proteome expression analysis unraveled deregulation of metabolic pathways at relapse including the key proteins G6PD, TKT, GPI and PGD. Moreover, we identified a novel relapse-specific gene signature specific for DUX4 BCP-ALL patients highlighting chemotaxis and cytokine environment as a possible driver event at relapse. This study presents novel insights at distinct molecular levels of relapsed BCP-ALL based on a comprehensive multi-omics integrated data set including a valuable proteomics data set. The relapse specific aberrations reveal metabolic signatures on genomic and proteomic levels in BCP-ALL relapse. Furthermore, the chemokine expression signature in DUX4 relapse underscores the distinct status of DUX4-fusion BCP-ALL.

  Study EGAS00001002856

• Mutational signatures of aflatoxin

  Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a mutagen and IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) Group 1 carcinogen that causes hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here we present the first whole genome data on the mutational signatures of AFB1 exposure from a total of > 40,000 mutations in four experimental systems: two different human cell lines, and in liver tumors in wild-type mice and in mice that carried a hepatitis B surface antigen transgene – this to model the multiplicative effects of aflatoxin exposure and hepatitis B in causing HCC. AFB1 mutational signatures from all four experimental systems were remarkably similar. We integrated the experimental mutational signatures with data from newly-sequenced HCCs from Qidong County, China, a region of well-studied aflatoxin exposure. This indicated that COSMIC mutational signature 24, previously hypothesized to stem from aflatoxin exposure, indeed likely represents AFB1 exposure, possibly combined with other exposures. Among published somatic mutation data, we found evidence of AFB1 exposure in 0.7% of HCCs treated in North America, 1% of HCCs from Japan, but 16% of HCCs from Hong Kong. Thus, aflatoxin exposure apparently remains a substantial public health issue in some areas. This aspect of our study exemplifies the promise of future widespread resequencing of tumor genomes in providing new insights into the contribution of mutagenic exposures to cancer incidence.

  Study EGAS00001002490

• Exon4-mutations in KRAS Affect MEK-ERK and Pi3K-AKT Signaling in Multiple Myeloma

  Approximately 40% of MM cases harbor a point mutation in either KRAS or NRAS. However, it is still unclear whether RAS-mutations are associated with disease outcome. Specifically, no information exists whether KRAS-mutations have an impact on survival in MM patients at diagnosis that were treated with novel agents (e.g. bortezomib, lenalidomide). Targeting KRAS directly for therapeutic purposes is still impossible, but recently the first covalent mutant-specific inhibitor targeting KRASG12C made it into clinical trials. However, other KRAS-hotspot-mutations exist in MM patients, including the less common exon4-mutations. Within the current study, the coding regions of KRAS in 80 MM patients at diagnosis, uniformly treated with bortezomib and high-dose chemotherapy, were deep-sequenced. Moreover, the functional impact of KRASG12A as well as the two exon4-mutations A146T (AMO1) and A146V (MM patient) on different survival pathways was investigated. Specifically, an siRNA-mediated knockdown in AMO1 was performed and KRASWT, KRASG12A, KRAS146T and KRAS146V were overexpressed in the KRASWT cell lines JJN3 and OPM2 using lentiviral transduction and the transposase based Sleeping Beauty system. KRAS-mutations were not associated with survival. Yet, the expression of all KRAS-mutants had an impact on MEK/ERK-signaling in two independent MM cell lines and on AKT/PI3K-signaling in one MM cell line.

  Study EGAS00001004110

• EXOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION ANALYSIS OF CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE IN THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA POPULATION

  Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) remains the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Mortality rates associated with CAD have shown an exceptional increase particularly in fast developing economies like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Over the past twenty years, CAD has become the leading cause of death in KSA and has reached epidemic proportions. This rise is undoubtedly caused by fast urbanization that is associated with a life-style that promotes CAD. However, the question remains whether genetics play a significant role and whether genetic susceptibility is increased in KSA compared to the well-studied Western European populations. Therefore, we performed an Exome-wide association study (EWAS) in 832 patients and 1,076 controls of Saudi Arabian origin to test whether population specific, strong genetic risk factors for CAD exist, or whether the polygenic risk score for known genetic risk factors for CAD, lipids, and Type 2 Diabetes show evidence for an enriched genetic burden. Our results do not show significant associations for a single genetic locus. However, the heritability estimate for CAD for this population was high (h2 = 0.53, S.E. = 0.1, p = 4e-12) and we observed a significant association of the polygenic risk score for CAD that demonstrates that the population of KSA, at least in part, shares the genetic risk associated to CAD in Western populations.

  Study EGAS00001001645

• Spatial concordance of DNA methylation classification in diffuse glioma

  Background: Intratumoral heterogeneity is a hallmark of diffuse gliomas. DNA methylation profiling is an emerging approach in the clinical classification of brain tumors. The goal of this study is to investigate the effects of intratumoral heterogeneity on classification confidence. Methods: We used neuronavigation to acquire 133 image-guided and spatially-separated stereotactic biopsy samples from 16 adult patients with a diffuse glioma (7 IDH-wildtype and 2 IDH-mutant glioblastoma, 6 diffuse astrocytoma, IDH-mutant and 1 oligodendroglioma, IDH-mutant and 1p19q codeleted), which we characterized using DNA methylation arrays. Samples were obtained from regions with and without abnormalities on contrast enhanced T1 weighted and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery MRI. Methylation profiles were analyzed to devise a three-dimensional reconstruction of (epi)genetic heterogeneity. Tumor purity was assessed from clonal methylation sites. Results: Molecular aberrations indicated that tumor was found outside imaging abnormalities, underlining the infiltrative nature of this tumor and the limitations of current routine imaging modalities. We demonstrate that tumor purity is highly variable between samples and explains a substantial part of apparent epigenetic spatial heterogeneity. We observed that DNA methylation subtypes are often, but not always, conserved in space taking tumor purity and prediction accuracy into account. Conclusion: Our results underscore the infiltrative nature of diffuse gliomas and suggest that DNA methylation subtypes are relatively concordant in this tumor type, although some heterogeneity exists.

  Study EGAS00001005434

• Transcriptomic analysis of Acute Myeloid Leukemia stem cells

  Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is characterized by the accumulation of clonal myeloid blast cells unable to differentiate into mature leukocytes. Chemotherapy induces remission in the majority of patients, but relapse rates are high and lead to poor clinical outcomes. Since this is primarily caused by chemotherapy-resistant leukemic stem cells (LSCs), it is essential to eradicate LSCs to improve patient survival. LSCs have predominantly been studied at the transcript level, thus lacking information about post-transcriptionally regulated genes and associated networks. Here we extend our previous report on LSC proteomes to healthy age-matched hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) and correlate the proteomes to the corresponding transcriptomes. By comparing LSCs to leukemic blasts and healthy HSPCs, we validate candidate LSC markers and highlight novel and potentially targetable proteins that are absent or only lowly expressed in HSPCs. In addition, our data provides strong evidence that LSCs harbor a characteristic energy metabolism, adhesion molecule composition, as well as RNA processing properties. Furthermore, correlating proteome and transcript data of the same individual samples highlights the strength of proteome analyses, which are particularly potent in detecting alterations in metabolic pathways. In summary, our study provides a comprehensive proteomic and transcriptomic characterization of functionally validated LSCs, blasts and healthy HSPCs, representing a valuable resource helping to design LSC-directed therapies.

  Study EGAS00001004402

• CYP2C19 long-read sequencing

  Inter-individual differences in drug response based on genetic variations can lead to drug toxicity and treatment inefficacy. A large part of this variability is caused by genetic variants in pharmacogenes. Unfortunately, the Single Nucleotide Variant (SNV) panels currently used in clinical pharmacogenomic (PGx) testing are unable to detect all genetic variability in these genes. Long-read sequencing, on the other hand, has been shown to be able to resolve complex (pharmaco)genes. In this study we have assessed the added value of long-read sequencing for PGx focusing on the clinically important and highly polymorphic CYP2C19 gene. With a capture-based long-read sequencing panel we were able to characterize the entire region and assign variants to their allele of origin (phasing), resulting in the identification of 813 unique variants in 37 samples. To assess the clinical utility of this data we have compared the performance of three different *-allele tools (Aldy, PharmCat and PharmaKU) which are specifically designed to assign clinical haplotypes to pharmacogenes based on all input variants. We conclude that long-read sequencing can improve our ability to characterize the CYP2C19 locus, help to identify novel haplotypes and that *-allele tools are an useful asset in phenotype prediction. Ultimately, this approach could help to better predict an individual’s drug response and improve therapy outcomes.

  Study EGAS00001006929

• Cell culture differentiation and proliferation conditions influence the in vitro regeneration of the human airway epithelium

  The human airway mucociliary epithelium can be recapitulated in vitro using primary cells cultured in an Air-Liquid Interface (ALI), a reliable surrogate to perform pathophysiological studies. As tremendous variations exist between media used for ALI-cultured human airway epithelial cells, our study aimed to evaluate at a single-cell level the impact of several media (e.g. BEGMTM, PneumaCultTM, “Half&Half” and “Clancy”) on cell type distribution. Our work revealed the impact of these media on cell composition, gene expression profile, cell signaling or epithelial shape. We found higher proportions of multiciliated cells in PneumaCultTM-ALI and Half&Half, stronger EGF signaling from basal cells in BEGMTM-ALI, differential expression of the SARS-CoV-2 entry factor ACE2, and distinct secretomes transcripts depending on media used. We also established that proliferation in PneumaCultTM-Ex Plus favored secretory cells fate, showing the key influence of proliferation media on late differentiation epithelial characteristics. Altogether, our data offer a comprehensive repertoire for evaluating the effects of culture conditions on airway epithelial differentiation and will help to choose the most relevant medium according to the phenomenon to be investigated such as cilia or mucus biology or viral infection. We detail useful parameters that should be explored to document airway epithelial cell fate and shaping.

  Study EGAS00001007572

• Patient-derived tumoroids from CIC::DUX4 rearranged sarcoma identify MCL1 as a therapeutic target

  High-risk sarcomas, such as metastasized and relapsed Ewing and CIC-rearranged sarcomas, currently lack effective curative systemic treatment options. Precision medicine approaches offer hope and among them ex vivo drug response profiling of patient-derived tumor cells emerges as a promising novel tool to identify effective drugs for individual patients. Here, we established ex vivo culture conditions to propagate Ewing and CIC::DUX4-sarcomas as tumoroids in a co-clinical manner. These models retained their original molecular and functional characteristics, including recurrent ARID1A mutations, and serve as tumor avatars suitable for large-scale drug testing. Indeed, screening a large drug library on a small living biobank of such tumors not only revealed distinct response differences between the two entities, but also identified an exceptional dependency of CIC::DUX4-sarcoma cells on MCL1. Mechanistically. MCL1 was identified as a direct target gene of the CIC::DUX4 fusion protein. Genetic and pharmacological inhibition of MCL1 induced rapid apoptosis in CIC::DUX4-sarcoma cells and inhibited tumor growth in a xenograft model. Thus, MCL1 represents a potential novel therapeutic target for CIC::DUX4-sarcoma. Overall, our study highlights the feasibility of co-clinical drug response profiling for individual sarcoma cases and suggests that prospective tests, to evaluate its clinical benefit are highly warranted.

  Study EGAS00001008039

• National Cancer Institute - Population Structure and Natural Selection in the Epidemiology of Burkitt Lymphoma in East African Children and Minors (EMBLEM) study in Uganda

  A genome-wide analysis of genetic structure, gene flow, and natural selection was conducted in populations in the endemic Burkitt lymphoma (eBL) belt in Ghana and Northern Uganda, both subject to a high incidence of falciparum malaria and eBL. These populations have different ethnolinguistic ancestries and are located 2400 miles apart in sub-Saharan Africa. We characterized genetic composition of these populations in the context of 22 additional African populations and present evidence for gene flow events that occurred in the last 3000 years, possibly related to regional migrations in Western Africa and major migrations involving Nilotic, Cushitic, and Bantu groups. The Ugandan population was comprised of 758 children (mean age ~7 years) from 17 Western Nilo-Saharan tribes. The current dataset includes 561 healthy children and 197 children with eBL from northern Uganda.

  Study phs001705

• Genome-Wide Association Study of Relapse of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

  Using risk-directed therapy for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), outcome has improved dramatically in the last 40 years. However, a substantial portion of patients experience relapse, many of whom have no known risk factors. Taking a genome-wide approach, we sought to evaluate the relationships between germline SNP genotypes and the risk of relapse in 2,535 children with newly diagnosed ALL after adjusting for genetic ancestry and treatment regimen. We examine prognostic value of selected SNPs in the context of known relapse risk factors (molecular subtypes, minimal residual disease, age and leukocyte count at diagnosis). Associations of relapse-related SNPs with pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics of antileukemic drugs offer plausible mechanism by which they are linked to treatment outcome. Finally, we aim to identify SNPs that are related to both genetic ancestry and relapse which are likely to contribute to racial disparities in ALL survival.

  Study phs000638

• NHLBI TOPMed: Stanford Cardiovascular Institute iPSC Biobank Study (SCVI)

  The proposed Stanford Cardiovascular Institute (SCVI) Biorepository will curate and manage an expanded collection of human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines and provide investigators with iPSC materials generated using standardized protocols, with the overall objective of promoting the continued adoption and development of iPSC technology in cardiovascular research. Human iPSCs have revolutionized disease modeling, drug screening, and therapeutic research. However, it is also recognized that the need for specialized technical expertise and the associated cost have largely prevented individual research laboratories from adopting iPSC models in their inquiries, particularly in studies requiring multiple cell lines. To address this bottleneck, the proposed Biorepository will maintain our existing collection of iPSC lines and further expand the collection of iPSCs by recruiting 1,000 healthy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) donors of both sexes and diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds (African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and Whites).

  Study phs002338

• Cholesterol homeostasis and lipid raft dynamics at the basis of tumor-induced immune dysfunction in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

  Autologous T-cell therapies show limited efficacy in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), where acquired immune dysfunction prevails. In CLL, disturbed mitochondrial metabolism has been linked to defective T-cell activation and proliferation. Recent research suggests that lipid metabolism regulates mitochondrial function and differentiation in T cells, yet its role in CLL remains unexplored. This comprehensive study compares T-cell lipid metabolism in CLL patients and healthy donors, revealing critical dependence on exogenous cholesterol for human T-cell expansion following TCR-mediated activation. Using multi-omics and functional assays, we found that T cells present in viably frozen samples of patients with CLL (CLL T cells) showed impaired adaptation to cholesterol deprivation and inadequate upregulation of key lipid metabolism transcription factors. CLL T cells exhibited altered lipid storage, with increased triacylglycerols and decreased cholesterol, and inefficient fatty acid oxidation (FAO). Functional consequences of reduced FAO in T cells were studied using samples from patients with inherent FAO disorders. Reduced FAO was associated with lower T-cell activation but did not affect proliferation. This implicates low cholesterol levels as a primary factor limiting T-cell proliferation in CLL. Consequently, CLL T cells displayed fewer and less clustered lipid rafts, potentially explaining the impaired immune synapse formation observed in these patients. Our findings highlight significant disruptions in lipid metabolism as drivers of functional deficiencies in CLL T cells, underscoring the pivotal role of cholesterol in T-cell proliferation. This study suggests that modulating cholesterol metabolism could enhance T-cell function in CLL, presenting novel immunotherapeutic approaches to improve outcome in this challenging disease.

  Dac EGAC50000000556

• TRACERx: TRAcking non-small cell lung Cancer Evolution through therapy (Rx). Pilot Study. Multi-region sequencing of early-stage NSCLCs.

  Deciphering the complexity of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) evolutionary histories may elucidate the basis for its dismal outcome. We performed multi-region sequencing of early-stage NSCLCs. Spatial dissection revealed branched tumor evolution, with driver mutations occurring before and after subclonal diversification. Intra-tumor heterogeneity in DNA copy number alterations, translocations and endogenous APOBEC mutational processes demonstrates that NSCLC may follow multiple distinct evolutionary trajectories simultaneously. In smokers, despite maintained carcinogen exposure, temporal dissection reveals a relative decrease in smoking-related mutations during tumor progression, accompanied by an increase in APOBEC-related mutations. In the tumors from ex-smokers, genome-doubling occurred before subclonal diversification, suggesting prolonged latency before clinical detection. Multi-region sequencing demonstrates the relentless and heterogeneous nature of genomic instability processes in early-stage NSCLCs.

  Study EGAS00001000809

• Study the differences at the trascriptome level between iNKT and T cells

  Chimeric antigen receptor anti-CD19 (CAR19)-T cell immunotherapy-induced clinical remissions in CD19+ B cell lymphomas are often short-lived. We tested whether CAR19-engineering of the CD1d-restricted invariant NKT (iNKT) cells would result in enhanced anti-lymphoma activity. CAR19-iNKT cells co-operatively activated by CD1d- and CAR19-CD19-dependent interactions are more effective than CAR19-T cells against CD1d-expressing lymphomas in vitro and in vivo. The swifter in vivo anti-lymphoma activity of CAR19-iNKT cells and their enhanced ability to eradicate brain lymphomas underpinned an improved tumor-free and overall survival. CD1d transcriptional de-repression by all-trans retinoic acid results in further enhanced cytotoxicity of CAR19-iNKT cells against CD19+ chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells. Thus, iNKT cells are a highly efficient platform for CAR-based immunotherapy of lymphomas and possibly other CD1d-expressing cancers.

  Study EGAS00001003176

• multi-OMICs study of a pair of infant monozygotic twins with concordant B-cell ALL

  B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-cell ALL) is the most common cancer in childhood. Studying identical twins with B-cell ALL provides a unique and tractable model for deciphering the developmental timing of pre- and post-natal mutations contributing to clonal evolution. To date, this has mainly focused on major cytogenetic subgroups of childhood B-cell ALL, including MLL fusions, ETV6-RUNX1, hyperdiploidy, and BCR-ABL1. However, formal demonstration of the prenatal origin and “backtracking” the natural history of the leukemia remains understudied in “B-other”/Normal Karyotype (NK) B-cell ALL. To characterize the genetic and the epigenetic landscape of this particular leukemia subtype, we performed whole genome DNA-, B-cell receptor (BCR)-, and DNA bisulfite-sequencing on a pair of 8-month-old monozygotic twins diagnosed with concordant “B-other”/NK B-cell ALL.

  Study EGAS00001003651

• Pilot study for Illumina TST170 NGS panel on cutaneous T cell lymphoma samples

  A number of genomic studies using next generation sequencing (NGS) techniques have attempted to understand the underlying genetic basis of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma and found alterations in genes that are involved in T-cell activation, NF-kB and JAK-signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) pathways. 8 diagnostic skin biopsy samples (2xplaque, 6xtumour) on FFPE blocks were selected from 8 MF patients (stage IB:n=1, IIB:n=6, IVA2:n=1). An H&E was performed in order to assess percentage of tumor cells, viable cells, necrosis and immune infiltration, to determine the number of slides required for NGS. Freshly cut unstained slides were manually macrodissected prior to DNA and RNA extraction. Targeted deep sequencing was performed using panel of 170 genes associated with common solid tumours (Illumina TruSight Tumour 170 NGS panel). VCF files generated via the Illumina’s Basespace platform.

  Study EGAS00001002567

• Test Study for EGA using data from 1000 Genomes Project - Phase 3

  The 1000 Genomes Project set out to provide a comprehensive description of common human genetic variation by applying whole-genome sequencing to a diverse set of individuals from multiple populations. Here we report completion of the project, having reconstructed the genomes of 2,504 individuals from 26 populations using a combination of low-coverage whole-genome sequencing, deep exome sequencing, and dense microarray genotyping. We characterized a broad spectrum of genetic variation, in total over 88 million variants (84.7 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), 3.6 million short insertions/deletions (indels), and 60,000 structural variants), all phased onto high-quality haplotypes. This resource includes >99% of SNP variants with a frequency of >1% for a variety of ancestries. We describe the distribution of genetic variation across the global sample, and discuss the implications for common disease studies...

  Study EGAS00001005042

• RA-Map, A multi-omic survey of whole blood and subsets in early rheumatoid arthritis and vaccine study controls

  Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of unknown aetiology characterised by synovial inflammation with variable disease severity and drug responsiveness. To investigate the molecular heterogeneity and pathogenesis of RA, we performed a comprehensive clinical and molecular profile of 267 RA patients for up to 18 months to establish a high quality biobank of barcoded samples that included plasma, serum, peripheral blood cells, whole blood RNA, RNA from lymphocyte and monocyte subsets, genomic DNA and urine. We have performed extensive multi-omic immune phenotyping, including genomic, metabolomic, proteomic, transcriptomic and auto-antibody profiling. We anticipate that these detailed clinical and molecular data will serve as a fundamental resource for the development and application of targeted therapies for RA and reveal further insights into disease pathogenesis and therapeutic response.

  Study EGAS00001004424

• single-stranded DNA study

  A ssDNA library protocol was applied to cfDNA from plasma samples obtained from different DNA extraction methods and revealed significant differences in DNA fragmentation patterns in comparison to dsDNA-based protocols. In particular, a specific combination of methods revealed a population of ultrashort fragments, organized at ~50 bp. We observed significant differences in the relative abundance of these ultrashort DNA fragments in plasma from healthy individuals and cancer patients. Through shallow whole genome sequencing (sWGS, <0.5-fold coverage) and the analysis of somatic copy number aberrations (SCNA), we determined the landscape of genetic alterations in this newly identified population of cfDNA fragments. In addition, we studied their potential link with regulatory regions by investigating the genome-wide coverage patterns at transcription start sites (TSS). Furthermore, we demonstrated that the ultrashort cfDNA fragments map to regions associated with secondary DNA structures, G-quadruplexes (G4s).

  Study EGAS00001005093

• Reliable detection of somatic mutations in solid tissues by laser-capture microdissection and low-input DNA sequencing

  Somatic mutations accumulate in healthy tissues as we age, giving rise to cancer and potentially contributing to ageing. To study somatic mutations in non-neoplastic tissues, we developed a series of protocols to sequence the genomes of small populations of cells isolated from histological sections. Here, we describe a complete workflow that combines laser-capture microdissection (LCM) with low-input genome sequencing, whilst circumventing the use of whole-genome amplification (WGA). The protocol is subdivided broadly into 4 steps: tissue processing, LCM, low-input library generation and mutation calling and filtering. The tissue processing and LCM steps are provided as general guidelines which may require tailoring based on the specific requirements of the study at hand. Our protocol for low-input library generation utilises enzymatic rather than acoustic fragmentation to generate WGA-free whole-genome libraries. Finally, the mutation calling and filtering strategy has been adapted from previously published protocols to account for artefacts introduced via library creation. To date, we have used this workflow to perform targeted and whole-genome sequencing of small populations of cells (typically 100-1,000 cells) in thousands of microbiopsies from a wide range of human tissues. The low-input DNA protocol is designed to be compatible with liquid handling platforms and make use of equipment and expertise standard to any core sequencing facility. However, obtaining low-input DNA material via LCM requires specialized equipment and expertise. The entire protocol from tissue reception through whole-genome library generation can be accomplished in as little as a week, though 2-3 weeks would be a more typical turnaround time.

  Dataset EGAD00001006088

• Single cell characterization of T-cell lymphoma: RNA (2025-07-31)

  Lymphomas are types of blood cancer derived from lymphocytes, and can be classified into two main categories, Hodgkin's lymphomas (HL) and non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL). T-cell lymphoma is a type of NHL that develops from T lymphocytes and accounts for 10-15% of total NHL cases. As a rare disease, T-cell lymphoma is functionally, pathologically, and clinically complex and heterogeneous. The 2016 revision of the WHO classification has listed 29 subtypes of mature T/NK-cell neoplasms, among which over 25 are T lymphocyte in origin. These subtypes of T-cell lymphomas have different biological behaviours and clinical prognosis. Clinically, T-cell lymphoma ranges from indolent (slow-growing) to aggressive (fast-growing and spreading) disease. According to the guideline booklet provided by the Lymphoma Research Foundation (https://lymphoma.org/aboutlymphoma/nhl/), indolent T-cell lymphoma subtypes include adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma (ATLL), cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), and mycosis fungoides (MF), while the aggressive subtypes include anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL), peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL), and T lymphoblastic lymphoma (TLBL). PTCL and ALCL represent the most common subtypes of aggressive T-cell lymphoma whereas TLBL is a rare and aggressive subtype mostly diagnosed in children. In this study, we will use single cell RNA sequencing and single cell multiomic methods three aggressive T-cell lymphoma subtypes (ALCL, PTCL and TLBL) and try to gain a deeper insight into the genotypic and phenotypic features of these T-cell lymphomas. . This dataset contains all the data available for this study on 2025-07-31.

  Dataset EGAD00001015669

• hereditary BrEAst Case CONtrol study (BEACCON)

  The BEACCON study aimed to address the lack of power of previous studies to identify novel BC predisposition genes by performing extensive sequencing in 12,000 women (11,511 analysed following exclusions) and further enhancing power by using an ‘extreme phenotype’ design with enrichment of familial non-BRCA1 and BRCA2 cases, compared with a control population of older women with ongoing confirmation of cancer-free status at June 2019. Three-quarters of the 1303 candidate genes screened were selected based on empiric evidence from local (69 multi-case BC families) or international whole exome sequencing studies, and the remainder were included to provide detailed coverage of functional pathways with established associations with BC.

  Dataset EGAD00001007025

• RNAseq of whole blood in 359 idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension patients reveals biological heterogeneity

  Patients with idiopathic, heritable, or drug-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension (referred to throughout as PAH) were recruited from expert centers across the UK as part of the PAH Cohort study (www.ipahcohort.com). In each case, diagnosis was confirmed by right heart catheterization following established international guidelines, which remained unchanged for the duration of this study. Healthy volunteers were recruited at the same centers and samples processed using the same standard operating procedure at all sites. All individuals gave written, informed consent with local ethical committee approval. Whole blood (3 ml) was collected in Tempus Blood RNA Tubes, and RNAseq was performed using established Illumina methodologies (see online supplement for further details).

  Dataset EGAD00001007981

• Single Cell Analysis of Human Airways in Healthy and Asthma volunteers

  Bronchoscopies were collected from healthy and asthma volunteers. Cohort inclusion criteria for all subjects were: age between 40 – 65 years and history of smoking < 10 pack years. For the asthmatics, inclusion criteria were: age of onset of asthmatic symptoms ≤12 years, documented history of asthma, use of inhaled corticosteroids with(out) β2-agonists due to respiratory symptoms and a positive provocation test (i.e. PC20 methacholine ≤8mg/ml with 2-minute protocol). For the non-asthmatic controls, the following criteria were essential for inclusion: absent history of asthma, no use of asthma-related medication, a negative provocation test (i.e. PC20 methacholine >8 mg/ml and adenosine 5'-monophosphate >320 mg/ml with 2-minute protocol), no pulmonary obstruction (i.e. FEV1/FVC ≥70%) and absence of lung function impairment (i.e. FEV1 ≥80% predicted). Asthmatics stopped inhaled corticosteroid use 6 weeks prior to all tests. All subjects were clinically characterised with pulmonary function and provocation tests, blood samples were drawn, and finally subjects underwent a bronchoscopy under sedation. If a subject developed upper respiratory symptoms, bronchoscopy was postponed for ≥6 weeks. Fibreoptic bronchoscopy was performed using a standardised protocol during conscious sedation. Six macroscopically adequate endobronchial biopsies were collected for this study, located between the 3rd and 6th generation of the right lower and middle lobe. Extracted biopsies were processed directly thereafter, with a maximum of one hour delay. The medical ethics committee of the Groningen University Medical Center Groningen approved the study, and all subjects gave their written informed consent.

  Dataset EGAD00001005064

• A Tumour Organoid Biobank for Mapping Cancer Cell Vulnerabilities - WGS

  Whole genome sequencing data from cancer patient-derived organoids and their matched tumour tissue samples. Part of a study to include genomic and transcriptomic sequencing data, along with CRISPR screening data from cancer patient-derived organoids and matched tumour tissues. Some organoids were developed as part of the Human Cancer Models Initiative (HCMI) in collaboration with Cancer Research UK (CRUK). The study includes organoids derived from colorectal, oesophageal, ovarian, pancreatic, and stomach cancer samples.

  Dataset EGAD00001015469

• Transcriptome of CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells in glioblastoma multiforme

  Patients included in this study were over 18 years of age and had a histology-confirmed diagnosis of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Exclusion criteria were the previous administration of any anti-tumor therapy including radiation therapy. All patients gave written informed consent. The study was approved by the local ethics committee (TUM Medical school) and conducted following the Declaration of Helsinki. During resection of the tumors, tumor tissue and tissue from normal appearing brain within the operative channel was collected. Blood was drawn during the surgical procedure. Single cell suspensions were prepared from the tumor tissue, the normal appearing brain, and the blood. CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells were sorted by flow cytometry. Only patients with a complete set of specimens (CD4+ tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), CD8+ TIL, CD4+ T cells from normal appearing brain, CD8+ T cells from normal appearing brain, blood-derived CD4+ and CD8+ T cells) containing a minimum of 1000 cells in each sorted sample were further analyzed (n=9). Total RNA was isolated from sorted cell populations using the RNAeasy Plus micro kit (Qiagen, 74034). Quality and integrity of total RNA was controlled on a Bioanalyzer 2100 (Agilent Technologies). Library preparation for bulk-sequencing of poly(A)-RNA was done as described previously (Parekh et al., 2016). Briefly, barcoded cDNA of each sample was generated with a Maxima RT polymerase (ThermoFisher Scientific, EP0742) using oligo-dT primer containing barcodes, unique molecular identifiers (UMIs) and an adaptor. Ends of the cDNAs were extended by a template switch oligo (TSO) and full-length cDNA was amplified with primers binding to the TSO-site and the adaptor. NEB UltraII FS kit was used to fragment cDNA. After end repair and A-tailing, a TruSeq adapter was ligated and 3'-end-fragments were finally amplified using primers with Illumina P5 and P7 overhangs. In comparison to previous descriptions (Parekh et al., 2016), the P5 and P7 sites were exchanged to allow sequencing of the cDNA in read 1 and barcodes and UMIs in read 2 to achieve a better cluster recognition. The library was sequenced on a NextSeq 500 (Illumina) with 59 cycles for the cDNA in read 1 and 16 cycles for the barcodes and UMIs in read 2. Data were processed using the published Drop-seq pipeline (v1.0) to generate sample- and gene-wise UMI tables (Macosko et al., 2015). Reference genome (GRCh38) was used for alignment. Transcript and gene definitions were used according to the Genecode Annotation Version 35.

  Study EGAS50000000156

• A Genome-Wide Association Analysis in Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (ACE) Inhibitor-Associated Angioedema and ACE Inhibitor-Exposed Controls; A Collaboration between the NIH Pharmacogenomics Research Network and the RIKEN Yokohama Center for Genomic Medicine

  The purpose of this study is to identify genetic predictors of ACE inhibitor-associated angioedema. In addition to preventing the formation of the pressor angiotensin II, ACE inhibitors prevent the carboxyl-terminal degradation of the vasoactive substances bradykinin and substance P. Angioedema is hypothesized to result from defective amino-terminal degradation of bradykinin or substance P in patients in whom ACE is inhibited. For example, activity of dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV), the enzyme responsible for the inactivation of substance P when ACE is inhibited, is decreased in patients with angioedema. In preliminary studies, we have identified SNPs in the DPP4 gene that associate with DPP-IV activity and, in blacks, with risk of angioedema. This project will use genome-wide genotyping to compare 250 cases and 568 ACE inhibitor-exposed control subjects (131 cases and 288 controls ascertained at Vanderbilt and 70 cases and 280 controls ascertained at the Marshfield Clinic). We plan a 2-stage analysis of associations between SNPs and angioedema - first, we will study DPP4 SNPs for association with angioedema and, second, we will explore associations using the full GWAS data set. Depending on the platform, additional DPP4 SNPs will be used to fully tag common genetic variants in both African American and European American samples. Based on the HapMap data, there are 14 tagging SNPs in people of European descent and 34 in Yoruba (selection criteria MAF>0.05 and r2>0.8). Cases were defined as having ACE inhibitor-associated angioedema if they had had swelling of the lips, throat, tongue or face while taking an ACE inhibitor but had never had angioedema while not taking an ACE inhibitor. For simplicity, intestinal edema was excluded. Control subjects were treated for at least 6 months with an ACE inhibitor without angioedema. Because black Americans are known to be overrepresented among patients with ACE inhibitor-associated angioedema, control subjects were prespecified to be 50% black American, 50% white American, and 50% female. At Vanderbilt, the medical history, including the history of angioedema, was confirmed by a research nurse or physician using a detailed case report form. Characteristics of Vanderbilt cases appear in the Table. At Marshfield, medical history will be confirmed by chart review. The Marshfield cohort is 98% white American and 57% female with a mean age of 47.2 years.

  Study phs000438

• Parkinson's Disease Cognitive Genetics Consortium (PDCGC) Stage I, NeuroX Dataset

  Cognitive impairment is a common and disabling problem in Parkinson's disease (PD). Identification of genetic variants that influence the presence or severity of cognitive deficits in PD might provide a clearer understanding of the pathophysiology underlying this important nonmotor feature. We are presently undertaking a large-scale, two-stage study designed to identify genetic risk factors for cognitive impairment in PD. The study population is divided into a discovery (Stage I) and a validation (Stage II) sample of patients enrolled in the PD Cognitive Genetics Consortium (PDCGC). Each patient has undergone a detailed neurological evaluation and cognitive testing. Clinical and genetic data for the project are stored and managed at the Coordinating Center at the University of Washington and VA Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle. Stage I of the project is now complete; 1,219 PD patients were genotyped for 249,336 variants using the NeuroX array. Participants underwent assessments of learning and memory (Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised [HVLT-R]), working memory/executive function (Letter-Number Sequencing and Trail Making Test [TMT] A and B), language processing (semantic and phonemic verbal fluency), visuospatial abilities (Benton Judgment of Line Orientation [JoLO]), and global cognitive function (Montreal Cognitive Assessment). We excluded individuals who were of non-European ancestry, failed genotyping, were missing data for one or more covariates, were related to another participant in the cohort, or failed to complete at least half of the cognitive tests. After these quality control measures were implemented, 1,105 participants remained and were included in all subsequent analyses. For common variants we used linear regression to test for association between genotype and cognitive performance with adjustment for important covariates. Rare variants were analyzed using the optimal unified sequence kernel association test. The significance threshold was defined as a false discovery rate corrected P-value (PFDR) of 0.05. Eighteen common variants in 13 genomic regions exceeded the significance threshold for one of the cognitive tests. These included GBA rs2230288 (E326K; PFDR = 2.7 x 10-4) for JoLO, PARP4 rs9318600 (PFDR = 0.006) and rs9581094 (PFDR = 0.006) for HVLT-R total recall, and MTCL1 rs34877994 (PFDR = 0.01) for TMT B-A. Analysis of rare variants did not yield any significant gene regions. We have conducted the first large-scale PD cognitive genetics analysis and nominated several new putative susceptibility genes for cognitive impairment in PD. These results will require replication in independent PD cohorts, and efforts to validate the findings in PDCGC Stage II are in progress.

  Study phs001664

• Therapeutic Trial of Potassium and Acetazolamide in Andersen-Tawil Syndrome

  Andersen-Tawil syndrome (ATS) is an ion channel disorder that causes episodes of muscle weakness and potentially life-threatening heart arrhythmias. The majority of ATS cases are caused by a mutation in the KCNJ2 gene, which is linked to potassium channels in the heart, brain, and skeletal muscle; other cases are presumed to be caused by an undetermined gene lesion. To date, the treatment for ATS has been largely anecdotal, and no treatments have been formally assessed in a controlled clinical trial. This study will determine whether potassium supplements and/or acetazolamide, which is a diuretic medication, affect the duration of muscle weakness and heart rhythm abnormalities in people with ATS. Participation in this study will last about 11 months. Participants will first attend a 3-day inpatient visit that will include a medical history, physical examination, blood work, heart rhythm testing by an electrocardiogram (ECG) and Holter monitor, strength testing, a health questionnaire, and daily potassium supplementation. Participants will also track the number and length of weakness episodes that they experience while in the hospital. On the last day of the inpatient visit, participants will be provided with multiple bottles containing either potassium or placebo. Participants will then return home for an 18-week treatment period that will consist of six 3-week-long treatments of either potassium or placebo, with the treatment schedule being randomly determined. Upon completing the first 18-week treatment period, participants will attend a second 3-day inpatient visit that will include the same tests and procedures as the first. The only difference will be that participants will receive acetazolamide along with potassium. This will be followed by a second 18-week treatment period that will consist of six 3-week-long treatments of either acetazolamide or placebo. At the end of the second treatment period, participants will fill out another health questionnaire. Throughout both 18-week treatment periods, participants will phone in daily to track any muscle or heart problems. They will also provide blood samples on a weekly basis. At Weeks 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, and 17 of both treatment periods, participants will wear a Holter monitor for 24 hours and then mail it in. A final outpatient visit will occur 8 weeks after the end of the second treatment period and will include heart rhythm testing, muscle strength testing, and blood work.

  Study phs001316

• Phase II trial of targeted immune-depleting chemotherapy and reduced-intensity allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation using 8/8 and 7/8 HLA-matched unrelated donors and utilizing two graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis regimens for the treatment of leukemias, lymphomas, and pre-malignant blood disorders

  Background: Major problems with stem cell transplantation (SCT) for cancer treatment are a lack of suitable donors for patients without an HLA tissue-matched sibling and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a serious side effects of immune-suppressing chemotherapy that is given to bring the cancer under control before SCT. In GVHD, the patient's immune system attacks the transplanted donor cells. This study will try to improve the results of SCT from unrelated HLA-matched donors using targeted immune-depleting chemotherapy to bring the cancer under control before transplantation and to lower the chance of graft rejection, followed by reduced-intensity transplant chemotherapy to make the procedure less toxic. Objectives: To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of targeted immune-depleting chemotherapy followed by reduced-intensity transplant chemotherapy in patients with advanced cancers of the blood and immune system. To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of two different drug combinations to prevent GVHD. Both regimens have been successful in preventing GVHD, but they work by different mechanisms and affect the rebuilding of the immune system after the transplant. Eligibility: People 18 to 74 years of age with advanced or high-risk cancers of the blood and immune system who do not have a suitable HLA-matched sibling. Design: All patients receive chemotherapy before transplant to treat the cancer and suppress immune function. All patients receive a conditioning regimen of cyclophosphamide for 4 days and fludarabine for 4 days before SCT to prepare for the transplant. Patients are randomly assigned to one of two combination drug treatments to prevent GHVD as follows: Group 1: Tacrolimus starting 3 days before SCT and continuing for 6 months, plus methotrexate on days 1, 3, 6, and 11 post-SCT, plus sirolimus starting 3 days before the SCT and continuing through day 14 following SCT. Group 2: Alemtuzumab for 4 days starting 8 days before SCT, plus cyclosporine starting 1 day before SCT and continuing for 6 months. Patients receive the donor's stem cells and immune cells 2 days after the conditioning regimen. Patients are followed at the clinic regularly for the first 6 months after SCT, and then less often for at least 5 years. Some visits may include bone marrow aspirates and biopsies, blood draws, and other tests to monitor disease status. A skin biopsy, oral mucosa biopsy, and saliva collection are done to study chronic GVHD.

  Study phs002021

• The Genomics and Randomized Trials Network (GARNET) Vitamin Intervention Stroke Prevention (VISP) Trial

  The VISP trial (PI Jim Toole, M.D., Wake Forest University School of Medicine) was a multi-center, double-blind, randomized, controlled clinical trial that enrolled patients aged 35 or older with homocysteine (Hcy) levels above the 25th percentile at screening and a non-disabling cerebral infarction (NDCI) within 120 days of randomization (Toole, 2002, PMID: 12417369). The trial was designed to determine if daily intake of a multivitamin tablet with high dose folic acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 reduced recurrent cerebral infarction (primary endpoint), and nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI) or mortality (secondary endpoints). Subjects were randomly assigned to receive daily doses of the high-dose formulation (n=1,827), containing 25mg pyridoxine (B6), 0.4mg cobalamin (B12), and 2.5mg folic acid; or the low-dose formulation (n=1,853), containing 200mcg pyridoxine, 6mcg cobalamin and 20mcg folic acid. Enrollment in VISP began in August 1997, and was completed in December 2001, with 3,680 participants enrolled. Within the trial, 2,164 participants from 46 clinic sites provided DNA and agreed for it to be shared for use in a genetic subset study of VISP. This study is part of Genomics and Randomized Trials Network (GARNET), funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). The overarching goal is to identify novel genetic factors that contribute to stroke through large-scale genome-wide association studies of treatment response in randomized clinical trials. Genotyping was performed at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR). Data cleaning and harmonization were performed at the GARNET Coordinating Center at the University of Washington. The data of the VISP trial have been released to dbGaP users in several segments: Version 1 (phs000343.v1.p1), consisted of n=4 phenotype datasets, and all raw, cleaned and imputed genotype data. Version 2 (phs000343.v2.p1) included n=14 additional phenotype datasets (plus pedigree, consent, and sample-mapping data), and increased the available data to a total of n=970 phenotype variables. Version 3 (phs000343.v3.p1) included all n=36 phenotype datasets (plus pedigree, consent, and sample-mapping data), and increased the available data to a total of n=1918 phenotype variables.Version 4 (phs000343.v4.p1), the current release, includes all previous phenotypic datasets, includes one new phenotypic dataset for the untargeted metabolomics data of 50 individuals, includes DNA methylation profiles for n=180 individuals, and sequencing data for n=179 individuals.

  Study phs000343

• Genetics of Human Inherited Retinal Diseases (GHIRD)

  The goal of this project is to identify novel mutations and genes involved in human retinal disorders, a stated priority of the National Eye Institute. To accomplish this, additional genes whose mutations cause inherited retinal diseases (IRD) will be identified by combining targeted gene panel sequencing, whole exome sequencing, and whole genome sequencing. We have collected about 1050 patient families around the world. In this proposal, we will identify the underlying mutations in these patients using a combination of targeted gene panel sequencing, whole exome sequencing, whole genome sequencing, bioinformatics, statistics, and functional studies. Genes targeted for gene panel sequencing are: ABCA4; ASIC2; JAG1; ABCC6; ARL3; ATP1B2; BBS1; BBS2; BBS4; OPN1SW; CAPN5; C21orf2; CA4; CACNA1F; CDH3; CHM; ERCC8; CLCN2; CLCN3; CLCN7; TPP1; CLN3; CLN5; CNGB1; CNGA1; CNGA3; COL2A1; COL9A1; COL11A1; CRX; VCAN; CTSD; TIMM8A; DMD; CLN8; ERCC6; EFEMP1; OPN1MW; GNAT1; GNAT2; GNGT1; GRM6; GUCA1A; GUCA1B; GUCY2F; GUCY2D; HARS; CFH; HK1; IDH3B; IMPDH1; IMPG1; KCNJ13; KIF11; LRP5; MAK; MITF; TRPM1; MTTP; MVK; MYO7A; NDP; NEK2; NEUROD1; NPHP1; NRL; OAT; OPA1; OTX2; PAX2; PAX6; PDCL; PCYT1A; PDE6A; PDE6C; PDE6G; PDE6H; PDE6B; PEX1; PEX6; PEX7; PEX10; PEX12; PEX13; PEX14; PFDN5; PGK1; PHYH; PIN1; PLA2G5; PPT1; PRKCZ; PEX19; PEX2; PEX5; RB1; RBP3; RBP4; OPN1LW; RDH5; PRPH2; RGR; RHO; GRK1; RLBP1; ROM1; RP9; RP1; RP2; RPGR; RPE65; RS1; SAG; ATXN7; CCL2; SLC6A6; ELOVL4; TEAD1; NR2F1; TIMP3; NR2E1; TTPA; TUB; TULP1; UCHL3; USH2A; CLRN1; VLDLR; BEST1; WFS1; ALMS1; MKKS; FZD4; OFD1; PEX3; CTSF; GBF1; ADAM9; RGS9; PEX11B; PROM1; UNC119; PRPF4; PRPF3; AIFM1; SLC24A1; LRAT; ASIC3; RAB28; PEX16; ITM2B; SLC4A7; IQCB1; CROCC; IFT140; DHX38; MFN2; NR2E3; USH1C; TOPORS; MERTK; FBLN5; CIB2; PRPF8; SDCCAG8; IFT27; TREX1; RRAS2; CEP164; ATF6; TRIM32; RIMS1; SNRNP200; CLUAP1; EMC1; ZNF423; TTLL5; AGTPBP1; RPGRIP1L; CRB1; TSPAN12; ARL2BP; AIPL1; PRPF6; FSCN2; ABHD12; PRPF31; TCTN3; IFT172; CNNM4; NPHP3; INVS; BBS9; FLVCR1; RDH8; IMPG2; WDPCP; RDH11; TMEM216; TMEM138; LZTFL1; CNGB3; AHI1; MKS1; CLN6; BBS7; POMGNT1; PEX26; SPATA7; KIZ; KLHL7; INPP5E; MDM1; CABP4; RPGRIP1; MCOLN1; CC2D2A; KIAA1549; SLC7A14; WDR19; NYX; CDH23; SEMA4A; MPP5; NMNAT1; TMEM237; PCDH15; C5orf42; GNPTAB; TMEM231; TCTN1; SRD5A3; BBS10; ZNF408; TTC21B; CSPP1; LPCAT1; DHDDS; PDZD7; PANK2; CEP290; OPA3; DNAJC5; PITPNM3; MFRP; HMCN1; ADGRV1; ARL6; FAM161A; TMEM126A; GNPTG; GJA10; RAX2; TUBGCP6; TMEM67; ACBD5; C12orf65; CDHR1; BBIP1; REEP6; CACNA2D4; RP1L1; CEP41; C1QTNF5; NXNL1; TTC8; USH1G; BBS5; ZNF513; RDH12; SLC38A8; C8orf37; VPS13B; NXNL2; BBS12; ADGRA3; LCA5; KCNV2; ADAMTS18; ARL13B; ATOH7; MFSD8; NPHP4; CCDC66; CYP4V2; CRB2; RD3; LRIT3; EYS; KIF7; CERKL; RGS9BP; C2orf71; GDF6; DTHD1; GPR179; CISD2; CCR2; PRCD; WHRN; ADGRA3. The current dbGaP study release makes available all sequencing-derived vcf data of study participants.

  Study phs001517

• Lineage Plasticity and Immune Cell Heterogeneity Are Coordinately Dysregulated Through Changes in FOXA1 Expression in Bladder Cancers with Squamous Differentiation

  We performed whole exome sequencing (WES) of paired, macrodissected regions of urothelial carcinoma (UC), not otherwise specified (NOS-UC) and squamous differentiation (SqD) from 21 bladder tumors in which distinct and separable NOS-UC and SqD regions were present (total 42 exomes, in addition to matched normal exomes). Mean tumor mutational burden (TMB) was higher in the SqD versus the NOS-UC regions. Consistent with the higher TMB, the SqD regions also had a higher neoantigen burden than the patient-matched NOS-UC regions. The SqD regions also exhibited higher karyotypic complexity with a higher median ploidy relative to the paired NOS-UC regions. Phylogenetic analysis of the WES data confirmed that the morphologically distinct regions of all 21 tumors arose from a shared precursor with a median of 68 (range 16 – 852) non-synonymous mutations shared between the NOS-UC and SqD regions, and the overall data were indicative of early branched evolution. As whole exome sequencing did not identify a shared mutational alteration or genomic signature unique to the SqD or NOS-UC components, we therefore performed expression profiling of separable SqD and NOS-UC regions of 12 bladder tumors from the WES cohort with RNA quality sufficient for whole transcriptome RNA-sequencing (RNAseq, total of 24 regions). Based on centroid clustering analysis of expression data, all 12 regions of SqD were basal-squamous subtype based on the TCGA molecular classification schema. Notably, 8 of the NOS-UC regions were also basal-squamous subtype, with only four pairs exhibiting discordant transcriptional subtypes (three NOS-UC regions were luminal-infiltrated, one luminal-papillary). To better quantify differences in the transcriptional profiles of the paired NOS-UC and SqD regions, we used single sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) to assess for enrichment of luminal or basal-squamous gene expression. ssGSEA analysis revealed that the SqD regions expressed higher levels of basal-squamous genes based on the BASE47 gene set and UPK/KRT gene sets; whereas the matched NOS-UC regions expressed higher levels of luminal genes. These differences in the levels of expression of basal and luminal genes were observed even in cases in which both the NOS-UC and SqD regions were basal-squamous subtype based the TCGA molecular classification schema. Exomes from eight patients in this study have previously been deposited in dbGaP: accession number phs001783 as part of the study "Exome Recapture and Sequencing of Prospectively Characterized Clinical Specimens From Cancer Patients".

  Study phs002357

• Heart Failure Network Oral Iron Repletion Effects on Oxygen Uptake in Heart Failure (HFN IRONOUT-BioLINCC)

  ObjectivesTo test the hypothesis that, compared to placebo, oral iron repletion in heart failure patients with iron deficiency improves exercise capacity after 16 weeks of therapy.Background Iron deficiency affects approximately one half of patients with symptomatic heart failure. The presence of iron deficiency in patients with heart failure is associated with reduced functional capacity, poorer quality of life, and increased mortality. Despite growing recognition of the significance of iron deficiency, randomized multicenter trials exploring the utility of oral iron supplementation, a therapy that is inexpensive, readily available, and safe, have not been performed in patients with heart failure. Moreover, patient characteristics and biochemical profiles that may influence responsiveness to oral iron in patients with heart failure have not been defined. Results of intravenous iron repletion trials have been favorable, but regularly treating patients with intravenous iron products is expensive and poses logistical challenges for outpatients. Therefore, the HFN-IRONOUT study was initiated to investigate the efficacy of oral iron in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). ParticipantsA total of 225 participants were enrolled, 111 randomized to receive oral iron and 114 randomized to receive the placebo. Design The HFN-IRONOUT study was a phase 2, double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial that enrolled participants at 23 sites in the United States. Participants were randomly assigned, in a 1:1 ratio, to receive either oral iron polysaccharide or placebo with the use of an automated web-based system. A permuted block randomization method (with 4 participants per block) was stratified by enrolling site and anemia status (defined as hemoglobin At baseline, 8 weeks, and 16 weeks participants underwent studies including history and physical examination, cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ), and 6-minute walk test. CPETs were performed using a 10 Watt/minute incremental ramp protocol and breath-by-breath measures of oxygen uptake were uniformly analyzed by the CPET Core Lab. Participants also underwent phlebotomy for biomarkers. Iron studies, including iron, total iron binding capacity, and ferritin, were measured at baseline and after 16 weeks to determine the extent to which oral iron led to iron repletion. The primary end point was the change in peak oxygen uptake (peak VO2) after 16 weeks of therapy. Conclusions Among participants with HFrEF with iron deficiency, high-dose oral iron did not improve exercise capacity over 16 weeks.

  Study phs003557

• MP2PRT: Evaluation of an Inflammation Polygenic Risk Score (iPRS) to Predict Cancer Related Cognitive Impairment and Fatigue in Patients Receiving Chemotherapy for Non-Metastatic Breast Cancer in URCC0701 and URCC10055

  This study is a secondary analysis of cancer related cognitive impairment (CRCI) and cancer related fatigue (CRF) among participants in URCC0701 and URCC10055 from the University of Rochester NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) Research Base. CRCI and CRF are common, troublesome, and dose-limiting toxicities reported by patients undergoing breast cancer chemotherapy that have an etiologic basis linked to low-grade systemic inflammation. Chronic, low-grade systemic inflammation is, in part, genetically determined with common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) capturing variation across individuals. This study aimed to 1) determine whether an inflammation polygenic risk score (iPRS) is associated with CRCI or CRF, 2) determine whether the relationship between the iPRS and CRCI or CRF is modified by exercise at the time of cancer treatment, 3) identify SNPs associated with serum cytokines measured at the time of cancer treatment, and 4) identify novel CRCI- and CRF-associated risk SNPs via genome-wide association analyses. We found that there was a significant inverse correlation between the iPRS and change in fatigue score from pre-chemotherapy to post-chemotherapy while there was no statistically significant association between the iPRS and cognitive impairment score. The inverse relationship between the iPRS and fatigue may be explained in part by the finding that the iPRS was also significantly associated with greater pre-chemotherapy fatigue, suggesting that women with a genetic predisposition to low-grade systemic inflammation (i.e., high iPRS) have more fatigue at the time of breast cancer diagnosis and, therefore, are less likely to worsen over the course of treatment. In contrast, women with a low iPRS had significantly less fatigue pre-chemotherapy and a significant worsening of fatigue from pre- to post-chemotherapy. The relationship between the iPRS and fatigue remained after adjustment for patient and cancer treatment covariates and was most pronounced in women who reported regularly exercising for at least 6 months prior to starting their cancer treatment. Exploratory genome-wide analysis identified a novel risk locus on chromosome chr6q27, tagged by rs9365961, associated with CRCI. This locus is upstream of TBXT, which encodes an embryonic nuclear transcription factor previously associated with susceptibility to neural tube defects. The genome-wide SNP data, patient-reported CRCI and CRF outcome measures, and covariate data used in this analysis are available through dbGaP.

  Study phs003688

• DNA methylomes of monozygotic twins clinically discordant for multiple sclerosis

  Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. Although genetic susceptibility is important, a modest concordance rate for MS in monozygotic (MZ) twins suggests that interaction with other risk factors is required to develop clinical symptoms. In this study, we examined whether DNA methylation differences contribute to the discordant clinical manifestation of MS in MZ twins, and studied the impact of MS treatments on the DNA methylome. Genome-wide DNA methylation profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 45 MZ twins clinically discordant for MS were generated using the Illumina HumanMethylationEPIC array. Repetitive element methylation and selected differentially methylated positions (DMPs) were validated using targeted deep bisulfite sequencing (TDBS). In addition, we performed whole genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) to profile CD4+ memory T-cells of a subset of four MS discordant MZ twins. Our results show that interferon treatment causes robust DNA methylation changes and several epigenetic biomarkers for interferon treatment response were identified. However, overall the PBMC-based methylomes of the MS discordant MZ twins were highly similar, since large systematic methylation differences (>5%) were absent in the data. This suggests that previously reported large methylation changes are probably caused by genetic rather than epigenetic differences. In addition, our data does not support the hypothesis that the observed maternal parent-of-origin effect in MS is due to genomic imprinting errors, and no evidence was found that copy number variations explain the discordant phenotype in these MZ twins. Although not genome-wide significant, a couple of DMPs associated with the MS phenotype were identified and successfully technically replicated using TDBS, including a differentially methylated region (DMR) in the promoter of the transmembrane protein encoding gene TMEM232. Another MS-associated DMP, located in an enhancer in the gene body of the transcription factor ZBTB16, was also associated with medium-term glucocorticoid treatment history. WGBS analysis confirmed this DMP as a promising epigenetic biomarker for glucocorticoid treatment. In conclusion, this epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) in genetically identical twins identified a DMR in the TMEM232 promoter as a candidate loci associated with the clinical manifestation of MS. In addition, epigenetic biomarkers for MS treatments were identified, revealing that not only short-term, but also medium-term treatment effects are detectable in immune cells, which should be taken into account in future EWAS designs.

  Study EGAS00001003147

• Renal_Cancer_Exome_Sequencing

  Agilent whole exome hybridisation capture will be performed on genomic DNA derived from 25 renal cancers and matched normal DNA from the same patients. Three lanes of Illumina GA sequencing will be performed on the resulting 50 exome libraries and mapped to build 37 of the human reference genome to facilitate the identification of novel cancer genes.

  Study EGAS00001000006

• PV_Exome_Study

  Agilent whole exome hybridisation capture will be performed on genomic DNA derived from 50 Polycythemia Vera Myeloproliferative Disease samples and matched normal DNA from the same patients. Three lanes of Illumina GA sequencing will be performed on the resulting 100 exome libraries and mapped to build 37 of the human reference genome to facilitate the identification of novel cancer genes.

  Study EGAS00001000028

• Immunoreactive_p53_areas_in_human_skin_2

  Previous work has suggested that in mice there may be a difference in mutational burden between areas expressing stabilised p53 protein and others. We wish to see if this observation holds true in human sun-exposed epidermis. We will take 0.25mm punch biopsies from peeled human skin epidermis which will be submitted to the low input pipeline prior to sequencing.

  Study EGAS00001004463

• GSA bigbatch raw data

  Unfiltered genotype data for a larger batch (Batch 2) of 8,697 DDD Study participants (and 1 "Blank" sample). Samples include 2,858 mothers, 2,857 fathers and 2,982 probands, and form 2,918 trios. Most of the probands have been previously genoyped on the llumina HumanCoreExome BeadChip (EGAD00010001598) or the Illumina InfiniumCoreExome Beadchip (EGAD00010001600). All samples were genotyped on the Illumina Global Screening Array.

  Dataset EGAD00010002569

• GWAS membranous nephropathy Stanescu et al., 2011 UK cohort, chr2 region of interest, imputed

  334 biopsy-confirmed membranous nephropathy (MN) cases and 349 ethnically matched healthy controls: the British cohort of the Stanescu et al., 2011 GWAS. Genotyped and imputed region of interest on chromosome 2 (hg19 chr2:160500000-161500000), as used to determine Neanderthal introgression near the PLA2R1 MN risk locus (lead SNP: rs4664308).

  Study EGAS00001007700

• Comprehensive NGS Profiling to Enable Detection of ALK Gene Rearrangements and MET Amplifications in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

  We evaluate the analytical performance of the PGDx™ elio™ tissue complete assay, a 505 gene next-generation sequencing (NGS) tissue-based assay, that has now been FDA-cleared for use by physicians to help guide treatment decisions for cancer patients, using a NSCLC cohort of 38 patients.

  Study EGAS50000000010

• TREM2+ Cells in Human Basal Cell Carcinomas

  To explore the tumor immune microenvironment heterogeneity in sporadic human basal cell carcinoma tumors, we profiled two individual patient tumors by scRNA-Seq. We identified a population of TREM2+ macrophages, which have been implicated in promoting an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. We identify that TREM2+ can promote tumor epithelial proliferation in an immunosuppressive independent manner.

  Study phs003242

• Nasopharyngeal RNASeq Comparing SARS-CoV-2+ Patients and SARS-CoV-2 Negative Control Subjects

  The goal of this analysis was to compare RNAs enriched in the upper respiratory tract of SARS-CoV-2 patients and SARS-CoV-2 negative controls. RNA-sequencing of RNA isolated from the viral transport medium associated with nasopharyngeal swab samples from SARS-CoV-2+ patients and SARS-COV-2 negative controls.

  Study phs002433

• NHLBI TOPMed: The Vanderbilt Atrial Fibrillation Registry (VU_AF)

  The Vanderbilt Atrial Fibrillation (AF) Registry was founded in 2001. Patients with AF and family members are prospectively enrolled. At enrollment a detailed past medical history is obtained along with an AF symptom severity assessment. Blood samples are obtained for DNA extraction. Patients are followed longitudinally along with serial collection of AF symptom severity assessments.

  Study phs001032

• Exome Sequencing of Chordoma Cases

  Chordoma is a rare tumor that is believed to develop from notochord remnants. We previously identified germline duplication of the TBXT gene as a major susceptibility mechanism in several chordoma families. Currently, we are using whole exome sequencing to identify additional susceptibility genes in chordoma families without TBXT duplication as well as in sporadic cases.

  Study phs001280

• Drop-BS: High-Throughput Single-Cell Bisulfite Sequencing on a Microfluidic Droplet Platform

  We present a high-throughput droplet-based bisulfite sequencing library preparation platform. Our protocol allows the production of a BS library of 2,000-10,000 single cells within 2 days. In addition to validation using mixed cell lines, we also used the technology to profile various cell types in mouse and human brain samples.

  Study phs002123

• The Genetic Landscape of Mutations in Burkitt Lymphoma

  Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is characterized by deregulation of MYC, but the contribution of other genetic mutations to the disease is largely unknown. We sequenced exomes of 59 BL tumors, 14 of which had paired normal tissue. Our work elucidates commonly occurring gene-coding mutations in Burkitt lymphoma and implicates ID3 as a novel tumor suppressor gene.

  Study phs000562

• Genomics of Prostate Cancer

  This dataset includes genomic data from patients with prostate cancer. Specimens include archival active surveillance biopsies, radical prostatectomy specimens selected based on evidence of PD-L1 expression and/or T lymphocyte infiltrates, and rapid autopsy material from patients deceased of prostate cancer. These data include low pass whole genome sequencing and targeted sequencing with matched normal.

  Study phs002398

• Spatiotemporal Analysis of the Human Cerebellum

  We sought to characterize neural progenitors within spatially demarcated regions of the human cerebellum at a molecular level during neurogenesis. We used laser-capture microdissection to enrich for cells within the ventricular zone and subventricular zone regions of the rhombic lip, external granule cell layer and Purkinje cell layer, then performed RNA-sequencing on the enriched samples.

  Study phs001908

• Vulnerabilities of Midbrain Dopaminergic Neurons to Parkinson's Disease Revealed by Single-Cell Genomics

  We developed a novel protocol for the enrichment of midbrain DA neurons from frozen tissue. We subsequently performed single-nuclei RNA-sequencing on enriched samples from postmortem midbrain tissue from human, macaque, tree shrew, rat, and mouse. We identified vulnerable and resistant populations from these data and associated genetic enrichments and differential expression changes.

  Study phs002879

• Autosomal Recessive CD55 Deficiency is Associated with Protein Losing Enteropathy, Thrombosis, and Complement Dysregulation

  We describe 11 patients from 8 families with homozygous LOF mutations in the complement regulatory protein CD55. Loss of CD55 is associated with increased complement activation, severe protein losing enteropathy accompanying a primary intestinal lymphangiectasia, and deep vein thrombotic events. We have named this disease CHAPLE after the principle components of the disease.

  Study phs001376

• Genetic Etiology of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome

  To understand the genetic etiology of hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), patients with HLHS were consented and recruited, with blood drawn for DNA extraction and exome sequencing. Using the exome sequencing dataset obtained, rare coding sequence variants were recovered and enrichment analysis was carried out to identify genes and pathways that are likely to contribute to HLHS.

  Study phs001256

• Multiregion exome sequencing of ovarian immature teratomas

  Tumor tissue from each of the indicated ovarian and disseminated GCT components was selectively punched from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded blocks. Genomic DNA was extracted from these tumor and matched normal tissue samples, with a total of 500 ng of genomic DNA used as input for capture employing the xGen Exome Research Panel.

  Study EGAS50000000291

• Enhanced resolution profiling in twins reveals differential methylation signatures of Type 2 Diabetes with links to its complications

  We profiled DNA methylation in blood samples from participants of European ancestry from 7 twin cohorts using a methylation sequencing platform targeting regulatory genomic regions encompassing 2,048,698 CpG sites. The results help to improve our understanding of T2D disease pathogenesis and progression and may provide biomarkers for its complications.

  Study EGAS50000000197

• Bulk RNA-seq of monocytes and in vitro cultured monocyte-derived macrophages of ANCA-associated vasculitis patients with active and stable disease and healthy controls

  To study monocyte and macrophage activation in ANCA-associtated vasculitis (AAV), we performed bulk RNA sequencing of bead-selected monocytes and in vitro cultured monocyte-derived macrophages from AAV patients and healthy controls. Overview patients included for sequencing monocytes: - AAV active disease, n=4, MPO-AAV=4 - AAV remission, n=10, PR3-AAV=5, MPO-AAV=5 - Healthy controls, n=6 Overview patients included for sequencing monocyte-derived macrophages: - AAV active, n=1, PR3-AAV=1 - AAV remission, n=3, PR3-AAV=3 - Healthy controls, n=3

  Dataset EGAD50000000450

• Single cell transcriptomic profiles of advanced melanoma patients treated with checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy

  Little is known about the resistant clones within the tumour ecosystem treated with immunotherapy. This work provides a comprehensive and integrative analysis of each individual non-responding melanoma patients, including clinical features integrated with single cell analysis, which is critical to understand features of resistance in order to improve cancer patients’ outcomes.

  Study EGAS50000000339

• Single nuclei ATAC-Seq data from the human ganglionic eminences

  We performed the single nuclei Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin with Sequencing (snATAC-Seq) to map potential regulatory genomic regions operating in individual cell populations of the human GE, using these to test for enrichment of schizophrenia common genetic variant liability and to functionally annotate non-coding variants associated with the disorder.

  Study EGAS50000000411

• Heterogeneity and evolution of DNA mutation rates in microsatellite-stable colorectal cancer

  A mutation accumulation experiment in colorectal cancer (CRC) derived tumoroids, aimed at measuring the spontaneous rates of accumulation of new single-nucleotide sequence variations in seven microsatellite stable CRCs and one microsatellite unstable CRC. Mutations accumulated over six+six months were identified via whole genome sequencing of clonal tumoroids. 150x WGS for 7 samples.

  Study EGAS50000000425

• PDX gene expression

  Investigation of the anti-tumor activity of the potent, highly selective, orally bioavailable CHK1 inhibitor (CHK1i), SRA737, in both acquired PARPi-resistant BRCA1/2 mutant and CCNE1amp high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) models. We analyzed gene expression in five patient derived xenografts (PDX) that responded to CHK1i and three PDX that had a poor response to CHK1i.

  Study EGAS50000000084

• Whole-exome sequencing of acute myeloid leukemias with aberrations of chromosome 7

  Deletions and partial losses of chromosome 7 are frequent in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and are often linked to dismal outcome. However, the genomic landscape and prognostic impact of concomitant genetic aberrations remain incompletely understood. Therefore, we performed whole-exome sequencing of acute myeloid leukemias (N = 60) with aberrations of chromosome 7.

  Study EGAS50000000429

• scRNA-seq dataset, RCC

  scRNA-seq dataset for the study "Surgery in combination with immune checkpoint therapy as an effective treatment for patients with metastatic cancer." The dataset comprises 38 samples from 19 patients, with each pair includes a baseline (BL) sample and a post-biopsy or post-surgery sample. Each sample corresponds to an R1 (read 1) and an R2 (read 2) files (.fastq.gz) for paired reads. Beside procedure (biopsy or surgery), another important phenotype is response (PR and PD in this case, no SD for these patients), included in the description of the samples. The sequencing was performed using Illumina NovaSeq 6000 platform., as seen in the experiment description.

  Dataset EGAD50000000566

• TIGER-LC High-Throughput Sequencing

  Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are clinically disparate primary liver cancers with etiological and biological heterogeneity. We performed sequencing on multiple data levels of Thai CCA and HCC among the Thailand Initiative in Genomics and Expression Research for Liver Cancer (TIGER-LC) cohort using targeted OncoVar platform, whole exome, whole transcriptome, and whole genome metagenomic sequencing.

  Study phs001199

• Clonal Evolution of PPM1D Mutations in the Spectrum of Myeloid Disorders

  PPM1D, a central regulator of the DNA damage response, is commonly mutated in therapy-related clonal hematopoiesis (CH), acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). PPM1D mutations have been shown to expand under selective pressure of DNA-damaging chemotherapy. However, whether PPM1D mutations promote the development of hematologic malignancies remains unclear.

  Study EGAS50000000840

• Alpha synucleinopathy spectrum - bulk RNA seq of prefrontal cortex

  Dataset corresponding to the bulk RNA seq dataset from prefrontal cortex for a total of N=44 samples. Tissue samples correspond to patients with different alpha synucleinopathies. Specifically, idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD, N=20) monogenic PD caused by LRRK2 mutations (LRRK2-PD, N=7), multiple system atrophy (MSA, N=6) and neurologically healthy controls (N=11). RNA seq was carried out using ribosomal depletion. The totality of these samples were also sequenced using single nucleus RNA seq, and available within the same study as a separate dataset.

  Dataset EGAD50000000430

• Alpha synucleinopathy spectrum - single nucleus RNA seq of prefrontal cortex

  Single nucleus RNA seq dataset from prefrontal cortex of a total of N=46 individuals with alpha synucleinopathies and healthy controls. Tissue samples correspond to patients with Parkinson's disease (PD, N=20) monogenic PD caused by LRRK2 mutations (LRRK2-PD, N=7), multiple system atrophy (MSA, N=6) and neurologically healthy controls (N=13). RNA seq was carried out employing 10X Genomics Chromium. These samples were also sequenced using conventional bulk tissue RNA seq, and available within the same study as a separate dataset.

  Dataset EGAD50000000431

• Single nucleus and bulk transcriptomics in prefrontal cortex of individuals with alpha synucleinopathies

  We explore cell-specific changes in gene expression across different α-synucleinopathies. We perform single nucleus RNA sequencing using 10X Genomics, and bulk RNA sequencing from the prefrontal cortex of individuals with alpha synucleinopathies - Parkinson's Disese (PD), monogenic LRRK2 PD, and multiple system atrophy (MSA), together with neurologically healthy controls.

  Study EGAS50000000301

• Personalized Treatment of Sezary Syndrome through a CTLA4:CD28 Fusion

  We sequenced two tumor and one normal whole genome libraries for a Sezary syndrome patient and also sequenced RNA libraries for each tumor. We identified a novel, highly expressed CTLA4:CD28 gene fusion that is predicted to results in a leading to stimulatory T-cell signaling in the presence of an inhibitory signal.

  Study phs000773

• PD1-targeted delivery of an IL-2 variant induces a multifaceted anti-tumoral T cell response in human lung cancer

  To explore PD1-IL2v-specific effects on CD8 and CD4 T cells at a transcriptomic level, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing of patient-derived tumor fragments (PDTFs) which were treated with either Isotype (DP47), Isotype-IL2v (DP47-IL2v), anti-PD1 (PembroPGLALA) or PD1-IL2v (PembroPGLALA-IL2v) for 48 hours.

  Study EGAS50000000396